Page 5 of 80% Beef 20% Cake (Alien Fated Mates #2)

5

A shovelful of snow landed in the growing pile to my left as I cleared the areas of the worksite the mech-dozer couldn’t reach. The workday had just begun when a notification from TeyTey pinged, alerting me to Ginger’s imminent departure. I sighed. The interruption complicated an already full schedule.

“Sully, I’ve got to head out.” My shout echoed through the empty plasmasteel framing our newest build. Sully circled his hand in the air and carried on, used to me jumping back and forth from one job to the next.

I typed back a quick “thank you” to TeyTey. At least I wasn’t the only one looking out for Ginger’s best interests. I should’ve never mentioned the Starry Mountains to her. “What a blanting terrible idea,” I mumbled. I straddled my hovercraft and flew to Makir’s.

Every one of my well-honed instincts shouted that a trip to the Starry Mountains wouldn’t end well. The enforcers had been plagued with problems accessing the remote location. Cancel the trip, my gut screamed. But no matter how good my reasoning, I’d be shocked if Ginger accepted it.

If females on my planet weren’t so rare, I might’ve learned how to persuade Ginger to my side with soft words instead of barking commands. She wasn’t one of my soldiers. When Geo returned, I would ask him how to talk to her without offending her.

TeyTey was the only female I’d never had a problem communicating with. She seemed to like it when Sully complimented her. She accepted Sully’s help with a smile and responded to him with affection. Why doesn’t Ginger behave the same as a Rock Dweller female? Instead of raining compliments, giving gifts or caring for me, she spat insults and called me King Kong.

Though she had offered to fix my pants. Twice. Did that mean she was attracted to me? My heart kicked up a beat at the thought. Did I want that?

Loading supplies on the back of my hovee with more force than necessary, I tapped out an update to bossman Geo on my wristport.

Sully’s in charge. I’m spending the rotation trapping with Ginger. She’s fighting me every step of the way. How does a male talk reason to an Earth female who takes too many risks?

A cloud of cold air ghosted before me, turning to fine crystals, but the dropping temperature did not reach my core.

Transmissions from Lorne lagged, but Geo’s laughing emoji was flashing on my wristport’s screen by the time I’d arrived. Ginger’s a tough nut. Whatever you do, don’t baby her.

That didn’t help. I’d never handled a new youngling in my life.

I stopped my hovee in front of the open bay door where Ginger stood next to Makir’s hovercraft. Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and her hat lay on the snowy ground just outside beside a heap of supplies. Before I even opened my mouth, her pretty eyes were rolling at me . What had she called that mesmerizing color? Hazel?

“Great,” she huffed. “King Kong’s here to save the day. I can’t get this stupid thing started.” She kicked the cushioned saddle. Not for the first time, judging by the footprints of melting snow on the leather.

A bucket of rags sat inside the open hover bay doors next to a rack of tools, and I picked up a mag torch, too. With my voice low, I moved to where Makir’s hoverbike lay on its side.

“I’m no hovic, but I know Makir’s hovee has a temperamental starter. It has caused him problems in the past.” Problems that had led him to bond with Geo.

I tilted the engine hood up and wiped the surface of a greasy disk, relieved to discover a problem. We wouldn’t be traveling to the Starry Mountains after all. Even better, it meant I remained in her good graces—she couldn’t possibly blame this on me.

“This is cracked.” Pieces of the starter disk filled my hand.

She grunted and picked up her bags, dragging them through the snow toward my hovee.

“What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She swept up her hat and placed it back over her sweaty hair, then proceeded to strap her bags over the top of mine. “We’ll just share your hoverbike.” She smiled—more bared teeth than sweetly curved lips—and straddled my seat.

Huh?

I closed Makir’s bay door and took my time securing his dwelling, hoping she’d change her mind. When I circled back and found her still seated, ready to go, I suggested, “Maybe we could wait until it warms up a bit?” Aiming for somewhere between not babying, whatever that meant, and not commanding.

“I have commitments.” She waved a mittened hand in front of her. “It’s no sweat off my back if you don’t come. Sisip will loan me a bike.”

