Page 19 of Saved By the Alien Mercenary

Picking up a rock, I was ready for him when he fired the next shot. It blazed along the trunk of my tree with such force that I knew he’d upped the settings on his laser pistol. My rock was thrown with a sharp curve,and it struck true, clashing with the barrel of his gun. It went spinning through the air and fell intothe snow, sinking deep because it was hot and the snow melted with a hiss. De’tor growled in that deep, subharmonic way the Kertinal had. It was a very effective intimidation tactic, and even my pulse hammered louder in my ears in response.

He drew a pair of gleaming swords with a heated edge that would cauterize wounds. A very effective weapon to harm without lettinganopponent bleed out, to torture them before they died. When we met on the battlefield, I was all rage and power, and he was a fast, dancing opponent with a very dangerous, clever tail, the blade atitstip scoring several strikes when I hadno choicebutto focus on his swords instead.

There was no denying that De’tor was a fantastic warrior, one whosurelywould have been a prime fighter in the arena had he been a gladiator. But his skills had been honed in the Kertinillian army before he’d joined up with Jalima, notinthe arena, like mine. If there was one thing I’d been taught, it was endurance, and I had plenty of that. I would not go down, not when I had my pregnant mate to protect. I would save her;there was no doubt in my mind.

I punched De’tor in the face withmyfist, fury swallowing me—so close to the red wash of rage that I felt myself getting lost. The male snapped back, rolling with the blow, then struck a rock horns-first with such force that the tip of one broke clean off. He roared, but when he staggered to his feet, it was clear he was dazed. With blood dripping into his eyes, he squinted at me, hands raised defensively in front of him. He was done for, and he knew it.

The sound of a door opening with a creakmadeus both twist and look. I yanked my eyes back immediately, aware that he’d use any opening he could get. It was already too late, his bloodstained form was darting through the trees, retreating, fleeing. Part of me was satisfied to see the male run for his life;a bigger part of me knew that until he was dead, he would always be a threat. I crouched down, ready to leap after him, my body coiled tight like a spring. The worried call of my mate yanked me back from the brink,and by then,sanity told me that De’tor’s headstart was too big anyway. I would not catch him now.

I turned back to Ruby, catching her silhouette in the distance, huddled beneath a blanket. Then a ray of light broke through the clouds, pointing its bright finger right at her. Her brown hairwashaloed with gold, her cheeks pink from the cold, and even from this faraway, I could see the relief in her eyes when she saw me.

Chapter 16

Ruby

I wasn’t sure if I’d made a mistakebygoingoutsidetolook for Brace or not. He told me it was fine, but I could see how anxious he was about De’tor’s escape. That was my fault, if I hadn’t distracted my mate, De’tor wouldn’t have gotten away. Curling my hands around my belly,I wondered how I felt about this. I really didn’t like the thought that my baby’s father was an awful murderer. Was that a nature or nurture thing? Brace was proof that one could go against nature with a lot of willpower. He was doing it every day.

Shivering, I tucked the blankets more tightly around myself and fed another piece of wood to my campfire. This place was drafty and cold compared to the cabin, but I’d agreed with Brace that we couldn’t stay there after De’tor had found us. It could have been the Hoxiam’s tracking abilities, but Brace hadn’t been certain. He’d been a little disparaging of the male’s survival skills,actually, which left some kind of tracking trickery from De’tor himself. A gadget, a com-device trace. I’d turned off my com to be certain, but I had never handed out my details to De’tor, not even back on the Yengar Spacestation.

When my toes were going numb, I got up to paceincircles around the fire to get them warm. My back was still aching a little,too, and now I was without a soft bed to lie down on. It sucked, but I was going to deal. This was only temporary. All we had to dowas wait until theVarakartoomreached Rumcas. They’d sent a party to pick up Brace and me, and all would be well.

Unable to help myself, I ducked my head out of the narrow crevice that led into this small cavern. Snow was falling in gentle, huge flakes from the sky, soaring and tumbling slowly,as there was barely any wind. They looked like fat little snow fairies, or maybe marshmallows. My belly rumbled hungrily in response to that thought, but there was no food to be had right now. That’s what Brace had gone out to get, the promised breakfast.

In a repeat from earlier that morning, it felt like he was taking forever. I’d already added wood to my fire three times, and the pile we’d brought into the cave was rapidly dwindling. After we’d hiked here, Brace also had to erase our tracks in the snow,whichtook time. He had even talked of running back to the city to get better things for me, to keep me warm. What we’d ‘borrowed’ from the abandoned cabin was not going to be enough for me to last another coupleofdays. The cold was already getting to me, and I furiously wriggled my toes and fingers.

By the time night began to fall, I knew something had happened to my mate. He would never have left me alone this long. I’d had to go out to find more wood for my fire, and melted snow from the pail beside the fire was the only thing in my belly. My baby boy was asleep now, but he’d danced up a storm not that long ago,so I knew he was fine. Brace,however, there was no way he hadn’t run into trouble.

For the umpteenth time, I peered out of the cave and cursed in frustration when I saw no sign of him. I did not even know in which direction he’d gone or how to begin searching for him. With darkness beginning to fall, it would also become much colder, and thus,much more dangerous to start looking.

I debated what to do over and over, but in the end, I decided there was only one option. Pulling out my com, I hesitated over the on button for a second. If this was how De’tor had found us before, turning it on now could lead him straight back to me. I only had to think of Brace lying somewhere in the snow, bleeding to death, and my finger pressed down. I had to help him.

