Page 6 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)

M eg groaned, her eyes fluttering open. What hit her and how hard? She immediately squinted as a blindingly bright light hit her eyes. What the hell?

She blinked again, focusing on a brightly glowing fixture above her head. Power? Where was she? Had someone found her and taken her back to the city? Or perhaps this was another city that she hadn’t heard of.

Her head was stuffy as if filled with cotton wool and the world tilted a little when she pushed herself up onto her elbows, nearly making her hurl. Swallowing back the pile, Meg turned onto her side, dragging air in and out of her lungs in tiny little pants as she took a better look around at her surroundings.

Everywhere she looked was dull, muted metal. There wasn’t a sign of plaster or wood anywhere, just a faint, barely perceptible gleam where the light hit the walls. She had thought the peeling green paint of the hospital she raided more than a few times looking for supplies had been cold and sterile, but this room beat that, hands down. In fact, it was unlike anything she’d seen before. The bed she laid on was familiar enough in form, but the walls contained various panels and devices for purposes that she couldn’t even begin to guess at.

It actually reminded her a little of the ship she had been crowded into with the other women when Terri’s alien transported them all from Phoenix to the City. Her breath caught as she recalled the glowing eyes staring down at her. They were a touch more violet than the brilliant blue of the alien her friend ran off with, but they had been mistakable. A shaky smile spread across her face as she glanced around.

Had Terri come back and saved her? Tears gathered in her eyes as she strained to peer around the room despite the exhaustion pervading her body from lack of decent sleep and massive dehydration subsisting alone as she had been. It made no sense since there was nothing on Earth worth returning to, but if Terri was back, then that meant Meg would no longer be alone and she would have someone in her corner who genuinely cared about her and whom she cared about in turn.

She half expected to see Terri hovering somewhere, waiting for her to recover. Her smile dipped a little. But why would they use something against her to knock her out? It didn’t make any sense. A wary prickle raced up her back as she craned her neck and pushed herself up into a seated position.

“Hello?” she croaked anxiously.

Silence, except for the whirl of some unseen mechanics, answered. Not only was no one in the room with her but no one hurried in through the door in response to her call, either. No one appeared to be there at all, in fact.

The muscles in her neck stiffened with tension as she slowly swung one leg and then the other over the side of the bed, her eyes sliding over the sterile interior surrounding her. Along one wall there was some sort of gadget installed with a clear door over it and just beyond that was a large panel with several buttons. There was another flat panel near the door but otherwise the room was completely empty of any kind of décor or sign that anyone inhabited it at all.

Sliding forward, Meg tested the stability of her weight on one leg before lowering the other beside it and pushing it from the bed, her every movement carried out slowly, cautiously as if she were waiting for the worst to happen. She didn’t know what she was drugged with or how it might still be affecting her so it was best for her to take everything slow for the time being.

When she was finally completely upright and stable, Meg made her way over to the nearest panel, ignoring the machine installed next to it, with its numerous buttons, completely. She eyed the alien script, her fingers lightly tracing over them thoughtfully. One appeared slightly smudged and worn as if someone had touched it more often than the others. Wincing, she braced herself as she pressed it in and jumped when a loud chime rang out overhead. The sharp bark of a deep masculine voice accented by numerous hisses and clicks so abruptly that she immediately backed away from the panel, her eyes skimming the ceiling in a panic. She didn’t recall this. How was he speaking to her? Worst, she didn’t have Terri there to translate this time, leaving her at the full mercy of the alien snarling at her from some unseen place.

The voice quieted to a soft murmur and a rumbling hissed sound that might have been a sigh. Maybe. The silence suddenly broke by a sharp exclamation that was followed by another chime before silence descended once more.

She couldn’t move—and could barely risk breathing—as her muscles knotted with her rapidly rising fear that shot higher as she eventually heard the heavy thump and light scuff of footsteps approaching her door until they finally came to a halt and the door slid open. Meg swallowed back a scream.

This was definitely not Terri’s alien. This was a complete stranger who was larger and far more brutal in appearance, his heavily muscled arms bared completely rather than sheathed in the material of his suit so that she could see the marks of circuitry that crawled over him and the numerous dark horn-like spines that pushed through his skin just above his wrists and along his forearms appearing even more brutal. She couldn’t pretend that they were merely creative extension of his black, formfitting, armor. Not when the flesh raised and split around them, the edges. Those on his shoulders were encased by the thick armor but she had little doubt that they were just like the others. Despite possessing a larger, brutal appearance with harder and more angular features, she was surprised to see that the strange whip-like extensions dropping down from his head in place of hair had a far more sedate appearance than those of the last alien she met.

