Page 12 of How To Save Your Human Invader (Coveted Bonds #2)

Chapter twelve

-Bryce-

M y face was wet.

That was the first thing I was aware of; my face was wet, and I was cold. Really cold.

The next thing to register was the absolutely brutal ache that engulfed my entire body. Every muscle felt like it had taken a pummeling.

I groaned and opened my eyes. Dim, blueish-gray shapes swam in front of me. I blinked, and the blueish-gray shapes resolved themselves into a wall of jagged rock, shiny with dampness, and reflecting a pale blue light. As I stared at it, the silence was broken only by the gentle plink plink of water dripping.

So, good news, I wasn’t dead. But where was I?

My brain moved sluggishly, spinning its wheels while it tried to catch up on the last few minutes. With some effort, I rolled onto my back. A ceiling of rock domed far above. In the center, a meager scrap of daylight filtered in from what looked like a partially blocked hole. That must be where the ground had given way; it looked like part of the cliff had caved in and blocked it behind us.

So, I’d fallen into some sort of cave. Objective one completed. Now, where was that dim blue light coming from? I looked around and located the source; strange plants growing on the rock walls that emitted a phosphorescent blue light. They looked a bit like stubby mushrooms, ghostly flowers sprouting from the top and waving as if underwater. The effect was hypnotic.

As I stared at them, my brain pointed out that there were several other objectives I should probably prioritize, i.e., the mysterious alien, and the terrifying monster that had chased me.

The alien had helped me. But why?

I raised a hand to my face and wiped. In the dim, blue light, I could see what looked like blood on my gloved fingers, dark and glistening. The monster had slashed the alien while it had been risking its life for me. I had to find it.

I groaned again and, pausing to rub my head, pushed myself up into a sitting position.

The face of the monster, jaws wide, emerged from the darkness. I cursed and jerked back, before realizing it wasn’t moving. Its body lay in a heap, its face turned towards me as if going for one last bite. The blue light shifted across its thick, mottled skin. Its lipless mouth hung open to show rows of serrated teeth and a long, purple tongue, eyes cloudy and lifeless.

I shivered. If that alien guy hadn’t been there to help me, this thing would have ripped me apart, even with my armor.

I dragged my eyes away from the horror. Scanning my surroundings, I couldn’t see any sign of the alien, just cold rock and glowing plants.

It had fallen with me; I remembered the feeling of its arms around me as we’d tumbled through the air, the way it’d been wrenched away from me with a sudden jolt that knocked the air out of me. Maybe it’d recovered and left. Or maybe it was lying somewhere in a twisted heap just like the monster, cold and empty-eyed.

Please don’t be dead.

I shivered again. The air down here was icy cold, and after the sudden action, noise, and insanity up above, the quiet stillness was like being thrown into frozen water.

I tried to get my legs under me, but my prosthetic leg refused to bend. It lay still and stiff, unresponsive.

I touched my neck. The tight black band with the comm receiver was still attached. The small ear implant was still in place too. I brought it to life but only heard a fuzz of static.

“Hello? Come in. Does anyone read me?” My voice came out hoarse, like I’d been screaming. Maybe I had. It still echoed around the cave. “Clyde? O’Neill? Anyone there?”

Nothing but static. I dropped my hand again.

OK. Debrief: no comm, no communication with my team. I was in some sort of underground cave with no apparent way out. My leg didn’t seem to be working. I’d lost my blaster and my pack. No rations, no weapon, and my only company was the corpse of a nightmare monster and a possibly already dead, big purple alien man. An alien who I was pretty sure was supposed to be the enemy and looked like he had stepped out of one of my more outlandish, cheese-fueled sex dreams.

What?

I blinked.

OK.

Prioritize.

OK.

No problem, I got this. I could deal with this. This was not a problem. It could be worse, right? My limbs were all attached…even if they weren’t all working.

OK. First things first; get my bearings, assess the situation.

I managed to get my good leg under me and, digging my fingers into the craggy wall for leverage, hauled myself up. Every muscle in my body complained, but I got my prosthetic leg under me and tested it. It held my weight.

OK, this was good, I could still stand. It was stiff and unwieldy, but I could walk if I took it slow. Still better than no leg, right?

Going slowly over the rocky ground, I rounded the creature, taking care to keep a safe distance in case it decided to come back to life and take a bite out of me. The blue light was enough to see where I was going, but not to illuminate the far walls of the cave. I couldn’t tell how big it was exactly, just that it went on a long way. And still no sign of the alien. Maybe it really had gone. It looked tough and it had felt strong, it was possible it had gotten out unscathed.

I needed to find a way out of here, or at least somewhere I could get a comm signal; higher ground, or a hole I could squeeze through. Maybe there was a part of the ceiling caved in somewhere.

I hobbled around and was about to pick a random direction when something caught my eye. Either the creature had two extra limbs I hadn’t noticed before, or…

Blue light reflected off smooth, purple skin. The alien lay half-buried under the animal, with only its splayed arms, shoulders, and head showing.

I staggered over to it. It wasn’t moving, and I couldn’t tell if it was breathing or not.

