Page 27 of Claimed By the Alien Mercenary

Dani shook her head. “Yes, them, but us too, Jaxin. It was a double ceremony. It’s not binding anywhere, of course, but I’m pretty sure they were celebrating our mating too.” My eyes might have grown a few sizes in my head, locking onto Dani’s face, then flicking to Taktak as if the male could confirm it. When Dani nodded, satisfaction roared through me so hard and so deep, there was no stopping that flood of emotions. It crashed over my mate, engulfed her, and she went weak-kneed in my arms, a shocked gasp escaping her mouth.

“You like that?” she almost moaned. “You actually want to be mated to me?” Had she not once sensed the level of commitment in my claim? Or had my little scientist struggled to believe it was real? I kissed her upturned mouth, willing all the powerful feelings in my chest to flow into her through that point of contact. I was Rummicaron—I had no words to describe what I felt—but I hoped my little empath could make sense of that for me. For us.

“What do you mean, it’s not binding?” I growled, lifting my head. “You’re mine, Dani.” I clamped my hand over her bare shoulder, where silvery pale dots circled her flesh—my bite mark, a mating mark, a claim. “Mine.” She dangled in my grip as if she did not have the strength to stand, but the smile spreading across her pretty face was so luminous it took my breath away.

“Oh. Jaxin, that’s… I’ve never felt something so beautiful.” Her hands trembled as she lifted them to cup my jaw. “I love you too,” she said, and I saw myself reflected back at me in her black, mirror-like eyes. This time, I saw not the beast or the monster, the scarred warrior too rough and mean to ever be a match for a female as sweet and kind as Dani. No, I saw what she must see: the protector, the safe haven, and strength. Yeah, I could be that, her shield. I rather liked that role; it came so naturally to me that perhaps that’s what I’d always been.

At the back of my mind, a voice tried to whisper that it was a lie. I’d failed once, one very big, very terrible failure that had cost me my sister. I’d failed to protect the Sineater and his mate much more recently, and it had cost Bex her life. But Bex was just a metal shell; that was not the soul I’d envisioned at my side.

“It’s okay, Jaxin. I know you’re not used to feeling all these things, but I’ll help you.” Dani stroked the skin along my jaw, and she didn’t seem to care that my flesh was much rougher than her silky skin. She was the one who pulled me in for another kiss, and I let myself linger there—her taste, her warmth, and her kindness soaking into me. She loved me. She wasn’t rejecting my claim, but rejoicing in it, just like I was. Perhaps my jubilation over being ‘mated’ by Taktak’s people wasn’t as pure as hers, but that didn’t matter. I was happy because it was yet another tie to keep her by my side. She was happy to be mine.

Taktak cleared his throat with a rough coughing noise, grinning widely through the red clay that painted his face. Then, he gestured with his hand, pointing directly at the distant landing strip the Kertinal had torn through the jungle not that long ago. He knew where we wanted to go, even if we hadn’t told him. Perhaps he knew it was one of the only places off his world, and he was eager to be rid of us. Dani seemed convinced Taktak was a much better ally than that, however, so I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

The giants kept a protective circle around us as we started moving. Clearly, Taktak felt he owed us protection for saving his life, and I wasn’t going to say no to that. Half a dozen giants would be a good deterrent against another attack from Koratalin’s people. Especially after Taktak had taken down one of her shuttles, they’d think twice about attacking six of them. It just made me worry that Koratalin would find another way to get to Dani and her research somehow.

She was moving easily at my side, rested, happy, and warm now that the humid heat beneath the trees had wrapped itself around us. Her smile was hopeful, and I could almost imagine that her feelings were brushing against my side. Perhaps I was starting to get the hang of it—of understanding what the other felt—or perhaps that was just with her. Either way, I was fine with it. In fact, I rather liked that I might be understanding her better; that I knew her well enough to understand what she might be feeling.

“I think we’re almost there, aren’t we?” Dani asked a few hours later. Taktak had handed each of us a large, round, sweet fruit from a pouch at his belt. It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but it was sustenance, and Dani liked it. If the giants were sharing a midday snack while we walked, she had to be correct. I’d trusted Taktak’s sense of direction and hadn’t checked my comm in some time. When I did so now, I discovered the landing strip couldn’t be more than two miles out. Only a small stream of water was left to cross, and we’d be out of the jungle and onto the cleared stretch of ground surrounding the landing strip—a line-of-sight protective measure, very helpful to see your enemies coming and all that.

“We are,” I agreed, and halted. “We need to say goodbye to Taktak and his males. Any closer to the landing strip, and the Kertinal will start getting antsy. We don’t want them to come to any harm.” I had to assume the landing strip’s protective measures had already detected our approach, including our unusual escort. They would assume Taktak’s group was a scouting party in preparation for an attack on the strip. After all, Taktak’s people were supposedly still rebelling against being forcibly annexed into the Kertinal Empire.

