Page 17 of Xefe (Nozaroc Alien Warrior #1)

“D id that orange-eyed alien say we have to work together?” Nieve straightened her filthy sack dress.

“His name’s Sunny. And yeah.” I took a moment to compose myself, brushing my hair out of my face. It was a miracle I had any left after the two of them tag-teamed me. Can I do this? Work with these weirdos?

“I thought they called him Xefe, or First,” Querida said, her peaches and cream skin covered in black dust.

“They can call him whatever they want. His name is Sunny.”

“Whatever it is, we’re doomed.”

“Yeah, probably.” I sighed and helped Nieve up from the ground.

Only seemed right since I’d put her there.

I looked around at the dilapidated field.

Honestly, it reminded me a little of home.

Most of the training rings in New Angeles were subpar at best, and this place was a mess.

It may have felt familiar but it looked so foreign.

Because of the Floating Stones Loxo had told us about, there were literally chunks of the alien material floating around us.

It was… surreal. But this was our new reality and now that I’d gotten some of my aggression out, we needed to focus.

“Let’s hear him out and decide how we’re going to manage this. ”

We dusted ourselves off and limped over to the water stand. Unfortunately, they only offered the green cubes from the soup room. Why couldn’t I just have a normal glass of water? I popped one in my mouth, it had the consistency of a sponge, but it wasn’t half bad.

Nieve and Querida fueled up as well, eating as we limped toward the golden warriors. The three aliens were back in their black, spiked uniforms, like giant alien porcupines. They loomed large even though they were at the farthest end of the arena.

“If I’m going to die in the next twenty-four hours, I want some juicy chisme . Spill the tea.” Nieve spun around and walked backward so she could see our faces.

“About what?”

“The Oro,” Nieve said.

“No.” Querida shocked us by interjecting, “I want to hear about these dick-less motherfuckers, first.”

I stumbled, my muscles already screaming from beating, and getting beaten by, these two. But I couldn’t hold it in. I laughed out loud—Nieve giggled, and Querida grinned from ear to ear.

“Tell us everything. How did you find out about his invisible pito ?”

United in our need to share, consume, and spill any and all chisme we could get our hands on, I prepared myself to tell the story of my life. For once, I would speak in detailed accuracy. “ Welllll , I found out when he took me to his room and stripped down in front of me.”

Nieve slowed her steps. None of us were in a rush to get back to the warriors to find out all the reasons we’d probably die tomorrow. Because the possibility of us actually working together neared zero percent. We took the long way back, winding around broken equipment. “Did he want to get busy?”

“That’s what I thought. But no. He said he had to keep an eye on me because of the supreme.

By the way, the aliens are called Aavvee, and this planet is Nozaroc.

They’ve never been around humans, and the leader, the supreme guy, doesn’t trust us.

Sunny leads the warriors. He asked me a bunch of questions. ”

“ Dios mío. We’re lunchmeat, Querida. If she’s been talking to that warrior, she’d sell us out in a second.”

As Sunny would say. Truth.

“How did you see the package—or lack thereof?”

“He let me take a shower after he took one, to get rid of the lice. Mierda. ” I slapped my hands against my scalp. “Are you two still infected? I don’t want to catch it from you guys.”

“We’re good,” Querida said.

“They let us shower. We’re okay for a few more days until the eggs hatch.” Nieve scratched her scalp reflexively. Lice was a recurring problem in the racer dorms, so we were all far too familiar with the egg cycles of head bugs.

“Good. Now, back to the important stuff.” I scootched around a broken floater and clapped my hands.

“I hate to tell you this, but it gets worse. There were two spikes right over his small mound. So even if some sparkling family jewels materialized, I might have lost an eye! Maybe it was a good thing there was a golden sack of…nothingness.” I pursed my lips out in a sad pout.

“All balls, no prick?”

“I guess, but it didn’t hang like balls.” I shrugged.

“Did he make you stay in the same bed as him? At least you were safe.”

“You don’t need a dick to hurt someone,” Querida added in a dark tone.

Nieve and I shared a look over Querida’s head. No one knew her story. She never spoke about it. But at every meet, there were never visiting family or friends. It didn’t take a hover scientist to understand Querida had been hurt. And probably abandoned.

“True. But he didn’t touch me,” I said. At that moment, Querida reminded me of Valentina, and it made my heart hurt. “There’s more.”

“ What? ” Nieve rubbed her hands together in glee.

