Chapter Twenty-Two

*Reggie*

“ENOUGH QUESTIONS ABOUT HER SCREAMING!” Ragnar grits out, glaring at the twins that flank him on either side.

“Why is Ragnar angry?” Kil asks, easier to tell apart after two more long days of travel. His eyes are a slightly darker color than Kan’s and he is taller. I smile at his tentative attempt to speak in English. Most of his previous attempts were harder to understand. He is getting better. Ragnar says in a few days, their translators will be as good as his.

“Because you aren’t supposed to ask about private things, it is rude.” Talnag admonishes. Their dynamic is comical. Even though we are all growing tenser by the day, they maintain their brother-like behavior. Talnag is the older, more analytical one. Ragnar is the slightly unhinged but reliable middle child. The twins are the obnoxious, overly curious younger siblings.

“Her screams not private. We heard.” Kan argues, defending his twin. Rolling my eyes, I can’t help but blush. They’ve been hounding Ragnar and I about our night in the warehouse since we woke up that next morning. Anything that happens between Ragnar and I become their favorite topic. It would be cute if they didn’t keep circling back to sex…and my inability to be quiet.

“Are we leaving town today?” I ask, changing the subject. Talnag huffs, shoving his way between Kan and Ragnar to prevent the brewing fight.

“That is the plan. We haven’t caught signs of pursuit since yesterday morning. Ragnar tells me that you have a protected dwelling?” He tilts his head curiously, though half his concentration is on the surrounding buildings.

“Yes. We live in an underground bunker that sits beneath our warehouse. The only time we have to go outside is when we need supplies from the shelves. No monster has ever gotten into our warehouse that we know of.” I answer, taken aback when Ragnar tenses beneath me.

“That is not entirely correct, little mate.” He says gruffly, twisting so I can see the side of his face. He must see the confusion on mine because he pauses to look back at me fully.

“Did you never wonder how I found you so quickly?” He asks, and for the first time I truly think about the circumstances of our first encounter.

“Son of a bitch. No, I didn’t. How did you find me?” I ask, almost afraid to hear his answer. A million wild scenarios flit through my mind. Was he stalking me? Could he stalk me through the ground?

“I lived in your warehouse for months with another alien. We would watch you and your siblings come and go, and we used our scents to mark your territory to drive other aliens away.” His words are like a punch in the gut. Taking advantage of his inaction, I slide off his back so that I can face him for this conversation. Now aware of their size, the twins back away to make room.

“What in the fuck do you mean? There is no way you could have been living there without one of us noticing. It isn’t that big!” I argue, wanting to get to the bottom of this. Will my sisters never be safe, not even in the bunker? I no longer lump myself with them. My future is with Ragnar, wherever that may be. Even if he is a big, creepy fucking stalker.

“Rolcor lived in the rafters, and I dug a hole in the back corner that I could duck down into to appear as if I was part of the floor. A piece of farming equipment hid me as well.” He states as if it is of no consequence. Panic sets in at the first mention of this new alien.

“Who is Rolcor and what is he doing in the ceiling of our warehouse?! Are my sisters safe?” My breathing picks up pace as the worry and fear begin to take over. Ragnar sends me a calming vibration before rubbing his face along my body to calm me. Angrily I swat at him, mad that he kept this from me for so long.

“Rolcor is… he is my packmate. He is from my home world and was there with me on the ship. He considered your sisters part of our pack, just as I did. They are safe in his care. He will not let any other approach during my absence.” Ragnar murmurs, ignoring my attempts to swat him away.

“He is like you?” I ask, trying to remember how many Memnars live in the area.

“No. He is Grexarian.” The words are barely out his mouth before the others are grumbling out their disdain. My fear amps up. If these guys find Gexarians intimidating, what could they possibly look like?

“You befriended a Grexarian? Were you that desperate for a companion?” Talnag demands, shuddering. Ragnar rolls his eyes, ignoring the ribbing of the others.

“He is a kind male and has been protecting your family long before I came. He allowed me to join him, and I owe him many thanks. I was in the area first but he was guarding you for months before I discovered what he was up to. Without him, I would never have found you. Do you trust me?” All the tension bleeds out of me with that simple question. Of course I trust him.

