Page 36

Artek

Nala was sleeping. I’d made a nest for her out of my coils and her clothes.

We’d sacrificed my sash to use for cleaning up after the mating, along with a little of our drinking water.

Then I’d insisted she drink the rest, but shared the ration bars between us.

After she’d fallen asleep in a clean spot in the room, I stretched myself out and cleaned up what I could, then took inventory of what supplies we had.

It was more than those Krektar—and this…

Kertinal—could have ever suspected. And with Nala’s acceptance of me, it was time to start accepting all parts of myself, too.

Yes, I’d gone absolutely feral with the mating lust as I began to strip Nala of her clothes.

I couldn’t believe that I’d demanded she beg me for my cock, and I could not believe how intense the pleasure was as I sank inside her warm, tight clasp.

How much her body could take. I’d checked twice since our mating to make sure her baby was all right, simply because I couldn’t believe it. But the youngling was fine, thriving.

Now, I had to reconcile another part of myself.

I could fight, but that was not where my true strengths lay.

I’d struck the ship and its evil overlords a very good blow with that EM pulse; I had to keep thinking in a similar vein.

I knew things my fellow Naga did not, and that was how we were going to get out of this situation.

By my estimate, Levant should be back with help, if they’d proven to be willing.

And Nala had been warned that we had until morning to escape, if we could even trust that warning.

Because why would the Kertinal want to help us? That made no sense.

I touched the chains of gold around my neck, searching for the one I needed.

Then I set to work on the hinges of the door with the firestarter from the EM-shielded pouch and the chain.

Gold melted, hinges gave way, burning away from the heat and melted metal.

A trick with the alloy of this particular piece, and well worth the sacrifice.

I dropped the last bits of chain, my fingertips singed from the heat and melting metal.

When I touched the door, I felt how it gave with the pressure.

All I needed to do now was put my shoulder against it and shove.

That meant it was time to wake Nala, and though loath to disturb her rest, I knew we couldn’t wait.

Shifting my coils, I lifted her head, leaning in so I could gently brush my mouth against hers.

“Wake, my Shavire. It is time for us to leave,” I whispered.

Her eyes sprang open, the brown first hazy with sleep but rapidly sharpening.

Then she smiled, all soft and warm, and something happy unfurled inside my chest. She was so beautiful, and now she was irrefutably all mine.

I was even ready to move to Haven with her, if that was what she wanted.

Surely, Zap and I would adjust eventually. For her, I was willing to try.

“Hi, Artek,” she said softly. I helped her to rise, then offered her her clothing, piece by piece.

Had I been loath to wake her? I was even more loath to see her get dressed, but the possessive side of me—still a little more feral than I was used to—needed her covered, because no one but me got to see her naked.

She was wobbly on her legs when she stood, and I held her until her legs firmed, then held her just a little longer, my hand with the healing device resting over the soft swell of her belly.

“She’s okay?” Nala asked, and I nodded immediately.

“Fully formed, but oh-so-tiny still,” I said to her, “and currently fast asleep.” I was not often called upon to assist with births or pregnancies.

It had surprised me how hands-on Vera and Charlie had wanted me to be.

Even Naomi, still very newly pregnant, had come to me to get ‘checked up’ almost right away.

I was both amazed and a little terrified by how tiny these human babies were at these early stages.

Nala’s smile was one of obvious relief and happiness.

I leaned in, kissed her again, and delighted in the way she greeted me—soft, warm, so welcoming.

No wonder my hunter brethren were going absolutely crazy trying to find their own human.

They all knew they could never have this with a Naga female, not the way they were right now.

We did not have much to prepare or take, so once my mate was dressed and had the improvised sling at the ready in her hand, we were good to go.

I put my shoulder to the door, coiled my tail for strength, and pushed.

It groaned for a moment, refusing to give, then tore free and began to topple.

I caught the heavy panel with my tail, rapidly coiling to catch it before it could make too much noise.

Straining against the weight, I lowered it gently to the floor, then slithered over it and pushed it back into the room.

“Did I miss the part where you unlocked the door, or could you always bust it down with raw strength?” Nala remarked, staring at the thick, reinforced metal panel.

I laughed softly, my tail sliding around her, my sigils lighting the dark for her.

Then I tapped one of the melted hinges with the tip of my tail.

She did not appear to find that a satisfactory answer, her mouth opening to pelt me with a barrage of questions.

I silenced her with my finger on her mouth.

“I’ll explain later. We need to start moving; it’s almost dawn.

” Deep inside the dead ship, I could not see the Serant sky to tell the time, but I knew.

My internal clock had always set itself to the rising and setting of our sun.

Now came the hard part. I was not familiar with the layout of a ship like this, though I’d been aboard the skyships at the Sacred Training Grounds so often I knew them inside and out.

I could hazard a few educated guesses based on that, but Nala probably knew more.

“Which way do you think we should go?” I asked her.

She couldn’t see far, but I could tell this dark hallway stretched out in two directions, with a ladder leading up a wall midway.

I didn’t know from which direction we’d come, but since that would be the direction of the bridge—deeper inside the ship—the other way would be best. Nala had come to the same conclusion and pointed down one long, dark passage.

We started moving, my hand curled around my mate’s, so my sigils would light her path.

There was something eerie about moving through the powerless ship.

Every hallway was dark, and not a single machine hummed or buzzed.

The walls blocked out all noise from outside, but Nala’s footsteps echoed strangely loud against the metal.

It was only a matter of time before we ran into someone, but I hoped they’d be alone or in small groups.

If it was one of those whose weapons didn’t work, I would be able to handle them. Of that, I was sure.

Nala didn’t speak; she seemed as aware of the grave, gloomy silence as I was.

Sound carried here, so we needed to be quiet.

I flicked out my tongue, testing the air, and made sure to go first each time we turned a corner.

“We’re getting closer to the holds,” Nala whispered at one point.

“I think they are that way. A Long Hauler is made to carry cargo, not passengers, so it can’t be far. ” She was right.

The next hallway we reached was a little wider, and we’d just come down a slope, bringing us to a much lower level on the ship.

“Yes, this I recognize,” Nala agreed, when she saw a door with a strange, foreign symbol on it.

“I think that means three.” She flung her hand left, then right.

“There are more holds in either direction, and there should be an airlock on both sides, too.” We picked one at random, hoping it would be the one that didn’t have the camp built around it.

If we could open the doors, we might be able to escape unseen.

Nala counted four as we passed another large set of doors, another cargo bay.

Then we reached a thick door set into the metal wall, with a round handle that did not budge when I tried to spin it, no matter how hard I tried.

The reason soon became obvious. I pointed out the thick welds to Nala.

“The Krektar sealed this door so they would not have to guard it. Clever.” That meant there was only one way out, and it was through the camp.

I did not have another acid-compound-bearing chain to melt metal with.

And even if I had, it wouldn’t have been enough to tackle all the welds around the door.

We both didn’t like our odds getting out the “front door,” as Nala called it, but with no food or water remaining, we couldn’t hide out here either.

I hadn’t told my mate yet, but I hoped Levant had come back with help and that he’d launch the attack when he saw the commotion by the airlock from our escape.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we turned to head the other way.

Nala kept her hand tightly in mine, and I could hear the rapid pounding of her heart.

I caught their scent ahead of them, the stench intensifying before they turned the corner.

I pressed Nala with my tail against the wall, then lunged for the first Krektar male emerging from the dark depths of the ship.

The fight was short and violent, but I was stronger and faster than I expected, after all we’d been through.

My muscles were flush with power from the mate bond, not quite so fatigued from healing—and healing others—from the previous bruises and marks.