“They smell really good. The warrior dudes. Delicioso. ” I was willing to share a little of my pain, not because I felt bad for Querida and wanted to distract her from dark thoughts, but…

just because. Two pieces of discarded metal, probably from the space junk surrounding us, materialized in her hands, and she scraped them back and forth like her throwing knives.

“They smell good? Like what?” Nieve batted away floating pieces of rocks and debris that hovered at eye level from the Floating Stones.

“Like spicy canela .”

They both groaned.

“I know. Try not to get stuck in a small room with one of them. The cinnamon smell makes you crazy horny.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Nieve giggled. “Sorry, not sorry. You deserved it.”

“Thanks. I just survived a coma, but you’re right. I deserved it.” Rude. “I shouldn’t have told you.” I peeked over at Querida, and she was smiling. Mission accomplished.

Nieve laughed harder.

“It was the worst night of my life,” I grumbled. “I think I was humping his leg at one point in the middle of the night.”

They were laughing so hard they stumbled, in tears.

“Did you find out anything important since all you could do was talk?” Nieve wiped the moisture from her cheeks. “Like how big his tongue is?

“I did! It’s massive, and I swear… I think it vibrates.” I bit my finger to hold back the squeal. We were only a few feet from the spiked aliens.

“Good girl. Did you take your pleasure and ride his face till you came?” Nieve studied the massive, muscled aliens, clearly looking below the belt. “That’s what I would have done.”

“No.” I didn’t bother whispering as we neared the warriors, making sure Sunny heard my next words. “But I vowed if he wasn’t willing to take care of me, I’d find another alien who would. That shit is distracting.”

Nieve nodded solemnly. “Sounds like torture.”

We stood a few feet in front of the trio of warriors. They really were…otherworldly. Like giant oaks, with the spikes from their uniforms making them look almost eight feet tall. I suddenly missed all of Sunny’s long black hair and tattoos. They humanized him, a bit.

“You walk too slow.” Sunny scowled. I hoped it was because he heard me promising to hook up with another alien—but it could also be his default setting. “Ask your questions. I only have a few tims before I must leave.”

“ Tims? ” Querida asked.

“Minutes.”

“Where’re you going?” I asked because I was a nosy bitch.

Loxo smiled and stepped closer to Querida. “He has to go to—”

“ Silence. ” Sunny glared at his bestie. “They should not worry about my whereabouts. If you do not conquer this test, you will be determined unfit to compete against our warriors.”

“Your warriors? We’re fighting you ?” I asked.

Loxo chuckled. “No. Only females compete. We do not participate in the matches.”

I breathed a sigh of relief for two reasons.

The first because we didn’t have to go up against these behemoths.

The second because Loxo was laughing. I didn’t want the red-eyed psychopath from earlier to pop back up.

Other than his meltdown, he usually gave off goofy fuckboy energy.

Not my problem. He only had eyes for Querida.

Maybe she’d get lucky, and he’d actually have a dick.

“Why have the women fight?” Nieve squinted as she studied their mouths, clearly hoping for a glimpse of their golden, vibrating tongues.

“To see if qualify. You,” Nime said.

“Qualify? For what?”

“For more games. Sport. Workers. But mostly, reproduction.”

“The fuck you say?” Nieve whispered as her mouth dropped open. No longer playful, she crossed shaky arms, the white of her tattoos emphasized against her brown skin.

Querida shook her head violently and rocked back and forth. This was not going to turn out well.

“What wrong? That one? She broken,” Nime added unhelpfully.

I blocked Querida from their gaze by stepping in front of her. “She’s fine. She just needs a little clarification before she…” freaks the fuck out “…gets upset. You’re saying if we win, then we’ll be forced to reproduce? With aliens?”

“No,” Xefe said. “Your anatomy is not compatible with the Aavvee. They reproduce with their mouths. You do not.”

“Do you ?” Nieve asked as she walked over to Querida and rubbed her back.

Nime switched to his language and proclaimed, “That is not her concern. Only our almax will know how we procreate.” Clearly, he was not reading the room, and feeling all kinds of entitled.

“I couldn’t understand all of what he said. What’s an almax ?” Nieve whispered.

“An almax is a mate. And Nime said they only procreate with them.” I looked at Querida, hoping it would quell her anxiety.

“Some aliens are taken to the Pleasure Zone. A distant part of Nozaroc. They are sterilized and used for release.” Loxo smiled as if this information were any better than what we had originally thought.

Querida’s shaking got worse.