Death Adder (Naga Brides Book 4) Read online

  DEATH ADDER

  NAGA BRIDES #4

  NAOMI LUCAS

  CONTENTS

  Blurb

  Naga Names

  New Earth Map

  1. Landfall

  2. The Naga

  3. Break off and Regroup

  4. Strange Humans

  5. The Ship

  6. The Survivor

  7. A Lone Female

  8. Looking Death in the Eye

  9. A Deal with Death

  10. In Need

  11. Gunfire in the Distance

  12. Heat

  13. The Third Night

  14. Eagle’s Base Facility

  15. The Tunnels

  16. The Dark One

  17. Warped Minds

  18. Captain Peter

  19. Bad Tech

  20. Genesis-8

  21. No More Pain

  22. Krellix

  23. The Long Path Back to Ordinary

  24. A Star-Shaped Rock

  25. Cold Water

  26. A Singular Desire

  27. The Path Not Taken

  28. One Way Forward

  29. Reality

  30. I Adore You

  31. The Point of No Return

  32. Machines

  33. Dr. Laura

  34. No Time Left

  35. Winged Ransom

  36. When Darkness Fades

  37. Trapped

  38. Earth

  39. Past Mistakes

  40. At The Edge of the World

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Also by Naomi Lucas

  Copyright © 2022 by Naomi Lucas

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission in writing from the author.

  Any references to names, places, locales, and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Art by Naomi Lucas and Cameron Kamenicky

  Edited by Mel Braxton, and LY

  Created with Vellum

  To my dog, Mahi. I miss you.

  BLURB

  Females have returned to Earth, brought here by technology I do not trust. They’ve been claimed and nested, and kept far from me.

  The broken one. The dark one.

  I will always be alone.

  When a box falls from the sky and a black-suited human female appears, I am in awe. I am in NEED.

  Only, she is surrounded by men.

  So I will sneak up on her.

  I will stalk her, learn everything about her, and wait for the right moment.

  And when the time comes, I’ll set my trap.

  She will be caught. Then she will be claimed.

  By no one else but ME.

  NAGA NAMES

  Vruksha— Viper

  Azsote— Boomslang

  Zhallaix— Death Adder

  Syasku— Cottonmouth

  Jyarka— Diamondback

  Zaku— King Cobra

  Vagan— Blue Coral

  Krellix— Copperhead

  Lukys— Black Mamba

  Xenos— Sidewinder

  ONE

  LANDFALL

  Celeste

  “In and out, guys. That’s the goal. We get the target and we get out. This isn’t field practice. This planet is dangerous, and previous reports indicate that the locals are prone to aggression.”

  “Oh, come on, Captain. It’s not like we’re dropping into Hellion. This is Earth. We all know what’s down there. Nothing but dust and bones.”

  I don’t give Roger my attention. He feeds on jokes and easy sentiments, feeling the need to always lighten the mood of my squad. He does it when he’s nervous.

  “Kyle, tighten your straps. Until we lose the pod, the descent will be much rougher than you’re used to,” I say.

  Roger smiles from where he sits across from me. “Nobody wants to smell like vomit on their first mission.”

  Once our ship is close enough to the planet, we’re dead falling in a battle box. The ship’s pilot will drop the container we’re in, aiming it at our target location. Until we make contact, we’ll be in freefall. The descent will be rough. They always are in battle boxes. Soldiers have died because their straps weren’t tight enough.

  Sometimes they died anyway.

  Those in command aren’t giving us a ship. There’s already one waiting for us on Earth—the same transit that brought Peter’s team here. We just have to find it, figure out what happened to Captain Peter and his team, and bring both home.

  As my men settle back in their seats, I check the satellite map of Eagle’s Point. The ship is currently several miles north of the original mission site and sits at the base of a mountain. Peter’s ship hasn’t moved for several months, not since its emergency takeoff.

  And its subsequent crash.

  Peter’s ship never made it off of Earth, and shortly afterward, all contact was lost. Since then, Central Command has been in the dark.

