Alien Storm, page 18
But it turned out I need not have gone to her at all. I heard a slight commotion in the next cave where the Sea Sand men always kept at least one guard stationed.
And then, a moment later, like a flurry of sun cutting through clouds, she burst into my line of sight, my cave, my world.
Her cheeks were flushed, her hair loose and brushing her shoulders. Her eyes were bright with some intense emotion. Passionate longing, I hoped, a throb going through me as I got quickly to my feet.
“You can stand,” she said breathlessly, chest heaving as if she’d run here. “Good. You’re strong enough now that I won’t have to feel bad about punching you.”
My brain felt slow as sludge.
She crackled with what I now realized was fury, crossing the distance in quick little steps. Contrary to what she’d told me, she did not actually try to punch me. Doing so would have been futile, anyway. I’d grown too strong in my recovery for her soft hands to have any effect on me.
Any effect besides cracking my chest right open and making my heart howl, that is.
“You didn’t tell me everything.”
Her voice was low. I sensed something in it. Some warning. Tread with careful claws, it told me.
“What are you talking about?” I muttered. I’d hoped our reunion would be marked by soft sighs and her arms around me. Not her hands curling into absurdly tiny fists at her sides.
“About Gahn Thaleo. You didn’t tell me that the storms had affected his lands so badly that his people could barely hunt for enough food.”
Oh. That?
“You did not know about this? I thought one of the main reasons your party was coming out here was to track the storm activity.”
“It’s not about the storms!” she cried. “It’s about the fact that you would have let those people starve for your own stupid pride! Just because you didn’t want to let Thaleo hunt beyond his own territory! I just got informed that the only reason you deigned to let him hunt in neutral territory and save his people was so that you weren’t cut off from access to me. No wonder he wanted to force you into the taklok and kill you.”
“Well, that is both true and not true,” I said, my fury churning to match her own. Leave it to Gahn Thaleo to once again make my mate hate me.
“In the heat of negotiations with your people,” I continued, “when I first realized that the storms had affected Gahn Thaleo so much, yes, my instinct was to tell him, and your people, that I would never let him expand his territory.”
My mate opened her gorgeous mouth and sucked in a huge breath, no doubt about to hurl fist-like words at my head. Whip-quick, my hand cupped the side of her face, my thumb pressing against her lips until her mouth closed to prevent my thumb sliding inside.
“Let me finish,” I snarled quietly, stepping close enough that her chest brushed mine on her next raging inhale. My cock thickened, but I did my best to ignore it.
“That was what I told them, yes. I told them Gahn Thaleo could go ahead and starve for all I cared because I would never let his warriors have access to neutral territory. But I will remind you that, mere days before that, my brother was nearly killed and your own friend Priya was kidnapped by Gahn Thaleo’s men precisely because they were hunting and fighting in neutral territory where they should not have been. It was the same thing for your Sea Sand man. What is his name? Barrow?”
“Varrow,” she murmured against my thumb. The crush of her lips and the drag of her teeth, skies help me, lit my cock on fire.
“Yes. Exactly. They attacked your group and would have killed Varrow if the Vrika had not been chasing my idiot brother to the ends of the Deep Sky and hadn’t just happened to be flying overhead at that moment. These are precisely the sort of things that are not supposed to happen. Gahn Thaleo knew that. He knew he had no right to use neutral territory for his own purposes and to attack others there. Yet his men did it anyway.”
“You can move your hand,” she said. My thumb grew damp when her tongue accidentally swiped it as she spoke. “I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
I did move my hand, but I found I could not let go of her. I slid it down and backwards, cupping the back of her fragile skull and burying my fingers in the soft warmth of her hair.
“So, yes, after being hot with rage at Gahn Thaleo’s brazenness, his men attacking my brother and kidnapping his mate in what should have been neutral territory, my first response was to refuse his request. But had I been given some time to actually think-”
My hard cock nudged Zuh-Tephanie’s hip and her eyes went huge.
“-my response may have been entirely different.”
With neither of us noticing, my other hand had drifted to Zuh-Tephanie’s waist.
“Thaleo could have come to me,” I said. “He could have told me of the situation affecting his people. Despite what you may think of me, I am not so vicious as to let women and children starve.”
“What about the male warriors? About the Gahn himself? Would you have let him starve?”
Why is she so cursedly concerned with that foul Gahn?
“The man put an arrow through me just a few days ago,” I said flatly. “I did not know I should reward him for such things with fresh meat and sweet moonbark from my own mountains.”
She raised a brow at me, not willing to let the question go.
“I do not know,” I replied honestly. “I never got the chance to see what I would have done because Gahn Thaleo never gave me a chance. All I got was my enemy’s arrows striking men down in neutral territory and the abduction of my brother’s mate. And then, to top all of it off, I was told I’d never get to see my own mate, I’d never get to see you, if I didn’t let Thaleo officially take the neutral territory he’d already claimed with his lawless arrows.”
Zuh-Tephanie sighed.
“So, neither of you are really victims, then. You’re both right and you’re both wrong. Why do you guys have to make everything so complicated?”
