Hide to Stay Alive (Club Release 1) (33 page)

“
What are we up against?”
Von asks from the seat next to me.

“
I don’t know. Someone
broke down my front door. A short time later my backdoor opened and
then shut. I hope Hallie got away from the invaders.” My hands
tighten on the wheel as worry for her circulates through my whole
body. The emotion feels like acid eating me up.

“
We’ll get whoever broke
in. No matter how much blood is shed,” Tairin solemnly swears from
the backseat.

“
Zyfing right we will.”
Someone is going to pay.

The second we arrive and
get out of the vehicle, the smell of clocpinians sinks into my nose
and invades my vents. Zyf! From the scent, I know it’s the ones Ryk
and I dealt with the evening before.

“
Prel! They aren’t supposed
to be on Zaphin anymore,” Ryk says. His eyes are cold as he looks
around.

“
They’re sneakier than most
clocpinians. We’ll have to remember that,” Von says as we all break
up and start searching for clues as to what’s happened.

With weapons drawn, we
advance. Von and I enter the house while Ryk and Tairin start
moving around each side of the house. Regardless of where they are,
we’ll find them.

In the house their scent
is stronger than outside but too weak for them to still be here.
Von checks the rooms on one side of the corridor while I check the
ones on the other. At this point all we are looking for are
clues.

At the end of the
corridor, we meet. “None of the rooms I checked were entered by the
clocpinians. How about yours?” I ask.

“
No. Let’s go outside and
get these zyfing fools,” Von says as his hand rubs his throwing
knives.

“
They will pay for taking
Hallie Mead.” As we jog down the corridor and out into the
backyard, all I can think about is her safety. If they’ve hurt her
in anyway, I know I won’t be able to control myself. Hallie is my
weakness. The warrior in me isn’t happy about that but the man in
me doesn’t care. No, the man in me just wants her back. The scent
of clocpinians has me growling. My claws come out as anger rushes
through my body.

Ryk and Tairin call us
over. We quickly cross the yard to our friends.

I calm myself and inhale
deeply. Hallie and the clocpinians have been here. “Let’s move
out.” No other words are necessary. We can all scent the people we
are tracking.

Stealthily, we follow
their scent. The smell of my scent on Hallie is tainted by her
captors. My stomach twists with rage. Nobody touches my little
seema.

We follow their path and
scan for evidence. There are many signs of the groups passing
clumsily through the jungle. Any young zaphinian could follow all
of the broken plants and disturbed ground.

Their scent strengthens. I
look around and see a lot of evidence. “They were
fighting.”

Ryk kneels by a mass of
smashed grass and broken vines. “Yes, it looks like they were at it
for a while.”

Tairin and Von nod in
silent agreement. Their gazes scanning the area with keen
intent.

Ryk stands and inhales.
His hard gaze pans the jungle. “The two that were fighting took a
different path than your seema and the clocpinian with
her.”

Tairin’s eyes reveal his
agreement. “Let’s follow them while Zar and Von go after
Hallie.”

I nod in approval of the
plan and inhale deeply. I follow my little seema’s scent. Von is
close on my heels. We come to a new location where only the scent
of Hallie and one of the clocpinians can be scented. The smell of
blood taints the air. A small jolt of pride runs through me. The
blood is clocpinian, not human.

I bend and touch some
orange blood. My heart aches when I scan the area and see Hallie’s
hair. I move to the rough cut strands and pick some of them up.
Rage moves through me as I smell them. Her scent has me itching to
resume the search.

“
Looks like your female is
a fighter, brother.” Von’s gaze moves from the hair in my hand as
he scans the jungle.

“
So it seems,” I reply. The
stink of blood hinders the trail that will lead to Hallie. My heart
pounds out a rage filled rhythm as my need to find her increases by
the second.

“
Let’s go find this
prelling idiot,” Von says.

The side of me that longs
to find Hallie wants to run wildly through the jungle trying to
pick up her scent again. The warrior in me wants to find the
clocpinian who took Hallie and kill him then go find Hallie if
she’s not still with her captor.

I try to scent her but in
my wrath, I can only smell clocpinian blood. A fresh burst of rage
pulses through me.

“
Come on, Zar. Her scent
trail is tainted by the blood of our enemy. We’ll find her though.”
Von heads through the jungle.

I snarl in frustration and
follow the foul scent along with my brother. My blood beats against
the walls of my veins. Fear for my little seema makes me want to
howl in rage.

Something in my path
wiggles. I stop and notice that Von does as well. My gaze follows
the moving vine. When I step closer to the hugmar tree its vines
reach out and circle my wrists.

“
What...” Impatience winds
around my spine and shoots outward. I’m on the brink of asking Von
to do a little vine trimming when a familiar pulse pushes through
my wrists and radiates through my body.

My muscles stiffen as my
world narrows to the heartbeat coming from the hugmar tree. It’s
Hallie’s. I’d know her sweet pulse anywhere. I hear it every night
when I press my face to her neck. I never appreciated my hearing
abilities as much as I do right now.

Joy bursts through my
chest. The vines send me another pulse beat before releasing me. I
turn to Von and smile. “Hallie’s fine.”

“
Do you know where she
is?”

“
Not exactly. I was given
the feel of her heartbeat. It’s strong and healthy. A little fast
but that’s to be expected under the circumstances. She connected
with the hugmar tree in our backyard and that connection just saved
her life. She has to be snuggled up next to the trunk of one of the
trees nearby. Once we take care of her attackers, I’ll go looking
for her.” I’m itching to find her now but I also need to know that
the threat to her is over.

