Page 6 of Veras (Nozaroc Alien Warrior #2)

“W hat the hell is that?” I spun around, not sure which direction the sound came from.

“Were you not listening before? I warned you there were ferocious animals.” He appeared completely exasperated with me. I’d never met anyone who treated me like something precious yet totally annoying. And smelly.

“Stay hidden.” He shoved me behind a tree. It was three times as thick as a normal tree and had purple moss covering the black bark. Instead of leaves, white cones hung off long branches, like bells. “Don’t touch anything in case you have a reaction. I will guard you with my life! Get ready.”

I snatched my hand back from touching the tree before he saw me do exactly that.

“Get ready? With what?” I searched for something to use.

A rock, maybe a laser pistol that would magically materialize…

something! Carajo . I wished I hadn’t dropped the staff from before.

An idea hit me. “Wait! You can shift into something bigger. Hurry! Make yourself into an alien-dragon and eat that thing.”

“I cannot. After the last transformation, my body needs time to heal. I will fight like this.” He speared me with a glance. “Stay quiet. It hunts by sound. Do not get injured, little General. It will make me very upset.”

How come he always makes it about himself?

Another roaring screech, and the trees shivered. It looked like a massive snake, maybe as long as a bus, and it was… flying toward us.

Flying snakes. Oh, hell, no. No, no, no. Veras was big, but this animal was huge .

Striped and deadly, it glided toward him. Mottled blues with veins of gold, it had rows of leathery wings that stuck out on the sides of its body. But the wings were stubby against its sleek body.

Veras braced himself on the tips of his toes, not moving a single bit.

The monster opened its mouth and about fifty spiked tongues undulated inside its impossibly large mouth.

Ay Dios. I gasped when it brushed past Veras.

Instantly, its eyeless head swung toward me, and it launched forward.

“Truena!” Veras screamed.

I dove down and heard the sound of the spiky tongues ramming into the bark of the tree. It struck again, and I rolled before its tongues passed to the side of me. Bluish saliva splashed on my arm.

It burned like acid, but I held back a scream.

Veras roared and sprang forward, jumping on its back.

He pinned his wings down and pummeled its head with a rock.

The monster’s spiked tongue released, but they couldn’t angle toward Veras.

The knife-like tongues were its only defense mechanism, so once Veras tackled it, it took seconds for him to bash in its skull.

Menos mal! Thank God for Veras.

He kicked away the dead body and rushed over to me, falling to his knees. His hands shook. He patted my face and asked, “Truena, are you hurt?”

“I-I’m fine.” Despite my words, I dove into his arms and attached myself to his chest like a burr. “What was that thing?”

“It is called arbeluc. They are common in the jungles. We got quite lucky.”

“Lucky? How?” I pulled back and winced when my arm bumped against him.

“This was a baby.” His eyes narrowed in that intense swirly way of his. “Why do you hold your arm so?”

Now that he’d pointed it out, the pain hit me tenfold. Why did it always work that way? “The snake-thing’s saliva dripped on me.” I glanced down and almost fainted. There was a hole in my skin, and it was growing fast. “Holy shit!”

“Why did you not tell me immediately? You say you don’t want me to read your mind, yet you don’t tell me things.

Communicate!” He looked around. “We can’t stay here.

Where there is one arbeluc, there are many.

They nest in the trees, and he might be from a newly hatched swarm. It’s why it attacked so slowly. Come.”

Slowly? I asked myself in a daze, a little light-headed as we rose.

“You said you were fine ! Did you lie? Does this word have a double meaning somehow?” He scooped me into his arms and ran full force through the jungle.

I expected to see the sharp spikes protruding from his elbow embedded in my skin from the way he held me, but I watched, fascinated, as they lengthened and wrapped around his biceps. The ones down his spine grew around his waist.

Or maybe the poison had psychedelic properties because I was tripping balls. The colors of the surrounding landscape glowed neon. Plus, my arm must be all better. Didn’t even hurt anymore.

“Truena. Stay with me. Please.” Veras’ voice broke.

I wanted to pat his chest, his really warm and glistening chest, glittering from the mist that rose from him. Love that stuff.

“As soon as we are safe, I will heal you. You will live!” he screamed into the jungle.

Such a drama queen. Not wanting to interrupt his moment, my tongue may have snuck out. To take a taste. Of his delicious skin.

“Take what you need. I give freely.” He clutched me to him.

We came upon a much larger version of the floating platform from the arena—a large rectangle made from the same translucent material.

Veras jumped on it, and his feet sank into the buttery metal.

The tattoo on his arm glowed, and flashing lights and symbols surrounded us.

Seconds after he stepped onto the rectangle, we shot into the air.

Veras laid me down on the floor and swept his hands around in a crazy arc, manipulating the holographic panel toward the front of the transport. A force field grew over our heads, like a coffin.

Oddly, I wasn’t freaked out. I felt safe.

