Chapter 6 Dana
Holy shit on a stick! Gnnar was terrifying when he was angry.
The moment Gnnar had broken out of his straps, Smartass—my mental name for the mean guard who’d shoved me in the beginning—had opened the transport door in a blind panic to get away from him, and the vehicle had stopped. We were outside now on a dirt road with sparse, low brush on one side and the desert on the other.
Gnnar wasted no time tearing Smartass apart. I had no idea what his terrifying growls meant, but I knew it had something to do with me. Smartass, being dumb as he was, had tried to use me like a shield, which was probably the worst thing he could’ve done. The angry Kadrixan tossed him so hard against the side of the transport that he was now nothing more than a smear. Since Smartass had been a jerkwad to me the entire time and had totally felt me up when they first handed me off to him, I didn’t even feel bad cheering his demise.
The guard that had been up front the whole time stepped out of the vehicle and raised his weapon, aiming it at Gnnar. He hadn’t managed to get a shot off at all. Gnnar picked him up and tossed him so far out into the desert that when he landed, he didn’t get back up.
But now, the last guard, the one that wasn’t a total asshat, had decided to play hero. He stood between Gnnar and me, trying to protect me. The fool was going to get himself killed. I knew that most people did what they had to do to survive. There were usually one or two jobs you qualified for, and just like how I’d written lies and propaganda for Nova Vita, he was forced to be their muscle. He didn’t deserve to die just because he had the misfortune of showing up to work today.
“Stop!” I yelled, stepping in between the two of them. “Don’t fight. Please.” I turned to the guard. “You’re right. This is going to start a war.” I wanted to appeal to his logical side. “Just let me go with him. It’s okay. I’m a journalist, and I’ve been behind enemy lines.” I hadn’t. “I’ll help defuse the conflict. I’ll be fine.”
He eyed the transport and the smear that was left of his coworker as he weighed his choices. When his eyes landed on Gnnar again, the Kadrixan growled low and stepped menacingly toward him.
Shit! I reached out to touch him, and the moment I did, he seemed to calm ever so slightly. It calmed me too, just like it had when we first touched. It made thinking in this stressful situation easier.
The guard put his hands up. “I don’t have anything against you or the Kadrixans.” Then in a softer voice and a quick look over to the transport, he said, “You don’t want to go where they want me to take you anyway. Dr. Noble is a monster.” His face turned resolute. “You may be better off with him.”
A loud beeping coming from the transport had the guard’s eyes opening wide.
“Shit, it’s going to self-destruct. They programmed all the transports to do that now so the rebels couldn’t take them.”
Gnnar growled something urgently.
“What did he say?” asked the guard.
“I don’t know. Omnia Pictures took back the translator I used for the interview.”
Gnnar moved, grabbing the guard by the shirt and shoving him at the still-beeping transport. “No!” he yelled in Nova Vitan English.
“I think he wants you to stop the self-destruct sequence,” I said, searching Gnnar’s face for a clue that I was correct.
The guard backed away from the transport, almost trying to dig through Gnnar to get away. “I can’t. It takes all three of our codes to cancel the process. If you want my advice, run now.” He looked Gnnar in the face. “Go. Take her. I don’t believe you’re a monster like they say. Don’t prove me wrong.” Then he ducked under Gnnar’s arm and beelined it through the brush like he was being chased by a swarm of sandwarts.
Gnnar was left holding the man’s uniform jacket.
“I think we need to leave,” I said, turning to run.
The Kadrixan warrior moved fast. One moment I was scrambling with two left feet away from the transport, and the next I was in his arms. I watched in awe and amazement as his wings unfurled behind him. It was like something out of a nightmare but also infinitely sexy. Moments later, we were airborne.
I let out a decidedly un-ladylike shriek and threw my arms around his neck.
He murmured something next to my ear, and even though I couldn’t understand a word he said, I calmed. His touch soothed me, and everything felt right.
I knew what was happening. I’d spent much of yesterday evening engrossed in Penelope’s story, even though I really should’ve been resting so I’d be ready to leave my laundromat hideout the second the curfew lifted.
I hadn’t been sure what to expect. Maybe pure smut? But by a few chapters into the story, I was fully invested, and I couldn’t wait for the Kadrixan warrior to finally show the main female lead his nest.
I wondered what Gnnar’s nest looked like. Would it be filled with jewels and priceless stones? Or tech and other useful items? I’d probably never know because he’d only show it to his one and only, his fated mate.
