Chapter Four

(Xanrun)

I’ve never thought that I’d be as happy as I am now. These last couple of months with my Angel have been magic. Our bond has grown closer, we completely trust each other now, and the future—although bleak—is finally looking up for me. And tonight, I plan on telling my Angel exactly how I feel about her.

I’m going to tell her that I love her.

But something is troubling my mate and I’m not sure what it can be. These last few days she has been strangely quiet and she seems to have something on her mind. I don’t think she’s upset with me, because she still lights up when she sees me like it’s the first day, but I know it does have something to do with me.

“It’s not you, Xanrun.” Macie says as she climbs down the last few steps of the ladder and turns to face me. She made a quick trip upstairs to grab some more gauges for my wounds, since we’re running low on them in here, but I know the main reason she went upstairs was to think about whatever is bothering her. She blushes as she listens to my thoughts. I blocked her out of my head when I thought about telling her I love her, but after that thought, I opened my mind to her, having nothing to hide. “I have to talk to you about something…but I’m unsure about how you’re going to respond to what I have to say.”

Sitting up from the bed, I stride towards her and wrap her small frame into my arms. She puts the medical supplies down and puts her arms around me, gripping me tightly, as if afraid I’d let go. “Stop worrying, Angel.” I say telepathically to her. “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, no matter what you say or do. You’re stuck with me, Macie. Through thick and thin.”

She pulls back away from me slightly and smiles. “You know I love when you call me Angel, but I wish you’d call me by my name sometimes.” She laughs and shakes her head in amusement. “You only call me by my real name when you talk to me telepathically. Why is that?”

I shrug and smirk down at her. “I like pissing you off.”

She rolls her eyes. “That’s it?” she smacks my arm and moves away from me, heading towards the bed. She sits and then lies down on the bed, a smile still on her perfect face. “You can be such a child sometimes, Xanrun.”

“I know.” I reply back, jumping on the bed and caging her with my body. She squeals and chuckles when I start tickling her. “But you love me and my childish ways, Angel. It’s part of my charm.”

She stops laughing and stares up at me—her eyes worried and her heart begins to beat rapidly. “I do.” She says, confusing me. Her face reddens, but her gaze does not avert from mine. “Love you, I mean.” She reaches up and cups my face with her left hand and I close my eyes, elated by her words. “I think I fell in love with you the day you stopped me from killing you with that stupid smirk on your face.” She laughs and I join along, loving the memory myself. “I knew then that I have met my match. I just didn’t realize that you’d end up being my perfect match.”

I kiss the palm of her hand and roll us over, until Macie is lying on top of my body and I’m staring up into her hypnotizing emerald gaze. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you, Macie.” She smiles when I say her name. “I was terrified that I had imprinted on a human, my supposed enemy, but when my eyes met yours…I was lost and I honestly didn’t want to be found. And then you tried to kill me and I knew you were the one for me.” I chuckle at the memory. “Especially when you continued to try to kill me multiple times after our meeting. My particular favorite was when you dumped poison into my Mac and Cheese.”

My Angel blushes at the memory and shrugs. “Who knew aliens immune systems were that amazing? You lived, right? No harm, no foul.”

“Or when you tried to strangle me in my sleep, but ended up tickling my neck instead?” I reply back and she glares. “You have such tiny, little hands and yet, you still tried to choke me.” Now I’m laughing full out. “You knew you would be unsuccessful, and still you tried anyway. Why?” I lean down and brush a kiss against her lips. “Because you were a survivor and stubborn as hell. Who knew I found both those traits so damn irresistible?”

She snorts at my comment. “You must have thought I was crazy and I honestly don’t know why you keep flirting with me after I tried to kill you all those times.”

I brush a stray hair out of her face and grin. “Because, I knew you wouldn’t have really killed me, Macie. Our bond wouldn’t have allowed it. No matter how hard you tried to hate me and kill me, you couldn’t. Partly because I’m so much more stronger than you.” I kiss one of my biceps and she groans in exasperation. “And partly because, deep down, you didn’t want to see me dead.”

“You’re right, of course.” She sighs and closes her eyes. “I don’t want to see you hurt, Xanrun, which is why your plan to go seek revenge is worrying me so much. I couldn’t think straight these last couple of days because you won’t stop talking about leaving the shelter to make my world safe for me again.” She opens her eyes and I see the tears in them. “Aren’t you happy, down here, with me? Aren’t I enough for you? Is revenge more important then us?”

