Assassin's Mate: A Xeno Sapiens Novel (Genetically Altered Humans Book 9) Read online

  He whined, unable to communicate. Very slowly, he reached for her foot and tried to stick it into the hole.

  “You want me to go inside?” she asked. “Is it safe? It looks barely big enough for me to crawl in. And heaven forbid another rain comes.”

  “Raaain,” he croaked. He knew that word. That was the word for the falling water from the skies.

  “Very good,” she said, startled. “Yes, rain. Like last night. Wait a minute. I get it. Is this a rain shelter? You dug this in the rain for me?”

  “Raain,” he croaked again. Again he pushed her foot into it.

  “You want me to try it?” She sighed, squatted down, and peered inside. “Doesn’t look very deep,” she muttered. “I’m not going in head first.”

  She butted into the den feet first, wriggling in as much as the cavern would allow. So far, it was only deep enough to hold her up to her shoulders. He’d have to dig much, much more to hold both of them.

  “He’s back there,” someone yelled.

  Adrenaline hit his gut, making him snarl. He blocked the view of his mate with his much larger body, squatting down low in attack mode as he faced the newcomers.

  “Shall we tranq him?”

  “No!” Someone yelled. “Robyn wants to avoid the drugs if possible so we can see if he’s starting to revert back to normal. Just stay back.”

  “Hey, he ate the other meal,” someone else yelled from the direction of the tree.

  Zealish howled, knowing that someone was looking in the bag his mate had been in. That was too close for his liking.

  “Dammit, he’s loud first thing in the morning,” someone said. “Muzzle?”

  Suddenly, the calming touch of his mate in the middle of his back soothed him. It was as if she wanted to silence him. He reduced his howls to softer growls so as to not scare her. Her stroking his back soothed him and he knew the others couldn’t see her.

  “Replace the bag with another and get him his raw meat, too. What’s he shielding?”

  “From all the piled up mud, I’d say he’s digging a den or something.”

  “Or something,” someone else echoed. “We’ll check it later since he’s being so protective of it right now. Come on. Everyone out!”

  Only when they were long gone did he let his mate crawl from their den. He’d have to widen it and deepen it before the sun dried it later that day. But for now, he’d have to feed his mate.

  This time, she allowed him to place her much smaller hand in his, the way Thane did for what’s-her-name. He moved gingerly, careful not to smash it. He’d take the utmost care of his mate.

  After they ate, and this time she didn’t avert her face, he pressed her to the tree and grunted, so she’d understand to stay put while he dug. But somehow, hours later, she’d slipped by without his notice. He was frantic, howling for her, unable to leave the electrical field. More of the human-speakers came, and this time they darted him, leaving him lying sleepily in the mud while they searched his den.

  It was all right, he tried to console himself. His mate wasn’t present to witness their desecration of their den.

  Though the human-speakers had a strange word for it. They called it tomb. It worried them, and they sent frantic looks in his direction. He roared his rage.

  They shot him with another dart, this one too strong to fight against, and placed the dreaded muzzle on him. He slept briefly, or at least one half of his brain did. The other was lulled into a drugged daze until they were done inspecting his property. One of the males leaned over him before he left.

  “You okay, man? I hate to muzzle you. You know if you stop creating a ruckus that scares the humans over the wall, we can stop muzzling you, right? Zee? Anyone in there?”

  With all the sleepy darts rolling through his system, he could hardly keep himself awake, much less understand the strange language coming from the man’s lips. He seemed vaguely familiar—a red being who was always with the silver skinned one. And then he zoned out for a few minutes.

  He woke up to find his head in his mate’s lap. She was back! His beautiful, magnificent mate had returned home. He whined, wanting her to know how frightened he’d been when she’d disappeared.

  “Shh,” she said, her touch warm on his brow. “I know this hurts. I watched them hold you down. You’re one tough sonofabitch, aren’t ya? It took three darts and it was like watching an elephant go down. They forgot to take this off, didn’t they? Let me get it off for you.”

