Page 8 of Protected By the Alien Warmachine

Paulo whimpered something, then steadied. “I don’t know, raiders or something. They were going to kill us all. Talia saved me, got me down here, but I don’t know about the others. ”

“Fuck.” Juliette slumped, and her resigned tone was heartbreaking. “So, we’re dead.”

“They used stunners,” I said, giving Paulo a glarefor skipping that vital detail. “I mean, yes, I agree they’re going to kill everyone, but I think they want to make it seem like an accident if they can. No one’s dead yet.”

“But they will be, as soon as they’ve rounded us all up.”

“Well, yeah. But I’ve got a plan.” More like anidea.That would have to do.

Juliette frowned, following my gaze, face paling when she understood. “You cannot be serious.”

6

KAL’VA

Distant weapon fire called me back to the world sooner than I’d expected. Tal’ia’s absence had left me with little to do but study the chattering of the humans’ machines, so I made the best of this time while I waited for her return. I’d hoped to learn more of their language from the primitive and easily decoded radio transmissions.

Pure luck that I was listening when the new arrivals opened fire. I leaped to my feet, trying to track Tal’ia through the sudden chaos, and froze in place. The directives my Makers built into me told me to stay and guard the sleeping dead. That was the task they’d made me for, the very purpose of my being. Or it had been.

No longer. My mate needed me, and I would go to her. If the attackers tried to harm the dead, I would stop them. If they dared threaten her, I would slaughter them all.

I pulled myself into the darkness beyond the hole in the crypt’s ceiling. Muting the glow of my crystals, I blended into the shadows, trying to get a feel for the building I should know perfectly. The damage was disorienting; air flowed in the wrong direction, too fast here, too slow there, and cracks in the walls severed vital nanocircuits.

I remembered this place as it had been at my burial—light, welcoming, a palace for the sleeping dead. Now, none of that remained. Did the dead still lie here for me to watch over? If so, they weren’t speaking. The murmurings of a thousand dreamers should have filled these halls on every channel. Instead, all I heard was static and error codes.

Rage burned in my heart, demanding a target. The intruders weren’t the ones who’d done this, but they were the closest outlet for my fury, and they had threatened my mate. Perhaps murdered her. I extended my diamond claws and straightened up to go forth and hunt her foes.

Tal’ia skidded around the corner, freezing as her light struck me. I stopped dead too, stunned by her sudden appearance. Staring down the corridor at each other, neither of us was willing to move and break the spell.

All my brain managed to supply was an overwhelmed garble of thoughts. No coherent thought survived the chaotic mix of emotions washing over me in a torrent. That she was alive and had taken no serious injuries filled me with relief. That someone had attacked, had cut and bruised her, added rage to the mix. And her beauty, her face streaked with dust, torn clothing allowing tantalizing glimpses of the curves below, made my soul burn with joy. Beautiful, wild, and fierce, she made it hard to think of anything else.

We might have stood there forever, had movement behind her not caught my eye. Without a conscious thought my hand came up and a heavy lump of metal slapped into my palm. The throw was well-aimed, and if I hadn’t caught it, the hammer would have struck my temple. Red light flared in my arm crystals, hyperwaves pulling golden sand from the wall channels and shaping it into darts flying toward my attacker.

“No!” One of the first human words I’d learned, hearing it from Tal’ia’s lips stopped me in my tracks. I released my hold on the darts, and they burst into a harmless rain of sand.

“What the fuck are you doing, Jules?” Tal’ia’s shout contained words I didn’t know, but the tone and target were clear. “He’s our only hope.”

The dark-haired female stammered something, terror in her eyes. I recognized her as the human who had ‘rescued’ Tal’ia from me—my mate’s friend, but perhaps my enemy.

I growled, low and intense. The second female responded with a squeak and a clatter as she dropped an armful of tools. Echoes faded into the distance—followed by a faint sound of movement nearby. My head snapped up at that, teeth bared.

Intruders, perhaps those who’d tried to kill my mate. Not under her protection. Enemies I couldfight.I ran toward my prey, glad for the simplicity of the hunt.

Finding the enemy was easy.Approaching them was harder. Unlike my mate and her companions, they were utterly indifferent to the damage they caused. Where she had been careful, slow, and respectful, these intruders made no effort to protect the sacred site they invaded. Systems failed as they advanced, shooting sculptures and throwing grenades into side chambers to clear them quickly.

When the tomb was new and whole, this would have merely been inconvenient and sacrilegious. The Makers’ stone would hold long enough for guardians to reach and stop them. No permanent harm would have been done.

Millennia of accumulated damage limited my options. I was the last remaining guardian, the stone was cracked and broken, and the self-repair systems had failed. Even I was less effective than I had been. The Makers seared their tomb’s layout into my mind, and now that mental map failed me. Collapsed tunnels, doors that would not open, floors that might no longer support my weight, all forced me to fight against my instincts as I searched for a way around. Worse, the ages had carved new paths through the maze, making it hard to track where the enemy might be.

The instincts my Makers gave me took this into account and would have me hang back, stay by the doors to the inner crypt and guard that at all costs. I snarled at the inbuilt commands. Tactically sound, they would place my newfound mate in danger.

So I did the unthinkable, ignoring the instructions that I’d known before I learned to walk. I pressed on, looking for my enemies rather than waiting for them.

The first I met coming around a corner, laser rifle at the ready. Despite that precaution, I was on him before he could squeeze the trigger, and my claws sliced through the armored pressure suit he wore like fog. His throat parted as easily, a bloody hiss the only sound he made as he fell.

He’d raced ahead of his companions, perhaps as a scout, perhaps aspiring to be first into battle. Those behind him were less vigilant, expecting him to provide a warning. When I burst into a chamber where three humans gathered, I took them all by surprise.

The first died under my claws before he knew I was there. The second leaped for cover, bringing his laser up. Fast reflexes, but not enough to avoid me—I severed his spine, and he landed in a heap.

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