Alien Soldier's Baby (Scifi Alien Romance) (Zoran Warriors) (8 page)

T
he pleasant
, spicy smell of herbal tea wakes me.

Bey
. I wish I could take her with me. Her natural, tasty blends could take over the entire universe. We could start our own tea emporium.
Key & Bey Teas
. Put Koryn on the packaging – shirtless. Ooh, or give him his own blend! Wild grapes, to match his skin tone and demeanor. We could make a special blend for every Zoran...

… A nice, misty gray blend for Vinz… we could call it… a storm in a teacup!

“Are you okay?”

I’m grinning to myself, and this draws Bey’s attention. I open my eyes, and the bright, artificial light of the ship makes me squint. I sit up straight and Bey hands me a cup of her freshly-brewed tea.

“Thank you,” I say as I accept the drink, my eyes scanning the med-bay. I must have been out for a very long time – the cave is a day’s walk away, and that’s without lugging an unconscious person around.

“My pleasure. How do you feel?”

I take a sip of the hot tea, feeling the warmth spread through me, as I wiggle my toes.

My toes!

I can feel all ten of them!

I pull the white sheet covering me to the side, and I stare in amazement at my two legs. It’s like nothing ever happened! It feels a bit sore, like I worked out too hard, but I can move it just fine.

“How? What? Huh?”

I lose the ability to form words with more than one syllable as I run my hand across my left leg. There’s not even any scarring or any other hint that my injury was not just a feverish nightmare.

Bey is staring at me with a wide smile, baring her fangs. She claps her paws together out of joy. “It’s amazing, isn’t it! This whole ship is fantastic.”

“What happened?” I ask, my eyes as big as saucers.

“The medi-computer!” Bey says, pointing at the large, cylinder-shaped tube in the corner of the med-bay. “Koryn put you in there and tapped on the screens, and then… poof.”

“Poof?”

“Yeah, poof,” Bey says with a wide grin. “The machine started whirring, and Koryn told me to go find some herbs, and when I came back you were here, asleep.”

I am amazed. Zoran technology keeps surprising me. I knew they were advanced – I helped develop the Archer Cure – but that they had the capability to grow limbs back on? That’s news to me!

I throw my legs over the side of the table and tentatively lower myself down, tying the sheet around myself like a toga to cover my undressed body. The ship’s metal floor is cold under my naked feet. I put all my weight on my right foot, and then my left. I’m standing.

I take a few steps.

I’m walking!

Bey can’t stop laughing when she sees the dumbfounded look on my face.

“I can walk!” I say. “I can dance!”

I bend over to touch my toes. I jump up and clap my hands in the air. I do a few lunges, circling around the table I was on. I even throw in a few squats for good measure.

My legs feel great!

“Where’s Koryn?” I ask as I dance to an imagined beat.

Bey claps along to my imagined rhythm. “I don’t know,” she says.

I stop mid-dance, one leg dangling in the air. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t know,” she says. “He was gone when I came back, along with Timber.”

“Timber?”

“A Beran who helped carry you here,” she explains.

“They didn’t leave a note?”

“No.”

I put my feet back on the floor, an uncomfortable feeling taking hold of me. It could be nothing, he could have popped out for just a little while, but something is telling me it’s more than that.

“Hm.”

“He’ll be back soon,” Bey says. “Don’t worry.”

“Where could they have gone?” I ask.

“Uhm. To forage?”

“Forage what? We have all the food and water we need right here on the ship. This doesn’t feel right.”

“Don’t worry,” Bey says, resting her paw on my shoulder. “Maybe you should rest some more.”

“I’ve been doing nothing but resting,” I snap, and Bey backs away, surprised by my outburst.

“I’m sorry,” I say when I see her hurt, chestnut eyes. She’s got eyes like a teddy bear, and I feel awful I hurt her feelings. She’s been nothing but kind to me, and I go and yell at her like that. “I didn’t mean to say it like that, it just makes me feel really… useless, to have everyone take care of me without being able to help, you know?”

