Derrix

Vaznik Warriors: Book Four

Ava York

Starr Huntress

Contents

Wiley

Derrix

Wiley

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Wiley

Derrix

Wiley

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Wiley

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Wiley

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Derrix

Wiley

Are you a STARR HUNTRESS?

Rogue Mate

Wiley

The day had finally come.

I stood outside the house I’d grown up in, one small bag slung over my shoulder, and stared at the beat up taxi waiting for me. The rusty fuselage reflected a pink sunrise, hitting me straight in the face, and it was enough to make me squint. Tightening my fingers around the strap on my bag, I took one deep breath and gave myself an encouraging nod. I’d only taken a couple of steps toward the taxi when I heard the thud of boots crunching the gravel behind me.

When I turned on my heels, there he was.

“You don’t have to do this, Wiley.” Tight-lipped and pale-faced, my father looked straight into my eyes. He stopped just a few feet away from me, his entire body tense as a nocked arrow, the creases on his forehead deepening. From over his shoulder I could still see the large gathering in front of the house—my mother, my two sisters, and a handful of cousins. Every single one of them looking at me with a blend of pity and fascination. They all thought I was crazy. “Please, Wiley, think about it.”

“We’ve already talked about this, Dad,” I said. I knew that I was breaking his heart, but I had to do it. I didn’t want to look back at my life a few years down the road and feel regret. Taking one step toward him, I went up on tip-toes and kissed his cheek, giving him a faint smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

“It’s what she wants, Jon.” My mother approached and laid a hand on his shoulder, kindness and patience in her voice. “She’s already made up her mind, and the only thing we can do is support her.”

“I know that, but…” He trailed off, looked down at his feet, and shook his head. “This is hard, Wiley.”

“I know, Dad.” I bit the inside of my cheeks to stop the tears from coming. No matter how much I wanted to leave, it still hurt to know I was breaking my family’s heart into a thousand little pieces. Before I could say anything else, my dad closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me in, held me tight for a couple of seconds, and then turned on his heels and marched back into the house without looking back.

“Give him time.” Smiling, my mother lowered her voice. “He’ll come around.”

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said, using the same low tone as hers. “It’s just that—”

“I know,” she cut me short. “I was just like you when I was your age. I thought there had to be more to life than just plowing the fields and fixing the crop droids. I dreamt of escaping this life, of adventure and freedom.”

It surprised me to hear her talk like this. She’d always been the rock in our family, the steadfast worker who ensured the farm ran like clockwork. I’d never really thought of her as a wide-eyed girl who craved for more in life.

“Go, Wiley,” she said. “Go be happy.”

“Thank you.” This time, it was impossible to stop the tears. They rolled down my cheeks, and I took a deep breath to steady myself. I hugged my mom tightly, wondering if I’d ever see her again, and then finally headed toward the taxi.

The small shuttle hovered just a couple of inches off the ground, the engines purring softly as the driver prepared for departure. I clicked the button on the door, waited as the hydraulics hissed and lifted it up, and then glanced back at my family one last time. I gave them one final wave, entered the taxi and sunk into my seat.

Seconds later my family was nothing but a blur of color in the rearview mirror. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back and sighed heavily. I knew leaving home would be hard, but I wasn’t expecting it to hurt so damn much.

“It’s tough, huh?” the driver said suddenly, his kind eyes locking on mine through the rearview mirror. He had a chubby but open face and an honest smile. “My youngest got the letter a couple of years ago, and she spent the day before her test bawling her eyes out. She didn’t get selected. Few girls are. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones, huh? Chin up.”

“Will do,” I said, not finding the courage to tell him the truth.

Unlike this man’s daughter, I hadn’t been selected. I’d volunteered.

Everyone thought that I was crazy, of course. Most women dread the day they reach maturity, terrified of being sent to the other side of the galaxy, not knowing who they’ll find. As for me, I always thought of lottery day as the ticket to a new life.

Lottery Day has always been one of the most divisive measures implemented by the government. When young girls finally become women, they’re forced through a random process of selection: the government picks a random birthdate and, if you’re born on that specific day, you pack your bags and head into the nearest testing facility. There, if you’re found to be a genetic match, you are immediately shipped off. You don’t know who your mate is, you’re not told where you’re going. You’re just pushed into a teleporter, and told to hope for the best.

Most women feared it.

I longed for it.

Ever since I was a young child, nothing more than a brat with scuffed knees and big dreams, I knew I wasn’t meant to stay on Earth. My family had tended a farm for generations, a rural and boring existence in the middle of nowhere, and I hated the fact I’d be just another pair of hands tending the crops. I wanted more out of life. The galaxy was a vast and wondrous place, and I couldn’t stomach the idea of living life without experiencing any of it.

“Miss? We’re here.” The driver’s voice cut through the fog that had settled on my mind, and I opened my eyes lazily. The clock on the dashboard told me that three hours had passed since I had left the house. I must’ve fallen asleep.

“How much?”

“Nothin’, really.” He gave me one of his warm smiles, and then pressed a button that made the door on my side rise up. “You remind me of my youngest daughter. She was terrified the day I drove her here. This is the least I can do.”

Stretching my back as I exited the taxi, I gave the driver a wave and a smile as he drove off, merging with the traffic. All around me taxis and large transport shuttles were dropping off girls my age, most of them carrying a pale expression and a fraught smile. The anxiety in the air was almost palpable.

Following after a group of women, I headed toward the building to my right. It had no more than three floors, but the walls were made of the clear glass you’d only see on city high-rises. It had a clinical appearance, the scent of disinfectant assaulting your nose even before you walked in. Wasting no time, I strolled into the main atrium and beelined toward one of the receptionists.

“A volunteer, huh?” she asked, knitting her eyebrows together as she confirmed my birthdate on her terminal. “Good for you.” Gently, she placed my ID bracelet on my right wrist, and then instructed me to follow her colleague to the testing room.

I followed after the second woman, a lanky blonde with a lab coat that was one size too small for her, and ended up in a large holding room, almost a hundred plastic seats filling the place. They were all empty.

“You’re the first one,” the woman told me in a clinical tone. There was no warmth or coldness in her voice, she was just stating a fact. We crossed the length of the room and then stepped through a set of sliding doors into a lab. There were four surgical chairs in there, all of them cushioned, and I was directed to one of them. “Sit down and make yourself comfortable. This will only take a minute.”

Doing as instructed, I sat down and waited as she placed a tourniquet on my arm. Using a sharp needle, she drew some of my blood into a vial. Following her with my gaze, I watched as she took the vial to a computer and inserted it into one of the slots.

“The process takes about five minutes,” she explained, looking at the readout on the screen. “I know that you’re a volunteer, but don’t get your hopes up. Only a small percentage of women end up being—”

She was interrupted by a high-pitched sound, her terminal beeping as the screen lit up. Craning my neck, I looked over her shoulder to read the bold letters that read: ‘MATCH CONFIRMED.’

“Huh,” the woman merely said, swiveling her stool around so that she was facing me. “Seems like we’ve found a match for you. Most girls would be panicking right now, but since you volunteered for this. . .well, this is your lucky day.”

“What happens now?” I asked, my heart suddenly tightening into a fist. I wanted this, no doubt about it, but that didn’t stop me from feeling anxious. After all, my life was about to change for good.

“Now?” She laughed. “Now you’re in for a ride.

Derrix

“No fractures on the fabric, but the stress tests remain-suboptimal.” Leaning back on my seat, I narrowed my eyes at the screen, parsing through the information the test tube was feeding my terminal. To my left, tactical gear hung suspended inside a round glass tube, small needles poking at the material over and over again. “Not great, but we’re getting there. Just a few tweaks and we’ll get it done.”

“We’re getting there, yeah, sure,” Kyre repeated with a grumble.

Standing before me, he peered over my shoulder at the readouts on the screen. Even though I couldn’t see him from my position, I could tell he was frowning. He’d been growing impatient with his progress these last few days, and it was starting to show.

“We should already be there,” he said. “It’s been a week since I’ve started working on these damn things. At this rate, we’re going to die of old age before we can head into the tunnels safely.”

“We’re doing what we can.”

“Not good enough.” Always the perfectionist, he pulled the tube open and removed the gear from inside it. He laid it all out on the worktable, then started spraying it with a thin layer of a heat-resistant agent. “If only we had better materials.”

We didn’t have them, of course, and that was putting a strain on the ship’s fabricator. There was no way around it, though. We were on Gravum IV, far away from any real civilization, and there was no way to get our hands on some decent materials.

Still, we needed to keep on trying.

Command had ordered us here to look for some damn artifact hidden in this planet’s underground tunnels, and none of us wanted to go back home empty-handed. Our pride would suffer, as would our bank accounts. Kyre, our chief engineer, had taken it upon himself to create the tactical gear we needed to head deep into the tunnels, but the task wasn’t an easy one. I remained confident, though. Just a few more tests and we’d have quality tactical suits for the entire team to wear.

Thankfully, we’d also been lucky enough to discover we weren’t as alone on this planet as we’d previously thought. The Qitzal, a tribe of pale, rough-skinned creatures with long talons and fangs, had proved themselves to be amiable. Underground dwellers, they were the ones that hinted at the possibility that the object we were looking for was buried deeper in those tunnels than we’d theorized. Despite cautioning us against seeking out the artifact—what they called a ‘cursed object’— they were still doing their best to help us out, bringing us raw materials and food whenever they could, but there was only so much we could do with what we had at hand.

“Let’s forget about the stress resistance for now,” Kyre said, pushing the gear inside the tube and sealing it in. He placed both hands on his hips, his narrowed eyes still focused on the gear, and pursed his lips. “Maybe we’ll have better results with the heat resistance test. I’ve been working on a new formula, and I think this one will have significant improvements. You know what to look for?”

“Sure do,” I replied, tapping the terminal a couple of times. The temperature inside the tube started to rise at once and the warmth emanating from it was strong enough for me to feel it on my cheeks. I waited as the terminal compiled the results, hands clasped behind my back, when I heard a familiar chime echo throughout the work room.

Oh, fuck. Not this shit again.

Immediately, I stopped the heating resistance test and minimized the readout on the screen. In its place appeared the ship wide communication interface. Occupying the entire screen was a single alert, and it announced that the teleportation sensors had gone off. Already knowing what I was going to find, I pulled up the coordinates and sighed.

“Earth,” I said.

“Well, shit,” Kyre muttered under his breath, momentarily forgetting all about his tactical gear. He looked straight at me, and even though he didn’t say a word, I knew exactly what was on his mind. Aside from Javik and I, every other crewmen aboard The Calliope had already been assigned a mate as per the treaty. If another woman was coming our way, then there was a fifty percent chance she’d been sent for me.

I didn’t know how to feel about it.

The treaty established between the Mahdfel and the humans was supposed to be a good thing, all with it ensuring those of my kind could get a genetically compatible match, but I didn’t particularly care for it. We were Vaznik warriors, and our sole focus should be fucking up the Suhlik bastards and completing whatever mission Command assigned us. As it was, The Calliope was looking less and less like a tactical team’s ship. If I was correct and Earth was sending us another woman, she’d be the fourth one joining us.

Truth be told, I didn’t mind having women around. As frail as they were, they all brought something to the table, and the crewmen they’d shacked up with were now more content with daily life. After all, these women were stubborn but kind, and they also knew when to be funny. It was hard not to like them. . .just as long as I wasn’t forced to have one of my own.

I was perfectly happy with being alone.

I didn’t need the distraction.

“It’s probably going to be Javik,” I said, pushing my chair back and rising to my feet. I tried to play it cool and sound confident, but my stomach was already in knots. What if this new woman was my mate? Shit, that was the last thing I needed. I’d rather scrub the entire length of The Calliope’s galley than to have a woman to babysit.

“Yeah, it’s probably going to be Javik,” Kyre said, but he didn’t sound too convinced. He tried to keep a serious expression, but he did a poor job at hiding his smile. The bastard was actually looking forward to this. “C’mon, let’s see who’s coming.”

Leaving the terminals switched on, we headed out of the engineering room and joined the rest of the crew. The remaining three Vaznik warriors and the human women were already on their way toward the teleporter, everyone’s nervous footsteps echoing throughout one of The Calliope’s cramped corridors. I caught Javik’s eyes as we walked, and he shrugged his meaty shoulders in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture. Just like me, he didn’t look too excited about having a woman to look after. We already had a lot on our plate, and the last thing we needed was someone new running around aimlessly.

The women, though, were over the moon.

They were chatting excitedly, their smiles so wide you’d think someone had just sent each and every one of them a billion credits. I didn’t blame them for it. They were away from home and everyone they loved—aside from their mates—and the idea of having someone else like them around was bound to make them happy.

“It’s happening,” Lila whispered.

My body tensed as a faint blue glow took over the teleportation pad. We held our collective breaths as the glow intensified, and the knot in my stomach tightened as the delicate shape of a human female emerge through the blinding gate of light.

Wild, curly brown hair framed an oval face, and her hazel eyes widened with excitement and wonder. She stumbled forward, her movements awkward, and did her best to stand upright. That didn’t work out. She was still disoriented from having her atoms reassembled, and it didn’t take long before a nauseous expression took over her face.

Even so, she looked beautiful.

“What the…?” I felt a pleasant warmth spread over my right shoulder, and I looked at it instinctively. Pulling down my shirt’s neckline, my stomach lurched as I realized what was happening: my tattoo was glowing, a silvery hue emanating from my violet skin. There was no denying it—this woman was my mate.

Fuck.

Wiley

The shocking disruption of the teleportation severely dampened my mood. I wanted to be excited, but the moment the lights started flashing my sick stomach overtook my thoughts.

It happened a lot quicker than I expected. Just when I started to wonder how long I would be disembodied for, the lights flashed and I felt solid ground under my feet again.

My eyes took a few minutes to adjust. The lights of the teleport were like nothing I’d ever seen before and I knew that it wasn’t just my response to the circumstances, it was my body going through such a long trip. I almost staggered to the floor and vomited, but I managed to hold myself up. My future mate would be in this room somewhere. I wanted to make a good impression.

The first thing I noticed was a hand touching my forehead lightly. It felt cool and calm where my forehead was a sticky mess of stress. I looked up slowly and focused on a cute girl with reddish brown hair and hazel eyes very much like my own.

“I’m Lila,” she said softly. “Are you alright? Can we get you anything?”

I tried to smile but I couldn’t be sure if it came out as friendly or more like a grimace.

“Uh, I’d love some water. Thanks.”

From my other side someone held out a cup. “Already done,” a cheerful voice said softly. I turned towards it, gingerly taking the water and trying my smile again.

“I’m Ferne.” She grinned at me, lighting up her blue eyes. I smiled back and I knew that finally, my face was working again.

“I’m Coralie.” A blonde girl appeared between Lila and Ferne. “How are you feeling?”

I stepped off the teleportation pad, sipping my water. I was grateful for their hands guiding me gently, holding my arms in a companionable and somewhat protective way.

Still, I was hoping they’d move soon, because I wanted to check out the area. My mate was somewhere here. Mate, how I loved the word. No questions of loyalty, no stress over finding the ‘one’ and wondering about my own judgement. Just a full and complete understanding of two beings who would become one.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Lila was giving me a strange face. “Did you get chosen to come here?” Her face was so open and sympathetic my heart warmed in my chest. She was a nice girl, this one. She genuinely cared about others.

“Yeah,” Ferne continued. “If you need to talk, if you need some time to adjust, we can help you. I know it’s really difficult being taken away from everything you know.”

I laughed out loud, almost spilling my water. My face must have been back to normal now, as well as the rest of me.

“Oh, no. That’s not how it happened.” I shook my head. “I volunteered—my name is Wiley.”

They all looked at each other in silence with different expressions. Maybe they’d never met anyone who wanted to join the program before. That seemed crazy to me—who wouldn’t want to visit strange, exotic places and find a hot, sexy man who was going to be all yours?

My eyes began to adjust to the surrounding area and I realized I wasn’t in a room with bright lights, but in a small area filled with natural light. It was white yellow and brighter than any sun I had ever seen, reflecting off the nearby sand with a harsh glare.

But I didn’t have time to take in the surroundings just yet. It flickered at the edge of my vision. What I couldn’t stop looking at were the males standing nearby. Males who were undeniably attractive.

Wow. Like, wow. Hot and gorgeous and…completely unexpected. They were all good looking, much hotter than any human male I’d ever seen. They were each covered in incredible tattoos and I wondered what kind of ink would make a color and texture like that.

The tall one with the purple skin was really handsome. His face had dramatic cheekbones and sculpted lips. I could imagine those lips kissing me. I could almost feel those long-fingered hands touching me all over.

He was fucking smoking.

I had to admit to being a little unnerved by the look of them. They were…aliens. Horns and strange colors and textures…I just didn’t know. I hadn’t considered the fact they would look so different. As excited as I was, I couldn’t help my reaction to their unfamiliar features.

There were some other aliens lurking about, but they looked really strange, not at all like the handsome ones. They glanced at me with quick eyes and I honestly couldn’t tell if they were friendly or not. They didn’t have expressions like anything I’d ever seen. At least the guys with the tattoos had body language recognizable to me.

To take my thoughts away from the weird little guys I looked out across the landscape, lit by that savage light. I didn’t want to think about the possibility I’d been matched with an ugly alien—seriously, the thought had never occurred to me. Now that I was actually looking at aliens, I realized I should’ve checked if any of them looked like frogs.

My first good look at the desert blew every thought from my mind. After my eyes adjusted to the glare, I beheld the sweeping dunes. Their edges seemed sharp against each other, perspective falling back into the distance across their shaded slopes. At the same time, the sand gave the impression of softness, even from so far away.

My gaze traced hard baked plains in between the sand hills, areas that looked as flat and hard as concrete that reflected shimmering waves of heat into the sky. Clinging to the edges of the hills and scattered across the rocky plains were strange little shrubs that looked black against the pale simmering heat of the desert.

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even form the thoughts I needed to give myself words. It was just so beautiful, so strange and unknown. My heart caught in my chest as I shook my head in disbelief.

It was worth it. It was all worth it. I knew that I had done the right thing.

When I turned back to the girls and the aliens, I had almost forgotten about the little guys. I averted my attention, trying not to think about the possibility of being with one of them. My gaze travelled up quite naturally to see what cast the shadow over us.

A spaceship. A fucking space ship.

Now my heart thundered in my chest twice as hard. I felt like I was about to pass out as my pulse hammered in my throat and my eyes bugged out of my head. I started to feel dizzy, then remembered I should really take a breath.

“Are you okay, Wiley?” Lila laughed softly, looking at me with an endearing expression.

I could only nod in response. My entire vocabulary was gone. There were no words for how awesome this was.

“Did you come from a small town, Wiley?” Ferne rubbed my shoulder gently, as if testing to make sure I hadn’t frozen to stone.

I nodded again, still unable to look away from the ship. All the smooth lines and glorious shiny metal…I didn’t think I could ever take it all in.

The blonde girl—Coralie, I think—hooked an arm through mine.

“Forgive us,” she said gently. “But we really should brush up on our hospitality. You’re just standing here in the heat after a rough ride and the first stage of your culture shock.”

“Oh, really, it’s okay.” I just couldn’t stop looking up at the ship. “I’m enjoying looking around.”

Ferne grabbed my hand from the other side. “Oh, believe me, you haven’t even started looking around yet.” She had a bright smile that was so carefree, I would have envied her. I knew that I didn’t have to, because I was here to live the same life she did.

Action, adventure, true love. Who could ask for more than that?

I felt my face coming alive with a real smile. I gripped Ferne’s hand and linked my arm more tightly with Coralie’s.

“It’s so nice to meet you all!” I wanted to immediately ask about my mate. I couldn’t wait to find out, even if I was scared it might be one of the weird looking guys. I just didn’t know the etiquette. I also wanted to ask all about their experiences, about how they felt being matched with the Mahdfel.

“Let’s head inside.” Lila’s smile was gentle, her entire manner welcoming. “We’ll get you some tea and something to eat. It always makes a rocky teleport trip easier if you can get something into your stomach.”

I nodded, letting the girls direct me towards the ship. I guessed I’d be able to ask all the questions I wanted once we got settled.

As we started to walk away, I noticed the eyes of the males on us. It looked like they were just as curious about me as I was of them.

Derrix

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” I repeated once more, pacing the length of overturned dirt right at the foot of The Calliope’s entrance ramp. I had been at it for the past ten minutes, and if I carried on with it, soon enough we wouldn’t need tactical suits in order to reach deep underground. I’d just dig our way there with the sole of my boots.

“He’s having a meltdown,” Kyre said.

“Definitely,” Cedroc agreed with a grunt.

I stopped moving and glared at them. They seemed amused with the situation. Bastards. They’d probably already forgotten how out of depth they’d been when their women popped out of the teleporter. I still remember their faces when they realized their mates had just fallen onto their laps, all courtesy of a bullshit treaty and an intergalactic express delivery system.

“I know how it feels.” Pushing the other two aside, Rekker closed in on me. He laid one hand on my shoulder and smiled. “I was at a loss when I first met Lila. Your tattoo, has it…?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That woman, she’s…” I hesitated, not sure if I could say it out loud. Fuck, why was this happening to me? I was in a committed and very loving relationship with The Calliope’s arsenal. I didn’t need a woman. “Fuck. Seriously.”

“That comes later,” Rekker said, a grin spreading across his lips. It was unusual for him to joke around like that, all with him being the ship’s captain and whatnot, but it seemed even he wasn’t above having a good laugh at my expense. “Alright, there’s no need to lose your cool, Derrix. Just let things happen. Get to know her, alright? Go in there and introduce yourself.”

“It can’t hurt,” Javik added with a shrug. Frowning, I looked at him over Rekker’s shoulder. The bastard was leaning against The Calliope’s landing gear, a relaxed expression on his face. He’d gotten off easy, and he knew it. “From what I’ve seen, to establish solid rapport in the early phases will definitely—”

“I get it, Mr. Oversized Brains,” I cut him short. “I’m going.”

Gritting my teeth, I spun on my heels and looked up the ramp. Somewhere inside the ship was that woman, and I still wasn’t sure on what to make of it.

My body, though, was quite happy to make her acquaintance.

Even though the woman had wandered into The Calliope more than ten minutes ago, I still felt my blood boiling inside my veins. My heart pounded, and even my lungs seemed to be working overtime to get the air in. I tried to rein it all in, to exert some kind of control over my own fucking body, but it was useless. That woman was my mate, and my body was hellbent on making my mind understand it.

“Alright, fuck it,” I muttered under my breath as I climbed up the ramp.

The guys laughed behind me, but I paid it no heed. I just focused on making my way through the cramped corridors, doing my best to ignore how tight my chest felt. It didn’t take long before I heard Lila’s voice come out of the crew mess.

“. . .they males have been teaching us hand-to-hand combat and outdoor survival techniques. We’ll get you up to speed in no time.”

A new, feminine voice that must belong to my mate exclaimed, responding excitedly as they talked about her upcoming training.

Freezing in my tracks, I stopped before the door and hesitated before punching the panel on the side. “Alright, Derrix, you’re a fucking Vaznik warrior. You can do this.”

The doors slid back into their partitions with a mechanical hiss as I pressed the panel beside them. I stepped inside the mess, finding the new woman sitting at a table in the corner, a steaming cup of tea nestled between her delicate hands. She’d already regained some color, her pale and disoriented expression from before almost completely gone. The other women—Lila, Coralie, and Ferne—had taken over the remaining seats around the newcomer, and they all turned their heads once they saw me walk in.

“That’s him,” I heard Coralie say in a barely audible whisper, and she hit Lila with her elbow. “It has to be.” Clearing her throat, she rose to her feet and smiled as she looked at the others. “Let’s see what the boys are doing outside, shall we? We’ll let you enjoy your tea in peace, Wiley. Just holler if you need anything.”

Grinning, the three of them marched out of the crew mess with hurried steps. One of them closed the door as they left, and my heart skipped a beat as I heard it lock in place. The woman—Wiley—turned on her seat and offered me a nervous little smile.

“Hello,” she said as I approached her. She was even more beautiful up close, the freckles around her nose moving as she smiled. “My name’s Wiley.” She offered me her hand and I took it in mine, her tiny little fingers brushing against my palm. Her touch was electric, and my heart started pounding once more. “I think we’re supposed to be a genetic match, right? They don’t offer much in the way of explanations back at the clinic.”

Her tone was polite, but almost too clinical. It sounded like she was introducing herself to a new coworker, not to her fated mate. Maybe she didn’t understand that we were so much more than just genetic matches. Great. How the hell was I supposed to explain it to her?

“The name’s Derrix,” I said, mimicking her sterile politeness. “I’m The Calliope’s weapon specialist.”

“Happy to make your acquaintance, Derrix.” There it was again, that clinical tone. “Is that what this ship is called? The Calliope?”

“Correct.”

“And where are we exactly?”

“Gravum IV. We’re here on a military expedition.”

“Really?” She leaned forward, her eyes widening with excitement. I didn’t know if that was normal. The other women all freaked out once they realized they were stuck with a bunch of military guys, but this one seemed excited. “So, you guys are soldiers?”

“You could say that. We’re Vaznik Warriors. We’re a specialized Mahdfel military unit. We’ve been sent here to retrieve some kind of artifact. We’re not yet sure what it is, but sooner or later we’re going to find it.”

“What can I do to help?” The eagerness in her voice surprised me. Well, at least she wasn’t freaking out. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this. I’m sure I can be useful.”

“It’s, uh—it’s dangerous.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” she said, and now she sounded even more excited than before. “I want to help, though. I promise I won’t get in the way. I can handle myself., and the girls have already offered to get me up to speed with combat training.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do,” I told her, scratching my chin. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with putting her to work right away, but it wasn’t like I could stop her from being useful. Learning how to defend herself wasn’t a bad idea, even if I would be here to protect her. Besides, she had a gleam in her eye that told me she’d be able to handle herself. Or so I hoped. Not knowing what else to say, I gave her one small nod and rose to my feet. “I’ll let you finish your tea, Wiley.”

I left the crew mess even more confused than before. Wiley seemed enthusiastic about being on a military ship in the middle of an assignment, but she didn’t seem particularly interested in the whole mate thing. I knew she understood that we were a genetic match and that we were meant to stay together, but I was pretty sure that she was oblivious to the depth of a mating bond.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed heavily.

Outside, the sun had already started its descent, the night’s deep blue meshing with the mellow orange of a setting star. Rekker and the guys were busy building a fire a couple of feet away from the ship, and the women were sitting around it in low tree stumps, chattering quietly.

“Kyre,” I said once I closed in on them, “I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“What?”

“We’re going to need a tactical suit for the woman. Wiley, I mean.”

“Okay, sure,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “She wants to help out?”

“Yeah, she said that—”

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Coralie interrupted me. Knitting her eyebrows together, she turned around on her tree stump and looked straight at me. “She’s just arrived. You should give her some time to adjust. We don’t even know what she can do yet.”

“I’m not forcing her to do it,” I said. “In fact, she was the one that—”

“Derrix’s right.” Standing at the top of the ramp with the mug of tea still in her hands, Wiley looked down at the group and smiled. Carefully, she climbed down and sat next to the other women, reaching for the fire with one open hand. “I want to help, I really do.”

When Coralie opened her mouth to say something, Wiley rushed to continue speaking. “I’ve spent long enough doing farm work. I want to do this. You said you all would help me. I’m ready to start now.”

Neither Lila, Ferne, or Coralie said a thing. They merely exchanged glances and shrugged. It seemed like Wiley shared their stubbornness, and they knew it was useless to try and stop her. Resistance was futile.

But was I really going to trust the training of my mate to the human women? “You want to train? Fine. But you’ll train with me.”

Wiley’s eyes widened and she glanced at the women, who shrugged. “Okay.”

“It’s settled then,” I said, giving her a hard look. “And you don’t go out with us until I clear you.”

Wiley

I watched Derrix covertly, a little perplexed as the evening wore on. He didn’t try to make conversation, it was as if I wasn’t even present. I knew he was aware of me—the line of his body breathed tension, and the other alien males gave him occasional glances.

After some time, I began to realize I was going to have to take things into my own hands. He was my mate, and this was supposed to be the start of my new life, a new adventure. So it was time to get started.

I stood and approached. He glanced at me as I came forward, which was a good sign. At least he wasn’t going to pretend not to see me. Though I could almost see the debate to do so flash across his expression.

“Can we talk? Alone?” I asked. “I have a few questions.”

He looked past me, presumably towards the girls. “Ah . . .”

“They’re all busy.” I crossed my arms and smiled at him determinedly. He wasn’t going to weasel out of this so easily.

Derrix sighed, and stood. “Fine.”

Wow, such enthusiasm. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to jump your bones unless you want me to.” I may have laid the sarcasm on a little too thick. One of the men choked, and Derrix’s expression soured as he glanced at his comrade.

“This way,” he said.

We walked back into the Calliope, and Derrix led me to the mess hall. I was hoping he’d take me to his quarters, but baby steps I guess. Talk about the reluctant groom. I took a seat at a table.

He leaned against a wall, crossing his arms. “What do you want to know?”

I tilted my head. “I just . . . I wanted to know more about the ship. What we’re doing here. This is going to be my home, after all.” I gave him another, encouraging smile. “I’d like to get to know each other. Since we’re, you know, kinda stuck together.” Maybe if I stayed positive, it would coax him out of his hard shell a little.

Derrix paused for a long moment, then shrugged. “We have orders to locate an artifact. As soon as you’re up to shape, we set out to navigate a nearby cave system where we believe it’s located.”

“Ok. What’s it supposed to do?”

“We don’t know. We just follow orders.”

I blew out a breath. “I get that. So we won’t be on this planet long?”

“No.”

I began to tap my nails on the metal tabletop. He watched me, impassive. “Are we on a deadline?”

