“She smells good,” he adds, and I keep my cringe at bay. I do not want either of these scaly oafs sniffing at me.
“All human women smell like me.” I’m laying it on pretty thick, but what else am I supposed to do? As much confidence as I have in my fighting skills, I’m not Gen. And I’m not at my full strength, something I would definitely need to be able to take down two full-grown Suevans.
“They do?” one asks hopefully.
“Can you help me find Draz?” I say, making my voice small. I want to scream at them, and it takes all my self-control to swallow it. “Do you know where he is?”
“You like Draz? He is not displeasing to you?”
“I love him.” It’s the first time I haven’t lied, and the words are so true they hurt, slicing me open from the inside out.
They look at each other, clearly trying to make up their minds about what to do.
“I want the best for my people, and from what I can tell, the Suevans are our best choice.” That tumbles out of me, catching me by surprise. It’s true, too—though I don’t mean all human women, just my crew.
The Suevans are our best choice, and I need Draz at my side to present the facts to them. I need him.
“Please take me to him,” I say, my throat closing up with emotion.
“The Roth—” one starts to say, but the other silences him with a sharp elbow to the side.
My insides go cold. A Roth? Why would he bring up a Roth?
“We will take you to him,” the bigger of the two says.
“He will be so grateful to see me,” I reply. Worry threads through me, my internal alarm bells sounding loudly. “I am sure he will reward you both.”
A firm hand closes over my bicep, and fear slices across my senses. What if I’ve misjudged the situation? These two… they are separatists. They’re the same group that blew up my ship and the peaceful Suevan mating ceremony. Maybe they don’t have the same idea of honor that my Draz does.
Shit.
I let my eyes close briefly. I could have followed them, or at least tried to, or done any number of other equally dangerous things. But I made a split-second decision, and now I have to see how it plays out.
“So… there are many like you?” one of them says, tugging me along behind.
“There are eight in my crew, but we’re all different, just like you are. But there are many, many women on Earth. And I’m sure they will be lining up to come here once I tell them how wonderful Sueva is, and how handsome the Suevans are.” I’m babbling, the words tripping over themselves with my need to make him think I’m too important to hand over.
Lie, lie, lie.
The one in front grunts, his tail thrashing back and forth. It nearly whacks against my shin, but I step back at just the right moment to avoid it. He’s agitated, but I don’t know if it’s because of me, or what I’m saying, or because the goddamned Roth they mentioned.
“That’s why they sent me,” I continue, my tone chirpy and light, like we’re on a stroll through the park and not at all like I’m being tugged along a jungle path by two separatists that may or may not have blown up my goddamned ship.
“You are important on Earth.”
“Of course, I am. That’s why they entrusted this mission to me, you know? I’m a high-ranking Federation officer, and they will believe me when I tell them what awaits here in Sueva.”
“I cannot believe you human women survived the virus.”
“Virus?” I ask sweetly, with the tone of someone inquiring about the weather. Laying it on a little thick, maybe, but I’m in too fucking deep now.
“The contagion that mutated our genome and made it impossible to conceive females. The Roth suffer from it, too.”
“It’s why they invaded your planet,” the one in front adds blithely, and familiar fear and fury strangle me. “They were looking for a cure.”
“They murdered thousands of innocent people,” I spit, all simple syrupy sweetness gone from my voice, evaporated and leaving behind only crystallized rage. “They weren’t after species continuation. They were after extinction.”
I never thought I was a particularly violent person before the Roth. Now, the mere mention of them sends my blood boiling.
“That is how the Roth operate,” the one holding me says. “They do not think like we do. It is simply their way.”
I need to get a grip on myself.
“You are right,” the one in front says, turning to the Suevan at my side. “What you said is right. They do not act with honor. They do not consider other species to be worthy of them.”
They gape at each other for a moment, as though they’ve just put something together.
“We need to protect this human,” the one in front says suddenly. “She will bring more mates from her world. Willing human mates.”
“The Roth…” the one holding me squeezes my arm, his talons biting into my flesh. I wince, trying to use the pain to center my thoughts, to dull the worry. “He will be displeased.”
“He is using us,” the one with brains says, and my stomach flops.
There is a Roth here.
“A Roth has Draz,” I grit out, the words like gravel in my throat. “I will fucking kill him.” My hip aches with the phantom memory of that plas pulse I took, all those years ago.
And now one has my mate?
Dead alien walking.
“She is fierce,” the one holding me says, his eyes blinking so slowly, I’m half-concerned his third eyelids’ stuck. “The human women are fierce like you?”
“We’re a bunch of grade A bitches,” I tell him, my teeth grinding together in impatience. “We need to get to your camp and get Draz. He will help you. He doesn’t want to hurt any Suevans, he wants your people to thrive.”
“Which is why he secured you as his mate,” one says knowingly. “Perhaps we have made an error in judgment by listening to the Roth. Human females are not weak or ugly.”
“Ah, thank you.” I scrunch my nose. “We need to move. Now.”
The Suevans both look at me curiously, and I realize I’ve used my no-nonsense command tone.
“I have a plan,” I add.
And if it doesn’t work, I might just get us all killed.
Fun fun fun.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
DRAZ
My chin hangs against my chest, my limbs heavy at my sides. I am not asleep, but I am as close to it as I can get. I must conserve my strength.
I will need all of it to eviscerate my old foe.
The sound of feet approaching jerks me from my reverie, but I stay still, breathing slowly, flooding my lungs with oxygen.
I inhale deeply and nearly choke on a familiar, tantalizing scent.
Ni-Kee.
No.
Still, I do not move, do not give away the dark depths of my worry, the wild need to put myself between her and the Roth.
“We found the human female,” one of the traitor Suevans says, and my mate gives a small whimper. My blood runs cold, and my lip curls from my fangs. “She is a weak and ugly thing, just like you said she would be.”
“So ugly,” another Suevan says, and confusion overshadows my worry.
Ni-Kee is not ugly. Strange, maybe, with her smooth skin and odd green and gold eyes, but decidedly beautiful in spite of it. Not even Prince Kanuz was disappointed by the females. In fact, the picky prince was thrilled with the selection.