  She lifted his head from her lap, her graceful fingers working at the buckles at the back of his head. She was gentle with the snarls of his hair and he didn’t even mind when she pulled. Finally, the hated contraption fell off.

  “There, that’s better. Don’t know how they expected you to eat if they were going to leave you muzzled! Now you can eat to your heart’s content.”

  He held her tenderly, unable to believe she returned to him. And she let him.

  Chapter Three

  Angela:

  A ngela woke snuggled in the Xeno Sapien’s arms.

  “Zee” was what one of the others called him. She had no idea why they kept him caged like an animal in the electrical pen. Was it because he couldn’t speak and couldn’t seem to stand upright?

  She knew the exact moment when he came awake. The long rod between them came awake with him, lengthening and hardening against her ass.

  And what did Mr. Snarly do? Pulled her closer, of course. Like a man, he seemed proud of it.

  She could hardly see the cock he sported with all the dirt and mud covering his body, but the sheer size of the outline was tantalizing. He wanted her, no doubt about that.

  There was no way, no how. It didn’t matter how tantalizing the idea was. It didn’t matter that she got the littlest bit wet from the thought of riding his huge, muscle-bound body.

  “We need space between us,” she said, lifting the monstrous hand from her abdomen and shoving him back.

  He snarled.

  “Oh, hush. You want to get muzzled again? Let them hear you.” No matter how many times she “disappeared” during the visits from the others, Zee was confused. He had no idea where she disappeared to. She bit back a grin.

  She climbed the tree.

  That was all. No other magic involved. But from up there, she was able to watch everything, including his howling and prowling the grounds looking for her, confused when her scent led off.

  At least he wasn’t purposely zapping himself against the force field anymore—not since she kept coming back.

  “Look, I can’t stay with you forever,” she said. “I need to go. I need to find my sister.”

  “Noo,” he growled.

  Her mouth dropped. “Did you just say no? Zee, did you just talk? I mean connect words with conscious thought?”

  “Nooo,” he said again.

  Lord, what if he wasn’t always like this? Primitive and growly? What if he was sick or something? Hopefully not contagious. If so, she was screwed. It had been…what? Two weeks since she’d been with him. Three? The days blurred anymore. But there had been enough of them that she would miss sleeping wrapped in his tightly muscled arms.

  Everything about him was familiar now, from the salty tang of his sweat, to the protective feel of his chest. The way he cuddled her, which made her feel tiny and feminine, even though she was anything but. She’d stopped being that long ago. Hell, she’d even chopped her long hair to a more manageable and less feminine style—shoulder length, with the sides angling longer in front. It was necessary seven years ago.

  Looking in the mirror had reminded her too much of her twin, Everly. The twin she’d thought died, until she saw her on the live video feeds in the homeless camps supporting the new species called Xeno Sapiens. She’d rushed right over and saw a green Xeno Sapien bring her sister over their wall.

  So later she pretended to be her and allowed a black and gold striped one to think she was Everly and bring her over the same way. Then she hid.

  And found h
er way to the electrical pen that housed one of their most primitive Xeno Sapiens. Problem was she couldn’t leave him. He made the most dreadful howls and carried on for hours on end, pacing, snarling, and shrieking. It actually brought more of the Xeno Sapiens to the area to drug and muzzle him. And any attention brought that way threatened her exposure. To come this far and not be able to find Everly was unacceptable. So if she had to play housemate—or in the case of the muddy, dug-out den—den-mate, she’d do it. She was that close to her sister.

  Zee was antsy today. And no wonder, it had been a while since the guards had visited. They brought food daily, but other than that, they left him alone, relieved with his newfound silence. But it wouldn’t last forever. They were sure to grow curious as to what caused his sudden quiet. She had to figure out what to do.

  But they were out of time. Zee began snarling and pushing her toward the den.

  “No, if they’re coming, I need to hide. They’re curious about the den.”

  There was no reasoning with a man who didn’t speak English. He shoved her in and went wild.

