Forged (Star Breed #10) - Elin Wyn Page 0,43

need for Yasmin to brief me on behavioral characteristics.

Predator and prey were perfectly clear.

The terrified shrieks of Yasmin’s new friend echoed through the clearing around the ship as its attacker bit and clawed at it mercilessly.

A broad, angular head ended in a thick neck. Razor-sharp claws tipped short-fingered hands, disturbingly human-like on powerfully muscled arms.

The whole body was designed as a perfectly balanced killing machine.

Yasmin screamed, jerking me back to the here and now.

While I certainly didn’t have an interest in getting involved in the evolutionary cycles of this place, she was going to be upset if that thing killed her new little friend.

And maybe it had been kinda cute, once I got over the whole stomping-on-me-to-say-hello thing.

“Over here,” I shouted, waving the spear to try to get its attention.

The attacking creature ignored me, focused on killing off its next meal.

But it didn’t have that luxury when I rushed up and shoved the spear between its ribs, then jerked it away, leaping back to a safe distance from those fierce claws.

Bobo lay panting in the dirt as the predator turned, snarling, to face me.

“One of those heavy-duty laser blasters would be handy about now,” I muttered, shoving the butt of the spear against the largest rock I could find, readying for the monster’s charge.

Faster than I would’ve dreamed possible, it crashed through the underbrush, lips pulled back to reveal wickedly long pointed incisors.

It tickled a memory, but there wasn’t time to think about it anymore, because, with a powerful spring, it was on me.

Raising the point of the spear, I caught it mid-belly as it leaped at me, then let its own momentum carry us over, flipping in mid-air so that when we landed, it was on its back, belly up.

I stood on its chest, spearing through its heart, stabbing again and again.

Finally, it stopped fighting, dark burgundy blood pooling beneath it. Yanking the spear out, I called over my shoulder.

“Yas, are you okay?”

No answer.

I whirled about, heart in my throat, only to find her kneeling over the still purple and blue spotted form.

“Can you go get the med kit?” The words were soft, choking out of her. “It should be in the first cabinet to the left by the hatch.”

She was bloody up to the elbows, her hands desperately trying to stop the bleeding from the long gashes in Bobo’s pebbly hide.

“On it.” I rushed for the hatch, but my hand paused for just a moment as I reached for the kit.

Were we really going to waste medical supplies on a creature that was about to be meat anyway?

Wasn’t this what natural selection was all about?

But Yasmin’s voice had been desperate.

She would be heartbroken if that thing died. Which meant it was going to live, natural selection or not.

Med kit in hand, I knelt by her and cracked it open. “Let’s see what we’ve got in here,” I said softly as Bobo made soft whistles and clicks.

If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think the damn thing was talking back to her.

As Yas moved her hands slowly off the wounds, it was clear that the blood had already started clotting.

“Let’s just get those sealed up,” I said. “You might want to watch its teeth. His teeth.” Yasmin had moved out of the way, kneeling by Bobo’s head. “This might sting. He might bite or thrash around from the shock.”

“He’s not gonna bite me,” she said, tears rolling disregarded down her cheeks as she moved the giant head onto her lap. “He’s just scared.”

Bobo gave a trill of displeasure as I sprayed the first layer of sealant. “I know kid,” I said, awkwardly rubbing an unmarked section of skin. “It’s not any fun. But it’s good for you.”

Another spray, another trill.

And another.

And all the while, Yasmin rubbed the creature’s head, scratching under its jaw, talking nonsense to it.

When I was done, we were both bloodied, but the little cries of despair had eased up, and all the wounds were closed.

“Yas, honey,” I said, moving to stand next to her. “I don’t know if there’s any internal damage. We just don’t have the tools to tell us anything useful, even if it was a critter we’d ever seen before.”

“I know,” she said. “We’ve done everything we can. If he dies, I just didn’t want him to be alone.”

Bobo struggled to lift his head out of her lap, his trills louder now.

And from the other side of the mountain, something answered.

Something big.

Yasmin

“No, Bobo,” I cried. “Stop moving!”

Head swaying back and forth, tail