Page 47 of Her Alien Prince
Going to her was all I could think about, but, as much as it pained me to admit, Gaven was correct. It didn’t do my mate any good to be caught in a trap, and she was strong enough to hold her own until I figured out if Gaven’s little disappearing act worked farther than his own skin.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Mabel
HAVING TRENT BEsnatched away from my very fingers, his body limp and vulnerable, was the worst feeling I had ever experienced. I could do nothing, and everything in me shut down. A blank void filled my eyes as I was dragged from the departing shuttle and taken to the mountains of Krelis by flight, hanging from two warriors. Not even my wings had any fight left in them.
What would they do with him? Would he be okay?
Queen Kai finally spoke as we reached an entrance that glowed, my attention jolted recognizing this place from my dreams. Either side of the trail was guarded by krelin warriors, their wings spread out and blocking any exit. The female warriors had their stingers out, and crossed as they watched me with a sick kind of reverence. A few warriors even hovered above should I have decided to fly towards escape. Not that I was practiced in flying to be successful in my attempt. I was just as likely to crash into the ground or fly right into their grasps. Combat training would be my best bet out of here, but they were likely more trained than me, and I was outnumbered, and the queen was at my side.
"Spawn of Leahme, in honor of your Kloaph Rites we bless you." All of their wings flexed at the same time sending a storm of musk spores assaulting my nose, making me cough and choke. I stumbled forward, disorientated. My hands flailed out grasping for purchase anywhere. Finally, I found something to cling to.
Blinking through the haze, I saw the sneer of Queen Kai as she yanked my head back by my hair. As I gasped, she poured a liquid down my throat, and it overflowed from my mouth. I spat, and coughed, but she held my head firmly in place. It was a struggle to close my mouth to stop the drink from being forced into my very lungs. She kneed me in the stomach, making me suck in the thick nectar down my aching throat to my stomach, and airways. My head was tossed from her grip, and I scrambled on the ground, choking on the nectar that went down my windpipe.
Queen Kai spoke again to the gathered krelins. "With this nectar you grow in union with the hive!"
Grunts formed a haunted sound around me and feet stomped in a matching rhythm that my heart matched in measure. My body thrummed, and the dust of everyone's musk settled for me to see a large krelin cast in the shadow of the mountain's glow, wearing a mask of gold. His wings spread out and his own musk filtered through the wind towards me. The warmth in my belly distracted from wanting to hold my breath, and when it hit my nose, I close my eyes and moaned.
"Trent?" I muttered. Was that him? I'd only ever felt this way around the marvelous, imposing force of the Prince of Krelis. He was of similar build, and this warmth was undeniable. Then he turned from me and walked into the cave, being swallowed up by the green glow. I reached out to him as if to stop him from leaving, but he was gone.
Queen Kai's chuckle echoed against the mountain, and she addressed her warriors, "As is tradition, she isn't to leave this cave for two weeks for completing the Kloaph. Guard the entrance. No one in, and no one out. You can trade your posts and join the celebration at the hive when your replacements arrive."
I heard their replies bouncing around in my mind, "Yes, My Queen." Lights pulsed on the edges of my vision, what I used to think was my imagination part of me knew intrinsically was the hive bond. I could see them all, and one in particular wrapped around my heart... but it didn't lead into the cave where Trent escaped to. No, I shook my head, remembering the feeling of him being ripped away from me and disappearing into the sky as the shuttle departed.
My head throbbed, and an enticing, strong light beckoned me into the cave. I crawled towards the green glow, and when I got there my heart seized. Heat and desire clouded my thoughts, images of Trent's hands exploring my body made me shiver. He was in there, I convinced myself. My mate was lost, and I needed to find him. When I passed over the threshold, I collapsed and saw my dreams come to life.
Trent smiled at me, and without a word motioned for me to follow. With whatever strength I had left I stood. My wings fluttered behind me to keep me on my feet. Then I chased him down the tunnels, losing track of him around the bend.
I'd been here before. Touching the walls, they felt familiar, like I had returned from a long journey and this was home. There was a pulse through the ground, green, glowing veins that led me the opposite direction of where I had been heading. A tug in my gut wanted me to continue where I'd lost track of Trent, but then the cave thrummed louder in my head, piercing through my horns.
I relented and went down the other fork in the tunnels for what seemed like hours and yet only minutes. All concepts of time were gone. The tunnel became more narrow, and I had to shimmy sideways to continue.
Why was I so determined to continue?
Then my jaw dropped as the passage opened up into a hidden hot spring within the mountain. Steam rose up in puffs through cracks in the ground, and yet the only warmth was in my newly formed kan on my forehead, and deep within my chest. I clutched at my shirt, willing the pressure to ease. Instead my vision blurred, and from the walls white smoke billowed, rolling off the waters of the pool until I was stepping into a cloud of dense plumes of sticky vapors clinging to my skin and robes.
Not once did I even think of turning back the way I came. Drawn into the room, I stepped into the waters. My robes were soaked and heavy, and I peeled them away until all that was left was me and the spring. A drop in the surface of the spring startled me, but my wings opened on instinct, gently swaying to keep me afloat without any efforts from my arms or legs. The natural feel of being in the water made me wonder whether krelins used to be creatures of the depths. The way the water never truly absorbed into the fibers of the wings, and how my shoulders seemed to relax much more than when I tried to fly in the air. I closed my eyes, and the fog of the room resembled the way the lights of my connection to the hive did in my thoughts.
Reaching up from the water, I played with the wisps which were cold to my fingers. I smiled as they warmed with my touch. And then I heard them speaking.
"Do you feel that?"
The two wisps seemed like they were entwined together, and I liked that. As soon as the thought of how perfect they were formed, the wisps glowed and they were no longer separated. That was the way they were meant to be. I knew that deep in my bones.
"I feel you..." the wisp said, but I knew it wasn't directed to me.
"Kansa." they said together, and that word made me flinch back, the wisps floated away from my fingers, and I clutched at my own heart. Light warmed my heart, and I clung to it.
"Where is she?" I heard Trent's voice demand.
Then Queen Kai replied, but they were nowhere in sight, "Building an army of powerful warriors as we speak, I suspect. She seemed quite taken with Commander Li-aq when I saw her last." Her dismissive tone was dripping with a kind of smug achievement that made me cringe. Whatever benefit I wanted to give her for being the mother of the man that occupied my mind and heart was lost, and a true understanding that she was never a mother to him, just as my mother was never there for me hit hard.
"What? Nothing to say?" she teased, and there was a tug at my heart that thrashed against my ribcage. "I had so much planned for you, Trenton. I'd make sure her next cycle of eggs were from your seed before you left to claim Estreldez. You were going to be a hero, dying valiantly defending Krelis alongside your warriors as I rebuilt this hive from spawn up. Monuments would be erected in your honor." Her tongue clicking vibrated through my mind like an unwanted pest. "I see now that you are still too selfish to see what needs to be done for the future of the hive, and this will be the last of your defiance. May Lenkal keep you as you join Leahme in the eternal dust."
She was killing him... I gripped at my tight chest, feeling my heart slow.
A heavy despair made the water cold, and my wings stiffened as I sunk beneath the surface. “No,” I screamed, letting my lungs fill.
