Fifteen
Her big male was once again keeping his promise to her. He was teaching her how to track Marowit, training her for their upcoming mission.
Elyce lay on the hot sand outside the Refuge’s walls, a long gun propped against her shoulder. Targets had been set up in front of her. She’d designated the smallest one to represent Marowit. Balvan would consider him to be a puny male.
“Am I hidden from view?” she asked.
“Your lush ass is in the air.” Balvan was positioned behind her, near the gates. He was guarding them and her.
“Shit.” She wiggled her hips, burrowing herself deeper in the sand dune. “Is that better?”
“Yes. We’re utilizing the wall panel once our shift is done.” His voice had deepened.
With lust. Her face heated, her nipples tightening. He wanted her, planned to take her from behind, making her watch them as they fucked.
“We’re training.” Elyce reminded him, secretly thrilled with his plans.
He huffed. “That’s why we both remain dressed.”
She envisioned his muscular form naked and her toes curled in her black boots. “I’m covering you as you attack.” She pressed the trigger. A projectile blasted through the smallest target.
It was a perfect hit, but the target wasn’t moving. Marowit wouldn’t stand still, waiting for her to kill him.
“I’ll talk with Dita.” Elyce decided. “I’ll ask her if Kralj could use his powers to move our targets.”
“My powers aren’t playthings to be used for your amusement.” The gates opened. A blast of hot air preceded the Ruler, blowing sand over Elyce’s body.
She slid the lever on her long gun to unarmed, jumped to her feet, and hurried to Balvan’s side. Kralj wouldn’t hurt her…she believed. But she wasn’t taking any chances.
Her huge mate would protect her.
Kralj strolled through the gates with Dita. The female held his hand and swung his arm. Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
The Ruler couldn’t be that upset, not if his mate thought the situation was entertaining. Elyce’s shoulders lowered. She wouldn’t be dying this planet rotation.
“Disrespect me again and that might change.” Kralj addressed her thoughts. “Orol will arrive soon.”
Dita’s smile faded, the Ruler’s tone conveying that wasn’t a good thing.
“Should we be preparing for an attack?” Balvan broadened his stance, blocking more of Elyce’s view, safeguarding her from the unknown enemy.
“There will be no attack…against the Refuge.”
The Ruler’s words twisted Elyce’s stomach. “Marowit has attacked another merchant.” Because of her, because he had no one else to vent his anger on.
“He led a Humanoid Alliance attack on a caravan of settlers.” The darkness swirling around Kralj’s face communicated his anger over that event. “No one within my terrain knew they were arriving. I couldn’t warn them in time.”
“How many survivors are there?” Dita asked the question Elyce couldn’t voice.
“There are two survivors—sisters.” Kralj squeezed Dita’s hand. “He sent one girl to us and kept the other.” He turned his head toward Elyce, his eyes covered in shadow. “The girl he kept is two solar cycles older than her sister and blonde.”
Shit. Marowit had found a replacement for her, another substitute for Paloma. Elyce’s grip on her long gun tightened. “I’m going to kill him.” She stepped forward, prepared to do exactly that.
Balvan drew her back to him, wrapping his arms around her. “They’re coming.”
She peered over the sand dunes, wishing she had his greater height and enhanced vision. The dot on the horizon grew larger and larger. Wings beat the air.
Her heart twisted with pain as she saw the girl. She was naked, covered in crimson. One of her arms was limp. She beat Orol’s chest with her other hand, crying softly.
Marowit and his males had tortured the girl, used her before they released her. She was a child and they’d done that to her.
Elyce would kill them slowly.
Dita muttered something she couldn’t hear, her tone dark. Neither male by her side said anything, their stiff stances and flexed muscles communicating their unhappiness.
Orol landed, the winged warrior’s grip on the girl secure yet gentle. She struggled, trembling, her eyes wide with terror.
She’d been abused by countless males and now was held by one. The girl could no longer distinguish between friend and foe. Elyce saw herself in the young female, knew what she was thinking. All males were bad, sources of pain.
She pushed away her memories and her fear and rushed toward them. “Give her to me.” She slung her long gun over her right shoulder and held out her arms.
Orol’s gaze lifted.
“Do it,” Balvan rumbled. Her big male had moved with her.
Orol slid the girl from his arms to Elyce’s. The weight forced her to her knees. The girl fought her, wiggling and punching and kicking.
“Shhh…” She tried to calm the panicked young female. “You’re safe. No one will hurt you.”
No one would hurt her again. The girl couldn’t have more than twelve solar cycles and Marowit and his males had brutalized her, her flat chest, skinny form speckled with tiny wounds, their scent on her skin, a whip mark slicing across her frail shoulders.
“You’re with beings who care for you.” And she did care, not hiding that emotion from the girl. “You don’t have to be scared anymore.”
The girl’s gaze met hers, the confusion, the pain in her blue eyes bringing back emotions Elyce had attempted to forget. “Mama?” The girl’s struggles ceased. She became still, lying docile in Elyce’s arms.
“You’re safe.” If it comforted the girl, she could pretend to be her Mama. She’d do anything to ease her suffering. “I have you.”
“And I have both of you.” Balvan placed his hands on Elyce’s shoulders, lending her his strength, his support.
The girl glanced at him and cringed. “No.” She lifted her good arm to shield her face. “Don’t.”
“That’s Balvan.” Elyce assured her, placing one of her hands on the girl’s arm, encouraging her to lower it. “He’s big and green and he will never hurt you. He’s here to keep us safe.”
“Zaliki,” the girl whispered.
“We know about Zaliki.” Kralj maintained his distance from them. “You did your job, Yazmin.” His voice was gruff. “Focus on healing.”
Dita gripped her dagger hilts, her knuckles white.
Elyce didn’t have access to the girl’s thoughts—Yazmin’s thoughts—like the Ruler did. She didn’t know everything that had happened or the full message that was to be relayed, but she did know it would pain the girl to talk about it.
“Your mission now is to get better.” She smiled gently at the girl. “Can you do that for me?”
Yazmin hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, Mama.”
“Good girl,” Elyce murmured, leaning protectively over the youngster.
“The medic and her team are here.” Balvan squeezed her shoulders.
Elyce wanted to go with Yazmin. She yearned to comfort and care for the girl, assure her she wasn’t alone.
But the sister, Zaliki, remained in Marowit’s clutches, enslaved in the nightmare world of pain and abuse he had created. They had to save the older girl, end the torment, kill the male responsible.
“The nice medic female will take care of you now.” With the assistance of the all-female team, she transferred the girl to a floating horizontal support. “She will keep you safe also.” Elyce pressed her lips to the girl’s blood-and-guck-covered forehead. “Behave for her. I’ll be by your side soon.”
“Don’t leave me, Mama.” Yazmin reached out with her one working arm.
Fuck. She clutched the girl’s hand, her heart squeezing. How could she deny her?
Yet she had to. Zaliki’s lifespan was at risk.
The medic injected Yazmin with something and the girl’s eyes immediately closed, her clasp on Elyce’s fingers loosening.
Elyce didn’t move. “She’ll wake up alone.”
“She won’t.” The medic gazed at her with sympathy. “We’ll ensure someone, a female, is always with her. She’ll never be alone.”
“Thank you.” She relaxed, releasing the girl. “Seeing a friendly face when I woke helped me.”
She covered Balvan’s hands with hers. He had helped her. She didn’t know how she would have coped without her big male.
The medic and her team carried the girl away. Elyce watched them until they disappeared.
“We could accompany her,” Balvan suggested.
“No, we can’t do that.” She straightened her shoulders. They had other shit to accomplish, beings to kill, skulls to crush. “We have to rescue her sister.”
“I can’t authorize that action.” Kralj’s voice was flat, emotionless. “She’s being held outside my terrain. I can’t protect you there.”
Fuck being protected. They weren’t rescuing a being who had disregarded the Ruler’s warnings, who had deliberately placed herself in danger. They were saving a child, a blameless being who didn’t ask for any of this shit.
Elyce glanced behind her, meeting Balvan’s gaze. Was he with her? Kralj was his superior, a being her big green male respected.
Would her mate rebel against the Ruler’s dictates or would she be saving the sister alone?
“We’re rescuing Zaliki.” Balvan lifted his chin, his expression determined.
“Marowit and his Humanoid Alliance forces will be waiting for you.” The Ruler cautioned them. “They’ll expect the rescue. You’ll be outnumbered and outgunned.”
“We know.” Balvan hooked his arms around Elyce, pulling her against his hard body. “The girl is innocent. She has to be freed and he has to be stopped.”
The two males stared at each other, Kralj’s face partially covered with shadow. Dita caught Elyce’s gaze and nodded.
Elyce didn’t know what the fuck that meant. She didn’t speak their secret language.
“It isn’t a secret language.” Kralj expelled his breath. “Dita knows I won’t block your rescue attempt. She and I will stay within the Refuge. Balvan, you can command all of the other warriors. Their abilities will offset their lack of numbers.”
Dita opened her mouth, her eyes shining with protest.
“Residents will notice the exodus of warriors.” The Ruler explained to his kill-happy mate. “Some of them will take advantage of that.”
“We’ll have our own killing to do.” Dita appeared satisfied with that violent possibility.
“Rhea will stay in the Refuge also.” Orol spoke for his mate.
Fuck staying in the settlement. Elyce glanced up at Balvan’s broad face. “I’m going with you.”
He narrowed his eyes at her but didn’t disagree with her statement.
* * *
It took surprisingly few moments to organize the warriors. Several violence-loving Refuge residents also volunteered. The Humanoid Alliance was loathed by many beings on Carinae E. They looked forward to battling the humans.
Elyce dreaded it.
She would have to face Marowit again. Venturing outside Kralj’s terrain increased the possibility her former abductor would capture her again.
He could hurt Balvan. She gazed at her big male. That frightened her more than the prospect of being taken.
Marowit would allow her to live. Killing her would stop her torture and he wouldn’t want that. But he wouldn’t hesitate to end her big male’s lifespan.
“You’ll be careful?” She gripped one of his hands.
“I’m not leaving your side.”
He hadn’t left her side since she regained consciousness that first planet rotation. Balvan was her strength, her wall between her battered heart and the harsh universe. She could depend on him.
And she loved him. When this was over, when Marowit was finally placed in her past, she’d be free to say those words, to look forward to a future with her huge mate.
He’d carefully positioned her in the crowded meeting chamber so there were no warriors in front of her and to her left. A female warrior directly stood behind her. Balvan blocked the males to Elyce’s right.
She was safe with him. Always.
“Kralj lowers the barrier and we attack.” Dare repeated the plan. “What’s the problem?”
“The problem is they’re waiting for us.” Orol, the tactician in the group, expressed his dissatisfaction with their strategy. “They’ll start shooting as soon as the barrier lowers. Even if we move at top speed, they’ll have time to squeeze off a round. The entire front line will be mowed down.”
She trembled. Balvan would be in that front line. She knew her big mate. He would be first to attack, would be one of the beings shot, killed.
She had endured seemingly endless torture and humiliation, but she wouldn’t survive without him. He was her hope, her source of power.
“We shoot missiles first.” One of the other warriors suggested.
“And they’ll do the same.” Orol rejected that idea. “We need a distraction.” He tapped his fingers against his lips, his wings folded behind him. “A reason to discourage them from immediately shooting at us.”
Shit. Her stomach twisted. She knew one reason Marowit wouldn’t immediately give his males the order to shoot.
They could give him what he wanted. She looked at Balvan.
His lips flattened. “No.”
Heads turned, his one-word reply drawing the attention of every being in the crowded chamber.
“It’s the only way.” She didn’t like it any more than he did, but the other alternative was using Paloma, and she was a child.
Elyce wouldn’t risk another innocent being’s lifespan.
“I will not put you in danger.” Balvan tightened his hold on her hand.
“I’m in danger right now.” She was tired of being a target. “He won’t kill me. That would end my pain and he doesn’t desire that. He’ll keep me alive to torture.”
She gazed at Balvan. He gazed back at her.
“He won’t kill you.” Her big male finally dipped his bald head, his reluctance palpable. “But he could hurt you.”
“You’ll stop him before he does that.” And if he didn’t, she’d been hurt in the past and had survived. If her pain freed an innocent girl, she’d endure it.
“What is the plan?” Orol looked between the two of them.
“I exit first.” She braced her feet apart, fear coiling inside her stomach. “Alone.”
“I’m not leaving your side,” Balvan insisted.
“He won’t lower the guns with you there.” She had to do this alone. Marowit wouldn’t view her as a threat. He saw her as broken, weak, a defeated female.
“They won’t lower their guns. At all.” Orol shook his head. “They’ll fire before they see you’re the being exiting.”
“I’ll tell Marowit I’m exiting.” She would have to speak to her abductor, play the role he’d trained her to fulfill.
In front of Balvan, the male she loved, the male whose respect she desperately wanted to keep. Bile burned the back of her throat.
“He won’t shoot me.” That might not be the truth. He wouldn’t shoot to kill. He might shoot her in the arm or leg to teach her a lesson.
Balvan rumbled with unhappiness.
She pressed against his side. He strapped his arms around her, hard bands of muscle keeping her safe.
“That would give us the delay we need.” Orol’s lips twisted. “But it’s risky. There has to be another way.”
There wasn’t another way. She said nothing. The other warriors volunteered ideas. One after another was dismissed.
Balvan turned her until she faced him, lifted her off the floor until she met his gaze directly. His eyes reflected concern, anger, fear.
Her big male was scared for her.
“We have to do this.” She bracketed his cheeks with her hands. “It has to end.”
“You don’t have to do this alone.” He turned his head to the right, kissed her scarred wrist, turned his head to the left, did the same to that wrist. His nanohumanics fizzed on her skin. “I belong at your side.”
“You belong here.” She placed one of his hands on her chest, above her heart. “And we will be parted for mere moments, only long enough to prompt the warriors to lower their guns.”
“If they don’t lower their guns.” He spread his fingers, covering more of her. “If something happens to you—” His voice broke.
She swallowed the lump of emotion forming in her throat. “Nothing will happen to me. You can move quickly…when you want to.” She forced a smile. “You’ll carry me out of harm’s way.”
“I’d trade my life for yours, my little female.” Balvan leaned his forehead against hers.
They breathed in, breathed out, breathed in, breathed out, in sync, as one.
She felt the same way about him, would do anything to save his life. Her world would be a never-ending nightmare without him. There would be no safe places, no fear-free moments, no love.
“These planet rotations I’ve spent with you have been the happiest of my lifespan.” She wanted him to know that. “There is nothing I won’t do to return to you. Even if I’m taken, I’ll fight—”
“You won’t be taken.” He brushed his lips over hers, a light fervent kiss. “I won’t allow that.”
She blinked back tears. “Would you search for me?”
“I wouldn’t stop searching until I found you.” His eyes flashed. “I’d hunt Marowit to the ends of the universe and retrieve you.”
She gazed at her big mate, speechless with admiration, with wonder.
If she was taken, he’d look for her. She wouldn’t merely be another faceless being disappearing in the universe, unnoticed and unnecessary, as she had been that first time.
She’d be missed.
“When I found you, he’d die. I would crush his skull under my boots.” Balvan said that with a thrilling vehemence.
“I’d like that.” She smiled at him.
“You’re perfect for me, little female.” He held her against his chest. “I—”
Orol cleared his throat.
Elyce glanced at him. Her face heated.
The chamber was silent and every being stared at them. The warriors, Balvan’s brethren, must have been listening to their mushy words.
“Have you changed your minds about Elyce being the distraction?” Orol asked, his expression telling her he hoped that offer remained open.
There must be no other solid options.
She looked at Balvan.
He nodded, his lips grimly set.
“We haven’t changed our minds.” She answered for both of them. “I’ll be your distraction.”
She’d face her abductor. She’d do that for the girl, for her new friends at the Refuge, but most of all, she’d do that for Balvan, the male she loved.
This planet rotation, either Marowit would die or she would.
This would end.