Chapter 9: Koriv’n

 

I went around the house, looking for every single image of my Nikki with that male and throwing them into the fire. I recognized the face in those photos. The male who had hurt her had acted as her mate once. It angered me that someone who was supposed to protect her had taken advantage of her instead. No wonder she had no trust for humans.

I knew what that ring represented; I’d come across it in my research and had collected many like it for when I finally met my mate. I was glad my Nikki had thrown it into the fire. She had no more love for that male.

Would Nikki ever be willing to love a male again after her betrayal? Humans did not form a mating bond as we did. It was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it meant Nikki could love again. A curse because there would be no permanent bond on her end. Instead, when a Xarc’n mated with a human female, we relied on their love for us in return. I would have to work twice as hard to convince her.

I went through the house looking for useful items, and found several boxes of packaged drinks wrapped in plastic that had been missed by the last foragers. She would probably enjoy this when she woke.

I recognized the fruit on the box: apples. The compound had been out picking apples at the orchard yesterday. My team had split off to cover a residential street with a pear tree and some berries when we’d run into the armed men who ended up kidnapping Lena and Evie.

Was that just yesterday? It felt as if I’d known Nikki for much longer. Maybe it was because I’d been searching for her for months.

I sat on the couch facing the broken window. With only a cabinet pushed in front, it wasn’t secure. I wanted to rest but needed to make sure I was ready at the first sign of trouble. The flyers were patrolling the air now, alerting their scuttler companions on the ground of any movement.

I closed my eyes but kept my ears trained for any strange noises.

Only about one Earth hour had passed before I heard it: the sound of an Earth vehicle approaching. What type of idiot would drive around in a noisy vehicle during the height of the day? Even with our cloaking technology, hunters avoided flying our shuttles during high noon.

There’d been reports of flyers guessing the location of a shuttle or bumping into one accidentally and attaching themselves onto the hull. The rest would pile on, bringing down the vessel.

This was less of an issue when we drove our shuttles along the ground, but even then, the flyers would call in scuttlers to our location. Nothing a hunter couldn’t handle if the groups were small; we’d just get out of the shuttle and hunt them down. But a human driver would struggle if their vehicle were overrun.

I hurried up the stairs to find Nikki already awake and looking out the window.

“Shit! He’s here. I recognize that van. It’s armored, but he’s crazy to be driving it now. He must be too pissed to use his few remaining brain cells.”

I threw her a package of the apple juice, and she drank it down fast, mumbling something about wishing she had time to make coffee as she ran down the stairs. Her bag waited for her on the table, and her shoes were already on since she’d fallen asleep with them. When we first started living with the humans at the compound, they’d rarely removed their shoes, claiming they needed to be always prepared and ready to run.

“I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. Damn it! I shouldn’t have come at all. I’ve put us in danger, and for what? Some catharsis and a gun? I should have known he’d check here first.” She looked at the fire. “Shit. He’ll know we were here.”

“We’ll make a distraction. Make the fire bigger. A burning house will confuse them, keep them off our trail.”

We rekindled the dying flames with more of the papers on the counter. They burned readily, and the fire grew fast. Then I took the fluffy throw from the couch and threw it into the fire; it landed half in half out of the fireplace. We piled the rest of the cushions on top.

The van stopped in front of the house, the sound of the idling engine calling in every flyer in the area. I started to push more furniture in front of the broken window to make it harder to enter, but Nikki stopped me.

“He has the key. He picked up the spare as a momento after we broke in last time. He’ll just come through the door.”

Just as the cushion caught flame, we heard the jiggling of the doorknob.

I led Nikki through the back sliding door, closing the curtains and door behind us, so it wasn’t clear at first glance we’d gone out the back.

There were more flyers than I expected overhead, their keen eyes and ears focused on the vehicle. Lucky for us, there were several mature trees, and we stayed under their small noon shadows until we reached the chain-link fence. I helped Nikki over, and she ducked into a small utility shed a few yards away.

