CHAPTER 15
CADEN
Darkness snuck up on Caden. Night seemed to fall quickly on Zata. He had barely noticed the sun lowering and the light changing to a gentle green, filtered through the leaves when the sunlight began to disappear and the forest was plunged into darkness.
If navigating down the slope of the forest floor had been hard before, picking his way safely through the brush proved nearly impossible now. Caden had acquired another scrape across his thigh and his feet were blistered and cut up. The traditional Zatan sandals that had been given to him before the celebration didn’t provide much coverage against the underbrush.
Still, he didn’t give up. It simply wasn’t an option. If he ever felt overwhelmed or dizzy with exhaustion or thirst, he took a break and imagined Xade’s strong embrace. How good it would feel to be with him again… Seeing Xade again was worth anything. Much, much more than some scrapes and blisters.
But he had to admit – the forest was beginning to scare him even more than it had in the daytime. No creatures had crossed his path in the daytime but now he was beginning to hear rustling from every direction.
His imagination filled in the blanks. Each rustle or crack in the distance was some kind of giant predator of unknown terror. Once, he swore he heard some huge beast panting and lumbering through the forest, but thankfully he only heard it and was saved from an encounter with the unknown creature.
A large branch snapped overhead and Caden froze.
What was that?
A protective hand instinctively went to his belly. Slowly, Caden looked up. At first, all he could see was a mess of tangled shadows far above him in the treetop. Then, as his eyesight adjusted to the darkness, he saw something that stood out from the branches and leaves.
Something large. Something alive. Something looking straight down at him.
Caden’s body felt as if he was ever so slowly turning to stone. First, his feet felt too heavy to move and little by little, the feeling continued to spread up his body until his chest turned tight and cold and he could barely breathe.
The something – whatever it was – shifted on the branch it was perched on some ten feet up the tree. Its round eyes momentarily reflected the gathering moonlight and Caden fought the urge to flinch. Its gaze was focused straight in his direction. Straight on him.
Caden had absolutely no idea what to expect. The humans who had won the contest to come to Zata had been taught the bare minimum about what might await them on Zata, and not a single word had been mentioned about gigantic tree-dwelling creatures in the Zatan forests.
Honestly, Caden had never expected to leave the human accommodations except to go to the celebration. He hadn’t expected any of this.
The creature above him could be something cute and cuddly or it could be deadly. It could eat plants or be known to feast on Zatan flesh – Caden truly had no way of knowing, but he had a sinking feeling he was about to find out. And by the way his skin crawled in the creature’s presence, he could almost guess which one it was.
Time stood still as he stared at the creature and the creature stared back at him. His heart thumped a loud beat in his chest and he was nearly afraid to even breathe.
After what seemed like several minutes of standing still, he started to wonder if the creature might not be dangerous after all. Or maybe he was just imagining the being above him. After all, if the thing was going to eat him, wouldn’t it have already done so?
Maybe his exhaustion was just starting to get to him. Maybe he was hallucinating and those glinting pale eyes were just moonlight between the leaves.
As scary as that was, at least it would mean there was nothing in the tree above him. Nothing to be worried about.
His heart thundering in his chest, Caden took a deep breath and put one cautious foot forward, as slowly as he could manage, never taking his eyes off of the dark mass on the branch above him.
Snap.
A dry, fallen branch broke beneath his foot with a loud crack. Caden was about to swear and keep moving when everything happened so quickly.
The creature, entirely real and out of a nightmare, swooped down and clawed at him. Caden shrieked, thrashing and fighting whatever it was but was unable to free himself from the grasp of its needle-like talons.
“Help!” he called, his voice cracking with terror. “Help!”
He raised his arms and covered his face as the creature began to peck at him. Except it didn’t have a beak, like he would have expected on an Earth bird. It had a hard snout and what felt like curved, serrated teeth. The backs of his hands began to sting as the creature attacked.
“Get off!” Caden bellowed, continuing to writhe and wriggle in its grasp. He managed to break free for a moment and stumbled a few feet forward, looking behind.
Did it have four wings?
No, he couldn’t be seeing this correctly. Caden blinked, but still, it stood there with its wings outstretched.
The bird-like creature looked like something out of mythology mixed with his worst nightmare. Dark as the night, it was twice as large as Caden – four times, if you counted its massive wingspan.
