Page 45 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
I hated hiding. I disliked that we had been forced to do it so often in our escape. But I was outnumbered by the small army after us. Not that my Wulfaen or I could not overpower and kill them. If circumstances had been different, we could and would—if I had been alone.
If the catchers had just been after me, I would have shifted into my Wulfaen, making quick work, killing all of the catchers, and been done with this ridiculous chase long ago. But I had Ella to protect, and shifting into my beast would have left her vulnerable—to one of the catchers sneaking in and snagging her—while I fought and killed the team.
No. I cannot shift.Not when I had to shield Ella from all attempts to steal her from me.
I must remain on the offense, watching, defending, staying a few steps ahead of the cyborg.Keeping Ella alive and out of our enemy’s grip.
If that meant huddling in a muddy grove until backup came from my pack, that was what I would do. I refused to whine about it. I had far too much at stake—the life of my precious mate—to waste any energy complaining.
“Ella, we send Brax.” I jumped down and offered two hands to help her down. “He bring help.” I prayed I was getting my meaning across. She stared at me, then nodded slowly, dismounting with my assistance.
Working together, we removed Brax’s pack and gear, including his saddle. He whined and nosed me worriedly as I removed his collar, and I patted him reassuringly.
I couldn’t send any kind of automated message. It would be tracked too easily now. But a dog could go undetected where machines could not. I hastily recorded a message on one of the crystals I had left.
“Elders, we are pinned down at the near end of the Valley of Flowers. A company of slavers stands between us and our sector. I request extraction for two. Teken.”
I clipped the tube into Brax’s ruff and patted him. “Go home, Brax. Go home.”
He looked back at me once, then thudded his tail against a tree trunk as he caught on. He bolted forward, running through the semidark of the storm, crossing the valley at the wooded end, and then racing on toward sector lands.
Ella tugged on one of my arms gently, and I wrapped all four around her.
“When… help?” she asked in a worried tone with a lot of chatter between the human words I knew.
“Soon.” I reassured her and hoped I was right.
27
Ella
A thunderstorm struck rightafter Brax went bounding off with his message. I wished I knew where exactly he was going and how long we would have to wait for a response. Teken and I had no problem communicating on a deeper level, but we couldn’t get a lot of everyday concepts across.
I didn’t know what Battle City was, but if Teken had friends there, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. If anyone around here could be trusted, it was him—and I prayed that extended to his friends as well.
I just hoped the big doggy did a good job getting the message to them. Meanwhile, we were stuck in a muddy area with a storm raging and a small army of hunters looking for us.
The thunder boomed and rolled through the valley as the black clouds hammered the ground with hail. The air was warm, the moist breezes blowing pleasantly through the foliage, but the thunder and flashes of lightning made me jump.
I’m tough, but I’m also damn tired of cages, hostile aliens, and running.
Teken wrapped both sets of arms around me and bent over me, taking the few hailstones that made it through the canopy and onto his broad back. Now and again, he grunted slightly and jerked, the only sign of his discomfort.
I wondered once again why Teken had come to rescue me in the first place. He couldn’t have been at the compound on a shopping trip for earthlings. He had to have been pretending to be there for something else.But what?
I really wished I had the damn translator. But we had bigger problems to deal with as we huddled in the brush. I longed to speak clearly with him right now. Learning a language was slow going, and here we were, falling for each other without one in common. Not to mention, I was a stranger to this whole world—a human who was now a fugitive.
Teken seemed determined to get me somewhere—hopefully outside my captors’ range of influence.But what will happen after that? Do Teken and the Gladiators have the ability to get me back to Earth?
I missed Mom, home, and the comfortable life I’d made in New York. But I knew that once I was back on Earth, I’d miss Teken like crazy.
Teken is the man I’ve been searching for all my life.
He made me laugh when all I wanted to do was cry.
He kissed and comforted me at all the right moments.
Teken worked hard to make me happy, protecting me at all times.
