Chapter 54
Peony
She was back in the box. Only this time, the hard plastic cover over the lights had been taken away and the lights themselves had been turned off.
No windows, the door shut, she was trapped in pitch black darkness.
Her scalp ached and she was surprised that the skin hadn't separated from her skull as she had been dragged across the rough sand.
The back of her legs were sore and tender and, though she couldn't see, she knew it was inflamed from literally being sanded down.
Her only consolation was that the vehicle she was in still wasn't moving. And it was definitely a vehicle. She had gotten a glimpse of the truck-like hover as she was dragged back to it. It was a cargo carrier, and she was the cargo.
But they still weren't going anywhere. Which meant that Temnavi hadn't been recaptured. The injured ratchi refused to leave without his brethren and since they hadn't returned, it meant that her boy was still out there.
She couldn't save herself or her baby, but at least she had saved Temnavi.
Trapped in the darkness, she put a hand over her belly and imagined what it would be like. Not just to have the baby, but to be pregnant with an alien baby.
Atem would be so protective. So loving. His instincts would demand it of him.
It was not going to be like a human man.
Human men might get protective, but the moment she began showing, Atem was going to constantly be herding her towards her nest if she dared venture from it.
Not that she imagined she would, considering how bad she missed it already.
Her perfect bed with all the cushions she had put on it. The warm furs. The strength of Atem's body next to her. His slightly spicy, musky scent stabilizing the insane urge she had to climb the walls and scratch her way out if she had to.
She had been gone from him too long. She felt his absence acutely.
Her belly was rolling, her hands were shaking, her breath was panting.
Being in the dark space helped, oddly, since it reminded her almost of the den, but without his scent, she was on the verge of losing her mind.
She needed her mate here and she needed him now.
But all she could do was shake and pant in the darkness, like a scared puppy hiding from a storm. It was pathetic, but she was out of ideas. She had tried everything she could to get away and her only weapon had been taken from her.
She had told Atem she was in the desert, but would he believe her? Even if he did, how likely was he to find her all the way out here? The desert was huge. She remembered flying over it in the space craft and marveling at its size.
She was lost. Her odds of being found were abysmal. The only comfort she had was that Temnavi must have escaped.
She clung to that as she began rocking in place, struggling against the anxiety that was threatening to rip her apart from the inside.
Atem, please...
The cargo doors slid open and silvery moonlight poured inside. For a second, she dared to hope that it was Atem. He had heard her silent pleas. He had tracked her down. He was going to take her in his arms, and everything was going to be okay.
But her eyes immediately dashed those hopes by focusing on the lizard tail. The muzzle that snarled. It was the ratchi she had injured. She looked behind him for Torvii, but it was just him as he stalked inside, claws at the ready.
“Tiny, ugly, little female,” he snapped, limping on the leg she had stabbed.
Peony did her best to squish herself as far as possible into the corner, her knees gathered close to her chest as she watched him approach, breathing faster with each thumping step his clawed, three toed dinosaur feet made on the metal floor.
“No claws. No fangs. You're weak and defenseless. Was told your cunt is hot, but it's probably too small to take my cock. So, what good are you as a prize?”
Peony bared her dull, defenseless teeth at him. “Still managed to take a chunk out of your flesh though, didn't I?”
His black eyes flashed with anger. “Even the weakest hatchling can land a lucky hit.”
“Also managed to kill the last ratchi that came after me. Two lucky hits?” She grinned with far more bravado than she felt. “Don't have to be the biggest or strongest when you're quick and clever. That's probably in the Omoni Otorsi somewhere.”
“You seem to be out of cleverness now though, eh?” He asked, standing over her, his gray-brown loincloth just over her head.
“That's the fun thing about being human.” She smiled sweetly. “We're never out of cleverness. We're just waiting for our chance.”
His scaled brow furrowed in confusion, but that was the only warning she gave him before making to punch towards his open wound.
He took a quick step back, covering it with one hand.
Leaving his dick and balls at her mercy as she slammed her other fist into them.