Damn those human males for driving such a loud vehicle. Now that the van was no longer moving, the flyers would be looking for movement elsewhere. Sure, they might attack the vehicle a few times, but when they realized there was nothing edible inside—the two males had already run into the house—they’d cast their keen eyes around for prey. The only other food source in the area was Nikki.

I needed to get her out of here before the scuttlers arrived. This little shed was not safe. It hid her from the flyers but would do nothing to protect her from scuttlers and spitters. Also, it was most likely the next place the human males would check after realizing we’d left through the back.

Nikki blamed herself for coming here, but I understood the need. She’d needed to see the home one last time, and the weapon would be useful when I wasn’t there to protect her. Though I doubted I would ever leave her undefended if I could help it.

The back door to Nikki’s old house opened, and two males stumbled out, choking and coughing. A sheet of smoke billowed out with them. It seemed they’d found our little present. The flyers overhead homed in on them. Their coughing was a loud beacon in the abandoned neighborhood.

The flyers screeched, alerting their peers on the ground of prey. They swooped low, getting close to the house. The males were stuck, unable to head back into the house because of the smoke and flames.

With the flyers distracted, we took the opportunity to run across the yard, then ducked into some overgrown bushes on the other side.

A scream had me looking back just in time to watch the male named Jason bash his companion hard in the knees with a bat. He shoved the screaming male out into the backyard. The flyers zeroed in and dove down on him immediately.

As the flyers converged on the screaming male on the ground, Jason ran around the side of the house along the wall, making his way back to the van. Despite the screeching of the flyers as they attacked, I heard the vehicle on the other side of the house start up moments later. The flyers, their attention already focused on tearing up their victim, ignored the van.

I looked over at Nikki, but she didn’t look surprised at his actions.

This male had no honor. None of the humans at our compound would sacrifice another member to survive. They were brave and stood with the hunters on the roof to fight the swarm. No wonder Nikki had such hatred for him and no trust for other humans. This was the type of people she’d been living with.

The fact that this despicable male was of the same species as the honorable individuals at our compound confused me.

Nikki would learn to trust again; I’d make sure of it. The humans and hunters at our compound would teach her, just as they’d taught me how it was to be part of a team.

Hunters usually hunted alone during the cooler months, only joining up to tackle large summer swarms or to destroy a nest. On the whole, a hunter’s life was a lonely one. But with so many mated hunters and mated human males—they’d started referring to their females in Xarc’n terms—we’d decided to stay together past the swarming season.

I couldn’t wait to show Nikki a better life. But first, I had to get her to safety.

She pointed to a raised porch across the street, one we could duck under. The way to it was awfully bare of trees, however, and we needed to run now to get there before the flyers finished their snack and saw us. I also needed to get Nikki safely inside a home before the scuttlers arrived.

We ran across the street toward the porch. The scuttlers showed up at the end of the street just as we got across. That porch wasn’t much use now; it wouldn’t protect Nikki while I fought.

Nikki ran toward the closest door, rattling the doorknob. When it didn’t budge, she didn’t hesitate. She jumped off the porch and ran for the next house. This house had a broken window; it would offer little protection. She moved fast, going from house to house until she finally found an unlocked door. She ducked inside and waited for me to enter.

I shook my head; a gesture I’d picked up from the humans I worked with. “I’ll take care of this group.”

The scuttlers were still scurrying down the street toward us. We had time. I pulled her out to the front step of the house and stood two steps below her so we were closer in height. I held her in my arms and leaned forward to brush my cheek against hers, careful not to hurt her with my horns.

I tilted my face and caught her lips in mine as I’d seen the mated warriors do with their females. She didn’t pull away. Instead, she kissed me back, a good thing too, because I didn’t know what I was doing. I moved my lips against hers, copying her motions. Our first kiss was cut short by the sounds of dozens of scurrying legs.

“Be careful,” she said, squeezing my shoulders. Then she ducked back into the house.

Wanting to stay close to Nikki, I took my sword from my back as I waited for the scuttlers to come to me.