Dani knew as well as I did that, even if the Kertinal Empire was not all bad, they were warmongers, expansionists. Set on claiming this planet, they would be, and no amount of rebellion would stop them. The only question was how many casualties they would cause before all was said and done… I did not want Taktak and his people to be casualties of this claim, but I did not know how to warn them, either—not with a language barrier between us that we didn’t know how to breach.

“Okay,” she said with a decisive nod, and she called out to Taktak. I left the communicating with hands and expressions to her, focusing instead on keeping a sharp eye on our surroundings. With a little fuss, she managed to convey that we needed to travel the last bit alone, and then it was time for goodbyes. Or rather, farewell, because I doubted we’d ever see any of these giants again after this. That did not bother me, but I could tell that Dani was feeling sad about saying goodbye to Taktak. He’d been a shadow in her mind, his feelings out in the open for her gift, for several days now. I wasn’t quite sure what that did to someone, but I imagined she might feel like she knew him well.

Taktak seemed less sentimental about it, his sharp tail waving at us as he and his friends melted back into the jungle. It didn’t take them very long to vanish from sight, despite their massive sizes. “Gone or watching?” I asked Dani, and she grinned, which meant she was pleased I trusted her abilities on this.

“Watching, definitely watching. I wonder how they do it, hide so well…” Not a puzzle I was going to spend any time on, but one she could think about to her heart’s content as we trekked the final two miles to the strip and our extraction point. I was very happy to return to the Varakartoom at last, to get Dani behind metal walls no Crimelord would be able to penetrate. Into my domain—perhaps into my sleeping tank—so I could show her what mating in the water was like with a Rummicaron.

The jungle ended in a clean line, a swath cut from it several miles wide in every direction. At the center, the landing strip lay on a flat hillside for a little elevation, surrounded by fences and watchtowers at intervals. Several smaller military vessels and supplies had landed, and one was just about to take off. I scanned the area for a shuttle from the Varakartoom, black and distinct, it should have been easily recognizable. “Our ride isn’t there,” I had to conclude after a moment.

That was, with impeccable timing, when Mitnick chose to call my comm. “Jaxin, I see you’re almost there. Good.” He spoke without any greeting, rushing to explain the situation. “We got clearance to pick you up, but they’re not allowing our shuttle to land for some reason. Aramon is pissed, as you can imagine. They’re going to ferry you guys up themselves. Got that? There should be an escort waiting for you at the gate.”

That… wasn’t ideal. I didn’t like having to trust someone other than my own crew with our extraction from the planet. It still bothered me that Dani’s entire Kertinal protection detail at her research facility had been replaced by mercenaries hired by a crimelord to get her. How did I know we could trust this new escort? Then again, what was the likelihood of that kind of corruption at an actual military base? The security here would be much stricter, even if this base seemed fairly low-staffed to my trained eye.

“Listen, Mitnick, are there any strange ships in orbit? Dani thinks it’s the Crimelord Koratalin that’s after her research. Any sign of more hostiles? Did you manage to track the mercenaries that chased us the other day?” I wouldn’t feel easy unless I knew where they were. They could be lying in wait right now, knowing we were headed for this location, the one place where we could leave the planet. This could all be one big trap, and the possibility made me extremely uneasy.

Mitnick didn’t get a chance to answer. Asmoded took control of the conversation smoothly, his cool, confident tone laying my worries to rest. “Mitnick tracked them to the landing strip, but they were escorted by a Kertinal vessel off-planet, and then out of the solar system. You should be in the clear. They’re very anxious to get us out of their horns, too, so you better hurry.” I checked the landing strip visually, as if that could confirm the captain’s story. It was a fairly empty base, with only a handful of vessels and not many places to hide.

“Right, yeah, hurry, Jaxin. They’re about to stage some kind of massive attack they don’t want us to witness—probably brutally smash any resistance from the locals. Harper has been begging me to plant drones to film it all so she can expose any atrocities…” Mitnick cut in like he had every right to interrupt the captain, and I could hear Asmoded’s impatient hiss. If not for the gloomy words the hacker had spoken, I might have slapped him down, verbally, for it myself. Dani’s shocked gasp was much more pressing, though, her eyes wide and anxious.

“We’re on our way, one mile out.” The call ended, and I hurried to tuck my mate under my arm. “Sorry, little one. There’s nothing we can do about that. Let’s hope Taktak and his people have nothing to do with this uprising and are safely hiding out in their hidden city. I think that perhaps the Kertinal don’t know about its location, or they wouldn’t have built this strip so close to it.” It was a cold comfort, but the only one I could offer. After all, we both knew that Taktak was a warrior through and through, and a leader to his people. There was no telling if they were part of a rebellion against the Kertinal Empire or not.

Standing at the edge of the cleared area, we had been noticed by the watchtowers. A gate was opened, and a small glider was headed our way—not your typical civilian model, but one with an open cargo bed and a mounted laser cannon, manned by one determined Kertinal soldier. Bex would make short work of the vehicle, but I didn’t think we’d make any friends doing that. I slung her to my back instead, assuring the approaching vehicle that we were no threat. “Come, let’s greet our ride home.”