And unlike a Sea Sand or Deep Sky man, this new warrior actually seemed to be a match for the monster who’d nearly killed me. I had no idea who had the upper hand – they moved so quickly that making sense of their actions was like trying to track lightning as it bolted into the sea. But I could at least see that the new warrior was not getting destroyed the way I had been.

  Who are these warriors?

  As their battle moved from the ground to the sky, their wings snapping and their claws flashing, a memory surfaced from the ooze of my revived brain. A memory of something we’d found in ancient Bitter Sea records. The story of a man who’d come here generations ago. A man who turned the sky to stone and whose god-like power had so terrified our people that they’d fled across the Bitter Sea.

  I rose unsteadily to my feet, my ruined tail dragging behind me. My hand rose to my chest in a weak attempt to stem the bleeding there as I kept my eyes trained on the whirling forms fighting above me. They got higher and higher...

  Until one of them – the second warrior – was thrown down to the ground so hard it shattered stone and made everything quake beneath my feet.

  No one could survive that...

  But survive, he had.

  He emerged from a deep crevasse created by the force of his fall, dust billowing in all directions. His long hair shone in bright contrast to his black wings – it was nearly as white as the moonlight that gleamed upon it. His tail had fared better than mine had, strong and whole, covered in silken russet fur. He did not have fur on the rest of his body, though.

  No... He had...

  Stars.

  Countless constellations glowed, like little blue flames, along his bare chest, arms, and back. As he launched back into the air, I realized there were more of the glowing stars webbed together on the underside of his black wings.

  As he ascended, he called out something in a language I had never heard before. I watched, bleeding and awe-struck, as the sky hardened the way it had before. It was as if every bit of the sky’s darkness had become condensed, the very air solidifying into a wall of ablik.

  The white-haired warrior reached the stone sky.

  He raised his fist.

  And smashed it.

  A sound like thunder, but louder, exploded as a crack appeared in the stone.

  And then, in a movement so quick I almost missed it, the white-haired male caught the other warrior in his brutal arms, pulling him, his wings straining, until they both disappeared into the darkness of the stone.

  I remained vigilant, waiting for them to reappear. My body may have been smashed nearly to pieces, but I still had some breath left in me to fight. To protect the ones I loved.

  But they did not return.

  The stone ebbed away, disintegrating, like the dissipation of dark clouds after a rare bout of island rain.

  A beat passed, and the sky cleared completely. The stars blinked down just as they always had, mute to what we had witnessed.

  The only thing that proved the two warriors had been here at all were the gouges in the valley and the wreck of my body.

  Silence descended. Dust settled.

  I turned my broken body homeward.

  And walked.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Abby

  I watched, shaking and terrified, as Kohka was brutalized by the other alien creature. The one who’d appeared out of the fucking sky like a hornet spewing out of a hive. Keir wailed in my arms, and I clutched him harder, praying I could keep him safe the way I couldn’t protect Kohka.

  Kohka bolted out of the clearing and out of sight, pursued by the other alien on powerful wings.

  No. No!

  I didn’t want to watch Kohka die.

  But having him out of my sight somehow felt even worse. The not knowing ate at me.

  If I hadn’t been responsible for Keir, if I’d been on my own, nothing could have kept me there in that fucking cave.

  But I did have Keir. I had to stay here and protect my child. Even if it felt like my heart was being ripped in two.

  I fell to my knees, barely feeling the bruising punch of the stone against my flesh. I hunched over Keir and sobbed.

  I couldn’t stay like that for long, though.

  Something else was happening. A whirring sound shook the air outside the cave.

  It sounded like...

  Engines.

  My stomach lurched. I scrambled to my feet, hauling myself to the back of the cave with Keir. My heart slammed, my breath catching as the sound got louder and louder. Even from back here, I could see dust and pebbles scattering as something descended.

  A cloaked ship.

  No! This could not be happening! The life signs in this cave were camouflaged. No scanner should have been able to find us!

