Chapter 3

THREE

Lorna

I was definitely concussed, but I wasn't blind. There was a weird wolf hybrid creature in front of me with fangs, a tail, ears, and clawed paws. My brain couldn't comprehend the last few minutes. I'd been roused from consciousness with a jolt to see a blue snout hovering over me and claws dangerously close to my skin. When I'd tried to get away, I found I was somehow outside of the underground death trap I'd been in, but the armored aliens were right behind me.

And now I was once again sucked underground, this time with a new companion who looked a second away from tearing into me and eating my liver.

What. The. Hell.

My head felt swollen. Full. Crowded. Did I have a brain bleed? Was I slowly dying? Everything hurt. My ribs. My arms. My wrists were killing me too. I'd likely landed on them wrong when I'd landed on the packed dirt.

"I—" crackle "—Drixonian—" crackle "—kill—" crackle "together."

His words were disjointed, mixed with a static noise that grated on my ears. I knew I'd been fitted with an implant that translated languages, but either his language didn't work, or something was wrong with my implant. With a wince, I reached up to my left ear. My fingers prodded an open cut on my scalp, sticky blood, and a distinct crack in my implant itself.

I shook my head. "I don't understand. Are you going to kill me?"

He sucked in a breath between his teeth, and his tail shimmied as if in irritation. Nostrils flaring, he gritted out, "You—" crackle zrip "—me?"

The zrip sent a flare of pain through my skull and down my neck like a thousand nails on a chalkboard followed by a taser to the jugular. "Please stop talking," I held up a hand in protest while clutching the left side of my head with the other. "Please. It hurts."

He frowned, which was more of a wrinkle between his eyes over his short snout. With a growl, he surged toward me. I cowered against the wall, having nowhere to run, but all he did was yank my arm off my left ear. His eerily light purple eyes settled on my implant before he rapped out one word that had to be a curse, and that sent another jolt of pain down my neck. He immediately looked contrite when I grimaced with a moan.

The pain in my wrists strengthened, overriding the pain in my head, so I glanced down at them, rotating them to make sure one wasn't broken, when the source of the pain—or so I thought—became apparent.

As if by a magic marker held by an invisible hand, two black lines about three inches apart ran the circumference of my wrists. When they formed a complete circle around my wrists, a pattern emerged between them, jagged curved lines that reminded me of claws and fangs. The wolf man with me made a strangled noise, and when I glanced up, I found him staring dumbfounded at his own wrists, which currently bore the same markings as mine. When the pattern finished, the lines flashed a bright white before dulling to a shiny gold.

The pain faded in my wrists. Dulled in my head. And in the wake of the pain came an image in my mind that oddly felt at home there. A fanged set of jaws that seemed to be made up of small grains of sand that twisted and morphed. The jaws widened, then the grains blew apart into a cloud before settling back into the image of a closed set of teeth, fangs evident. Just like the wolf in front of me.

Part of me wanted to panic, but another large part of me was almost calm. As if this was okay. Meant to happen.

The wolf man was panting, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he rotated his wrists over and over again. His tail remained motionless, but his spine trembled slightly. His ears twitched, and suddenly his head shot up as he looked toward one wall of our small enclosure. He sniffed the air, eyes narrowing, and it was a moment later when I heard the pounding footsteps along with a very familiar clanking of armor.

Part of the wall opened a second before an armored foot entered the space. A line of armored aliens was behind the first. And I learned quickly how much of a mistake that would be.

Because as soon as the first armored alien reached for my arm, the wolf man lost his absolute mind. With a howl that sent a ball of dread swirling in my gut, he fisted his paws. Rows of black spikes erupted on the top of his head, down his back, and all along the outside of his forearms. His eyes glowed, his body seemed to swell, and he attacked .

I had seen him kill outside, but my vision had still been blurred, and I'd been too confused to contemplate what was going on. But now… I had a front-row seat to the absolute carnage. Wolf Man swung his arm at the first armored alien, and the blades cut through the armor like butter. As if he wasn't even there. My implant was still on the fritz, but I definitely heard a murmur repeated over and over again from the armored aliens. Beast. Beast. Beast .

The narrow doorway didn't allow the armored aliens to attack in groups. One by one, they fell under the blades, claws, and fangs of the Beast before one of the dummies got a clue and stopped entering the space, which was now littered with bodies. An armored hand lay next to me, still holding a knife. I picked up the knife and slipped it into the waistband of my pants before covering it with the hem of my shirt.

The jaws in my mind were a whirlwind—snarling and snapping so sharply that I swore I could hear the clacking of the teeth. I started to think he'd killed most of the armored aliens in the entire place when another door went up along a wall. Then another. It was like the arena all over again, but instead of insects and beetles, it was deadly armored aliens, armed with every weapon I could imagine.

Surrounded by the bodies he'd slaughtered, the Beast raging beast fought on as if he had an army behind him even though he was gravely outnumbered. Despite his obvious fatigue, he still fought with skill and precision compared to the clunky armored aliens.