“Yes.”

I waited. He stared at me. “Well, I’m just overwhelmed by all the details.”

He furrowed his brow. “I haven’t offered any details.”

That . . . was exactly the point? Note to self, the alien warrior didn’t get human girl sarcasm. “Do you really think you can get me trained before we have to head out?”

“No. But it’s not like I have a choice, do I?”

“Wow, that was a whole sentence. We’re making progress.” I frowned. “What do you mean ‘no?’”

He looked at me patiently. “Have you ever fought in a battle? Had to defend your life? Fought off an attacker? Then the answer is no. You can train all you want but until you actually apply it in a real scenario, you’re unprepared.”

“Everyone has to start somewhere.”

“We don’t have time for that. You should stay here. You’ll get yourself killed.”

The harsh tone took me aback. “But I’m here now, and I’m no good to anyone if you have to coddle me. So you might as well get me prepared. I’ve done a little training.”

He scoffed. “Like what?”

“I’ve spent years doing outdoor survivalist training.” I stared at him, my back stiffening with indignation. “I can survive in the woods with nothing but my hands and my wits.” That might be pushing it, but I was trying to make a point. I rattled off a list of survival skills I’d taught myself over the years. “See? I’m not a total rookie.”

Derrix sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m not trying to be mean. I’m trying to make sure you don’t get killed out there. And the best way to ensure that is for you to stay here.”

I rose from my seat. “Well, I’m not staying here. So you’d better try really, really hard to teach me everything you think I need to know.”

We stared at each other, Derrix glaring, me with my arms crossed stubbornly.

“Why is this so important to you?” he asked finally, tone exasperated. “Why did you volunteer for this anyway?”

“Because I wanted something more, Derrix. I wanted to see what was out there. I love my family, but I wanted to do something with my life other than live and die on a farm, bored out of my mind.”

He shook his head slowly. “You have no idea how lucky you were to have had a nice, boring farm, and a nice, boring family.” A shadow crossed his face. Then he inhaled, and let the breath out a moment later. “I don’t have time to convince you. Fine. We’ll train.” Steel entered his gaze. “We’ll train hard. I’m not going to baby you because you’re my—because you’re new.”

He couldn’t even admit it, could he? That I was his mate.

“I hope adventure is worth risking your life,” he added quietly. “We start in the morning.”

I opened my mouth, shut it. Looked at him, and then nodded and left. There wasn’t much else to say.

Disappointment and anticipation warred deep into my stomach.

Derrix

The sun beat down on us, our feet thudding in the sand. I kept my back to the glare, deliberately blinding her. Wiley squinted at me but said nothing. An enemy wouldn’t care whether the sun was in her eyes.

I didn’t hold back. Much.

I told myself it was because I’d be doing her a disservice if I didn’t train her properly. I couldn’t go soft on her just because she was my mate. But I knew, deep down, that I wanted to convince her this was too hard. Going out with us wasn’t worth the difficulty of the training.

How could I protect her if she insisted on throwing herself into danger?

“Again,” I barked. “Hands up. Fix your stance, I could knock you down with a puff of air.”

“Someone’s a puff of hot air all right,” she muttered.

I narrowed my eyes. “What did you say?”

Wiley smiled brightly, determination in her eyes. No matter how hard I ran her through the moves, she kept up, she didn’t complain.

I wasn’t nice. I wasn’t gentle. I trained her like I would train any other warrior.

Without warning, I attacked her again. My one concession to her beginner’s status was speed—I moved slower, giving her time to practice the basic punches and blocks I’d demonstrated and had her practice before we began sparring.

Her brow furrowed in concentration as we fought, beads of sweat trailing down her temples. She wore a basic tank top and pants, and I’d never seen anyone sexier.

“Harder,” I ordered as I deflected a punch, aiming a fist at her head. She blocked, barely. “Your stance is slipping.”

“I’m trying,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ll get this, I promise.”

Her form was good, though I wouldn’t tell her so. Strong shoulders, straight lines, solid core. With time she’d be good, the best fighter out of any of the women I was certain.

But we didn’t have time, and each mistake she made could end her life. Fear drove me, though I barely acknowledged it. Acknowledging it meant I accepted the inevitable; feelings. Caring about what happened to her. I couldn’t care. That path would only lead to pain.

So I drove her, drove us both. The other women wandered over occasionally, watching, but didn’t interfere. I ignored all of them.

What I didn’t ignore was that if she wasn’t already strong, wasn’t already worthy, I wouldn't be able to push her so hard.

“Enough,” she finally rasped. “I need a break.”

I halted as she lowered her guard. “No breaks. We train.”

“I need water, I’m taking a break!” She glared at me, then took a deep breath and let it out. “It won’t help if I’m dehydrated. Five minutes.”

I nodded reluctantly. “One.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay.”

I watched as she left the impromptu training circle and headed toward one of the women. They chatted in low voices, Wiley accepting a battered metal cup and downing the contents.

Two minutes later she returned, settled into the fighting stance, and beckoned.

Brash. A reluctant smile just barely curled the corner of my mouth. I got ahold of myself.

“Tell me, Derrix,” she began to speak as we resumed.

“No talking. You need your breath during a fight. Especially in the desert.”

She ignored me. “Why are you so angry?  I know I was dumped on you. Is that why? You didn’t want a mate?”

Her words were blows. I almost staggered back.

“I’m not going to hold it against you,” she continued, voice soft, gaze keen. “You probably weren’t expecting me. It’s a major life change.”

“Talk less. Fight more.” I lunged, increasing my speed enough that she couldn’t block and punch while also trying to talk.

Wiley leaped away, panting, her hazel eyes glinting from the challenge I offered. She didn’t cry, didn’t demand I stop. She set her jaw and fought.

Her beauty stole my breath. I fought against the pull, fought against my mind and body succumbing to her lure. Fought against reluctant respect.

But I didn’t want to break her. I called a halt to the session, and squinting up at the sky realized hours had passed. Damn.

Wiley limped back towards the women, exhaustion in every line of her body. But after another cup of water she slowly straightened, then looked over at me.

No need to speak, the message was in the line of her body, the challenge in her gaze. She was daring me to do my worst. Daring me to give up on her.

I could take up the gauntlet of the former . . . I couldn’t quite bring myself to pick up the challenge of the latter.

* * *

Another two days we went through the cycle. Get up early, hit the training circle. Lecture, demonstration. Block, strike. I concentrated on defensive strategies out of practicality. We didn’t have time. The best thing she could do was learn how to run, and short of that, keep herself alive until help arrived. In the evenings the women began showing her how to use the weapons they favored.

The evenings.

Her eyes bored into my back each night when I left the circle. I fled her gaze like she was chasing me with a hot brand. Which wasn’t that far from the truth. Her stares were heavy with expectation, and tinged with disappointment.

My time was running out. When we sparred—and she was getting faster, stronger—she struck with the heat of frustration. Wiley wasn’t used to not going after, and getting, what she wanted. What she thought she wanted.

She didn’t understand the danger, the pain from grasping something and then having it ripped out of your fingers. I understood all too well.

“I need a break,” she said, leaping back and lowering her guard.

By now she knew I wouldn’t actually hurt her if she dropped her defenses. She’d called that bluff early on and she was right. One of the men, sure, I would take advantage to teach them a lesson. An enemy wouldn’t give you a break. But I couldn’t hurt her. Had to grit my teeth when I noticed the regular bruises and scratches on her delicate skin that went along with any kind of sparring.

“An enemy won’t give you a break,” I insisted. We had this argument several times a day—we’d memorized each other’s lines.

Her eyes locked on mine, and changed the script. “You aren’t my enemy.”

Wiley turned and strode toward her water and bent down to grab it. As she straightened, I couldn’t help but stare at the line of her lean, strong body. So many days under the sun had bronzed already golden skin. Highlights were beginning to pop out in her hair. She glowed with health. Sleek, graceful . . . mine.

It hit me in the gut. She was mine. I knew that already, of course. My body knew it. My mind shied away. How in the universe did I warrant both the misfortune and the good luck to be given a mate like her?

Wiley glanced at me, brilliant eyes inscrutable, and set down her water and strode back. “Where were we? Oh, yeah, you were trying to kick my ass, and I was having none of it.”

A reluctant smile formed on my lips.

She grinned at me. “Seriously, though, I’ve been making progress, right?”

I nodded slowly. “You have. You’re doing better than I expected.”

In fact, I’d been watching the captain watch us and knew our time was ticking down. We needed to get a move on and at some point, he would decide she’d been prepared as much as possible without delaying the mission indefinitely. There was only so much you could teach a newbie in a time crunch.

“Good,” she said. “I thought so too.”

We settled into our stances, and began to circle each other. We moved in sync, Wiley having learned a little about my tells as well as mimicking my style of moving. I used that against her often enough to keep her off balance, but allowed her a lucky strike enough times to keep her confidence up. A lack of confidence would get one killed just as surely as overconfidence. Walking that fine line was worse than walking a tightrope strung over a gorge full of predators.

“I think we make a good team,” I said without thinking.

She blinked, then scrambled to defend herself as I took advantage of her distraction. A flurry of blows exchanged, Wiley moving faster than day one.

“How do we make a good team?” she asked, expression intent.

A strange emotion wound itself inside me. “We'll keep each other safe.”

The words surprised me enough that this time it was my attention divided. Wiley took advantage, slipping under my guard. I reacted, moving at regular speed and seconds later she was pinned, her back pressed against my chest and her arms immobile. I held her like that until the rush of adrenaline in my blood settled and I was certain I wouldn’t accidentally hurt her.

“Is that something you worry about?” she asked softly, head lowered. Her chest rose and fell rapidly from the exertion, and she didn’t try to move. “Staying safe?”

I stiffened. I’d revealed something I didn’t want to, memories about my life I wasn’t ready to talk about. The reasons for her wanting to leave her safe family farm raised both anger and pity inside me.

She didn’t understand how much she’d had to lose. It wasn’t her fault. But I understood. And that wasn’t her fault either.

I released her and she turned, not putting any space between us, and looked up into my face.

“You really are afraid I’ll be hurt,” she said, searching my face with wide eyes. “I didn’t realize until now that that was a personal fear.”

I still said nothing. She saw too much

After a moment she dipped her head, a silent acknowledgement, perhaps, that I wasn’t going to continue this conversation.

“Okay, Derrix. But for what it’s worth, you’re doing everything you can to beat whatever fears are inside you. You’re helping make me tougher. And we’re stronger together than we are apart.”

My parents had thought so too.

* * *

“Looks like Wiley’s learning fast,” Rekker said, sitting down next to me.

I jerked a shoulder, staring moodily into the fire. No one expected Wiley to learn how to actually defend herself in a few days, much less go on the offensive. Rekker thought he was slick—he was just trying to give me and Wiley time together before the mission took priority. He thought I didn’t know what he was up to.

“We have to leave out soon, Derrix.”

“I know.” I felt him glance at me. The air was weighted with unspoken words. “Spit it out. You can say whatever is on your mind.”

He sighed. “I’ve asked myself more than once, if I had a chance to make sure my mate was safe, completely safe, but that meant I couldn’t be with her, would I take it?”

I looked at him reluctantly. Where he was going with this line of conversation was obvious, considering how besotted he was, and I did and did not want to hear it.

“The answer,” he continued, “is no. It makes me a selfish bastard, I know. But if I knew we only had a year together, I still don’t think I could push her away. I know for a fact she would kill me if I tried. Thing is, happiness is fleeting everywhere, Derrix. Lots of happily ever after’s are cut off short.” He leaned towards me, eyes fierce. “But, damnit, it’s worth it. Worth every moment you get to be with her. Don’t waste your moments.”

He stared at me long enough to make sure I got the point, then nodded and stood. Feminine chuckles rang out from across the camp, and I glanced over at Coralie and Wiley talking.

Wiley was worth my dying for. The certainty of that settled deep in my gut. But I wasn’t ready to throw away her life for a few flaming moments of happiness. There was so much for her to live for. So much she hadn’t seen. And I wasn’t worth her throwing that all away.

Wiley

I trained like I had something to prove, because I did. The implacable look in Derrix’s eyes drove me. If I slipped, if I was too weak, he would take this opportunity from me. I felt it in every strike against my defense, in every correction of my stance. He was scrupulously fair, and patient—but ruthless.

Exhaustion dodged my steps, along with exhilaration. No one had ever pushed me like this. In all of my life, I had never felt so alive; the blood zinging in my veins, my muscles protesting the exercise, the sun scoring the back of my neck.

The women felt sorry for me. I felt them watching and heard the reservation in their voices at the end of each day. Derrix was doing me a favor. He was making me stronger. What more could a girl ask for?

Well, there was plenty more to ask for.

“Pay attention,” he snapped. “That strike shouldn’t have gotten past your defense.”

He gave me a split second to recover from the blow, and I refocused. This wasn’t the time to moon over how hot my mate was . . . and how forbidden.

Each day we trained, his gaze searing me. His eyes hot on my body even though he tried to play it off.

Each night he left me alone.

I would think he didn’t care, but before disappearing into the night he made sure I had enough to eat, to drink, that I was comfortable. He questioned me on muscle aches and strains, badgered me into completing the post workout routine that would minimize potential injuries.

He cared. I felt it.

There was something more going on. The only way to get to the bottom of it would be to corner him so he couldn’t run away, and ask a few pointed questions.

“Why are you in such a bad mood today?” I asked, perplexed.

He backed up several steps, lowering his arms, and sighed. It was an uncharacteristic sound of aggravation. He was usually so calm, stoic even.

“We’re out of time,” he said. “We set out tomorrow.”

Yes! Finally. But I said, “Oh. Too bad we don’t have more time.”

The look he leveled at me said he wasn’t fooled. I grinned at him and shrugged. “We knew we’d get marching orders soon.”

“Yes. Just remember, Wiley . . . all of this training will mean next to nothing in the wild. First rule: Run. Second rule: Let me and the guys do the fighting. Third rule: Fight only if we’re dead or incapacitated—but first, go back to rule one.”

I didn’t roll my eyes. I was really proud of that. “Okay, boss. Run and cower behind a big, bad warrior first.”

He frowned. “I mean it, Wiley. It’s common sense and it will save your life. No one expects you or the girls to become warriors in a few days.”

Maybe not, but a little was better than nothing. I shifted back into stance. “Let’s make these last few hours count, then.” In more than one way. I had plans.

* * *

I waited until we were gathered around the campfire that evening before calling cheerfully across the flickering flames. “Oh, hey, Lila, I forgot. I haven’t had a tour of the ship yet!”

Lila clapped a hand over a sudden wide yawn. Just as we’d discussed. “Oh, I’d love to but I’m so exhausted.”

The yawn was obviously fake. I looked at each of the girls and one by one they mumbled patently false excuses as to why they couldn’t take me. Anyone giving us a casual once over might think they were being mean girls.

I glanced sideways at Derrix, who was staring at them with a disgruntled frown, a faint glare in his eyes.

My shoulders slumped. “Oh, well, I guess since it’s too much trouble. I’m sorry, I should have thought.”

His expression went blank. Come on, come on, how hard was it to take the bait?

After a moment, he stood. “I’ll take you.”

I peered up at him, widening my eyes. “Are you certain? I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Ferne coughed, turning her face away hastily when Derrix glared at her.

“Since the women are all busy, I will take you.”

My heart melted a little. He might act like he didn’t want much to do with me, but when it came down to it, he didn’t want to see me excluded. He defended me.

Even though it was a complete set up.

I rose, reluctance in my slow movements, and gave him a shy smile. “Thank you. It’s my very first spaceship. So big and strong looking.” I fluttered my lashes.

Lila snorted.

Okay, maybe I was laying it on a little too thick.

Derrix didn’t seem to notice. He turned and strode away, and I hurried to catch up with him.

If he hadn’t been avoiding being alone with me except for during our training sessions, I wouldn’t have had to resort to such drastic measures.

“It’s a standard layout,” he said as we entered. “We’ve made some upgrades. You’ve already seen the mess hall.”

“Where is your personal cabin?”

His head whipped towards me. I blinked at him innocently. “I always wanted to know what it would be like to live on a spaceship. We used to decorate virtual cabins when we were children.”

I walked forward confidently, keeping my stroll casual. In a moment he caught up. “This way.”

I kept up a stream of chatter on the walk, launching into a tale about an adventure my cousins and I had gotten into involving a farm bot, a lost cow, and a secret cave system.

He stopped in front of a door, laying a hand on the palm plate. It slid open. Glancing at me inscrutably, he said, “You have a lot of cousins.”

So he’d been paying attention.

“Yes.”

We stepped inside. I looked around. It was plain, utilitarian, nothing like the glamourous cabins we’d imagined as kids.

“And you left all of them.”

I turned towards Derrix. He was standing by the door as I explored, his arms crossed over his chest. There was a faint note of criticism in his voice.

“I’ll see them again,” I said. “They all supported me leaving.”

He stared at me. “Both your parents are alive.”

“Yes.” I tilted my head and started to ask . . . but something made me stop. Maybe it was a shadow in his eyes, or how his mouth tightened, just a little. “My dad didn’t like it, but he understood. My mother supported my decision.”

“How do you think they’ll feel if I let something happen to you? If their daughter was harmed?”

I approached him slowly. “I thought we said we were responsible for each other. If something happens to either one of us. And I don’t think they’d be mad—at you, anyway. Life is dangerous.”

He stared down at me, expression stony. “You say that, but you don’t feel it. You’ve never had anything taken away from you. You don’t understand.”

Things were beginning to come clear. Snippets of conversation starting to form the shape of Derrix’s reluctance.

There were only a few inches between us now. I tipped my head back to meet his gaze and shifted from foot to foot. Moments before I’d felt brave, bold. But now we were alone, in the cramped quiet of his quarters, and I was all too aware that we were strangers who’d been thrown together. And one of us was a warrior, with pain and shadows in his eyes. I wavered, wondering if I was doing the right thing to push him. Maybe I should wait for him to come to me. Didn’t men prefer to be the hunters, and all that jazz?

“What don’t I understand?”

“You were lucky,” he said softly. “Luckier than you know. A nice home, a loving family. We rarely appreciate what we have until it’s gone.”

“What did you lose?” I asked, lifting my hand. Daring, I cupped his cheek, braced for him to flinch away or frown, but he stood there as my hand settled over his skin. “You don’t have to answer that. But if you ever want to talk about it . . . that’s what I’m here for.”

“You’re here to breed according to the stipulations of a treaty.”

I didn’t bat a lash at his hard words. “I suppose we’ll get to that, eventually.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to tote a kid around the universe on adventures.

“I know I was foisted on you,” I said, lowering my hand. His jaw flexed under my touch as my fingers slipped away. “I know it’s sudden, and I’m a burden—”

“You aren’t a burden. Not in the way you mean.”

I didn’t know what to make of his quiet statement. “You blow hot and cold. One minute it’s like you wished I’d never come here, and the next you look at me like . . .” I couldn’t say it, blushing a little. “You push hard, harder than anyone has ever pushed me. My bruises have bruises. Is it a punishment or because you care? I just need to know how to handle this. Do you want me to leave you alone?”

There was a gleam in his eyes, like frustration. “It’s too late for that, Wiley.”

“No, it’s really not. No one would ever know we haven’t consummated the contract.”

He grimaced, one of the most open expressions I’d seen on his face. “If it was just the contract, yeah, we could work around it. But you know it’s more than that.”

My gaze brushed along his tattoos. They’d flared to brilliant white life the day I’d come. I knew what it meant. I’d seen the other men’s tattoos around their mates and had listened to the girls talk. Derrix and I were fated to be together. But he was fighting it.

“I know,” I agreed. “That doesn’t mean I have to push to do anything about it.” I took another deep breath, then let it out, shoulders slumping a little. “This conversation isn’t really going where I wanted it to. I wanted to figure out how to move forward.”

We were stalled, and it was eating me. When I’d imagined my mate, and adventure among the stars, I’d never taken into account an unwilling mate. And what if the roles were reversed? What if it had been me as the unwilling one, and Derrix pressing, pressing?

I shifted, uncomfortable, then took a step back, suddenly aware of how I’d invaded his personal space. Without invitation. Touched him. Without invitation.

“I’m sorry,” I said, blinking rapidly, and stepped back even more. “I shouldn’t have pushed. You’ve made it clear you don’t want me—”

Derrix laughed. The sudden, harsh noise startled me, and I jumped. Which made me angry. “What are you laughing about?”

He shook his head. “You think I don’t want you?”

“Well, you won’t talk to me, and you can’t stand to touch me unless you’re punching me!”

He sucked in a breath, as if slapped. I hadn’t meant it to sound like he was a wife beater or something, but anger crossed his face.

“I would never hurt you,” he said in a low, controlled tone.

I opened my mouth, closed it. Spit out the imaginary foot. “I didn’t mean that you would hurt me. Only that the only time we have physical contact is in the training ring. I mean, technically that’s punching and kicking, but not like, in an abusive way.” I cringed internally as his expression darkened further. “I—I’ll go. I’m sorry. I guess I hoped . . . I mean—” I was babbling.

I stopped, shook my head, and then tried to walk around him.

Derrix hand shot out, grabbed my wrist to halt me. “This has nothing to do with not wanting you.”

Shaking my head, I shrugged, avoided his gaze. “No problem, it’s cool. You’ve got bigger things to worry about, anyway.”

I thought he’d let me go, but he pulled me towards him. I stumbled into his chest, startled again, and looked up into his steely gaze.

“I do not have bigger things than my mate to worry about,” he said slowly. His free hand settled in the curve of my waist, and I felt . . . I felt his body stir, harden. “It isn’t you, it’s me.”

“That’s fine.” I smiled half-heartedly. I really really didn’t want to hear the it’s not you argument. “Maybe the science got it wrong. Maybe we aren’t really—”

He closed his eyes, let out a breath as if asking for patience. “No one got it wrong, Wiley.” His hand squeezed my waist, fingers digging in.

Derrix lowered his head, eyes still closed. I thought he might kiss me, but he buried his face in the side of my neck. Something stretched taut between us, a new energy, as if he was finally beginning to acknowledge our bond.

“You belong to me,” he said quietly. “And I to you. It’s not that I don’t want you.”

He sounded as if he was in pain, and it hurt me that I was the cause. I couldn’t take this anymore. I’d fucked up. Badly. I’d meant to bridge some of the gap between us, not dig a deeper chasm.

“You don’t have to explain yourself. I said I’d go. Just forget it.” I pushed at his chest with my free hand, the other still imprisoned, and tried to step back.

His fingers tightened on my waist and he looked up, eyes flashing. The stoic impassiveness of his usual expression was gone. For a moment he looked like a hunter, and I stilled, feeling like prey.

Then it was gone, and he let me go. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “No worries.” Carefully, I eased a step back, not wanting to spark again whatever I’d just seen come to the surface, even briefly. Neither of us was ready for it.

Derrix watched me, uncannily still, then spoke. “Stay for a while. We’ll talk.”

The offer surprised me. But he was completely calm now, even distant, the barriers between us once again fully erect. I’d wanted to spend some time together . . . I couldn’t let a little show of . . . whatever that was scare me off.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll talk.”

* * *

My stomach leaped and flipped as we walked into the swamp. As much as I tried to keep my emotions under wraps, the whole situation was just too exciting.

I cast a glance at Derrix. Though he was doubtful, I felt strong. Prepared. Ready to take on anything. He’d defaulted back to stony silences, but I knew there was more underneath the stoic exterior. The moment last night when his real personality peek through, when he lost control for just a second . . .

I would have to coax that side of my mate to the surface.

The others walked along quietly, putting their feet down on the drier patches of land as they made their way through the damp, squishy ground. I wasn’t too worried about keeping my feet dry as I trotted back and forth across the paths to look at the dense environment.

It was like its own little ecosystem. There was only enough moisture to make small, squelchy pools and sparse, rough blades of grass poked up from the deeper corners. Tons of insects and little tadpole-like creatures swam in the deeper pools.

Every system depended on another. Plenty of ecosystems on Earth—and other planets for that matter—had interconnected natural systems. Here, the patterns were far more obvious.

A scattering of luminously colored moths swept over my head. I watched them flutter up to the branches of a nearby tree. One of them landed on the bark and got stuck, quickly overwhelmed by the tiny beetles that swarmed it. I shook my head, so intent at staring upwards that I put a foot down wrong and almost fell on my butt in the black mud.

Derrix grabbed my arm, catching me just above the elbow and tugging me forward so I could find my feet. As soon as I was balanced again he quickly let go, smiling almost shyly.

“Hey, thanks. You saved my butt. From a drenching.” I giggled, a bit self-conscious.

He smiled. “No problem.” Then he followed the others, head down as he navigated the muddy path.

It was pretty obvious that to the others, this part was all business. Maybe they wandered through here like stunned children their first time, but they were accustomed to it now. Ferne threw a look over her shoulder that was pure indulgence and I grinned back.

This was what I came out into the stars for. To see things I’d never seen. To fall in love. To have wild adventures.

I didn’t know how far it was to the cave entrance. Maybe that’s why the other guys were just taking their time, carefully watching where they put their feet. They said we should be there by nightfall, but I wasn’t even sure how long that would be or how much ground we had to cover. It really didn’t matter though, I couldn’t stop running back and forth to look at every new and strange thing this planet had to offer.

I trotted forward towards a tree with vibrant bark, not minding the water splashing the bottom of my pants. There were spots of fungus up the trunk, like something you might find in a traditional rainforest, but it was of an incredible neon green. I wanted to touch it but decided I better not. Brightly colored things like that were often poisonous.

Even though I couldn’t stop looking around at everything, I tried to settle myself down. The rest of the group really wasn’t doing much talking. I turned around to almost everyone in the group chattering away about something—everything, anything—before noticing the guarded expression that followed my exuberance.

Nothing could dull my fierce excitement, though. I ended up pushing my way up the line to walk with Ferne.

“Have you been here before?”

“Yes,” she answered me matter-of-factly.

“Did it totally blow your mind?”

“Well, Kyre and I were sort of hot on the trail of something so even though I did appreciate the swamp, I didn’t have a lot of time to look around.”

“Have you ever lived rough before?”

She laughed softly. “Sure. Especially here. I’ve had some wild times.”

“Oh, me too.” I wished I could control my voice, just a little. I knew it wasn’t a great idea to disturb the surrounding wildlife, but I just couldn’t keep my excitement to myself.

“I know how to make fires, do all kinds of knots, braid rope. I can build shelters and read the weather. I’ve never gotten lost, not even once.”

“That’s good.” Ferne gave me a smile, eyes twinkling. I hoped I wasn’t being annoying.

I took a look up and down the line of people—and aliens, I guess—taking in again how quiet and calm everyone was. I knew that in comparison, I was practically jumping up and down. My smile was stretched so far across my face that my cheeks were hurting.

I didn’t care though. Everyone was smiling, no one was getting upset with me. I appreciated that they didn’t judge me or look at me as if I was weird. On the contrary, the girls seemed to think it was nice that I was so enthusiastic.

They were such pleasant girls. Over the last few days I’d come to really like them, and I could tell they liked me, too. Only once I got here did I realize the number of pitfalls that I might have fallen into, such as getting matched with an ugly mate or falling in with a bunch of unfriendly women.

I glanced over my shoulder, sneaking a look at my mate. He was really sexy and seemed to be smoldering every time our gazes met. I didn’t know if nice was an apt enough description, given his incredibly sensual vibes.

He was definitely a strong silent type. During our training sessions, he’d begun to open up, or so I thought, but since setting out he’d reverted back to his respectful but courteous quiet, not particularly open with me—at least, not yet. Did he regret last night? I hoped not. I wanted a repeat, and soon.

Every now and then when I was sneaking a glance at him, he would look up and our eyes would meet. I’d give him my brightest smile. He’d return with one of his own before looking away again. That was progress, but on some level, I was frustrated.

Weren’t these guys like sex starved or something? I half expected him to ravish me on the first encounter. From what I’d heard, these guys just had to hold out until they met a match and I’d figured that we’d get to the physical stuff pretty quickly. Especially since I’d caught his gaze on my body more than once while grappling, and not in a teacherly manner.

But here we were, barely able to maintain eye contact. I decided I’d fix that when we got to the cave entrance. I knew for certain now that he was attracted to me, and I thought I understood some of his reluctance. He was afraid of getting hurt, that was obvious. But I had to make him afraid of missing out on us even more. We were planning to camp above ground before going in, so I thought about fixing a fire and some food with him. I wanted to give us some time to talk, but I was hoping for a casual touch here and there, as well.

As hard I tried, I just couldn’t keep to the path. Trudging along with my head down was not something I was built to do, even if my surroundings were boring.

They weren’t boring, and that was the thing. They were absolutely fucking stunning. I didn’t think anyone but a very serious biologist would consider swamp to be ‘stunning’ but that was the only word for it.

I reached up, touching some fronds that looked like dripping crystal. Some of the leaves on the trees were black, shiny like obsidian. Others glowed with color and some were strangely translucent.

Something shifted in the reeds nearby. I stopped to take a closer look.

From a distance it looked like a tiny, sable brown creature with a fluffy tail. It was caught in some black leaves that appeared to be dragging it down into the shallow, oily water.

I turned to watch the others moving away, then hurried towards the poor creature. It was struggling badly, and it would only take me a few seconds to free it.

As I got closer, the movement seemed to change. I slowed down, wary now, wondering why the leaves and limbs didn’t make sense to me anymore.

Then it suddenly lifted out of the water and towered over my head. My neck stretched as my eyes looked up, way up. The thing was tall, scaly and had a massive, long snout that was full of wicked teeth.

It stood on its muscular hind legs, tail lashing in the mud behind it. The nest of reeds and limbs caught between them that I had seen was a nest of hair-like tentacles on its chest. They moved around, changing patterns every time I looked at it.

