* * *
Just as Alec suspected, he couldn’t fucking sleep. His head was a maelstrom. His chest was caving in. And his gut felt like it was going to implode. Knotted so tight, it was making it hard to breathe, as his heart pounded anxiously in overdrive.
Lying on his back beside his co-pilot in their tent, he stared into space, seeing only Zercy’s face. He needed to get back to him. It was the one thing he knew for sure. It was also the one thing he couldn’t do.
Scrubbing his face, he sat up and looked down at Zaden. Fast asleep. Understandable. It’d been a long day. Alec regarded him in the quiet. His friend was the best right-hand man ever. And a damn good second-in-command. God knew, he’d picked up the slack during their stay at the castle when Alec was holed away in Zercy’s quarters.
In many ways, Zaden had been the team’s surrogate captain for a big portion of the last fucking year. And he’d been amazing at it. The team took to him. It was a natural fit. Even now, they sometimes turned to Zaden before Alec out of habit, having grown so accustomed to looking to him for leadership.
Alec was lucky—they all were lucky—to have Zaden as part of their team.
Exhaling, he got up and quietly headed out of the tent, the construct a dark green, seven-foot-high energy dome. He needed some fresh air to try and clear his head. He also needed to take a fucking leak.
He glanced around their campsite. It was quiet. All were sleeping, minus the few he spotted designated to stand watch. A couple of Kríe, a handful of Tohrí, Garret’s military escort, Eli.
Eli glanced his way. Alec gestured to his crotch, letting the guy know he had to piss. The marine nodded and got back to scanning the darkness, his pulse rifle clutched in both hands.
The Nirans eyed him too, but didn’t say a word, so Alec made his way into the trees. He’d stay within the perimeter, though. Miros had shown him the invisible line. Or more specifically, where he and his pack mates had drawn the border in yellow.
Although in truth, Kríe piss was closer to chartreuse.
Quietly stepping through the jungle’s lush groundcover, Alec stopped beside a thick glossy trunk. He peered up its length to the diamond-speckled sky. Through an opening in the canopy, he spotted a formation of stars. He recognized them. The constellation Tiny Hammer. Zercy had pointed it out to him on the rooftop of his castle. The night he’d let Alec take him for the first time…
Alec’s heart squeezed painfully. He frowned down to his soul. The roaring urge to turn around and run back to his king had risen to a deafening pitch. He sucked in a ragged breath and closed his eyes. Pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to calm his mind.
But he couldn’t. His insides were a storm of churning turmoil, relentlessly demanding he go back. Because this wasn’t right. None of it. Leaving Zercy had been wrong. He could feel it in the marrow of his bones. Instinct and fate, the goddamn universe, shouting that he’d severely veered off course.
Lungs accelerating to accommodate his rapid heartbeat, he opened his eyes and stared into the darkness.
Maybe he should.
Head back.
While the others were sleeping.
Would he be able to find his way? Could he even survive the trip, with so many nocturnal predators lurking about? Even Gesh’s ‘feared pack’ avoided night ventures when possible. Alec chewed his cheek anxiously, eyes drifting to the ground. Maybe if he was able to get far enough from the others, he could bunker down somewhere until morning and make the trip then.
He groaned and dragged a hand down his face. Who the hell was he kidding? He wouldn’t make it one fucking hour without getting eaten. Besides, he couldn’t do that to his team. Just up and bail. Split without saying a freaking word. Because that’s what he’d have to do. No one would let him leave otherwise. They weren’t idiots. Even the humans knew traveling at night was straight-up suicide.
Goddamnit. This shit sucked.
Angry and frustrated, he bit out a curse and reached for the bottom of his tunic. Not that he couldn’t be wearing cargo shorts right now. When they made camp, Garret’s team had donated changes of clothing as well, but Alec had opted to don his in the morning.
He made quick work of watering a bush, then shoved his dick back in place and straightened his digs. But right as he readied to turn back toward camp, a low menacing growl met his ears. Alec froze on the spot, the threatening rumble way too close. Easily just a few yards behind him.
His heart shot into his throat. A predator had found him.
It came again, the sound. Rough and ragged under its breath, as if the beast wasn’t right, maybe rabid.
Shit. What if it was starving and now utterly desperate? Enough so to take chances in lethal territory.
The next growl was closer. Alec could feel its eyes on his back. And it didn’t sound hungry. It sounded furious. The dark ominous kind though, held at bay by just a thread. Ready to snap at any given moment.
Alec swallowed, trying to focus. If he called for help, the beast might attack, triggered by his shout. But if he ran, that could trigger it into action, too. And in the game of chase, he didn’t stand a chance. His only option? To face the thing. If nothing else, he could punch and block, warding off its jaws with arms and fists.
