Page 2 of Hadley's Heroes
“Brooklyn?” the smaller one asked as he cocked his head to the side and then looked up. My heart raced faster. What? How did he know Brooklyn? Oh gosh, was he one of the guys she hugged? She told me the story of how she hugged many of the outcast Aashi males on her way to find Clan Wolf, not knowing about the whole mating hormones thing. Was he one of them? I could see the faint mate marks on his thighs. But that could have been from the queen from his old clan. How did he end up here though?
“Do… do you know Brooklyn?” I stuttered. They all looked at each other and then back to me. The taller one with the longer hair had a huge smile on his face and nodded, pointing at his thighs.
“Brooklyn,” the healer repeated, pointing to his thighs. Oh shit… yep, these were guys she had hugged. She already had five mates. I had a feeling this guy was going to be very disappointed when he found out she wasn’t taking any more lovers on. She had enough issues with all the others she didn’t pick. I had seen them, their eyes on her like she was the best thing since sliced bread.
The one who had come from the tree, who made my body shiver just from his look, continued to take steps away from me while keeping his eyes on me from behind that short hair. He was very similar looking to the one who just pointed to his mate marks. Was that his brother? His twin? His eyes turned away from me when I looked up at him again and he shrunk back more. What happened? I felt this pull to him, this almost magnetic attraction, and he was leaving. Should I want him to leave? Stay? I was confused. Maybe I hit my head to be even thinking about him this way.
I looked down to his thighs and realized he didn’t have any mate marks. It was as if he knew I was looking for the marks, his lower hands covered the area where they should be before he slipped up into a tree and I couldn’t see him anymore. He ran away… from me.
I wasn’t sure if I should be worried or not about these males. Maybe they were looking only for Brooklyn and they didn’t want to hurt me. That they were only worried about me after I fell pretty dramatically from a cliff. To be fair, we were headed to mountains. I didn’t know we were on the top of the mountain and were looking for a way down it. That information might have helped me.
“Hadley,” I heard Vetok shout from somewhere behind me, I didn’t turn to him. I kept my eyes on the two males still standing in front of me, just in case they had other plans with me. They looked up and over to the direction of Vetok’s voice. I smiled and let out a deep breath. He was here.
“Babe, I’m here,” I shouted, hoping it would scare these males away, knowing that my mate was coming for me. But if anything, I now noticed more movement from the huts in the clan that was down here… Was that a blue… wait, and a green?No way.
“Zalli,” I whispered to myself. There were other Zalli guys like Sanza—Elle’s blue alien mate—but that one, he was green. Not like an ugly green, it was really pretty, like fresh-cut grass. And holy shit,pink…
“Pink alien?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and he was now looking right at me. Our eyes locked as he froze, and I felt the breath whoosh from my lungs at the sight. It was strange to see someone that wasn’t Aashi out here. I guess we weren’t the only clan with different aliens.
I felt the moment Vetok got to me, his hands gentle on my shoulders, his thumbs brushing lightly over the bare skin of my throat. I leaned towards him as I watched the two Aashi males move even further from us. Vetok was not someone you messed with. I think that was what attracted me to him at first. He was small compared to most Aashi, so he had more to prove himself as a warrior to all the others. He was sweet, kind… maybe a little possessive, but in a good way. Never raising his voice or hitting me like my ex. Vetok, he was my hero and I loved him.
He spoke in Aashi to the males, well, more like he yelled and growled in Aashi, before quickly turning to me.
“Hadley,” he purred in that deep voice, as one of his hands stroked my face, his eyes wide as they roamed over me, taking in all my injuries. I could see his face etched with worry. When he saw my ankle, I heard him muttering under his breath. I think he was cursing himself. I tried to reassure him by patting his hand, but it didn’t change the way I could see him beating himself up internally.
He was very protective of me, but he was never controlling. I loved that about him. He could scream and yell. Scare the shit out of everyone but me. When he was with me, he was always so thoughtful, gentle, spoke sweetly and told me how lucky he was that I chose him,every day.
“It’s okay, I’ll be okay now that you’re here.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged him closer. I could see his eyes were focused on the other males as I kissed him on his sweet purple lips. He returned my kiss, but his eyes didn’t move away from where they were. He wasn’t going to let them out of his sight, even for a second. I knew he wouldn’t, he would always be my protector.
He understood that I needed to be carried as he gently picked me up, cradling me to his hard, muscular chest. He spat out more words to the other males as Jaka rushed in. My translator, inside the backpack, started to pick up on some of the words.
“…don’t look at my mate. She is not for your eyes. Leave at once.” I tapped Vetok and he didn’t look at me, still watching the other males’ moves. The third male, I didn’t know where he went. But he wasn’t there anymore and I wasn’t sure if he left to warn the rest of their clan.
“Vetok. Don’t be rude. They didn’t do anything.” It was true, they didn’t, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have. I didn’t want him making enemies for Clan Wolf, especially with them already having a whole clan down here as it was. We had stumbled… well, I had stumbled, into their clan lands.
“Male, Vetok. We only came to see if we could assist your mate. She fell from the Goddess into our clan lands,” the tall one with mate marks explained.
“Goddess?” I asked confused.
Chapter Two
Vetok
My mate was injured. She was hurt and in pain. I will forever blame myself for the mistake I made, letting her walk so freely ahead of me, busy watching the sway of her tailless behind and thinking of what I wanted to do to it later that night. I should have been ahead at all times, scouting for danger. Not thinking with my cock.
I let my guard down being in Clan Wolf, thinking that other males would have seen this and warned her. But she traveled another path that others hadn’t yet explored. I shouldn’t have let her walk unknown lands like that. I should have known better than to let my guard down around her. She meant everything to me, and seeing her injured broke me.
“Goddess?” my Hadley asked the outcast males in front of us, her translator letting her understand their words.
“Yes, the Goddess. You fell from the sky into our clan lands. Welcome, female, to our clan. Clan Freedom.” The tall warrior male smiled at Hadley.
I scoffed him and his clan. There was no such thing as Clan Freedom. Jaka was beside me and I could feel the other males from Clan Wolf approach from behind. It made the two Aashi males in front of me take a step back. I hid my smile at the sight. I knew there was a third nearby, I could sense him watching us, but he kept his distance. He was smart.
“Oh wow, you have your own clan here? We were coming here to get away from the M’Mori,” Hadley replied, not even caring that these males shouldn't know of our plans. But my Hadley, she didn't know this. I would tell her later when we were away from these males that she shouldn't tell other Aashi what our plans were in case they followed us.
“Yes, we have also escaped the M’Mori. All who live here escaped from them and their mines. We have many different males here, all protected by the tall mountain walls. No M’Mori ever search out here for the missing.”
I looked over to where he was pointing, the first time I really took my eyes from them, knowing that they wouldn’t do anything with the other males at my back. I could see other Aashi and… Zalli. Elle’s mate Sanza was Zalli too. He escaped the mines also.
