Page 4 of Xefe (Nozaroc Alien Warrior #1)

A liens are the worst.

Especially these new ones. Weak, small , fleshy, and so strange with their floppy limbs.

Pathetic, really. This planet will tear them apart.

“Ridiculous.” Xefe, first leader of the Nozaroc warriors, looked to his second, Loxo, carefully studying his dual-colored eyes.

“They will be defenseless in the ring. I thought the Aavvee scientists chose warriors from each planet. These beings are doomed to die.”

“Perhaps they have hidden talents. Don’t underestimate them. Give them a chance.” Loxo’s purple eye twinkled, indicating that all was calm. “I think they’re fascinating .”

“You think all females are fascinating.” Xefe scoffed as he studied the rows of aliens in front of him. They came in so many colors. Some shades of flesh he’d never seen—and he’d met thousands of beings.

One of the Aavvee, the ruling race of this planet, strode toward them. Veras. He and his coworkers had shown a keen interest in this type of alien.

Xefe had countless questions. “You have assessed these aliens? Why would we obtain them? Do you not see how weak and bare they are?”

Veras’s feathers snapped up in greeting.

He was one of the few scientists Xefe could tolerate, somehow different from others of his race.

Veras kicked his chin up in agreement and responded in Xefe’s warrior tongue, and he was grateful.

The high screeches of the Aavvee strained his ears.

“They hail from a distant planet. Earth.”

“You expect them to compete?” Xefe ran his eyes along their bare skin. So vulnerable. “Have you lost your mind?”

Loxo chimed in, “Maybe they will be placed in the pleasure zone of the planet? Or become breeders or donors?”

Xefe felt the slightest flare of disquiet, the emotion quickly smothered. The pleasure zone was almost worse than working in the mines, and these small bodies could never carry warrior young.

“It depends,” Veras continued. The three of them circled the room. “But many along the back here are missing one of their reproductive organs. They will not work in the breeding program.”

“No reproductive organs? Why?” Loxo recoiled.

“The organ they use to carry young has been removed. I have yet to discover why. But they are quite resourceful. Come… look.”

Xefe’s gaze immediately zeroed in on one of the earthers.

Her skin was unusual—a glowing shade of bronze he’d only seen once before.

While exploring the numerous portals on Nozaroc, he’d found the elusive hoja flower, its petals the same vibrant color as this earther’s.

Xefe sniffed the air and sacrificed a few precious seconds to study her.

He told himself it was because they had never dealt with earthers before.

But a small ache he couldn’t place bloomed in his chest. It started the minute he set eyes on this particular being.

Xefe rubbed his chest and watched.

She had chaotic hair, long, tangled spirals a richer brown than her skin.

Stripes of hair slashed above her eyes and lined her lids.

Her lips looked too full, and her teeth gleamed flat and useless.

Her nose was straight, flaring at the tips.

Her wide eyes blinked too slowly and without rhythm. That seemed wrong .

But her scent… for the briefest of seconds, something soared within him, leaped and built until it quickly faded to nothing.

That aroma.

“Tell me about this one.” Xefe widened his stance and crossed his arms.

Veras’ unblinking gaze was too assessing, too knowledgeable. He didn’t answer right away.

Xefe growled a warning, but the scientist simply chuckled before speaking, “She, along with others”—he gestured toward two other females, one with red hair and the other a dark brown—“are fierce competitors on Earth. They have been captured to compete in the Great Race.”

“These puny aliens? Impossible.”

“I disagree.” Veras studied their nude forms. “They are quite fierce. For example, this one outwitted the sedative and has been awake the entire time.”

The being watched him closely. Her eyes, upon closer inspection, had three colors. A large brown circle surrounded a smaller black one. But unlike other earthers, the sides of her eyes glowed a familiar gold, as vibrant as the flora and fauna of this planet.

Breathless squeaks and lilting sounds fell past plump lips. She kept repeating the word, Heeere, kiteee kiteee.

“What is wrong with her?” Xefe asked. “She sounds defective.”

“Maybe it is part of a mating ritual. If so, count me in.” Loxo slapped him on the back.

“You would mate her?” Xefe scowled at his brother warrior.

None of them were allowed to exhibit a mating urge.