It stared down at Caden again, and as Caden stared back, he knew its image would be forever etched into his brain. As long as he lived, he would never forget those sharp teeth, those silver eyes, those four leathery wings spread out, those needle-sharp talons reaching toward him…
That was, if he even made it out of here alive.
Caden turned on his heel, quickly jumping behind a nearby tree in an attempt to get away. Behind him, he could hear the shuffling of large wings as the creature rushed after him.
But Caden wasn’t looking back. He tried to keep running but tripped on a large stone and soon felt claws at his neck. He crumpled to the ground, rolling into a ball with only his back exposed. Someone had taught him this as a survival position in case of a bear attack. Had it been his grandmother? A college boyfriend? Or maybe he had seen it in a movie?
His thoughts raced as he tried to distract himself from the intense, white-hot pain at his back. The thing was making horrible hissing noises now. It seemed to be enjoying its perverse hunt.
It knows it has its prey trapped now. It knows it can kill me.
The frantic clawing at his back grew more insistent. He couldn’t tell if it was due to the creature’s talons or its fangs, but he felt as the creature broke his skin and drew blood. The pain was so strong he cried out into the dirt and leaves beneath him, first a string of expletives and then just sobs as the pain only grew.
What could he do now? There was no getting out of this.
I’m going to die here. Why did I ever come to this cursed planet? Why did I think I would find any happiness here? I’m going to die. I’m never going to make it out of these woods.
Flashes of color sparkled across his vision and he felt like he might pass out.
I’m going to die.
A loud pop rang through the air, followed by a heavy thud as if something large had fallen on the forest floor. Caden flinched at the sudden noise, afraid something even worse was coming. But then…
The clawing stopped. His back still burned with pain, but the creature had stopped attacking him. In fact, he couldn’t feel or hear the creature at all.
The last time he had thought it was gone had ended up with him being attacked, so he stayed completely still and curled up in the leaves. He trembled with pain, shivering in and out of consciousness.
What was that?
It almost felt like the gentle touch of a hand on his back, but that would be impossible. Was he having tactile hallucinations now?
“Caden!”
Apparently, he was experiencing audio hallucinations too. It almost sounded like someone was calling his name. The voice was so soothing and calming he was about to drift off completely when strong hands gripped his shoulders and shook him, insistently.
“Caden, can you hear me?”
Xade.
Caden’s eyes fluttered wide open at the sight of the prince.
Xade had come for him. He hadn’t been forgotten or abandoned in this alien forest, not at all. Caden’s heart grew warm and he felt life return to him. He lifted his head and pushed himself into a seated position, wincing as the wounds on his back burned in pain.
Xade was kneeling before him with a large, comforting hand on each of his shoulders. The Zatan man’s expression was knotted in worry.
“You are conscious,” he said. “Tell me, how do you feel?”
Caden still felt exhausted and dizzy, not to mention the pain of the wounds on his back, but he didn’t feel at the edge of passing out any longer. Simply knowing Xade was here had reinvigorated him.
Everything was going to be okay.
“I’m okay,” he said, trying to sound better than he felt. “How did you find me?”
“A scrap of your clothing was found at the edge of the forest. I’ve been searching for you since I found out.”
Caden tried to move toward Xade but cringed at the pain that wracked his back.
“Am I bleeding?”
Xade helped him stand and supported him while he turned around. He winced as he felt the prince pull aside his robe to bear his back.
“You have three cuts that broke through your skin and many scrapes,” Xade said, his voice tight. It seemed difficult for him to see Caden wounded this way. “The cuts don’t seem too deep though. You are bleeding, but not heavily. Hold on…”
Xade turned away from him, digging for something on the ground. Caden swayed on his knees for a moment, trying to find his balance.
When Xade turned back to Caden, he was holding an oddly shaped yellow mushroom in his hand, offering it to Caden. “Here. Eat this.”
Caden looked at the mushroom suspiciously. “Eat…? A random mushroom from the forest?” Somehow he didn’t think that was a good idea.
Xade smiled, as if guessing his thoughts. “It isn’t a random mushroom. It will help the pain. Help you heal. Eat it.”
Caden hesitantly took the mushroom from Xade’s hand. It didn’t look entirely too appealing, but the pain in his back was pretty intense, and so he took a bite. A spicy flavor exploded in his mouth. It was entirely too strong and not at all mushroom-like, and the taste made him gag.
But despite the disgusting flavor, Caden could immediately feel how the pain in his back started to fade, replaced by a numbing sensation. Encouraged by this, he quickly finished the mushroom and turned back to Xade.