I tripped as an image of my palm smoothing over her sweat-slicked back popped into my mind. Then I processed what she’d said. The lead enforcer likely would. Ginger alone in the Starry Mountains was unacceptable, so I squared my shoulders and maneuvered behind her. She jostled her hips backward, and I gasped as her soft bum cradled my groin. When her linnea scent stole my breath, my coil hardened against her cushioned rear. On a long groan, I inched backward, fighting the instinct to clutch her hips and grind.

“Let’s hit it.” She slapped my leg like I was an animal that needed prodding.

At her touch, a tremor ran through me. I tied the rag I’d picked up from Makir’s bucket over the bottom half of my face and inhaled tentatively. My grip on the handlebars relaxed enough for me to drive. The sharp, oily tang helped block her scent.

Three suns later, the frozen wastelands were behind us and the sparse forest of saplings regrowing around the base of the Starry Mountains appeared. Above the sad skirt of trees lay rock. Endless layers of glassy black rock, interspersed with moss-covered ledges, so steep my neck arched to take in its peak. Not so different from the landscape in the Yagras district at home.

When we stopped, I lifted her off the bike and placed her in front of the meager clump of scraggly saplings, out of the wind. Away from my sheltering bulk, Ginger’s teeth chattered. I thanked my Rock Dweller genetics. Before meeting Ginger, I’d been unaware that temperature extremes could cause such effects.

“Did you bring your hot drink?”

She nodded, lifting her chin toward her bag, shivering too much to argue. After quickly finding her thermos, I pulled off her mittens and passed her the warm container. This was ridiculous. She was in no shape to sit out here for suns trapping linobee. I rubbed my hand over my exposed head, chapped from the cold. How can I convince her to return? She dug through her bags some more, fished out the snare wire and formed a coil with clumsy fingers—the first of many.

“I wish we could make a fire,” I grumbled, kicking the snow in search of something that would burn. The chance of finding anything was slim. Anything that would’ve burned had turned to ash and blown away a long time ago. The Fires That Cleanse may not have rid the planet of all organic matter as intended, but they had undoubtedly claimed anything that could be used as kindling. Why hadn’t I brought a portable solar dish?

“I’m fine,” she mumbled.

Her blue lips said otherwise.

At last weekend’s market, Sisip had mentioned that the enforcer patrols had observed caves here but hadn’t yet explored them. Now seemed like the perfect time, before other parts of Ginger turned blue.

“We need to find shelter.” I peered at the cloudless sky, grasping for an excuse that Ginger might swallow. “The weather’s going to turn.” Judging by how she rolled her eyes, she wasn’t convinced. When I shouldered my bag and then hers, she let out a breath of air that sent her black bangs puffing above her eyes.

“If you say so.” She trudged off through the snow, taking the lead up the mountain with dogged determination.

Each time she found a good spot, she paused to pull a snare free from my belt and placed it alongside our dubious trail. The constant contact drove me to distraction. One gust of wind or snowfall and the trapline would be covered. We plodded on and on until her steps turned sluggish and her fingers could no longer work the snares.

“Here.” I filled another container with warm, minty drink and passed it to Ginger, where she huddled against a large boulder. The steam from the container and the frosted air from her breath were the same color as her silvery-white hair. The stark colors heightened the shadows under her eyes.

The need to find her shelter pressed down on me. “I’m going to investigate the dark spot over that ridge.” I pointed to the west, where a narrow band of trees hid the mountain.

The sky darkened as she bent to shoulder her bag, and snow began to fall in wet, heavy splats. The groan she tried to muffle was the last straw. I placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Rest. I’ll be right back.” Then I took off at a fast jog, little balls of snow curling in my tracks with each foot lifted.

I heard her mutter, “I’m such an idiot.”

She must’ve thought I was out of hearing range. I glanced back. Her face was buried in her palms. Blant, I renewed my efforts to find cover, pushing faster than was safe over the uneven ground.

Beyond the scraggly trees, a slotted entrance appeared, easily missed if approached from any other angle. “Bless the goddess Sola,” I muttered.

Urgency pulsed through my veins. Worse dangers than succumbing to the cold lurked in these mountains, and Ginger was a tiny, defenseless female. It went against every Rock Dweller instinct I had to leave her alone. Have her long eye hairs frozen her eyes shut? Has she fallen into a crevasse? After a rudimentary scan to assess the cave for signs of hellsna, I clambered back down the steep incline before I could imagine any more worst-case scenarios.

