17. Ryklin

I tackledNoelle to the ground, covering her with my body and prepared to absorb any fire that came our way. Stones hailed down on my back, but most of them were too small to even bruise.

Why weren"t they using weapons?

The hail stopped after a moment, and Noelle squirmed out of my hold. It had an unexpected effect on my body, sending an entirely different kind of heat straight to my groin. I had to curl my hands into fists to keep from reacting farther. It was another impossibility. The soulless didn"t lust.

But she aroused feelings in me I couldn"t deny.

I just didn"t understand them. And that was dangerous.

"Do you think it"s a trick?" Noelle whispered, her lips ghosting against my ear, nearly enough to make me shiver.

"I don"t know." And all the not knowing that Nebula kept throwing at us was untenable. I thought I heard someone coming our way, the branches and leaves snapping as they scored their path through the dark woods. "I"ll distract them. I want you to run."

She stiffened and curled her fingers into my arm. "Absolutely not. I"m not leaving you here." Her voice was fierce. "Besides, I can barely see a thing. I"ll get lost in a second."

Even the flashlight would do no good. It would be a beacon to anyone looking for her.

My stomach roiled and churned as certainty that all was lost rolled over me. Was this what despair felt like? Some emotions were better left behind.

I stood, careful to keep myself between our attackers and Noelle. I would protect her until my final breath, no matter how soon that moment came. If this was our end, at least I could give her the comfort of knowing someone had fought for her.

It would not be enough.

"We mean you no harm," came a gruff voice, still swallowed by darkness. "You don"t hurt us, we don"t hurt you."

The air seemed to stand still with expectation. I peered into the darkness where the voice had come from but could see nothing. Then there was the snap of a twig from the path behind us, and I spun around just as three people holding a makeshift flashlight and crudely fashioned spears stepped onto the path.

My mind analyzed the threat even as it spun in confusion.

Human.

Thirties, perhaps.

Gaunt but not starving.

No projectiles.

Standing too close to Noelle.

I was rougher than I should have been as I surged in front of her, but she would have to forgive me later. These people may not have had blasters, but a spear could be just as deadly. And from the way the man on the right was gripping his, he"d wielded it before.

"Are you with them?" the twitchy man asked.

There was a woman in the center of the group. She was my age or a bit younger, mid-thirties, with dark, braided hair and a wicked scar on her face. She shot the man who"d spoken a look I couldn"t interpret. "If they were, we"d be dead." Then she turned back to Noelle and me. "Follow us." There was no other option.

Noelle took my hand, and that familiar pain shot up my arm. But she squeezed my hand, and without looking at her I knew what it meant. She wanted to see where these people would take us.

Me too.

A fourth man was waiting on the other edge of the clearing. He"d been the distraction to allow the other three to flank us. They"d done this before. And whoever we"d seen earlier was likely the threat the twitchy man was referring to. Unless Nebula was hiding even more from us.

The twitchy man and the gruff man took the rear while the two women in the group were in front. Noelle and I may have been able to make a run for it, but I couldn"t risk them catching one of us. If they took her, I"d come to get her back. If they took me, she"d surrender herself for my safety.

We weren"t tied up, and these humans hadn"t done much harm to us yet. I didn"t consider some flung rocks a massive assault. That had been a test to see if we had the capability of firing back.

I smelled smoke before I saw the light of it. And I didn"t see any hint of the encampment until we passed a dense outcropping of trees and climbed over a small hill. And then it was suddenly there, nestled in the bottom of a valley, a collection of clobbered together shacks and tents that I guessed could house a hundred or so people.

We passed by sentries as we made our way down the hill, and from the very careful path we took, I assumed there might be booby traps waiting for anyone who strayed from safety.

"What is this place?" Noelle asked, voice full of confusion and a little wonder.

Strange that I could hear that so easily. Other people"s emotions were often as elusive to the soulless as our own. Perhaps I just knew Noelle well enough now for that not to be the case.

I was lying to myself.

The woman who"d spoken before answered. "Home, or what"s left of it." She didn"t elaborate.

This place wasn"t some quickly put together camp. It was ramshackle, but lived in. These people had been here for some time. I wondered if it was ten years. The mining company said no one survived the explosion.

Had they lied?

Another group of armed humans met us at the bottom of the hill. "These aren"t our usual friends, Astrid," said the middle-aged man leading the second group of spear bearers.

Astrid, the leader and speaker in our group, looked us over. "We found them near a launch site, Davis. They didn"t fire back. And he"s not Oscavian." She gave me a look, clearly waiting for me to supply my species.

"Detyen," I said.

Astrid shook her head. "Can"t say I"ve heard much about Detyens. Do you have a name?"

"Ryklin." I had no reason to withhold it.

"And what about her?" She nodded towards Noelle.

"She speaks for herself," Noelle didn't surprise me by saying. "And her name's Noelle. Human, if that wasn"t clear."

I spotted a dozen or so people in this tiny village, and they were all human, but I didn"t know if that was indicative that the entire village was human or that the non-humans were off doing something else.

"You take him," she told Davis. "We"ll take the girl. I want answers."

"What? No!" Noelle struggled as two men came forward to grab her.

I spun around, a sound of impossible fury coming out of my mouth as I bared my teeth and claws. I pushed the men away and grabbed Noelle close, refusing to let anyone near her.

No one touched my mate.