Page 4 of Koha'vek
The creature standing over me, shadowed against the firelight, was massive and broad-shouldered. He was half hidden by shadow, but I could see enough of his face to know that he was not human. His golden eyes gleamed in the dim light over ridged cheekbones and a sharp jaw. His skin was patterned in dark scales like those of a snake or fish. His large hands had fingers that ended in black claws.
“Enough!” he shouted, covering his ears with his hands. “You are safe. I will not harm you.”
Still, he didn’t move toward me as I tried to scramble back on whatever piece of furniture I had been lying on. My heart was thundering, as soon as I pressed my foot against the couch, hot pain lanced through my ankle, and I cried out. I panted against the pain, searching my blanket and the area around me for a weapon, anything to defend myself from the strange creature standing over me. I found nothing.
What I did learn was that I lay on a soft, fur-covered old sofa, covered with a warm blanket. Then I realized that my ankle was wrapped in a bandage. We were in a small old cabin with a well-kept hearth. Crafted from stone and wood, there was one door and two windows.
Even without my injuries, I doubted I could get past the creature to escape if he wanted to stop me. “Where am I?”
“My shelter.”
I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t help myself. “What–what are you?”
“Not your enemy.” He tilted his head as if he might want to say more. “I didn’t bring you here to hurt you. You were injured, so I brought you here to prevent you from dying.”
Then I remembered. A bear roared. Dotty reared, and I couldn’t hold on. I fell, and snow,leaves, and branches flew around me. I kept rolling, and then there was a sudden stop and blackness.
I looked at him again, and suddenly I knew what he was. “You’re – Mesaarkan.” I’d heard the word before, said like he was Satan himself.
His golden eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t deny it. It wouldn’t have done any good because I knew.
“You were one of them, the aliens who were stealing people all over the territory to experiment on them and use them as sex slaves.”
His expression darkened. “I know what my people have done. That’s why I left them.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stared into the fire as if it might answer for him.
“Because I couldn’t watch anymore.”
Again, I was staring at him. He was terrifying, somewhere between six and 7 feet tall and powerfully built. He was something of a nightmare with his reptilian features and wicked claws. He could break me with his bare hands if he wanted to.
He had done none of those things. Instead, he dressed myankle and bandaged my head.
He covered me with blankets and placed me near the fire to keep me warm. He had done nothing but try to help, but that didn’t stop me from seeing a monster when I looked at him.
“You should have just let me die,” I said, remembering what my life had become because of Callum Jenkins.
“No,” he emphasized it as though there had never been a question.
I felt my eyes burning, and I blinked back tears to keep them from falling. “I have nothing left. He took it all, but he wasn’t getting me in the bargain.”
“I suspected that you were hunted. It didn’t make sense that a woman would be traveling alone this far into the wilderness.”
I looked away.
Jenkins’s face flashed in my mind, his smug grin, his threats, and his promises. I just shuddered and looked at the creature. “What is your name?”
“Koha’vek Draal.”He rose slowly from where he had crouched by the fire. “You are safe here. You need rest, then when you are stronger, you can decide what to do.”
“And if I want to leave?”
“You may not until you can walk.”
He stepped back into the shadows, picking up a worn blanket and spreading it across achair near the far wall. He didn’t watch me or come closer. He didn’t threaten me.
Despite that, my heart was still pounding even though I lay still on the couch. My throat was tight. I was confused and exhausted. I still didn’t understand why this alien enemy was helping me. Why was I even alive? But I was.