It used that camouflage to tempt in other creatures. Smaller predators would happily come in for a free meal like that. I bet the crocodile thing wasn’t expecting an idiotic human on a rescue mission, yet here I was. Dinner served hot.

A scream ripped out of my own throat as it bent its massive jaws towards me and swept out its arms. I seemed to be distancing myself from the situation without even realizing it. The others had been so much further ahead that I didn’t even know whether they could hear me.

Time seemed to slow down as my training kicked in and I dropped into a defensive stance, even as I knew there was nothing I go do against its fangs. I might be able to run or dive out of the way, but I was frozen. I knew the crocodile was going to move twice as fast as I could and I was literally fucking doomed.

This is what you get when you ask to get more excitement in your life.

All I had time to see as my gaze slipped over my shoulder was the purple flash of Derrix racing toward us. He leapt into the muddy shallows so quickly I couldn’t follow him.

Was he going to be fast enough to save me?

Derrix

I felt fear.

Pure, unbridled terror.

My heart pounded in my ears and adrenaline burnt its way through my bloodstream. My thoughts scattered, and then blended into one simple command: save Wiley. I cut through the vegetation like a madman, running as fast as I could, jumping into the muddy shallows without even seeing what was underneath my feet. I didn’t care. My eyes were set on that green beast towering over my mate, its fangs like sharp blades the size of my forearm.

“WILEY!” I shouted, my muscles burning as I closed in on her.

Her knees were bent, arms up as if this was round of sparring. What did she think she was going to do, punch its snout? She’d forgotten the first rule of self-defense—run. Moving as fast as I could, I shoved her out of the way with one arm and looked up as the creature’s gaping maw came for me. I didn’t have the time to reach for my guns. Gritting my teeth, I went down on one knee and raised both my hands. I caught the creature’s jaw right before it sliced me up with its sharp fangs.

From behind me came the sound of gunfire, and I grimaced as I watched the projectiles bounce off the scales covering the body of the beast. It was some kind of chitinous armor, strong enough to deflect high-impact bullets. That, of course, meant I was absolutely fucked.

“Fucking beast,” I growled, struggling to hold its jaws in place. The creature started putting all of its weight behind its head, and my knees sunk a couple of inches into the soil, my kneecaps popping under the pressure. Looking up into the creature’s cavernous mouth, I saw a thousand daggers ready to cut me into slices, saliva dripping off of them.

Still pushing down on me, the creature managed to have me lower my arms, my head already in the trajectory of its teeth. One of its long fangs started pushing down on my shoulder, but Kyre’s suit prevented it from cutting through my flesh. The tests we’d performed on the tactical gear indicated that there was room for improvement, but so far Kyre’s work was holding up in the real world.

“Motherfucker,” I said past gritted teeth, pushing my body to the limit as I forced the creature’s jaw apart. My biceps bulged under the fabric of the tactical suit and my bones seemed to pop inside my body. The creature made a deep growling sound and I answered it with a roar of my own. Using whatever was left of my strength, I snapped the creature’s jaw. Letting go of it, I rolled to the side as fast as I could, narrowly avoiding being hit as the beast started thrashing about.

Its lower mandible hung limply, the jawbone completely shattered.

Not one to waste an opportunity like this, I grabbed my rifle and closed the distance between me and the creature. It’s beady eyes locked on me, anger flashing there, but I struck before it could do a damn thing. Shoving the muzzle of my rifle down its fucking throat, I opened fire, the creature’s esophagus lighting up like a supernova. It staggered back and then collapsed under its own weight, sending a spray of muddy waters everywhere.

I took a couple of deep breaths to steady myself, and then slung my rifle over one shoulder. Turning around, I saw the women standing in the shallows, their complexions all very pale. The Vaznik were in a tight formation, knee-deep in the water, all of them holding their rifles. They’d been firing against the creature as I’d fought it, but their shots hadn’t done much to stop it. Thankfully, the old ‘break-the-fucker’s-jaw’ technique hadn’t failed me.

“Are you okay?” I heard a tiny, frail voice ask me. I turned on my heels to see Wiley sitting in the shallows, the water up to her waist. Her hair was plastered to her face, her lips a thin line of anxiety. There was no color left on her face, either. “I’m so sorry. This was my fault. I didn’t know that—”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I told you battle would be different when it’s for real.” I checked her suit for any cuts, relieved to find there weren’t any. “Come on—let’s keep going.”

I turned my back to her, not giving her a chance to respond, and rejoined the rest of the guys. I knew I was being abrupt, but I didn’t care. I’d been mere seconds away from losing her, and it had renewed the fear in me I’d almost begun to let go. If having a mate meant I’d have to live with this kind of fear, terrified at the thought of losing her, then I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to deal with it.

I couldn’t deal with it.

We continued our journey through the swamps in silence, all of us too painfully aware of our surroundings. There was a lot we didn’t know about this planet, and none of us wanted to be surprised by some giant beast hungry for a snack.

“I think we’ll have to set up camp here,” Rekker said after six hours of walking. The swamp had already given way to rocky territory, but the air around us remained damp and oppressive. There were only a few trees scattered over the plain of yellowed grass and large boulders, and all of them had been bent by strong winds. Rekker chose a spot underneath a boulder that was as large as a three-story building. It jutted out from the earth at an angle, casting a shadow over our group, and we quickly started placing our bags against it.

Without saying a word to anyone, I grabbed a small axe from inside my bag and wandered off. We needed wood to start a fire, so no one batted an eye at my leaving. Even so, I noticed Wiley following me with her gaze. We’d barely talked after that incident with the swamp creature, and I’d kept my distance, needing space to process. She looked concerned, if not confused, but she didn’t try to approach me. The other women were keeping her company, and that was enough for me to feel better. At least I wasn’t abandoning her, or leaving her completely alone.

Once I returned almost twenty minutes later, I took it upon myself to build the fire. I dropped the logs I’d chopped into a small pile, then knelt down and placed some dry twigs into a makeshift pyramid shape. I was about to press the trigger on the small torch I carried in my bag, when I noticed a shadow covering the round circle of stones I had placed around the twigs. I looked up to see Wiley standing over me. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hesitating.

“Need any help with that?”

“No,” I replied, my tone clipped. “I got this.”

“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.”

With that, she turned around and left to join the rest of the women. I followed her with my gaze, a scorching heat immediately overtaking me. Why did she have to be so damn perfect? From the way her hair cascaded down her shoulders, to how her hips swayed when she walked, everything in her seemed to have been designed with the sole purpose of driving me mad.

Every cell in my body was screaming at me to go after her, and it took every ounce of will power to remain where I was. It was going to be hell to stay away from her, no doubt about that. Still, it had to be done. I refused to live in fear, and if I succumbed to what I felt toward her that was exactly what was going to happen.

When the night finally came, I lay awake in my sleeping bag, staring at the vaulted sky above. I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to sleep, but I inevitably found myself staring at the millions of stars hanging above me, their pale light flickering in the distance.

Fuck, why couldn’t I sleep?

I sighed, my eyes drawn to Wiley as I rolled onto my side. She’d placed her sleeping bag against the boulder’s polished surface, and she was covered in shadows. I could only see the contour of her silhouette, but that didn’t stop me from being hypnotized by the way her chest rose and fell steadily. I wondered if she was dreaming of home. She’d arrived here expecting an adventure, and she’d gotten exactly that. Now, after almost losing her life, she was probably regretting the decision that led her here.

None of your damn business, Derrix, I thought, but I knew it was a lie.

Whether I liked it or not, Wiley was now my business.

Wiley

“Wake up, Wiley,” a gentle voice said, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I rolled to the side to see Lila kneeling beside me. She was smiling, kindness in her eyes. After what had happened in the swamp, the girls had started treating me with extra concern, and I suspected they were trying to offset Derrix’s coldness. “We’re heading out now. Rekker wants to get to the tunnel before sunrise.”

“I’m awake,” I said, returning her smile as I sat up.

Truth be told, I’d been awake for hours now, listening as everyone in our little camp rose from their slumber. Even though I’d remained laying down the entire night, I merely dozed off for a couple minutes. My mind refused to take a break, and it forced me to relive the events from the previous day over and over again.

Not that I was obsessed with how dangerous everything here seemed to be. That wasn’t it. What kept me awake was the fact that I’d put Derrix in danger. I’d insisted I wouldn’t be a burden, had set out on this trek so confident in my growing abilities. If I hadn’t been such a naive idiot, a true bumbling fool, none of that would’ve happened. Sure, Derrix handled the swamp creature just fine, but what if he hadn’t? What if he had been hurt or, even worse, died?

Sighing, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and started rolling it up. As I did, I snuck a glance at Derrix. He already had his backpack on, and was busy putting out the fire. I watched him as he spread the embers and covered them with ash, pale smoke billowing out for a couple of seconds. It hurt to watch him from a distance. He had become distant and cold toward me, and that was enough for my heart to tighten painfully inside my chest.

The girls had already told me that Derrix was the silent type and that he preferred keeping some distance from people, but I knew that the way he was acting toward me wasn’t normal. We’d begun to build a rapport over the last few days. Brick by brick in his walls had begun to crumple. I’d gotten him to say more than one sentence to me at a time. He’d told me a little about his thoughts. We’d almost kissed. But whenever we talked now, I could almost see icebergs drifting in the space between us.

It was all my fault, of course.

I came here thinking that I was prepared to explore the galaxy and become an adventurer, the star of my personal holovid show, but this planet only revealed how unprepared I was for it all. He’d been trying to tell me all along that a few days of basic self-defense training wasn’t going to cut it in the wild. I knew he’d been afraid I’d be hurt. After all, the situation was far more complicated than I had anticipated when I was back home, daydreaming of a more exciting life. I couldn’t help but feel like an idiot.

Back home, I spent most of my free time exploring the area around the farm. I tried to build fires and traps, distinguish edible plants from poisonous ones, and learn whatever I thought would help me once I got a ticket for a new life. In the end, my laughable survival training didn’t really help. At all.

I should’ve prepared more. I should’ve done some more research on the things I could find on these far flung planets, and perhaps even taken a basic weapons training class before now. On a planet like this, you couldn’t help but feel naked without a weapon. Not that it’d do me any good to have a rifle on my hands—I had no idea on how to use one, apart from knowing that you have to squeeze the trigger in order for it to fire. The girls had been trying to teach me, but yeah, what an expert I’ve turned out to be. Could I have been any more underprepared for this?

“Alright, let’s get moving,” Rekker said once we were all ready. “We’re close now.”

I spent the next couple of hours in absolute silence, simply focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. I tried my best not to be pulled down into a spiral of insecurity, but it wasn’t easy. Whenever I looked up ahead and caught a glimpse of Derrix’s hulking body, his purple skin drawing my gaze each and every time, it felt as if the universe was gut-punching me. We were supposed to be genetic matches, right? Everything about us should match. Science said so.

In the real world, though, things didn’t seem to be as easy as that.

“What the hell is that?” I muttered under my breath, narrowing my eyes as I saw lights up ahead. The sun hadn’t risen yet, so what could that be?

“That’s where we’re going,” Lila replied, materializing beside me. I fell in line with her, but kept staring at the glowing lights up ahead. “There’s a tunnel up ahead. You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

“No,” I replied, shaking my head.

I had no idea how to properly reload a rifle, but spelunking was something I wasn’t a novice at. There used to be an old tunnel system back at the farm, a few miles deep into the woods, and kids my age used to go exploring there. I spent a lot of time there, imagining I was exploring some ancient planet on the fringes of the galaxy. It seemed like my childhood games were about to become real.

Once we got there, my heart started beating faster.

For the first time that day, I forgot all about how underprepared I was. I just stared at the cavern’s gaping mouth, its edges contoured by glowing crystals that jutted out from the rock. Holding my breath, I walked to the edge and peered down into the tunnel, a blue hue of light casting long shadows down the entrance.

It was beautiful.

“You know the drill.” Standing before the group, Rekker looked at us and gave everyone a slight nod. He unslung his rifle from his shoulder and adjusted the straps on his backpack. “Eyes peeled at all times. And keep a tight formation. I don’t want anyone wandering off.”

Once everyone nodded their assent, we finally marched into the cave.

We went at a slow but steady pace, careful not to trip on any of the roots and loose rocks that were scattered all over the ground. It didn’t take long before the tunnel started angling down, the ground becoming so steep we had to reduce our pace even further.

Our shadows danced around us, spurred by the glowing crystals embedded on the rock. In a way, they reminded me of a cloudless night sky, except this firmament was much brighter and warmer. In fact, it was getting so warm that my tactical suit was already sticking to my skin, and beads of sweat were starting to pool on my forehead.

I wasn’t the only one noticing it.

Lila and Ferne were wiping sweat off their foreheads with the backs of their hands, and Coralie was tying her hair in a bun, annoyed with the many locks of honey-blonde hair plastered on her cheeks. As for the guys, they kept on trudging without complaint, but I could see the skin on the back of their necks glistening with sweat.

“Is this normal?” I asked Lila, the air growing so hot it was a struggle to breathe. I felt uncomfortable, the clammy atmosphere finally getting to me. Mimicking Coralie, I tied my hair into a ponytail. “It’s really hot in here.”

“Yeah,” Lila agreed, shortness of breath evident in her voice. “And it’s getting hotter with each passing second.”

We retreated into silence, focused on keeping our strength, but the hot air made it almost impossible. It felt like we’d been walking for hours, and I no longer knew if the sweat covering my body was due to the effort or the oppressive atmosphere. Eventually, the steep slope started evening out, and the blue crystals on the walls became more infrequent. Up ahead, I noticed that the tunnel bent right, and there was a faint orange glow emanating from whatever was hiding there.

Derrix took the lead, his rifle at the ready. Unable to control myself, I followed in his footsteps, my eyes drawn to the strong muscles on his shoulders and back. The way he held his rifle made his triceps look like a perfect piece of engineering, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek just so I could regain some semblance of control.

“What the hell’s going on?” I muttered under my breath as the orange glow intensified. We turned around the bend, and then my breath caught in my throat as I realized where the glow was coming from.

Up ahead was a river of lava.

Derrix

I wasn’t happy to find our way blocked by the massive river of molten magma. It didn’t show up on the scanners, not as pure lava, anyway. We knew there was extreme heat down here, that was the whole point of the upgrades, but I wasn’t expecting this.

I looked over at Rekker, Cedroc, and Kyre. I could tell by their faces that they weren’t expecting this either. Kyre glared at the lava as if he could make it go away by focusing on it.

“My equipment wasn’t built for this,” he muttered.

“How far do you think we’d get?” Rekker asked.

Kyre shook his head. “Not far. A few feet.”

Wiley walked up to the edge of the rock and looked over, seemingly fascinated by the red glow and the flickering lights. It was incredibly beautiful, with an oily black slick from melted rocks, bright flares of evaporating ore, and the sluggish movement of the orange magma itself.

After a few seconds, Wiley jumped back. “That stuff is hot!” She grinned, cheeks red with the environment and the excitement.

Coralie was standing well back, with Ferne and Lila a little closer but no less concerned. Kyre pulled out a scanner and pointed it around the rocky chamber, up and left to right.

“We’ll have to find a way around. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a natural bridge.”

His voice held some authority, but we all knew it was just hope. He had no way of knowing if there would be a way over and neither did we.

We started walking along the narrow rock path beside the river. At some points it was so narrow that we had to walk single file. I kept glancing over at Wiley, amused by her fascination with the natural ornaments of the cave and how they were lit by the glowing fire. When the path began to open out we gathered together, pleased to be side by side again, and then looked towards Rekker, naturally assuming he’d decide where to go next.

Then the shadows moved. All of us put our hands on our weapons, ready to draw.

“Don’t!” Coralie yelled. She stepped forward, palms out. As the shapes came shuffling into the light, Coralie gave a little bow.

The spiny wings and talons identified them as Qitzal, but they looked different to the ones we’d met closer to the surface. We’d been told they would, but it was still a surprise.

Most of them were paler and smaller. Their wings had very delicate membranes, as if they were used to the underground atmosphere and had never been tested in a strong wind. A couple of them were very dark, as if they’d been burnt from long exposure to the lava.

Coralie smiled and spoke with them, relating her connection with the Qitzal above. They didn’t appear enamored by this information, standing at attention with their eyes glancing over us suspiciously. They didn’t look hostile, but they didn’t seem to welcome us either. After some silence had passed Rekker stepped forward, trying to look respectful but unable to banish his air of authority completely.

“Tell me, good warriors. May we seek your aid?”

The few assembled Qitzal shared looks. I got the feeling they were communicating with each other—perhaps not through an unspoken language, but by familiarity of expression.

One of the darker ones stepped forward. His eyes were yellow, glowing from the sheen of the lava.

“You can come,” he spoke slowly, still looking us over. “We will offer you safety with the tribe. But you must not go further into the caverns.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. We all knew we couldn’t keep this bargain. Coralie in particular looked uneasy, eyes darting between Rekker and the Qitzal.

“Of course.” Rekker covered his discomfort with a smooth smile. “If you’re willing to help us, we’ll obey any directive you give.”

The feeling of tension in the group intensified. None of us spoke. The little Qitzal eyed us with no small amount of suspicion before turning with the others and waving to us.

“Come,” he commanded.

We followed, careful to watch which tunnels they took so we wouldn’t get lost underground. I didn’t think any of them would send search parties after us if we got into trouble.

Suddenly, the caves opened out into a wide space with a high roof. The stone was black with patches of reddish brown, like some of the rock on the surface. Little houses were built into the walls, windows and doors cut straight out of the cave walls.

In the main part of the chamber, several Qitzal were gathered. Some were working a fire, others were grinding some kind of grain across long, flat rocks. It looked like they were making bread. The lead Qitzal bade us to sit down, which we did. Some of them brought us a very strong, bitter tea. I saw Wiley make quite a face on her first sip, but she covered it well and went on to drink it so she wouldn’t offend our hosts.

No one spoke very much. It gave the chamber a surreal quality, like you’d just woken up from a nightmare and you didn’t want to disturb the silence in case the big bad came jumping out and got you.

Occasionally they chatted to themselves and looked up at us. I tried to ignore the glances which were far closer to hostile than they were to curious.

They offered us some of the bread when it was done, long flat slices with chunks of grain still in them. It was very good, if a bit dry. When they offered us small bowls of light green goo I wasn’t keen, but Lila jumped right in.

“It looks like guacamole!” she exclaimed. She dunked her bread in and tried it. “Doesn’t taste half bad either. A bit tangy.”

The one I assumed to be the leader, the dark one who’d spoken to us before, gave her a frown.

“It is Koontach.”

“What’s that?” Lila asked innocently.

He stood up and went to a nearby rock. When he lifted it there were several light green grubs burrowing around there. Coralie dropped her bowl, almost choking on the food.

Ferne kept digging in, not shocked. Lila just turned her eyes away.

“I’ll just pretend I didn’t see that.” She made a face.

Wiley was looking quizzically at the food, experimentally poking at it with her bread. I couldn’t help but laugh softly. She clearly didn’t think it was disgusting, but she couldn’t just dig in, either.

A couple of the Qitzal brought us more bread while we ate, wrapped in some tough looking silk. Knowing it most likely came from worms, I didn’t tell the girls. It was a clever way to wrap the food for travel. They offered us water to fill our canteens and small flares made of natural fiber and phosphorus.

“For your journey,” the head Qitzal said, staring at us pointedly. “Back to the surface.”

We tried to open up conversation several times, even just to learn their names, but they weren’t forthcoming at all. If they didn’t understand us, it would be strange, the first time our translators failed entirely.

But the leader could have translated if he chose. It seemed to me that the rest of the tribe simply wasn’t interested in what we had to say and would be much happier when we left.

I noticed a few of the males coming close to our fire. They didn’t offer supplies or food like the others, they only stood around and stared. Even though some of them tried to hide it, it was obvious they were looking at the women.

The Qitzal had women. There had been some in the tribe on the surface and some who had been making the bread down here in the caverns were clearly female. The way they looked at the humans though…obviously, they were fascinated.

A quick glance around showed me that everyone was sitting close to their mate. I noticed that Wiley was sitting by herself some distance from me and I quickly got up, leaving my bowl of green goo and flatbread.

I couldn’t help the aggressive, dominant stance I took as I strode across the space. I refrained from glaring at them, but only just barely. When I got to Wiley, I sat down beside her, using my body language to show them their attention wasn’t welcome.

They continued to scuffle about nearby. A couple of them brought us some more of the bitter tea and I had a moment to wonder about the kind of farming or food gathering they practiced.

They started to move away, but I wasn’t fully comfortable. I wanted to get out of here and get on with the mission, but how would the Qitzal react if we broke our promise?

Wiley

I hoped Derrix had calmed down over the whole swamp monster thing when he came to sit beside me. Surely, I thought, he must have forgiven me by now, but he stayed tense. His large shoulders were set and his whole body hunched over. I didn’t understand why he’d come to sit with me if he was still that pissed off.

I wiped out my little clay bowl with the last of my bread, washing it down with a sip of tea. Whatever the tea was made out of, it sorely needed a bit of honey.

I looked around at the others, seeing them all engaged in some light conversation and wearing easy expressions. I felt left out as I glanced over at Derrix again, seeing only cold shoulders and no expression at all.

“Derrix?” I felt like I had to say something—anything. I had to break this tension between us.

He looked up, hardly changing his expression. He didn’t speak, but at least he was looking at me.

“I’m really sorry. About the whole swamp monster thing. I was just excited—”

“Don’t mention it.”

“But I—”

“No. It’s fine, Wiley.”

From the way he turned away from me, shoulders again settling into tension, I knew it wasn’t fine. I sighed, desperate to get him to turn around again. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Weren’t we supposed to be getting to know each other? I mean, we’d been selected as genetic matches—you’d think we could at least try to have a conversation.

I really didn’t know what I could do to prevent fuck-ups in the future. I was just so curious about everything. I hadn’t meant to put myself in danger, and I certainly didn’t expect to throw him into a life-threatening situation.

Although he’d handled it pretty well.

He was utterly magnificent, not just the way he leapt into danger but the graceful curves of him as he fought the beast. All raw male power with the discipline of a warrior. It had definitely turned me on.

Looking at him now, though, I was worried. Would he ever forgive me? Maybe he thought I was a liability. Maybe he was sorry to be matched with me, but I didn’t want to think about that.

He was so gorgeous and even if he hadn’t been, the fantastic job he did of saving my ass was enough to make even the toughest heroine swoon. I wanted him to notice me the way I was noticing him. I couldn’t tell if he was attracted to me at all. I wanted to get up close and personal to those sculpted muscles and run my hands over them. I wanted to see how his eyes darkened when he became enlivened with lust.

I tried to talk again, but I didn’t have anything to say. I was scared he might shut me down like the last time I spoke. I put my little bowl down and took another sip of tea.

He lifted his head from his own food, looking around the circle. Some of the Qitzal were nearby and he scowled at them. I hadn’t even noticed their presence until now.

“Are you hungry? You finished your food very quickly,” he said, turning his head to me with a concerned look.

A smile warmed my face, glowing from deep inside. He might seem detached, but I felt that maybe he was watching me in way I hadn’t understood.

“Sure,” I grinned at him. “I could handle another piece of bread.”

He got up slowly, walking back to the fire to retrieve more food for us. He took a jug of water too, bringing it back to me.

For a brief moment while he was away from me, I felt the eyes of the surrounding Qitzal piercing me. I didn’t feel threatened, not exactly, but their gaze did make me feel slightly uncomfortable.

I smiled up at Derrix as he sat down, sharing the bread and water with him. He grinned back shyly, his eyes ducking away from mine. Maybe he wasn’t pissed at me. Maybe he was just shy.

“Are you comfortable?” The warm look in his eyes gave way to curiosity edged with a hint of worry. I wasn’t sure how to answer because I was sitting on a hard rock floor surrounded by potentially hostile aliens, but I didn’t think he meant it that way.

“Well, I’m not too hot or cold, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good.” His gaze was just a little too intense, as if he needed to test my claim against my physical condition.

I laughed gently, unable to keep it in. “I’m really okay, Derrix.”

“Well. . .just let me know if you need anything. I can get you a blanket.”

We looked into each other’s eyes again and I realized that he really did care, he just didn’t know any other way to express himself. By making sure I was comfortable he was showing me that I was his mate and he could attend to my needs.

On impulse, I scooted just a bit closer to him. He smiled at me, but he didn’t put his arm around me. That was okay. Baby steps.

“What do you think of this place?” I whispered to Coralie.

She wrinkled her nose, looking at the green goo in the little clay bowl. “They could have better food. Although, I don’t suppose much grows down here.”

“Oh, come on.” Lila grinned at her. “The bugs are quite tasty.”

Coralie smirked and threatened to hurl her bowl at Lila. Rekker shook his head, even though he was grinning. It would be best not to offend the hosts by hurling their food and breaking their crockery.

“I wonder what else they eat?” Ferne leaned back onto Kyre, making me a bit jealous that they were so comfortable with each other. “Mushrooms might grow down here. I doubt there’s any meat, though.”

Coralie let her eyes sweep around the circle of Qitzal. “They look a little different to the ones nearer to the surface.”

“Scarier,” I whispered, unable to stop myself.

Lila looked at me sharply, but no one commented. The energy seemed to shift. Our mates squared themselves, moving casually to the edges of the circle so that we were protected in between them.

“They aren’t very talkative,” Coralie said softly. We didn’t know how many of them could understand us, but their leader would surely translate. “The ones up top are quite chatty once they get going.”

I wanted to look around again, just to take in the scene and think about the strange aliens, but I could feel the vibe changing. I didn’t want to see their fierce expressions and shiny eyes.

I scuttled even closer to Coralie and Ferne. Both of them were finishing their food and handing over cups and bowls to their mates. Cedroc and Kyre took the items back to the main fire where they offered to wash it. They were waved off by the Qitzal, who were already scouring the plates.

Both girls appeared completely at ease as their mates brought back blankets and started setting up beds right next to them.

“So, this is what it means to be an alien bride?” I grinned at them. “Waited on hand and foot?”

Lila burst out laughing. “Waited on? No. But they do take special attention to what we like.” She turned to plant a kiss on Rekker’s lips. “It’s their pleasure to make us happy.”

Cedroc and Kyre gave each other a face somewhere between bashful and content. Derrix didn’t look up at all, head down and shoulders set.

I still was at a loss to break through his self-imposed isolation, to show him that he didn’t have to fear having feelings for me. I’d heard a lot about these marriages, but it was mostly that the guys were sex-crazed and the girls were insane to agree to go. In our case it was almost the inverse, though I knew he was attracted to me.

“We should rest.” Lila settled onto her blanket, stretching out beside Rekker. “We don’t know what’s coming next.”

“Yeah,” Ferne agreed. “It’s not like we have day or night down here to guide us. We should get a few hours sleep and then…” Her face fell as she thought about the mission, and what we promised the Qitzal.

“And then we’ll go on, just as we planned,” Rekker said firmly. Lila rubbed his arm gently, letting him know she was with him, no matter what.

I turned to Derrix, hoping for a similar display.

He looked at me, expression grave, but just held out a blanket. “Here you go, Wiley. Make yourself comfortable.”

“Sure thing.” I tried not to sound hurt. As our hands moved across the blanket, he pulled his away from mine.

He said everything was okay between us, but it clearly wasn’t. I didn’t know much about talking to men, especially alien men, so I had no idea what to say to him.

I took the blanket and pulled it around myself, rolling over to talk to Coralie a bit before falling asleep. My eyes drifted closed and I began to sink into the twilight between sleep and wakefulness, when movement alerted me.

I jerked, lids flying open, and shrieked.

A hand clasped over my mouth as my mind took over and shut me up. I knew his scent anywhere now, the shape of his shoulders, the tilt of his head as he studied me. Even shadowed by the night, I would know him.

“Derrix?” I whispered in the palm against my lips.

He drew away slowly, nodding.

I stared at the figure hunched in front of me. “What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Demonstrably, I was just fine. But instinctively I understood this need of his wasn’t driven by logic. I sat up. “I’m not hurt.”

“You forgot rule number one.” He spoke softly enough I strained to hear him.

“I forgot all the rules, I think. You were right. It’s not the same.”

“You still did well.”

The praise startled me.

“But you were stupid. You let your fight or flight take over.”

“Can we debrief in the morning?”

Derrix didn’t sigh, didn’t move for a long moment, but he nodded. “Promise me that next time you won’t be brave. Let me do the fighting.”

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut with a scowl.

“Promise, Wiley. I can’t be distracted worrying about you.”

I couldn’t help myself, I started to argue. Derrix lunged forward, hands wrapped around my upper arms. “Promise,” he growled in my ear.

His touched seared my skin, achingly gentle. Inescapable. I realized his breaths were coming faster. If I put my hand over his heart, would it be racing? A fine tremble ran through his body and I understood how close he was to losing control.

“At least you admit you’d be worried,” I said softly. He waited, and finally, I sighed. “I promise.”

Fingertips brushed my cheek, then he stood, stared down at me a few more seconds, then turned and left. I wanted to dissect what I’d learned about his feelings from the conversation, from the break in his armor, but I struggled to stay awake. I was exhausted.

I had tomorrow—the rest of my life, even—to work out Derrix.

Derrix

We slept for a few hours, but it was impossible to tell how long without the sun. We had instruments helping us track our coordinates and maps to help us navigate, but not clocks.

Not that it mattered too much. For as long as we were down here, day and night would cease to exist. It made no difference to the mission, and the other guys and I were conditioned to work under any circumstances.

The girls seemed to be doing well. They woke up easily as soon as their mates stirred and happily took some more bowls of food and tea. They talked easily with each other and I was pleased that they were getting along.