“This will hurt. I must remove the poison, or it will rot out your arm. The venom from the babies is even more powerful than the adults.” He held my arm so gently. “Close your eyes, little General.”

“Why—”

He slashed his clawed thumbs into the gash, digging and cutting out chunks of my arm.

“Aaahhhhh!” I bowed my back and screamed louder than I ever had. I fought, but he held tight, the agony of tearing skin and muscle washing over me. Blood sprayed down my arm, painting my face and his chest. It should have made me faint. But I wasn’t that lucky.

“This hurts me more than it does you. I hate it!”

For the briefest of seconds, I realized he might be right. I was experiencing both my agony and the sharp sting of his tortured emotions. “Stop! Please, stop.”

“Soon. It is killing me.”

Always makes it about himself . “Shut up and just finish!” Tears rained down my cheeks as I thrashed and begged.

After an eternity, I felt the first swipe of absolute balmy relief. When I cracked my eyes open, Veras unfurled that magical tongue, the one juiced up with all kinds of Oro. I focused on its size and texture, rather than the lemon-sized hole in my arm.

He licked my gash, long and slow. Soon, a slight pressure built, and his tongue…

vibrated. It vibrated . The endless possibilities of how much fun I could have with his talented appendage warmed me.

Eventually, the healing got to the point where it cauterized the wound.

The pain receded, and I could think again.

Or maybe he counteracted the hallucinogenic part of the poison.

Either way, slowly but surely, I felt like myself.

My body sucked up every ounce of Oro coating his tongue.

I fell into a deep sleep while coming up with Plan D, which involved making use of that beautiful vibrating tongue.

***

My eyes fluttered open. A golden mist surrounded me. Veras . He had my head in his lap and was stroking my hair. Sigh . I never wanted to move again, but my inner defense mechanism, the one that didn’t trust any aliens, no matter how hot, reared its ugly head, forcing me to sit up. “Thank you.”

He tipped his chin up in a nod. Lengthy explanations weren’t needed because he could read all of my complex feelings of gratitude and appreciation. “Of course. My life is yours.”

Why does he keep saying that?

“Because I must repay my debt to you.” He tried to tug me back down into his lap as we coasted along in the flying coffin. “Rest. We have time before we make it to the outpost.”

Old habits die hard. My ability to trust had been damaged, perhaps beyond repair. I just couldn’t do it. But I could clear something up. “We’re even now. You saved me. I saved you.”

“The arbeluc was nothing compared to the Aavvee and my capture. Do not insult me.”

Okay, attitude. “What happens after we find the outpost?”

“We make our way back to the Guardians.”

“Guardians? Are those the golden tornadoes?”

“ Torrr-naaa-dows ? Such an interesting language you speak. Yes. They protect my people’s greatest treasure. The entrance to my home.”

I crossed my legs and pushed my grubby hair out of my face so I could take everything in.

Veras reluctantly gave up returning me to his lap. “My people were extremely advanced. Blessed with gifts that were enhanced by the power of the Oro. It strengthened our bodies and our minds. But as with most things, it came at a cost.”

“It always does.”

“Yes. We became dependent, moving farther and farther away from the surface of the planet to the purest source of Oro. To the heart of the planet, near its core. It granted us long life, but…once you ingest too much, you have to have a steady supply to replenish it. You become completely dependent on it. And you can never leave Nozaroc.” He gripped my hand, his twin thumbs tapping a beat against my palm.

I shook my head. “Then how were you able to leave?”

“A small minority of us are sent out before we become too addicted, launched through the portals to various locations. We are expected to learn and gather information about the universe.”

“Wait.” I gripped his hand tighter. “They just dumped you on some random planet?”

He winced. “It has been done this way for a millennium. It is a rite of passage.” He turned away from me, no longer meeting my eye.

Now I wished I could read his mind. It became clear that it hadn’t been the best experience for him. “Why were you picked?”

“They say the process is random, but I had begun to question our reclusive ways. I pushed for more security. More precautions. But my people had grown bloated with power. Complacent that our utopia was safe. After all, no ships can land here. The Guardians make sure of it.

“But the portals…”

“They were our downfall. Something went terribly wrong.” He tapped his thumbs on the side of his head. “There was a traitor. I didn’t understand until the arena. Until I saw Inkonexo.”

“ He’s the traitor?” It all made so much sense. Why he spoke differently. Why he’d punked the alien supreme on more than one occasion.

“I must get to the Guardians. There is a countdown clock. Once it is set in motion, there will be no stopping the Guardians from destroying the planet.”

“You’re trying to go back through the portal that’ll take you to the center of the planet? To get back home?” That I understood. Completely.

“No. I will never go home.”

“But you said you have to get to the countdown clock. To stop the Guardians.”

“Oh no, little Earther. I must get there to make sure it works precisely as planned. Before Inkonexo or any of the Aavvee stop it. I’m here to make sure nothing prevents the total destruction of this planet.”