16. Betrayed
SIXTEEN
BETRAYED
Lukys
It is nearly dawn when I round the boulders outside the entrance of my cave.
Journeying into it, I continue through the dark, expecting to see light as I near the back cavern where I left Elena.
But as I pass the firepit before it, no light shines around the corner on the rocky walls of the passageway deeper.
I pause to feel around—to make certain I am in the right section of my cave. Where is the light?
The lantern failed.
I did not think about the light going out.
Rushing down the passage, I enter my nest. “I have returned.” I reach for the lantern on the table only to go still once again.
I face the direction I left Elena, no longer hearing her body’s rhythmic pulse or her slight breaths, having become attuned to her presence in the previous days. Inhaling as my ears prick, I cross the room. Her scent is fainter than it should be.
“Elena?”
I search the dark space below me, swiping my fingers gently. Nothing except air, empty hides, and blankets meet the tips of my claws. I press my hands into the pile, and it sinks to the bottom.
Drawing back with alarm, I turn for the lantern again. I grab it and twist it in my hands, searching for the switch. When the lantern does not turn on, I toss it aside and leave the cave, now scenting the air for her and looking for tracks.
I tied her bonds too loose.
I speed through the woods, and down the mountainside, assuming she will have gone to the one place she would feel safest. Her ship.
I enter the meadow just as the sun crests the horizon and fills it with golden light. With no fog to impede my vision, I take in Elena’s ship, the dome now gleaming with dawn’s arrival. Relieved she did not fly away, my gaze lands on the open hatch door. I freeze at the sight.
The thought immediately startles me. She ran from me…
But she would never leave her ship open… My chest tightens as a raw ache burns through my emotions.
Cautiously, I move forward, back to searching for her tracks now uncertain if she came this way or not.
As I approach the open hatch, the subtle smell of blood hits my nose—that, and the familiar scents of my clan members: Deiys and Ixi. The flowery bushes around me are trampled.
Then, the scent of blood grows as I glimpse something large on the ground between Elena’s and the other two spaceships. The bushes obscure the majority of the dark mass.
I move closer for a look when a long limp black tail comes into view. Reaching the top of the corpse, I drop down at the side of my cousin Deiys’s cold, lifeless form. Leaning over, I grab his shoulders to listen for his pulse when I see the wound on his head.
There is a hole—and two more holes at his neck and chest.
Guns.
The human males.
I snarl, narrowing my eyes. Rising, I head to the thin rectangular windows of the males’ ship. “You killed Deiyssss!” I accuse. “Where is she!?” I roar, slamming my fists against the side. “Elena?” I look inside the ship.
Levy and Greg emerge from the back. The male, who I think is Greg, grips his gun. As they enter the main area, he aims the weapon at me. I bear my fangs, pounding my fists on the outside. “Elena? Issss she in there!?”
“It speaks. He speaks.” I just barely hear one of the males say through the glass.
“The others spoke too. Back off!” the other responds.
“This one isn’t the one that took Elena?” the first male asks.
“Show her to me!” I roar. If they killed Deiys, who knows what they might do to her. I have no reason to trust them. “If she is in there, show her to me! I will rip this vessel to pieces if I must.” I shove my body against their ship with all the force I can muster.
“She’s not in here!” one of them shouts. “Fuckers can really talk.”
“Prove it,” I growl.
The males glance at each other, then the one on the left looks into the part of their ship that is hidden from my view. “We tried to save her but another one, another you took her before we could stop him. We killed one of you—we’ll kill you too if you try to come in here! Back off!”
“Another one of me?”
Greg waves the gun’s barrel at me. “He looked just like you.”
Ixi.
Ixi has her.
It would be why I smelled him earlier. I push away and turn for Ixi’s territory. I rush past the ships and into the thicker foliage of forest behind them.
Ixi would not harm her. He is not the vicious sort.
Deiys was a surprise.
He is… dead.
Deiys’s territory is across the river and east. He rarely crosses the water into my or Ixi’s lands and only did when he had information to give. He was a loner—primitive—and many seasons would pass by without seeing him.
The humans killed him with the head wound. He would not have been able to regenerate quick enough to survive the trauma.
I am saddened by his death, but I do not know why it happened, why he was within my territory to begin with. I will mourn him once I find Elena.
I arrive at Ixi’s nesting grounds—a series of rectangular brick buildings—that line the shoreline of the river.
The crumbling ruins are interspersed with large walls of newly built clay and wood, all of which are covered in roofs made of black plastic tarp and winding vines.
Long pieces of chopped wood and thick tree branches stabilize the structures.
Scenting both Elena and Ixi in the air, I do not announce my approach, instead entering Ixi’s home as quietly as possible. I do not know how we will respond to me after how chilly I was at our last meeting.
Ducking under the flap of a tarp at the entrance, I enter a portion of the building where the roof is made entirely of crisscrossing vines.
The sunlight that bleeds through creates a dimly lit and shadowy atmosphere.
There are tables throughout, and hides—specifically deer hides—covering the few brick walls and windows.
Moving deeper down a viney walkway along the water, I enter the next building. I come upon a set of stairs and a large room covered with tarps. Following Elena’s scent, which has only thickened since trespassing into Ixi’s domain, I hear her—smell her—before I see her.
