Dark's Savior (Dark World Mates Book 2) Read online

  So, it was up to him alone and, surprisingly, he felt energized, not dread, at having to make his way to the surface. Though, he walked quickly, wanting the deed done so he could go back to his work. The ship still needed many repairs, but he was certain in only a season’s time, it would be completed. Assuming they could get ionx.

  As he made his way to the lift, he brought up his arm and sent a message on his band to Braxin, the head of Sector 1, warning him he was coming up and that he expected the lygin to have the tools ready for him. The lygin always complied, even when busy, and he didn't ask questions.

  Not like most would. Certainly not to challenge him. He might be an outcast—a darkborn nillium—but he was still nillium. Royal nillium, at that. And though he never cared to take advantage of such a title before, here on Lethe Maws and with the vision of escape so close, he used his title to achieve his every whim. And no one challenged him.

  Too bad such a title didn't give him the ability to demand the enforcers take him off this cursed planet. But soon, it wouldn't matter. He would get out one way or another. And then, back home to exact his revenge, reclaim his position, and be back beside his brother. Back where he belonged.

  The plan had been set even before the ship had been found. And nothing was going to stand in his way.

  Maybe after, he would finally stop being such a "rigid asshole" as Nar put it. But he doubted it.

  Another sluth appeared, and this time, Ryziel hissed at it with such venom that the sluth seemed to jump out if its own pale, leathery skin and bolt into the dark. Ryziel might have chuckled but few things made him laugh these days. Honestly, not much ever did. He really was rigid. But he was also bitter.

  He opened the lift door and stepped inside then hit a button to take him to level fifteen. As the lift door closed and started its long journey up, his techband went off. Ryziel checked it and growled. Braxin had just left his work unit for one of the stations close to the surface. Something about an incident with the cargo. He would be able to get tools, but Ryziel would have to meet him on level five. Being that close to the surface made Ryziel uneasy. He preferred to not be seen or near crowds as the higher one went, the more people there were.

  He wasn't sure when he had become such a recluse but then, he had never been much of a socialite. He had spent his young life on Nihl being trained not to be seen or noticed or be close to anyone. Avoiding others came naturally.

  'You're shaping up to become the perfect living wraith, Ryz,' his brother had joked. Korzien might poke fun at him but he also sympathized, even if he didn't always show it.

  Ryziel thought for a moment as he ascended. He could wait or make Braxin come to him, but maybe he needed to see the sky. Maybe it would be better for him. To get him out of the darker place. He messaged Braxin back and waited until the elevator eventually slowed to fifteen and stopped. He got out without being seen and made his way to the stairs. He would climb the rest of the way. He could use the exercise and likely wouldn't run into anyone. Who the hell used the stairs anymore anyway?

  Chapter Two

  Aly spent a great deal of time just staring at the moon as if it was some lifeline or anchor. The first natural light she had seen in many weeks. They said there was a sun, but she had never seen it; either it was always hidden by thick, black clouds or it didn't rise above the mines. Mark said it was because of the way the planet revolved, where its axis point tilted, and where the mine was stationed that the sun hardly made it near to pass, making it almost dark every day and the nights long.

  And the stormy skies had made certain to keep even a sliver of light away. She hadn’t seen this clear of a night in so long it almost felt like a dream. And who knew how long it would last? Aly made her way across another bridge to a wider central point that connected two separate bridges, like a crossroad. She slid down against the railing, her eyes never leaving the big orb in the sky.

  And it was big. Huge, in fact. Much bigger than Earth's moon, with deeper craters and a tint of orange around the edges. She shifted her eyes away only for a moment so she could fish out the small sketchbook hidden in the side pouch of her toolbelt. She slid the pencil out of its pocket along the sketchbook's spine and opened it to a blank page. She could never do such a moon justice, really, without giving it some color, but all she had was the short, bite-marked pencil and so it would have to do. Her eyes flitted up and down as she attempted to recreate the orb in black and white, making sure to get every crater and mountain.

  When she was finished, she quickly put the sketchbook away and stood. Rainwater from the surface still fell in small droplets, like a light mist from above. With both the light of the moon and the artificial lights beaming upward, it created a sort of strange, sparkling effect. Aly watched in wonder, smelled the freshness of water and earth in the air, and could hear the spattering of water all around her...and the soft beep of something nearby.

  She looked around curiously and saw, not too far from her, a floater lying alongside the bridge. She walked over to it and crouched down, poking at its puffy head. The lantern was deflated somewhat, its blue light blinking softly. Though she was off the clock, she felt obliged to fix it. Those down below needed the light.

  Taking up the strange, wiry lantern that reminded her of a jellyfish, she turned it on its side and took out her mender, switching it over to a patch setting. Focusing on the tear on its head, Aly began to mend, sealing up the hole with her tool. When it was done, the blue light stopped blinking and brightened considerably. Like a helium balloon, the floater began to rise out of her hand. She took it over to the side of the rail, stretched her arm out, and let it go, watching as it slowly made its way downward.

