Venomous: Erotic Science Fiction Romance (Alien Warrior Book 1) (30 page)

His Lumen had indeed dropped
the haze
as ordered.

Just not the one he’d thought she would. “Thsst!” He supposed it was impractical to assume her mind had drawn the same conclusions as his looking at the same scene.

“I don’t get it.” She clutched the edges of the robe together over her chest lumps. “You asked me to do it.”

Her breasts
, he amended, aroused.
Soft, squeezable breasts.

“Why don’t you answer me?” she cried. “What did I do wrong? I killed them. I know that’s horrible of me, but I thought that’s what needed to be done!”

Venomous pondered her reaction.

Was she
upset
she’d rid them of a pack of murdering brigands that would have killed her in the most debauched, agonising way?

Humans are eccentric,
he decided.

“We thought you would drop
the haze
before us.” Fiercely ran a palm over it. “So we could make our last stand. Not
the mother haze
.”

Lumen gaped then her face twisted on a sound of exasperation. “Why would we risk our lives making a last stand when we could win without lifting a finger?” Her hands flew into the air. “Aliens make no sense.”

“Indeed,” Venomous agreed in an amused tone. “You confound me.” He brushed his fingers to her jaw. “Rä’Na, might you drop
the haze
blocking our entry onto the command deck. We must regain control of the Trekker.”

She peered into the now empty, silent enclosure. “I suppose....”

Fiercely stayed her with a hand. “Do not forget to engage
the mother haze
.”

“As if I’d be that stupid.” She scoffed, but when she faced away she looked a shade paler and swallowed guiltily. “There. Done.”

Waiting to be sure the artificial atmosphere of the enclosure; the temperature, air pressure, and gravity had stabilised, Venomous crossed into the half circle of the command deck.

Marks of the despicable Dei San remained though most of their filth had been sucked out with them.

Their repellent, squalid stink was replaced by unsullied air pushed through the vents, but gashes, dents and oily blood smears desecrated the interior hull, no doubt caused by irrational quarrels between the belligerent species, or a casualty of their base urge to defile and destroy.

Wiring spilled from beneath freestanding workstations where it had been tampered with.

Domed monitor glass capping the workstations was cracked or shattered.

Venomous kicked aside communicator tablets that lay crushed, and toed padded seats that had been slashed into metal skeletons, fabric and wadding strewn across the grease-stained floor.

His head tilted up to examine exposed circuitry.

It crackled, sparked and belched clouds of bitter smoke towards whirring metal grates recessed into the ceiling.

Cables hung from disordered tiles in tangled loops, and the overhead lights not smashed to satisfy the Dei San’s light sensitivity flickered.

He snarled, the fits and starts of light starkly illuminated the wanton ruin, and made him want to punch something.

Overlarge robe dragging behind her, Lumen came up beside him.

She leaned into his side, and as her eyes bored into their newest crisis they dimmed with weariness.

“This is the worst rescue ever,” she declared.

He pressed a hand to the small of her back. He found himself calmed. “Interstellar travel does not come without its dangers.”

She slid him a furious little look. “Understatement, babe.”

Scowling, Fiercely halted at her elbow.

Venomous didn’t have spare time to hiss at or threaten the presumption.

Out the dark window of
the mother haze
, a plasma barrier that acted as the foremost curve of the Trekker’s prow while roving deep space, he glared at the monstrous Dei San battlecruiser entombing the Rä vessel in its pincers.

Undaunted, Venomous rumbled, “To your stations.”

Booted feet stampeded at the order.

“Life support?” he asked rubbing Lumen’s tense back.

He repressed a shudder as he imagined the critical system failing, her falling limp in his arms, suffocating, gasping for air he could not give.

“Operational,” Fiercely replied checking the utility himself. He glanced at Lumen. “I want her to wear a visor.”

“Agreed.” Venomous cupped her bruised face then stroked her rounded cheeks with his thumbs. “Dearest, go with Fiercely to the fabricator. It is a machine that will scan your measurements then weave you a softsuit that fits. It will also print you a mask that protects your beautiful eyes and a mouthpiece connected to a tank that holds enough air to get you across the ship, to the escape pods, if needs be.”

