The Alien's Revenge - Ella Maven Page 0,59
warriors on duty. Search teams. Find Drak’s mate. Now!”
The gates flew up, and Daz’s well-organized clavas flew into action. Shouts arose from various points in the clavas as the teams assembled, each with their own region of the compound to cover. I headed directly to our room at a dead sprint, Ward at my side. I burst through the door, and it splintered beneath my fist.
I would have given anything to hear Merr-anda’s angry shout as she reprimanded me for breaking the door, but the room was empty. All that remained was her plants, which seemed dulled and lifeless in her absence.
Her aura continued to shake, and pain streaked through me as a petal from her golden bloom fell to the ground. “No,” I cried, clutching my head.
Ward’s hands braced me, keeping me on my feet, as feet trampled the ground in the desperate search for her. I shoved Ward away and stumbled outside, unsure what to do or where to go. Daz appeared amid the dust kicked up by dozens of boots. His mate jogged at his side, her face red, her hand splayed over her swollen belly.
“She told us she was going to take a nap,” Frankie cried. “I don’t understand where she could be.”
“Drexel!” shouted a voice from the front of the gates. I ran blindly toward the voice, Daz overtaking me as we reached a warrior who stood over a print in the moist dirt outside the gates, hidden in the shadow of the wall.
“That’s not from one of us,” he said. “Too small.”
He was right. It was Merr-anda’s boot print. I knew because I’d seen those prints every day mixed with mine in the wet bank of our spring.
She wouldn’t have left on purpose, but I tracked the boot prints as they continued in her gait away from the walls. I followed them, ignoring the breathing of Daz behind me as he followed. I didn’t need him here. All I needed was to follow these tracks to my mate. Maybe she was attacked by a welf, or a pivar pack. The Rizars wouldn’t travel this far…
Suddenly her boots came to a stop. I frowned and looked up. All around me were patches of purple blooms—her favorite one that she picked every day around our hut.
Boot prints mingled with each other, showing she walked around this clearing, and when I ran my hand over the blooms, I could tell some had been picked.
She’d left the gates for blooms. Blooms that I’d loved the most, and she’d known, because she’d noticed my reaction. I fell to my knees. What had happened? Where had she gone?
“Drak,” Daz said.
I glanced up to see him pointing to a large petal left on the ground. The tear was clean, as if made by a human hand… “She left this,” he said, brow furrowed as he studied the ground. Suddenly he jerked forward. “Here, more boot prints. She walked this way.”
I took off after him as we followed her prints until we came upon the scene of a struggle. A pool of black blood lay nearby amid some trampled underbrush. Large boot prints mixed with hers, and dread sank down into my feet just as Daz hissed, “Crius.”
Daz jerked his comm from his pants pocket and began to speak into it, but I wasn’t paying attention to him. A spot of purple caught my eye, and I took a step to find it was another torn petal. Frowning, I picked it up, running my fingers over the bruised petal. I glanced up to see another petal further away, amid even more large boot prints. I no longer saw Merr-anda’s. But the petals… They were a sign.
She’d left me a trail. My smart, beautiful mate. She knew I’d come for her. And I would. Nothing would keep me away. I started out at a dead run following the purple petal path.
Daz shouted my name, but I kept going. I didn’t need his help. All I needed to do was focus on the petals. I’d find her, and I’d bring her back. I’d brought her here to keep her safe, and she still wasn’t. When I got her back, I’d lock her away until she couldn’t—
A steady vibration shook the air around me, and my steps faltered. What was that sound? The buzz grew louder until I could barely hear myself think. I whirled around, machets out, ready to face the attacker when a formation of bikes roared out of the trees, Daz at