“I refuse to believe that your kind is less complicated than mine,” I said with a humourless laugh. “You are the most infuriatingly complex creature I’ve ever tried and failed to understand.”
“Alright, well, like I said before about the taklok, this definitely provides some more context,” she said slowly.
I could tell her anger had abated somewhat.
But not entirely.
“Good,” I said. “I am sick to death of spending all my time with you talking about Gahn Thaleo. Tomorrow, I will be healed enough for the flight. We will leave this place. And I will show you my mountains.”
I had hoped she would have shown some excitement, or at least interest, at the prospect of seeing my mountains.
But I should have known better by now.
“Oh, really?” She jerked her head away from my grasp, then stepped out of my reach. “Just like that? You’re feeling better and you just make the decision for both of us? Suddenly I’m back in your good graces enough to be allowed near you?” She searched my face with guarded eyes, then whispered, “What happened to, ‘Please don’t leave me’?”
I stiffened, my spine going ramrod straight. My wound ached.
Curse me, I’d hoped she had forgotten all my blubbering.
But my mate was too insufferably clever, it seemed, to forget a single thing I said. I had a feeling that this skill of hers would likely be turned against me many times over the course of my life.
“I was not myself when I said that,” I grunted.
It was true. If I had been at my full strength and not half out of my mind with the lingering grief from my nightmare, I never would have allowed myself to become so weak in front of her.
And at the same time, the words weren’t true at all.
Because it had been me – the deepest, ugliest, and most pathetic part of me – who’d asked her not to leave me. Who’d made her pity me enough to want to stay.
She rolled her lips into a thin line, regarding me coolly.
“I see,” she finally said.
“Well... Good,” I said, though I could tell that things were far from good. Unease nipped at the base of my tail, making it twitch. She no longer seemed angry. She seemed... Cold. Expressionless. Impossible to read, and she wasn’t easy to read at the best of times. Her eyes were hard in her little pale face as she spoke, the words even and measured.
“I’m very glad to see that you’re recovering well. I hope it continues.”
Why did her words make me feel like a dozen arrows had just been aimed straight at me? Like I needed to shield myself, or else nock my own angry arrow in return? At their core, the words were kind. They should have been comforting, but instead, they filled me with dread.
My claws itched, longing to reach for her. I teetered on the brink of turning back into that panicked, gibbering man I’d been four nights ago in the post-dream darkness.
I am lost, beloved.
I am lost and I wish that you would find me.
Hold me. Touch me. Train me. Tame me.
Make me into something worthy, or unmake me.
Just please...
Please don’t leave me behind.
I clamped my fangs down against each other so hard my jaw cracked.
I said nothing at all.
She turned and walked away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Stephanie
I left Errok’s cave and passed blindly through the next one, ignoring Zoren’s questioning look. I couldn’t talk to anyone – not now. I was trying too hard not to puke. My stomach had been turned upside down and I was struggling to make it go back to normal.
And it was all his fault. Him, the gorgeous, snarky, impatient, maddening Gahn. I’d told him I was glad he was recovering – and I was. I never wanted to see him that badly hurt again. But if I were being totally honest with myself, the fact that the Vrika’s blood had worked so well as to not even leave a scar behind made me feel like I had lost something. Like the night we’d shared had never even happened.
I wasn’t myself when I said that.
I swallowed hard at the memory of his words.
If that wasn’t you, then who the hell was it?
Who was the man who’d bared himself – his heart, his twisting soul – to me? Who was the man who’d let me see his fear and begged me not to run? Who was the man who made me feel like I’d maybe even begun to care, no, more than care, to –
“Oh!”
I fell hard on my ass. A strong set of hands hauled me upright.
Human hands. It was Valeria.
“You alright? I was just coming to check on you,” she said.
“Thanks. Yeah. I’m OK. Sorry for nearly knocking you over,” I said, rubbing at my sore tailbone and wincing.
“It’s all good. This guy kept me upright and broke my fall. Though I’m pretty sure he’s harder than the ground.”
Only then did I notice Grim behind her. And realize I’d made it all the way out into the tunnel.
“How’s our least favourite Deep Sky Gahn?” Valeria asked. “Although, Gahn Thaleo’s kind of on my shit list now, too. So, I guess they’re even.”
“He’s fine. Annoyingly fine, if you ask me,” I answered, crossing my arms as we began to walk back to the new guest caves we’d been assigned.
“That’s good to hear. I want to leave tomorrow, but I don’t want to leave him here alone if he’s not well enough to travel back to his territory.”
“We’re leaving? Tomorrow?” I stopped walking, staring at her. She stopped, too, as did Grim.
“Yeah. We had a long talk with Gahn Thaleo while you were gone. Made our expectations clearer for him. It was a tense conversation, to say the least, but he’s agreed to everything. Namely, he’s agreed not to cause situations that could get someone killed without at least informing us first. Anyway, I think we’d all do well with a break from each other.”
