STARS FATED - A FORBIDDEN ALIEN LOVE STORY (EBOOK)

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Chapter One
AKKAR

A shrill noise broke the quiet, and I shot straight up in my seat, my hand reaching for the sword that wasn’t at my waist. Remembering I’d left it on the dash the night before, I found it there. Dazed, I looked around, squinting in the morning light. I had parked my skimmer on the edge of a hot, humid forest, and I felt the dense air settle around me like a blanket. Insects buzzed around me, and my shoulders felt itchy. Looking down, I saw that I was covered in a fine layer of sweat.
The air felt heavy and oppressive, and the constant chirping of bugs filled the air. I could feel the sticky sweat now making its way down my back, and I cursed myself for taking on this mission.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling filled the air, and I felt the ground tremble beneath my feet. In the distance, a yellow-brown mass was growing larger and faster. I didn’t have time to think; I just acted.
Tightening my grip on the hilt of my sword, I rushed toward the door. My hands trembled, and my heart raced as I grabbed the handle and pulled it open.
The monstrous roar had grown louder, and I knew it was only beats away from me. I had to get out, but where to? I looked around, desperate for an escape route, but all I could see was the forest. After a moment of hesitation, I opened the door and hopped out.
As I moved toward the mountain, my feet sank into the soft earth, which made me think of fertile fields and abundance. A pungent aroma of moisture, dirt, and vegetation lingered in the air and stung my nose, making my eyes water.
I squinted against the light, expecting to see sunbeams filtering through the dense canopy of leaves above me, but there was no light. Instead, a thick cloud of dust hovered over me, making it difficult to make out any details about the terrain.
Something was crashing through the underbrush, snapping twigs and dead branches as it went. I froze, my heart pounding in my ears.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. The thundering sound grew louder as a massive form emerged from the dust cloud.
My eyes widened.
A herd of cassala charged toward me and the skimmer. The bulls were leading the pack with their gnarled horns swaying back and forth to either side of their heads, just below their jawline, as their backs rippled with muscles and sharp spikes.
Fuck if I was going to be stomped to death.
My heart beat wildly in my chest as I sprinted, my eyes trained on the thick tree ahead of me, still hearing the roars of the striped beasts, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground beneath me.
Glancing back at the skimmer, I quickly pressed a button on my wrist comm to cloak it with a mirror shield. It would provide minimal protection from the beasts, but if by KayaKy they didn’t destroy it, I could come back later and retrieve it.
I raced toward the only thing that could shield me against them — the tree trunk — and didn’t look back. I had no choice but to keep running as I was no match for the cassala’s armored skin. The air filled my lungs as I pushed myself harder, feeling the thud of the earth beneath my feet and the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
The thought of facing the palace transport master again made me chuckle as he would doubtlessly scold me for destroying yet another vehicle in less than a rotation. But nebulas! Surely, he would understand — what else was I supposed to do?
I knew I should have sent Kantu here, but King Zaúl was adamant no one should know what I was doing, and this wasn’t the time to play games with him.
I got ready to jump and hide but stopped sharply in my tracks when I saw a figure jumping between two cassalas, holding them by their long neck, in between their spikes. With their broad back and long legs, they looked more like walking rocks than living creatures. Their flesh was yellow with brown stripes, and they were covered with hard but retractable, large spikes on their back and neck that could gut a person in seks.
Who the fuck would willingly ride those things?
I was so surprised I didn’t realize I had jumped the five-foot-wide ditch and hit my shoulder on the ground hard.
All the air left my lungs. I rolled and groaned but still dragged my ass, pressing my back against the tree and held my breath. Another ear-splitting sound reached my ears. I was expecting to be stomped by those beasts or gutted with those spikes, so I covered my ears with my hands and braced for impact.
Nothing happened.
The sound of their hooves and the tremors on the ground were still noticeable, but they weren’t stomping or gutting me.
