Page 11 of Protected By the Alien Warmachine

Kal’va took the hint and grabbed another makeshift towel. As we worked to get the blood off him, he growled and shook his head. “I have failed you, Tal’ia. Those who attacked you live. But they will not lightly venture back into the tomb, and I have slain six or more of them.”

“That’s not failing,” I said, unsure how to feel about that. Yes, Kal’va had saved my life, but he’d done it by killing a half-dozen people.

My body knew exactly how to feel, though. Warm, eager, excited. Apparently, dead enemies were the best first-date gift I could have gotten.

Kal’va’s growl turned deeper, hungrier, and sexier, making my blush spread and brighten. “I would kill them all, Tal’ia. All who harm you deserve death.”

“Hey, you’re more injured than I am,” I pointed out. “MaybeIshould kill the people who hurtyou.”

He chuckled, a deep sound that didn’t make it any easier for me to focus. “I think I am better built for war. You were made for nicer things.”

Jules saved me from having to reply by throwing her mug at me. The first I knew about it was when it slapped into Kal’va’s hand. I hadn’t seen him move, and his eyes never left mine. One moment his hand was at his side, the next it was beside my cheek and holding the mug.

“Get a room, you two,” Jules shouted. If Kal’va’s show of skill had impressed her, she gave no sign of it. “Or, if you can control yourselves long enough, tell us what’s happening up on the surface. Are we still in danger, or did you scare Rush’s people off?”

Kal’va furrowed his brow, a puzzled note entering his voice. “This is my room, human. The crypt has been mine since before your species walked upright.”

His look of confusion only intensified when we both struggled off laughter. After a moment of awkward silence, he shook his head, a quick, sharp motion. “No, that is my failure. I do not have the strength to challenge their ship on my own. They withdrew under cover of its fire.”

I cursed. “They won’t leave unless we can push them to it. Now that they’ve attacked us, they need us dead. Anyone who lives to tell what happened is a deadly threat to those assholes.”

Kal’va looked up to the ceiling, presumably in the direction of Rush’s ship. “They have the numbers to be a grave danger. This time, they were overconfident and sloppy, easy prey. Next time, if they are more professional about their approach, I may fail to stop them.”

“We’ll help fight,” Jules said. No hesitation, no fear, just an instant willingness to commit herself to the battle. I admired that, though Paulo looked unhappy with the way she committed the rest of us, too.

But Kal’va shook his head. “You are not warriors. Not killers. Your ‘help’ would only distract me.”

“Now hang on a damned minute,” I said. “We’re not hiding down here while you fight our battles for us.”

“No. You will hide somewhere much safer.”

I groaned. “That isnotwhat I meant.”

Before Kal’va had a chance to respond, Jules stepped between us, hands on her hips and a spark in her eyes.

“Okay, if the two of you are just going to stand there and flirt, Paulo and I will go find somewhere to ambush those fucks when they come back.” Jules sounded half-infuriated, half-amused. Trying to see it from her perspective, I guessed I’d be the same if our positions were reversed.

It was less funny from my side. I wished the ground would hurry up and swallow me, or, even better, swallow Jules.

“It is not flirtation,” Kal’va said. It sounded no more convincing from him than it would have from me. “If I need to restrain Tal’ia for her safety, I shall do so.”

I bit my lip, face bright red. Thank god, that was the moment Paulo spoke up.

“Uh, folks, I don’t mean to interrupt anything, but Rush’s ship just started receiving a lot of data from orbit. It’s encrypted, I can’t listen in, but I thought it might be important?”

8

KAL’VA

Before the human male finished speaking, I was searching for the transmission. It wasn’t hard to find when I went looking for it—powerful enough to reach the ship from orbit, the spillover didn’t give me any trouble. Nor did the encryption, despite it being much more complex than the soldiers’ comms.

It took longer to understand the contents. Not simple audio, but inefficiently encoded holography.

My mate and her companions gasped as I projected the images into mid-air. Two humans, one dressed in the armored spacesuit of our attackers, the other a hard-faced female with long dark hair seated behind a wooden desk. She was speaking as I tuned in.

“It was supposed to look like a tragic accident, Captain,” she said, voice hard as voidsteel and twice as cold. “An expedition lost in the sands, all dead, how sad. It’s a dangerous world out there and it’ll remain so until Taverner remakes it to be fit for humans.”

“That was the plan, yes. Unfortunately, as is famously often the case, the plan failed on contact with the enemy.”

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