On the return trip, the wind picked up, and snow fell in slanted sheets, covering my trail. Icy needles pelted my head as I wove between the young trees, slipping over the uneven ground.

When Ginger—head wrapped in a fuzzy swath of fabric that extended around her face—came into view, I sighed.

“So happy you could join me.” I could tell by her put-out tone that her nose would be scrunched if I removed her covering. She continued, “I was just about to return to the hoverbike without you.”

She was going to do what? Even I’d struggle to get back to the hoverbike in this low visibility. I swallowed back the reprimand on the tip of my tongue while I checked my wristport. Only half a sun had passed, but in that time, the little jungle cat had extended her claws. She was scared.

“I’ve decided to leave it to Makir to trap more linobee when he returns.” She tilted her chin up and pressed her shivering shoulders back.

Didn’t I say that exact blanting thing earlier?

We stood side by side, yet I could barely see her. The snow whipped its icy tendrils at us from every direction.

“I’m ready to go home.” Her voice wavered.

My frustration melted at her distress, and I took a moment to strip my words of blame. “You’ll freeze on the ride back. We have to get you warm first.”

When her fingers trembled as she reached for her gear, I snapped. Wrenching our bags off the ground, I slammed them over my shoulder and advanced toward her. She staggered backward, but I caught her and scooped her rigid body into my arms. She fit perfectly, even more so when I hugged her to my chest, and she remained quiet outside of her initial squeak as I marched across the mountain’s side.

A deafening crack from above had me tightening my grip. A shiver ran down my spine. Not now. The last time I’d heard that sound, it had ended with three of my soldiers nearly buried alive.

Ginger clutched my jacket, her head tilting wildly toward the mountainside. “Fuck! Avalanche!”

Debris rained down on us like shrapnel, and I curled my larger body around hers like a shield. Each lurching stride I took was done on instinct alone. The mountain stirred to life. Angry at being awoken, it rumbled and groaned, throwing loose rocks that lashed at my exposed head and firing lethal sheets of snow toward us.

“Watch out for the tree!” Ginger’s mittened hand jerked toward the ground, and I leaped over churned-up roots, staggering over the softened ground. Mud splattered my face, and my vision blurred.

“Left, JayJay,” Ginger shouted over the rumble as I narrowly missed another wave of debris. “Duck,” she warned, tugging on my ear as a boulder screamed overhead.

A brush of soft lips met the thundering pulse in my neck as Ginger leaned in to be heard. “Don’t be startled. I’m going to wipe the dirt away from your eyes.” Then, a quick swipe of white fur washed over my eyes, removing the soil splattered from the uprooted tree.

I dodged and weaved, traversing the mountain, losing all sense of direction as the terrain forced my path. My heart galloped and I prayed to the goddess Sola that the cave entrance was near and unblocked.

“Go straight, JayJay.”

The ground turned smoother. My ears rang from the constant rumble, and the blue snow thickened into a blizzard that stung my eyes and blurred my vision. A bright spot in the chaos. I trusted Ginger’s steady voice to guide me with a singular focus.

“Now up past that clump.” Her hand darted out to point. “Just a bit farther.”

In the grove’s shelter, I paused. Ginger tapped me on the shoulder from where I cradled her against my stomach. Bent over and gasping, my legs trembled beneath me. Lungfuls of her intoxicating scent filled my heaving chest.

The adrenaline pumping through my body slowed. She motioned behind us, and I dragged my reluctant gaze from her hazel eyes to where she pointed down the mountain. We’d made it past the edge of the slide, but if we’d been caught any higher up… I pushed those thoughts away.

Unsettled ice rumbled in the distance, the mountain loosening its grip. It echoed like the call of the wrongly convicted seeking vengeance—calmer now, but my heart still beat like a stampeding herd of mantu, where her head rested.

Below us, a scraggly row of trees disguised the cave entrance. I’d overshot the entry when I’d launched us across the mountain, searching for an escape, and Ginger had found it. The way her lips tipped into a shy smile, so out of character for Ginger, hit me like a sucker punch to the gut.

I needed to get her out of my arms. That smile, her hazel eyes, her guiding voice… It was all too much.

Rocks shone magenta bright against the mountain as dusk arrived. Though splattered in mud, Ginger’s white hair shone more brilliantly than it all. I paused to take her in, unwilling to put her down, though the logical part of my brain prodded me to.