  But find us, they had. Valeria’s shuttle shimmered into view, and she vaulted out of it, followed by Grim and Tok.

  Anxiety made me feel like I was about to lose my mind. I felt like a trapped, feral animal.

  Nowhere left to run.

  Keir cried louder, and all three heads of the ones outside swivelled towards the opening of the cave. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do, even though I knew they’d find us, I still couldn’t fight the instinct to back further into the darkness with my child.

  But the cave was small. Too fucking small. In seconds, they’d entered, Valeria with her gun drawn. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

  “Oh my God. Abby. What-”

  I tried to hide Keir against my chest – a futile gesture. She saw him anyway. And even if she hadn’t seen him, she would have heard him. Her mouth fell open, and both Tok and Grim tensed in shock.

  “Is that... A baby?”

  There was no way to hide it now. No way to lie my way out of this the way I’d been lying for months.

  I took a deep breath, forcing my voice to be steady.

  “Yes. This is my child,” I said.

  Valeria shook her head rapidly, a frown deepening between her brows.

  “I don’t understand. Just... How?”

  “I got pregnant on Earth. It’s a human baby. Are... Are there any Deep Sky men with you?”

  I craned to look behind them but saw nothing, for the moment, except Valeria’s ship.

  “None on the ship. But there are a bunch out here patrolling on their braxilk. Jesus, Abby, we’ve been looking for you and Kohka for days!”

  “Wait, what? OK. It doesn’t matter right now. You guys need to go. Kohka is out there. He’s fighting this... I don’t even know. Something came out of the sky.”

  Valeria’s face hardened.

  “A human vessel?”

  “No!” I said, wanting to claw my hair out. Every moment we stood here, Kohka could be dying. They’d already found me and my baby. There was nothing I could do about that right now. But maybe I could still save Kohka. “It definitely wasn’t human. It was an alien. A monster. I can’t even explain it. It was like the sky turned into stone and then cracked. And he came through it like it was some kind of... Of door.”

  Tok growled, spikes rippling along his huge, golden body.

  “A stone sky god,” he hissed.

  “I have no idea what that means,” I cried. “But it’s going to kill Kohka. You have to help him, please! Take the shuttle and track them down!”

  “Negative,” Valeria said sternly. “You’ve clearly recently given birth. My priority is to get you safely to the settlement. Grim and Tok can go track down Kohka and assess the danger.”

  “No! I’m not going to the settlement! I can’t!”

  I backed away from Valeria, stumbling and swearing when my back hit stone.

  “I don’t understand what the hell is happening,” Valeria said. “We received a message from the ship in the Sea Sands a few days ago. Catalina was hysterical with worry. She said you left with Kohka to come here. That you were supposed to send a message back and check in, but you never did. And now I find you out here, camped out in a cave with a goddamn newborn? Why the hell didn’t you come to the settlement where there are more resources!”

  “Valeria, please,” I whispered. “I couldn’t. My baby...” I looked down at Keir. He’d stopped crying at some point, having given up on getting fed. His perfect little face was serene. He’d already changed so much since he was born – his cheeks getting chubbier, his gaze becoming more focused. We’d even glimpsed the barest shadows of what might soon become smiles lately. He’s turning into a whole freaking person, right in front of my eyes.

  “Please,” I choked out again. “I can’t go. It’s not safe. He’s human. He’s male.”

  Valeria sucked in a sharp breath through her nostrils. She was just about as sharp as they came and had been trained to analyze risk. I could tell she’d instantly understood my fears.

  “Shit,” she muttered.

  “Yeah. You’re telling me.”

  “Alright,” she muttered, pacing back and forth in the cave as Grim and Tok stood behind her like looming sentinels. “Maybe we can hold off on telling the Gahns out here. Maybe we can-”

  “Hold off on telling the Gahns what, exactly?”

  A deep voice from outside the cave made all of us jump. My heart sank as a huge, familiar form came stalking into the cave.

