Page 18 of Saved By the Alien Mercenary

His eyes were soft from the sex, and now that sparkle I knew so wellhadreturned. His way of smiling, of showing happiness, was back. “And I love you, mate,” he said, his voicemoregravelly than his normally already rough tones. Mate, there, he said it. The big one that assured me I hadn’t been imagining things, hoping for a bond that didn’t existinhis species. Then he confirmed it out loud,and any last worries fell away. “Hoxiam mate for life. You’re stuck with me now.”

Chapter 15

Ruby

I was not fond of snowbaths, but I had to admit that getting cleaned up did feel nice. Brace never left my side, keeping one arm around me at all times, and now he had me curled against his chest, his hand between my thighs again. It had to be instinct to do that after sex;he seemed very fond of holding my core while cuddling. I kind of liked it, it felt warm and caring, and that warmth even eased some of the soreness after that round of sex. Though a residual ache had settled low in my back, likely from lying with my legs up, not from his cock.

The flames crackled merrily and covered, I thought, the sound of my rumbling stomach. Brace had good ears,though, and I heard his huskylaugh after a particularly loud rumble. “I’ll get you food, my sweet mate, soon.” He patted my folds,and I squirmed against him when that darted pleasure through my system, the soft,languorous kind that did not need to go anywhere, but was pleasant anyway. “I have to tell you something first;it’s only fair.”

I did not like the sound of that, and when I tried to raise my head so I could see him better,he helped me scoot higher. His eyes were serious, but his hands kept gently petting me, soothing me. When I raised an eyebrow at him, he began talking,and I listened with bated breath and growing horror as he described his past: his captivity by Jalima, stolen from his homeworld when he was just thirteen years old; his time on the sands as a gladiator;and the endless hunger he had endured so he remained manageable to his handlers and could fit a certain weight class in his fights. Then he hesitated, but I knew this was the part he had been leading up to.

“I escaped just before I became an adult and would have been pitted in fights to the death.” That was good;I assumed that meant he had never been forced to kill for the entertainment of the many sickos in this quadrant. “I was so hungry,” he admitted with a pained moan. Shaking his head, he shut his eyes and began to turn away. I grabbed the lush, silky fur on his chest and held on, refusing to let him retreat. He had to get it out, I was certain that whatever he was about to say, I wouldn’t blame him. How could I blame him when he’d been treated like a tortured, wounded animal, no humanity, no sympathy?Whatever he’d done, they had gotten what they deserved.

On a pained breath,he admitted to biting the hand off his handler and eating it—alongwith the pain controller to his slave collar. Then he’d killed the male,and if he hadn’t been interrupted, he was certain he’d have eaten the rest of him too. I knew where he was going with this now, and still,I felt only sadness for what had happened to him. He’d lost his family, he’d been tortured and starved, forced to fight or endure terrible pain. So what if he took a bite out of thosewhodid it to him? But Hoxiams had a reputation for exactly this type of thing:making a sport out of eating sentient beings.

“But you haven’t tried to eat anyone since,” I said firmly. “So it’s okay. That guard deserved it, and you were starving. You did what you had todoto survive.” I patted his chest, and when he still wouldn’t look at me, I reached up and pressed my hand against his jawline. “Still love you. You can’t scare me away. I don’t think anything can. I know you’ll always protect me.”

The sliver of blue as he opened his eyes made my heart pound in my chest, and I wanted to cry when he blinked and the sparklereturned. There he was, my Brace. My sweet male thought he was a monster, but I knew better.

“I don’t think you quite understand what it means,” he said, but he sounded more relieved than worried. “If a Hoxiam gets a taste of flesh…the hunger starts,and it can only be satisfied with another bite. That’s when we become the flesheaters everyone fears.” He rolled a shoulder and began to lift me so we could sit up. He was careful to keep the blankets over me, but he did slide his hand right along my breasts as he did so. Not that worried then, if he was willing to cop a feel. The tease.

“Are you saying that these ‘flesheaters’ are starved beyond reason and snap before they turn into one? That’s awful! To blame a species for a defense mechanism they are driven to by cruel torture…” I racked my brain as he saidthis and realized that any of the “Hoxiam on the loose” warnings I’d ever seen while visiting ports had related to maleswhohad already been slaves, already been gladiators. It matched what he said, but then again, there weren’t many Hoxiam out in the quadrantwho hadn’t beenstolen from their planet in the first place. They kept completely to themselves.

Brace shuddered with a sigh, hugging me to his chest and rocking sideways,left and right. He didn’t answer,but the bleak look was back in his eyes. It was thenthatI realized what that meant for him: he’d bitten his guard, swallowed that hand, and thus the hunger had started in him. A hunger that hadn’t gone away. He was an addict, always teetering on the edge, craving another fix. Itmusthave taken immense willpower not to give into that urge, that hunger. “So strong,” I said to him, “so much willpower. How can you think I wouldn’t want you? You’re the best male I know.” And that was not a lie. He really was the best man I’d ever met in two quadrants of the galaxy. All he’d done was survive, and he’d been punished, and was still punishing himself for it ever since.

