Page 7 of Whispers of the Void (Voidborn Chronicles #1)

CHAPTER 7

NEEV

* * *

T he view out of the window is something I never thought I’d get to see in my lifetime. The planet we’re approaching looks barren from the upper atmosphere. The ground is a vast expanse of brown and red land. No green from vegetation or blue from water.

As we descend I can barely make out a city made from tents and mud buildings. All sorts of spaceships dot the landscape surrounding it. There are rocky outcroppings dotted all over the plains. I don’t even know what system we’re in or which planet this is, but I can’t wait to go explore.

I pull my boots on and fasten the buckles. The other night in the crew mess hall, I overheard a couple of the males talking about how Raiz had given them all twelve hours of leave. Hopefully that extends to me, too.

The ship shudders beneath me as it lands on the surface. A cloud of red dust floats up over the windows. I’m not sure where to go to get out of the ship, but I’m assuming there’s a cargo bay.

As soon as I step into the hall, I see groups of crew members walking in the same direction. Deciding to follow them is my best bet, I start walking. I’m just rounding the corner when I run into a firm body.

Raiz’s hands immediately move to my shoulders, steadying me. “Apologies.”

“No, it was my fault. I was just trying to keep up with the crowd. I should have been paying closer attention.”

“Following the crowd where?” He frowns.

“To the city. I’ve never been off Calindrea. I want to explore.”

“No.”

“No?” I step back and meet his gaze.

“No.”

“I thought I wasn’t a prisoner here.”

“You’re not.”

“Then why can’t I go out there?”

“Commander, good, I caught you.” Altis jogs down the corridor toward us but slows when he catches the look we’re giving each other. “What’s going on?” he asks slowly.

“Good question.” I look up at Raiz. “Enlighten me.”

“This is a pleasure planet.”

“And?”

“It’s not safe.” His eyes narrow. “Are you aware of what types of establishments one finds on a pleasure planet?”

“Brothels. Bars. Gambling dens.”

“Exactly. It wouldn’t be safe for a human female out there.”

Altis’s gaze bounces back and forth between us. “He’s right. There’s slave trading here, too. A human female this far in the outer belt would be worth a large amount of credits.”

“Are either of you going?” Both of them are wearing cloaks with their hoods up, so if I were to guess, I’d say yes.

“On business.”

“I could come with you. I’ll stay out of the way.”

My eyes meet Altis’s and find him open to the idea. “I’d be okay with it.”

Raiz whips his head to his second in command. “You’ll take responsibility for her safety?”

“Yes.”

My lips lift in a smile, and I launch myself at Raiz, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He stiffens against me.

“What are you doing, human?”

“This is called a hug. It's a human way of showing gratitude, happiness, love, et cetera.” I release him. “Thank you.”

“You need a cloak before we go.” Raiz walks stiffly back toward my quarters. “I’ll lend you one of my extras.”

Altis and I follow along behind him. He walks back into the bedroom, and I hear several of the locked cabinets open. A moment later he walks out into the main living area with multiple weapons and a black cloak draped over his arm.

He puts the weapons in various hidden compartments on his body and slides a dagger into his boot. Then he steps up to me and throws the cloak around my shoulders. It smells just like him but hangs down past my knees when the ones they wear hit them just below the hip.

He buckles the collar of the cloak and lifts the hood over my hair. “The rules are simple. Stay with Altis. Do what he says. Don’t speak to anyone. Don’t let anyone see your face.” He steps back and looks me up and down before looking over to Altis. “Does my cloak mask her scent?”

Altis steps forward, bends toward my neck, and sniffs. “It does, but you could scent mark her for extra protection. Who knows what species we’ll be near.”

The two males look at each other intently. The stare down lasts an oddly long time. And scent mark me?

“What the hell is scent marking?”

“Males on our planet scent mark others for protection. It serves as a form of protection.” Altis’s gaze moves from Raiz to me.

“We’re not on your planet, so who is to say that it would work here?”

“It’d be suicide for any being on this planet to scent me on your skin and still approach you.”

“How do you do it?”

“I would have to run my jaw along your neck.” He tilts his head to the side and runs a finger along a spot with differently textured skin.

My eyes are drawn to the jagged scar spanning the front of his neck. Curiosity swells inside me, but now isn’t the time to ask about it.

“Shouldn’t Altis do that if he’s going to be the one with me?”

“No,” they both say in unison.

“I’m the more powerful of us. My scent is stronger.”

Altis nods in agreement.

“Fine.” I pull the hood back. “Do it.”

He steps toward me, his eyes locked on mine. As he moves into my space and breathes deeply, his pupils flare. I’m glad for the uniform and cloak covering my body as goosebumps race across my flesh.

He’s a predator, and I’m his prey.

At least that’s how it feels in this moment. His cool fingers slide along my neck and into my hair, tugging my head to the side. His chest rumbles as he bends over me.

