The Alien’s Reward by Luna Kingsley
Chapter 28
Vah’all
“You’ve beenthrough a lot recently. I’m relieved you’ve finally regained consciousness.”
The most obvious sensation when I come to is my dry mouth followed by how difficult it is to open my eyes. I can hear Stux’an’s voice and sense his presence next to my bed, but it’s still so hard to open my eyes and look at him.
Trying to piece back the moments of everything that happened after a serious injury is becoming a regular occurrence. It all started on my last mission when I saw Sarah for the first time and wanted to make her mine. Every beating and confinement was worth it. The rift between our species, the shake-up between the traditionalists and those of us who are ready to see the world. Those of us who are tired of hiding away and destroying those who might happen to steal a glance. It has all been worth it to have my woman by my side.
“Sarah,” I manage to say.
“Here, drink this.” I finally pry my eyes open as Stux’an tips water toward my mouth. It’s when he refuses to look at me that my skin prickles with awareness. Even if Sarah isn’t in the same room with me, if she’s close, I can feel her. We’re connected, completely in tune with each other, but at the moment, there’s a void where she should be.
“Why can’t I feel her?” I try to sit up, but Stux’an is on his feet, restraining me and trying to get me take it slow.
“Your body has suffered so much trauma. Injury after injury. You’ve needed time to heal. Don’t stress yourself now and re-open wounds that have freshly healed.”
“Just tell me where she is, Stux’an. She’s all that matters, and my last memory is of us falling. She was there with me, but they came out of nowhere. One moment we were alone, almost to the pass and then there was sharp, intense heat in my back and my wings wouldn’t cooperate.”
“Your wing tore and you took enemy fire. Don’t blame yourself for losing consciousness once you hit the rocks. You’re lucky to have survived.”
“Did they take her? Before you arrived?”
“No, she’s safe. But we’ve returned the women to Nedruinia—for now.”
His words pass through my brain multiple times while I try to process this new information. In the end, it doesn’t seem real. “After everything I’ve gone through to keep her by my side, you took her away from me while I’ve been unconscious? Without giving me a chance to voice how I feel about it?”
“There was a second wave, a second attack. At that point, the other three women made it clear they wanted out of here and they weren’t going to leave Sarah behind. After what they went through in the research lab, we felt it best to give them what they wanted. We couldn’t guarantee their safety when we were fighting off enemy ships and warrior packs—all with the same agenda to take the women.”
The desire to rage is overwhelming. I want to pull the needles from my arms and throw things at the pristine walls. But the logic behind Stux’an’s words overpowers those impulses. Instead, I slump back against my pillows.
“Curse me out if you want to, brother. I understand your anger right now,” Stux’an says.
I shake my head and rub my chest. Even with the pain meds being pumped into my system, the space inside my chest aches. For her—because of my all-consuming love for her. “When things turned against us, I should’ve put her safety first. Things have escalated out of control and now we’re dealing with a full-on civil war. Battle lines have been drawn and it will continue this way even though the women are gone.” I exhale and take another drink of water. It’s cold and soothing going down my throat, but it does little to ease my building regrets.
“She gave me peace in a way I didn’t think I deserved. Not after the life I’ve lived and the crimes I’ve committed. So, I was selfish and I kept her, putting her life in danger along the way. It’s wrong—I know it’s wrong—but you’re still going to have to chain me to this bed if you think I’m not going to go after her as soon as my wings are strong enough to make it that far.”
Stux’an laughs, actually laughs, before relaxing a little more into his chair. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“Yes, we have. Long enough for me to know you deserve good things whether you really believe it or not. So, we’ll find a way to make sure your woman will be safe when you bring her back here. I’ll give you one more day and then I expect to see you at the base. In the meantime, Drocrek has been busy mapping our borders into a new program. We’ll use it to figure this all out.”
“Thanks, Stux’an.”
“Get some rest. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” And then I’m alone with plenty of time to plan how I’ll get Sarah back.
* * *
“We’ve setup monitors along the perimeter so we can track movement in and out. Now that word has spread that the females are gone, the daily attacks have stopped.” I’m in the control room of the military compound while Drocrek shows me the system he’s set up to ensure the safety of the area we’ve established as ours. The mountains provide a natural wall between the warring sides, but we can fly, so we’re always vulnerable to attacks from above. Long electrical poles with sensors on the end form a line along the pass. Not only does it send out electrical waves into the air, but it signals us that something has flown past the barrier. We’re still installing them along the rest of our borders but nearing the end.
“Do you think as long as they continue to believe the women are gone, they’ll leave us alone?” I ask.
Stux’an answers from where he watches at the back of the room. “No. The women were an excuse for all of us. We finally took a stand. And they pushed the boundaries too far. Now we’re left with the consequences, but this all started long before Vah’all set his eyes on his brown-eyed woman.”
“Speaking of…” Drocrek presses a few buttons on the panel in front of him and the images on the screens jump and shift. “We’ve got a lot of land within sight of the security cameras.” He continues to press the button and the images change over and over again. “Settling with Sarah at your home would be too obvious and not secure.”
“I agree,” I say.
“But look at this area.” He zooms in on a tight rock formation where upon closer inspection a small river hides at the base. The shore is overflowing with rocks of all sizes, a spattering of small saplings growing further up the bank. “There’s an opening in the rocks right through here next to the river. It’s small, almost impossible to find unless someone is specifically looking for it. We’ve been inside and it’s expansive, like a wide cavern. Protection from above with one way in and one way out. It’s easy to defend and we’ll keep cameras around the entire area.”
“It’s perfect, Dro. If Sarah is willing to play it safe for a while in order to be together, this place works.”
“You think you can convince her?” I spin around at the sound of Kraal’s voice. He’s been gone since he flew the women to Nedruinia, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for his return so I can hear all about it. For a lot of the time, I wanted to initiate a fight with him for taking Sarah away from me when I was bleeding out on the rocks. They told me later that I instructed them to take her away, but I didn’t mean off the island. In my near unconscious state, I tried to communicate for them to get her to safety. Now that fire has dulled with every day that passed and I only want to know that she’s safe and happy.
He raises his hands in defeat after analyzing my expression. “I’m relieved to see you back on your feet. I’m not the only one who’s been worried about you.”
There are so many things I want to know. So many things I want to ask, but in the end, I settle for the most important. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, brother. She’s fine. But why don’t you ask her yourself?”
Kraal moves out of the doorway and then Sarah is standing there. She’s alive and well, in the same room again after too much time apart. My heart leaps in my chest like it’s getting the jump start it needed after all this time. Our bodies instantly synch up, my upper body expanding as her essence fills me again.
We crash into each other and then she’s in my arms. “Be careful. You’re still healing,” she says, admonishing me even though it’s impossible for me to feel anything besides happiness in this moment.
“I’m never letting you leave me again,” I say before crashing my lips down on hers. My intensity is unexpected, especially when we’re surrounded by so many of my warrior brothers. But I’ve missed her like I’ve missed a part of me.
“Nothing could make me leave you again. I promise,” she says, kissing all over my face. “Never again.”