Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,29

happy that she’s back.

M’tok steps forward, his spear in hand, and spits something unpleasant sounding at Lauren and her mate. K’thar responds with an equally surly syllable, and then suddenly everyone is bristling.

Lauren and I exchange a worried look.

An argument breaks out. To my surprise, it’s R’jaal who picks the fight, snapping something at K’thar as the other male steps forward. T’chai suddenly is in front of me, his hands blocking me from Lauren and K’thar, and he calls out something, too. It’s like suddenly everyone is jumping into the fight.

“What’s going on?” I whisper over to Lauren.

She stares, shaking her head, and I can tell she has no idea. Her mouth opens as if she’s going to answer me—

A shadow flies overhead, momentarily darkening the sands.

8

MARI

At first, I don’t know what’s happening. It gets dark for just a flash, and then suddenly I’m on the ground, with T’chai’s big body covering mine. I spit out sand, stunned and breathless, and then his big arms push me down when I try to sit up. It takes a moment for me to realize that he’s camouflaged, his color the exact same shade as the sand on the ground, and when he covers my arms, it’s dizzying to watch my skin “disappear.” Why is he camouflaging? Why did he tackle me? Why—

A monster screams nearby.

It’s like something out of a horror movie. The roar is impossibly loud and terrifying, and like any good idiotic horror movie heroine, I scream the moment I hear it.

T’chai presses me down into the sand, and he whispers my name in my ear. His fingers lightly stroke my skin even as he pins me underneath him, his big body so heavy that it steals the breath from my lungs. His head presses down against mine, and I bite back a small whimper of distress, because I don’t entirely understand what’s happening.

Then, the monster screams again, and an enormous body thumps onto the ground nearby, spraying sand all over us.

I freeze, staring in horror. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. As a child, I always thought it would be amazing to see a dinosaur come to life, but now that I’m looking at one, I just want it to go away. The creature that stands not twenty feet from us looks like an oversized pterosaur, with a long, nasty beak full of jagged-looking teeth, and beady eyes that shine khui blue. It folds up mottled brown wings and hunches over, nosing at the sand as it waddles forward. It has to be bigger than an elephant, this creature, and as I watch it move forward a step or two, I notice that S’bren is on the ground nearby, camouflaged, and far too close to the creature.

Oh god.

It noses at the sand, spraying it along the beach with a vicious twist of its head, and I choke back another scream of terror.

The thing looks over at me. It hunches its shoulders, as if it’s about to spring into action—

Something sand-colored bellows and jumps on its neck. I gasp, seeing four arms—and four knives—flailing and realize that Lauren’s alien is the one attacking it. S’bren springs up from the sand, too, surging forward to attack the monstrous bird.

“M’rsl,” T’chai says, and then he’s dragging me to my feet. He takes me by the hand and hauls me up, gesturing at the huts, a short distance away from the beach. I hesitate, because Lauren needs to come with us, and T’chai gives me another impatient tug.

“But Lauren,” I murmur, gesturing at my friend.

He nods and indicates I should go with him first. All right, then. “Okay—”

That’s the only word I can get out before he shoves me aside. I sit up, stunned, and scream again as a second monster-bird appears and shoves T’chai down into the sand.

There’s two of these hideous creatures, and one’s got my mate.

Horrified, I watch as T’chai struggles to get up, and the thing lands on his back. Huge, black claws dig into his skin, and then bright crimson blood streaks across his camouflage. He groans, twisting, trying to get out from under the feet that have him pinned. It just makes it worse, though. As another scream rips from my throat, I watch as the thing flips T’chai over onto his belly and tears him open.

All the while, I stand there, screaming like a helpless idiot.

“Shoo!” Lauren’s suddenly at my side, and she flings a handful of sand at the creature tearing my mate apart.

Right.