Page 46 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)

G rowling viciously, Kaylar scooped Meg up suddenly, his arms banding around her tightly. She gasped and grabbed his shoulder horn for leverage as she pushed herself up and craned her neck.

“Wait! Where’s Beverly?”

Kaylar slowed to an abrupt stop at Meg’s shout, his mandibles clattering, and began to turn when there was a sudden crash amid the foliage that sent leaves trembling on their branches.

“Right behind you,” the other woman panted as she broke through the brush right behind them. Sweat stained her clothing amid the collection of tears that were already accumulating across her torso and thighs, and her chest heaved with every labored breath as she ran after them, a monstrous roar and metallic shriek following after her. “Fuck!” she shouted, tossing a wild look back over her shoulder toward the trees. It slowed her momentum only slightly before she whirled back around, sprinting out onto the beach. “Move! Get on the ship, damn you!”

Something large within the forest heaved forward, shoving against the trees with such strength that they swayed, several breaking with thunderous cracks. Meg’s eyes flew up to the forest, her fingers digging into Kaylar’s shoulder horn as he ran across the sand. Covered in numerous long, red welts and deep, bleeding scratches all over her exposed skin from her race through the forest, Beverly hurried after them. Meg peered back at her frantically, unable to ignore the way Beverly’s human feet sank into the sand with every step, slowing her down and throwing her balance off as she propelled forward, unable to keep up with the effortless tread of Kaylar’s considerably wider feet. Meg’s gaze rose to the forest and her heart nearly stopped beating as ice flooded her veins. The tree line of the forest swayed more viciously as young trees began to drop, crashing onto the sand.

“Kaylar!” Meg screamed in a panic, her eyes flying back over to Beverly running after them just as the deep blue bulk of E302 emerged from the trees, its raised fore-sets of legs dropping to the ground with a heavy thump. All six of its malevolent, burning yellow eyes turned toward them as its monstrous head swung in their direction with a rattling, rusty growl and Meg scrambled against Kaylar’s shoulder in terror. The partial glimpses in dim lighting did little to prepare her for the true monstrosity of the creature. “Oh my fucking gods!”

It let out another hideous shriek before barreling forward on all six limbs so quickly that large sprays of dirt and greenery, and then massive clouds of sand, flew around it.

“Don’t you fucking dare slow down,” Beverly screamed after them. “No one is slowing down for me when I’m not getting anywhere without you. Get on the fucking ship!”

Kaylar growled in agreement and increased his pace, his huge body flying over the remaining distance. To Meg’s horror, she lost sight of Beverly and E302 the moment they rounded the side of the ship and rushed toward the sealed entrance. For a moment, she imagined that it wouldn’t do anything and they would be trapped on the beach with monsters trying to kill them. It was a waking nightmare that slipped before her eyes. She nearly laughed in relief when, at their approach, the door slid open to admit them and metal interior promptly surrounded them as he plunged inside with Meg secured tightly in his arms.

She barely had time to adjust to the darker interior of the ship when he was gently setting her on her feet and turning her toward the hall to take her deeper into the ship’s interior. Apparently honestly believing she was just going to trot off dutifully and leave him there to rescue Beverly alone, Meg gaped at him in outrage. Like hell she would! She couldn’t believe him.

Furiously, she watched as Kaylar, not even breaking stride, spun around and proceeded to grab weapons from the armory panel on the wall as he shouted orders to Degarath. The ship lit up with a whine that quickly yielded to a loud rumble at his command to initiate all systems to prepare for departure. Meg twitched. A small part of her did want to flee to the relative safety of the ship’s interior, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not with her mate there facing everything. She belonged at his side. With a muttered curse, she grabbed a blaster and raced after him toward the door. Kaylar’s vibrissae rose as he became aware of Meg closing the distance between them. Whipping his head around to look back at her furiously, he adjusted the massive weapon on his shoulder and yanked out a dull cartridge. It was quickly replaced with a glowing one that he slammed into it as he came to a stop at the doorway.

“Meg, do not!” he snarled and she almost stopped right then and there at the sound of desperation in his voice except that her gaze slipped from him, and though it was for less than a second, it was enough.

Eyes widening, her gaze caught on the bedraggled form of a woman careening wild-eyed around the side of the ship with a cry. The polished elegance that Beverly always seemed to wear as if it were armor had been scraped away leaving behind a rawness that came with the struggle to survive that Meg recognized—and the dauntless determination not to just roll over and die despite the odds. Beverly didn’t even glance behind her as she ran. Her jaw jutted out as she streaked clumsily over the sand toward them.

“Cover us!” Meg snapped in reply as she reached out from the ship in preparation to yank the other woman inside.

