His sandcraft wasn’t far and he needed to reach it before the Mevirax gave up searching and circled back.
Jaxor could smell her even as he raced through the forest. Her scent clung to his skin and his nostrils flared, inhaling deep, almost groaning with the rightness of it. Then anger consumed him again—at her, at himself, at the blasted Fates for tying the two of them together, thereby ruining his ultimate plan.
Vrax, he thought, only to realize he’d grated it sharply out loud when he felt the female tense against him.
He almost laughed. Madness of Mevirax? Perhaps he’d become more like them than he’d realized.
The human female was wary of him. Good, she should be.
Jaxor wasn’t completely convinced that he wouldn’t give her up to the Mevirax, after all. His mind was muddled. Perhaps a full night of sleep and time would help him think straight and give him the guidance he needed.
And when was the last time you slept for a full night? his mind taunted.
All he wanted was to look at her for hours…and all he wanted was to pretend that he’d never seen her in the first place.
“You’re hurting me,” came her voice. It was soft yet strong. Jaxor had the distinct impression that she was trying to convey her anger and displeasure with him, but her voice was too lyrical for it to achieve its desired effect.
He growled when he realized he’d been gripping her thigh too hard, pricking her with his sharpened claws, and loosened his grip.
“Just let me down,” she urged. “I won’t run. Where am I going to go?”
He wouldn’t believe anything she said. When was the last time someone had told him a truth?
Well, the Mevirax, perhaps. For all their faults, at least they weren’t liars.
“We are almost there,” he grated out instead. It hurt to talk. He’d talked more that span—in a strange, new language no less, a gift from the Mevirax for his ‘mission’—than he had in the past rotation alone.
“And then where will we go?” she asked. “What do you plan to do with me, exactly?”
“Cease speaking,” he growled, reaching the limit of his patience.
His priority was getting the both of them out of the forest and then back to his home. Discomfort and unease coiled in his belly, knowing that he’d just betrayed the Mevirax’s trust and the agreement made between them. Luckily, Jaxor had never told them the exact location of his base, but a few among them knew that he’d settled close to the Pass of Kokillix.
Jaxor was confident his little sanctuary was hidden enough, but he would take extra precautions in the coming lunar cycles.
No one had ever seen his home. And now he would bring a female to it.
My female, the strange beast inside him purred.
Jaxor shook his head and felt her arm brush against his straightened horn. He almost closed his eyes at the sensation of it.
Nix.
The edge of the forest came into view and just beyond it was his sandcraft. Glancing around in the darkness, he didn’t see any sign of the Mevirax’s sandcrafts. They must have entered through the south.
Jaxor slid the female off his shoulder once he jumped onboard, but kept her tucked against him, pressing her into the console just as he’d done on their journey across the Black Desert. A primal, stubborn part of him needed her to be close, enclosed, protected by him. He didn’t understand it. He didn’t want to understand it.
I should have given her over to the Mevirax, he thought. At least one female would’ve been better than none. Perhaps they still would’ve given him the opportunity to—
Enough.
What was done was done.
He started the sandcraft before a thought occurred to him—another opportunity he might not be able to pass up.
With a huff, he turned the sandcraft around and raced south, towards where the Mevirax may have entered the forest…but also where Cruxan would’ve entered as well.
It was a risk. He didn’t have much time. The Mevirax could’ve already begun to circle back and the possibility that they’d heard him start up his sandcraft was high, the piece of utter shit that it was. The night was still and quiet and the engine was loud.
A dark grin stole across his features when he finally spotted what he sought. Cruxan’s hovercraft. In perfect condition, straight from the command center itself. He would never have another opportunity to steal one like this again.
If only mother and sire could see you now…how proud they would be, his mind