Shadow's Chosen (Dark World Mates Book 3) Read online

  The alien hunter tilted his head. He had one knee raised where he rested his elbow. The other hand seemed to be grabbing at something by his thigh. He stared at her for a long moment, never even once glancing at the gun aimed at him, as if it were of little concern. "You don't remember?" he said finally.

  "Remember what?"

  "What happened."

  Elise's gun dropped an inch. "The gate...we were attacked and the tunnel..." Elise's grip tightened. "What did you do?" she snapped.

  The alien's pupils widened. He said something in his language then laughed again. "You think...I had anything to do with that? Truly? That I would be...here right now if I did?"

  Elise opened her mouth then closed it. She remembered now seeing him attacking the masked men and the golden woman fighting them off as well. She lowered her gun some more but not fully. "The tunnel...oh, god. I have to get back. The others need me—" she tried to get up again but found her head swimming when she shot up too quickly. She fell back with a groan, her gun slipping from her grasp as she covered her eyes.

  "There's no point," the alien said.

  Elise dropped her hand to look at him with a frown. "They are not dead."

  "I didn't say they were. But the exit is gone. The tunnel collapsed."

  "Which implies you think they are dead."

  He thought for a moment. "It may have only collapsed...some."

  "Some?"

  His eyes narrowed. "Not..." He was trying to find the right word. "Not...fully."

  "Then I need to get back. I need to help."

  He laughed again in that low husky growl, and her frown deepened. "You don't listen well, do you?" he said slowly, still trying to make the right words. "There is no way to get back. The tunnel exit is rubble. It is gone."

  "Then there must be another way to—what?"

  "We can't go back."

  Elise stared at him then glanced up as the light passed by and shook her head. "Why?"

  "You know why. They are looking for you."

  She remembered what the masked gunman had said back in the tunnel.

  Make sure to get the others.

  Elise closed her eyes, not wanting to believe it. "Why?" she whispered, more to herself than him. "It doesn't make sense." She shook her head again then rubbed at her still throbbing head. "I don't understand."

  "The mission was compromised. Someone planned the attack. And others on the inside were in on it." He too glanced up at the open roof then turned back to her. "If you go back, they may still be waiting. They will take you."

  Elise rubbed at her temples as the throbbing turned into a dull headache. She wanted to scream, to curse at anything and everything, most of all at him for some reason. Even though it wasn't his fault technically, it was still him she was angry at. It made little sense at first, until she started to really make herself question why and found her answer when she remembered the last moment before the tunnel broke.

  She stopped rubbing to glare over at him. He had been the one to pull her out. It had been him who had saved her from getting crushed, who had brought her here. Perhaps she should be grateful, but she wasn't. If anything, it only made her grow ever more suspicious of his motives.

  Then she realized something he had said only a few minutes ago.

  "You said 'we' not 'I.' What did you mean?" she asked.

  The alien tapped at his thigh. "I don't follow."

  "You said 'we can't go back.' And you brought me here. You could have killed me while I laid here or left me to die or to be taken by those thugs."

  The dark beads along his brow, which Elise hadn't caught before, rose slightly. "You think I wanted to...kill you?"

  "I don't know," she said low, watching him carefully. "But you said 'we' as in together. Why?"

  He didn't speak for a long moment. The light passed over several times and Elise was close to losing her patience and forcing him to talk when he said, "Your Ulink is broken."

  Shocked, Elise looked down at her arm and saw it was gone. When she looked back up, it was in the alien's hand. She opened her mouth to order him to give it to her when he threw it over, and she caught it, only for it to crumble in her hands.

  "Did you do this?" she asked.

  "No. But I was planning to."

  She glanced back at him, wide-eyed. "What the hell for? I could have called for help if it worked! I could have—"

  "It was being tracked. All of them were."

  She gave him her best 'yeah, right' face. "And how the hell would you know that, exactly?"

  "The woman drogin, the one who gave me this." He pointed to the translator in his ear.

  "Toni, " Elise said.

  "She mentioned all Ulinks are connected to the city mapping system," he continued. "If the drogin officials had access, so did the attackers."

  "So, what about yours?"

  "I didn't take one."

  "Why?" Elise said.

  He tilted his head back, his mouth curving to one side. Elise took a deep breath, understanding.

  "Because you knew that the Ulinks followed people, and you didn't want to be tracked," she said softly, combing a hand through her hair. The headache was growing worse. She brought her legs up to her chest and covered her face in her hands. The alien said something in his language that she didn't follow, but she glanced back at him anyway and saw the glare of a screen from his wrist.

  "Your band," Elise said. "They aren't tracking that?"

  He turned his wrist to look down at it. "No," he said.