Ignoring his vehement cursing and the loud hum of his weapon starting up, her eyes followed Beverly frantic, stumbling path across the sand and along the side of the ship. Beverly’s head finally jerked around to glance back as a large burst of sand sprayed behind her. E302 gave a vibrating snarl, its rows of sharp, metallic teeth bared as it slid through the sand, its huge, sail-like tail snapping to catch its balance on the sharp turn. Its mouth gaped wide, its long tongue snaking out, coming dangerously close to Beverly as she stumbled.

“Beverly! Hurry! Grab my hand,” Meg shouted as she reached further out.

“Infuriating female—keep low!” he commanded, his anger evident in the sharpness of his tone.

Meg glanced toward him from the corner of her eye just in time to see a protective thin lid slide over his eyes as he turned toward the creature and took aim. Promptly, she ducked her head against the door as the weapon blasted violently once more. E302 screamed and her head whipped back toward it, her mouth gaping open. Rather than just being slightly charred, this time blood flowed from the massive sail that ran down its body and the entire side of its body was not only blackened but covered with a massive burn that opened into a massive wound where its second leg on that side of its body had been obliterated entirely. It stumbled and its head lashed violently, its tongue snapping as if blindly seeking its prey.

Kaylar cursed viciously. “Again! I should have processed that it was not a fluke. Of course the cannon would not work the same way on a fully mature adult,” he grumbled to himself. “Two shots of a plasma cannon and still not yet dead.”

The weapon hummed with another charge but this time the creature swerved so that it was barely nicked by the second blast. It hissed, its raised lip curling further, and it charged forward, slowed only minimally by the loss of one of its legs.

A short distance ahead, Beverly stumbled and clawed her way forward as she stumbled to her feet again from where she’d dropped to the sand. Meg’s heart jumped, her breath catching. She was going to make it! Kaylar drew back into the ship, rattling off commands to Degarath as Meg waited anxiously, her hand stretched out in front of her. Beverly’s eyes were so wide that Meg could see the white circling her iris and her body stretched as she flew forward and reached in turn for Meg. Her hand closed around Beverly’s and Meg felt a surge of relief. They were going to be okay.

A look of hope filled Beverly’s eyes but quickly shifted to horror as her mouth gaped on a silent scream. Meg’s eyes widened with shock as a tiny, thin wheezing sound escaped the other woman amid the blood trickling from her mouth. Blood sprayed violently as something long and sinuous wrenched from her back. Beverly crumpled into the sand and Meg’s eyes followed the bloody limb, noting the hue of its scales where blood wasn’t splattered. E302 dragged its tail back with a rattling snarl as it slashed forward with its foreclaws, and a spray of blood hit Meg’s horrified face just as Kaylar yanked her back into the safety of the ship.

E302 screamed as it leapt forward over Beverly’s fallen body, its massive head angled for the entrance. Meg flattened herself against Kaylar, her heart leaping up in her throat as it charged them. Its mouth gaped wide and its tongue whipped violently—rapturously she imagined—as it hungrily sought their deaths.

The weapon on Kaylar’s shoulder whined again to gain another charge and his arms tightened around her protectively. E302 tore forward, its head breaching the ship as its mouth widened further. Meg’s fingers dug into her mate’s body suit as everything sped forward, faster than she could adequately react to. In that succession of seconds that filled that small space of time, she was very much aware of the fact that they would not be able to run fast enough to escape death. With the way Kaylar gripped her and curled his body around hers, he was also aware of it. Even if the hull of the ship kept the greater bulk of the creature out—which was doubtful—they would not be able to get enough distance from the reach of its head and long neck to keep from being dragged down by its sharp teeth.

Meg’s breath strangled her and she was almost grateful for it that she wasn’t forced to smell the fetid, hot breath fanning over them, but it was the loud bangs from overhead that kickstarted something within her and she saw a dark shadow drop over the door like an enormous spider plummeting from a web. Kaylar gathered her up and spun them around as something fell with a violent impact that vibrated through the ship. E302 snarled and with the shifting of the shadows that she could see playing along the cargo bay with her limited visibility, she had a sense of its head whipping as it turned on its attacker.

From within her mate’s grasp, she felt him straighten slightly, his vibrissae curling along her skin as he lifted his head. In the next second she was yanked up off the ground and he was charging from the cargo hold, carrying her deeper into the ship. Turning her head toward the entrance, she peered over her mate’s shoulder and Meg’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of the Argurma. His long, unnatural limbs slashed out violently as he grappled with the creature. Blood spraying continuously from its body, E302 dropped beneath his weight with a squeal of rage and it turned its head to rip into the male’s body just as the door closed, blocking her view and sealing them off from the beach completely and the battling ongoing out there.

