Chapter 22
At dawn, Tessi quietly warns me that Onidus is asleep on the sofa.
She gets ready in the bathroom, walks Radar in the dog park, and kisses him goodbye for the day.
Rorsar and Onidus, our night security crew, switch out with Davarok, Kren, and Esrynne.
Marne and Ignus have been working with Abr on Myndrous portal detection systems and explaining Luna Pack behavior, so they know not to expect help from them, should the time come.
Tessi doesn’t speak at breakfast. She keeps one hand wrapped around mine and avoids even bumping into anyone in line. She gives me small, shy smiles but otherwise appears to just be taking in the world and our time together.
The knowledge game is the morning activity. They’ve pitted females against males, and we dominate. But it doesn’t seem fair because we live among the stars and most of the females at the race have never even left Earth.
Still, to my surprise, Tessi answers a few of the questions correctly, earning her some interest from other species.
The Lunas scowl at her, when they would normally want a blue for her tenderness and mothering qualities.
I answer a few questions too, but nothing special.
It isn’t until the game is over and the prizes for difficult or special deal questions have been doled out, that I’m able to be with Tessi again.
She doesn’t hesitate to find me and draw my hand into hers.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She hums a quiet yes.
“Tessi.”
She looks up at me. “I’ve just been thinking about what you said.
I couldn’t fight to stay in college or save my mother or Caden.
I never knew my father. So I’ve never really been able to fight to keep the things I wanted.
Then I saw a scavenger poster with a bounty for a lost item.
It took me a few months to get serious about it.
But when I lost my scholarship and no one would hire me because I didn’t have experience, I found a way to fight to keep what I wanted.
“Males and females must separate to prep for the next race. The grenade maze,” an Abr staff member calls out from the crowd.
Tessi squeezes my hand and lets go. “But I’m going to try to do what you said. I’ll be out in a bit.”
She backs up, turns, and walks into the females’ changing hut.
The male’s hut is filled with cookies and snacks. I snatch up a few and bump into Carnas.
“Hey,” he says, handing me a rifle and a set of armor with extra magazines and grenades. “How’s your girl?”
I take the items, thank him, and get dressed. “It’s rough, but she’s open to my proposal.”
“Nice.” He offers me a fist-bump, which I take.
“You?”
“Wasn’t quite a bond. So she’s off with someone else.”
“I’m sure there’s a female out there for you,” I reply.
Carnas shrugs and nods. “So some strange rumors going around here after the Myndrous showed. Any more information?”
I give him a brief rundown of our situation.
“Well, count me in,” Carnas replies. “I have nothing to lose now. I’ve sniffed every butt in this place, even a few dudes, just to make sure I wasn’t losing my edge. Still straight as an arrow. There’s just not a compatible female for me here. If you don’t mind me tagging along…that is.”
I pat him on the shoulder. “You and Davarok are going to get along well, I think.”
Spike leans around a tower of chocolate covered fruit with a disgusted look on his face. “I do not understand humans’ fascination with chocolate. It gives me a stomach ache.”
“Where’s your female?” Carnas asks. “I did not see her with you at breakfast.”
“A Derorsin snagged her. Turns out she’s into knobs, not knots.”
“Fuck. Not you, too,” Carnas remarks. “Well, Zorin’s female is half Isonian and being hunted by Nebs. You in?”
Spike’s eyes dart from him to me. “Nebs?”
“She’s an Aural Transfer. Nebs think she’s got the power to change the war. So we can’t mate.”
Carnas looks back at me. “No. Really? But you’re scent-bonded. I know it just watching you two.”
“Yeah.” I stretch my back and try to settle my Shifter into a more comfortable place where he won’t fight me for a taste of her. “It’s getting harder to resist. Tessi’s in heat today. I can smell it on her.”
Spike grunts. “That’s a different kind of hell.”
Carnas leads the way outside, his rifle loaded and ready, a menacing look in his eyes. “I have your back, my friend.”
My chest warms at the memory of feeling Tessi’s smooth skin gliding down over my shaft in the middle of the night. I get hard just thinking about her and swing my rifle in front of my crotch just to be sure I don’t draw unwanted attention.
A light tap on my back makes me turn around.
Tessi stands in a set of armor, a rifle steady between her hands, and her belt loaded with the same gear as mine. “Ready to test your control?”
“My control?”
“It’s a hormonal maze. All these colorful bullets and bombs are filled with hormone enhancers.” She racks her rifle and switches off the safety like she’s done it a thousand times.
The shuddering stir inside my bones makes me twist and pop my neck to cover my Shifter’s movement with other sensations. “Where did you learn to shoot?”
“Lots of people try to steal from us in the forest. Taught myself. Lots of practice.”
She notices Carnas and Spike watching us and the absence of females at their sides. “You joining the pack?”
“Yes, ma’am. If that’s okay.” Carnas winks at me.
She smirks and glances askance at me. ‘I’m not the alpha. Zorin is. What he says goes.”
“What’s the play, boss?” Spike asks.
I turn to Tessi. “What’s Carielle going after?”
“The golden egg at the center, naturally. But I want the ruby egg. Not the second gold egg hidden in the mountain puzzle. I want the ruby egg in the deep labyrinth below the maze.”
“What’s that one for?” Carnas asks.