Once my com turned on, I scrolled to my most recently added contact and pressed to call it. I held my breath the entire time, cold air blowing into my face from the entrance to the cave. My eyes searched the dark, the snow glowing beneath the light of a moon and a million stars. Still no signof Brace, no sign of any life at all.In the distance,though,the city glowed against the night sky, some of its tallest buildings rising like gem-studded spires above the snow-covered forest. Ships also came and went, blips of light against the darkness that moved too fast to be stars.

“This is theVarakartoom. Who is calling?” an unfriendly voice said in curt tones. I didn’t know who it was, but it wasn’t the Talacan second-in-command. Licking my dry lips was instantly punished by the cold biting into the wet flesh. I swallowed, then forced myself to speak and make my case. I had to believe they’d want to help their crewmate—that they were loyal enough to hurry to his rescue—but theyweremercenaries. They just as easily might not give a damn.

“This is RubyGonzález,” I said. “I believe Brace has been captured.” Captured or dying—butcapturedwas the more hopeful of the two. I refused to believe that he was already gone. In hurried sentences, I explained the situation to the male on the other side of the connection. His accent was completely foreign to me, and if I listened closely, the words of his actual language were even stranger. But my translator did have his language.

“I protected your com against tracking,” the male said firmly. “It is not compromised. I am locating Brace’s signal now and will send it to your device.” When he went on to explain that they were on the way but still several days out, he sounded much kinder. His confident tone also made me feel at ease. If Brace’s com had a signal this male could trace, then I could go out and find him.

By the time the com connection ended, I had both direction and a plan. Biting my lip, I darted back into the cave, knuckles digging into my lower back to ease the mild ache there. I needed to wrap myself up as best as I could, gather any supplies we had, and set out as fast as possible. Brace’s signal indicated that he was back in the city, and the male on theVarakartoomhad even pinpointed his position to a building from the port authorities. We had calculated thathikingback to Avur would take me eight hours, ten if I took regular breaks. That would allow me to reach the port in the morning, as soon as the offices opened.

Tying every single blanket we had around my body left me feeling like a snowman—poofy and ungainly. My feet and hands weremostat risk from the exposure, but I’d managed to fashion a hoodfromone blanket to protect my head and face. That left me with no goodplace to stashDe’tor’s gun, which Brace had pulled from the snow that morning. I ended up simply holding it beneath the poncho-like blankets as I set out.

Within an hour of walking, I knew it was going to take me longer than ten hours. I was not making good progress through the deep snow at all, and exhaustion dogged my heels, along with that persistent,low-grade back pain. Six hours into the hike, my breathing was growing tight,andmy legs burned and ached, but I didn’t feel cold. The back pain was increasing, andaniggle at the back of my head wondered if it wasn’t some kind of contraction-type thing. I dismissed it, because this was only in my back. Surely,it was just because I was tired and walking so much. It was far too early for me to give birth. I still had at least two months to go.

The sound of low,muttering voices had me duck behind a tree. My breathing was too rapid and too loud in the dark; pressing a fist to my mouth, I tried to silence the noise. Where were they? Who were they? I cursed my useless eyes in the dark. Sure, the bright snow helped a little—it caused the light from the stars and moon to reflect back—but it wasn’t enough for me to see far. Just enough not to trip and break my fucking neck.

The sound of low voices came again, and I waited,myhead turning to figure out from which direction it came. There, from the city, which I could no longer see beneath the trees. When I focused, I realized thevoiceswere coming closer, marching with very precise steps. A military patrol. That was not a surprise. Rumcas had a very heavy military presence, being a border planet. These could be soldiers out on a simple night training mission, or they could be searching for the culpritswhoblew up their port. Not that it was my fault, but the Rummicaron would only care that I was the owner of the ship.

I waited, hunkering down, my toes going numb in my boots. Pain stabbed at my back, and now it was radiating around, making my belly feel hard and tight. “Not now!” I urged under my breath to my baby. “This is a really bad moment to decide to come.” He kicked me,as if to say he’d make up his own damn mind.

The patrol was passing on my left; I could see them now and hear their Rummicaron tongue. Two dozen, walking two by two in a line, their pace precise and unbothered by the deep snow. It was not nearly so deep on them as it was on me, of course. They were wearing snow camouflage and heavy backpacks, laser rifles slung in front of their bodies at the exact same angle for all of them. A training patrol, not an actual search party, I hoped.

I was a frozen, achy mess by the time I dared to rise again and continue my journey. The walk would heat me back up, I told myself;the walk would get the blood flowing again. Fervently, I wriggled my toes and fingers as I went, but I couldn’t feel my fingertips, freezing against the cold grip of the gun. What was I going to do when I reached the city? I had credits that were still good, a little savings left. Would they be enough to buy Brace’s freedom from the port authorities? Make some kind of reparation arrangementsforthe damage to their port?

I reached the gate and its busy roadway when dawn had streaked the skies blue and pink. A heavy purple fog lay to the east, the direction in which the road,with its hordes of hover vehicles and land vehicles,wasgoing. Guards manned the gate, armed to the teeth, which had not been the casetheprevious times I’d been here. That was courtesy of the disaster at the port.

Worse, I was pretty sure that the male pacing along the side of the road,smoking something with purple smoke, was one of De’tor’s men. He was far enough away from the road not to be noticed bythe guards, and on my side of the woods, his eyes scannedthe trees as if he werewaiting for someone. Me. I couldn’t tell what species he was, but he didn’t have the distinct back fin that the Rummicaron had, so,not a local.

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