Page 51 of A Monster’s Future

Up close, the containers were a lot larger than I’d expected. That meant those drones must be larger than I’d thought, and powerful too. It was smart to use the morning mist to hide their movements. There was a label on the side with words my translator couldn’t decipher. I had my communicator out, ready to record an image when I got the video communication from Krxare and Chris. I joined it immediately.

“I do not recognize the name of that chemical,” Chris admitted. He was looking better every day. “But I know someone who might.”

I stayed by the shipment as the leader of Ellaston called for someone.

My eyes strayed to the trees, but the forest was too dense for me to see my mate. Dread settled in my chest every moment I spent away from her.

After much too long, a human female I’d never met before appeared on screen next to Chris. “This is Renee. Nova Vita had her work in waste management, which was a complete waste of her talent. She’s our chemical whiz extraordinaire.”

I showed Renee the containers, making sure she had a good, long look at the labels.

“This isn’t good. Nova Vita uses that to process the Vokirite, but only ever in small quantities.”

“Vokirite?” I asked.

“It’s the word we use for the ore we are trading,” Chris explained. “Nova Vita encountered the first sample after trading with the local Vokirens. That was right before they betrayed the Vokirens’ trust and attacked them. The question is, why are there five barrels of this chem at the edge of our woods one day before the trade?”

“They’re going to try to destroy the shipment before Vossell gets here,” Renee said, her voice cold. “We need to move the ore. It’s too exposed right now.”

“We can’t.” Chris sounded grim. “Town hall is the only building with large enough doors for them to back their transports into and pick up the shipment; everywhere else is even more exposed.”

“We have discovered this plan,” I said, eyeing the chemicals. “But there might be others. And this shipment was meant for someone. There is treachery afoot.”

“We’ll lock the building down,” Chris said decisively. “No one in and no one out.”

“Guard it with our males,” Krxare offered. “The ones with mates.”

“It seems we have some snakes in our grass. I’ll root them out.” Chris looked like he was ready to strangle the traitors personally. “Do you mind staying there, Grtirr, just out of sight, and see who shows to pick it up?”

“I can.”

“Keep at least one alive, would ya? For questioning.”

“Done.”

And with that, I ended the call. I was already stepping back toward the woods when I scented it. A group of humans was approaching from the woods.

Julie!

Chapter 27: Julie

I glared at the trees as if any unwatched specimen would let in a monster. The morning mist had receded some, but I still didn’t trust the woods.

Tatertot was completely oblivious to my plight. She lay all curled up in her pouch, her tail wrapped around her neck like a scarf. I leaned against the hoverbike.

"If something goes wrong, you warn the others." Grtirr’s words replayed in my head.

Right. Because that was helpful. How the hell was I supposed to know if Grtirr was in trouble when I couldn’t even see him through this mess of branches? The forest stretched out in every direction, thick and unyielding. All I knew was that he was somewhere that way.

I focused on the sounds around me. The rustle of leaves, the distant call of a bird I didn’t recognize. There were no hums, drones, or anything manmade. That had to be a good thing, didn’t it?

Tatertot let out a low chirp, and I opened the pouch again to peer inside. She was alert now, her ears perked and twitching around like she was listening to something I couldn’t hear. I reached in to give her scritches behind the ear.

“What is it?” I whispered.

She bumped her head against my hand, then made a series of sharp barking noises that sounded way too big to come from such a small animal. I recognized those. Those were warning calls the cookis usually made right before they ran back into the walls or somewhere safe.

I straightened up, scanning the trees again. Nothing. Just trees, trees, and more damn trees.