I grabbed both of its wrists and pulled, putting my full weight into it. Its head lolled limply as, inch by inch, it slid out from under the monster, and goddamn it was heavy. I was sweating by the time it was free. I dragged it a safe distance, then laid it on the ground.

It still hadn’t moved or made a sound. Was it dead? That was a long way to fall, and it wasn’t wearing a protective suit like me. In fact, it wasn’t wearing much of anything, just a swath of material tied around its waist that covered the important bits.

I didn’t know a lot about injuries, I was no medic, but there were no bones poking out and no big cuts gushing blood. It didn’t appear to have any obvious injuries aside from the bumps and scratches, as well as a layer of grime you would expect from such a fall.

I studied it for a moment before I caught the rise and fall of its chest. I relaxed slightly, then remembered it was supposed to be the enemy. It hadn’t been hostile earlier, but I didn’t know how long that would last once it woke up. Hopefully, it wouldn’t change its mind about me being alive.

I frowned. Why had it saved me? It didn’t fit with any of the intel I’d received. The Aldar were savage and violent, attacking or killing anyone who came into their territory. But this Aldar had helped me. Saved me. I’d for sure be dead right now if it hadn’t acted. For just a moment, I wondered where that intel had come from, and how accurate it could be.

Now that I wasn’t half-insane with flashback-induced hysteria, it wasn’t as big as I first thought. I mean it was big, yes, much bigger than me, but only about seven feet rather than twelve. Not the hulking giant I had thought when it first grabbed me.

He was surprisingly human-like. And he was probably a he, if the bulge at his crotch was anything to judge by. Of course, I had no idea about Aldar anatomy or gender, and the bulge could be anything, but given how humanoid the rest of him was, I kind of assumed it wasn’t a mini third arm under there. Not that I was checking him out. That would be wrong on many, many levels, the first being that he was currently unconscious. But it was a bit hard to miss.

He wore nothing on his top half, and his feet were bare, but he wore guards on his shins and the top of his feet. Colored sashes tied around his waist in shades of green and blue, laced with small, golden discs. Pale white markings curled across his torso, shoulders, the curve of his neck, and down his sculpted arms. They didn’t look like tattoos, maybe they were natural.

He was wearing a lot of jewellery, too; golden rings in his nose and ears, golden bands around his upper arms, and gold around his neck. He even had a golden nipple piercing. The dude liked gold.

His hair was the color of deep space, that deep blueish-black that had an odd shimmer to it. Almost like an oil slick. It was bundled at the back of his head, interwoven with the same blue and green colored strips of material and laced with gold. Some of it had come loose in the fall, falling around his face and shoulders.

Altogether, it made for an alarmingly hot image. Were they all like this? Was this a planet of banging hot aliens? Oh Christ, was Rand actually right? There was a first time for everything. If he was, he’d never shut up for the rest of his life.

I needed to stop looking at him. I was starting to get warm in my gear, and besides, I had more important things to think about. I didn’t need to be distracted by an achingly hot alien right now.

After I made sure he didn’t have any obvious life-endangering injuries, I distracted myself by searching around the area. When in doubt, fall back on what you know. So, I patrolled. It was slow and awkward with my stiff leg, and the cavern was huge. I was surprised we’d survived the fall at all, it was a miracle only my leg had been damaged.

After a little recon, it looked like the cave narrowed at one end, then opened up into another wide cavern. It looked like it did the same at the far end, so it might be part of a cave system. That was good, there was a chance it could lead back up to the surface somewhere.

Ok, next thing, I had to sort this leg out. It was going to be one thousand times harder to get out of here with it out of action. I clambered back over the uneven ground, my stiff leg slowing me down to a crawl. I found a wide, flat rock, sat, took my boot and sock off, and rolled up my pant leg to where the prosthetic attached to my limb. I detached it, shimmied it off, and laid it across my lap.

The chassis was broken, with a long crack running up the side of it, but apart from that, it didn’t seem to be damaged too badly. Why did I have to get a fancy neuro-link model? You knew where you were at with good old ball and joint. All that internal wiring and mechanical stuff just meant more things to break.

I tried to recall the instructions the technician had given me when it was fitted, or the manual that came with it. It had all been a bit of a blur in the days after the accident. And to be honest, I had wanted to think about it as little as possible. It still didn’t quite feel real.

I cursed to myself as I glanced back over at the Aldar—

—who wasn’t there.

I shot up, forgetting for a moment that my leg was missing, and almost fell. I sat back down again, hard, and swiveled around on my butt, searching.

“Shit.”

He was nowhere in sight, but he was still here somewhere. I could feel him watching me, all of my senses telling me that he was still close by.

I fumbled with my leg, trying to get it back on as my mind raced. But visions jumped before my eyes, and my breathing ratcheted up, fast and shallow. I could feel the panic attack coming, like dark clouds gathering. Not now.

“Keep calm. Just keep calm, damn it, you’re a trained professional!”

But no matter how I tried to out-rationalize my mind, it kept on shouting at me. The enemy is here, ready to pounce out of the dark. I’m alone, exposed, in danger.

It’s going to happen again.