The Varkari

Mistake

I did not leave the house for seven days. The nonperishables were gone and the bottled water only bought me thirty-six hours before I was so hungry I had to leave. Walking over thin snow that I prayed would melt quickly, I clutched my knife to my chest and walked in the direction of the houses. This time, I would go around them and head toward the city to find ones that hopefully had something left inside.

What I forgot, however, was that the Varkari were capable of adapting. I forgot that they were less domesticated than us and just how relentless. That was my second mistake of the day. When I got within eyesight of the neighborhood, I spotted two Varkari moving between the houses and two drones flying down the streets within thirty seconds. They had learned we were operating during the day.

The kick of adrenaline removed my hunger and I turned tail to rush back to the safety of my home. However, I only got half way before I saw the boot prints in the snow leaving the road and following mine toward my house.

"Fuck," I trembled. I couldn't just wait in the open. With a huff of nervousness, I rushed back to the road and picked the least promising house to hide in. This one had broken front windows and looked miserable enough that no one would bother going through it.

I squatted in the corner of one window and watched until my legs went numb. By that time, my stomach was chewing through my spine and my mouth was so dry my tongue would not stick to the roof of my mouth any more. Reluctantly, I started going through the buckling cupboards. Disheartened by all the mouse droppings, I continued through until I was sure there was nothing there at all.

That was when I heard the whine of the back door slowly opening. I moved toward the front of the house, but heard a branch snap outside and stopped. How could I be sure that there was not a Varkari out there, too? Cornered, I pressed myself between the foul-smelling couch and the wall, hoping it would hide my scent and body heat well enough.

I heard the faintest hint of heel-toe boot steps carefully moving through the house, leaving no space unexplored and my heart pattered fearfully inside its cage. As they faded down the hallway, I knew it was time to move, my hand fisted hard around the hand of my old kitchen knife.

I rushed toward the front of the house and hopped over the broken window edge, rolling on the ground before sprinting toward the next house down. Being out in the open made me feel like absolute prey and finding the door locked cranked that up into a level of panic I had not felt since being surrounded by raging Varkari at the last meeting I had attended.

Rounding the house, I could not hear anything over my dry, ragged breathing and ran through the open back door and stopped dead. The house plan was very open so there was no chance the eight Varkari soldiers looking down at the table did not notice my entrance. They looked up all in unison, eight cats staring in shock and surprise at the mouse that had walked right to them and there was a moment where nobody moved.

The smell of the room was intense, the pheromones almost took me down right there, but it was the flaring yellow that made my legs too heavy to move. A slow predatory smile moved his lips enough to show the pointed canines I knew were there.

"At last," he rumbled.

That was a big nope from me. Spinning around, I was out the door like I could fly and tearing across the yard. I glanced back one time and found him sprinting behind me, eating up the distance too quickly.

The roar hit me from behind, pressing me down, threatening my consciousness completely as struck a deep chord within my genetic makeup. It was the sound of an alpha commanding submission and my body, as weak as it had become, obeyed.

My legs folded, I went down, rolled once and he was on top of me. He snarled again, making my vision swim with the way it shook my skull and muscles, and hauled my back against his chest while he kneeled with one knee on the ground.

"You truly thought you could run from me, didn't you?" His lips were pressed up against my ear. The way he dwarfed me as he held my entire weight in the manner that Varkari were fond of restraining females, it seemed preposterous that this male would not have won. There was no version of my escape that did not end exactly like this.

The Admiral inhaled deeply underneath my jaw and I fought through the haze of warmth spilling out of him to focus.

I drove my kitchen knife into his thigh and felt him tense in surprise, though he only slipped a small grunt. The other Varkari had caught up and were surrounding, eagerly watching their leader subdue his prey. They chuckled as he plucked the weapon from his flesh and tossed it away, not releasing my neck from his pointed claws, though my hands had briefly been freed to pry at them in terror.

"Witness me claiming my female," he snarled to them, grabbing my wrists back in a grip that felt like iron. His claws pushed against my jaw, tilting my head to one side as my breaths shortened to tiny gasps of fear.

No, no, no. He was going to rape or kill me right there and possibly share me with his soldiers. Their flame-colored eyes burned into us and I watched them tense as he slowly dragged his lips over my skin, inhaling, leaving goosebumps in his wake.

I screamed as his canines buried into my flesh, pouring a deep-chested growl into my throat until my voice drowned out. Pain shot through my skull and down into my shoulder, my muscles strained my full strength against his tight hold. It was agony and as black clouds swam over my eyes, I believed I was going to be devoured alive.