I sat back from the circle, watching Wiley. She was very relaxed—maybe too relaxed. We were in a potentially life-threatening situation and she was treating it like a big adventure. It was an adventure, but none was free of peril. If we got into trouble, we could die, and I wasn’t sure she appreciated that.

I just couldn’t get that swamp monster out of my head. Its fierce jaws, sharp teeth, and strong limbs. I was inches away from death. I hadn’t thought about anything when I went into the water after Wiley. I didn’t think of myself, I just saw the danger to her and reacted.

It was only after the adrenaline wore off that I started thinking about how lucky I was. How lucky she was. I had a few scratches, but it could have been far worse. I wouldn’t say I was scared, but I certainly didn’t want things like that to become part of my daily life.

Watching Wiley laughing over breakfast, completely at ease, made me worry. What if she was always flippant about danger? I wasn’t about to commit to a partnership that almost got my ass chewed off every other day. But after last night, the second time I’d almost lost control, I need I was fooling myself.

She looked up from the circle, her gaze finding mine. I loved that slow smile of hers, the way her eyes took me in and slowly blinked, as if she was taking a mental picture of me. I smiled back, realizing that I did feel warmth for her. I did love looking at her, too. She was very beautiful. It drew me in a way others hadn’t. All women were beautiful, but Wiley seemed to glow, almost the same way my tattoos did the first time I saw her.

We helped to clean up before bidding the Qitzal chief goodbye. He told us again not to venture lower and Rekker agreed, telling him we had business with the minerals found in the shale around the lava river. Not entirely a lie.

We came up the smooth path that led back to the river, leaving the Qitzal camp and its dome-shaped cavern behind us. The walk alongside the river was almost the same as yesterday, the path narrowing and widening making us change positions frequently.

The lava threw strange shadows against the walls. It looked like animals, leaping and dancing. I noticed Wiley watching the ceiling, barely taking notice of where she put her feet. That worried me more than I liked to admit.

Up ahead, Rekker raised a hand. We all stopped, taking care to come forward slowly so everyone had enough room to move up without being in danger from the lava.

The path had split into two tunnels. One curved to the right into the rock. The other followed the river.

“We’ll have to split up,” Rekker said with some defeat. “At least for a while. Once we’ve explored each path a little, we can do some scans and decide which way to go. Until then, let's just do an exploration and check in regularly.”

Rekker and Lila decided to take the right fork, while Ferne and Kyre decided to go along the river. Coralie and Cedroc chose the river.

“I think I’ll go with you guys,” Wiley said as she went to stand with Rekker and Lila. “We’ll be back this way soon, won’t we?”

Rekker nodded. “We won’t be apart long. This is just a recon.”

Wiley turned to look at me and I quickly went to stand next to Kyre.

“I’m heading this way. At least for now.”

Wiley looked disappointed, but she hid it quickly. To my frustration, she turned and set off into the tunnel without waiting for the others. Rekker went after her and Lila followed on his heels, but I was frustrated all over again.

Did she understand that these were really dangerous places? It seemed that she didn’t, even after the trouble we had so far. Maybe I killed the swamp croc too quickly. She didn’t get to see the kind of damage these things could do.

With a sigh, I turned back to the team. I felt like everyone was looking at me curiously but after a moment they turned back to the path as well, following the ledge that ran next to the lava.

I wasn’t ready to talk about my feelings with my team. Wiley and I were working that out ourselves.

The path became very narrow, curling across the lava. Both Ferne and Coralie hugged the rocks, keeping their feet firmly on the flat surface while Cedroc and Kyre carried their packs for them. I was glad Wiley had taken the other path. It seemed less dangerous and I really didn’t favor leaping to her rescue again, not when the danger could have been easily avoided.

The radio crackled on and off. Kyre tried to get it tuned in but advised that the heat, as well as the magnetic qualities in the volcanic bedrock, were making it sketchy.

Just as we hit a particularly bad section of the trail, the radio crackled to life. Through bursts of static we could hear Rekker’s voice, but we couldn’t understand him.

“Stop!” I yelled.

“I can’t!” Kyre called back. “I’m on a fucking ledge, I don’t have a free hand.”

A few seconds dragged by that felt like hours. The second Kyre cleared the ledge he pulled out the radio.

“Rekker! Rekker! Do you read?”

More bursts of static. Incomprehensible edges of words.

“Rekker, tune in and say again.”

Through the crackling, I clearly heard one of the women scream. I didn’t know which one it was, but it energized my every cell. Then Rekker came through loud and clear.

“We’re in distress! Need back up! SOS!”

I turned and bolted. The cracks in the path, the narrow overhangs that dangled above the lava, none of that mattered. I didn’t even see the danger. My feet hammered the ground, beating faster with every stride.

Wiley, Wiley, Wiley.

My mind was full of her. The bouncing curls. Bright eyes. Easy smile. Soft skin I longed to touch. That now, I might never touch.

I reached the junction of the paths and flew up the other tunnel. There was no thought in me, only power and determination.

This path was smoother, and I was able to stretch on every stride. I could hear the screaming not far ahead and somehow, I put on even more speed.

As I turned a corner, I saw the girls behind Rekker while he tried to fight off a flock of bat-like creatures. As I powered in at full speed one of them turned to look at me. It had a golden, furry face with long teeth.

I still didn’t have room in my mind for thought. I charged in and attacked.

I grabbed the first one that flew at me, hurling it against its buddies so all three of them splattered against the wall from the force of my throw. Rekker took the opportunity to gain advantage and grabbed one of the creatures by the wing, ripping it off.

The quarters were too close for weapons. The things flapped against the ceiling, only a few inches above our heads. A roar ripped from my throat as I hurled myself into the creatures, hearing Rekker’s voice behind me as he took them on with his bare hands.

Before I knew it, I was standing in a pile of bloodied, twitching limbs. My hands curled, ready for more action as my shoulders shook. Breath heaved in and out of my body as my pulse pounded in my ears.

I turned slowly, the hyper state making the rest of the world seem to be in slow motion. My eyes snapped to Wiley, who was standing a few feet away, watching me with wide eyes.

In two steps I was by her side. She stood still, shocked, as I quickly brushed her over, lightly patting her and squeezing her from shoulders to toes and back up again. I breathed the words—I felt like I still had no voice.

“Are you okay?”

She just nodded, eyes grim and brimming with frustration. Still, there was no thought in me. The adrenaline ran hot and action was the only force that could move me.

“Thank you,” I whispered, knowing she would understand. She’d done as I’d asked, had stayed out of the fight and let me handle it, and I knew what that had cost her.

I was frightened, terribly so. This made the swamp monster look like a tiny spider. I grabbed her upper arms, crushing her against me as I found her lips with mine.

Then, the tilted world shifted and made itself right. At that moment, everything was as it should be.

I had come home.

Wiley

Derrix’s hands on my arms were strong and firm. I loved being pressed against his strong chest, but what I loved even more was his lips on mine. I was pretty shocked his defenses were finally crumbling and he was kissing me, but I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.

When he tugged me against him and pressed his mouth to mine, it was all force and desperation. I could feel his fear working through him as he held us together. As the kiss went on it became slow and gentle, our tongues starting to explore. His lips were like silk, his tongue warm and slick. I ran my hands down his arms and one of his hands crept across the small of my back.

“Uh. . .guys?” Cedroc’s voice. The rest of the team must have caught up with us.

Reluctantly, we broke the kiss, looking around the group. I stayed pressed to Derrix’s chest, enjoying the closeness.

There was a faint, blue white glow shimmering in the dark. I realized it was Derrix’s tattoos. They curled gracefully around the muscles of his shoulder, pulsing with a pale glow. The talking of the others as they exchanged news about what happened faded away as I looked at his skin and the patterns carved there.

We were matched by genetics. The whole point was to have healthy babies. I got that, I understood that it was a fair price for getting out of my small town and seeing the sights, but looking at Derrix now, the adventure had suddenly taken on a different quality. Mates suddenly translated to mean husband and wife.

’Til death do us part. Only Derrix. Forever.

I looked up into his handsome face, unable to find words for the situation. It was as if after finally making headway getting him to admit to his own feelings and accept our relationship, I now had time to think about mine.

Maybe it was naïve of me to assume I was going to travel the stars after having a baby. That was the point of the treaty, after all. I supposed the folks at home were right about one thing—I hadn’t really thought it through before jumping headfirst into this.

As the others started to turn towards us, Derrix let me go. He seemed reluctant to move away, but I wasn’t going to read too much into it. It was too soon, he could change his mind and retreat as soon as the rush of adrenaline cleared.

The physical contact and the closeness was nice. I enjoyed touching him, finally. But now that my brain had decided to break me the news of lifelong romantic entanglement—like it or not—I was nervous.

I’d wanted adventure. Check. I’d wanted Derrix to treat me like his mate. Check. And now that I finally had his full attention . . . I realized fully what that meant. Me. A hot-blooded warrior. Babies.

“So long as everyone’s okay,” Kyre was saying. Cedroc was lifting one of the winged things by its furry paw while Coralie shuddered with disgust.

“What are they?” Ferne peered closer at the thing. “It has wings like a bat, almost like the Qitzal. But it looks like cat.”

“Kind of like a lion,” Lila whispered. “When it came out of the darkness and I saw its eyes, that’s what I thought. A lion with wings.”

Kyre shuffled one with his foot. “Easy enough to kill, by the look of it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t agree,” Rekker chuckled, “but Derrix here was a man possessed.”

The males all looked at each other in a knowing way, as if they’d been in touch with that feeling many times before. They looked at Derrix as if he’d finally joined the club.

I didn’t move closer to him or take his hand. He didn’t look happy about the developments, he looked just as confused as he did before, and it certainly didn’t give me confidence.

“We should move on. There’s likely a lot of danger in here that could be closing in on us right now,” Rekker said as he looked around the group.

Lila was huddled under his arm, looking scared but confident. The bond between them was obvious as Rekker held her gently. They enhanced each other, became greater than the sum of their parts. I felt a bit jealous.

Everyone settled into formation, which quickly became single file in the narrow tunnel. We were last in line, Derrix behind me.

Before long, the orange glow of the lava river was in front of us again. The pathway had looped back to the rocky path by its side, although path was an overstatement. In most places, there was only a bit of stone shelf between the magma flow and the cave wall.

For a few moments we gathered on the shelf, with no idea where to go. Then Rekker pointed over the flow.

“There’s a decent shelf over there, and the river is quite narrow here.”

“There’s no pathway over there though,” Lila said, looking concerned. “We’ll be stuck on that shelf just like we’re stuck on this one.”

“No.” Kyre pointed upriver. “There’s a series of platforms. If we get out our grappling hooks and zip lines, we can swing over the river.”

“Back and forth?” Coralie gasped in horror.

Cedroc put an arm around her. “Don’t worry,” he said gently. “I won’t let you fall.”

Although none of the girls were crazy about the idea, the guys started setting up. I watched Rekker hurl his hook into the side wall, test it, then gather Lila in his arms to swing over. He made it look easy. Cedroc and Kyre did the same, with Coralie closing her eyes and burying her head in her mate’s chest as they breached the gap.

Derrix used grapple and line in the same easy manner, leaping us over to the shelf on the other side. Unlike Coralie, I found it exhilarating. Flying over the red, pouring river and feeling the heat rising from the softly bursting bubbles made my heart race. Even the tiny shards of rock that fell from the roof and flared into the magma looked beautiful rather than scary.

I knew the other girls would’ve preferred we only had to do the wild jump once, but we ended up doing it another three times. We squared up on the platform, now on the opposite side from where we started.

Rekker took out his equipment, securing the hook on an overhead stalactite. He and Lila swept over, the hook slipping at the last second and throwing them on to the cave floor.

“Careful!” Rekker called. The rock was much softer on this side of the cavern. This was definitely getting hairy.

Kyre positioned his hook a little closer to the other side, making the start of the jump a bit low. Both he and Ferne cried out as they swung low over the lava, coming up at the last moment to land on the ledge.

“Cedroc…” Coralie was watching the thick river with wide eyes.

“It’ll be okay, my love—you’re safe with me,” he whispered.

He stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes and threw his hook, lodging it into a spot high in the ceiling. As he caught Coralie in his arms, he gathered the slack in his hand, and they flew over with the ease of a child in a swing.

Derrix examined the roof. He chose a spot near Rekker's point, the base of the stalactite.

He gathered me in his arms, pulling us together. Then I felt his muscles harden beneath me as he put our weight on the line.

There was a tremendous cracking sound, followed by a roar. I heard one of the other Vaznik yelling, then nothing. Blackness, dark, nothing. Thuds of falling rocks, Derrix grunting in pain.

It took some time for the sounds of falling shale to stop. I became aware that the darkness was Derrix lying on top of me—he’d covered me with his own body. I moved a little and he groaned. I tried to help him, but it just made him cry out in pain. He rolled on to his back, breathing hard.

I looked up and saw the others. They were all safe, even though they’d to move back from the edge of the shelf where the fall had occurred. Large chunks of rock were being carried away in the current and rocks still fell from overhead.

Further up, the ledges on our side stopped as the lava flowed right against the wall. The roof was too high or too broken. The way rocks kept falling from above, it seemed nothing up there was fully stable.

I turned to Derrix, watching him breathing hard and blinking. He needed time to recover. He’d just taken the weight of the entire fall to save my ass—again—but he couldn’t have realized how bad it was, not yet. He hadn’t even sat up to look, and I wasn’t about to tell him.

We were fully separated from the others. We were on the far side of the river, they were on the original side. I didn’t even know if we could get out of here.

We were on our own.

Derrix

At first, I wasn’t sure I was still alive. The pain that fluctuated through my body certainly felt real. I couldn’t remember a fucking thing except swinging and then darkness and impact, a jarring shock that smashed my teeth together and made my bones rattle.

Hearing Wiley made me move, but I didn’t know what she was saying. My ears produced a muffled buzzing sound that made it impossible to hear her words. But I knew she was close and needed me. It didn’t matter if I was dead, I would raise my corpse up for her.

I still didn’t completely understand why, but I knew I’d never let her down.

I tried to move, but it was difficult. My body refused to obey and I worried I was badly injured. After a few seconds of struggling, I realized I was underneath a ton of rock. I took a deep breath and suddenly, everything came into focus.

Wiley was carefully picking up large rocks from my shoulders and torso. I could see the effort it took her as she used both hands, straining her arms. She was digging me out.

“What hit me?” I groaned.

Wiley laughed, a little too bright. “Oh, you know. Half the mountain fell on you.”

“Only half? Doesn’t feel like it.”

As I started to help to get myself out from under the rocks, I thanked the gear Kyre upgraded. Now that I could see them, I was even more surprised to find myself alive.

I tried to get up, but Wiley pushed me back down again.

“No, no. Sit. Have some water.”

She held up the bottle for me and I let her, trying to remember how to move my arms. I swallowed and smiled gratefully as she took the water back.

“Thank you.”

“You should eat.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“You’re not.”

Our eyes met and there was a moment between us. We were bickering like an old mated couple.

“Are you really okay?” Her wide eyes shone, her hands gently touching my face.

“I’m not sure.” I moved gingerly, trying to get up. Pain and a strange numbness streaked through my left arm and I gasped in pain.

“Slow down, tough guy.” Wiley grinned. “I got you.”

“I think it’s just dislocated.”

“Oh, only just.”

“I’ll just strap it up for now.”

“No, you will not. I know how to fix this.”

For a few seconds, I didn’t understand her. She was a cute little human girl, from Earth where things were easy. What did she know about broken limbs?

“Come here, you.” She cleared away our packs and made me roll down the top of my shirt. I saw her eyes linger on my body and I couldn’t help smiling.

“Can’t be in too much pain, soldier.” She smiled softly as she ran her fingers across my skin.

“I never said I was.”

She gripped my shoulder firmly, bracing her other hand on my ribcage. With a sharp movement that caused my joint to let out a mighty crack, she pulled my arm towards her, forcing the ball back into the socket.

I moved my arm a little, amazed. “How did you learn to do that?”

She shrugged, pulling apart her belt and a few loose strips of fabric from her pack. “I lived in a little rural town. There weren’t any big hospitals there. We had to learn to do a lot of things ourselves.”

“Wow.” I watched her as she gently fitted my arm into the sling. “I didn’t think there were places like that on Earth.”

“Oh, there are. I suppose they aren’t in the tourist brochures though.”

“What?”

She laughed. “Never mind.”

Her fingers moved swiftly and with incredible confidence. “I wouldn’t have ever guessed that about you.” I was having difficulty swallowing this. With the flippant manner she’d displayed so far, I never imagined she could be so clear headed and practical.

“You’ve professed that sentiment a few times now.”

I laughed softly. “So now you’re a poet, too?”

Now she laughed. “There were plenty of accidents at home.” She gave my sling a tug to hold my arm against my body. “We all got to know a bit of first aid.”

“I don’t really need the sling you know.”

“That’s exactly why you do need it. Just try to keep it still, at least for a few hours. That way the tendons have time to put themselves back together.”

“You really do know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, and I know tough guys like you, too. You’ll just keep using it until you do yourself a worse injury. That’s why I’m strapping you up. I’d put you in a straitjacket if I could.”

“I don’t doubt it.” I take a minute to put my clothes back together around the sling and let Wiley help me up.

“What are we going to do now?” She looked around, taking in the shattered roof and the river of lava at our feet.

I was feeling around my belt, looking for my radio. I couldn’t find it, which worried me. I moved around a bit through the fallen rocks, finally finding bits and pieces of metal that looked an awful lot like a smashed comm device.

“Oh, fuck.”

“What’s up?”

“My radio got smashed. We can’t contact the others.”

Fear flashed across her features, just for a second. “What’s the plan?”

I sat down again, going through my pockets and Wiley’s pack.

“Even if we had the comms unit, there’s no guarantee we could contact them. Even if we did, it’d be impossible to coordinate to get us back together when we’re parted by this much rock.”

“So, you’re saying this isn’t the biggest disaster in the world?”

I had to grin, because getting injured and cut off from your team in hostile territory was pretty close.

“It could be, but we’ve got about four days of water. We can stretch the food out longer than that. We’ve lost the grapple and the radio, but not some of my other tools.”

“But what are we going to do?”

I sighed, looking around the cavern. The only option was a crack in the wall that appeared to lead back into the cave. I nodded to it.

“That might double back the way we went before. Maybe we’ll find the cavern where the Qitzal live. If it leads forward or back, it’ll put us in contact with the others or the Qitzal.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Her eyes were gleaming. She was all seriousness now, no playful Wiley at all. Even though I’d longed to see a quiet side to her, I found I missed her excitement now that it was gone.

I tried to shrug, remembered my shoulder and winced. She laughed.

“I don’t want to think about that yet. One problem at a time. Let’s just get moving. Cover some ground and see where it gets us.”

“Okay.” She gathered her things and I put what was left of my gear together. The crack in the rock wall was fairly nondescript, just big enough to admit us without having to squeeze. The path continued on the other side, seeming to follow the river but putting a fall of rock between it and us.

In a few places, it seemed to open up. It gave me hope that it’d give us a better path to the others, but they always twisted into dead ends. We had no choice but to follow the openings as they were presented to us. My anxiety grew as my inner sense of direction told me we were moving further and further away from our last known coordinates.

Pretty soon, I wouldn’t have a fucking clue where we were or how far we’d come.

I was already hungry and thirsty. Wiley probably was too, but she didn’t complain. We both knew we had to make the supplies last as long as we possibly could.

I kept my face calm and kept assuring Wiley everything would be okay. She looked up at me with worry but always smiled when our eyes met. It was clear she trusted me. I couldn’t let her down.

One thing I did know was that the twisted switch backs were beginning to curve. We’d come along this path looking for a way to get deeper underground and it looked like Wiley and I had found it, but at what cost? We were alone, injured, and tired. We were without communication with the others or the surface, out of weapons and almost out of supplies.

We might have found what we were looking for, but I was starting to wonder if we’d live long enough to tell anyone about it.

Wiley

The path looped back and forth, bringing us close to the river of magma and back into the depths of the cave. Quite often we stumbled across rock falls blocking the way and we’d be forced to move deeper underground, only to find the river right by our sides again.

I supposed it made sense for the river to flow into the heart of the mountain. I hadn’t really thought about it before. It’s not like I had experience with lava or volcanoes. I’d never been around mountains at all, really.

It was impossible to tell how far we’d come. There was no way of knowing how long we had been walking because we had no way to keep track of time. The light of the cave that had seemed so attractive to me at first was now starting to wear on me.

The flickering of the light on the ceiling as tiny things flared into nothing deep in the lava’s heart felt sickening if I watched it for too long. I tried focusing on the floor, but the light and color undulated there, too. What did you call seasick when it was fire? Lava sick?

I heard my stomach growl, but I was determined not to ask for food or water yet. I knew I had more strength in me and that no matter how I felt, my body could go for days without rest or food. Mind over matter.

I watched Derrix’s broad shoulders and back in front of me. He was a warrior. Surely, he’d endured far worse conditions and I should try and keep up with him as best I could. I couldn’t slow him down and I certainly couldn’t ask for special treatment.

What were we to each other? Mates, sure. But did that come with an immediate emotional responsibility? On Earth it wouldn’t. I’d heard enough about arranged marriages to know how that went, but I didn’t think this was the same thing. Our bodies certainly responded to each other. I didn’t really know about the whole tattoo thing, but I guessed it was important.

My stomach growled again and I felt a wave of weakness sweep through me. My foot turned on a rock and that was it—I went down, feeling the impact of the ground as my breath blasted out. Derrix’s arms were immediately around me, holding me against him.

“Wiley? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just tripped,” I said breathlessly.

“We’re stopping. You have to tell me when you get tired like this. I don’t mind.”

“I told you, I tripped. I’m really fine.”

He scowled at me as he set me against the rocks. He didn’t say anything as he got me a piece of the hard Qitzal bread and a canteen of water.

I ate all the bread, but only took a few sips of water. Derrix tried to refuse.

“No.” I pushed it at him. “You’re injured too. Take some.”

He grudgingly took a sip before putting it back in the pack. I felt much better after a couple of minutes of rest. I sat up and ran my hands over his shoulder.

“It feels good,” I said, surprised. There was no swelling or discoloration and he seemed to be able to move it well.

Then again, what did bruising look like on purple skin? I had no fucking clue.

“I’m fine.” He pushed me back against the rock. “Let’s take a look at you.”

I sat back, happy to take the weight off my neck. Derrix wiped the wounds gently, taking extra care with the graze on my knee where I fell.

“What’s that you’re using to clean them?”

“It’s a disinfectant, kind of like your iodine, I believe. We all carry some because some of the scratches you can get out here will flare up within hours.”

I winced as he went back to cleaning my scratches and then pulled out some salve.

“This will take the pain away.” He went to open the jar. I put my hands over his.

“No. Save it for a real emergency. What if we run into those bat-like creatures again? I don’t need more disinfectant—I’ve had plenty of wounds before. They all healed up just fine on their own.”

He looked down at our joined hands, carefully taking his from mine to put the jar away. I didn’t think about what I did next. I just slipped in under his arm as close as I could get.

My hand crossed his flat, smooth belly, the feel of his skin beneath my fingertips thrilling. He took a deep breath, chest moving against my cheek. Then I looked up.

He leaned down and kissed me.

Our second kiss was far more intense than the first. Slow. Deep. Our lips pulled at each other while our tongues slipped between. I gripped at him, my fingers curling against his chest. I was so eager for me I was practically climbing him.

He shifted against me, holding my waist as he slipped to the ground. I clambered on top of him without thinking and put my hands on his massive chest to kiss him some more.

Thought fled from me. The pain, the circumstances, they meant nothing. The only thing that meant anything was his lips against mine. His hard body moved under me and I felt my body respond with a throbbing deep between my legs.

When I ripped my shirt up over my head his hands found my breasts immediately. My hard nipples pressed against his palms and he rubbed gently against them, his rough palms teasing me until I gasped.

When my body was stretched up and frozen, he wrapped his arms around my waist, sitting up and pushing me to the ground. He absorbed the impact, laying me down gently as he fell on top of me, looking into my eyes.

I was drowning, lost in his gaze. I’d never seen such need, such devotion. He was hungry for me in a way I could have never imagined. I never thought about the pain of having one mate, only one mate.

Maybe it took the guesswork out of it. Even when humans found true love, they were never really sure. Derrix was more than sure. He knew it. There was only me in the universe and I lost myself in that devotion, that loyalty.

He kissed me again, somehow even deeper than before. I shivered as his hands grazed my sides. I looked up in surprise when he lifted himself off me, only to find he was at the waistband of my pants, gently drawing them down my legs.

Derrix leaned down and slid his tongue against my pussy, under the hood to stroke my clit. I was already wet and the slick sensation bowed my spine, making my hands claw at the dirt. He pressed his lips in further, brushing against me with the flat of his tongue.

He drew his mouth away as I gasped and shivered, and crawled back up my body. His smile unlike any expression I’d seen on his face before. Not just happy and anticipating, but content. Something made complete.

Bracing one hand on my hip, he reached down with his other hand to guide his cock inside me. I felt how big and hard he was straight away, the sensation of my body stretching for him making my bones tremble. I gasped as my nails tore into his back. With each passing inch he moved slower and slower, teasing me with his hard length until I was thrashing on the ground, senseless in my lust.

When he finally filled me he stopped completely, tilting his head back. His eyes were closed, and I shared that moment of stillness, that completion.

He was home, and so was I.

Derrix looked back to my face with a gaze twice as intense as before, his pupils fully dilated from lust. For a moment we were more connected than I ever believed two beings could be.

Then, he bared his teeth, almost snarling. His hands gripped my shoulders tight and he started to draw that long, hard length out of me. He was forced to move slowly and the lack of him ached worse than the deliciously painful stretching. I could feel myself starting to pour like a river and his drive back in was twice as fast and powerful enough to lift my lower body off the ground.

His eyes still held that feral, strange look. His teeth glinted behind his beautiful lips. All his years of careful restraint, of discipline and denial, burned away as the animal in him took him over. He moaned suddenly, burying his head in my shoulder. The sound was so lost and so very human it caught me in the chest and I almost cried.

Then he raised his head and roared. My pussy gripped him, pouring with juice. I held him with my knees and clutched at the small of his back, ready for what was coming.

He began to thrust. His force was brutal, and his cock drove into me with the strength of his entire body. Tingles rushed through my skin, inside, outside, down to the bone. I howled, not even recognizing my own voice. I gave myself up to the power and strength of him. My body opened wider than I ever dreamed possible as I begged him to fill me, to pound me until I was utterly senseless.

At the briefest of moments, I saw his eyes flicker and I knew Derrix was in there, barely recognizing himself. All those years of torture without a mate and now, she was in his arms, impaled on him, surrounding him.

Loving him.

I leaned up and brought his head down. Our lips came together, and my body opened up even further, letting him thrust harder and faster as he saw my joy, reveled in it, and sought to give us both more of it.

No matter what I had to sacrifice, no matter the pain that might come, it was all worth it.

For this moment, this perfect moment of Derrix and I joined as one.

Derrix

When I woke up, I wasn’t sure where I was.

There was no open sky above me, only smooth stone, and I wasn’t lying on a mattress. My body was sore, my shoulder screaming at me, my position uncomfortable, and yet there was a pleasant warmth radiating from something—someone—beside me. I turned around, gently, and there she was.

Wiley.

She was fast asleep, her body nestled against mine. Her head lay on my chest, locks of hair tumbling over her face, her chest rising and falling with a gentle cadence. Slowly, I pushed the hair away from her face, and a smile spread across my lips. I’d been all over the galaxy, seen the most amazing and terrible things, but nothing could ever compare to Wiley’s beauty. She was a true gem.

Closing my eyes, I let the memories wash over me, how it felt to have her naked body on mine, to savor her lips until we were wrapped in a bow of lust. I remembered how it felt to climb to the heights, our bodies and souls blending as we exploded. The memories were even enough to dull the strong pain on my shoulder.

“G’morning,” she whispered, her voice mellow but happy.

I opened my eyes to see her looking at me, a lazy smile on her lips. Her hair was slightly disheveled, but that only added to her beauty.

“I mean, I’m not sure if it’s morning, but you get it.”

“I get it, yes,” I said, and then leaned in to kiss her forehead. I threaded my fingers into her hair, relishing the closeness of her body, and took a deep breath just so I could let her scent intoxicate me once more.

Alright, focus, Derrix, I told myself, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to resist her if I didn’t stop now. Not that I wanted to resist her—I just preferred to give in to the flesh under less life-threatening conditions. “Time for us to keep moving.”

“Yeah,” she said, already rising to her feet. She checked her bag for a couple of seconds, then slung it over one shoulder. Still smiling, she tied her hair and patted some dust off her tactical suit. Despite everything that had happened, she didn’t look shaken. If anything, she seemed confident. “Straight ahead, right?”

“It’s probably best for us to maintain our course, yes,” I replied, even though I wasn’t exactly sure if that was the best idea. But it was the only idea, so it wasn’t like we had a choice. Walking side-by-side, we went down the tunnel, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as Wiley kept on staring at the various rock formations and crystals along the way. Her eyes were wide with fascination and amazement, a child-like curiosity for the world around her. Even though that tended to get her into trouble, it was still an endearing quality. Besides, just as long as I was around to protect her, she was free to let the world amaze her.

How far you’ve come, I thought, remembering how I had felt the first time she’d been in trouble. Back then, I’d wondered if I could keep my distance from her, genetic match or not. But things had changed. I wanted to protect her, even if that meant I had to know what it meant to be afraid.

“Look at that,” Wiley said after almost an hour of walking. She froze in her tracks so suddenly that I almost crashed against her. Pointing toward a group of stalagmites resembling a trident, she looked back at me over her shoulder. “Are you seeing that?”