“Don’t be scared, the rumble is part of the process.” His fingers flex against my scalp. “I’m going to mark you now, last chance to back out.”

His words land like a taunt, and I’ve never been able to resist a dare. I drop my head to the side, offering my neck to him. His rumble increases with the movement. His skin meets mine as he nuzzles against me.

I could swear I feel his lips against my skin when he moves to the other side of my neck, using the hand he has in my hair to tilt my head the opposite way. He makes the rumbling sound again as he begins the process on the other side. His foreign scent floods my senses.

My body melts into his hold. My hands move to his waist, under his cloak. His body is all hard planes and firm muscle against me. I want to surrender to him.

I feel like his.

That thought jars me back to my senses, because if there is one thing in the universe that I am sure of, it’s that I belong to no one.

As soon as he straightens, I take a step back. “Done?” I’m proud of how steady my voice is. Especially considering how much of a mess I am on the inside.

“Yes.” Only narrow slivers of green remain in his eyes, and I swear his fangs look longer. He closes his eyes, and when they reopen, they are back to usual. “Stay with Altis. Remember the rules.”

“Yes, sir.” I respond with a hefty dose of snark.

Altis guides me to the door. “Let’s go,” he says quietly. “I’d suggest not taunting him when he’s just marked you like that. In order to release our scent, we have to surrender to our most base instincts.”

“That explains the teeth and eyes,” I murmur.

“What?” His head snaps to the side, looking at me.

“His teeth, the sharp ones, were longer. And his eyes were nearly black.”

“Were they?” Any of the surprise from a moment ago is erased.

“Is that normal?” I ask as I tuck my hair back inside the hood.

“He’s a powerful male.”

That’s not what I asked, but my questions evaporate when we come to the ramp down to the surface. Red, dusty land stretches as far as the eye can see. Binary stars hang high in the sky, heating the planet to hellish levels. The cloak I wear seems to keep my temperature regulated as much as it blocks the rays from the suns.

“If you want to sneak off for time in one of the brothels or gambling houses, I’ll be fine on my own.” I tell him. “I don’t want to stop you from enjoying your time off.”

“I don’t have any time off. My mission is to gather intelligence on this sector.”

“Oh. That’s no fun.”

“I’ll have plenty of fun once we’re home.” I can’t see his face, but I hear the smirk in his voice nonetheless.

“Are you mated? Married? What’s common on your planet?”

“We mate. And no, I’m not mated. It’s becoming more and more rare to find a true mate bond.”

“Do you have to be mated to reproduce?”

“No. It helps, though.” He’s quiet for a moment. “What about you? Are you allowed to…”

“Mate? Fuck?” I offer when he trails off. “Yes. My friend Torre and I tried to be more than friends. Ultimately, she and I decided we were better off as friends. Though we occasionally scratch the itch for each other.”

“Are you not interested in males, then?”

“No, I am,” I say thoughtfully. “I just haven’t been around any long enough to develop that sort of relationship. Not that humans need love or a mating bond to enjoy sex. I just find that in order to want sex, I have to enjoy my partner on a platonic level, too. I can’t get that by meeting a male in one of the bars on Calindrea when we’re allowed to go to the surface for several hours at a time.”

“That makes sense.” He pauses as we come upon the outskirts of the city. “Stay close. I don’t want to offend you, but these outposts are dangerous, and you are defenseless.”

“I promise.” I step closer to him. “Can you smell Raiz on me?”

“From light years away.” Humor bleeds into his voice. “No one will doubt that you’re under his protection.”

We enter the city through a maze of tents, some completely closed while others are open with types of food and goods from all over the galaxy. There are displays of banned weapons and tables full of illicit drugs, just completely out in the open. I’m beginning to understand why they were hesitant to let me out here.

We get curious glances as we wind our way toward the city center, where the tents give way to ramshackle buildings and a square with a well in the center. A line of beings with empty buckets winds around the open area. A male with two long, curling tusks stands sentry at the front of the line, taking money from those waiting to fill their buckets.

“Water should be free,” I murmur to Altis. “No one should have to pay for the very thing necessary for all life in the universe.”

“I don’t disagree,” he replies. “But be careful what you say here. There are ears all over the place. They won’t hesitate to attempt to make an example of you.”

“I’m not afraid.” I stop as I notice the tusked male pull a knife from his boot and drive it into the belly of one of those in line. “How can you just pass by and not do anything?”

“We have no authority here.”

“Are you not the strongest here?” I bait him knowingly.

“We are,” he growls. “At least from what I see.”

He guides me into a pub. The scent of cheap alcohol and who knows what type of foods combine into a staggering stench. I’m grateful to be shrouded in one Raiz’s cloaks, his scent blocks most of the others out as I shrink back.

“What are we doing here?”

