The Alien’s Claim by Zoey Draven
Chapter Thirty-Three
Her scream pierced through him like a blade.
Jaxor didn’t freeze with the deep, chilling fear that threatened to still his bones. Instead, he sprinted, still hearing the echo of her voice reverberate through the mountains of the Kokillix. As if the mountains wanted him to hear.
He’d gone too far from base, but he sprinted as fast as his body would allow, his heartbeat drumming in his ears until it was the only thing he heard.
“Erin!” he bellowed when he saw the crater come into view. “Erin!”
He heard nothing, which made him curse. When he saw the pulley, he launched himself onto it and pulled himself up to the base, bloodying his hands on the chain with his frenzied pace.
“Erin!” he called out, his eyes scanning the place he’d called home for the past five rotations, seeing it with new eyes. It was no longer his sanctuary, but the place where he might have lost her forever.
There wasn’t a kekevir in sight, which was what he’d originally feared, but when his eyes went to the cave, his heart froze as he saw the door torn off its hinges.
He sprinted there, launching himself up the steps, fearing what he might find. Profound relief and mind-numbing terror met him when he saw it was empty.
Jaxor cut a look back to the base. It was empty too. When he looked up at the sky, he saw it. The shield link in the northwest corner, the one over his crops, had failed.
“Vrax!” he roared, launching himself off the cave platform, quickening his pace towards the tunnel that led to the hovercraft.
Maybe she escaped. Maybe she was able to escape them.
Because he knew. Tavar had come, or he’d sent his warriors to search for him, to punish him. Only, they’d happened upon his base instead…and in the process, they’d happened upon her.
The gleam in Tavar’s eyes the night he’d met them by the Lopitax Sea had been one of distrust. Jaxor had always known the Mevirax leader was intelligent, not easily fooled. When Jaxor betrayed him, when he hadn’t delivered on his promise though he knew how much Jaxor wanted his revenge—the only thing he’d ever wanted—it told him everything. Tavar would have questioned what changed. Had he guessed that he kept a human female for himself?
Pushing his body faster, Jaxor sprinted down the tunnel, but the hovercraft was still there. They hadn’t taken it, but it almost certainly meant Erin hadn’t escaped.
His anguished bellow made the kekevir screech. They clamored down the tunnel, their claws scraping at the stone, their eyes flashing behind the gate.
Launching himself into the hovercraft, he powered the engine on and shot up through the entrance of the tunnel. It was a clear span, perhaps another reason why the Mevirax had spotted his base.
“Erin!” he bellowed into the endless sky, wind rushing. He knew where the Mevirax base was. But looking in that direction, he saw nothing. Not a glimmer of metal on the horizon. He’d strayed too far from base during his last patrol, had taken too long to return.
Jaxor couldn’t think. Rage and worry and dread filled him. He needed to think.
His hand shook when he brought it up to his horns, when he clawed at the thick bone. Just that morning, he’d had her in his arms. Just that morning, she’d smiled and kissed him and looked at him like—
Vaxa’an.
His brother’s name cut through his jumbled thoughts and he latched onto it, desperately.
Even in the frenzied state he was in, Jaxor knew he couldn’t very well storm Tavar’s base alone. He had planned to tell Vaxa’an everything in the Golden City, which was what he should have done from the very beginning. But would his brother listen to him? Would he help him? Or would he turn his back on him, just like Jaxor had done to Vaxa’an ten rotations ago?
But he couldn’t do this alone.
As much as his Instinct clawed at his chest to go hurtling after his female, he couldn’t take on over two hundred of the Mevirax alone. He had a single weapon on the hovercraft.
He turned his sight south, towards the Golden City. His brother would be there. If he flew through the night, he could be there by morning. He would beg if he had to, he would agree to anything, as long as Vaxa’an would help rescue Erin from the Mevirax…before they had the chance to hand her over to the Jetutians.
He didn’t have time to think about it. There was such little time to be had and he didn’t know what Tavar knew or if he’d already been in contact with Po’grak.
But if he reached the Golden City, he could out the spy in the command center. They would realize Luxiria had been breached multiple times and they could ensure that no vessels entered. If only he could reach the Golden City before Erin was delivered to the Mevirax base.
He didn’t have a choice.
He would be punished for his crimes, along with the Mevirax. It might mean death, it might mean exile, but he would sacrifice whatever he needed to to keep his female safe and out of harm’s way.
Without another moment’s hesitation, he began the long journey to the Golden City.
The mark of Oxandri seemed to burn on his chest, where Laccara had pressed the blade to his flesh.
Sacrifice. Perhaps this was what Oxandri had wanted all along.
