Chapter 1 #2
When the wrecked ship creaked and groaned, causing a seesawing motion I gestured at the woman, “I will help get everyone out. Careful, they look dangerous.” From a single glance, I could tell both these Naga were muscular and big, with long tails several times my body length.
Armed, they could overpower us at any moment and I wasn’t going to take any chances.
Still, the rocking, groaning remains of the shuttle were the bigger threat right now. I jogged away, urging the woman and the man who had also woken up to leave the shuttle as fast as possible. “Come on guys, this place is going to fall apart on us. Let’s get out of here.”
The gaping hole at the side of the broken vessel wasn’t far and the three of us stepped through it onto a rock edge, staring in shock at the alien landscape.
A glowing purple sun hung above us, framed by the rising spires of several mountains, each sharp and craggy like fangs.
We were up high on a mountain flank and below us, the slope was covered in purple-leafed trees and bushes.
In the distance I could see flatlands fade into the horizon, marshy and bisected by many water channels.
If I squinted just so, I thought I spotted a herd of some kind of big grazing animal crossing the marshy lands in the distance.
It reminded me of historical images of the grassy plains of America, filled to overflowing with massive bison herds.
To our left, a different kind of mountain rose in a much more gentle fashion, flat and blunt, it was tall enough to be capped with snow. Snow that glimmered lavender beneath the pale purple light of the alien sun.
When we stepped from the rocks onto dense, purple grass, the three of us turned around to gaze at the crashed ship.
The man started swearing at the sight of it, his language foul enough to make me think he was either a marine like me or a dockworker.
I agreed with the sentiment, and when the girl on my other side started to sob, I found myself agreeing with that response too.
It did make me want to swear and cry. How the fuck had we survived that?
The betrayal was what got me even harder, the standard issue Battleship short-range shuttle was emblazoned on one panel with the words: Praetor Shuttle Six.
I had served on that fucking ship for three whole years, the Praetor had been my home.
I couldn’t believe the UAR had the audacity to use it to ferry my supposedly dead body with it to sell into slavery!
This shuttle had been crushed into the mountain, caving in a section and exposing a subterranean lake.
It shimmered like a black mirror, rippling around the piece of hull that had already sunk into the water.
It wouldn’t be long until the remains of the shuttle vanished into that black mirror completely, leaving no trace of our arrival.
“We are royally screwed, aren’t we?” I remarked calmly, when inside I was a shocked mess.
Now what? It wasn’t like anyone would miss me on Earth, or mourn my supposed execution, but how were we going to survive out here?
When I caught a glimpse of one of the Naga through the tear in the hull I shivered. Were we going to have to rely on them?
“Yeah, we are,” the man said, “I’m Reid by the way, I think that’s Cosima.
Right girl?” the man turned to glance at the still sniffling redhead with a sympathetic look in his eyes.
That was good, I gave him a good chance at not being an asshole.
Most men I knew didn’t like dealing with a crying girl and this Cosima looked tiny and fragile, she looked like one good gust of wind would carry her off.
She nodded, a whimper escaping, “What’s going to happen to us?” Testing to see how she’d respond, I stuck out a hand for a handshake and offered her my name. As I expected, the normalcy of the greeting seemed to steady her nerves.
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out,” I said with more bravery than I felt.
The silvery Naga left the vessel with his arms filled with a prone shape.
I recognized the torn uniform on the body, a UAR pilot.
There was a cascade of black hair over one arm and red blood streaked across the face, obscuring her features.
This pilot was definitely female; the slender shape was unmistakable.
He moved agilely across the rock lip, and then with shocking speed through the short purple grass toward us.
I could see long light blue hair draped around his shoulders and sharper ridges delineating the edges made them seem wider.
He was impressive but there was something about his face that said kind.
He made me feel like maybe these Naga weren’t bad, he was certainly very careful in the way he cradled the injured and unconscious woman.
Nothing like that could be said of the Naga that followed him out of the ship a moment later.
