Chapter 21 #2
We traded blows, but he was backing away, trying to slip into the jungle and escape with his prize.
I could not risk harming Frederique, which made the task that much harder.
And then, abruptly, the freak must have figured out that there was no escape.
It might have been Jaxin circling around behind him, and Val coming at his flank from the left. He was trapped.
His eyes went to mine as if he knew I was the biggest threat, or the one with the most to lose.
Those eyes were no longer like human eyes but black like ink, dotted with red sparks: eerie, mean, dangerous.
Even though I knew I was invulnerable inside my symbiont-enhanced armor, a prickle of unease shot down my spine.
I felt threatened, like that bastard intended.
As long as he held Frederique, I was threatened, and he knew it.
His tentacles rose around him, swirling in the air.
Jaxin was shouting at him to drop Frederique or he’d shoot, and he’d even put down Bex, his laser cannon, to make the threat with a pistol.
That was good, because one shot from Bex would obliterate my mate, and it might not even kill this freaky, tentacled bastard.
Val snarled, adding to the tension, and then Frederique stirred, her head lifting, eyes blinking in confusion.
He struck so fast that the tentacle was a blur, even to my sharp eyes.
I roared, leaping forward, Val’s armor around me shifting and extending—anything to reach her before he did.
But I was too slow. The tentacle struck her chest, and she gasped, shooting up in his arms. I was certain she’d spew blood, a gaping hole appearing in her chest. A deadly blow, far more than my fragile little human could take, or my symbiont could heal.
Striking fast, everything I’d extended from my armor sliced while my hands reached for my mate and hauled her to safety.
I didn’t even look to see if the creature was dead, the threat neutralized; all my attention was on Frederique.
She was still gasping, struggling for air, and by some miracle no blood stained her mouth.
I raked my fingers through the sweater she wore, which was soft and fluffy and stained with soot.
It tore like paper, revealing one of my silk shirts beneath, but no gaping wound.
I would have torn that open anyway, just to be sure, but she caught my wrist with a weak, trembling hand.
“I’m fine,” she wheezed at me, sounding anything but fine.
I snarled, terrified that she was dying, but I somehow couldn’t see the wound.
“Look,” she added with a gasp, and her hand dropped to the collar of the shirt.
And there, curled against her skin, was the rest of Val, the tiny piece of her she’d left behind with my mate to guard her.
Oh… Blazing stars. She was fine. Val had been there, protecting her from the blow.
She was just winded from the force and probably already being healed.
She was fine. I yanked her close, tightly against my chest, my breathing as ragged as hers.
I could barely believe it—the moment that bastard struck her still flashing through my mind on a loop.
He had meant to kill her, and he’d nearly succeeded.
“I’m okay, Sin,” she said again, and still the words didn’t sound real to me.
I had to check again, my hand gliding over her uninjured chest and belly, feeling the sleek warmth of Val protectively shielding her skin.
That piece of Val hadn’t died, hadn’t disappeared; it had just hidden.
I stroked her flesh again, feeling the edges where Val began and where it was just soft human skin beneath her clothes.
I scanned her face, but even her breathing had begun to ease.
Her curls formed a messy halo around her head, her face was smudged with ashes, and her green eyes were huge.
She was beautiful, and I was damn well never going to leave her side again.
I’d chain her to me if I had to. “You stole my shirt,” I snapped, because damn if I knew what to say at a moment like this.
Her eyes grew soft, filled with tears, and I was certain I’d said the wrong thing.
Of course, snapping about my shirts was the worst thing to say, and it didn’t matter one bit.
She could have all my damn shirts, tear them, wrinkle them, sleep in them.
I opened my mouth to rush out something else, anything had to be better than the mess I’d just caused after she’d nearly died.
Sensitive, sweet words—that’s what she deserved—but I didn’t know any of those.
“I love you too, Sin,” she said, in one blow striking all thoughts from my mind and sending me into a tailspin I couldn’t possibly escape.
Love you too? She said that as if I were the one who’d said it first, as if she knew what was in my heart when I had not even managed to think such sentiments to myself.
That brazen, bold, beautiful female. She said she loved me, like it was simple, easy, and as if I deserved it.
I must have stared with my mouth open like an idiot for a bit too long, because she smiled.
Her hand was still trembling when she raised it to cup the edge of my jaw.
“It’s really okay, Sin. Now let’s get out of here, shall we?
I think we need to talk—privately,” she added with a pointed tone and narrowed eyes when she realized Jaxin was right next to us, shamelessly leaning in to catch every word.
I rose to my feet slowly, and I did not let go of my mate.
Thankfully, she did not protest, but curled herself against me, arms draped around my neck, breasts pressed against my chest, her head coming to rest against my shoulder.
That felt good. She said she loved me. She acted like that was a fact of life, not something so absurd it couldn’t possibly be true.
I had to have heard her wrong, and my voice was gruff, angry that she might have fooled me that way. “Say it again!”
She did not pretend not to understand, her eyes going soft and sweet, so damn sweet it made my stomach grow all twisty and hollow.
“I love you, Sin,” she said, repeating what I wanted to hear without a hint of self-consciousness and, bravely, also without any worry I’d reject her.
I couldn’t. Doing that had not worked out, and I was never making that mistake again.
Selfishly, I wanted all that love she was offering so freely, I wanted it, even if it would make Val more sick, and how terrible was that?
Jaxin made a coughing noise, drawing our attention discreetly, and I growled at him in reflex anyway.
“What?” I was already tucking Frederique more tightly into my arms and urging more of Val to slide over her protectively.
Nothing could harm her if I held her this way.
To protect her, I needed to get my head back on straight.
We were on Xio, and that tentacled freak was not the only danger on this world.
I scanned around us, just as Jaxin pointed with the barrel of his laser cannon.
The area around the crashed flyer was smoldering and smoking, but the fire was going out.
Between the trees where I’d sliced the water world freak to ribbons, his body still lay in a pile of black, pink, and blue.
It had already begun to smell, foul and penetrant.
The scent was utterly revolting and powerful.
It masked anything else that might be present inside the jungle.
But then, whatever was watching us from the shadows had no scent to track anyway.
Most of Val now coated my mate and me, but she was still maintaining the small, dainty shape of a Fantreal horse.
Her tail flicked, and her sensitive ears pointed forward in the same direction Jaxin was looking.
“What is it?” Frederique asked, noticing the same.
She spoke in a whisper, well aware of the sudden danger that clung to the air.
“Shade Stalker,” I hissed furiously. Now was not the time.
I’d been looking for a confrontation with them for days, and they’d avoided me.
Of course, they would choose to strike at the moment I least wanted to face them—when I had my mate to protect.
This just proved how incredibly clever they were, and how much of us they’d observed before making their move.
“Oh, shit,” was all Frederique said, but it was enough. As if it were a prearranged signal, the pair of Shade Stalkers chose that moment to charge from the trees—massive, black as night, with two pairs of eyes and a ravenous appetite.