And because of what I’d read, I knew that Gnnar was producing pheromones and chemicals for me. According to the story, the Kadrixans did this for any physically compatible female during the rut, regardless of whether they were mates or not.
Sure, I understood that it was a work of fiction, and I doubted Penny would give away any of the Kadrixans’ secrets, but this was something Nova Vita had suspected already. Except most colonists believed that the aliens could somehow mind-control human women. Which must be why all of Gnnar’s guards had been men.
But now I knew the truth. The warriors had no control over the pheromone and hormone production, just like I had no control over my reaction to them. I just hadn’t realized when I was reading it that I was going to experience it the very next day.
But right now, at this very moment, soaring high above the desert in Gnnar’s arms, I appreciated the effect because I’d totally be freaking out otherwise. There wasn’t a single shuttle door, harness, or safety buckle keeping me from tumbling to my death.
And while I trusted that Gnnar wouldn’t drop me if he could help it, he was tiring. I felt a certain closeness to him, but even without that, I could tell that he was struggling to continue flying with me in his arms. He seemed even thinner than when I’d first seen him just yesterday, and moments earlier he’d been under the influence of a nasty combination of sedatives and drugs.
“Gnnar,” I said softly, choosing my words carefully. “I contacted Penny, and her mate says they’ve sent out a rescue team already. We should land so they can find us.” Then, because it seemed important to let him know: “I’m coming with you. Julie is there.”
He grunted, his hand that was supporting my hips gave me a squeeze, and he continued flying even though his wing beats were clearly weakening. Still, I marveled at the fact that those black leathery wings could not only carry himself but me as well.
And that had me thinking of the mating flight mentioned in Penny’s book, as well as what happened between the couple afterward. Except my brain replaced the characters with Gnnar and me. Heat ignited in my core. It was as if his body read mine without any words. The chemicals it produced for me changed, and the relaxing hum disappeared and was instead replaced by a sudden need that bulldozed into me so hard that I could barely breathe.
Every place we touched seemed to burst into flames, burning right through the layers of clothes between us. The mental image of him fucking me in the air like the main character had done in Penny’s book made it a million times worse.
Gnnar groaned as if he’d seen right into my head. We dropped a few feet in the air. I gasped, and my arms tightened around him. He murmured soothing words in that low, sexy voice of his as he corrected his form. He was taking us lower toward the ground now, and I could see where he was aiming to land. I focused on that instead of my body’s tawdry, salacious demands.
I recognized the abandoned research station from the images I’d seen in the news articles. It had been attacked by the natives who lived in the area about a decade ago. I’d still been in school then and hadn’t started my internship at Omnia Pictures, so I didn’t know what really happened and never thought to look into it.
They’d sent a rescue team to evacuate everyone working there and save all the vital research data before abandoning it, cutting it from Nova Vita’s energy supply and network. Like many of the colony’s research stations and outposts outside of the main colony, there weren’t any signs labeling it as such on the outside. But there’d been images of it from the air during the rescue mission, and I recognized it.
The moment we landed, Gnnar stumbled away from me. That was probably for the best since we weren’t out of danger yet. For one, we were still relatively close to Nova Vita, and they were probably looking for us now. And I still had my chip. That had been the reason I was captured.
The jammer had run out of battery about twenty minutes after the curfew had lifted this morning. If it hadn’t been for that curfew, I’d have made it out with time to spare. That didn’t mean the colony couldn’t still find me in the wilderness though. I’d managed to throw my bag and my phone into one of the washing machines before they caught me with them.
Gnnar went straight for the door. The power, and therefore the security, was cut off, meaning the entire research station was open to us. He moved through the complex deliberately, looking for something, and I followed behind, squinting in the darkness. The only light came from the occasional sunroofs that dotted the ceilings. It was just enough to see.
The irrational fear of something jumping out at me from the darkness had me reaching for him. The second my bare fingers touched his arm, the overwhelming need returned, nearly landing me on my ass.
Gnnar made a sound that had to be a curse in his language and stepped away. Right. No touching. Got it. Escape first; we can figure out whatever the hell this was between us after.
We ended up in the research station’s cafeteria-breakroom combo. There were three rows of tables and chairs at the center of the large room and lockers lining one side. One of the walls had a large screen that was now broken. There was a buffet-style counter on the other side. He kept walking toward the back, which I assumed was the kitchen. He must be looking for food and water. When was the last time they fed him?
“I’m going to look through the lockers,” I said, breaking the silence.
He gave a curt nod as he disappeared into the kitchen, and I hurried over to the lockers to see what goodies I could find.