Page 40 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
We made it into the cover of the trees by the time the dead catchers’ hoverbike reached the far end of its looping path and swung back around toward the caves. I could hear slavers yelling and cursing on the communicators and someone still screaming faintly. Shovel-claw snarls echoed from somewhere, and over it all, Belland’s raspy voice rained down every curse I knew and a few I did not.
Ella craned her neck to try to spy the course of the vehicles above the tree line, but it was pointless. I could still listen in on the fun, however.
“Teams still at the caves, update.”
“They’re eating us!”a slaver shrilled, followed by screaming.
Belland let out a low, exasperated growl. “Unit two, is your communicator functioning? Unit two, cut your speed. You’re heading into the cliffs too fast!”
“Sir! They’re headed straight for the cave with units three and four!”This slaver sounded even younger than the one I had beheaded and very panicked.
“Shoot them down!”Belland roared at once. “Shoot them—”
An impact and explosion rocked the ground slightly and filled the communication line with overloud static. Belland’s furious cursing could barely be heard underneath.
I laughed, coaxing Brax back on the long run toward home.
25
Ella
My mind wasa jumble of thoughts as we raced away.
I just killed someone.
I knew what these men were after—returning me to their compound to be caged, drugged, pawed at, fucked, and sold. It was them or me, and I did the right thing in defending myself and my alien lover.
But I still didn’t know how I felt about the fact that I’d taken a life so easily or the fact that Teken had entrusted me with his terrifyingly powerful sidearm. He’d seemed almost proud of me. I guessed that made sense. After all, he was a Gladiator, and from the way he fought, he seemed to be trained in the act of deadly combat. Or maybe it turned him on that I was a little badass.
Did female Gladiators exist? And if so, did they fight alongside the men?
Based on everything I’d learned at the compound, I knew his people no longer had females—which made me sad that a race had lost all their women. But I had so many questions about the culture of the Wulfaen.
Were women equal in power to men? Or were they relegated to staying at home, taking care of their families?
When mud sprayed against my skin, I switched back to the matter at hand. Back in the cave, I’d been very lucky in at least three different ways. I’d spent some time at the firing range at home, so I knew my way around a standard Earth pistol. But that didn’t help too much with alien technology. My second stroke of luck had turned out to be that the design of the weapon was surprisingly simple. Finally, that dumb slaver had been too busy staring at my big breasts to notice when I brought up the gun. Killing had never been something I thought I could do. But drastic circumstances called for drastic measures. And it was about survival for me and Teken.
Living in New York City, I had learned to defend myself as a matter of course, though I only had access to a firearm out in the country at my mom’s house. She was an old army brat and took me shooting to relax now and again.
Mom always said you can’t hesitate when your life is on the line.
I knew it was true and that she would be telling me this herself if she were here. But the aftermath of my first shooting still left me lightheaded and a little numb. What had happened almost didn’t seem real. But then again, I could say that about many things that had happened to me lately. I focused on hanging on, praying we got away cleanly before anyone noticed us.
We rode through the dim jungle while the leaves dripped on us, and Brax’s enormous paws pattered through the mud and several shallow streams. It was warming up more, the air starting to feel steamy, and I was suddenly glad I wasn’t running under my own power. I was athletic, but in this heat, with those machines after us, I would have slowed everyone down.
I could hear the faint crackle of voices from the elaborate-looking earpiece Teken had stolen off the slaver I killed. He was listening in to hear where they were and what they were doing.
Good. Smart. It gives us more of a chance of making it out of this shit in one piece.
It also left me wondering again about his occupation. Right now, he was coming off a lot like a muscle-bound extraterrestrial James Bond, all cleverly improvised plans, good sex, and occasional extravagant violence.
He even managed some explosions.The thought made me chuckle a little, despite my lingering shock.
Maybe I should stop condemning myself for using lethal force when it was warranted. On the other hand, maybe it’s good that I’m not completely comfortable with killing. It would be a lot more problematic if I were nonchalant about my actions.
We ran on for hours without hearing any engines. Teken kept listening intently to the earpiece as he guided us along, but from what I could tell, it got quieter. Maybe we were reaching the edge of their range, which would mean we really had left them behind, at least for a while.
I was even more impressed with him now, and I knew I would have a hell of a time leaving him behind when we finally had a chance to talk this over with the help of a translator. I wanted to learn more of his language, but right now, this slow exchange of words and phrases couldn’t help us all that much. It would take weeks for us to really start to understand each other, and we probably didn’t have that much time before I headed back to Earth.
