Chapter 8 #3
Vala's ship came into view as we cleared the last of the crystal formations, its silver hull catching the alien light between the towering growths.
Weeks of scavenging had transformed the once-damaged vessel into something almost airworthy, patched with salvaged materials, yet standing upright with a functioning hatch instead of the jagged tear that had been there.
My heart hammered against my ribs as we approached, hope and fear battling for dominance as I searched the viewport for familiar faces.
"Almost there," Vala said, his voice tight with suppressed urgency.
The final hundred yards stretched before us like an eternity.
My legs burned, my lungs raw from the strange alien air.
Vala pushed ahead, his long stride eating up the distance, blaster raised and eyes fixed.
Beside me, Vennox maintained his protective position, close enough that I could feel his heat through my thin clothing.
Brooke and Mara moved just ahead of us, and behind them, Tyrk and Truxxet carried Brunnex between them on the stretcher, the injured Valosian's face tight with pain but set in determined silence.
Ruze brought up the rear, his footfalls steady and deliberate at our backs.
The ship's hatch slid open as we approached, yielding to unseen hands.
Mehr stood framed in the doorway, his massive body tense with anticipation, eyes scanning our group with desperate focus.
For a moment, no one moved. Then a rough, broken sound tore from Ruze's throat.
He surged forward, crossing the distance between them in three powerful strides.
They collided hard enough that the impact carried a sound, a dense, percussive thud of two large bodies hitting each other at full force.
For a moment, neither moved, locked together with a stillness that had nothing gentle about it, Ruze's massive fists knotted against the bare, bronze skin of Mehr's back, Mehr's forearm braced hard across his friend's upper back like a bar.
"I cannot believe you're here." Ruze pulled back and shook his head. "I found your escape pod on Hyose. It looked like there had been a struggle."
"There was." Mehr's expression darkened. "Grosts found Elishbeth and me before we could get our bearings. They took us captive and sold us to the Xegnot. I worried you had died in that broken escape pod after you tricked Elishbeth and me into the remaining functional one."
A crooked grin tugged at Ruze's mouth. "I am not an easy male to kill."
Mehr jabbed a finger into his chest. "No more selfless acts, old male."
"I will promise no such thing."
"Ruze—"
"Especially when it comes to you and Elishbeth."
Another figure appeared in the doorway. Smaller than both Nomadicans by half, human, with long blonde hair and dark green eyes pooling with unshed tears.
Elizabeth or Elishbeth, as her males pronounced her name with their rolling Nomadican accents, took one look at Ruze, and a sound escaped her that was half-laugh, half-sob.
She launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around both males with desperate strength.
"You found us," she finally managed, her voice fracturing on the last word. "You found us."
The three of them clung to each other, a tangle of arms and horns and tear-streaked faces, oblivious to everything but their reunion.
Around them, the ship seemed to exhale in collective relief.
Voices called from within, overlapping in excited questions, and then the remaining females were spilling through the hatch.
Lila reached Brooke first, her long ginger braid flying as she nearly tackled her with the force of her hug, fair cheeks flushed with relief.
Erin came right behind her, the tallest of us and the steadiest under pressure, but even she had her broad arms open wide, dark eyes bright as she pulled Mara in hard.
Kira went straight for me, her sleek black hair swinging at her jaw as she closed the distance, fingers lacing through mine with a grip that said she wasn't planning to let go anytime soon.
"There was a pack of void weavers," Mara was saying, her words tumbling over each other as she looked between Erin and Lila. "Five of them, and they just came out of nowhere, and—"
"And these silver guys just went after them," Brooke cut in, her eyes wide with remembered awe. "Like, not even hesitating. Just went straight for them—"
"Then we ran into some kind of three-headed creature with a barbed tail on the way back here," Mara finished.
"What was it?" Lila looked at me for answers, hazel-green eyes wide.
"I've never seen anything like it," I admitted, glancing toward the horizon where we'd left the creature's massive body cooling on the crystalline ground. "Three heads, armored plates, burrowing capability. Nothing in my catalog came close."
"But you're all okay?" Kira pressed, her hand still gripping mine with fierce intensity.
"We're all okay," I confirmed, offering what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "A few scrapes and bruises, but everyone made it."
That's when the conversation stuttered to a halt. One by one, the females' attention shifted past us to the three silver males. Tyrk and Truxxet walked past, Brunnex suspended between them on the stretcher, as they headed through the hatch.
Vennox approached but paused a few feet away. Every line of his powerful body spoke of battle-readiness, of constant vigilance. Somehow, that simple display of strength held in careful restraint made him even more compelling.
For a moment, no one spoke. Curiosity, caution, and awe rippled through the group as the females took in the newcomers. The warriors were impossible to ignore.
They stood nearly seven feet tall, each of them, broad-shouldered and bare-chested, with the kind of thickly muscled arms that looked built for hauling wreckage or snapping someone's spine. Long white tresses spilled over heavy shoulders in waves that caught the suns’ light and threw it back silver.
Their faces were strikingly handsome — all strong jaws, sharp cheekbones, and piercing silver eyes that seemed capable of seeing far more than they should.
And those pointed ears, slightly cupped now as they tracked the sounds of this new space, completed the picture of something that was not human and had never pretended to be.
"Oh my god," Erin whispered, her voice carrying the stunned reverence of someone recalibrating everything they thought they knew. "They're Valosians, aren't they? The ones Vala and Tyrk told us about?"
I nodded. Or I thought I did. I wasn't entirely sure my body was taking instructions anymore.
"They forgot to mention how hot they were." Erin’s voice filtered through from far away as my gaze remained locked with my silver slayer’s across the distance, that same inexplicable pull humming between us like a live wire. "Like, criminally hot.”
My silver slayer? I had thought the same earlier.
Mine. The word surfaced in my mind before I could stop it, unbidden and specific and entirely too possessive for someone who had known this male for less than two days. Vennox wasn't mine.
“What?”
“I said Tyrk and Vala didn’t mention they looked like pro-wrestlers crossed with male supermodels,” Erin repeated, but I wasn’t listening.
I was only aware of Vennox. The controlled power of his stance, the careful way he maintained his distance, the intensity of his focus. It should have been uncomfortable, but it wasn't.
"We should get inside," Vala said, breaking my trance. "We have repairs to make and supplies to gather.”
The group began moving toward the ship, conversation resuming as the females peppered Brooke and Mara with questions about our night in the crashed Moktian vessel. I hung back, suddenly reluctant to follow, to break whatever strange connection had formed between Vennox and me.
He remained exactly where he was, watching me with that unwavering focus, making no move to close the distance between us. Waiting, I realized. Always waiting, never demanding.
I looked away first, breaking the connection with an effort that left me strangely breathless.
As I turned toward the ship, I couldn't shake the awareness of him at my back.
The feeling followed me through the hatch and into the relative safety beyond, an anchor I hadn't asked for and couldn't seem to release.