Page 2 of Entangled by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #4)
Elyssa
I knelt beneath a tall bush, the wet dirt seeping into my pants. Why was I in the woods again? Right, because everyone and their brother was after me right now. My fingers flew to the Caratan chain that stretched from my nose ring to my earlobe. The marks of my family and clan were familiar shapes against the pads of my fingers. I’d done this a million times—touched them for good luck, as a reminder that I was not alone. But I was alone.
Ever since Elpherian died, I had been alone. I was all that was left of our family, all that remained of a once-prestigious and important Elrohirian line. I felt the weight of that resting heavily on my shoulders. Not for the first time, I wondered if this burden had made my brother turn toward crime. Huffing, I dismissed that notion. No, Elpherian was an asshole, and he’d done what he’d done for the money—not to save our family line. If that had been the case, he would have tried to arrange a good marriage for me. But instead, he’d kept me locked up on his damn ship or in his mansion—under his thumb, where he could control every move I made.
Curling my lip, I batted away a fluttering bug and imagined I was slapping Elpherian’s smug face instead. It was odd how I could be sad that he was dead and immensely relieved at the same time. Not that he’d done me any favors by dying—not really. I might no longer be under his damn control, but I still hadn’t had many choices.
Narrowing my eyes at the clearing, I wondered if I’d made a mistake by coming here. What if Brace didn’t come through for me? Dealing with a Hoxiam was dangerous business; they weren’t exactly known for their warm, fuzzy feelings or their generous hearts. Generous appetite? Yes. Kindness? No. But Brace had been a gladiator coming through crimelord Jalima’s stables when I met him. We’d bonded because we were both trapped in lives we did not want. When Brace escaped, he’d left me a way to contact him. He didn’t need to do that, so I had to believe that he really wanted to help me if he could.
Regardless, I had dirt on the crimelord who had hurt him. I was pretty sure he’d help me for that reason alone. It was hard to be patient and wait when I knew danger lurked just around the corner. I hadn’t been able to shake my tail, so getting to Viridase Six had not gone unnoticed by Elpherian’s former friends. Had I managed to shake them in the port city, Bloom? I hoped so, but I was no expert at this kind of thing. Subterfuge and lies were Elpherian’s game, not mine. I’d been too isolated most of my life to develop much in the way of street knowledge and people skills.
Tall trees rose high around the clearing, which remained bare of the otherwise verdant foliage because of the rocky ground. Birds darted low across the sturdy grass that did grow there, snatching insects from the air that buzzed and swarmed close to a small pond. It was both macabre and pretty; that feeding frenzy looked like a dance.
Darkness was rapidly falling, and with it came a damp cold that bathed my skin and raised bumps along my flesh. My snazzy jumpsuit and tall boots had seemed very appropriate for a walk in the woods that morning, but I was beginning to realize I wasn’t dressed warmly enough for a night on Viridara Six. I should have brought a coat—maybe some food—because I’d been waiting for a while, and dinnertime had come and gone. Where was Brace, damn it? Why was he taking so long?
The rustling in the bushes behind me made me twitch. I craned my head left and right, searching for the source. I should have brought a light too since I’d left my comm behind in my hotel room. This was crazy. It was probably just some animal—nothing to worry about. Or was it? I didn’t remember much about the animal life on this planet, and Brace had set this location for our meeting. When I’d taken the shuttle transport to the edge of the city, there had been warning signs aimed at hikers. What did they say?
With a rising sense of unease, I recalled that they had warned me about returning before dark or being prepared for the consequences. What consequences? Wasn’t I in enough trouble already? The rustling noise came again, spooking me enough that I crawled farther into my bush. Hunkering down as low as I dared, I wondered how many bugs and worms were keeping me company right now. “I’m far too skinny—all bone,” I muttered under my breath at what was probably an imaginary predator. “I don’t make good eating, I swear.”
Ironic that I had been worried about getting eaten by the local fauna when I was meeting up with a Hoxiam. Brace’s species was known for preferring a steady diet of sentient beings. I had heard more than once that Elrohirian and human flesh was at the top of their list. Supposedly, we tasted very good, even raw. Now thoroughly freaked out, I considered crawling away and forgetting about the whole thing.
If I gave Elpherian’s ex-goons what they were after, maybe they’d leave me alone and I could get on with my life. It was that “maybe” that kept me rooted in place. Maybe they would let me go—maybe. They could just as soon take the intel and then have their way with me or sell me on the black market. A single, unprotected Elrohirian female? I was easy pickings for males like them.
The rustling was getting louder, but it was also moving away from me. I froze, waiting, my eyes as wide as they could go as I searched for any sign of what it could be. When I finally saw them, my stomach clenched painfully and my breath caught in my lungs. It was them. They had followed me here. I had to get out—right now. I began to crawl backward, out of my bush and around the tall trunk of a tree. If I’d had my comm, I might have tried to get a warning out to Brace, but I didn’t, so the point was moot.
I was still wrestling with the guilt of putting him in danger when I rounded the next tree. I’d put enough distance between myself and the noise that I risked getting to my feet so I could start running, but I glanced over my shoulder one last time to make sure I wasn’t being followed. What I saw made me freeze again, my toes digging into the dirt, horror coursing through me. A surface-to-air missile? What the blazing stars?
Three males of various species were rolling the missile out of the trees and into the clearing. A fourth was sitting astride it, working the controls as rapidly as he could while his tail lashed wildly behind him. I saw the approaching shuttle above the trees then, though I hadn’t heard it yet—a black dot with blue streaking out the back, its glow making it easy to see against the dark sky. It was not a standard shuttle, but one that was sleek and fast.