“Gahn Errok’s gonna love that,” I said rolling my eyes. “He just told me he wants to take me back to his territory tomorrow.” I almost wanted to stay here in Gahn Thaleo’s mountain just to spite him. But I agreed with Valeria. It would be good to have some space from Gahn Thaleo right now.
“Shit, probably should have expected that,” Valeria said with a sigh. “I’m sure if we refuse to go to his mountains now after visiting his enemy’s, it’s going to be an insult so deep even his ancestors will feel it. At least, that’s probably what he’ll tell us.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was dead on. That was exactly the sort of thing Gahn Errok would say.
“I leave it totally up to you,” Valeria said. “If you say no, then we don’t go with him. Ultimately, we will have to go there sometime to set up some equipment and get the lay of the land and everything. Plus, I know we’d all like to see Priya. But it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. And, no matter what Gahn Errok says, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to when we eventually do go.”
“Can you ask me again tomorrow?” I said weakly, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. I was starting to get a wicked headache.
“Of course,” she said, laying a hand on my shoulder and squeezing gently. “For now, let’s just get some rest.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Stephanie
Tomorrow came, and I was no closer to an answer about what I wanted to do. We ate a quick morning meal in the Sky Hall with Gahn Thaleo’s people. We were already all packed to go, and after saying goodbye to the people we’d met, Gahn Thaleo saw us to our ship. The only question now was, where would that ship take us? To the settlement area under the Vrika’s peak? Or to Gahn Errok’s territory?
As if my question had conjured him, I heard his voice, an echoing boom across the aguir circle.
“Kindly step away from my mate, Thaleo.”
The fact Errok had left off the title “Gahn” when addressing Thaleo was so obvious an insult that the missing word felt even louder than his spoken ones. A muscle in Gahn Thaleo’s scarred cheek twitched. If he wanted to do anything about Errok, he decided against it, instead wishing us a safe flight before moving out of the way for Errok.
My breath caught when I saw him. Fuck him for being so good-looking. I wasn’t a shallow person. I didn’t care how someone looked. But when you got smacked in the face with beauty like that, it became harder and harder not to notice.
Even though he was in enemy territory, Errok swaggered across the aquamarine stone as if he owned the place. His weapons straps, bow, and quiver had all returned to his bulky torso, cutting hard lines over his smoky violet and blue flesh. His hair looked freshly combed, a long silken tumble of blue-black down his strong back. It seemed impossible that only a few days ago I’d seen him fall on this very stone. Seen him nearly die.
His moonlit sight stars found my gaze, lasering a white-hot path right through my sunglasses and into my brain. Screw you, Errok. Get your laser beam eyes out of my head.
“Why are you getting in this vessel?” he asked, frowning, as he reached me.
“Good morning to you too,” I said, rolling my eyes.
He ignored my sarcastic greeting.
“I thought I told you that once we were in the Deep Sky, you would only ride with me.”
“And I thought I told you that you don’t get to decide anything for me!” I snapped.
“Is there a problem here?” Valeria had been getting the others settled in the ship, but she poked her head out the open shuttle door to see what was going on.
“No problem,” I assured her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Oh, there most certainly is a problem, or there very soon will be, if you think you are getting on that shuttle instead of riding back with me,” Errok snarled.
“What do you mean, riding back?” I asked. “I haven’t even decided if I’m coming to your territory yet!”
Errok’s mouth fell open in affronted rage. He cast a hateful glance at Thaleo who was still standing nearby and who’d obviously heard everything. I could practically see Errok’s thoughts steaming angrily out of his ears, like a cartoon character’s. He was likely thinking something along the lines of, why the hell will my mate accept Thaleo’s invitation into his territory but not mine?
Finally, his flashing eyes returned to me.
“This is an insult so great that-”
“That even your ancestors will feel it?” I finished for him. “Yeah, I had a feeling. But you insult people all the time, so maybe you should be used to that kind of thing.”
My eyes lowered, lingering on the place he’d been torn open. The place that had bled under my frantic hands.
Then, I turned and stepped through the shuttle’s door.
“Have a safe flight home, Gahn Errok.”
The shuttle door closed with a click of finality.
I tried not to think about what Errok was doing out there – if he was standing there, frozen in place and offended, or if he was trying to claw that door right open – and found my seat beside Fiona.
“Alright, love?” she asked, reaching over and giving my hand a squeeze after I’d strapped in.
“I am. I will be. It’s fine,” I said.
As Valeria started pushing buttons to get everything booted up for the flight, I pulled forward against my seat’s straps.
I hated that I did it, but I couldn’t help myself.
I leaned forward to look out the ship’s front viewscreen. So that I could see Errok.
I caught a glimpse of him just as he was mounting his braxilk. He leapt up with easy, impressive power. But then, he faltered. When he landed on the braxilk’s back, just for the briefest slice of a moment, he hunched forward, his hand flying to his chest.
I undid my straps and jumped up before I even realized I’d moved.
“Hold on. Stop. Can you please let me off?”
Valeria’s head snapped back to me, her dark eyes wide with surprise over the back of her pilot’s seat.
