Hunter's Claim: The Alliance Book 1 (4 page)

“Not with their reaction time,” Saber
grinned. “Now, are you going in or is Dagger?”

“Why don’t you?” Dagger asked in
exasperation.

“Hey, I did my part,” Saber said. “I opened
the door for you two.”

“Shit,” Dagger growled. “I’ll do it.”

The sound of a single gunshot sounded in the
room before Dagger had a chance to move. All three men roared in
frustration and rage as they smelled the overwhelming stench of
blood and brain matter mixed with gunpowder.

“Well, there goes that lead,” Dagger said in
disgust.

Jesse stumbled as she reached the entrance to
the ruins of the parking garage. It had taken every ounce of her
strength to make it the last few blocks. The only thing that kept
her going was knowing that her sisters were depending on her.

She leaned down and let gravity take her to
the bottom. She tried to push herself up when she hit the floor but
found she didn’t have the strength to stand. Bitter tears of defeat
burned her eyes as she struggled unsuccessful
ly
to push herself up.

“Here, let me help,” Taylor said softly.

Jesse smiled weakly at her fifteen year old
sister. She hissed as the cut on her stomach pulled as she finally
stood. She would have fallen again if Taylor hadn’t wrapped her arm
around her waist.

“Jordan?” Jesse asked wearily. “How is
she?”

“The same,” Taylor replied glumly. “Her
fever hasn’t gotten any worse but the coughing has. I’m worried
about her, Jesse. Since the other night... since the other night,
she seems to have given up,” she added.

“Well, I have food so maybe that will help,”
Jesse whispered. “We all need to eat good tonight.”

“Food,” Taylor’s eyes widened in excitement.
“How much?”

“Enough for several days,” Jesse assured
her. “Tonight, we all eat.”

“Oh Jesse, you are the best big sister
ever!” Taylor laughed. “This will cheer Jordan up. It has to!”

“I hope so, squirt,” Jesse said
affectionately. “I really, really hope so. Why don’t you warm it up
while I take care of the cut I got. I don’t want to take a chance
of it getting infected.”

“Are you sure? I can help you first,” Taylor
said biting her lip.

Jesse could tell her little sister was torn
between wanting to help her and the idea of having some warm food
in her belly. She knew that both of her sisters needed to eat. She
could feel her second wind coming back to her. It would help them
all if Taylor got the food ready.

“I can take care of the cut. It isn’t more
than a scratch,” Jesse lied. “I would love it if there was some hot
food in my belly after I’m cleaned up a bit.”

“Okay,” Taylor grinned. “I’ll have it ready
in no time.”

“Taylor,” Jesse called out quietly as her
sister headed for their makeshift living area.

“Yeah?” Taylor asked, turning to look at
Jesse.

“Have I told you lately how much I love
you?” Jesse asked.

Taylor grinned. “I love you too, Jesse,” she
said before turning and walking quickly away.

Jesse watched until Taylor was out of sight
before she raised a shaking hand to her head. She was freezing yet
her forehead was burning up. She had caught whatever Jordan had. On
top of that, she could feel the blood sticking to the front of her
black shirt.

She stumbled over to the corner and gripped
her stomach over
the
deep cut. Dry heaves
shook her as her stomach rebelled. After several minutes, she
forced her body to straighten. She was shaking so badly her legs
wouldn’t hold her up any longer and she slid down the wall to the
cold, hard floor. She was so tired, so very, very tired. She would
close her eyes for just a few minutes. That was all she needed.
Just a few minutes of rest to gather her strength and she would get
up and take care of the cut on her arm and stomach.

Just a few minutes,
she thought as
darkness closed in on her.

*.*.*

“This way,” Hunter called out, sniffing the
air.

“This human is pretty smart,” Saber
commented as he pushed aside the door he had broken off. “I feel
like we are running an obstacle course.”

“I found more blood,” Dagger called out.
“She went this way.”

