that she could defend herself with. They’d taken everything to the hovercraft.
“He promised us you,” the male informed her, his voice deceptively calm. In the blink of an eye, he made two large leaps until he was only an arm’s length away from her.
Erin gasped and whirled into the cave, tugging the door behind her—
But the male caught it in his grip and tore it away. Erin cried out when she felt something in her arm pop. When she darted her gaze to the male, she saw the door hanging from his grip. Just like Jaxor, he’d torn it from the stone with his strength. He threw it aside as Erin backed farther in.
“I—I’m sure you’re mistaken,” she said softly, her breath heaving, her heart pounding. Her arm was limp at her side and she knew that her shoulder must be dislocated, but she tried to ignore the icy pain that tingled up her spine.
The male’s eyes watched her like she was prey. Like the kekevir eyes in the darkness, always tracking, always waiting. There was a small opening to the left of him, one that led out into the cave.
Erin didn’t think, she just acted. She tried to dart out, past him, before he could react. She needed to get to the hovercraft. She could pilot it if necessary.
But he caught her easily. Laughably easily. Fresh waves of pain went through her arm when he slammed her into the wall of the cave, her head cracking into it, making stars burst in her vision.
Then she was up and over his shoulder, even as she kicked and struggled, even though the pain from her shoulder made her want to vomit. She heard the unmistakable sound of a hovercraft. The male from above was coming towards them. So they could take her away.
That thought brought a fresh wave of panic and she fought harder, struggling against her captor.
Tears blurred in her vision, but even still, she saw the pulley. And she remembered. He wasn’t far away. He would hear her, wouldn’t he? He would come.
“Jaxor!” she screamed as loud as she could, her voice echoing against the crater walls. “Jax—”
Pain exploded at her temple. Everything went dark.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Her scream pierced through him like a blade.
Jaxor didn’t freeze with the deep, chilling fear that threatened to still his bones. Instead, he sprinted, still hearing the echo of her voice reverberate through the mountains of the Kokillix. As if the mountains wanted him to hear.
He’d gone too far from base, but he sprinted as fast as his body would allow, his heartbeat drumming in his ears until it was the only thing he heard.
“Erin!” he bellowed when he saw the crater come into view. “Erin!”
He heard nothing, which made him curse. When he saw the pulley, he launched himself onto it and pulled himself up to the base, bloodying his hands on the chain with his frenzied pace.
“Erin!” he called out, his eyes scanning the place he’d called home for the past five rotations, seeing it with new eyes. It was no longer his sanctuary, but the place where he might have lost her forever.
There wasn’t a kekevir in sight, which was what he’d originally feared, but when his eyes went to the cave, his heart froze as he saw the door torn off its hinges.
He sprinted there, launching himself up the steps, fearing what he might find. Profound relief and mind-numbing terror met him when he saw it was empty.
Jaxor cut a look back to the base. It was empty too. When he looked up at the sky, he saw it. The shield link in the northwest corner, the one over his crops, had failed.
“Vrax!” he roared, launching himself off the cave platform, quickening his pace towards the tunnel that led to the hovercraft.
Maybe she escaped. Maybe she was able to escape them.
Because he knew. Tavar had come, or he’d sent his warriors to search for him, to punish him. Only, they’d happened upon his base instead…and in the process, they’d happened upon her.
The gleam in Tavar’s eyes the night he’d met them by the Lopitax Sea had been one of distrust. Jaxor had always known the Mevirax leader was intelligent, not easily fooled. When Jaxor betrayed him, when he hadn’t delivered on his promise though he knew how much Jaxor wanted his revenge—the only thing he’d ever wanted—it told him everything. Tavar would have questioned what changed. Had he guessed that he kept a human female for himself?