Page 25 of Xefe (Nozaroc Alien Warrior #1)

L oxo escorted Nieve, Querida, and I to our doom.

The high-tech alien arena overwhelmed me.

The roar of the crowd and the whirl of the cameras all felt familiar, but the sounds and smells bombarding me made no sense.

They were foreign and so terrifying in their otherness that I couldn’t wrap my brain around it.

Thousands of Aavvee screeched and screamed, seated in a stadium the size of a small city.

Sounds of shattering glass overwhelmed me.

Their words blended together, so I had no hope of translating.

We’re going to die.

When I’d woken up this morning, I was alone.

Sunny never returned. My heart still ached, but I couldn’t allow my worry for him to overshadow surviving this event.

So I could keep looking for Valentina. She was my number one priority.

Step one, make sure Valentina wasn’t on the planet.

Step two, find a way home. Step three, take Freckles out before or after the other two steps. En punto.

“How are we going to do this?” Nieve’s hand shook as she chewed on her nail, looking as radiant as usual even though she wore a sack. Her glowing skin and glittering hands only added mystery to her beauty. It wasn’t fair.

Querida looked cleaner but still murderous, her frizzy mop of red curls a jumbled mess atop her head. Her coal eyes studied everything, but she didn’t say a word. Different day, same channel.

“I’m thinking.” Everywhere I looked, I saw the Aavvee. All too eagerly anticipating a bloody fight. How many of us would die today for their amusement? The totality of it staggered me.

“What?” Querida noticed everything.

“Look around.” I was too shocked to censor myself or lie. “We might be the only humans on this entire planet.” In reflex, I reached out and grabbed Nieve’s hand. She did the same to Querida. I’d never felt so small in my life. After a few moments, their touch centered me. We can do this. We had to.

“Earthers, are you well?” Loxo, our constant shadow, shattered the moment.

He’d glued himself to us. After I’d taken off yesterday, I didn’t blame him.

Luckily, he believed me when I said I would never, ever do it again, especially when I added the solemn words, ‘Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.’

“Let’s take a lap and think.” We jogged around the perimeter, and Loxo trailed after us.

By the time we lapped the whole course, my tight muscles had loosened.

I felt like I could strategize beyond the panic.

The arena was massive, and all of the equipment was gleaming white and shiny.

Because it was inside the mountain, we didn’t have to worry about the force fields or Guardians.

“Alert, earthers. Here comes your competition,” Loxo whispered, wearing a poker face for once.

The floodgates opened and varying aliens rushed out. Immediately, the green team took center stage. Muscled and horned, with massive chips on their shoulders—they shoved their way through the crowd. Surprise, surprise, Greenie from the soup station stood front and center.

There were also snake-looking ladies with scaled skin and forked tongues.

Plus, smaller gray aliens with short legs and bald heads.

Beyond them, I caught flashes of purple hair and hoped to see Nheenya, but the crowd moved too quickly.

A large number of Aavvee rounded out the group.

Most of them looked starved or half-dead, but that only meant they had nothing to lose.

The aliens separated and lined up—four per group.

Uh oh. We were going to have to pull this off as a three-man team.

“There might be some surprises, but that’s the squad we have to worry about.

” I pointed at the green, mean girls. They obviously had the inside track.

They wore stylized uniforms similar to Sunny’s and walked around like they knew somebody.

“ Mierda , look at what they’re wearing. Why do we have to race in potato sacks?” Nieve plucked at the heavy sack.

“They’re the favorites,” Querida whispered, her stabbing scrap metal in hand.

“Okay, ladies. I’m about to blow your minds. We’re going to do something we’ve never done before.” I paused and finally blurted out, “Blend in.”

“I’m sorry, nena .” Nieve flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t blend.”

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to deal with her attitude. “It’ll give us the element of surprise.” I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

“Are you sure?”

“No! Of course I’m not.”

“You’re the one with all the special Oro running through your veins.

You speak their language, and you have super-powers or something.

Which you still haven’t fully explained to us.

Querida and I don’t have that advantage.

