Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Ethan
“You never listen to me,” I grumbled at Goldie as she waddled toward the rope vine. “You should be resting.”
“I rested enough,” she smiled at me over her shoulder as she gave me a little wave before sliding to the ground. Her belly bulged, and she brushed a hand over it when she landed before glancing up at me. “Are you coming?”
“Are you coming?” I mimicked before joining her on the ground. I placed my palm on her warm belly and kissed her lips. “You’re stubborn.”
“I listen when I know I need to listen,” she said. “If I had listened to you, you wouldn’t be here with me.”
She had a point. I almost died. But so had she. She linked her hands in mine and tugged me after her. “The visuls, they matter. It’s how I knew.”
“Knew what?”
Her lips parted. “That you’re my linyx.”
I opened my eyes with a groan. Fatigue saturated every muscle. I was so fucking sick of waking up feeling like I’d been crushed by a semi. I couldn’t believe I was still alive.
Goldie.
I had to make sure she was okay. I rolled onto my hands and knees and shook my head. Which was a terrible idea as pain radiated through my skull. I clutched my swollen temple and lifted my head to stare blearily at my surroundings.
I was in bars. Thick metal bars the width of my wrists rose all around me, caging me in on a platform that was smaller than my former prison cell home. The floor was made up of gnarled wooden slats that splintered beneath my palms.
I turned my head to the side and squinted as sun pierced my retinas.
Two feet were in my vision, and I let my eyes travel up a pair of dark-skinned, human legs.
Short skirt. Oversized shirt. Dark hair in long braids.
And finally to the face of a human woman who stared down her nose at me as if I was garbage.
“Goldie,” I rasped. I wasn’t sure if I made sound. Fuck, I was dying of thirst. I licked my dry lips with a swollen tongue. “Goldie,” I said again.
“It’s him,” the woman said with a snarl. “I thought I recognized him.” She spoke to someone behind her, and it was then I realized four Kaluma males stood at her back. I’d seen all of them before, back at the clearing…
“Goldie,” I swayed onto my knees, and grasped at a bar to haul me to my feet. My calf screamed with pain, and I panted through the agony. “Where is she? Is she okay?”
“Like you give a fuck,” the woman sneered. “And quit calling her that. Her name is Hara.”
“I’ll call her what I want to call her,” I snapped back. I inhaled deeply. My eyes burned as pain seared through my shoulder. “Goldie!” I screamed as loud as my lungs would allow. “Goldie!”
The Kaluma with the double swords on his back stepped forward and shoved me through the bars of the cage. “Quiet.”
“No,” I snarled at him. “You want me quiet, then kill me.”
“Oh, so you’re also stupid,” said the woman. “Sherif will kill you, you know. The only reason you’re not dead is because we need answers.”
Sherif. The pardux. “I’m not,” I said through clenched teeth, “saying a damn thing until you tell me if Goldie is okay.” I tried to be brave and confident, but I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this up.
I could barely stay upright. I’d been shot twice, and I probably had a concussion. I was not well.
“You don’t deserve to know how she’s doing,” the woman said.
“Let’s leave him, Zuri.” The male with swords crossed his arms on his chest. His massive, extremely muscled chest. “He will talk when he’s in enough pain.”
Zuri glared at me. I glared back. Another woman, this one petite with long brown hair a pregnant belly sidled between two men. “Wow,” she whispered. “He really is human.”
The biggest Kaluma, holding a mace weapon that still bore skin tissue from a skull crush, grabbed for her. His massive hand circled her belly, as he growled, “I told you to stay away, mouse. He could be dangerous.”
His growl didn’t phase her. She only smiled at this alien who was twice the size of her and patted his hand. “But you’ll protect me, right, Cravus?”
Cravus smiled. Or what I think he meant to look like a smile. “Of course, kotche.”
That word. Goldie had used that word on me.
I gripped the necklace pendant in my fist. I inhaled.
“Goldie!” I screamed. I gripped the bars of the cage and tried to peer around the big bodies blocking my view.
In the distance, tall trees the size of redwoods rose toward the sky, their trunks decorated with mushroom like platforms that held small huts.
Goldie had told me they were a tree-dwelling species.
Was she in one of those huts now? “Goldie!”
“Enough,” Zuri barked at me.
“Then just tell me she’s okay.” My leg gave out, and I went down to one knee, still clutching the bars. “She was shot in the chest. She was bleeding, and she wasn’t conscious. Is she okay?”
Zuri propped her hands on her hips and stared at me for a long moment. When she didn’t speak, the pregnant woman did. “She’s not conscious yet, but we’re confident she will recover.”
