Page 29 of Alien Devil's Wrath
Through the writhing mass of creatures, I spotted them. A full patrol team. Krelaxians using their extra senses to track, Mondians providing heavy support, human officers trying to maintain formation. Slade’s forces had arrived faster than expected.
“Everyone’s here for the party,” I said, watching the two groups notice each other.
A Krelaxian raised his weapon toward us just as three nest guardians dropped from the ceiling onto his shoulders. His scream cut short as mandibles found the gap between helmet and armor. They’d learned exactly where the weak points were.
Two hostile forces about to tear each other apart, one disrupted ecosystem ready to kill everything, and us with the knowledge to use it all.
I opened my mouth and let out a shriek that burned my throat raw—the same sound I’d heard an injured guardian makeonce before the whole nest had rallied to protect it. The pitch had to be exact, and it hurt to produce from human vocal cords.
The response was immediate.
Every guardian in hearing range oriented toward the sound, then identified the armed soldiers as the threat to their injured sibling. They flowed over the patrol like water over stones. The Mondians discovered their heavy armor just gave the acid more time to eat through. The Krelaxians’ senses became a curse as pheromone clouds sent them into sensory overload.
“Follow me!” I called to Zarek, already moving toward a section I’d noticed earlier. “They never hunt near their egg chambers!”
He followed without hesitation, but he wasn’t just running. His blade found a human officer’s throat as we passed. His stolen rifle dropped two more soldiers who tried to block our path. Even in retreat, he was pure violence in motion.
A whistle from me sent guardians left. A clicking pattern drove them right. Every sound I’d cataloged, every behavior I’d observed, flowing together into orchestrated chaos.
A Mondian burst through the guardian pack, armor smoking from acid, weapon raised toward me. Zarek caught him from the side, his knife punching through a joint in the armor. The Mondian dropped, and Zarek was already moving to the next threat.
A human soldier tried to use a grenade. I shrieked again—a different pitch that meant ‘food here’—and watched six guardians converge on him before he could pull the pin. They pulled him apart piece by piece.
“This passage,” I said, grabbing Zarek’s arm. “It connects to the older tunnels.”
We dove into a small alcove as more soldiers poured into the chamber behind us. The space was barely large enough for both of us, forcing us to press close together while chaos eruptedmeters away. Adrenaline surged through my system—not from fear, but from pure exhilaration.
I was laughing. I couldn’t help it. The joy bubbled up from somewhere deep, slightly unhinged but completely genuine.
“Did you see how they tried to maintain formation while being eaten?” I said between gasps of laughter. “The dedication was almost admirable.”
Zarek stared at me. I was covered in moss paste residue and blood spatter, probably looked half-mad with delight, and he was staring like he’d never seen anything more captivating.
“What?” I asked, still grinning. “Was it the way I orchestrated their deaths?”
“You’re perfect.” The words came out rough with awe.
I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to me, crashing my mouth against his. The kiss tasted of copper and violence and victory. His hands fisted in my hair as he pressed me back against the stone, and I could feel how hard he was against my stomach. We were both high on adrenaline and successful slaughter, and as our gazes locked, an unspoken understanding passed between us. Predator to predator.
This was it. The partnership I’d craved without knowing it. Someone who understood. Someone who saw the beauty in necessary violence.
He pulled back, both of us breathing hard.
“Not here,” he growled, though his hands didn’t leave my hair. “When I take you again, I want to savor it.”
“Promise?” I asked, nipping at his lower lip.
“Promise.”
Screams echoed from the main chamber as the feeding frenzy continued. We slipped from the alcove into the side passage, leaving carnage behind us.
“Five years of watching them hunt,” I said as we moved through the tunnel, “and I finally got to direct it myself.”
“You enjoyed that.”
“Every second. The way you moved through them, the way you killed without hesitation—we belong together.”
He caught my wrist, pulling me to a stop, his gaze dark with hunger that made me want to grab him right there.