“Gathering intel.” He pulls out a barstool for me before sitting in the one beside it. “Stay covered.” He drops the hood of his cloak back and orders two glasses of galactic whiskey for us.

Even with my translation skills, I have trouble making out any specific conversation. Human hearing is notoriously weak compared to many species across the universe. We are not the weakest or least intelligent, but our senses leave a lot to be desired.

The bartender, a beautiful horned creature, sets our drinks in front of us and walks off, swishing her tail and smiling at the customers to our left. I pick up my glass and bring it to my lips. The familiar burn trails down my throat to my stomach, leaving me warm from the inside out. This particular whiskey was formulated to be consumed by nearly every known species. It’s entirely synthetic but gets the job done.

“You should slow down. That pour was for a Zeahiri not a human,” Altis says quietly.

I knock the rest of the glass back, just to spite him. I might work for the Omnium Order, but I’m not a member. I can, and do, drink like a woman my age might in any other place in the galaxy.

“Those hands don’t look Zeahirian.”

My wrist is wrapped in the hand of a Helixian warrior. I attempt to pull my hand from his grasp, but it’s too strong. A gust of air passes over my head as Altis punches the male beside me.

He drops my hand, but I feel arms lock around my waist and begin to drag me toward the back of the pub. I throw back my elbow, making contact with a solid wall of muscle. A green hand covers my mouth as I yell out for Altis.

“Shhh, human. Don’t involve the male. This won’t take long.”

My back hits a wall, the air escaping from my lungs at the impact. I gasp, trying to drag oxygen into my lungs as my body is trapped between the disgusting body of the male in front of me. I don’t even know what species he is, but when he smiles at me, his pointed teeth drip disgusting saliva.

“Do you know what we do with humans on the outpost?” His slimy fingers wrap around my throat. “Pass them around until they’re all used up and then toss them in the wastes to die like the trash they are.”

He runs his tongue up my cheek. “You smell like a Zeahirian mate, but you don’t taste like one.”

I bring my knee up between his legs, hard and fast like Torre taught me. His putrid breath fans over my face as his breath whooshes out of him. I try to wiggle away, but he’s too big, too strong, to escape.

My head snaps to the side as he punches me.

“Maybe I’ll kill you first, then use your pathetic excuse for a body.” He wraps his hand around my throat, lifting me.

My feet kick as I try to find purchase somehow. Out of the corner of my eye I see, Altis fighting four males on his own. It’s clear that he can’t help me. I’m on my own.

I ready myself to go completely lax, hoping I can catch him off guard and use the momentum to drop from his hold when four deadly talons erupt from his chest. Blood spurts from the wound as his jaw goes slack.

“You dare touch the female bearing my scent,” Raiz snarls. His fangs have fully extended, and I realize now that the altercation I saw on board was nothing compared to the real wrath and power he can exude.

Before I even realize what he’s doing, he has pulled both arms off the male. The body drops to the floor in pieces, viscous orange blood pooling at my feet. As our eyes meet, I see the haze of fury drop from his eyes. His talons retract and he lifts me into his arms.

As he carries me out of the pub, I lock eyes with an older male, a rough looking human. His dark hair is peppered with silver and his blue eyes lined with wrinkles. I can’t tear my gaze from his. It feels like I’m locked in a tractor beam until Raiz steps out onto the road and begins to run back to the ship.

Altis joins him, their speed, even carrying me, is incredible. It took twenty minutes to walk this far, but we’re back on the ship in what feels like three minutes.

“You can put me down,” I say quietly to Raiz as his booted feet stomp up the metal ramp into the cargo bay.

He doesn’t reply, just holds me tighter as he walks quickly through the corridors toward the med bay.

“Please, don’t take me there again.” I put my hand on his chest, imploring him to consider it. “I’m developing a complex by always being taken there. I’m fine.”

My cheek stings, but he halts, looking down at me and really taking in my appearance. Instead of continuing toward Hyva’s office, he switches directions for my quarters.

“You can set me down. I can walk.”

“No.”

He strides into my quarters like he owns it. Which actually he does. I’m not set down until we’re in the bathroom, and he lowers me onto the counter. His large hand sprawls over one of my thighs, holding me still, while he reaches behind me and opens a cabinet I didn’t even know existed.

He sets bandages and antiseptic wash on the counter, confusing me. “I’m not cut.”

“Yes, you are.” His words sound more guttural around his fangs. “The Helixian cut your cheek with the spines on his knuckles.”

I turn to look in the mirror behind me and, sure enough, on top of the already bruising skin are three parallel gashes. I turn back to Raiz as he unclips the cloak, and it drops from my shoulders. His eyes darken when he looks down at my chest and sees my shirt torn from the collar to my belly button.

My stomach drops. I didn’t even feel the shirt rip. The severity of what just happened begins to sink in as both of us look down at my exposed skin.