My hands fell from the bars. I swayed on my knees. “Oh, thank fuck.”
“No thanks to you.” Zuri nodded to Goldie’s necklace around my throat. “Did you steal that off her after you shot her? Wanted to try to sell it on Earth?”
I clutched the necklace as anger surged through me. “I didn’t shoot her. Maybe turn around and look at these motherfuckers standing behind you if you want someone to blame for Goldie being hurt.”
She blinked at me. “What?”
I looked at each of them, who stared back with their bright blue eyes that were so much colder than Goldie’s. “Oh yeah, I heard about what went on here. Each one of you let your former leader abuse every single one of your females—”
“You don’t know anything!” The alien with the spiked bat swung his weapon against the bars of the cage so hard that the metal bent.
Seeing that I struck a nerve, I kept going, because I was a dick. “Are you going to heal her? Or is she disposable to you now that you have new breeders?” I jerked a thumb at the pregnant woman, whose jaw dropped.
Zuri gasped. Cravus let out a warning growl. The one holding the bat muttered to Sherif, “Yerk it. Let me kill him.”
And then a voice, almost faint, floating down from the sky like a snowflake. “Ee-than? Where are you?”
Hara
I heard his voice, and I thought it was in my visuls, until it came again, louder this time, tinged with pain and anguish.
“Goldie!”
I sat up and immediately regretted it as pain sliced across my chest. I glanced down to find a massive bandage underneath my chest band. I was in my vinus, and in the corner of the room sat Wensla, who jerked to her feet. “Hara! You’re awake.”
“Where is he?” I groaned as I swung my feet off the side of the palette.
“Hara, please, you need to rest. He’s being dealt with. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I glanced up to see her face lined with concern. “Hurt me? He hasn’t hurt me. Not once.”
She blinked. “But… he’s a human male.”
I reached for her. Voices filtered from below, deep bellows, angry feminine tones. A thud. My scaled prickled. “Please, I need to see him.”
After a moment, Wensla swallowed uneasily. “He’s in the cage,” she said. “I don’t… they might have killed him by now.”
I surged to my feet, ignoring the pain that tightened my entire torso. I stumbled from my vinus and grasped the rope to slide to the ground. “Ee-than?” I called as I slid down. “Where are you?”
The voices from below stopped abruptly. I saw them clustered around a caged platform, and the dark head of my human was just barely visible beyond the large, armed, Kaluma surrounding him.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I broke out into a run.
My legs didn’t want to cooperate, and I stumbled, falling to one knee.
“Hara!” Zuri cried as she broke away from the cluster of Kaluma to rush to my side. “Be careful!”
I barely heard her. Barely felt her hands as they grasped at my arms. I brushed her off and continued forward, to the pained, dirty, blood-streaked face of my kotche.
I could tell he’d been trying to remain strong, but as soon as he saw me, his body sagged against the bars of his cage.
Expression crumpling, he croaked, “Goldie.”
I pushed my way through the Kaluma warriors and went to my knees outside the cage.
He reached through the bars with one hand and cupped my face.
We leaned into each other, foreheads touching between two metal barriers.
His lips were cracked, and his shoulder wound was red and inflamed, maybe infected. He shivered, and his skin felt too hot.
His fingers settled over mine where they rested along his jaw. “I was so worried about you. Why did you do that? Why did you fight them? I told you to leave and go home.”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t. I knew if I left you, you’d die.”
His brow furrowed. “How?”
“I saw it in my visuls. And I was right.”
His jaw ticked. “They almost killed you.”
“They almost killed you.”
He sighed. “You should be resting.”
“I had to see you.” I pulled back. “You’re hurt. You’re hurt badly.”
His eyes didn’t seem to open fully, and another keep wound on his calf concerned me.
I turned to the warriors clustered behind me, who all bore a range of expressions.
Bosa looked murderous, Sherif angry. Cravus protective as he sheltered his mate at his side.
Kazel inquisitive and cautious. Zuri’s jaw was dropped, and Bloom had tears in her eyes.
I looked to Sherif first. “He needs treated. Let him out.”
“Absolutely not,” he snapped.
I rose to my feet, and my Ethan tried to stand, but his knee buckled, and he went back down with a moan. I stood firm. “Then let me inside with him to treat him.”
“Hara—”
“Let me in,” I stomped my foot. “To treat my kotche.”
Sherif sucked in sharp breath. Zuri gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. Bloom made a squeak just as Bosa turned away to let out a frustrated roar.
“Hara, this is not… this cannot be.” Sherif spoke to me like I was a child.