  She huddled in the back of the now-larger den—as far back as she could while he was darted and attacked. For some reason, the drugs didn’t seem to last in him. He’d stir after a few minutes and they’d have to drug him again. It seemed painful for the big guy.

  This time, the uniformed guards comprised of both humans and Xeno Sapiens went directly to the den. They knew exactly what they were looking for.

  “Shit,” someone yelled, already at the mouth of the dugout with a flashlight aimed inside. The light hit her in the face as she flinched, blinded.

  “What the fuck? Robyn! Get over here.”

  Another woman appeared, and stared inside. At least his light angled down away from Angela’s face this time. Behind the new woman, a crowd formed. “Everly!” the woman yelled out.

  Everly was here? Angela tried to scramble up, but suddenly her arms and legs felt heavy. Sluggish. And so numb with cold.

  The cold was odd, since it was the start of summer. The den was small enough to still contain Zee’s body heat.

  “Everly.”

  She struggled, trying to pull herself from the mud, because what else could be bogging her down?

  “Everly. Awaken.”

  What the fuck? Was this all a dream?

  * * * * *

  Zealish:

  His dreams bounced behind his closed eyelids. Sweet dreams—those of a mate he could scent more than see. A mate to protect, a mate to feed, a mate to love.

  Not that he had. His delicate mate pushed him away more than once. No matter. She was his and would come to crave him soon enough. He caught the way she avoided the thick member that hung between his legs. Smelled her arousal when she peered at it from under her lashes.

  She wanted him. She just played a mating game of acting coy. He would let her have this.

  But the dreams were blurring—some parts feeling real, and others, not so much. Just after being darted, he was sluggish and felt more in dreamland than ever before. It was during those times when he wondered if this whole world he’d created was in his mind.

  In his mind.

  He opened his eyes to smell peppermint, a scent run through the air filtering system in the medical facility to waken patients with less trauma than outright medicinal smells.

  Shit. It was all a dream. None of it was real. Thick, clogging clouds of depression surrounded him.

  She was gone.

  “Zealish? Are you awake?” Dr. Amanda leaned over his face, a tiny penlight checking the dilation of his pupils.

  “I’m pretty sure,” he said wryly. His throat was dry.

  Her worried look vanished, transforming her face. Dr. Amanda was quite beautiful—and mated to Renegade, one of his Xeno Sapien brothers. One of the others, as they referred to themselves. The other portion of their DNA that wasn’t human, though none of those portions related to each other. Oddly enough, it was the human DNA that linked them. Similar enough human DNA had been used to create them—obviously obtained from a small pool of sources. They believed that was what enabled their telepathic links to work among all of the others.

  “Well, you’re speaking, so that’s a good sign. Let’s sit you up.” With a voice command to the medical computer, the bed rose to a sitting position—making him aware that his arms and legs were strapped.

  “Computer, notify Robyn of code 612.”

  “What happened?” he asked, as Amanda began to unfasten the chains. Heavy bruising marked his arms and legs, though the color was barely visible against his darkened blotches of skin.

  “Some sort of anomaly with your ability to remain awake and asleep at the same time. The lines were crossed and it sent you off into a change, losing your humanity for a bit. You reverted to another type of being. Unfortunately, we had to keep you chained to keep you from hurting yourself and others.”

  Others? Like…Thane? “Thane? That wasn’t a dream?”

  “Which part? What do you remember?”

  “Getting the notification that Thane was bringing a human into the city. A new woman that he was enamored with. Everything after that is a blur—I can’t tell what’s real and what was dreaming. I remember running naked through hills and trees, looking for prey. Digging traps.”

  He twisted his jaw, hearing cracks in the joints like he’d just cracked his knuckles.

  Amanda pressed on the joints of his jaws with her fingers. “Computer: Scan.”

  “Scans normal.”

  “Everything is back in place. Is your jaw sore?”

  “Yes. My gums are, too. My tongue.”

