Page 3 of Made For The Alien Warrior

The light disappeared as quickly as it had come. When it withdrew, it took most of the agony with it. She felt the pain turn to a dull ache that throbbed in every muscle of her body.

Behind her eyelids, complete darkness settled. A gentle breeze blew on her skin and odd sensations began to emerge around her. Wet. Why was her entire back wet? It felt like she was floating in a body of water. But that didn’t make sense. She was in the hospital. Dying. Or already dead.

A gentle breeze blew on her face, sending alarm bells ringing through her head. Had the light ripped the roof off the emergency room? Or… was she… in heaven?

Pulse jumping, Symphony popped one eye open and gasped in shock. Rather than the hospital ceiling, she saw purple spikes jutting from a cave roof. Horror flooded her. She lurched back and her hand splashed against water. What was going on? Where on earth was she?

“Cal-em du-um,” a deep voice said.

Symphony whipped her head around and saw a giant, blue creature with muscles and sharp purple eyes staring at her. A scream fell off her lips, and she flung herself back.

Her toes sank into the mushy depths of the pool bottom and a current she hadn’t expected dragged her down. Bubbles tore out of her mouth as she screamed underwater. Her lungs burned and struggled for air.

A moment later, Symphony heard a splash.

The giant blue creature dove in after her.

Was he here to kill her?

Panic made her throat close up and white spots danced in her vision. The water kept dragging her down, almost like chains were around her ankles.

The giant creature swam closer.

Who would kill her first? Him or the water?

Symphony swung her arm, but she couldn’t get it to move.

Darkness filled her vision.

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t…

Just as the strong blue creature wrapped his arm around her waist, everything around her faded into black.

Two

Tiegan

Tiegan kickedhis legs and slashed his tail, each powerful thrust propelling him upward. The human female in his arms hung limply. Fear made him grip her a little tighter as he swam.

In a blink, he broke the surface of the sacred dama. Liquid droplets sprayed into the air. He sucked in a sharp breath and hefted the female, propelling her to shore with him.

She weighed almost nothing. Tiegan’s eyes made a quick sweep over her. Her brown skin was like Sah-ah or Si-Moon, his comrades’ mates. Except her flesh was dull and her lips were blue.

He noticed the dark and splotchy stains on her skin. They were in the shape of constellations. Tiegan gasped, recognizing the pattern. She suffered fromjidezi, a Plutonian illness caused by pollutants in the atmosphere.

But why was a human female suffering from a Plutonian disease?

Tiegan scrambled to regain control of his flustered mind. The human female’s mysterious illness would be for naught if he let her die in this state.

How could he wake her? He knew very little of human anatomy save for what he’d studied in the tribas as a brood.

Was her heras still beating?

Tiegan crawled over her and dipped his head against her chest. The valley of her sucklings pushed him away. They were soft, like pillows. He shook his head to stop from being distracted and listened for the thump of her heras.

It was there, though faint and fading fast. Relieved that there was still a chance she could be saved, Tiegan shook her. “Female.” He kept his grip gentle and yet it felt as if his lightest touch would cause her to shatter. “Female, open your eyes.”

She did not.