Tessi looks me over. “A three day stay on Starlight Cruiser Phoenix. Or, as I just found out from Ohni, there’s an alternative cash prize for trips if we can’t take the trip for security reasons.
” Her eyes soften. “So I’m trading my other prize in for the credits to buy Rhysan anything he needs—formula, chew toys or stuffies, whatever he likes.
An armored training vest, maybe, to help keep him safe. ”
I reach for her cheek, wishing I could show her how much it means to me that she’s already thinking about him even though we aren’t yet family. But one touch of her skin feels almost too hot.
The muscle in my chest charges. My Shifter notices. I had hoped he’d stay down after last night’s release, but he’s even more fidgety today.
“Racers ready?” Ohni shouts from atop her hovering platform as cameradrones surround the crowd at the edge of the maze.
“Ruby egg,” Spike confirms, adjusting his grip on his rifle. “Ready when you are.”
Carnas and Spike form up around Tessi with me.
“You guys want the egg?” Tessi asks.
Carnas grins. “Naw. I’m just here to have some fun and wreck some shit now. I’ll meet a female eventually. Today, I’m helping you.”
The starting gun goes off, and we charge into the maze with hundreds of other racers, many of which are paired, a few of which aren’t, like Carnas and Spike. Just before we dart into the hedges, I catch a glimmer of gold light. Onidus is watching from the perimeter, beside Davarok and Kren.
I grab my earcom from my pocket and put it in. “Who all is out here?”
A grenade goes off overhead as Tessi follows Carnas into the maze. The purple dust tastes like candy and spreads scorching lust through my body.
“Due to the hormonal nature of this event and the fact that Tessi’s now in heat, we are all here,” Marne replies.
“Well, Tessi wants the ruby egg which is underground in a labyrinth, I guess.”
“Negative,” Marne replies. “We can’t assist down there. You have to stay topside.”
A familiar rushed sound of panting under strain makes me grab Tessi and pull her back to me, just as a Luna Mindoran smashes through her position.
“Oh… What the heck?” Tessi reaches back and grabs my thighs. The plump mounds of her ass press against my hips, sending my Shifter jumping at the chance to pull her close and grind into her just once.
Tessi moans and arches and I nearly lose control.
I puff out a breath and blink slowly. “They want you gone because they think you’re my mate, and Lunas hate Aegeris.”
The sweet scented clouds are getting to me. Someone shoots at Tessi. I spin her around, shielding her body with my own, then fire back at our attacker—a Ginarigon with two women under his arms.
You’re not getting my female.
I urge her down a different path. Carnas and Spike hold back the Lunas behind us.
Paint splatters on my face. I look up to see Carnas tackle another Luna. The moment the liquid gets in my mouth, I taste the enhancers. They warm my tongue like alcohol and flare my desire for Tessi into something feral.
I curl forward. Stay put. It’s drugs. It’s not Tessi. It’s not us. We’ve been drugged. Calm down. We can’t take her. We can’t risk losing her because we lose control.
“Zorin?”
The moment she touches my face, my teeth lengthen and the desire to claim her from behind in the wild way of Shifters grows until I’m shaking. Tessi lifts my chin so she can inspect my eyes, even when I try to pull away.
“Stay away from me, Tessi. Now’s not a good time.” My Shifter thrashes at my insides, and I stumble away from her. He wants out. Now.
Her gaze narrows with lust. She laughs a dark, husky note. “I am not afraid of you.”
She should be.
I can’t take it anymore. My claws are out. My skin darkens. My Shifter is taking control. He’s too hopped-up on the enhancers. And the more control he gains, the less I have.
I clutch Tessi in my arms, pick her up, and rush her to the tightest corner of the hedges I can find, where I bond my mouth to hers with all the passion I have been holding back.
She hums in bliss. “Is this how you really feel?”
“Yes,” I growl, my voice now overlaid with the deeper rumble of my Shifter.
I grind my erection into her hips, and hate that there’s so much fabric and armor between us. Her scent draws my nose to her neck where I drink in her musk and feel her pulse beneath my lips.
“Okay, you two,” Spike grabs one of my arms, Carnas the other, and they tear me away from her. But I’m not ready to let her go.
“She’s mine!” I resist them. I shouldn’t but I do. “Why can’t I just be left in peace?”
Carnas rubs paint from an eye. “At least you have a bond. Fucking hell this shit is hard to tolerate when you don’t get release. But hold it together, brother!”
I snarl as I wrestle my Shifter back a step.
Then in a puff of pink powder behind Tessi’s back, arms reach out, surround her, and pull her into the haze.
Spike swears.
“Tessi?” I call out. I don’t hear her answer.
Carnas and Spike release me, and we plow through the narrow opening in the hedge into a chamber with a hatch in the ground. The lid is up. By the way the pink dust snakes into the opening, I’m certain that’s where she’s been taken.
I tap my earcom. “Someone took Tessi. Pink cloud. Human. They took her into the labyrinth!”
“Probably Geist.” Ignus replies. “He is local. Still on station. He won’t teleport far. He can only do small and short distance jumps. I’ve been tracking him. But I can’t see him underground.”
Marne snorts and groans. “Stars, this game is getting to me, too. Okay, everyone spread out and search. Nose to the ground. Tessi must not be harmed.”