Page 9 of Fated to the Hunter (Xarc’n Warriors #13)

I wanted to roar in triumph. The beautiful female with fire-kissed hair was in my arms, her soft body pressed tight against mine as we shared the human ritual of mouth mating.

I felt the way her mouth moved, every press of her lips, slide of her tongue, and sigh of her breath, all the way down my spine.

Heat slammed into my gut, making my blood rise and my cock throb. It promised an excitement even better than the most glorious battle. Better, and different.

Kiera had smelled good, but she tasted even better.

She was addictive, sweet, wild, and full of fire.

I couldn’t get enough. My arms tightened around her, pulling her closer until there was no space left between us.

The soft curves of her body molded to mine so perfectly, like they were made for me.

She whimpered into my mouth, and I growled low in response, deep in my chest, the sound vibrating between us.

“Incoming message from Tech Wizard Sam.”

My shuttle’s much-too-loud and blaring announcement had Kiera finally breaking our connection with a gasp. She shoved away, eyes wide and looking around the shuttle, like she thought someone was there.

“It is my shuttle speaking,” I explained.

“Oh! It’s female. And very, um, robotic.”

My shuttle’s voice had always been more measured than many others, but it had been like that since the very beginning. As for being female, I’d always just assumed it thought of itself as female. Just because there weren’t any female hunters didn’t mean there could be no female hunter shuttles.

There was even a PIP model named Pippa. Even though my shuttle wasn’t a super-intelligent PIP model, it still had its own personality. Most shuttles did.

“Hello, shuttle,” Kiera said.

My shuttle did not reply

I pulled Sam’s communication. She’d elected to stay at New Franklin to work on the mothership instead of returning to our camp, and Kan’n had stayed with her. The communication was addressed to both me and Kiera.

Lenny and I looked up the first set of coordinates. We were wrong, it’s not the Griffith Observatory. It’s some rich guy’s mansion. It’s massive. And we’re not sure how it relates to the riddle but it’s close to the observatory, so if you don’t find anything at the mansion you can go there too.

Bad news? Both locations are just west of the LA nest.

Good news? According to satellite imaging, the scourge stick to the city proper, so there’s a safe… well, safer… paths through the parkland. I attached the latest image.

Call us if you need anything. Good luck!?

Kiera went to the screen and tried to zoom in. But again, my shuttle ignored her. I hadn’t given her access to it yet, so I did it for her instead.

She frowned. “Do you have a copy of the treasure map? That’s what the Tech Wizards are calling it now. Not this one,” she said, gesturing to the screen. “The one from the market.”

“I do. I was instructed to download it earlier today from your Archive of Knowledge.”

“It’s just a website,” she said, laughing.

“Is it not your specialty?”

She wrinkled her nose. “How do I explain… I manage and preserve records and information. Mostly digital things from before the collapse. But in my spare time, I run Kiera’s Corner of Tech and Specs for fun.

It’s a website with information people might need to keep their survivor group running.

The Tech Wizards use it a lot. And if they can’t find something there, they make a request, and I search for it. ”

She did this for fun? It sounded like difficult work. But I understood now.

“I see. Your title makes more sense now. You really are the Keeper of Knowledge.”

Her face went bright red. “Oh, no. I’m not. Really. I just find and store stuff. I don’t really… I’m not a ‘keeper’”—she wiggled two fingers on each hand twice—“or anything like that. It’s not a title, it’s just a nickname. I’m a nobody.”

I didn’t like that. She was very clearly somebody. If she were nobody, then why would the Tech Wizards help?

“What is this riddle?” I asked, referring to the riddle on the map. “My translator tells me it is a word game, but how does a word game work on a map?

“Here,” she said, pointing to a line of words that I hadn’t even noticed at first glance, thinking it was decoration.

“Point to the stars with a question, and there you will find the answer,” she read out loud.

Then she groaned, sounding annoyed. “It’s so cryptic, I’m surprised so many people are willing to help us look for it.

I mean, what if this is all just some joke and there’s nothing at the end to show for it? ”

Was this what she feared? That her mission would be for naught?

“We will not know if we do not try.” I’d heard the humans at the camp say this many times, and now I understood its meaning. Whatever she sought, it must be important.

She turned to me, looking pensive. After a long moment, she turned back to her map.

“I was so sure it was the observatory. It made sense with the riddle, you know, the whole ‘point to the stars’ thing. And I didn’t think anyone would loot the observatory.

But if it’s a mansion, it could be completely looted out.

The guy who made this map was the eccentric type; what if he used a physical key for shits and giggles? ”

I grimaced at the strange human saying. Humans had many of them, and they were all very creative.

I focused on the path to our destination instead.

Flying straight there was not an option.

According to the map, we needed to enter the area through the southwest, following a series of natural parklands.

But once inside the Dead Zone itself, we’d have to plan our route as we went since conditions inside changed quickly.

I sent a message to the hunters working on containing that particular Dead Zone, and was surprised to find out they were already expecting us.

The Tech Wizards had already briefed them on our mission.

They’d even devised a plan to use sonar lures and repellants to increase our odds of survival upon entry and exit.

But other than that, we’d be on our own.

That was the thing about Dead Zones. No one would be coming to save us.

“You are very brave,” I said. I was still shocked she sought to enter such a dangerous location, regardless of how important her quest.

“Brave? Me? Not at all. I’m terrified. And just to be extra honest, I wasn’t planning on going along if those nomads took the job. It’s crazy enough without having to babysit me. I’m a liability. You’re the brave one.”

The other shuttles around us were lifting off, and I did so as well, falling into formation. We were off.

I watched Kiera’s reaction as she looked around my shuttle. It was the same as every other hunter’s craft, with the bare minimum required to do our job. What did she think of it?

I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter since I wasn’t looking for a mate, but I’d still found myself madly cleaning up the place before she arrived, disposing of the wax food bar wrappers that had accumulated on my counters, and shoving my weapons unceremoniously into the cabinet.

Jorg’k suddenly flew into my airspace, breaking formation just a bit. I focused on his shuttle, then noticed what he was trying to tell me without words: our shuttles had caught the attention of the day’s first flyers.

I suddenly regretted not taking one of the New Franklin hunters offer to help me install an extra seat, one taken from an Earth-made vehicle, so that Kiera would be comfortable in my shuttle. She wouldn’t be properly strapped down if I had to make evasive maneuvers.

Luckily, our group stage stayed just ahead of the flyers, and they soon gave up.

But now I was thinking of Jorg’k. The infuriating warrior was probably going to the Great Plains camp just so he’d be one step closer to the Los Angeles Dead Zone. I bet he was eager to come charging in to rescue us. Well, he was going to be disappointed because I wouldn’t give him the chance!