Page 46 of Ruled By The Alpha

Another wave of that same crawling sensation burrowed beneath his skin.

Followed by a faint click. Then another. Heknewthat sound.

His gaze was locked on the entrance, but he heard her sharp intake of breath as if she was right by his ear. “Gerlex! We need to—“

But it was too late.

Four insectoid creatures slid through the cracks between the boulders, dropping to the ground. Each one was about the length of his leg and made of three bisected parts topped by a round head. A head that had no eyes or nose, only a massive, gaping mouth filled with jagged teeth that pointed in every direction.

The creatures she’d called gerlex advanced as one, their long, spiked antennae twitching as their heads swung widely. Their iridescent, green-plated bodies scurried forward almost faster than he could track. All the while, they made that irritating, low clicking noise that had grated against his skin from the start.

He grabbed two in each hand and ripped their heads from their bodies with a satisfying pop—only to watch as four more slipped through the cracks. And then more. And more. Until, in the blink of an eye, the ground of the cave was covered in glowing green bodies and gnashing mouths and the clicking had become a roar that abraded his skin and squeezed his chest.

A swarm.

He’d seen the creatures before, ripped one or two apart when they’d crossed his path, but few usually made that mistake.

Just like now, they streamed around him, giving him a wide berth. Something about his scent was enough to let the hive mind know not to get too close.

His hide was likely too tough for them—his gaze traveled upward—but there was something far softer and easier to digest in the cave, a delicacy they hunted and craved above all else: his Anara.

“No.” With a roar, he rushed to the wall and batted the climbing gerlex off the cave walls, stabbing and ripping.

“Cheim, careful!” She bobbed above, unstable as fear infected her concentration.

“They are not here for me.” He ripped apart several more. “Move to the center.” But already he could see that for as many as he batted down, ten more surged upward, clicking and skittering as they climbed—tireless, determined, hungry.

He raced to formulate a plan.

Tossing aside the boulders would only allow more in at a faster rate. Already the sound of their low chittering was like claws against his skin. He could sense thousands more just beyond the cave exit, crawling over the rocks, swarming, searching for a way in.

His female’s scream had his head snapping up. A roar ripped from his chest.

Two of them had reached the top of the wall and leaped for her.

She’d evaded them easily, floating out of reach.

But could she dodge thousands? A swarm all jumping at once? And what happened when she tired?

They would keep attacking until they reached her or until enough gerlex piled in the space for them to simply crawl up andover one another until they built a mountain of writhing bodies high enough to reach her.

But unlike him, they would not give her pleasure when they caught her. They would sink their fangs into her skin not for happiness, but to rip her apart for good.

To take her from this galaxy forever.

That could not be allowed to happen.

Spinning around, he ran back toward the center of the cave, crunching gerlex underfoot until he reached a teeming mass of them. Spearing them through with his horn in one vicious strike, he pulled her hide from beneath the pile of now dead gerlex.

He had washed her scent off him when he went under the waterfall, but the hide she had used to cover herself retained her sweet perfume still.

With a roar, he waved it in the air, and then rubbed it over his body before wrapping it around his bicep.

Instantly, the chittering shifted. The gerlex climbing up the walls ceased their advance, their antenna twitching as her delicious scent wafted to them from a different, easier-to-reach angle.

He waved his hand once more, his claws and horns at the ready. “Come, hungry gerlex. Come to me.”

“Cheim, no!”

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