A concerned expression was still on his face and as their eyes met in that moment, the trauma of what had just happened hit Caden fully. It was as if now that he was safe, his mind and body could finally begin to process how terrifying the day had been. How he had just barely made it out alive.
Tears sprung to his eyes and he turned his gaze away. He looked at the ground, and at their feet, maybe a yard away behind Xade, he saw the bird-like creature crumpled in a mass of leathery skin and bones.
Caden quickly ripped his gaze away from the thing. If he didn’t have to see the creature ever again, he would be ecstatic.
Noticing what looked like a laser gun straight out of a science fiction movie in a shiny white holster at Xade’s hip, he started to ask, “Did you…?”
“I killed the… bird… that attacked you, yes.”
“Bird?” Caden couldn’t help but laugh a little, wiping away the tears that stained his cheeks. The laughter hurt somewhat but it felt so good, like an expression of his absolute relief. He smiled up at Xade. “I don’t know if I would call that a bird. Demon, maybe. But while it may have wings, I’ve never heard of a bird like that.”
“It is the closest English translation I can think of,” Xade said, still looking down at Caden with concern in his soft brown eyes. “The Zatan word is imex. The imex is the reason Zatan children do not enter the woods at night.”
“Children?” Caden laughed aloud again. “I’m not a kid.”
“No… But you are much the size of a Zatan child,” Xade said, speaking more seriously than Caden would have expected for a statement like that. “We must return you to the palace and have the palace doctor look at you,” he said sternly. “You will also need to give a statement about the rebel attack, just as soon as you are feeling better.”
“I escaped,” Caden said, suddenly needing to share what had happened to him. “Those armed Zatans came and… and Noah and I ran and… and I ended up in the woods. I’ve been lost all day,” he said. “Wait… Is Noah okay?”
“He is. My brother, Prince Arex, rescued him from the rebels.”
“That’s good,” Caden said, letting the good news sink in. “Then we’re both safe. And the baby,” he said, turning back to Xade with a smile. “Thanks entirely to you.” He moved forward and embraced his prince, burying his face in the soft fabric of his top.
Safe.
He knew no harm could come to him whatsoever with Xade here. Even his wounds barely bothered him anymore.
Everything was going to be okay.
Caden needed to be closer to Xade. His embrace tightened. He could feel the prince’s warm chest… vibrating? Was he imagining it? No, it almost felt like the man was purring. Feeling that sensation from a partner was of course foreign to Caden, but it didn’t feel strange at all. It felt… incredibly comforting.
He pressed a kiss to Xade’s chest. “Are you purring?” he asked, hoping that pointing it out wouldn’t embarrass the prince.
Xade put his hands on Caden’s lower back, holding him close. “I am. You do this to me,” he said, leaning down and speaking into Caden’s ear. The feeling of Xade’s warm breath on his neck made him shiver in a very good way.
“Never leave my side again, my sweet Omega,” he nearly growled. “I do not think I can stand to see you this way again.”
“Don’t worry, I’d like nothing more.” Caden looked up and stood on his tiptoes to reach Xade’s shoulders. With no resistance from Xade, he guided the prince’s face down to his. He kissed Xade’s lips, gently at first. The Zatan man responded with tenderness, holding Caden close to him but making sure not to touch anywhere near the wounds on his back.
Soon Caden was hot, flustered, and half hard. When tongues got involved, he forced himself to pull away a few inches.
“Okay,” Caden said, his cheeks burning. He was panting a little. “Are we doing this here? Because I’m so down to do this here, right now. I mean, I’m a little gross since I’ve been running in the woods all day, but…”
Without another word, Xade turned Caden around and yanked his robe off with an ease that made his heart flutter. Caden braced himself by resting his forearms on the smooth tree in front of him. The prince knelt and kissed Caden’s back, gingerly moving between scrapes, until he reached the dimples above his ass.
Goosebumps rose on Caden’s skin and he couldn’t be sure if they were from the nearly ticklish pleasure of Xade’s kisses or from the slight chill in the night air.
A smile spread across his face as he just let himself focus on the sensation of Xade’s kisses behind him. He was the luckiest guy in the whole universe to have him a man – well, Zatan alien man – like this. Not only incredibly sexy, but protective and strong.
This day had been hard, but it definitely was turning around.
Sex in a moonlit forest. That would be a new one to cross off his bucket list.