Page 95 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

95

Leviathan Attack

S adie

Ohmygod, ohmygod. Look at my male, the guy I love dangling down below. He’s way too close to the water’s surface.

My new friends are no longer looking for predators attacking from behind us. They’re all leaning over the canyon wall assessing the situation.

“The vine is about to break in two,” Ryo says.

“Dear Lord,” I say quietly, then, “Anubis! Snap out of it and climb up here. I need you.” If there’s anything that can get him moving again, it will be to protect me.

He shakes his head to collect his thoughts, then begins the climb. I think I’m going to have a heart attack when one of the vines snaps off in his hand. Luckily, one hand was above that point and is still holding on, but that vine is holding on by a thread from where it was almost cut in two by a sharp, rocky outcropping.

“Oh, no,” Zrini says. It’s not an alarmed shout, more like a whisper at someone’s gravesite.

I don’t know what she sees that I don’t, but a second later I notice the leviathan speeding toward my mate.

If I could climb down there and haul him up, I’d do it in a heartbeat. All I can do is stand here and watch him fight his own life-and-death battle.

I’d said I loved him that night after he killed the cave bear. He had already morphed into his beast form and couldn’t talk, but I knew I cared about him. Maybe it was the adrenaline mixed with a smidgeon of pity. I don’t know. I can’t second guess that.

But right now, as I squat at the edge of the precipice, feeling as helpless as a human can feel while I watch him battle both the elements and his own body, I no longer wonder if this is real love. My heart is aching for him. This isn’t pity or adrenaline or crazy circumstances. This is true love.

“I love you, Anubis,” I scream so loud it hurts my throat. “Move your ass!”

“I love you, Sadie,” he says as he does, indeed, move that fine ass of his.

He spoke! Whatever awful chemical the Feds were pumping through his body is clearing his system. I can’t feel an iota of relief, though, until he crests the top of the precipice. My hands are pressed together as I watch, helpless, my heart pounding in my chest.

Hand over hand over hand, he rises as the leviathan speeds toward him.

“Is he going to make it?” I whisper, hoping one of the others can see a way my male’s going to make it out of this alive.

“I don’t know,” a few of them murmur.

I wish they would have lied.

Anubis

My mind is no longer fuzzy. I can think. I push all the pain out of my mind, as well as any worries about whether I can make it out alive. I move as fast as my body will go, calling on every resource inside of me.

I want to live, but more importantly, I need to get back to the top of this canyon to help Sadie. She’s so small. She needs a protector, even though she’s smarter than almost anyone I’ve ever met.

I don’t have to look down to see the beast’s location. I can hear him. My arms move as fast as is possible as I hear him breach the water. I allow two more handholds, then tuck my knees toward my chest when I know he’s closing in on me.

I smell his hot, fetid breath, but feel nothing. He’s missed his chance. By the time he falls back into the water and takes his next leap, I will have reached the ledge.

I scramble over the top with the help of both males pulling me onto the firm, level soil. Sadie’s face is always a light tan, but now her skin is almost white and her green eyes are huge in her beautiful face.

“Do you have any idea how close that bastard came to biting you in half?” she whispers.

“No.” I’m not sure I want to know.

Erwann answers for her when he says, “If you hadn’t tucked your legs up, the beast would have eaten everything below your waist.

I’m still lying on the ground with Sadie tucked next to me as she hugs me harder than I would have thought possible. I look up at the sky and pant as relief floods my body.

For a male who thought he couldn’t experience emotions, I’m brimming with them now. Terror is still pulsing through me, but warring for supremacy in my mind is my love for my female.

“You can speak,” she says as she smoothes her palm down my cheek. The expression on her face is overflowing with love.

“Aye.” I mimic her, placing my palm on her face, wishing I could wipe away all the fear she must have felt as she watched that beast almost eat me.

“Your eyes are blue again.” She leans to kiss them, first one closed eyelid, then the other.

I tug her close, breathing in her scent and giving thanks that I was given even one extra moment with this female. My female.

“I hate to say this,” Shah says, “but we’ve only got a few hours, and although Zedd said the camp would be an easy walk from here, I, for one, don’t believe a word she says.”

“Yes,” says Ryo. “Who knows what else the network has in store for us.”

Jahzara Zedd

“Motherfucker!” I fume under my breath as my personal bot applies my makeup.

I did everything within my power to ensure all the contestants who survived to this point would die in a tragic accident. I was fully prepared to blame it all on the engineer. It would be the end of his career, but the press I would have received would have catapulted my career even further.

I would have gotten sympathy from fans all over the galaxy. Poor Jahzara Zedd, she’d developed relationships with all the contestants and lost them all, poor thing. That’s why I came to this forsaken primitive planet for the finale.

Now, look at me.

“Miss Zedd,” Kartom announces, “Commander Pleer is holding on comm for you.”

Shit. That male is high up in the Federation. I did not want to incur his wrath.

“Hello, Comman—”

“You will shut up and listen,” he seethes. His gray face is so angry his thin lips are vibrating. “I knew you would fuck this up. I set course for Ultera the moment I terminated our last comm. It’s apparent you’re incapable of performing even the simplest task. I’m bringing enlisted Federation soldiers as well as two geneslaves.” I see them in the background of his vid-comm—creepy looking things. “I’m going to take down that animal on galaxy-wide vid if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Yes, Sir. Great idea,” I enthuse.

He gets so angry his skin turns a mottled purple and his mouth puckers into something reminiscent of an asshole.

This powerful male is pure, raging fury.

“If you weren’t a highly visible civilian, Miss Zedd, you’d be dead within the next twenty-four hours.”