Page 23 of Entangled by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #4)

Elyssa

The black armor felt odd to wear—formfitting, protective—yet I felt more exposed than in my several-days-old jumpsuit. That armor had saved Tass’s life more than once, however, so I wasn’t going to complain about a bit of a wedgie. No, this armor was staying on. Tass would want me to wear it too, and I rather liked being in one piece.

It was fully dark by now, and the silent Asrai male was racing the hover vehicle above the trees steadily in one direction. Just after we’d reached the edge of the forest, he’d paused to let Brace and me out of the trailer. I fit on the back of the hover vehicle itself, but Brace still sat inside the trailer, now with the top open. That didn’t mean I was able to see much of him—he’d swathed himself completely in a black cloak and wore the same armor all the mercenaries, and now I, had on.

I didn’t know how long it was going to take for us to get to Tass, and the Asrai did not speak. Brace was also much quieter than I remembered him being, but I’d worry about that later. First, we had to find Tass. How long had it been since we’d left him behind? At least eight hours by my estimation. That was a long time to try to survive with dozens of hunters on your tail. I kept feeling like something was horribly, horribly wrong. He was dying somewhere—alone, cold, confused. I knew it.

I had to muffle a startled scream when the hover vehicle abruptly began to drop between the trees, as my stomach seemed to remain behind. Trees and branches whipped by at uncomfortable speeds, and suddenly I worried that the Asrai steering this thing was going to cause a crash. There was no way anyone could keep up at these speeds and not run into a tree. But we were slowing down—until we came to an abrupt, hovering stop beneath a tall, grayish tree.

My arms ached, and my fingers felt numb from how tightly I’d been clutching the handholds of my seat. Despite that, all I had attention for were my surroundings. Was this where Tass was? I searched left and right and took in every little detail. The ground was muddy, but it hadn’t rained during our journey so far. I could see tracks—a lot of them—and they crisscrossed and seemed to mill about, making it impossible, to my untrained eyes, to detect which way they went. Tass would know—I had no doubt of that—but he couldn’t tell us right now.

There was a long but fairly narrow ravine that bisected the jungle ground here, and some of the tracks seemed to lead right up to it. “Oh no, do you think Tass fell into that?” I asked in a hushed whisper. Neither Brace nor the Asrai, Solear, answered, but I heard the whisper of Brace’s cloak as he got out of the trailer.

“Park the hover bike. This is where the signal led? Seems awfully busy.” Brace sounded very grim, and I didn’t like that. Did he think this was a recovery rather than a rescue mission? He had always been a pessimist—I remembered that—unable to imagine ever being free or to dream of what he’d want to be if he was. It had taken a lot of urging and nudging to get him to admit his dreams, and even free now, it didn’t appear that he’d gone after them. But dreams could change, just like a person could grow, and I was not the distrustful, lonely person I’d been before Tass. I refused to lose hope.

My boots sank deeply into the muddy ground, and as I walked around the hover vehicle, I left deep tracks that looked similar to the ones already there. Did that mean they were fresh? I had no clue. “Careful,” Brace said. “Whoever made those might still be there.” For less than a second, I felt his warm paw rest on my shoulder, the press of his claws against my armor-clad body. Then he was moving away, his cloak swathing him in shadows. “Let’s set up the cannon, Solear. I have a feeling they might be watching.”

I felt useless and restless as I watched the two males work in tandem—silently but effectively. Though there were minor hiccups, Brace kept moving so that not even his crewmate could see into his hood, and Solear kept snarling viciously whenever Brace got too close. Despite those little bumps in their cooperation, a large laser cannon on a tripod quickly took shape, set up between two tall trees, partially behind the cover of a large, twisted root system. It was as if they were expecting enemies to come back along the tracks already made. They were taking very serious precautions to be able to fight them off.

All of it felt like a waste of time when Tass had to be nearby, injured or dying. I did not want to contemplate the “or worse” scenario, but it flashed through my mind anyway. We had to start looking for him, and I was certain he had to be down in the chasm I could see stretching left and right. If I had to bet money, I was certain he’d be in a spot at the bottom, right where those tracks came up to the edge. It was way too easy to picture Tahirel or De’tor, maybe both, standing there, gloatingly peering down at his wounded, injured body.

“I can’t wait for this,” I muttered, and I began to walk around the edge of the roots, focused on that one spot by the ravine. He had to be there. Solear growled furiously, like a mad Ferai beast, and I saw his hand flash forward as if he meant to grab me. At the last moment, he stopped, then twisted to give Brace a furious glare. I wasn’t quite sure what happened or what he was thinking, but the next moment, the Asrai planted a hand on the root system and leaped over it. He was running through the mud to the edge of the ravine, the first drops of a new rainstorm falling down on him as he went.

I followed after him, relieved that nobody tried to stop me. My boots skidded in the wet mud as I came up to the very edge I’d been picturing Tahirel and De’tor standing at. Side by side with the scary Asrai male, we peered down into the dark, narrow ravine. My ears twitched as they searched for sounds, for any sign of life. I heard the rushing of water instead, and horror filled me as I realized what it meant. “The ravine is flooding! He’ll drown if he’s down there!”

