Page 30 of Black Mamba

I will release her.

But I will not let her go.

SIXTEEN

BETRAYED

Lukys

It is nearly dawn when I round the boulders outside the entrance of my cave. Journeying into it, I continue through the dark, expecting to see light as I near the back cavern where I left Elena. But as I pass the firepit before it, no light shines around the corner on the rocky walls of the passageway deeper.

I pause to feel around—to make certain I am in the right section of my cave. Where is the light?

The lantern failed.

I did not think about the light going out.

Rushing down the passage, I enter my nest. “I have returned.” I reach for the lantern on the table only to go still once again.

I face the direction I left Elena, no longer hearing her body’s rhythmic pulse or her slight breaths, having become attuned to her presence in the previous days. Inhaling as my ears prick, I cross the room. Her scent is fainter than it should be.

“Elena?”

I search the dark space below me, swiping my fingers gently. Nothing except air, empty hides, and blankets meet the tips of my claws. I press my hands into the pile, and it sinks to the bottom.

Drawing back with alarm, I turn for the lantern again. I grab it and twist it in my hands, searching for the switch. When the lantern does not turn on, I toss it aside and leave the cave, now scenting the air for her and looking for tracks.

I tied her bonds too loose.

I speed through the woods, and down the mountainside, assuming she will have gone to the one place she would feel safest. Her ship.

I enter the meadow just as the sun crests the horizon and fills it with golden light. With no fog to impede my vision, I take in Elena’s ship, the dome now gleaming with dawn’s arrival. Relieved she did not fly away, my gaze lands on the open hatch door. I freeze at the sight.

The thought immediately startles me. She ran from me…

But she would never leave her ship open… My chest tightens as a raw ache burns through my emotions.

Cautiously, I move forward, back to searching for her tracks now uncertain if she came this way or not.

As I approach the open hatch, the subtle smell of blood hits my nose—that, and the familiar scents of my clan members: Deiys and Ixi. The flowery bushes around me are trampled.

Then, the scent of blood grows as I glimpse something large on the ground between Elena’s and the other two spaceships. The bushes obscure the majority of the dark mass.

I move closer for a look when a long limp black tail comes into view. Reaching the top of the corpse, I drop down at the side of my cousin Deiys’s cold, lifeless form. Leaning over, I grab his shoulders to listen for his pulse when I see the wound on his head.

There is a hole—and two more holes at his neck and chest.

Guns.

The human males.

I snarl, narrowing my eyes. Rising, I head to the thin rectangular windows of the males’ ship. “You killed Deiyssss!” I accuse. “Where is she!?” I roar, slamming my fists against the side. “Elena?” I look inside the ship.

Levy and Greg emerge from the back. The male, who I think is Greg, grips his gun. As they enter the main area, he aims the weapon at me. I bear my fangs, pounding my fists on the outside. “Elena? Issss she in there!?”

“It speaks. He speaks.” I just barely hear one of the males say through the glass.

“The others spoke too. Back off!” the other responds.