24. Chapter 24
Chapter twenty-four
-Bryce-
T he cold stone wall of the cell pressed against my back. It looked like it was built of the same thing as everything else; a smooth, white stone that seemed formed rather than built. The entire wall had no seams or lines in the stone, no bricks or blocks. I wondered if they somehow grew their buildings.
Through the particle barrier, three of the Aldar who had brought us here stood with their spears. They were just past the doorway, keeping the crowd gathered outside at bay as they poked their heads in and strained to catch a glimpse of me, like an animal in a zoo. The barrier made them shimmer slightly.
I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, and things didn’t seem to be going exactly to plan. I knew I should be trying to figure out some sort of plan, but I couldn’t stop playing that kiss through my mind again and again. It had felt like something out of one of those old movies, where the scene cuts away to an explosion, or a tidal wave, or a volcano erupting. It had been explosive. And really, really damn good. Not to mention his tongue. I swear it had hit the back of my throat at one point.
I wasn’t quite sure how it had happened, it just sort of had. One moment I was looking out over the view, with Kitari next to me, feeling light. And then I was looking at him and it had felt so right. And…
I sighed and knocked my head against the wall. I’d fucked up. Afterwards, he’d been so stiff with me. I mean, apart from being caught and marched at spear point, he’d definitely seemed off. Had I taken advantage of him with my whole pheromones thing? Did they work like that? Like being drunk? I certainly felt drunk when I was near him, but I didn’t know if that was that or just him .
I wanted him to come back so I could talk to him, apologize…or maybe do it again. Either way, I just wanted to see him.
My comm fizzed in my ear, making me jump. I had been lucky that the guard searching me must have assumed it was purely esthetic. They were so fancily decked out themselves and I hadn’t noticed them having any similar tech.
“Gunner,” Chief said.
I checked the Aldar, but they were busy, and with the noise of the crowd outside they shouldn’t be able to hear me.
“Here, sir,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“What do you have for me?”
I kept my eyes on the guards as I spoke. “Not much, sir.”
“That’s not what I want to hear, Gunner. Give me what you’ve got.”
I hesitated, feeling torn. I wanted to please Chief, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel like I was betraying Kitari. But the unit had been my family for most of my life, and Chief was the damn closest thing to a father I’d ever had.
Who was I kidding, the Aldar currently had me locked up in a prison. Kitari wasn’t what I’d expected, that was for sure, but the others? They seemed just as fierce and violent as we’d been told.
I gave Chief a quick rundown of my situation, my very rough estimate at the number of Aldar here—lots—and their defenses—mostly unknown.
He grunted. I couldn’t read into the noise. “How did you get in?”
“I didn’t see much of it, sir. It was dark and it was hard to—“
“Then tell me exactly what you did see.“ His tone was sharp.
I hesitated, but only for a moment. “There’s a rise between the mountains that leads to a narrow pass between them. It leads to the top of the valley that the settlement is in. I’d guess there are other passes along the ridge, but I didn’t see any of them.”
He grunted again. “Hard to breach and easy to defend. These savages are smart.”
I nodded and then said, “yes.”
“Good work, Gunner, this is helpful intel. Well done, Son.” My chest swelled at the praise. “Are you going out the same way you went in?”
“At the moment, sir, I’m not sure if I’ll be going out at all. I’m in a cell waiting to see if they will let me speak to Clay.”
I don’t know what I’d expected from him, maybe some concern, or reassurance perhaps. But he seemed unfazed. “Ok. Keep me informed, soldier.”
I deflated slightly. “Yes, sir.”
“Make sure you bag him. We need the target out, and we need him alive.”
“But what if he doesn’t want to leave, sir?”
“The mission is to retrieve him, and we complete the mission.”
I hesitated. “But—“
“Are you questioning my orders?”
“No, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“Get the target, and get out. I don’t care how you do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
The line went dead, and I breathed out a gust of air.
Sometime later, I was torn from my daydream of kissing Kitari when three huge Aldar appeared in the doorway. They were bigger than any of the others I’d seen so far in the settlement, and the guards moved aside for them. I stood up as they approached and stopped in front of my cell.
“You wish to speak to Clay?” the biggest one said in deep, rumbly Panlin.
From the amount of jewellery he was wearing and the cut of his clothes, I got the impression that this was the one in charge. He was fearsome, and gave off big ‘do not fuck with me’ vibes. I remembered Kitari saying their leader was called Jursin. Maybe this was him.
Three sets of yellow eyes burned into me.
“Yes,” I said, unsure what else to do.
The Aldar with white hair on his right—tall and slimmer than Jursin, but still buff as hell—peeled his top lip back to reveal a set of extremely sharp, white canines. His gaze was harder than the others’, like he wanted to rip my head off right here and now.
“Why?” the biggest said.
“We believe he is being held captive.”
The tall Aldar standing to the right of Jursin stepped forward. “That is ridiculous.” He looked equal parts upset and angry, and I took an instinctive step back despite the particle barrier that separated us. Jursin waved a hand at him and barked something. The Aldar clenched his jaw and stepped back again with obvious difficulty, the tendons standing out in his neck and arms. The third one—shorter than the other two, but almost as stacked as the main one—watched on with a cool, but slightly puzzled detachment. He sniffed, glanced at me, and wrinkled his nose with distaste.
“I will allow you to speak with Clay,” Jursin said, while the tall one twitched.
I looked between all three of them. “And if Clay wants to leave,” I said carefully. “You’ll let him come with us?”
Jursin looked over at the tall alpha.
“Yes.”
The alpha looked like he had been physically assaulted. His purple skin paled, and his hand tightened on his spear until his knuckles went white.
“You will not take him from me,“ he growled, so low I felt it as a vibration in the air. All the hairs on my body stood on end.
Finally, it clicked. This huge, terrifying alien was Clay’s ‘mate,’ the one who had first taken him off the ship, the one Clay had formed some kind of bond with. Kitari had told me his name. Arcay?
Jursin said something to him in their rolling language, and the alien snarled something back, all of his teeth on display and gesturing towards me with his spear. They had a brief, heated exchange until the tall one drew in a deep, shuddering breath, spun, and stormed out, almost toppling the guards at the door. The crowd parted for him quickly, jumping to get out of his way. The shorter one followed him out, leaving Jursin behind. He regarded me critically, as if he was waiting for me to do something, and I stared back at him.
Finally, he snorted out a breath through his nose and left.
So, Aldar were pretty dramatic then. If they were human, you could have tasted the level of testosterone in the room. I slumped back against the wall and waited for what would happen next. I hoped it was Kitari coming back. He couldn’t have been gone for much more than an hour, but I itched to see him again, like some kind of drug addict. I needed him here.
Five minutes later, a human came in. He was tall and athletic, dressed in a loose robe that hung open to his waist, exposing a contoured chest dusted with hair, then cinched in with colorful sashes. He had golden bands on his arms and neck, one small hoop in his ear, and a golden stud in his nose. More golden adornments were woven into his tousled, dark hair. His face and bare arms were tanned with a healthy glow that spoke of leisurely time under the sun.
My mouth hung open. This was Clay ?
I didn’t know exactly what I’d been expecting, but this was not it. He looked like a Mediterranean prince, healthy and healthy and in his prime. Not at all like a man held captive for years by a savage race.
He studied me with intense blue eyes that made me shift awkwardly. But then I was probably the first human he’d seen for years.
I cleared my throat. “Clay? Clay Coleman?”
He nodded. “Please tell me you’ve brought Twinkies.”