Chapter 7
Vera
I woke up to the scent of something spicy and very distinctly male filling my nose.
Everything was still dark around me but I knew immediately that I hadn’t woken up in the same place that I’d fallen asleep in.
I recognized this scent, Zathar. Forcing myself to sit up and shrug out from beneath the thick, warm furs, I searched for him to give him a piece of my mind.
Impersonal touches only, that’s what I told him.
This did not qualify. This was borderline creepy and he should not have done it without my permission.
My fingers twitched in the soft pelt beneath them as I struggled with the rising feelings inside of me, feelings that made me feel extremely conflicted about the whole situation.
That he moved me to his nest, meant he wanted me there, even after we fought last night…
I’d never been wanted that way before and I couldn’t trust it, I didn’t think I believed it.
When he cupped my face, my traitorous body just wanted to melt into his touch, and snuggle against his heat.
I wanted to know what it had felt like to be curled up in that nest with him because I didn’t doubt that he’d slept right at my side.
Of course, he managed to ruin the moment by saying something that made it clear he didn’t want to introduce me to his family.
How could I be his mate if he didn’t even want his mother to know about me?
I wanted to push him away for saying such a hurtful thing, but putting space between us was all but impossible when I had to play translator for him and Reid.
It wasn’t until after the two of them had left the darkened chamber that I started to come to my senses.
Stay hidden had been uttered as much as an order as a prayer.
Zathar was really worried about his mother, and his Clan, seeing me.
This wasn’t a ‘you’re not good enough to meet my mom’ kind of thing.
This was a ‘my mom is a psychotic bitch’ kind of warning.
“What’s going on?” Cosima whispered from beneath her pile of furs.
She wasn’t moving, I could only just see the pale circle of her face in the near darkness in here.
I knew the feeling, it was a little chilly, and I too wanted to go back to the warm furs in Zathar’s nest. Maybe Cosima wasn’t feeling ready to face the day, preferring to hide away for as long as she could, I couldn’t blame her.
“We need to stay quiet and hide,” I whispered back, moving to squat at her side so we could talk.
“There are other Naga outside and Zathar seemed worried.” Cosima flinched, a muffled sound that was a mixture between a squeak and a moan escaping through her lips.
I ignored her response, rising to search around the chamber for a better hiding place than just sitting in the middle in the dark.
Zathar could see well at these light settings, I was sure of it, so that wouldn’t stop any other Naga from spotting us.
At the back wall, furthest away from the hewn entrance was a bank of consoles and viewscreens, or a slightly alien-looking version of them.
I had been shocked to see them last night, but also too tired and distracted to give it much thought.
Unlike the entrance into this mountain, this was very different from the ancient pyramids in Egypt.
This was a utilitarian room that reminded me of a guard office, though everything in it except the computer bank had disappeared.
It could only mean that Zathar’s species had once been advanced enough to make not just fascinating stone gates and giant statues, but computers too. Between then and now, something had happened that had made his species devolve back into something close to Stone Age levels of technology.
“Come,” I urged the girl, dragging her from beneath the furs to where the pilot lady still lay slumbering.
She was in a nest much like Zathar’s and I was pretty sure Corin had spent all night watching over her, healing her as much as he could, and yet, she still wasn’t awake.
“Lie down in there with her. We’ll cover ourselves with the furs. ”
When shouting went up outside the caves my blood chilled in my veins and my skin broke out in goosebumps even though I was covered in several warm layers and huddled up with two other women.
That sounded like Zathar’s voice and it was followed by the clash of metal against metal, were they fighting?
Cosima was sobbing again, her tears getting the best of her, which was not helping us hide, her sounds were going to give us away. When the fighting sounds abruptly ended my chest felt heavy. No, had they hurt him? Killed him? I was so worried that I was almost ready to burst out there to find out.
I didn’t hear them approach, they were as quiet as wraiths.
The silence only filled with Cosima desperately trying to be quiet as she wept.