She wasn’t decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It could mean that he had a calmer, even temperament or it could mean that she barely rated above a bug to him, one that he could easily crush and who posed no threat—prey.

Meg slid back a wary step as he strode briskly toward her, her gaze flickering around for a possible escape route around him. Regardless of his intentions, she didn’t like being trapped there and backed into a corner by some guy she didn’t know. This wasn’t Terri’s alien who barely glanced at the other women, his eyes only for the human woman he claimed. This was a predator and one who stared into her like he wanted to sink his teeth into her, his eyes blazing with a heat that had before only been reserved for her friend.

Her heart fluttered in her breast with panic, but despite that, anger raced through her, flushing her skin with heat. Not again. She refused to be at the whim and mercy of another male. As he drew near, his hand rose with a metallic sort of syringe in his hand that could contain literally anything.

She wasn’t about to let him inject her with some alien shit that would potentially make her even more vulnerable to him.

With a snarl, she stepped into him rather than away, bringing her arm up as she drew her blade in one smooth motion from the strap at her thigh. Something like surprise registered in his eyes but then he moved and when he did it was the speed of a rattlesnake as his other hand snapped up so fast that she didn’t even see it, capturing her wrist effortlessly. He did so with barely a flicker of expression on his face outside of the puffing and rapid stir of the whip-things on his head with a rattling hiss as his hand blurred as she felt a sharp stab and pinching sensation in her skull just behind her ear.

Despite the speed and ferocity of his movements, his voice rumbled with a soft purr in a soothing tone. Meg blinked up at him, her mind a dizzying jumble as he continued to speak and sounds seemed to suddenly possess and overlayer that dragged together and warped in a confusing way until suddenly something crystallized with such clarity that she jerked away with surprise.

“There,” he rumbled. “You see that you are unharmed. And you can understand me now.”

It wasn’t a question, but she warily nodded as she backed away from him. She was unharmed and she did understand. That didn’t mean that she trusted him but being able to understand him was more than welcome. To her relief, he didn’t pursue her though his hot gaze tracked her as she moved through the room away from him. She wasn’t sure what to think of this alien. He was larger than the one she’d met before, more frightening, and yet where he had actually physically touched her, he had been gentle and released her quickly as if understanding what she needed most at that moment and respecting her boundaries.

She narrowed her eyes at him, uncertain whether or not this was all a trap. Although he lost an advantage by giving her the ability to understand him, it could just be a means of gaining her trust. Docile prey was more convenient, even for superior predators. He stared back at her, his head dropping so very slightly that it was a barely perceptible nod of acknowledgement. His eyes turned toward the machine installed into the wall.

“Use the replicator as you like to take care of your needs and rest while you can.”

The rumbly purr of his words flowed smoothly. Her gaze flickered over toward the wall, following after his and she frowned.

Use it? How?

“What do you mean ‘while I can?’ And how?” she asked haltingly, her eyes turning back toward where the alien had been standing only to be met with the sound of the door opening and quietly sliding shut, leaving her alone once more in the room.

An irritated sigh escaped her. That was just perfect.

“Now what?”

Her eyes bounced between the door and the machine he called a replicator, her indecision weighing on her. He could still come in and rush her the moment her back was turned. It was the painful twist of her stomach that finally decided her. Muttering a curse under her breath, she gave one last, sharp look toward the door before storming over to the replicator thing, her face screwing up into a stubborn glower. If that thing could produce food then she would figure out a way to get it out one way or another.

Part of her resented the fact that he had not stayed and showed her how to work it even as another part of her acknowledged the wisdom in his decision. If he had taken another step toward her instead of backing away, even for a reason as innocent as showing her how something worked, she would’ve likely flown into a panic. His decision to retreat and give her the opportunity to work it out herself was a smart one and, given her experimentation before, she knew how to reach him if her efforts were useless.

Tipping her head slowly toward one shoulder and then the other, her neck cracked loudly, providing a small relief from the tension as she squared up to the machine.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered.