THE HUNTER’S MATE

Book 5: Iriduan Test Subjects

By Susan Trombley
Copyright © 2019 by Susan Trombley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any
means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the
written permission of the author.

Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents,
organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Illustration for character by Sammi Griffin.

Awesome book cover design by Naomi Lucas and Cameron Kamenicky
Hunter before metamorphosis
 Chapter 1
On the way to Tirel’s Rescue

Ixceramenops didn’t understand these strange creatures called

humans. Currently, he had two of them wandering loose around his ship,
shedding long, keratinous fibers and body cells all over the organic floors
that had to be cleared away by the ship mites. Granted, his unstable
companion, Halian, shed equally as much, but he didn’t leave a scent
behind in the wake of his passage through the ship that was nearly as
distracting as the females. Particularly the one called Tarin.
If Ixcera was affected by human female pheromones, he might be
worried, but the fact that he wasn’t made it safe for him to occupy his own
ship with the human females without wearing a filtering helmet. Even if he
considered wearing one to reduce the strain on his antennae as they
constantly quested for Tarin’s scent.
She intrigued him for some reason that he couldn’t put a name to,
but it didn’t seem that he was the only one affected. Halian also appeared to
follow her with his gaze at times, though there was something calculating in
the other male’s attention that unnerved Ixcera, making him feel aggressive
and defensive—like he wanted to strike down the other male, even though
Halian’s assistance could mean everything to him. It could bring him the
freedom he had craved and fought so long to gain.
Halian had a habit of being unnerving, changing rapidly from one
state of mind to another, his alterations so profound that they even affected
his physical appearance and scent. Fortunately, that made it possible for
Ixcera to recognize the danger when Halian switched into a more dangerous
persona, one that lacked any mercy. That persona was less than pleased at
how well Ixcera detected its arrival, but like Ixcera, Halian and all his
aspects needed to remain in this partnership. At least, until their mutual
goals were met.
Ixcera wanted all of them off his ship so he could go back to his
isolated life, though he did find something comforting in the presence of
others. His kind were meant to be a part of a vast colony, as he had been at
one point—before he’d been ejected to seek a queen to breed. It was one
thing to be surrounded by the colony in a mound—knowing how to
communicate with them and what they expected of him. It was quite
another to have three alien beings on his ship staring at him like he was the
odd one. At least, two of them did. If Halian had ever felt any concern at
Ixcera’s appearance, he didn’t show it.
“Oh, shit! You startled me!”
The voice caused his antennae to strain towards the owner of it, as
they always did when Tarin was nearby, though he didn’t touch her.
“I was standing still,” he said, knowing his translator would
communicate his meaning to her, despite the complicated and
incomprehensible sounds of her language. “You were the one that came
upon me unexpectedly.”
She nodded, her throat bobbing in a swallow that looked clumsy and
awkward on the pale, soft flesh of her neck. “I know. Sorry about that. I just
wasn’t expecting anyone to be in this part of the ship.” She twisted her
hands together in front of her, but not enough that he didn’t notice that they
were shaking.
She always had a wide-eyed, panicked look when she saw him, not
that it surprised him. He was accustomed to earning sideways looks of fear.
His species was well-known in the galaxy, though few truly understood
them.
“It is my ship. Is there any reason I shouldn’t be in this part of it?”
Her eyes widened further, showing gleaming white around the green
circles that made up her strange orbs, and tiny red lines that he suspected
were veins. “No, I didn’t mean that! I just… I was exploring, and trying to
avoid-uh, just trying to see the sights, ya know.” She released her death grip
on her own hands, which had turned very pale, as if the alien blood that
flowed through them had been cut off. Then she swung them back and
forth, before clasping them behind her back, looking around at her
surroundings as if she were deeply interested in the mucous-coated walls of
the ship.
Clearly, he made her very uncomfortable. She had a similar effect
on him, though it wasn’t because he feared her. She posed no threat to him
with her soft, round body, weak claws, and flat teeth. His ship’s scanners
had not detected any sign of mechanical modification like Halian’s nanites
that would give her an advantage against him.
His discomfort around her had more to do with the way her scent
drew him in and the way she made him curious about things he was better
off leaving alone. He’d traveled the galaxy long enough to know when
something—or someone—should be avoided. His sense of survival was
highly developed and had allowed him to remain free for many decades
since he’d left his home colony. He’d never allowed his intense curiosity to
put him in enough danger to threaten that freedom before.
His fixed stare seemed to make her even more nervous, though only
one of his eyes still worked because of an earlier attack from another human
female. As he watched her closely, moisture leaked from the tiny holes of
her skin, just begging for his antennae to brush against them and taste that
strange fluid. Like everything about her, it made him curious.
“Listen,” she took a step backwards, “I should probably go back and
check on Theresa, make sure she’s hanging in there.”
Ixcera cocked his head, his mandibles twitching as his mind tried to
work out her meaning. “Why is she ‘hanging’? There is no need to avoid
the floor of my ship. The mites will not bother you.”
Her malleable, fleshy face twisted up in an expression he’d come to
associate with disgust, which was ironically what the expression itself
usually made him feel as all that flesh folded and wriggled in bizarre and
unpleasant ways. Creatures covered in skin usually made him shudder a
little as he watched it move and contort with their motion. With Tarin, it
wasn’t nearly as bad to watch the expressions play across her alien features.
“Ugh! The mites!” She glanced around as if she could see one of the
oval-shaped, six-legged debris cleaners coming down the corridor.
She’d reacted badly to them when she’d first stepped onto his ship
and had seen them. Right before she’d seen him and had screamed aloud,
then fanned her face with her hand as it turned bright red.
Now, her eyes were less rounded by her fear, but she still shook her
head. “Please tell me there aren’t any of those tick things crawling around
here.”
Since they were usually following in the footsteps of the shedders
like her and her friend and Halian, there were probably some nearby, but
Ixcera figured that wouldn’t be comforting for her to know, so he answered
with a negative, having no problem with lying when it served a useful
purpose.
In this case, it helped to relax her, or at least appeared to, as her
shoulders slumped and a large breath sighed out of her gruesome wormy
mouth.
“So…,” she said on a long note, eyeing him through the keratinous
fibers around her eyes, “this isn’t awkward, or anything.”
“It seems quite awkward. You are not required to be in my
presence.” He would prefer it if she would walk away already, since he
seemed to have a difficult time doing so.
He couldn’t even remember what he’d been about to do when she’d
come along and captured all his attention.
She held up both hands in front of her, and Ixcera took a step back,
his abdomen arcing forwards as his stinger poked out, ready to shoot it at
her if she attacked.
“Oh, no, I didn’t… Eep!” Her gaze fell on the lethal stinger that
protruded from the end of his abdomen as it pointed at her from between his
legs. “Good god! Put that thing away before someone gets hurt!”
“Why are you raising your hands to me, human?”
She quickly dropped her hands, shaking her head as she backed
away. “I was just trying to make a harmless gesture. Please, don’t stab me
with that thing!”
Her fear hung palpably in the corridor, and his antennae went wild
in their struggle to touch her. To reassure her, or himself, he wasn’t certain,
and that made him angry at these odd urges that made no sense to him. Yet,
he also regretted causing her distress over a miscommunication. He relaxed
his abdomen, reminding himself that not every human female carried a
hidden dagger waiting to plunge into his eye.
“I will not harm you, if you don’t intend any harm to me.”
She snorted as she backed away. “As if I could hurt you!”
He lifted a hand to touch the patch that covered one eye. “This was
done by a human female. I had made the mistake of dropping my guard
with her. I do not intend to do so again.”
Tarin paused in her retreat, tilting her head to the side as if to give
herself a better angle as she studied his patch. “You mean it was a human
woman that got the drop on you? That’s pretty impressive. She must have
been a real badass.”
Ixcera gnashed his mandibles, irritated by her admiration for the
woman who’d injured him, though he’d felt a bit of admiration himself for
that same woman after he’d recovered from the pain of her attack. He could
respect the courage and initiative it had taken to plunge that dagger into
him, even as he’d been angry about it.
“Do not attempt to emulate her actions. She didn’t fare well from
them, nor will you.”
He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d had to retreat from the field
after injecting the other female with his venom, since Halian had arrived
with a platoon of Akrellian soldiers just looking for a fight. Ixcera had been
too injured and outnumbered to give them that fight.
He’d escaped from that situation in one piece, leaving the planet of
Iridua while the Iriduans were too distracted by Nahash’s rampage on their
capital city.
“Wow, nothing like threats to break the ice, eh?”
He looked around for ice, wondering if the ship’s temperature
regulator was failing again. The last time had been a dangerous time for his
ship, but he’d managed to heal it after an emergency landing that allowed
the regulator organ to regenerate planetside.
“Breaking it will do no good. We must melt it and repair any
damage before it begins to threaten life support. Show me where you’ve
detected it.”
Her eyes widened again, making the skin that covered the internal
skeleton of her body fold in a way that elicited a small shudder from him.
“What the heck… wait, you thought I meant literal ice. Ooh.” For some
reason, she smacked her forehead, and he wondered if she was trying to
dislodge the folds of skin. It appeared to work, because they smoothed out
again.
“Duh!” The sound didn’t translate at all.
“I keep forgetting that you’re an alien and you don’t understand
human sayings.” She shook her head, eyeing him from his feet to his head,
her gaze snagging for a moment on his mandibles as her body quivered, in
what he suspected was the same shudder of disgust that he felt at the sight
of her skin creasing. “Hard to believe I could overlook that, eh? Still, these
translators make it possible to communicate, but then also make me forget
that not everything comes across the same way. For the record, I didn’t see
any ice around the ship. It’s just an expression we humans use that means
‘getting to know someone by breaking through that initial social
awkwardness.’”
Now he thought he understood a bit better, though he was still
wondering what ice had to do with getting to know someone. “We just
touch someone to learn about them.”
Her face contorted again, though this time she bared her teeth. “That
would sound way sexier coming from a different alien, no offense.”
His antennae dipped towards her, weaving in the air in front of him
as her gaze fixed on them. “What is the meaning of this word you use?” He
attempted to replicate the sounds that formed it, but failed.
Her teeth-baring expression widened as she kept her gaze fixed on
his moving antennae. “What word? Sexier? Oh man, I hope I don’t have to
explain that one to you.”
He wanted to know what it meant, because there was no definition
in his translator for the word. It could be because the secondhand translation
was faulty, as it was translating the human’s language to Iriduan, before
then translating it to Menops. Ixcera had learned to understand over ten
languages fluently without needing a translator, but those were mostly used
on the CivilRim. To communicate with the Iriduans and the humans, he
required the translator his Iriduan employers had given him.
“I would like to know the meaning of the word, so that I might
update my translator for future reference.”
Bright red bloomed across the skin of her face as she stared at him,
her teeth no longer widely bared. “Well, this just got even more awkward. I
never thought I’d have to have a ‘birds and the bees’ discussion with a giant
ant.”
Ixcera was now even more confused. Again, some of her words
failed to translate, and because of that, he couldn’t even express them back
to her to gain clarification. There was no way to form the sounds with his
body that she made for those words.
She watched his antennae flail in frustration as he wanted to just
touch her with them and slide them all over her body to read the chemical
signals she put out, in the hopes that he could gain clarity about her. Aliens
rarely allowed such things, so Ixcera had trained himself to read their body
movements with his eyes—now just the one—and listen to the vibration of
their speech to pick up their tone, yet the best method to understanding
them was still touch.
“Okay,” she said, her head fibers swinging from the bundle she had
them in at the back of her head as she shook it from one side to the other.
“Sexy means someone is attractive to you, like you want to mate with them.
Does that translate?”
“That is not the word you used.”
Her eyes rolled in an alarming and disgusting way that made him
worry they were going to fall into the back of her skull. “Sexier is a version
of sexy. It means, more sexy.”
He pondered her words. “Does this word mean that the other
person’s pheromones have captured you?”
She lifted a hand to rub her forehead. “No, it’s… phew, you guys are
weird. It means you like the way someone looks—they appeal to you and
you want to have sex with them.”
This time, Ixcera suspected he understand the point of her words,
recalling that not every alien was enslaved by a pheromone response like
the Menops and the Iriduans. Some actually chose their mates, though the
very idea seemed strange to him. “So pheromones do not play a part in this
word?”
She appeared to consider that for a moment, her brow crinkling as
the two fibrous portions of it inched closer together over the beaky bridge
of her breathing orifice. “I dunno. Maybe they play some part, but we’re not
like the Iriduans. We aren’t enslaved by it.” She cast him a look that he
suspected was sympathetic, but he still wasn’t certain how to read human
faces. “What about you guys? Do you get enslaved by pheromones?”
“It is why I am aiding Halian in his ventures. He has found a cure
for the imprinting, but it is only temporary at the moment, and he only
shares it sparingly. I will not gain the full cure until he achieves his goals.
Until then, any unmated Menops queen I come across could still capture me
with her pheromones and lure me into mating with her. Then, I will no
longer be free, and I will have served the only purpose a male Menops has.
There will be no point in living anymore. But I do not wish to die yet.”
 Her gaze softened as did the line of her mouth as she stared at him.
“I’m so sorry. That totally sucks! Wait… that’s just a saying. I have no idea
how that translates, but do not take that the wrong way.”
He didn’t know how she thought he would take the words, but they
had confused him. It didn’t matter. He hadn’t intended to share that
information with her, but for some reason, he just couldn’t help himself
from talking to her. He felt an odd sense of enjoyment when she was
around, and he realized that he’d been isolated from other lifeforms besides
his ship for too long. He was a social creature and required some
interaction, and his ship could only offer so much comfort, focused as it
was on navigating the vacuum of space.
“I will not take it any way, but I appreciate the sympathy you have
expressed, though it makes little difference. I cannot change what my body
does until Halian completes his plans.”
Her eyes brightened a bit whenever he mentioned the name of the
Iriduan, and he wondered at that, and at the way her entire body grew alert.
“It sounds like Halian has us all dancing to his tune. I just wonder how
many of his ‘plans’ are to our benefit.” She sighed. “He is sexy, though. I
suppose that’s one upside of having him around. I can use the eye candy. At
least it doesn’t kill my diet.”
Ixcera had nothing to say to that, since he only understood about a
handful of her words.
 Chapter 2
Tarin explored the ship every chance she got. Theresa wasn’t
inclined to do so, and spent the majority of her time in her hammock in
their “cabin.” It was really just an abscess in the membranous walls of the
ship that gave them an alcove of privacy for sleeping—or in Theresa’s case,
sitting there fretting about Tirel.
Tarin spent as much time with Theresa as possible trying to keep her
from growing too anxious and worried, but there was only so much she
could do for Theresa. Eventually, Theresa would wave her away and
disappear inside her own head to ponder her worries and fears alone. After
spending so much time together for the past five years, Tarin had learned
when to leave Theresa to her thoughts.
She used that alone time to her advantage and wandered around the
ship that gave Theresa the creeps, but fascinated her. Watching the veins
pump fluid through the translucent membranes and feeling the floor pulse
beneath her feet with each beat of the ship’s heart was something to
experience. Something she never would have experienced if she’d stayed
back on Earth.
She hadn’t even hesitated to jump planet with Theresa and the
Iriduan who’d tracked them down. She would miss her family dearly, but
she’d never felt quite like she fit in with the rest of them. They were too
patient, too understanding—too damned perfect to “get” her. They tried so
hard that it made her feel guilty whenever they failed, so she’d spent most
of her life with them pretending she was doing great, when in reality, her
life was crumbling around her.
Her oldest brother, Gabriel, had been adopted from the foster
program like she had, and like her, he’d been nearly a teen at the time, so he
understood her the best of her family. That was why he’d been the only one
she’d ever told the truth about what had happened to her when she’d been
abducted. It was also why she called him instead of her loving parents when
she’d decided to leave Earth again with Theresa. He hadn’t been happy
about it, but he knew what her life was like on Earth, and agreed that maybe
her best future really would be out among the stars. He’d promised to take
care of coming up with a good story for her family, though Tarin suspected
there was nothing he could really say that would make them feel okay about
yet another disappearance from her.
It had been foolish for her to ever think she wanted a nice, normal
life on Earth. That had been the dream of a kid in foster care, hoping for a
forever-home and a family with summer BBQs and weekend camping trips.
Eventually, she’d gotten all those things, but they hadn’t fixed what was
broken inside her.
Maybe she could find the answers she needed on this adventure. If
not, at least she would be away from any tempting human men who would
turn out to be bad news. She picked the worst ones. It was like an anti-talent
she was born with. Instead of superpower, she’d been granted stupid-
power.
Tarin rounded a rib-like corner of the corridor she was exploring
when she nearly slammed into someone coming the other way. He smoothly
sidestepped her, moving with elegance she’d never been able to master.
Speaking of trouble, she was now face to face with it, though she
tried not to notice how good looking that face was. It didn’t seem fair that
the Iriduans were all gorgeous, given how evil most of them seemed to be.
At least, the ones she’d come into contact with.
She was still suspicious of Halian too, but it was difficult not to also
be drawn to him. Something about him compelled her. It was probably his
looks, though she hated to think she was that shallow. She wished she had a
connection to a good, honorable person like Tirel, the way Theresa did—a
soul-deep connection that meant true love, and could finally put an end to
her destructive cycle of dating.
It would have been nice if Halian, being an Iriduan, had instantly
imprinted on her and became her wholly devoted and loyal mate—one that
would never lay a hand on her in anger. Unfortunately, it figured the only
Iriduan male to expose himself to them didn’t suffer from the imprinting
problem. Somehow, Halian had found a cure—one he was apparently
holding over Hunter’s head.
That reminder of Halian’s mercenary callousness irritated her
enough to get her wits about her as she eyed him with suspicion. He
watched her with an unreadable look on his handsome face, as if waiting for
her to apologize for nearly walking into him.
“Looks like we narrowly avoided a head-on collision,” she said,
glancing over her shoulder at the path she’d taken down the corridor.
“Where you going? Only thing back that way is our sorta cabin.”
Halian’s eyes narrowed slightly, but other than that, his expression
didn’t change. “I don’t have to answer to you, woman. This is not your ship.
You are only temporary passengers here.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, noting with disappointment
that his eyes remained fixed on her face and didn’t even lower to take in the
enhanced cleavage that move usually caused. Not that she was trying to
attract him or anything. He probably wouldn’t give a girl like her the time
of day, if she hadn’t ended up on a ship with him. She still wasn’t sure he’d
give her the time of day, even now.
“Since that area is where Terry and I are staying, I think I have a
right to know if you plan on invading our privacy.”
Halian made an impatient growling sound that raised the hairs on
the back of her neck, yet also gave her goosebumps because it sounded
sexy. Realizing her fascination with him made her aware she was already in
trouble with this alien. She should have been working harder to avoid him
as much as she tried to avoid Hunter. Of course, she’d been unsuccessful
avoiding them both completely.
“There are other passages through this ship that will only open for
me. I was heading in the direction of one when you decided to block my
path.” He dismissed her with the wave of one hand. “Now, if you’ll move
aside, I’ll be on my way.”
After a long, suspicious glare, Tarin decided that Halian was
probably telling the truth about inaccessible pathways. She’d probably
passed by some without even being aware of them. The ship had all kinds
of strange parts, so if some of the walls opened up only for certain
passengers, then it wouldn’t surprise her.
She stepped to the side so he could pass her without touching her.
“Strut on by then, Mr. Fancy Pants. I wouldn’t want to interfere with your
mysterious business.”
He shook his head at her words, giving her an impatient look before
striding past her. She followed the progression of his tall, leanly muscled
body around the corner with her gaze, until he glanced over his shoulder
and caught her staring at his ass.
“Nice wings you’ve got there,” she said quickly, jerking her gaze
away from the unfairly perfect backside the alien had.
His wings flicked as if in acknowledgment as her cheeks heated
from his continued regard. After the silence stretched to an uncomfortable
point, he finally responded. “Thank you. They’re better than what I started
with.”
Then he turned away from her again, and she wondered if there
wasn’t just a touch more swagger in his step as he disappeared around the
corner.
She fanned her face, trying to cool off the redness that burned her
cheeks as she continued on her exploration, hoping she hadn’t been wrong
in assuming Halian wasn’t heading towards their alcove to harass Theresa
in some way. She strongly debated following him, before deciding he might
misinterpret her interest.
After a long time exploring the ship, dodging the stomach-churning
mites that occasionally crawled out of folds in the wall membranes, she
figured she’d seen everything the ship would allow her to see, though it
seemed to change its corridors from the last time she’d walked through
them.
That change ended up getting her lost, which was how she came
across the one alien on the ship she tried to avoid the most.
She’d mostly gotten over her fear that Hunter would tear her to
pieces with those serrated mandibles and stuff her ragged corpse meat into
that sideways slit of a mouth, all while watching with that single, cold
insectoid eye of his.
Mostly.
He’d nearly stung her just because she’d raised her hands in front of
her. He wasn’t exactly the calmest giant, antlike bug she’d ever met. Well,
he was the first giant, antlike bug she’d ever met, and she hoped he’d be the
last. Thrax had been more scorpion-like, and he hadn’t been all that calm or
reassuring either, at first. Claire had mellowed him in some ways.
After the exposure to Halian’s gorgeous appearance, seeing Hunter
was like a dash of ice water to her eyes. She concealed her shudder of
revulsion, because she didn’t want him to get angry about it, but she tried to
pretend she didn’t see him and continued down the corridor. To be fair,
Hunter never seemed all that happy to see her either. Though his antennae
were always stretching in her direction—but they did that to all the girls.
“That part of the ship does not hold anything of interest to a
human,” Hunter said as she made the awkward effort to pass the giant
insectoid while pretending she couldn’t see him.
She sighed internally, pausing because her adopted parents had
taught her manners and she didn’t want to be outright rude to the owner of
this ship she was trapped on. Besides, she didn’t want him to throw her out
of the airlock or something equally terrible.
“Actually, the whole ship interests me. I’ve never seen anything like
this before.” She waved vaguely at the walls that pulsed softly around them,
making the corridor feel a little too cozy with him in it. He took up too
much space with all that dark red exoskeleton and those wavy antennae.
“If you had seen anything like it before, you would not have
survived to speak of it.”
She crossed her arms under her breasts, noting that his head shifted
so his one eye could look down at the bulging flesh of her cleavage. His
reaction was to visibly shudder, the back of his exoskeleton rattling in a
way that made her think it wasn’t a solid piece but more of a split shell like
a beetle’s. The hint of wing that poked out before sliding back under the
shell gave extra proof of that theory. When it stopped moving, it appeared
seamless.
“You are a real charmer, you know that.”
His antennae quivered, jerking towards her in a way that made her
take a nervous step backwards, which caused them to pull back towards his
face. He dragged one through his mandibles almost absently, the way she
might toy with her hair during a conversation. Though perhaps there was
more purpose to his action.
“I don’t know what this word ‘charmer’ means in this context. My
translator is not providing an explanation.”
Tarin sighed, lowering her hands to her sides so his insectoid black
eye returned to watching her face, not that it seemed to please him any more
than the rest of her. At least they were in agreement on how repulsive they
found each other. It would have been terrible if Hunter had been vulnerable
to imprinting with a human and had done so on her. There was no way she
could ever look at someone like him and think of romance.
“Look, I’m no Webster’s Dictionary—or even the Urban Dictionary
—so I’m not guaranteeing the accuracy of my definitions here, but I get it.
You’re confused by my sayings. Don’t you guys have slang too? Why
haven’t I heard you say anything that has confused me?”
His antenna popped up as his mandibles released it. “I have said
many things you have not even responded to. I assumed that was because
they confused you. Perhaps they did not even translate. The Iriduans that
made my translator were not concerned with understanding the nuance of
our language.”
She grinned. “So you’ve probably been talking all kinds of trash,
and I’ve been oblivious to it, eh? Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Why would I speak of debris?”
Her smile widened, and she almost forgot that she found Hunter
hideous. Despite what he looked like, there was something a bit charming
about him—probably because he was so clueless about humans, but also
obviously curious. “It’s another saying. I meant you were probably saying
all kinds of bad things about me that I didn’t understand.”
His antennae waved in the air slowly. “I do find all your skin
disgusting, but this is not something I would speak of directly to you.”
Tarin laughed aloud, shaking her head. “Except for just now? You’re
a trip, Hunter.”
“There are multiple translations for—”
She held up a hand to stop him, then remembered how quick he’d
been before to bring out the stinger when her hands moved in his direction.
She lowered it slowly back to her side, though this time, he only regarded it
with what she’d have to assume was curiosity, given the unreadable nature
of his face.
“That just means that you crack me up with the things you say.”
The two sides of his back shell split open to reveal filmy translucent
wings that twitched and slid along his back as his antennae waved towards
her more frantically. “I do not see any sign of a fissure on you. Is this
‘crack’ at some hidden point of your body?” Another visible shudder
accompanied this question as his head moved so his eye could take in her
form from her head to her feet.
 “Let’s just not talk about my covered fissures,” she said, holding
back a laugh.
“If my words are the cause of them, then it is perhaps best if we no
longer speak.”
Her smile faded as she stared at him. “That almost sounds like
you’re concerned about me, Hunter.”
“You are a passenger on my ship. It is my job to ensure you are
delivered to your destination alive and in good health. This I have promised
Halian.”
A sigh escaped her as she shook her head. “Well, at least you’re a
mercenary on my side.”
He was silent in response to this, so Tarin stared at him curiously,
wondering what she’d said to offend him. He didn’t make an aggressive
move towards her and even tucked his wings back beneath his shell. She
was surprised at how neatly they folded up inside it.
After the pause stretched out too long for her to bear she crossed her
arms again. “I didn’t mean to say anything rude. I don’t have anything
against people doing the job they’re paid to do.”
He remained silent, staring at her while his constantly moving
antennae gave her the only clue that he was still alive, though she couldn’t
read anything about his mood in their motions.
“Look, I’m sorry I offended you, okay. Can you just… say
something? Tell me what I need to do to apologize?”
“I do not wish to further the fissures that my words have caused in
your body by speaking any more of them.”
Tarin smacked a hand to her forehead, causing Hunter to take a step
back, even while his huge abdomen curved forwards, arching until the end
was between his legs.
“Dude, relax!” she gasped, slowly lowering her hand as she watched
him warily. “You are way too jumpy.”
“Eye,” he said, pointing to it with one three-fingered hand. “I’d
rather not lose the other one to an overexcited alien female.”
She was about to crack a joke about that as his abdomen relaxed,
when she cut off her own words, realizing that Hunter had been traumatized
by the loss of that eye, and there was nothing funny about that.
 He might look like a giant insect, but she’d already seen hints that
he wasn’t without emotion. She needed to remember that, because it was
too easy to allow his appearance to dictate the way she treated him, and that
was a terrible thing to do.
Even if she couldn’t put the ant thing out of her head completely.
She’d sat on an anthill when she was little, playing in the park while her
mother shot up with drugs behind some bushes with her friends. The ants
had swarmed Tarin completely, sending her screaming and running in no
particular direction. Someone walking a dog had caught her before she’d
run into traffic, wildly slapping her arms and legs to get the ants off. Her
mother hadn’t even been aware enough to respond to that terrorizing
experience that remained with her, even after all these years.
That wasn’t the only reason bugs scared and repulsed her. At least
Hunter didn’t look like a giant cockroach. That would be a nightmare
appearance she couldn’t overcome.
With a heavy sigh, she carefully tried to explain the “crack me up”
comment, though by the end of her explanation, she still didn’t think Hunter
got it. She wondered what kind of comments his people made to each other
in terms of slang. He was an interesting alien, even if he did have
nightmare-inducing looks. She wouldn’t mind learning more about him.
 Chapter 3
Ixcera made a concerted effort to avoid the human females after his
latest run-in with Tarin. She said the strangest things that caused too much
confusion, and she was far too animated in her movements, which made
him nervous. Plus, she had all that flesh, just bulging and jiggling in a way
that sickened his stomachs.
There was nothing that should appeal to him about her, but she was
still interesting, which was one major reason why he was avoiding her. It
was just better for both of them to stay away from each other.
Halian did not appear to have the same determination to avoid that
particular female, and it made Ixcera even more curious.
And also strangely defensive.
Not long after the humans had boarded their ship, he came across
Halian sitting in the medical bay, blood seeping from his nostrils and ears,
staring thoughtfully at the entrance membrane.
“Did your nanites malfunction again?” he asked the Iriduan, noting
the damage, and also noting that Halian now appeared fine.
The other male nodded, though his gaze never left the membrane
that led out into the corridor. “It was only a minor glitch. Easy enough to
repair.”
This news sent hope through Ixcera. If Halian could repair all the
glitches in his nanites, then they could be injected into Ixcera to rewrite his
imprinting genes. Then he wouldn’t be reliant on Halian’s stopgap solution,
which involved a serum injection with inhibitors that blocked the
imprinting response to female pheromones—but only had a temporary
effect.
Of course, Halian would probably still withhold that nanite
treatment until Ixcera helped him achieve his goals. Unfortunately, Halian
wouldn’t share the full extent of his plans with Ixcera.
“What do you think of the human females?” Halian asked, finally
shifting his gaze to Ixcera.
 Ixcera noted that Halian’s current aspect was the least deadly of
them—a more thoughtful, hesitant creature, one less inclined towards
violence than the other two that Ixcera could detect. This aspect preferred to
be called Halian—and swore he was the only one, either oblivious of the
presence of the others, or wishing to deny their existence.
“They are… interesting.”
Prior to having them on his ship, Ixcera never would have bothered
interacting with a human. He’d encountered some on the Rim being held as
slaves, but they’d been of no interest to him then, any more than any other
Rim slaves.
Now, he knew the location of Earth, and also knew that if he failed
to remain free of a queen’s influence, he would have no willpower of his
own to do anything other than willingly hand over that location for her to
colonize a new world. For humanity’s sake as well as his own, he had to
remain free. Not that anyone else’s problems had ever dictated his
decisions. He was completely focused on his own survival and freedom.
Or he had been. Until he’d begun to concern himself with the safety
of these humans on his ship.
“I think Tarin is… kind,” Halian said in a distant tone. “It is an
unusual thing for a female, isn’t it? Kindness?”
He hadn’t noticed any particular kindness towards himself from
Tarin, but recognized her compassion for her friend. It didn’t surprise him
that she would extend that to Halian, who didn’t look all that different from
her own species. He supposed the females of alien species weren’t all as
cold and calculating as the female Menops and Iriduans. If they didn’t mate
through pheromone compulsion, then the females might need to be more
appealing in other ways to capture their mates.
Ixcera figured kindness might be appealing to some males. It
seemed to be something that intrigued Halian.
“I choose to stay away from the human females,” Ixcera said,
hoping he would not be required by Halian’s mysterious plans to do
otherwise.
A sudden shift in Halian’s expression and demeanor told Ixcera a
new facet of Halian’s nature had taken control. This one was intense, driven
towards some unseen, secret goal.
 “It might be useful for you to show the females a bit more
friendliness. I have a plan in which you’ll play a big role. I don’t think
you’ll like the details of it, but do not doubt my ability to put this plan into
action and see the end result. By the time we are finished here, we will not
only have the queen as our captive, we’ll free Tirel along with the cure, and
see if we can finally find a way to get the Akrellians to allow you onto their
homeworld.”
This new version of Halian that referred to itself as High Lord Enki
smiled a grim smile. His pupils glowed green with some kind of inner light.
“Entertain the females as much as you are able, so that they will trust you. I
assure you, they won’t trust me, but we can use that to our advantage.
When the time comes, do exactly as I say. Follow the plan, and everything
will go perfectly. Deviate from it, and you could send us all to the Void.”

********

After a warning like that, Ixcera made a few more attempts at

conversation with Theresa and Tarin. Theresa was kinder in her speech and
seemed genuinely concerned about him. Though his appearance still clearly
bothered her, she hid it well, for the most part.
Tarin was a tougher one for him to be around, since she seemed far
more interested in running into Halian than bumping into Ixcera. He
suspected that either High Lord Enki or the Assassin were the ones in
control as they stalked Tarin through the ship’s corridors. Though it was the
one who still went by the name Halian that seemed to be the most genuinely
interested in the human female.
Ixcera decided after one too many run-ins with Tarin, where they
were barely able to communicate because of her manner of speaking in
human “expressions” that didn’t translate, that he was done trying to
befriend her. It was true that he found her fascinating, but with the time
approaching for Halian’s plan to go into effect, it was probably best that
they weren’t great friends anyway. Not that he’d ever had anything like that
before to compare it to the definition Tarin had attempted to give him.
One thing he did see happen between Tarin and Halian was the odd
mating ritual where they at first looked as if they were eating each other’s
faces. They could have been sharing food from social stomachs, but they
did it so sloppily, with their wriggling lips all covered in shimmery slime
from their disgustingly wet mouths and tongues.
He didn’t think they were sharing food. In fact, the only thing that
transferred between them was the saliva from one mouth to the other, as
well as the long, snakelike tongues they jammed into each other’s mouths.
He’d witnessed mating with mouths like this before, such as when
he’d come across Nahash and his mate trapped inside the belly of a Dream
Weaver alien lifeform. It had confused him then, but he had a bit longer to
study it now, and figured it was definitely something to do with mating—
baffling as that was. Now, instead of being slightly alarmed by it, it just
grossed him out and made him thankful, for the first time in his life, that he
was a male Menops and would never have to do something like that to mate
with a Menops queen. In fact, he wouldn’t go near her head at all. Sexual
cannibalism didn’t happen anymore, generally, but it was still a possibility
one must take into account when planning the mating approach.
The time for Halian’s “betrayal” came not long after Ixcera secretly
witnessed the mouth touching between him and Tarin. Ixcera was surprised
by how upset the human females were at his “mortal” wound when they
found him with Halian’s dagger carefully placed into the scar tissue of his
eye, though it did draw enough blood to look realistic. It unnerved him that
he felt bad about this deception.
These females did not deserve to be caught up in whatever plan
Halian plotted in his fractured mind.
He played his role convincingly enough to get them off the ship, and
he attributed most of his success to their already healthy mistrust of Halian.
Strangely, despite Tarin’s mating interest in the other male, she seemed to
be enraged that Halian had hurt Ixcera—as if Ixcera’s health mattered to
her.
He didn’t understand this female at all, especially when she insisted
on tending his wound as if she were an expert in such an area. Indeed, she
did a passable job, and it might have been useful, if the knife had done any
serious damage.
Then she continued to show her compassion when she demanded
that she remain with him while Theresa went in search for Tirel. That
hadn’t been Ixcera’s plan at all, but he couldn’t argue with her without
raising suspicions, so he went along with their plans, including Tirel’s once
he joined them, until he found the opportunity to escape them.
Bidding farewell to Tarin was the hardest for him to do, and he
almost stayed behind and confessed to whole story to her in an
uncharacteristic moment of guilt at his deception. Yet he kept in mind what
Halian could do for him, and he kept silent and went for the queen, leaving
the group behind to believe he was going to destroy the Menops queen.
Halian had other plans for her.
 Chapter 4
Approximately one year later

Tarin spent every day training with the young males of the
Shadowtouch tribe. They taught her how to survive in the wilderness that
surrounded the tribal lands, where to find the best sheltering caves, how to
harvest the cleanest, safest water to drink, and how to hunt and forage for
her food.
They also taught her how to fight, though they’d had to modify their
attacks and defense strategy to accommodate her physiology, since their
scaled, naturally armored body and quills were advantages Tarin didn’t
have.
At first, Tarin had begged them to teach her because she’d had a
burning desire for vengeance that had been tearing her apart inside. Now
time had passed, and the peace of the Shadowtouch valley and its residents
had begun to seep into her heart. Even so, she still continued with her
lessons, because they gave her a sense of purpose and fulfillment.
Not that she’d completely given up on the need for vengeance.
She’d been used by Halian, and that had been bad enough, but the fact that
his actions had led to Hunter’s death had been the final straw that made it
impossible for her to ever forgive him. It was one thing for the men in her
life to abuse her. When she was in love, it was a stupid kind of love that
somehow found forgiveness for them, made apologies for them, and
believed that some part of them was still good and redeemable.
All that went out the window when they hurt someone else.
Someone she cared about. Oddly enough, seeing Hunter hurt had made her
realize how much she cared about the alien, despite his unnerving
appearance. Watching him bravely march off to destroy the Menops queen
and save the innocent people of the colony from a terrible invasion had
made her realize how badly she’d misjudged him, based on his looks alone.
She’d kept her distance from Hunter, too wrapped up in her fascination for
Halian and his compelling good looks and dangerously intense manner.
Now, she regretted that, wishing she’d made more of an effort to get to
know Hunter before his heartbreaking sacrifice.
She no longer needed as much supervision from her mentors, so
spent many hours alone, wandering in the alien forest that bordered the
farmlands of the tribe. During those times, when the sunlight sliced through
the thick canopy and mottled the shadowy ground, she found the most
peace, as her ears strained to listen to the sounds of life around her and
identified those that were threat, and those that were food.
She’d left Earth and a loving family and friends behind to come to
this place, and now she realized why. She needed this solitude to heal. She
needed this independence to find herself—to discover what she was truly
good at—what she was meant for. Each success in her endeavors to learn
how to survive brought her more confidence, more self-esteem, and a
greater level of fulfillment than she’d ever experienced on Earth, where
she’d been bound by a past she’d never been able to escape.
Not that she was without friends and family here. She still had
Theresa and her family, and of course, Tirel and the Shadowtouch tribe.
They had all adopted her as one of their own, and Tarin was fine with that.
She’d learned at a young age how to slip into a family and become a part of
it. Even if that sense of belonging was only temporary. After all, she
couldn’t stay here alone, in the peace of the forest, forever.
Though she wished she could.
Halian’s betrayal and her blindness to his deception still weighed on
her, keeping her from finding true peace—and also keeping her from
allowing herself to trust any other male. There were those among the
Akrellians who’d expressed interest in Tarin, but she’d always had to put
them off, demurring with excuses that she just wasn’t ready for an alien
mate. Most were understanding, and those who weren’t didn’t matter in her
life and were quickly forgotten.
The truth was more complicated. Alien or human, she’d never been
very good at choosing a mate. She had a bad tendency to fall in love quick
and hard, and her eye was always caught by the worst possible man. Her
therapist would probably have something to say about that, but Tarin had
stopped going to her when she’d left high school.
She knew what her problem was. She had the mother of all daddy
issues.
 That made it impossible for her to find a place to truly feel like she
was home, because she would never be home until she had the loving mate
she’d always wanted. The Prince Charming to sweep her up into his arms
and declare her his princess, then carry her off to his castle and never, ever,
hit her or lock her away in the basement—or steal her keys, her wallet, and
her phone, so she couldn’t leave him.
She wanted a forever-after kind of love, where she didn’t have to
watch her mate warily, waiting for that moment of tension that spoke of
impending violence. Watching as muscles moved beneath shirt fabric,
tightening, knotting—preparing.
Her biological father had terrorized her and her mother until he died
from an overdose, but Tarin had loved him, with all the love a child’s heart
could muster for her father. She’d believed him when he’d apologized, and
had delighted—even while the bruises on her body still stung—at the gifts
he’d brought her or the places he’d taken her after the storms had passed.
She’d once heard someone say that a girl’s father was the first prince to
sweep her away, though his kiss be sweet and platonic on her forehead.
Tarin had learned what a true father was supposed to be like when
she’d finally been adopted into a loving home, but she’d never been able to
let go of her love for her real dad, and her grief and pain at his death. She’d
never allowed anyone else to get so close to her as she had her real parents,
because she knew she couldn’t deal with the heartbreak they’d left in their
wake.
Some of the Akrellian males who’d come onto Tarin were ones she
might have gladly taken up on their offers, despite their alien appearance—
though technically, she was the alien on their world—but she couldn’t give
them what they really wanted. Her heart was in pieces, and she didn’t think
anything would ever mend it.
So, she walked, and she thought, and she trained for hours upon
hours a day, and though her body changed—growing harder and stronger
and leaner—her mind didn’t. There was no place anywhere in the galaxy
that felt like a forever-home to her.
Since she couldn’t truly settle, her life goal had shifted from finding
her own happily-ever-after to finding revenge—someday. She just needed
to be strong enough, and to learn enough to search for Halian—and then
fight him.
 She’d been doing work on the farm to earn money, though the
Shadowtouch tribe was willing to provide all her basic needs. She didn’t
like having to rely on charity and wanted to feel useful and independent.
The extra money she made, she squirreled away, saving for the time when
she would leave Akrellia, though she never talked about that with Theresa
or Tirel or their families.
Some of the Akrellian credits she’d earned, she’d used to build
connections to less-than-upstanding people, thanks to help from members
of the tribe who had their own problems, and addictions they tried to
conceal from their loved ones. Tarin knew all about hiding things from the
people that loved you. She was an expert at doing it—and at spotting others
who did it—so she’d known exactly who to approach that might know the
right people in the city to help her secure transport off Akrellia and out to
the CivilRim, where she wanted to hire a bounty hunter to help her find
Halian.
All of this, she did under the nose of her best friend Theresa—the
one person she’d allowed to grow close enough to her that it would destroy
Tarin if anything happened to Theresa. That was why she kept the secret
from her friend. She didn’t want Theresa to try to dissuade her from her
path, but more importantly, she didn’t want Theresa or her loving mate to
attempt to assist her. They’d already been through enough, and they had
enough on their plate dealing with their new roles in life, both as parents to
a hybrid newborn and as new leaders in the Akrellian theocracy.
Tirel wanted vengeance on Halian as much as Tarin did, but he was
finally beginning to heal from his ordeals, and Tarin didn’t want him to
return to that dark place or have to welcome the shadow of that demon back
into his dreams. He needed to let Halian go, in order to live a healthy life
with his family. She had no one depending on her. No one who needed her.
She was the perfect huntress to track Halian down and exact the vengeance
they were all owed.
Or she would be, once she was fully trained.
Her communicator beeped as she made her way stealthily through
the woods, tracking prey even though she wasn’t interested in food and had
no intention of killing it. She was just doing it for the practice, but the slight
beeping sound was enough to flush her quarry. The frightened rroculac
leaped out of a nearby bush, tentacle-mane waving wildly as the animal the
size of a jackrabbit raced off on two hugely-muscled hind legs, its upper
claws clenched so tight that the scales over the knobs of its knuckles
separated to show vulnerable, bony skin.
Tarin shook her head and shouldered her bow—which the
Akrellians had helped her craft, since she didn’t have quills on her body to
hunt. Then she swiped her fingers across the light glowing beneath her skin
on her forearm, activating the holographic projectors that showed the
communication display hovering above her arm.
“This is Tarin,” she said in response to the flashing red message, still
holding her arm up close to her face. Her Akrellian friends snickered
whenever she did so, reminding her that the device under her skin would
pick up the vibrations of sound from her voice, even if she kept her arm at
her chest level.
A three-dimensional image of Theresa’s face appeared above her
arm. “Tarin, I need you to return to the transport pad. Sriroc will be there to
bring you to the city. We’ll meet you at the spaceport.”
Tarin raised her eyebrows. “What’s this all about? We weren’t
planning a city trip. You guys said you were exhausted after our visit to
Hierabodos V.”
Theresa bit her lip. “I don’t… this isn’t something I can discuss over
this communication, but trust me, you’re going to want to be here for this
meeting.”
“What meeting? Terry, you’re killing me here with this cloak and
dagger crap. What’s going on?”
“Tare! Just get your ass on that transport, okay! You’ll be happy you
did…I think.”
Theresa said a hurried goodbye, then ended the transmission,
leaving Tarin with a ton of questions that weren’t getting answers until she
obeyed Theresa’s request. Ever since Theresa and Tirel had joined the
Akrellian government troupe, they were cagier about information, keeping
secrets out of necessity, but Tarin knew Theresa didn’t like it.
Still, Tarin was on the outside, looking in. She couldn’t expect
Theresa to share classified information.
That made this situation even more curious. She had no idea what
type of meeting would involve her, and would necessitate dragging her into
the city.
 Now was as good as any time to find out. It wasn’t like she needed
to dress for the occasion. She had no one to impress.
 Chapter 5
Theresa hugged Tarin hard when she arrived at the sprawling
spaceport that had its massive space elevator retracted at the moment. The
port was busy as always, but the military wing was oddly empty. At least it
was at the reception area where Theresa met her, nearly bouncing on her
heels with eagerness to get moving.
“What is this all about,” Tarin whispered in her ear as they hugged.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Theresa said in a tone that
suggested she was both excited and nervous.
Tarin glanced at their escort, which consisted of several Akrellian
warriors armed to the teeth. “Am I being arrested?”
Theresa laughed and shook her head. “You know we always have an
armed escort now, but these guys are more alert for another reason
altogether.” Her gaze took in Tarin’s appearance as she stepped back to get
a good look at her. After a thorough perusal, she shook her head with a
small smile. “Nice hunting leathers, girl. You’re looking good in them, but I
was hoping you’d dress a bit more formal.”
Now Tarin was really curious, as if the ride to the city hadn’t been
an agony of expectation all on its own. “Come on! After your earlier
mystery message, you think I’m going to stop at my place to wedge my butt
into a fancy dress? We really need to get those Lusians to give us teleporters
if you’re going to do stuff like this to me.” She propped one hand on her
hip. “Besides, I don’t recall you saying I had to dress for the occasion. And
right now, if you don’t explain yourself, my head is going to pop open with
all the crazy theories filling it, and then your fancy dress will be all covered
in brain bits.”
Theresa grinned and grabbed Tarin’s hand. “I can’t wait any longer!
Besides, I don’t think he’ll care about the stained hunting garb.”
“He?” Tarin had a sneaking suspicion now that she knew what this
meeting was about. After all, they were in the military area of the spaceport,
and that usually meant high security was required, which meant classified
visitors or dangerous visitors. Tirel had brought Theresa here to meet her
family when they’d been transported to Akrellia to relocate.
“Oh, god, did you guys somehow convince Gabe to move to
Akrellia?”
He was the only person in Tarin’s family who actually knew she’d
been abducted by aliens, so he would be the only one they would approach
about moving here. At least, that was how she thought it worked. She
wasn’t exactly sure what rules the Lusians followed—if any.
As much as she would love to see her brother again, she didn’t think
moving to Akrellia would be a good choice for him. Sure, the future of
Earth was up in the air, but Gabe was a Cubs fan and would never get to
watch the game again. Besides, he was far happier in his life on Earth than
Tarin had been.
By this time, Theresa was dragging her through the reception area
and deeper into the military wing of the spaceport. Unlike a human military
installation, there was nothing austere or institutional about the Akrellian
military décor. It was all as lovely as the civilian side of the port, but the
presence of uniformed soldiers was unmistakable, as was their arms and
armor.
That presence grew thicker as they approached a series of offices,
after passing behind two security barriers where they were scanned down to
their DNA. Throughout the process, Theresa remained stubbornly silent,
only giving Tarin a negative shake of her head about Gabe being here,
which left Tarin with more questions that her best friend refused to answer.
Finally, Theresa pulled her to a stop at one office that was guarded
by two large Akrellian soldiers in full armor. They even wore their helmets,
their hands clasped around large pulse rifles.
Tarin’s mouth gaped at the display of security as one of them
nodded to Theresa, who set her fingers on the biometric reader that was part
of the door panel.
The door swung open to reveal Tirel, standing next to the nearest
chair of a long conference table. A wall of mirrors reflected the entire room
to Tarin as she followed Theresa inside, but her eye was immediately drawn
to one of the other occupants of the crowded room.
Someone she’d never expected to see again.
 Her breath gusted out of her on a shocked sigh as she shook her
head. Then she lifted her hands to rub her eyes, just in case she’d somehow
hallucinated him.
“Hunter?”
His single, black eye had already caught sight of her and was
currently fixed on her, the other eye covered again by a patch that concealed
the new damage that had been done to it by Halian’s treacherous blade.
“How is this possible?” Tarin said, her heart pounding in her chest
as a warm, lightheaded feeling washed through her. She felt on the verge of
passing out in that moment.
“He managed to escape the purge, Tarin!” Theresa said with a huge
smile, clasping Tarin’s hand in an excited squeeze. “He found an embryonic
queenship in the nest. Apparently it was mature enough to take to the sky
and allow him to get away in time.”
Tarin struggled to breathe with that one black eye fixed on her, as if
Hunter didn’t see anyone else in the room but her. As if he were waiting for
her reaction.
Her fingers and toes tingled from lack of circulation as her heart
seemed to slow down beating for a moment. “You… what the hell is a
‘queenship’ anyway?” She turned her head towards Theresa, but wasn’t
able to break away from Hunter’s gaze as she asked the question out of the
side of her mouth.
“It’s an organic ship like the one Halian stole from Hunter, only
different in some ways, I guess. Bigger when it’s fully mature. The ship was
damaged in the blast because it was too young to fully shield itself, so it put
Hunter into a long stasis and then landed on an asteroid near the colony
while it healed. That’s why he hasn’t been able to make contact with us
until now.”
“You’re alive,” Tarin whispered, turning fully to face Hunter again,
taking a few steps towards him without even realizing it, until she had to
actually skirt one of the official-looking Akrellians in the room, who
watched her with disapproving eyes, as if he didn’t think she should be
there.
Hunter broke his stare, turning his head away even as his antennae
bent towards her. His mandibles clicked together at the tips, and the slit of
his mouth moved as he made a series of sounds. A long series of sounds.
 She suspected that only a few translated.
“I have survived. I have also come to the Akrellians with important
information, and the gift of the embryonic queenship, if they will provide
me with alternate transportation.”
Theresa beamed with excitement as she joined Tarin. “This is such a
huge gift! And it’s so good to see that you’re alive, Hunter. We were
devastated by your loss.”
Hunter made a few more trilling, chirring sounds that didn’t
translate, but he refused to look at either of them, staring instead at the wall
of mirrors with his one good eye. His antennae movements slowed until
they barely twitched.
“I did not expect such a welcoming reception. It is… unnerving.”
Tarin could only stare at him, noting the hideous appearance of him
while also thinking he was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. He
hadn’t died, and that knowledge was the greatest gift he could have given
her. She’d felt so guilty—so torn apart—by his sacrifice. Now here he was,
alive and apparently well. She only wished she had known sooner, but now
was better than never.
Without thinking it through, she lunged forward, her arms out to hug
him with a cry of relief.
There were other cries around her at her sudden movement. Most of
them were in warning or distress. There were also the sounds of weapons
being readied—a low, electronic thrum as safeties were removed and the
weapons instantly charged.
Hunter must have been so stunned by her abrupt movement that he
wasn’t able to react before her arms went around him. Her cheek pressed
against the hard exoskeleton of his chest as she embraced him.
“What is happening?” he asked in squeaks and chitters, his arms
held out at his sides so the soldiers that suddenly surrounded them with
drawn weapons didn’t vaporize him.
Tarin gasped and quickly released him, stepping away from him
with a deep blush burning her cheeks. “I’m so sorry! I just reacted at seeing
you again. I’m just so… happy you’re alive!” She impatiently brushed
away a tear as her voice quivered.
“This is why civilian females should not be permitted in the war
room,” a disapproving voice said in Akrellian from behind Tarin.
 “Stuff it in your cloaca, sparse-quill,” Tarin muttered, though she
kept her eyes on Hunter as she slowly backed away from him, recalling a
little too late how twitchy he was about sudden movements.
For his part, Hunter still seemed stunned. Though his antennae were
now moving rapidly, bending this way and that as if to touch everything, the
rest of him remained dead still. Probably because she no longer served as a
shield against all the pulse weapons trained on him.
“This is the reception I expected,” he said, and added a brief trill that
Tarin’s translator simply noted as a laugh.
The room fell silent for a long, uncomfortable moment as everyone
seemed to stare at Hunter, waiting for him to do something threatening.
“That was my bad!” Tarin said, holding her hands up, drawing the
attention of the room’s occupants back to her. “I shouldn’t have lunged at
Hunter.” She smiled uncertainly at him. “Sorry about that. Good job not
bringing out the stinger this time.”
“I expect twitchiness from you now, but that did catch me by
surprise,” he said. “Is this the normal method of greeting among humans?”
The translator’s tone made his words sound calm, but she had no idea if he
really was. He still didn’t make a move, other than his antennae.
“It’s the normal greeting among friends,” she said to him, before
turning to face the armed soldiers. “Everybody, please calm down and
lower your weapons. There’s no threat here. Hunter is on our side.”
The soldiers didn’t move until one of the officials behind Tarin
impatiently ordered them to lower their weapons, making another rude
comment about civilians in the war room that Tarin ignored in her relief.
Slowly, the soldiers backed up against the walls again, their wary
eyes still fixed on Hunter.
“Are you saying we are friends?” Hunter asked, his gaze still on her,
despite all the deadly weapons in the room.
Tarin glanced back at him, splitting her attention between him and
the other occupants of the room, all of whom watched them as if they were
fascinated by the interchange.
Tarin was about to answer when Theresa spoke up. “Of course we’re
friends, Hunter. After all we’ve been through together, how could we be
anything else? I apologize for this unfortunate reception. You are welcome
here.” She glanced at Tirel, who nodded and smiled briefly. “I think this
meeting should be adjourned so we can find a more comfortable space to
talk in private. After all, you’ve been stuck in here for hours.” She shot a
glare at the other military officials. “That doesn’t seem like a very courteous
way to treat someone who came to us bearing a very generous gift.”
“We have protocols to follow, and the Menops are a hostile alien
species,” one of the officials said.
From the sound of it, he was the rude one, and since he kept talking,
she figured he was someone important, but Tirel and Theresa were in the
Elder Troupe, which made them the highest-ranking members of this
crowd. So Tarin wasn’t surprised when Theresa insisted that Hunter be
allowed to join them in another reception room—one that was far more
comfortable—and the officials had no choice but to agree to it.
For her sake, Tarin didn’t know what else to say in that moment.
Seeing Hunter alive was so shocking after the fact that she’d grieved his
loss that she was still struggling to accept it. Since that fateful, terrible day
when he’d sacrificed himself to destroy the Menops queen, allowing them
the chance to escape the overrun Iriduan colony, she’d had nightmares
about him being blown to pieces.
She’d felt personally responsible for Hunter’s death, certain there
had to be some way she could have saved him. If Hunter had his own ship
under his control, he might not have had to die that day. If only she hadn’t
been so wrapped up in Halian—so convinced there was something growing
between them—she might have been able to see that he was going to betray
them. She’d been a romantic fool as usual, and this time, someone else had
suffered for her blind heart.
She should have seen it coming, but she hadn’t.
Now, it was like she had a second chance, and she wasn’t about to
allow Hunter out of her sight again. She would watch his back like she
should have when she was on the ship with him. Being an insectoid, he
didn’t understand human body language and missed a lot in translation, so
he probably hadn’t understood Iriduan body language either. That was
undoubtedly why he’d missed the signs of Halian’s impending betrayal.
Tarin should have seen them. She understood the signs. She knew when to
spot the storm coming. She’d had a lifetime of experience seeing the
tension growing and muscles hardening before an attack.
 Hunter might be a deadly, antlike alien, but he was naïve. Even
these Akrellian officials weren’t necessarily people he could trust. Of
course, Theresa and Tirel would never allow them to betray him, but that
didn’t mean there weren’t some who would do just that if they got the
chance. After all, he was a Menops, and far too many people believed that
meant he was no better than a monster and deserved nothing less than death
—or at the very least, a spot in a xenobiology laboratory.
She wasn’t going to allow that to happen to him, and since Theresa
and Tirel were busy with their own duties and their family life, she decided
that she would become his protector while he was on Akrellia.
 Chapter 6
Ixcera was feeling something he’d never felt before. An unfamiliar
feeling that did nothing to ensure his survival and the maintenance of his
freedom. It was a terrible feeling that was nothing but a waste—if not a
danger to him.
And yet, he couldn’t help it. He felt guilty.
He was betraying the kindness of his hosts. He meant them no harm,
and Halian’s plans did not include anything that would cause any of them
damage—at least not that he was aware of—but he was still being
deceptive, and for some reason, that deception bothered him, when it never
had before.
He was being honest about the gift of the queenship, and given what
he intended to take in return, it was a great boon to the Akrellians. After all,
he was only on Akrellia for a small thing. Nothing to the Akrellians really.
At least, nothing they knew about.
The queenship was a priceless gift, one that no other species had
been able to claim and study. All of the adult Menops’ queenships died and
rapidly deteriorated if they weren’t occupied by at least one Menops
releasing pheromones at all times, making them difficult—if not entirely
impossible—to capture and study. Only a wanderer’s ship could survive the
temporary absence of its sole crewmember, and that was because it was
biologically distinct from queenships and not reliant on pheromones.
He never would have given his own ship to any other species, but he
had allowed Halian to take temporary control of it, and that felt difficult
enough. If the promise Halian had offered had been anything less than the
one thing that Ixcera wanted in the universe, he never would have allowed
the Iriduan to even go near his ship. At least the wanderer’s ship could be
mind-controlled remotely by Ixcera.
The embryonic queenship was far more basic than a fully-developed
ship, so would not give as much information to the Akrellians as they
would undoubtedly prefer. However, it was also not fully dependent on the
Menops pheromones, and wouldn’t be until it had gone through maturation,
which would never happen without the queen. It would survive in its
current form for some time yet, before it would begin to die, and that
amount of time could be extended by stasis chemicals.
The queen had not been pleased to part with an embryonic ship, but
she was now fully under Halian’s control—a fact that made Ixcera nervous.
He still wasn’t sure how Halian controlled the captive queen. It was yet
another bit of information Halian had promised in return for these small,
simple tasks he wanted Ixcera to perform—small tasks that still meant large
deceptions.
Like this deception of those who would call themselves his
“friends.” It was strange to even consider the concept of having “friends”
among the aliens. Even among his birth colony, the drones, workers, and
soldiers had not been “friends,” and the other males had kept each other at a
distance for the most part. They’d all known they would be leaving the
colony to follow the Guiding Star and would never see each other again.
He had made acquaintances in the past, but they never lasted for
long. Not just the relationships, but the aliens themselves. He lived a
dangerous life and hunted dangerous quarry. He had a tendency to survive
situations that killed others. No matter what he did to keep his team alive,
they always seemed more fragile and less adaptive to their environment.
That was why he usually worked alone, except for those difficult jobs that
required more than one body to complete.
The human females were only supposed to be acquaintances like
any other aliens he’d ever teamed up with, yet somehow, they’d become
more important to him than that—particularly Tarin. He’d spent the last
year thinking about her—pondering why she fascinated him, despite how
ugly she was with her skin and head fibers and squishy face movements.
She looked slightly different to him now, though he couldn’t really
place why. She still had all the hideous alien features that moved constantly
and unnervingly whenever she talked. It had been a year, so the changes
probably weren’t that unusual for a human. He knew little of their species
and didn’t care to learn more. Or at least, he hadn’t, until he’d met Tarin.
He didn’t like lying to her. It made him uncomfortable and anxious,
as if he was actually afraid she would discover his deception. He didn’t fear
that she would cause him physical harm if she did, because she was tiny and
fragile and soft. The very idea that she could threaten him was laughable.
That was why it shouldn’t matter to him if she figured out he was lying.
Yet, it still bothered him.
As he followed Theresa and her mate and Tarin to another room
with soft seats covered in fabric that he had no interest in using, even
though the others sat in them, he hated Halian for the position he’d forced
him into. If it was up to Ixcera, he would just ask for what he’d come here
to collect. He didn’t see why they needed to be so circumspect about it.
Though the Akrellians weren’t quick to trust an Iriduan, and were even
eyeing Ixcera as if they were prepared to kill him and almost hoped they’d
get that chance. It was possible that Halian didn’t think they’d allow him to
have what he wanted, so he’d set up this subterfuge.
Ixcera understood that some situations required subterfuge. He’d
been in many of those situations before. He’d just never been in one where
he’d had to lie to those who believed themselves his friends. It was a
strange position to be in, and one that made him second guess his own
plans, especially when Tarin watched him with her alien face almost
seeming to brighten, as if she were actually happy to see him.
That was another thing that he’d never experienced before. Having
someone greet him with true happiness. In his birth colony, there had been
mutual respect between him and the other males, and his mother-queen had
been caring about the males she produced, at least until they were ejected
for their nuptial flight after the organic beacons connecting them to the
colony were removed to keep another queen from killing them when she
sensed them nearing.
Even the drones, workers, and soldiers had been caring about their
fellow nestmates—as long as they carried that beacon. Ixcera had shared
many a meal between his social stomach and that of others in his birth
colony. He’d groomed and had been groomed by many of the others. He’d
even built a close working relationship with the workers that had helped
him grow his ship to maturity.
He’d just never had one that had been close enough to him that he
might call them friend.
“It is so good to see you again, Hunter!” Theresa said with a wide
smile after taking her seat beside her mate, settling her body close to him as
if she couldn’t bear any separation between them.
 Ixcera watched the way they clasped hands curiously, wondering if
there was something the aliens gained from such a connection—and if there
was, how it worked between two different species. He shifted his gaze from
them to Tarin, who took a different seat across from them, then patted the
one beside her, before her brow fibers drew together as she shook her head.
“You can sit beside me if you want, Hunter. That is, if you can…
uh… sit like we do.”
He didn’t sit like they did, but he was surprised by his own desire to
be close to Tarin, like Theresa was close to Tirel. He wondered if he would
gain anything from holding Tarin’s hands. Maybe it would make her face
settle into peaceful-looking lines like Theresa’s did when she held Tirel’s
hand.
He walked over to Tarin, but stopped at the side of the seat, unable
to gracefully settle the bulk of his abdomen on the seat that wasn’t designed
for someone with his anatomy. The fleshy backsides of the humans and
many of the other aliens was another thing that grossed him out. It was
usually large, though not generally as large as his abdomen, but it also
usually bulged with flesh and muscle uncontained by the comforting
smooth hardness of an exoskeleton, so when the aliens moved, especially to
sit, it looked like their bands of muscle and flesh would burst right out of
their skin sacks.
Tarin watched him uncertainly as he stood beside her seat, but he
didn’t see any fear in her eyes this time. That pleased him more than it
should. In fact, it shouldn’t matter to him that she feared him, but it did. He
didn’t want people to fear him unless it worked to his benefit, but it was
simply a fact of his species that they terrified other species in the galaxy
because of their colonization efforts. Efforts even he agreed were
devastating to the other species and had to be curtailed to keep the Menops
from being the only remaining sentient lifeform in the galaxy.
“You gave us a pretty bad scare, ant-boy,” Tarin said, her eyes
glazed over with some kind of fluid as the filmy lids that sometimes
covered them fluttered over them, closing and opening rapidly.
Ixcera preferred the name “Hunter,” especially when Tarin said it.
He’d had yet to tell anyone his real name, and the more his new “friends”
called him Hunter, the more certain he was that it should become his real
name and he should abandon the one he’d been given in his colony, because
it made him feel like maybe he was becoming part of a new colony.
“Ant-boy” was a new name that Tarin alone called him, so he liked
it too, though sometimes, he suspected she was mocking him with it.
Although he wasn’t entirely certain he was reading her tone or her
expressions correctly. If she was, she did so in a benevolent way, and not in
the way he’d seen aliens do before they made an attempt to kill him—and
then discovered his stingers and the hardness of his exoskeleton.
“I usually scare aliens, but I expected you would be accustomed to
my appearance by this point,” he said to Tarin, feeling an odd ache in his
thorax at the fact that she was still afraid of him.
Tarin’s eyes widened, showing a lot of the dead whiteness that
surrounded the colored portions of them. “What? Oh!” She held up both
hands in front of her, casting him a nervous look, then lowered them and
shook her head. “I meant the fact that we thought you were dead. It was
devastating to lose you like that.”
More guilt filled him at her words, and he realized that he never
wanted her to know the truth about what he had done. She must never know
that he’d only pretended to sacrifice himself to purge the facility, when in
truth he’d made it possible for his ship to locate the queen and pull her from
her nest while the others were distracting her with their escape.
It was only now that he looked back on his actions, and the impact
they’d had on these aliens, that he realized how terrible that subterfuge had
been. He was unaccustomed to considering individual feelings while
carrying out a mission. In the colony, all minds were bent to the task of
protecting and growing the colony. No individual was meant to stand out
but the queen, and any one of them would sacrifice their own life or the
lives of their fellow nestmates without question if it was required. No
Menops flinched from pain or death in the pursuit of their goal. The
singlemindedness of a colony was one thing that made them so efficient at
expansion—and terrifying to the other species.
Being alone for so long without a colony beacon—far longer than a
male Menops was intended to be—Hunter had developed a sense of
independence that differed greatly from that collective mindset. His
emotions had become more individual and distinguishable from his basic
needs and physical discomforts. Pain turned into fear, anger, and hatred.
Satiation grew into happiness. Hunger evolved into desire.
He knew he was different from the other Menops now—even the
other males. He just didn’t always like how that difference made him feel.
Especially with these people who should be aliens but now seemed more
important to him. They watched him, waiting for an answer that would
force him to further his lies to them, when all he wanted to do was confess
the truth and beg them to forgive the unforgivable.
“I apologize for giving you concern,” was all he could offer, because
he wasn’t a fool, despite the way his emotions sometimes made him feel.
Tarin lifted a hand to rub her face as if it pained her, her palm
sweeping over her eyes, leaving behind a trail of moisture on her skin that
gave off a tantalizing hint of pheromones that he wished he could explore
with his antennae. “It’s not your fault, Hunter. Believe me, I know who’s to
blame, and I’ll find a way to make him pay for what he’s done.”
The anger in her tone, unmistakable even to him, surprised him.
More guilt felt like it was crushing his thorax. “If you speak of Halian, do
you not still hold mating interest for him?”
Theresa made a distressed sound that drew a quick glance from him
to see that her mouth had dropped open into a little “O” shape as she
glanced from him to Tarin.
Tarin’s harsh laugh drew his attention back to her. “So, you picked
up on that, hunh? Well, that’s embarrassing. Now you know what a fool I
was, but I’m not that stupid anymore. I’ll never allow anyone to play me
like that again.”
She had been fooled, but he didn’t think she was a fool. Halian
knew what he was doing, and he’d had Hunter’s assistance in tricking these
females. He knew now that there was no way he could truly embrace
Tarin’s offer of friendship, because she would never forgive him if she
knew the truth. He had been the “fool” because he’d entertained the idea of
having a new colony with these “friends”—a new family—after his long
search for the imprinting cure ended, but that couldn’t happen with the lies
that remained between them.
It was best to put all dreams of that sort of life away and finish what
he’d started. He’d come here for a purpose, and that purpose was not to
gaze upon Tarin’s ugly face and ponder why it made him so happy to see it.
“I regret all the sadness you have endured from that unfortunate journey. I
would make it up to you if I could, Tarin.” At least those words could be
entirely honest.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to change the past.” He
tore his gaze away from Tarin to glance at Tirel. “And it is the past that I
would like to discuss with you, Commander. I had hoped, when I arrived
here on Akrellia, that I might be permitted to view some of your historic
monuments.”
Tarin made a snorting sound that didn’t translate, drawing his gaze
back to her as Tirel opened his mouth to speak, though his attention had
never left her.
“Don’t tell me you came all the way to Akrellia with a priceless load
of Menops’ secrets just so you could play tourist,” Tarin said, her tone the
one he took to be joking but with an edge. He believed that the humans
referred to it as “sarcasm.”
“I have always been drawn to the relics and ruins of past
civilizations.” That much was also true, though many times, he’d been
drawn there by his quarry, hoping to hide from him in the crumbled remains
of some fallen civilization or another. “It would be an honor and a privilege
to view what history has been left behind by the ancient Akrellians,
especially since your civilization is one that has risen to greatness, and has
so much influence and impact on galactic life.”
“Akrellia has many historic sites, and they are all open to the public
for viewing, so I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t visit any of them,”
Tirel said, ignoring Tarin’s words and tone. “But there are so many. I don’t
believe you’ll have the time to see them all while you are permitted to be on
our homeworld.”
Hunter felt relief that the prime commander didn’t question his
interest like Tarin did. He didn’t believe even Tarin was suspicious of his
intent, so much as simply surprised by his request. He was grateful he
wasn’t forced to create yet another lie. It was a good thing he had no
intention of remaining on Akrellia for long. Once he had what he’d come
here for, he would leave in the personal space shuttle the Akrellians had
granted him in return for the queenship embryo.
Of course, that meant he would leave his “friends” behind forever,
and he found it difficult to look away from Tarin, knowing this would
probably be the last time he saw her.
 Chapter 7
What kind of weirdo toured historical sites after narrowly escaping
death? Tarin pondered that question as she stared at Hunter, watching his
antennae weave above his head, stretching this way and that, his head tilting
and turning to look at each of them in turn as they spoke, discussing which
historic sites he’d like to visit.
It was bizarre that they were planning a tourist trip, though Hunter
said he’d prefer to “enjoy” the sites in privacy. Tirel agreed that wherever
he went, it would be best to clear out the other tourists to avoid any issues
his appearance among them might cause.
Sure, a private tour of some historical site might be fun—if a person
was a total nerd. She hadn’t pegged Hunter as being a history buff, but then
again, she knew nothing about him really, other than that he had the courage
and determination to sacrifice himself to save others. That alone made him
a hero in her book. If he wanted to go look at dusty old ruins and bent and
broken spears, then she wasn’t about to criticize him.
It would be a bit boring for her, but then again, she would be with
Hunter. He was interesting—in a creepy but oddly fascinating way—so
there was that.
He did sound a little surprised—and a lot hesitant—when she
informed him she was going with him to those sites though. Almost like he
didn’t want her along.
“It is truly not necessary for you to accompany me, Tarin. There will
be Akrellian security nearby to ensure I do no damage to these sites.”
She glared at him, angry that he would even think she was
suspicious of him damaging Akrellian history. Hunter’s presence on
Akrellia was being constantly tracked, and security was always nearby. The
Akrellians were trying to be friendly, but they also didn’t want to be stupid.
They hadn’t even allowed Halian to visit their homeworld in all the time
he’d helped them by betraying the Iriduans, so the amount of freedom they
were giving Hunter was as much as he could expect to get, in the
circumstances. Tarin felt it was far less than he deserved, given what he had
done for the Akrellians already.
“Look, I’m a real history buff,” she pointedly ignored Theresa’s
snort of disbelief, “and I would love to visit the… uh… Randico’s Spire
Peak myself. I’ve been thinking about how much I want to hike six miles up
a narrow switchback trail in hundred-degree heat with the sun baking me
into the stone steps, while the humidity hovers around eighty percent.
Nothing says fun like that.”
“That would be a grueling journey for a soft creature like yourself,”
Hunter said, eyeing her body with a little shudder that caused his back
shells to scrape against each other.
She lifted her arm up and bent it in a muscleman pose, pulling her
sleeve back to reveal a small, but fairly toned bicep. She poked at it with the
finger of her other hand to show that it was solid, though it sent the loose
flesh under her arm waving back and forth, which caused another shudder
in Hunter.
If he wasn’t so creepy to look at, she might take it personal that he
found her repulsive. Instead, she could completely commiserate, although
he was getting easier on her eyes as she grew accustomed to him. He’d
never be fun to look at, but he was bearable. She hoped he found the same
ease with her appearance at some point.
“Hey, I’ve been training a lot lately, and I’m getting pretty tough. I
can handle it.”
She stared at him, thinking about how much she feared him
disappearing on her again. Someone could attack him while he was on that
narrow path, before the Akrellian security detail that would be monitoring
him with drones could send a response. Or he could slip and fall, plunging
to the jagged spires of rocks below—though to be fair, he probably had
better footing than she did, since he had those weird, hooked, claw feet.
“For the history,” she said. “Stuff like that is important.”
His mandibles clicked together and his antennae wove back and
forth, bending and straightening as if he could sweep her pheromone
information towards him with them, yet it was Theresa who ended up
speaking in reply to that. “Tare, you get bored reading last week’s news.
You’ve never been interested in history before.”
 Tarin sucked in a deep breath before letting out in a long, heavy
sigh, shooting her best friend “the look” that told her to shut her pie-hole.
Theresa’s crinkled brow smoothed out as her lips tilted in a knowing
smile. “I mean, of course you should go with Hunter, Tarin. Now I
remember how much you’ve been wanting to visit the Spire. Silly me, it
slipped my mind for a moment, but I’ve been really busy lately.”
Tirel shot a curious glance at Theresa, then at Tarin, then a raised set
of brow ridges at Hunter, before glancing at Tarin again with a confused,
questioning look.
She did not want to answer the question in his reptilian eyes. She
loved Tirel like a brother, but there were some things she wouldn’t even talk
about with her best friend, so she wasn’t about to explain to Theresa’s mate
this odd feeling that she needed to be there to protect Hunter. She’d have to
let him think what he wanted, though the way his brow was lowering over
his eyes as he apparently pondered the situation made her nervous.
Tirel wanted her to find the same happiness he and Theresa had
found, though it could never truly be the same, since they had a unique
psychic bond between them. He and Theresa had been driving Tarin nuts in
the pursuit of their efforts to make her as happy as they were. She’d had to
beg off on so many blind dates that she’d finally broken down and had gone
on a few. They’d all been awkward, though the males had been very nice
and usually extremely handsome—for Akrellians.
She even found some of them hot, since the alien look had certainly
grown on her after her prolonged exposure to it. It was just that none of
them sparked that “feeling” inside her that she couldn’t explain. That
overwhelming need to touch someone, to feel his skin beneath her
fingertips, to breathe in his scent and entangle her fingers in his hair. To
taste his lips against hers.
That was something that couldn’t be forced. It either happened with
a person, or it didn’t, and Tarin wished it would happen with a good person.
She wanted her “happily ever after” as much as her loved ones wanted it for
her, but some things apparently weren’t meant to be.
Their growing suspicion about her feelings for Hunter might lead
them into an awkward attempt to encourage romance where none could
ever take root. She cared about Hunter, perhaps more than was natural,
given their differences, but it wasn’t a physical attraction to him that drew
her to want to protect him.
She just needed to be with him. To keep her eye on him. It was a
feeling that went deeper than physical desire. She tied it to the trauma of
that day on the colony, when he’d gone off alone to die in order to give
them the chance to escape. That was her best explanation for how she felt,
but she couldn’t deny that something had drawn her to him even as his
appearance had repelled her on his ship, before they’d landed on the colony.
Something about Hunter intrigued her.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t romantic. She was certain of that as she
took a long, sideways look at him, just to be sure she wasn’t losing her
mind. He still repulsed her physically, so she took a deep breath and figured
she was still sane, as her friends convinced Hunter that she had to join him
on his journey to the Spire.

********

They had the trail to themselves, since it was temporarily closed to

the public for their trip up the mountainside to the historic spire. The spire
had been carved out of the mountain peak ages and ages ago by some long-
dead Akrellian tribe that had apparently felt the need to compensate for
something. At least, that was Tarin’s whispered opinion to Theresa, who
had chuckled even as she’d waved her hand to shush Tarin before Tirel
could hear that comment.
Theresa and Tirel had offered to join them on the trail, but Hunter
had begged them to reconsider, saying that he would enjoy the time alone
with Tarin. This had caused an awkward, anticipatory silence to fall
between them as they rode in the air shuttle to the trailhead.
After a long silence, Theresa had agreed that they should enjoy the
trail by themselves, then had glanced at Tarin, who’d shrugged, knowing
that Hunter had not meant that the way they’d taken it. She’d seen how she
repulsed him. He wasn’t any more interested in romance than she was. It
wasn’t like the packs they were carrying were filled with romantic picnic
treats. Nor was the grueling hike going to inspire thoughts of lust as she
sweated through the lighter fabric she’d chosen instead of her hunting
leathers.
 Hunter had no problems with the trail, and Tarin wanted to hate him
for it as she huffed and puffed and considered just laying down and dying
all the way up to the peak. She’d been doing a lot of walking in
Shadowtouch land, but she didn’t do much climbing, beyond the occasional
hike up to the higher caves in the dark mountain that surrounded the
Shadowtouch valley. This hike was something else altogether, and the heat
and humidity was just as bad as she’d feared it would be, since this part of
Akrellia was closer to their equator and more tropical. The heat didn’t let up
until they’d climbed to an altitude that made it more difficult for her to
breathe.
Hunter still seemed unaffected by the climb, though he gave her
plenty of rest stops, offering to leave her to rest and continue on by himself
so many times that she wanted to shove him off the mountainside—even if
she was here to protect him.
They were nearly to the top of the peak, where they’d finally be able
to enter the spire and view the remains of the temple that had built inside it,
when Tarin had to take another break to catch her breath—so close, yet the
distance seeming impossible.
This time, Hunter lowered his upper body until his head was near
hers as she collapsed on a stone step. She didn’t flinch as his antennae
touched her face, sweeping over her sweat-soaked skin. She was too
damned tired, and her face felt like it was on fire. One of Hunter’s antenna
caught on the wisps of hair that had escaped her ponytail, and she wished
fervently that she’d just chopped all her shoulder-length hair off into the
pixie cut she used to wear before being abducted by aliens, so she wouldn’t
have it adding any extra weight on this trip.
“You do not look well, Tarin,” Hunter said in his insect cadence that
sounded so bizarre and translated into a nearly toneless voice in her ear. She
suspected he didn’t even form words with air, but did something more like
stridulating within his mouth to make those squeaking, chirping, trilling
sounds.
The strangeness of him just didn’t bother her as much as it once had,
though.
“Yeah,” huff, “well, I’m still breathing, aren’t I?”
She touched her chest just to doublecheck, because even she wasn’t
sure at that point if she was still alive or had died and gone to hell to burn in
agony for eternity.
“There is no reason for you to suffer like this,” he said, his antenna
unraveling from her hair, then slowly sliding along her head to the back of
her neck.
She shivered as it touched her soaking neck, grossed out and
embarrassed by her sweatiness as he touched her, his antenna barely a
whisper of feeling over her slick skin.
She lifted a hand to brush him away from her. “I’m here to help
you.”
He made a trilling sound. “I do not understand you humans. How
are you helping me? Am I missing something important?”
She shot him a glare as he straightened, lifting his antennae away
from her slowly, as if he were reluctant to stop touching her. She couldn’t
imagine why. She was soaking wet with sweat and as red as a beet. There
wasn’t anything touch-worthy about her appearance at the moment. Even if
that appearance didn’t make him shudder on her best days.
Of course, for Hunter, touch probably didn’t mean anything sensual
—especially not with his antennae. That was a relief to her. At least she told
herself it was, even if a part of her wondered if maybe she was a little
disappointed by how disgusted her body made him.
She felt the same way about his body. Didn’t she?
She checked him over out of the corner of her eye. Yep. He was still
creepy. It was easier to look at him though, and she was able to study him a
bit longer without being so repelled that she immediately turned away.
She’d never realized before that his large abdomen wasn’t actually attached
to any of the four gracefully slender legs that supported his body. Those
were all attached to his chest, just below where it bent upwards in a more
humanoid form. He was almost like an ant centaur-type creature.
Those little, skinny legs should not have been able to support him
with as large as he was—they should have snapped under all his body’s
weight, but they didn’t somehow. The hooked claws on the ends of each leg
apparently made it easier to grip the ground, and it was unfair that he
seemed not to be struggling with the climb at all.
“Okay, hot stuff,” she said, pushing herself back to her feet with a
groan, “let’s finish out this climb. I sure hope they have an altar. I’m going
to lay on it and beg someone to sacrifice me after this shit, because there’s
no way I’m going to be able to get back down all those steps.”
“I believe the altar is over ten thousand years old and is carved from
the stone of the mountain, just as the spire is. It is of great historical
significance to the Akrellians. They might object if you lay upon it.” He
glanced at her. “And your blood would probably stain it permanently.”
She froze in a half-standing position, pausing in the middle of
swiping the dirt off her backside. “I sure hope you’re joking.”
“Were you?”
“No Hunter, I really want you to sacrifice me on some alien altar,
thanks very much.”
“I did not bring the appropriate blade for a sacrifice in the ancient
Akrellian tribal manner.”
Her blood fled her face, leaving her lightheaded, though at least it
probably also took some of the redness out of her cheeks. “Dude… I was
totally kidding. Please tell me you were too.”
Hunter’s antennae waved at her, bent at the joints, then waved at her
again. “It would appear your translator does not sense my ‘sarcasm.’”
She laughed, then shook her head at him. “You have a twisted sense
of humor. For real!”
He made the trilling sound that her translator literally said was
“laughter” in her ear. “It is difficult to express to you fleshy creatures. Your
faces look like they will split into two when you are amused. It is bizarre
and appalling, yet, I find it entertaining when you do this, Tarin.”
“Okee dokee, that image will haunt me in my nightmares. And on
that note, let’s get to that altar, shall we?”
Hunter tried one last time to discourage her from completing the
climb, but by this time, she’d gone so far that she was determined to
continue. There was no way he was going to convince her otherwise.
 Chapter 8
Hunter could have made his life easier by pushing Tarin off the
mountainside. There were few rails to protect the hikers making the
dangerous climb to the peak. Though they were being watched by security
drones, he figured with as much struggle as Tarin had climbing, he could
even make it look like an accident.
The thought only crossed his mind as a curiosity about why he
didn’t consider doing it, and why it made him extremely disturbed to even
contemplate it. He hadn’t wanted her to come with him, and she was
slowing him down anyway, and he would have to go to even greater lengths
to conceal what he intended to do from her, when he’d planned to
temporarily disable the security cameras inside the spire and leave it at that.
To all intents and purposes, she was in his way.
In the past, he would have disposed of such an obstacle without a
second thought.
Now, he couldn’t even resist allowing her to continue on with him,
even matching his pace to her painfully slow crawl. He could have left her
behind a hundred times, but he’d stopped with her and waited for her to
catch her breath, growing increasingly alarmed by her struggles as they
climbed higher. His people had developed a system of lungs that functioned
along with their spiracles to adapt to different environments, and it was
clear that humans did not have an efficient, adaptable system.
He didn’t leave her behind while she was struggling to breathe,
because he was worried about her, even though it would have been easy to
abandon her and apologize for it later. She certainly couldn’t have chased
after him in her condition.
He wondered for a brief moment what Halian would do about
Tarin’s interference, then grew so angry at Halian that it surprised him. Not
because he could guess what the Iriduan would do, though he had his
suspicions, but he didn’t like thinking about Halian and Tarin in any context
that put them together. He’d been relieved when he’d discovered that she no
longer had a mating interest in Halian. He told himself that relief was
because she deserved better than someone who would deceive her.
Someone better than him as well. Not that he was thinking about her
in that way. There was no way he could ever see her as a queen. It just
wasn’t possible. He should have been relieved at that. She couldn’t capture
him with her pheromones. That was a good thing, because the small tastes
he had taken of her when he’d touched her with his antennae had been
headier than he’d expected. He’d wanted more, but she’d brushed him
away.
Her body had dripped with moisture from the holes in her skin. At
first, that too, had alarmed him. He’d seen sweat before from creatures with
skin, but never in such copious amounts. The way humans lost water, it was
a wonder they didn’t shrivel up into wrinkly skin bags over their internal
skeleton. Surely, it had to be dangerous for her to lose so much. He’d
insisted on multiple occasions that she replenish it from her canteen, and
she’d done so, to his relief.
They finally reached the top of the peak, and Hunter rushed towards
the towering stone spire as soon as he was certain Tarin wouldn’t stumble
backwards off the mountain top. He sensed the security drones tracking him
from a discrete distance, and knew there were cameras monitoring this
location because of its historical significance.
To his frustration, Tarin made the effort to keep up with him instead
of taking a moment to soak in the beauty and majesty of their surroundings.
He would have done so himself if he weren’t on a mission. The peak
towered above a jungle, where clouds hung low in the canopy, leaving the
sun free to coat the pale gray stone spire in a layer of golden light. That
light only seemed to highlight the carvings on the spire, casting them into
deep shadows that revealed their intricacy and beauty.
Hunter’s claws clicked over ancient pavestones, formed from the
surrounding stone and carefully set, tens of thousands of years ago.
According to the information the Akrellians had provided them, and also
what Hunter had found on the GalactaNet, the spire was built by an
Akrellian tribe that had advanced far beyond the others at that time in their
technology.
He knew better. The Spire was built by Akrellian slaves for their
Iriduan masters using Iriduan technology. Not the Iriduans that existed as
they were now, but the true Iriduans, the ones who’d considered themselves
the “Light among the Stars”. The ones that had gone extinct because they’d
genetically altered themselves so completely that they’d become what they
were now.
Except there was still a small population descended from the
original Iriduans. They’d been found on Earth—their technology failing
even as that of the humans rapidly advanced to the point where the Iriduan
descendants had been in danger of being discovered. They’d been smuggled
off the planet and taken somewhere. Halian believed they’d been buried in
some research facility, and he intended to find them and free them, because
the secret to the imprinting cure was within their DNA.
For now, Halian wanted all the information he could find on the
ancient Iriduan culture and technology. That meant traveling to as many
former Iriduan colonies as they could identify—or at least, the ones that
boasted spires like this one. Most of those colonies were abandoned, or
occupied by primitive people, making collecting the data from the spires
easy.
This one on Akrellia had been the most difficult for Halian, because
he hadn’t been able to find a way onto the world. The Akrellians hadn’t
trusted him enough to invite him to their homeworld, despite all that he did
to aid them in their growing war with the Iriduans.
Hunter understood their mistrust, knowing Halian was a traitor to
his own people, and he was also an Iriduan. He’d expected them to be as
distrustful of him as well when he’d made the request to visit their world in
return for the knowledge he offered, but now knew that their suspicion and
trust could be as easily manipulated as Halian had said it would be.
He was only there for the data. He had one of the data keys Halian
had discovered on Earth while searching for signs of the ancient Iriduans,
before he’d collected Theresa and Tarin to rescue Tirel. All Hunter had to
do now was get into the spire and find enough time to himself to insert the
key into the appropriate depression in the stone carvings behind the altar.
He moved as fast as he could, ignoring Tarin’s fading shout for him
to wait up for her as she struggled to catch him. He resisted the urge to obey
her request and stop so she could catch up to him. It was almost a
compulsion that he had to fight against to avoid pausing in his purpose. He
wanted Tarin to walk beside him, but he couldn’t have her do so now.
Things would have been so much easier if she had just taken the time to
stop and admire the historical site she’d claimed she wanted to see.
He passed through the heavy wooden door that was a restoration of
what the Akrellians believed to be the original, glancing quickly at the
carvings and wishing he had more time to study them in detail. At least the
Akrellians had provided an information “brochure” on actual paper at
Tarin’s request, so she could “scrapbook” it—whatever that meant. He’d
ask her to borrow it so he could study it. The words would be
incomprehensible to him, but he could look at the pictures and see if he
could decipher any of the carvings.
The door closing behind him cut off Tarin’s annoyed shouts, but
Hunter knew he didn’t have much time to make his move before she found
her way inside. He was already drawing the key out of the pack that he
carried on a strap over his chest as he approached the altar, noting the
hushed, heavy air of the interior only in passing. He didn’t like the pressure
to the air that felt like it weighed down his antennae.
A quick glance around the room, as well as a sweep of his antennae
to scent for others, told him he was alone. Discrete cameras watched his
every move, but he had a solution for that. Extracting Halian’s strobe device
from his pack with his other hand, he dropped it as if by accident near the
cameras, leaving the innocuous little disc behind as if he’d failed to notice
that it fell. His focus was completely on the altar at this point.
Or more accurately, the carvings behind it. He’d seen the pictures of
them on the GalactaNet, so he knew exactly where he needed to place the
key, based on Halian’s experience with the other spires.
Tarin wasn’t that slow, so he hurried to the wall with the carvings,
then remotely activated the strobe device, sending a brilliant light up to fill
the room as he used his antennae to feel along the carvings, until he found
the depression he was searching for. He quickly pushed the key into the
depression as the light continued to flash blindingly behind him.
It shouldn’t take very long for the key to download the data they
required. The Iriduans had apparently made these devices for emergency
data collection, perhaps realizing they might need a rapid transfer of their
secrets from one colony to the next.
“What the hell, man?” Tarin said as she pushed open the heavy door.
“I almost died on that hike, so I wasn’t expecting a finishing sprint at the
end of it. What the—ow, what the fuck is with that light?”
Hunter turned to her, regretting it immediately as the strobe blinded
him as well. He still felt the vibration of her movement as she stumbled in
his direction, one hand out in front of her as her other covered her eyes.
He grabbed blindly for the key, his antennae focused on straining
towards her. He was disturbed by the pain and distress in her voice as she
made her way towards him.
Beneath his fingers, something clicked next to the key just as the
flasher died out, plunging them back into the shadows that had filled this
main chamber of the spire.
Hunter pulled the key from the depression and slipped it into his
pack, hoping the cameras were still refocusing after the flashing light ended
and didn’t catch that movement. He could find an explanation for the
flasher. He just didn’t want the Akrellians to know he’d taken anything
from the spire, or they would demand it.
He didn’t bother to look back at the carvings, too focused on Tarin
to care at that point about actually taking the time to study them. It was
clear she was in pain from the brilliant, unexpected light. That hadn’t been
his intention. He’d been hoping it would take her longer to reach the spire
and get through the door.
He rushed to her side, his antennae lowering to touch her upraised
hand, then trail along her arm until they found her face. Salty moisture
leaked from her eyes, which were clenched shut as the tips of his antennae
brushed over her skin.
“Sonofabitch! That hurts my eyes! I didn’t read about that crap on
the brochure. I thought there’d just be a bunch of carvings in here and an
altar.”
“Are you injured, Tarin? Do you need medical assistance?”
He hated the thought that he might have caused serious harm to her.
This was supposed to be a very simple mission. Far simpler than most of his
usual jobs. He made a mental note to stop working with Iriduans. Somehow,
they always managed to cause problems with his work.
He was still blinded by the light, but he knew it would only be
temporary, and his antennae told him more than his eyes did most of the
time anyway. Tarin was not that fortunate, cursed by her inadequate
physical form to live in complete reliance on her eyes.
 She blinked the skin coverings that had crinkled over them several
times, her eyes still leaking moisture, which was a concern for him in itself.
He could not comprehend how humans managed to survive the day with all
the water they shed from their bodies. Surely they would desiccate in the
desert very quickly.
“No, I think I’ll be all right. I’m…,” she blinked a few more times,
“I’m starting to see again now.”
She opened her eyes completely, and Hunter stepped away from her,
moving his antennae away from her skin, though he wanted to keep
touching her. To reassure himself she was not permanently injured. At least,
that was what he told himself.
“Hey, what’s that glowing green light on the wall?” she said, still
blinking as she pointed towards the carvings.
Hunter turned to follow the direction she’d indicated, his single
good eye struggling to recover from the strobing light. He was able to see
the tracery of a green glow along the carvings around where he’d put the
key.
“This is probably not a good thing,” he said, reaching for Tarin as he
backed away from the altar, at the same time that it lit up with another
bright glow that rivaled the strobe device.
A fleshy hand clutched the exoskeleton of his upper arm. He barely
felt it, but he sensed Tarin at his side, holding onto him with a scent of fear
coming off her fragrant skin in waves that had his antennae touching her
again, patting her as if he could soothe her, even though he was also very
concerned about what was happening.
The altar dissolved before their eyes, leaving behind only a glowing
light. That light quickly expanded—too fast for them to get away from it.
In fact, they stood stunned, staring at it as it flowed towards them
like a tsunami.
 Chapter 9
“You see, I always told my parents history was the worst subject
ever!” Tarin’s voice drew Hunter back towards consciousness as he lifted
his head to take note of his surroundings.
Endless green sand dunes stretched ahead of him, their gentle swells
broken up only by the low-lying grasses that poked out in sparse patches.
The sand shimmered in the sunlight like it was sprinkled with jewels. The
existence of the grasses let him know there would be water somewhere
below them, but it might not be easy to access.
Tarin was sitting on the sand next to him, brushing the coarse grains
off her skin as she looked around, her eyes crinkled as if the muted sunlight
filtering through a yellow haze that filled the air bothered her. She’d lifted
one hand to her forehead, and it cast shade over her wrinkled gaze.
“You all good, Hunter?”
“I’ll live,” he said, pushing aside the sand that had fallen over his
lower body, burying him temporarily.
“Well, that’s relief, because I didn’t pick up any ant first-aid while
my Akrellian buddies were teaching me survival skills. And of course, I
learned how to survive the woods and jungle, but we never got around to
working on desert survival skills at all. Because fuck my life!”
Hunter shook his head, feeling the grit of sand catching in the joints
of his exoskeleton and knowing he would have a frustrating time of it until
he could get them all swept out. He groomed his antennae with his hands
and mandibles to clear them of the sand so he could use them to sense the
air around him.
The strongest scent he picked up was Tarin, and though it was an
oddly intriguing one, he was hoping to discover something that provided a
little more information on their location.
“So, that was fun right? We should totally do that again. Next time,
remind me to bring my sunscreen.”
“Tarin.”
 She glanced at him as he made the stridulating sound that was the
closest he could get to her name by brushing together the internal rasps in
his mouth. “What, Hunter?”
“You are not being serious.”
She stared at him for a long moment as her mouth fell open. “I’m
not being…?”
Her mouth tightened as she threw her hand out to gesture to their
surroundings, casting glittering sand in an arc with its movement. “Look
around you! It’s a fucking desert! How the hell did we go from the top of a
mountain peak in a jungle to a fucking desert?”
Hunter did look around again, noting something that he’d missed on
his first glance, his eye still recovering and his antennae otherwise occupied
searching for some distinct scent that could help lead them in a positive
direction. “There is something buried in the sand there. Do you see it?”
She followed the line of his arm with her gaze as he lifted it to point.
“Is that…? It looks like the point of a spire.”
Only the very tip of the spire jutted up out of the top of the dune
where they’d awoken lying half buried in sand.
“What the—why is the spire buried in sand? And this sky doesn’t
look like we’re still on Akrellia.”
Hunter agreed with her observation. They weren’t on Akrellia, and
that wasn’t the spire they’d been inside. He reached into his pack and
withdrew the key, studying it with his eye as well as his antennae.
Tarin noticed his movements and looked down at the key in his
hand. “All right, is that a compass or something? Good! Glad you came
prepared.”
She pulled her own pack out of the sand, brushing off the leather
flap before flipping it back to take an inventory of the contents. “I brought
some trail mix, some protein bars, a few bottles of water, dried fruit and
dried insects… uh, that’s not cannibalism for you to eat dried bugs, right?”
“What’s wrong with cannibalism?” he asked absently, trying to
determine what the key had actually done. It was only supposed to be a data
collection device.
That was what Halian had told him—the one aspect of the Iriduan
that actually referred to himself as “Halian”—so Hunter had trusted his
word, because that aspect was a skilled scientist, especially when it came to
machines and computers.
“O… kaaay. So, dried bugs for you, it is. Good, because I think
they’re disgusting, but I always feel bad about turning them down when my
buddies offer them. Let’s see… flashlight, thermal blanket….”
Hunter blocked out her verbal inventory, feeling the key as if it
would give up its secrets. He had no idea how to activate it. That was
Halian’s expertise. The key was supposed to be set on automatic. It
activated to withdraw the data as soon as it was linked with the computer
system concealed behind the carvings on the walls in the Iriduan spires.
But did it also do something else? Like transport them to another
Iriduan spire?
He glanced up from the key to study the top of the spire that barely
showed above the shifting sands of the dune.
Despite how little of it was revealed, he could tell by the carvings
that it was like the spire on Akrellia. “I believe we have taken a journey,
and I am uncertain how we can return.”
“Oh, you think we’ve taken a journey,” Tarin said, abandoning her
perusal of her pack to stare at him. “Hmmm, you don’t say. And here I
thought it had just gotten a little dusty, like maybe the maid didn’t show up
for cleaning duty today.”
“Your sarcasm will not assist us in returning to our previous
location.” Hunter pushed himself to his clawed feet, shaking his body to
dislodge as much of the grains of sand as possible, though he knew it would
take hours to get it all out of his crevices. He despised sand.
Tarin flipped her pack closed again and climbed to her own feet
unsteadily as the sand shifted beneath them. Hunter reached out to steady
her with one hand, while he clenched the key in the other, his gaze fixed on
the tip of the spire.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll stop being sarcastic from now on.”
“I have learned the cadence of your voice enough to recognize that
was also sarcastic. I do not believe you mean the words you have just
spoken.”
“Hunter! We’re on some alien planet in the middle of the freaking
desert! Stop criticizing the way I deal with my fear, already, and do
something to fix this.”
 He stepped closer to her and stroked her head fibers with his
antennae, his eye now fixed on her. “I will fix this. This time, I will not
betray your trust in me.”
She made a face that twisted her lips into an upward curve, and he
pondered the fact that the way they moved no longer repulsed him as much
as it used to. “Hey, you didn’t know this would happen. It’s the Akrellians
that should have given us some warning. I mean, what the heck!” She
pulled a crumpled paper out of the pocket of her soft fabric shirt, which
clung to her fleshy body with sweat.
Flipping it open, she paged through it. “There’s nothing on this
damned brochure about green sand deserts and piss-yellow skies.”
She turned the brochure this way and that as if she were really
studying it for answers, even though he suspected she was simply
distracting herself to keep from panicking. He’d discovered that she used
her “sarcasm” as a shield to separate her from her worry, and even she
appeared to be aware of that.
He continued to brush over her head with his antennae, finding a
comfort in that motion even for himself, though he felt confident that if they
could reach the interior of the spire, he could figure out how to use the key
to return them to where they’d left. It was just a matter of digging down to
that interior.
He was no stranger to digging, but he would have to find a way to
brace the sand so it didn’t slide right back down into the hole he made. For
the moment, he was content to offer comfort to Tarin—even though he was
aware that she would probably want to kill him if she realized this was, in
fact, all his fault.
 Chapter 10
Tarin was grateful for the calm weather as she helped Hunter search
the dunes for the low-lying grassy shrubs. They had small woody sticks
buried beneath the sand that made up their deep and extensive root system.
Hunter believed they could use those roots to weave a barrier wall while
they were digging down into the spire, to keep the sand from filling it back
up.
She certainly wasn’t going to argue with him about digging. He was
an insect made for that sort of thing, after all, but she did force him to take a
break when the weak sunlight increased until it was much hotter, rivaling
even Phoenix’s weather. They both needed water, and they couldn’t walk on
the shining sand with the heat warming it up enough that it could cook even
Hunter’s tough, hooked-claw feet.
They’d managed to push enough of the sand away from the spire to
expose the tip of it so that it cast a small finger of shade that they huddled in
while they waited for the heat to dissipate. They scooted along with the
movement of the sun as the shadow crossed the sands.
Tarin had never been in such prolonged full body contact with
Hunter as she had to be while they sought that meager shelter from the
blazing sun and scorching sands. They could barely move without bumping
each other as she reached into her pack and withdrew her water bottles,
passing one to him, then watching out of the corner of her eye as he lifted it
to the slit of his mouth, which closed over it and allowed him to suck the
water down.
Yep. Still creepy.
Strange as he was though, Tarin didn’t feel the need to shudder, or
cringe away from him, or avoid brushing against him at all. There was
something weirdly companionable about their shared predicament. Despite
the danger they were in, she found herself actually enjoying these moments
she got to spend alone with him. Even if it meant one side of her body was
completely squished against his and she could feel the hard ridges of his
exoskeleton digging into her soft flesh.
 It didn’t even bother her that his antennae kept patting over her
head, her shoulders, and sometimes even brushed against her face. It was
almost like he was touching her for reassurance, even if he did seem to
groom his antennae afterwards, pushing it into his mandibles with one hand,
then dragging the length of it along the serrated edges of his mandibles as if
he were cleaning off skin bits or something.
It was all really weird and should have been gross and repellent, but
he was Hunter—her friend. She knew he would never do anything to hurt
her, so his appearance didn’t scare her.
After her subtle examination, she lifted her water bottle to her own
lips, smacking into Hunter’s mandible with her elbow as she lifted her arm
just when he turned his head to glance at her.
Her arm jerked from the impact and the water splashed out of the
bottle and soaked her face, leaving her blinking and sputtering as she slowly
lowered her arm.
Hunter’s arms grabbed her shoulders as he turned his body towards
her and his antennae roved over her face, feeling the water that dripped
from her skin. “Are you okay, Tarin? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have turned—”
She shook her head, lifting her empty hand to swipe impatiently at
the water dripping down her cheeks and chin. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t
do anything wrong. I’m just a klutz. The more you make a big deal out of
this, the more embarrassed I am.”
She was embarrassed by the fact that her face had been sprayed with
water—that little bit might be desperately necessary later—but she didn’t
push him away, or brush off his antennae, allowing them to continue
stroking along her face as it rapidly dried from heat that still baked them,
even as they took shelter in the small bit of shade afforded by the part of the
spire they’d managed to excavate.
For some reason, that reassurance didn’t cause him to release her
shoulders. Nor did he pull his antennae away from her. In fact, those feelers
trailed from her face down to her sweating neck, then along the line of
fabric that separated her sunburnt skin from the less damaged pale skin
protected beneath her shirt. When she shivered, he immediately pulled
away from her, turning his head so only the patch that covered the mess of
an eye left behind by previous attacks was facing her.
“Forgive me, Tarin. I should not have touched you.”
 She realized he’d misinterpreted her shiver, believing it was disgust.
It should have been, but something about that feeler trailing along her hot,
damp skin had caused a completely different reaction in her. One she never
would have expected to have with him. One that made her wonder if the
heat hadn’t already fried her brain like an egg inside her head. “We have got
to find a better place than this to seek shelter during the day!”
She didn’t inform him of his misinterpretation, because she was
afraid of how he would take that new feeling. Would it encourage him? Or
cause him to keep his distance because he found her repulsive? She couldn’t
decide which option would be better for her in the long run.
“I do not even know how long this day will last. You are correct that
we cannot continue to rely on this small bit of shade. I will go out to seek a
better spot. You must rest here. Your skin is not suited to this heat.”
She couldn’t argue with him on that score, but she also wasn’t about
to let him out of her sight. The last time she did that, she’d almost lost him,
and had spent a year regretting it and beating herself up for it. “I’m pretty
sure even ants seek shelter during the hottest part of the day. Only a loon
would be out on that sand right now, so no deal, Hunter. I’m not letting you
go.”
He turned his one good eye back to her, his antennae bending at
their joints to pat her on the head, catching up the strands of her hair that
had broken free of her hair tie. “You could not stop me.”
Suddenly, his back shells split open and wings unfurled from his
back, catching the light from the sun in their gossamer length as they
unfolded and stretched to their full span.
She stared at them in awe, realizing how incredibly large they were
only now that they were fully exposed. They were longer than Hunter was,
which she supposed made sense, given that they needed to help him get off
the ground. They were also beautiful, translucent like frosted glass, with an
iridescent golden tracery of patterns that she assumed were veins protected
by some kind of chitinous material.
“I won’t be long,” he said before she could recover from her
surprise at his unexpected reveal, her gaze still fixed on his glorious wings.
“Remain here and try to stay as cool as possible. Be certain to drink your
water.” There was a short pause before he added, “and try not to wear any
more of it.”
 “Ha, ha, ha. I’m starting to regret the fact that I can understand so
much of what you say, Hunter.”
“You do not understand a tenth of what I’m saying, Tarin,” he said
before turning away from her to make his spindle-legged way out onto the
hot sand that wasn’t protected by the shade.
If it hurt his feet, he gave no indication of it. Once he had his back
towards her, she could see the small shells split over his wings, which
fluttered rapidly, lifting him into the sky with a low droning sound.
She watched him until he disappeared in the yellow haze of air that
became a glimmering mirage above the sand on the horizon.
She didn’t know how long she waited before she grew very nervous
that he wasn’t going to return. She knew she shouldn’t have allowed him
out of her sight, but he’d been right. There was no way she could have
stopped him. Only now, the spire’s shadow had moved halfway across the
damned desert and he still hadn’t returned. She also had no idea if the sun
was ever going to do down, but she wasn’t about to wait any longer.
She had to find him. Hours upon hours had passed. He could have
been hurt and now he was bleeding out on the green sand, or maybe he was
dried out, like the snack pack of bugs in her bag. The longer she worried
and deliberated about his absence, the more certain she was that he needed
her to find him and give him water.
It was always water they needed, wasn’t it? Ants couldn’t last
forever without water.
Logically, she knew he wasn’t an ant, and he’d lived in his body his
entire life, so there was no reason he wouldn’t know his own limits, but
logic didn’t keep her from panicking about his safety. Nor did it stop her
from kicking herself for allowing him to escape her again, against her better
judgement.
She should have stopped him on that Iriduan colony. He’d almost
died there. She wasn’t about to allow him to be hurt or actually die this
time.
She stuffed everything back inside her pack—even the precious
bottles of water—taking only a few sips before capping one, because she
feared Hunter would need all the water if he had dried out. Flying like he
did would probably only make him lose water faster. She cursed herself for
not being an entomologist and not knowing whether that was the case or
not. Ants had to survive in the desert. The little buggers survived pretty
much everywhere on Earth, but then again, Hunter wasn’t an ant. He was a
Menops.
That meant, according to everything she’d ever heard, he could
survive in a nuclear wasteland if he had to.
It didn’t matter how much she tried to reassure herself as she left the
shade of the spire and headed off in the direction Hunter had flown away
hours earlier. Her mind might try to soothe her with reminders that he
wasn’t vulnerable, but her heart told her he wasn’t invincible. She couldn’t
bear to allow him to suffer the fate he’d already narrowly avoided once.
The heat was oppressive, but it must have eased up at some point
while she’d waited in the shade, because even though it burned her poor,
sunburned skin as soon as the rays fell upon it, it didn’t rock her off her
feet. She’d endured this kind of heat before, and the extra shirt she’d packed
helped keep the worst of it off her head and face after she made herself a
makeshift hood.
The worst pain was on her eyes, and she kicked herself for being
lazy about carrying sunglasses. In the shaded woods of Akrellia, she rarely
ever needed them, and the hike they’d gone on to the Spire had been in a
jungle, so there had been a lot of shade and clouds that kept the sun from
blazing in her eyes.
Now, she could barely see as she squinted against the shininess of
the desert sand, stumbling along in the wake of Hunter’s flight path, the
coarse grains beneath her feet slipping away to make each step more
difficult.
She had no idea how long she walked, but her lungs were tight with
a need for air, and she struggled more with each step. After what seemed
like hours, the sun had finally started to shift closer to the horizon, as if it
might be setting soon.
Tarin dragged her foot out of the sand, lifted it up as she shifted her
weight forward, expecting the rise of another dune. Instead, she
encountered nothing but air. She was too tired to stop her forward
momentum and toppled into the depression in the sand.
She fell full-body into the rough sand, and it seemed cool and
comforting against her burning skin, almost like a pillow. She sighed out a
heavy breath, sending a spray of glittering grains away from her lips,
though some clung to what little moisture remained on those cracked and
bleeding parts of her body. She didn’t even care. She could sleep here and
rest. There was shade in this depression in the sand, and once she’d
recovered her breath, she’d get back up and head out again, looking for
Hunter.
 Chapter 11
Someone shook Tarin’s shoulder gently, a squeaking, chirrup
sounding in her ear that was immediately translated as “Get up quickly,
Tarin! We must get you to better shelter.”
Tarin came out of deep sleep suddenly, jerking her head upwards.
That abrupt movement caused her body to slip down the side of the
depression she and Hunter were in. She noted him standing there, his hand
on her shoulder, his antennae patting over her sunburnt skin as if he was
worried about her and needed to check her over.
Hunter tried to brace his feet as the sand avalanche picked up speed,
dragging them both towards the bottom of the depression. His wings spread
and fluttered, flicking off sand, but he didn’t lift off the ground.
Instead, he bent his head as he took hold of her arm and hauled her
to her feet. “We must get you to shelter. I have found others to assist. My
translator allows me to communicate with them, though it is difficult—but I
believe they mean us well.”
Tarin moaned in pain, grabbing onto Hunter to keep from falling
back to the ground after his efforts to pull her to her feet. She wrapped one
arm around his waist and gripped the edge of his exoskeleton with her other
hand, where it rimmed his neck.
“I would fly us out of here, but I cannot carry us both at this point.
We must walk, but the ones I have found are bringing mounts. We need
only get to the top of this depression, and they will help us back to their
city. Tarin, please speak to me, or at least assist me.”
The reason for the increase in his stridulating, which Tarin guessed
was from stress that came through the translator, was because her dead
weight was dragging them down towards the bottom of the depression as he
tried to haul them back up the side of it.
She tried to get her feet under her, but they just kept slipping, and
the sides of the depression rushed towards them every time they moved,
knocking her off her feet.
 “Well, you have four of them, with hook claws, so it’s an unfair
advantage,” she muttered, still feeling groggy and lightheaded, trying to let
him go and push away from him.
Hunter caught her wrist as she attempted to release his waist and
pulled her arm back around him, clasping her other arm with his other hand
so she couldn’t escape him. “Your human inadequacies have never stopped
you before. I’ve seen you fight against more impossible odds than this.”
She shook her head, looking up at the edge of the depression,
suddenly realizing just how deep it was and how sloped the walls were. Not
undoable, but it was going to be tough. Especially since the sand seemed to
have pushed them almost to the bottom.
She sucked in a deep breath and steadied herself on her feet,
clutching onto him for support. “All right. I’ll find a way to get back at you
later for that ‘inadequacies’ remark, but I’ll pull it together.”
She was so incredibly exhausted, but at least she knew Hunter was
safe. That was all that mattered.
“Let me start up the hill first, so you can catch me if I slide back
down, since you have better footing.”
He finally released her and allowed her to move away from him.
She planted her feet, digging them several inches into the sand until it
stopped sliding out from underneath them. Then she leaned forward and
planted her palms on the sand in front of her.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Hunter staring at her curiously,
his antennae swaying towards her. “Don’t stare at my ass while I’m
struggling up this hill, Hunter.”
“Is this a human thing?” Hunter asked, his eye immediately turning
until she was absolutely certain he was looking at her backside.
She grinned because he didn’t shudder at the sight of it, though he
did look completely baffled, based on the way his antennae simply bent at
their joints and hung there, as if he didn’t know what to do with them.
She began the climb, pushing herself forward inch by inch. She’d
barely moved a few feet upwards, causing more sand to spill into the
depression, when the sand at the base of the depression suddenly exploded.
At least, that was what she thought at first, but as Hunter’s squeals
of pain pierced the air, she spun around to see two huge, grasping, insectoid
mandibles rise out of the sand with Hunter pinched between them.
 The monstrous creature that had Hunter in its grasp slammed him
down against the sand again and again as he struggled in its hold. His
abdomen arced and a stinger extended, but the target was still buried in the
sand, except for the mandibles that held him and were covered in a hard
exoskeleton his stinger couldn’t pierce.
Tarin had no voice to scream as she saw Hunter fighting helplessly
against the creature that’s jaws looked like they belonged to a giant ant lion.
A part of her mind sheltered from her hysterical fear recalled how cool she
used to think ant lions were, and how she’d play in the depressions they’d
make in the dirt until they’d poke their heads out and flick sand at her stick,
thinking it was an insect trapped in their hole.
A creature this size would kill Hunter quickly. She had to save him,
but she had nothing in her pack that would work as a weapon, and she
couldn’t even get close to the thrashing creature as it crushed and slammed
Hunter to death.
Tarin finally found the voice to scream, trying to make her way
closer to the thing, even though each flick of its body buried her in sand that
she had to dig her way out of.
Even in his agony, Hunter must have noted her intent, because he
made loud sounds that translated into words telling her to run. He also
renewed his struggles against the creature, trying to sting the giant pincers
that kept him entrapped.
His wings broke free from his back and battered helplessly against
the creature, only to be crushed as it slammed him down again.
“No!” Tarin screamed, using all the strength she had left inside her
to jump onto the part of that sand that had to cover the rest of the creature’s
body.
Hunter had gone limp after the last smash, and the creature was now
retreating back under the sand, pulling both her and Hunter with it. Tarin
pounded on the softer flesh of the creature’s body, knowing her efforts were
worthless as sand poured over her, burying her and it, as it dragged Hunter
down to feast on him—and probably her at some point, but that wasn’t her
concern.
If she lost Hunter again, she didn’t think she could go on without
him. Especially not since it was once again her fault that he was in danger
in the first place.
 She kept pushing the sand aside as it flowed against her, so focused
on doing so that she barely noticed the thud of something hitting the
creature’s body close to her. When she glanced over at the sound, not
pausing in her fruitless pounding on the creature’s back, she saw a spear
sticking up out of the creature’s body.
In response to the spear, the creature began thrashing again, flinging
Tarin off its body and into the soft sand that lined its hole. More spears
followed the first, landing in a tight circle around the first. This sent the
creature into a wild frenzy of movement, until a final spear caused it to fall
still completely with one last squealing cry of agony.
Its mandible pincers relaxed in death so that Hunter’s body slid out
from between them, but to Tarin’s horror, he didn’t move as he curled into
the sand. His body bent into a crescent with his legs pulled tightly in against
his abdomen, twisted or broken completely. His wings were visibly crushed,
and part of the shell that had made the covering over them lay on the sand
several feet away, partially buried by it. Hunter’s antennae were missing,
and where the pincers had held him, his exoskeleton was crushed in several
places. Black fluid leaked out of those areas.
And he didn’t move. Not even a twitch of his poor, broken wings.
Tarin stumbled towards him, ignoring the giant pincers that lay still
now. She collapsed on the sand beside him, her hands trembling as she
reached towards his head, then clasped him with both hands, lifting his head
so she could look into his one good eye.
She saw her own reflection distorted by the curve of his eye, but she
didn’t see any sign of life.
“No, don’t you die on me, damn you!” She wanted to shake him,
like it would do anything to awaken him, but she resisted the urge. Just
barely. “Please! Please don’t you die on me! Say something, Hunter!”
She touched his slit mouth with the fingers of one hand, feeling for
air, hoping she would sense something coming out of it, but felt nothing. No
air, no movement.
Tears poured down her cheeks, mixing with the sand that covered
her now from head to toe, but she was oblivious to their tracks as she
pressed her cheek against his head, right beside his mandible. “Please say
something,” she whispered, hoping the vibration of her voice against his
head would somehow reach him, because she refused to believe he was
dead.
“Hunter, come back to me! Please. I don’t know why you keep
doing this to me, dammit!” The words babbled out of her, but she wasn’t
really paying attention to them. All she cared about was saving Hunter.
There had to be a way.
If he wasn’t breathing, maybe she could breathe for him. She
pressed her lips against the slit of his mouth and gently blew air into the
slight opening.
She wasn’t trained in mouth-to-mouth and really had no idea what
she was doing. It was desperation to try anything that caused her to make
the effort. Hunter’s mouth actually shifted against hers, the slit slamming
shut in a movement that caught her lower lip on one of the teethlike parts of
it, cutting the soft flesh. She shrieked in pain and jerked her head away
from him. She noted the blood that smeared his mouth from her torn lip,
which was only more damaged as she pulled away from one of the sharp
interior mouth parts that allowed him to stridulate.
Despite the pain, she felt hope. Hope that he was still alive, since
he’d moved. Though his head lolled heavy in her hands, and he appeared to
still be unconscious, some part of him was still moving, because she felt the
shift of his body as she held onto him.
“Hunter?” she said, the word coming out strangely because of her
wounded lip.
She glanced down at his body and saw his abdomen pulsing, arcing
forward like he was trying to sting something, but his stinger had shed and
was buried in the sand beneath him. Instead, white fluid poured out of him
to coat his abdomen.
“Oh god! Someone! Please help me! He’s alive, but he’s losing his
guts or something!”
Her shouts for help were answered by a short bark, then a long, low,
growling voice speaking incomprehensible words that caused the hair to
rise on her neck. She looked up from Hunter’s leaking abdomen to see that
while she’d been distracted with him, she’d been surrounded.
By a group of jackal-headed humanoids that looked like the
Egyptian god, Anubis.
 Chapter 12
The bizarre appearance of her rescuers made her hesitant to
surrender Hunter to them when they motioned that they wanted to collect
him and put him on a stretcher that appeared to be formed from two
bamboolike poles with finely woven fabric tied between them. She
understood their intention for him. She just didn’t know their motives. The
only reason she ultimately released Hunter and moved away from him
enough for the one jackal man who appeared to be leading them to kneel
down beside Hunter was because she really had no other options.
They were gentle with him as two of the other jackal men set the
stretcher down on the sand next to him, then slid him onto it, leaving behind
a trail of white fluid that had poured from his abdomen. They studied the
trail, speaking in their low, growling language, with one of them pointing at
it, then the other poking the small pool that had been beneath Hunter with
the edge of his spear. It made a thudding sound, showing that the white
fluid had hardened in that pool, though it was still liquid throughout most of
the trail.
This discovery seemed to intrigue the jackal men and they began to
speak rapidly in their language as the two bearing the stretcher rose
gracefully to their feet, hoisting it between them like Hunter’s deadweight
was nothing to them. That wasn’t really surprising, since they were heavily
muscled beneath pitch-black fur.
It wasn’t like they wore much to conceal that muscle-bound
humanoid physique. Just a wraparound skirt in a plain, coarsely woven
fabric that could have been wool or flax. Their only other article of clothing
was their sandals, which were flat beneath their claw-toed, human-shaped
feet, and had crisscrossing ties securing them to their muscular calves.
Only their apparent leader wore the headdress that made him look
like the Egyptian god Anubis, though his was actually quite plain upon
inspection, being made of the same simple fabric as his wraparound skirt. A
second glance showed that the long, loose ends of it that hung over his
shoulders probably served a functional purpose to wrap around his face to
keep blowing sand out of his nose and mouth, rather than just a decorative
one.
Tarin didn’t have much time to study them before the two bearers
quickly scaled the side of the depression with Hunter between them,
undeterred by the shifting sands. The leader then motioned for her to follow
in their wake, and Tarin wanted to do nothing more than that, but she was
worried about the struggle ahead to get out of the depression. She wasn’t
nearly as surefooted as the jackal men.
Behind her, she heard several grunts, then the sound of a large
amount of sand shifting. She turned just in time to see the remaining jackal
men that had entered the depression hauling a massive creature out of the
sand, its body far longer than its jaws. It wasn’t quite like the ant lion she’d
thought, being more like a gigantic, segmented worm, but it was certainly
horrifying. She quickly turned back to the escape point, swallowing her
gorge as the workers behind her began to hack up the creature with short
blades that looked like cleavers.
The leader watched her with dark brown eyes that seemed almost
curious, but then again, she would have been rabidly curious too, if she
wasn’t so worried about Hunter. She braced herself, then began her ascent
up the slipping sand wall, squeaking in embarrassment when her slow
progress and backslide had the leader pushing her from behind with the top
of his staff that had a curved shepherd hook on the end of it.
After she finally managed her humiliating climb with the leader
right behind her, nudging her in the backside with the staff, she was able to
stand again at the top of the depression and look around at the desert that
had been so empty before.
It was now populated by long-haired beasties with large, plate-like
hooves that seemed to be soft enough to spread on the sand to distribute
what had to be massive weight, given that they were built like oxen. She
would have been afraid of them if they didn’t have bovine faces beneath the
large, horned plates that apparently grew from their heads and shaded their
liquid black eyes. They placidly chewed away at their cud while more of
the jackal men strapped down Hunter’s stretcher on one of the carts two of
the beasts were pulling. The cart had a broad sled on the bottom rather than
wheels.
 The other beasts were also clearly tame creatures carrying their own
burdens, loaded down with packs and full skins that were moist with water
condensation.
The leader finished his ascent in Tarin’s wake and gestured for her
to go to one of the beasts. That was when she realized he expected her to
mount it and ride it.
She thought about refusing, given her complete lack of experience
with riding any beast that was big enough to roll over her and crush her, and
trying to explain to him that she would rather walk.
Two things convinced her to accept his offer of a mount. One, the
cart holding Hunter was pulling away rapidly now that they had him
strapped down. Two, the workers in the hole were now hauling out chunks
of the creature’s dead flesh and putting them into another cart. The grisly
sight was enough to convince her she didn’t want to be around that any
longer than she had to, so she took the escape option offered and walked
over to the mount, followed by the leader.
The oxen beast didn’t so much as shift its weight when the jackal
man helped her up onto its broad back. Tarin feared she was about to topple
right off the other side, and clung desperately to the long, shaggy fur on the
creature’s back. The leader climbed onto the oxen behind her, closing her in
with heavily muscled arms that pulled her against a strong chest.
She swallowed, feeling the beginnings of heatstroke in her burning
cheeks and the lightness in her head. She really hoped the jackal man was
just keeping her in her seat, because the last thing she needed to deal with at
the moment was an affectionate alien. Especially one who wouldn’t
understand her when she told him she was taken.
She wasn’t taken, but for some reason, she felt like she was. Like
her heart knew something it wasn’t communicating to her brain. Those two
had never gotten along anyway. They were always fighting over what was
best for her. In most cases, her heart would be the first one to claim victory,
only for her brain to win the day at the end with a big “Ha! I told you so!”
Ultimately, Tarin was the one who was always the loser of those battles.
Her mind spun around inanities like those thoughts while it shied
away from worrying about Hunter, his guts leaking out of him as strange
aliens that looked like escapees from an ancient pyramid painting carried
him to god only knew where, in a desert that seemed endless and
unchanging.
At some point, Tarin fell asleep—or more likely, passed out from
exhaustion and exposure. When a gentle shake of her shoulder awakened
her, it was so someone could press a cool bowl to her swollen, burning lips.
A soft, light, growling voice said something to her that sounded like it was
coaxing. Tarin obeyed the request, assuming it was one for her to drink.
The water was blissful as it poured over her chapped, torn bottom
lip and into her parched mouth. She barely even tasted the slightly salty,
herbal aftertaste to it. It was liquid and that was all that mattered.
She hadn’t drunk nearly enough before the bowl was removed and
Tarin was forced to open her eyes to seek out the bearer of that precious
liquid so she could beg for more.
A jackal-headed woman stared back at her with warm, brown eyes
that appeared to be sympathetic, given the situation, though Tarin supposed
she could have been projecting her own hopes on the alien. She knew the
alien was female—or at least suspected it—because like the males, the
female did not wear much clothing. The linen dress and simple collar
formed of bamboo shaped into long beads that she did wear hinted at small,
perfect female breasts on a slender, graceful female torso, all covered by
silky, black fur.
“More,” Tarin tried to ask, her voice barely coming out as a ragged
rasp.
She lifted one hand to reach for the bowl and noted that it shook as
it hung weakly in the air between her and alien woman.
They’d laid her out on a mattress that appeared to be filled with
straw—if the smell was anything to go by—and was set on top of some
elevated block of stone or clay, so the alien woman didn’t have to bend to
tend to her.
The woman gently patted her hair, then brought the bowl forward
again, shaking her head when Tarin tried to grab it. She instead moved it
back to Tarin’s lips and only allowed her to take small, frustrating sips,
when she wanted to grab the bowl and guzzle it down.
It seemed to take forever for Tarin’s thirst to be satisfied in this
tedious manner, but finally, she had enough water that her parched brain
could focus on her next biggest concern. “Hunter? Where is he? I need to
see him!”
She looked around, hoping that he’d be in this room with her, since
she thought maybe it was a place of healing. The surrounding walls were
built of dark gray stone, cut precisely in large blocks and stacked neatly.
The imposing stone and the lack of any visible windows only made the
room dim and filled with shadows cast by the floating wick oil lamps that
were set along a table that appeared to be made from the same bamboolike
wood as the stretcher’s poles had been.
There were several other raised blocks of stone like the one Tarin
laid on, and some of them had straw mattresses to soften them like hers, but
none of them were occupied. She and the alien woman were the only two
people in the room.
“Hunter?” she asked again, her voice a strained rasp as she turned
back to look at the other woman.
The woman’s long ears tilted fully towards her, then she shook her
head, making a low whimper in her throat that had Tarin’s heart pounding.
“Please! Tell me where Hunter is?” She tried not to be rude to this
person who appeared to be helping her, despite how different she was from
them, but her voice came out harsh and aggressive.
The woman set down the bowl, then lifted one hand to help Tarin off
the mattress. It was a slow, frustratingly long process for Tarin to regain her
feet, especially since they were swollen and aching. Her boots had been
removed, leaving her with bare feet on the stone floor that had been covered
with clean straw.
She didn’t even ask for her boots, because the thought of trying to
squeeze them back on her ham hocks of swollen feet at the moment made
her shudder just imaging the pain. She was still wearing her light shirt, her
cargo pants, and her underclothes, so she was decent enough to go on a
walk through wherever this building was, especially if all the other women
were dressed—or not so much—like the woman helping her.
That woman supported her weight with one surprisingly strong arm
around her waist, while Tarin kept an arm over the alien’s slender shoulder.
Together, they walked awkwardly but effectively, as the woman led her out
of that one room and then down a long, stone corridor shadows around
them flickering because of the flames emitting from glowing green crystal
lamps. The other female guided her to another room.
The new room had stone blocks acting as beds, except that none of
them had mattresses. The room smelled strongly of herbs, with a very faint,
underlying odor that made Tarin think of rotting meat.
That scent might have come from the mummy that lay upon one of
the stone slabs and would have made Tarin call the entire trip a great big
“nope!” as she raced back out of the room, except that she needed to see
Hunter. Since that mummy wasn’t Hunter—and based on the mask that had
been set on the head of the freshly bandaged corpse—was one of the jackal
people, she had no choice but to continue.
As they rounded the occupied slab, Tarin saw that they weren’t
entirely alone in this room. Three of the male jackal men crowded around a
slab at the other end of the room, near a wall with a workbench filled with
instruments Tarin didn’t want to look too closely at, along with a bunch of
shelves packed with clay and stone jars, bamboo boxes, and grass and reed
baskets.
The males were so preoccupied by what was on the slab that only
one even tilted his ears towards them, but he didn’t turn away from his
study. The male that had twitched long ears toward them wore the
headdress the leader had worn, and Tarin thought maybe his build was
slightly different from the other two. Perhaps, if she studied these aliens
long enough, she would spot more variations than their clothing to tell them
apart.
At the moment, she was more worried about where Hunter was, and
what they might be doing to him.
“Hunter?” she asked, gaining enough of the leader’s attention that
he actually turned to look at her, then gestured for her to join him at the
stone slab.
She gasped when the other two males moved aside so she could see
what lay upon the slab.
 Chapter 13
It was Hunter’s body, and it seemed that the white fluid that had
leaked from his abdomen was now leaking from every part of his
exoskeleton. Like he was bleeding out, only she’d thought his blood was
black.
She was freaked out that he was dying, but the jackal-headed aliens
seemed calm, though fascinated as they watched the fluid flow down his
sleek exoskeleton in a sheet, then harden into a solid mass. This happened
with all of the fluid, building up layers of a hard shell around Hunter’s body
that had completely covered most of it by this point.
Only his head still showed enough that she could look into his good
eye, but even that was beginning to seep with the white fluid. As she
approached his head, her steps slow and hesitant as tears rolled down her
cheeks, she noticed that the nubs where his antennae used to be twitched, as
if they would have moved towards her, if they’d still been attached.
She rushed towards his head. “You’re still alive, aren’t you? Yes!
Hunter, please, tell me what to do. How do I help you? What is this stuff?”
His mandibles were already beneath the hardening white shell, but
she heard a weak sound from behind that surface as his mouth moved to
stridulate.
“Cocoon,” her translator said, though it took a long time for it to
translate, so she figured it was struggling to decipher the barely audible
sounds.
Tarin also struggled to comprehend the meaning of that one word. If
he was forming a cocoon over his body, surely that meant he still had a
chance to survive his terrible injuries. In fact, the idea gave her burgeoning
hope that had her viewing that terrible white fluid in a completely different
light.
“Does this mean you’ll be safe? Will you live now?”
“Change,” was all he could say, before the white fluid pouring from
his eye and through his patch flowed down over him to cover his face.
 That wasn’t a “no,” and Tarin would take whatever hope she could
find. She didn’t know much about metamorphosis, other than that Menops
went through it, but she did know that it would take time. That meant his
cocoon would need somewhere safe to rest. She broke her gaze away from
his face, disturbed to see the white fluid covering it up even as she watched
him. Glancing at the jackal-headed leader, she pointed to Hunter’s growing
cocoon.
“He needs to rest like this, somewhere safe. Can he remain here?”
She pointed to the stone slab, even taking a moment to tap the visible
surface with a finger to emphasize her question.
All four sets of long ears were turned towards her now, even those
of the female alien, who’d come to stand beside the three males as they’d
watched her exchange with Hunter.
The leader cocked his head like a curious dog trying to figure out a
command. If she wasn’t so worried about her and Hunter’s future, she
would have been both amused and charmed by these aliens. Even if they
did stand over six and half to seven feet on average, had sharp teeth and
claws, tons of muscles, and looked like the Egyptian god of the underworld.
Thus far, the aliens seemed friendly and even helpful. She suspected
these aliens were the ones Hunter had spoken of when he’d found her in
that creature’s depression. It was a miracle the creature had not decided to
make a meal out of her when she’d first fallen into the depression. Either
that, or it just didn’t like nasty human meat.
For some reason, these aliens had understood Hunter, and he’d
understood them enough for them to communicate a need that the aliens
were willing to fulfill.
She had no idea what kind of deal Hunter might have made with
them, or why they would agree to help him. She was suspicious of altruism,
even though her last year with the Akrellians had proven to her that it did
exist in some places. Still, she didn’t entirely trust their intent, despite their
actions. As long as Hunter was indisposed, it was up to her to protect him,
which meant she could not be charmed into dropping her guard by her new
hosts.
There was something really fishy going on with their appearance on
this planet, given how similar they looked to Anubis. Something like this
group of aliens shouldn’t be found so far from Earth.
 Except that there was a spire here that matched the one on Akrellia,
which was also pretty odd. That coincidence was making her think there
was something she was missing in all of this, but her brain was just too tired
to puzzle it all out. She wasn’t in as dire of straits as Hunter, but she had
clearly suffered from some level of heat exhaustion and dehydration.
“Can Hunter stay here safely?” she asked again, knowing there was
no way they could understand her, and wishing she knew how Hunter had
communicated with them.
They looked at each other as she gestured to Hunter’s cocoon and
then sketched a little border around it in the air with her hands. “Safe and
protected?”
The leader was silent for a long moment, before reaching out a hand
to her, palm upwards while saying many words in his language. The motion
made it look like he wanted her to take his hand and allow him to draw her
away from Hunter.
Tarin shook her head and sidled up against the slab holding Hunter’s
cocoon. “I’ll stay here, thank you. Just to keep him safe.”
The aliens cast glances between them again that Tarin couldn’t read,
then began to mutter in low growls, the female alien joining in with a few
comments of her own.
Tarin decided to punctuate her decision by sliding down the slab
until she was seated on the floor with her back against it. Then she crossed
her arms over her chest and shot them a determined glare. “Staying. Here.”
This caused more growling words that fired off rapidly from the
leader to the others. Then suddenly, the other two males headed off in
opposite directions, while the female nodded her head sharply, barked, then
headed off in a third direction.
That left Tarin alone with the leader, and she watched him
nervously, feeling very vulnerable sitting on the ground while he towered
over her. Not that she wouldn’t have been vulnerable if he’d been standing,
since he was so huge in comparison to her.
He must have deciphered her fear from the way she flinched as he
moved closer to her, then slowly kneeled in front of her, far enough away
from her that she didn’t feel too threatened, but close enough that she could
see his eyes. They didn’t appear to be filled with anything but sympathy and
friendliness.
 If she could trust her own judgment on that. It was far too easy to
ascribe human motives and emotions onto something that looked like him,
since he was mostly humanoid. It was also all too easy to be wrong, and pay
for that mistake. Not that humans were less dangerous and unpredictable
than any alien. Hell, perhaps she was far safer with these aliens than she
would be if she’d been found by a group of humans.
He spoke in a low voice, in a soothing cadence, one hand out, palm
towards her as if he was showing her he meant no harm. The gestures were
either universal, or the similarities between humans and this species were
remarkably coincidental. It hurt Tarin’s brain to try to figure out which
explanation was more likely at the moment. She felt so tired, and so worried
about Hunter in his forming cocoon, praying he clung to life long enough
for his transformation to take place.
Praying she could actually trust her new “friends” not to kill them
and eat them the moment they dropped their guards. Jackals weren’t exactly
the safest or most trustworthy creatures to be around.
Her head was bobbing on her neck as his soothing words—whatever
he was actually saying—made her want to nod off, just for a minute. A
single, blissful moment of peace would be so nice.
She jerked awake, her head rocking back so far that it knocked
against the stone slab with a painful thud as one of the males that had
disappeared earlier now returned. He bore a straw-stuffed mattress over his
shoulder, a basket bouncing on his hip that was held on by a strap slung
across his chest.
He cautiously approached her and laid the mattress down beside her,
then flipped open the grass-woven lid of the basket and withdrew a blanket
that he set down on the mattress. The leader hadn’t moved from his
kneeling position this entire time, though he’d lowered his hand to rest it on
his upraised knee as he watched the other male set things up for Tarin. At
least, she assumed it was for her.
The second male that had left reappeared not long after the first
male, bearing a tray with some kind of food on it that looked and smelled
like bread and a strong, stinky cheese, as well as shriveled fruits that might
have been dried to preserve them. There was also a metal carafe that Tarin
hoped held water for the small bowl beside it.
 The female rushed into the room as the second male was setting
down the tray next to the mattress. She carried a handful of fabric and a
bucket and sponges. Tarin heard liquid slosh in the bucket as she set it down
beside the mattress, then carefully laid the fabric out on the mattress to
reveal that it was a filmy dress similar to the one she wore, only in what
appeared to be a much finer linen.
Tarin suspected it would show as much side boob as the alien
female’s did, and she wasn’t thrilled about wearing it, but if it was a gift, it
would be rude to refuse, and she had sand in pretty much every crack and
crevice of her body and in all her clothing, so she wasn’t about to refuse a
bath.
As long as they left her to it and didn’t plan on watching her.
Though, if she had to deal with the sandpaper effect between her cheeks and
bits much longer, she didn’t give a damn if they brought the entire village or
whatever they were in to watch her rinse that stuff off.
The fact that they clearly wanted to make her comfortable while she
waited for Hunter to metamorphosize was another indication that they were
friendly—or at least appeared to be. Tarin just wished she could trust in that
friendliness more, but she’d been a terrible judge of character in the past. In
fact, being a terrible judge of character had pretty much defined her past.
She just worried that this time, she might be wrong too.
Once everything was set down in front of her like an offering, the
leader waved away the others with a brief motion of his hand, then lowered
his head in a quick bow to her and rose to his feet. He said one last thing
over his shoulder as he turned. Tarin really wished she could understand
what he meant, but at least it looked like they were going to leave her alone
to wash up, eat, and then rest.
She certainly couldn’t ask for more at this point.
 Chapter 14
Tarin refused to leave Hunter’s side in the following weeks, much to
the apparent dismay of her hosts. They created a habitat around her to make
her comfortable, adding a folding three-paneled screen to create an area of
privacy for her to bathe, relieve herself, and dress. It also offered privacy so
she didn’t have to watch the mummification process when they brought a
body into the room and began the long, nighttime vigil and rituals of death
to prepare the body for the afterlife.
She was bored enough by the second week that she actually peeked
around the screen during the ritual, watching two Anubis-looking jackal
men circle the body on the slab. That body was another male jackal-headed
alien, but he didn’t have the ebony fur. His was brown and red.
The female alien checked on her frequently, but not when the ritual
was taking place, when the males tried to ignore Tarin’s presence as they
went about their gruesome business.
That female Tarin now considered as much a friend as two people
who couldn’t speak the same language could be. The alien female’s name
was Bakt. It had taken an embarrassingly long moment for Tarin to realize
she hadn’t been barking at her during their first real conversation—she’d
been trying to introduce herself. In fact, Bakt had managed to repeat the
name “Tarin” without any effort, despite the inhuman shape of her mouth.
From her observations of her hosts and from what little she could
glean from Bakt’s charades to help them both understand each other, the
one jackal-headed alien she considered the “leader” was actually called
“Anubis,” leading her to consider the unbelievable possibility that this
world was somehow connected to Earth.
The other two males who helped him in the mummification process
were called “Inpu” and “Anpu.” There were other ebony-furred males, but
these three seemed to be very important to their village—or city—Tarin still
wasn’t sure, since she hadn’t left the embalming chamber yet.
The mysteries of their origin just kept stacking up, but
understanding their language was a slow, frustrating, and sometimes
downright embarrassing process. Hunter had said he understood them, but
Tarin’s translator gave her nothing to help with figuring out their words.
She had to do things the hard way while she waited for Hunter to emerge
from his cocoon.
That was another situation that kept her from truly focusing on her
new hosts. Every day, Anubis and his followers would come and examine
the cocoon, poking and prodding at the hard shell carefully, under Tarin’s
watchful eye.
Or rather, her suspicious glare.
They were clearly fascinated by Hunter, and they were definitely
studying the cocoon, even going so far as to hold a lamp up to it while
another stood on the other side to see if they could look in. Tarin had
protested mightily at that, despite wanting to see inside it herself, because
she was worried the shell of it might be flammable.
They hadn’t been able to see anything through the completely
opaque surface of the shell, which had hardened until it was as solid as the
stone beneath it. It had also fused with the stone, so there was no moving it,
even if she would have allowed them to attempt it.
They accepted her protectiveness with grace and perhaps even some
amusement. She got the feeling she was the equivalent of a chihuahua
yipping at a Great Dane getting too close to her food bowl when it came to
the trio of embalmers, but they still seemed to give her sharp-toothed grins
and back away when she would yell at them to leave Hunter alone, their
hands up to show they meant no ill will.
The cocoon fascinated Tarin herself, so she couldn’t blame them for
being so curious. Despite how gross it had been when it had formed, it had
a beautiful design to it now. The white fluid had hardened into an ivory
shell with a pearlescent sheen to the surface. There were portions of the
cocoon that gleamed with shiny gold dots and bright, vivid blues and reds—
like jewelry. They were like decorations on the cocoon, and she wondered
why they would be there, tempting someone to approach the cocoon when
Hunter was in such a vulnerable state.
Except that the cocoon itself appeared to be armored like a tank, so
maybe his state was less vulnerable now than it would be, and she could
imagine that it might even be beneficial for a world-hopping Menops to
entice someone to bring their cocoon along on their ship. In fact, it was just
the kind of thing that might happen with a horror movie monster.
That made her concerned about what kind of metamorphosis Hunter
would go through, though it was only a minor concern, since he would still
be Hunter—she hoped. She wished she knew more about the process and
what his state of mind would be when he emerged. The only person she’d
ever met who’d gone through metamorphosis—other than Halian, who
never spoke of such things—had been Nahash, and she hadn’t had many
conversations with him about such personal and private things, but he’d
retained his memories of his previous life—sort of.
She was honestly afraid more that Hunter wouldn’t remember her at
all, and that she’d have to start from scratch getting him to know her again
and getting him over his repulsion of her appearance. It would be harder
now, since she was no longer repulsed by his, though she might not
appreciate his new form any more than his previous form.
Or perhaps he would look just as he had, only hopefully fully healed
from his terrible wounds.
There were no answers from the cocoon, and no movement from it
either, for several weeks. Tarin went through a mental hell that entire time,
fearing the worst, even as Bakt tried to distract her with a board game that
was incomprehensible to her, and a Jax-type game that was a little easier for
her to understand. The embalming trio would occasionally have work for
her to deliberately not watch, but struggle with her curiosity to avoid doing
so.
She picked up an odd word here and there in their language, but still
couldn’t truly communicate with them, which made her lonely enough to
talk to herself. Well, actually, she sat beside Hunter’s cocoon and talked to
him until her voice was hoarse. She told him every sad thing that had ever
happened in her life, and there was plenty of material there. Then she told
him about all the joyous moments in her life. There was a lot less to speak
of, but those moments had made all the rest bearable.
Her own words made her homesick, and she really wished Hunter
was there to pat her head with his antennae and make her feel better,
because for some reason, that had soothed her.
Weeks after he ended up in his cocoon, she had fallen asleep against
the slab, her back pressed to the cool stone as her body slumped to one side,
after a long session of talking to him and getting no response.
Normally, Bakt or one of the embalmers would awaken her with a
gentle shake and urge her to take to the straw mat on the floor, not too far
from the slab, but this time, it was something different that caused her to
jerk awake, her heart pounding so hard that her pulse in her throat was
nearly choking her.
That sound had been a sharp crack, like a branch snapping. She
climbed unsteadily to her feet, turning as she did, so that she was facing the
cocoon. The ivory cocoon had several surface cracks crazing the
pearlescent finish, and one long, complete break going across the top of it.
She jumped back as something slammed hard against the top of the
cocoon from the inside, expanding the break point, widening the crack.
“Hunter?” she whispered, suddenly scared of that violent
movement. Scared of what might emerge from that cocoon.
The movement inside the cocoon grew frantic at that small whisper,
and more slamming impacted the interior of the cocoon as Tarin slowly
backed away from the slab, staring at it as if she could keep whatever was
trapped inside from emerging as a nightmare instead of as her friend.
A flurry of impacts caused the top of the cocoon to break away from
the rest of it, and then fly off completely, spinning several feet into the air,
before falling to the side of the slab.
Crumpled, wet wings were the first thing she saw as the creature
emerged from the cocoon. That was followed by a body that was also slick
and wet.
And human.
 Chapter 15
His queen was out there. He’d scented her pheromones as soon as
the crack opened in his cocoon, and he was immediately enraptured. The
entire area around his cocoon appeared to be soaked in her scent. She must
have found his cocoon, enticed by the gleam of gold and gem-bright colors,
and brought it back to her nest, waiting for him to emerge so that he could
mate her.
He heard a soft sound from her, but it didn’t make much sense to
him. It wasn’t the trilling or chirruping that he was accustomed to hearing
from a queen, but perhaps she’d taken a form that made her stridulating
different.
He’d taken a form that made his entire body feel different. Soft.
He wasn’t too concerned. He was emerging from his cocoon. It
would take time for his exoskeleton to harden. His queen would wait for
him to be prepared for mating.
One part of him was hard though, or at least the interior of that part,
though the outer shell was still soft. It was strange that his aedeagus felt so
different and seemed to be already extended and ready to penetrate his
queen.
Her pheromones were so strong it made him nearly delirious with
the heady scent of them. His antennae unfurled, drying as the air struck
them, bending towards his queen, eager to stroke her and sample her taste
and scent.
“Oh. My. God. You look almost human!”
His queen made such strange sounds. They echoed oddly in his
head. He tried to stridulate a response as he climbed out of his cocoon and
rested on top of it, struggling to accustom himself to the shape of his new
limbs while his wings dried out and expanded. Instead of the comforting
chirp or squeak or trill from his internal rasps rubbing together, he was only
able to make a harsh, guttural sound that came from air expelled over a
bizarre organ that flopped around inside his mouth as his mandibles
worked.
 Even with his queen pumping out her pheromones so close to him,
he felt terrible. This new form didn’t feel right. He was afraid to open his
eyes and get a better look at it. He should have them both intact now, after
the metamorphosis.
“Like a really, really gorgeous human! Hunter, my god! Are you
okay? Say something to me!”
Her sounds were beginning to form into words, but he was still
struggling to understand them. There was something inside his head that
told him what they meant, but he didn’t know if the process of
metamorphosis had allowed that something—that embedded translator, he
now recalled—to reimplant properly. Either that, or his mind was simply
grappling with the extreme alterations to it and to his body—and to the fact
that he was now mated to a queen whose pheromones were driving him
crazy with lust that made his new body ache.
She approached him, her steps making a soft sound on the stone, but
it still sounded so loud in his head, vibrating along his jaw and hurting the
sides of his head. He lifted one drying hand to clutch his skull, opening his
eyes at the same time to get a glance at it.
What he saw made him scream.
The sound wasn’t a hard stridulation, but rather a low, obnoxious
shout from lungs that weren’t paired with spiracles. No, they wouldn’t be,
in this horrible, hideous body he’d been trapped inside.
What nightmare was this? How could this have happened?
He looked over at his queen. At Tarin.
It had to be her fault, but he couldn’t hate her for it. She was his
queen. Besides, he’d cared about her even before he’d imprinted on her. She
was Tarin. His friend.
Her DNA! Somehow, he must have integrated her DNA before
metamorphosis. His biology had made the assumption that this new body
was the one he’d need to possess in order to survive on this world. A
Menops that had been mortally wounded while trying to adapt to a new
world would often consume one of the native creatures before going into
compulsory metamorphosis, in order to integrate their genetic information,
so they could evolve into something more suitable to the environment.
He couldn’t understand how he might have consumed any part of
her DNA, but the results were unmistakable. The worst part being that his
imprinting had also adapted, making her pheromones affect him, when they
hadn’t before. At least, they hadn’t affected him like this before.
He’d spent his entire life avoiding enslavement to a queen. He’d
sacrificed everything—even his ship—for that end goal. And now, he was
trapped, despite the wings drying on his back. He could never fly away
from Tarin. He could never leave her again.
But she was Tarin, and he couldn’t be resentful that she had been the
one to entrap him. He wouldn’t have chosen any other female in the galaxy
if he’d been given the choice. He watched her approach him, her eyes wide
as she stared at him. That part of his body—that horrible human genitalia—
tightened in response to the growing heat in her eyes as they roved over his
new form.
He still felt weakened by the process of metamorphosis, but it would
have prepared him for full emergence from his cocoon within a few hours,
so his body—disgustingly human and soft as it was—should be in peak
physical shape. A shape that apparently appealed to Tarin, based on the way
she stared at him as if she couldn’t look away.
He despaired that his outer covering—his skin—would never harden
into an exoskeleton. He would be a walking skin bag, leaking moisture
through holes and shedding bits and fibers of himself everywhere he went.
It was repellent.
But there was Tarin, so it wasn’t all a downside. He almost forgot
how horrified he was by his own form when she cautiously lifted a hand to
touch him, freezing with it held in midair before she actually made contact
with his skin, which twitched in a distracting, annoying way in response to
her proximity.
“Are you in there, Hunter? Can you understand me? Do you
remember me?” She asked the questions in a rapid-fire way, giving him no
chance to answer.
It was only after she seemed to lose her breath, her gaze lowering to
the obscenely bulging muscles on his shoulder, that he made the attempt to
respond.
His first words were merely groans and grunts and frustrated growls
as he tried to form his new mouth and tongue to shape them.
She watched him with growing alarm in her eyes, pulling her hand
back towards her own body and shifting backwards as his grunts grew more
frantic with the signs of her retreat. The last thing he wanted to do was
scare her.
“Here. Hunter, here.” He shook his head as if he could dislodge
more words from it. He hated the way they rattled in his own head when he
spoke them, but at least the translator made it possible for him to
understand and repeat the words that she’d understand.
His antennae strained to touch her, as they always did, only now
there was even more intent in them. He needed her pheromones. He wanted
to taste them so badly that his mouth watered in an alarming way.
Her shoulders had slumped in relief at his words, the tension spilling
out of her as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, the corners of her
lips tilted upwards as her gaze caught on his antennae. To his relief, she
moved close enough for them to touch her face and head fibers.
Hair—something he now had as well, though it was short and clung
to his scalp, hardened by the moisture after emerging from his cocoon.
She allowed his antennae to run over her hair and face, and even let
them trail down her neck, picking up all those sweet pheromones she put
out from her tiny skin holes. It wasn’t until he probed them past the strange,
wooden-like collar she wore and moved towards the soft, fleshy mounds
partially exposed by her current clothing that she shivered and brushed
them away with her forearm, but not before he noticed that her skin had
taken on a texture, with tiny bumps raising the fine fibers that covered it.
“I see those guys are still around,” she said, taking a deep breath,
then stepping away from him again. “I’m actually happy to see that. I… the
change in you is so… disturbing. Your antennae are at least familiar to me.
Crazy, isn’t it? I found you more comforting and familiar in your other
form. Now,” her gaze raked him again, and he knew he wasn’t
misinterpreting the heat in her eyes, because her sexual pheromones surged
as she looked at him, in a way it never had before, “you kind of worry me.”
“Never hurt, arrggh!” Trying to speak was so frustrating that he
clenched his fists, scraping worthless keratin edges against the hard surface
of his cocoon. “Never, Tarin.”
She nodded. “You know, it’s crazy, but I believe that. I don’t think
you’d ever hurt me, Hunter. You didn’t in your other form, and you won’t in
this one. At least not physically,” she muttered, looking away from him,
even though her pheromones still surged, driving him crazy.
 He had to tell her. He couldn’t keep the secret from her any longer.
He’d hurt her far too much already, and she continued to be unaware of it.
Every time she put her trust in him with such confidence, it killed him
inside. He was unworthy to be her mate, and he didn’t deserve her as a
queen. She would likely abandon him as soon as she knew the truth, but
there was no hope for it. He had to tell her.
He just wished he had the right words, and could speak them clearly.
“Halian.”
She flinched at that name, and he saw the ghost of old pain and
rejection in her eyes, and he hated Halian even more for being as unworthy
of this beautiful queen as he himself was. Halian should never have led her
on. He’d never intended to open himself to Tarin, even if he’d been drawn
to her as Hunter was. He never would have allowed her to touch any aspect
of him, because then he might unravel completely and lose himself. That
was something the more cautious, merciless aspects of Halian wouldn’t
risk.
“I helped Halian,” Hunter said, knowing his hatred for Halian in that
moment was only half what he felt towards himself. He should have done
more to protect Tarin from the beginning. He’d been so focused on his own
selfish need to avoid this very fate that he’d caused pain to the one he cared
about.
She stared at him with a slightly open mouth, her eyes cloudy with
confusion. “You… I know you were helping him. Then that bastard
betrayed you! Don’t worry, someday, he’ll get what’s coming to him.”
He shook his unwieldy head, missing his mandibles so much he felt
them like phantoms on his skin. A muscle ticked in his jaw, making his skin
pulse in a way that drew Tarin’s interested eye. “Did not betray. Tricked
Tarin. I betrayed… you.”
He watched as confusion shifted in her eyes, seeing the moment
when it turned to comprehension, then dawning horror, then darkened her
eyes into rage.
He didn’t even flinch when she lifted her clenched hand and
punched him in his ticking jaw. It barely stung, though it turned his head to
the side. Her punch was weak, but even if it had felt like a hammer blow, he
would have allowed her to do it again and again without protest. He’d
earned her hatred, and the sign of betrayal in her eyes.
 Because of his selfishness, he’d lost his queen before he’d even
found her.
 Chapter 16
Tarin wanted to kill him. Then resurrect him. Then kill him all over
again. She wanted to gouge out his eyes with a dull spoon, then rip his
antennae off, one at a time, then beat him to death with them.
She hated him.
She punched until her knuckles bled, knowing her hits were pathetic
and she was only hurting herself on his hard-ass face more than him. She
struggled against his hold when he saw her bleeding knuckles and finally
restrained her to keep her from hitting him again. She thrashed in his
ridiculously strong arms in a fury, twisting her body this way and that,
trying to flail arms that he held still in a gentle but unbreakable grasp.
She screamed and screamed every curse word she could think of for
him, until she lost her voice. Then she collapsed in his arms and cried,
hating him even more because she found comfort in his embrace, even
though he was the one who’d caused her so much pain.
He was also the one who’d caused her to hit someone she cared
about, channeling the monster that must be in her blood. The monster she’d
inherited from her own father.
At some point, Anubis, Inpu, and Anpu had come in and held a
conversation with Hunter, even while he’d restrained her mad thrashing.
They’d apparently been convinced by him that they didn’t need to
intervene. She still had no idea how they understood each other, but
Hunter’s responses to them sounded broken, though they were in the alien
language, and appeared to be a struggle for him to speak. That was all she’d
noticed as she’d fought against his hold.
Now, as she sagged against the hard, perfectly-formed muscles of
his human-looking chest, her tears smearing against his deliciously fragrant
skin, she recognized that she had no one else to turn to on this world.
No one but Hunter—the lying, treacherous bastard that he was. He
had destroyed any trust she’d had in him, and yet, she had to continue
trusting him.
 Fresh hatred filled her at this realization, and exhausted as she was,
she began her struggles anew. Hunter wouldn’t allow her to break free of
his hold, and she wanted to hate him for that too, but she knew he did it to
keep her from hurting herself, as she’d already wounded her hands beating
on him. His patience and gentleness only pissed her off more.
She gave up fighting him physically, knowing it was a losing battle.
Stilling her body, she spoke in a low, angry tone. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Tarin… hurt… self.” Each word seemed to be a struggle for him,
and if he hadn’t destroyed her concern for him, she would have been
helping him to work out how to speak with his new body. In fact, she would
have been thrilled to help him learn all about his new body, as crazy as it
was that he now had an almost human body.
That was a wonder he hadn’t even given her an opportunity to enjoy
before dropping his devastating bomb on her. The fact that he and Halian
had worked together to betray her, Theresa, and Tirel, and then the bastard
had shown up out of the blue to pretend they were all friends… it was just
unbearable.
“I won’t hurt myself, and I’m not going to waste any more time
trying to hurt you. I just can’t stand you, and the last thing I want is for you
to touch me. I want out of this room so I don’t even have to look at you.”
The worst part of his transformation was that he was very good to
look at, and if she didn’t despise him so much, she could have done so all
day. He could have kept up the pretense, and a part of her was angry that he
didn’t. He had to have known he would destroy any friendly feelings they
had between them. He must have realized that the feelings she had for him
couldn’t survive such a revelation.
How could they?
He released her slowly, allowing her to stand back on her feet,
which he’d lifted off the floor as he’d pulled her up onto the slab next to his
cocoon.
As soon as she was standing, she jerked out of his grasp, backing
away several steps from him, just in case he planned on grabbing her again.
He didn’t.
He just watched her through eyes that were still as black as
midnight, sclera and all, though they were no longer bugged out and domed,
but were in a human face—a very handsome human face with nearly
straight, dark eyebrows that cast his all-black eyes in shadow as they drew
together above a perfectly straight nose. Even his lips were perfect,
sensually full without being feminine. Short, black hair covered his head
and framed the antennae that still stuck up from his hairline, shifting
towards her.
It was unfair that he was so gorgeous. She liked him better when he
was just Hunter—her ant-boy. The one she’d been able to trust.
“I don’t ever want to see you again, Hunter,” she said in a shaking
voice, pointing an accusing finger at him, her knuckles raw and aching from
trying to cause pain to him that could even come close to the pain inside
her, left behind in the wake of his confession.
Though his skin was red and slightly swollen on his face, she
suspected she’d failed. She didn’t know if his bones were as hard as his
exoskeleton had been, but even a human man could be very strong and
hardheaded, so she hadn’t had a chance to really do any damage. It didn’t
matter to her though, because the shame and horror at her own violence still
filled her.
Never hit in anger. Don’t lash out with your fists! How many times
had her counselors and therapists had to tell her that? How many times had
she forgotten their warnings in her anger while in school? How many times
had she been expelled, then almost invariably moved to a new foster home?
Hunter’s confession had brought out that demon Tarin thought she’d
conquered, and it was one more reason to hate him. Since he only stared at
her with a lack of expression, though his antennae were swaying wildly—so
she didn’t think he was completely unmoved—she turned her back on him,
just in time to conceal her renewed tears from him as she stalked out of the
embalming chamber.
It hurt her even more that he made no effort to stop her or call her
back. Sure, the situation they were in was hopeless, but was he really
willing to just let her walk away and never see her again? Did she truly
mean so little to him that he wouldn’t even make the attempt to fight for
her? It wasn’t like her punches would have scared him. At least, she didn’t
think that was the case. He hadn’t made any move to stop her from hitting
him, until he’d realized that she was bringing harm to herself.
Now her knuckles stung as she walked through the dim, stone
corridor, nearly colliding with Bakt, who had come to check on her, she
suspected. The alien female’s furred brow creased and her long ears perked
forward as she put a gentle hand on Tarin’s shoulder. That little bit of
empathy—such a tiny gesture—was enough to open the floodgates, and
Tarin began sobbing.
Bakt pulled Tarin in for a hug, holding her against her softly furred
body as Tarin wept, patting her back as if she were a small child in need of
comfort.
Tarin was in need of comfort. Her entire world had shifted—yet
again—and she had no idea what to do about it. She’d left Earth,
abandoning her loved ones and all she’d ever known so she could find that
mysterious and elusive “something” she’d been seeking all her life. She’d
never quite been able to describe what it was, but she knew what it wasn’t.
It wasn’t the men she’d dated on Earth. It wasn’t Halian.
And apparently, it wasn’t Hunter.
They always deceived her, and she wondered if she was such a bad
person that no good man could ever fall in love with her. She wondered
why someone like Tirel, or even a crazy science experiment like Thrax,
Nemon, or Nahash had never found and fallen in love with her. She
wondered why she seemed to be a lodestone for troubled, angry, or broken
men. They came to her with pretty words and gentle touches, but things
never remained that way for long.
Sure, she knew her heart was too quick to respond. She fell in love
fast and hard, and she always had. From her very first crush on what turned
out to be the school bully—where she was nearly obsessed with him after
only hours of knowing him—to the last boyfriend she’d had on Earth,
who’d looked so sexy on the dirty and smoky stage during his band’s first
real gig that her heart had pounded with excitement and desire. He had
looked far less sexy weeks later, when he proved her theory that her heart
made the worst choices—and her face and body were always the victims of
those choices.
She knew what romance was supposed to be. She’d been reading
those forbidden bodice-ripper romance paperbacks since she was old
enough to decipher the words between the covers that showed the big,
strong man with the woman clutching his powerful thigh as he rested his
hand on her silken, waist-length hair. Those scenes—the ones that hadn’t
made her feel a different kind of way that she’d only learned to deal with
after an embarrassing conversation at school—had convinced her that,
despite the mess her own parents were, there had to be true love out there
somewhere, because otherwise, how could someone describe it so perfectly.
She’d finally witnessed true love in action between her adoptive
parents, but by then, her heart was already corrupted into a magnet for
losers, so whenever she met someone who might treat her like her adopted
father treated his beloved wife, she felt nothing for him but friendship.
Bakt put up with her tears as if they weren’t soaking her fur. She
allowed Tarin to cry it all out of her, then led her unresisting to another
chamber in the building that Tarin had yet to leave while conscious. She’d
remained there faithfully for weeks in order to watch over Hunter’s cocoon.
All the while, the treacherous bastard had kept such a terrible secret from
her.
Tirel would kill him, if they ever found a way back to Akrellia.
Tarin’s suffering from Halian and Hunter’s betrayal was nothing compared
to Tirel’s. Of course, he would want to know where Halian was first, but
then, he would definitely end Hunter’s life.
It was simply proof of how messed-up her heart was that she
couldn’t stand the thought of that. Even if Tirel did deserve vengeance, she
didn’t want him to kill Hunter. She didn’t even want him to hurt Hunter,
despite the Menops deserving it for his deceit.
It was tempting to put all her hatred on Halian, because that might
allow her to find a way to forgive Hunter, and her heart really wanted to
make excuses for him. That was what the heart did. The mind was more
skeptical, and hers was saying he’d managed to trick them all without
twitching an antenna, so he could never be trusted again.
Bakt had no advice for Tarin’s dilemma as she sat on Bakt’s cot in
her small, cozy room with the smell of beeswax—or something close to it—
scenting the air along with the fragrance of Bakt’s fur and the crisp, grassy
scent of fresh straw.
Her friend simply sat beside her and pet her hair or patted her back
as she poured out all her sorrows. If the alien female understood even a
handful of the rapidly spoken words that Tarin cried out, she would have
been shocked. But apparently, Bakt was empathetic enough to understand
her underlying pain, because she stayed there with Tarin, until Tarin
couldn’t find the voice to speak anymore and yawned, exhaustion
overtaking her.
Bakt helped her settle on her own bed, covering her with a blanket,
then patting her hair one last time before leaving the room with the candle
that had provided the light and beeswax scent.
As Tarin was plunged into a cozy darkness, she closed her eyes on
two last tears that dampened her cheeks as they trailed down to the fabric of
the straw mat beneath her. Hunter’s betrayal had hurt her as much as if he’d
struck her with his fists, instead of the other way around. Yet, her heart still
wanted to forgive him.
That meant her pain wasn’t over.
 Chapter 17
It was a struggle for Hunter to let Tarin walk away, knowing she
hated him and might never return. He’d done what he’d had to do, because
he wouldn’t have been able to keep this secret between him and his queen.
It didn’t matter that it was necessary. It had destroyed her trust in him, and
that might have been enough to destroy any possibility he might ever have
to earn back her friendship.
He didn’t even consider whether he could earn her as a mate, since
that possibility was so far off now that it didn’t even bear thinking about.
He could wait to mate, even with her pheromones making his new external
aedeagus—or whatever humans called the rod of flesh—hard. He would
wait forever to mate if he had to. He’d never intended to mate at all, having
purposely avoided this very situation.
Though he supposed this wasn’t exactly what he’d pictured a mating
would be. A queen would not have made him wait, once she’d lured him to
her and entrapped him. She would have been insistent he inseminate her
immediately. After she was pregnant, she would either allow him to remain
in her nest, or she would expel him to die alone.
And he would die, without continued exposure to the pheromones of
his queen. He wasn’t going to tell Tarin that, though, because he knew she
would remain by him, even if she hated him, just so he didn’t die. She was
compassionate like that.
He didn’t want to be her burden, and he also didn’t want to be
around her all the time, exposed to her, and yet never being allowed close to
her. He would rather die than endure that torment.
Not that he didn’t think he deserved it. He cursed the day that he’d
sought out Halian and found him. He never should have thrown his lot in
with the Iriduan.
He sat on the edge of the slab next to his cocoon, holding the
jeweled and golden portion of it that he’d broken off to make into a
necklace for his queen. A Menops queen would keep those portions of her
offsprings’ and mate’s cocoons as the treasures they were, and sometimes,
they would be worked into jewelry to adorn her body.
A male didn’t always go into metamorphosis before meeting his
queen, but when he did, or when she found his cocoon and took it to her
nest, it was customary for him to create the jewelry out of the remnants of
his cocoon for her. It was one way he could earn her favor and get her to
agree to keep him in the nest, despite the fact that he’d served his sole
purpose and would be a drain on resources.
Most of the galaxy considered Menops queens heartless monsters,
and in many cases, that was true, but the Menops queens—like the males—
had more free will than their collective nest mates. They could choose how
they treated others, and though the default seemed to be badly, some queens
could be kind.
Hunter hadn’t dared to hope he’d ever find a queen that was kind, so
he’d searched for a cure instead. In a way, he’d found one in Tarin. She
would never treat him like the cruel Menops queens if she knew he was
imprinted on her. She would find a way to keep him alive, and maybe even
continue to seek a cure for the imprinting. After all, Halian had cured
himself, even after he was imprinted, though the destruction it had done to
his mind had been significant.
The temporary solution that Halian had offered Hunter, when it
became clear his own nanites were too dangerous to inject into Hunter,
wouldn’t have worked after his metamorphosis anyway. They were
inhibitors, meant to block a specific biochemical and epigenetic response,
but everything about Hunter’s new biology would have probably nullified
the inhibitors.
It was just a shame his drastic genetic alterations had not changed
the imprinting biology, but then, no matter how much the Menops changed
using their fluid genetic integration, that part of them was tied to their very
being, just as it was so much a part of the Iriduans that they couldn’t get rid
of it entirely either, even when they tried to splice it out of themselves.
“The female is not pleased with your transformation,” a voice said,
drawing Hunter’s attention away from his fixed stare at the gold that
glittered on the pearlized surface of his cocoon.
That gold had come from mineral reserves in his body to help form
his cocoon to be attractive to a queen actively searching for her mate, or to
those that might carry the nearly indestructible cocoon to a world where a
dormant queen would be waiting for a male to come to her.
The alien that called himself Anubis approached him, and this time
he was alone, though he’d come into the room earlier during Tarin’s furious
shouting to check on them with both his assistants.
“I deceived her. She hurt….”
His internal mandibles worked as he opened and closed his mouth,
still unfamiliar with the operation of this new body’s speech. The tongue
seemed to get in the way of the surprisingly sharp edges of teeth, and he
wondered how humans managed any speech at all, much less the complex
series of tones they usually spoke.
Anubis perked his long ears, staring in a fixed way that would
unnerve many people, but didn’t bother Hunter. His antennae could scent
the pheromones the alien put out, and he wasn’t detecting any sign of threat.
The alien really was just curious.
As Hunter was curious about them. They called themselves the
Inu’A and had an interesting history with the spire that was buried out in
the verdant desert sands. They understood Hunter, and he understood their
language, because it was loaded into his translator—the translator the
Iriduans had given him. One that apparently contained all recorded Iriduan
languages, including the ancient ones.
When he’d first approached what he’d taken to be a small cluster of
stone buildings, with a large opening to an underground complex at the
center, there hadn’t been many aliens around, but by the time he’d landed,
quite a few had come out of the buildings and up from the opening—many
carrying spears.
He’d expected caution, and even aggression, from the denizens of
this world, but he’d been desperate, fearing for Tarin’s continued safety in
the hot desert sun. Her skin was only growing redder and redder as they’d
rested, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to dig down into the spire
soon enough to save her from exposure to the harsh environment.
To his relief, the Inu’A were more curious than aggressive, though
they’d kept their spears trained on him until they’d reassured themselves
that he meant no harm.
Their entire demeanor had changed when his stridulating had been
translated to an Iriduan language that matched the one they’d spoken in
query to him. As the mechanical tone had resonated through his skull and
out of his mouth, the ebony-furred leader, who he now knew as Anubis, had
stiffened, his ears so high and forward that they looked as long as Hunter’s
antennae.
Then he’d bowed to Hunter.
Now, Anubis didn’t show the same formality, but he was still
respectful and polite.
And curious.
“Is this change a work of the Light Ones? You are more like them in
appearance now.”
Hunter would not deceive his new host, though convincing Anubis
and his people that he was connected to the “Light Ones” would probably
make them even more accommodating. They’d already been generous
enough, and he was tired of deception.
“No. Is simple change of Menops.”
Anubis studied him with dark eyes for a long moment, his ear
twitching. “The female, she does not speak the language of the Light Ones.
Is she connected to them?”
Hunter sensed that this could be dangerous territory. He also sensed
that Anubis had taken an interest in Tarin that was more than curiosity. The
ancient Iriduans they referred to as the “Light Ones” appeared to have
created the Inu’A, no doubt using genetic engineering, if they followed the
methods of their descendants.
What disturbed Hunter about their new hosts was that there
appeared to be images on the walls depicting not Iriduans with their pointed
ears and slender builds, but rather humans with rounded ears, bearing
weapons pointed at cowering figures of the Inu’A. There was also a spire
depicted in the very room he was in, and it showed Inu’A passing through a
light that came from it, some of them carrying their young in their arms,
while others were helped through the spire light by those beings with the
pointed ears and glowing faces that they called the Light Ones.
There had been an exodus in the past of these creatures, and Hunter
worried that exodus had been from them fleeing a world with humans on it.
That meant they probably suspected that Tarin was one of them.
He had no idea how to answer Anubis’s question without potentially
changing their demeanor towards her. He wished he knew more of their
history than he’d already gleaned from their paintings and what they’d had
a chance to tell him—and what he’d figured out on his own—but he’d only
spoken to them for a very brief time before heading back off into the sky to
return to Tarin.
Only to end up finding her lying like she was dead in a depression in
the sand.
Seeing her like that had scared him in a way nothing ever had
before. He’d feared she was dead, and the thought of that crushed him
worse than the pincers of that creature that had hidden in wait in the sand.
He could only be grateful the creature had not shown an interest in Tarin
and had instead waited until it could capture him. She would not have
survived its jaws. She’d barely survived the sunlight.
“She is… mine.” He leveled a steady gaze on Anubis, slowly setting
aside the golden shard from his cocoon. “Mine.”
Anubis’s ear flicked again as he returned the steady gaze with one of
his own. “Is she a descendant?”
This question was the one Hunter feared, guessing the meaning of it,
despite the lack of context. “She had nothing to do with that,” he said,
gesturing to the painting, where round-eared humans menaced cowering
Inu’A with spears.
After a long moment, Anubis nodded his muzzle, casting a glance at
the image. “That was many generations ago. We do not carry hate against
those who have done us no harm. But if she is a descendant—related to the
Light Ones as we are—she might be able to bear us children.”
Hunter wanted to curse the ancient Iriduans for spreading their seed
all over the galaxy, especially when the end result of that seed was eyeing
his own queen for a mate, or perhaps only a breeder. It didn’t matter what
Anubis wanted. He would get nothing from Tarin. If he touched her, he
would die.
“Mine,” he said, the word coming much easier to his strange,
humanoid lips now that he had practice saying it.
He felt his head skin crinkling as his brows drew together. He didn’t
like it, but the expression seemed to come automatically as his ire and
possessiveness rose. She might never accept him as a mate, but she was his
queen, and he wasn’t about to share her. A queen only took one mate.
 The Inu’A’s upper lip curled back in a low snarl briefly, but then
relaxed, as did the rest of his body. “If you have claimed her, then it would
be dishonorable to seek her favor. We would like to find more that might
breed with us, as we are dying out. The spire no longer brings travelers or
pilgrims to our necropolis. Those who live here now are all that remains of
our people.” He glanced at a stone slab that still bore the scent of a recent
body. “And too many of us have been lost recently to age and the desert.”
Hunter couldn’t even shape the words to explain what he suspected
the origins of the Inu’A were, nor could he explain about Earth or Iridua—
both worlds crawling with people that might be capable of breeding with
them—if the Iriduan engineering held true and allowed such hybrids to
mate.
If he found a way to reactivate the spire, he would be willing to try
to help the Inu’A. As long as they never tried to take Tarin from him.
 Chapter 18
Tarin awakened from sleep with a feverish need for answers burning
in her heart. Hunter had told her he’d “tricked” her, but why go through the
trouble? Why play such a game?
She needed details to understand just how deep his perfidy went.
She needed to understand why he would do such a thing to people that had
embraced him as a friend—and one stupid human who’d been foolish
enough to think of him as maybe more than a friend.
She took a moment to scrub her teeth with the short, reed stick and
powdered mint paste that her hosts had thoughtfully provided, then washed
her face from the bucket of water on the stone table in her small chamber.
After that bit of refreshing, she couldn’t wait any longer to go
confront Hunter. This time, she’d keep her fists to herself, though her
fingers still clenched in a way that shot pain through her aching knuckles.
Her instinct was always to lash out, and she knew exactly where she’d
gotten that from. That knowledge made her sick to her stomach. Not that
anyone she’d ever hit hadn’t been goading her in some way, but it seemed
like she never learned to control her temper. She knew there were better
ways to deal with her problems than her fists.
She made her way quickly down the corridor, barely noting the
neatly stacked stone blocks that formed the walls. In here, there were no
hieroglyphs or paintings. In the embalming room, there were a bunch of
them, and Tarin had spent many of her hours there studying them, but most
of them left her with more questions than answers about the aliens that
hosted them.
There were plenty of paintings and carvings that looked like Anubis.
Curiously, there were also what appeared to be humans, even having round
ears. The ear shape was significant and appeared deliberate when
considered with the more slender, graceful drawings of humanoids with
long, pointed ears and faces that were obscured by a painting like the sun
over each of their eyes, as if a glow made their faces too bright to look upon
for the artists of those paintings.
 What they were doing in those paintings and what it all meant was a
mystery that she hadn’t been able to solve without clues her hosts couldn’t
communicate to her.
Hunter had been her primary focus during that time, and at the
moment, he still was, as much as she hated to admit that fact. When she
entered the embalming room, her gaze immediately searched for Hunter,
without paying much attention to the walls with their mystery paintings.
Her gaze swept the room, but the only males in it were Anubis and
his helpers. They all turned at her entrance, pinning her with fixed, intent
gazes that made her nervous. Not so much uncomfortable, as they’d always
treated her respectfully, but more like they saw through her eyes into her
very soul and were judging her. Their resemblance to the god Anubis did
not help matters in that respect.
“Hunter?” she asked, glancing around again, just to doublecheck
that he wasn’t hiding behind one of the stone slabs.
Anubis gestured to Anpu, who always stood on his right and had
slightly shorter ears than Inpu, though other than that, they looked identical
—like twins—where Anubis himself was taller and broader chested, with
huge ears and a long, slender muzzle.
Anpu set down the instrument he was studiously cleaning, along
with a rag soaked in oils and unguents. Then he approached her with his
version of a smile, which could be a bit alarming to the uninitiated—what
with all the sharp teeth. Still, Tarin had been around these males for weeks,
and they’d always been respectful, friendly, and very helpful, so she didn’t
hesitate to follow Anpu when he made a gesture that she should.
Apparently, like her, they’d moved Hunter out of their embalming
room. In fact, she hadn’t even spotted his cocoon when her gaze had gone
immediately to that slab upon entering. The slab itself was still edged by
jagged pieces of broken cocoon, but the rest of it had been cleared off the
stone and taken away somewhere. To be kept or destroyed, she had no idea.
Nor did she know if Hunter had done this, or if their hosts had.
She’d been worried, doubting her own judgment and trust of people
at this point when she hadn’t seen Hunter. As she followed Anpu down a
corridor leading in the opposite direction of her own room, she heard
incomprehensible shouting that sounded like it came from someone who
was still learning to form words.
 Her worries only increased.
She broke into a run, almost barreling over Anpu, who’d perked his
ears in alarm and quickly followed on her heels. Tarin nearly passed
Hunter’s room before she could stop her momentum, because she was
running so fast.
She managed to come to a halt a few steps past the opening of his
room, then backed up to look inside the room. Like the other rooms in this
corridor, it didn’t have a door. A very nice, naked, male ass rewarded her
investigation. It wasn’t completely human, because large, shiny wings
twitched around it, sometimes concealing it.
Hunter had his back to her when she passed, but he turned almost
immediately as his antennae seemed to sense her arrival and swayed
towards her. His face was twisted in what Tarin could only assume was
frustration and outrage.
“This thing! It leaks fluid excretions!” He really struggled to form
that last word as he gestured to his flaccid penis, which dripped from urine
that had apparently trailed down his strong thigh and calf. “What possible
purpose is served by it excreting, when there is another, perfectly functional
cloaca available for that? Why would you excrete from two openings? What
is wrong with you humans?”
He followed that up by a series of grunts and growls and guttural
noises that she suspected would have been curse words if he could form
them, as he glared down at the offending body part. “What do I do with this
to make it stop leaking?”
Though his words were still slow to form, he was gaining more
facility at speaking them, with only slight pauses in between each one. His
struggle with dealing with the other realities of his new body appeared to be
his biggest problem at the moment.
Tarin hated him. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to make him
pay for his lies and deception. That was what she told herself, right before
she burst into laughter.
Anpu and Hunter stared at her as if she’d lost her damned mind as
she howled her head off with rolling laughter, clinging to the edge of the
door frame to support herself, because otherwise, she would have fallen on
the floor laughing her ass off at Hunter’s expression.
 She was pretty sure Mr. Piss Leg was not going to appreciate her
enjoying the humor of his situation, but at this point, his angry glare at her
only made her laugh harder, until her sides ached and her eyes dripped with
tears.
It felt so good to find her humor again, after all the stress of the past
weeks, and the terrible truth of Hunter’s betrayal. He deserved his
embarrassing situation, but she couldn’t help appreciating him for giving
her a reason to laugh, even if it was at his expense. He certainly hadn’t
meant to entertain her.
“You gotta…,” now it was her struggling for the words, but only
because she had to pause through her residual giggling, “hold it.”
She lowered her hand to her crotch and made it clear that he had to
support his dick to aim it, not just let it flop against his leg when he
urinated, because there was no telling where the urine would end up, as his
wet leg proved.
His horrified expression earned more laughter from her. “I have to
touch it?”
“To aim.” Those words came out on a gasp and heave of air to
steady herself and avoid breaking out into more giggles at his blatant
disgust at the very idea. She gestured to the waste basin that had been
provided for them, and that servants would come and exchange for a clean
one several times during the day. “Aim for that.”
Her grin felt like it could split her face in half as she watched him
look from his dick to the basin, then back at his dick with his brows drawn
together and his frown deep. His wings twitched madly behind him, and his
antennae were bent at the joints and folded up close to his head, like he was
cringing.
His hands hovered on either side of his flaccid cock for a long
moment as he stared down at it in concentration, then he pulled them away
as he looked up at her. “I don’t want to touch it.”
She started laughing again at his pleading expression. “Oh no way,
man! That’s all you. You’d better learn to get real handsy with that bad boy,
because no one around here is going to hold it for you.”
She couldn’t help noticing that even flaccid, that “bad boy” was
quite large, and if he was a “grower” it would be enormous. She’d been too
distracted by her anger at him to really investigate that new part of his body
before, but now that attention had been drawn to it, she couldn’t help
thinking about it. And also thinking about the fact that he’d had to go and
ruin any chance she might have had to explore this new body of his by
revealing the truth of his deception to her before they could get to the fun
stuff. Just one more negative to chalk up against him.
Hunter dropped his gaze back to his member, slowly and reluctantly
lifting his hands to it. He visibly flinched when he gripped it, his wings
fluttering behind him. Then he shuddered as he bore its significant weight
in one hand. “It feels so strange to touch it. It… feels….”
He jerked his hand away from himself, staring down at his cock in
consternation as it began to stiffen, proving to Tarin, who was also staring
at it—because she just couldn’t help herself—that he was indeed, a grower.
“I don’t like this, Tarin. Even though it isn’t soft and disgusting
anymore, I don’t like the way it feels when it is hardened.” He pushed down
on it with one palm as it began to rise upwards between his legs before the
weight of it kept it from pointing fully up. “Make it stop!”
She wanted to. She really wanted to. And she hated herself for being
so damned weak that she couldn’t simply walk away from a man who’d
hurt her. Her damned heart was speaking up again, saying maybe he’d
change. Maybe this one time, she could trust him not to do it again.
Her heart was a fool, but Tarin wasn’t buying that propaganda
anymore. She crossed her arms over her chest and shot him a glare as he
glanced up at her again, his black eyes rounded with alarm at what had to
be some bizarre sensations for him.
“You know, Hunter, I might have helped you out with that problem,
if you’d been what you pretended to be… my friend. Instead, you used me
and lied to me, and betrayed me and Terry, and Tirel—my god, you cost
Tirel so much, you can’t even—”
“I was not part of that betrayal. Halian asked me to help him rescue
Tirel. I wasn’t aware of his involvement in the capture of the Akrellians.”
His words flowed smoother now, enough that he was able to cut her
off, though he still paused between each one, as if he had to think about it
before shaping it. It was like listening to someone read from a teleprompter
for the first time.
Still, his speech was consistent enough that she noticed how deep
and devastatingly sexy his voice was, carrying a slight rasp to it. Yet
another reason she hated him. It was like he’d metamorphosized into the
sexiest man she’d ever seen—her dream man. It wasn’t fair. The universe
just wasn’t playing fair with her.
It did seem to be in his favor, though, as his focus on their
conversation caused his erection to soften. Anpu, who had apparently left
and then returned again with a black, woven towel without Tarin even
noticing, handed it to Hunter, saying something in his language that Tarin
didn’t understand. Hunter apparently did, because he gratefully wrapped the
towel around his waist, hiding away his semi as his dark gaze returned to
her.
She waited while he concealed himself until she could look him in
the eye again to respond to his words. “Fine, you weren’t part of that, but
you said you tricked me. You lied and….” She stared into his two healthy
black eyes. “Good god, you let him stab you in the eye just to trick us!
What is wrong with you? Are you… you’re insane, aren’t you? Like, batshit
bonkers!”
He had the sense to lower his eyes—those two completely whole,
healthy eyes—when he responded. “Halian claimed such a charade was
important. I did not find out why until later. He needed the Akrellians to
trust me enough to welcome me to their homeworld, where they would not
allow Halian to travel, even though he’d been aiding them.”
“So he stabbed you in the freaking eye? How does that make the
Akrellians trust you, again?”
At this, Hunter lifted his gaze and cocked his head, staring at her as
if he was the one confused. “Did it not work?”
Tarin had to acknowledge that it had worked very well. There was
no way the Akrellians would allow an Iriduan traitor to set foot on their
homeworld, but someone who’d been betrayed by that traitor, then was
willing to sacrifice his life to stop a scourge from destroying innocent lives
—oh yeah, he’d been invited. The fact that he’d taken a knife to the eye had
been proof he wasn’t in cahoots with Halian, because no one would allow
their co-conspirator to actually stab them. That was nuts. But if he hadn’t
been injured, they might not have trusted him—or at least there still would
have been suspicion.
“That’s diabolical,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Why would
you endure so much pain just to help him betray us?”
 This time, Hunter didn’t look away from her, though his wings
twitched and his antennae folded in tight to his head, as if he didn’t want to
sense anything about this conversation. “It didn’t hurt nearly as much as the
first time my eye was taken. It was uncomfortable, but Halian had promised
it would be worth it. He’d also promised more of the inhibitor serum, as the
injection I’d been given was wearing off.”
Tarin bit her lip and broke away from his gaze, turning her back on
him completely, because she couldn’t bear to see his face and feel any sense
of pity or empathy for him. He’d taken part in a heinous lie, and she felt
like a fool for falling for it, even if Terry and Tirel also fell for it. Hunter
had broken her heart when he’d gone off to “die,” and then he’d broken her
heart again when he’d owned up to his deceit. She didn’t want to let him
into that battered, bruised part of her again, just to hurt her a third time.
“I’m sorry that your kind imprints. It sucks, okay. But there is
nothing that justifies what you and Halian did to us.”
“He has the pregnant queen.”
She stiffened her shoulders like she could protect herself from a
blow, but she knew from too much experience that being tense only made
that blow hurt worse.
Hunter continued speaking into her horrified silence as if he just
wanted all the words out of him. “I helped him collect her. He said he
needed her to create a permanent cure, but I suspect he had other plans for
her.”
She rounded on him—her fists clenched even though it broke the
scabs on her knuckles. “Are you fucking kidding me? I thought you were
supposed to kill her! Are you truly insane?”
This time she refrained from striking him, proud of herself for
reining in the automatic reaction to her anger, though his wings twitched
with each of her words and his antennae pulled in tighter to his head as if
she was hitting him. She hated him all over again for making her ashamed
of her own rage. He owed her, damn it! He had no right to look at her with
such a wounded expression.
“Halian’s explanation for her purpose was sound. We’ve never been
able to capture a pregnant queen that had already begun nesting and
colonizing a world. The pheromone alterations from her virgin state were
significant and would allow us to—”
 “Halian is a mad man! And you just handed him the means to
destroy a fucking world!”
Hunter lowered his gaze to the towel wrapped around his waist, as if
the fabric was suddenly deeply interesting. “I knew he was not stable, but
his plan was sound. I desired the freedom he offered, and I failed to trust
my own judgement about him. Though I still believe he would have found a
way to cure us all of the imprinting affliction.” He looked up to meet her
eyes with an intent gaze. “I would never have allowed him to release the
queen to devastate a world, Tarin.”
She crossed her arms over her chest as her teeth ground together.
“Oh yeah? And who’s stopping him from doing that now, Hunter? Because
in case you haven’t noticed, you’re stuck here!”
He shook his handsome head—curse the bastard’s biology. “No, the
spire is the escape from this world. I have the key that Halian gave me. If
we can dig down into it, I can find a way to reactivate the portal back to the
Akrellian homeworld. I’m sure of it.”
She’d suspected something about that spire had brought them here,
but some questions remained about that. “How did the Akrellians build
such a thing, and why would they want to come to this particular world?”
Again, Hunter gave a shake of his head, proving he was already
picking up the body language that went with his new body, though Tarin
wondered if he’d gotten it from observing her, or if it was something
intrinsic in his new DNA. “It wasn’t the Akrellians, but their ancestors. The
ancient Iriduans created these spires and stored a great deal of information
in them. That was all I was supposed to collect with Halian’s key. There is
also a place on Earth where there was once a spire, but it was buried by the
sands of a vast desert. When we went to Earth, Halian found a way to
access the information about the Iriduans there, despite it being buried—
including extensive knowledge about their gene manipulations. He believed
that would help us, as would a Menops queen.”
He paused, then lifted a hand to stare at it in consternation as he
watched the flesh crease with each movement of his fingers. “And my own
genetic information. He believes it will all be useful to create a lasting cure
for imprinting.”
The paintings on the wall in the embalming room were beginning to
make a lot more sense. “The spires! That’s how these aliens got here, then.
Shit, they really are the Egyptian god Anubis, or like, his descendants or
something.”
Hunter remained fixated on his hand, bending each finger
consecutively as if he was fascinated by it, but he was still focused enough
on their conversation to respond, despite the fact that she hadn’t exactly
asked a question. “They are creations of the Iriduans, and they once served
the Iriduans along with the humans as priests, though their task was focused
mostly on the rites of death. When the humans revolted against those they’d
once seen as gods, the Inu’A were chased from their homeworld, along with
the surviving Iriduans occupying that part of Earth. Those Iriduans brought
them to this world. Then abandoned them here.”
Tarin glanced around to note that Anpu had left her alone with
Hunter, so he wasn’t around to hear her next question, though she doubted
he’d understand it if he was. “So, is Anubis really… um, a god?” She didn’t
mean a true god, but wondered if he had immortality or something crazy
like that that allowed him to go on living for thousands of years.
“The name, one of many, is granted to the one chosen for the role.
He is a descendant of the original, from what I understood.”
“Yeah, how do you understand them anyway, and I don’t?”
Hunter lifted one of the fingers he was so fascinated with and tapped
his temple. “The translator the Iriduans implanted inside my head contained
a language these Inu’A understand.”
Since the Akrellians had been the ones to provide her translator, it
wasn’t surprising that it hadn’t been loaded with the Inu’A language of the
ancient Iriduans. It was just ironic that they were descendants from her own
home world and Hunter was the one who understood them rather than her.
It was important that she understand their new hosts, because their
very existence relied on whether they could trust the strange creatures, but
she still had to know what Halian’s plans were. He was a madman with a
Menops queen at his disposal, which also meant an army and potentially a
bioweapon that could enslave an entire world.
Not to mention, he’d apparently found out how to access ancient
Iriduan technology. They might be safe on this isolated world, but the rest
of the galaxy wasn’t so safe, and Tarin had people she loved out there.
“What is Halian going to do with that queen, Hunter?”
 He lowered his arm, curling his fingers into a fist at his side. “I
thought he was going to cure us, but now, I’m not so certain. I have studied
the drawings of these Inu’A, and the ancient Iriduans they worshipped are
always depicted with glowing faces. I believe it was because their eyes
glowed. This is something I have seen happen to Halian when one of his
aspects takes control of him.”
Tarin’s heart thumped at his words. “Did you say ‘one’ of his
aspects? He has multiple personalities?”
She thought back to her time with Halian while she was blinded by
her girlish fascination over him, and those brief moments where he’d made
her feel special and desirable. There had been other moments where he’d
been like a completely different person, pushing her away from him, or
snapping a harsh word at her when they’d come across each other in the
ship, even after he’d been so sweet with her—almost shy in his cautious
touches.
Though his ever-shifting mood had confused her, it had also made
him that much more exciting, which meant she hadn’t listened to the
anxious feeling twisting her gut whenever he was around.
And then, yes, there had been moments where his eyes seemed to
glow. She’d been so wrapped up in him that she hadn’t paid much attention
to the anomaly, believing maybe that was simply part of his Iriduan biology
when he was aroused—only Cass had mentioned something different about
her mate, Nahash—that the pupils of Iriduan males dilated when they were
aroused. They didn’t glow like lanterns.
“He has three aspects that I detected that were distinct fractures. It is
an unfortunate side effect of Iriduan imprinting. Menops males cannot
survive long separation from our queens, but Iriduans sometimes can, if
they fracture. I’ve heard that such fracturing can even happen to unmated
males under extreme trauma. Iriduans have performed experiments using
torture and hormone deprivation to create the same conditions that would
happen to a mated male being separated. I fear this has happened to him,
and his nanites have rewritten his DNA to access an ancestral biology that
has altered him even further.”
Hunter’s ability to speak was improving with each word that
dropped from his shapely lips, but Tarin wasn’t sure she wanted him to keep
talking, when he revealed such horrible things to her, even as the pauses
between the words shortened until they were barely perceptible. Now, she
understood how blissful her ignorance had been.
The last thing she wanted was to feel pity for Halian, but a part of
her did, even though she knew he was now as dangerous as anyone could
be. If what Hunter said was true, Halian had been tortured and
experimented on to such an extreme that his mind had fractured to deal with
it. That broke her heart, and made her want to wipe out the Iriduan Empire
down to the very last asshole of a scientist tormenting some poor subject in
a facility somewhere.
“Is he trying to cure imprinting, or does he want to destroy the
empire?” Because quite frankly, she knew what she’d want to do.
Hunter was silent for so long that Tarin wondered if he was going to
answer the question at all. When he spoke, it was with his brows drawn
together in a frown of concentration, and his gaze wasn’t focused on her,
but looked distant, as if he was staring at something that couldn’t be seen in
this room. “I believe one aspect of him only desires a cure. That one called
himself Halian, and his intent seemed sincere. Yet, the others… they said
this was their plan as well, but that might be because they knew it was the
only reason I continued to aide Halian. I fear now that they were
opportunistic, and their motive was not so pure.”
 Chapter 19
Hunter’s words hadn’t made Tarin very happy, despite the fact that
he was managing to speak them with more ease as he practiced. He’d been
practicing for several hours while she slept in the hopes that he’d get a
chance to speak with her again. The pauses now in his speech weren’t so
much from difficulty in shaping those words, though he did still have to
concentrate on that as well. It was from the way the translator was working
in his brain.
He still wasn’t certain if it had ended up in the correct place after his
metamorphosis, but it should have, since his brain had not fully broken
down like the rest of his body in order to maintain memory, though there
had been significant alterations to it while he’d been in his cocoon, to better
fit within this new body.
He was more concerned by the fact that she still remained tense
around him, and she was still clearly angry about his betrayal. He wanted to
ask her forgiveness, but wasn’t certain there were any words that he could
speak that would inspire her to give it. The only thing he could hope for
would be that she would listen to her body’s cues, which told her she
wanted him to mate her, based on the way her sexual pheromones surged
when she looked at his new form.
It was difficult to keep his mind focused on their conversation and
not on the unpredictable new sexual organ he had to contend with. When
she wasn’t around, putting out pheromones that drove him crazy with lust
and the urge to mate, the thing swung between his thighs, fleshy and soft—
and intensely sensitive and vulnerable. Especially in the part of it that was
in a skin sack beneath the long, rod-shaped portion that he believed was the
human version of an aedeagus meant to penetrate her to deliver his seed.
He wanted to rail against the incomprehensible design of human
biology. An accidental hard jarring of that fleshy sack when he was getting
off the mat the Inu’A had given him had caused so much pain to shoot
through his body that it had nearly stolen his breath, leaving him gasping.
 What possible use could such a sack be—and even if it was useful,
then why in creation would the cursed thing end up outside the body where
anything could harm it?
Since he couldn’t go around holding his hands over it to protect it,
he suspected he would have to find armor to put over it. Until then, he was
still struggling to deal with the crazy things it did, like excreting urine all
over the place—like a wild, out of control serpent spitting venom.
It was disgusting, left his leg damp, and had the added indignity of
happening just when Tarin appeared in his room to witness it.
She’d found a great deal of amusement in his predicament, but in a
way, he’d been grateful for that, because he’d noticed how the hurt and
anger had glittered in her eyes. He’d allowed her to strike him in the hopes
that it would help her work out that anger, but it seemed she’d only ended
up causing more pain to herself. He wanted to take her pain away, not cause
her more.
She was his queen, and he’d betrayed her. He had no idea what to do
to make it right, but he couldn’t live without her, and even if he could have,
he wouldn’t want to. She made him feel joy that he’d never felt before, just
by being in her presence. Happiness flooded through him along with sexual
desire whenever he detected her sexual pheromones surging.
That was nothing compared to the feeling he got that had nothing to
do with body chemistry. Tarin’s voice shouldn’t matter to him as his queen,
but it did. He loved to hear her speak, and he loved to listen to what she had
to say. She’d been able to make him trill with amusement even before he’d
imprinted on her. She’d made him feel lighter, more alive, and more aware
of the color and the scent around him as something other than just details he
must analyze for threats.
All of that had come before he’d imprinted on her.
A part of him—a growing part of him—had wanted to claim her as
his queen even then, though he’d believed it impossible. Surely, her soft
biology wouldn’t be able to accept his aedeagus.
He glanced down at his thankfully covered genitals. His sexual
organ was already stiff again and tenting the fabric. Tarin’s gaze kept
returning to it as their conversation shifted away from Halian and Hunter’s
betrayal to their new hosts and the necropolis where they had found shelter
from the deceptively green desert beyond.
 “You know, I should probably let you get dressed.” Her gaze was
fixed on his swollen organ, her lips parted, the bottom one slightly damp.
His antennae reached for her, scenting the heaviness of her sexual
pheromones that filled the air now as the lids of her eyes lowered. The
small sensory fibers that covered his antennae were practically vibrating
with his desire to touch her.
They were also dirty, and without his mandibles, he had no idea how
to clean them. He also had no idea how to groom his new, horrible skin like
he’d groomed his previous body, which had been coated with a waxy
substance he’d excreted from his exoskeleton to protect his body from
water loss.
He supposed he would figure it out eventually, but during that time,
he suspected he would end up smelling unpleasant to his queen, since she
usually went to great lengths to bathe and groom herself, despite what
seemed to be an endless task with fibers and flakes and water shedding
from her body constantly.
“I wish to groom,” he said, lifting a hand to capture one antenna,
then dragging it through fingers that lacked the structures to brush it clear of
the debris and dirt that coated it.
He debated putting it in his mouth to see if his uselessly flat teeth
might do anything to clear away the filth clogging his sensory fibers and
pores, but decided against it. His tongue made everything have a flavor that
was bizarre and usually unpleasant. He’d rather avoid tasting the dirt on his
antennae.
She watched him pull his antenna down with curious eyes, and he
was happy to see that her anger had retreated from her expression, though
he doubted she was free of it. “So, you need to take a bath, eh?”
Her gaze lowered back to the fabric wrapped around his waist,
before her eyes quickly shifted away from his still-hard member. Her
cheeks blazed with color as she cleared her throat.
“I don’t know how to groom this body.” He released his antenna in
frustration, allowing it to perk back up above his head, though it still bent
towards her as he filled his senses with her sexual pheromones, which
showed no signs of abating.
She wanted to mate. That was unquestionable to him. His receptors
were designed now to detect her pheromones above all others, and decipher
them.
She swallowed, her eyes meeting his before darting away. “Well…
I’m still mad at you… but I don’t want you walking around smelling up the
place, and a human body can get pretty stinky, so….”
Her gaze dipped to the fabric at his waist again. “I’ll help you bathe.
Just this once.”
With those words, she turned away from him—then ran away.
Hunter raced to the door to follow her, nearly colliding with her just
outside it as she’d apparently turned back in a rush.
She must have seen his panicked question on his face, and he
wondered what his own face looked like with the way it felt.
“I was just going to get Anpu or Bakt to help me pull some water
from the well for your bath. Sheesh, Hunter, relax!”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “It’s not like I have a history of lying to
you, abandoning you, and then betraying you, is it?”
“But you are angry with me, so you could leave me forever.”
“Damn right, I’m angry at you,” she said, crossing her arms over the
fleshy mounds that used to make him shudder when they quivered and
bulged, but now he found them very pleasing. Pleasing enough that he
wanted to touch them. Maybe even gently squeeze them.
For some reason, fluid filled his mouth, enough that he had to suck
it back down his throat. It was like he wanted to taste her flesh, but not to
consume it. Just to experience it, because he suspected it would taste far
better on this new tongue of his than the food he’d already consumed since
the Inu’A had helped him clear away and store his cocoon and provided
him with a meal.
“But it’s not like I can go anywhere in this desert anyway. For one
thing, you have the damned key that would allow me to escape with the
spire.”
At this reminder, Hunter retreated back into his room and went to
the pack that had been rescued from his body by Anubis before he’d been
fully entombed inside his cocoon shell. He lifted the flap as Tarin came up
behind him, and he’d known she would follow him, just like he knew she
still desired him.
When he withdrew the Iriduan key, her eyes rounded as she came
around his side to join him by the mat where his pack lay.
 “That’s beautiful. It’s like two little versions of the spires, put end to
end. I thought it was some kind of fancy, high-tech locator gadget when you
pulled it out before, but I guess I should have known better.”
He handed it to her, and Tarin reared back in surprise as he thrust it
towards her without preamble.
“What the—?” She watched him suspiciously as he simply held it
out to her, waiting for her to take it.
“The only key off this world will now belong to you, Tarin. You
may leave whenever you wish, and I will not follow unless you want me to.
You aren’t trapped here with me.”
Her jaw tightened as she snatched the key out of his hand, almost
like she expected him to tease her with it by pulling it away at the last
minute. She clung to it, her knuckles whitening as she closed her fingers
around it.
“Yeah, well, I’m never giving it back to you, so you’ll just have to
kiss my ass the way you were kissing Halian’s, if you ever want to get out
of here.”
Hunter felt his eyebrows lift, which seemed to be a natural reaction
of this new body to his surprise at her words. Once again, she confused him
with her sayings, much as she had always missed his little bits of Menops
slang and the joking trills and chirps he’d put out before his body had
changed.
“Kiss? Ass? Is this ‘kissing’ not something that you do with the
face. I am still not certain about such things. My kind sometimes share our
food in such a manner, but that doesn’t seem to be what your kind does, and
there is no reason to kiss this other part of the body that my translator can
explain to me. Unless….” He had a sudden, terrible thought.
“Unless… you humans share waste excretions!” His stomach
churned in an alarming way that told him it was close to regurgitating, but it
wasn’t a social stomach, to his knowledge, and besides, it burned with acid
as it rose up into his throat.
Tarin put her empty hand out in front of her, waving it back and
forth while shaking her head. “No, no! God, I keep forgetting how literal
you are! Gross, Hunter. Of course, we don’t share ‘excretions,’ blech!”
She pulled a face that scrunched up all her facial skin in a way that
told him she was disgusted. Even in his new form, he found the facial
expression appalling, and wished again for a reflective surface, so he could
study his own face to see if he’d made the same sequence of expressions in
his disgust.
His intense relief was enough to settle his stomach as he relaxed.
“Good. There are some things I cannot do. But if that was not your intent,
why did you say I was ‘kissing Halian’s’ ass? I have never seen this part of
his body that you have mentioned. He kept his body covered, just as your
kind does. If he has such vulnerable parts as these,” Hunter gestured to his
semi-stiffened sex bitterly, “then it is no surprise he would seek to conceal
and protect such an ugly thing.”
She bared her teeth in amusement as she followed his gesture to his
sex, which immediately hardened fully as her gaze settled on it. Her
pheromones surged again in response to the way it jumped against the
fabric that concealed it like it wanted to reach out to her, just as his
antennae did.
“So, there’s a lot to unpack in that question, Hunter, and I’m
thinking maybe I don’t want Halian coming up in every conversation we
have.”
A frown caused her lips to cover her teeth again as she shook her
head at him. He wondered if that was where he’d picked up the body
language that now seemed to come so naturally for him. Maybe watching
her as much as he had in his other body had allowed him to learn how to
respond in this one.
“Let me go find Bakt and get some water buckets filled, and we’ll
get started on teaching you the basics of human hygiene.” She eyed his
body with a hint of her smile returning. “Oh, you are in for an adventure
that most humans have to endure eight hours of boring classroom lectures
to go on.”
 Chapter 20
Tarin couldn’t help her body’s response to the prospect of stripping
Hunter naked and then “grooming” his newly human—mostly—body. He
was ridiculously ripped, with not an ounce of fat softening any part of him,
and his face was a dream to look upon, even if it did pull some pretty odd
expressions. He often made weird faces randomly, like he was just trying
the muscles in his face out.
Thinking of that was what had her requesting a mirror from Bakt,
using a series of hand gestures, when she realized she probably should have
had Hunter do all the interactions with the Inu’A. Still, Bakt had become
her friend, despite the language barrier, and they’d learned how to make
charades work for them, so it didn’t take long for her friend to figure out
what she needed.
Up until that point, Anpu, Bakt, Inpu, and even Anubis had been the
ones bringing her things like water for drinking or washing, clothing
changes, food, or other comforts. Sometimes, she’d see the young serving
girls or young males moving silently through the corridors to collect the
waste basins or empty trays of food. Not just for her, but also for Anubis
and his embalmers and Bakt, who Tarin suspected was a healer that lived
here in what was probably their version of the morgue, in case someone
came in not quite dead yet that could be saved.
Despite their focus on the dead, preserving life seemed very
important to them. Her conversation with Hunter going over the details of
their new friends’ situation helped her to understand why. Their people
were dying out.
She wanted to help Bakt and Anubis, and all the others, and now
that she had the key to the spire in her own grasp, she hoped she’d find a
way. She wasn’t sure that humans on Earth would ever accept the Inu’A
back—and breeding with them would probably cause a human revolt that
could end up as bad as the one that had apparently chased them to this
world in the first place. She had to admit, her people didn’t take well to
anyone that was different.
 Still, there was an entire galaxy out there, filled with people that
might be compatible with the hybrids, especially given that they shared
their ancestry with the ancient Iriduans, who were apparently a bunch of
seed-sowing, horny, space sailors in their day.
The fact that Hunter had given her the key without any sign of
hesitation made her feel a bit better about her overwhelming instinct to give
him a second chance. Her stupid heart wanted to trust him again, but she’d
learned so many hard lessons that it was going to take a lot more than him
just handing over the only ticket off this world to her without protest.
Still, she could at least help him to learn how to care for his new
body. After all, it would be doing everyone around him a favor, especially
when the heat caused him to sweat up a storm. She could only imagine how
upset Hunter would be about his new body odors. Recalling their
discussions about the body, she couldn’t help chuckling to herself like a
madwoman as she made her way back to Hunter.
Her giggles died in her throat when she entered his room and saw
him standing there, fully naked again, holding his stiffened cock in one
hand, while he delicately probed the tightened sack of his balls with his
other, his eyes closed as he appeared to be concentrating.
She only had the chance to watch him for a few—far too brief—
seconds before his antennae shifted towards her and his eyes popped open,
his head whipping around to look at her.
She unconsciously fanned herself, feeling the heat of her flush as
she struggled to pull her gaze away from where his hand still gripped his
thick cock, his fingers barely meeting around its girth while the length of it
made her knees weak.
“You don’t think this is hideous.” He released his balls and gestured
with that hand to his cock, as if he needed to draw her attention to it, when
she didn’t want to look away.
She swallowed, then licked her lips as she fought for the breath to
speak. “Hideous? Yeah, no, that’s not the word I was thinking when I saw
it.”
“You want to mate with me.”
Again, she didn’t think he was asking a question, but she sure as hell
had an answer. It could be a grudge-fuck. That was totally a reasonable and
healthy idea and not a desperate suggestion by a body that was taking
control and saying “screw being mad at him. Just look at that… loooooook
at it! I want it!”
She was nodding before she realized it, which caused her to quickly
shake her head and back away from him as he took a step towards her, still
holding that beautiful cock like he was going to present it as a gift.
“No,” she nearly choked on the word, because her body was pissed
she wasn’t saying yes, “that’s not a good idea. Besides, you need a bath.”
Even that reminder didn’t cool her arousal. At all. The fact that he’d
peed down his leg earlier had no bearing on how hot she found him. She
couldn’t care less. He looked so damned good it made her inner muscles
ache to clench around him.
“Bath!” she repeated desperately, as if she could hose down her own
body like it was a five-alarm fire with that one word.
“I want to mate with you, Tarin,” he said in his deep, incredibly sexy
voice, the rasp of it causing her to shiver with lust.
“Oooooh, fuck. Me. Standing….” She closed her eyes, trying to
block out the image of this incredibly gorgeous male creature saying he
wanted to have sex with her.
“If that is how you humans do it.”
Suddenly his antennae were brushing against her cheek, then one
trailed down her neck to where the collar of her dress covered her barely
contained breasts.
When her eyes popped open, Hunter was standing directly in front
of her, his head lowered so his antennae could reach her—and touch her.
She felt the heat from his body, and could smell the tinge of sweat overlying
a scent that was all man, yet still retained that exotic, unusual scent that
she’d come to associate with Hunter in his other form. It hadn’t been
unpleasant even back then. Now, with a more human scent overlaying it, it
was like an aphrodisiac—not that she needed one in this moment.
That massive cock of his was poised between them, only the fingers
of his hand still wrapped around it keeping it from swinging free to bump
against her belly, which fluttered with nervous butterflies beneath the filmy
woven material of her dress.
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway, and the sound was
like an alarm that sent Tarin practically leaping away from Hunter,
embarrassed to be caught nearly in the act.
 And also relieved that the new arrival—Anpu carrying two buckets
on a pole that overflowed with water, as well as a basket full of wash rags
and soap—had saved her from her own bad decisions.
She wanted to flee the room, but she’d told Hunter she would help
him to learn how to bathe his body, and she wasn’t about to go back on her
promise to him. It was totally because she was an honorable person who
kept her word—and not at all because the thought of seeing him wet, naked,
and slick with soap nearly made her come, all by itself.
She recognized how hopeless her situation was as Hunter moved to
take the pole of buckets from Anpu, his wings twitching with some kind of
agitation as he avoided looking her way. There was no way she’d be able to
avoid her desire for him for long without giving into it. As mad as she was
at him, it wasn’t just her body that wanted him.
Hunter made her laugh—intentionally or not. He entertained her and
also fascinated her. And despite what he’d done, how he’d lied and betrayed
her, she believed that he was a good person.
Not always ethical. Not always virtuous.
But still good at heart.
She could work with someone who was good at heart. More
importantly, Hunter hadn’t shown any signs of ever striking her, not for
sadistic pleasure, nor in anger. In fact, he’d allowed her to hit him without
moving to stop her until she was injuring herself, as if he would have never
thought to lay a hurtful finger upon her.
There were other ways to hurt a person, and Hunter had done a real
number on her already, so him hitting her wouldn’t have been much of a
surprise to her at that point. Yet, realistically speaking, she could understand
his motivations, even if she didn’t think they were an acceptable reason for
him to betray them the way he did.
He’d fucked up, and she couldn’t just forgive him for it and pretend
that they could go back to the way it was before she knew the truth.
Somewhere out there, the consequences of Hunter’s actions were flying
around the galaxy posing a real threat to innocent people.
But she also couldn’t deny how she felt about him, and what those
feelings did to her and made her want to do to him. Because of these
conflicting emotions, her mind went round and round in circles as she tried
to work out a solution that wouldn’t put her heart or her body at risk again.
 She was so deep in thought that Hunter had already set the buckets
down and was digging through the basket Anpu had left, withdrawing
washrags and a chunk of soap, followed by another chunk of what Tarin
knew was perfumed wax. It carried a subtle fragrance to it, but she usually
avoided it herself. Though without deodorant, she sometimes needed that
extra bit of scent in this place.
The heat wasn’t unbearable indoors, which made her think they
were underground, though she had yet to get a good look at the exterior of
this building. What she did know was that she’d never seen any kind of
window at all. She had spotted small openings in the walls that led to
darkness and had drafts running through them for air ventilation. That
furthered her belief that the Inu’A had built at least this part of their
necropolis underground.
Hunter turned the wax over and over in his hands before lifting the
small, soft block to his face so his antennae could bend to touch it. As he
brought it closer to his face, his nostrils flared. With a pinched expression,
he turned his head away, lifting one hand to his nose while he thrust the
block back into the basket.
“It burns! The stench of some things actually seems to burn in this
sensory organ.” He felt his nose with his fingers as if to check that no holes
were appearing from the strong odor eating through his flesh.
Tarin couldn’t help more laughter at his worried frown. “Strong
odors always linger and sometimes sting if they’re astringent. That perfume
isn’t that bad, though, Hunter. I think you exaggerate.”
He pulled on his nose. “How do I get it out of this thing?”
“It doesn’t… it’s not something you can grasp and pull out of your
nose. It’s just, you know, a stink. It wears off.” She shrugged. “Or you could
smell something better to get rid of that scent.”
She knew she’d made a mistake when his gaze immediately lifted to
pin her. “Your scent will always be something better.”
Her heart fluttered at the intense look in his gaze. She didn’t know if
it was the sudden change in his body to a more human one that made him
want her now, but she also didn’t care. His focused interest in her flattered
her, even if it was only temporary. The fact that he was Hunter—her Hunter
—the crazy, bug-shaped, bounty hunter that had once made her shiver for a
different reason, didn’t seem to matter.
 Or maybe it did.
Maybe it made things easier. Before he’d revealed his lies and
deceit, she’d cared a great deal about him. Maybe even more than she
should have. More than was wise, given their physical differences.
Something about him had always fascinated her, even when his appearance
had repelled her.
She might have even said she would have followed him this far
from home, even before his change—even before his physical appearance
caused her body to ache with arousal. In fact, if it was only a physical
attraction, she probably could have forgiven him for lying to her by now,
but he’d hurt her far more because her emotions for him weren’t just
physical desire.
“Tarin, I need you,” he said, the desire in his voice almost like an
irresistible lure drawing her forward, until she closed the short distance
between them.
His antennae brushed against her throat as soon as she was close
enough for him to stand directly in front of her and lower his head to press
his nose against her hair. She heard him inhale deeply as his antennae
stroked over her shoulders and tangled in her hair.
“I need to groom my sensors, but this thing on my face—this nose—
it is able to draw your scent in enough. Just barely enough.”
She lifted her hands to push him away, so there would be at least
some distance for her to catch her breath, because he also smelled delicious.
She would be as happy to inhale him as he was to breathe her in. Except
things were too complicated between them.
Instead of pushing him away, she settled them on his chest, then
slowly began to stroke them over the hard planes of his bulging muscles.
Her core was slippery and eager for him and she couldn’t resist the
opportunity to touch him like this. She’d clear her head later.
“We really should wash you up,” she said without any real
conviction, as his big body shivered beneath her fingers.
He lifted his hands to cautiously touch her chest, just like she’d done
to him, only his fingers settled on her soft breasts, and his antennae stroked
down to her collarbone to hover above his fingertips as he carefully felt her
up.
“You feel so good, even though you are soft and jiggly.”
 Tarin barked a laugh, though her amusement did nothing to quell the
heat inside her. The things Hunter said were bizarre, but so completely
understandable coming from him. “That part of me is supposed to be soft
and jiggly, Hunter.”
Her last word ended on a moan as he carefully squeezed her,
exploring her with his hand the way he’d probed his own ball sack earlier,
as if he were concerned about causing pain.
“Oh, yes,” she said on a sigh, “that feels very good to me too.”
“I will do anything to make you feel good, my queen,” Hunter said
in a low, intent tone, his head lowered so his lips were just above hers.
Close enough for her to kiss.
She captured his neck with one hand and tugged him just a bit
closer, then pressed her lips to his. His mouth opened in surprise as she
tasted him, and she traced his full bottom lip with her tongue.
Hunter didn’t return the kiss, but he also didn’t pull away. He was
frozen in her arms. Even his antennae had paused in their movement,
almost as if he were waiting—or he was too confused by what she was
doing that he feared to make a move.
She played her lips over his in teasing nips and sucks until he began
to mimic her movements. The next time she stroked her tongue along his
lip, he shuddered against her, pressing his body fully against hers as his
hands slid to her back to clutch her to him.
She slipped her tongue inside his mouth, tasting his exotic flavor. It
had a dark richness to it, like chocolate, or coffee—or a mixture of both—
and his mouth was sugary sweet. She licked her tongue against his eagerly,
and his rose to the challenge after a moment, again mimicking her
movements as he moaned.
When she pulled away after a long, heady kiss to catch her breath,
she saw that his eyes looked dazed as he stared down at her swollen lips.
“I understand now why your people do this thing. It was always so
baffling to me, but now, it makes perfect sense. Your taste is… I will never
get enough of your taste. How do humans get anything else done when they
could be doing this instead?”
She chuckled as she lifted a hand to trace her finger along his
bottom lip, wiping away the moisture from her kiss. “Well, it’s not always
that intense, you know. This was your first kiss after all. It’s supposed to be
good.”
“It will always be good with you, my queen.”
His words caused her satisfied smile to freeze until it felt brittle on
her face. It faded as she took a step away from him, leaving his embrace.
His arms tightened briefly, as if he debated whether he would let her go,
before he finally allowed them to fall to his sides.
He watched her warily, perhaps sensing there was something more
to her withdrawal than just a need for space.
“What did you call me?”
“My queen.” A muscle in his jaw jumped as if he were clenching his
teeth, like he wished he could bite back the words.
Tarin closed her eyes and took a deep, bracing breath, trying to
block out the image of him as she struggled to think—not to feel. “Please
tell me that’s only an endearment and doesn’t mean anything more than
that.”
“You are my queen, Tarin. My mate.”
Tarin dropped her head back, wanting to curse at the universe. “Did
you imprint on me, Hunter?”
“When I emerged from my cocoon.”
“Fuck!” She clenched her fists, keeping her eyes closed until she’d
turned her back on him. She didn’t want to see him in that moment.
There was no way she could play around with him now. They
couldn’t have casual sex. She couldn’t grudge-fuck him. In fact, her anger
at him—at what he’d done—was a pointless burden now. Hunter literally
needed her to survive. If he left her—or she left him—he would die, slowly
and painfully.
She wouldn’t wish such a horrible fate on her worst enemy, and
Hunter wasn’t that by a long shot.
She was stuck with him, and while having a gorgeous alien mate
wasn’t the worst possible fate a girl could find for herself, Tarin was furious
that her choice had been taken from her by his cursed biology. Sure, she
cared about him. She might even be a little in love with him. And sure, his
body seemed to be made to please her now.
But this was it. Her mate—her one and only—until death do they
part.
She wasn’t ready for it.
 Chapter 21
Hunter hadn’t expected Tarin to flee from him when he revealed that
she was his queen. He knew she wanted to mate. Even with his dulled, dirty
receptors, he could taste the desire in her pheromones, and this new body
seemed attuned to her desire as well.
There was no need for her to leave at this moment without saying
another word to him, a panicked look rounding her eyes as she’d glanced
over her shoulder at him, before racing out the door and disappearing down
the corridor. Her bare feet made fleshy impact sounds on the stone tiles as
she fled.
Tarin knew he could never hurt her. She knew about Iriduan
imprinting, and knew that in that way, Menops males were the same. She
was safe with him, and she need never fear that he would ever betray her
again. Certainly never to benefit anyone else. His entire world would
revolve around her, because she had become that world the moment he’d
imprinted on her.
He wondered if maybe her insistence on bathing him had something
to do with her retreat. Perhaps, she wasn’t running away in fear, but in
repulsion. He felt desperately in need of grooming with this new body, and
he’d observed that the human females, Tarin and Theresa, had been
hygienic while on his ship, like the Menops were. They took their grooming
seriously.
A Menops queen wouldn’t allow her mate to approach her with filth
and urine staining his body, so he couldn’t imagine a human queen would
appreciate it any more. He would focus on bathing himself, learning this
new body better in the process, so he could please all his mate’s senses.
And sense that pleasure in return.
He’d found a device in the basket that he believed was made to
sweep through the thick fur of the Inu’A. It would work well to brush over
his antennae to clear away the debris from his sensory fibers and pores. It
wasn’t as good as his mandibles had been, but it would do the job.
 He turned to regard the buckets of water with a thoughtful frown,
wishing Tarin hadn’t rushed away before explaining what exactly he was
supposed to do. In his other form, water would sluice right off his
exoskeleton because of the waxy coating that kept him from losing water
from inside his body. In this form, his pores just leaked water and
pheromones—and other compounds that caused both pleasant and
unpleasant odors. He assumed the goal was to wash those away with the
rags soaked in water, and perhaps the other chunk that was provided to him
that did not have a strong scent that offended his new nose.
He was dipping the wash rag in one of the buckets to soak it when
the female Inu’A, Bakt, entered his room with a soft greeting.
She carried a circular disk that had a reflective surface and looked to
be made of a precious metal.
He returned her greeting, then took the disk when she approached
with it and held it out to him, her gaze dropping to the water, then lifting to
trail up his legs, fixing on his exposed sex organ for a moment before she
raised it to meet his eyes again.
“Do you need assistance in bathing?” she asked politely.
He had turned his focus from her to the disk as soon as he noted that
it reflected his new face back to him perfectly. He lifted a hand to trace the
lines of his new cheekbones and jaw, mourning the loss of his large
mandibles.
Then he traced his mouth with one finger, recalling the way Tarin’s
lips had felt on his, and the way her taste had exploded over his new tongue,
making him lightheaded and euphoric, like he could drown in her taste
forever. He was certain his brain had shorted out, because it had been
difficult to even focus, much less attempt to mimic her movements in the
hopes of bringing her any fraction of the pleasure she was giving him.
He felt his wayward sex organ stiffening again just at the thought of
that meshing of mouths.
“All right, Hunter, here’s the deal—oh! Bakt, you’re here… wait…
what the fuck?”
Hunter’s attention jerked from the reflective surface in his hand to
the door, where his queen stood with her arms crossed, her narrowed gaze
fixed on him and Bakt, who was standing beside him, the damp wash rag
and the chunk of cleanser in her hands.
 Tarin’s hard gaze went from him to Bakt, then down to the stiffened
length of his new organ. “Oh, I get it. So that ‘you’re my queen’ stuff was
just a load of bullshit? Why the heck did I think you wouldn’t lie to me
again? I take a minute to clear my head and you jump into things with the
next woman that comes along. And oh yeah, thanks for making it the only
other female friend I have in this world, so now I have no one I can even
talk to about this!”
Hunter was still trying to work out the meaning of her words,
though the fury behind them was unmistakable. His queen was a fire always
quick to ignite, but he found that exciting about her. He just didn’t always
understand what made her so angry.
This time, he took too long to figure out the correct words to say to
her, and she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room, leaving him and
Bakt staring after her in stunned silence.
He tossed the reflective disk onto the mat and made to run after her
when a slender hand caught his arm. He turned to glance at Bakt, who
stared at him with concern in her eyes.
“She believes you have been unfaithful to her. I know that look,
even if I cannot understand her words. I am sad that my friend does not
trust me. You must find a way to make her trust you, if you ever want her
heart to be free to fully love you.”
He nodded at her advice, then rushed after Tarin, his mind spinning
over the implications of Bakt’s words. There was no way he could even
mate with another female, biologically. If he’d tried to mate with Bakt, his
organ would soften as soon as it came into contact with her, even if he kept
his mind on Tarin. It just wasn’t possible.
But even if it had been, he would never betray Tarin like that. Not
that he wasn’t surprised that she suspected he would. He had already been
deceitful to her, and he feared he would never earn her trust after what he’d
done, but he had to try. He realized now that he wanted more than just to
mate with her and to fulfill his purpose. He wanted love.
That was why he’d fought so hard to avoid the imprinting. That was
why he’d searched all over the galaxy for a cure. He’d been hunting for
something he hadn’t even been able to define. Something some part of him
knew was out there, but that he’d never seen or had any experience with.
He’d always believed he was seeking freedom, but it had been something
more than that. When he’d found Tarin, even before his body wanted her,
his heart had already recognized her. She was the one he’d spent his life
searching for, the one he’d grown his ship to find. The one he would live for
—and gladly die for.
If only he hadn’t made the mistake that had ruined her trust. Now
she would always be wondering when his next betrayal would come. She’d
always watch her back around him, expecting the worst, when he only
wanted to offer her the best.
Somehow, he would find a way to convince her to trust him. He
didn’t think this was all just about him, but suspected there were wounds
within her that he couldn’t see that made her instantly suspicious and
defensive—and quick to assume the worst, as if she always braced herself
for that. He didn’t know much about humans, but he’d been around enough
aliens to learn to read some signs and signals they put off. He would make
Tarin see that he was the one person in the galaxy she could trust
completely and without reservation.
But first, he had to find her, and Tarin appeared to have fled the
building entirely, because a thorough search turned up no sign of her. He
raced around the necropolis in a panic, leaving Inu’A staring after him with
confusion obvious even with their alien expressions. It was only after he’d
wasted far too much time running down one corridor after another that he
recalled his own ability to track her pheromones. His receptors were half
blind from a lack of grooming, so he had no choice but to return to Bakt,
while his nerves jumped from fear of where his queen could have gone that
he could not find her in this place.
Every moment it took Bakt to show him how to wash up was a
torment that seemed to go on forever as he worried about what an angry
Tarin might do—what trouble his impulsive queen might get into. She had
no idea how vulnerable she was, and she’d already nearly died out in that
desert. He feared she may have returned to those hot, glimmering sands in a
storm of anger, determined to escape a betrayal she believed he’d
committed.
When he’d searched her room for her, he’d found no sign of the
Iriduan key, so suspected she had it on her, probably in the pouch she wore
on the golden belt that kept her filmy clothing cinched at the waist. That
made him concerned that she might attempt to return to the spire in the
hopes of escaping him completely.
The delay while he frantically—and painfully—brushed off his new
antennae to clean them as Bakt scrubbed down his skin with the wash rag,
made his wings twitch and flutter with growing anxiety. He’d never been so
worried about a hunt.
During his career, he’d sought out the deadliest criminals in the
galaxy. He’d traveled into the darkest depths of the colonies that dotted the
CivilRim. He’d explored abandoned ruins filled with nightmares that would
haunt the other members of the teams he’d join. He’d been careful. He’d
been cautious. But he’d never been afraid.
Not until this hunt. He didn’t fear his quarry. He feared her fate.
 Chapter 22
Tarin discovered the secret passage by complete accident. In a
heartbroken rage, she’d rushed from Hunter’s room after seeing him naked
and erect with the alien she thought was her friend, and had raced blindly
through the underground corridors of the necropolis until she was
completely lost. The underground city was larger than she imagined, and
the building where she’d been kept wasn’t nearly the whole of it.
One thing she did notice, despite her preoccupation, was how few
Inu’A walked through its echoing halls or poked their heads out of stone
buildings to stare at her as she raced over the tight pavers of a promenade
that had openings to the sky in the stone ceiling above.
The sun that shone down through those vents might have guided her
path, but it also cast deeper shadows around her, and before she knew it, she
was back in the darkness. She had no candle or lamp to light her way as she
charged heedlessly into a squared-off tunnel that didn’t lead to a new
building, but instead stopped abruptly at a painted wall.
Tarin would have to turn back, but she didn’t want to. She feared
that she would run into Hunter, or Bakt, or even have to try to explain
without the right words to another Inu’A about why she was so upset.
Instead, she screamed in outrage and pain, then slammed both fists against
the wall.
Then she did it again and again, until her skin started to bleed. She
didn’t pay attention to that, the pain nothing compared to what she felt
inside as Hunter’s latest betrayal tore her heart to shreds and reminded her
that she was a fool to ever think she was someone a man could truly love.
Her own father hadn’t loved her, so why would any other man find her
worthy.
Hot tears scorched her skin as they trailed down her cheeks, and her
body shook with sobs so loud that she barely heard the click of something
unlatching. She did hear it when the wall began to move with a low,
gravelly sound of stone grinding over stone.
 She gasped and jumped backwards, stumbling in the darkness as a
deeper well of shadow opened up in front of her, a cloud of green dust and
sparkling grains of sand spilling into the newly-formed gap as the door
disappeared behind the wall. Moist air—cooler than the stuffy air that was
overly warm even in the underground necropolis—wafted out of the new
opening, smelling of old, hidden places.
Places where she could hide.
Tarin only hesitated for a moment. She wanted to get away from
Hunter. He was a galactic bounty hunter, so he’d have no trouble finding
her anywhere in this necropolis—except for maybe this one hidden area.
She withdrew the Iriduan key from her pouch, noting that it was
softly glowing as it had been doing since Hunter had first showed it to her.
It wasn’t a flashlight, but the green glow did cast a decent amount of light in
such utter darkness, and her eyes had adjusted to it.
Without hesitating any longer, she held the key aloft, moving it from
one side of her body to the other as her eyes scanned the opening, and the
pavers that ended just beyond the door, leaving behind nothing but green
sand over black stone.
She stepped cautiously into that opening, her bare feet crossing the
last of the pavers and then settling on the cool stone. It was smooth beneath
her skin, but she’d built up callouses walking barefoot in the woods of the
Shadowtouch lands, so she wasn’t worried about the occasional rock that
she might stumble onto.
She made it a handful of steps into the tunnel, before she smacked
herself in the forehead and turned back to the door, then quickly returned to
it as she frantically swung the key from one side to her other, searching for
a lever or latch—something to open the door again if it closed.
She wanted to get away from Hunter for a while, but she didn’t want
to be trapped in this place forever.
The green glow danced over the wall, illuminating a shallow
depression at chest level for just a brief moment. It was long enough for
Tarin to spot it. Further investigation of that depression showed that there
was a stone button inside the rectangular space. With all the caution of a kid
in a toy store, she pressed the tempting button, backing away from the door
as it rumbled out of the wall and began the slide along the pavers.
 She quickly depressed the button again, before the door had reached
a point where she couldn’t jump through it to the other side, and was
thrilled that it stopped its ponderous journey and reversed direction,
opening again.
With a satisfied smirk, she pushed the button a third time, then
turned her back on the door as it again reversed direction and slowly closed
out the meager light from the necropolis. She had already proceeded down
the tunnel with her key held aloft by the time the door clicked back into its
frame, shutting out the last of the natural light.
Her key helped her see her way down into the tunnel as it followed a
mild descending slope into deep, profound darkness. Tarin second-guessed
her decision to come down into this unknown place several times, but her
anger would always surge anew, filling her with fresh purpose whenever
she thought of returning to the necropolis where Hunter would find her and
then tell her new lies—or worse, tell her the truth that he was just playing
around with her and he never really wanted to keep her anyway.
The sounds of her footsteps in the finished tunnel seemed muffled
for a while as she descended. There was a definite cool, moist draft that
swept the air clean and led her further onward, until she heard a new sound
that grew in volume, drowning out the soft thud of her footsteps.
It was running water, and with the increased volume came a source
of light that soon rivaled her own green, glowing key, illuminating an
opening at the end of the tunnel that turned out to be a huge cavern lit by
large veins of phosphorescent lichen stretching all along the cavern walls.
Except that it didn’t touch the huge statues that framed either side of
a waterfall pouring down from a squared-off opening in the black basalt of
the cavern wall. That waterfall drained into a river that pooled at the base of
the statues, before continuing on its journey to some unknown destination
that traveled through another square opening too small for Tarin to pass
through. A metal vent covered that opening.
The statues were carved from the same native basalt—or whatever
the black stone on this planet was called—but they were definitely similar
to the Egyptian appearance and style of the statues found all over the
necropolis.
She wasn’t an expert on the ancient Egyptian pantheon by any
means, having been introduced to it in grade school and only seeing it a
couple of times in school or popular culture after that. She thought the
statues might depict Isis and Osiris, except that their ears were elongated
and pointed, not rounded like those of the human versions of the gods.
These statues were seated on thrones on either side of the waterfall.
Their eyes stared off at the far wall of the cavern, where the water drained
away through the vent. It was almost like they had brought the water into
the cavern and were directing it back out. Perhaps, it had once been a gift to
their followers, though Tarin didn’t know if the Inu’A were aware of this
cavern being here. If they were, they might think to tell Hunter about it, and
he would know to look for her here.
That was a possibility she hadn’t considered when she’d first come
across the secret door, but at this point, she was too intrigued by the
discovery to care. She would deal with Hunter when or if he came for her. It
wasn’t like she could have escaped him for long anyway. They were stuck
here until they could figure out how to get into the spire and make it work.
A fresh surge of anger burned through her at the knowledge that
she’d be forced to remain here while Hunter was carrying on with Bakt, as
if to add an additional slap to her face.
Since the statues were free of the lichen that covered the rest of the
stone walls of the cavern, she had to assume something was keeping the
growths off. She lowered her key, then tucked it back into her pouch before
leaving the cozy confines of the tunnel to step out into the vast opening of
the cavern. Her neck hair stood on end as she passed under the massive
stalactites that hung from the ceiling like the swords of Damocles, slowly
dripping with the moisture that had allowed them to grow to their
intimidating size—and had left a partnering stalagmite rising up to meet
many of them.
She approached the pool, noting as she grew closer that there were
spears of green crystals clustered at the base of the waterfall, some of which
were as long as her legs and larger around than her waist. At first, she
thought they were emeralds and figured if money mattered to her, she could
be a very wealthy woman, but realized they were more likely to be
something like peridot.
Whatever mineral they were, they were beautiful, as was the entire
cavern. It was no surprise the Iriduan-Egyptian gods had chosen to leave
their likenesses here to watch over this cavern. She wondered if it was a
sacred place, then hoped not, because she didn’t want to offend the Inu’A
by trampling all over their sacred grounds.
Still, for all their ceremony and ritual, they had always seemed
pretty laidback about worship, almost like they were simply doing it out of
habit. Perhaps, it had something to do with their dwindling population. It
was probably difficult to keep praying to and worshiping gods that did
nothing to keep your people from dying out.
Tarin didn’t know what the proper procedure was to approach the
god statues and the pool, which had a very nice and comfortable-looking
ledge to sit down on that was worn smooth, almost like it had been used to
sit or lie there by others.
“Uh… hi.” She sketched a small curtsy while staring up at the
towering statues, feeling ridiculous, but also respecting the Inu’A enough to
make at least a small gesture of respect to their gods. “I hope you don’t
mind if I take a break here for a bit. I won’t stay long… well, too long, but
the guy I love, turns out he’s kind of a jerk. Actually, he’s a real bastard—
which, to be quite honest, is pretty much my type, when it comes to dating.”
Since she wasn’t immediately struck down by a thunderbolt—or
whatever Egyptian gods did to blasphemers—she figured she would be
okay to take that seat by the pool so she could wait out her own anger, let it
cool down, and then maybe find a way to start distancing her heart from
Hunter. This time, she feared that technique wouldn’t work the way it had
with all the other men she’d fallen for. This time, with Hunter, felt different.
As she sank down onto the stone ledge, crossing her legs under her,
she shook her head, swiping impatiently at the tears she couldn’t keep from
falling, no matter how hard she tried to blink them back.
“Yeah,” she whispered aloud, “I really know how to pick them.”
The silent alien gods waited, and Tarin liked to pretend they were
listening, because at the moment, she had no one else who would hear her.
She missed Theresa like crazy, because Terry would be completely in her
corner, and would have her own rant to add about Hunter’s lies and
betrayals.
“I didn’t pick my Dad, though. Won that delightful lottery thanks to
the universe.” She glared up at the god statues. “Hope you all didn’t have
anything to do with that. If you did, you’re dicks.” She held up both hands
in front of her. “I’m just sayin’.”
 No lightning, no thunder—not even a little, angry, godly earthquake
—rewarded her insult, so she figured she was safe. She wasn’t a believer in
any particular theology, preferring the agnostic viewpoint that something
was out there, she just couldn’t say what. She would hate to discover that
that something was these particular deities, since she’d just insulted them.
She watched them warily for a long moment, before the tension in
her relaxed. There was something about this cavern that did feel like it had
a presence and weight to the air, so she wasn’t completely comfortable with
it, but the sound of the waterfall and the beauty around her was oddly
soothing, as was the serene, composed expressions on the faces of the
statues.
“I thought Hunter was different, you know?” She swiped at her eyes
again, smearing tears over her cheek. “I mean, he was different in a lot of
ways. Really different compared to me. Looked nothing like me. I guess I
figured I would never be physically attracted to him, so it was safe to lower
my guard around him. But, I don’t know… something about him just made
me feel….”
She touched her stomach, recalling the way it had always fluttered
whenever she saw Hunter, even when they’d first entered his ship. She’d
chalked it up to fear of him back then, because she had been afraid. He had
been a terrifying creature in his previous form.
Yet, he’d done far more to hurt her in this one.
“I just wish assholes came with neon tattoos on their foreheads that
said ‘warning: beware this person if you are a dumbass who keeps falling
for abusive jerks.’”
There was no response from the watching statues, but Tarin didn’t
need one. She knew she was talking to herself, but their presence still gave
her some comfort. It also gave her a direction in which to vent.
 Chapter 23
Hunter heard her voice echoing through the tunnel the Inu’A had
shown him when his antennae had told him her trail led this way. To them,
the place was one of worship, but of a kind far different from the temple
where they embalmed the dead. This place was about life and the pursuit of
it—the creation of it. A place they told him was watched over by the gods
of fertility, Adrak’So and Gria’So.
The names were not in their language, but were from an even older
language loaded into Hunter’s translator, and they translated into the
equivalent of the word “zookeeper” and “assistant zookeeper.”
Hunter figured he wouldn’t enlighten the Inu’A about their “gods,”
seeing no point in ruining the happiness this place he was now descending
into gave them. When he left the tunnel, his ears were focused on Tarin,
whose voice rose and echoed and bounced around the huge cavern. His eyes
were drawn by the imposing statues that flanked the artificial waterfall that
continuously fell into a large pool between the bases of the statues.
On a ledge that slightly overhung the pool, Tarin sat with her legs
crossed, her head tilted as if she were addressing the feminine statue.
Her voice had led him down into these depths, but he only now
heard her words as he approached her, struggling to find the right words to
say to her that would convince her he’d never hurt her, and that he would do
whatever she asked him to, to prove that she could trust him forever. He
would remain by her side for all eternity, and never once would he look at
another female with that kind of interest. Never once had he looked at
another female with any kind of interest that wasn’t professional. Bakt’s
hands scrubbing his skin because he was too much in a hurry to learn the
ins and outs of grooming this new body had been impersonal and clinical,
but even if they had lingered too long in any particular place, they would
have done nothing to arouse him.
Only Tarin could arouse him, and he already felt his sex hardening
simply because she was near and her pheromones were strong and blissful
on his receptors. At least the Inu’A had brought him a wraparound skirt to
wear to cover his sex, because it felt so vulnerable and exposed, dangling
outside his body the way it did. He now understood why creatures like
humans and the Inu’A and even the Iriduans bothered with clothing. They
needed it to protect the fragile bits that they’d been cursed to have hanging
on the outside of their body.
This made him wonder what Tarin’s sex looked like. He hoped she
had some kind of cloacal opening if they were to mate, and didn’t need to
be pierced by an aedeagus, which was sometimes the case when a queen
had shelled for her own protection while still a virgin. His new organ was
not sharp enough to pierce a chitinous shell and lacked the hooks at the end
to lock on, so he also hoped she didn’t want to carry him far on her back
while he was mating her.
Although the disparity in their size was the reverse of that between a
Menops male and a Menops queen. It wasn’t likely that Tarin would even
be able to carry him, and he wasn’t even sure he was supposed to climb on
her back for the process. The complications of this new biology were
making him nervous, and he hadn’t even gotten her to agree to forgive him
yet. Based on the angry words that spilled from her lips as she spoke to the
zookeeper-turned-goddess, he had a long way to go to earn back her trust.
“I guess there are worse things than having a guy cheat on you with
your best friend, right? I mean, technically, we weren’t in a relationship. He
just told me I was his freakin’ queen!”
Despite the hurt and anger in her words, Hunter couldn’t help the
small bit of amusement he felt at her little growl at the end of them. She
was so appealing, even in her anger. He just wanted to take her in these
strange new—far too bulging—arms of his and hold her against his chest—
that also felt far too bulgy—and pat her with his antennae to soothe her.
He held out his arms at his sides, glaring at the ropes and cords of
muscle that made it difficult for him to put those arms down against his
sides the entire way. The strength of them was welcome, though he’d been
very strong in his other body as well. He had a feeling this one was actually
weaker in that respect. It was also lighter, though, because his exoskeleton
had been far heavier than the muscles and the bones inside this body. That
would make things easier when he flew.
There had been tradeoffs in this metamorphosis, but one thing that
had made it all worth it was the queen in front of him, her back turned to
him as she poured out her heart to stone that would not hear her pain.
But he did, and he was angry at himself for being the cause of it. He
was also angry at everyone who’d ever hurt her that made her doubt herself.
“You are my queen, Tarin.”
She jerked and spun around to face him so fast that she lost her
balance on the ledge. When she put a hand down to stop her sideways
topple, it met nothing but air.
Hunter moved fast, closing the distance to her in the blink of an eye
to grab her shoulders and steady her before she fell into the water of the
pool. Not because she would have been harmed by what appeared to be
nothing but water, but because he didn’t want her to even get wet if that
wasn’t her wish. He would spend the rest of his life trying to show her that
he could protect her from anything that would threaten her, harm her, or
even displease her.
When she didn’t resist his hold, probably still recovering from her
near fall into the pool, he gently pulled her deeper into his embrace, tucking
her warm, soft body—that no longer repulsed him but had the exact
opposite effect—against his chest, startled by the way his own muscles
jumped in response to feeling her against him.
The things he felt with his skin were so much more intense than
what little sensory information his body had received from the sensory
fibers that had been on his exoskeleton. His legs and antennae had
possessed more fibers, but even they could not “feel” things the way an
entire covering of skin packed with nerve endings could.
Her scent enveloped him, drugging his receptors and causing
euphoria to fill him, just by being in her presence.
She was definitely his queen. He wished there was a way he could
prove that to her so she would never doubt him again. The way his sex
jumped and strained towards her warmth as he settled down on the ledge
beside her, keeping his arms around her, let him know that his body had no
doubts about her role. It wanted her, and always would.
When Tarin still didn’t say anything, even after he’d settled into a
sitting position like the one she’d been in, flaring his wings out behind him
so they weren’t dragging on the stone, he released his arms enough that she
could pull away from him.
 She set both of her palms against his chest and pushed him back, but
only far enough that she could bend her head to look up into his face.
“I want to believe that, but you were standing there with Bakt,
and… and you were….”
He lifted a finger to touch her face, tracing the line of moisture that
trailed from her eye down her cheek to her chin, where he caught a drip of
the water that was trembling on the verge of falling. He would have to
remember how much water a body like this lost, and take in a lot more than
he was usually accustomed to.
“I was thinking of you. Of the taste of your lips against mine. Of
your tongue delving inside my mouth. That caused my sex to swell. I
wasn’t even aware of Bakt being in the room in that moment. When I think
of you, no one else matters.”
“But….” Tarin sniffed, turning her head so she wasn’t looking at
him anymore, but staring at the stone “drapery” that hung from the ceiling
of the cavern after thousands of years of moisture leaving behind deposits.
“Why was she in there?”
“She said you had asked her for a ‘mirror’ and she had gone in
search of one, and had only just found it and was rushing to deliver it to us.
She had no intentions towards me, and her mate would be quite angry if she
did, I suspect.”
Tarin bit her lip, closing her eyes so her lids pushed all her tears
outwards, until they broke free of their moorings and trailed in the path
their predecessors had already forged down her cheeks. “I thought that…
oh, man! I owe her an apology! I didn’t even know she had a mate, but now
I realize she never flirted with the guys, so perhaps it was because she was
already taken, because I suspect they are hot stuff among their people.
Damn! I’m such an idiot! I always rush to conclusions without even
thinking about it.”
Hunter pressed a finger against her lips to silence her words. “Do
not speak badly of yourself again, my queen. I won’t allow it.”
She jerked her head to the side, shooting him a glare. “Don’t think
you’re off the hook just because I trust Bakt. Besides, I’ll say what I damn
well please. What are you going to do about it any—”
He pressed his lips to hers to cut off her tirade, just in case she
thought to insult herself any further. She would learn that there were many
things he would allow her to do, and gladly do for her, but he would never
allow her to hurt herself—physically or verbally—again.
At her startled gasp, he took the opportunity to exploit that small
opening between her lips, and when she felt his tongue darting inside her
mouth, her lips parted further, allowing him to invade her with a low moan
that he felt like a caress against his skin.
His antennae were busy tracing over her head fibers and face, but he
had other places he’d like to let them wander. Other places besides her
delicious mouth that he would like to taste with his new tongue. If his
receptors reveled in the heady experience of her sex pheromones, he could
only imagine what the flavor would be like bursting over his tongue and
filling his senses.
She took their kiss deeper, having much more experience with it
than he did, her body pressing eagerly against his again, as if she’d
forgotten that she’d just told him she didn’t trust him. In this, she appeared
to have changed her mind.
When she finally pulled away, just as he was certain he would spill
his seed from the feeling of her lips sucking on his tongue, she looked up
into his eyes, her own glazed with something other than tears this time.
“You taste like pure sugar, Hunter. Good lord, it’s like sucking on a candy.”
She sighed, but it seemed like it was in contentment. “You know, if I really
am your queen—”
He tried to cut her off again with another kiss, but she tilted her head
away to dodge it, though her lips curved in a smile that was far happier than
her earlier expression had been.
“Let me finish. I’m not going to say anything bad. In fact, I was
going to say, if I’m really your queen, then you have to have been created
just for me, because there is no way in this universe that a man could be
literally this perfect for me otherwise. You. Taste. Like. Candy! That’s
just… perfect. I have the worst sweet tooth, and my mate has candy kisses.”
Joy and relief filled him at her acknowledgment that he was her
mate. He’d feared he would have a much longer fight to win her over,
though he didn’t think he’d completely regained her trust. That was
something that would probably take time. The important thing was that she
was willing to accept him—and accept her place as his queen.
 He started planning where they would begin their colony, thinking
this world wasn’t that bad of a place to settle, when she leaned forward to
kiss his jaw, trailing her lips along the hard edge of it in a way that made his
skin shiver.
“I love this new look, Hunter, but I have to say, I actually kind of
miss your mandibles. But it’s pretty sexy how that muscle is always
jumping in your jaw when you get to thinking.”
He missed his mandibles too, but there was no sense dwelling on his
metamorphosis and how it had changed him. If he wanted to spur another
one to hopefully regain some of his more familiar traits, it could be done
later, when he’d recovered his full strength and had eaten enough to
produce the energy necessary to form his cocoon.
Of course, he’d have to consider what Tarin wanted. She said he was
the perfect man for her, so changing in any way might change how she felt
about him. That was something he didn’t want to do. Unlike him, she
wasn’t imprinted. If she grew tired of him, she could leave him—and unlike
a Menops queen—she could breed with another mate.
The thought of any other male touching her made him furious, but
there was nothing he could do about it at the moment except watch over her
at all times so an opportunistic male didn’t try to steal her away from him.
He felt like the Inu’A had been successfully warned off, and they were
honorable enough to respect his claim, but he would have to remain vigilant
if they encountered others that didn’t recognize that Tarin was his.
If she were Menops, she’d be breeding an army of soldiers to keep
any foreign males away from her nest, so Hunter would never have to
worry that they would get all the way to the royal chamber through the
swarms of her children. Though he would be there at her side in case they
did, so he could be the one to have the pleasure of killing them.
But he had to keep reminding himself that Tarin was not built to
breed that way. He would need to do more research on how she created life,
because he suspected the alterations in his body would make it possible for
them to procreate together, so he must be prepared for their new colony.
But first, they had to mate.
“Now that you know that you’re my queen, will you mate with me,
Tarin?”
 She touched her lip with a finger and traced along the plump edge of
it, swollen from their kisses. He wanted to kiss her more, having found that
experience to be far beyond the expectations he’d had after seeing others do
it.
“It’s just… I really want to, Hunter. I mean really, really want to,
but I’m… okay, I’ll admit it. I’m scared. I mean, you look very human,
except for…,” her gaze lifted to his antennae, which were never far from
hovering around her, wanting to touch her. “Well, except for a few notable
exceptions.”
This time, her gaze shifted to his wings, then back to meet his eyes.
“But I find you extremely attractive. I don’t think that’s in any question.
And if you’ve imprinted on me, I don’t think there’s any point in me
fighting that attraction, because look, I’m not an asshole. I don’t like that
my choice has pretty much been taken away from me by your biology, but
that’s not your fault either, so I’m not gonna make you suffer for it.”
He suspected there was still something holding Tarin back from
doing what they both wanted, and he felt instinctively that he needed to
remain silent to let her work through her concerns aloud. She was talking
herself into mating with him, and didn’t need his help.
She felt like her choice had been taken from her. A Menops never
had the choice to begin with. Even a female only had one mate, and that
was whatever male happened to imprint on her after following her
pheromone lure. Once she was mated, a Menops queen no longer put out
the pheromones that would capture new mates.
Having a choice when it came to mates was a strange, alien thing for
Hunter to consider, but it was clearly important to Tarin. He didn’t want her
to feel he’d pushed her into something she wasn’t ready for, even if he’d
inadvertently done just that.
“This is a big step. I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”
He wanted to silence her with another kiss so he wouldn’t have to
hear her acknowledge that any other male had ever touched her, but he
knew better. She was on the brink of agreeing to a first mating. Tarin was
his now, and she would forget about what came before. He would make
certain of it. He would figure out the way to mate that her people liked most
and would wipe away any memory of other males from her mind as she
cried out for only him.
 He wondered if she would let him investigate her cloacal opening
while she made her decision. The scent of her sexual pheromones was thick
and heavy and coming strongly from between her legs, and his mouth was
watering in a way that was unusual to him, but he knew it happened
because he desired to taste that place and feel it with his receptors.
“Since this body was created from the integration of your DNA into
my genetic matrix, it should be compatible with yours, sexually, but would
you show me your cloacal slit so that I will know what position I should
mount you, if you do decide you will mate with me.”
Though it was an awkward way to convince her to show him what
he really wanted to see, it was a valid concern for him. He had no idea how
to maneuver his much larger frame around her much smaller one in a way
that wouldn’t bring harm to her. Menops queens were always larger than
males, and could be massive if they’d gone through a metamorphosis or
shelled up.
Her mouth gaped open as she stared at him, then she shook her
head. At first, he was afraid she would outright refuse and run away again,
because he’d clumsily reminded her of their differences. Instead, her lips
tilted in an expression he was coming to know was one of rueful
amusement.
“Cloacal slit? Yowser, that’s a lovely image.” She shuddered, but it
had a teasing quality to it, so he didn’t let it concern him. “I don’t know,
Hunter. Do you think you’re ready for all this?”
She used a sweeping gesture to indicate her entire body, but despite
her teasing tone, he could see that she was nervous by the way she bit her
bottom lip and her eyes shifted, refusing to meet his.
“I’ve been waiting for you from the moment I broke free of my egg
sac. I searched the galaxy for you, even when I didn’t know who or what
you were. I’ve wandered to a thousand worlds looking for the one that held
you, my queen. I couldn’t be more ready for all of this.”
Tarin’s eyes met his as her mouth gaped open for a long moment,
before she shook her body as if she had fallen in the pool and was trying to
fling water off it. “That was the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone has
ever said to me.” Her rueful smile tilted her lips. “I mean, the ‘egg sac’ part
was a bit jarring, but I’m under no illusions about what you are.”
 Her gaze lifted again to his antennae, which swayed slowly above
his head, leisurely detecting her pheromones. They were heavy enough for
him to drink them in, just by being in her presence.
She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, but pulled back
when he went to deepen the kiss. Then she rose to her feet, using a hand on
his shoulder to push herself upwards—and keep him in a sitting position.
“All right, you’ve twisted my arm. I’ll show you my ‘slit.’ I hope
you won’t be disappointed.”
Confusion filled him as his brows drew together in a way that was
growing less distracting and more automatic each time it happened to his
newly malleable face. “I did nothing to your arm. I have not even touched
it. I would think twisting it would bring you pain. How would that convince
you to agree to showing me your mating slit?”
Her smile of amusement at what he suspected was another
miscommunication tightened briefly into something that more resembled a
grimace of anger and pain. “You’d be surprised what a person could get you
to do when they twist your arm or cause you any other kind of pain.”
Rage burned hot in his chest as he realized that Tarin was speaking
from personal experience. Someone had laid a hand on her to cause her
pain. He would find that someone and kill them.
He was aware that there were aliens in the galaxy that caused harm
and even killed for their own entertainment or lack of self-control. He’d
seen it happen in some of the worst places that those aliens called
“civilized.” It had been incomprehensible to him at first, since his people
only killed with a specific intent—food, defense, or colonization—and yet
the Menops were the ones demonized by the galactic community for being
monsters. Even if a Menops queen killed the male that mated her, it wasn’t
because she liked killing or causing pain. It was because he was a burden on
resources for the nest, since he wasn’t specialized for any other task, and he
took too many resources to undergo metamorphosis to change his purpose.
If he mated her on a world rich with resources, the queen usually let him
live and join her colony without any sign of malevolence.
He’d never touched the mind of a Menops that thought bringing
harm to other living creatures was entertaining or enjoyable. It was simply a
necessary means of survival.
 He had learned as he worked among the aliens in his chosen
profession that the infliction of pain could also be used to pry information
from reluctant criminals trying to hide the location of his bounties, but even
then, his acts of violence had been for a purpose. He’d never had to twist
anyone’s arm—certainly never a fragile creature like Tarin. Whoever had
hurt her was a monster, no matter what species the creature came from.
“Hunter? Hellllooooo? Anybody in there?”
Tarin’s voice snapped his mind away from the dark place it had
gone, imagining someone hurting his queen. He quickly shifted his focus
back to being in this moment with her. At some point, she would reveal
who had hurt her, and he would hunt them down and make them pay. He’d
found yet another reason that a Menops would inflict pain and kill—
vengeance.
“So, ah, you still want to do this?” she asked, standing before him as
he sat watching her, kept in place by her hand still on his shoulder.
His antennae surged forward and began to stroke the skin revealed
by the filmy fabric she wore that only appeared to cover her back and front
but was left open all along both sides, baring her deliciously scented skin.
She shivered as his antennae ran along that skin, giggling softly as
she twitched away when they brushed against her sides. “Ah, that tickles!
Cut it out, if you want me to be serious.”
He was intrigued by her response, but he didn’t want her to push
him away, so he moved his antennae a bit lower, careful not to “tickle” her
any further as he leaned closer to that warm, fragrant center of her that
called to him, and inhaled deeply.
His new nose detected her pheromones and her unique scent, though
not as strongly as his receptors did, but it still wasn’t enough. She kept him
seated in front of her with the source of her heady scent tantalizingly just
out of reach.
And then her hand lifted from his shoulder to undo the belt that held
the fabric of her clothing tight to her body, keeping the two sides of it
together to cover her.
“Well, here goes nothing, I guess. This has to be the strangest ‘first
time’ I’ve ever had.”
He was too swept up by her scent to be bothered by another
reminder that he wasn’t the first male she’d ever mated. He would be the
last, and her best. By the time he’d truly made her his queen and filled her
with his seed to begin their new colony, she would forget any other male
who’d come before.
His thoughts fled completely when the belt dropped from her
shaking fingers and the fabric parted at her sides, flowing open so his
antennae could trail underneath it to the soft, silken skin that was still
hidden from him.
He lifted his hands to follow that same path, drinking in her scent as
it grew thicker with her arousal. The intensity of sensory information that
came to him from the strange, creased skin that covered his palms pleased
him in that moment. He felt the warmth of her body, the slide of her fine,
barely visible body fibers over his palms, and the soft, giving texture of her
skin.
He’d never felt anything so perfect, and he’d never been so
absorbed with anything as he was with his queen in that moment. The tip of
one antenna brushed closer to that place, still hidden by the fabric his mate
seemed hesitant to remove, where her scent was the strongest.
She shivered, a soft moan escaping her as he touched something that
differed in texture from the rest of her skin and body fibers. The fibers he
now felt were coarser, and curled against the fine sensory fibers of his
antenna, but the pheromones that filled his receptors came strongest from
the folds of soft skin hidden within those fibers.
He wanted to touch her there with his fingers, to see if the sensitive
tips of them would experience something different than his antenna, which
was even now sliding along the unseen slit as Tarin shuddered again. Her
hand dropped to his head to grip the short head fibers that grew there
around his antennae.
“Oh, this is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me, and it
should not feel this good… oh god, yes! You can definitely run your
antenna all over… unh, right there! That spot right there is the sweet spot!”
He slid his hand beneath the fabric to touch the spot where his
antenna now probed, and discovered a nub of flesh that was harder than the
skin around it and must have been packed with nerves, since the merest
brush of his fingers over it caused her to grip his head like she was about to
rip it off.
 His mouth watered with a desire to stroke his tongue over the same
spot to see if it tasted as intriguing as it felt. As he brushed his finger over it
again, he explored lower with his antenna, finding the moist slickness
where her pheromones were strongest. He pushed it through the unseen
folds of skin, delving deeper until it slid into a tight well of warm flesh.
Her legs had parted to give him more access, and now both hands
clutched him to brace herself as her legs trembled, while his hand and
antennae explored beneath the concealing fabric. One of her hands still
clutched his head fibers, and the other gripped his bulging shoulder as she
cried out with what he knew was pleasure, because each explorative touch
was rewarded by more of her pheromones, steadily increasing as her body
prepared to mate.
He lifted his other hand to feel that wet slit that now closed around
his antennae as it probed deeper inside her. He didn’t want to stop stroking
over that nub of flesh with his other hand, because it was doing something
to her that caused all her muscles to tense, as her cries grew higher in pitch
and her clutch on him tighter and more desperate for support.
When his fingers found that place, soaking with slick moisture
around his antennae as it probed inside her, he slowly withdrew that
questing part of him and replaced it with his fingers, feeling how deep and
tight it was as it enveloped him. Just as he sank two of his fingers full-
length inside her slippery warm, she screamed, her entire body locking up
as her pelvis thrust towards him and her legs quivered.
The muscles inside her slit began to convulse around his fingers as
her body relaxed out of its tension enough that she could shudder, her knees
bending, then buckling, so he had to quickly steady her with the hand that
had been stroking over her nub.
“Oh, god! That was freakin’ incredible! So much better than when I
do that to myself!”
She sank to her knees in front of him, and Hunter reluctantly
withdrew his hands and antennae from her, waiting for her body to stop
trembling as she met his eyes with her own glazed by pleasure.
“I still have not seen your slit,” Hunter said, lifting the hand that had
been fortunate enough to be inside her when she convulsed and was now
slick with her moisture. He licked it, wishing he could taste her flavor
directly from the source. As he’d expected, it was delicious. Tart, tangy,
with just a hint of the sweetness his species craved so much.
She was perfect for him, even in her flavor.
Tarin was breathing hard, her soft, jiggling chest lumps heaving
beneath the fabric, a point of hard flesh outlined on each of their tips. He
wanted to explore those too, but he wanted the fabric of her clothing gone,
so he could see her body as he touched it.
“I was getting to that… removing this,” she pointed at her dress,
“but then you distracted me, and I lost my head. I… wow, Hunter! That
shouldn’t have felt so good, and… okay, that’s a little strange. Why are you
sucking your fingers like they’re a popsicle?”
He withdrew his fingers from his mouth, disappointed to lose the
chance to claim the last bit of her flavor from them for long enough to
answer her, surprised by her question. “I am tasting you.”
She shivered, and the beads of flesh on her chest that were hard only
seemed to grow more pronounced as the rounded flesh there shifted with
the movement of her body. “That should not be as sexy as your deep voice
saying it makes it sound. I hope I taste okay.”
He stared at her like she was crazy, wondering how she still didn’t
understand. “You are my queen. Your taste is the only one I will ever crave.
You do not taste okay. You taste like perfection, and I want more of you. All
of you.”
His gaze left her rounded eyes and slightly gaping mouth to trail
down her body, snagging for a moment on her intriguing chest points as his
antennae stretched with the intent of exploring those tips a bit more. He
resisted that urge, his focus on what hid beneath the fabric lower on her
body.
“Uh,” the uncertainty in her voice brought his attention back to her
face, and he noticed that she was now looking over at the statue of the
zookeeper, sitting like a silent watcher to their mating. “Maybe this place
isn’t the best one for us to do this. I just realized this might be a sacred
place for the Inu’A. I wouldn’t want to disrespect their religion by, you
know, messing around in their temple—or whatever this place is.”
At least on this, he could put her mind at ease, and perhaps get her
back to more important things. “This is the best place to do this. It is sacred
to the Inu’A—as a place of breeding. They come here for mating when they
wish for their union to be blessed by these gods of fertility.”
A look of alarm crossed Tarin’s face as she settled a hand over her
stomach, then her lips moved as she seemed to be counting silently, her
brows drawn together. Then the tension in her eased and she smiled as if
relieved. The strange sequence of reactions happened so quickly that Hunter
might have missed them if he hadn’t been watching her so intently.
“We’re still good to do this then,” she muttered, more to herself than
him. “So, I thought these were different gods. Like, Egyptian ones, but they
have those pointed ears so maybe….”
“They were probably the overseers of the Inu’A development and
perpetuation. Their names translate to zookeeper titles.”
Her face tightened as her eyes narrowed. “What the hell? You mean
those ancient Iriduan bastards thought they were just animals?” She
gestured to the cavern. “The fact that they can even understand the concept
of worship, of sacred places, and of building a shrine to their gods shows
that they’re sentient and self-aware. What kind of assholes would still see
the Inu’A as beasts, with all this proof that they’re not?”
“The ancient Iriduans. From what little I know of them, they were
no better than their modern counterparts when it came to their experiments.
Perhaps, if they viewed them as people in their own right, then they would
be acting against some moral code that would make it impossible for them
to use the Inu’A and then abandon them to die out slowly on this planet.”
Hunter was conflicted on the question of the ancient Iriduans, since
his own people possessed a different moral code than that of many alien
species that claimed to be “more virtuous.” That was rarely the case when
one looked at their actions. His people also cultivated sentient lifeforms and
used them. Though in some cases, like the fungus, it was a symbiotic
partnership that benefited both parties.
The ancient Iriduans and their questionable moral code wasn’t what
Hunter had intended to focus on at this moment, with Tarin’s taste still
tingling on his tongue, making his mouth water for more.
“The past is where it should be. Behind us. I’m only concerned with
the future, my queen. I want that future to include tasting you with my
tongue. Preferably in the very near future.”
 Tarin’s cheeks blazed with a hot red color as the outraged expression
on her face on behalf of their hosts shifted, her brows lowering in a softer
expression. Her mouth softened and opened on a breathy pant of air. “You
really know how to sweet talk a girl.”
“Let me look upon your slit. If you do not wish for me to taste it
with my tongue then I will—”
“Hell yes I do!”
She shifted until her lower body was rocked back on her rounded,
fleshy bottom, spreading her knees apart as she planted her feet on either
side of his cross-legged position. “Seriously, you can taste all you want. Go
to town.”
He tilted his head, staring at her with confusion as he wondered if
she meant he should return to the necropolis above them before he tasted
her, or after, and what purpose such a request served. Did his queen desire
something—like a gift—before she would let him taste her? He had yet to
have the chance to create the jewelry he was going to make her with the
remnants of his cocoon.
Tarin grinned and shook her head at his reaction. “It’s just an
expression, Hunter. It means you are very welcome to lick me all you want.
Like, right now would be good. I definitely won’t be complaining.”
Relief filled him, followed quickly by eager anticipation as he
lowered his gaze from her smile down to where she was slowly pulling
aside the fabric that had covered her sex from his eyes, even as he’d
explored it with hands and antennae.
Now it was exposed to his hungry gaze in all its glory—a pink,
glistening slit of flesh, framed by soft petals of skin that he already knew
were sensitive, from his earlier exploration that had made her shiver and
tremble with each touch of them. Curly, coarse fibers that were darker than
her head fibers were shaved into an arrowhead shape above the opening of
her slit, as if pointing the way for him.
Within the shadows cast by her curly fibers, the top of her slit and
folds terminated in the small, firm bud that had brought her so much
pleasure when he’d rubbed his fingers over it.
He would taste that bud first, just to hear her moan and cry out again
like her entire universe had shrunk to that one spot on her body, and he was
in control of it.
 She didn’t have a cloacal slit barely accessible between two hard
segments of an exoskeleton. A Menops queen’s sex was a utilitarian thing, a
simple opening in her armor for the male to deposit his seed.
Tarin’s sex was a thing of beauty, and he couldn’t wait to taste her.
 Chapter 24
When Hunter stared at her sex like he’d never seen anything so
fascinating, his dark eyes focused completely on her, she actually felt like a
queen. When he slowly lifted a hand to touch her, his fingers stroking over
her folds, tracing her opening, before they moved to rub over her clit, she
thought she was going to come right then and there.
That would have been a disappointment, because he only studied her
for a moment longer before he shifted his sitting position into a supine
position, laying on his belly on the ledge so that his head was positioned
between her legs.
She’d never had a partner who was focused solely on tasting her,
rather than on just getting her off quickly so he could get to his part of the
action and screw her until he got his rocks off. Hunter approached her sex
like he wanted to savor the experience. Like he was tucking into a meal that
promised every possible delicacy.
In his new position, his antennae were free to roam all over her
lower body, and they touched her everywhere. That should have creeped her
out. Logically, she knew it should have, but it felt so good to have him
touch her, stroke her, almost like they were another set of arms that could
bring her pleasure and stimulate her. When one of them had parted the folds
of her slit and sank inside her earlier, it had brought her a great deal of
pleasure.
As he lowered his head, inhaling deeply as if her scent was the
finest perfume, she shivered, then struggled not to come at the feeling of his
warm breath rushing over her clit as he parted his lips. When his tongue
darted out to tease that highly sensitive nub of flesh, she jerked like she’d
been electrocuted—so intense was the experience of feeling that hot, wet
tongue stroke over her tender clit.
Hunter glanced up at her, meeting her eyes for a brief moment with
his all-black gaze, and she tried to think of every unsexy thing she could, so
she didn’t lose herself right then and there. He was hot as hell, even with
those antennae moving this way and that as they explored her body. He was
like some gorgeous fae king, his wings spread out behind him, getting ready
to tuck into a royal feast.
His tongue flicked out again, but this time, he wrapped his arms
around her thighs, pinning her body in place so there was no escape from
him as he slowly dragged it over her clit.
All Tarin could do was ride the wave of pleasure and cry out with
the intensity of it. Her legs trembled against his hard muscles as he held her
still for another tormenting lick, then another.
His antennae sought out her soaking slit, and one delved inside as if
he wanted to drown his pheromone receptors in her slickness. The way it
probed her depths, brushing against her g-spot as it explored deeper inside
her, filling her—though not nearly as much as his beautiful cock would—
made her come very quickly.
She arched her back, her thighs tightening as her pelvis lifted off the
stone ledge from the intensity of her orgasm, her inner muscles convulsing
around his antennae.
Hunter held her in place, allowing her only enough time to ride out
the wave of her orgasm before he was again questing for her taste with his
tongue. This time, he gave her aching clit a break, allowing her to recover
from the hypersensitivity of her recent orgasm as if he instinctively knew
that was what she needed. Instead, his tongue trailed down her slit as he
slowly drew his antennae out of her and replaced it with the thick, agile
length of his tongue. He licked slowly inside her, drawing his tongue along
the slick length of her slit over and over again, as if he wanted to capture
every last drop of her essence, before he began to work it inside her
opening. As her inner muscles clenched around it, he moaned, his voice low
and ragged, as if he was the one being tormented by pleasure.
She’d never felt like any of her previous boyfriends had taken much
pleasure from this act, yet Hunter made her feel like she was doing him a
huge favor by letting him feast on her like this. Since she loved having him
do it, that only further proved he was perfect for her. Her head dropped
back on her shoulders as she leaned into her palms, which were supporting
her on the ledge.
When she closed her eyes, she erased any visual distractions, so she
could focus entirely on what Hunter was doing to her body, his eager
tongue inside her, eating her out like there was nothing he’d rather be doing,
and he had all day to enjoy this.
His agile tongue brought her to another climax, this one longer than
the first two, and more intense, though not as explosive. It was a drawn-out
orgasm that left her shuddering in the wake of it, but Hunter had yet to taste
his fill. She realized how incredibly focused he was when he’d found prey
he wanted. His tongue lapped up the juices of her orgasm with hungry licks
that stroked over sensitive flesh, bringing on another climax on the heels of
the last.
The intensity of it became too much for her, and she opened her
eyes and lifted her head to stare at him, watching his head between her legs
as his tongue laved over her slit. She nearly came again from the eroticism
of his position, especially when he lifted his eyes from his focus on her sex
to meet hers, deliberately slowing his next lick as his gaze held hers.
Her inner muscles convulsed in another orgasm, even though her
body was still trembling from the last. “You’re killing me, Hunter. Don’t get
me wrong—this is how I dreamed of dying, or rather what I imagined my
ideal afterlife would be, but I need you inside me now. I feel empty with my
insides clenching on nothing.”
He licked her clit with the tip of his tongue, like a teasing pat, then
released her thighs and pushed himself back on his haunches. “I wish to
return to this tasting of you again soon. Your sexual pheromones are like a
drug for me, and your taste is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced
before.”
She smiled ruefully and shook her head at him. “Oh, believe me, I’d
be insisting you taste me again. I’ve never experienced anything like that
before in my life.”
He bared his teeth as if he wasn’t sure how to smile, but he was
making the effort. She wondered if the expression was automatic for his
body, or if he was learning expressions from having watched her face. As
awkward as it looked—tense like she was about to take a picture and he
was “saying cheese,” it was a clear expression of pleasure at her words.
“I will make you forget any other mates you’ve ever had, my
queen.”
She sobered, realizing that for Hunter, this was his first time. He’d
come to her bed with no experience and no memory of being with another
woman. She couldn’t say the same thing about other males—though she
wished she could take back all those memories and throw them in the
garbage where they belonged. If she could have come to Hunter as a virgin
—if she’d had any idea that someone like him was waiting out in the wider
universe for her—she absolutely would have stayed celibate. Unfortunately,
her stupid magic eight ball had kept lying to her. Whenever she’d ask if she
had a Prince Charming waiting in her future to sweep her away from her
miserable life, it kept saying things like “outlook not so good.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Hunter, you already have.”
This time, his grin seemed more comfortable, as if he was picking
up the expression with each attempt he made at it.
“Now,” she said, gesturing to herself, her legs still spread on either
side of him, “I want you inside me. Show me that beautiful cock of yours.”
His brows lifted as he stared down at her slit. “Cock?”
It was her turn to grin. “Your… sex? I guess? I’m sorry, I don’t
know what you call it, but that’s what we humans call it. Well, one word for
it.” Her grin widened. “A dirty word, but hey, it’s the one I prefer. ‘Dick’
always sounded like an insult, and quite frankly, a cock like yours should
never be insulted.”
His answering smile was uncertain. She didn’t think it was because
he felt unsure of what was coming, but because he was struggling to
process her words. “You think my aedeagus—my cock—is beautiful?”
She lowered her gaze to his lap, where the body part in question
tented the wraparound skirt he wore. “Oh, yes. Most definitely yes.” She
licked her lips, feeling a fresh tingle of moisture and heat in her sex at just
the thought of seeing his hard erection in all its glory again. “Let me see it.”
It twitched against the restraining fabric as her gaze fell upon it.
Hunter untied the waist of the skirt and impatiently pushed the fabric aside
to free his length. It thrust up long and thick at his groin, his balls pulled up
tight beneath it.
His penis looked completely human, except for maybe it’s massive
size, since she couldn’t recall ever seeing a man that big outside of the porn
industry. The foreskin was like a glove of soft velvet over a hard, sleek
length of shaft, the mushroom head poking out like a purple-headed
popsicle, just begging for a lick of that rounded tip. A drop of pre-cum
glistened at the entrance of the hole on the tip.
 Yes, he had a beautiful cock. Circumcised or uncircumcised, she’d
always loved how the human penis looked, and had never understood when
other women would call it ugly and act like it was the one part of their
partner’s bodies they didn’t like to look at it, though they wouldn’t
complain when it was inside them.
She’d been dreading the prospect of mating with an alien, which
was one reason she’d put it off, despite her curiosity about the Akrellians.
She wasn’t sure the strange cocks of alien males would appeal to her as
much as a human one did, but with Hunter, she didn’t have to worry. He
had such a perfect body for her tastes that she could swear whatever it was
that made him human was sentient and had read her mind.
“Is it… acceptable to you, my queen?”
She jerked her gaze away from his erect length to meet his eyes and
saw that his brow was furrowed and a muscle in the fine, sharp plane of his
cheek was jumping. Her prolonged silence as she’d stared at his sex had
apparently made him concerned that she wouldn’t like it.
“Oh, you have no idea how ‘acceptable’ it is to me. I want to lick it
all over, but right now, I’m feeling really anxious for something else.
Please, stuff that beauty inside me before I die from my unfulfilled need!”
She might have been exaggerating just a bit, but she really did need
him inside her in that moment. Just the sight of him erect and ready like that
made her want to come again, and she needed to squeeze that thick length
as he pumped inside her.
At least she wasn’t worried about getting pregnant. She was on an
extended-release birth control the Akrellians had created after realizing they
could impregnate human females. It hadn’t just been for her and Theresa
that they’d developed the birth control, based on knowledge gleaned from
Earth sources, but because they’d found and rescued more humans from a
place they called the “Rim” or “CivilRim.”
“Are you certain you are ready?”
She narrowed her eyes on Hunter. “I swear, Hunter, if you don’t—”
He did. Rising up on his knees, he lurched forward, accidentally
ramming the head of his cock against her pelvis, which had them both
wincing.
“Slow down, babe. I’m not going to crawl away.”
 His antennae flailed wildly as he nodded, his wince still tightening
his facial features, but she didn’t think it was in pain. She figured her
deadly, intergalactic, insectoid bounty hunter was embarrassed. That sign of
uncertainty and awkwardness in him only made her want him more.
She couldn’t forget that as much as he’d skillfully pleasured her
with his tongue, he was still a virgin, and all of this was new to him.
“That is good, because this ‘cock’ does not have hooks at the end to
hold me on your back.”
“And we can thank god for that! Trust me, Hunter, as much as I
want you, I wouldn’t let you near my lady parts with a hooked penis.”
He nodded as if in response to her words, but his focus was more on
aiming his erection, one hand closed around it as he tried to position it at
her slit, while his other hand provided support for his weight, his palm
pressed flat on the ledge at her side.
Tarin shifted her hips to help him slide into the right spot, and they
both groaned as his tip slid partially inside her once he found it.
“Deeper,” she moaned, lifting her hips to push him further inside her
heat, feeling her muscles stretching around his thick girth—tightening for a
moment at the invasion of such a huge erection, before relaxing with her
anticipation for more of him.
“This feels so much better than I thought it would,” he said, his
voice coming out in gasping pants with each word as he slowly inched
deeper inside her.
His muscles bulged with tension and sweat beaded on his skin,
making his beautiful body glisten in the bioluminescence that filled the
cave. His wings flared out behind him, fluttering wildly, fanning the cool
cave air over them and whipping Tarin’s hair away from her flushed face.
“I need you all the way inside me,” she said on a breathy whisper,
sighing in relief as he drove himself further into her, penetrating deep inside
her. She already felt so full, but Hunter was still holding his length with one
hand, so she knew there was more of him. She wanted it all. She was
greedy like that.
She shifted her hips, spreading her knees a bit wider to
accommodate his body as he kneeled between them. Then she thrust her
pelvis towards him again, sinking all of his length that wasn’t blocked by
his hand into her wet depths. “Let go, Hunter. Let me have all of you.”
 “Do you promise I won’t hurt you?”
“You’re killing me right now, and I’m about to mean that literally if
you don’t ram that glorious cock into me. Right. This. Instant!”
She had to remind herself that Hunter was still taking her words
very literally. He released the last of his length and surged his hips forward,
stuffing it all inside her until she was worried for a brief moment that she
would split apart.
Then her eyes rolled back into her head and she moaned in bliss as
he filled her to her limit—and maybe even a little beyond, his cockhead
nudging her womb.
Hunter was trembling, his hard, bulging muscles quivering wherever
they touched her skin, the thick cords of them flexing and relaxing with
each shift of his weight as he adjusted to being inside her.
His antennae patted over her head, then brushed against her face, as
if reassuring himself that she was still okay and hadn’t been injured by his
penetration.
His fluttering wings cooled the sweat that dewed their skin from the
heat of their shared passion.
She sucked in a deep breath that smelled of his exotic scent. “You
okay, babe?”
“This feels incredible! Is this how it’s supposed to be? Is this what
humans experience with mating?”
She shook her head, chuckling. “This right here, is so much better
than what most humans experience, I think. This is special.” She tightened
her sheath around his length, feeling it jump inside her in response, as he
gasped and began to pull out, perhaps worried that she was trying to eject
his invasion.
“No, no! Don’t you dare withdraw! Not unless you plan on thrusting
it back inside me.” She rocked her pelvis towards him, recapturing the short
amount of length he’d managed to pull free. “Move slowly in and out of
me, at first. Then you’ll get the rhythm and we can move faster. You’ll like
it! Trust me.”
He shuddered as she tightened around him again, her body tugging
on his length. “This… it feels so… I can’t….”
“You can! Please, Hunter. Your queen is commanding you to fuck
her!”
 He lowered his upper body over hers, his sweat-dampened chest
wetting the fabric that still clung to her upper body, concealing her breasts
from him but doing nothing to hide the hard peaks of her nipples.
“Kiss me,” she whispered as his head drew closer to hers, his
antennae finding places on her neck and shoulders to stroke—perhaps to
comfort her or maybe himself.
His lips crashed down on hers, and with a desperate moan, he
rocked his hips back, then pumped them forward, shivering against her at
the movement.
She wondered if it felt as intense for him as it did for her when he
thrust inside her, and bet it was even stronger. Hunter had lived his entire
life within a hard exoskeleton, gaining sensory information from fibers
without nerve endings. Now, he had a body covered by skin that could feel
everything—the heat that blazed between them, the pheromone-rich
moisture that dripped from their skin, the friction of their bodies rubbing
together, the rasp of their body hair catching and dragging along flushed
skin.
It was mind-blowing for her, and she’d lived her whole life in a
human body and had had sex before. She could only imagine how much
more so it would be for Hunter.
The way his lips plundered hers, his tongue thrusting inside her as if
he were testing out the concept of penetrating her, she suspected he was
barely clinging to a thread, holding on as the intensity of his sensual
experiences washed over him.
When he began to pump his hips in earnest, she captured his soft
grunts and low moans with her lips, sucking hungrily on his tongue as his
cock moved inside her, promising herself she would show him another
intense experience at the very next opportunity. She wondered if his cock
tasted as sweet as his tongue. She couldn’t wait to find out.
“That’s it, babe,” she said when he lifted his lips from hers long
enough to suck in a deep breath as his hips began to pump faster.
His eyes were unfocused and the muscles in his jaw jumped as he
approached his climax, chasing that intensity up to the peak in a race that
Tarin could see play over his expression.
He was so freaking beautiful that just watching his face as he
approached his very first climax—along with the friction of his ripped
abdominals rubbing her hypersensitive clit—sent her over the edge just
before him. When her muscles convulsed around his girth, squeezing and
milking his shaft, he shuddered and cried out in his climax.
She felt the jump of his cock inside her as his seed spurted from the
tip to bathe her womb. She again thanked the Akrellians for providing her
with birth control, because if Tirel and Theresa could make a baby, there
was no doubt in her mind that Hunter’s new—more human—body could
fire up her babymaker. She would have hated to have to delay this
experience indefinitely, because she certainly wasn’t ready to be a mom—
ever. She wasn’t convinced of the wisdom of having a child with her own
history. In fact, it terrified her enough that she would never risk it.
What if she turned out to be a monster like her biological father?
That thought, and all others, fled her as her orgasm and its aftermath
took precedence, especially as Hunter’s weight sagged against her chest
while he recovered from his own climax.
His breath was hot in her ear when he lowered his head so his chin
rested on her shoulder, his antennae lazily stroking over her as if he
couldn’t bear not to touch her with all the parts of his body. She felt his
cock slowly softening, though it was still thick and semi-erect when he
withdrew it, his seed spilling out of her entrance in its wake.
“That was far better than I ever expected mating to be. It was… I
don’t even have a word in my language for it, and I can’t find the word in
your language for it.”
She chuckled, leaning back on the ledge until she was lying on it, so
she could wrap her arms around him instead of supporting her own weight.
He followed her down, though he kept most of his weight off her with one
hand, while the other lifted to palm her breast through the fabric that still
separated it from his hot, hard chest.
“I’ve wanted to touch this, and see it… and taste it,” he said, his
voice a dark rasp as he lowered his gaze from her eyes to look down at his
hand, gently squeezing her breast. Her nipple was such a firm, hard peak
that it ached, begging for his touch—and his lips.
“Yes,” she moaned, drawing out the word as she lowered a hand
from his shoulder to tug aside the fabric of her dress so the breast he was
fondling was fully exposed to his gaze.
 He studied the hard peak of her nipple for a long moment before his
antenna stroked down her chest to touch it, then rubbed over it. She
shivered at the feeling of that alien appendage teasing her nipple. Then
gasped when he lowered his mouth to it and stroked his tongue over the
nub.
“Close your lips around it and suck on it,” she begged, wrapping a
hand around his neck to pull his head harder against her. “Please. I want
you to suck my nipples.”
He obeyed like a loyal servant, his lips surrounding the aching flesh.
Then his hot, wet mouth tugged gently on it, growing harder with each suck
as she gasped and arched her back to push her nipple upwards, begging for
him to suck on it more.
She uttered pleading sounds that she was pretty sure weren’t words,
but they definitely had an intent behind them. She needed him to keep
sucking on her, because with each pull of his mouth, it was like he was
drawing a string taut between her breast and her core, which convulsed with
anticipation for more of him.
Since he’d just come, she didn’t expect him to be ready to go again
so soon, but she wanted him. That was why she was thrilled when his cock
probed her entrance again, hard as stone and ready for round two, as if
suckling her nipple made him as eager as she was to continue their mating.
This time, she didn’t have to urge him to bury his length to the hilt,
and soon he was thrusting inside her without prompting. Now that he knew
what they both wanted, he didn’t need her guidance.
Her Hunter was a fast learner. That probably made him very
dangerous to his prey, but it also made him an incredible lover, and this
time, Tarin came well before he did.
When he finally released another round of his seed, he slowly
withdrew from her, lifting his head from her breast to look into her eyes.
“I’ve spilled a lot of seed during this mating, which should guarantee the
start of a strong colony.”
Tarin froze in his embrace, staring up at him with wide eyes and a
sinking feeling in her stomach, just above where her core still experienced
aftershocks from her latest orgasm. “C-colony?” She struggled to speak
through a throat gone suddenly dry, his taste lingering on her tongue
suddenly a touch too sweet.
 “Yes, our colony. I know that it is different for humans. I don’t
expect you to have thousands of offspring like a Menops queen, but I am
eagerly awaiting the offspring we will have after this mating.”
She swallowed around the lump in her throat, closing her eyes to
shut out his hopeful, blissfully ignorant expression. “Oh god, what have I
done?”
 Chapter 25
Hunter’s queen had pulled away from him after the second mating,
her gaze averted from his, but he was satisfied to see the drops of his seed
spilling from her slit, knowing that he had fulfilled his purpose—and filled
her up—and soon she would be spawning their offspring. He couldn’t wait
for the formation of a new colony, and again began to consider where
would be best to settle for his queen’s nest.
This world was not rich in resources, from what he’d seen during his
desperate flight to seek aide for him and Tarin, so he really wished to take
them to one that was. Though ultimately, it was the queen’s decision where
she would nest. They had the Iriduan key, and they knew the spire could
transport them to somewhere else.
The Akrellian homeworld was rich with food and water and plenty
of places to nest, and they also had allies there, which they would need,
because he didn’t think his queen’s body could spawn an entire army of
protectors for her nest. A few hundred maybe was all he dared to hope for.
It would still be a fine colony if they formed an alliance with the
neighboring Akrellians, who were strong defenders in their own right.
Of course, he’d have to make up for his betrayal if they returned to
Akrellia, and he wasn’t certain they would be as inclined to forgive him as
Tarin was, so it might be better for him to seek a different world for them to
settle.
The Inu’A had come here from Earth. That meant the spire could
probably take them there. He couldn’t think of a better place for Tarin to
build her nest than back on her home world. She must be ideally suited for
it, and Hunter’s new body had been created to survive and thrive there as
well.
He watched as Tarin rose from the ledge, tucking her beautiful, alien
body away beneath her fabric clothing again, refusing to meet his eyes.
Something was bothering her, he thought. But it could also be that she was
now filled with his seed and no longer needed him to attend to her.
 That thought disappointed him, but it was how a Menops queen
would behave, so he’d braced himself to expect such a rejection. As much
as he’d like to experience mating again, he had already filled her with seed,
so they really didn’t need to do it again.
He’d just hoped she might want to. He’d heard that there were aliens
that mated just for the fun of it, and after experiencing the intensity of
mating with Tarin, he understood completely why they did so. He’d been
hoping she’d want to go again.
He obeyed her unspoken but obvious desire to retreat from this
mating place. She was quiet as they righted themselves and then abandoned
the ledge and made their way back up the tunnel to the exit door that led out
into the necropolis.
They walked through the central plaza of the necropolis side by
side, but Hunter noticed that Tarin seemed lost within her own thoughts,
instead of looking around her at the statues that rose imposingly to the
ceiling above them. She seemed oblivious to the stone columns that
supported that heavy layer of rock that protected them from the heat of the
desert above, and not in the least bit interested in those areas where the
ceiling had been cut away to allow the sun and fresh air to blaze through to
add light to the promenade.
Hunter was peripherally aware of all these things, as he was of those
who watched them with curiosity, no doubt aware of where they’d been and
what they’d been doing. Mating had become very important to the Inu’A,
who were desperate to bring new life into this world where their people
were dying out.
He was most aware of Tarin beside him, but not really there, at least
not in her mind. She’d gone somewhere else inside her head that he
couldn’t follow, and he didn’t know why. He worried that he’d done
something incorrect during the mating that had hurt her or upset her—or
disappointed her.
It had all felt so amazing to him—so outside his lifetime of
experiences—that he couldn’t detect what part of it she hadn’t enjoyed.
From what he’d read of her chemical and physical cues, she’d seemed to
love it as much as he had, and he’d felt her body convulse internally
whenever she cried out with obvious pleasure, as though she’d reached
some kind of sensual peak, like the ones that had allowed him to spill his
seed.
This new body he had was so strange in the way it felt around him,
but one thing he couldn’t complain about was the way his new aedeagus—
or cock, as the humans called it—worked. In his old form, and in most of
the forms the Menops might take after a metamorphosis, there was none of
that delicious friction. Mating was supposed to be a very simple and
pragmatic affair, without all the pleasure other alien species seemed to gain
from it.
At least, that was what he’d been told. Having never actually mated
with anyone before Tarin, he hadn’t known for sure. He’d known what his
old aedeagus had looked like, and how it had operated, so he was certain he
wouldn’t have felt near the amount of stimulation in it as he felt in this new
cock. It stiffened even now just at the memory of being inside his queen.
He struggled to push those thoughts aside and hopefully shrink his
wayward cock back to its normal hanging length and girth, because it could
grow unwieldy when it was hard. It was difficult enough to deal with when
it was swinging around at its smallest stage, getting in the way and
sometimes being pinched between his leg and torso when he sat down or
bent over.
It was a nuisance, but after mating with Tarin, he’d learned to truly
appreciate it. Though he could never appreciate his own body as much as he
did hers. He’d always liked Tarin’s mind, her character, her humor, but now,
he could see the beauty of her body, the appeal of it, and he would never
forget the incredible feel of it enveloping him and squeezing tight around
his length as if she would never let him go.
They reached the embalming temple where they’d been allowed to
remain, their hosts pleased to have the additional company, according to
Anubis. They’d grown relaxed about their sacred rituals over the
generations on this world without their overseeing gods dictating their
worship, so the temple had become a place where the young would often
play among the statues, and the workroom where the embalming took place
would fill with family members who would visit with the embalmers as
their loved ones were prepared for the afterlife.
In fact, the centralized location of the temple made it the best place
to socialize for the dwindling population of the necropolis, since far too
many of the homes and businesses that could be found in the mazelike
underground city had been abandoned in favor of those dwellings that
surrounded the central courtyard. That left entire portions of the once-
populated city empty and ghostly silent. Hunter knew this after having gone
through those places in a frantic search for Tarin before the Inu’A suggested
she might have found the passageway to the mating shrine.
Tarin still didn’t speak to him as they climbed the wide steps,
passing a cluster of Inu’A that crowded on the steps around a pair intently
playing a board game with colored stones that Hunter would have liked to
examine. Some of the hybrids lifted their hands to wave them side to side as
they passed, and Hunter believed that was a sign of greeting, so he returned
the gesture.
Tarin appeared not to even see them, so focused inward that she
walked as if she were one of the dead, heading into the temple to be
embalmed. He didn’t like that image that popped into his head and scooted
closer to her so his antennae could pat over her to reassure him that she was
still warm and breathing. Not that he couldn’t tell that already, but it felt
better to actually touch her.
She shot a glance in his direction as his antennae brushed her cheek,
then bit her lip and looked away again, as if she didn’t want to look at him.
That made him even more nervous and anxious. Now, it seemed like
her behavior confirmed that he was the problem, and that it was him who
had chased her into this place inside her head where she ignored everything
around her.
He tried to think back over their mating, because it couldn’t still be
that she was angry at him for betraying her before that. He might still
deserve her anger, since he had yet to figure out how to make it up to her
and regain her trust, but why would she allow him to mate her if she still
held that against him?
He wanted to ask her, but she didn’t seem inclined to speak to him
as they entered the grand temple doors and made their way to the more
modest back rooms through the labyrinth of stone corridors.
Statues of previous embalmer priests that had served under the name
of Anubis lined the main corridors, but the more lived-in portion of the
temple had narrower passageways that were empty of anything but
paintings and writings on the wall, all of which Tarin ignored as she made
her way to her chamber.
He followed her there, wondering if she would allow him to stay in
her chamber with her, as a queen would allow her mate to remain in the nest
—if she let him live at all. Hunter wasn’t worried Tarin would decide he
was a drain on resources and kill him. He was more concerned she would
eject him from her nest to go through her breeding alone. He wanted to be
there when she began to spawn their offspring, so he could help her.
Menops males weren’t considered specialized for the tasks involved
with caring for the royal nest and building the colony, but Hunter had never
understood why. There wasn’t much skill involved with the work they did,
and though males did require a greater investment of food resources than
the smaller workers and handmaidens and nursemaids, they could still serve
as well as the large soldiers.
In fact, most males had nurtured a ship in order to wander offworld
in search of a virgin queen, which proved they could care for a living
creature as well as any of the nursemaids. Hunter had been very successful
with his ship, growing it from the single lump that had formed beneath his
wings and had been extracted by the workers in his birth colony and set
aside in the ship bay with the embryos of the other ships.
Some males could not get their embryos to grow or even survive,
leaving them bound to their homeworld, and unlikely to ever find a virgin
queen before they were killed or ejected from the colony, but Hunter had
been one of the successful ones. In fact, his ship had grown larger than the
others, and had become far more responsive and sentient, which was one
reason it had been so helpful in allowing him to avoid being caught by
another queen.
He had no idea when the ships’ unique biology had been integrated
into Menops DNA so they could spawn the embryos from their bodies—
though he suspected an ancestral queen had eaten part of a crashed ship,
believing it to be a typical source of protein. He did know it had changed
the Menops forever, allowing them to expand across the galaxy at a
phenomenal rate—and none of the other species truly understood how they
did this.
The important thing was the nurturing. An embryo required certain
things to thrive, and though a wanderer’s ship didn’t require pheromones to
survive, the presence of its caretaker made a huge difference in whether it
thrived. He didn’t know what Tarin’s offspring would require, but he
wanted to be there to care for them. He wanted to take part in their growth
cycles and help them along in their development for the tasks they would be
best suited to do. If they possessed bodies like Tarin’s and the one he now
had, then they would probably be well suited for a variety of tasks within
the colony, rather than being specialized for one task or another.
If Tarin allowed him to remain in her nest and care for her offspring,
this would be a most exciting time for him. He would finally have a colony
to call home again.
 Chapter 26
Tarin had no idea how to tell Hunter there would be no children
from their mating, and in truth, she didn’t want children and would never
get off birth control to have them. Since he was bound to her forever, he
couldn’t even go on to a woman who would give him a child. He was stuck
with her, and would be forced to be childless forever.
It was yet another horrible side effect of his biology. Once again, he
hadn’t had a choice, and now, Tarin did, but it was one she couldn’t bear
contemplating. It didn’t feel like a choice at all.
She knew her temper. She flashed hot, then quickly cooled, but
usually not until it was too late and she’d lashed out at someone else. That
was a very bad thing when it came to kids. She wasn’t going to risk it. Not
now, not ever.
If she ever hurt her kids—if she ever even laid a hand on them in
anger—she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.
That meant Hunter had to suffer for her inability to trust herself, and
that didn’t seem fair or right, but she didn’t ask for this any more than he
did. She was trying to be as considerate about all of this as possible, and it
certainly helped that she was actually attracted to him and cared about him.
She’d already forgiven him for an entire year spent suffering after his
“death,” though a part of her was still angry about that, but she couldn’t
give him this. Not this one thing he seemed to believe was already decided.
As if there had never been any doubt for him that their mating
would result in children. In his mind, that was his sole purpose. She
wondered why she thought that would have changed, just because his
outward appearance did.
Hunter didn’t know any different. Though he’d tried to escape his
destiny, he had probably never truly imagined a purpose beyond the one
he’d been born to fulfill. It had defined him from the moment he’d hatched
from his egg—or whatever the hell Menops spawned from. Tarin didn’t
really want to picture that either, since she had no idea how human his
humanoid biology now was and what kind of birth that would be, even if
she would have considered kids.
Her friends had all given live birth as if they were having human
babies. Even Claire had given live birth to Ava and Thrax Junior, despite
Thrax’s arthropodal origins. Tarin suspected that was because of the way
their genetic engineering worked to make them capable of creating hybrids
in the first place. If the offspring wasn’t compatible with the mother’s
ability to carry it and deliver, it would nonviable, so wouldn’t have grown
to full term.
Hunter wasn’t genetically engineered. At least, she didn’t think he
was. So she didn’t know exactly how that would work between them. It was
possible that they couldn’t even create a child at all, but she strongly
doubted that after seeing exactly how diverse hybridization could be under
the right circumstances. She certainly wasn’t going to risk it. His body had
changed to be more like hers. There was no way his biology didn’t include
an intent for breeding in that change.
That meant she had to be the one to choose not to have children,
which meant the burden of ruining his chances for a family—or colony, as
he called it—was on her. She hated that, because she couldn’t even soothe
his desire for offspring by suggesting adoption. It was raising the children
that was the problem, not having them.
When she entered her room, she turned around to face Hunter,
noting that he’d stopped at the door and was watching her with unreadable
dark eyes. His expression was tight and his jaw muscles jumped as if he
clenched his teeth. She suspected his jaw worked like that under emotional
stress because he was accustomed to having external mandibles, but it was a
good indicator of his state of mind, even when his expression wasn’t.
He knew something was wrong, and she was hurting him even more
by prolonging his concern. He’d just lost his virginity, and she was shutting
him out. She realized that she hadn’t said a word to him on the entire walk
back to this temple.
“Are you ejecting me from your nest, my queen?” he asked in a tone
that suggested he had come to some degree of acceptance of this fate, but he
was despairing over it even as he accepted it.
Her eyes widened as she raised her hands in front of her, waving
them as if she could wipe away his words. “No! No, Hunter, I’m not
pushing you away. Well, not like that. It’s just….”
She sucked in a breath, then sighed heavily, watching as hope
lightened his features and slowed the tick in his jaw muscles.
“I can’t give you children. I… I mean, I won’t. I’m sorry. That’s just
how it has to be. I can never be a mother.”
He tilted his head as if her words confused him, and she could see
the way his eyes went unfocused as he pondered the meaning of her words,
matching them with the translated messages in his head. It took him longer
than it should have, and she suspected that his prolonged silence and the
growing tension in his body weren’t because he was confused about their
meaning, but because he was absorbing the impact of it.
“Children… this means offspring? Our-your colony, my queen?”
Tarin lifted a hand to rub at the ache building between her eyes,
pinching the bridge of her nose as if the extra pressure of her thumb and
forefinger could help ease the tension there. “It means there won’t be a
colony, Hunter. Even if I wanted to have kids, I’d probably give you at most
one or two. There wouldn’t be a huge family. But, the truth is, I don’t want
kids, and I never will. I’m sorry, but that’s my final word on the subject.”
Her heart ached for a future she could never trust herself to dream
about. Some part of her wanted a little son with Hunter’s handsome face, or
a little daughter with her own impish grin, but she didn’t dare. Couldn’t
dare to bring those precious, innocent lives into the world, when a monster
might live inside her. A monster she’d inherited.
“I don’t understand,” Hunter said, though she knew it wasn’t
because her words confused him.
Not this time.
“I said it was my final word. I’m not going to discuss this, at all.
You understand that?”
She didn’t mean for her tone to come out so sharp, but hurt was
making her defensive, and when she grew defensive, she got angry. That
was the problem, wasn’t it? She was too quick to grow defensive. Too quick
to put up her dukes, ready to battle it out.
The shift from calm to rage was so quick in some people. It had
been so quick in her father. She remembered watching him warily when she
was a child, learning to spot the signs—when his relaxed body tensed and
his expression went from a mocking smile to a hard snarl. The fists would
always come next. She’d learned to run, but had never been quite fast
enough.
She would never put an innocent child through that. Not even for
Hunter. Not even if it meant he would have to deal with the fact that he
wouldn’t fulfill his purpose. She was willing to help him find a new
purpose. One that would bring him more fulfillment than simply spawning
a thousand ant babies would have anyway.
Because fathering an entire, unstoppable colony that populated a
world wasn’t an impressive, fulfilling purpose at all.
Okay, but the fact that he would never do that wasn’t her fault, and
he’d avoided that fate deliberately, so obviously he’d wanted something
different for himself. Tarin could give it to him. As long as he never asked
for children.
“I would be happy for any offspring, my queen. It doesn’t need to be
an entire colony. I am certain this new form of mine will make it possible
for you to produce our ‘children.’ If you fear that I won’t be a good nest
mate, I assure you, I have nurtured life before. I have grown my own ship
from an embryo. I can care for our young—be it a thousand or only one.”
Tarin blinked away the tears that tried to form in her eyes as she
turned her back on him, devastated by his expression of confusion, and also
growing angry at him for pushing on the subject, when she’d very clearly
told him they weren’t going to discuss it.
“I said I won’t have children. Ever!” She spun back around to face
him as her anger took precedence over her grief—or was perhaps fueled by
it.
Clenching her fists at her sides, she screamed at him. “Never! Do
you understand me? If you can’t get that through your thick head, then get
the fuck out of here!”
Hunter stared at her, stunned by her sudden explosion of rage, but
Tarin couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t stop it. She’d tried so many times,
but it always blew up, tearing away her rationalizations and logic like they
were tissue paper, to let the monster come bursting to the surface.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed.
This time, she couldn’t stop the tears that flooded her burning
cheeks.
 Her eyes were clenched shut to keep the tears from blinding them,
so she jumped, startled, when Hunter’s arms came around her and his
antennae began patting and stroking her hair.
She responded violently, trying to shove him away, but his big body
was immovable. Her fists rose to pummel at his chest. He endured the
punches—the hardest she could muster—as if they were love taps, holding
her, his hands lifting to stroke soothingly over her back as she struggled in
his inexorable embrace and screamed wordlessly.
So angry. Enraged at the universe. Unable to cope with the
unfairness of it—and with the heartache it always brought her.
Hunter held her as her punches lost their impact and her arms grew
tired and weak. He held her when her hands finally dropped to her side and
her screaming died down, leaving behind a raw throat and a pounding
headache. He held her when she sagged against him and sobbed as if the
monster inside her was tearing each gasp of air from her.
He didn’t let her go, even when any sane man would have run for
the hills. And not once did he lay a hand on her in responding anger. Not
once did he strike her back in retaliation.
Finally, she was too exhausted even for tears. Only then did he
move to sweep her up in his arms and carry her to her straw mattress, where
he laid her down as if she were a priceless treasure so fragile that he didn’t
want to even jostle it.
“I can’t have children, Hunter,” she said, her voice breaking as she
stared up at him through eyes blurred by tears. “Not like this. Not with this
anger inside me. What if I—”
Hunter bent to press his lips to hers, to silence her words as if he
didn’t want to hear them—or didn’t want her to have to say them aloud.
When he lifted his head, the muscles in his jaw were ticking again,
but there was no shift in his expression that suggested he cared about her
any less than he had before she’d lost her damned mind on him. “You need
rest, my queen.” He stroked one antenna over her damp cheek, trailing the
end of it through her tears. “I will never ask for something you do not wish
to give. You will always be my queen, and I have already gained more in
that gift than I’d ever dared to wish for. Please, forgive me for upsetting you
like this. I won’t do it again.”
 His words brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she lifted a hand to
cover her face to hide it from him, turning on the mat so her back was to
him.
“Don’t beg me for forgiveness,” she said through her tears. “Don’t
plead with me like a cowering dog wondering why its master struck it. I’m
a monster. I abused you. I’d probably abuse my babies too.”
His only answer was to stroke his hand up and down her back, and
urge her to sleep in his deep voice, his tone soft. To her surprise, despite the
emotional turmoil she was in, she actually did.
 Chapter 27
Hunter settled in on the floor beside his queen’s mat, spreading his
wings a bit so he could lean back against the painted stone wall beside her
bed. Once he was comfortably seated, he lifted a hand to stroke her hair
back away from her face.
Some of the long fibers had broken free of their mooring at the back
of her head and were stuck to her damp cheeks. Since they were drying in
that stuck position, he was careful as he tugged them free and smoothed
them back towards the tie that held the bundle of her hair out of her face.
She was always smoothing her hair back. He’d once heard her complain
about it to Theresa while on his ship. She’d said she was going to chop it all
off again, because it got in her way.
Yet she kept it long. He didn’t know why. He expected his own hair
would grow irritating as well, though at its current length, it didn’t bother
him much.
Perhaps he would allow it to grow long, as Tarin did. Halian had
been adamant about preserving the length of his hair, even in his other
aspects. It seemed to be something important to all facets of him. Hunter
had never had to consider it before, but he would do whatever his queen
preferred.
He would do anything that his queen wanted. Even if it meant never
bringing up the discussion of offspring again, though it was still shocking to
him that she didn’t want to have “children,” as she called them. That was all
he was created to do. The only purpose for his existence. It was the one
thing he thought he could truly give her, and it was the one gift she refused.
Though he had deposited so much of his seed inside her, he had no idea
how she could avoid growing pregnant from it.
Perhaps humans were different in that regard. Perhaps the seed
alone wasn’t enough to impregnate them. He would have to do research on
that, but he had no access to the GalactaNet in this place. His tech wasn’t
even connecting, letting him know there was no communications arrays
within range. On top of that, he’d lost contact with his ship. He should have
tried to access it earlier after his metamorphosis, but he’d been so distracted
by his change and his mating to Tarin that it was only now that he made the
attempt to “feel” it—and discovered that he couldn’t.
When he’d first arrived in this world with Tarin, he’d done an
automatic check to see if he could still feel his ship’s presence inside him,
and it had been there—that slight tug on his beacon organ that told him
where that other part of him was. The fact that he hadn’t even considered
summoning it to them at that time made him realize that he’d been worried
even then about Halian reuniting with Tarin—or worse, posing a threat to
her.
Now, he couldn’t feel his ship at all, as if his beacon was gone—
perhaps it had not reformed during his metamorphosis, but he wondered
why such a vital part of him wouldn’t remain a part of his expressed
genetics.
He felt the hollowness and a great sense of loss at the thought that
his ship—an extension of his own body—was no longer connected to him.
It was the only other life he had ever created and nurtured, and according to
his queen, it was the last life he would ever create and nurture.
He gently stroked his fingers over her hair, trying not to wake her,
but unable not to touch her. The long fibers were smooth and tight against
her head before they reached the tie that kept them in a bundle. He loved
the feeling of warm and sleek silkiness against his palm. He loved
everything about his queen. He would not allow his disappointment about
not having a new colony of his own spawn to affect that love.
Finding her had always been the goal, and loving her had become
his new purpose.
As he sat there watching over his queen, he pondered their
discussion and tried to comprehend why it had so deeply upset her. There
were clues there that he was missing, and he combed back over each and
every detail that was forever etched in his memory to discover them and
perhaps learn why she’d reacted so angrily.
She’d said she wouldn’t have children at first, but then later said she
couldn’t. He thought that was very telling. It suggested that perhaps she
would have chosen to have them, if she hadn’t been afraid of her own anger
and what it might cause her to do.
 Hunter had experienced her anger twice now, and had seen her
ferocity when she was in a rage. She lost control completely and fought like
an insane creature. She wasn’t a monster. She was a wounded creature in
pain, lashing out at perceived threats that might only increase her suffering.
He knew the difference between that and someone who gained a sadistic
pleasure from causing suffering by unleashing their anger on others.
There were no wounds on her body, so he could only assume the
scars ran far deeper than the surface. The problem was that he didn’t know
enough about her species and history to truly understand how he could help
her heal them. Allowing her to strike him with all her fury only seemed to
make her more miserable when her anger cooled. His apology for upsetting
her had also only brought her more misery.
He wanted to help her with her rage, not simply with her ability to
hide it. Whatever caused it must be drawn to the surface and dealt with.
He’d seen deep injuries fester until they killed the one that suffered them.
Her injury wasn’t a physical one, but it was certainly still festering, and it
was causing his queen unhappiness. He would spend the rest of his life
working to make her happy.
 Chapter 28
When Tarin woke from her nap, Hunter was still there beside the
bed. She groaned and lifted a hand to cover her face, knowing her eyes
were all puffy from crying, and her nose was red and her face was probably
bloated and had hair stuck to it from her tears. She wasn’t exactly beauty
queen material at the best of times, and now wasn’t the best of times.
She also felt horrible on the inside. She couldn’t forget what had
happened before she’d passed out into a dreamless sleep, exhausted by
another episode of incoherent rage. Shame filled her, pressing open a
wound that already gaped like a canyon inside her. She’d not only
humiliated herself, but once again, she’d struck someone she loved. Again,
she proved she could never trust herself around a family—especially not
one with innocent, vulnerable children.
Fresh tears clustered in her eyes as she tried to turn away from
Hunter and curl into the fetal position.
He wasn’t having any of that, and against her protests—broken by
sobs—he gathered her up in his arms and pulled her off the mat and into his
lap. He stroked and petted her hair and skin with his hands and antennae in
a soothing way. She appreciated that his intent didn’t seem to be sexual at
the moment, since sexy was the last thing she felt. She needed a bath, since
her thighs were still sticky from him, and a toothbrush and powder, and
about an hour in a salon for her hair and face.
He made no move to slip his hands beneath her dress and grope her,
as another man might have done in the hopes of copping a feel while she
was vulnerable, thinking just because he was in relationship with her, he
had the right to do so whenever he got an opportunity, regardless of her own
mood and disposition at that time.
Hunter could read her body cues better than any man she’d ever
dated. He understood that she didn’t want sex. He seemed to know that this
was what she needed, though what she really wanted was to crawl into a
hole and hide for a year in darkness, hoping he’d get bored and go away, so
she never had to face what she’d done to him.
 He didn’t give her what she wanted. He showed her what she
needed, and eventually, she relaxed on his lap, allowing her tension to melt
away as she turned her face to his chest and tucked her head against him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered through a throat raw from screaming
and tears.
“Tell me who hurt you, and I will kill them for you, my queen.”
She shivered at the deadly tone of his voice. It was completely
matter-of-fact, but tinged with a bite of rage that let her know that he wasn’t
talking about a quick, clean, efficient death.
“He’s already dead,” she said, then bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t
spoken aloud.
This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have. And besides, her
father hadn’t been the only one to hurt her, but she wasn’t about to unleash
Hunter on a handful of stupid human idiots who’d reacted to her anger with
anger of their own, or had decided she’d make a good punching bag when
they got a little too high or drunk.
She honestly didn’t care about their lives, but setting Hunter loose
on Earth would be a bad idea for him. The last thing she wanted was for
him to get captured or harmed—or even killed—trying to avenge her. She
had no doubt that he would do just that.
“If he’s dead, then why does he still continue to wound you?”
She lifted her head from his chest to look at his face, noting that his
jaw ticked as if he had to bite back words—or he wished he had long,
serrated mandibles to gnash.
“You know, I was just a kid when my father was beating on me, so
cut me some slack for still carrying that around,” she snapped.
His eyes widened as he lifted a hand to brush away some tears that
broke free from her lashes to slip down her cheek. “I wasn’t criticizing you.
I only wish to understand so that we can slay this beast that continues to
consume you.”
She ground her teeth as she looked away from him. “You just want
to make things all better so you can have some damned kids. Well, I got
news for you. I’ve been to a dozen different therapists, and not one of them
could help me, so I don’t think some alien that doesn’t even understand my
words half the time is going to be able to solve my problems.”
 “This isn’t about children. I will never ask you for what you don’t
wish to give. This is about you, and your pain.”
She shot a sideways glare at him, pulling away from his hand as he
tried to touch her cheek. “Yeah, well you caused me a lot of pain too. An
entire year of it, while I pictured you dying horribly at the hands of the
queen, or being blown to bits, and I mourned for you. So don’t act like
you’re all concerned about my suffering, when you were the cause of a lot
of it.”
“I know this. I would do anything to change what I have already
done, but I can’t undo the past. I can only try to make it up to you. Tell me
how to do that, Tarin.”
Tarin’s anger left her like air from a punctured balloon. She sagged
on his lap, her sigh heavy as she slumped against him. “I don’t know. I wish
I knew how to make it all better. It’s like, every time someone hurts me, I
carry it around inside me forever.”
She gestured to the walls around them that had been painted with
different scenes in a very Egyptian style. “Like these walls have all these
paintings on them of the things that have gone before. I feel like that’s what
I am inside. A bunch of paintings that just persist, to constantly remind me
of the crap life has thrown at me.”
Another heavy sigh escaped her. “If I knew how to let it go, I would
have done so long ago, Hunter. I tried. I really did. I was adopted by truly
wonderful people. They couldn’t have children of their own, so they cared
for the lost, abandoned, or wounded children cast aside by those that didn’t
appreciate them. My adoptive parents were wealthy enough to adopt
perfect, healthy little babies to raise fresh and without issues, but instead,
they chose to take children out of foster care that had all kinds of problems
and give us a happy new home.”
She shook her head. “It still wasn’t good enough to heal me. I still
never trusted that it wouldn’t all go to shit at some point.”
“I’m broken, Hunter. There is no fixing me. That’s why I’m too
afraid to start a family. That’s why I keep choosing the worst kind of men—
those who will either refuse to commit to me, or will prove to me that they
weren’t worth keeping.”
“You didn’t choose me.”
 She straightened against him and turned to meet his dark gaze. “No,
you chose me. Looks like you got the short end of the stick on that one, eh,
Hunter?”
This time, she didn’t pull away when he lifted a hand to trace his
finger along her cheek, then down to her jaw, before setting it on her lips as
if he could silence any more words from her. “No. I got the most perfect
queen in the galaxy.”
She turned her head, breaking his contact with her lips as she
released a breath on a skeptical scoff. “Spare me your flattery, Hunter. It’s
getting so sweet in here I’m going to end up diabetic.”
“Why did your adoptive parents choose children that were broken to
raise?”
Her brows creased as she glanced at him, wondering what new tack
he was going to take with his pointless efforts to convince her there was any
hope of healing her. “I don’t know. I guess they were gluttons for
punishment. Maybe they really liked visiting Juvenile Hall and wanted
more opportunities to do so. Or, oooh, I know! They wanted lots of chances
to socialize with the school principle. Or perhaps they enjoyed their visits
with the truant officers.”
“I am assuming by your tone that you are being sarcastic.”
She raised her eyebrows, staring at him as if shocked. “Really? I
can’t imagine why you’d think that.”
“You use that tone often. I have come to recognize it easily. But you
avoid the true answer. They must have found some reason for choosing the
broken children, when you say they could have chosen differently.”
Tarin shook her head. “Look, they’re good people, okay. They want
to help those who are less fortunate.”
“Did they love you, Tarin?”
She slowly nodded, chewing on her lip. “They still do. They love
me very much. I know it hurts them that I’ve left them with no real
explanation, but even after I hurt them, they continue to love me. They
always did.”
“They forgive you for hurting them? Why do they do this?”
Hunter’s tone wasn’t skeptical or confused. It was leading, and Tarin knew
exactly what he was trying to do, but she answered him anyway, though it
was an effort to speak.
 “Sometimes you forgive the people you love, even when they hurt
you more than once, because you know that they’re good people. Hunter, I
forgave too many people for hurting me, and they didn’t change. And my
parents shouldn’t have forgiven me, because I didn’t change.”
“Trust me, Tarin. Menops know a great deal about change. It doesn’t
happen right away. But it does happen if you let it. A Menops must choose
when we go through metamorphosis, and it is a very painful thing to
endure. It is only when it is over, when we are climbing free of our cocoon
into a new life, that we understand that the end result was worth the trial to
get there.”
“This isn’t the same thing. You can’t just change your heart and soul
the way you change your body. You can’t just let go of everything that
makes you who you are and become a completely new person.”
He tapped his chest. “I carry around all the DNA that has been
absorbed into my genetic matrix throughout thousands of generations of
Menops. Some of that information is truly terrible, and would make me a
monster if it was expressed. I know this, but don’t allow it to stop me from
metamorphosis. You don’t have to let go of those paintings you carry
around inside you, my queen. Accept that they are there, and will always be
a part of you. Some of them might make you a monster, but only if you let
them.”
“I don’t know how to stop them, Hunter.”
“We will find a way together, because my body chose you, and I
don’t regret that at all. If you’re truly broken, then it is only so that we may
better fit together.”
 Chapter 29
It took some time to convince Hunter to give her a bit of space to
wash up and brush her teeth. She had a lot to think about, and when she
wasn’t upset or angry, he had a tendency to distract her with other thoughts
that made it impossible to concentrate.
She shied away from thinking about her own issues, knowing that
despite Hunter’s certainty that she could be “fixed,” she would always be
broken. Still, the discussion had made her feel a bit lighter, and she was
grateful that she’d told him her reasons for never wanting children. It was
best that they got that out of the way right at the start. She believed him
when he said he wouldn’t hold that against her.
Instead, she focused on their current life, and what they should do
about their future. Speaking of her parents made her homesick. Not for
Earth, but for her loved ones. Her parents had her brothers to keep them
company and go to all their holiday get-togethers, so she wasn’t dwelling as
much on them as she was on Theresa.
She knew Theresa would be worried sick about her, wondering what
the heck had happened to her. Tarin wanted to get back to Akrellia to
reassure her best friend—more like her sister than anything—that she was
safe and as well as she would ever be. She figured Theresa would be both
amused and intrigued by her relationship with Hunter—after she got over
being pissed at him for his deceit.
The key was the spire, and, well, the key.
Bakt brought a bucket and sponge to her room for her, interrupting
her thoughts, and set it down as she waved away Tarin’s profuse attempts at
an apology with the Inu’A version of a smile. After she finished washing up
and the other female left, Tarin withdrew the Iriduan key from the pouch on
her belt and studied it.
It was like two small obelisks stuck together at their widest ends so
it formed an elongated diamond shape as it lay on its side in her palm. It
was as long as her hand and appeared to be made of some kind of opaque
white crystal, but it lit up with a green glow when it came into direct
contact with her skin.
She had a feeling she was able to activate it because of humanity’s
connection to the ancient Iriduans, but she couldn’t be certain. It could just
as easily be because it turned on whenever anyone touched it. It had lit up
for Hunter too, but he’d had his more human body when he’d handled it to
give it to her. She wondered if it had lit up for him before his
transformation.
Regardless of why it glowed the way it did, the light was proof that
it was functional, at least to some degree. She already knew it had opened
some kind of portal between Akrellia and this world, so it had to work in
the reverse. She also suspected the spire could serve as a portal to a
different world—or perhaps many different worlds—and that one of them
might be Earth.
Not that she had any intention of returning to Earth. At least not any
time soon. She’d been happier on Akrellia, surrounded by aliens, than she’d
ever been on Earth as just another human among billions of others. For one
thing, the Akrellians seemed a lot more chill about pretty much everything,
and had abandoned some of the aspects of modern technology to recapture
their roots—both literally and figuratively—while still retaining the positive
aspects of technology. Humanity hadn’t reached that point yet, and Earth
seemed like a step backwards for Tarin now.
She missed her human family, but felt like they were complete
without her there, even though she knew they loved her. Sure, she’d love to
see them again, but she’d left Earth in search of something more, and she’d
found it in Hunter. She had no idea how her family would react if and when
they ever met him. It was a meeting she would procrastinate gladly,
knowing it would be emotionally exhausting and involve complicated
explanations.
In fact, even reuniting with Theresa and Tirel was going to be
exhausting, because there would be anger in that meeting, as Hunter would
have to confess the truth.
That brought her back to the lingering and very real danger that was
far greater than her own emotional baggage.
Halian was out there somewhere with a Menops queen.
 She closed her fist around the key in her hand. From what Hunter
had told her about it, it contained data that Halian needed for his plans.
Whatever that data was, she didn’t want him to have it. She didn’t think he
could find them here, but she wasn’t entirely sure. There was no way he
could get onto Akrellia to access the same spire they’d taken to get here, but
if her theory was correct, then this spire would open to other worlds and
vice versa. That meant Halian could still find them.
The odds of him managing it without information about where
they’d gone were pretty low, but it didn’t change the fact that she and
Hunter really needed to stop Halian, or at least get word to the Akrellians to
stop Halian. She’d already tried her wrist communicator weeks ago, while
waiting for Hunter’s metamorphosis to complete. Though the holographic
projector still lit up above her wrist, the display showed that it wasn’t
receiving any signal, and efforts to contact Theresa—or anyone for that
matter—proved futile.
No matter how nice and peaceful it might seem to remain here with
the friendly Inu’A, they needed to figure out how to get off this world and
return to civilization. Besides, they both wanted to help the Inu’A find
others like themselves, or others that could breed with them, or help them to
preserve their dwindling population. It was possible the so-called
“zookeepers” had seeded other worlds with hybrids. The bastards had
scattered their experiments all over the place, then discarded them like
refuse.
She and Hunter had to have a talk with Anubis. They would need
his help to excavate the spire and hopefully get it working again. In fact, it
was possible that their hosts knew something about how it functioned.
She put the key back in her pouch and went in search of Hunter,
knowing he was necessary for her conversation with Anubis. She was
trying to pick up the language, but despite weeks of full immersion in it, she
hadn’t managed to learn much. Most of her communication with them came
from reading their body language and their exaggerated gestures and
pointing.
Playing charades got old after a while.
Hunter wasn’t in his room, so she continued her search for him, and
ended up having to make her way out of the temple in Anpu’s trail. He led
her to another building, gesturing and doing charades to convey to her that
Hunter had entered that building, then canine-grinning when she nodded
and thanked him in his language.
The building turned out to be a bathhouse, and there was a nubile,
naked female Inu’A pouring water out of a bucket over Hunter’s head as he
kneeled, buck-ass naked, in a sunken tub the size of a small swimming
pool.
The room, despite being large and echoing, was filled with steam
and warmth from the heated stones around the tub. That warmth was
nothing compared to the burn of jealousy Tarin felt at seeing her man yet
again being attended by a beautiful—if alien—female.
“Seriously?” she snapped, which caused both Hunter and the female
to look over at her.
Hunter’s expression brightened in greeting, but the female’s ears
dropped to her head as her shoulders hunched at the expression on Tarin’s
face. She recognized what Hunter—the big, dumb dope—didn’t.
Tarin really hoped for her sake that she was just doing her job. She
didn’t take her narrow-eyed glare off the other female until she’d bowed so
her forehead nearly hit the floor and then pushed herself backwards out of
the main bathing chamber on her hands and knees, muttering profuse
apologies. Hunter looked between them with utter confusion on his face.
Tarin sucked in one deep, humid breath after another, trying to calm
her anger and jealousy. She reminded herself that both Hunter and the
Inu’A were unaware of the way her culture worked and had not meant to be
disrespectful. The fact that the other female had been topless and wearing
nothing but a skirt had probably been because it was freaking hot in this
chamber and not because she wanted the gorgeous, naked hunk of hotness
that was Tarin’s mate to feel up on those nipples that had been on
infuriating display for him.
For his sake, Hunter had seemed genuinely oblivious to the other
female’s nudity as he’d rubbed his hands over his head, scrubbing the soap
from his thick, short hair while she’d poured water over it.
The pose had only enhanced the bulging muscles of his arms, chest,
and abs, and Tarin was torn between jumping into the tub with him to lick
all those water drops off every inch of his skin, and going after the other
female to explain to her in no uncertain terms that when it came to Hunter,
she had the time off and did not need to attend him. Ever.
 Hunter watched her now with a wary expression that still held
confusion. That expression shifted to an intent, predatory one when Tarin
lifted her hands to her belt and unhooked it, then slowly pulled it off her
waist and allowed it to fall to the tiled floor.
“I don’t want you to see any other female naked, Hunter.” She
pulled the dress over her head, then tossed it aside, revealing her completely
nude body to him.
The way his gaze fixed on her as he rose to his feet and waded
towards her with hunger in his eyes made her feel like she was the most
beautiful woman in the galaxy, especially when her eyes were drawn to his
huge, erect cock, eagerly straining in her direction, bobbing with each step
he took closer to her.
“You’re mine, Hunter. My male. No other woman gets to look at
you naked, and you don’t need to see another woman naked. Your queen
commands it.” She could definitely get used to that title.
Whatever confusion had remained in his expression disappeared as
understanding dawned. He didn’t even glance in the direction where the
other female had disappeared, his gaze still fixed on Tarin’s naked body like
it was impossible for him to look away. “I will always obey my queen.”
Then a fierce, possessive expression sharpened his handsome
features, hardening the line of his jaw. “And no other male shall dare to
look upon your beauty like this, or think to touch you. You are mine, Tarin.”
She swallowed, then licked her lips as her gaze trailed from his
waving antennae down his body to the eager length of his cock. “I think I
can agree with those conditions.”
He was almost out of the pool now, but Tarin held up a hand to stop
him, smiling seductively when he paused, his brow creasing in confusion.
“Let me come to you. I have something to show you that I think
you’re going to like.”
His dark eyes fixed on her breasts as they rose with each panting
breath she took, feeling lightheaded at the thought of tasting every inch of
his delicious body—or at least every inch she could take in her mouth.
“You are already showing me plenty that I like.”
Her smile widened into a wicked grin. “Oh, you haven’t seen
nothing yet.”
 With that, she stepped into the pool, sighing as the warm water
closed over her foot and ankle, then rose up to her midcalf as she took
another step, then up to her mid-thighs with the next. By the time she’d
reached him, she was up to her waist in the pool, though the water splashed
against the middle of Hunter’s thighs.
He was so big—not just his height, but also the bulging muscles that
defined his body. She’d never in her life even seen anyone as gorgeous as
him, much less had the opportunity to touch them—to make love to them.
There was another part of him that was very large, and very
delightful to look upon, and her focus shifted from his intent gaze down to
his straining cock. She lifted her hand, now damp from the warm water, and
wrapped it around him, her fingers not meeting because of his thick girth.
She had no idea how she’d fit that monster inside her, but she was more
than willing to do it again—after she tasted him.
He shuddered when her fingers closed around him, sucking in a hard
gasp.
She glanced up at him through her eyelashes, noting that the
muscles in his jaw were ticking. “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”
She tugged her wet hand along the slippery, velvet length of his
shaft, enjoying the way it twitched in her grip as much as she did the way
the muscles in his chest flexed and jumped beneath his skin.
“Or maybe I’ll be a little rough.” She tightened her grip a bit and
stroked with more force along his length, the sheath of his foreskin sliding
along with her palm over his shaft.
“Do you like that?” she whispered in a voice husky with her arousal.
“Very much, my queen. Gentle or rough. You can touch me however
you want. I love it all.”
Pleased with his answer, Tarin slowly kneeled in front of him,
ignoring the questioning sound he made as the water rose up around her
until it was lapping against her nipples.
Now, his gorgeous cock was in front of her, and she could get a
good look at it in all its erect glory. She also noticed that Hunter had no
thick body hair that she could see. At least, not the coarse pubic hair or leg
hair—or even chest hair—that a human male would have, though she
recalled that finer, soft hair did cover his skin from her earlier experience
with him. In a way, that pleased her, because it left his cock fully exposed to
her view, making it look longer and even more imposing as it stood out
from his groin.
Plus, it made it even more fun to lick.
Hunter set a hand on her head as she lowered her mouth to the tip of
his cock as if he would push her away from it. “Please don’t bite it off, my
queen. I won’t bring it near you again if it bothers you.”
Tarin lifted her head and looked up at him with a “what the fuck,
dude,” expression. “Tell me your queens don’t make a habit of doing that,
because that is seriously one of the most messed up things I’ve ever heard.”
The tension that had tightened Hunter’s body relaxed as he sighed in
obvious relief. “They do not, but when you looked like you were going to
put your mouth on it, I feared that was your intent. I wasn’t certain about
humans. I haven’t made a study of your mating habits.”
“Oh, I’m definitely going to put my mouth on it, babe, but I
guarantee you aren’t going to want to stop me. At least, not if you are
anything like a human.”
His hand still rested on her head, but the tension in his fingers had
relaxed so they were sliding through her hair instead of holding her still.
Tarin was glad she’d left her ponytail down so she could feel the warmth of
them against her skin. “I’m nervous, Tarin. The feelings I get from this
thing are very intense.”
Tarin chuckled, gently stroking him again with her hand as she
licked her lips. “Trust me, it will be worth it. If you don’t like it, just tell me
and I’ll stop immediately.”
After a moment, Hunter nodded and made to release her head, but
Tarin reached up to capture his wrist with her other hand to keep his hand
on her. “I want you to hold onto me while I taste you. I want to feel the
tension in your fingers when I bring you to the edge.”
She lowered her head again and swiped her tongue along the bead of
precum that seeped from his tip, enjoying the salty-sweet taste of him. “And
when I take you over it, I want to feel your fingers tighten in my hair. I want
to know you’re on the edge of your control.”
She slanted a final look up at him, noting how his huge body
trembled, his bulging muscles twitching. “I trust you not to lose it, Hunter. I
know now that you will never hurt me.”
 Without waiting for his response, she closed her lips over the head
of his erection, drawing them tight around him as she lashed his sensitive
tip with her tongue, sweeping up more of the heady taste of him.
He both smelled and tasted divine. The exotic scent that was all
Hunter overlaid the scent of freshly-washed male skin and the handmade
soap provided by their hosts. If this was what his pheromones made him
smell like, then it was surprising that female Menops weren’t the ones
tracking the males.
Hunter moaned as she licked and sucked on his cock, taking as
much of it inside her mouth as she could fit. His fingers kneaded her head,
clenching in her hair in slight tugs that were just strong enough and sharp
enough to excite her. The way he rocked his hips forward as if he couldn’t
hold still any longer made her slick beneath the warm water.
She’d intended to bring him to orgasm with her mouth, but she
ached so much to have him inside her again that she pulled away before he
came and rose to her feet, kissing her way up his body. “I need you to fuck
me, Hunter. I need it bad. I’ll make you come with my mouth later, but for
now—”
She didn’t get to finish, because Hunter bent and caught her up
beneath her thighs, lifting her out of the water until her soaking core was
aligned with the head of his shaft.
“I always obey my queen,” he said, the rasp in his deep voice more
pronounced, as if he struggled to form any sound more complex than the
guttural groans that had rewarded each stroke of her lips over him.
They both moaned in unison as he sank his shaft into her heat,
pulling her down over his thick length with agonizing slowness that allowed
her tight inner muscles to relax enough to accommodate him.
Normally, she would feel too unsteady and insecure being held in
the arms of a man while completely off the ground. She wouldn’t trust that
he was strong enough to keep her off her feet, and she’d worry that they
would fall. The position she and Hunter were in seemed too taxing for an
ordinary human man to maintain, but she trusted that Hunter was more than
strong enough to hold her aloft as he thrust inside her. Even if his knees
went weak, like hers threatened to do, she didn’t fear he would drop her.
Hunter wasn’t even leaning on anything to help support them, but
that seemed to give him no issue as he pumped inside her. His head lowered
to capture her lips, swallowing her moan as another hard thrust buried him
to the hilt inside her.
His wings rose fully out of the water and droplets rained down
around her and over her as they fluttered with his excitement.
He caught her cries and gasps as he kissed her, making her
breathless as he pumped into her. His own moans were heady music to her
ears, firing her up even higher, until she reached the peak with him. She
loved to hear those sounds of a man on the edge, close to coming and
unable to maintain a stoic silence any longer. She loved knowing that she
was the reason for it. It made her feel incredibly desirable and powerful
when she could make her man lose control like this.
Hunter was the first to fall over the edge, his body tensing with one
final, hard thrust as his cock jumped inside her, bathing her womb in his hot
seed. Only then did Tarin shudder with her own orgasm, crying out as her
muscles milked his shaft.
She thought he’d lower her back into the water afterwards, as his
shaft softened inside her, slowly withdrawing from her warmth and
allowing his seed to drip from her opening. Instead, he continued to hold
her in his embrace, her legs wrapped around his waist and locked at the
ankles, as if she weighed nothing.
Hunter was very strong. She’d read somewhere that ants wouldn’t
be so strong if they were scaled up in size, but Hunter—whatever he really
was—had defied that scientific truth in his other form, and it appeared that
he’d kept some of his incredible strength in this one as well.
He hadn’t even lost his balance, or had to shift his weight at all, and
he seemed content to just hold her, supporting her weight in that position as
he continued to kiss her.
She was the one who finally pulled away, shifting her body so he
would set her down on her feet, though she immediately missed being held
in his arms.
Unfortunately, they had things they needed to deal with and couldn’t
spend all day having incredible sex in a public bathhouse.
She looked down at the water, pulling a face as she wondered how it
was circulating and pondering if they’d just broken some rule for the
bathhouse. She was also grateful that it appeared the Inu’A had not come in
to check on them. She suspected that they gave her and Hunter private time
deliberately. Maybe he’d said something to them that made them aware of
their relationship, or maybe they were just perceptive enough to recognize
when they needed alone time.
Or maybe she’d scared them off with her angry glare at the poor
bathhouse female, and they weren’t going to take any chances walking in
on them while they were in this bathhouse.
“I actually came here looking for you for a reason,” she said, then
licked her lips as she took a step away from Hunter, getting the full view of
his body glistening with water from his wings flicking drops of it
everywhere.
His gaze met hers, dipped lower down her body, then lifted back to
hers again as if it was as much a struggle for him to focus as it was for her.
“You didn’t come here for this?”
She chuckled, shaking her head ruefully. “To be honest, I sort of lost
my mind there for a bit. I would have chosen somewhere more private.”
Though she didn’t really know where, since even their rooms didn’t
have doors on them.
He shot a glance towards the columns that hid the corridor where
the servant had retreated on her hands and knees. “I believe you have
established your territory and frightened the other females away, my queen.
They will doubtless wait until you leave here before they enter again.”
She lifted a hand to run her fingers through her hair, which had been
tangled by his grip when she’d sucked him. “Damn, I owe another female
an apology. I have got to stop being so quick to jump on people.”
“You did no harm to her, Tarin.”
She widened her eyes as she glanced from the corridor exit to him.
“Well, of course not.”
“Were you angry at her?”
Tarin looked down at the rippling water, noting that it was moving
in a current that she’d barely noticed against her skin, but which swept
away the last of the soap bubbles from Hunter’s bath, as well as the seed
that dripped from her thighs.
“I mean, yeah. I thought she was trying to… well, I guess I’m a little
too jealous. I’ve lost a boyfriend or two in the past to opportunistic women.
Not that the guys also weren’t to blame, but seriously, what kind of person
goes after a man she already knows is taken with the intent of stealing him
away. That’s fucked up!”
Hunter urged her to look up at his eyes with a firm hand under her
chin. “I don’t like that these other males ever had the chance to know you in
such a way, but I am also angry that they were foolish enough to cast you
aside, causing you pain.”
He brushed her hair away from her face with his other hand, not
releasing her chin so she had no choice but to keep looking into his all-
black eyes. “Though, I should be thanking them for being such fools. If
they had realized your worth, they would have never let you go. I never
will.”
She opened her mouth to speak, though his words in truth left her
speechless. Not because of what he said, but because she actually believed
his promise, when she wouldn’t have trusted any other man that said such a
thing. She’d learned the hard way that it was rarely ever the truth.
He settled a finger over her lips. “You were angry at the female, but
you didn’t attack her.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Well, I mean it’s not like I attack
everyone who pisses me off, Hunter. I’m not that out of control.”
“Does this not give you hope?”
She turned her head away from him, pulling out of his hold. “You’re
trying to make this sound simple, but it’s not. Anyway, we need to focus on
what’s really important. I need you to help me communicate to Anubis that
we need to open the spire to go to another world.”
“You aren’t happy with this one?”
She looked back at him. “Are you?”
She wasn’t denying that she liked this world. She was genuinely
curious. She realized that she had no idea what Hunter had dreamed his
future home would be, then suddenly realized that he probably didn’t even
have those kinds of dreams. Once he’d found his queen, he didn’t have a
say in where he went—or even if he continued living.
She was so glad she was his queen instead of some cold, calculating
Menops female. Sure, she wouldn’t give him the colony he wanted, but she
would give him choices, options—a real partnership. Something he never
would have had with a Menops queen. She would also give him love.
“I will go wherever my queen wishes to.”
 She held up a hand. “No, I’m not asking what you will do. I want to
know what you actually want to do.”
His antennae bent at their joints, folding down until they framed his
face as he stared at her curiously. “I want to be with you.”
She shook her head at his expression. “But where? Where would
you like to live, Hunter?”
One antenna twitched towards her, before settling back into its
previous position. “Wherever you are.”
“Hunter!”
His antennae surged towards her, stroking over her cheeks then
through her hair. “Tarin, I don’t have any preference or concern about what
world we live on. All I want—all I need—is you. That is all I will ever
need. I can adapt my body to any world that supports some form of edible
life. That’s why you should be the one to choose. We are limited only by
where your physiology can thrive.”
She sucked in a breath, then let it out on a long, heavy sigh. “Great.
Now I have to make the hard choices.”
Despite her muttered words, her heart lightened at his sentiment.
The fact that he was so devoted to her made her feel secure. Loved.
Cherished.
If only they could focus on that.
“As much as I’d love to go house hunting, we really need to do
something about Halian first.”
Hunter’s expression hardened. “You are mine, Tarin. He will not
come near you again.”
She snorted, shaking her head. “I think we’ve already established
my feelings on that subject, but I’m not talking about a threesome here,
Hunter. Halian is a dangerous bastard and we need to put a stop to his
plans.”
“Why are you so certain they are not to your benefit?” Hunter asked,
shocking Tarin with his matter-of-fact tone as his expression grew curious
again, apparently reassured that she no longer had an interest in Halian.
That brief obsession had died as soon as Halian had proven that he
was exactly what she’d expected him to turn out to be—an asshole.
She blinked at him, stymied. “Well… he’s an Iriduan, and… that
makes him an evil bastard… doesn’t it?” Her voice trailed off as Hunter
watched her without any change to his curious expression.
She didn’t need him to comment to realize how her words sounded.
She had a much better argument than the one that had sounded far
too bigoted coming from her for her comfort. “He betrayed us, Hunter.
Obviously, he means harm.”
Hunter looked away from her. “I betrayed you, as well, Tarin. I
never meant you harm.”
She sucked in another large breath. “That’s different! You weren’t
the mastermind of the evil plan. You weren’t… you aren’t crazy.”
Hunter’s expression grew impassive, but his jaw ticked. “The Halian
that I thought I was helping sought a cure for imprinting. There are
dangerous aspects to him, but I don’t believe his purpose has changed.”
Though he said the words, she had a feeling even Hunter had his
doubts they were true.
“Are you sure, Hunter? Can you be certain that Halian doesn’t have
plans that extend beyond his so-called cure? Because he used that to
promise to manipulate you, didn’t he? How do you know that isn’t why he
kept saying that was what he wanted, when really, he had other plans?”
“I don’t know. I was so desperate for the cure that I had decided to
risk it. I even let him take command of my ship. Now, I cannot feel it any
longer, and I’m uncertain what has become of Halian and the queen.”
“So we definitely need to find a way off this world, to one where we
can get word to the Akrellians. You understand that now, don’t you? We
can’t just settle into a peaceful, primitive life here with the Inu’A. We have
to do whatever it takes to go back to stop him.”
Hunter was silent for a long moment before he finally nodded.
“Then we will speak with Anubis. If the spire has the answer, then we must
find a way inside it.”
Tarin sighed and rubbed her forehead, wishing she had the luxury of
enjoying her time with a very naked, very handsome Hunter, instead of
having to stop all the fun stuff to find a way to deal with a madman. “This is
probably going to involve a lot of digging.”
 Chapter 30
The “Light Ones” had forbidden their followers from approaching
the spire or ever attempting to activate it, though they apparently continued
to use it themselves. When Tarin spoke with Anubis—using Hunter as the
translator—she discovered that the ancient Iriduans must have maintained a
portal to Earth, as it seemed like they incorporated other ancient human
mythologies and languages with the Egyptian one that was so distinctive on
this world. That made her suspect the Iriduans had been instrumental in
creating those mythologies. No doubt playing gods stroked their arrogant
egos.
The roles of Anubis, Anpu, and Inpu hadn’t always been a triad. It
had only been Inpu at first, but the Iriduans had apparently grown obsessed
with triangles and triads and the “power of the three” at some point in their
history and had expanded the role of the embalming priest—adding two
new practitioners and granting them names to fit, while insisting they work
together to perform their rituals. They were also collectively known by
another name that made Tarin quite curious. The name Cerberus.
She was intrigued enough to delve deeper into the mystery of their
origins if Anubis hadn’t been so distressed by their request. Though they’d
relaxed their worship in the absence of their former masters, the Inu’A were
very hesitant—almost frantic—about excavating the spire. Only their
desperation to escape the slow decline of their once-robust population saw
Anubis finally—reluctantly—agreeing to assign workers to the task.
Even then, they couldn’t send many workers to the spire where they
set up a campsite for the duration of the dig. It was harvest time in the
Valley of the Slow Serpent, where a wide freshwater river flowed into a
massive salt lake. All their food and resources came from this fertile valley
to the East, including the salt they harvested from the lake for their
embalming process.
Most of the younger members of their population lived in that valley
in aboveground yurt-like tents, tending to their herds or the crops and only
making the daylong trip back to the necropolis to deliver goods.
 That left only a dozen diggers and a handful of the strange beasts of
burden that hauled their carts to help Tarin and Hunter dig out the spire.
If she’d realized how much work that would entail, and how little
time that meant for her and Hunter to spend together, she might have
seriously debated the whole plan in the first place. She probably still would
have gone through with it, despite the brutal heat, chafing sand, constantly
being soaked in sweat but having a mouth as dry as the dunes around her,
and the endless ache of muscles, particularly in her back.
This was something that needed to be done, and if that meant she
collapsed at the end of each day in her tent with barely enough energy to
muster a kiss for Hunter, who kept insisting she rest while he did all the
work, then she had no choice but to do it.
Hunter took to the work much better than she did, and made real
progress, but he wasn’t accustomed to sunburn. After the first day in the
desert, he was so red he was practically glowing like a hot coal.
“Don’t touch it!” he hissed, trying to sidle away from her as she
approached with a cooling poultice made from a plant Bakt had indicated
was helpful for burns.
She hoped it was similar to aloe. It smelled like it was.
“I’ve had experience with this, Hunter. You have to let me apply it
to soothe the pain.”
His jaw hardened. “I’m fine. I feel nothing.”
He belied those words the moment he accidentally brushed against
the side of the tent wall in his efforts to avoid her determined advance. A
pained grunt escaped him before he ground his teeth to bite it off.
She gave him a skeptical look, then pointed at the ground in front of
her. “Your queen commands you to come here and kneel before me.”
Hunter groaned. “That’s not even fair. You know I can’t resist
obeying you.”
Tarin grinned, though she still wanted to wince at the sight of that
horrible sunburn. “You’re right. I do know. That is exactly why I would
never order you around unless you gave me no choice. So get over here, hot
stuff, because right now, you’re practically on fire. I promise this will help.”
She scooped a bit of the poultice out on two fingers and smoothed it
over the bit of skin that had been showing through the robes she’d wisely
worn to cover herself during the day. She wished now she’d thought to
warn Hunter, but had forgotten that he wasn’t invincible and wasn’t familiar
with having a full skin-suit to worry about. Her bit of skin was pretty red,
but not nearly as bad as Hunter’s.
“See, it feels….,” she moaned in relief, “actually, it feels so much
better.”
She hadn’t realized that even that bit of sunburn was bothering her
until the poultice soothed the discomfort.
He approached her warily, his gaze shifting from the poultice on her
arm to the pot of it in her hand, to her face. “The way you make that sound,
I’m not interested in any healing creams. Let us mate, my queen.”
She pulled a rueful face, then reached out to brush her hand lightly
over his chest.
He jerked away from her light touch, his eyes closing in a hard
wince as his lips pulled back to bare his teeth.
“Sorry, babe. You have to heal first. Let me put this poultice on, and
then you and I should probably stick to night shift from now on. At least for
a while.”
“We get less done at night,” he said, not meeting her eyes, as if he
was afraid she would be disappointed in him.
As if she could ever be.
“You don’t have to dig this spire up in a day, Hunter. We can still do
a lot at night. The carts are filled with oil barrels for the lamps and torches.”
He acquiesced and came to sit at her feet, but she could tell he still
wasn’t happy about her plan. The rest of the Inu’A worked during the day
as much as possible so they had the full light of the sun to see their work.
They were also covered in fur and didn’t sunburn like she and Hunter did.
She had to protect her mate from his own determination, as much as she
wished this spire was already dug up so they could get off this world, put a
stop to Halian, then get back to the good stuff.
“The longer this takes, the longer I must wait to be with you,” he
grumbled as she slathered the poultice over his skin. It was hot to the touch
and twitched beneath her lightest brush as if he couldn’t help trying to get
away from it, even though he held still and stoically endured the pain. “I
don’t like having this skin bag covering me. It’s inconvenient.”
She dropped a kiss on the top of his head, between his antennae,
which moved to brush over her face. At least that part of him had been
mostly protected by his hair. “I’ll tell you what. After we get this spire out,
I’ll give you a demonstration of just how pleasurable having skin covering
your body can be.” She lowered her lips to his ear. “I’ll take my time,” she
whispered.
Hunter sucked in a breath, then turned to try to capture her lips with
a kiss, but she quickly lifted her head and pulled away. “Your lips are
cracked and chapped, sweetheart. It would hurt you even to kiss me right
now.” She rubbed a bit of poultice on his poor lips. “The sun is a brutal
bastard.”
“How do you humans even survive it?” he asked once his lips were
free of her finger. “I would think your kind would die out from such
injuries. Especially since I didn’t even feel it happening until I came inside
the tent and the pain began to increase.” He eyed her. “I’ve been to Earth.
The sun there seemed to be even hotter.”
She continued applying the poultice as she thought of her answer.
“Sun exposure can kill us, like any exposure can, but humans have enough
sense to stay out of the sun or cover up their bodies to avoid sunburns. And
now we’ve developed sunscreens, so we’re a little better at protecting
ourselves.”
She bit her lip. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you about covering
up, Hunter. It didn’t even occur to me that you didn’t know what to do
about protecting your new body.
He caught her hand in his as it stroked the poultice over his chest.
“I’ll survive, though not being able to mate with you is a definite
disappointment. I think I’ve learned my lesson. I suppose I forgot the
drawbacks of being enveloped in a skin bag.”
Tarin snorted with laughter. “Well, you’re sure making it difficult to
resist you with that sexy image in my head now.”

********

Hunter proved true to his words in the weeks that followed, but
Tarin almost wished she had a reason to rub her hands all over his naked
body, though she would never pick another sunburn or anything else that
caused him pain like that. He’d worked through that pain though, and she’d
worried about him the whole time as his skin blistered, then peeled,
revealing a much darker layer of skin beneath that he fortunately kept
covered up when he was finally healed enough to go out during the day
again to help the diggers.
It seemed to take forever to reveal the spire, and they were only
halfway down to where they hoped the entrance would be when the diggers
insisted on returning to the necropolis to switch out with fresh workers.
Since it had been many weeks—so many Tarin had lost count—she
could hardly blame them for wanting a break. She and Hunter also wanted a
break. And a bath. And some much-needed time together alone. Without
sweat and sand granules getting in the way of any sexy stuff.
 Chapter 31
Hunter regarded his queen warily as they sat on the ledge by the
pool deep within the cave where they’d first mated. It had been her idea to
retreat to this area again after they’d had their baths, which had
unfortunately not involved mating, since the other diggers had also gone
straight to the bathhouse. Hunter had been nearly mad with jealousy as he’d
worked to keep Tarin’s naked body shielded from their curious eyes.
The fact that she’d been so oblivious to their stares—and their naked
bodies—had probably been because she’d been so thrilled to get clean that
nothing else had mattered to her. He still rushed them through their bathing
ritual, making sure to get all the really annoying sand grains out of every
crevice and crack of his body. At least he didn’t have as many deep joints
like he’d had with his exoskeleton. That was one plus with his new skin.
The other appeared to be that it was very responsive to his mate’s
touch. It was also responsive to a feather that she drew from their picnic
basket that had also held the meal they’d just shared and the bottle of
fermented drink that now sat empty off to the side of the ledge.
“I wonder if you’re ticklish,” she said, wiggling the tip of the feather
against his skin.
It felt soft, barely discernible, but with her eyes watching him as if
she wanted to leap upon him and lick him all over, his skin pebbled in the
wake of the feather’s touch. His cock tightened beneath the wraparound
skirt that still covered him.
As if she could read his mind, she glanced down at his lap, the
tented material easily visible since he was sitting on the ledge with his feet
out and his weight supported by his palms braced behind him.
She licked her lips, continuing to tease his skin with the feather as
her other hand lowered to settle on his thigh. She slowly drew her hand
upwards until it slipped under the fabric, towards the heat of his groin and
the hard length that twitched there, eagerly awaiting her touch.
“You are so damned sexy, Hunter. I don’t know how long I can keep
this teasing up, because I’m so wet for you right now that I’m about to slip
right off this ledge.”
Hunter sat upright and caught the hand with the feather and snatched
it away to toss it at the basket. It floated in the air far from its target, but he
didn’t care where it went, because his hands were already reaching for his
mate.
She pulled at her belt with shaking fingers, her lips parted with her
panting breaths, showing she was as eager and desperate as he was.
He batted her hands away from her belt and just tugged her onto his
lap. “Leave it on. I want to see your beautiful body, but for now, I just need
to be inside you.”
He pressed his lips to hers, parting from her sweet taste just long
enough to say, “we have time, and I fully intend to use it,” before he caught
her response with his lips and delved his tongue into her sweet mouth,
drinking her heady flavor.
The dress she wore didn’t cover her lower body like the wraparound
skirt covered his, but it was a simple enough process for him to untie the
fabric at his waist and let it unwrap, allowing his eager erection to bump
against her hot sex. She hadn’t been exaggerating. She was really wet and
slippery, and with a grateful groan from him, his tip slid easily inside her
entrance.
“I’m going to ride you until you collapse beneath me,” she said,
then peppered his face with kisses as he stroked over her with his antennae.
“You know I will always serve my queen,” he said, his voice
dropping into a low rasp as his throat grew dry at the thought of her rocking
on top of him, her sheath tightening around him, hot and wet and so very
welcoming.
She pushed herself down on his cock, impaling herself fully until he
was all the way inside her, enveloped by her warmth. Her inner muscles
squeezed his shaft until he was certain that alone would make him spill his
seed.
He gripped her full buttocks, appreciating the softness of them as he
never had before. They filled his hands, allowing him to guide her as she
began to rock up and down on him.
She consumed him with deep kisses, sucking his tongue as if she
couldn’t get enough of his taste—as if she was as wild for him as he was for
her—as she moved over him. Her little cries and moans drove him crazy,
made him want to shift their positions so he could pound into her with all
the desperation that filled him. He didn’t only because she was his queen,
and he would serve her as a true mate should. He would allow her to chase
her pleasure at her pace.
Even though he was certain it would kill him.
He was so deeply engrossed in her, so wrapped up in her beauty and
her hungry kiss, and the feeling of her body around him, urging him close to
climax, that he barely felt the sting of something hitting him in the back of
the neck.
He lifted a hand to swipe away whatever insect had stung him, but
his fingers came into contact with a dart. He turned his head, breaking the
kiss with Tarin, but she was still riding his cock hard, her eyes glazed with
pleasure, so she only made a whispered protest before her cries of passion
overtook her as she neared her orgasm.
Hunter plucked the dart from his neck and stared at it, trying to
comprehend its sudden appearance.
“You know, I think Halian is a pathetic fool, but I almost pity him in
this moment. I suppose it is a good thing he isn’t here to see yet more proof
that women are nothing but faithless and fickle whores.”
Tarin screamed as she looked up from Hunter and into the face of
the one who’d spoken. The sound of that scream would have galvanized
Hunter into action—if he could move.
He felt his body going slack, his upper body falling backwards as
his arms could no longer support his weight. They didn’t respond to his
brain at all, though he was still agonizingly aware of everything. The
paralytic venom from the dart wasn’t his own kind, but it was potent, and so
strong that he wasn’t going to be able to fight it off.
And he needed to fight it off, because the assassin had somehow
found them, and he was eyeing Hunter’s queen with absolute hatred as he
walked around from Hunter’s back to stand in front of him, a pulse pistol
aimed at her head.
“I never did like this female,” he said, speaking with Halian’s
mouth, but there was no doubt in Hunter’s mind that it wasn’t Halian.
“There was another one I found mildly amusing, but never to the extent that
Halian did this one. He was always a sentimental fool. I should do him a
favor and eliminate the problem.”
 Hunter tried to scream. To fight back. To resist the lassitude that
stole over his limbs and made it difficult for him to even breathe.
“Halian, please!” Tarin said, her wild-eyed gaze darting from the
assassin to Hunter, her eyes going wider as she realized something was
wrong with Hunter and that he couldn’t move to help her.
“What have you done to him?” she screamed, leaning forward on
his lap, his cock still rock hard inside her.
She captured his cheeks between her hands, and he barely felt her
touch, his skin going numb as the venom rushed through his blood.
“Hunter, babe, please, say something! Are you okay? Oh, god! He’s
struggling to breathe!”
“All the more reason you should get off him, faithless wench. I have
a solution for that, but you are in the way.”
The assassin lifted a hand and gestured, and from somewhere behind
Hunter, a mechdroid appeared.
Tarin ignored the assassin’s words, closing her arms around
Hunter’s neck, holding on to him tighter as she stared at the mech. “No!
You’re not taking him!”
“I intend to cure him, woman. That is what he truly wants. You are
the trap I’m going to free this captured insect from, because I know he lacks
the will to struggle against his fate. I understand imprinting all too well.
Given the choice now, he will always choose you, but when I’m done,
perhaps he’ll even kill you. Don’t worry, I intend for you to come along.
After all, I will need to test the cure’s effects. Your pheromones will be
useful in that regard.”
“He loves me,” she insisted, tightening her arms around him, though
Hunter could not respond even with a twitch to return her frantic embrace.
Or to tell her that she was right, and the assassin—and even Halian
—were so wrong.
He’d fallen for her from the beginning as he’d watched her explore
his ship with curiosity lighting her strange, alien features. It hadn’t been
pheromones, not then. It had been Tarin. He had just known that she was
special and that she belonged with him.
Nothing the assassin did could “cure” that.
“He will die soon, once the paralytic shuts down his organs. I
suggest you release him and allow the mech to take him.”
 Tears streaked Tarin’s face as she pulled away from Hunter,
releasing him with her arms, then awkwardly moving her lower body so his
cock slipped free of her passage, causing her to wince.
She tried to cover his still-erect length with the wraparound skirt to
conceal him from the assassin, but the assassin waved his weapon in a
gesture that told her in no uncertain terms to move aside as the mech
stepped up behind Hunter and grasped him in cold, hard hands.
“Come along, woman,” the assassin said as the mech pulled Hunter
up off the ledge and tossed him over its mechanical shoulder like he was a
sack of grain.
The fabric of his skirt fell away from his body, leaving him
completely naked, but at this point, it made no difference to his
vulnerability.
“I assure you, by the time I’m done, he won’t want to finish what he
started with you. He’ll finally be free of the curse of imprinting. Don’t get
me wrong. I’m not Halian, and I don’t give a damn what happens to
Ixceramenops, but this cure will make me a fortune, and he’s the best test
subject I could ask for. My own body has proven to be incompatible with
the machine because of these cursed nanites.”
“Please don’t hurt him, Halian.”
From Hunter’s position flung over the mech, he couldn’t see Tarin,
but he had no doubt what her expression would look like as she pleaded
with the assassin. He also knew it was a waste of her time. He just hoped
she didn’t decide that her anger was a better response, because the assassin
would not hesitate to hurt her if she fought him.
“I am not Halian,” the assassin growled. “That coward doesn’t have
the strength to do what I do. The courage. I am the one who’s going to
make us rich, and I’ll be taking this body over completely when I do.
Neither of them will share in the spoils that I’ve worked so hard to earn.”
 Chapter 32
Tarin had never felt so powerless in her life. She hated feeling
powerless. Hated being at the mercy of someone because they were
stronger than her, or better prepared, or a better fighter. She’d trained with
the Akrellians so she could defend herself, protect herself, and provide for
herself. She never wanted to be in any way beholden to a more powerful
person again.
Yet all of that had gained her nothing to help her now. Not only was
Halian armed, but Hunter was dying. Even if she could catch Halian off
guard and successfully attack him, she had no way to save Hunter, and such
a rash action would cost him his life.
She had to obey Halian, as much as she wanted to lash out at him
and attack him with everything she had in her. She had to follow him and
the mech as they led the way through a secret entrance door that had
blended seamlessly into the cavern wall. It must have opened silently to
allow Halian to sneak up on them—either that, or they’d both been too
distracted.
She blushed with humiliation at being caught in such a state, and
that just added more hatred and anger to her feelings towards Halian. He’d
turned a beautiful encounter into a horrible one.
Despite that growing rage inside her, Tarin had no choice but to
follow the mech without a word, fearful that anything she did or said to
aggravate Halian—or whoever he was right now—might cause a delay that
would end in Hunter’s death.
To her shock, once they passed through the secret door and it slid
shut, lights flickered on around them. She couldn’t see their source, since
they’d been sandwiched in-between trays of rock in the ceiling. They were
enough to illuminate a sleek pod—large enough to fit all of them—as well
as the gleaming rails of a track.
“What is this?” she asked, pausing to stare at the pod in wonder as
the mech continued on towards it.
 A door opened in the side of the pod that hadn’t even been visible
while it was closed. The mech climbed into the pod with Hunter still tossed
over its shoulder like he weighed no more than a purse strap.
“A modern convenience,” Halian-not-Halian said with a disdainful
tone. “You didn’t expect the ancients to go primitive like their chattel, did
you? They were gods.”
“From what I’ve heard of them, they were assholes,” she snapped,
forgetting herself for just a brief moment.
“Those ‘assholes’ are all that stands between your beloved ‘Hunter’
and his death. It is only their technology that will save him. The longer you
stand here gaping at a simple transport pod, the closer he comes to expiring.
I’d be mildly irritated, since I went to the trouble of tracking him down,
even after I was able to access the same information he was sent to collect
for me. He has other uses.”
Tarin didn’t need any more urging. She quickly followed in the path
of the mech and climbed into the pod, her focus on Hunter’s motionless
form. His face was turned towards the mech’s back so she couldn’t even see
if he was still breathing or his eyes were open. She barely noted the details
of the transport interior. They were sleek, silver, and austere, just like the
exterior of the pod, which looked like nothing so much as an elongated
silver bean hugging the rails.
When Not-Halian entered the pod, his weapon held casually in one
hand—still in her direction—the pod door slid closed, encasing them all
inside. Then the walls seemed to disappear, showing the exterior of the pod
that was still illuminated by the indirect lighting above them.
“It will only take a few minutes to reach the spire, and the portal to
the ancients’ genetics laboratory is already keyed in. Hunter will live that
long.” Not-Halian narrowed his green eyes on her, and they were so cold
she wondered how she’d ever found them attractive. “Provided you don’t
give me any trouble.”
A sharp, deadly grin tilted his lips. “As entertaining as it might be to
see you make an attempt to fight me, I don’t have the time or patience for it
at the moment. Perhaps, when Hunter is cured and has abandoned you, I’ll
let Halian out long enough to kiss you again. He so rarely has fun anymore.
He’s become quite the bore.”
 Tarin’s stomach churned at the reminder that she’d once willingly
and even eagerly kissed those sculpted, sensual lips that were now tightened
into a grim, hard smile. She’d once admired that leanly muscled body, and
had breathed in the spicy, exotic scent of that silky, golden hair. She’d
thought herself to be in love with Halian, seeing him like some alien Prince
Charming, but like always, she’d been a fool. She’d hadn’t even known
who—or what—he was. She still didn’t.
“Hunter won’t abandon me, and he’ll tear you or… er… Halian
apart if you… um… he touches me.”
“When Ixcera has the cure, he won’t need you anymore. His mind
will be clear, and he’ll no longer be flooded by the pheromones that cause
him to experience euphoria in your presence. He’ll see you for what you
really are.”
Tarin sucked in a pained breath. “And what exactly do you mean by
that? Just what am I really?”
She wanted to ask why Not-Halian kept calling him Ixcera, but the
answer was obvious enough that she didn’t really need clarification. Hunter
had never once told her his real name. That made her wonder if he really
hadn’t loved her and maybe this monster in front of her was right.
Why would he keep that important part of himself from her, when
he’d obviously told Halian? Perhaps for Hunter—or Ixceramenops, or
whatever he called himself—it really was just a chemical thing, and he
hadn’t told her his true name because it didn’t affect his ability to mate with
her.
“What are you?” Not-Halian rubbed his chin with his empty hand,
the pulse weapon still held in his other, though it pointed at the floor at the
moment and his finger wasn’t on the trigger mechanism.
He eyed her appraisingly in a way that made her skin flush from her
head to her toes, but not in a good way.
“I’d say you are a rather plain, little creature with an obnoxious
habit of chattering about nothing just to hear yourself speak. Or perhaps you
truly think the people around you wish to hear your voice.”
Rage built up inside her. He’d struck a painfully sensitive nerve that
strummed with all her insecurities.
Shut up you little brat! You’re always talking during my shows.
Shhh, Tarin, Daddy don’t want to hear you yappin’.
 Ain’t you got an off-switch, kid?
“Fine, you fucking asshole. You think I speak of nothing. Well,
these words right here have meaning. I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You.”
This earned a laugh from him that had no humor in it. Only
mockery. “Such a worthless, useless little creature. I’ve never thought
highly of humans in general. You were mistakes for the ancients. Accidental
breeding by rebellious peasants of the lowest castes of their colony. But
you, Tarin—you are perhaps the most worthless of all of them.”
It was like Not-Halian was manifesting her worst nightmares. Like
her father had come back to life. She half-expected him to raise a hand to
slap her after those words, but he wasn’t filled with that kind of tension. She
had a feeling if this monster ever got physical, it wouldn’t be to beat her.
He’d just kill her quickly and efficiently.
For Hunter’s sake, she had to keep that from happening. That meant
she had to rein in her anger, even if she was fantasizing about all the ways
she would make him suffer before she killed him.
“Why do you despise me so much?” she asked, because she’d never
had the nerve to ask her father. “What did I ever do to you to make you hate
me?”
The question caught him off guard. She could see his startled blink
and the softening in his hard expression for just a flash, before his cruel
mask slipped back into place. His mocking smile straightened into a hard
line that gave nothing away. “Hate implies that I care about you in any way
at all. You mean nothing to me.”
Tarin shook her head. “I don’t believe that. Those kisses we shared
meant something.”
“That was Halian,” Not-Halian snarled, his hand tightening on his
weapon, though he didn’t lift it to train it on her.
There had been a difference, she realized now, though she’d had no
idea back then what was happening. She’d just thought he was prone to
mood swings. At the time, it had only made him more fascinating—the
moody, broody, mystery alien with the handsome face and hot body.
“If only Halian feels anything for me, why do you speak to me so
cruelly?”
His gaze shifted from her to Hunter’s motionless body, and Tarin
glanced that way too, then quickly looked away. The absolute stillness of
her beloved made her heart palpitate with anxiety. She silently urged the
transport pod to move faster, even as the walls outside the pod blurred.
“You are a faithless female. You were supposed to belong to Halian.
He wanted you, and you pretended you wanted him too, only to prove how
fickle you are—just like all females. One mate is never enough for you. You
must always be greedy for more.”
“That sonofabitch betrayed us and left us to die on a fucking alien
planet overrun by zombies! Don’t you dare tell me he wanted me!” Her
voice rose to a shriek at the end, and Tarin struggled to rein in her temper,
feeling the edges of her control fraying.
She glanced at Hunter again, reminding herself that the last thing
she needed in that moment was to be insensate with rage.
Not-Halian chuckled. “Which only shows you how little you
understand, and how quick you are to cast blame. You never trusted him,
though you professed such devotion, such concern for him. You proved
your lies when you fell for my little charade without even questioning
Halian’s involvement. I had to show him the truth about you. How quickly
you would assume the worst and abandon him. Shall I tell you how much it
wounded him? Perhaps it will give you some pleasure to know the pain he
suffered.”
Tarin held up a hand as if she could block his words, but they still
fell upon her with impact, despite having no solid form. “Stop. Please!
Just… stop. I didn’t… I left that ship because I had no choice. You betrayed
us. You were going to kill us.”
“Yes, I did betray you.” Not-Halian seemed rather pleased by this
admission. “It was a matter of expediency. The Akrellians were making
things difficult when it came to accessing their homeworld. This was before
I knew about the teleportation potential in the spires and figured out I could
simply jump directly from another spire to the one on their homeworld. The
charade allowed me to get Hunter on their world. They were so foolishly
trusting of a ‘hero,’ betrayed by an evil Iriduan.”
The bitterness of his last words caused her pause, and she studied
his face, searching for some sign of emotion in the cold, hard mask that his
expression had become.
Before she could respond, the pod stopped moving, as abruptly and
silently as it had started. There had been no motion on the inside of the pod,
the ride even smoother than the most expensive elevator she’d ever been in.
Tarin was distracted from Not-Halian by the scene that greeted
them. While she’d been talking to Not-Halian, they’d passed through from a
rock tunnel into the spire that they’d been working so hard to dig out from
above. Now the pod had taken them directly into it, and she saw another
altar and carvings like the ones that she’d seen in the spire on Akrellia.
The door of the pod slid open and the walls reappeared to show only
the silver, sleek interior. The mech stepped out first, and Hunter made no
sound as he was jostled by his position on its shoulder. Then Not-Halian
motioned with his weapon hand for Tarin to follow.
Hunter’s condition terrified her. Not-Halian seemed relaxed enough
that she didn’t think Hunter was dead yet, but he couldn’t be in good shape.
The venom had moved very quickly, paralyzing him almost immediately.
She had no idea how long it would take to stop his heart from beating or his
lungs from working, but he’d been struggling to breathe even when they
were back in the cave.
“Hurry,” she cried out, practically stumbling over the mech’s heels
as she lifted a hand to stroke over Hunter’s wing.
“Yes, I suppose we must at this point.”
Not-Halian stepped around from behind her, then strode around the
altar to the carvings on the wall behind it and inserted his own glowing key
into an opening beneath one of the carvings. Then he touched something on
the wall that Tarin couldn’t make out from where she stood next to the
mech by the pod. A bright light filled the chamber, rushing outwards from
the altar towards them.
Tarin was blinded before she was awash in the light herself. By the
time she could blink her vision back, struggling with the disorienting
sensation that made her dizzy and lightheaded—but thankfully not
unconscious this time—the mech was fitting Hunter into some kind of
strange giant tube with all kinds of machines attached to it. There were
blinking lights everywhere, and cables and tubes and wires led from the
tube to arcane devices set around what was clearly a laboratory.
Not-Halian stood near the mech, watching the process with a slight
smile. “They’d called it the God-maker. At least, that’s how it is translated
from the high lord’s language.”
 Tarin glanced around, though she really didn’t want to look away
from Hunter. His eyes were still wide open and staring blankly in front of
him, but she did spot the slight lift of his chest with his labored breathing.
So his lungs hadn’t seized yet. He was still alive, but for how much longer,
she didn’t know.
She was still standing on a silver disk in the center of the room, and
it looked like a teleportation pad, so she quickly stepped off of it.
Not-Halian noticed her movement and turned towards her, his
weapon hand shifting slightly, though he still didn’t bother to bring the
pistol to bear on her, probably knowing that she wouldn’t do anything until
Hunter was safe.
“You know, this is an honor your ‘Hunter’ doesn’t deserve, but his
Menops biology will be quite useful for this experiment. He has so much
genetic information integrated into his DNA that the bio-adaptive
technology this machine will implant inside him will make him even closer
to a god than it had done for the ancient high lords that were permitted to
use it.”
Tarin shook her head, not really understanding all that he was saying
or what it meant for Hunter. “What will happen to him?”
Not-Halian swept his empty hand towards Hunter in an elegant
gesture. “He will no longer have limitations. A Menops is a remarkable
creature, capable of adapting to its environment, regardless of what that
environment is, but there is a price for this change. I can only assume
you’ve seen it, because Ixcera has become this thing of bare flesh. I knew
something had happened to him when his ship lost track of him. It was quite
distressed at that.”
He turned to regard Hunter’s motionless body curiously. “I hadn’t
expected this, but perhaps I should have.”
With a slight shrug, he waved his empty hand in the air as if
brushing aside his own words. “However, a metamorphosis like this takes
time and resources drawn from the body. The god-maker’s bio-manipulators
will allow him to instantly change in response to environmental stressors.
Or even manufactured ones. I will test them all on him to see exactly how
much he can take.”
“Please, just remove the venom. Save him!” Even as she pled with
him, she glanced around the laboratory, seeking a weapon.
 There was no way she was going to allow this monster to use her
mate in endless experiments to test his little theories, but she had to be
careful, because she needed Hunter to be safe before she made her move.
She also needed Not-Halian to be distracted. He wasn’t as big and buff as
Hunter, but he would still be far stronger than her. She needed his weapon,
but he wasn’t letting go of it.
As if he heard her thoughts and decided to taunt her, he went to a
bank of what could only be some kind of control panels—though they were
made of marble and stone. He set his weapon down beside him, turning his
back to her while he ran his long fingers over the controls. Each of the
carvings in the stone lit up with light that seemed to emanate from within as
he ran his fingertips along them.
If she could just get to that pulse weapon, she could shoot Not-
Halian into oblivion. He didn’t wear armor. He was dressed in a simple
black robe that allowed his beautiful wings to flutter free behind him, over
loose trousers that were bloused in by knee-length black boots.
Of course, killing Not-Halian meant killing the real Halian, and she
still wasn’t sure if he was part of this evil. If he wasn’t, then she would truly
regret being unable to save him from himself, but she wasn’t about to risk
Hunter’s life out of compassion for the Iriduan madman.
The machines fired up around Hunter’s tube, and Tarin tensed,
fearful of what would happen to him. There was a possibility the machines
would do exactly as Not-Halian said and cure Hunter’s imprinting, and if
that happened, she would deal with it. In truth, she’d be grateful he wasn’t
bound to her to the point that he would die without her around. At the same
time, a part of her feared that he really would abandon her. He hadn’t even
told her his real name in all the time they’d spent together.
There was also the chance that the machines would incinerate him,
or kill him in some other horrible way, and Tarin wanted to scream at Not-
Halian to stop. Beg him to stop.
But Hunter’s chest was barely moving with each new breath he
struggled to take. There was no other way to help him than this. She had to
wait.
She sidled closer to Not-Halian—and to his weapon. He appeared to
be too deep into what he was doing to take notice of her movements.
 The laboratory wasn’t a clean place, though it had probably been
once. There were metal pipes and beams lying on the ground like some of
the high ceiling overhead had buckled and fallen. A quick glance upward
showed that it had. This place might have been built to last, but the ancients
had probably abandoned it long ago. If Not-Halian had done any updates, it
seemed like he’d focused on the “god-maker” and not the ceilings or the
cleanliness.
That made things difficult when her foot bumped into a pipe, just as
needles shot out to inject something into Hunter as light filled the tube.
Hunter’s whole body spasmed in response.
Not-Halian spun around at the sound of the shifting pipe, while
Tarin screamed in horror at the sight of her mate. His entire body was rigid,
his back arched as if he were fighting incredible pain, his face contorted
with an agonized snarl.
Her scream distracted Not-Halian, who turned back to the tube, a
large grin spreading his lips.
“It’s working! Soon, he will be as a god, capable of shifting his form
at will to respond to his environment. Never again will his body weaken
from hormonal deprivation. The bio-adapters won’t allow it. This is far
better than Halian’s primitive solution. Not only does it cure imprinting, but
it makes us into gods.”
Hunter’s mouth opened to release a guttural cry of agony that
increased in volume and pitch to a horrifying scream.
“Shut it off!” Tarin cried. “You’re killing him!”
“No, you little fool! I’m curing him. There is always a price for
power—and pain is a small price to pay.”
Not-Halian began to laugh, but it wasn’t a cruel, mocking chuckle
like he’d done before. It was a full-on, supervillain, madman laugh that
caused the hair on the back of Tarin’s neck to rise.
She bent and swept up the pipe in one hand in a smooth motion, so
fast that Not-Halian didn’t notice it in his distraction. Still, he responded
quickly by lifting both hands to block the swing as she brought it down on
him.
She had all her fury and rage behind her blows. The fury and rage
that had built up her entire life. Not-Halian was fast, moved as agilely as a
cat, but his skill was no match against the power of her adrenaline-fueled
anger.
She swung the pipe again and again, barely noticing how he dodged
and shifted to move out of her way, though she had enough sense even in
her blind fury to herd him away from the pulse pistol.
Then he tripped over a fallen beam and fell onto his back. Tarin
went after him, beating him with the pipe as he lifted his hands to shield
himself from the blows.
She would have beaten him to death. She very easily could have.
With pleasure.
But something about his pose, lying on his back with his hands up in
front of him, his knees pulled up to his chest to defend his vital organs,
made her pause, the bloody pipe still held aloft like a baseball bat in her
hands.
Her hands shook, causing the pipe to waver in the air as she gasped,
her lungs heaving from the exertion and adrenaline. Her throat was raw
from her incoherent screaming.
Her eyes met his as he slowly lowered his hands just enough to look
at her, perhaps to see why she’d paused in beating him to death.
It was Halian’s eyes she met, though she couldn’t say how she knew
that. Just that she did. There was a wounded, beaten creature behind that
wary gaze. A creature in pain, dazed—barely conscious.
She couldn’t do it.
She slowly lowered the pipe and backed away from him. He wasn’t
going anywhere at the moment anyway. She could tell by the way one of his
legs twisted awkwardly, like she’d broken it at some point.
Hunter had stopped screaming and the machines appeared to be
finished with their work. He sagged in his tube as the mech—that had
apparently not been programmed to protect Halian—now unhooked Hunter
and pulled him from the tube.
Tarin cast one last glance at Halian, who rolled onto his side and
moaned in pain, then coughed up blood onto the stone floor. She tossed
aside the bloody pipe and grabbed the pulse pistol instead, keeping it
pointed in his direction as she rushed to check on Hunter.
“Speak to me, babe!” she said, splitting her attention between
Hunter and Halian. The latter didn’t look like he’d be moving very far any
time soon. “Tell me you’re okay!”
“Been better,” a ragged voice whispered from Hunter’s lips. “You,
my queen?”
“Are you kidding? This is like a spa day for me. Very relaxing.” She
glanced at Halian again. “Or maybe a day at the gym. Worked out some of
my anger, ya know. So I guess I’m feeling surprisingly good.”
“You hurt?” he asked, struggling to push away the mech that was
trying to both support and restrain him.
She wondered if she needed to shoot the mech as it increased its
efforts to restrain Hunter once he got his legs under him, his strength clearly
returning as whatever was inside him allowed him to clear the venom from
his blood quickly.
“Not physically. I think I put a lot of hurt on that bastard though.”
She shot another glance at Halian’s mangled body. “I don’t think he’ll be
bothering us anymore.”
Hunter’s jaw tightened as he looked up to meet her eyes, then turned
to glance at Halian. “No, he will never bother us again.”
With a twist of his arm, he tore off the mech’s restraining arm and
used it to knock the sparking machine aside, his strength returning—and
appearing to have come back tenfold.
Then he strode to Halian, casting the mech arm aside as if he wanted
to kill Halian with his bare hands.
Tarin watched his naked ass flex as he moved to murder the other
male, then shook her head to remind herself that she had to put a stop to
this. Halian deserved to die, but she wasn’t going to be the one to do it—
and neither was Hunter.
He was down for the count now, and he should be restrained and
turned over to the Akrellians for punishment.
Although, it probably would be kinder to just let Hunter kill him.
Except that Hunter wasn’t planning on killing him quickly. She had
no doubt of that.
She rushed to stop him, staggering back away from him again when
he turned his head to face her. Long, serrated mandibles extended from his
jaw. His face had also twisted to closer resemble his previous features,
blending both human and Menops into a macabre mask.
 A brief sweep of her gaze down his body showed that his skin was
hardening into a more armored form, and his cock, which had been
swinging free when he’d left the tube, was now tucked behind segmenting
armor on his abdominals. The change in his body was happening as she
watched.
“Oh god,” she said, watching the mutations taking place in her mate.
“What’s happening?”
“Adaptation to environmental stressors,” a harsh, pained voice
whispered from the floor. “Rapid changes caused by temporarily expressing
genes to suit the environment. He will revert. Eventually.”
She couldn’t tell if that was Halian or Not-Halian speaking, since
he’d closed his eyes and turned his face to the floor, as if he didn’t even
need to look at Hunter to know what had happened to him. As if he didn’t
want to look at the death bearing down on him.
“Where is my ship,” Hunter said in a strained voice that carried a
hint of stridulating like he’d done in his other form.
“Hovering above Earth.” Halian’s voice was a mere whisper that
was barely audible.
Tarin caught Hunter’s arm as he moved to bend towards Halian’s
prone form. “Don’t. We’ll tie him up. Turn him over to the Akrellians. Then
we’ll find a way to Earth to retrieve your ship.”
A mocking chuckle sounded from the floor. “No need to go far.
You’re already on Earth. Along with the queen and her army.”
They both glanced down at Halian. His eyes glowed green as he
stared back up at them. “You should have killed me, Tarin. You will pay for
your weakness.”
Suddenly, she and Hunter flew backwards as if they’d been pushed
by a mighty, invisible force. They slammed into the stone control panels,
and Tarin cried out with pain as she slid to the floor. Despite the agony
shooting through her from the sudden impact, her eyes were still open, so
she saw Halian climb to his feet. His eyes glowed like beacons—his
expression hard.
“Your ignorance could doom us all. I will not allow it. You will both
die here today.”
She had no idea how he was standing after the beating he’d taken,
but somehow he managed it. What was worse was that she couldn’t move.
Something pinned her to the base of the control panel, and it looked as if
Hunter struggled against an invisible restraint as well.
“I’ve had enough of you peasants getting in my way, attempting to
stop something you cannot even begin to comprehend.” He shifted his
glowing gaze from Tarin to Hunter. “You, Ixcera, I had some hope for, but
you’ve disappointed me. You are not worthy of the god-maker. You are not
worthy to join the high lords when we once again rise to power. For that
unworthiness, you cannot be permitted to live.”
 Chapter 33
Tarin screamed as Hunter jerked against the stone base of the
control panel, his lips peeled back from his teeth. His eyes bulged outwards
with the shift that was happening inside him, his mandibles spreading wide
open. One clawed hand lifted to grab at his chest, which was now armored
by segmented chitinous plates.
But whatever was hurting him, whatever was killing him, was
something that armor couldn’t stop. In fact, she didn’t think even the god-
maker mess that Not-Halian had given Hunter could stop the agony this
new monster was putting him through.
“Hunter will serve you as long as I’m out of the way!” she shouted
desperately to the glowing-eyed Halian.
Hunter’s body fell slack as the monster shifted his attention to her,
but she could tell by Hunter’s sudden shift that was quickly stopped that he
was still pinned by the unseen force.
“Silence, my queen,” Hunter said, his voice a mix of his old
stridulating and his human voice, which created a strange echo effect.
“He’s going to kill us both anyway. So let him just kill me instead.
You don’t need me anymore, Hunter. You’re cured of the imprinting.”
He lifted his head to glance at her through the monstrous mess of his
mutated face, his mandibles pinching closed, then opening again. “Tarin, I
would follow you to the ends of the galaxy and back for the rest of my life,
even without the imprinting. You make me happy in a way I’ve never
experienced before. I need you still, and it has nothing to do with your
pheromones. I would never allow him to hurt you.”
“Oh, Hunter,” she said, shaking her head as she blinked back tears,
“you can’t stop him from killing me. At least one of us can be safe.”
“Enough of this!” The glowing-eyed monster said. “We are running
out of time. I must stop Thrax before he reaches the queen’s royal chamber.
I will not have you freaks undoing all that I have set into motion. It’s time
for you two to di—”
 His words were cut off by a sharp gasp and a yelp of pain. Tarin and
Hunter both sagged against the stone at the same time as the invisible
pressure disappeared. Hunter leapt to his feet, and Tarin saw another stinger
poking out of a slit in his groin. With her mouth agape, she shifted her
attention back to Halian and saw that one of Hunter’s stingers stuck out of
his abdomen.
He stared down at it in shock, closing one hand around it, then
tugging to pull it out.
It trailed viscous venom and Halian’s blood behind it.
“You have no idea what you’ve done, you fool!” Halian said,
looking back up at them with his eyes aflame with an inner light. “You’ve
doomed us all.”
His lips peeled back from his teeth in rage as he reached into his
robe with his other hand and pulled out the ancient Iriduan key. “You won’t
leave here alive to witness the consequences of your folly.”
Then he fell to one knee as hidden doors all over the laboratory slid
open on alcoves. An entire platoon of mechdroids stepped out of those
alcoves, their stone faces lighting up, as did all the runes and carvings on
their stone bodies.
They looked nothing like the mechdroid the Not-Halian had used to
transport Hunter. They looked nothing at all like the Iriduans’ mechdroids
from the research facility. These looked like unstoppable golems.
“We’re freakin’ screwed,” Tarin whispered as Hunter moved
automatically to stand in front of her, his wings spreading out like he could
form a shield for her with those fragile membranes.
The problem was that every single stone automaton wasn’t just a
tank, but as they lifted an arm all in unison, the mitten-like hand
disappeared into their forearm, to be replaced by an unmistakable barrel of
an energy weapon.
There was no way they could stand against a dozen stone mechs
firing energy weapons at them. They were toast.
Tarin clutched Hunter’s thigh, wanting to be in contact with him
when the energy rounds struck her body. She wondered how badly it would
hurt, and figured at least it wouldn’t last long. As long as she didn’t have to
watch Hunter die first, she figured she could handle it. Even with the hard
chitin of his leg beneath her palm as she gripped him, she still thought him
the most handsome man a girl could ever have.
“I love you, Ixceramenops,” she whispered.
He took his focus off the approaching mechs just long enough to
glance down at her. “I love you too, Tarin. But I have always preferred the
name Hunter. Especially when you say it—because I spent my whole life
hunting for you.”
She clenched her eyelids shut and hugged herself harder against
Hunter’s leg. The sound of energy weapons firing up filled her ears, chasing
out even the stridulating echo of her beloved’s words.
A new sound filled the air like a crackle of unleashed electricity.
Tarin’s eyes popped open to a strange and wonderous sight. The mechs had
frozen in place, the lights of their energy weapons gone out as sparks and
snaps of arcing high voltage jumped over their stone bodies. But their eyes
were also dead. They stood as still as statues.
Not only that, but Halian writhed on the floor, blood pouring from
his long, pointed ears, and his eyes. Electricity also arced over him, and he
struggled against some unseen agony.
Hunter was still tense, as if there remained a threat, and she looked
for the source of his concern.
“Nahash!” she said, jumping to her feet as relief filled her.
The serpent man was focused on Halian, his body sparking with
energy, no doubt the source of the EMP that had shut down the mechs.
Tarin tucked her hand into Hunter’s arm, still noting the tension in
his body and the fact that it wasn’t reverting back to a more human
appearance. “It’s okay, Hunter! We’re saved. Nahash is on our side.”
“On your side, my queen.”
She sucked in a breath, recalling that they still had to deal with the
issue of Hunter’s betrayal when it came to explaining this all to her friends.
Tarin wasn’t going to be dissuaded by that. She’d found a way to forgive
Hunter, and Nahash—like all the other members of their family of former
Test Subjects—cared about her happiness, and would learn to forgive him
too.
She just wouldn’t mention that he was now free of the imprinting on
her, so if he chose to leave her, he could. Somehow, she didn’t think that
would be a problem, but she knew that some of them might.
 She took a step towards Nahash, but then reeled backwards when
tentacles suddenly appeared around Halian. Nemon’s face and upper body
appeared next, and his mouth was open in an agonized scream as he pulled
Halian’s writhing body closer against his own with his tentacles, enclosing
the Iriduan completely. Sparks of electricity slithered over his huge body.
Nahash’s head snapped up, breaking his focus on Halian. “You are
getting in my way, Nemon. I cannot destroy him with you so close to him,
or I will risk destroying you as well. Your nanites cannot endure my energy
pulses.”
“No more,” Nemon said, his focus completely on Nahash as she and
Hunter slowly moved closer to him.
She suspected he was well aware of their position, since one tentacle
sidled towards her foot and patted her on the top of it, like he was both
greeting her and reassuring her that it would all be okay, despite the tension
now building between the two powerful males.
“He must die,” Nahash said in a hard tone, glaring at Nemon.
“There is still good in my father,” Nemon insisted, curling Halian’s
unresponsive body even further inside a nest of protective tentacles. “We
can get him help.”
“Nemon,” Tarin said, her heart breaking for him as she saw his
pleading expression, “I think he’s too far gone. I don’t think he can be
helped.”
Nemon glanced at her, and she was surprised at the hardness in his
expression and the determination in his eyes. He was generally a very
easygoing sort, despite his somewhat terrifying appearance, and he was
kind to almost everyone. So kind and gentle that she sometimes forgot that
he was a predator—a very deadly predator.
“He will not die today,” he said, biting each word off with sharp
teeth.
His free tentacles surged towards Nahash, who lashed his serpent
tail forwards to ward them away from his upper body.
Tentacles and tail entwined, and then began to struggle against each
other, both males snarling with fierce anger.
They were friends, so Tarin didn’t think they wanted to hurt each
other, but to protect the one he saw as his father, Nemon might forget just
how close he was to Nahash. She had to put a stop to this.
 Perhaps, Nemon was right. “Let the Akrellians take Halian into
custody. They can put him in a facility where he can be healed and then
evaluated.”
Nahash barely spared her a glance before returning his attention to
fighting off Nemon’s determined assault. “You haven’t seen what this
monster has done to Earth. To your homeworld. You would not be so
hesitant to kill him if you had.”
Tarin closed her eyes, her heart pounding as it sank into her
stomach. “W-what happened to Earth?”
Nemon was the one to glance at her this time. “That wasn’t my
father’s choice! I know he would never have done this. It was the other ones
that have been controlling him. You must see that, Tarin! Please, don’t ask
me to kill my father. We can heal Earth’s people. The Akrellians are here
even now with the cure for the fungal infection, and Thrax is destroying the
queen. Your militaries will have no problem mopping up her soldiers with
Elder Commander Tirel’s help after that. Please, Tarin. He didn’t do this—
and we can fix it!”
Tarin shook her head as he spoke, as if it would keep her ears from
catching those terrible words, because she didn’t want to absorb their
meaning. Halian had said the queen was here with her army, but Tarin
hadn’t really processed what that meant for Earth.
It wasn’t just the queen and her soldiers that threatened humanity. It
was the fungus she used to soften her colonization target. A fungus that
could be spread in advance of her invasion—all over the globe like a
zombie virus—that would allow her to take control of the victims. It was a
full-on horror that meant an apocalypse.
And Tarin’s family was still trapped here on Earth.
“Let me kill him!” she said, charging towards the bundle of tentacles
holding Halian’s still form.
When Nemon’s tentacles stopped her, they were much gentler on her
than they were on Nahash, but that wasn’t enough to stop Hunter from
being enraged by the sight of them wrapping around her.
He leapt towards Nemon, his mandibles spreading open to attack.
As a tentacle lifted to bat Hunter aside, Tarin realized that her mate
was in grave danger, and so was her friend—because Nemon wasn’t
thinking like his usual sweet self. He was defending a loved one, and if they
kept pushing him, there was no telling how far he’d go to save Halian’s life.
She hated Halian for what he’d done—to Tirel, to her and Theresa,
to Hunter—and now to Earth—but she didn’t want another casualty. Joanie
would be devastated if Nemon was hurt or killed trying to protect Halian,
by the very people who were supposed to care about him.
She cooled her anger, taking deep breaths to find a center of calm.
“We need to keep Halian alive, you guys. As much as I think he needs to
pay for what’s he done to Earth, we need to understand why he did this. We
need to interrogate him.”
Nemon glared at her. “I won’t let the Akrellians torture him. He’s
been tortured enough!”
Tarin shook her head, sighing heavily. “I promise you, Nemon, I
won’t let that happen. Even Tirel won’t let that happen, as angry as he is at
Halian. He and Theresa are honorable, and they’ll see to it that Halian is
treated as well as a prisoner of war can expect.”
“I don’t like this solution,” Nahash said, though he pulled his tail
back away from Nemon as Nemon’s tentacles withdrew to curl around
Halian again. “The traitor is extremely dangerous, and there is no telling the
depths of his treachery.”
Tarin glanced at Halian’s motionless form, cradled in tentacles. “I
don’t think he’s a danger to anyone, and he won’t be for a long time. In fact,
if we don’t decide quickly, he’s going to die here.”
By this time, Hunter had regained his feet and came to stand
between Nemon and Tarin, his mandibles still spread, his back tense as a
second set of arms extended from below his first set. The second set had
even longer claws on them, and Hunter’s body appeared to be growing an
even thicker armor of chitin plates while she stared at him in shock.
She realized that Hunter could have used his stinger against Nemon,
as he had against Halian. She wasn’t sure how much of an effect the venom
would have on something as large as Nemon, but she suspected the real
reason Hunter hadn’t used one of his best offenses was because he didn’t
want to hurt Nemon either. Probably more for her sake than anything.
“Fine,” Nahash said, though his tone implied that it was anything
but. “I will allow that creature to leave this place alive.” He switched his
attention from Nemon and Halian to her and Hunter. “But what exactly is
that creature with you?”
This was going to be tricky, Tarin realized. Just outright telling
Nahash that Hunter was a Menops could be a problem, since Nahash had
once been an Iriduan himself, and therefore carried a hatred for the Menops.
“We’ve met before, snake-man,” Hunter said in his two-tone voice.
“Your mate stabbed me in the eye.”
Nahash’s eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed to dangerous
slits. “You!”
He slithered towards Hunter, energy crackling over his body. “I will
kill you now, as I should have then. You hurt my Casss!”
Tarin quickly jumped in front of Hunter, only to be yanked back
behind him by one of his new arms. “No, you will never stand between me
and danger, my queen.”
Her movement had given Nahash pause though, as he appeared to
realize that she was attached to the mutant Menops in some way. Tarin
wondered exactly how much Tirel had explained to Nahash about Hunter.
Then she realized that she and Cass had never discussed Cass stabbing
Hunter in the eye. She might have recognized the story if Cass had told her
about it.
“Please, Hunter is my mate. He’s done things in the past that he
regrets, but I swear to you, he will make up for them.”
“My father is dying!” Nemon said in a panicked tone. “Can we not
discuss this until we get him medical aide!”
 Chapter 34
Hunter wasn’t happy about being confined in a cell while his fate
was decided. He also wasn’t happy about having cameras monitoring his
every move—and his transformation—as his body slowly shifted back into
the more human form that seemed to be a default for him now.
The shifts were agonizing, like every muscle in his body seizing.
Like every nerve in his skin burning. But they had their uses, though he
hadn’t been able to fight the kraken or the serpent-man to test them to their
full potential. At least he’d been able to reform his stinger and venom sac to
take Halian down.
During the days that passed, he knew that Tarin spent hours outside
his cell, pleading for his life. He felt like he could tell her location from
anywhere, though his beacon organ had dissolved and never reformed,
which was unusual for a Menops going through metamorphosis. Something
about integrating the human DNA into his matrix had suppressed that
regeneration.
He just felt attuned to Tarin, and though Halian was correct that he
didn’t feel the same burst of euphoria when he caught her pheromones on
his receptors, he still felt happiness whenever he detected her, and her scent
still made his cock as hard as stone. He would always want to drown in it.
He didn’t need his biology to push him in her direction.
At least now, he knew he wouldn’t die without being exposed to her
pheromones on a regular basis, but that made no difference in how much he
wanted to be with her. He needed her in a different way than physical. His
heart and soul belonged to Tarin, and if they tried to separate him from her,
he would break out of this prison he was in and track her down to the ends
of the universe until he found her again. That was the only option, because
no matter what the “god-maker” had done to him, Tarin was—and always
would be—his queen.
After a handful of days, he tensed as the door to his cell opened,
wondering if the person entering had decided that he was safe enough now
that his body was reverting back to a more human form.
 He knew by the scent of the newcomer that it was Tirel, before he
saw him. Hunter kept to the back of the cell, crouching down low so he
appeared less threatening. Tirel could pose his own threat, having deadly
quills, and envenomed claws—not to mention hard, natural armor scales
and sharp teeth. It wasn’t a fight Hunter would want to pick if he had a
choice.
They watched each other for a long moment as the silence stretched
and the tension rose along with Tirel’s quills.
“Tarin tells us that you were not part of Halian’s betrayal of my
ground team.”
Hunter slowly nodded, never breaking eye contact with Tirel,
waiting for the potential attack.
“But you did betray us. And you were instrumental in the attack on
the humans. That queen you took from the Iriduan colony caused a great
deal of devastation on Earth. Millions of lives were lost. Do you understand
the toll of that?”
Hunter’s nod took longer to come, because he didn’t know how he
could convey the great deal of regret and shame he felt with either a gesture
or words.
Tirel clenched his fists, his lips pulling back into a snarl. “Well.
What do you have to say to defend yourself?”
Hunter finally broke his gaze, looking to the side so he didn’t have
to continue to look at the price of his mistakes. “I have no defense for my
actions. They were done in selfishness. I sought only a cure, without
considering the consequences. I only ask now that if you choose to end my
life, you will care for my queen and do not allow her to suffer from grief or
sadness.”
“Damn you, Menops! We could have been friends, if not for your
lies and treachery. And then you dare to imprint on a female who is like my
kin, so that I cannot even kill you without hurting her. The offenses you’ve
caused continue to stack up against you.”
Hunter was silent. He had no defense for any of it. This was not the
path he would have chosen, if he could have known where it led. He would
have grabbed Tarin the moment he’d first met her, if he’d been able to see
this future coming.
 And he would have put a stop to Halian’s plans, because knowing
that Earth had been invaded by his own kind, and knowing how much that
had hurt Tarin, was something he would never truly be able to live down.
“Give me something, damnit! Tarin’s happiness means everything to
me, but I can’t just let you walk from this cell without some kind of
atonement. I don’t trust you, and I’m not sure I ever will, but Tarin believes
in you. She says you can offer so much to our people—and to the humans
that are still reeling from the attack on their planet and their new status as a
protectorate of Akrellia.” Tirel lifted a hand to smooth down the quills on
his head. “They’re not happy about that, by the way. It’s causing mass riots
and disorder on a planet that has already suffered enough chaos.”
“I can’t bring peace to an entire planet,” Hunter said, though he
regretted his inability to do so. The death of millions was a staggering toll,
but it was nothing compared to what the queen could have done—would
have done—if she’d had more time. “I can’t undo their deaths, though I
would gladly give my life in return if I could.”
This time, it was Tirel who was silent for a long moment. When he
spoke, it was with a heavy sigh. “I want to believe in your remorse. For
Tarin’s sake. I need it to be real. In light of that, you are going to be given a
second chance, though you will be bound to the service of Akrellia until
such a time as the Elder Troupe decides that you’ve served enough penance.
Given the cost of your poor decisions, I’m not certain that time will ever
come. You will be fitted with a tracking device so there will be nowhere in
the galaxy that you can run that we can’t find you. If you attempt to remove
it, it will explode within you, distributing acid internally, without harming
those—like Tarin—who might be in your vicinity. Do you understand these
conditions, so far?”
Hunter nodded quickly, though he tried not to let hope lift him too
high, until the conversation finished. He was beginning to fear that he’d
never get the chance to see Tarin again, much less be with her as her mate.
“Your service will involve hunting down the worst criminals in our
galaxy. Much to my displeasure, Tarin has insisted on joining you on these
hunts. You will always put her life and safety above your own. Do you
accept these conditions?”
Again, Hunter nodded without hesitation. The idea that Tarin
wanted to join him on his missions was both thrilling and concerning. He
would be certain she was well trained, armored from head to toe in the best
his credits could buy, and armed to the teeth. And then he would do exactly
as Tirel demanded, and guard her with his life. Not that he needed Tirel’s
threat to do just that.
“She is my queen. My life will always be hers.”
Tirel sighed again. “So she’s said. Insisted, really. That was before
she stopped talking to me, and refused to eat until I set you free to return to
her. You’re lucky she’s as devoted to you as you are to her. You don’t
deserve her, Hunter. You’d better do a damn good job earning her, or I will
be the one hunting you down, and I won’t kill you quickly.”
“I will spend the rest of my life earning my place at my queen’s
side. I will promise you that.”
 Chapter 35
Tarin sat with her back against the headboard of the hotel room bed
glaring mutinously at Theresa, though there was nothing she wanted to do
more than to break down and cry and hug Terry as tight as her best friend
could handle.
Well, there was one thing she wanted to do more. She wanted to see
Hunter safe and free to return to her. Theresa and Tirel weren’t allowing
that—weren’t accepting that he regretted what he’d done and wanted to
make amends—so she had to shut them out, stop speaking to them, and
even go on a hunger strike that was so damned aggravating, because now
they were back on Earth, and she couldn’t even dive into a New York-style
pizza.
It figured that the one time she ever got to travel to Manhattan,
which she’d always wanted to see, it turned out to be after an apocalypse,
when services were sketchy and martial law had taken over to quell the
rioting and rebellion that was happening in the wake of the announcement
that Earth was now a protectorate of an alien government.
The Akrellians had brought the cure to the “zombie plague” to Earth
and were treating every infected human they could find. They’d also shared
that cure with the human scientists, as well as provided soldiers to keep the
peace, a great deal of humanitarian aid, and engineers and skilled labor to
get all of the world’s infrastructures back online. Despite all this, the riots
and civil disorder exploded all across the globe—or rather continued from
the chaos that had erupted after the first infected victims began to attack
others around them and spread the fungal spores.
The Syndicate had made the call that in light of the Akrellians
having the best response to the Menops’ invasion of Earth, their claim won
out over that of the others, proving they were the best equipped to protect
the planet, its resources, and the humans populating it. Though it was
obvious that the humans were the least of the Syndicate’s concerns. At the
moment, most humans still didn’t realize how lucky they were, and they’d
just suffered a great deal of tragic deaths and an invasion by the Menops, so
they weren’t really in the mood for listening to reason.
This little corner of Manhattan was kept in order by the Akrellian
military. In the lobby of the fancy skyscraper hotel they now occupied, an
emergency medical center had been set up that could be guarded twenty-
four-seven by the Akrellian troops while they treated those who’d been
infected, or those who’d been injured by the chaos.
There was even more security around a particular penthouse, where
a doctor treated Halian, who was under heavy guard. He’d regained
consciousness, but apparently, no one knew whose, because Halian claimed
to have no memory of who he was or where he was—or even what he was.
The destruction of his nanites by Nahash’s directed EMP had caused
extensive damage to Halian’s body, including to his brain. Though he
seemed to heal far more rapidly than any human, or even Iriduan, the doctor
wasn’t certain he would ever fully recover from the damage to his brain.
Not that the Akrellians were taking any chances. They weren’t about
to let him go, or even relax their guard. Not even to allow Nemon to speak
with his “father.”
Tarin felt sorry for Nemon, and completely understood where he
was coming from. After all, Theresa and Tirel were keeping her from seeing
Hunter, and they were supposed to care about her and be her friends.
Theresa sat at the foot of the bed, next to a box of fresh donuts some
overworked Akrellian assistant had managed to rustle up. “Come on, Tare,
just have a quick bite. It’s really good.” She plucked out a massive donut
that dripped with cream from a hole at one end of it, and took a huge bite.
“Nom.”
“Oh, my god! That is so heavenly!” she said after chewing it and
swallowing it.
Then the evil bitch waved it under Tarin’s nose with a wicked grin.
“It’s your favorite….” She drew out the last word in a singsong voice like a
mocking child.
Tarin narrowed her eyes on her best friend. “I hate you. You know
that right.”
Her stomach growled loudly in protest, despite having shrunk down
after two days of fasting.
 Theresa pointed at her with a crow of triumph. “Ah ha! I got you to
speak. I win!”
Tarin knocked the donut out of Theresa’s hand, watching it with
regret as it toppled to the comforter, then made a sticky path to the
carpeting.
Then she looked back up into Theresa’s triumphant face as she
popped the last remaining bit of donut that had been pinched between her
fingers into her mouth and chewed like she was consuming mana, adding so
many moans of pleasure that Tarin wondered if Tirel would be jealous of
that damned donut.
“Hate. You.”
Theresa’s wide grin didn’t falter.
“I have more,” she said, crawling up the bed towards Tarin like a
seductress, dragging the box of donuts along with her until they were close
enough that their incredible, yeasty, fresh-baked smell made her stomach
growl like an angry bear, torturing her with hunger pangs.
“You know you want it,” Theresa said, plucking up a strawberry
frosted donut, glistening with sugar and covered in colorful sprinkles.
She inhaled deeply as she placed it closer to her face, then gave
Tarin a beatific smile. “Ahhhh, it’s smells so divine. I bet it tastes even
better! The sweet sugar just melts on your tongue, doesn’t it? The slight
tang of strawberry gives it that punch of flavor in all that sugary goodness.”
“You are evil, Theresa,” Tarin snarled. “Very, very evil.”
Then she lunged at Theresa, who reeled back with a wicked laugh.
“Gimme that donut before I break your neck!”
Theresa was laughing so hard as Tarin tackled her that her eyes
watered, as she tried to keep the donut out of reach. Tarin finally wrestled
the mangled donut free from her best friend, then stuffed it in her mouth,
barely tasting that sweet goodness Theresa had tortured her with as her
stomach demanded she fill it immediately.
Theresa was still chuckling and wiping her eyes as Tarin grabbed
the box, pulled it towards her, and snatched another donut out—this one a
cake donut—to scarf it down. She blessed the baker who’d had the foresight
to set up shop nearby in the wake of the chaos and profit nicely from the
ready customers packing this hotel to capacity.
 Theresa’s giggles died down as she watched Tarin eat another donut,
her smile sobering. “I’m sorry about everything that’s happened to you,
Tare. It’s not fair, and you don’t deserve this. We’re not trying to punish you
by keeping Hunter locked up. It’s just that we have to know we can trust
him.”
Tarin just glared, her brows creasing with irritation as she chewed.
She’d already heard all the excuses. She’d heard all the platitudes. And she
didn’t give a damn that they felt she didn’t deserve this. They were still
doing it to her. They should trust her judgment. They were supposed to be
her best friends.
“But listen, I didn’t come in here just to torture you with food,
though I’m so glad to see you’re finally eating. There’s some people here
that would like to see you, and I think now that you’ve had a little bit to eat,
you’ll be in the best mood to visit.”
With that, Theresa touched her embedded wrist communicator and
spoke into it, asking someone to send them up.
Tarin watched Theresa warily, quickly swallowing the last of her
donut, then swiping at her lips to get rid of the evidence of her mad feeding
frenzy. She managed to smooth her hair and clothing by the time the knock
on the door came.
She wasn’t really surprised when the door opened on her family, but
it was still enough to have her shooting up off the bed and racing into the
open arms of her mother.
She’d known that they were safe as soon as casualty reports started
coming in, but because of the infrastructure problems, area quarantines, and
a host of other issues, she hadn’t been able to see them or even contact them
until Seattle’s communications systems were fixed by Akrellian engineers.
Now, she actually got to see them in person, and she was betting that
it was because Tirel or Theresa had sent a special shuttle to collect them.
“Do I smell donuts?” Gabe asked, pushing past her mother and
father as they both squeezed her in a tight group hug like they would never
let go.
Tarin started crying, letting the tears come, now that she was safe in
the arms of her parents after so long. There was so much she had to explain
to them. So many things she needed to tell them, that it seemed like it
would be years before it would all be out in the open.
 And Gabe, and Alex, and Rory—they all needed to know what had
happened. They all should hear it too. And from the weight of more hugs
joining in the group, they had all come along on this journey.

********

“You ate all the donuts.” Rory tossed the empty box at Alex while
Gabe looked on with a slight smile and a shake of his head.
Tarin shook her head, wearing a wide grin as she watched her
brothers from her position in the single chair of the hotel suite’s sitting
room, where her family had gathered to hear her fantastic tale—and tell her
of their own experiences during the chaos that had followed the infection.
“They don’t change.”
“Nope. They still fight over food like starving wolves.” He switched
his attention from their brothers to her. “So, my sis is going to marry an
alien. Never thought that would be something I’d say in my lifetime.”
Her mother leaned forward from her place on the two-seat sofa,
where Tarin’s father sat next to her, their positions close, even though there
was space on either side of them on the sofa. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so excited
to meet him.”
They loved each other that much, even after all these years, that
they’d rather sit practically on top of each other than be even an inch apart.
Their relationship had been the one that had given Tarin hope for a future
when she’d first met them as an angry foster kid and had seen that true love
really did exist for some people. She’d started to believe it might even exist
for her.
“He better deserve you, is all I’m saying,” her father said, adjusting
his glasses higher up his nose with two fingers in a move so ordinary,
prosaic, and beloved that it brought fresh tears to Tarin’s eyes that she
quickly blinked away.
“He does,” she said, through the lump in her throat. “He’s proven
himself to me. Besides,” she smiled at them, “he treats me like a queen,
because as far as he’s concerned, I am.”
She knew it would be dicey to explain to her parents, who were still
reeling from the reality that aliens even existed, that Hunter was a Menops
—from the very same species of giant bug monsters that invaded Earth and
were even now still being hunted down and killed by Akrellian and human
forces all over the world. Interestingly, some humans had been able to
battle-sync with the Akrellians, and new hybrid units had been formed to
create highly effective fighting units.
How the queen had spread her troops so far in only a few months
was still mindboggling to Tarin, and she realized that—even after learning
about the Menops—she and her friends had vastly underestimated them. It
was little wonder the Iriduans had been so desperate to find ways to combat
them, and it was a godsend that Thrax had been able to do exactly what he
was created to do—infiltrate the queen’s nest and kill her.
Eventually, after they got over the shock that she was in love with
an alien, she’d confessed that he was Menops. That had spawned a lot more
shock and some upset outrage from her brothers, but her parents had calmed
the situation between siblings, as they always did, and she was able to tell
them the story of Hunter and his transformation—leaving out the parts
about him being instrumental in collecting the Menops queen in the first
place. She felt like some things were best left unsaid at this point. There
was no changing Hunter’s past mistakes. All they could do was focus on the
future.
If Theresa and Tirel would only free Hunter so they could do that.
Theresa had left her with her family so they could have their chat, so she
couldn’t even cast her pleading gaze at her best friend again.
When a knock at the door interrupted their conversation over when
they’d actually be getting married, Tarin barely had a chance to say “come
in,” before the door unlocked and Tirel strode inside.
She barely noticed him, because her gaze went immediately to the
hulking male that entered after him, his wings folded tightly behind him and
his antennae straining in her direction.
“Hunter!” She jumped to her feet, then practically leapt over Gabe’s
knees, since the desk chair he’d pulled up to the seating area was blocking
her path.
She rushed towards Hunter, and he met her in the middle, catching
her up in a tight hug that pulled her against his strong, hard body. He was
wearing a shirt that kept her from feeling the warmth of his skin, but it
didn’t look like he was still segmented with chitinous plates anymore.
 She sighed at the familiar feeling of his antennae brushing over her
hair and face, snuggling closer against him as each ragged teary breath she
took sucked in more of his scent to fill her head. She’d missed him and
worried about him so much that a handful of days being separated from him
had felt like years.
“Well, aren’t you going to introduce us to the bug guy… er… big
guy. I meant big guy,” Gabe said, losing his usual smooth, sarcastic edge as
he slowly rose from his chair.
Tarin grinned and pulled away from Hunter just enough to face her
family as they all rose from their chairs to stare at Hunter with varying
expressions of curiosity and nervousness.
“This is Hunter, you guys. He’s my mate, and I’m his queen.” Her
smile widened until her cheeks ached, but she didn’t care, because she was
so happy to be in his arms again. “And Hunter, this is my family.”
“You’re not going to invade Earth next, are you?” Alex asked, his
voice going high and reedy at the end.
Everyone fell silent, the tension in the room ratcheting up so high
that Tarin could practically see it manifesting in a physical form.
“Hunter can be trusted,” Tirel said, stepping between Hunter and her
family. “He’s not an invader, and is very different from the queen that
invaded your world. He’s a bounty hunter, and his life is dedicated to
bringing justice to the worst criminals of the galaxy.”
“Cool,” Rory said, drawing all eyes to him. He looked embarrassed
to suddenly be the center of attention. He held out both hands and said,
“What? Like that isn’t cool as shit? He probably has laser guns and badass
armor to fight galactic criminals.”
Tarin’s mother stepped close to Rory to pat his cheek. “Don’t ever
change, son.”
Then she turned towards Hunter, leaving the sofa and the seating
area to join them in the center of the room. She stepped around Tirel and
held her hand out towards Hunter.
It barely shook at all, and Tarin was never prouder of her mother
than in that moment, as she didn’t hesitate to welcome Hunter, despite what
he was—knowing that it wasn’t what you were that mattered, but who you
were inside.
“Welcome to our family, Hunter.”
 Chapter 36
Hunter was overwhelmed by the warm welcome he’d received from
Tarin’s family. After shaking her mother’s hand, her father had come to slap
him on the shoulder, putting his other arm around his mate in a way that
Hunter respected, as he drew the fragile human female against his side in a
protective fashion.
Having so many people surrounding him was almost like being part
of a colony again. It was a struggle not to try to touch the humans that had
become his new family with his antennae, because he knew it would be
unnerving for them, despite how welcoming they were being to him.
Again, he felt the pain of regret that these innocent humans had to
experience the devastation of a Menops queen. At least the colony hadn’t
been seeded by him, but then again, things would have been very different
if it had, and Hunter himself wouldn’t have been able to care about the
aftermath.
Though he felt like even if he had imprinted on a Menops queen
after meeting Tarin, he never would have forgotten her, and never would
have stopped loving her, despite what his biology made him do.
They had so much to talk about, and so many questions they wanted
to ask him. He tried to offer as much information as possible, but they
stumped him on many things, and he realized he didn’t know even a
fraction of what he thought he knew, even after having spent many years of
his life traveling the galaxy.
He also learned some things about Earth that made him even more
eager to explore it—once everything calmed down, of course. The planet
was a beautiful one, filled with an enormous diversity of life, and a history
that they now knew had been meddled with by the ancient Iriduans. In fact,
much of that life could have been a result of Iriduan genetic engineering. If
that was the case, it had resulted in a planet that was rich and desirable for
exploitation, so Hunter was grateful the humans had gained the Akrellians
as their protectors.
 One class of creatures he was eager to see in person were the “ants”
the humans kept referring to—before they’d look at him, then clam up, as if
embarrassed to have mentioned the tiny lifeforms. He knew they were tiny,
because that had also been mentioned. Apparently, they were also wildly
successful in populating the planet with vast numbers, so it was perhaps a
good thing they were so small. Still, Hunter wanted to see them, and
determined to make a point to ask Tarin if they could find some before
leaving Earth.
Tarin was too excited to focus on eating her “pizza” that Hunter had
ordered from the room service that was still working in this hotel, thanks to
the combined efforts of the human and Akrellian governments. He finally
had to insist she focus on the food that Theresa had reassured him she
would love, even though it looked strange and flat to him—like something
had run over it many times. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to
eat it, but figured he’d taste one like it later.
Not this one though. His queen had not eaten in days, and he wasn’t
about to let her grow weak with hunger. At least she’d been wise enough to
continue drinking water.
While she was determinedly chewing, glaring at him for making her
eat instead of chat with everyone, he tried to fill in the awkward silence that
fell without stepping on any conversational landmines—given what he was,
and what the humans had been through.
“So what happens to that Iriduan bastard?” Tarin’s brother, Gabe,
asked when another awkward silence fell as Hunter finished a tale of
hunting a slaver on the CivilRim.
“He’s recovered enough that we can soon transfer him to a more
secure facility on an asteroid in the home system,” Tirel said, from his
position seated on the bed next to Theresa, who had snuggled up against her
mate’s side. “Once he’s there, he won’t be going anywhere until the
Syndicate trials.”
“I say you leave him here to face human justice!” Alex said in a
hard growl, cracking his knuckles in an alarming way that raised Hunter’s
eyebrows up to his antennae as he wondered why no one else seemed
concerned that the human had wounded himself.
Theresa sat up straight, though she still remained close to Tirel.
“Justice by whose authority? Humanity is still in disarray. The combined
governments of Earth have enough to deal with just reestablishing order and
putting together treaties to work together on an international governance
board robust enough to deal with the galactic issues we’re about to face as a
species.”
She cast a loving smile at her mate before turning back to face them.
“Humans might not be happy about being a protectorate and having to
follow Akrellian rules, but it really is for the best. We’re not in any place
right now where we can deal with an intergalactic criminal like Halian,
much less handle the burdens that would be placed on us if we belonged to
the Syndicate.”
Alex slammed a clenched fist into his other hand. “I wasn’t talking
about putting him through the court system. I meant real human justice.”
Tirel narrowed his eyes on Tarin’s brother. “Believe me, Master
Alex, I would prefer to deal a bit of my own justice to Halian, and there are
many Akrellians who’d also like their fair share of justice from his flesh,
but that is not how things are done when you are part of the Cosmic
Syndicate. Someone like Halian has committed crimes that affect the
Syndicate itself, which means they decide his fate. I assure you, his crimes
were expensive enough to them that they won’t be lenient, and they can be
very creative.”
Tarin had set aside her pizza during this conversation, and when
Hunter made a gesture towards it, insisting she finish it, she shook her head
and patted her stomach. “It’s shrunk after not eating for so long, so I’m full
now.”
That might be true, but he thought it was the subject that made her
lose her appetite. Now she was chewing her lip as she looked back and forth
between her loved ones discussing how they’d like to see Halian die in a
variety of terrible ways.
“He said we were doomed now,” she finally interjected into the
conversation during a rather creative discussion of execution between Rory
and Alex. “I don’t know… I’m not sure he was doing what he did just to
invade Earth and kill humans.”
“I don’t give a fuck why he did what he did,” Alex snapped, only to
be shushed by Tarin’s mother, who shook her head.
“Language, son,” Tarin’s father clarified, and Hunter pondered
exactly what that meant, but was distracted again by the ongoing
conversation.
“The fact of the matter is that he cost the lives of millions of
humans, betrayed the Akrellians, and committed who knows how many
other crimes in this galaxy,” Tirel said to Tarin. “His reasons for doing such
things are irrelevant. He will be punished for his crimes, not his motives.”
Tarin sat up straighter in her seat, which was close enough to Hunter
that he could touch her with one antenna to reassure himself and fill his
receptors with her pheromones. It might not affect him like it had when he
was imprinted, but it was still delicious to him.
“I’m not saying Halian doesn’t deserve to be punished—or at least
those ‘things’ inside Halian that caused all this—but isn’t anyone else
worried about his motives? Doesn’t anyone else want to know what he
meant?”
Tirel switched his focus to her, and his gaze was sympathetic.
“Tarin, we have questioned what’s left of Halian. He’s suffered significant
damage to his memory and doesn’t even recall his own name—or any other
name he’s ever used. Though his healing is unnaturally rapid, his doctor
can’t guarantee his memory will return. We may never know his motives,
but you’ve seen for yourself that he was insane, so even if he had motives,
there is no guarantee they were sensible ones. There really isn’t any
sensible reason to invade Earth with a Menops queen other than attempting
to wipe out humanity.”
The conversation took a dive from that point, leaving Tarin slumped
in her seat and quiet as everyone talked around her. Hunter was too focused
on her to try to keep the conversation going, so he was grateful to Theresa
for her efforts to change the subject away from Halian.
After a while, it was clear everyone was tired. Tarin’s family had
come straight here to visit upon their arrival, and they’d been living in a
state of quarantine and martial law during the months leading up to the
defeat of the Menops queen and Halian. Theresa was the one to round them
all up with gentle reminders that they’d made room in the hotel for them to
bunk up for the time being.
A flurry of motion ensued where everyone hugged as if they were
going far away again, and tears were shed. To his surprise, he was embraced
by not just Tarin’s mother, but also her father, and had all her brothers clap
him on the shoulder, or give him a handshake, before they turned and
followed Tirel and Theresa out of the room.
Once the door closed behind the crowd, finally leaving him alone
with his queen, he barely had the chance to turn away from the door before
she was at his side. She tugged on his clothes, her nimble fingers
unbuttoning the buttons of his shirt—which had a strange design covering it
that Theresa had called plaid.
“Let’s get you naked, Hunter.”
His cock was instantly hard at the words, though her next ones
weren’t as encouraging.
“I need to check you over. They had you locked up for so long. I had
no idea what they were doing to you. Or what was happening to your body
after that stupid ‘god-maker’ thing Halian did to you.”
Though he recognized her current plan was more about her concern
for him, his cock was still happy about having her pulling anxiously at his
clothes to remove them. He undid the buttons on his “jeans,” which Theresa
had explained were an essential part of any human wardrobe in this region
of Earth. He had to say, he much preferred the clothing the Inu’A wore. The
wraparound skirt was far easier to get off than the jeans that seemed to hug
his upper legs like a second skin.
“Hello, there,” Tarin said, pausing in her unbuttoning of the last
button of his shirt as he got the jeans open and pulled the sides apart,
allowing his hard erection to spring free.
She dropped one hand from his shirt to curl around his thick girth. “I
missed you.”
“Are you talking to me or my cock?” Hunter asked, amused by the
way she focused completely on his organ, and also growing even harder,
though he had no idea how that was even possible.
“Shhh, don’t talk. You’ll ruin it.” She dragged her hand along his
length, stroking him in a slow, teasing way.
“My lips are sealed,” he said in a guttural growl, then moaned and
closed his eyes.
“Get to work getting naked, babe. I need to greet an old friend.”
At first, he thought she was going to just abandon him in this state,
but he should have known better. She dropped to her knees in front of him
and brought her lips to the head of his shaft, where a drop of fluid already
leaked from his eagerness to be inside her.
So much excitement filled him at the thought of making love to her
again that the same euphoria he’d felt when imprinted flooded him again.
He’d thought he’d been cured, but apparently, the god-maker inside him
decided this euphoria rush had a benefit to his biology. A logical Hunter
would say it was encouraging him to mate—and mate often—with his
queen. Perhaps to perpetuate itself in his offspring.
At the moment, Hunter didn’t give a damn why he felt this way. He
needed his queen beneath him, but not before he tasted her. Not before he
drowned his receptors in her pheromones. She barely managed to fit her lips
around him before he pulled away, yanking at his shirt, ignoring the
ominous tearing sound.
“On the bed!” he said desperately, knowing he’d have to put her
there if she didn’t comply.
She lifted her head, looking at him with surprise rounding her eyes.
“But I want to—”
He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, stalking the few steps
to the bed to set her down gently on the comforter. Then he leaned over her,
forcing her to lie back, cutting off her protests with a ravenous kiss.
When he lifted his head from her lips, she was panting and her
arousal scented the air, but it wasn’t nearly enough. His cock ached for her
warmth, but his mouth was watering for her taste and he needed that first.
“Spread your legs for me, my queen.”
She swallowed, then licked her lips. “I’m still wearing my pajama
bottoms. God, Hunter, I’ve been wearing these same jammies for like two
days. At least I took a shower every night, but still… let me put on
something sexier than this!”
He narrowed his eyes, biting back the hungry growl that built in his
throat. “No time. Naked is sexiest. Get naked.”
She tried to sit up to shimmy her top off, exposing the round,
delicious curves of her breasts. One nipple popped free of the fabric and
Hunter quickly claimed it with his lips. His hands were shaking as they
found the waistband of the “jammie” or whatever it was that covered her
lower body.
 He tried to pull it off, but it just stretched, confounding his efforts as
he sucked mercilessly on the hard bud of her nipple. His mouth left her
gasping and moaning and unable to focus enough to assist him. The scent of
her arousal drove his antennae wild, and they strained towards the sweetest
of her sweet spots.
Something slipped free of the top of his wrist and slid along the
length of his hand. He knew what it was. A long, thin stinger that could
inject venom into his victims. It had formed after his abdominal stingers
had dissolved again, leaving the venom gland behind. Whatever this “god-
maker” was, it seemed to decide at some point what adaptations to keep
persistent and what to do away with. And it had decided Hunter still needed
stingers, but not in his abdomen.
Right now, it was a sharp point that pierced the annoying fabric of
Tarin’s bottoms and allowed him to rip them away. He released her nipple
with a triumphant moan, then kissed a path down her body, his antennae
trailing in the wake of his lips to smooth over her skin, tasting every inch of
her.
Ragged fabric still hung around her hips, but he ignored that. A hole
had been made in her bottoms that allowed him to access the silky slip of
fabric still covering her sex from him. It was wet with her excitement.
He tore that apart with quick movements, feeling so euphoric that it
was like riding the high of a drug whenever he caught a whiff of her
pheromones. Once he freed her hidden treasure, he lowered his lips to claim
her sensitive nub, licking and sucking it as her lower back arched off the
bed. She cried out in vocal pleasure, her hand dropping to tangle her fingers
in his hair as she begged in broken words for more.
He slipped an antenna inside her soaking slit, coating his receptors
with her essence, until he was shaking with the power of its impact on him.
He had to push his own sack tight up against his body with one hand to
keep it from releasing his seed too early. He lashed her sensitive spot until
she came with a loud cry, determined that she would be the first one to
climax.
Once he’d brought her over the peak, he sat up and then fitted his tip
to her slippery opening. With a long, exhaled groan, he buried himself
inside her welcoming warmth to the hilt.
 She drove him wild with her scent. It was almost like a frenzy,
filling him with a burst of energy and speed that made it seem like the
world around him had slowed down to a near pause. Then it was just the
two of them, moving in tandem as he thrust inside her, shifting his body to
get the most out of its effect on her. He loved to watch her expressions as he
pleasured her, and himself, bringing them both back to orgasm.
Time only seemed to speed up to normal again when her body
convulsed around his length with her climax. Only then did he allow
himself to go over that edge too, spurting his seed inside her, pushing away
the small regret that it would never take root and result in children.
He already had a colony—a family—to call his own. Tarin was all
he needed—and more than he’d ever dreamed he’d have.
 Chapter 37
A week later, they were in the middle of planning their wedding on
Akrellia—an affair that was supposed to be a small, simple affair on
Shadowtouch land. For some reason, the guest list kept growing. Tarin was
actually okay with that, since it included her best friends in the whole
galaxy, as well as her family. The new governing Akrellian oversight board
had granted her parents and brothers special, expedited permission to leave
Earth.
At their planning gathering, she visited with Claire—who was hard
at work making Tarin’s wedding dress. Thrax hovered silently nearby, never
found far from Claire—at least, when he wasn’t saving the world by killing
a Menops queen. Theresa and Tirel engaged in a deep conversation with
Joanie and Nemon. Ava attending alone, making the usual excuses for her
mates. Tarin still wondered how that relationship worked.
The wedding celebration would also include all the hybrid children,
but they were currently with extended members of the Shadowtouch tribe
so the adults could focus on their plans.
The Test Subject Wives Club members hadn’t been permitted by
their overprotective mates to travel to Earth during the invasion. They’d
been extremely unhappy about that, from what Tarin heard in their bitter
comments on the subject, but at least they were all now together in a place
where the world was safe and settled.
They still made complaints about not being able to go to Earth yet,
until the Akrellians decided it was safe enough to open trade, travel, and
commerce with the rest of the galaxy. They were excited about the prospect
of returning home again, even if it would only be for a visit.
Claire was even excited about seeing her mother again, though her
relationship with the woman had been chilly at best. She’d been happy to
get news that her mother had survived the invasion.
Ava hadn’t been quite as lucky, and had lost both her parents to
Menops foot soldiers invading their home. To Tarin’s relief, the grieving
woman had not cast her blame at Hunter, even though she had to know he
was involved. She knew more than most people about what was going on,
but her mates forbade her from speaking of that knowledge.
And then there was Cass and Nahash. Cass made an offer to play
guitar for Tarin’s wedding. Tarin gladly accepted, since Cass was a gifted
guitar player, but it was when Cass greeted Hunter for the first time that
Tarin grew tense, worried that the friendship she’d formed with Cass might
suffer from the shared history of Cass and Hunter. Nahash still eyed Hunter
like he wanted to smash him with his great big snake tail, but he was
keeping peaceful. If Cass accepted Hunter’s apology, Tarin felt like Nahash
would come around. He would do anything to please Cass.
“I’m really sorry about your eye,” Cass said as soon as their initial
introduction—re-introduction—was over.
Hunter looked taken aback by her words, and Tarin knew he’d been
working himself up for this meeting, knowing he owed Cass an apology for
shooting her with his envenomed stinger. “You did what you had to do, and
I never blamed you for the intent behind your actions. I deeply apologize
for what I did to you and your mate by shooting you with my stinger.”
Cass pulled a face. “Yeah, that wasn’t fun. I guess I can say I pity
Halian for that much that he had to suffer. I’m not one for holding grudges,
to be honest. I feel like we were all in a rough place during that time. Tarin
believes in you. She says we can trust you and that you’ve changed.”
Cass put an arm around Tarin’s shoulder, pulling her in tight for a
side hug. “And I’d trust this lady with my life, so I’m taking her word for it.
Plus, you make her glow, and I’ve never seen Tarin glow. For that alone,
you have my forgiveness—and my gratitude. As long as you take good care
of my friend, I’ll call you friend too.”
Tarin blinked back tears of gratitude towards Cass for being so
understanding and hugged her back with one arm around her waist. “Thank
you, girl!”
“Hey, what are friends for. Besides, the past is the past, and that’s
where it should stay.”
“You do me a great honor,” Hunter said, bowing to Cass. “I don’t
deserve your forgiveness, but I will work hard to earn your faith in me.”
Cass grinned at him. “You know, you look a lot better than the last
time I saw you. No offense.”
 Hunter’s solemn expression shifted into a slight smile, though his
dark eyes twinkled with amusement. “None taken. I won’t mention how
humans looked to me back then.”
Cass reached out with her free hand and patted his bulging shoulder.
“Probably best that you don’t. Nahash is just waiting for you to insult me so
he can squish you.”
She winked at Nahash, who’d slithered over to hover a few coil
lengths away from them, but still well within range of striking if Hunter
made a threatening motion towards Cass—or even insulted her, apparently.
The serpentine male regarded Cass’s hand touching Hunter as if he
wanted to rip into Hunter’s shoulder and tear away any skin she’d graced
with her touch. He was extremely possessive of his mate, though Tarin
suspected Hunter would be as irritated to see her touching another male she
wasn’t related to, and decided not to go around testing her theory.
Tarin sighed at Nahash’s hard expression as he watched Hunter. It
would probably take time for him to warm up to Hunter after the whole
incident with Cass, but at least he was willing to avoid making any trouble,
and he was going to their wedding, so she thanked him for those favors.
They were just settling in for the final planning stages when Ava’s
Lusians teleported into the courtyard where they were meeting.
Roz was always the one leading them, and Tarin had never been
able to tell the others apart, since they were all slender and willowy, unlike
Roz, who was built with a more solid frame corded with lean muscle.
This time though—in addition to one of the other slender grays—he
was accompanied by a huge, obviously male behemoth that still possessed
the gray skin and ovoid eyes, but had shoulder-length black hair that framed
his face, and even hung partially in front of it, casting shadows over his
features. He had body proportions even larger than Hunter’s muscular bulk,
and his head was smaller than the other grays, and more human in shape.
Ava reacted to the arrival of Roz and the new male with a shocked
gasp that she usually didn’t have for Roz’s other unscheduled arrivals. She
quickly broke away from conversation with Tirel’s parents to rush to Roz.
“What the heck is Beast doing here?” she said, but despite the
censure in her words, she lifted both hands to run them over the huge gray’s
bulging chest muscles, patting her hands over him like she was petting him
to comfort him.
 “We have a problem,” Roz said aloud, though he often resorted to
speaking inside Ava’s head alone, but she was trying to break him of that
habit. “Beast will accompany you at all times to guard you.”
He shifted his large ovoid eyes from Ava’s shocked expression to
look at all of them in turn. “I ask that you all help him protect our mate in
our absence.”
“Your absence?” Ava turned from soothing the massive male to grab
Roz’s shoulder. “What the heck are you talking about?”
The gray visibly winced as if her light touch inspired some kind of
pain in him. Normally, his expressions were far more subtle, if present at
all.
“The future we feared has come to pass.”
Ava shook her head. “We saved Earth, just like you said we would.”
Roz turned his enigmatic gaze fully on Ava, as if nothing else
mattered to him. He lifted a three-fingered hand to cover the one that she
had resting on his shoulder. “Yes, we have done all we can to follow the
best path, but there was one remaining detail. One last danger we had to
avoid. We tried, but we failed. Halian has been recaptured by the Iriduans.”
Tirel slowly set down his drink on one of the carved sculptural
chairs that dotted the courtyard. “That’s impossible! He was being
transported by an entire fleet of—”
“Decoys,” Roz said, not breaking his eyes away from Ava. “The real
transport was a single ship—The Star Dancer. I’m sorry, Tirel, but your ship
was lost—as was Halian.”
Beside Ava, Beast growled low in his chest, looking around at all of
them in turn with his ovoid black eyes, as if he was disturbed by the
growing tension and shock in the courtyard. He shifted his massive bulk
closer to Ava, who absentmindedly stroked his chest, her focus still on Roz.
Tirel seemed staggered by the news, and Tarin’s heart went out to
him as he reached for the seat where he’d set his drink, then slowly sank
into it. Theresa rushed to his side, and Tarin could feel the strength of their
bond from where she stood a dozen steps away as the connection swelled
between them, allowing Theresa to bear some of Tirel’s shock and pain as
her own.
“So Halian escaped justice?” Theresa asked from her position beside
Tirel, as she clutched his hand in hers.
 Roz looked at her and Tarin saw the implacable expression he
usually wore shift to something like pity and regret. “No. Justice would
have been a kind fate compared to the one that awaits him.”
“If the Iriduans are just going to torture and kill him, then why is
that a problem for us?” her brother, Rory, asked, finally getting over his
shock at seeing a gray alien teleport into the middle of their gathering.
She cringed at how heartless her brother sounded, but she
understood his feelings on the matter. Halian had done terrible, unforgivable
things. He deserved no less than a slow, painful death. Still, she couldn’t
wish that on him, and actually pitied him now that he was back in the hands
of the Iriduans.
Roz turned to face her brother, and Rory took a nervous step back,
swallowing as he looked around for family members to serve as his allies.
“Halian was always the final key. Had he made it to the Syndicate
Committee safely, he would have been executed, and all his knowledge
would have died with him. The future we have worked so hard to bring
about would be secure. Now, there are new currents in the flux. Only one
leads to a future.”
“Don’t you mean only one leads to a good future?” Ava asked,
wrapping her arm around Beast’s waist as if she needed the comfort and he
was a giant teddy bear and not a massive monster that snarled at anyone
who even shifted in her direction, baring sharp canines.
Roz turned his gaze back to her like she was a magnet and he was
made of iron. “No. I mean ‘a’ future. If we do not follow that current, then
there is nothing but the dark wave of chaos ahead.”
Tirel stood up and strode towards Roz, slowing his step when Beast
growled at him and shifted to put both arms around Ava. He tugged her
against his chest as he turned towards Roz so she was forced between them,
which garnered an impatient sigh from her.
“What do we need to do to ensure we follow that current?” Tirel
asked, pausing far enough away that Beast’s snarl relaxed infinitesimally.
Roz spreads his hands out to his sides and slowly shook his head. “It
is out of your hands. Whatever happens now, we cannot control or
manipulate from a distance. We’ve done all we can within the rules of the
‘observers.’ We will attempt direct intervention, but it’s likely we will be
thwarted by the progenitors.”
 Tarin felt like she was watching a show on television, rather than
being in the middle of this terrible situation. She felt numb and detached.
Especially with the gift in her bag that she’d acquired for Hunter before
she’d left Earth, and the news she’d wanted to tell him.
This was not the future she’d hoped for. Not her “happily ever
after.”
“There is still hope,” Roz said, shifting his gaze to focus on her.
All eyes turned her way, as she jumped in surprise at being directly
addressed by Roz. “For a future? The future I envisioned with Hunter?”
Roz nodded. “Do as you planned. If this future you envisioned does
not come to pass, then you won’t be around to care—but if it does, then
your life will be enriched.”
Ava leaned her head against Beast’s hard abdominals. “Is there
really nothing we can do?”
Roz was silent for a long moment before he answered. “We can
hope that Halian finds his mate.”
 Chapter 38
The revelations the Lusians had made—and the devastating loss of
the Star Dancer and her crew—ended the gathering on a deeply unhappy
note that had Tarin putting off the wedding until everyone could process the
terrible news.
And decide what to do about it.
She and Hunter retired to their quarters in the tribal house and
closed out the world with a solid door between them and the sadness of the
day’s events.
She dithered for a while as she watched him slowly undress, his
mind clearly elsewhere as he revealed his gorgeous body to her. The small
scab that he’d had on his back from where the Akrellians had installed a
tracker near his spine had healed up completely now, and Tarin’s gaze
traced a path from that little scar down to the perfect ass that bunched and
shifted below it with his movements, teasingly concealed and revealed by
his twitching wings.
She sighed heavily, wanting nothing more than to just bury herself
in her passion for Hunter and pretend all that had happened that day was
undone. She lifted her bag from where she’d dropped it by the bed before
flopping down on the mattress. After pulling it into her lap, she withdrew
the gift she’d acquired for Hunter. An early wedding gift.
And a symbol.
He turned at the sound of her rustling around in the bag.
“What do you have there?” he asked, stepping closer to her as he
wrapped a loincloth around his waist, much fonder of the Akrellian style of
dress than human clothes.
Tarin withdrew a test tube from the climate-controlled box she’d had
it in and held it out to Hunter.
“What is this?” He took the offered tube and lifted it up so he could
look closer at the tiny life inside it.
“That’s a pregnant camponotus queen. I hope I pronounced that
right. The myrmecologist said that’s what carpenter ants were called. He
gave me a ton of instructions on how to care for her and her colony when
she started laying eggs. I also have a formicarium packed in my bags—it’s
an ant habitat. You know, I never realized that there was a different word for
someone who studies ants. You wouldn’t believe how busy those specialists
are on Earth now. Well… I guess it makes sense, given the recent invasion.”
Hunter turned the test tube this way and that, studying the little
queen inside with fascination visible on his face. “This is an ‘ant’? A
pregnant queen?”
She nodded. “That’s what he told me. He also insisted I take really
good care of her, so I promised him that the guy I was giving her to was an
expert.” She shrugged. “I may have fudged the truth a bit, but I didn’t think
I should reveal that you were Menops. I don’t think he would have reacted
like most humans would. He seemed fascinated by your species.”
Hunter shifted his focus from the test tube to meet her eyes. “But
my species is not like this.”
She nodded, grinning. “Oh, believe me! I know. I have gained a
greater understanding of ants in my discussion with her previous owner
than I ever thought I would need to know. I realize now how different you
are from them. Still, I thought you’d be interested in keeping her on our
ship. You said it could grow habitats for different xeno-specimens, so I
thought—”
Hunter carefully curled his hand around the test tube as he leaned
down to press his lips to hers. After a long kiss that left her breathless, he
pulled away.
“I have never been given a gift such as this. I can’t remember ever
being given a gift at all, but this gift would have been the best, even if I had.
Thank you. I shall see to it that this little queen and all her offspring are
well cared for. You have truly given me a colony!”
She braced herself, closing her eyes, wondering if she should even
continue on with what she’d meant to say when she presented the ant
queen. After all, things had changed now, hadn’t they? They might not even
have a future, so should she even plan for one?
Do as you planned. If this future you envisioned does not come to
pass, then you won’t be around to care—but if it does, then your life will be
enriched.
 With a final swallow around the lump in her throat, she decided to
take Roz’s words to heart. “There’s something more. That queen is a
symbol. I did want to give you a colony, but I also want to give you
children of your own.”
She blew out a breath, her heart pounding as she waited for his
response.
His eyebrows drew together above his perfect nose. “I don’t
understand.”
She bit her lip, twisting her fingers together in her lap. “Well, while
I was on Earth, I paid a visit to the trauma therapist handling the emotional
fallout in the medical ward. We had a nice long talk, and I think that—if I
continue therapy in between our missions—I can learn to manage my anger
and it would be safe to… if I were to have a….”
Hunter dropped to one knee before her and cradled her cheek with
one hand, the other still holding the ant queen’s tube carefully protected.
“I don’t need children. All I need is you. You are my family and I
ask for nothing more than this.”
She shook her head. “I know you aren’t asking for them, but you
want children, Hunter. And you know what? So do I. I’ve just always been
afraid to have them, because I didn’t think I’d be able to raise them. I was
afraid I would turn into my father. But now I understand that I’m not bound
to repeat his mistakes. I don’t have to become a monster like him.”
She lifted a hand to wrap it around his, and he turned his hand to
entwine their fingers, not commenting on how clammy her palm was or the
fact that her hand was shaking. “I don’t know if we’ll even have a future,
because of what’s happened. But if we do, I want to have children. With
you. I finally believe I would be a good mom.”
He tightened his fingers around her, and used their combined grip to
tug her in for another kiss. “You will be the best mother. And the best queen
a Menops male could ever dream of.”
 Chapter 39
The Inu’A reacted to their return with a celebration of great joy,
especially since they came from the sky instead of the spire, which the
Akrellian engineers were still trying to figure out how to use safely.
Fortunately, they’d been able to locate the Inu’A homeworld using
information taken from the laboratory where they’d once been created.
Now, the gentle, friendly people that had provided Tarin and Hunter shelter
were being given a second chance by the arrival of an Akrellian ambassador
ship as well as Hunter’s ship.
Tarin was thrilled to be back on Hunter’s organic vessel, even
though she still found it weird that he’d grown the ship from what had
essentially been some kind of sentient tumor that had grown between his
wings. It was a strange vessel, and reminded her how bizarre her mate was,
but she didn’t care. She loved him in all his weirdness. She’d even still kiss
him if his mandibles reappeared again.
She was also thrilled to be able to walk among the Inu’A again. This
time, she didn’t need someone to translate their language for her, since the
Akrellians had used Hunter’s embedded translator to update their own, so
they had the ancient Iriduan language used to communicate with the
hybrids.
Now, she could speak to Bakt easily, and she was happy to have the
chance to reconnect with her friend and explain all that had gone on since
they’d suddenly disappeared from the mating cave. The hybrids were
understandably horrified to discover that the cave had a secret entrance
leading to an alien laboratory, but they took the news about their true
origins and how they were created and used as test subjects with far more
aplomb than Tarin would have.
The Inu’A were incredibly pragmatic, and rather than being the rigid
traditionalists she would have expected them to be—because of their deeply
spiritual focus on death and the afterlife—they tended to roll with changes
very quickly, embracing new ideas.
 Perhaps it was because there were so few of them left that they’d
take whatever lifelines were offered, but she suspected that they were just
highly adaptive to change. A trait that likely made their origin species—or
perhaps they were the origin of the jackal—very successful at survival.
Whatever the case might be, they were ecstatic to have newcomers
promising aide to help them expand their population and even further settle
their homeworld, which turned out to be rich in a mineral that was not
found on Earth or any other Akrellian world that gave that green tinge to
the sand. Tarin suggested they call that mineral “money” and be done with
it, but she suspected there would be arguments over what to actually name
it, since the Inu’A just called it sand.
They also received news that they could reproduce with humans,
due to them being closer to human than jackal—despite their appearance.
The viability of those pregnancies might not be as high as that between two
humans or two of the hybrids. It still appeared to be possible, and with
careful monitoring, they could interbreed safely.
That would be something the humans and Inu’A would have to
work out though, since their very existence was shocking to the human
diplomats that had joined the Akrellians on their first flight to this world.
The appearance of Anubis had become iconic to humanity
throughout history, but the idea that such creatures might have ever existed
had been quickly dismissed by modern thinkers as the superstition and
fertile imagination of more primitive civilizations.
The humans of Earth also still struggled with the very concept of
interspecies breeding, forgetting that they themselves had been a result of it
in their protests against such practices. Though some human groups
demanded genetic purity be protected by laws forbidding such things—
fearing humanity might disappear altogether in the wake of newly emerging
hybrids—others embraced the concept.
During the visits between the Akrellians and the Inu’A, which were
broadcast back to Earth, plans were discussed to create a bridge between
their world and Earth for humans and hybrids to intermingle and possibly
find mates.
Hunter and Tarin ignored the drama going on around them as they
revisited the place where they’d come together as mates. After ensuring the
secret door was firmly barred, they decided to wipe away the last memory
they had of their time in the mating cave and replace it with a much better
one.
She was surprised at how freeing and comfortable it felt to be back
in the Inu’A-style dress, which she’d put on as a gesture to her hosts, but
also because it offered very easy access for Hunter.
He was again wearing the wraparound skirt that their hosts had
given him, and nothing else but the strap of the basket he was carrying that
held their picnic meal. This time, they’d been promised there would be no
interruptions.
“It’s getting pretty crowded in this necropolis,” she said, stopping at
the ledge by the pool to turn around and watch him approach.
Hunter stopped beside her and lifted the strap off his shoulder, then
carefully set the basket down. “I wonder if the Inu’A will truly find humans
brave enough to leave their own world and come here to be mates. From
what the geneticists said, interbreeding could be risky, despite the seamless
hybridization done by the ancients.”
He glanced up at the towering seated statues of the “zookeepers” the
Inu’A had once believed to be fertility gods.
Tarin shrugged, ignoring those serene stone faces. “I think if they do
find mates, they’re going to need to get some doors on those bedrooms. Not
every girl or guy is going to want to rough it in a cave.”
Not that they were really roughing it. The ledge was smooth as silk,
the calcite it was formed from as slick as glass from being worn down over
the centuries. And the beauty of their surroundings couldn’t be argued.
She was examining the green crystal spears sticking out of the base
of the waterfall when Hunter bent down and withdrew something from his
basket. “I wanted to give you a gift, though I can’t imagine any gift that
would ever equal what you’ve already given me. Still, there is a reason I
spent the last two days closed away with Anubis and his assistants.”
As she watched him, he withdrew a jeweled collar made of gold
wire and carved beads that shimmered with the same opalescence that had
decorated the surface of his cocoon. Some of the beads were in the vibrant
colors that had marked his cocoon. She gasped, unconsciously holding her
hands out towards the beautiful collar.
“I must confess that Anubis and his assistants carved the beads.
They are ‘scarabs’ I’m told, and they have a symbolic meaning for the
Inu’A. I did create the wire and wove the collar. It is a tradition for a
Menops male to give his queen a gift made from his cocoon, if he is lucky
enough to be accepted into her colony.”
He pointed to three accent beads made from the same green crystal
she’d just been admiring. The beads sparkled with very subtle facets among
the other opalescent beads. “These are gifts from Anubis to symbolize our
time here in the necropolis.” His brows drew together. “I was suspicious at
first that he simply wanted to make some claim on you. He did ask me
about you before he understood that you were my queen. He assured me
that this was only a gift given in good will to us for leading the others here
and giving the Inu’A hope for a future.”
Tarin lifted a hand to conceal her smile at Hunter’s obvious jealousy.
She loved that he would tolerate no other male sniffing around her. She was
also flattered that Anubis—the leader of his people—had been interested in
claiming her as his own mate. She’d never felt desirable before, but that
was in the past, when she was still allowing all the hateful voices that
haunted her to tell her how she should feel about herself. Now, she knew
better. She knew to listen to the voices of those who loved her.
Hunter stood again and held the collar out to her. “I would like you
to wear this while we are mating. I’ve spent the past two days thinking of
you in this collar—and nothing else.”
Tarin had taken the collar, the weight of it surprising, and was
already settling it on her collarbone when he said the last words, eyeing her
dress.
She grinned and handed the collar back to him long enough to untie
her belt, then pull the dress off over her head. Standing naked before him,
she let him attach the collar around her neck, then adjust it over her
collarbone.
His hand dropped from the lowest semicircle of beads to the hard
peak of her nipple, capping the swell of her naked breast right below the
collar’s edge.
“It’s perfect,” he said, his voice rasping with his arousal as he gently
flicked his thumb over her nipple.
“How can you tell? You’re not even looking at the collar,” she said
teasingly, then moaned when he lowered his head to suck on her nipple.
 He lifted his head just long enough to smirk at her. “I wasn’t talking
about the collar.”
She shivered when he lowered his head to claim her nipple again,
his hands stroking down her body, smoothing over her skin until they
reached her hips. One of his hands slipped to her buttock to squeeze it as if
he enjoyed its softness, and the other played through the curly hairs
concealing her sex.
She tried to touch him in turn, but his antennae pushed her hands
away from him. “Let me worship you first, my queen.”
With that, he moved on to her other nipple, paying it some attention
as the air kissed the damp nipple he freed, only making it firmer.
His hand dipped lower through her curls, seeking her clit. As his
fingers swept through her damp heat, he moaned, his lips vibrating against
her nipple. Then he sucked harder, his tongue lashing the sensitive flesh as
she arched her upper back to push her breast against him. The weight of the
collar seemed to be the only thing that grounded her, because he was
already lifting her towards the peak.
Her knees grew weak as he lavished his attention on her breasts,
then began to slowly kiss his way down her body until his tongue found her
clit that he’d been teasing with slow strokes from his fingers until she’d
nearly come.
He hadn’t let her go there yet, not until his tongue had its turn, but
once the damp heat of it stroked over her hypersensitive clit, she climaxed,
throwing her head back and crying out in ecstasy as her inner muscles
convulsed.
Hunter’s hands supported her shaking legs, keeping her from
collapsing when her knees went too weak to support her all on their own.
“They should carve a statue of you in this moment, my queen. You
are the most beautiful female in the galaxy, especially when you wear
nothing but my collar and your passion.”
 Epilogue
Tarin watched the busy little ants in their formicarium as they raced
about their daily tasks. They truly were an interesting spectacle, and she’d
grown to understand why so many people were fascinated by them. Of
course, they weren’t anywhere near as fascinating as her Menops, but then
nothing else in the universe was.
And in the past few years, she’d seen a lot of the universe. Or at
least, a lot of it for a human.
Humans were becoming a more familiar sight in Syndicate space
now that they were sponsored by their Akrellian oversight committee, and
Earth’s grasp of technology was advancing in leaps and bounds under the
careful tutelage of the Akrellians.
They were building their own interstellar ships now, capable of
using the jumpstations set up by the Lusians for travel. They were also
working on FTL systems and antimatter reactors, but they weren’t being
handed that sort of tech. They had to develop it on their own, as per
Syndicate rules and laws. Fortunately, the humans had been close to many
breakthroughs already, and having the extra nudge here and there from the
Akrellians really helped their scientists and engineers.
The Ultimans had decided to respond to the loss of their claim on
Earth with good grace and had offered their assistance with aide in
environmental science and clean energy generation, helping to preserve
Earth’s natural areas and encouraging colonization options to address
humanity’s growing population.
The Lusians had withdrawn their ships from what was now
Akrellian and human-controlled space, but they maintained contact with the
human ambassadors of the newly-formed Human Galactic Authority
Council. Whether it was friendly contact or not was difficult for most
humans to tell, and quite frankly, neither could Tarin. Lusians were always
difficult to read.
The Iriduans had not been pleased at the Akrellians swooping in and
taking Earth from them, but they’d also been very slow to react to the
Menops invasion on Earth, so they’d lost favor from the Syndicate—and
they’d already been on thin ice in that regard. They’d also withdrawn their
ships from human and Akrellian-controlled space, and they definitely
weren’t friendly to either species at this point.
Tarin feared there would someday be a war between Iriduans and
humans, and there was always some skirmish going on between Iriduans
and Akrellians, but it was something she couldn’t worry herself about too
much. She had too many other things to think about. She just hoped
humanity was prepared, because the Iriduans always had something up their
sleeves, and given how big and robe-like those sleeves were, it could be
something huge.
In fact, rumors in the information community said that descendants
of the ancient Iriduans that had been living on Earth had been relocated
back into Iriduan space. There was no telling what kind of knowledge they
could give their new emperor.
Roz and his crew had returned from their foray into Iriduan space,
but they’d come back emptyhanded. Even with their abilities, they’d been
unable to locate any sign of Halian. They wouldn’t say any more about the
situation, but they told everyone to go on living their lives the way they
wanted to live them. It was pointless to worry about a future you couldn’t
control.
“Mama!” A little toddler barreled around the corner into the
specimen room on the back of a mite that had grown large enough to carry
him.
Tarin grinned and turned away from the formicarium in time to
snatch her son up in her arms and snuggle him against her chest.
Even at only two years old, he was already bossing around all the
mites on the ship. He had little wings on his back, but no antennae. In fact,
other than the wings, he appeared to be human—but appearances were
deceptive.
Little Lucas had already undergone one shift in his form that had
been terrifying for all of them, because it had caused him a lot of pain.
They’d learned that the best way to manage shifts was to keep him feeling
safe and secure and reduce environmental stressors, but it was still a
process, and he was very precocious and wanted to go everywhere his
daddy did. Since Hunter spent much of his time on dangerous Rim planets,
seeking hardened criminals, that was a big “no” from Tarin.
“Where’s Lucas?” Hunter called from further down the corridor in a
singsong tone that had Lucas wriggling in Tarin’s arms, struggling to be put
down so he could jump back on the mite that was patiently waiting for its
rider to return.
“I have ta ‘scape daddy!” Lucas said.
Tarin grinned as she set her son down and watched him toddle over
to the mite that met him halfway and allowed him to clamber onto its
exoskeleton-protected back before it skittered off.
Her son would never have to run from his father for anything more
than a game of hide-and-seek. She’d made sure that she’d chosen well for
her mate, though she supposed the universe that had always punished her
had been the one to choose for her. Perhaps, her life had always been a test,
and maybe she’d finally passed.
He’d also never have to run from his mother, because she’d learned
how to control her anger, and continued therapy and the love and support of
her family and friends was helping her to finally put her past behind her.
As her husband—her beloved mate—strolled into the specimen
room with a baby cradled in each arm—her twin girls Emma and Sophie,
both completely human in appearance—her heart pounded and her stomach
fluttered at how incredibly handsome he was. Even with the wings. Even
with the antennae. Even knowing that at any moment, he could grow
mandibles and an exoskeleton again. He would be beautiful to her even
then.
He was also the best father she could have ever asked for. When he
wasn’t planetside, hunting dangerous criminals, he was on the ship with
them spending every possible moment with his kids, until they were asleep.
Then he would turn his efforts to pleasing her until she was crying out in
ecstasy and begging for mercy. Only then would he allow her to return the
favor.
They spent half of the Earth year in space, and the rest on Earth,
with occasional stops on Akrellia and Hierabodos to meet with friends.
When the kids were older, Tarin would probably agree to leave them with
their grandma and grandpa—who missed them when they were with Tarin
and Hunter on missions—now that things on Earth were finally beginning
to settle down and humans were actually adapting to their changed
circumstances.
It was funny to watch the same skeptics that had hotly decried and
mocked people who believed in aliens, now become the most vocal
proponents of accepting alien laws and cultural influence on Earth. There
were still holdouts that might try to make things difficult for hybrids on
Earth, but for the most part, humanity was recovering better than Tarin had
expected. When people saw Lucas in the grocery store on Earth, most of
them came over to “ooh” and “ahh” and compliment him on his little wings.
Even those who made ugly faces at seeing him didn’t have the nerve to say
anything aloud, because they would be publicly shamed for such behavior.
And when they saw Hunter kiss her in public, like he bent to kiss
her now, no one dared to make a negative comment. If anything, Tarin
would often hear sighs from other human women—and sometimes men.
She would also often overhear whispered speculations from those
people about what it would be like to be with an alien and maybe they
should join one of the many dating sites that had sprung up on the
GalactaNet—now connected to Earth’s Internet—that facilitated the
meetings between humans and extraterrestrials that were interested in
finding one as a mate.
She doubted any of the humans that saw Hunter understood that he
was a Menops of the same species that had invaded their planet. After all,
humans still saw the Menops as monstrous creatures and didn’t even think
of them as sentient, so they wouldn’t make the connection between them
and someone like Hunter, who looked almost human.
The Menops on Earth had been completely eliminated as far as
anyone knew. Without a queen, even those strays that had gone
underground and had hidden couldn’t survive without her pheromones.
Unless they were males ready to mate, but Hunter told her it was
unlikely the queen had begun producing wanderers at such an early stage in
her colonization efforts, since those males required resources and didn’t put
much back into the colony they were preparing to leave behind.
Of course, Earth was a planet rich with resources—and resources
made all the difference when it came to what a Menops queen chose to do.
 Author’s Note:
Whew! There’s a lot going on in this book, and I don’t even know
where to begin with this author’s note, so I’ll start with the ending. The
epilogue may seem like a bit of a spoiler for the next book but I decided to
include it anyway, because I didn’t want to leave you all on a cliffhanger,
and also because you probably know by now that Halian is going to find his
mate. The Fractured Mate will be the next book in this series, and it will be
Halian’s book. Most, if not all, of what he’s planned and his motivations
will finally be revealed in that book. I have already done significant work
on the outline of it and will be starting it after a couple of other projects that
I want to finish up this year, so it won’t be out until 2019.
This book was a tough one to write because I initially planned to
have a lot more perspectives besides Hunter’s and Tarin’s in the story,
which is why I again switched to third person point of view for the
narration. After getting halfway into the book, I realized that all those other
perspectives (Thrax, Tirel, Nemon, Nahash, and even Roz) would be way
too much and would distract from the main characters’ story. Instead, I
didn’t go into detail about the invasion of Earth in this book, though I have
plans for some short stories or supplemental materials for that event.
Eventually, I would like to write a book from the perspective of a heroine
on Earth during that invasion, but it won’t be until after Ava’s book is done.
(I have an outline—or two—for those Earth-based stories) As for who the
heroes will be… well, there’s a couple of possibilities for that. ;)
As for Ava’s story (because I know you guys really want it, and I
really want to share it!) I’m also aiming for 2019, but it won’t come out
until after Halian’s, because there will probably be spoilers for Halian’s
book in Ava’s book, since I will finally be writing the story with Roz’s
perspective. (I’m really excited about introducing him and his crew in their
own story!)
Anubis was always going to appear in some point in my writing. For
those who have read my Into the Dead Fall series, you may have picked up
that I love the Egyptian myths and pantheon and aesthetic. Ancient Egypt
was the first civilization to capture my young mind when I was a kid, and I
fell in love with it. My first major school project was a clay sarcophagus.
(My enthusiasm far outstripped my sculpting ability, sadly). Of the entire
pantheon, Anubis has always been my favorite Egyptian deity. I love
anything dealing with the Underworld myths of ancient civilizations (which
is one reason why I combined two different myths with Anubis and
Cerberus), and to top it all off, Anubis just looks really awesome. I had
planned to introduce him or one of his servants in my Into the Dead Fall
series, but it never seemed like the right time. I wanted his introduction to
be special and meaningful, and not just because I love him!
When I realized that Hunter would be going through his
metamorphosis as a “resurrection” from what appears at first to be death, I
knew that I wanted to introduce a necropolis where he goes through such a
journey, and of course, Anubis had to be there as a guide. It was finally
time.
Of course, I didn’t focus on the Inu’A too much in this book for the
same reason that I resisted the urge to go off on tangents with the invasion
of Earth. The primary focus of this book needed to be Hunter and Tarin and
their coming together as mates. The romance is the important thing for me,
and I hope you enjoyed it! I have plans to revisit the necropolis and further
explore the Inu’A and their culture at some future date (the “power of
three” has some significance as well, but I’m not going to say what just
yet.) Rest assured, I don’t throw those things in there without a reason. :D
The ancient Iriduans are another thread I followed a bit further than
I have in the other books, and I’m finally getting the chance to discuss their
connection to Earth and their enormous influence on Earth and its history.
There’s also a reason the Iriduans were so respected and feared in the
galaxy, even though they’ve lost much of their power in modern times.
Each time I finish a book, I have a ton of things I still want to share
about it that I can’t cover in the story itself. There’s so much going on in
this universe I’ve created that I hope you’ll want to come back for more,
because I have many plans and many ideas to follow all the different
threads that diverge from the stories themselves. (And I hope at least some
of you want to learn about Beast and why he doesn’t normally leave the
ship. ;) )
 I have created a sign-up for my newsletters, and I’m planning to add
a little bit of something exclusive to my newsletters only (snippets from
works in progress, or from unpublished works, character interviews,
supplemental materials just for fun, my own character artwork, and just
other fun things that might interest my fans). I don’t send newsletters often,
and will only send them to make announcements about upcoming releases,
sales, or giveaways, but when I do, I’m going to add a bit of something that
you can only find in my newsletters, so if you’d like to see these little
tidbits, be sure to sign up at that link down below. I won’t send spam and
won’t ever share any of your information.
I am eternally grateful to all my wonderful fans that have made the
success of this series possible! Your continued support of this series inspires
and motivates me to write the next book—and then the next!
I love to hear from my readers! I try to spend a little time on
Facebook each week, but I’m not as active on social media as I probably
should be. However, I do update my Facebook page, The Princess’s
Dragon, whenever I have information about a new release, and I check it
frequently to read comments and respond to questions. Also please check
out my blog: https://susantrombleyblog.wordpress.com/ where I also post
announcements and other fun stuff when I’m taking a break from my
writing. You can also send me an email at
www.susantrombley06@gmail.com.
Sign up for my newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gudYOT
Follow me on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3407490.Susan_Trombley
Also you can follow me on Bookbub:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/susan-trombley
And of course, my Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-
Trombley/e/B003A0FBYM
 Susan Trombley’s other books:
Iriduan Test Subjects series
The Scorpion’s Mate
The Kraken’s Mate
The Serpent’s Mate
The Warrior’s Mate
The Hunter’s Mate (this book!)

Into the Dead Fall series

Into the Dead Fall
Key to the Dead Fall
Minotaur's Curse
Chimera’s Gift

Shadows in Sanctuary series

Lilith’s Fall
Balfor’s Salvation
Jessabelle’s Beast

Fantasy series—Breath of the Divine

The Princess Dragon
The Child of the Dragon Gods
Light of the Dragon