“Yes,” I replied, not sure what she was getting at. We had already passed many of these formations before, and there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about them. Maybe she found that specific formation aesthetically pleasing. “It’s, uh, pretty.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” she said, smooth creases forming on her forehead as she frowned. “Isn’t that formation familiar?”

“Yes, we’ve seen lots of them already.”

“Yes, I know, but I think I’ve already seen that particular one more than once or twice,” she continued, her tone growing more anxious as she waited for me to understand her. “I know it’s crazy, but it’s as if we’ve already been here before.”

“That’s impossible,” I muttered. We’d been walking in what should’ve been a straight line for hours now, so how in the galaxy could she have seen that formation more than once? It didn’t make any sense.

Despite that, I narrowed my eyes and looked at the three stalagmites. I hadn’t paid much attention to the décor on the tunnel, but Wiley did have a point. That formation was oddly familiar.

“Well, shit.” Placing both hands on my hips, I looked around.

We were in a large section of the tunnel, the vaulted ceiling so high that we could barely see it, and there were stalagmites all around. They reached up like fingers of a desperate hand, trying to dig their way out of their eternal prison. What a happy thought. There were other formations too, tall pillars of rough stone that seemed to rise at an angle until their ends connected, forming what looked like a platform of sorts.

Wiley was right—this place did seem familiar.

“Alright, I think I remember this place,” I said. “But these tunnels are enormous. More likely than not, there are various sections that resemble this place.”

“That makes sense,” she said, but I could tell that she wasn’t buying my version. She was certain we’d been there before, and her certainty was leaving me on edge. If she was right about it, then what kind of fucked up forces were in play here? Still, we didn’t have a choice but to continue marching ahead, and that’s exactly what we did.

Until, two hours later when we found ourselves in the same section of the tunnels. The stalagmite in a trident formation, the thick pillars of rough stone, the high ceiling. Every single detail was exactly the same. This time there was no mistaking it—somehow, we ended up in the same place from before.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“We’ve been walking in circles,” Wiley said. “But I don’t know how that's possible.”

“Maybe the path we’re on is constantly changing,” I offered, not knowing if I wanted to be right. Crazier things had happened, sure, but I wasn’t particularly keen on some kind of self-conscious tunnel hellbent on not letting me out. “This isn’t good.”

“What if we climb that?” Wiley asked, pointing toward the stone pillars. She was looking up at the platform above, her eyes already gleaming with excitement. “It looks like there’s some kind of plateau at the top. I know that we don’t have any ropes, but these rocks don’t seem that hard to climb.”

Before I could respond, she started walking toward the base of the stone pillars. I didn’t have a better idea, and so I followed.

The climb to the top wasn’t particularly difficult—although my shoulder complained in certain spots—and we got there in less than ten minutes. I went up first, and then knelt beside the edge and offered Wiley my good arm to hoist her up.

“Well, this is different,” she said, sitting on the floor and looking at our surroundings.

We were on what looked like an upper level of the tunnels, but there were no natural formations. Whatever forces of nature had sculpted the tunnels down below, they sure as hell didn’t have an influence up here. The walls were smooth, veined and with perfectly straight lines of rich green stone, and the ground was even and polished. There weren’t any tunnels around either. Instead, there were archways leading into large corridors, the same crystals from before lighting them up. Above the arches, there were intricate carvings and inscriptions, neither of which I could read.

This wasn’t nature’s handiwork.

Someone had built this place.

“I’ll be damned,” I whispered, still not sure on what to make of it. For the thousandth time since landing on this damn planet, I mentally cursed our superiors for sending us here without any intel.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

The answer escaped my lips a fraction of a second later. “I have no fucking idea.”

Wiley

From where we stood atop the structure’s plateau, it was evident that it hadn’t been created by any natural means. If its symmetrical engineering wasn’t the first indication, the strange inscriptions that covered it would have given it away instead. They were placed intermittently along the walls, but try as I may I couldn't understand them. They made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever, and Derrix seemed just as confused when he’d attempted to decipher the strange phrases.

We took our time exploring the plateau. I wondered if the Qitzal could have made it. Although my interactions with them had been minimal at best, they didn't seem to be the innovative type and had been adamant that we not venture further underground. If they didn’t want us to explore deeper inside the caverns, I doubted they’d do the same.

Venturing deeper beneath the surface wasn’t what I really wanted to do either, but I wasn’t going to let Derrix know that. I signed up for an adventure, and an adventure was certainly what I was getting, even if I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. Only Derrix's presence at my side made me feel reassured, as if I drew the feeling of being safe from him alone.

I would have never had the courage to go below the surface without him by my side. Although the other women and warriors are congenial and I knew they’d do their best to keep me safe, I didn’t get the same feeling being with them that I did from being with Derrix. Certainly it's because we're mates, but it felt like something even more than that.

Watching him, I couldn’t keep my ponderings to myself any longer. “Is it possible that the Qitzal made this. . .whatever this is? Do you think that’s why they didn’t want us going further into the caverns?”

“It’s. . .unlikely,” he replied. “From what we’ve come to understand about them, the Qitzal prefer to live off the land and don’t typically create such alterations to the landscape. I don’t think they would have made something like this—it doesn’t even make sense for them to make such a dramatic change to the caverns.”

At the center of the structure was a giant, spiraling staircase, leading down into darkness. There were burning torches affixed along the walls every fifty feet or so, but we couldn’t see the bottom from where we stood at the top. The stairs looked foreboding, but sturdy.

“Do you think we should go down there?” I asked, sending a questioning glance his way.

“We came all the way up here, so I guess we should make the most of it and check out as much as we can. I'll lead, though—you stay behind me,” he instructed.

I thought I was finally beginning to understand Derrix's no-nonsense attitude—he was very concerned with keeping me safe. I supposed as his mate, it only made sense that he didn't want any harm to come to me. We'd only just met, but I already felt the same way about him. The sudden thought of anything befalling him made me shiver, even though the room was swelteringly warm.

Everything felt different between us since we’d been intimate with each other, in the best way. His personality had completely shifted from when we’d first met, when he’d seemed so aloof and reluctant to get to know me. I’d been a little hurt when he’d decided not to come with my group when we were exploring the tunnels, but the way he’d rushed back to help us—to help me—and how he’d destroyed those creatures attacking us as if they were nothing more than annoying insects had been insanely sexy to witness.

He’d been a man possessed, his only desire to save his mate. I’d had no idea a man could feel that way about a woman. Seeing him rush toward me had only made me realize I’d been right to volunteer to be genetically matched because it brought me to him, and he was wonderful.

Agreeing with his order to allow him to go first down the staircase, I easily fell into step behind him, taking his hand when he extended it. He navigated the staircase with careful, calculated steps, his wariness of the unknown place nearly palpable in the air. The descending tunnel was so dim, despite the soft light of the torches, that I couldn't help but wonder if my mate had some kind of special ability to help him see in the dark. His footsteps, though cautious, seemed so assured, while mine were tentative at best.

Or maybe it was just years of getting in and out of scrapes I could only imagine in my wildest dreams—or nightmares. I couldn’t wait to hear more about the things he’d seen and done before I’d come into the picture, and only hoped he’d take me along with him on all his adventures. If he wasn’t willing, well, I’m sure I could find ways of convincing him.

The descent down inside of the structure took longer than it did to climb, which is how I knew we were moving deeper underground. Within ten minutes, the entrance above us appeared to be a tiny hole, allowing only a miniscule amount of outside light to filter down. The glow of the torches cast eerie shadows on the spiraling walls, through more of those indeterminable words.

I tightened my grip on Derrix’s hand and he squeezed reassuringly back. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was afraid because I wasn’t—not really—but I’d be a liar if I didn’t say the place was starting to give me the creeps. I only hoped we wouldn’t find something completely insane at the bottom because I already wasn’t looking forward to the climb back out and the thought of having to escape quickly was causing my stomach to turn.

“I wonder how much farther down this staircase goes?”

Derrix turned to give me a small, reassuring smile, and that’s when all hell broke loose. One moment, he was standing one step below me and the next he was on his back, crashing down onto the now non-existent stairs. Instead of continuing as perfectly-formed steps up to the surface from where I stood, they’d turned into a ramp. His body careened down, my grip on his hand the only thing between him and a horrific fate.

“It was a false step—looks like a boobytrap!” he called out to me through gritted teeth.

I could only imagine how much pain he was in from his injured shoulder. I held on as tightly as I could, wishing I had the strength to pull him up but failing miserably in my attempt.

“Can you climb up at all? Is there anything that you can use to dig your feet in?” I asked.

“No, there’s nothing. Just give me a moment to get my bearings. My shoulder—”

He stopped short as a deep rumbling shook the walls of the tunnel. Craning our necks, we both looked around for the source, but he spotted it first.

“There—it’s an opening forming in the wall! What?”

His voice was thick with confusion, eyes narrowed as he tried to better focus on the upcoming surprise. I couldn’t find the nerve to look, which probably worked in his favor. I was too concerned that he’d slip from my grasp if I moved at all. Instead, I keep my eyes fixed on his handsome face, using it as a focal point to keep my wits about me.

When his eyes suddenly widened, I knew whatever was coming out of that chamber wasn’t anything good. From the extreme heat I felt it before I saw it: lava, bubbling down onto the staircase, ready to boil us alive.

Our only saving grace was that it was moving so slowly we had at least a moment or two to figure out a plan of escape.

“Should we both just let go? Maybe we should take our chances with whatever's down there!” I said, trying not to panic.

Derrix’s voice rang out with panic. “No! No—don’t let go. For all we know something could be down there right now with its mouth hanging open waiting to swallow us whole. I just—I need to—”

I watched as he tried in vain to find purchase for his legs, but his efforts were for naught. The trap had been designed too well and it looked like the only way out of this was down.

The lava was beginning to pour out quicker, although it hadn't yet started forming a thick enough path that we couldn't avoid it. The temperature rose with each passing second, caustic burns forming on our exposed skin. I gritted my teeth and tightened my hold on him, but I could feel my strength failing with each passing second.

“There's got to be a way out of this!” I cried in frustration, trying to keep a cool head on my shoulders as I scanned our surroundings.

Derrix let out a grunt that sounded like pure agony as I at last saw something that piqued my interest. A little further up from the stair I was standing on was something that looked like a small, green button jutting out from the wall. It blended in with the swirling phrases, but at the same time, it didn't. In fact, I'd only noticed it was there because of the angle at which I stood.

The only problem was I couldn't reach it unless I let go of Derrix. I was truly caught between a rock and a hard place—if I let go of him I'd definitely be able to press the button, but what if the cost was his life? I couldn't lose him, not now that I'd just found him. The thought of it nearly drove me insane.

But what choice did I have? I either let go and risked saving him, or we both died down here, melted into a puddle of goo by the molten lava that only seemed to be increasing as time went on.

I took one more look at Derrix, committing his face to memory before I let go of his hand. His eyes widened in shock but his hands shot out to scrabble at the staircase, his nails digging deep into the wood. They slowed him down long enough that I was able to find my courage and bolt for the button, slamming my hand down onto it as hard as I could.

Within seconds, the lava flow stopped and another grinding noise began. It was the sound of the staircase returning to normal once more. I watched with my breath trapped in my throat as Derrix pulled himself up to a standing position and then climbed up to meet me, wrapping me into a forceful embrace.

He didn't wait even a moment before crushing his lips to mine. I returned his ardent kisses as I tightened my hold on him, so glad my risk had paid off.

“You brilliant, beautiful creature,” he whispered against my cheek when he finally pulled away.

I couldn't stop the grin that pulled at my lips or the pounding of my heart as I stared up into his eyes. I was beginning to think there wasn't anything we couldn't do, as long as we did it together.

Derrix

I was the king of idiots.

I thought that a mate was a burden, that I would have to look out for her all the time, but she just proved me wrong. A mate was everything but a burden. The truth was that I wasn’t supposed to be responsible for her, nor was she meant to be responsible for me. We were a team, and we supported each other. Through thick and thin.

“Fuck,” I breathed out, my heart still pounding hard. “I thought we were done for.” Wiping the sweat off my brow, I placed both hands on Wiley’s tapered waist and looked down at her. In her eyes was a flame of love and kindness, as well as a bit of pride, and for the first time in my life I finally felt how it was to have someone by my side that would have my back no matter what.

Of course, I liked the guys and the comradeship that we had, but this was different. The mating bond that existed between us was far stronger than anything I had ever experienced, and I knew that nothing in the universe would be able to break it. Fuck, a river of molten rock had just tried it and failed miserably.

“You’re welcome,” she said, and then went on tiptoes to kiss my lips. “God, it’s hot in here.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m an extremely good kisser.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Laughing, she slapped my arm playfully. She looked around the place we were in, the rivulets of lava that remained on the ground emanating a scorching heat, and a slight frown took over her face. “We should get out of here.”

“Agreed.” Taking her hand in mine, I led the way toward the stairs. There were more puddles of lava there, but they weren’t big enough to pose a problem. We went down carefully, looking down to check where we put our feet, and after a minute or two finally arrived at the foot of the stairs. There was a larger puddle there, but it wasn’t wide or deep. Carefully, I went around it and then helped Wiley do the same.

“Seems like we’re back on safe ground,” she said, looking around the small cavern we were in. The glow from the lava on the stairs spilled onto the space, casting our shadows against the wall, and a few crystals jutted out from the rock here and there. A few meters in front of us an archway cut straight into the stone, leading into pitch blackness. Not exactly a welcome mat, but at least that blackness wasn’t trying to kill us. “Well, there’s nowhere else for us to go, so I guess that—”

“Easy there,” I cut her short. “Let’s look at those burns first.”

Before she could protest, I forced her to sit on the ground, her back against the wall. Kneeling in front of her, I removed my bag and rummaged through its contents until I found some of the healing salve. Wiley’s suit had kept her safe, and there weren’t any severe wounds on her body. Only the skin on her neck seemed flushed, as well as the one on her wrists.

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, but I dipped my fingers into the salve and started applying it onto her wounds. I caressed her skin tenderly, careful not to hurt her, and she only winced when I rubbed the back of her neck.

“Now you’re fine,” I said, smiling at her.

She returned the favor, applying some of the salve onto my own skin, and then looked at my shoulder and adjusted it. It still hurt like a son of a bitch, pain shooting up from my shoulder to my neck whenever I moved too abruptly, but Wiley’s soft touches were enough to make me feel better. In fact, her touch was fucking magical.

Once we were done, I helped her up to her feet, and we both turned to face the dark mouth of the arch. Grabbing the flashlight from my bag, I aimed it at the dark and turned it on.

“Alright, let’s do this,” I heard Wiley say in a low whisper, and I knew that she was talking to herself. Despite how brave and reckless she was, I figured even she needed to pump herself up from time to time.

Carefully, we made our way past the archway, our little beam of light illuminating the corridor up ahead. There seemed to be torches of some kind in there: they were rock formations as thick as my forearms, jutting out from the wall at an angle, and they had a recipient of sorts at the top. I immediately tried to see if there was a switch of some kind we could use.

“Here,” I muttered, my eyes drawn to a small green button embedded on the stone similar to the one Wiley had used to deactivate the boobytrap.

I hesitated before pressing it, not wanting another river of lava to fall on our heads, but ended up doing it all the same. The moment I did it, the lines of torches lit up the hallway, small quantities of lava trickling out of tiny round holes atop the torches and pooling on their cups.

Light flooded the room, and I put my flashlight away. “Well, that’s nice.”

We marched on.

The corridor was straight and narrow, but at least it wasn’t that long. After five minutes of walking we finally arrived at a massive round chamber. The green stone we had seen on the chamber we had left was used here as well, and several dozen lava torches kept the place illuminated. The inscriptions we had seen on the archways were here as well, except this time they were covering the polished stone on the ground, weird runes and pictorial inscriptions zigzagging toward the center.

“What the hell is that?” Wiley asked, pointing toward the place where the runes came together. There was some kind of altar in there; propped up on four short pillars, all of them laced with inscriptions, was a massive cut stone. It was large enough for me to lay on top of it. Except, of course, there was already someone there.

“What the fuck?” Placing one arm in front of Wiley, I readied myself to push her back. My free hand darted to my rifle, but I relaxed once I realized what I was looking at. Whoever was on that altar had already died a long time ago.

With a knot in my throat, I approached the altar and looked down at the skeleton laying there. It was smaller than me, roughly the same size as Wiley, but definitely not from a species I recognized. The bones were too dense, the cranium elongated and sharp, and there were far too many limbs. The sternum seemed to be shattered and, from the looks of it, whatever caused it had been fast and hard.

“I think you should see this,” I heard Wiley say beside me. She was staring at the walls, her eyes wide with fear.

“What are you—?”

Oh, shit.

The walls were covered in bones, all of them embedded on the stone. There were skulls, far too many too count, and they all seemed to be from different species. I only recognized a few skulls as belonging to the Qitzal; as for the others, I had no idea. Not that I wanted to have an idea. The last thing I needed was to see Vaznik skulls up on the fucking wall, like some morbid memento of whatever had happened inside this chamber.

“What is this place?” Wiley whispered, her voice charged with anxious reverence. She was scared, no doubt about it, and there was something in this room that told me she had every right to feel that way. When I finally opened my mouth to answer her question, I realized that the answer was self-evident.

“This is a sacrifice chamber,” I replied, my words bouncing off the walls and returning to me like some ghostly echo. The energy in the air felt wrong, as if the atoms in here had been charged with malevolence, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up on end. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t a good idea to remain here.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

She didn’t protest.

Wiley

We returned to the plateau atop the rock formation.

My mind was spinning, what we had seen in the sacrificial chamber forcing all manners of dark thoughts to pop. All those skulls and bent bones, and the freaky altar with that skeleton…What kind of perverse creatures could have built such a perfect place?

“Are you okay?” Placing a hand on my shoulder, Derrix gave it a gentle squeeze. I took a deep breath before I replied, doing my best to still my mind. It wasn’t easy, but I did manage to put a smile on my face.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think so. It’s just that…” I trailed off, not knowing how to put what I was feeling into words. It wasn’t just what we had seen that had me concerned. The skeletons on the walls were a disturbing sight, no doubt about it, but the one thing that was truly messing with my head was the oppressive atmosphere that I had experienced there. That place was brimming with evil.

“I know,” Derrix said. “Try not think of it, alright?”

“Not an easy thing to do.”

“Sure, it is,” he said. “I remember Javik telling me the exact same thing when I was shot in the thigh a couple of years ago. He told me not to think of the pain, and he helped me do it with a simple trick.”

“How?”

“He stabbed me in the arm with a giant needle. That hurt like a bitch, even more than the wound on my thigh.” I could tell that he was making a conscious effort to distract me from my own thoughts, but I didn’t care. In fact, I appreciated the effort. It was enough to make me laugh. “Don’t worry, I don’t have a needle like that in my bag.”

“That’s reassuring.” Following Derrix’s lead, I put my bag down and sat on the floor. On the way up here, we had decided that we’d spend the ‘night’ on this plateau. We needed the rest, and it wouldn’t do us any good to keep on exploring the place aimlessly. “Do you enjoy it? I mean, the life you guys lead.”

“Enjoy it?” he repeated, almost as if he didn’t understand my question. I should’ve seen it coming. I had always wanted to experience a life of adventure, but I never really considered that this life might have not been a choice for men like Derrix. “I suppose you could say that. It gives me purpose.”

“How did you end up here anyway?” I asked as we unrolled our sleeping bags, placing them side by side. “Were you guys drafted into the military, or was it a volunteer sort of thing?”

“I wouldn’t say there’s a draft in place. Mostly because there doesn’t need to be one. The most natural thing for the Mahdfel is to join the fight against the Suhlik, and it’ll continue to be the normal thing until we’ve finally defeated them. There’s no place for monsters like them in this galaxy.”

Nodding, I said nothing. There was truth in what he was telling me, but I could tell that his reasons for being aboard The Calliope ran deeper than that. Whatever had brought him here wasn’t just borne out of a general hatred for the Suhlik.

It was something personal.

“I just want to make sure that what happened to me won’t happen to anyone else,” he finally continued, his voice dipping into a low whisper. There was a world of hurt behind his words, the pain I had glimpsed before, but more open now than I had been prepared for.

Reaching for him, I placed my hand on top of his. In the dim light of the crystals, his features became sharper and sadder, the elongated shadow cast by his body and horns like an amalgam of all the pain he had experienced in his life.

“My parents believed they would have a happy life,” he said. “Drawn together the moment they laid eyes on each other for the first time after they were matched. My father served in the military, but after he retired he took my mother and settled on a small, peaceful planet as far away as possible from the conflict.”

He fell silent for a couple of seconds, his eyes staring at the shadows. In truth, he was staring at the memories from long ago, his gaze piercing through the fog of time. Finally, he turned to me and offered me a sad smile. It was enough to break my heart. Finally, he was revealing the reason for his reluctance to our mating, and I knew it meant something had changed between us. Settled into place.

“They were happy there, they really were,” he said. “Then the Suhlik came. It was an attack of pure malice. The planet had no real geopolitical interest, and they didn’t even take prisoners like they usually do. They just landed and slaughtered everyone. The streets turned red with blood that day.”

“But you made it out.”

“I did,” he said. “A Suhlik squad came to my house and kicked the door down. They were ready to spray us with bullets, but my father fought them back. He bought enough time for my mother to run away with me. I still remember being carried by her and looking over my shoulder to see a Suhlik slit my father’s throat.”

My breath caught in my throat.

I didn’t know what to say.

“We had a small underground storage room in the farmland behind the house,” he continued. “We mostly used it to store the equipment we needed to tend the crops. There wasn’t enough space for the two of us, so my mother just shoved me in there. The door was covered with overgrown weeds, so the Suhlik missed my hiding spot. They didn’t miss my mother, though. They shot her in the leg from a distance, and then simply walked up to her and put a bullet on her forehead.”

“I’m so sorry, Derrix.”

“I crawled out of the storage room two days later. I was too afraid to leave. When I finally came out, the Suhlik had already left the place. I buried my parents, and then wandered off into the city, not knowing what else to do. There were corpses everywhere. Almost no survivors. When the first Mahdfel military rescue ship landed, I knew what I had to do. I would bring the fight to those bastards, wherever they were, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. And that’s why what I do gives me purpose.”

Now it all made sense.

Derrix’s hesitancy toward me was a product of his past. After seeing his parent’s love being torn into pieces by savage monsters like the Suhlik, he was afraid of what the future could hold for us. He was afraid that, by being a part of his life, that he was putting me at risk.

Knowing that words would do little to ease his burden, I merely closed the distance between us. I brushed my lips against his, tenderly, and placed one hand on his cheek. Where words would fail, I knew that the love I felt for him would help. Or, at least, reassure him that there was no need to be afraid. Whatever the consequences were, my eyes were open.

I was ready.

I was ready to be his.

“I’m here for you, Derrix, now and always,” I whispered against his lips, enjoying the way his hands were now resting on my waist. “Make me yours.”

“You’re already mine,” he said, slowly pushing on me until I was laying down on the sleeping bag.

He followed after me, his lips never leaving mine, and we surrendered into a warm embrace. My hands flew to his shoulders and, allowing instinct to take charge, I started peeling his tactical suit off his body. He returned the favor eagerly, his hands working on the zipper and straps of my own suit, and a shiver ran up my spine once the cool air inside the cavern lapped at my naked skin.

I tore at his clothing until there was nothing in the way, and then took one hand between his legs. Holding my breath, I wrapped my fingers around his thickness, the warmth of his flesh enough to make my heart beat faster.

“Fuck, Wiley,” he breathed out, his voice laden with anticipation. “That feels so good.”

As he spoke, he pushed the rest of the suit down my legs. With quick movements, he unclasped my bra, got rid of it, and then turned all of his attention to the final barrier between our bodies—my black thong. Hooking his fingers on it, he ripped it off my body with one quick movement, and I let out a surprised gasp.

Before I could process what was happening, he sat up and grabbed my wrist. He forced me to stop stroking him, peeling my fingers away from his hard member.

He knelt between my legs, lifted me to his lap, my thighs straddling his waist. His fingers dug into my ass as he pushed me down, and my eyes rolled as the tip of his cock pressed against my inner lips.

One thrust and he was in.

Closing my eyes, I let pleasure wash all over me, my body burning from the inside out. I leaned forward and grabbed Derrix’s horns for support. He growled at my touch, grinding his hard length into me.

Strong hands lifted me, sliding me up and down until I bucked my hips in a frenzy, doing my best to match the intensity of his thrusts. It was almost impossible to keep up with him, but I didn’t let that stop me.

I pushed my body to the limit, beads of sweat already rolling down my forehead, and I ignored the protests coming from my muscles. I just kept on giving him my all, our two bodies slowly becoming one. It didn’t take long before Derrix drove me toward the edge and pushed me down.

Ecstasy exploded inside me, my whole body tensing up as my inner walls tightened around Derrix’s cock. He stopped moving altogether, his hands still on my ass, and then he let out a groan as he surrendered to pleasure. We came at the same time, our bodies and souls in perfect sync. At that moment, nothing mattered. The past didn’t matter, nor did the future.

What mattered was that we were together.

Derrix

Somewhere far away, I could hear a scuffling sound. In my place of peaceful, dark warmth, I tried to ignore it. Wiley’s sweet weight nestled in my arms, the wonderful scent of her right under my nose. I didn’t ever want to move.

There was a sharp scraping noise, most definitely something hard being dragged across rock. I tried to turn over and hug Wiley tighter to me, when I remembered where I was.

My eyes snapped open. Wiley was in my arms. We were on top of the weird, flat platform and something was moving in the cavern below us. A wave of anxiety flowed through me, bringing sweat up through my skin.

I had never suffered emotional reactions like these before. My possession of Wiley and my desire to keep her safe put an edge on me that had never been there before.

As I sat up she stirred, blinking and smiling. I held a finger to my lips and saw the fear bloom in her eyes. We both knew by now, we had to be ready for anything.

Silently we redressed and I moved carefully to the edge where I could see down, but hopefully not be seen from below. At first, I saw nothing. The strange scrapes and thuds continued, as if an animal was rooting around down there. Adrenaline primed my muscles as I got ready to kick its ass.

Then I saw a familiar shape move from the shadows.

“Hey, Rekker!” I yelled.

He looked up and even from a distance I could see his grin. He waved and the others hurried out, calling to us and jumping around.

Wiley crawled to the edge, waving like a maniac. We both looked at each other, relief on both of our faces. We moved to the point of the formation that joined the wall, getting footholds so we could slowly climb down.

Going down was much harder than going up. I wished that I had put on a guide rope, but Wiley seemed to be doing fine. As always, I was amazed by her strength and adaptability. I couldn’t believe that I’d had reservations to begin with. I was lucky to have found such a capable mate.

Wiley hit the ground just a few seconds ahead of me and ran straight into the arms of Coralie, Lila, and Ferne. I could hear happy sounds, not quite words, as the girls embraced each other.

Rekker, Kyre, and Cedroc stepped up and there was a lot of hand shaking and shoulder slapping.

“Ow, hey watch it,” I cautioned Rekker as he gave me a manly shoulder pat. “That one’s damaged.”

He laughed. “You big baby. Don’t be such a sook.”

But I could tell from his expression he had been worried about me and didn’t like seeing me injured.

The girls came over to us, arms linked around Wiley. They looked like they never wanted to let her go.

“Let’s sit a minute.” Lila gestured to some flat rocks, pulling out her pack. “I’ve got a bit of that Qitzal tea and bread left. We’ve been walking for hours already.”

Supplies were strained but between all of us it looked like a decent stash. We each took just a tiny square of bread and a sip of tea, but it immediately made us feel better. It was smart of Lila to suggest we take a moment in each other’s company—all of us were comforted by the connection.

“So, we found this really creepy room.” Wiley dusted her hands together after finishing her bread. “Full of skeletons. Like crazy full. They were stacked on top of each other in corners and laid out on the floor like they had been trying to get away when they were killed.”

Coralie made a face. “Human skeletons?”

Wiley shrugged. “I don’t think so. Others might have been Qitzal and some were like nothing I had ever seen, even in books.”

All the guys looked at me for clarification. I nodded. “It was weird. Some skeletons I did recognize, strange beasts I’d only seen once or twice in my travels. Others I had no clue.”

“How did they die?” Rekker asked.

Wiley and I got very quiet. I knew this news was going to freak out the girls. “It was a sacrificial chamber. I couldn’t read the language, but the hieroglyphs were pretty clear. There were some nasty tools and blood stains on the rocks. It looked like they were pretty creative.”

Rekker, who was always so even about things, looked shocked. His eyes darted about the cavern as if religious fanatic priests were going to crawl out of the shadows.

“We found something further down, a big chamber,” Kyre said. “No skeletons. Not that I could see. It looked very clean.”

“What did you find there?” I asked.

Rekker shook his head. “We haven’t fully explored it yet. Lila found your track and we came after you first. When we got to the rock formation and the tracks stopped, we were worried something ate you up.”

I laughed softly. “I’m too tough to make a good meal.”

Cedroc shook his head at the terrible joke.

“Let’s get going then.” Rekker started putting his stuff together. “The chamber may wait forever, but our supplies won’t.”

With mutters of agreement, we started putting on our packs. I smiled at Wiley and felt my heart leap as she smiled back. Rekker and Lila led the way and we followed, heading towards where they found the entrance to the deeper chamber.

Light that seemed to come from nowhere still flickered against the ceiling, unnerving me.

“I think the walls do move,” I said softly. “We came this way, but I don’t remember it like this.”

“It’s just your memory,” Cedroc said firmly. “You see it differently each time.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself and that worried me.

“Okay.” Rekker stopped at the edge of a crevice in the rock. It was jagged, which made for good handholds, but as it panned towards the ground it got smoother.