When one armored alien raised a laser gun in the confined space, aimed at the Beast's leg, I knew I had to act. I couldn't sit here cowering. Of course, last time I'd tried to fight anything, I'd been nearly killed by a blow to the head, but I had no choice. With a yell, I pulled the knife out of my waistband and surged forward. I brought the knife down with all my strength into a break in the armor at the alien's wrist. He roared. His laser gun fired at the ceiling, sending a chunk of dirt and debris showering down on our heads.

I screamed. The wolf howled, and then another door opened. More aliens poured in, and the wolf was covered in armored aliens' fists and feet. They punched and kicked. Stabbed. I heard him howl again, this time in pain, and I swore I could feel the echoing pain in my own body. " No !" I screamed. " Stop it !"

Hands grabbed me. I saw a flash of bloodied blue fur. I fought. I got in my own punches. My own kicks. The jaws in my mind were exploding, barely visible. Was that him? Was he dying?

" Don't hurt him !" I cried as I was hauled through a door. It slammed shut behind me, cutting me off from seeing what was happening with the Beast. The blue wolf beast who I didn't know, but yet I did know . I felt it in my mind. My heart. We were connected now, and I got the haunting feeling that if he died… I would too.

An armored alien threw me into a cell. I hit the ground hard on my hip and groaned out loud. Before I could even lift my head, the cell doors slammed shut. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the dirt ceiling. My mind was nothing but a wasteland of sand. No jaws. No movement. A desert.

My heart ached more than any of the bruises and injuries littering my body. Devastated mourning swamped me, and I couldn't understand the intense emotion. I'd known the blue Beast for all of half an hour. I'd been terrified of him for most of that time. But the way he'd valiantly fought for me…a sob tore from my throat.

I was right back where I'd been, underground and caged with the same aliens who'd placed me in a beetle death arena. What would they do with me now? I didn't even understand what had happened. I'd passed out in the arena and then they'd taken me outside? They must have thought I was dead.

Maybe I'd play dead again. Apparently the only way out of here was in a body bag. My blue beast was probably in one now. Another sob bubbled from my lips, and I rolled onto my side to curl into a ball.

God, I hurt. I wanted to give up. Just lay here on a hunger strike until I wasted away. Had the blue beast fought for himself or to protect me? Because if he'd battled that hard to protect me… I owed it to him to live.

Shuffling came from outside my cell. I looked up to see two armored aliens walking down the corridor dragging a body between them. They opened the cell next to me, which was separated only by thick bars, and tossed the body inside. It hit the ground with a thud and remained motionless. I could barely see in the dim light, but when the armored aliens left a flickering torch on the wall, it illuminated my new cellmate.

The blue beast.

With a gasp, I scrambled to the side of my cage and gripped the bars. My golden wrists shone in the light. The blue beast lay on his side facing me. His eyes were closed, and his body was a bloody mess. His one arm was slashed open from wrist to elbow and still leaked blood.

His nose was smashed and bloodied. His lips cut. One eye was swollen, and both of his ears were crumpled. He was an absolute wreck, and the grains of sand in my mind remained still. Too still.

Yet I could see the slight rise and fall of his chest. He breathed. He lived .

I couldn't help the sob that tore out of me, then another, before the hysterical cries didn't stop, and I wept for this stranger who had fought valiantly. Who I was now connected to by some weird fate as the gold on his wrists remained visible despite his injuries. I tried to reach him through the bars, but he was too far away. I couldn't even comfort him. Was he dying? Would he survive? At least he was unconscious for now, because surely the pain in his body was insurmountable.

Eventually I cried all my tears, and while I still trembled with fear and sadness, I tried to get myself under control. I sat staring at the blue beast for what felt like hours. What was his name? What was his story? Why did the aliens keep him alive? He was a threat to them as it had taken dozens to take him down, but yet they didn't kill him.

And then my mind wandered to the women in the arena. How many had survived? How was the blonde warrior who had begged me to stay alive? I'd failed her. Sure, I was alive now, but she didn't know that. She probably thought I was dead.

Eventually, an armored alien walked past my cell and tossed a small bag inside. I reached for it, and inside I found a water pouch and a type of barely edible bar. But I ate it anyway, because I owed it to the blonde warrior to stay alive. And I owed it to the blue beast. When I finished eating and drinking, I relieved myself in the corner of my cell, and then returned to the bars closest to the blue beast. He hadn't moved. No eye flickers. And yet he was still alive. There was hope yet, and as long as he was alive, I'd stay alive too.

I wasn't a great singer, but I could carry a decent tune. So I began to sing softly, random snippets of songs that I could remember the lyrics to. And if I didn't know the lyrics, I made up gibberish, but something told me that I needed to fill the space with pretty sound. Even unconscious, I didn't want the blue beast to feel alone. Maybe my voice would penetrate the darkness he was in. Maybe it would soothe his soul. Or maybe I just needed to soothe mine. But I sang and sang. Even as my voice grew hoarse and my eyes drooped. But I forced myself to stay awake, not to rest, because I couldn't allow the beast to be alone, even for a moment.