  “That’s because you grew an extra set of teeth. Stick your tongue out.” She grabbed a small wooden stick and pressed it to his tongue. “Swollen. Small fissures, probably from where your tongue rubbed against the new row of teeth.”

  He didn’t care that he’d bitten his own tongue. He was lost in the idea that he’d wanted Thane’s new human—and couldn’t have her. He stared out the window, remembering the swell of happiness he felt in the dream.

  How could his brain have manifested such a thing? Small bits of memories of dreams came swirling to the surface.

  He’d even manifested her presence here, too, he realized. Brushing his hair. Washing him. Rubbing lotion into his body. Soothing him with her presence, her touch. Lulling him to sleep, to rest. To allow his brain to catch up with his body. To allow both halves of his brain to merge.

  The mind was an incredible tool. Manifesting a mate, of all things.

  A mate. Something he’d never thought possible for him. Not with his patchwork skin color, his glowing eyes. Hell, the only thing beautiful about him was his hair and vanity made him keep it waist-length. Hence, the manifestation of a mate to wash it and brush it while he was unconscious. He was suddenly disgusted with his neediness.

  The door opened, but he knew it was just Robyn—the creator of their city, Xenia. Together she and Dr. Amanda rescued the Xeno Sapiens from their underwater laboratories after falling in love with their Xeno Sapien charges.

  Zee barely glanced her way to notice a human female, his Xeno brother Thane, and Robyn’s infant, Kaden, propped onto her hip. From the state of their casual undress, it was apparent it was the middle of the night. Or early morning.

  “Zee,” Robyn said. “How do you feel?”

  “Back to normal. It’s like I’d been dreaming for a month and now I’m awake.” His eyes flicked to the human and he dismissed her with a glance back at Robyn. He couldn’t believe he fantasized about another’s mate. Hopefully, not too many knew about his inner manifestations. But he’d find out.

  “What have I missed?”

  “This is Everly, Thane’s mate. While you were sleeping, you thought you’d claim her as your mate. You attacked Thane.”

  Aww, hell.

  “So I wasn’t dreaming.”

  “No, it was real.”

  He turned to look at his brother. They’d been friends, worki
ng the fields together and tending to cattle on other days. When volunteers were needed to work shifts on the outside, he’d refused to go patrol with Thane, even though Thane had chided him that his green skin was no more of an anomaly than Zee’s patchwork of darkness. Had he ruined the friendship? “I’m sorry, man.”

  Thane acknowledged with a nod of his head. But Zee had to know why he’d been so happy with Thane’s mate. Why he picked her.

  “So, then later when Everly came to me and stayed in my den, that part was a dream?” He refused to look at the human while he asked Robyn.

  “Not exactly. It turns out that Everly has a twin who’d come searching for her and found your electrical pen instead.”

  A twin? There were two of them? Perhaps that manifestation was…real.

  “Where is she?” he growled, looking at Everly. Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared at him. She’d been crying.

  “She’s not here,” she said softly.

  Robyn spoke up. “Angela, Everly’s twin, has been compromised. She left for the outside, pretending to be Everly. She wants us to give her a few weeks and if she’s not back, we’ll go out for a hard rescue.”

  Why would the twin leave the confines of Xenia? Leave her own sister?

  “What aren’t you telling me?” he asked shrewdly.

  Kaden held out his arms for Zee. Zee had taken the hybrid baby on outings on Tuesdays to avoid the humans who worked in the populated areas on that day. He lifted him to bring to his lap, where the baby curled up against him, turning his head back to peer at Everly.

  Odd. Zee stroked his small back, calming his slight agitation at the human.

  “The part I neglected to mention is that you and Angela have been legally mated on paper so she could remain in Xenia. Now that you’re awake, you have the option to annul it, of course. It was simply a matter of convenience at the time,” Robyn said.

  The room quieted.

  Well, well, well. Simply a matter of convenience? They thought they’d use his coma for their convenience? All this time he’d been berating himself for making up a pretend mate and she’d been real.