  Central Command does not like being in the dark.

  “Countdown commences in one minute.”

  I lower the map and pull down my goggles.

  Peter’s mission was supposed to be an easy one: find the whereabouts of the enemy’s technology and bring it back to The Dreadnaut in hopes that we can discover a way to fight the Ketts. We need anything that would give us an advantage. Because we’re running out of options.

  “Steady now,” I remind my team. “Deep, even breaths. This’ll be over before it’s begun.”

  Stoney silence answers me as I scan my squad one last time. They’re focused and aware.

  Good.

  The box trembles, and it’s lifted from its track—disconnected from the transport ship. Reaching up, I clutch the straps over my chest and join my men in bracing.

  We’re close to Earth now.

  Our homeworld.

  The pilot’s voice over the intercom begins counting down from thirty. My fingers strain as the cushions on either side of my head tighten, locking my head in place. The light above us flickers when the box lurches. Then the light goes out entirely.

  My men are silent through all of it, probably holding in their stomachs and swallowing the ball of anxiety lodged in their throats.

  Nobody likes being dropped, especially in the dark. I inhale and hope to god that we land on level ground.

  “Five. Four. Three—” my eyes wrench shut “—Two. One.”

  We rattle as a hollow, static sound envelops everything. That hollowness stabs into my gut and my head, making me lightheaded, even shaky. I grit my teeth against it.

  The woosh of air—of cutting pressure—encompasses the space inside the box, and my boots lift off the floor. I press them down as the sensation of weightlessness grows, as one second becomes a hundred more.

  My body lurches upward, thrusting my soul out of my body, and we stop as I jerk just as violently down. The pressure clears. The lights turn on, and then there’s a moment of strained tension as everyone peels their eyes open.

  I pry my fingers out from around my straps. “It’s done.”

  Roger curses. “I think I pissed my pants.”

  Officer Ashton rises from his seat first. He has been with me the longest and is my team’s analyst as well as my co-pilot. “When don’t you piss yourself?”

  They continue to bicker while I straighten my uniform and push up my goggles. I unlatch my supplies from under my seat and tug on my weapons’ straps and walk to the back of the box to grab my rifle from the cabinet. When I’m certain it’s not jammed, I throw on my beltpack.

  My hand pauses over the l
ump in my right pocket, checking the small recorder Dr. Laura gave me an hour before takeoff. It’s undamaged. Sighing, I walk to the front where Ashton is kneeling at the hatch and peering down at his tablet.

  I peer over his shoulder at the screen. “What do you see?”

  “The temperature is 76F, the air is clear of radiation particles, oxygen and hydrogen levels are good, and we’re on level ground. Captain Briars knows his math.”

  “And the ship?”

  He flicks his screen and brings up another. “Peter’s ship is southeast of us by about five kilometers.”

  “Good. That’s not too far.”

  “As I said, Briars knows his math.”

  “Captain, there’s something wrong with Liam!”

  Josef stands next to Petty Officer Liam, who is bowed over, and coughing up spittle. He loads his medical scanner and begins checking him over.

  I open my water canister and head to them. “Drink,” I order.

  Liam wipes his mouth and takes my water. “Thanks, Captain.”

  “His vitals are elevated, though not by much. He’s fine,” Josef mumbles and puts his tool away. “He’s just green.”

  Liam wipes his mouth again and hands the canister back to me. “Of course I’m fine.”

  “This is your first drop. It happens.”

  “Someone always vomits,” Roger quips.

  I return to the front and secure the rest of my gear. Liam and Josef follow me and do the same.

  Pulling my rifle forward, I face my men.

  “We’re not supposed to interfere with the local alien life unless absolutely necessary. We’re not supposed to make our presence known at all,” I remind them. “These nagas are sentient and are highly intelligent beings, according to Captain Peter’s reports. If you see one, you’ll know it. They look like us, except they have a tail instead of legs. Let’s make this quick, short and sweet. We head straight for the ship.”

  “What happens if we get there and everyone is dead?”