“Are you injured?” With one arm cradling her, I patted down her legs and arms. She seemed unharmed.

“I’m good.” She took off her mitt and wiped a thumb across my forehead ridge, frowning when it came back covered in blood. “But you’re—”

A screech rent the air.

My stomach plummeted, and the sickening feeling of having my worst fear realized turned my feet to lead. No weapons…no soldiers…alone with a female. The vibration from the snow slide must have drawn the monster from its lair.

“Is that what I think it is?” Ginger’s hoarse voice could barely be heard over her teeth knocking together.

Blanting hell, I was failing miserably at keeping my charge safe. As if rooted to the ground, I couldn’t break free of fear’s grip to walk us to the safety of the cave.

When I said nothing, she carried on, her voice stronger. “Please tell me you dragged me halfway up the mountain because you have a plan?”

I laughed. Her comment re-centered me. This Ginger, with her familiar sharp claws extended, rather than the helpful version who’d guided me through the snowslide, grounded me. I readjusted her in my arms and sped toward the cave entrance. “We hide in the blanting cave.”

Her dependence on me in this moment seeped through my skin like a sudden shower over parched land. I wanted to soak it up and swallow more. It fed something primal inside of me.

“No shit, Sherlock,” she muttered.

Another ear-piercing shriek ricocheted off the rocks. “Blant!” That familiar cry jerked through me like the electric bolt of a blaster. I hurdled a boulder as it rolled in front of us, legs throbbing. “Hellsna!”

When I looked over my shoulder, the beast’s bulbous head appeared over a slanted rock ledge, much too close for comfort. Where had it come from so fast? Ginger clutched my biceps, pumping with every stride though they were solidly wrapped around her.

Faster than me, the hellsna’s nearly opaque white body slithered over every obstacle in its path. My lungs stung from exertion. Ginger’s body stiffened in my arms as she ducked under my armpit to watch the scene behind us. “It’s gaining on us,” Ginger shouted.

Its cries grew louder. Loose rocks rolled beneath my feet, forcing my usually agile body into a stumble-and-burst pattern as I charged. We’d be safe if I could just make it to the line of bent-over trees.

As if the hellsna could read my mind, it changed course slightly.

Ginger screamed, and her arms tightened around my neck. She had an unobscured view as the hellsna plunged at us in a side attack. “Holy shit, are those teeth?”

Fully visible, the sharp projections spiraled, dripping with saliva and the fetid remnants of its last kill. The sharp points coiled around its open maw, down its throat, and continued through its entire worm-like body. Ginger shuddered, and I clutched her tighter as the hellsna’s jaw clamped down on a boulder the vibrations from its massive body had stirred loose.

We needed to reach the cave. Never had something so close seemed so far away.

“There’s a drop-off!” Ginger pressed her mittens to my chest and seemed to shrink into an even smaller ball.

I groaned as an overhang loomed straight ahead.

Our choices narrowed. We’d be head-to-head with the hellsna if I turned around to find a better path… I prayed to every ancestor who’d ever mentored me that the drop wouldn’t be too far.

“Faster, JayJay!”

When she laid her palm over my heart, it was like an amplifier, turning my protective instincts up to the max. My blood pumped faster, my lungs sucked in great gulps of air, and all my muscles tensed. Tucking her head to my chest, I shoved off the ground like the hero in the stories my mata used to tell me as a youngling.

Feet in the air, soaring, one breath, two…

My knees jolted, absorbing the impact as my bootheels dug through the snow and hit rock. “Thank you, goddess.”

We weren’t in the clear yet. I tore through the entry, coming to an abrupt stop as the bags on my back wedged tight. The thick-bodied worm barreled along the tree line, screaming on our tail. Its vision was poor, but its hearing and sense of smell were excellent.

Ginger pushed against my chest. “Set me down. We won’t fit together.”

My lungs heaved, and I shimmied sideways. This had better open up, or else I’d just led us to our doom.

The narrow slot was too small to permit the hellsna’s entry and too solid for it to destroy, but it slithered back and forth, sensing us beyond it nonetheless.

“We’re trapped.” My voice echoed, causing the hellsna to scream again.

“But we’re safe.” Ginger’s soft voice reassured me, and when she squeezed my biceps, my throat squeezed in time.

The unsaid ‘for now’ hung in the air.