I hadn’t even realized there was a third one aboard the wreck, maybe because this one had scales such a deep blue that they reminded me of night.
He was the biggest snake man I’d ever seen, not that I’d seen many but still.
He was huge, a brute of a creature with shoulders as wide as a barn door, his shockingly long tail thick and muscular.
Scars bisected his shimmering scales in faint lines and the single bone-white horn that jutted from his chin ended in a jagged, broken tip.
His hair was black and straight, slung over one shoulder while behind the other rose the half-moon shape of an ax blade.
Beneath one arm he held a dangling woman, completing the barbaric image of a conquering male.
I clenched my thighs together when a pulse of arousal shot through me at the sight.
No, bad Kalani. I didn’t do alpha males, and definitely not alien alpha males that didn’t even speak my language and might plan to kill me later.
As if he knew exactly what I was thinking, his eyes met mine and I felt seared to the bone.
They were a deep slate gray and that look could only be described as branding, he was staking a claim with just his eyes.
I would have been impressed with that, if not for the fact that he was claiming me.
I didn’t take kindly to that chauvinistic male bullshit, so when he slithered his long body right up to me I was ready to do battle.
He dropped the girl he was carrying to the ground without much care for her well-being, his eyes continuing to bore into mine.
“Back off!” I said fiercely, counting on my tone to convey the message but I gestured with my hand to make him move for good measure.
He was towering over me on his tail, his head at least three feet above mine.
He growled and hissed back at me, those slate gray eyes sparking with some kind of inner fire; heat and desire.
Shit, just my luck to run into the one snake on this planet who was more into fucking than eating. Had he seriously fixated on me?
I risked a quick glance down to the grass to check out the new woman and the red-headed Cosima.
They were both beautiful and very feminine, with fine-boned faces and big, pleading eyes.
The type of woman any man wanted to protectively fawn over.
That wasn’t me, I was tall and muscular, and on more than one occasion I’d been called manly.
I had to be if I wanted to stand up for myself, or if I wanted to be able to protect others.
“Dude, personal space, ever heard of it?” the human man said, stepping up next to me.
His wide shoulder brushed against my own and when I shot him a sideways glare, my eyes snagged on the pair of dog tags that dangled from the plain black t-shirt he wore.
So definitely a soldier. This Reid had training, probably some of the same as I had.
That would definitely increase our chances of survival in this wilderness.
Too bad he seemed to think he needed to stand up for me because he definitely didn’t.
“I can take care of myself, Reid,” I snapped at him.
When that made the snake-man towering over us huff out some kind of laugh I sent some colorful curses his way too.
“Men, I don’t fucking need them. Both of you back off, we have more important things to think about! ”
I couldn’t have timed it better. The words had only just left my mouth when with a giant splash, the wreck of the shuttle shifted and started sliding into the water. We all stared and I started cursing some more. The woman and Naga that had woken me hadn’t gotten out yet, had they survived that?
“Now look what happened! You and your possessive vibes had me so distracted someone might have died.” I felt wrecked with guilt for not making sure the heiress, Vera, got off the ship with me.
She’d seemed capable and confident in dealing with her own snake stalker but that didn’t mean she didn’t need help.
I was probably letting off some steam against an opponent who could definitely take it when I ripped into him with some more choice words.
He gave back as good as he had, a brutish Naga, hissing and growling at me.
It was probably not anyone’s idea of a good time, let alone smart.
While we couldn’t understand a single word either one of us said, I knew he understood my tone, the same as I did his.
Then I caught the glint in his eyes and realized he was having the time of his life, sparring with me like this.
My chest grew tight with an unfamiliar feeling.
I was pretty sure I was having fun too. I always did like it when a man wasn’t threatened by my overpowering personality.
I was bossy and I was opinionated, which tended to scare off most of my potential dates.
This Naga wasn’t trying to use his big size to intimidate me, he’d actually lowered himself slightly on his tail the longer we yelled at each other; like he’d settled in for the long haul.