Pulse hammering in his ears, he slowly turned around—
The beast lunged and slammed him against a tree by his throat. Alec’s skull howled in pain. Stars littered his vision. He gasped but couldn’t breathe, then gaped in shock. Shock, as he stared into the feral gaze of his king.
Zercy.
He’d come for him.
And yet he wasn’t really there. Not the Zercy Alec knew.
This male was madness.
Clothes in disarray. Breaths irregular. Leaves in his dreads. A sheen of sweat covering his skin. Jesus. He’d lost it. Was in full-fledged predator mode, his mind focused on nothing but the hunt. And going by that crazed, volcanic look in his eyes, he planned on tearing his prey to fucking pieces.
Alec’s heart went ballistic. He clawed at Zercy’s grip, his feet too far off the ground to do any good.
The king quaked, every inch of him, his fingers trembling against Alec’s throat. Shoving his face close, he bared his fangs and snarled. “I found you, Alick. I will always find you. Your blood runs hot in my veins.”
Alec choked, trying to shake his head.
Zercy tightened his grip.
But then his murderous expression morphed into despair. “Why have you forsaken me, Alick? Why would you leave me? You are my heart.”
I didn’t! I didn’t leave you! Alec urgently tried to shout. But all he managed to do was gag and cough.
Zercy’s face snapped back to fury, his golden eyes manic. “You betrayed me!” he barked brokenly. “I have found you with my enemy! How could you do this to me, Alick? How? They tried to end my people!”
No! Alec thought frantically. I would never! He struggled against him, desperate to breathe.
Zercy’s anger wavered again, his gaze back to desolated. “You promised you would be there,” he groaned. His brows pinched. His jaw clenched. “But you lied. You were not waiting! You deserted me to go with them!”
No! I fought to stay! I didn’t want to go! I told them no!
Zercy vibrated harder, like a time bomb ready to blow. He pressed closer. Ground his face against Alec’s cheek like an animal. “I would have cherished you forever…” His words were ragged, his breaths choppy. “But you drove a blade through my chest, Alick…” His deep timbre cracked. “My heart is bleeding… I can feel it… I want to die…”
Features warring, he touched their foreheads, then pressed his parted lips to Alec’s—but it wasn’t a kiss. No sign of affection whatsoever. Just another raw display of abject misery.
Tears sprang to Alec’s eyes. Zercy was ripping him to shreds, crushing him under the weight of his broken heart. Alec needed to make him see, needed to make him understand.
Vision starting to spot, he upped his efforts, trying to pry Zercy’s fingers off his throat. But all that did was snap the king back into a fury.
Rearing back, fire surging even hotter in his eyes, he leveled Alec with a look that fucking seared. “You wish to flee from me again? There is nowhere you can run! I will always find you, Alick! You are mine!”
Which Alec had no qualms with at all. In fact, he loved the idea. As long as he didn’t die from asphyxiation first.
Lungs on fire, strength ebbing, he pleaded with his eyes. For Zercy to see the truth. That Alec loved him and wouldn’t leave him. Not now, not ever. But the king was too far gone. All rationale a thing of the past. Alec’s abandonment had stolen the last shred of his sanity.
Alec choked on a sob as his sight began to tunnel, his pulse faltering as the darkness rose up to greet him. He should’ve told Zercy how he felt months ago, so he’d have known. But Alec hadn’t. Hadn’t said those three simple fucking words.
Thump-bump… Thump… Bump…
He felt himself go limp. Black snuffed out his vision, his hearing receding.
“Alick,” Zercy snarled in the recesses of his mind.
“Alick, answer me. Why do you——Alick!”
His tone turned anxious fast.
“Alick!—Alick, open your eyes!—Alick!—Mah, Nira!—ALICK!!”
But Alec couldn’t open his eyes, and as consciousness called it a night, the last he registered was the mad king’s devastated roar.
* * *
“Alec… Alec… Hey, bud… You okay?”
Alec lurched with a start, then sucked in a breath, eyes instantly locking on his co-pilot’s face.
“Zaden,” he rasped hoarsely. Ow. He winced and touched his throat.
His friend forced a smile. “You gotta quit nappin’ on us like this.”
Alec glanced at the others looming over him with frowns. Chet and Noah. Garret and his co-pilot. Their medic was there too, crouched down on his haunches next to Zaden.
Sasha shined a small light into each of Alec’s eyes, then held up his index. “Follow my finger.” He moved it left and right.
Alec tracked it for a second, but quickly lost interest, fumbling to sit up and look around instead. “Where is he?” he asked anxiously. His pulse spiked. “Where’s Zercy?”