Hunter looked at the bloody handprint on the
wall. They had spent the last two hours following the female’s
scent. It was taking longer than normal to track her because she
had woven in and out of the abandon
ed
buildings and back tracked through alleys forcing them to retrace
their steps over and over again.

He reached out and touched the small
handprint outlined in blood. It was tiny compared to his hand. He
looked around the
rubble
of the collapsed
building. It was only the fact that she had left a trail of blood
that they had been successful
in tracking
her.
He was sure of that.

“Her tracks have disappeared again,” Saber
bit out in frustration. “She must have doubled back again.”

“No,” Hunter murmured looking at the pile of
rubble. “She is here.”

“Yeah, but where is here?” Dagger asked,
running his hand through his long white hair. “There is a mountain
of
rubble
that she could be hiding
in.”

Hunter moved forward, looking intently at
the ground. The slight indent of the heel of a boot showed in the
soft dirt. He knelt down and looked around. His eyes widened on the
narrow opening in between the huge slabs of concrete. Standing, he
walked forward, keeping his eyes on the ground.

He paused when he saw another slight mark.
It would have gone unnoticed to most, especially at night. He
ducked under the huge slab and peered down the dark opening.
Sniffing the air, the smell of blood was thicker in the confined
area. She had gone down into the fallen building.

Anger burned in him that the female would
place herself in so much danger. If the ground were to shift at
all, tons of concrete would collapse even further into the unstable
pile. He stepped onto the slanted sheet of concrete and slid down
it.

A moment later, Dagger and Saber were
standing next to him. Both men looked around the area. Hunter could
understand their surprise and appreciation for the human’s
resourcefulness. He had not expected to find himself in a cavern
below ground.

He held up his hand when he heard the soft
murmur of voices. He shook his head when Dagger and Saber looked at
him. He held up two fingers then a third. They nodded. There were
at least two others down here in addition to the female they had
been tracking.

They spread out. Hunter took the front while
Dagger and Saber each took a side. They would come up on all sides
of the group. Moving silently, they stepped closer to the area
where a small fire burned.

*.*.*

Jordan held the cloth over her mouth to
muffle her cough before she lay back on the blankets. Her eyes were
glazed with fatigue, pain and fever. There wasn’t a part of her
body that didn’t hurt.

“Where is Jesse?” Jordan asked as Taylor
brought her over some of the soup she had warmed up. “It shouldn’t
take her this long.”

“She said she had a cut she needed to
clean,” Taylor said, helping Jordan to sit up so she could eat.
“She’ll be back any minute. You need to eat. This will help you get
stronger.”

Jordan sighed tiredly. “I don’t think I’ll
ever be strong again,” she said in resignation.

“Don’t!” Taylor said, holding the cup up to
Jordan’s lips. “We promised each other we would never give up. It
is okay to feel down. You deserve it after… well, you deserve it
but don’t ever give up, Jordan. We need you. I need you,” she said
fiercely.

Jordan took a sip of the hot soup and moaned
in pleasure as the warmth filled her stomach for the first time in
days. She greedily sipped some more. With a shaky smile, she
reached to take the cup from Taylor.

“I can do this,” Jordan whispered. “You need
to eat too.”

Taylor reluctantly handed Jordan the
battered cup of soup. She brushed Jordan’s tangled brown hair back
from her face. A dark bruise covered the right side from her
cheekbone to her chin where one of the men had hit her.

“I love you, Jordan,” Taylor said. “I’ll be
glad when you are feeling better.”

“Me too, Taylor,” Jordan whispered
tearfully. “I hate being like this.”

“One day we’ll have a house of our own.
Maybe we can talk Jesse into stealing a car and we can go up to
Wenatchee,” Taylor suggested. “We could live in the cabin.”

“If it is still…,” Jordan’s voice faded and
her hand started trembling uncontrollably as her eyes widened.

“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, turning
around.

A low cry echoed throughout the parking
garage as three huge forms stepped out of the darkness. Taylor
stepped back with another cry, trying to shield Jordan who sat
frozen on the pallet. Both girls stared in horror as the aliens
they had avoided successfully for the past four years stepped into
the light of their makeshift campfire.