“We can’t put in a guide rope,” I said with dismay. “The rock is too uneven. It just wouldn’t work.”

“I know,” Rekker said quietly. “Are you girls going to be okay? We can’t leave you here by yourselves.”

Coralie stepped up to the edge bravely. “Anywhere you go, we can go.” Cedroc gave her an appreciative look.

Then we had to organize for the climb.

Rekker went first, carefully lowering himself down. Lila followed, leaving a bit of space between them. Rekker kept looking up, making sure that she was catching each rock ledge. He had his eyes on her more than the stone of the wall and I could tell he was ready to catch her if she took a misstep.

It took a long time to get down the wall. It wasn’t just that the climb itself was difficult, it was waiting for the others to get down there so that we didn’t crowd each other. A foot in the wrong place could mean death for any member of the team.

By the time it was my turn to climb, Rekker was already at the bottom. I saw him help Lila down, then they moved out of the way so the others had enough space.

The rock formation was twisted and beautiful. It seemed to travel the entire distance of the cave, both up and down. I thought about it briefly, deciding that from the distance we had travelled, it was probably right in the heart of the mountain with the lava river roughly spiraling around it.

We came down to the flat of the floor and start moving forward into the chamber. We let the girls go ahead and I saw Lila jiggle Wiley’s elbow, giving her a suggestive glance. The girls burst into giggling and I felt my cheeks getting warm.

Then Cedroc jostled me just like Lila did to Wiley. Oh, boy. Here it comes.

“So, Derrix. Looks like some alone time got you guys sorted out?”

I wanted to make a comment that seemed smart and neutral but my voice wouldn’t work. When my silence was the only answer, the other guys gave me knowing grins and patted me on the back.

“So, I’m guessing you got it together, even under the circumstances?” Kyre raised his eyebrows and comically kept them up, making us all laugh.

“Yes, if you must know, we are fully mated.” I felt strange saying the words, like the idea of having a mate was still strange to me.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Rekker said softly. “Soon it will feel just right. I know how strange it is, it’s like someone just appeared in your life and now they take up too much of your space. But you’ll grow. You’ll grow together.”

These words touched me because they seemed so very true. Just as I was about to thank him, the girls burst out laughing in front of us. Wiley moved them out of the way of a trap as they giggled, gesturing with her hands. The traps weren’t a problem for us now, we could see them from a mile away.

I could feel myself blushing again. They were clearly gossiping about me and I didn’t know how to deal with it. When I caught Rekker’s eye, he just gave me a look.

“Like I said. You’ll get used to it.”

The guys looked so comfortable, as well as amused. I realized; I had been jealous of them from day one.

I might have said I didn’t want a mate, but deep down I had been yearning for it.

Sometimes, you get what you need, not what you ask for.

Wiley

Awed by the scope of the chamber, I craned my head back, sweeping my eyes around the space, and I still couldn’t see all the edges of the room. As Derrix jumped down I took his hand, sharing my wonder with him.

It was much larger than the sacrificial chamber. That was an understatement actually. It was enormous.

We walked forward slowly, each of us putting our feet down carefully as if afraid to disturb the silence. It was quiet, but faint whisperings and thuds in the distance suggested movements further down we had no knowledge of.

It was so spooky I almost expected to hear a creepy giggle, but thankfully, there were no voices. The scratchy sounds I heard might be anything and it was only my imagination filling it in with the muffled edge of human voices. My imagination and my paranoia.

With the complete, hesitant silence that made me want to shout to break it, we moved towards the center of the room. The urge to yell was rising in me yet I was afraid to make any sound. My companions remained silent as they walked, refraining from speech and footsteps muted.

The floor sloped gently down, completely smooth and even, kind of like a giant bowl. We started down the gentle incline and I noticed a perfectly cut square of rocks in the center of the room.

We headed towards it, a sense of awe stretching into deeper silence. As we approached, the floor evened out and we were nearly level with the great stone podium. Something perched on top of it, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

I felt drawn to it. I wanted to make it out. I couldn’t help myself from moving towards it. Each step closer made me think I was seeing it in greater detail, but my eyes kept slipping away and my mind refused to put the image together. Frustrated, I moved even closer.

Derrix’s hands closed on my arms and yanked me back. I almost screamed, a strangled gasp ripping from my throat. As he staggered backward, pulling me with him, I felt him almost stumble.

His warm chest against my back felt wonderful. I looked towards the podium and felt a chill. I had almost walked straight up to it without even looking for traps.

“Let’s check it out.” Kyre put his pack down, rummaging around in it. He pulled out a little device that was smaller than his environmental scanner.

“What’s that?” Rekker’s voice was louder than Kyre’s and announced our presence to the silence. I felt like he was testing the chamber, waiting for it to throw its defenses at us.

“It’s a scanner designed to detect cold light. Something I knocked up in my spare time.”

“Why not just use the environmental one? It does sonar, heat, cold, perfectly capable of detecting nearby terrain and life forms.”

“But this is different.” Kyre focused on the device as he spoke. “If I use the other scanner, it will show me the dimensions of the cave. That’s great, and I’ll use it, but first I want to see what’s around that block of stone.”

He stepped forward, aiming the scanner. It emitted a soft cloud of blue light and lines of glowing red lit up all around the pedestal.

Frowning, Derrix threw a rock. It shattered with a sharp explosion as it hit the laser line. I shuddered, thinking about how I could have been dismembered if I took another step.

The team took several steps away, even Derrix. I couldn’t stop looking at the stone slab. It truly mesmerized me. I didn’t step any closer, but I couldn’t make myself move away.

I could hear the rise and fall of voices behind me as the others talked about how to get around the lasers. Rekker thought it best to find the points they originated and blow them. Kyre was certain he could block them somehow.

I heard that murmuring, scratching sound again. Like whispers just out of ear shot. I looked around, trying to find its source.

A shadow moved right above my head. I tried to tell myself it was a flicker of light, but it was too solid. I looked over at the others, but they were too busy talking to notice.

From the shadows directly above me, the dark came alive and scuttled out into the light.

It was completely black, meant to blend in with the void of the underground. Some parts of it were shiny, others soft and feathered. It had a long, delicate nose and tiny little hands with long claws.

It looked at me, cocking its head. I cocked mine right back.

Long wings shivered at its sides and it wriggled like it was getting ready to fly. It scurried back into the shadows again, crawling back and forth and looking at me with yellow eyes.

It clung to the roof like gravity meant nothing. I was so entranced, I couldn’t call for the others.

It was very long, longer than I was tall. It seemed quite timid, not aggressive at all. I watched it with fascination.

It blinked at me. I blinked back.

It wriggled, rustling its wings. The yellow gaze swept towards the others, then back at me. Then it scuttled back into the shadows.

I turned to call the others, then it reappeared. I was careful not to step closer to the pedestal, but I didn’t want to lose sight of it either.

It slithered into the light and crawled right up into the center of the ceiling, right at the height of the dome which was directly above the pedestal.

I almost cried out, my voice only coming in a sharp gasp. I waited to see severed limbs and arcs of blood—I mean, who knew what kind of blood it had—but still. I was expecting a gore fest.

Nothing happened. It didn’t get cut to shreds. To this creature, the lasers weren’t a threat.

It wrapped itself around the stone, long sinuous body gripping it and moving against it like a python. Its movements were slow and controlled, some shiny parts of it glistening with scales and other areas soft and fluffy like feathers.

With a little scratchy noise, it crawled on to the top of the slab. Its long, elegant muzzle nudged the object. I was frustrated all over again that I couldn’t see exactly what it was.

At first, I thought it was going to roll it off towards me. Then it nuzzled it close to its body, sinking down on it and opening its wings. She looked right at me, blinking as she hovered over it.

She was protecting it like a bird would with an egg. I had dealt with my share of broody hens in my time. Hens were quite comical in their frenzied aggression and this creature was graceful, but you couldn’t deny the similarities.

She almost purred as she put her head down to it again, gently nudging it. She brought up her delicate claws and clutched it tightly. Holding it close to her heart.

I was fascinated. This was like animal behavior but also fiercely intelligent. The way she kept meeting my eyes and blinking was pretty universal amongst animals as ‘I see you’ sometimes even like a hello.

“Hey, guys.” My voice was the softest whisper I had ever uttered. I didn’t want to scare her. She sat up on her hind legs, curling her long tail under her. The little flaps at the side of her head raised up and down as she peered at me.

“Guys.” I said it a little louder and finally, everyone stopped talking.

She snapped her gaze towards them, wings unfolding. I heard one of the girls gasp behind me, a sound like awe. No one was scared. She clearly wasn’t going to attack us.

No one knew what to do. Even the men were afraid to speak or move. We didn’t know if this object was what we came here to find, but no one wanted to slaughter an innocent creature that clearly meant us no harm.

She coiled up, raising herself to her full height. I thought she might actually attack as her little ear flaps tightened to her skull and her eyes narrowed.

Then her slender claws gripped the little object even tighter. As quick as a snake, she turned on herself and fled to the shadows. The movement was so quick she almost seemed to teleport. One moment she was there, the next there were only shifting shadows that suggested movement, but actually only fooled the eye.

I felt shocked and kind of empty. What was she? Did our coming here hurt her?

I suddenly felt bad about disobeying the Qitzals’ wish. Far more was going on here than we could hope to understand.

Derrix

“Don’t let it get away!” I yelled, charging after it. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the thing we were looking for, and this dangerous snake creature wasn’t going to give it up.

“No!” Wiley screamed. “Don’t hurt her!”

“Her?” I barely had time to answer as I raced into the shadows. How the hell did Wiley guess at its gender? Maybe the girls were going to be a liability here.

I could tell by the way the guys were following me, we were in agreement. Either that thing was the artifact we needed to get, or it was something dangerous. All ‘she’ had to do was drop it and we could be bombed to hell. Poisoned. Dismembered. Who the fuck knew. I didn’t want to find out.

I was expecting the cavern to have multiple exits. It was so large that would have made sense to me, even if they weren’t constructed by the same mad ancients that built the rest of this place. There should have been natural cracks that were made as the rock cooled and warmed up by the flowing of the lava.

But there were none. The chamber was completely sealed except for the tunnel we came through. I couldn’t see all the edges of it myself, but the other guys quickly fanned out into the area and called out their situation.

Wiley came up behind me, panting, and grabbed my arm tightly. “Don’t hurt her! She’s not aggressive.”

“How do you know that, Wiley?”

“Because she spoke to me! Well. Kind of. She didn’t come at me. She didn’t bare her teeth or act threateningly. She just looked at me.”

“Wiley.” I sighed, sparing her a glance even though I wanted to keep scanning the shadows for the creature. “How do you know that thing didn’t eat all the people in the other chamber? Or kill them for fun?”

“I just do,” she said stubbornly. “She’s not going to hurt us.”

“And what if that egg its carrying is some kind of explosive? I don’t care if it’s natural or man-made, it could be full of poison gas or anything.”

“You’re being ridiculous!” she snapped, taking the words right out of my mouth. “Just listen to yourself.”

For a few seconds we glared at each other and I had a moment to appreciate that I was in my first ever couples fight.

Suddenly Wiley took off toward the wall toward a snake moving along the rock, and immediately started climbing after it.

“Wiley!” I wanted to scream some more words at her, cursing her stupidity, but there wasn’t time. I bolted at the wall and launched myself after her, the others doing the same.

A lot of the wall was smooth, but had a strange texture to it, like plates laid carefully over each other. These made it fairly easy to climb and I started to catch up with Wiley pretty quickly. She was still climbing strongly though, and I couldn’t close the gap as fast as I would like.

The creature weaved across the roof, knowing it was being chased. Its little ear flaps moved up and down and it shivered its wings as it scurried about. It didn’t make a single sound though. No hissing or cawing and it didn’t stop to make a threat display.

I still didn’t trust it. Not with all those skeletons around.

The black thing turned its nose to a small spot in the wall and I realized it was a hole.

“She’s going to get away!” I screamed, not even noticing that I had now ascribed the thing a gender.

Wiley didn’t answer, just put all her effort into climbing. She got to the hole just seconds after the creature and hurled herself through it. I put so much strength into catching her I almost wrenched my shoulder out again, but I didn’t care. This was far more important than the creature making off with the object—this was Wiley in trouble!

I poked my head up through the hole, expecting the room to be full of spikes, blades, lava and a thousand more snake beings. Instead, the room was full of fluffy, soft grass like stuff that might have been uncut silk, similar to what the Qitzal used. The snake was curled on the silk, wrapped around the object. She blinked at Wiley, her ears down as she regarded us with frightened eyes.

Not even I could deny that the creature looked submissive. I was still worried that the object was dangerous. For some reason the idea of poison gas had got into my brain. Maybe because the thing was about the same size as a grenade.

I put a hand on my weapon. We had considered them pretty useless up until now, with all of us low on ammo and the walls too tight for us to avoid ricochet. Still, I wanted to be kind. The thing could attack at any time and it was better to just end it now and take the object.

Wiley saw my hand on my belt and rushed over to me. She stood in front of me, pushing her hands against my shoulders. Her eyes were a mixture of sorrow and determination.

“No,” she said firmly. “No.”

Lila pulled herself up into the chamber and looked at us both. Her face set like stone as she realized what was happening. She scowled at me, carefully relaxing herself before turning to the creature.

The chamber was not big, and I could hear the others talking as they decided to wait. When Lila took a few steps towards the thing I almost shoved Wiley out of the way, but she pushed me back with all her weight.

Lila bent from the waist, leaning down to meet the creature’s eyes. She crooned to it. “Pretty pretty,” she said softly. “Who’s pretty.”

I scoffed under my breath and Wiley looked at me fiercely. “It doesn’t matter what you say. It’s the tone that they hear.”

“What?”

“Most animals read body language. When humans talk, they appear more approachable, especially with the nonthreatening body language Lila is using. She could be telling the creature it’s one ugly mother fucker, but so long as she speaks in a calm, even tone, it shows the creature that she’s relaxed and not aggressive.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t going to pretend I understood. I hadn’t had a lot of experience with animals, alien creatures, whatever.

Lila carefully raised her hand, palm down. She kept her body language soft, blinking and ducking her head.

“Gorgeous girl,” she said softly. “Pretty girl.”

To my shock, the creature started slinking across the ground towards her. It kept its belly to the ground, head slightly raised and her belly against the ground. The little ear flaps shivered against her head as she took slow, careful steps towards Lila.

As she got close, she raised her head towards Lila’s palm. Wiley darted in, quick as a flash of light and took the object from the nest, giving it to me. I didn’t have time to look at it right now, I was too busy watching Lila taming the snake.

As the top of its head met Lila’s palm, the thing closed its big yellow eyes and purred. Lila ruffled its head feathers a little and it turned its head, encouraging her to pat it. Lila smiled and carefully rubbed it across its face and ears.

“Well, you say goodbye to your new friend. I’m going down.” I tucked the object carefully into my pack, trying not to look at it too much. It was roughly like an egg, with shiny stone and curls of metal. I decided not to worry about it until I met up with the others.

“Coming Wiley?” I asked with a bit of impatience. She gave me a look, somehow relating in one glance that I could be as impatient as I liked, she was going to do as she pleased.

I started climbing down in disgust. They couldn’t stay up there forever. We still had our basic problems to worry about, running out of food, water and bullets. We were also pretty lost. All of us should be focused on getting out of here.

As I started to climb down I saw Wiley on her way next. Lila followed her…and so did the creature.

I couldn’t hide my frustration. I could hear my breath hissing in my nose as I tried to contain myself. I wanted to yell at them—how could they do something so reckless?

Then we hit the floor and before I could speak, Coralie and Ferne ran over to it.

The creature rubbed itself on Lila, closing its eyes and curling its body against her. Lila rubbed its nose and the other girls started patting it all over. The snake purred, begging for more attention as the girls showered it with affection.

I stood watching the display, dumbfounded. When I looked at the other guys, I thought they might have a clue as to what to do next, but they looked just as confused.

The girls exclaimed to each other and were having a moment of extreme bonding with each other as well as the snake. I was too scared to get near it—it still looked pretty dangerous to me.

Wiley knelt down and looked into its eyes, rubbing its chin. I was shocked, baffled and kind of hurt…she didn’t even care what I had to say. My opinion meant nothing. I shook my head a little.

Cedroc moved over to me and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

“Welcome to the world of women, my brother.”

Wiley

I was so enchanted by our new friend that I barely noticed Derrix’s issues. He’d given the egg to Rekker, who’d sealed it away in some sort of pouch, but he’d barely exchanged a word with me. I could tell by the way he strode ahead with the other guys that he wasn’t happy, but I really couldn’t imagine why.

We had reached the deepest cavern. I didn’t know that for sure and none of us would until we got back to the comprehensive equipment. I had no doubt that there were chambers and tunnels even deeper than we had gone. For the moment, though, it looked like we had completed our mission.

“What should we call her?” Lila said brightly as we started to leave the chamber. The beautiful creature rubbed its head on Lila’s shoulder and pressed its body against her.

“How about Oby,” Ferne said, patting its tail. “Because she’s black like obsidian.”

“Ooo, I like it,” Coralie said, stroking along Oby’s back.

“For stars sake, don’t fucking name it,” Rekker muttered.

“Why not?” Lila said with some offense.

“We can’t take it with us, Lila.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, it doesn’t look like our friend here is going to give us a choice about that.” She stopped and wrapped her arms around Oby’s neck just at the base of her head and Oby closed her eyes in contentment, pressing herself against the caress.

“For fucks sake,” Cedroc muttered.

“I don’t know what your problem is!” Coralie pouted. “She’s not doing any harm. We got the stupid artifact—well, we don’t even know that, for all we know, we just collected a pretty rock, or one of Oby’s eggs. It might hatch out another one and then you’ll have two of them.”

The guys looked at each other in panic, clearly not having considered this. I shook my head, gently. Like, seriously? What do they even do with their brain cells?

“We are running out of supplies.” Rekker said firmly, restraining his temper. “Food, water, ammo. We can’t spare anything on…ah… Oby.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Lila spluttered, stroking Oby so she knew the anger wasn’t directed at her. “Does it look like Oby needs our help? She lives down here. Obviously, she has her own food source.”

“Yeah,” Kyre said softly. “The Qitzal drop unfortunate souls into the sacrificial chamber and Oby gobbles them up.”

I frowned at him, trying to think of an argument, but there really wasn’t one. I couldn’t be sure Oby didn’t eat people…I mean, I was pretty sure. She didn’t attack us, but that might not mean much. Maybe she wasn’t hungry.

Oby moved over to me, smooching her head against my shoulder like a cat. She blinked and her little ear flaps danced up and down. She blinked again, giving me a gentle head butt. I patted her forehead, smiling. I just couldn’t resist her charms.

One of the principles of working with big animals was accepting you would get hurt. The only thing you could do was minimize the risk. Oby wasn’t so different to a big ox or cart horse. We just had to be careful to pay attention to her responses.

“Now.” Rekker stood at the entrance to the room, looking up at where we had climbed down. “This is going to be a hell of a thing. We’ll have to climb up here, then find that rock formation and try to get to the lava river. We’ll need to avoid the Qitzal and get back to the upper chambers.”

Oby suddenly perked up her ears, raising her head. She blinked her big yellow eyes and trotted up to Rekker, smooching his shoulder with her head. He just managed not to jump away, taking a slow step. Oby blinked at him.

“I’d rather it didn’t touch me,” he said with a shaky edge.

Oby turned to the right and in the corner of the wall there was a slender crack. It was only just big enough to get through and we would have to turn sideways and squeeze. The guys would find it a bit difficult.

Oby disappeared inside, fitting through the small crack easily. She turned her head back out, chirruping at us. I hurried forward and slipped through, grazing my breasts and butt.

“No, Wiley!” Derrix yelled. I heard the others cursing.

“It could be leading you to its den! There might be more of them!” Kyre yelled.

“What a fucking tragedy,” I whispered to myself. The other girls quickly followed, the men exclaiming behind them.

I pulled out one of the tiny flares, striking it with my thumb. The tunnel was small and very uneven, uncut and clearly natural. Oby was standing a few steps away, bobbing her head and trilling.

I stuck my head back through the crack, glaring at the boys. “We’re moving. Stay here if you like.”

Curses broke out behind me, followed by even worse sweating as they squeezed through the crack. The boys followed as we hurried up behind Oby.

The tunnel swiftly turned into a sharp incline, taking us up a lot faster than we had gone down. After a few twists we came out near the lava river.

“Holy fuck,” Cedroc remarked. “That took less than an hour, by my reckoning. It took us days to get in there.”

I just smiled. No words needed, even though ‘I told you so’ would have felt pretty good.

Oby quickly led us to another tunnel, chirping for us to follow. It was another natural crack and I realized she had been finding her way in and out of this mountain for a long time. She probably knew every inch of it inside out. I wondered how old she was.

She acted like a juvenile from the way she responded to affection and clearly craved attention. There was no way of knowing her age though. Something else to look out for. I wondered if there were more of them in here.

We came out of the next crack somewhat higher. The air was much cooler and the rock was fading to a duller color, not affected by the ore in the volcanic stone. Oby chirruped again, leading us upwards.

Then I heard running feet and angry voices. I barely had time to turn around before I saw Qitzal bearing down on us. One of them threw a spear.

“Oby!” I cried in alarm, but she had vanished into the shadows. I supposed that I didn’t need to worry, she had lived here a long time and she had done a great job getting away from us.

The Qitzal bared down on us, knocking Coralie to the ground. Cedroc charged them but a Qitzal beat him swiftly over the head with a club and he went down. Derrix jumped in, trying to punch but a stocky little guy grabbed his bad arm and twisted it. The scream he made as he fell to his knees broke my heart. I picked myself up and ran at them, even though the men were screaming at us to get away.

Lila, Ferne, and I jumped in behind Rekker and Kyre, but there were just too many. As they slammed us to the ground and bound us tightly with strips of tough leather, they cursed at us in their strange language.

The chief, the only one who could communicate with us, stepped forward and kicked Rekker hard in the guts.

“Please,” Rekker tried to negotiate from flat on his back, “we meant no harm—”

The chief smacked him on the head with his staff.

“Silence! You went to the underground! The underground is locked against the present! To hold the evil in the past lest it poison the future. You people have no honor. You made a promise and you broke it. I knew that I should not have trusted you.”

Rekker tried to talk again but got another smack in the face for it. I could only lower my eyes in shame. We did break our promise. Clearly, this land was sacred to them and we had trespassed.

Coralie was gasping, trying not to cry. Lila, looked calm and determined, following the conversation carefully. Ferne just seemed exhausted, her head hanging against the tight hold of the ropes.

They started hauling us to our feet, pushing us along the tunnel. Rekker tried to speak again and the chief hit him hard in the back of the head with his staff. Rekker stumbled, almost losing his footing. He didn’t dare to speak after that.

The other men were practically simmering with rage. I could tell by their quick glances and twitching muscles they were just waiting for their chance to attack. The Qitzal chattered to each other in angry voices as they forced us back down towards the settlement.

It took a long while and I started to get unbearably thirsty. It showed me how much faster Oby’s route was compared to the cut paths.

Who cut them? Not the Qitzal. Their chamber looked nothing like those lower down. My mind wanted to work on the problem, but my body was too tired.

All I could focus on was the next step in front of me and hope that we made it out of here alive. I had only just found Derrix. It wouldn’t be fair to lose him so quickly.

But how often is life fair?

Derrix

As we were dragged through the corridors, all I could think about was Wiley. The Qitzal seemed so small and weak to me, I was having trouble accepting that I couldn’t get free.

I could see the other guys struggling in the exact same way, muscles bulging as they fought against the leather bonds. I knew that these Qitzal guys were decent hunters and vicious enough, it was just like a mortal insult to my soul that they could capture and restrain me.

The narrow tunnels seemed unfamiliar. Looking around, I wondered if we were coming a different direction than before, and maybe the Qitzal knew more about these tunnels than they had let on last time.

I saw Rekker make a mighty effort against his restraints and one of the guys hit him hard across the back of the head with a club. He stumbled hard but didn’t go down. They forced him to his feet, keeping us all walking.

We came in through a completely different entrance to the main chamber we had last visited. The rest of the tribe were gathered around, staring at us with steely eyes. We were obviously demons to them, their primitive ways demanding that they exterminate us.

For a second the thought came to mind that some of our customs might even be the same. If they were viewed by those outside the system, they may seem barbaric.

It didn’t mean I forgave the dusty little creeps. I was still going to slaughter them the second I got free.

They started dragging us towards a cave and when I saw them taking the women in a separate direction, I went insane. The leather bonds cut into my arms as I struggled, and my voice rang around the chamber. It was indistinguishable from my brothers as they also roared their fury.

The girls were crying but they went with the Qitzal without too much of a struggle. Lila called out ‘I’ll be okay’. One of those useless, mindless platitudes that people murmur out of instinct, when they know they can’t possibly guarantee it.

I must have blacked out for a second or two because the next thing I was aware of was being dragged across the floor. Someone must have wacked me across the head.

They dumped us down in the center of the room, eyeing us with malice. I glared back up at them, knowing that my brothers would be planning escape just like I was. Having the women taken away was more than we could bear.

I tried to get my feet under me, and I was instantly knocked back down again. At the sharp cry of one of the guards outside, several more came running to help. They had a crew about six deep at the door now.

Obviously, they realized that we were dangerous, and they weren’t taking any chances. I had to grudgingly admire them. They really did cover every possibility and I couldn’t fault their skills, no matter what I thought about their society.

Through the crowds of guards, the chief came through. His clothes were just slightly more adorned than the others, an obvious mark of his position. He scowled down at us and shook his long staff.

“Evil ones,” he hissed.

“No,” Rekker shook his head. “You’ve got it all wrong. Just let me—”

The chief motioned to a nearby guard and Rekker was hit through the stomach with a large club. His breath wheezed out, but he kept his eyes up on the chief’s not giving up.

“You have to listen to me.”

“I don’t have to do anything. We suspected you from the start. We took your words. We would have refrained from violence if you had been true. But others so very rarely are.” He glared, his eyes shining in the flickering light.

“We are true. We guard this place. Our brothers in the higher levels could not live in peace if we did not stand between them and destruction.”

“Please, listen.” Rekker tried again, keeping his voice low. “We want to take the artifact away. It’s dangerous. Very powerful. We want to take it off the planet. We want to help you!”

“How could outsiders like you know anything about what lies beneath us?” The chief took a step back and he was clearly infuriated with us. Not just angry, morally offended or scared, but frustrated. Like we were errant children.

“You are strangers from beyond the sky. The sky that we never see. You know nothing. I wish to believe in your ignorance. I cannot. I must believe the worst.”

“We are trying to help you,” Rekker said softly.

The chief shook his staff. “You are here to awaken the old days. The days of sacrifice. Those bloody times were dark enough to block the sun. No hope lived. We cannot allow them to return.”

I straightened up, trying to talk. I could see Kyre and Cedroc wanted to have a try at it as well, but the chief’s fierce gaze made us turn away again. He was frightened that we might be the worst of the worst, confused by our innocent comments and infuriated that we might be bumbling idiots, playing with things we didn’t understand.

“What killed them?” Rekker asked softly. “What killed the people in the chamber?”

The chief looked at him in surprise. He veiled it, but just barely.

“If you do not know, it is not for me to say. I must assume you are part of the great evil. I can only act in accordance with our laws.”

“What’s the fucking difference?” I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. “If we’re idiot trespassers, you kill us. If we’re evil ones, you kill us. Hurry up and get it over with.”

The chief came slowly down the line to examine me. He grabbed my hair tight, pulling my head back. He had a nasty curved blade on his belt and for a moment, I thought he might just slit my throat right there. Instead, he glared into my eyes.

“Alien,” he hissed. “You speak with such arrogance. It is difficult to believe you don’t know the answers to your own questions.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, thinking of Wiley. Feeling her skin under my hands. I could imagine her with such detail it was as if she was in the room. I wouldn’t let it end like this. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, but I knew that I wasn’t going to let her go.

“If I knew how to awaken this evil you speak of, I would have done it already.”

The chief let me go and took a few quick steps back. He looked shocked and the guards nearby gave each other frightened glances.

“To say that, I think you must truly be ignorant.” He seemed to be looking at me with something like pity. “I did not experience the days of sacrifice but hearing of them was enough to terrify me. To threaten to release it you must have no knowledge of its horrible power.”

“We are trying to take its power away.” Rekker tried again. Of course, he had no idea what the artifact even did. None of us had a clue. He was just trying one last plea to see if he could talk the guy around.

“We have dark enemies beyond the sky.” Rekker tried to sound reasonable and encouraging. “They are a threat to us and to you. We want to take the object away and use its power to defeat these enemies.”

The chief shook his head. “What happens beyond the stars is not our concern. We know that you have your own conflicts, you star men. We must attend our home. You came here. You invaded us. We gave you our hospitality. You promised you would not venture below, but you did. The only reason to lie and take advantage of our kindness is that you were planning to betray us all along.”

He moved along the line, fingering his blade. He could slice our throats in one straight swipe of his arm, if he wished.

“Do it then,” Rekker challenged. “Go ahead.”

I tensed, ready to jump. He had to have a plan.

“No.” The chief shook his head. “We must cleanse this place of your evil. A special ritual will be performed when the time is right. In hours to come, the stars will align and then, we will kill you, using your blood to cleanse the darkness from the pit.”

Rekker tried to speak again, but one of the guards smashed him across the face. The Qitzal left, shuffling along in single file.

When they reached the crack at the entrance of the cave, several Qitzal got together to move a massive stone slab into place. It set against the other rocks with a deafening thud that sounded like the locking of a great door.

We were trapped.

Wiley

Gulps tore from deep in my chest. I wouldn’t cry. No way.