“Of course I trust you. Were you really there for months and we never knew it?” I play back every time I ever went outside our bunker, and yet not once did I ever suspect that something as magnificent as Ragnar lived in the shadows.

“Yes. I was intrigued by your family. Your resilience called to my own and I made a promise to myself that I would keep you all safe for as long as I could. When you left the bunker, I worried for your safety. It was only when I caught your scent that I realized you were my mate.” He nudges me again, pushing me back towards his leg.

With the help of his spikes, I climb to my place on his back, considering his words. It truly is funny how fate works. None of this would have ever happened if I hadn’t left the bunker. Glancing around, I note the destruction, but I also see the beauty. The world that has thrived with humans gone. Our world is broken, but it isn’t dead. A viewpoint I owe completely to my mate. He has given me back an appreciation for life, to see that not everything is gone. That happiness can wear many masks.

“Grexarians are ugly.” Kan dead pans, breaking the tension. I laugh quietly, all too aware of the monsters that could be watching us even now. As if he is thinking the same thing, Ragnar scans around us before moving forwards once more.

“Most of the aliens were. Did you see some of them? A few were bad enough to haunt my dreams.” Ragnar shudders at the memories, drawing another laugh from me.

“It is all in your perspective. I thought you intended to eat me when I first saw you.” Ragnar huffs out his own laugh.

“I saved your life. I would hardly have eaten you after defeating a Gersil. Surely you trusted me after that.” He argues lightheartedly. I can’t argue with his logic. The tentacled soccer ball of doom was easily the ugliest thing I’ve seen yet.

“I did indeed. That fucker was nasty.” I add a dramatic shudder after my words, earning me a grin from the twins.

“We think Gersils are tasty. They are fun to rip the tentacles from so we can play with their bodies.” Kil deadpans, and I don’t doubt the seriousness of his words. He is slightly more unhinged than his twin.

“That is cruel.” Talnag growls out, disgusted.

“They are cruel.” Kil responds, shrugging his massive shoulders. I bite my lip, unsure how to revive the conversation. It is so easy to forget they aren’t human…until one of them says something diabolical and it comes rushing back.

“They hurt for fun. We return energies.” Kan mutters, taking Kil’s side as usual. Pride fills me at how good that sentence was. I’m slowly corrupting them, talking about matching energies constantly.

“In English we call that ‘giving them a taste of their own medicine’. If you make sure no Gersils get near me, I don’t care what you do.” Kil grins at my words, pleased by my support.

“Quiet.” Ragnar growls, gaining all our attention. In an instant their playfulness is gone and in its place is predatory awareness. Their sails raise one at a time, snouts raised to scent the air.

We are close to the edge of town, the derelict stores familiar. A flashback of our first night in town hits me hard, the shredded Naga and the fear that Ragnar would leave me when the venom took effect. The store in question is up ahead, a marker for the edge of Stepsville.

The twins move away from us, circling in a large arc. Talnag takes the rear, letting Ragnar lead the way. It is a formation we have fallen into a few times over the last few days. Always after the males caught a scent trail. I want so badly to ask what they smell or see but I know that it would only hurt our cause if danger were near. My nature is constantly rearing its ugly head, my inability to let others take the lead, and yet it gets easier with every passing day. I know I can trust Ragnar with my life, and to some extent the others.

“Naga.” Kil hisses quietly. My internal panic reaches new heights. The snake men have been trailing us for days. Each trail we have taken has reeked of their scents, their attempts to find us growing until it was only a matter of time before we crossed paths. Still, an inner part of me had hoped to avoid them altogether.

“Protect her at all costs.” Ragnar snarls, making me nervous. That nervousness only intensifies when a Naga slithers out of the rubble of a nearby gas station, cutting us off from the only road out of town.

“There you are. We didn’t want to misssssss youuuuuu.” The snake hisses, giving me the creeps. He is far too human-like in his upper half. Human features are easily distinguishable on his face, as is his human torso. It makes the snake half of him that much more jarring. His yellow eyes snare my own, and I give a shiver of fear at the hatred there.