Jesse faded in and out of consciousness. She
felt her body being gently turned until she was lying flat on her
back. She immediately tried to turn back so she could curl up into
a ball but something prevented her from rolling onto her side.

She pushed weakly at the arms picking her
up. She didn’t want to be moved until she felt the heat radiating
from the source trying to hold her. She immediately turned into it
and burrowed as close as she could get. She didn’t care where the
heat was coming from as long as it warmed her. She was
freezing.

A low cry echoed in the air dragging her
back to consciousness. It took a moment for her to realize it had
come from Taylor. Her little sister sounded frightened.

“Taylor? Baby, it’s okay,” Jesse forced out
in a slurred whisper. “I’ll protect you.”

“You have to help her,” Taylor’s voice was
saying before it faded.

Who has to help who?
Jesse wondered
vaguely.
Jordan. Jordan was sick. Was she doing worse?

“Jordan!” Jesse cried out sharply.
“Jordan!”

“Shush, she will be well soon,” a deep voice
responded.

“I have… protect…,” Jesse choked out before
the world started to fade again. “Please… don’t.”

“Don’t what, little female?” The deep voice
asked.

Jesse forced her fevered eyes opened.
“Please… don’t hurt them. They… they are all I have… left,” she
begged, staring into the dark yellow eyes.

“I will protect them with my life,” the dark
voice promised.

Jesse didn’t respond. She stared intently
into the familiar but not so familiar yellow eyes for several long
seconds before she closed her eyes in exhaustion. She had no other
choice but to believe the strange alien male would keep his
promise. She was too weak to do otherwise. She turned her face into
the warmth of his body.

She had nothing left inside of her to give.
She had used up all her strength to get back to her sisters. She
didn’t trust anyone but her sisters anymore. She hoped she wasn’t
making a fatal mistake in believing that the alien male holding her
would keep his word.

*.*.*

Hunter sat next to the bed in his quarters
in the housing that had been set up for the warriors. He had been
given special permission to bring the three females with him. The
two younger females were staying in the living quarters next to
his. This one, this one he had claimed as his
Amate
. It was
the only thing he could think of doing so he could receive
permission to keep the females with him.

He lifted the pale, limp wrist lying on his
bed in his hand. It was so delicate he was afraid he might
unwittingly crush the bones by mistake. He stared down at the
intricate tattoos that had been etched into the female’s skin. An
identical one circled his own. The words and their meaning held him
mesmerized.

When he had claimed her as his
Amate
,
he had given his word as a warrior that he would accept
responsibility for her and her sisters. He had promised to protect,
care for and accept them as his own. He now had a family. This was
a gift unlike any other to a Trivator warrior.

He gently traced his mark. He had hoped to
join with a female when he returned to his world. Now, that would
never happen. He had owed this female a life debt. He had no doubt
that the other humans would have killed him if his team would have
been late in finding him or he couldn’t escape. He had also given
his word that he would protect the females with his life and he
meant it.

This female and the other one had been very
ill. Dagger had lifted the other female despite her protests that
she didn’t need help. Saber had to restrain the youngest female
when she moved to protect the injured one.

Hunter’s lips curved up in a small grin when
he thought of how fierce the littlest one had been. Saber would be
sporting a few bruises of his own. It had taken his friend by
surprise at how strong and fast the tiny female had been.

The smile faded as he remembered the
injuries to the other female. She had cried out in pain as Dagger
lifted her. He had left Dagger and Saber to care for the two
females while he searched for the other.

He had found her lying on the freezing
ground. Her body was shivering but her skin was hot. He knew she
needed medical assistance as soon as possible.

A low moan pulled him back to the present.
He watched as Jesse as she was called, moved restlessly under the
covers. He reached up to touch her forehead. It was still a little
warm. Their healer, Carp, had said Jesse had a virus, was
malnourished and had several wounds that needed to be healed.
Carp’s mate, Bree, suggested it might be better if the females were
housed away from medical for their own comfort once it was safe
enough to release them.