Argurma Monster (The Argurma Chronicles #2)

Chapter 2

The Argurma ship rumbled as its pre-departure systems came online and the sand all around Talech gusted, spraying up sand to such a degree that the membranes that protected his eyes snapped shut as he regarded it with unabating hostility. Instinct raged, drowning out the confused, fragmented mess of his mind frantically working to make sense of the situation. His mandibles spread wide anxiously and he cast a furtive glance toward his mate lying unconscious a short distance away, reassuring himself that his rival had not taken her.

Distrusting the other male, he could not allow his gaze to linger on her as he desired. All he allowed himself was a glimpse before his eyes shot back to the ship, his mandibles clattering in aggression and warning while it slowly began to rise from the sand. He stood defiantly, his legs braced wide as the metal insectoid limbs from his spine—spinal limbs as he had long since become accustomed to calling them—unfolded fully, their claws lifted in silent threat toward the ship. His body was covered in wounds, but a sense of triumph filled him as he watched his rival and the other female depart. Part of him, the small piece that still clung to reason, queried whether or not he should be disturbed that he was being left behind on the same godsforsaken planet that he had crashed on, but instinct won out and he roared his triumph to the skies.

It was that same instinct that, when he calmed, sent a bolt of relief through him that he was finally alone with his mate, without any other males who might attempt to take her away from him. He had a piecemeal memory of being forced into stasis, but that memory was consumed with rage and an overriding desire to get to his female. Those same feelings were the ones that he had awoken with, his mind raging to get free so that he could find and protect her.

He didn’t know how long he’d been trapped there before the strangers freed him, but he now had everything he wanted... Her.

Beverly , his mind hissed, supplying the name through the turmoil rioting through him. He latched onto it and purred happily. Beverly. His Beverly. His female. And soon, his mate. It was only a matter of time. Now that they were alone, he could win her trust and affection. They would have serenity while they began to communicate again. She would enjoy it. She seemed to take pleasure talking to him before. Furthermore, he was certain that he could prove himself a worthy mate without the distraction of a rival.

Warmth curled through him at the thought of his female, and Talech purred softly with the rapid vibration of his mandibles. Although he knew that technically she was not his mate yet, this was only a minor setback to his calculations. She was not Argurma.

Argurma was what he was and what the stranger had been... he processed that much. Nor was this his home. His chosen mate was not one his mother house would have approved of on Argurumal, but he was pleased with his choice. She was soft and vulnerable. He was certain that she would value his protection even more than a female of his own species. She did not yet understand his devotion nor how fiercely he would protect her. She was afraid. That was fine. He was patient. He could wait. He would prove himself until her fear receded and she came to him of her own choice. There was no other option.

He had to win her agreement to mate. He knew this from the flood of awareness from his processors that sent a quiet warning through him. It reminded him that males who attempted to force a claim upon a female were exterminated and removed from the gene pool. Even in his current state, his mind cast in shadows of instinct and need and his memory fragmented, he processed that.

He processed that, on his homeworld, his impulse would have been enough to see to his detainment if his mating drive triggered the primal output sensors in his internal systems. Even now he was aware there was a risk of being discovered. Uneasy, he cautiously tried to tap into his system’s mainframe, cognizant of the fact that somehow his systems were tracked through it, but found nothing. Was it destroyed? He did not recall, and the thought momentarily sent a current of apprehension through him as he struggled to remember. When was the last time he had even received an upload from his homeworld? It was before the experiments became a blur of pain and rage. He tested his connection again by another method and once again it failed. There was nothing but silence.

Silence within the system links was one of the worst fears of many Argurma, but for him it was a blessed peace that was followed shortly by a shocking sense of relief. If he could not access them, then both ends of the link were destroyed. He was safe. His mandibles stretched wide with the feeling of triumph that rushed through him. The Argurma intruder was gone and the council’s uplink no longer existed. There was nothing to pose a danger to him and his mate. The council could do nothing now. They had no power over him.

His vibrissae rattled and twisted around him in a reflection of his mood as he whirled around, his eyes falling on the dead predator collapsed nearby in the sand. There was much to be done to prove himself to his mate, but he was certain that he at least proved to some significant degree his ability to protect. He had slain the creature, though it had not been easy to kill, and had chased off the warrior who had seemed determined to take her despite already being mated. He protected his female from both threats, and Talech hissed softly in triumph before spinning toward his female with an eager click of his mandibles. He quickly fell silent, surprise registering through the murk of his thoughts, as he noted that she was lying sprawled out on the sand exactly where he left her.

That surprise, however, shifted to concern as he calculated her position and noted that she was not only lying there but had not moved at all. He gave a staccato series of clicks, and his vibrissae rattled with worry as he strode past the bloody remains of the monster that had attacked her. Had she been harmed after all? He scanned her inert form as he came within range, his optical sensors promptly taking rudimentary life form readings. He had not processed that she would have sustained any life-endangering injury from her attack, but it was possible that her species was even more delicate than he calculated. He grimaced as he acknowledged that the males he had killed prior to his nightmarish sleep had been ridiculously easy to dispatch. That they had managed to trap him at all within the stasis unit, much less capture him, spoke more of their ingenuity and determination as a species rather than any particular speed or strength.

A pained moan ripped from his chest as Talech dropped his knees, his insectoid spinal limbs folding back to scrape in the sand on either side of him. A sense of futility filled him as he was faced with the reality of his situation. His female had been harmed despite his best efforts. He had failed in his protection, but not entirely—she was not dead yet, though her body was covered in blood. He knew there was still a chance, even if a slim one, the moment his sensors picked up her weak pulse.

His hands skimmed urgently over her. The numerous slashes from the creature’s claws were ugly not life threatening, but he had missed the deep puncture in her back. Alarm grew within him as he examined them. At the time he had felt nothing but panic and frenzy when he watched the creature slash into her, but he had been certain that he intervened in time. Now he wanted to kill it all over again as he saw the true extent of the injuries done.

Grief racked his large frame as he bent down and pulled her limp body into his arms. Throwing his head back, he bellowed out his agony though there was none now to hear. None to offer help. His triumph turned dust as his sorrow consumed him. Within that sorrow his buried mind was somehow still operating and presented him with a solution... one that he recoiled from.

The lab.

Every part of him protested at the idea of returning, his instincts connecting the white halls with pain, but his eyes fell on his female’s blood-splattered face and one of his spinal limbs came forward and brushed its long claw gently along her cheek.

For her, he would.

Holding Dr. Beverly Ryder’s body close to his, Talech stood, her name humming through his systems with his resolve as he turned back to the forest. He was not a medic, but he would see to her repairs. He would care for his mate.