Bey nods her fluffy head. “I understand,” she says. “but it’ll be fine. Where could they have gone?”

“Into the wilderness,” I say as I walk up to a porthole and stare out into the sea of trees.

Koryn.

Where have you gone?

“
A
re
you sure this is the right path?”

The Beran’s voice trembles with fear. I cut my way through the thick foliage, my axe cleaving instantly through the branches. I stocked up on weapons on the ship. When I face that Ygg Queen, I’ll be well prepared. I’m not stopping until I’ve killed that bitch.

“Losing your nerve, Beran?” I snarl.

Timber stops in his tracks. “Maybe we should go back? Before night falls. We could still make it if we turn back now.”

“I thought you wanted to avenge your people?” I say. “Good luck doing that holed up in a cave somewhere.”

I’m an asshole and I know it, but I don’t care anymore. I just walked away from the love of my life knowing it’s unlikely I’ll ever return alive. Being an asshole to Timber is the least of my concerns.

I sniff the ground, trying to pick up the Ygg scent. The Queen has got to be around somewhere. She’s never far away from her young, and I can detect her wretched smell from miles away.

“It’s getting dark,” he says.

“Why does that scare you? You lived in the dark your whole life.”

“This was a mistake.”

“Then leave,” I roar. “Go! Go cower, go hide, go live your days in fear, in horror, waiting for the creeps to come crawling through your cave and murder your wife, your mother, your daughters.”

“Zoran asshole,” Timber barks as he turns to walk away.

I grab him by the shoulder and yank the Zoran blade from his paws.

“You won’t be needing that,” I growl.

He snarls at me, baring his fangs. “What am I supposed to do if I’m attacked on my way back?”

“Stick your head in the ground, it’s what your kind does best.”

Fuck, I’m a total asshole.

Timber walks away, cursing under his breath as he picks up the trail we made when we left the
Thundercat
several hours ago. I continue on, marching towards my certain death.

I killed a Ygg Queen once before, but that was more a lucky strike than anything else. Next time, I might not be so lucky.

Not that it matters.

I have lost my honor; failed my loved ones. I have nothing left to live for.

I
stare into the darkness
, sitting on a stump outside the ship.

Night has fallen, and the temperature has dropped severely, but there’s no way I’m going to bed. I can’t sleep knowing Koryn is out there somewhere.

Bey brings me another cup of
chau-chau
, but I’ve lost my desire for them.

I’ve lost my desire for a lot of things.

Hours have passed, and my nagging fear has grown into full-blown dread.

“Drink something, please,” Bey says, her hazelnut eyes filled with worry.

I shake my head.

“At least put a vest on, then,” she pleads. “I’m freezing my butt off and you don’t even have any fur.”

“No.”

I’m cold as hell, but at least I’m feeling
something
. I won’t allow myself to be warm and cozy while Koryn is out there, lost in the cold, dark woods.

I don’t want to care so much about him, but I do. I want to let go, to listen to that nagging little voice in the back of my head that says
I told you so. He’s a warrior. They walk out on you. They love the hunt more than you. Forget about him
.
He’s just like the others.

But I can’t. And I won’t. Koryn managed to break the armor around my heart, the armor that’s been there ever since my father walked out on me and my mother. When I’m with him, I feel
whole
, for the first time in my life.

I can’t let that go. I won’t walk away from that. I don’t know where Koryn disappeared to, or why, but I’m not giving up on him. Not now, not ever. I’ll chase him to the end of this planet if I have to.

It’s true what he said: I’m as stubborn as a Zoran General.

“I’ll wait with you then,” Bey says as she sits down next to me. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, and her fur is thick and soft, and I’m grateful for her warmth and kindness.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “For everything.” I don’t know what I did to deserve a friend like her. Without her keeping me sane, I might have stumbled into the wilderness alone. She keeps me grounded. “Are all Berans as kind as you?”

Bey smirks. “I like to think so.”

“Why did you travel with us?” I ask.

The female bear shrugs. “Koryn needed help returning you to the ship, so I volunteered, of course. It’s the least I could do.”

