Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Tanner

She never glimpsed the person following her, but the shadow was there. All her law enforcement and military senses were screaming at her to lose the tail.

Tanner didn't stop at the Andaran's compound. No matter how much she wanted to slip through his defenses, just as she'd done a dozen times in the past while searching for her sister, now was not the time. Security would be tighter and she wasn't invisible. She'd find out later if her shot hit anything vital. Although she was pretty sure the shot hit his upper arm and spun him around. Having the Andaran drop to the ground, unconscious, gave her some hope.

Walking deeper into the forest, Tanny kept to the sandy bottom of a stream, leaving no trace of her passage. The freshwater streams and the one lake she'd found on this planet were all an electric aquamarine color. They were beautiful. The water seemed drinkable, although she boiled it when she could and stored containers throughout the forest.

Looking up, Tanny noticed the Midnight Moon had taken over the sky. This larger moon reflected enough light to see by. She knew in town that businesses were opening and there would be people moving around the streets. They treated this moon as if it were the start of a new day. The tight feeling between her shoulder blades relaxed. Her shadow was gone.

Anytime she walked through the forest, she couldn't help but marvel at the trees. The trunks were a vivid green. Once again, the word electric came to mind, or maybe neon. The water was a bright aquamarine blue, and the tree trunks were a shocking lime green. She looked up at the moonlight showing through the trees. It highlighted their bright orange, dark green, and pale-yellow leaves, yet the colors would become even more vibrant when the sun came up. This planet was incredibly beautiful. She really wished she had the chance to explore under different circumstances.

Heading away from her camp, Tanny wound through the tall trees to a small clearing. One with a hillside strewn with two-story boulders. She'd inspected this boulder field and found it hid many secrets. The rock was gray with purple and blue flecks. She discovered several small pockets or caves, and one or two of those had tunnels that would hide her passage back into the trees.

When she created a camp in this forest, she'd picked out several places where she could stash a few supplies. A little food and water, a change of clothing, this small cache even had a blanket. It was the perfect lookout spot. The perfect place to rest and recover, to ensure she was alone. This hidey-hole provided cover from above and all sides, while at the same time, the stack of rocks around her small cave gave her 360-degree visibility. There was also a narrow tunnel that she could crawl through, which took her to the tree line in the opposite direction from where she entered the clearing.

Tanny covered herself with the blanket, drank some water, and ate a few of the small food rations she'd scavenged. These were little cracker-like things. Just a few bites always filled her belly. They were completely bland, but at least she wouldn't starve.

Bird song woke her several hours later. Tanner groaned at the amount of sunshine pouring into her little cave and looked out at the clearing. An army could have settled there during the night and she wouldn't have heard them.

The cloudless blue sky had a slightly lavender cast to it. It was a beautiful spot. The small meadow was filled with lime green grass and blooming hot pink, purple, and white flowers that were highlighted by the small bright blue stream gurgling along the edge. She could see a few alien insects and birds.

One tiny silver bird landed on a rock at the entrance to her hiding place. It was close enough Tanner could study the black markings on its body. They reminded her of tribal tattoos. She grinned. Tanny had seen lots of different birds since she was kidnapped and brought to this planet, but she liked this one the best. Its little eyes seemed bright and happy and it wasn't afraid of her.

She broke one of the wafers of food in her palm and offered the treat to her guest. The little bird hopped up on the tips of her fingers. It weighed nothing. The feathers were incredibly soft. The small silver creature eyed her for a moment and pecked at the crumbs.

"Oww! Fuck." Tanny snatched her hand back, waving off the bird. The little shit had stabbed its beak into the center of her palm, drawing blood. Holding her hand up to her face, she swore again. "Shit! Damn bird." There was a black spot under the surface of her skin.

Tanny hoped the little blood-sucking creature hadn't given her some type of alien cootie.

BinjaOB

Gliding unseen down the deserted street, Binja followed both the would-be assassin and the Andaran with his guards. He replayed the last few moments in his mind.

The Andaran had been furious to discover that not only his captives, but the security team assigned to keep them in place… had disappeared. Jacanas had stormed out of the house and into the street, screaming instructions to his personal guards. Demanding they bring in every one of his special forces to search all the buildings surrounding the house.

Almost immediately after making his demand, a laser blast zipped by Binja—taking a short strip of skin with it. He'd been invisible, so the laser wasn't meant for him. The realization didn't stop the searing pain or minute loss of blood, but it was good to know he wasn't the target.

The steady stream hit the Andaran in the arm, spinning him around before he crumpled to the ground. The dark alien had been shrieking until he literally passed out from the shock of someone trying to kill him.

Binja wanted to laugh, but it disgusted him that the shot missed anything vital. Not to mention it ruined his own chance to kill the Andaran, as the guards closed ranks around the man. One of those guards picked Jacanas up off the ground and they all began running through the streets.

Sucking in the sweet, drugged air through his re-breather, Binja realized he needed to make a choice. To follow the assassin or find out the Andaran's condition and plans. Those plans affected his brothers and their new mates.

All of Binja's brothers looked the same. Each of them was exactly six feet, two inches tall. They were all muscular men who had dark hair and dark brown eyes. They all had some type of facial hair. Binja kept the hair on his head fairly long and his beard trimmed. The only real difference between the twenty brothers was the color of their skin and the design of their marking bands. Mating bands , he reminded himself. The ornate markings on his right bicep were called mating bands. The Earth women had called them tattoos, but they were much more than inanimate drawings.

Binja was the only one of his brothers who used his bands as more than identification symbols used to mark them as individuals. Well, they recently learned the bands would pick a mate, but that was a new discovery. It would take him time to process that feature.

However, Binja had been created with the ability to use his bands for camouflage. The markings radiated out—covering his flesh and changing color—when he needed to disappear. He hesitated before scaling the wall into the Andaran's compound. Rubbing his marking band, he realized it ached. The small strip of skin burned away by the laser was a few inches above the bands on his arm, yet the injury still bothered him.

Or maybe the injury bothered his bands? Binja didn't understand why the bands were irritated. The laser didn't touch them.

He looked toward the forest where the would-be assassin had disappeared into the trees. Normally, one of his brothers would follow, but everyone remained at the house in order to protect their brother's mates.

Binja knew his marking bands were also the only ones that transformed into… anything. The top half of his bands looked like a stylized bird—and they could become a small silver bird of flesh and bone that had black stripes on its head, wings, and tail. The bird was about half the size of his fist, with a wingspan that was only a few inches, with tiny, very aware black eyes.

The small creature served as his spy. It was fast, flying high above the ground and sending back impressions of what it saw. Or it could crawl into the smallest crack in a window or pass through an air vent—insuring that when Binja went through a door, he knew what to expect.

Or like now, when he needed to do two things at once. Binja could go into the compound and find out the extent of the Andaran's injury and what he planned to do next. While his spy would follow the man who wasted a laser shot, monitoring the assassin until Binja could track him down.

While the Andaran was his primary goal, he wasn't about to ignore the other man. Binja needed to find out who he was, and what he wanted… besides killing the Andaran. The man had challenged Binja's right to vengeance.

As the Master of Stealth, BinjaOB had never missed a target. He would not start now.