Page 29 of Tempted By the Alien Warrior

“What is it?” I ask, my heart leaping into my throat.

He raises an arm and points. “There.”

I follow the direction of his gaze, squinting against the rain. At first, I don’t see anything other than endless green, but then my eyes catch a glimpse of movement. Through a break in the canopy, I can just make out the shapes of figures moving below. They’re large with shaggy gray hair covering their bodies.

Pugj.

Fuck.There are five of them, and they’re not alone. With them are two rangy Laediriians that I realize are from the Tussoll tribe.

“They’re tracking us,” Vrok says. His voice is tight with tension.

My breath freezes in my lungs at his words, but I don’t have time to wait around.

We quickly scramble back to Dania. She senses the urgency, and she bolts forward as soon as we’re both in the saddle. We try to put as much distance between us and our pursuers as possible, but the rain and terrain work against us.

Everything is a blur as we climb higher along the narrow slope. Rain stings my skin like tiny needles, and water trickles down the back of my neck, slipping under the fabric of my dress and dripping down my spine.

After what seems like hours, Vrok glances over his shoulder. Whatever he sees makes him curse under his breath. Without hesitation, he urges Dania faster. She surges forward, her hooves splashing through puddles and skidding over patches of slick mud. The jungle rushes past in a gray and green blur as we ascend.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement in the trees alongside the path, and panic rises in my chest.

“They’re closing in on us!” I shout to Vrok, my voice barely audible over the pounding roar of the storm.

“Hold on!” The reins are gripped so tightly in his hands, his knuckles are pale.

And then the narrow path we’re following disappears, the ground ahead drops away abruptly, revealing a sheer cliff overlooking a churning river, swollen beyond its banks. Vrok pulls Dania to a halt just in time, and we both stare down at the rushing water below.

“There’s no way across,” I say, my voice trembling.

“We don’t need to cross,” Vrok says, dismounting quickly. “We just need to survive.”

Before I can respond, our pursuers burst through the trees behind us. Unlike the Tussoll warriors who carry swords and bows and arrows, the Pugj fighters carry nothing. They don’t need to. Their weapons are their serrated teeth and knife-like claws that look as if they were built to tear flesh and maim.

“Get down!” Vrok shouts, pulling me off Dania just as an arrow whistles past my head.

My feet hit the ground hard. Vrok’s already moving, unfastening the satchels strapped to Dania’s back and throwing them over his shoulder before slapping her hard on the flank. The eponir lets out a startled screech before she bolts back down the slope. Her hoofbeats fade quickly as she disappears into the rain-soaked jungle.

My chest tightens as I watch her go. We’re completely alone now without any way to escape. I want to scream. I want to fight. I want to curl into a ball and disappear. Every instinct in my body is lighting up in panic, screaming at me todo something. But there’s nowhere to go.

The Pugj and Tussoll fan out in a practiced sweep, blocking off any potential escape. Their movements are slow and deliberate, like a pack of lions closing in on its prey. They know we’re cornered, and they’re savoring it.

The Pugj, who look like some alien version of Bigfoot, snarl and growl low in their throats as they flex their sharp claws in anticipation. One of them locks eyes with me and smacks his lips. A long string of drool slips from his open mouth. He’s staring at me like I’m dinner.

The Tussoll warriors, meanwhile, are eerily silent. Their faces look like they’re carved from stone, and their weapons gleam in the rain. They’re here to finish what they started.

A tall, broad-shouldered warrior steps forward. “Surrender, Anuriix trash.” His words are bitten off in a clipped voice. “Give the human to us, and we might let you live.”

His gaze moves over me, and I can see the lust in his eyes.

Oh shit.My heart slams hard against my ribs, and I feel like I can’t breathe as panic begins to claw at the edges of my mind.

A thought strikes me like lightning through the storm.If we die here, no one will ever know what happened to me.

My friends will probably search for me. They most likely already are, but eventually they’ll give up and assume one of the dinosaurs got me. And Lily? What will she think? Well, that depends on whether she even survives this planet.

I glance at Vrok. He hasn’t moved. Not an inch.

He stands just a couple of inches in front of me, protecting me even now. His eyes are locked on our pursuers, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his mind as he tries to come up with a way out of this mess.

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