One moment we were hiding, still convinced they were all outside of the caves, the next the furs were being yanked from our bodies.
I could only just contain my own scream, but Cosima’s pierced the dark at the sight of three unfamiliar Naga towering over us with their spears aimed our way.
We were hustled outside with those sharp points at our backs, and angry hissing orders I didn’t understand.
One of them was carrying the injured pilot with a deep sneer of distaste on his face as if he was forced to carry a sack of shit.
I was honestly completely shocked by the treatment, despite Zathar’s warnings of his mother. They were treating us like prisoners.
I threw up my hand and blinked hard when we approached the gate, trying hard to make my eyes adjust to the daylight.
A dozen Naga with various shades of blue scales had congregated just beyond the towering pair of statues.
One was very clearly in the lead, and it was the first female Naga I laid my eyes on.
She was angular and tall, but her tail was slightly more slender than those of the males.
Her chest was banded by a bright strip of purple fabric that covered barely-there breasts.
She was covered in glittering gold jewels from the tips of her claws to her long wavy azure hair.
Bracelets, rings, necklaces, and some kind of pauldrons that were more ornamentation than armor.
I could see the family resemblance too, mostly because she was the exact same shade of azure as Zathar.
So that was his mother, the Queen of his Clan.
The woman he didn’t want me to meet. Like he’d made me warn Reid, she was closely circling the human man, interest gleaming in her reptilian eyes.
For his part, Reid was standing tall and he deftly sidestepped the winding tail that wanted to trap him.
Then my eyes finally landed on what I really wanted to see; Zathar.
He was just outside the gate, between the two statues, and Corin was at his side, holding him back by one arm, another unfamiliar Naga holding him on the other side.
As soon as his eyes lit on me, I saw fear wash over his features and I felt an answering fear inside of me.
If my confident snake-man was worried, this had to be really bad.
Our captors urged us forward, and I could tell they intended to move us past Zathar and Corin and toward the Queen.
I didn’t think that would be good, to get separated so I adjusted my course at the last moment and threw myself at Zathar.
He growled, ripped himself free, and caught me with his arms and his tail, wrapping me up tightly.
I instantly felt safer, Zathar had me, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
“Vera! I’ve got you,” he said in my ear, and now that I was touching him, the voices of the other Naga also suddenly made sense.
I heard shocked exclamations and angry warnings from the guys with spears, and then above all of that the Queen’s voice rang out.
“Your mating sigils lit for that thing!?” she screeched, leaving no doubt of what she thought of me.
From the safety of Zathar’s arms, I could see how she’d withdrawn from Reid, and with an imperious gesture from one hand, several Naga males rushed for him.
He put his hands up defensively but he was no match for so many big aliens, and they had him down on his knees, hands tied behind his back in seconds.
“Vera is not a thing,” Zathar hissed in my defense, “They are Hu-mansss that need our help!” My heart melted at the words, at how he was standing up to her on our behalf.
Zathar might not personally know me, yet, but it was clear he viewed me as something equal and that scored him major points in my book.
I liked his compassion too, that he wanted to help all of us, even though only I was his supposed mate.
Nothing he said was persuading his mother; that was definitely a losing battle.
Corin and he were severely outnumbered, and from the sight of Zathar’s swords dangling from the hands of one of the other warriors, he had tried anyway.
I scanned what I could see of his body but didn’t notice any injuries, that was a relief, and hopefully a good sign.
The Queen wouldn’t want to hurt her own son, would she?
They didn’t consider us a threat, keeping only Reid tied up and escorted between two brawny Naga.
And though the Queen clearly wanted to have me removed from Zathar’s arms, she didn’t order her men to try.
I didn’t think Zathar would give me up now.
The walk to wherever it was they were taking us felt long, hours at least, but they never paused for a drink or a pee break and my stomach was aching from hunger, thirst, and the need to really go long before we got to our destination.