Solear twisted his head my way, and suddenly I was staring into a pair of glowing red eyes set deep inside his sockets. The deathmask that marked his face made it look like a skull, and in the dark, with his black armor, it almost seemed to float. It was possibly the creepiest thing I’d ever seen. Then he bared his teeth, and they were not like the normal teeth of my people, with their slightly sharper canines, or like those of most Asrai. No, his were filed down to needle-sharp points, making him look utterly feral and dangerous.

“Got it,” he said, teeth clacking together. I wasn’t sure what he had, but he was clearly convinced he had it. Did he mean he understood the dangers of that ravine flooding—both for any rescue attempt and for Tass? I was so confused, but all that faded to the background when Solear stepped all the way to the edge, his toes right up to the craggy, very unstable-looking drop. Then he turned around and appeared to step right off it. I jerked forward, my hand on my mouth to muffle a shocked scream, and discovered that he’d shot some kind of rope and anchor into the rock as he fell. He was calmly rappelling down. That was the craziest move I’d ever seen someone make, and that was saying a lot since Tass could do some very crazy things.

Fumbling around the belt with supplies that came with the armor I’d pulled on in the dark of that little trailer, I tried to locate a light source. There—several of them. They were small and portable, and I dropped one into the ravine after Solear so I could see what was happening. And then I saw him: Tass. My poor mate lay at the bottom, just as I’d pictured, and right next to him, Tahirel. They both looked dead from the fall. But I refused to believe that.

***

Tasseloris

Something stung my neck—a sharp pinch of the skin right above the collar of my armor. Blinking unsteadily, my vision danced when I opened my eyes, but it quickly began to resolve into shapes and colors: red, black, white, and something bright and glowing. It was Aramon—he’d come back for me. No, that wasn’t Aramon. It was… “Solear?” I croaked in confusion. That couldn’t be right. Why would he be here? Solear didn’t leave the Varakartoom unless his brother was at his side—for missions and little else. I had to be mistaken.

Then he bared his teeth, and the needle-sharp rows were a dead giveaway. Groaning, I began to struggle to sit up. Everything was hurting again, but most especially my left temple, where a shooting pain radiated through the rest of my head. “Is Elyssa safe?” I asked, certain that I wouldn’t get an answer from this particular male. To my surprise, he lifted a hand and pointed straight up. At first, my heart skipped a beat, worried he meant she’d died and gone to meet her ancestors. But no, he meant it literally—she was standing at the top of the ravine, peering down at Solear and me with a light in her hand.

The ravine… Everything that had led me here came rushing back, and I began to assess my injuries and the situation. If Solear and Elyssa were here, that had to mean more support was waiting at the top. My injuries made moving awful, and Solear wasn’t offering any kind of help, warily keeping his distance. I touched the skin of my neck and felt the tiny hole of an injection mark. A shot of Dravion’s replenishing stimulants—that would work.

“Nelly?” I asked. She wasn’t with us, but maybe she’d fled at Solear’s approach. I could hear a faint rushing of water and felt trembling beneath my feet; that wasn’t good. “We have to get out of here. It’s going to flood.” Solear nodded, then pointed, and I drew in a relieved breath at the sight of a rope-and-pulley system. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but the harness would do the climbing for me. That was good because I didn’t have any strength for climbing left in me. I wasn’t even sure how I’d gotten upright.

With plodding step after plodding step, I made it to the rope, breathing painfully through my mouth as I went. My left arm was useless, hanging limply at my side. I was without vines or sails now and felt oddly bare without them to aid me. No matter—I needed only that harness to get up there. To Elyssa, who was waiting for me at the edge of the ravine. My head ached, my thoughts were muddy. The harness—I had to get it hooked to my armor—but my fingers felt clumsy as I grabbed hold of it and pulled.

Hissing, Solear stepped forward and snatched the harness from my limp fingers. I blearily thanked him when he strapped it to what remained of my armor. “The water is coming,” I warned him, although I was pretty sure he already knew that. He’d gone up the wall at my side, and though he had no rope to help him, it was obvious he intended to climb up with me. Okay, let’s go. I flicked the switch, and up I went, slow but steady, bumping along the rock as I went. Solear kept up with me, using his claws and the boosters in his armor to keep pace. He made the climb seem enviously easy, my body aching just thinking about having to go through those kinds of motions.

Something tickled at the back of my brain. Elyssa, Nelly. They were here, but so was someone else… I groaned and touched my head, feeling like my skull was splitting in two from the pain. Someone had shot me in the temple, and I couldn’t sense or control the Iredese on that side any longer. Who’d done that? Tahirel? No, that male lay dead at the bottom of the ravine. All I had to do was glance down to confirm that—his body lay at odd angles, sprawled below, long, pale hair fanning out around his head.

If it wasn’t Tahirel who was the danger, then it had to be… My chin shot up, my eyes meeting Elyssa’s where she was waiting for me high above. She’d gone down to her hands and knees to safely peer over the edge, and all her focus was on me. She wouldn’t see the danger coming; she wouldn’t know about it until it was too late! I began to shout a warning, and her eyes went wide as she turned to look behind her.