“Have you ever been on the planet’s surface?”

“No,” she says, shaking her head.

“What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” she answers. “There’s so many plants, herbs and trees, and the air is so clean. And the sky!” she says, looking up at the stars.

We can see a part of the night’s sky through the clearing in the woods. The stars shine brightly, providing us with a breathtaking view. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a starry night as beautiful as this: on Earth there’s too much pollution and artificial light to see the sky properly.

“Can we see your home world from here?”

“No,” I laugh. “It’s far, far away.”

“I’d like to see another planet someday,” Bey says, sighing wishfully.

“You just got to the surface of this one!” I say.

“I know, and now I want more,” Bey laughs. “All my life I dreamt of venturing outside the cave, but our leaders have always forbidden it. Too dangerous, they said. And now destiny delivered a human and a Zoran to my doorstep,” she says with a smile. “Thank you for showing me the stars.”

“You’re very welcome.”

The conversation helped take my mind off the ache in my heart, even if only for a moment. We gaze up at the stars together, and I don’t feel as alone anymore.

The rustling bushes in the distance break the silence, making my heart leap into my throat.

Is it him
?!

A seven foot tall figure stumbles out into the clearing, and I rise to my feet.

The man steps into the light – and I see the thick, dark fur covering his entire body is tangled with leaves and a few stray branches. My heart sinks as I realize it’s not my mate.

“Timber,” Bey says, rising to her feet as well.

“Where’s Koryn?!” I ask, unable to keep my voice from shaking.

The scowl on the Beran’s face fills me with dread. He shakes his fur, pawing at the leaves cluttering up his fur. “He’s lost his damn mind,” he grumbles. “Chasing Ygg, trying to get himself killed.”

No. No no no no no.

I sit back down, all the energy leaving my body. How could this happen…

“Timber!” Bey says sternly. “That’s her
mate
you’re talking about! You left us without so much as a word or a warning. Explain yourself!” Her big brown eyes burn with fire as she glares at him.

The Beran looks taken aback by Bey’s fiery outburst.

“I just marched for a whole day straight,” he says defensively.

“And we’ve been waiting here, worried sick about you,” Bey counters. “So start talking!”

Timber rubs his temples with his paws, sighing deeply.

“After we placed Kelly in the… thing…”

“The medi-computer,” Bey corrects him.

“That’s what I said. Koryn grabbed a bunch of weapons – swords, spears, things like that – and told me he was heading out to find the Ygg Queen. Said if it was defeated, the monsters would all leave our planet.”

Timber sits down, picking at the leaves that clutter his fur.

“He asked me if I wanted to avenge my people… I said yes, of course. I couldn’t let this offworlder take all the glory. If someone would take revenge, it should be a Beran.”

Bey shakes her head as she listens to the warrior talk. “Men,” I hear her mutter under her breath.

“He left straight away, and I followed. It all happened so suddenly, as if he made up his mind on the spot. I would have told you, but I didn’t see you.”

“Then what happened?”

Timber looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact.

“I lost my nerve,” he says softly. “I realized that he was leading me on a suicide mission. I tried to talk him out of it, but he …”

“He what?” I ask.

“He couldn’t be reasoned with,” Timber says, looking up at me. “I saw it in his eyes. It’s like he wasn’t himself no more. Of course, I barely knew him, but… there was so much
rage
inside of him.”

The Beran hangs his head in shame.

“So I left.”

Bey rests her paws on the soldier’s shoulders.

“It’s okay, Timber,” she says, running her nails through his fur.

“No, it’s not,” he sighs. “I left the cave, then I left you, now I left the Zoran… I’m trying to do the right thing, but it’s so hard.”

The pit in my stomach grows, my worst fears confirmed. Somehow I already knew it, but a small part of me hoped for a more reasonable explanation as to why he disappeared like that.

He’s somewhere in the vast wilderness, hell-bent on revenge.

It’ll be the death of him.

Why, Koryn? Why this suicide mission? Why didn’t you stay by my side?