I get myself upright and start running for the mountain. The other women are scattered ahead of me, leaving me far behind.But I think back to the Myndrous stalking us, to Carielle trying to steal my palladium, and Falgus wanting to destroy me in other terrible ways.
My speed picks up, and I’m soon passing women at a surprising rate. Either they don’t want the money, or they don’t know what it’s like to run for their lives. Then I notice their attention on the sky and look up.
A massive transport enters the lunar shield. Doors in the side are flung open, and a colorful array of males leap out: blue, purple, green, orange, and more. They fall heavily despite the lower lunar gravity, and at such a great distance, that I wonder how their bones don’t shatter on impact.
I’m running out of flat ground. Trees and the mountain rise before me.
A woman shouts and laughs hysterically, then another. The males crash through the tail of our group like a tidal wave of hormones and teeth. An orange Ginarigon tackles a woman. They tumble as he sniffs her and digs his fingers in like he can’t wait for a taste.
Not far to my right, a purple Amphiran lets off an electric arc, preventing a Vinym from reaching a woman he has his eyes on.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” The Vinym hisses at him and bolts off in another direction after a different woman.
A pack of five Mindorans bounds toward the racers I’ve left behind. Two Drathious with tied back wings leap like animals from a rock, tackling two women below them like they’re prey. Golden Ferrim, scaly blue Nytheralians, and red Klaphos weave through us with crazed grins and muscles that ripple with every stride. They’re dressed in an assortment of ceremonial robes, tactical armor, and simple ABR race suits.
None of the women I’m racing with have fear on their faces, not the kind that motivates my legs faster. They aren’t terrified by the monsters that hunt them.
I am. Because I have been hunted. I’m not sure I gave myself enough time to confront my trauma.
The ground beneath my boots turns to gravel and rock. I’m now one of few who climb for the million at the top of the mountain. Most are taking the long way. I’m not waiting and hike up a steep cliff to the rocky face that’s the shortest route.
If ever there was a time, universe, to prove to me that there’s a greater power… Get me to the top first.
8: Zorin
Thrusters thunder through the transport as I ride with the other males out of the hangar of our staging complex in space and into the stars, headed for the Alien Bride Race. I made it, just barely. The Star Slasher burned up a fuel cell that will need replacement, but I’ll deal with that later.
It isn’t the way I thought my life would turn out. When Azrim and I were younger, we had planned to fight alongside one another until the end of our days. Then he met Jezza.
My dedication to my brother wouldn’t let me break up our team, even when he prioritized her.As he should have.
Thinking back, I can’t tell if his emotional distance from me since he met her was because of something I did or simply due to a lack of ability to manage splitting his care, so his female became the only thing he could focus on. I just felt increasingly alone.
Now, I face the real possibility that this is my new future, and I’ll have to endure it without him.If he doesn’t accept her, or she doesn’t accept him.
We can raise Rhysan. At least he will be with family. Maybe Azrim will come around.I hope he does.
I lean against the hull and soak in the coldness of it, wishing it could help calm the blood in my veins. It’s pulsing with a fire I haven’t felt in years. I’m headed to the race to find a mate. It hadn’t really seemed possible until I stepped onto the transport headed for Earth’s moon.
“Shit,dawg,” a voice says to my left. “Rejected too?”
A male Mindoran with scars across his face and a more silvery skin tone than most of our kind grins, exposing a chipped tooth.
“They took my nephew. My brother’s mate died during the last battle.”
“Fuck. Don’t tell me. I already know what happened.” He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “My sister’s mate died. His pack tried to bond her to someone else since he didn’t have a brother. A real asshole she didn’t want. She and her pups are back with our pack now. But I’ve been kicked out for breaking tradition.”
“From your family pack?” I ask.
“Yeah. Bullshit, right?”
“You’re welcome to join ours. We’re starting a rebel pack.” I rest a hand on his shoulder. “Zorin. My brother is currently Night Stalking. I am still working on bringing him in. Hoping a mate will allow me to bring my nephew home.”
He rumbles a low note as his mouth curls. His hand finds my shoulder. “Carnas. Let’s see how this race goes. If you take my mate, I’m out.”
I chuckle. “You take mine, I’ll chip that other tooth.”
Carnas lifts a lip in a playful snarl. “Good luck. Cravnars have extra strong teeth. Took a Novark’s pneumatic starjet torque wrench to break off apiece. Thought he was going to torture me by pulling them. I made sure he tasted his own blood before he died.”