Not fast enough. The males in the clearing were faster as they armed their deadly weapon. It launched with a flash of light and several shouts as people ducked for cover. A shockwave caught me by surprise, hitting me in the chest and sending me tumbling through the wet underbrush. My head collided with a tree root, and my vision went blurry. A roaring noise drowned out all other sounds, deafening in its intensity. I blinked and fought to regain my equilibrium as I struggled to my feet, only to stumble a second time when something struck the ground with devastating force.
It felt like the world trembled, my legs shaking so badly that I dropped to my knees. Trees shook so violently that leaves fluttered to the ground around me. At the same time, the night lost some of its chill and darkness made way for orange and red light: fire. I didn’t want to look and see if it was true, but my head moved of its own accord.
There, in the clearing I’d debated entering not even that long ago, Elpherian’s goons were packing up their devastating weapon while whooping and laughing. They knew they’d done what they came here for—or at least one of the things they were after. Further beyond them, trees were on fire, and a surprisingly large shape lay smoking and burning. That was what remained of the shuttle, and I could not imagine that anyone aboard had survived that horrible crash or the missile that had struck it.
As if it weren’t already deadly enough, I saw dark shapes moving closer to the fire, laser rifles in their arms. They were nothing but shadows against the fire—silhouettes—but it was enough to reveal their deadly intentions. If someone had survived that crash, they were here to finish them off. I felt terribly sorry for Brace; I had never intended for him to get hurt. I shouldn’t have reached out to him after Elpherian’s death. This was my fault.
I felt dizzy and nauseated, but I had to get moving. If I stayed here, they would find me. Then I’d be as dead as Brace and whoever else was on that shuttle. I could not let my stolen information fall back into the hands of the wrong people; otherwise, they would have died in vain. I bit my lip and held back the tide of emotions that clogged my throat. This was certainly not what those goons had intended, but my resolve to see this through had only grown stronger. No more waffling, no backing down. If Brace couldn’t help me, I’d find a way to get this intel into the hands of as many media outlets as possible. The newsfeeds would have a field day with what I held. I owed it to the one male who had tried to be my friend once upon a time.
At first, the roaring fire and the shouting voices made enough noise to cover my tracks. Still dizzy, I struggled to make good time, and then the darkness won out over the fire's light. Where was the trail that led back to the city? Was it even safe to follow it back toward Bloom? I needed to get aboard a ship and out of here as soon as possible, but surely they were expecting a move like that.
Biting my lip, I forced myself to face the dark, humid jungle interior instead. One foot in front of the other—just keep walking. Distance was all that mattered. I’d figure out where to go from here when daylight returned.
It never got that far. I thought I’d covered my tracks, that the darkness and the noise had hidden me. I was wrong. Their voices came to me first, loud enough that I could understand them word for word. They were blatant about it, letting me know they were hunting me and that escape was futile. “There she is. You can run, but you can’t hide, little Batan!” one of them jeered loudly. He wasn’t wrong. I could now hear their footsteps to my left and my right, brush cracking and rustling as they did nothing to hide their presence.
Breaking into a run, I gave it my best shot anyway. I was not giving up without a fight. No way—I owed Brace better than that. With a stitch in my side and my thighs burning, I zigzagged around trees and headed straight toward a rock formation rising out of the jungle ahead of me. Its shape was dark, looming, and threatening, and I vaguely recalled it as a landmark feature from one of the tourist brochures in my hotel lobby.
What was it about that place? Some creature that lived there? Caves? I couldn’t remember, but it was my one anchor in the dark—a way to orient myself and keep going. Everything hurt now; I hadn’t known running was this painful. My breathing was coming so fast that it burned in my throat, every step jarring up my legs, and even my sturdy boots seemed unable to offer the right support for this terrain.
They were hunting me to exhaustion—that’s what it felt like—following me as they herded me toward the rocky landmark. Did they know what was there? Did they know something I did not? Thinking was hard when panic rode me this hard, and the lack of oxygen didn’t help. Did I swerve? Double back and hope they missed me?
When a huge boulder suddenly rose in front of me as I swerved around a thick tree, I was forced to abruptly skid to a stop. My hands collided with a slap against the stone surface, the stinging pain reverberating up my arms. A dead end—how had that happened? I turned and pressed my back to the rock, my hands fumbling as I tried to free the laser pistol from my bag. I’d bought it on the black market during my months on the run, but I’d never fired it before.
“Stay back!” I warned the first male who stepped around the tree, and I raised my weapon with trembling hands. “I mean it. Stay back, or I’ll shoot you.” The male was Elrohirian like I was—tall, elfin, with a Caratan chain decorating his sharp cheek. Behind him, more males followed: a Pretorian, two Rummicaron, and a Kertinal. I heard more rustling in the woods, so I knew this wasn’t all of them, and already it was overwhelming to me.
So many of them, and all of them dangerous. How could I possibly escape this? The feeling of despair was overpowered by my sheer need for oxygen, my lungs heaving like bellows to pull more precious air into my chest, while my side continued to ache something fierce. I felt as weak as a Batan pup, barely able to keep the barrel of my pistol aimed at the chest of the male in the lead. I knew it was desperate, and they knew it too.
The Elrohirian grinned—a sinister, malicious kind of smile that reminded me uncomfortably much of my dead brother. “I don’t think so. You can shoot me, but you’ll never be fast enough to shoot all of us. You are trapped, female.” He smirked as if he took great pleasure in that. “Shoot me, and all you do is make this incredibly painful for yourself. What’s the point?” Ah, he made that sound so reasonable. The jerk. Nothing better than the threat of bodily harm to make a person cooperate. Come to think of it, that had been my brother’s favorite tactic too.
Out of sheer spite, my finger squeezed the trigger. They all deserved a cold walk in the vacuum of space. May the god of darkness and ice claim their souls.