Sasha gave Zaden a nod, then rose and stepped out of the way, giving Alec a clear view of straight ahead. His heart clenched in his chest. On the other side of their campsite, partially illuminated by the small fire, was Zercy. Unconscious and tied to a tree.
Alec lurched to his feet and staggered toward him. Fuck, his head felt dizzy. “What happened? Why isn’t he awake?”
“We had to sedate him,” Gesh grunted.
Alec glanced to his right. The pack leader stood glowering with arms folded.
“So you didn’t have to fight him?”
A darker grunt. “I did not say that.”
Alec frowned but kept going until he reached his tranquilized Kríe. Slowly sinking to his knees, he looked Zercy over. He’d been secured in the same fashion that Alec had been secured when, a year ago, Gesh had tied him to a tree. Rope around the chest and throat. Bound ankles tied to bound wrists. Legs pulled close, lying bent and open with knees pointed outward in each direction.
Alec sighed at the sight of him. He looked like he’d been through hell. His tunic was tattered. Scrapes and dirt marred his skin. One of his horns had a nick and a large bruise darkened his jaw.
Alec stilled at the injury, then angrily ground his molars. “What the fuck happened to his face?”
“I told you,” Gesh growled. “We had to sedate him… But it did not take effect right away.”
Alec cut the Kríe a glare.
Gesh glared right back.
“It is true,” Roni spoke up. His tone held a hint a wonder. “We have never seen anything like it. How long it took him to go down. There must have been more adrenaline in his veins than blood.”
Miros nodded with a frown. “We did not want to hurt him. Zercy is our king. But when we saw him hunched over your body and darted him as precaution, he came at us like some crazed cornered beast…” He paused, eyes thoughtful. His big shoulders slumped. “Or a desperate Kríe protecting his mate.”
Alec’s heart clenched painfully. Exhaling, he gazed at his sleeping giant, insides crumbling as he noticed Zercy’s glistening lashes. That and a tiny dried streak down his cheek. A proud king’s tears. Even in sleep, the Kríe looked heartbroken.
Not caring who saw, Alec extended his arm and gently palmed the side of Zercy’s face. “Leo…” he whispered. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
God’s honest truth. He felt terrible about what happened. But a part of him also felt glad. Or rather, relieved, that the king had actually come for him. That Zercy was there now, just inches away.
Quiet murmurs rose up behind him from what sounded like all three species, their tones exuding a very distinct, Well, what do you know… His show of affection had allowed them to do the math. Had shown them the situation in its entirety.
Zercy had gone postal because they’d taken his mate. And despite their efforts, Alec had never wanted to leave.
“So what in Nira’s black night are we going to do with him?” Roni muttered a moment later, presumably to Gesh.
“Well, we cannot just leave him here,” Gesh grumbled, “tied to that tree. He needs to be able to defend himself from predators.”
“But if we untie him, he will come after us again when he wakes.”
“Leí,” Airis chimed in, “but being untied will not matter anyway if a predator finds him here before he wakes.”
“Well, we cannot take him with us,” Gesh snapped. “He would have to stay tied. And that would make us abductors on top of all else.”
“Newsflash,” Chet laughed darkly. “You’re already abductors. What the fuck do you think you did to us?”
“Esh. Hardly the same. You are creatures not even of Nira. He is Mighty King of the Kríe.”
Chet muttered something under his breath.
Alec stood and turned to face them. “It’s okay. I’ll stay behind with him.”
“What? The hell you will,” Chet objected.
“We don’t have any other options. Besides, this makes sense if you think about it. I watch over him until he wakes up, then I try to talk some sense into him. Talk him down. He knows I won’t hurt him. That I’m not a threat. And if he’s tied up, he can’t hurt me, either.”
His men didn’t look sold. Wary frowns etched their faces.
Alec sighed and glanced down at Zercy. “Look, if I explain to him what happened, make him understand, then I can potentially defuse a very volatile situation. I can act as a mediator, convince him not to do anything rash.”
“But where does that leave you?” Zaden asked, his voice tense.
“With Zercy… I’d go back to the castle with Zercy.”
“Then we all go with you,” Zaden insisted. “We’re a team. We stick together. We don’t split up. No matter what.”
Alec frowned and held Zaden’s gaze. “We do this time, Z.”
“No.” Zaden crossed his arms and shook his head. “We don’t separate. That’s the rule and you don’t get to fucking break it.”
Alec’s small smirk was sad. “Yeah, I do. I’m the captain.”
Zaden clenched his jaw. Pursed his lips.
Alec’s gut went all tight. They were friends, best friends, so he felt the shit, too. The bitter taste of goodbye. Its dull deep ache.
Garret finally chimed in, but not with shit Alec wanted to hear. “I’m with your men, Alec. Splitting up’s a bad idea. As it is, we’re doing too much of it already.”