  She wasn't sure how, but her body knew something was wrong before she did. As if on instinct, she went from relaxed, even—dare she say—content, to tense and frozen with fear. Something was watching her. She saw the shape at the corner of her eye. And, like a cornered rabbit, she jumped and inhaled a sharp hiss of breath.

  Only a few feet away, a man stood on the same bridge as her. She knew he was a man because of his clearly masculine physique: broad shoulders, tall and lithe body, muscular build. His face also said male, with cold eyes and a hard-set mouth. But it was only these obvious features that gave him away. The rest of him was, of course, completely inhuman, with alien features she was unused to seeing, even though she had seen dozens. He was new. Different than the rest. Yet, oddly, he also seemed familiar. But she couldn't figure how. All she could do was stare at him in wonder.

  His silver eyes met hers with the same sort of shocked wonder, and for a long moment, all they did was stare at each other.

  When Aly finally started to come out of her wondering trance, she blinked and cleared her throat. "Hello," she said softly, then said it again a little louder, with more confidence.

  The man didn't respond, even though he must be able to understand her as she spoke to him in Xolien (the Xolis so-called universal language). She thought to take a step toward him, and, when she did, he seemed to grow more still, as if he wasn't already standing there like some glorified statue in the moonlight.

  "I'm sorry, were you trying to cross? I was just taking a walk and...I can get out of your way." He was a large male now that she got a good look at him and could see how he might not want to get too close to her as he passed by, since he would have to as the bridges were rather narrow.

  Still, he said nothing. He just stared at her. For a moment even, he reminded her of a tiger or a panther standing completely still, watching her curiously. Maybe deciding whether she might be prey.

  Aly shivered, wondering where he had come from. She could only guess someone like him came from below. Far below. She had been warned about those who worked deeper in the mines. Those who were so vicious and unafraid that the monsters of the deep didn't worry or bother them. Her heart began to race at the thought. Maybe he was one of them.

  She went still again, and for another moment, they stood frozen, until the silver
-eyed stranger broke the tension and moved, so slowly and silently that Aly wondered at first if he was even real or just a figment of her imagination, conjured up by the moonlight and the shadows. Really, he almost seemed to be made of the stuff, his skin a deep, dark blue, with tendrils of silver shimmering in the light.

  She blinked again, and he was in front of her. She nearly jumped back but caught herself, gripping the side rail tight. He got so close she could see the specks of gold within the silver of his eyes. And it was then she realized why he seemed oddly familiar.

  He was a nillium. He was...

  She opened her mouth but, instead of words, a gasp escaped her throat as his hand shot out and almost touched her, stopping an inch from her face. His hand slipped down and lightly touched a lock of her hair instead. He grasped it gently in his fingers, his head tilting slightly, his eyes flickering from her face down to her body. His face gave little away, but it seemed he was torn by his curiosity of her, his bewilderment, and the dark shadow of something else, something more feral.

  Aly wanted to say something but, for once, she was beyond words. She recalled someone saying that if you didn't move in the presence of certain apex predators, if you stared them down, then they might leave you alone. But she was pretty sure that was bullshit. Especially now. Still, she didn't dare look away, didn't dare move as this large nillium male assessed her. His body moved closer, close enough to feel his heat, and his head tilted downward, his face close to hers. He growled deep, a low purr in his chest, and his hand came around once more as if to touch her again. Aly closed her eyes and lifted her head slightly back. He wouldn't hurt her something told her. As surprised as she was, she put her fear aside and leaned into his touch.

  As his fingers barely brushed against her neck, a hiss of breath escaped him, blowing against her ear. The air went from warm to cold, and when she opened her eyes, he was gone.

  ***

  Aly stood there for a long moment, too shocked to move. Her hand still gripped the cold metal railing behind her, her eyes blinking away beads of moisture from the air. It took a moment for her brain to process what had just occurred. Slowly she loosened her hand from the rail and lowered it, staring into the darkness, her breath coming in short bursts, her heart thumping in her chest.

  She didn't think she could be more tense if a bear had just come out and sized her up. She knew now who that had been. She had been warned...

  Her techband beeped softly, letting her know the meeting was starting. She would be late.

  Still, she stood there as if she couldn't move. Still unable to think clearly. She stared back at where he had come from, but something told her he was long gone now.

  She turned away and carefully made her way off the bridge. Her limbs were actually shaking. Now that she knew who she had just encountered (and had somehow come out unscathed), the adrenaline in her blood was making her a little lightheaded.

  So, this is what it felt like.

  Using the rail for support, she made it over to a nearby elevator car and stumbled inside. The doors closed, but the elevator didn't move, and she realized it was because she had forgotten to press the button. She pressed for level eighteen, and the car began to move.

  When she got to the old station in Section D, she opened the slide door and was met with several curious and annoyed pairs of eyes.

  "Glad you could finally join us," Kate said at the head of the room.

  "I'm sorry I'm late. I just—"

  "Save it and have a seat," Kate said, waving to a chair by the wall next to Jamie and Mark. Aly did as told and silently made her way over. The room was a tight fit. The station was nothing more than an old observation room, hanging off the side of the cave face and supported by old, rusted metal. The lights were dim and flickered occasionally, and the machines inside were long dead. The station had been abandoned long ago, when the heads of Lethe Maws found it no longer useful, so here it was collecting dust, with a few large gashes along the outer walls from some unknown beast that had come up from below and clawed its way up the side.