The Qitzal shoved us roughly across the space, heading for the line of dwellings cut into the rock and the collection of tents. The leather bonds on our wrists were far looser than the ones they had put on the men, and it looked like our prison was not going to be made of stone.

I tried to look back at the cave where they were taking our guys. One of the Qitzal shoved me forward and I stumbled, but I caught something in his eyes that wasn’t all anger. He was looking at me closely, almost with soft eyes.

Playing the woman card was not something I had considered until now. Would these guys really be interested in us that way? They obviously considered us to be fairly weak if they hadn’t bothered to bind us as tightly as they did the guys.

We arrived at a large tent and were pushed inside. To my surprise there were cushions on the floor and some water and bread laid out. It wasn’t welcoming, not by a long shot. It was just kind of comforting to see our needs attended to.

Maybe, they intended to keep us alive. Perhaps they had a purpose in mind for us.

We pulled our bonds off without much trouble. Lila immediately peeked out of the tent flap. One of the guards gave her a warning stare, raising his weapon. She crept back inside, sheepishly.

“There are only two guards on us,” she said softly. “But there are a few over at the cave where the men are being held.”

I took some water, passing it around for the others.

“What should we do?” Ferne asked.

Lila shrugged. “We wait. There must be something we can do, we just have to be ready for it.”

“How good are their weapons?” I whispered. I was pretty sure the chief was the only one who could understand us, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

“All of them seem to have a spear or club. They carry knives on their belts. I’ve never seen these guys fight, I have no idea how they move. The guys up top can use their wings, I don’t know if these guys can.”

“Hmm,” Ferne said. “I wonder if we could just surprise them. They don’t think we are dangerous.”

“We’d need far more of a distraction.” Lila shook her head. “We could take out the two nearest to us and get to the cave, but I doubt we could move the rock before they jumped us.”

I could almost hear the wheels turning as the four of us tried to put together a plan.

When the tent flap suddenly pulled back, we all jumped a mile high. Coralie let out a little shriek. The guard pointed at her.

“You woman! You! Be prepared.”

Then he dropped the flap, moving back.

“What the fuck,” Ferne whispered.

“I guess they do speak our language then.” I was baffled. “Why didn’t they talk to us before?”

“Probably ordered not to.” Lila shrugged. “The chief is pretty full on about us being evil so maybe they weren’t allowed.”

“Well, now I’m creeped out,” Coralie announced. “What am I supposed to be getting prepared for?”

The tent flap lifted as if in answer to her question. Two Qitzal knelt at the gap, staring at us. They didn’t look hostile. They had creepy smiles on their faces though, with a weird light in their eyes.

“Pretty.” One of them said. He extended a hand, clicking at me like I was a pet. “Pretty thing. You understand me?”

I nodded, slowly. Cold fear was gripping my guts. Shit.

They both looked at each other, their smiles getting wider.

“Pretty, strong.” The one nearest to me said. He had horrible, twisted brown teeth. “You make pretty baby, strong baby. Qitzal want you.”

“Oh, fuck.” The words came out slowly, drawn on my breath. Coralie looked like she was about to be sick. Lila was on it though. Quick as a twisting minnow, she turned to the Qitzal nearest her.

“You don’t think I’m pretty?” She made sure to enunciate very slowly, batting her eyes and pouting.

He grinned at her, showing teeth even blacker than his companions. “Of course, you pretty. Much prettier than Qitzal. Pretty, strong.”

She beamed at him, preening under his attention. Then she ducked her head, looking around furtively.

“The chief!” she whispered. “He doesn’t like us. Where is he?”

“He meeting.” The Qitzal shuffled towards her, patting her hair. “All meeting. The big men die, but we want keep you. Strong baby.”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head in dismay. “No baby for me, unless I mate soon.”

Both the Qitzal looked at each other, then back at her.

“Make words, explain!” he snapped.

She patted her belly. “Soon, no baby. Must breed, soon, or too late.” She let her face fall. “Forever.”

The two Qitzal looked alarmed. They clearly didn’t fully understand but were afraid of what might happen if they didn’t.

With sudden inspiration, Coralie grabbed her stomach. She looked so sad, her face drawn, I almost believed her.

“No baby,” she wailed. “Need to mate very soon. Or no baby. Ever.”

The Qitzal didn’t know what to do. Lila shuffled towards one and touched his hand gently. She looked up into his face with shining eyes.

“You mate now? Give me baby? Then more baby, always.”

“Forever?” He grabbed her arm and shook her.

She smiled. “Yes. Mate now. Then more baby. Must quick!”

The two Qitzal stared at each other, then grabbed Coralie and Lila. One took a moment to look back at us.

“You mate soon, no worry. All warriors come. All of us give you baby!”

“Yeah, great.” I turned my head away, unable to play the game at all.

“Men really are simple creatures, in any race,” Ferne muttered.

We waited a few moments until we could hear Coralie and Lila laughing and whispering. It seemed they had convinced the Qitzal to let them take their clothes off as a ‘mating ritual’ so the two warriors stood still while the girls effectively bound them with their own pants. It was fucking hilarious.

We scuttled across the space, keeping our heads down. The tents were scattered about the place and the only guards were distracted. Everyone else was obviously at the meeting. We made it to the cave without being seen.

I leaned on the rock and it didn’t budge. I almost cried right there.

Ferne hefted it with one hand, shoving her shoulder into it. It rocked in place but didn’t move.

“Come on Wiley!” Ferne grunted. “Push!”

“I am pushing!” Breath blasted out of me. My heart hammered and sweat poured down my sides. I braced my hands against the rock and positioned my feet against the ground, shoving with everything I had.

The rock moved, just a little. Ferne copied my move and we both pushed together. The rock made a grinding noise and then started to slide.

We couldn’t move it far, but we didn’t need to. As soon as we had a tiny crack, we could hear our guys inside calling out to us. I slipped through, running to Derrix and pulling off his bonds. He grabbed me hard around the waist, bending me to him for a quick, deep kiss.

“No time!” Ferne grabbed Kyre’s hand and ran for the door. Just as we managed to slip outside, we saw Lila and Coralie running towards us, the Qitzal guards on their faces. They were screaming into the dirt and flapping around—the girls had bound them up nicely in their own clothes.

As we started to run, I saw the rest of the tribe come flying around the corner. Some were literally flying on their stubby little wings, others running flat out. They must have been alerted by the other guys screaming.

We turned and ran, just picking the nearest tunnel. We had no fucking clue where we were going. The cave openings were twice as confusing now as they were before.

I didn’t want to get trapped somewhere. They knew the caves and we didn’t. Derrix squeezed my hand and I looked up at him. He smiled, even at a time like this. He smiled, just to look into my face. That one simple joy was all it took to make him happy.

Rekker wasn’t waiting. He practically dragged Lila along as he chose an opening and bolted through it. The rest of us followed right on his heels.

The Qitzal started to shriek and cheer as they came after us, making me run even faster. Whatever they were going to do to us before, they would punish us twice as hard now.

Foreboding swept through me as we entered the tunnels again. I had had enough of these dark, twisted places. When I said I wanted to travel the universe, I had not thought of the deep bowels of volcanic caves. No matter how exciting it had seemed at first, now it was all just different shades of terror.

Derrix

We were lost in the tunnels again. No one thought about our destination, but even if we did, would it have helped us know where to go?

The tunnels all looped upon themselves and destroyed any sense of direction. All of us were very capable at mapping and moving through areas simply by plotting against the direction of the sun or stars, but that wasn’t possible down here.

I could hear the Qitzal gaining on us. I was towards the back of the group, Wiley in front of me. I tried to push the team along faster, but I knew Rekker at the front would already be going as fast as he could.

I could hear a faint whispering sound, sharp little ticks interspaced between them. When I glanced behind me, I saw several of the Qitzal were flying along the top of the pathway, wings rustling against the roof. One of them screamed at me. I turned and ran faster.

There was no breath to scream with. I couldn’t warn the others, but most likely I did not need to. We were all battle trained and I knew that they could sense doom on our heels.

The tunnels twisted again, and we tried a narrower path, getting into a smaller space to hopefully restrict their wings. I heard them landing, their feet running. We put on as much speed as we could, trying to gain ground while they were forced to stay on the path.

Pretty soon, the tunnel opened out again. I knew it was useless. We had to stand and fight.

The second I had room to spare I turned and faced the oncoming charge of Qitzal. I pulled out a blade and roared, alerting the others as well as gathering my courage for the coming fight.

They all swept their weapons expertly over their heads, some with long, thick staffs and others with blades or small bows. A lot of them favored clubs and a few had spears.

As I laid into them, trying to use the flat of my blade, they swarmed around me. I heard the grunts and cries of my brothers as they engaged.

One of the women screamed and I looked back to see Lila and Ferne standing before the other two, wielding long knives that belonged to their mates. The guys must be fighting with their guns and a quick glance told me they were, using them as clubs and defensive weapons instead of opening fire.

Coralie started to defend the flank, the girls gathered into a small group behind us. Only a few Qitzal at a time were getting past us, giving the girls plenty of time to take them out.

As I spun and twisted, knocking five Qitzal into a wall and dazing them, my eyes fell on Wiley. She was standing tall, her whole body poised. Her punches were effective, channeling the energy of her whole body.

I experienced a moment of intense pride. It was obvious from her movements she was a beginner, but she executed the basics I’d taught her confidently. She knew how to tense and brace, putting all of her force into a single punch or kick.

She would be fierce after several more months of training. The others had also begun training their mates and the girls were picking up moves. The trouble was the others had not had the same experiences that Wiley had.

My mate was tough from the bones up. Her life in the rural town had taught her early to rely on her body, strengthening it with hard labor and harsh conditions. The first thing the other girls had to learn was utilizing their core strength. Wiley had an advantage that the others didn’t have, because she had already done that.

I kept my eyes on the girls as much as I could and noticed the other guys were doing the same thing. We took turns falling back to make sure only one or two Qitzal at a time got past us to the girls.

It was very difficult to fight a battle when you are trying not to kill your enemy, but he was hell bent on killing you. As hard as I tried, fatalities were inevitable.

I twisted in the air, bringing the butt of my gun forward with terrible force. The Qitzal who caught the blow slammed into the wall, his skull crushed.

Fuck.

I was in the thick of it now, Qitzal all around me. I could see Rekker and Cedroc back to back, swearing as they put down as many as they could. Kyre was in front of the women, slashing with a short knife. He didn’t care about not killing them anymore. He was frantic to protect his mate.

I fought my way forward as the things tried to trap me in a corner. One flapped up above and brought his club down on my head. I staggered, almost falling. Then one of them lunged forward, thrusting a spear right into my guts.

Time seemed to stand still. I could barely feel the wound now, I just knew that it was bad.

My adrenaline kicked in hard. I grabbed the spear, trying to wrestle it out of the little guy’s hands. He screeched and lunged again, expertly bouncing off his back foot. Now I could feel it, the hard slashing on the sharp point piercing my skin and slowly burrowing into my guts.

I heard someone scream my name. I didn’t know who it was. Darkness was spreading at the edges of my vision, but that couldn’t stop me.

I roared, hardly recognizing the sound as my own voice. I moved forward, grabbing the spear and breaking it. I used the end to slap the Qitzal who stabbed me across the temple. He went down.

I pushed forward, still screaming. The lance stuck out of my guts, but I didn’t care. Blood was starting to trickle down my side, but I didn’t care about that, either.

The dark haze around my vision turned blood red. I swung into the line of Qitzal with my blade in one hand and my piece of bloody spear in the other.

I felt invincible, even through the pain. It spread up and down my guts, burning and aching at the same time. I ignored it.

Then bright lights shocked through my vision. I didn’t realize what happened, only that I was suddenly on the ground with Qitzal beating me to death with clubs.

This can’t be how it ends.

Suddenly, Wiley was in front of me. She snatched up my knife and my gun and twirled, catching Qitzal in the face and guts as she spun. She stayed in front of me, defending the position and not moving from my side.

The others moved closer, trying to defend me and coax the Qitzal away. It worked to a certain extent, some channeling their energy towards the main group, but it really didn’t take much heat off Wiley at all.

I grabbed my wound, sliding backwards to lean on the wall. Wiley shuffled her feet, keeping her weight balanced as she followed my movement.

Through the haze taking over my vision, I could see her clearing the ground right in front of us. She was doing an incredible job, but I could see her strength failing.

She was good. A natural fighter. But she just didn’t have the stamina to keep going. Something had to change and soon.

Wiley’s guard dropped. A Qitzal thrust at her with a staff, the blunt edge pounding her guts. She fell to her knees and they closed in.

“Wait!” I yelled, as loud as I could. “Stop! I’ll surrender.”

Wiley gasped, a sound of disbelief and fear. I tried to get up, unsuccessfully. All I managed to do was flop like a fish.

“I’ll surrender! You can do your ritual and cleanse the caves. Just let the others go.”

They stopped. The little bastards actually stopped. They came forward and grabbed me, shaking their weapons at the others. Rekker yelled out in fury, calling my name, but he must know if he attacked, they would slit my throat.

The others were pushed into a side tunnel. They called out to Wiley, but she shook her head. She breathed hard, face red and sweat making her hair cling to her temples. She leaned back, wrapping an arm around me.

“Whatever happens to you, happens to me,” she whispered.

I felt the words like stones in my heart. I wanted to protest but I was passing out. The Qitzal gathered around and I saw Wiley straighten up. She looked at them evenly, not taking her hand off my arm.

“I surrender,” she said clearly. The words, the entire situation, was filling me with horror. I did not just find my mate to lose her again!

I couldn’t focus on that. I couldn’t focus on anything. The only thing that was real was the dark, swirling vortex that came out of nowhere and swallowed me whole.

Wiley

They bound us tightly, far tighter than before. The leather straps dug into my skin and the way they yanked me around hurt my shoulders.

I could only imagine how bad it must be for Derrix. He had the unhealed shoulder injury, as well as the stab in his guts. He’d suffered several hits in the head too, not to mention dozens of other small wounds.

This time the Qitzal were not fucking around. They meant to kill us, and they weren’t going to take any chances. I didn’t try to fight them, but I couldn’t help resisting a little. Every time I did, they yanked me around or pushed me, making it hard to stay on my feet. When your arms are lashed tightly behind your back, it really screws with your balance.

I tried to look over at Derrix a few times but the Qitzal poked me with their blades and hit me. Every time this happened, Derrix moaned so loudly it broke my heart. He must be trying to get to me, even through the pain of his wounds. I decided to walk along quietly and behave myself. I couldn’t stand the thought of Derrix being in pain.

I was scared. There was a different air to our capture this time. As if we had a certain number of chances, and now they were all used up. They weren’t going to go easy on us or underestimate us again. Even though they had their rules and rituals, I didn’t think they would mind killing us on the spot if they had the opportunity.

Looking around, I could see that we were only attended by a fairly small group. They walked at least three thick around us to keep us well guarded, but compared to the army that chased us down, this was only a small percentage.

The rest must have gone after the others.

I hoped they were okay, and I was pretty mad that we surrendered but they still attacked the rest of us even after they said they wouldn’t. I knew that we had played dirty tricks on them, so it was probably all fair. I just feared for them. Thinking about them getting pinned down caused a literal ache in my chest.

I sank my head down, looking at the floor. I didn’t want to see where I was going, at least for a little while. I was sore, tired, miserable and definitely losing hope. All my bright dreams of exploring the universe and getting it together with a hot alien were smothered now by this entire cursed mountain.

I had fallen in love, which wasn’t part of the plan. It was probably the hardest thing about this. Of all the things to lose, love was the most painful.

I thought about little Oby—okay, big Oby—wondering what happened to her. I couldn’t stand the thought of such an innocent, friendly creature getting hurt. I didn’t even know if the Qitzal considered her a threat or not. I actually sobbed a little, trying to keep my tears to myself. I couldn’t bear it if she got torn apart by these primitive little bastards.

I saw her flee right at the start of the fight. She knew every single crack and pathway in this entire mountain. She had lived here her entire life. These thoughts comforted me greatly. There was an excellent chance that she was safe.

Finally, we reached the main chamber again. I was getting heartily sick of this place. The smooth, reddish rock that had windows and hollows cut into it, making the edge of the wall look like it was covered in screaming faces. The dirty little tents that stank of sweat and smoke because they were clearly never washed.

They pulled us past the cave where the men had been held to a smaller one, this one with bars on the small window and door.

They dropped Derrix on the ground, leaving his hands tied so he fell painfully on to his side. He moaned but his eyes were only half open, his face slack. His vibrant skin had gone a pale, sickly blue hue. I could hear myself murmuring, scared little sounds that made no sense.

One of the Qitzal kicked me in the back of the knee and I went down, cracking my cheek against the hard ground. I couldn’t control my momentum with my hands behind my back and hit the rock floor with my face. I didn’t even have the energy to cry out.

They started swarming around Derrix. I struggled, not getting far. I desperately tore against the leather straps, but they didn’t give an inch. After a lot of wriggling, I managed to pull myself into a kneeling position.

“Don’t touch him, what are you doing to him?” I cried out, not expecting an answer.

As they moved around him, I noticed that they weren’t hurting him. They patted him gently, examining him. One small Qitzal who looked very old came forward with a small clay jar and started smearing the dark stuff over Derrix’s wound.

They were treating him.

I watched in astonishment as they filled in the stab to his belly with salve, then covered it over with some thick paste. They examined him carefully, looking for other wounds, and then the elder one lifted a glazed bowl to Derrix’s lips.

I struggled as they forced him to sip, frantic that they were giving him poison. They ignored me as they held him gently and forced the stuff down his throat.

I stayed on my knees, breathing hard. I was at the end of my rope now. I could barely breathe, about to pass out.

The Qitzal all scurried away, taking their stuff with them, locking the cell behind them. I watched them go, struggling my way over to Derrix. I couldn’t touch him, but I leaned over as close as I could, peering into his face.

He was still breathing. His face looked calm and peaceful, rich purple hue beginning to return to his skin. I couldn’t believe it. They had been giving him medicine. A look at his wound told me that they had filled it with something then sealed it with the thick paste on top. Natural therapies, but usually very effective. Tribal peoples like this had excellent healing techniques, honed over the centuries.

I tried to breathe deeply and calm down. I managed to get into a more comfortable position, sitting with my legs stretched out in front, my arms still behind my back. Derrix was not in the ideal position for healing, lying stretched from having his arms tied like mine, but clearly, they thought he was too dangerous to leave with even a little freedom.

When there was a noise at the door, I almost jumped to my feet. My head had been lolling on my chest, exhaustion trying to pull me under while I waited for Derrix to wake up. I’d had too much happen to me in too short of a time—I just couldn’t take much more.

I saw it was a little Qitzal female with a basket. She covered the floor swiftly, setting her basket down not far away. She went behind me and I thought she was going to free me, but as she loosened my hands, she quickly drew them in front of me, binding them together with just a little slack between my wrists, then doing the same for Derrix.

She collected her basket and gave me some of the Qitzal bread and tea. She put out some extra, presumably for Derrix when he woke up.

“What’s happening?”

The old female blinked into my face, expression blank.

“Why are you looking after us? Please. You don’t understand me, do you.” I sat back, feeling depressed and confused.

The old woman pressed a bit of bread into my hands, offering me a jug of water.

“Must eat,” she said.

“Why? You just want to fucking kill us.”

She gestured at Derrix.

“Injured warrior. No good sacrifice. Killing a wounded one, bring more bad luck. Must heal him, offer good body to gods, not sick one.”

“Okay…” I was trying to wrap my head around that.

She nodded firmly. “Must cleanse evil you bring. But cannot bring more evil. Need make warrior good. Then gods take evil from us again.”

“Okay. Sure. Whatever you need.” I crunched on a bit of bread, deciding not to engage with the mad old bitch again.

I watched her leave the room with her supplies, feeling somewhat relieved. They were still going to kill us, but at least they weren’t going to do it right now.

I had some time to figure out a plan. If the others were really gone, then it was up to me to save us all.

Derrix

I thought there’d be pain, but there was nothing.

Sitting up, I looked down to see that most of my wounds had been covered with a green paste. The blood had been washed off, and the bruises were already starting to fade. The only pain that remained was the one on my shoulder, but even that was starting to go dull. Whoever had patched me up, had done a good job.

Irritably, I pulled out of the bonds around my wrists, made short work of the ones tethering Wiley.

“How are you feeling?” Sitting beside me, Wiley gave me a hesitant smile. She sounded calm, but there was an undercurrent of nervousness in her voice. I wasn’t surprised. There’s nothing quite like being captured by a tribe of religious fanatics to turn a good day into a shitty one.

“I’m feeling better,” I said. “Where did you get this paste?”

“It came from the Qitzal. They were the ones that cleaned up your wounds.”

“Why would they do such a thing?” Groaning, I tried to get to my feet but gave up on it. Even if I was already feeling better, I still felt dizzy and tired. “One minute they’re trying to kill us, the next they’re taking care of my wounds. It doesn’t make much sense.”

“They don’t want to perform a ritual sacrifice on an injured offering. Apparently that goes against their ideals.” She had enough strength left in herself to be sarcastic, and I took that as a good sign.

“Well, that’s fucked up,” I said, not exactly happy with my status as some bullshit sacrificial offering. I always thought that the Suhlik had wiped out every species without a formal military that could stand up to them, but I guess I was wrong. Instead of fighting back, some species seem to have gone into hiding. Good for them. Unfortunately for me, these Qitzal bastards seemed hell bent on putting my ass on a sacrificial altar.

“We have to do something,” Wiley said. She looked away from me and started inspecting the cell we were in, looking for some kind of weakness we could use to break out. There was none. The Qitzal might not have an advanced society, using only remnants of whatever civilization was here before, but they weren’t exactly idiots. “If we remain here, they’re going to kill you, and I don’t think we can reason with them.” She was starting to sound shrill, panic seeping into her voice. “We have to—”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Draping one arm over her shoulders, I pulled her against me. Hesitantly, she laid her head on my chest. “We’ll figure something out. I won’t let anything happen to you, Wiley, you know that.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” She looked up into my eyes, her lips a thin white line. Lines on her forehead echoed the tension in her body. If anxiety was already starting to over take her, soon enough she’d fall into a panic. I couldn’t let that happen. “I’m worried about you, Derrix.”

“I’m a big boy,” I said, doing my best to sound relaxed. Even though I wasn’t exactly excited with being a part of the Qitzal’s fucked up religious ritual, I wasn’t counting on going down without a fight. Worst case scenario, I’d drag a few of these winged bastards into the afterlife with me. “I don’t want you to worry, alright? We’ll figure something out.”

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice soft and tender.

Cradling her head with one hand, I ran my fingers through her hair. She looked so fragile and innocent, all of that covered in a delicate layer of beauty. Even though our situation was dire, I promised myself I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Even if I had to die inside these tunnels, it wouldn’t happen before she was safe.

“You know, all the things that I’ve been through, they’ve been worth it,” I whispered, still stroking her hair. “I never thought I’d say this but. . .it’s been a good road, the one I’ve been on. And all because it led me to you.”

“You really know how to say all the right things, don’t you?” she said, looking into my eyes. She was calmer now, and the tension around her lips was slowly starting to fade. Carefully, she smiled, and then reached up and touched my face with her fingertips. I returned her gaze, my heart skipped a beat, and I let that undeniable magnetism between the two of us work its magic.

Leaning in, I kissed her.

The moment our lips touched, our imprisonment stopped mattering. We were no longer in a cell, but in the comfort of our embrace. As long as we remained together, as long as our bodies ached for each other, we could simply shut the real world out.

My hands wandered down her body, going from her breasts to her hips, and I reeled her in. She came willingly, pressing herself against me, and then started pushing down my suit. She did it slowly, careful not to touch my wounds, but patience has never been my strong suit. I yanked the rest of my suit down my legs, kicking it away from me, and then got busy with Wiley’s.

She offered no resistance as I unzipped her suit, the palm of my hands caressing her naked body. Her skin seemed to grow warmer as I finally got rid of the damn thing. Leaning in to kiss the valley between her breasts, I unclasped her bra with one quick flick of my fingers, desire spreading its wings inside me once I laid eyes on her rosy nipples.

Unable to restrain myself, I brought one hand up from her knee to her inner thigh, my heart tightening as I drew close to her sweet spot. Turning my palm around, I flattened it between her legs, the drenched fabric of her thong the final barrier between our bodies. It didn’t remain a barrier for long.

Moving fast, I pushed her thong down her legs. I took a moment to let my eyes wander over her naked body, and I became so fucking hard that my thoughts became nothing but an incoherent mess. Thankfully, I didn’t need to be thinking straight. All I needed was to follow my instincts.

“You are mine, Wiley,” I growled, pushing her down onto the floor. Holding her wrists, I pinned her down as I climbed on top of her. “Now and always.”

“Yes, I am,” she whispered back, lacing her legs around my waist. She pulled me in, eager and desperate, and I grit my teeth once I felt the tip of my cock against her inner lips. Instead of thrusting right away, I held my breath and restrained my urges. I took my time as I slid a mere inch of my length inside of her, and she responded with a drawn out moan. Digging her fingernails into my shoulder blades, she urged me to thrust, but I held the line.

I teased her endlessly, easing myself in one inch at a time, and it drove her absolutely crazy. Her legs were a vice around my waist, a desperate and lustful fire burning in her eyes. Only when I was sure she couldn’t take it anymore did I move for the kill. I thrusted as hard as I could and she arched her spine so sharply I thought it would snap.

Holding her tight, I let my base instincts have free rein over what was happening. I thrusted fast and I thrusted hard, my hips pushing all of my length deep inside her. Her fingernails dug into my back hard enough to draw blood, but I barely registered any of it. I was too focused on the tightness of her inner walls, the heat of her breasts against my chest, and the sound of her maddening moans.

“Harder,” she breathed out all of a sudden, her face taken over by an expression of pure ecstasy. “Harder.”

I was more than happy to oblige.

Putting all of my strength behind my thrusts, I ravaged her like I had never done before. She became tighter and tighter with each passing second and, even though it started getting harder not to explode, I kept on going as fiercely as I could.

It was only a matter of time before I finally gave in.

Exhaling sharply through my gritted teeth, I felt Wiley’s inner walls tightening around so damn much that it became impossible to think. Her moans turned into screams, the Qitzal be damned, and soon enough her whole body had surrendered to a seizure of unbridled pleasure.

“Fuck,” I said as I thrusted one final time.

Holding my position, I spilled all of my seed inside her, electric ecstasy crackling under my skin. She looked into my eyes as we both came and, right then and there, the pleasure we were feeling became the same. We were sharing the ecstasy between us, our minds in complete sync, and there were absolutely no barriers worth mentioning.

Our love was unstoppable.

We remained in absolute silence, locked in our embrace as we tried to catch our breaths. A gentle smile spread across her lips, and she cupped my face with her hands. Reaching for me, she brushed her lips against mine.

“I love you, Derrix,” she whispered.

I’ve never been a good conversationalist, but it was almost impossible to fuck this one up.

“And I love you.

It was funny, if not hilarious—I was trapped in a cell, jailed by fanatic bastards that wanted me dead, and yet…

I was happy.

Wiley

“Good,” the Qitzal woman said, more to herself than to us. She finished applying some of that greenish salve on one of Derrix’s cuts, and then nodded to herself. Clearly, she was happy with the progress he was making. “Soon the wounds will be gone.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Derrix said, glaring at the woman. He didn’t try to hide his annoyance. “At least pretend you’re not excited with the prospect of putting a noose around my neck.”

“No noose,” the woman said, her tone betraying no emotion. She was merely stating a fact. “That is not a good way to banish the evil you have set free. Evil-banishing requires blood. Healthy blood.”

“Good to know.” Crossing his arms, Derrix leaned back against the bars on our cell. As another Qitzal woman entered what had been our home for the last couple of days, he followed her with his gaze. Barely sparing us a glance, she placed two bowls with some bland-smelling stew on the floor. We had been eating that crap for three days in a row now.

“He’s making progress,” the newcomer said, nodding as the other placed a lid on her jar of salve and wrapped it up in a clean rag.

“Yes,” the Qitzal healer said, nodding. “Soon.”

“Soon.”

“You know I’m right fucking here, don’t you?” Derrix asked them, his annoyance slowly turning into anger. The two women responded with a shrug, one that expressed a world of disinterest, and then turned on their heels to leave. The Qitzal guards standing outside the cell locked the door, and then escorted the two women out, leaving us alone once more. “What a bunch of religious lunatics.”

“Religious and murderous,” I said, already coming to terms with what was in store for us. Despite Derrix’s promises that he’d keep me safe no matter what, I didn’t see a way out of the mess we were in. Soon enough he’d be healed, and the Qitzal would go ahead with their barbaric ritual of evil-banishing. Of course, I was already expecting to be a part of that sacrifice. Despite knowing that the Qitzal had considered human females as potential breeding mates, I suspected that they were going to use me as some kind of sacrificial bonus. Why else would they be keeping me here, with Derrix?

“Are you regretting it now?” Derrix asked me, grabbing one of the bowls and propping it up on his lap. He put a spoonful of stew in his mouth, grimaced, and then put the spoon back down. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t eat it. Despite the bland taste, this stew would be our only meal for the day. “You never thought you’d end up in a place like this, did you?”

“Can’t say that meeting these bastards was a part of my plan,” I replied, managing a weak smile. Even though we were staring death in the face, Derrix’s presence made me strong enough to face the inevitable with some bravery. “But, no, I don’t regret it. I wanted to leave the farm and get into adventures, so. . .I guess I got what I wanted.”

“Tell me more about the farm you grew up on,” he said. “You seemed to have liked it there, even though you left.”

I considered his words thoughtfully. “I agree with you when before you said I was lucky enough to have a nice family and a place to call home. At the time, though, I just wanted to get out and see the galaxy. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life oiling up old agriculture bots.”

