Chapter 5

Elian”s heart hammered in his chest as he pretended to sleep.

Off to the side of the camp, Rael kept watch. When Elian looked out from under his lashes, he could see the imposing golden-skinned figure sitting by a tree, surveying the perimeter. Every so often, Rael silently rose from his position and stalked out into the night, checking in on some soft sound or other.

He was close, but far enough from Elian… If Elian moved fast enough, there was a chance.

Surviving the crash had been a one-in-a-million chance.

Now, Elian needed another of them.

Elian”s mind raced, but he forced himself to move slowly, methodically. Under the cover of darkness, he worked at the ropes binding his wrists. Rael had tied them well, but Elian had spent enough years working in docks and stations, loading and unloading supplies for the front. He knew his way around a knot or two.

With enough time — and enough careful tugging that the sound of the fabric rubbing against his skin was muffled by the soft sounds of the night— Elian finally managed to work one hand free. Moving slowly, painfully slowly, he rolled over, tucking his knees up against his chest. He looked like a scared human huddling up for warmth — but it put his bound ankles in reach.

As he gradually worked his bonds free, freedom beckoned to him like a siren”s call. Despite the fear that beat in his chest like a second heart, hope surged through him, too. He didn”t know where he was going to go, but he had to escape. He had to get away from this alien, before he found out whatever terrible fate Rael had in store for him.

Surely, someone would notice that the ship had gone down. Surely, someone would come to rescue him.

Until then, he just had to stay alive.

Alive, on a planet full of giant alien warriors that hated him.

Then, finally, the rope that bound his ankles was free.

Elian lay there, waiting. Sweat beaded on his forehead, whether from the heat of the fire or the tension in his muscles, he couldn”t tell. The moments stretched on and on, the sounds of the forest filling his ears: the chirping of insects, the distant scream of some prey animal, the crackle of the dying campfire.

And then, at long last, the sound he had been waiting for: movement. Rael rose from his position by the fire and stepped out into the night again.

It was now or never.

Elian burst from the bedroll and ran out into the pitch-black night.

He made it ten whole seconds outside before the world exploded into a blur of motion, and he found himself scooped up in Rael”s arms.

The alien had recaptured him in the blink of an eye. It was as if a mouse had tried to dart away from a lion, only for the lion to lazily reach out a paw and pluck it back up before it could even get a few inches away.

Elian struggled, kicking and flailing, but it was like trying to fight against a force of nature. Rael”s grip was unyielding, his arms like bands of steel as he held Elian against him, one hand clamped around Elian”s chest and the other pinning his flailing limbs.

The alien”s breath was hot against the back of Elian”s neck, and despite his fear, a note of something else — something shameful — shivered down Elian”s spine at the sensation.

Rael”s deep voice rumbled in his ear. ”Oh, you humans. You really are just like the stories say: full of spirit, but not a lick of sense to back it up.”

”Let me go!”

Rael did no such thing. He carried Elian back to the campsite as easily as if Elian were a child throwing a tantrum, his captive”s struggles doing nothing to impede his long, purposeful strides. There, Rael effortlessly deposited Elian back onto his bedroll. Despite the force of his capture, there was an amused glint in his eyes as he regarded the human before him. ”You undid your bonds? Interesting.”

Elian”s cheeks burned with shame and the exertion of his failed escape. He glared at the alien, but found himself speechless.

What could he even say, in the face of such overwhelming strength? The shame of his failed escape attempt burned hot in Elian”s cheeks.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Rael”s mouth. He leaned in, taking Elian”s wrists, and bound him again — with more complex ties this time. ”I admire your spirit. But you”d do well not to test me again.”

Elian had to know. ”What? What would you do?”

”The worst thing I could do… would be nothing.” The firelight glimmered off of Rael”s fangs as he smirked. ”Let you run. Leave you on your own. You wouldn”t like what might happen if you ran into a gang of clanless Borraq.”

Elian”s stomach churned at the implications. From the little he knew of this alien”s kind, to be clanless was to be a pariah, an outcast.

A shudder ran through him at the thought. As much as Rael terrified him, at least the alien seemed to have some twisted sense of honor, wanting to keep Elian alive for some nefarious purpose.

But if Elian ended up in the hands of Borraq who didn”t have those scruples…

Rael seemed to sense the direction of Elian”s thoughts. ”You have nowhere to run, little human,” he said, his tone authoritative and almost… gentle? ”This is Vasz. A harsh world, full of dangers and bloodthirsty beasts that would make short work of a fragile creature like you. There is nothing for you out there.”

The weight of Rael”s words settled over Elian like a heavy shroud. He was trapped, utterly and completely. Even if he managed to escape this alien”s clutches, the planet itself would seek to destroy him.

Despair welled up inside him, thick and choking. Was there really no hope? No possibility of freedom, of ever seeing his own kind again? ”Then where are you taking me? What are you going to do with me?”

Rael regarded him with an inscrutable expression. ”Get some rest,” the alien said gruffly. ”We have a long journey ahead of us.”

Elian wanted to rage, to fight, to do anything but meekly obey. But what choice did he have? He was alone, a tiny speck of life on an alien world that seemed determined to snuff him out.

With a heavy heart, he curled up on the bedroll, trying not to think about what horrors might await him.

And not about wherever Rael was taking him.