  "So, you could call your team, have them come get us."

  "Not that simple." Before she could say, "Why?" he put up his hand. "They could be dead. Or imprisoned. Or hiding. I have sent a message out but will only receive word if...if they are in a safe place to do so. Even then..." He said more in his language that she didn't catch then tried once more to say it slower in drogin. "Even then...they can't help us, and we can't help them."

  Elise swallowed hard and felt a sickly, empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She rested her head on her knees. "I can't stay here. I have to get back. I have to go..."

  "You won't survive," he said in a matter-of-fact way, not just as an opinion. "You have no communication, no food or water, and only one weapon."

  She lifted her head to say she had two weapons, but when she looked over her shoulder, she saw her sniper was gone, likely tossed off at some point when the bomb ignited under the car.

  "You are alone. Against an uncertain number of people looking to find you."

  Elise didn't want to be told the facts nor hear it from the likes of him. "I've survived just fine on my own. I've been trained since a little girl on how to survive in harsh elements. I can find food and water. I can find another weapon, and I can hide."

  He snorted, and she wanted to slap him.

  "And I can fight," she continued in a voice that grew louder and, to her relief, didn't shake. "And if I can get back to the higher sectors and get help, then more soldiers can come."

  "And how do you plan to get back, exactly? The one gate left on this side is gone. If you go to other gates, more of those men will be waiting for you."

  "A ship then."

  His eyes brightened as they looked on her sharply. "That you yourself will drive? Assuming you can. Assuming you will even find one that works." He gestured to the pit behind her where the remains of one ship rested. "And without a map to guide you."

  Elise gritted her teeth. "I'll figure it out. I'll find a way." She tried to shift her legs up so that she could stand once more. She was done talking with him, arguing and wasting time. Her team needed her, and she needed to find them.

  "No."

  "What?" she said, still struggling to rise.

  "You won't figure it out. Not on your own," he said.

  She stopped. "I don't need you to tell me—"

  "You're weak."

  She glared back at him, struck speechless.

  "You're weak," he repeated unapologetically. "You won't
last a day on your own in the state you are in. You hit your head, you are without water, and come night, someone or something may come that you can't win against. I have scouted the buildings close by, and most are abandoned, but they are also broken and give little shelter."

  Elise's jaw clenched, and her hands tightened to fists. "I'm not weak."

  He stood up and, before Elise could move, was standing right by her. "If you wish to leave then go. Try so now."

  Elise glared up at him a second longer then started again to rise. Slowly, she got to her feet and steadied herself. The dizziness had lessened this time, though her balance was a little off. That didn't stop her from trying to walk. She started forward, making her way over to what she assumed was an exit, when the hunter appeared from nowhere and got in her way. She frowned and tried to move around him, but he blocked her.

  "Get out of my way," she snapped.

  "Make me."

  Stunned at first, Elise could see he was serious. No smile played on his lips, no amusement sparked in his eyes, and his expression only darkened. Frustrated, Elise tried to push through him and found herself gripped by the collar of her suit and flung away. She fell to her knees and looked back at him with shocked fury.

  "You can't force me to stay!"

  "I can't?" he said. Then he came at her. Elise barely had time to swing herself around before he stood above her and pushed her down as she tried to stand. Elise scrambled back, trying to distance herself from him, yet, still, he followed her.

  "I'm one of them. One of those masked men. Or just a stranger. I've found you resting in some building all alone." He picked up her gun which she had left carelessly on the ground like a damn fool, thinking only of her need to get away from him. "I've found you defenseless, your gun,"—he raised it then tossed it aside out of reach—"useless. You are weak from the attack and have no way to fight me." He leapt at her, catching her leg and dragging her toward him. Elise shouted and kicked but it did nothing. "I'm either going to kill you or take you. And you can't stop me." He tried to pin her, and Elise struck out, wrenching herself out of his grip only for him to take hold of her again. "Which will it be?"

  She cried out with rage, her headache worsening, her body growing heavy. She hated him for stopping her and for fighting her, but most of all, she hated how right he was, even if she didn't want to admit it.

  "Well?" he said, keeping her in place.

  "Get off me," Elise whispered.

  He studied her for a long moment and must have seen the defeat in her eyes because he released her quickly and let her sit up. He walked off without looking at her. "I'm glad you could finally come to your senses."

  "Asshole," Elise cursed under her breath. But in the end, she was ashamed of only herself. She should be smarter than this. Better than this. Not acting on her emotions. It must have been that hit to the head but also the deep anger she felt at her predicament, of the fear she had for her team, if they were even still alive.

  I should have known something was wrong.