We have to work with what we’ve got. Thank Dios , we look so good. ” Nieve high-fived Querida.

“That doesn’t mean I have everything figured out.

” I adjusted my potato sack in agitation.

“You need to come up with solutions, too.” I took a deep breath, hating that I couldn’t handle things solo.

Working together was for losers—unless your life was on the line.

“We just have to be one of the top four finishers, so let’s not stand out if we don’t have to.

It’ll be a better surprise during the final race. ”

Nieve shrugged. “I’ll try my best, but my radiance precedes me.” She turned her back, but I saw her wink at Querida. “If we don’t figure out how to get across the last part, it won’t matter anyway.”

True. I looked around the dense stadium for the thousandth time. “Hey, Loxo, where’s Sunny?”

The tall alien with the face of an angel was anything but his usual chipper self. He also wasn’t in full porcupine gear, so his dark hair flowed over his golden shoulders and bare chest. Pensive and worried, he continually scanned the crowd. His red eye swirled for a second. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean—”

Strange high-pitched notes, like wailing wind, blasted through the arena. The Aavvee quieted and settled in their seats. Before I could finish my question, Loxo kicked the back of our knees and shoved us to the ground.

“The supreme. Look down, yet watch his every move.” He bowed his head next to us.

I normally would have argued, but I knew exactly what he meant. We had to find a way to do both because the supreme was a fickle bitch.

The plumed leader spared no alien expense. Atop a massive stage, he looked down on us. His outfit looked fierce—an enormous orange cape flowed twenty feet behind him. On either side of him was a harem of groupies. Dick-tongues were out, and they were licking their way through the stage.

“Welcome- come .” The supreme used his handy-dandy secret mic that blasted his words through the crowd.

The Aavvee shrieked in glee, the persistent sound a spike to my senses.

Three ghost-like aliens whirled around the supreme—his personal guards.

“Look at them.” Nieve’s mouth dropped open, her words barely above a whisper. “They look good enough to eat. By me. Dibs!”

My sarcastic response died on my lips. The supreme’s guards looked…

radiant. They were massive and muscled with long glittering hair.

The dual-colored skin shimmered, one side turquoise, the other a metallic gold.

Their wings looked like spiked blades, whirling behind them as they circled the squat leader, on constant alert.

“You- you are honored to be here on our planet. You- you are honored to be here for this race. You- you are honored to be in our presence.” The supreme swept his arms out, clearly feeling himself.

Way to be humble.

He preened and strutted across the stage, and I caught my first glance of Sunny at the back of the dais. He looked fierce, covered head-to-toe in his black, spiked uniform.

“What’s the supreme saying?” Nieve whispered. “I can only catch every third word.”

“Same bullshit all leaders say about how grateful we should be. In a weird alien way.” I couldn’t be expected to translate every word when I only had eyes for Sunny. His arms were crossed, his dead gaze scanning the crowd but never seeing me. I felt the loss down to my toes.

Nieve elbowed me, and I reluctantly looked away.

The supreme droned on, eventually making his way to the participants.

“Okay, game on. He’s introducing our competitors,” I whispered to the girls.

First came the green team. They preened and flexed, and the supreme looked mildly interested in the display.

“What are their vulnerabilities?” I asked Loxo.

“Soft spot behind their ankles and ears. Not much else. They are strong, fast, and relentless. Their species has reigned as champions since the Great Race began.”

“What about them?” I asked and pointed at the snake-skinned girls.

They hissed and shoved each other, eventually deciding on who would go where. They had three teams of four.

“Their skin is as fragile as yours. But you have to catch them to hurt them. That is hard to do.” Loxo snapped his eyebrows down. “And bad jumpers.”

Perfect. Last were a bunch of Aavvee stragglers. Loxo had explained they were mine workers, hoping to escape their fate, so I didn’t bother to ask about them. Most of them looked half-dead. If we didn’t place in this race, their fate could easily be my own. It hurt to look at my possible future.

“Go. Go!” Loxo motioned toward the stage.

My head snapped up. The supreme had beckoned us to join him on stage. Shit!

