The sun should not wake her. After her ordeal yesterday, she needs her sleep, and a low snarl builds in my chest before I cut it off, determined to let her rest. Even more determined to prove to her what a good mate I will be.

Her breath stutters, and I pause, loathe to leave her, yet set on returning with provisions. My Ni-Kee will not be able to resist the sweets I have in mind. Gladness fills me that she shared her love of them with me. More ammunition for me to tear down her walls with.

I draw my purpose to me like armor, and gently extricate my arm. Her skin is warm, but not so warm that I fear she’s fevered, and lacks the concerning chill from last night.

Good.

I stand carefully, readjusting my traditional pants worn specially for our ritual. Armor would have been more prudent, in light of the attack, but we were foolish, and the thin trousers are all I have. Not my sword, nor my few pieces of armor. Just my scaled hide and talons.

It will have to be enough.

Better than my poor mate, who’s lips part in her sleep. The sun’s rays dance upon her small mouth, and jealousy stabs me. Never before have I been angry with the sun, but now, watching it slide across my Ni-Kee’s smooth skin, I want nothing more than to replace it, to drown it out in the shadow of my body.

I grit my teeth and stomp quietly from the tree trunk.

Truly, we were foolish to not have prepared a better exit strategy in case of an attack. Distracted by the thought of having our own females.

Females we put in danger through our oversight.

It will not happen again. My tail slaps across the ground.

The jungle swells with the sounds of creatures. Something large crashes through the underbrush, likely a troblek. The sight of a tusk a moment later confirms my suspicions, and the herbivore ambles past, unconcerned and untroubled by my presence. It’s too big to bring down for my mate and I, so I leave it be, grateful for the abundance of game.

Of course, I do not have my weapons, so taking down game will be all but impossible. I stretch my arms overhead, mentally tabulating all I can bring back my mate. Meat, yes, but it would need to be roasted. And with the separatists on our trail, we should keep moving.

I am loath to bring her to my mountain city without winning her over, though, and while a small part of me protests that I am being short-sighted, I ignore it, my cock growing hard with the thought of plunging into her soft body once I am successful.

Yes. We will take the circuitous route, so that I have time to show her how treasured she will be. How treasured she already is.

I can protect her. I am not the foremost Suevan warlord for nothing, after all.

I find the solman berries after walking several minutes, careful to keep track of the hollow tree my mate still sweetly sleeps in. Dark blue-black and tinged with red, the solman berries are a rare treat in Edrobaz, as they primarily grow in the lower altitudes.

I pop one in my mouth, and the sugary flavor explodes across my taste buds.

Excellent. This will please her greatly, I think.

I tear a zitsu leaf from a nearby tree, fashioning it into a crude pouch and stuffing it full of all the ripe berries it can fit. Pleased with my handiwork, I clasp the leaf and berries to my chest, when I hear her sound of terror.

It breaks across the noisy jungle, high-pitched and ominous.

All thought of berries leaves my mind.

My mate is in danger.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER NINE

OceanofPDF.com

NIKI

I smell it before I see it, and it’s the foul odor that shakes the last vestiges of sleep from me.

It crawls across my chest, forked tongue flicking out as it tastes the air. I gag. Its breath is horrendous. I have no idea what it is, but I lie still, barely breathing, afraid to blink, as the creature’s disgusting smell overwhelms my senses.

I need a weapon. Claws sink into my stomach, not piercing, but sharp and uncomfortable all the same.

I need clothes.

I take a shallow breath, anger and self-pity combining into a potent rage. Fucking Federation. I cannot believe they set me and my crew up to be sold off as breeders for the Suevans.

And I am not about to let this nasty smelling alien beastie take a chunk out of me before I figure out how to make them pay for it while still getting the tech Earth needs.

It takes another step across my chest. A clawed paw steps on my breast, the tongue nearly touching my chin now. Eight eyes stare up at me, and the thing butts its head against me, so cat-like that my eyebrows raise.

If it weren’t for its super gross breath, it would almost be cute.

Is it wondering what I taste like? About what I’m doing in its gargantuan hollow tree?

I don’t fucking know, but I do know that I don’t want to piss it off.

After what feels like an hour-long stare down, the thing creeps off my stomach, turning to curl up next to my arm. Okay. I sag, my head going limp against the ground.

Maybe it’s cold and wants body heat. Sure. Cold in the jungle, which is already swelteringly hot. I sit up carefully, disentangling my arm from the creature. Now that it’s not sitting in my face, it’s not so bad. Short fur covers its narrow body, too small for its overlarge head, dotted with eyes. They blink at once, and the thing lets out a soft sigh, forked tongue flicking as they all close.

Something cracks outside. It must be Draz, back from whatever he was doing.

My stomach growls, and I’m about to call out to him, asking where he’s been. I stop myself just in time.

The hand that reaches into the tree is not green.

It’s not my alien. It’s not Draz.

And when the head belonging to that hand appears, a thrill of horror shoots down my spine. A long, bony snout joins to a massive head. Iridescent blue feathers shimmer in the morning sun, and the alien creature opens its maw, emitting a strange rattle followed by an ear-piercing howl.

I scramble to stand and press myself against the back wall of the tree. The small creature with fetid breath must also sense imminent danger, because it clambers up my calf and side, finally curling up on my shoulder, where it shakes in fear.

The feathered freak of alien nature rattles and howls again, its jaws snapping. Claws rip into the opening of the tree, bark spraying all over me as it snaps and rattles.

It’s going to get in. I have no weapons. I’m going to get eviscerated in my underwear and bra on an alien planet my government sold me to as a bride.

I should know better, but maybe all the drama of the last twelve hours or so has gotten to me, because I lose my head completely and scream.

Weapon. I need a weapon. How many times have I taught new trainees that anything can be a weapon in a crunch?

The beast rattles at me again, claws pulling more bark off.

This is definitely a crunch.

One of the snails next to me pulses bright blue, and I pluck the thing off in a fit of terror or inspiration or, most likely, both. It squelches loudly, the size of my hand, and I chunk it at the feathered thing. It plops off wetly.

Awesome. I’ve only succeeded in infuriating it. The little creature on my shoulder digs its claws into me, hanging on for dear life as the bird/lizard hybrid continues to shred the opening, trying to make it big enough to fit through.

I tug another snail off the wall, this one heavier than the last. It comes free with a squelch. Blue oozes from its gelatinous foot, and I wrinkle my nose. The furry creature chitters at me, pulling my ear and pointing from the snail to the feathered fiend trying to eat us.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” I tell it. I’m not going to dwell on the fact I’m talking to an eight-eyed furred thing like it can understand me, but whatever.