But Xefe had long known Loxo had defects— Glrtsstlllloroggg , the golden liquid used to control the mating urge in all warriors somehow had no effect on Loxo’s need for copulation.

“Why do I even ask? You would hump a rock.”

“A rock? Only if I’m desperate enough. But not the Aavvee females. They are too unappealing, even for me.” Loxo shuddered, his calm facade breaking as he flashed his pointed incisors. “But these earthers? Oh yes.” He elbowed Xefe. “Wouldn’t you? Look at them. They’re like us.”

“In what way?”

“Their mouths. They have lips and a tongue—they must have reproductive organs like us. The Aavvee mate with their tongues. Receive pleasure with their mouths. But these humans… They are different. Maybe they are meant for us .”

“We are warriors. Sworn to protect the supreme.” Xefe pounded his chest and swore the oath to his Aavvee leader. “Till death. Supreme first!”

Loxo echoed his cry. “Supreme first!”

“Nothing else should snare our attention. We keep him safe. And when we are rewarded for our devotion, then we will return home to our true mates.”

“Your almax .” Veras nodded.

“Yes. How do you know this word?” Xefe asked. How could Veras, an Aavvee, know about true mates?

Veras cleared his throat and waved toward the earthers. “I have studied many alien species and know everything about their mates and mating rituals. That’s why I work here, isn’t it?”

Xefe stared him down, but the scientist wouldn’t meet his eye. Strange Aavvee. Nonetheless, he kicked his chin up in thanks. “Appreciated.”

The earther let out another long peal of laughter.

“She appeals to you?” Xefe asked Loxo. His brows rose as he studied the earther suspended in air. She could move her limbs, but her mid-section was held to the wall by an invisible bar.

Loxo took a deep breath, his eyes narrowed. He approached the alert earther with one hand outstretched.

Her brows snapped together, and Xefe could have sworn she seemed annoyed with Loxo. An emotion he’d grown familiar with. Xefe grabbed Loxo by the shoulders and shoved him away. “Don’t touch her.”

Loxo and Veras’ heads swung toward him in unison.

Xefe didn’t completely understand his reaction, but only a small part of him believed his next words. “She may be contaminated.”

Loxo remained undeterred. “If you weren’t crippled by your devotion to the Glrtsstlllloroggg and feeling no emotion, you would savor the sheer smell of these floating earthers. Divine.”

Amusement flared for the briefest time and then faded, as usual, to nothing. Perhaps I am as defective as Loxo but in my own way. In the span of five tics , he had experienced more stimulation than in the past month.

Xefe felt eyes boring down on him. Across the room, he spied the lead scientist watching.

Always watching. The one with the mottled spots dotting his face.

His greedy gaze consumed the earther. Xefe had never trusted this sneaky Aavvee, convinced his experiments were cruel and unnecessary.

The vicious scientist called himself Tontoh.

Xefe called him a spy, for he ran to their supreme with any piece of gossip.

Tontoh stopped in front of the earther as if to block her from Xefe’s view. A wretched smell permeated the air as he opened his mouth, his three tongues inching toward the earther’s soft skin.

Xefe clenched his fists but restrained himself from pushing the Aavvee away. If Tontoh touched her, though, Xefe may not be able to stop himself. Their relationship was tenuous at best. He didn’t want to give the alien any ammunition against him.

The earther emitted a strange sound, a high-pitched scream as powerful as the Aavvee language. Xefe expected fear, but the earther looked far from frightened. She looked determined… and for the briefest second, deadly. She snapped her blunt teeth at Tontoh, and the Aavvee retreated.

“This greeeooowwlll is of no import to you.” Tontoh twirled his tiny hands in agitation before pointing at the earther.

“ Greeeooowwlll? ” Xefe repeated. Tontoh called her the name of the annoying animals that lived inside the mountains.

They were feral, tasty little things. Xefe took a step closer.

The earther blinked, her attention slipping away from Tontoh.

She sighed and then bared her teeth at him as she laughed softly.

“Step away from her. She is defective.” Tontoh’s shrill tones tested Xefe’s sensitive ears, not that the alien bothered to modulate.

The scientist knew the warriors had superior hearing yet never bothered to accommodate them.

“She will not last the night. No matter. Come. I need assistance with other earthers. Follow me.”

No one bothered to acknowledge him. Or follow.

“She is not for you!” Tontoh screeched. “Or do I tell my supreme?”

