Page 21 of Charmed By the Alien Warrior

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the other males in my tribe battling alongside me. Enosir, Yarik, Warrix, and Vrenner. Vrenner roars as he knocks one of the males down, his sword cleaving through the hairy hide in one swift swoop and killing the male.

Enosir is locked in battle with one of the Pugj, the male bigger and stronger than the young warrior, and his blade goes flying through the air with a powerful spear block. He’s vulnerable now to the claws and bone-crushing teeth of the male he faces.

But just then, Yarik finishes off the hairy beast he faced and he races over to intervene. With one decisive swing through the air, he lops off the head of the Pugj Enosir was struggling against.

The male I’ve been battling lunges at me, the clash of metal against his claws resonating through the forest. He’s relentless, pushing me back step by step. My heart races, and I curse the tangled roots that threaten to trip me.

He releases a grunt as my sword makes brief contact with his chest, leaving behind a wound that pulses with dark blood. But the wound doesn’t weaken him, instead the fight seems to only grow more intense as we grapple against each other. My sword is a hard bar against his large hands, his claws reaching forward trying to stab me.

The Pugj narrows his eyes at me and sneers, “You think you can best me, weak Laediriian vermin?” Spittle flies from his mouth, splashing on my face. “I will use your bones to pick my teeth.”

Somewhere behind me, a muffled shriek pierces through the noise of the battle, a sound that sends a jolt through my chest. For a split second it distracts the male I’m fighting. A distraction I immediately take advantage of, and with a burst of strength that I manage to muster from somewhere deep inside me, I plunge my blade into his chest and then jerk it upward.

His eyes widen as his hands grow weak against me. Bloody froth spills from his slack mouth before he sinks to his knees and drops to the ground dead.

The forest falls silent save for the ragged breaths of my tribe. Pugj bodies litter the ground, their blood pooling beneath the twisted roots of the trees. But then a cry shatters the stillness.

“Mara!”

It’s Isabella. She’s still sitting atop the eponir Vrenner left her on and she’s gesturing wildly through the trees, back the way we’ve already traveled. Back to the grasslands.

“She’s gone!” Isabella shouts.

My blood runs cold as the absence of both my mount and Mara hits me like a blow to the chest, and I realize exactly what the shriek was from before. The one that made my heart feel as if would tear itself out of my chest it was beating so hard. It was her.

When the Pugj ambushed us, I counted ten males. But there are only nine bodies on the forest floor. Which means, oneof them somehow managed to slip away unnoticed, and he took Mara.

And with that one realization, my heart clenches with a fear like I have never felt before. I try to focus on Isabella’s words as she frantically babbles, but it’s hard to understand all of them.

Isabella’s voice trembles as she recounts what happened. “That sasquatch-looking thing jumped on your horse and took her. He was going to take me, too, but Mara was fighting so hard, he could barely keep hold of her.”

She fought. Of course she would. The stubborn female I’ve come to know would have fought fang and nail. She wouldn’t give up. But it wasn’t enough.

Vrenner strides over to me, his eyes immediately dropping to my abdomen and his heavy brow ridge drawn in concern. “Sorrin, you’re wounded.”

I finally notice the pain in my side and the blood seeping from the wound.

I crash to the ground, the world blurring around me. I grunt, fighting against the darkness that threatens to engulf my senses.

The twisted trees of the forest loom over me, casting shadows over the ground. The scent of their sap and death hang heavy in the air, a bitter reminder of the battle we fought and the female I just lost.

One thought echoes inside my head.Hold on, Mara. I’ll find you.

Chapter 8

Mara

One minute I was sitting on Sorrin’s eponir trying to suppress the nausea that suddenly hit me from the smell from the bitter trees. The next minute, the entire forest erupted in a chaotic storm of fur, claws, and steel as big hairy creatures seemed to come out of nowhere to attack us.

I immediately recognized the creatures as the Laediriians’ enemies, the Pugj.

Thick, shaggy hair matted with dirt covered their hulking forms, and grotesque fangs glinted in the dappled light. They looked like the stories I’d heard of Bigfoot—if Bigfoot carried spears, lived on an alien planet, and ate its enemies.

Now, here I am. Tossed over the lap of one of these alien nightmares, his rancid-meat stench rolling over me as he rides through the forest on Sorrin’s eponir.

Kaja bucked and shrieked when the big beast first climbed on top of her, trying her best to dislodge him, but a deep growland a stab of his claws had sent her bolting. Now, her hooves fly over the tangled ground, the jarring rhythm sending shocks of pain through me with each bounce.

The Pugj’s claws are razor-sharp, pressing into my flesh like a warning and his massive arm is a hard bar holding me down. At first, I tried fighting back, hitting him with my fists and struggling to get free, but it did little good against the thick fur and rough hide of my captor. My blows were as effective as a mouse squaring off against a dinosaur—an apt analogy for this planet.

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