His marines nodded behind him.
But then, out of nowhere, Miros spoke up. “Let him go. His path is his own.”
Chet coughed a humorless laugh. “Oh, that’s rich coming from you, the guy who took him captive then fucking sold him.”
“Mah. That is precisely why it is coming from me. It was wrong what we did, holding your team against your will. Even Gesh can admit we did not think it through. But if we plan to be allies in the moons ahead, then we must make amends and try to right our wrongs against you.”
“And you think by sending our captain back to a castle of angry wolves, you’ll be doing the guy a favor?” Chet sounded incredulous.
Miros folded his thick arms and lifted his chin. “I do not know what wolves are, but I do know this. He is his own. His choices should be his own. Let him return to what makes him happy.”
“Makes him happy? You think captivity makes him happy?”
“I am willing to bet he is no unwilling captive.”
All eyes slid back to Alec.
Awkward.
He shifted his weight.
“Look at him,” Miros went on. “Are you truly that blind? He yearns to be with one of ours, just as Gesh yearns to be with one of yours.”
Alec chuckled uncomfortably. Scratched his neck, his cheeks heating. “Yearns… That’s uh… kind of a strong word there, Miros…”
“I’ll go with you,” Noah announced. “In case Bailey shows up.”
Alec sobered. “Noah, no.” He gestured to Zercy. “He’s not stable. As much as I’d like to defend his honor and deny it, I can’t, not if it means risking your safety.”
Zaden and Chet opened their mouths, but Alec stopped them before they could start. “That goes for you two as well. I can’t guarantee the safety of any of you right now. So you gotta stay away. And you gotta stick together. You’ll need each other, now more than ever. Jamis and Bailey will need you guys, too.”
“How do we know you’ll be safe?” Chet asked, ever the protector.
Alec glanced at Zercy and smiled a little. “I won’t untie him ‘til he promises to be nice.”
Chet grunted and rolled his eyes.
Alec turned his gaze to Zaden. “You’ll assume the role of captain, Z. Hell, you’ve been doing it part-time now for months.”
Zaden nodded tightly, frowning. “When will we see you again?”
Good question.
“Um…” Alec scratched his cheek, not really sure what to tell him.
“Yeah, I doubt anytime soon,” Garret offered. A definite realist. “But you can talk to him any time you want.”
Alec and Zaden stilled and looked at him. So did Noah and Chet.
Garret smiled a little, then shrugged and tossed his telecom device to Alec. “So you can chat with your boys. We’ve got five others. I’ll grab yours when Gesh’s pack hands over your gear.”
Alec eyed the portable gadget.
Technology. It’d been so long.
God, it felt like heaven in his hand.
He grinned, idly thumbing it, its silver body a sleek flat trapezoid, then looked back at Garret. “Thanks, man.”
“You bet.”
Alec’s teammates visibly eased, no doubt feeling much better about the situation.
Gesh walked over and eyed the king. “We should go. He will wake soon, and we do not want to be here when he does.”
Everyone ambled off to pack up. When they were ready to roll, Alec clasped palms with each of his men. “Be safe. Let me know the minute you meet up with Jamis.”
“Will do.” Zaden tugged him into a hug. “See you soon.”
Funny, how his parting words sounded more like a demand.
Alec nodded and squeezed him tight. “Yeah. Very soon.” He was going to miss them all, but especially Zaden.
Eli and Helix sauntered over. Each one handed him a pistol. “Locked and loaded, captain.”
Alec happily accepted them. “Aw, fuck. Thank you. It’s been ages.” He handled the things for a second, savoring their flawless engineering, then tucked them around back in his belt.
Eli smiled, as if pleased by Alec’s show of appreciation. Understandable. Those guns were kind of like his babies.
“Oh, and these…” The marine dug into one of his cargo shorts’ countless pockets. “Some boom dogs and scat cats. To scare away the beasties.” He dropped a handful of pulse grenades and silver disks into Alec’s palm, then clapped him on the shoulder. “Godspeed. Don’t die.”
Alec chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”
Helix gave him a nod. Then just like that, all three species headed out.
Alec watched them intently until the darkness enveloped them whole, then turned and looked at Zercy. Still unconscious.
Alec sighed and glanced at the fire. Shit. It was nearly dead. Just wisps of flame atop a bed of glowing embers. He should probably get more wood. Revive the thing while Zercy slept.
Glancing around, he set his sights and traipsed off.
Not five minutes later though, is when he first heard it. The distant sounds of Zercy finally rousing.
A soft groan… Some groggy grunts…… A very uneasy rumble…
Alec peered in his direction, too many trees in the way to see.
Then, like a crash of thunder, Zercy’s howl ripped through the jungle.