  “Gahn Errok,” Valeria muttered tightly. She manoeuvred herself between Keir and me and the Deep Sky Gahn, blocking us from his view. I wanted to cry in gratitude for the simple act of protection.

  But it turned out to be useless.

  “What, precisely, were you going to hold off on telling me?” he purred. His voice was smooth as silk, but there was a deadly edge to it that hardened my spine. “Ah. Were you perhaps going to hold off on telling me that you have brought a foreign male into my territory without permission? That would be rather futile, as I’ve already heard everything.”

  My blood ran cold. The reality that my child really might not make it through this slammed down on me so hard my knees buckled.

  “Oh, shit! A little help, here!” Valeria caught me. Grim was right behind her, the two of them easing me down to the ground.

  Valeria whirled towards Gahn Errok.

  “I don’t care what you just heard. We may be in your territory, but Abby and the baby are human. They’re under my protection and the protection of our alliance.”

  “The terms of our alliance said nothing about bringing males of your kind here,” Errok spat back.

  “Errok! That’s enough!” Another voice had entered the mix, and I leaned around Valeria’s legs to see Stephanie elbowing her way into the group.

  “My Gahnala,” Errok sputtered, “I am trying to-”

  “Trying to be a big macho man and getting mad about a literal baby. Yeah. I got the gist of things.” Stephanie hurried to me, kneeling in front of me.

  “Hey,” she said softly. “We’ve been worried about you.”

  I’d always liked Stephanie. But right now, I didn’t have the patience for pleasantries.

  “Stephanie, he just called you Gahnala. Are you-”

  “His mate? Yes. Still not exactly sure how that happened myself.” She glanced down at Keir’s sleeping form, and her expression melted. “Oh my God. He’s so sweet. I can’t even handle it.” Her gaze returned to mine, growing fiercer in the shadows of the cave. “As long as you’re in Gahn Errok’s territory, I promise you that both you and your child will be safe.”

  “Zuh-Tephanie,” came a growled warning from behind her. Errok’s eyes were narrowed, his tail lashing the cave’s floor.

  “You’d better not be about to argue with me on this, Errok,” she snapped, turning her head towards her mate.

  “I am not,” he ground out. “Despite what some may say of me, I have no interest in harming a defenceless child. But it should not have happened this way. An unknown male, even one so small as him, should not have entered my territory without my knowing about it. Deceit has no place in our alliance.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was terrified. I didn’t know where my child would be safe!”

  “It’s OK. You absolutely do not need to apologize to him,” Stephanie said firmly. Errok looked like he wanted to object to that last statement. But, under the glaring gaze of his queen, he kept his mouth shut, opting instead to give a moody swish of his tail.

  “You know he will need to remain in our territory,” Gahn Errok said after a tense pause.

  “Why?” I asked. “I mean, that’s fine, if he’ll be safe. But what do you mean?”

  Valeria sighed from where she stood above us.

  “Gahn Thaleo is... I don’t even know how to describe him. He’s impossible to read. He can be unpredictable. Going into this relationship, we thought Gahn Errok would be the loose cannon, but it’s turned out to be Thaleo.”

  “I do not know what a loose cannon is, but I resent that statement,” Errok muttered.

  “Gahn Thaleo almost killed Errok right in front of me,” Stephanie said. “He manipulated this whole situation so he’d be able to kill Errok without affecting the alliance.”

  “Obviously, he failed,” Errok said, lifting his chin.

  “Obviously,” echoed Stephanie, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, it would be better if you stayed with us. The settlement is in neutral territory, and there isn’t as much protection there. You and your little guy can come to our mountain. You’ll be cared for. You’ll be safe.”

  It was everything I’d dreamed of – a healthy, safe life for my child.

  But none of it would mean anything if Kohka wasn’t in it.

  “OK. Fine. Deal. If you promise we’ll be safe, I’ll go with you. But we have to find Kohka first! We have to get that... That thing away from him!”