“Move aside.” Ragnar snarls, turning so that the sail on his head blocks me from the enemy’s view. Creepy, drawn-out laughter is overly loud in the silence surrounding us.

“You are in our territory.” The Naga responds, his words clipped.

“Either stand down, or I kill you.” I can feel the tension in my mate’s shoulders, his need for violence rising at the challenge the Naga presents.

“Like you killed my ssssibling?” He questions and I can feel my shoulders slump. A part of me I wasn’t aware of had been hoping it was simply a chance encounter.

“More are approaching. We must make our escape or risk a fight.” Talnag hisses, the urgency in his voice startling. As if his words snapped what control the twins had, they both jump into action. In a violent, bloody, and short-lived battle, the Naga is dealt with. Their violence is brutal, and only shredded pieces remain. My eyes widen, nearly popping out of my face, at the speed that the twins murder the snake man.

Ragnar is less shocked, jumping forward into a full out run. The others fall back into formation, though I don’t look too closely at Kil and Kan, the gore covering their scales threatens to curdle my stomach. The meager breakfast of canned beans that I scarfed down earlier is barely holding on as it is. Violent hissing breaks out, coming from all directions. It brings me back to reality and I grab onto Ragnar’s spikes tightly, squeaking in fear when he suddenly shifts direction.

Sneaking a look around us, I watch in horror as Nagas pour out of every available crevice, making a beeline for our small pack. Talnag and the twins spread out. At first it appears that the snake men mean to run along beside us, herding us almost out of town. Then all hell breaks loose and the first one attacks.

Kan and Kil face it together, dispatching it quickly before facing the next one. Talnag takes up point, mowing down any that get in our way. Ragnar, to his credit, dodges anything and everything that tries to grab at him, but it is a losing battle. A whole army of the snakes keep coming until our hope to run away is smashed altogether and we are left no other option than to fight.

A circle forms, with Ragnar at the center. The twins and Talnag do their best to keep snakes from getting to me. Guilt and fear intertwine in my mind until I can’t just sit still and watch my males get murdered. My hand goes to my pistol. Most of the monsters we have encountered were bulletproof, Nagas not so much. Their upper torso is bare of the hard scales that protect their lower half.

For the first time since I set out, I confidently grab my pistol from its holster, drawing just in time to see a Naga with black tail scales lunge over a grappling Kan. Ragnar is preoccupied with a blue Naga at his front.

Without flinching, I shoot it between the eyes. It falls to the ground, disappearing in the pile of wriggling bodies. My heart is beating out of my chest and my arms feel heavy, not having discharged a firearm since I quit the force.

The Nagas do not care about my lack of practice. They keep coming and I am forced to keep shooting, aiming for any human-like head that I can. In between shots, I scan our small group. My heart leaps into my throat with fear when I see too many wounds leaking green blood. My mate is injured gravely, his snout and legs riddled with scratches and bite marks.

Naga venom leaks from a few of those wounds, an alarming amount. Flashbacks of having to nurse him back to health make me foolish, distracting me. A snake is upon me before I can swing my gun around.

A scream is torn from me, my body thrown from my mate’s back. It is a big drop and I hit the ground hard. The Naga follows me down, adding his own weight to our fall. It feels like I am being crushed by a car. Claws tear into my skin, shredding my arms as he holds me down. Feebly I fight, gasping to regain the air that was knocked from me.

“Reggie!” Ragnar snarls, forgetting the Naga he was grappling with in an attempt to get to me. Tails wrap around his legs, knocking them from underneath him. He goes down hard, snapping his teeth at anything he can reach. Screams of pain and gore fill the air as he severs their bodies in half, possessed by the spirit of his inner beast. The light in his eyes changes with his rage. His roar shakes the ground and a few of the snakes pause, fear entering their gazes.

To his credit, the Naga above me only grins, the evil light in his eyes only growing as he looks down at me. A truly ballsy bitch who has death on his mind. My death. His tail curls around my legs, holding me in place as he raises up.