Reddened eyes squinted in suspicion. “But you’re not sending me away?”

“No.” He nuzzled her temple. “A fabricator is there. See?” He directed her gaze to the ceiling to floor tube in the corner that was mainly used to fabricate hardsuits for battle. “You will be in my view, as I will be in yours.”

She hesitated as she searched his face, but impressed him by responding with practical obedience. “Okay.” She pushed onto her toes to press a chaste kiss to his lips then hurried after Fiercely Comes the Night.

Watching her for a moment, deeply fulfilled with the knowledge she belonged to him, and he to her, Venomous could not find fault with her open display of affection.

Satisfied she would be cared for and protected, even if it was by a male he felt like strangling, he narrowed his focus to the mission at hand.

Solars of unnatural inertia shed away.

He slid into the role he’d trained for since hatching. “Navigation?”

“Non-operational,” an a’Rä replied. “Star maps are recorded in the matrix, we can plot a course, but the automated steering is defunct.”

“Telemetry?”

“A mess,” the same a’Rä replied its voice tight. “Good enough to comm call home world. It will be distorted, but it will transmit.”

Now for the worst of it.

A crucial workstation stood unmanned.

“Is the pilot dead?” Venomous held his breath.

If the autopilot could not guide the Trekker to home world, he could put his Rä’Na in an escape pod and pray the Dei San did not shoot her down.

Even if he sacrificed himself and the vessel to cause a distraction, she might not survive the fleeting yet violent fallout of an explosion in the capsule.

Perhaps if I jettisoned all the escape pods, she might slip away unnoticed in the opposite direction?

“Yesss.” Delivering this dire news, the Rä’Vek, gold tipped quills swinging, stepped forward. It bowed. “I am He, Krait that Shines. I have piloted the Trekker on previous ventures. With permission, I shall again.”

Venomous’ relief was short-lived.
One problem of a dozen solved.
“See to it then.”

Brille gleaming under a flicker of harsh light, it hesitated. “How are we to get free?”

“The simplest way.”

Krait that Shines appeared dubious, but went on his way and approached the navigation workstation.

He had a word with the a’Rä there then approached the pilot controls.

He slid his fingers over the tarnished surface with competent ease, cursing at its grubby state.

Venomous turned to check on his Rä’Na, only to find her grinning at Fiercely.

She touched his arm and giggled, head bobbing at something he leaned to whisper.

Fingers curling under into fists, claws scraping his palms, Venomous took an aggressive step.

He was more than ready to pound the male into the ground for the return smile, and tentative caress to her rounded shoulder, a shoulder
belonging to him,
when Krait that Shines asked a question.

Halting, peeling his gaze away, he faced the Rä’Vek to answer.

An enraged roar erupted through the command deck.

Hearts stuttering, Venomous knew time fled in mere nanosecs, yet the subsequent fragment of his lifecycle happened in slow motion.

He spun, taste receptors flooded by a smog of Dei San stench.

A terror-stricken scream.

Back bent, limbs akimbo, his Lumen was about to be severed head to hip, sliced through the middle, split.

Light flickered over a blade’s ragged edge as it descended in a sweeping arc.

Seeming to move outside of time, warped with speed, Fiercely grabbed her by the waist.

He twisted as he dragged her into the shield of his body and slid into the path of the strike.

With a faint peal the blade tip scored his armour plated spine.

Fiercely dropped.

He halted his descent with his lower hands then pushed off the floor before squashing Lumen to land hard on his side.

Hooked blades jutted from his forearm, whipped, and severed the heel tendons on the Dei San.

It toppled with a piercing screech.

Kicking it onto its back, Fiercely lunged from his knees over Lumen’s flailing body then plunged his claws into the Dei San’s exposed neck.

He ripped out its throat then flung the black gore across the deck with a hiss of victory.

Ending their mad dash to reach the scuffle, the Rä warriors snarled.

They banged fists to chests to honour his triumph and growled his name.

Venomous bellowed, “
Search the enclosure.
Ensure it was the only one.” With an unsteady gait he headed towards his life mate. “Where did it come from?”

“Inside the fabricator,” Fiercely replied his posture rigid. “As soon as the machine engaged it sprung.”

Breathing in frantic bursts, Lumen staggered onto her feet.