I sat there for a few moments, trying to process what I had seen, until a gust of wind blew a chill through the air, snapping me back to reality. Still not believing my own eyes, I peeked out of the gap in the bushes, and my head swiveled, trying to make sense of the vision in front of me.
There it was, jumping toward another cassala. It was definitely female, judging by the shape of her breasts and the curve of her hips. She was clad in black, with a netted veil over her head, like the priestesses of N’Kala.
The female stood a foot shorter than me with a petite frame hidden beneath leather armor, a quiver of arrows, and a longbow strapped to her back.
She had a whistle, which was the shrill sound I had heard, but the most unique thing about her was her boldness. The female had veered the herd away from my skimmer, corralling them away, and they’d obeyed. They barely touched it, slowed their pace, and made their way into the dense forest bush.
I was still watching as she drew back her bow swiftly and fired it into the trees above my head. It landed with a dull thud as a zuyu fell from an overhanging branch and hit the ground.
She leapt into the air and landed on her feet. With the elegance of an experienced hunter, swaying her hips, she walked toward her prey — a male, from its size. With a tap of her foot, she knelt by the animal’s side and said a prayer, as the priestesses would do in the city’s temple.
The scales on the back of my neck rose, and I felt a rush of heat course through my body. I stood, shifting my weight while I cradled my arm, before setting the bone in my shoulder back in place with a quick movement.
Likely hearing my grunt, the huntress turned, lifting her head and looking straight at me.
I stared back at her.
I couldn’t see her eyes because of her veil, but her hands were naked, and the black, thin scales on the back of her hand were raised. Her posture was distrustful, like a deadly serpent about to strike.
The moment lingered as we stared at each other, assessing our opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
Then, the air shifted. I felt the change in me, like a warm blanket on a cold winter night.
A tantalizing scent tickled my nose and stirred something inside me. My head felt heavy, and I couldn’t think straight as I felt my feet move of their own accord, walking toward her. My curiosity suddenly peaked, and I wanted to know more about this female. Was she a priestess? Why was she here alone, hunting? The N’Kala priestesses received food and supplies from the King, and I knew they weren’t lacking anything.
“Don’t you take another step,” she said, aiming her weapon at my chest.
I stopped abruptly, brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face, and smiled at her, not wanting to scare her. Why was I so hot? My clothes were glued to my skin with the humidity, but the warm feeling in my heart came from somewhere else entirely.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” she asked, not lowering her weapon.
The sound of her voice was like the song of a goddess. Her words flowed through me like water over a smooth rock in a stream, rippling and churning emotions within me that were new and yet somehow familiar, like I’d lived this moment before.
“Why is your face covered? Are you a priestess?” I asked, slowly walking toward her. I needed to see her eyes. My heart felt like it would explode from my chest at any moment, and I just needed to get closer and—
An arrow hit the ground by my feet, and I stopped moving.
“That is my last warning. Move any closer, and you will lose a dear part of your anatomy,” she said with a hiss.
Fuck me if I didn’t like this female.
“All right then, no moving. How are you going to carry that zuyu alone? It must weigh at least two hundred pounds,” I said with concern in my voice, motioning my head toward the lifeless, purple animal on the ground.
She tilted her head and tightened her grip around the handle of her bow, as if threatening to shoot me again with it if I didn’t stop talking.
“Why? You think a female can’t hunt?” Her tone was disapproving, with a slight hint of amusement. She clearly did not appreciate being judged by someone who knew nothing of what she could accomplish.
“That is not what I said—“
“You can keep it,” she said, mocking me before quickly turning around and leaping into a bush.
“Hey, come back. I just want to talk to you.” I rushed after her, but she disappeared into the forest without a trace.
After cursing myself for my loud mouth, I circled back and stopped, looking down at the zuyu on the ground. I smiled as I walked over to it, scooped the heavy animal up, and threw it over my shoulder. Such tender meat shouldn’t go to waste.
I walked to my skimmer, deactivated the mirror shield, and laid the animal on the passenger seat over some furs.
The little minx had it coming for her. Did she not think I could find her?