Turning my head, I try to find where my pistol landed, nearly crying when I see it just out of my reach. The Naga gives a nasty laugh when he sees where my line of sight is aimed. Raising one hand, his claws extend, lengthening until they look like daggers. My blood drips from their tips, falling onto my chest.

“You die, because they died.” He snarls, spittle hitting me in the face. I gag, trying to turn away from him, the smell of rot and decay too much for me. He hisses angrily before shoving me back to the ground, holding me down with a hand against my chest. Raising his other hand once more, he moves to strike.

A flash of blue-gray fur slashes from the side, hitting the Naga with a flurry of tiny snarls. Floofy is tiny, but he is fierce. His teeth latch onto the snake’s shoulder, his weight sending them both tumbling to the side. Cursing loudly in a language that I do not understand, they grapple for a moment.

Heart in my throat, I take his distraction as my chance. Rolling to the side and up to my knees, I reach for my only line of defense. My hand is on my pistol and I am turning just as the Naga pries Floofy from his skin. A scream bubbles up when the when grips Floofy with both hands, digging his claws into my little pet’s sides. Floofy’s cry of pain makes anger bubble in my veins. Bringing my pistol up, I walk towards the snake with a confidence I don’t feel.

“Hey bitch!” I shout, grinning maniacally when the snake man looks up, his yellow eyes wide with shock. The boom of the gun is loud, but it feels so damn good. Satisfaction fills me when it’s now dead body drops like a sack of rocks, releasing Floofy. Tears track down my face when I see him stay where he lands, his sides rising and falling rapidly with his pained whimpers.

I barely reach his side when another Naga lunges for us. This time I do not hesitate to scoop up Floofy and back up, flush with the nearest building. Like it is my lifeline I keep my gun out in front of me. With one shot I drop this one as fast as I have the rest, my eyes burning with the effort to follow the super-humanly fast aliens and their movements. Floofy snuggles deeper into my side, holding onto me with his little claws.

“You are okay little buddy; Ragnar will keep us safe.” I murmur reassuringly, my eyes finding my mate in the scuffle. He is slowly but steadily getting closer to me, the rage still burning bright in his gaze. A veritable graveyard of Nagas lie in the streets, their bodies mutilated. As many as we have killed, the steady stream doesn’t seem to end and Talnag, Ragnar and the twins are losing strength. The venom is starting to take effect as is the blood loss. This can’t keep going.

Two Nagas escape from the group, slithering towards me. My eyes widen when I realize they will reach me before Ragnar. One is a massive King Cobra type while the other has slender build. Their eyes are laser focused on me, each taking a side to attack from. Taking aim, I shoot them both. They try to dodge but I still manage to hit them in the chest. It doesn’t stop them, it only makes them angrier.

Taking a deep breath, I drop the empty mag and grab a new one from my belt. To my dismay it only holds ten rounds. Ten rounds to save my life. Ten rounds separate me and Floofy from the claws of the snakes trying to kill us all.

My next two shots go wide, the snakes wising up. Ragnar, seeing what is happening, breaks away from his current battle and lunges for the bigger snake, latching onto its tail to drag it away. Whipping around, it latches onto his neck with its fangs, pumping him full of venom as the second one wraps around his snout, using its tail as a rope to keep his jaws closed.

A cry of denial crawls up my throat, fear for my mate blinding me to all else. Raising my gun, I shoot two rounds, killing the one wrapped around his jaw. He rips the other off his throat, but he isn’t fast enough. Massive amounts of venom run down his obsidian scales, much more than the last time. He legs start to shake as he finishes off the bigger Naga. Horror fills me when he crashes to the ground and begins to convulse.

Throwing caution to the wind, I run to his side, shooting anything that tries to get too close. It is unnecessary. The rest of the snake men are either dead or slithering away in defeat. Setting Floofy down, I fall to my knees next to Ragnar. His eyes are closed but his big body is still convulsing.

“Talnag! What do I do? How can I help him? “I ask, begging with all but words for him to help me save my mate. Talnag trots over, his beautiful scales muted by the blood of the snakes he has killed. His own wounds are streaming with his own blood. Dropping his snout to Ragnar’s wound he sniffs. When he raises his head, he has a grim look in his eyes.