  “What thing?” Errok said, snatching his bow from where it had been strung across his chest. Evidently, he hadn’t heard everything we’d said, just the part about Keir being a boy at the end. When we pieced together the story of the other alien who’d come here, his sight stars buzzed and his nostrils flared.

  “Valeria!” he snarled. “Take my mate and the other new woman and her child back to my mountain. I will search out this interloper on my braxilk. Grim and Tok can search on foot. We will fling him so far out of these mountains he won’t even know how to drag himself back.”

  Errok said it with so much vehement confidence I almost believed it. Maybe between the three of them, they can actually help Kohka...

  “Hurry! But be careful,” I said shakily, getting to my feet with Stephanie’s help. “Whatever he is, he’s strong.”

  Errok’s teeth flashed in the low light. I didn’t know if it was a smile or a sneer.

  “So am I.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Kohka

  When I first saw Tok and Grim emerge from around the side of a great wall of rock, my first instinct was to hide. Not because I was afraid of my fellow warriors, but because I wanted to protect Abby and Keir. Having them not see me would make things simpler.

  But they were sharp-eyed males. They’d already spotted me.

  “Kohka!” Tok called down the sloped, rocky valley towards me. His yellow sight discs grew larger when he saw what a state I was in. He said something to Grim, and the two of them dropped to all fours, loping towards me at great speed.

  “You are badly injured,” Tok said. “If that creature from the sky could do this to a Bitter Sea male, then he is a strong enemy indeed.”

  “Yes,” I grunted. Tok shoved a shoulder under one of my arms. Grim did the same on the other side, supporting me as the three of us stood upright. “He would have killed me if the other had not arrived. They fought, then disappeared the same way they arrived.”

  “Through a wall in the sky?” Grim asked, as if he could not quite believe it.

  “Yes,” I said. “But how did you know? Were you nearby? Did you see the creature come down, from a distance, and follow him to me?”

  “No,” Tok replied. “Abby told us.”

  I froze mid-step, causing the other two to jerk into awkward stillness.

  “You found her,” I hissed, my voice strangled. I ripped my arms down from their shoulders. I am a fool. They were coming right towards me from the direction of the cave! Nearly dying had dimmed my faculties far more than usual.

  “Please, Tok,” I rasped. “Do not tell the others where we are. Pretend as if you never saw us.”

  Tok’s eyes narrowed, his yellow sight discs probing.

  “You have a strong allegiance to her and her child,” Tok said slowly.

  Grim gave a sympathetic growl.

  “You have been called by the Kell, then. You are doing as I once did, with Thaleria. Keeping your mate away from the others to protect her.”

  “Yes,” I replied, “And no. The Kell has not called me. But I feel the mate bond for her all the same. I chose Abby. She is mine. And Keir is, too. He is as much my son as if I’d put him in Abby’s belly myself.” My voice lowered, turned threatening. “If anything happens to either of them, these lands will henceforth be known as the Deep Sea instead of Sky. Because the valleys will run black with blood.”

  “I understand your feelings on this, Kohka,” Grim said. “But you know the Hakah will not accept your disappearance, just as he did not accept mine.”

  “Then tell him you found me dead, or dying,” I roared. I’d nearly lost my life tonight, anyway. It would not be stretching the truth too much.

  But Tok clearly did not agree.

  “Enough!” he snapped. “I am right claw to the Hakah. You know I will not lie to him, Kohka. To do so would be pointless anyway.”

  “Why? What do you mean?” Panic made blood pulse out of my wounds even faster.

  “Because the others already know where Abby and her child are. Even now, she is on Thaleria’s shuttle, travelling to Gahn Errok’s mountain.”

  Tok’s words were like a spear through my guts. In the midst of the battle, I had not heard the engines.

  I failed them.

  “I will get them back,” I hissed savagely. “I will not let the Deep Sky Gahn harm them.”

  “I am not accustomed to foreign warriors in my territory telling me what they will or will not let me do.”

 

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