“I don’t deserve you,” Brace said, but then he smiled. It was just the slightest tilt at the corner of his mouth, but I saw it. Saw the pleased twinkle in his pretty sapphire eyes. “But I will keep you anyway,” he added. Yes, I liked that. Cocking my head,I considered what that meant for us, and could suddenly vividly picture myself back on theVarakartoom. I could maybe help Brace out in his galley there, or… I could even be a secondary pilot with a little refresher course. Once the idea was in my head, I liked it very much. Living on theVarakartoomwould be so safe—surrounded by all these badass guys—and on top of that,I’d be with Brace and other humans. Human girls I’d already met and liked very much.

“Let me put new wood on the fire, and then I will go out and catch our food. I shouldn’t be long,” Brace said, and he picked me up and carried me to the hearth in a blanket-wrapped bundle. Then he did exactly as he said, plus a few bonus kisses, before he went out the door and left me alone inside the cabin.

The silence he left behind wasn’t filled by the merry cackle of the fire. I missed him already, and I wasn’t even a tiny bit ashamed of that. For the first time in ages, I could smile whenit made me remember my mom, who always said I trusted slowly, but when I did, I trusted fully. She wasn’t wrong, and it might have been lonely along the way, but the reward was worthwhile.

It felt awkward to be alone and naked under the blankets without Brace there, so I got up and located my clothing to get dressed, warming my boots by the fire for a minute so my toes wouldn’t freeze inside the black leather. I felt better knowing that I was ready, but that just left me anxious for Brace to come back. Was he taking long, or did it just seem that way? What if something had happened to him?

When my fire began to burn low, I knew it had been too long. I had to go look for him.

***

Brace

As soon as I ducked out of the small cabin, I was up to my knees in soft, powdery snow. The skies above were still dark and gloomy from their recent snow deluge, but they were clearing again. Inhaling deeply, I drew freezing air into my body and felt something settle inside of me.

After sharing the monstrous truth about myself with my mate, I felt lighter—better—than I had in a long time. She did not condemn me for what I was;she had been…angry on my behalf. As if what had happened—what I’d denied wanting to know so long ago—was not my fault. When I looked at it rationally, I could almost see that, but that didn’t make it right.

Stroking a hand down my belly, I focused on the deep pit of hunger that was always there, always pulling on me. It,too,felt lighter, less intense, as if admitting what it was, and that it was real, had satisfied it. Or maybe it was the love, the mate bond that had been sealed between Ruby andmenow. I had something much brighter, much better to hold onto now. Hope was strange like that, I supposed. I hadn’t had any for so long that the horrible hunger and the accompanying rage it brought were all I could see and feel. Now, I saw other parts of myself, and theywere not so bad.

Being back in the deep cold of winter and walking throughthesnow was also good for me. It brought back the good memories of my childhood on Hoxiam—ofmy parents and siblings before they were killed in the raid. Ruby had not explained exactlyhowshe had lost her family, but I knew we understood each other on that front.

Casting all distracting thoughts from my head, I focused on the forest in front of me.With adeep sniff,I knew which way to go, crouching low on all fours to silently stalk into the forest in search of my prey. Another of those Saigrat-like creatures would do very well;it was big enough to satisfy me, and I could give the choicest pieces to my mate. Hoxiam were not picky eaters when it came down to it, though I had worked hard to refine my palate in the kitchen.

I heard him before I smelled him, downwind,which was exactly what I’d been doing to the herd of not-Saigrat I was stalking. The sound of the snow shifting beneath his feet gave him away. Twisting to the side, I pretended not to have noticed him, but I changed the angle of my path just enough that I would be able to search for him in my peripheral vision. There he was, the light blue of his fur blending against the deep snow and the leafless shrubs and trees. He wasn’t alone—the Hoxiam from before—but the male hunkering low next to him was an even better hunter. Wrapped in a white cloak and sturdy winter gear, he was nearly invisible except for the pair of black horns spiraling upward from his forehead. De’tor. I knew it even when I could not catch his scent.

They were focused on me, that was good.I would not be able to stay this cool if they had been threatening my mate. Bending down, I began to lay my trap, pretending to be fully submerged in whatever was in front of me. The ultimate distraction. The Hoxiam would not use a gun;that would make him too dangerous to his handler. De’tor was too much of a bastard not to want to see me suffer for touching what was his. He would not shoot either, not to kill.

No, he sent in his ultimate weapon:a male like me. Only this one was a flesheater, onewhohad fed regularly. That was the other side of the coin:to eat the flesh not of mindless beasts but of our enemies. It made us stronger than ever. This male was almost pudgy, which meant he had had a steady diet of whatever creature he preferred. When he leaped at me with deadly silence, I was ready for him.

The nape of my neck was thejuiciesttarget, bite down on it, and it was all over in seconds. It was instinct to go for it;that’s how I hunted the not-Saigrat out here. When I twisted at the last moment, he was exactly where I expected him to be, coming down on top of me with his maw wide open. My claws caught him in his vulnerable belly, rending and tearing before he could alter his course. Hot blood sprayed all over me, steaming in the air before freezing instantly where it struck the snow.

I landed hard on my back, the other male on top of me, a heavy, suffocating weight. He wasn’t moving, and I shoved him away fast, leaping to my feet andduckingbehind the thick trunk of a treejust as De’tor fired a shot. It went wide;he had not expected me to move as fast as I had, and I heard him swear. Ducking low, I called out to him with a taunt, but he was not a male easily provoked. That was what made him dangerous, cruel but clever, and not afraid to get into the thick of things. It was no wonder he’d become Jalima’s right-hand man, rising quickly through the crimelord’s ranks.

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