“I grew up on a farm too.” Picking up the bowl of stew, he tried a couple more spoons before pushing it away from me again. “One thing I can tell you is that you get much better food on a farm. I don’t even know what this stew is made of.”

“I don’t think I wanna know,” I said, and I found myself laughing. It was slightly weird to be laughing, considering our situation, but at least it eased the ever growing tension. “But, yeah, you’re right. I miss my mom’s cooking.”

“Did you have a big family? You mentioned cousins.”

“Average, I guess. At the house there was me, my two sisters, and my parents. But we were neighbors with a lot of relatives, so the house was always full, especially during the weekends. My mother loved to host these Sunday dinners.”

“That sounds like a good way to spend the weekend,” he said, and only then did I remember that Derrix had been robbed of such moments. The Suhlik had murdered his parents and put an end to a peaceful existence. He didn’t have much of a childhood, and his life of ‘adventure’ hadn’t been a choice at all. Knowing that, I couldn’t help but feel silly about my own desire for adventure. I had a peaceful and loving life back on Earth, and I turned my back on it.

“I wish you could see the farm,” I found myself saying, the fact that we were going to die in this place so damn present in my mind that it hurt. “We have an amazing apple orchard. I loved to sit under the shadow of the trees during the Summer; the apples would grow so fat that, sometimes, the branches would just snap.” Smiling, I looked down at my feet and hesitated before continuing. “My parents would have loved to meet you. My father would force all of his homemade wine down your throat, and my mother would do the same with her cooking. You’d have to buy new clothes if you spent more than a week there.”

“I would love to visit.” He offered me a kind smile, but the truth was evident in his eyes—we were never going to leave this place alive. I would never get to show Derrix the farm I had grown up in, and he would never get to know my parents. The Qitzal were robbing us of our future, and there was nothing we could do about it.

“It’s just not fair,” I muttered, looking down as I felt the tears sting my eyes. I had met the man of my dreams, someone I could call my true mate, but the universe had decided to conspire against us. What could we do to fight against it? Nothing, and that was the worst part about this entire ordeal. There was nothing we could do.

I had done my best to stay positive, but it was getting harder and harder to do. How could I remain positive if I knew that we were just days away from being dragged out of this cell? As soon as the Qitzal decided that Derrix was healthy enough, they were going to plunge a dagger into our hearts or whatever it was they intended to do with us.

It wasn’t fair.

“It’s okay,” Derrix whispered. He closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me, his movements tender and protective. Holding me tight, he cradled my head with one hand and kissed my forehead. Finally allowing all of my emotions to bubble up to the surface, I pressed my face against his chest and let the tears come.

I felt more than just sad.

I felt as if the ground had opened up to swallow me whole. How was I supposed to accept the fact that we only had a couple of days to live? How was I supposed to accept that my days with Derrix were numbered?

“I’ll be damned,” Derrix said all of a sudden, and then he burst out laughing. Confused, I pushed myself off of his body so that I could look at him. He was looking out, past the bars on our cramped little cell, a surprised smile mingling with the relief on his face.

Slowly, I turned around.

“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath, watching as Oby flapped its wings right outside the cell. Its yellow eyes focused on mine, and I could swear I saw glimmers of happiness and excitement in them. Happy that we had finally noticed it, Oby started flying around in circles, flapping its wings even more enthusiastically now. “How the hell did you get in here?”

“I don’t think he came alone,” Derrix said.

He pressed his index finger over his lips. Following his lead, I fell silent and strained to listen. From outside the room I could hear faint voices arguing about something, and my heart somersaulted inside my chest once I realized who those voices belonged to.

Rekker and the gang had come for us.

Derrix

Jumping up to my feet, I headed straight toward the far end of our cell. I kept my mouth shut, doing my best to hear what was happening outside the room, but it was almost impossible. The walls made it too damn hard to make out any specific words, and the incessant wing flapping of that weird little snake the women called ‘Oby’ wasn’t helping matters.

“Be ready,” I told Wiley, looking back at her over my shoulder. “If the guys are here, then we should expect a fight. There’s no way these Qitzal bastards will let us go.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Wiley stood and zipped up her suit. Nodding, she straightened her back. She seemed nervous, but there was also bravery etched on her face. Whatever was going to happen next, she’d be ready for it.

That’s my girl, I thought, proud of how she was acting.

Zipping up my own suit, I rolled my shoulders back and took a deep breath, more than ready for the doors to burst open and for chaos to erupt. If the guys were here, then there was hope. We could shoot our way out of this one. We could still have a future.

The funny thing was that I wasn’t hearing any battle sounds. No gunfire, no screams or shouts. The only constant was the steady drone of arguing voices in the distance. It didn’t make much sense, if any at all.

Suddenly, even the voices fell silent.

“Someone’s coming,” Wiley whispered, almost as if she was afraid to raise her voice.

Tensing, I heard heavy footsteps growing louder with each passing second. Wiley was right—someone was heading this way.

When the cell door was finally pushed open I held my breath and gritted my teeth.

What the fuck?

“Here comes the rescue team.” Strolling into the room with a leisurely pace, Rekker grinned, but there was tension behind the smile.

He wasn't bruised or bloodied.

If there hadn't been a fight, then what the hell happened?

“Come on you two,” he said, the false smile straining slightly. “We've got a trial to attend.”

“Whose?” Wiley asked as she grasped my hand.

“Yours.” Rekker said grimly.

Outside, the chief of our captors stood, with his warriors ranged behind him.

And facing them were more Qitzal.

“Weral!”

I shouted and the chief of the kindly Qitzal, nodded towards me, solemnly.

“What’s going on?” I asked Rekker, but he was moving away.

“You stay here, I’m afraid,” he said.

Rejoining Weral’s clan, he and the rest of the Vaznik warriors and their mates stood surrounded by Qitzal, staring down our captor and his men.

I pulled Wiley to me. “Whatever happens, you'll be fine,” I promised her. “Rekker and the others will make sure of it.”

She punched me. Just a little, but it hurt.

“Don't be an idiot. We're in this together, no matter what.”

And then the time for talking stopped.

“The off-worlders came, descended into the depths,” the chief whose name I still didn’t know announced. “They have desecrated the ancient grounds.” The crowd murmured. “The gods will insist on their death to purify their sanctuary again.”

Which sounded bad.

Unfortunately, the part of that speech that didn't have anything to do with gods or purity were true.

Which was going to make a defense hard.

We could explain that we were soldiers, that we were under orders, but I didn’t think they’d buy it.

Weral stepped up though, ready to make an argument. Something, anything, that might get us out of here. Or at least, get Wiley out.

But he didn't have to.

From the shadows fell a swirl of curving velvet blackness.

“Oby!” Wiley gasped, happily.

None of the Qitzal were as excited, though, not even our guys.

Both tribes fell to their knees, then prostrated themselves, faces to the floor.

“The gods wake!” wailed the chieftain.

Then Oby curled around our shoulders with that strange purring noise, head butting Wiley for more attention.

“I missed you too, girl,” she crooned to the snake thing, scratching behind what passed for its ears.

Both chiefs risked a look up, eyes wide with shock.

“I think the gods have forgiven us, don't you?” Wiley to them, and I grinned.

Brilliant, beautiful and brave. My mate.

* * *

“I never thought I’d be this happy to see a swamp,” Wiley said, a wide smile on her lips as she threw her head back.

Overhead, the sun shone fiercely, the heat enough to make our suits stick to our bodies in a rather uncomfortable way. Still, none of us complained. We were just happy to be out of the tunnels, the artifact—whatever that damn thing was—in our possession. All things considered, we had every reason to be happy.

“Never mind the swamp,” I said, draping one arm over Wiley’s shoulders. “I just want to get to The Calliope and have a warm shower.”

“Mind if I join?” she asked, lowering her voice just so I was the only one who could hear. She didn’t have to do it; our little group of Vaznik warriors and human females was more than a couple steps ahead of us, and in the rear there were only a handful of Qitzal warriors and their Chief. Even though we told them we didn’t require an escort, they still insisted on providing one. They were thankful we had negotiated a peace with the other tribe of fanatics, it seemed, and escorting us back to our ship was their way of thanking us. Either that or they wanted to make sure we left the planet for good.

“You’re more than welcome to join,” I whispered back at her. “In fact, I was already counting on it.” We exchanged a little teasing glance, and then focused on the path ahead. It took us a couple of hours until we finally reached the clearing where The Calliope was, and now it was my turn to smile.

It felt good to be home.

“It is time to bid farewell,” the Qitzal Chief said, a pleasant warmth in his voice. Even though he belonged to the same race of beings that wanted to turn me into some fucked up ritual offering, the kindness of his tribe put them leagues apart from the others.

“We thank you for your cooperation,” Rekker said, bowing his head in a respectful manner. Even though most of the Qitzal customs remained a mystery to us, they seemed to appreciate Rekker’s show of respect. “As promised, we’ll start preparing for our departure.”

“You are an honorable one, Captain Rekker,” the Chief said, and then he was the one bowing his head.

The warriors behind him followed his lead, placing one closed fist over their hearts and bowing their heads as well. As if on cue, all of the Vaznik and the women returned the gesture. Overhead, Oby flew in short circles, squealing happily at the proceedings. I didn’t know how intelligent that little creature was, but it sure as hell seemed to understand that this was a happy ending for everyone involved.

We stood under the glow of a setting sun, watching as the Qitzal departed. No one said a word, our silence laden with relief. After embarking on such a foolhardy mission with almost no intel at all, everyone was glad we could finally put Gravum IV behind our backs.

“Well, that does it,” Rekker finally said, punching the panel that unlocked The Calliope’s rear ramp. As the hydraulics came alive and hissed, the ramp patiently lowering, we all gathered around. “We’ll leave in the morning, so be ready.”

“What about the little one?” Wiley asked, pointing with her thumb at Oby. The winged creature was perched on her shoulder, his wide yellow eyes taking in the entire crew. It didn’t seem like it was saying goodbye. If anything, it was the opposite.

“Well, huh, I don’t know,” Rekker said, scratching his chin as he glanced at Lila. Once he realized that his own mate was enamored with the charming winged snake, he just sighed. “Alright, fair enough. Welcome to the crew, Oby.”

Pushing itself off of Wiley, Oby flew past the group and straight into The Calliope, squeaking as it went over our heads. Smiling, I followed in Wiley’s footsteps as we all marched into the ship, its reinforced walls a reminder that we were finally safe.

Five Vaznik warriors, four women, and now a pet.

We were no longer a crew.

We were a family.

Wiley

“I can’t believe it.” I threw myself face-down on top of the mattress, limbs sprawling. “A proper bed. A roof over my head. It’s crazy how I’ve missed these things.”

“You’re not the only one,” Derrix said. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, he just looked at me with a loving expression. The soft smile on his lips made my heart start beating slightly faster. “I was starting to believe that I’d never get to see these quarters again.”

“But here we are.” I swung my legs off the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. Beside me, Oby coiled itself around his elongated body, its wings serving as a protective blanket. I stroked its head gently, enjoying how weirdly smooth its scales were. “You were right not to freak out like I did.”

“It was a normal reaction to have,” he said, but he wasn’t being patronizing. If anything, he was being compassionate and understanding. You’d never expect for a gruff soldier like Derrix to be capable of such things, but that was just who he was. A man of contradictions, no doubt, but what mattered was that he was my man. “Now, remember about that shower?”

“I was just waiting for you to mention it,” I said with a laugh.

Jumping out from the bed, I took a couple of steps toward Derrix and unzipped my suit to give him a healthy view of my cleavage. Not one to hesitate, he quickly closed the distance between us and placed both hands on my hips. He leaned in, our lips on a collision course, when Oby gave a sharp squeak. We turned our heads around just in time to see Oby covering its eyes with one wing.

“I guess Oby doesn’t want to be here and find out what happens next.” Laughing, Derrix headed toward the door and opened it. The moment he did it, Oby pushed itself off the bed and spread its wings. One second later and he was gone, probably looking for some better company.

“You think it’ll tell on us?”

“Maybe,” Derrix replied, then returned to me.

Pulling me against his body, this time he didn’t let anything stop him from kissing me. Our lips connected, and I closed my eyes as a pleasant warmth spread across my body. Locked in our embrace, we fumbled our way toward the ensuite bathroom on Derrix’s quarters. We didn’t even bother with taking our suits off before we stepped under the running water.

Surrendering to him, I let his hands roam down as he peeled the suit off my body. I kicked it to the side once he was done with it, and then unclasped my bra. Eager to get things moving, he yanked the bra off my body and immediately dove in, his hungry mouth going straight for my breasts. Sucking my right nipple into his mouth, he whipped it mercilessly, drawing a string of moans out from between my lips.

“So good,” I purred, my hands in Derrix’s horns as his mouth jumped from one nipple to the other.

His hands were already pushing my thong down my legs and, once the fabric was all bunched up around my ankles, he pushed me back against the wall. I exhaled sharply as he flattened the palm of his hand between my legs, pleasure shooting up my spine in less than a fraction of a second. My eyes rolled back and my moans threatened to become screams.

“We’re just getting started,” he whispered against my ear, and then he went down on one knee in front of me. With his free hand under the back of my right knee, he forced my leg up. I offered no resistance, resting my leg over his shoulder as he started kissing my inner thigh. He took his time, his hand still massaging my wetness, and I was already going crazy when he finally replaced his fingers with his lips.

He ran the tip of his tongue over the length of my inner lips, and then wrapped his lips around my clit, sucking it into his mouth. Unable to restrain myself, I started swaying my hips, pushing my drenched pussy against his mouth.

His counter-attack was swift and merciless.

Draping one arm over my waist, he forced me to stop moving, and then placed two fingers against my entrance. Still devouring my clit, he pushed the two fingers deep inside me, curling them upward like a hook. He drove them straight to that sweet spot hidden inside me, and then pressed hard on my clit with his tongue. It was as if someone had put a hammer to my brain.

Pleasure flared up inside me, incinerating whatever rational thoughts my mind still harbored. I moaned through gritted teeth, struggling to process the ecstasy coursing through my veins, and it took all I had not to pass out. As unbelievable as it might sound, Derrix kept on getting better each time we got naked. And what he did just now. . .well, let’s just say that I was dying to see what’s next.

“You’re gonna be the end of me,” I breathed out, smiling as he finally pulled away.

Running one hand through my soaked hair, I watched him go up to his feet, my heart hammering away inside my chest. Slowly, I reached for his chest and unzipped his suit, revealing the chiseled contour of his pectorals and abs. Even if I had already seen his naked body a dozen times, I never got tired of it—every time felt like the first time.

“Is that for me?” I asked him with a purr, looking down at his crotch to see the massive shape of his cock pushing against the fabric on his suit.

Without waiting for his reply, I reached down and wrapped my fingers around it, almost too desperate to feel its powerful thickness against the palm of my hand. Looking into his eyes, I used my free hand to push the rest of the suit down his legs. His cock sprung free right away, and it felt straight into my hand.

“It’s all yours, yes,” he finally said, his warm flesh throbbing against my fingers.

Grinning like a madwoman, I started flicking my wrist as fast as I could, my fingers travelling up and down the length of his erect cock. I was about to go down on my knees, more than ready to have him inside my mouth, when he simply pushed me back against the wall. Grabbing me by the waist, he pulled me up and into him.

Gasping, I reacted on instinct and laced my legs around his waist. I threw my arms over his shoulders, and then rested my forehead against his, enjoying the closeness of his naked body. We said nothing for a long time, losing ourselves in each other’s gaze.

“I’m waiting,” I finally said, my voice breaking through the silence as a grin spread across my lips. Offering me a grin of his own, he used one hand to angle his cock down, pressing its hard tip right between my inner lips. This time he didn’t bother with being patient or teasing me. He went straight for the kill.

“So fucking tight,” he growled, pushing his entire length deep inside me.

Throwing my head back, my drenched hair cascading down my shoulders, I let out one wicked scream. Only then did Derrix start to thrust. He did it fast and hard, almost too viciously, and pleasure took over me like a tidal wave crashing against a small coastal town. It obliterated me, scattering all of my thoughts, and I absolutely loved it.

Unable to think straight, I just crushed my mouth against his, kissing him while he ravaged my body. He kept on going until we transcended the universe itself, our existence separate from such insignificant details like ‘time’ and ‘space’. The experience bordered the religious. Derrix was that good.

“Fuck,” he suddenly groaned against my lips, his cock becoming even harder than before. I felt it throb against my inner walls, and that was enough to throw all of my nerve endings into disarray. They woke up at all once, the flames of ecstasy burning them up, and I closed my eyes as I prepared myself for what was about to happen.

We exploded at the same time.

Our bodies tensed up and relaxed at the same time, our breathing synched up, and our souls blended into one. It was at that moment that I realized we had reached the pinnacle of perfection. We weren’t just a genetic match—we were true mates, our bond so strong that nothing in the universe could pull us apart from each other.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the universe,” I whispered against his lips, struggling to get the words out. My lungs were still working overtime, trying to get the air in. “I always thought that I needed some kind of adventure in my life, but…”

“But?”

“You are my adventure,” I said. “The only one I need. As long as you’re with me, I—”

“I’ll always be by your side, Wiley.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

Derrix

The rhythmic humming of the ship’s controlled air conditioning was so soothing, I didn’t want to wake up. Being so far from safety for so long had taken its toll on me. Part of my body was still coiled, ready for action at any time.

When Wiley sighed and moved against me, I knew her presence in my life had changed me forever. I was happy to go into danger myself, not caring about the consequences. Now that I had Wiley to worry about, I would never be careless about myself ever again.

Our time down on the planet surface had been harrowing, even if I hadn’t always noticed. I was constantly on alert, each day more dangerous than the last. Danger was something that I knowingly signed up for, but the retrieval of the artifact turned out to be hairier than I could have imagined.

I slipped out of bed slowly, not wanting to wake Wiley. She stirred anyway, looking up at me with big, dreamy eyes.

“Hey, soldier.” A contented smile curved her lips. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I have to check in. Basic debrief with the guys. You should stay here.”

“Is that your way of saying I’m not invited?”

I smiled back at her cheeky grin. “Kind of, yeah. You’d be bored. It’s all military stuff and I can’t see Strygan enjoying your shining presence.”

“Okay.” She yawned, rolling over. “I guess I’ll just wait here. Is there a breakfast service?”

“There might be, if you don’t mind waiting for me.” I leaned down to kiss her and she turned her lips up to mine.

“I’ll always be waiting for you,” she whispered.

We kissed and it was warm and lingering enough to make me want to snuggle back in bed with her, but I knew I couldn’t. I had places to go. I got into my uniform quickly, a bit amazed that I hadn’t worn the thing in so long, yet it felt like a second skin just like it always had.

“Wow.” Wiley let out a little whistle. “Love a man in uniform.”

“Really?” I was instantly confused. There were men in uniform everywhere around here.

“Don’t stress it. An old earth saying.”

I smiled and shook my head. I would never work out all these earth sayings and the language that sometimes tripped over itself.

I gave Wiley a last kiss and then headed off down the hall. I met Rekker at the door to the control area. Cedroc and Kyre arrived soon after.

We headed in together, and the holo-conference activated. Strygan, only slightly fuzzy from Kyre’s adjustments to the comms unit, blinked into existence.

“Gentlemen, I’m pleased to have the artifact. You’ve done an excellent job. I know a lot of the mission was not as it was expected to be, but you handled yourselves admirably and that is exactly why you were chosen to go.”

“Sir, what is it? What did we risk our lives—and our mates’ lives—for?” Rekker spoke with urgency.

The captain met our stares frankly. “I don’t know.”

Shocked silence crackled in the room, as tangible as a slap to the face.

“You don’t know what it is?” Rekker was beyond polite social niceties now, letting anger and surprise rise in his voice.

“The council are keeping all that locked up tight.” Strygan shrugged. “It’s too powerful. They don’t want to take the chance that the wrong person could find out about it. There’s also a chance that if anyone is captured and tortured, they could give away the information to our enemies.” He shook his head. “That’s just how it is.”

“I can’t say I’m happy about that,” Kyre muttered.

Strygan nodded. “That’s understandable. All I know is there are rumors, whispers, that this could end the entire war, but at a terrible price.”

His expression was grave, as if the trials we had gone through on the planet were nothing compared to what would happen to us if we knew the object’s true nature.

We looked between each other, the others appearing just as confused as I.

Except for Rekker, who stood with an air of acceptance. He was a good soldier. He didn’t get too caught up on the ‘whys’ of things. He just did as he was told.

I could tell that Kyre had itchy fingers and a million questions. He was good with technology, especially when it was outside the box with no instruction manual. He would only need to hold the object for a few minutes to start figuring it out. He might get blown up, too.

Javik joined him in his curiosity. He’d have it in his lab, poking and prodding, the instant he could.

Cedroc shrugged. He was curious, but he would understand the necessity of the orders. I got the feeling he would rather not know information that could make him a target.

I felt very uneasy. I had held the object for a few minutes before it went into my pack. We were running for our lives most of the time after that. I hadn’t had a second to examine it.

Now I wish I had just taken a closer look at it. Turned it over in my hands once or twice. I couldn’t even really remember what it looked like now. That hadn’t mattered at the time.

Did it really matter now?

A sigh seeped out between my lips as I crossed my arms. I nodded to Strygan. “Fair enough. What will the council do with it?”

“I don’t know that,” Strygan said. “Your mission is over, that’s all you need to know for now.”

He blinked out, and we all turned our mind away from the mission and into what that would mean.

Time with our mates. Time to enjoy each other—finally! No more worrying about danger or freaking out about Wiley getting into trouble.

It was just going to be us, nothing between us. That thought made me so happy, I left the room smiling like a fool.

Wiley

Later that day, we left the planet.

Derrix took me to an observation bay with an excellent view. The size of the planet stunned me, the colors that swirled across its surface. Sadness stirred as I realized I wouldn’t get to explore.

The experience of seeing it laid out before me, then slowly receding as stars and comets took its place was a pleasure that gave me tingles through all of my bones. This is what I left home for, the utter thrill of seeing the wonders of space up close and personal.

I couldn’t tear my eyes from the window, even as the pale, cloudy surface of the planet faded. The darkness of space was not black as I had first believed it to be. Clouds of light in the nebulae and glittering shards of ice and asteroids, not to mention the glorious stars, made the void an endless prism of color.

My fingertips pressed against the window and I was amazed by how cold it was. The vastness of space entranced me, more awesome than any of my wildest fantasies.

Something jostled my elbow and I looked down to see Oby. She nuzzled at my lap with her long nose, begging for me to scratch the feathery parts under her ear flaps. I grinned, rubbing her face with both hands while she blinked up at me, purring with pleasure.

“Are you okay, Wiley?” Derrix asked softly.

“Yeah.” I leaned down so Oby could put her forehead to mine, something she loved to do. Her ear flaps flickered when she was happy and she blinked, swishing her tail.

I’d never forget that adventure. Oby would always be by my side to remind me of it. I was just sad that we could never go back. There was so much there to see and we would miss out on all of it. The mission there was done, the military had no reason to return and spend resources there.

We had also caused quite bit of destruction upon the planet’s natural population… not to mention abducting one of its native creatures.

I stroked Oby’s head and she purred some more. For all I knew, there was a whole colony of Obys down there.

For all I knew, she was the very last one and she had an important job in the eco system which we had now destroyed.

Why did she appear to guard the artifact? She had taken it back to her nest as if to protect it from us. The moment we showed her affection, she seemed to forget about it.

From what I knew about animals, Oby seemed to be juvenile. Maybe she was left in charge of it while her parents went away… that was a disturbing thought on many levels. What if the parents came back to find no artifact and no Oby? What if they destroyed the Qitzal in revenge?

How big would Oby grow, if she was a baby?

Looking into her soft yellow eyes, I couldn’t imagine doing anything other than what I had done. She wanted to come with us, we hadn’t kidnapped her. An established, mature animal was very unlikely to do that, but a newly weaned baby might. Especially if it was missing its parents.

I decided to keep this information to myself for a while. There was no need stirring up everyone over things that I couldn’t be sure of. For all I knew, Oby was fully mature and her species just responded well to humans.

It turned out she ate just about anything. Whatever she’d eaten down in the caverns, she happily snacked on whatever we fed her on the ship. Sweets and hard candies were a new favorite. Her scales were glossy and dark, her feathery parts vibrant and well groomed. She was in excellent health.

“Come on, Wiley.” Derrix placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ve got something to show you. Bring the—ah—snake.”

The guys still hadn’t gotten used to having a pet. I didn’t think they had much experience with animals at all. I tried to imagine Derrix handling an ox and my imagination served me an image of Derrix and the ox balefully staring each other down, both of them refusing to react. I giggled softly.

“What’s funny?” he asked innocently.

“Oh, nothing.” I made my tone twice as innocent as I got up and followed. Oby trotted along beside me, her four legs with their slender little fingers and claws scratching on the metal floor.

“Once we debrief, I’ll be getting some time off.” Derrix turned to smile at me, looking very coy. It was an odd look for him. He seemed to be expecting a certain reaction and I couldn’t be sure I was giving it to him.

“Yeah?” I was trying to think about what time off meant for aliens.

“Not just holiday time, but a big bonus.”

I still wasn’t sure where he was going with this, so I just nodded, trotting along with Oby.

“That means that I can pretty much go anywhere I want.” Now his grin stretched out into cheeky proportions.

“Oh!” I gasped, finally getting it. “We’re going on holiday!”

“Yes, we are.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me close to him. We stopped right in the middle of the hall to kiss and Oby made little circles around us, pausing to smooch my leg. Even though the guys didn’t pay her much attention, she showed them plenty of affection.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ve got something to show you and I can’t wait any longer.”

We were practically jogging through the ship now and Oby kept up with ease. She turned her head to the side, chirruping curiously.

I shrugged at her. “Your guess is as good as mine, girl.”

We reached a room that was glowing with blue light. Lots of screens and consoles lined the edges, and in the middle was a big flat platform.

Derrix stepped up to it and hit some keys on the side. Light flashed across the circular board and 3D shapes began to rise up above the platform.

“This is a holo map,” Derrix explained. “It can show you any section of the universe. Is there anywhere special that you would like to go?”

I didn’t have anywhere specific in mind. How could I? I was just a poor human girl from a backwater town. I didn’t know anything about the destinations in the beyond.

I gripped the edge of the table and stared into the great column of light as little solid rings began to appear, showing a vast array of solar systems.

Not just planets and stars. Entire systems.

“You like it?” he whispered. He was looking into my face with the same amount of wonder and appreciation I was giving to the galaxy.

I turned to him, eyes shining. I would cry. I couldn’t help myself, overwhelmed by emotions I couldn’t name and certainly couldn’t control.

“Derrix…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. It didn’t matter. He knew what I wanted to say.

He leaned in and kissed me, and I leapt into his lap, grabbing him around the neck so I could press our bodies together. For a few moments I just let myself get lost in him.

My eyes turned back to the star map, as if mesmerized.

“Where do you think we should go? I don’t know… it’s not like I’ve had this kind of a map to use. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Well. There’s a waterfall planet.” He pointed into a certain system, highlighting a little purple dot. “There’s a mountain planet where it always snows. There are pleasure planets where everyone just parties all day.”

“Are there super cool flea markets? Like where all the junk of the universe gets recycled?”

“Yeah, but you should ask Ferne about that. It’s not as fun as it sounds.”

I grabbed him even tighter, kissing him deeply. “I can’t wait. I just can’t wait.”

“To go where? Which one?”

“All of them.” I kissed him again, melting into his arms. “Everywhere, anywhere. So long as it’s with you.”

He pulled me back from his face, gripping my shoulders. His eyes looked big and dark, deeper than they had ever been.

“I love you, Wiley.” Even though he had said it before, this time had an emphasis that was brand new. He wasn’t just seeing me as a mate, he was seeing me as a wife.

He wanted to please me simply because it made him happy, not out of duty or expectation.

I felt exactly the same way.

Derrix grinned and flicked the navigator switch. The mini universe inside the holo grid swirled as the map spun, showing me all the galaxies and star systems that were now mine to explore.

Everything I had ever wanted, with the greatest prize of all. The one I hadn’t expected or counted on.

My love.

Derrix.

“I love you too.” I whispered, falling into his kiss the way we would soon fall into the stars.

* * *

Next up? Javik, book five of the Vaznik Warriors. Click to get it now!

He's ready for his mate. Wants her. Needs her.

But will she ever want him back?

Brilliant scientist. Dedicated doctor.

But beneath that cold, blue, analytical exterior beats a hungry heart.

He's watched the other warriors meet their mates. And he can't wait to meet his own. Taste her. Claim her.

But when she arrives, she's not like anything he ever imagined. And unless he's smarter than he's ever been before, he's going to lose her.

Addie James has run out of options.

She's had to learn to protect her heart.  Keep her emotions safe, hidden.

Better not to have any at all.

But when fate throws her into the path of a giant, horned blue skinned alien, can she resist letting him in?

Click to get Javik now!

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AVA

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Do you love to read sci-fi romance about strong, independent women and the sexy alien males who love them?

Starr Huntress is a coalition of the brightest Starrs in romance banding together to explore uncharted territories.

If you like your men horny- maybe literally- and you're equal opportunity skin color- because who doesn't love a guy with blue or green skin?- then join us as we dive into swashbuckling space adventure, timeless romance, and lush alien landscapes.

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Rogue Mate

Science fiction romance is the destination of the Rogue Star…. Hop on board!

Our rescuers are a group of pirates. Or smugglers. They're not exactly answering questions, either.

More importantly, they're giant, golden skinned aliens...

And their rogue of a captain seems very interested in the little human commander.

Me.

Rogue Mate is the first in the Rogue Star science fiction alien romance series. Click now to start the adventure!

Copyright © 2020 by Ava York

All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.