  She had felt that odd feeling, but because she couldn't explain it nor had any evidence at the time for its cause, she had decided to let it go, knowing it would have done nothing good for her team to mention it and they wouldn't have believed her anyway. Now she was alone in the undercity with the last person she would have chosen to be with.

  Elise looked over at the hunter as his back was turned then over to her gun and knew she should just be grateful he hadn't been one of the ones to betray them because she'd most certainly be dead.

  "If you want to survive...we will need to join together." He turned back to her. "I have a working map and information on how the city is run. You want out and a chance to find your team, you'll have to come with me."

  Elise didn't respond, and he started to walk away.

  "I'm going out," he said. "If you wish to try to leave again, I won't stop you. But it would be...good for you to stay. When I return, we'll talk over a plan."

  "Why are you helping me?" Elise asked before he slipped out of sight.

  The alien stopped and looked back. "Because you're going to help me finish my mission."

  Eight

  It didn't take Nezka long to find others. The small gang sitting out in one of the abandoned buildings nearby didn't notice his presence nor did they notice him take a few of their provisions, namely a pair of metal canteens and two bags which he stuffed with packaged food and a ragged set of clothes. They were clearly a harmless lot, possibly a lowly band of thugs or thieves. They were not like the masked men who had attacked them. Those men he was sure were part of a much larger, more complex gang, maybe even the one he had been tasked to hunt—the Red Blades. They hadn't fought with blades, but he had a feeling they were them.

  They hadn't put up much of a fight but likely they didn't expect someone like him to be teamed up with the city officials. Likely, there were many more skilled in combat within their stronghold. Their attack had been well coordinated but that was because they had had a lot of time to plan, meaning someone knew many days before about the mission.

  If he was pissed about it, he didn't show it. Was it a major inconvenience? Yes. But it wasn't going to stop him. There was still the possibility that the team of human soldiers might have survived. The tunnel had collapsed right at the exit, true, but the car built like a tank might have sheltered them. It was a low chance but a chance all the same. Even if they were dead, there was still the original team of humans still being held somewhere within the undercity.

  And even if they were also found eliminated, there was still her...

  Yes, he had saved the human woman from being crushed and was keeping her close now for the very purpose of his mission, or so he told himself. But he hadn't lied about needing her help. Assuming the other humans still lived, she could be useful in finding and getting his way to them...if he played this right, and if she behaved.

  He smiled at the thought. No, she likely wouldn't.

  But she would need his help, and he knew now it wouldn't be hard to convince her to follow him. Getting her to do what he wanted might be another issue, but if she was adamant about surviving, she would need to trust him.

  His smile faded. Of course, once they got out, he would have to take her back to Xolis, back to Vesra. She would trust him only because he could get her out of the city, and he would betray that trust to take her to another, all so she could be sold off to the nillium—the rulers of Xolis—to be nothing but a breeder. If she was all that survived...

  He would find the other humans, even if he had to do it all alone now that his team was separated. Where they were, he didn't wonder nor care at the moment. If they survived, they would contact him in time, and they would continue on as usual. He was confident some of them must have gotten out some other way, and he would know of it soon enough.

  The gang of drogin laughed loudly as they sat around talking, breaking his thoughts. Nezka thanked them for it by stealing one of their guns. He took the holster for it too and clipped it to his waist, then he shouldered the bags and snuck out the back.

  Before he returned to the place where the girl waited, Nezka climbed up the side of another building until he reached its top. The buildings beneath the higher city were wider and older, built with a sort of concrete and old metal unlike the massive chrome and glass towers from above whose bases could be seen at various points like giant legs planted in the middle of this lower part of the city. Bridges and tramways several hundred feet above his head connected together like a web along the sky, blocking out a lot of the natural light to which there was already very little thanks to the thick cloud cover miles above. There were, however, artificial lights seen all across the city from top to bottom, though they were much more sporadic in the lower sector. Still, he could see the neon colors and see the glow of larger buildings in the distance to one side, some domed, some tall enough that they even hit the top of bridges, seeming to keep it in place. There were even those few places where no bridges or tr
ams went across and where the space was open to the sky.

  Looking in the direction to which he would need to follow based off the map, Nezka saw not too far ahead, the next gate, a large, lengthy wall, with buildings placed above it, that served as a gateway for those to cross the next section of the undercity and for those to enter the lower or higher sectors. Of course, the tunnels and stairways had been closed off and blockaded to keep the gangs from spreading, but if one only needed to get to the other side of the wall, they could pass through a smaller gate or so he was told. This assumed, of course, that they weren't being guarded. But Nezka knew they would be. So, getting past those who controlled it now that he didn't have a whole slew of drogin soldiers at his back would be difficult.