I shake my head and kiss her forehead. “Baby…that’s not it at all. I love you, very much, you know this, Angel. But I can’t ignore the fact that my people tore your world apart and will stop at nothing until they see your people, including you, dead.” I grind my teeth together and shake my head. “If I can convince my people to go after the guilty parties, and leave the rest of your people alone, then we have a chance at a better life, Angel. A life where we can live together in a house without fear of being killed for who we are.” I place a hand on her stomach and swallow hard. “To have a life where I can put my child into you, without fear of you or our child being killed in cold blood. I want a life where we can be a family, Angel. Don’t you want that?”

She’s crying now, but nods her head. “I do want that, Xanrun, but we can have that down here. Don’t leave. Stay here with me and I can give you as many children as you want. We can live down here forever.”

I smile sadly at her and shake my head. “You and I both know that is not true, Angel. We’re already running out of some medical supplies, and although our food supply is good, we’ll run out in the next couple of months if we don’t do something soon. This,” I gesture around us with sullen eyes. “This is not the proper or fair place to raise a child. I refuse to bring a child into this corrupt world. Not until it’s fixed and I’m assured you both will be safe.”

Macie sits up and I lean back, giving her room to move away from me, and she begins to pace around in the room. She spins around and her eyes pierce me with a hard stare, not in anger, but in fear. “So that’s it? You still plan to leave at the end of the month? I have no say in this?”

I close my eyes and nod my head. “I’m doing this for you, Angel. I’m doing this for us. We deserve a chance at a happy life. I want to give you the world and sitting down here, not fighting for us, is not the way to achieve that.”

“So you’re willing to die, to never come back to me, to fight against your own race? A race that left you for dead once before?” She rushes over to me and drops down to her knees. “They will kill you, Xanrun. They don’t care about you and if you try to reason with them, they will execute you without a backwards look. Then what do I do? I cannot live without you, Xanrun.” She clenches my hands into hers and her eyes beg me to tell her what she wants to hear, that I’ll stay down here forever, that we can raise a family here without fear of my people…but I vowed a long time ago that I’d never lie to my mate, so I cannot lie to her now. Even if that lie will bring her comfort. She chokes out a cry, hearing my thoughts, and backs away from me. “Stay, Xanrun. Say you’ll stay.”

I open my mouth, wanting to say the words, but I can’t. “I’m sorry, Angel, but you know I will not lie to you.” She begins to sob again and I pull her into my arms. She resists for a moment, but then relaxes in my arms. “I promise you, Macie, I will return to you. I will not let anything stand in my way of coming home to you. Just…please, baby, understand why I’m doing this. I do not wish to be away from you, but I have to do this in order to keep you safe.”

She nods her head but pushes away from me, once again. She sniffs loudly and gestures to the ladder. “I’m going to go get some more blankets. I’ve been cold down here lately, so I think I’ll get another one to keep be warm.”

“Macie…you know I don’t like you going above ground by yourself.” She gives me a pointed stare, telling me that I have no choice in the matter. I want to keep her down here, even if I have to hold her down, but she’s hurting right now and needs some space from me. I listen to see if there’s anyone in the clinic, and when I don’t hear anything, I nod my head. “Fine, Angel, but at any sign of trouble, I want you to telepathically call for me. Understood?”

She smiles faintly and salutes me. “Aye, Aye Captain.”

I roll my eyes at her and smack her ass as she climbs the ladder. “I mean it, smartass. At any sign of trouble, or if something doesn’t seem right, call me. And for God’s sake, don’t open the clinic’s doors, no matter what. In the meantime, I’ll start dinner for tonight. How does soup sound?”

“Like something I’ve had a million times this month.”

“Good! At least I know you’ll eat it!”

She laughs and I know we’re going to be okay.

(Macie)

I should have let Xanrun come with me.

I should have listened to him when he told me not to open the clinic doors.

I should have seen the man with the gun before he had it held against my head, his evil smile promising death if I dared to scream. I can’t believe I allowed him and his men into my clinic, but I couldn’t leave an innocent human outside, so I went against my instincts and what Xanrun told me and I opened the door for the man.

And then he, the man holding the gun to my head, promptly shot the man in cold-blood. He and his men then ran inside the clinic, before I could close and lock the door, and the leader of the group grabbed me and placed the barrel of his gun to my left temple.

I’m screwed, because I didn’t listen to Xanrun. God, why am I so stupid?

“Where’s Xanrun, human?” the man with the gun hisses, grabbing my hair with his free hand and yanking my head backward until I scream out in pain. I feel Xanrun enter my mind and I know he’s feeling my fear because I can feel his concern. “Where is that coward hiding?”