We continue to follow the
stink of the clocpinian’s blood until we encounter Ryk and Tairin.
The two are looking at us as though they are superior because they
found the clocpinians first.

Von shakes his head and
Tairin smirks. The gleam in Ryk’s eyes tells me I won’t be allowed
to forget this defeat anytime soon.

Ryk leans close to me and
sniffs. “You found her.” It wasn’t a question.

“
I know about where she is
and I know she’s okay. That’s enough for now,” I
whisper.

Ryk rubs his blade and
grins sinisterly. “Good. Let’s go take care of the
clocpinians.”

I turn to Tairin. “You’re
on vidcam duty since there are more of us than them.”

Tairin smirks as he gets
the vidcam ready to record. “Nobody can say we aren’t fair
fighters.”

I pull out several of my
special throwing stars and start flinging them at two of the
clocpinians. Von follows by throwing his knives at the last male. I
grin as my enemy jumps and starts cursing as they look around.
Orange blood seeps from the many nicks of our weapons.

While Von and I continue
to wound the stupid clocpinians, Ryk and Tairin circle them. When
we have them thoroughly surrounded, I stop throwing my stars. Von
throws once more at each of them for good measure before he
stops.

I hold my stars where the
three fools can see them.

Stil rubs a scratch on his
arm. “That was a cheap shot. Why didn’t you approach as
warriors?”

Ryk snorts. “The purpose
of their actions were to let you three know you didn’t stand a
chance. We don’t want any more of you to die here on
Zaphin.”

As Glip starts whining
about us not fighting fairly, I look at Mocso’s thigh. It has three
bloody wounds. Pride in my seema circulates through my entire body.
She is a warrior in her own way.

My gaze swings over to the
still whining Glip. I cut him off and ask, “How does taking females
count as fair?” Hallie’s scent is strongest on him. My blood boils
at the thought of this male trying to steal my female. If not for
planet relations, Glip would already be dead.

Glip wipes a trail of
orange blood from his forehead. “Do you see any female here?” The
maliciousness of his tone pokes the warrior in me. The male looks
at his bloody fingers and then glares at me. “You will pay for
this, TocGar. My father is going to demand retribution for the
crimes you and the others have done to us. To make it easier on
yourselves, you should all leave and pretend you never saw us. Our
mission has nothing to do with you.”

I’m surprised by the
continued vehemence in Glip’s voice. Plus, I can smell the aroma of
the lie coming from Glip’s mouth. What have these clocpinians been
drinking?

Von snorts and rotates the
knife in his right hand. “The only mission you three are supposed
to be on is the one that returns your dead friend to his family.”
Von looks the males over with cold eyes. “Your orders were
clear.”

All three of the
clocpinians stiffen. A fresh wave of rage scents the air. Once
again, I wonder what these males are on.

Stil shifts and then
shouts, “We don’t live here so you can’t order us to do
anything.”

“
Oh, but we can. The four
of you caused a lot of harm which hurt several people, damaged a
club, and led to the death of Rep. Since you’re all mentally slow,
I’ll tell you exactly what that means.”

I pause and stare them
down. They should be looking at the ground in meekness but they’re
not. “When your actions caused us to be called, you were no longer
welcome to freely roam our planet. Our commander has already told
you all of this. Now that you’ve heard it again, I hope you
understand it.”

Ryk rubs his knife and
eyes all three of the foolish clocpinians. “Now we are going to
escort you back to the spaceport, where you are going to call your
craft to come get you, and then we are going to put a tracking
device on your spacecraft, and then watch you leave
Zaphin.”

Stil looks at Glip who
then growls and bears his claws. “You are not about to send us home
before we are ready to leave.”

Glip slashes his left hand
through the air and then all three of the males yell and
charge.

I jump back when a big
bare foot comes toward my chest. Glip lands and then pivots to come
at me again. I don’t give him a chance. I start throwing my stars
at Glip’s feet with the right amount of pressure to dig deep into
the foolish clocpinian’s skin. My stars do their job well and then
return to me only to be thrown again and again.

Orange blood seeps from
many cuts on Glip’s feet. I catch a glimpse of my brother throwing
his knives just as rapidly as I’m throwing my stars. Ryk’s sword is
pulsing with energy as he does battle with Mocso. These males don’t
stand a chance. It’s a shame they didn’t catch on
sooner.

Glip blinks wildly and
shouts before he makes a run for a dense area of the jungle. I
watch as a hugmar vine reaches out from low down and trips the
clocpinian. Glip whines and scrambles across the jungle
floor.

I chuckle. The sound is
just as menacing as I feel. Glip tried to take my female, he
deserves everything he’s getting and more.

I’m on him in no time. I
secure Glip’s hands behind his back and slap a pair of my thickest
metal cuffs to his wrists. Glip is squirming and cursing as I haul
him to his feet.

Looking around, I see that
Ryk and Von have Stil and Mocso cuffed as well.

Tairin walks over to me.
“I’ll take him in while you go find your pretty little
seema.”

I glare at Glip. “Try
taking my female again and I’ll kill you.” I let the promise show
in my eyes. When Glip’s gaze drops to the ground, I release him and
nod at Tairin.

Going to the hugmar tree
that tripped Glip, I touch it and clear my mind. A warm pulse
issues from the tree. A moment later, I feel a connection to the
tree slice through me. Images of a path flash through my mind. When
the vision ends, I thank the hugmar tree and follow the path I’ve
been given.