Page 42 of Her Alien Warrior
"You'll regret that, Sou-el!" He charged at me with speed and a mesmerizing grace like battle was a dance that he was the master of.
All the while, my smile stayed plastered to my face like I'd lost my mind to the rut. Perhaps, I had to some degree. I'd never have attempted this kind of recklessness without a bit of crazed motivation. His speed was faster. His maneuvering agile and precise. General Tensel had underestimated me in the beginning, and he wasn't taking the chance that I had extra tricks up my sleeve this time. I was outmatched as he swiftly targeted the weaker areas of my torso to stab into me with his knuckle epul, lifting me up above his shoulder epul.
He hovered there for a moment as I knew the inevitable drop down on his large epul would come. It was an ancient art to skewer our prey on our shoulders so that our food would be carried easily while keeping our hands free to defend ourselves.I closed my eyes waiting for the pain of having one of my hearts destroyed as my chest slid onto his epul. My sister's screams echoed in the room as General Tensel released his knuckle epul and I slipped down to have gravity lead me to my defeat. My only thought was that if I survived this, I would still have a chance to prove myself to my mate without General Tensel's interference. If my mate was not in stasis, I would be devastated to know that he would have charged straight to her as I was escorted to the medbay. Losing this duel would have meant he had the right to claim her, winning the Rakture duel.
Renee was safe. He would claim his victory with another tonight, foregoing his claim to my mate. A duel of Rakture with a competing mate was clear. We dueled for Renee, and he will choose another. He cannot duel me again for this claim. I grunted as my stomach landed on Tensel's shoulder and I waited for the pain. All I felt was the previous aches of the few cuts I received from earlier across my chest, and along my legs.
It was tortured bliss to lose this duel, because I knew it meant winning for our future. Times such as these made me believe in fate instead of science, because if Renee had not gone into stasis, and I had not dueled and forced the general to choose another mate after a Rakture, he could have challenged my claim and won before I ever had a chance to make her mine.
General Tensel whispered so that only I could hear as his arms wrapped around my torso to keep me positioned on his shoulder like I was a sack of grain, "If you try to move beforeI place you in confinement, I will release my epul and you will suffer."
Moments passed in shock at what had happened. He withdrew his epul before I landed on his shoulder, and I was relatively unharmed. With labored breathing, he escorted me to the holding brig, and slammed the button on the restraints that snapped out to lock me into the chair. The compartment in the wall tapped open and he gritted his teeth while blindfolding me with a sensory dampener. Both my hearing and sight were gone. The minutes ticked by in my mind as I felt my blood drip down my fingers, and along my legs.
Worry plagued me as I wondered if his restraint was a sign of me not being able to draw enough of his blood to trigger his instincts to mate. Would he return to his duties without claiming victory? He didn't take my blood, and I couldn't tell if he rushed from the room after the dampener was firmly over my eyes and ears. Did I lose for nothing? The pain of the injuries I did sustain were growing more persistent and my blood loss was more than the cuts General Tensel gave me, but from using my epul so roughly. I was bleeding from the inside, and the dizziness overwhelmed me, until there was nothing but the face of my mate haunting my dreams.
Chapter seventeen
Renee
Waking from stasis was better than I thought it would be. I was a bit sore, and groggy, but overall, this was a relief to be awake. It felt like I'd only just entered the stasis pod, and now I was rubbing at my eyes that I discovered had some kind of slime on them, keeping them sealed.
"Ah," a male's voice soothed while gently grabbing my hands and guiding them away, "It will fall off naturally when the nanobots are done. My name is Medic Cenkal. You've been in stasis for the remainderof our travels to Trillume. I have been the one tending to your preacclimation from stasis. The process takes humans around a week of therapy before we wake them fully. For a warrior, less than a day, as our glands are highly efficient at healing ourselves. You've woken slightly earlier than anticipated. My apologies if you are still sore and uncomfortable."
"It isn't so bad," I assured him.
"That is reassuring."
"So, we're on Trillume then?"
"Within the Blue District labs, yes. Your spawnling comes by every day to check on you after her shifts. She's learned quiet a lot and has gained favored honor from the Commander of this Research Center."
I smiled with pride, thinking about how Becky was thriving in her internship.
"That's wonderful. In such a short amount of time, that's amazing."
He cleared his throat. "There was a bit of a situation."
"What kind of a situation?" I sat up straight in the bed, and wished I wasn't blinded so that I could see the expression on the medic's face. It was natural to worry and think the worst. Was Becky okay?
"Sou-el suggested humans were better at receiving information when good news was delivered first then ease into the rest and then let them process the information." The mention of General Sou-el was a comfortthat made me think he had been just fine without me, but along with the comfort that he was okay was also disappointment that I was just a pet to the necia warriors. A vessel to help them balance their body so their hearts didn't explode from adrenaline overdose. But, he had said there was an incident, and I couldn't hear my daughter's voice in the room.
"Out with it!"
"Yes, right. Good news is that your spawnling is doing well."
"Becky," I snapped, "her name is Becky."
"Becky, is doing well."
"You've said that." I was exasperated by this point. What exactly was the issue that he was avoiding? If it wasn't Becky, then what? Why was I so irritable? It felt like my skin was crawling and the very air around me was stifling. I was so thirsty, and I ached all over, but it wasn't pain.
"I am not supposed to be telling you this, but General Sou-el is my brother, and I would happily dishonor myself to help him."
"What are you talking about?" A flash of my alien warrior as he was restrained in that room, blindfolded, as I left the room tore at my mind, wrenching at my heart. That was the last time I spoke to Sou-el. He wasn't at the lounge, and I had no rights to feel anything for him when I clearly couldn't trust my body's response to anything. With my husband, I felt nothing when he touched me, and in the same week I'd been an eager flame towhichever alien touched me. It must have been something about the necia warriors that I responded to, and I couldn't trust it, but that didn't stop me from wanting to know what happened to Sou-el. I leaned in with concern, waiting for the medic to tell me. The look of distress set my nerves on fire, itching to move and make sure Sou-el was okay.
"He has been dishonored, title suspended, and has only been granted access to stay in the Blue District if he works as a participant first to earn the honor of returning as a researcher." Seeing my shock, he continued, "I'm telling you this because he is convinced that you are his mate, and only you can return his lost honor, as he refuses to leave the Blue District without you."
Guilt tore at me about having given the bead of my blood to another warrior. I thought it was him, but that didn't matter, did it? He would find out and I couldn't bear to see that pained look in his eyes as he did when he knocked himself out after I told him I was married. My body would betray me again, and perhaps the aliens were right… humans were nothing more than mammals, pets to protect.