“Angel?” Xanrun’s voice echoes in my head and I begin to sob. “Angel! What’s going on? What’s happening?” When I don’t answer him fast enough, I feel him run and I can almost sense that’s he’s getting closer to me. “Baby, I know you’re scared, but show me what’s going on. Focus on your surroundings and show me what you see.”

I swallow hard and nod my head, even though I know he can’t see me do so. I gaze around at the three men around the room. The scariest man, who’s bicep is three times the size of my head, smirks at me and licks his lips, sending a shiver of fear down my spine. I turn my attention on the lanky man at the entrance of the clinic, but he’s too busy looking through the clinic windows, looking for a threat I cannot see, to knowledge my existence.

Finally, I turn and glance up at my capture, and when he sees me look at him, he spits in my face and pistol-whips me across the face. I cry as I fall to the floor and when I land against the ground, I don’t move an inch, afraid he’ll hurt me again if I dared connect my gaze with his again.

“Commander, Zazuna.” Xanrun growls out and I feel him punch a wall. Xanrun sends me a picture of where he is, just outside the reception area, behind the door that leads to the examination rooms. “These are my fellow Torians…the ones that left me for dead. And now?” Feelings of guilt and remorse pass between us and I know he’s blaming himself for this mess I found myself in. “Now they’re using you to get to me. I’m so sorry, Angel. I promise, I’ll make this right. Just…trust me, okay? Don’t speak and when the time comes, I need you to have fate in me. Okay?”

“Okay.” I say, my vision growing fuzzy. “I love you, Xanrun.”

“We’re going to make it out of this, Angel. So don’t you dare say goodbye to me like we’re never going to see each other again.”

“Stop your fucking crying, human!” Commander Zazuna yells and kicks me in my stomach, causing me to scream in pain and curl up into a ball to protect myself. “I asked you a question, abomination! Where is Xanrun?” he’s going to kick me again when I hear a door open and I feel Xanrun enter the room. “Xanrun…what a nice surprise.” Commander Zazuna chuckles and moves away from me.

“Commander, I wish I could say this is a nice surprise, but you know how I dislike to lie.” Xanrun replies back and moves closer to my shaking form. I feel his eyes on me and he laughs. “Still playing with the humans, I see. Don’t you grow bored of the games with them? They’re so weak and pathetic, so I don’t see why you even entertain them when they tend to die right before the real fun happens.” I gasp at his words in shock. He’s just saying that to turn their attention away from me. Right? “Trust me Angel.” Xanrun whispers telepathically to me and I relax slightly.

Sitting up, I gain the courage to glance at the commander and Xanrun, and pretend to be surprised by his words. I have to play along if I want to help Xanrun get us out of this situation alive. I trust Xanrun knows what he’s doing. “But…Xanrun, I thought you said I was your mate? I—” I pretend to sob and make my lips begin to tremble. “I thought I was the only girl for you?”

Xanrun rolls his eyes and smirks. “I only said that so you would continue to tend to my wounds. That, plus you were fun to play with. For a human, you’re not that bad in the sack.” Commander Zazuna and his men laugh, finding his comment hilarious.

Bastards.

“You fucked the human?” Commander Zazuna asks, smirking. “The thought of jumping into bed with a human never crossed my mind, but now that I think about it, that idea doesn’t seem to bad. They are the inferior race, and as such, it’s our right to take what we want.”

Xanrun nods his head in agreement. “She wasn’t too bad either. But the fun part was making her fall in love with me.” He laughs evilly and if it wasn’t for earlier comment to trust him, I would be concerned that he really means what he’s saying right now. “I even convinced her I imprinted with her. That I loved her.”

Commander Zazuna chuckles and slaps his hand on Xanrun’s back. “And here I thought you were weak, Xanrun. When you refused to kill all those humans, I had no choice but to make an example out of you, and I have to say, I’m glad you managed to survive. We need a ruthless man like you on our squad. We lost Kanillan and Jappo a few weeks back when we went against the Resistance, but you’ll help us kill all those who stand against us and our desire for the destruction of this planet.”

“The Resistance?” Xanrun asks, echoing my thoughts.

Commander Zazuna nods. “A foolish group of humans who have band together to stop us from taking over. It’s run by a even more foolish man named Larkson, who is as crazy as he is ruthless.” Larkson? Can it be my brother? My heart is beating a hundred miles an hour and my body is shaking from the realization that my brother is still alive. He’s alive, and fighting against these monsters. “I underestimated him once before, but never again. He might be mad, but he has the gunpowder and numbers behind him to be a threat to us.” He spits the words out, obviously pissed that humans aren’t as weak as he thought us to be.