“Do not keep him waiting. Go!” Loxo whisper-screamed through tight lips.

“You didn’t tell me we would have to go up there.” Nieve pinched me.

“Ow! I didn’t know. I keep telling you I don’t know much more than you do!”

“Calm down.” Querida placed her hands on our lower backs and pushed us toward the stage.

“Remember, act small. We need the element of surprise. For once in your lives, don’t cause a scene.” We stood awkwardly next to the Aavvee harem, across from Sunny. I couldn’t tear my gaze off him. He refused to meet my eye.

The supreme paused and snapped his beak, looking agitated.

Mierda. Had he asked a question? Had I missed something?

The supreme looked from Sunny to me. He knew something. Had Sunny confessed?

“Come- come , earthers. So quiet? When- when you had so much to say a few days before- fore .” The supreme grabbed Sunny’s arm and pushed him toward us.

My alien boyfriend looked delicious but completely dead inside.

Had they killed his emotions? We needed a distraction before the supreme noticed too much.

Change of plans. My idea about blending in had been a huge mistake. Time to make a scene. “Trust me?” I whispered to Nieve.

“No! Absolutely not. I do not —”

“Too bad.” I grasped her cheeks and pressed my perfect lips against hers. She’s so lucky. Her whole body tensed against me. I whispered between breaths, “The supreme’s pissed, and we need the crowd on our side. Kiss me like you mean it. And use a lot of tongue.”

Nieve got with the program and wrapped her arms around my neck. After a few wet seconds, she shoved me away and grabbed Querida, kissing her just as passionately. They looked hot.

The crowd went silent. Dead silent.

Double diablo. Maybe this hadn’t been the smartest choice. I’d been convinced that the Aavvee would lose their mind if we kissed in public. It would be the alien equivalent of public nookie-nookie.

Like a violent car crash, the arena exploded with sound. The same shrieks Freckles and his friends had made as they tortured me. It made my stomach roil. I almost hurled, but I held it together, hoping the kissing had worked. The crescendo grew until it felt like an avalanche of noise.

The supreme fought to control the crowd, and it took a long time for the Aavvee to settle.

His avid gaze latched onto us. “So- so full of surprises,” he murmured before saying more clearly, “Maybe- be you are worth more than I thought. Choose a champion. You need four to race- race .” The pompous feather-head pointed at the racers.

Pick a… Only one name came to mind. “We pick Nheenya,” I called out. I had no idea if she was even here, but I couldn’t get the purple alien off my mind. What if something had happened to her after the soup incident? Because of me?

“Why her?” Nieve asked as we watched the crowd part.

From way in the back of the arena, the crowd parted. I spied a flash of purple and Nheenya walked forward, a little hesitant but still so cheerful.

“Look at that face. How could I not? Plus, she looks hella strong, and she stirred my soup. She’s one of us.”

“Such a softy.” Nieve smirked.

“Take that back!” I hissed as Nheenya stood beside me. Served me right for telling the truth. How dare Nieve think she could say such a vile and disgusting thing. Softy?

“Thank you, earther.” The purple alien clasped her hands together and jostled her impressive rack. It was either one wide boob or three individual ones. “I did not have a team. I am grateful.”

“Call me Hera.”

Good or bad, we were no longer invisible.

Our public make-out sesh had ensure that.

The supreme dismissed us, and we got into position, angling for the closest spot to the hanging ropes.

Hopefully, they underestimated us because of our size.

Especially the green team. The goliath-sized aliens didn’t know it, but we would own this planet. Make it our bitch.

After I killed Freckles.

“Do you think my boyfriends were watching us kiss?” Nieve peeked over at the supreme’s personal guards. “I bet they were jealous.”

“Which one?”

“One?” A wicked smile spread across her face. “Why choose?”

Seconds later, we were shoved into place, and a roaring thud rumbled through the arena—four pounding notes.

Pause.

Three.

Holy mierda! It’s about to start.

Two.

“Get ready!” I slapped Nieve, Nheenya’s, and Querida’s asses.

One.

We sprinted off.