“Degarath, initiate lift off now— Now! ” Kaylar barked as he thumped onto the command deck and Meg’s head snapped up in shock when he deposited her in a chair near his at the center of the room.

“But what about—”

His vibrissae whipped with the unhappy click of his mandibles. “I will not risk you, anastha. The chance that Doctor Ryder survived her attack is minimal and as for the explorer—” his stared out stubbornly at the enormous screen that dominated the space ahead of them like a giant window. “In his current state he would be a danger to us and himself if he were to board, even more so now following the scientist’s death. The probability of the explorer surviving damage from E302 is also minimal.” His jaw hardened. “He will eliminate E302… for her memory. He will accomplish it one way or another before the gods take him. There is nothing more that can reasonably be done.”

Meg stared at him as the ship vibrated and began to lift up from the beach. She suddenly gaped at him in comprehension. “For her… you mean the Argurma and Beverly—?”

He grunted and settled into his seat. “They were mating compatible. It is why he did not harm her even though he saw the rest of us as a threat in his confusion, and why he had attempted to connect with her before.”

She shook her head sadly. “And now she’s dead.”

There was no use thinking otherwise. The long, sharp spine that tipped E302 sail-finned tail had speared through her and then the claws had raked over her, spilling enough blood that Meg couldn’t hope for anything else. Beverly had come to the island thinking that she would be a part of something special and now she joined everything else that had once been there in death—and soon the alien too for which she’d come.

“That’s so sad,” she murmured.

Kaylar rumbled soothing as he reached across the small distance between their chairs to take her hand. “After all of his suffering, he will have been pleased to at least have had a moment with her, and enjoy the wash of her pheromones over him. Even as brief as it was, it is worth much to find one with the potential of being a mate. That, in itself, is a great pleasure. He will avenge her and know peace when he succeeds.”

She peered over at him curiously. “You are that sure he will?”

Her mate nodded and turned on the screen, giving her a view of the beach as the ship lifted off. The image below them suddenly grew larger and Meg was treated to a view of the Argurma slashing and stabbing at the prone monster lying on the sand. Its blood ran freely, staining the sand but that didn’t slow the male at all as he hacked at it. When his long, spidery arms finally hacked off its head and deposited it beside Beverly before his own large body dropped down beside her in the sand, Meg decided she’d had enough. She looked away, trying not to feel sick at the sight, and met Kaylar’s knowing eyes.

“You see,” he murmured. “Even in death he will present the head to her in hope that they will be reunited in the next world and she will know him and accept him for it.”

She swallowed back a sob, her eyes tearing. As odd as it was to give a head to someone, the fact that he made the effort for Beverly even if she wouldn’t know of it, touched Meg’s heart. “I’m glad,” she whispered.

Kaylar regarded her quietly. “I would have done the same for you. I would give you the head of any of your enemies, such is the height of my devotion.”

Leaning into him, Meg curled her hand over his as her gaze turned briefly back to the screen that showed the rapidly retreating island growing smaller and smaller among the vastness of the blue ocean as their ship rose higher. She was relieved to leave that island of death and depravity behind, though seeing Beverly die created a weight that she didn’t think she would be free of soon. It helped a little knowing that, now she was finally free, there was a new adventure that awaited them. Squeezing her mate’s hand, she managed to find a smile for him.

“Is the ship going to be okay without you for a while.”

He dipped his chin. “I have set the coordinates for the nearest station. We will arrive in a couple of spans—weeks,” he corrected. “We have plenty of time to rest and recover.

She nearly licked her lips but recalled just in time that she was literally covered in blood. “I think I would like to get clean first… would you like to help me wash?”

Purring, he stood and helped her up, his body crowding close to hers. “I look forward to tending to you in all ways for the rest of our days.”

She searched his eyes. “I hope that will be a long time still.”

“A long time,” he agreed. “Our technology provides long, healthy lives. There are a great many things that wait for you to see and experience, and I will be pleased to show you them all.”

She curled into his body, taking comfort in the warmth of his large arms. “And what of your shadows?”

“They do still linger when you are here,” he confessed softly. “But you make them bearable. I would thank the council for sending me to you if not for the fact I am pleased to be rid of them.”

“I am too,” she whispered. “Because of them, I have you. And you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you, Kaylar.”

His eyes brightened and he lowered his head to brush his mouth against hers, his mandibles teasing her cheeks. “And I love you, my anastha. My Meg.”

Happiness settled within Meg, cutting through the shock that still numbed her, as she luxuriated in his kiss. This was no novel and there was no happy-ever-after that she used to dream of in the cold of the camp and the hours of loneliness in the city. This was so much more, and she couldn’t wait to see what the days of their future together held.