“Let’s go and stop these humans.” He glances at me and curls his lips at me in mock disgust. “I’m done using her, anyway, and my wounds have healed completely. I have no use for her, so just leave her here alone to rot alone.”

Commander Zazuna stops smiling and levels his gaze at Xanrun. “We cannot allow her to live, Xanrun. All humans need to perish, you know that.” He glances at me and shakes his head. “Don’t tell me you have grown feelings for it?”

Fuck you very much, I say in my head, nearly making Xanrun laugh, but he manages to keep his composure.

“Of course not.”

“Then kill it.” Commander Zazuna hands his gun over to Xanrun and stands back. “And don’t try anything funny, Xanrun. I have both Faza’s and Torina’s guns trained on you and the girl, so if you try anything, you will die.”

Xanrun grabs the gun and points it at me, his eyes blank and uncaring. “With pleasure, Commander.”

“Xanrun.” I whisper, now truly scared.

“On three, I need you to throw your body towards the ground and stay down until it’s safe to sit back up. Understood, Angel?” I incline my head and close my eyes, allowing his gentle voice to calm me down, and prepare to do what he said. “One,” he takes the safety off the gun…nice to know the Commander had me at gunpoint, but didn’t have the safety off. God, I’m gullible. “Two,” he takes a step to his left, so he’s in the line of sight with the scariest man in the room. “Three!”

It all happens to quick.

I throw myself flat against the floor and gunshots ring around the room. I hear bodies begin falling on the floor and when it grows silent, I peek up and take in my surroundings.

Commander Zazuna is lying on the floor, his face expressionless as he stares blankly at me, a single bullet hole in his head. I yell in terror and move quickly away from his body. I look up and see the bigger Torian, the one that truly terrified me, and he too has a bullet hole in his head and a couple in his chest.

“Xanrun?” I ask, looking around frantically. When my eyes land on him I shake my head and get off the ground, running to him. “Is this your only wound?” I ask, eyeing the bullet shot in his left arm.

He hisses when he tries to move his arm and nods. “Yeah, that’s the only one.”

“You’re lucky I managed to kill the commander before he pulled out his other gun, Xanrun.” The lanky man says, holstering his gun. He smiles at me and waves. “Sorry I scared you. I had to keep up appearances to make Xanrun and you think I was on the Commanders side.”

“But…why?” Xanrun asks, puzzled. “I’ve always thought you hated humans and wanted to destroy this planet. You didn’t seem to have a problem walking away from me when I was dying on the floor, begging for help.” The man closes his eyes, guilt seeming to consume him. “What changed, Faza?”

“I wanted to help you, Xanrun, but if I stepped out of line and tried to help you, the commander would have killed me. I couldn’t let that happen to me…not when I had someone depending on me to return home.” He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “I fell for a human, like you did, but this human is part of the Resistance. I only continued following the commander around for information, but when he caught your energy signature, I knew I couldn’t keep pretending and let you die. And then I saw her,” he nods to me and smirks. “And I knew she was your mate. You both look at each other like my Ginny and I do.”

“So…you’re one of the good guys?” I ask.

He nods. “I am. And I know you have a good thing going on, but if you’re interested, the Resistance is always looking for new recruits. I can get you in, no problem, and you’ll be under our protection. Together, we can stop the destruction of this planet and live in peace with the humans.”

Xanrun and I look at each other, a million thoughts crossing through our mind, and we both nod to Faza. “We’ll think about it, brother.”

Faze smiles and nods his head. “When you’re ready to join us, just follow my energy signature. It’ll lead you right to our headquarters. Until then, brother.” He nods to Xanrun and then turns his gaze to mine. “It was nice meeting you…”

“Macie.” I say at the same time Xanrun says, “Angel.”

Faza smirks and nods his head. “Until then, Angel.”

He then walks out of the clinic and is gone within moments. I go on autopilot and tend to Xanrun’s wounds, and when he’s all cleaned up and we’re both still in shock and are exhausted, we head back to the underground shelter and get into bed together. We don’t do anything physical that night, for obvious reasons, but we do talk about what happened. After that, we talk about joining the resistance. Xanrun doesn’t want me joining with him, but I refuse to let him go alone when it’s my planet at stake, and in the end, we decide to call it a night and talk more about it over the next few days.

We quickly fall asleep, and although I’m still shaken about what happened, I feel safe and loved in the arms of Xanrun.

My warrior.

My savior.

My love.