“He was hit with a very potent type of venom. That was a hive king. They are bigger and stronger than the Nagas that follow them. It takes a lot to kill us, but he will be in pain for a few days.” Relief makes my chest expand with the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding.

“He can’t stay here.” I say, speaking the obvious. “You are hurt too!” I exclaim, seeing the extent of his own injuries for the first time.

“I am fine. We must get moving, all manner of beasts will be drawn by the blood and gore.” As if to punctuate his words, a loud boom shakes the ground, followed by the revving of an engine. FUCK! Noises kick up in the distance, eerily like when we were holed up a few days ago. The sound of humans. The demeanor of the twins change in an instant, their sails raising once more.

“Humans!” Kan snarls out, his own wounds grievous.

“They will try to capture us!” Kil adds, his sides ripped to pieces. Talnag looks back the way we came, the dust cloud signaling that the humans are on the move. Looking around us, he sees the same thing Ragnar did that first night. Unsafe, busted up buildings. He then looks at Ragnar with a something akin to regret, chilling me to the core. Denial rises to the surface, my entire body freezing at the words I can see forming in Talnag’s mind before he speaks them.

“We must leave him. We must keep you safe above all else. It is what he would want.” The words are like a dagger in my heart.

“I am not leaving him!” I shout, backing away from the male I considered a friend. Unperturbed by my outburst, he moves closer.

“You are the whole reason we are in this mess. He would lay his life down for you and would end ours if we let anything happen to you. The humans are rapidly approaching, and we are injured.

We cannot possibly combat the weapons they are toting around. That boom was only a taste of what is to come if they catch us. Think of your sister!” Talnag’s reasoning is sound and yet it means nothing to me.

I love my sisters and I want to see them again. But not without Ragnar. I will not sell his life to save theirs. Ripping my bag from my back, I stomp towards Talnag. He tilts his head in confusion. Another boom shakes the ground, the gas station to our left exploding in a spray of debris. Shit!

“I am thinking of my sisters. I am thinking that I will not sell my mate’s life for theirs. Take this to the bunker. Stay with Rolcor or return for us, either way I am not leaving my mate.” Talnag looks at me in horror, as if he cannot believe this is the choice I am making. There isn't a choice though. If the humans intend to harm Ragnar, then I will stand as a buffer between my mate and them.

“Your sisters, they are unmated?” Kan asks, breaking the silent standoff between Talnag and I. Turning my face, I nod at him.

“They are like you?” Kil asks, his meaning clear. If I survive this, I will beg forgiveness as playing matchmaker for my sisters and aliens. It serves a purpose, motivating the twins to want to make the trip. To take the medicine to my sisters.

“They are open minded. Take these bags to them, take Floofy to them. Give them both a chance, please. I am begging you. I cannot leave him.” If Talnag will not help me, then maybe the twins are my last hope.

“You would really sacrifice yourself for him?” Talnag asks, confusion written plainly on his scaly face. My answer is immediate.

“Yes. I would. I love him.” All the fight drains out of Talnag. With a sigh, he grabs my bags with his teeth.

“We will return for you when it is safe.” He murmurs, rubbing his jaw against me in the same way Ragnar does when he is soothing me. I lean into it before another boom forces me into motion.

Bending down, I pick up Floofy. He gives a groan of protest, but I shut away any guilt I might feel as I stuff him into one of the empty bags. It is a tight fit but leaves him enough space to breathe while staying secure.

“If we make it out of this, I expect all of you to join our pack.” I say loud enough for the twins to hear.

“If Ragnar doesn’t kill us first.” Talnag mutters, saying nothing else before he bolts away. The twins hesitate for just a moment, rubbing against me before they too disappear down the road. I can only hope that our scent trail will lead them to my sisters. I can’t not worry about that now.

Turning, I raise my gun and point it towards the approaching dust cloud. Hell is approaching and I must convince my demons that I am bigger and badder than they are. That or I kill them. Either way, Ragnar will survive. My love will save him, or the snap-crackle-pop of my Smith and Wessen. I’m not picky.