The bulge under his pants definitely felt different to what she expected.
But males were males the universe over, it seemed.
He let out a keening hiss as his injured leg seemed to buckle, catching himself with one hand on the wall.
She scrambled out of his way, ducking around his other side and running for the door that he, in his infinite, superior, alien wisdom, had left wide open so light could come inside.
Since she had been locked back in the truck, the desert had cooled down completely.
A chill broke out over her skin as she immediately took off across the sand.
She heard a loud curse behind her that she knew came from Torvii.
She didn't see him, but she imagined that the old domini hadn't approved or permitted the ratchi to come intimidate her.
Male pride was also universal. And still a weakness.
“Get her, you novi!” A female yelled. Quvi.
“I got her!” Another male yelled. She barely recognized this one as the male that had kidnapped her and Temnavi in the first place. She didn't know where the two of them had been earlier, but they were back now.
The rapid thudding of pursuing steps told her that multiple people were chasing her down.
She didn't even bother to turn, all of her focus on putting as much speed into her tired, abused legs as possible.
No part of her believed she would be able to get away, but there was no chance that she was going to give up trying.
She heard them arguing over her shoulder, asking what the ratchi thought he was doing, but their words faded far into the back of her mind as her eyes caught on movement.
The rolling dunes of the desert, under the slightly silvery blue light of the moons was hypnotic.
The harsh contrast of light and shadow made her eyes think she was looking at a doctored image.
Any disturbance she might have made in the sand was long covered by the gentle breeze that kept the terrain constantly shifting.
So, when her eyes first caught on something, reflexively focusing on the slight movement, her brain didn't even register what she was seeing at first. The endless sand, hard lighting, and slightly sifting sand was confusing on the eyes.
But then the figure crested another dune and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. A domini was always able to recognize their mate by sight, and she thought that maybe she had a little bit of that ability as well.
It was dark. He was far away. But she knew, with all of her heart, that was Atem.
She bit back the urge to call out. Instead, she changed her direction. Not quite to meet up with him, but instead to put her path into his. To give him an opening at her pursuers. He was here now. All her fear faded from her mind, even if her anxiety continued to wrack her body.
It was going to be okay.
And she didn't need to escape the two behind her. She only had stay ahead of them long enough.
Excitement, the need to get to Atem, the rush of love running through her heart, put more energy into her legs than she even realized she had left.
But he was so close. Probably only two, maybe three football fields. Distances were hard to judge on the moonlit sands. But he was closing the distance fast. So fast it didn't seem like he was a real creature. Photoshopped sand and a predator on fast forward.
And the males chasing her were too focused on her to notice their death racing towards them on swift feet.
Peony ran until she could feel the heat of the ratchi right on her back. Atem was still about a football field away. She didn't want to risk hurting herself again.
Throwing herself to the sand, she curled her arms around her head and neck and rolled all the way down the slope of the dune, sending a cascade of sand falling with her. The ratchi hiss-roared in anger at having her slip right through his fingers.
The world went completely topsy-turvy as she allowed gravity to pull her to the low valley. It wasn't an easy journey, but the sand, despite being rough, wasn't hard and, when she finally rolled to a stop, her skin was tender but not pained.
The moment she had an idea which way was down again, she was up and running. It took a few steps, stumbling as the rapid spinning and descent left her dizzy, but she was moving before the ratchi had managed to descend the dune in a more controlled manner.
She couldn't get far this time, however.
The valley she had fallen into without looking didn't have a way out.
It was more like a bowl, surrounded on all sides by high sand walls.
She cursed, coming to a halt as she stared up at the steep climb.
She turned back, the only smooth slope in the valley being the one she had fallen down.
Torvii, Quvi, and the domini male were slowly coming down the dune. The ratchi had stopped running and was approaching her, both sets of claws on display.
“I'll cut your heel tendon this time,” he snarled, spitting as he hissed. “You're only going to be used for your hole by my clavas; you don't need to walk.”