Shifting aside a hanging tarp with my arm, I discover her lying in the center of Ixi’s hide nest. Her delicate form is partially spread out, her face tilted to the side.
Her dark brown hair fans across the fur behind her.
Surprised she is unguarded by my cousin, I approach her unconscious form, eyeing the bruise mottling her brow.
She is hurt.
My gaze drifts to her thinly-strapped black undershirt and the rich redness around her right shoulder. The bone protrudes at the side while her arm hangs limp below it. I check her for more wounds, discovering nothing out of the ordinary except a new layer of dirt and grime. There is no blood.
I reach to pull her into my embrace when I hear Ixi approach from behind.
“I will not let you take her without an explanation,” he says with a hiss.
“Yessss.” I turn around and face him, meeting him on the other side of the flap. “You will.”
“She is hurt.” He waves his clawed hand at her. She does not need to be moved unless necessary.
“I can see that! Her shoulder is red. Her forehead is bruised.”
Ixi hisses low and deep before straightening. “Did you hurt her?”
I pause, my gaze narrowing upon him. “You think I did this—” I wave my hand at Elena’s unconscious form. “All I have tried to do is prevent thissss!”
Ixi’s brow arches. “Deiys had her when I arrived. Had I not sensed him in the area between our territories, I would not have been there to save her from him.”
I frown. “He hurt her?”
Ixi looks over my shoulder before meeting my gaze. “Like I said, when I came upon them, he had her. Whether it was him who hurt her or not, I do not know.”
“Do you know how he got her?”
Ixi shakes his head. “I only got her out of there when the humans and their weapons appeared. I assumed he stole her from them?”
“No,” I hiss darkly. “He stole her from me. And you will let me take her back to my nest. You have enough of an explanation.” I should be thanking him, but I am not thinking clearly.
He crosses his arms and blocks the way out. “I will not let you take her until I know what you will do with her. She is not well. She has not woken since I brought her here. She is also small in my arms, lightweight, and her skin is sickly. She smells sickly.”
I bare my teeth, guilt tugging at me. “I plan to take her back to my cave.”
“A cave is not a good place for her in such a position. When my vines and plants stop growing, it is because they are not getting the proper amount of sunlight and shade.”
My jaw ticks and I twist to lift the flap and check on her.
I do not like having my eyes off of her for long.
I did that, and she vanished. “Where do you suggest I take her? Because I am not leaving her in your nesssst.” She might decide she wants Ixi over me.
I flick my gaze to the middle of Ixi’s tail to check him for a bulge.
Thankfully, the front of him is flat and his slit remains hidden behind his scales. He has not been affected by her—yet.
“No, I do not think leaving her here will be good either. This nest might suit me, but it is far from safe. I say we take her back to the humans and let them use their medicine to help her. She is hurt. Her shoulder is bright red, and I fear what might happen if she does not wake.”
“They killed Deiys,” I snap.
Ixi frowns and shakes his head. “We are all aware of the dangers humans pose. It is a risk I am uninterested in taking myself. If he entered their domain to steal one of their own…”
“But it is something you have already rissssked.”
Ixi hisses and snaps his tail on the floor, sending a small plume of dust into the air.
“I will help you take her back to the humans and am fine with letting them deal with her, but I will barricade your path if you aim to take her back to your nest in the cave. It is too dark, too damp. And only moss can thrive there.”
“My cave is comfortable,” I mutter, offended. I have hides everywhere for a reason… But I do take his words to heart. I do not want to fight with Ixi, not after what happened to Deiys. I have barely comprehended the loss of my clan member, let alone the advice Vagan has given me.
“I will take her back to her ship, but I will not take her to them. They can come to her under my supervision and check her wounds. I do not trust them.”
Ixi hesitates before he nods. “We can make sure they do not come near her with their weapon. That they do not pose a risk.”
“Then let ussss not waste any more time,” I growl. “She was not eating before her wounds, and now she will need sustenance more than ever before.”
Allowing her to return to her ship is the only course of action we agree on. I only need to make sure she does not fly that ship away from me.
“It is settled,” Ixi mumbles.
With his help I lift Elena, careful not to jostle her arm more than necessary. Ixi follows me back to the meadow, briefly pausing to take in Deiys’s dead body as we pass. Neither Levy nor Greg leave their ship as I carry Elena inside hers.
I smell Deiys’s and the human males’ scents once inside. The clustered reek makes me anxious. Ixi eventually joins me as I slip into Elena’s room.
Moving to her nest’s side, I gently lay her in the center of it.
The unease in my heart grows. She was fine before I took her.
Now… she is… I do not know what she is. Whatever she is, she is unwell, and I had something to do with that. I wanted a bride. I wanted to help. I did not want… this.
“Do you want me to get the humans, or do you want to?” Ixi asks.
I lift my head to find him gazing around the space curiously.
“I will.” He nods and shifts to let me by. “Do not leave her side,” I command as I leave her ship and return to the other.
I must show her she does not need to fear me.
I must show her she can trust me to take care of her. I must be convenient.
I cannot lose her. Not when I can prevent it.