  And now it was their little meeting center.

  "So, we were discussing," Kate said, with her husband Julian by her side, "about our continued efforts to persuade the Xolis Council to allow us to acquire a ship. But, as usual, they have given us no answers or decision. We are also still trying to persuade them to let us use one of their high transmitters to send a signal back to base, but we also have yet to gain any permissions. Julian believes he will be granted a small window of time to talk to one of the council members about it in a few nights’ time."

  "That's what they said before," Ethan, on the other side of the room, interjected. His eyes were sunken, and his skin looked ashen. He seemed to be taking the transition to the mine the worst; ever since he had encountered a nasty creature hiding in a crevice while he worked. Aly's eyes fell down to his leg, where still he wore the metal brace from when he had fallen. "They say it every time and then nothing," he snapped. "It's been weeks."

  "We know," Julian said, bending forward in his seat. "But we don't have many options. They sent us here to work. It was either that or stay lab rats."

  "Like they aren't still experimenting on us now," Mark mumbled beside her.

  It was true. Ever since they had been saved by the Xolis enforcers and taken to the refugee facility to be treated, they knew they were being studied. It was funny being on the other side of the glass. As the silion medics cared for her and her team, they had taken their samples and recorded their data. Who knew what they were doing with the DNA they had extracted? And then there was Sarah.

  "This is bullshit..." Ethan said, not so quietly.

  "We all want to go home, not just you," said Cilia, her arms crossed tightly, her mouth set in a hard frown. "And Kate and Julian are doing all that they can."

  "There has to be something more we can do," Ethan protested.

  "Like what?" Davis said in the back. "We're stranded within a galactic system run by the equivalent of the Roman Empire. Were outsiders."

  "We could get rights. I heard a miner talking about becoming a civilian...a silion," said Ethan.

  Davis snorted. "It takes years to become a silion. Years of working for the Xolis Emporium on slave wages."

  "But it is possible." Ethan's eyes got a little brighter. "And silions have access to ships."

  "We will still be here a long time before it happens. Who knows if we will make it that long in this place," Davis countered.

  Ethan had nothing to say to that. He scowled instead but remained silent.

  "We will think about it," Julian said. "For now, I am going to continue trying to gain an audience."

  The others stayed silent, though a few grumbled. Anger and anxiety were beginning to run high. A few weeks in Lethe Maws could do that to a person. Aly didn't want to think how bad it was going to get if they were here for months or even years.

  The Xolis and their oracles had never stated how long they would be in the mines. They had only said that, in time, a permanent place would be decided. Where that was, no one could guess. But for all they knew, the Xolis could keep them on Lethe Maws forever.

  The idea made Aly shudder. Forever. And with the endless possibilities of death always surrounding them.

  For they had been warned about all the risks. And there were many. Monsters of all sorts lurked in the dark, ready to eat unsuspecting workers. If they didn't get you, maybe a long fall off a cave side would, or one of the many rocks that fell would crumble you into pieces. If you were lucky and one of those choices didn't befall you, you might just lose your way in the dark and get lost in the endless chambers and tunnelways, some still lying undiscovered. For some of the other races, they had little to worry about. Grex were agile and could see in the dark and had a venomous bite and spiked limbs for protection. Abbiots had tough skin like an elephant that not even a blade could pierce. Humans, however, had no such defenses. They might as well be made of glass or a sack of sand. Ethan was a terr
ifying example and the others remained wary.

  Aly thought of the nillium and shuddered again. They had been warned about him too. But the heads of Lethe Maws never said they had to worry about encountering him above level fifty, certainly not so close to the surface.

  "Whatever you do, stay out of the lower levels," Braxin had said to them on their first day. "Anything past fifty is off-limits, and if I even hear that one of you went to the bottom, you will be punished severely."

  "What's at the bottom?" Cilia had asked curiously.

  Braxin had looked on her squarely. "It is nillium territory."

  Her team had glanced at each other.

  "You mean an actual nillium lives down there?"

  They had known what the nillium were even at the very beginning. It had been a nillium that had saved them from the trader ship. The captain of the Xolis enforcers, Marzin. They had thought him an honest to God angel at first. An angel without wings and with glowing yellow-bronze skin instead. It was only after that they learned the truth.

  Braxin's eyes had narrowed. "Yes. He is...not like the others. He is housed here—the bottom is where he lives. And he doesn't like people in his territory. So, if you value your lives, don't incur his wrath. Don't go below."

  And that had been that. The severity and finality in his voice was enough for them to obey.

  Or at least most of them. Aly was, well, prone to "forgetting" the rules. Her curiosity, Mark had said, would probably get her killed. She couldn't disagree, but it didn't stop her.

  Aly snapped out of her thoughts as Jamie piped up beside her. "Will you ask them about Sarah?" she asked in a soft voice.

  The team went silent, some looking down at the ground. Or anywhere but at her.

  "I will...consider it," Julian said.