White-knuckled fists lifted to her temples. “
Can I not catch a motherfucking break?
”

Before Venomous reached her, Fiercely was on his feet.

He wrapped an arm around her waist then hauled her into his body. “Do not leak, Rä’Na. I am here.”

Venomous’ step faltered.

He did not like it, but could not deny the male earned the reward of his Rä’Na’s touch.

Collapsing into Fiercely’s embrace, Lumen returned his hug.

Pulling back on a wobbly laugh, her eyes shone as they caressed his face. “You saved me.”

“I let no harm come to what is mine.”

Lumen’s worshipful gaze blanked. Her sniffles ceased. “Y-Yours?” Easing her head back, eyeing him askance, she shoved at his chest. “Babe?” Her voice climbed with her panic. “Venom?”

Jaw clenched, Fiercely refused to release her. “She, Lumen of the Stars you have awakened my anima, as blessed upon me by my Grandfather the Great Serpent God of Sands, S’q’ama’ta
.
I claim you. I am now Rä’Vek. You are mine to protect, mine to shelter, mine to feed, and mine to cover. When you are weak, I shall be your strength. I revere you, giver of life, as is
the way
.”

Shocked into motionlessness, she glared with a baleful expression that boded ill. “You need to
take your hands off me
,” she ended on a shout into his face.

“
You are mine
,” he bellowed.

“
Too late
,” she shrieked. “
I’m taken. By him
.” She stabbed a finger at Venomous. “So, back the hell up, and let me thank you instead of this screaming match.”

“You are infuriating.”

“You’re a presumptuous dick.” She shoved at his arms, back bowing, straining. “Aren’t we the matching pair?”

Cursing, he let her go.

Lumen pushed hair out of her face, cheeks puffing with her breaths.

She inhaled, eyes closing then released the air in a steady stream as she breathed, “
Woosah
.” When her eyes opened, her expression was serene. “Thank you for saving my life. Are you hurt?”

Fiercely lifted four arms wide. “Do I look so weak as to let that end me?”

“As a matter of fact you don’t. Good.” She gave him palm. “It means I get to do this without feeling guilty.” She whirled, hair slapping across his face then staggered the distance to Venomous. She fell into his arms. “And where the hell were
you
?”

Tearing his gaze from Fiercely’s heated one, Venomous dropped his brille to his distraught Rä’Na. “It is best if you stay with me from now on, I think.”

“That’s what I’ve been
trying
to tell you.”

“Rä’Vek,” an a’Rä barked. “Movement from the Dei San. Sensors detect a surge in electromagnetic interference. They are preparing to stun.” Drumming fingers skimmed the monitor, tabulating reams of data calculations. “We have a quarter-span. Kick that to ten units if they have Hydokon booster tech.”

“Orders?” demanded Krait that Shines. “What am I doing, Rä’Vek?”

“Yesss, Venomous One, what
are
we doing?” Fiercely drawled.

Venomous merely lifted his brow scales. “Divert auxiliary power to
the mother haze
. Shield the Trekker’s outer hull. Include the energy augmentation to the bulkhead to strengthen the stability of the internal enclosures. Comm munitions to prime the spar cannons.”

Silence bludgeoned the command deck.

Spluttering, Fiercely rallied first. ”You cannot mean to–”

“Yesss.”

“They stole the sonic cartridges. Only the hydrogen maser–”

Venomous cut him a look. “
Yesss
.”

Fiercely palmed the back of his neck. “The explosive discharge and matter will not annihilate but expand. The ejecta will tear through us like comets. Venomous, the shockwave–”

“
The mother haze
is strong enough to withstand the energy release.”

“Is it?” Fiercely bit out. “It sounds to me you have decided to kill us all.”

“If the Dei San give chase they
will
capture us. We cannot withstand another infiltration, and by then the escape pods will offer no solution. I am not prepared to lose my Rä’Na to those depraved creatures. Tell me, do you have a better plan?” Venomous glared when he received no response. “Now, are you capable of handling this, or must I do it myself?”

Averting his gaze, Fiercely gave a chin jerk.

Decisions he made didn’t have to be popular, nor were they exempt from scrutiny, but they would be obeyed.