Xefe turned his head slowly and speared the tiny Aavvee with his gaze. “You threaten me?” His voice was deadly and emotionless.

Tontoh’s feathers stood on end—mottled brown and green fluff rose and fell. He opened his mouth. But he didn’t dare utter a sound. Eventually, he stormed away.

Veras shook his head. “You have made a powerful enemy.”

Nothing new. But Xefe was the supreme’s first, his head warrior. Tontoh held no sway over him.

The earther squeaked and stared straight at Xefe. Her unusual eyes trailed down his body. Her gaze roamed his broad shoulders, studying every inch of him—like a long, languid caress.

Xefe’s fists clenched. Without thought, he widened his stance and threw back his shoulders, welcoming her gaze. For a second, his heart raced and then slowed, the Glrtsstlllloroggg kicking in—deadening any response.

She spoke to him in gibberish or maybe in her inferior tongue. She motioned him forward. Unable to resist, he leaned in.

Before Xefe could stop her, she cupped his cheek and gazed into his eyes.

She whispered nonsense and then, as clear as the night stars, said, “ Pretty. ” In his language.

The guttural dialect lilted off her tongue.

She laughed and brushed her delicate fingers along the sharp spikes protruding from my nose.

“She thinks you’re pretty! Did you hear that?” Loxo howled in glee.

Xefe ignored the blabbering fool and focused on the delicate female before him.

She whimpered and held out her hand. It was coated in blood. Another reminder of her weakness. A small brush from his spikes and her skin split open.

Xefe shook his head but stepped closer. Her full lips stuck out in a soft pout.

She held out her bleeding hand as if she expected help from him .

It must be the Glrtsstlllloroggg making her so brave.

It obviously destroyed her fear response.

Unless earthers were so addled, they didn’t know when to be properly terrified. Most aliens quaked in front of him.

Xefe grasped her hand with his gloved one, studying the shallow gashes across her small finger.

Only one thumb. Inferior. As he leaned in, her smell rushed his senses, overwhelming him.

It penetrated him so deeply that he could taste her from scent alone.

Nothing ever felt so tempting. Like spiced heat.

On instinct, he licked her palm, devouring every drop of blood he could consume, soaking her in, eating her alive.

The rush of Glrtsstlllloroggg seized him, burrowing inside. The amount she contained in her system must be astronomical. For the briefest second, her essence coated him, burning a trail through his insides as if she’d branded him in on a cellular level. The tattoo on his arm pulsed and burned.

The uncomfortable feeling of destiny lingered but eventually faded. He’d never been so grateful the Glrtsstlllloroggg killed his response. Once again, he was comfortably numb.

“ Wha —why did you do that?” Loxo spluttered next to him, his mismatched eyes going wide.

Why did I? “I harmed her, so I healed her.”

“You licked her hand.” Loxo’s ridged brows went high. “Why not use healing salves?” He pointed toward the supplies against the wall of the alien ship.

Xefe ignored Loxo and looked at Veras, who appeared strangely satisfied with his actions. “She is drowning in Glrtsstlllloroggg . How did this happen?” There was no way the supreme would allow this much of the golden elixir to be shared with an unidentified alien species.

Xefe caught a glimpse of sly-eyed Tontoh stiffening across the room. He’d pretended to leave but spied on them the whole time.

“She overdosed on Glrtsstlllloroggg when she battled Tontoh,” Veras replied.

His chest felt tight, and he rubbed the unexpected ache “Will she survive it?”

“We don’t know. She is experiencing phases of pleasure and pain.

Each pass more intense than the last. We have no idea how it will affect her alien physiology.

Even the most advanced users have never received such a high dose.

It is literally remaking her on a cellular level.

Who knows if her DNA can take the strain. ”

The earthers’ wide eyes fluttered shut.

The taste of her blood remained on Xefe’s tongue. It coated his throat, creating a buzzing warmth. Why did he have the urge to lick her from head to toe, to breathe in her earthy musk?

And why did his spikes straighten when he contemplated her demise?

Veras and Loxo moved on from the earther to study two other fighters. They held no interest for Xefe. Instead, he leaned in and spoke to the earther as he would one of his warriors, “Fight true, fight hard.” He couldn’t resist adding, “Make it past the night, and we will see each other again.