  I meet Liam’s eyes at the back. His face is white as a ghost, and it’s clear he’s not feeling well. Maybe the water wasn’t enough. “Let’s hope that’s not the case. We cover each other’s backs, understand?” I look at each one of them as I say it. “This is Earth, remember that, this isn’t a war zone. What’s our motto?”

  “Life’s too short for shit.”

  “Exactly.”

  My men know what they’re doing and I’m confident in their abilities. Although Liam and Kyle are new to me and are mainly serving as extra manpower in this mission, Josef, my team’s medic, and Roger, my second in command, are both full-fledged officers and have been with me since I was transferred from the front lines to serve on The Dreadnaut. Both men are excellent officers, but Ashton and I go back even further.

  I had been the only surviving soldier after the Ketts’ takeover of Colony 4’s airspace. My ship crashed outside Huryanta City just as the aliens turned their attention to the planet and the people still trapped upon it. I managed to get into the city, make it to the local base and help the citizens hold the Ketts off long enough to repair one of their few remaining ships.

  Now that the people had a pilot in their midst, they had hope.

  Getting that ship off the planet should’ve been impossible, but the stars aligned for me, saving not only my life but Ashton’s as well, the brother of a Colonel of The Dreadnaut’s military. He followed me when I was then transferred to The Dreadnaut, where I was awarded medals, bumped up in caste, and given my squad.

  The Colonel said a woman with a strong survival sense shouldn’t be wasted on the Ketts. I was a hero now. I could be utilized better, and I agreed because if I ever faced a Kett again, I knew it would be the last thing I saw.

  I was lucky and afraid. I agreed and became a Captain.

  Nobody gets that lucky twice.

  Meeting each of their gazes one last time, Roger gives me a twitchy smile back.

  I punch the release code into the battle box’s panel. Pressure floods my ears as the door gives way and disappears into the confines of the box’s inner walls.

  Shrouded in darkness, an alien wilderness greets me.

  Breathe, says Laura’s voice in the back of my mind.

  Inhaling sharply, I turn my night vision on and step out onto sacred ground.

  TWO

  THE NAGA

  Celeste

  Ashton joins me and releases several small satellites into the air. They quickly zip away.

  After several minutes, he cocks his head to the right and aims his tablet in that direction. “That way.”

  On the tablet’s screen, a local map is slowly being generated from the satellite’s readings.

  “Let’s go,” I call over my shoulder.

  We span out and leave the box behind. If anyone or anything noticed it falling, they won’t find us here when they check it out.

  I don’t know nearly enough about the aliens that are supposed to be here. Captain Peter’s reports—although informative—left out vital information. Like whether these nagas are diurnal or nocturnal or how capable they are against humans and our weapons when they’re aggressive. We’re going in blind and that makes me uneasy.

  Peter traded his female crew to these aliens for information.

  Only a few of us are aware of the situation, including me and Roger.

  Peter’s pilot was one of these women—which I can only guess was the reason his ship crashed. Officer Daisy was also transferred away from the war, like me, except it was for insubordination. Peter’s reports say she stole the mission’s skiff and was shot down for it.

  Everything is dark and shaded, and the forest we’ve landed in is thick with trees, obscuring all possible paths. Leaves crunch and sticks snap beneath our boots despite our slow, deliberate steps. I can just barely see Earth’s moon through the canopy as a bright orb shining through, rendering my night vision useless when I look directly at it.

  Earth’s insects hum and a breeze blows in from my left.

  Taking a steadying breath, I stamp out my rising nerves. I haven’t been planetside since Colony 4. Without metal walls surrounding me, I’m nervous I’m going to sink into the ground, float away, or worse, I’ll blink and be back outside Huryanta City with the sounds of sirens and people’s screams.

  But as my squad and I keep pace, finding our footing and maneuvering through the uneven terrain, the chittering of bugs and critters soothes me. It’s an improvement over the rocky hum of the battle box.

  Something moves up ahead, and I stop and raise my rifle. Ashton strikes out his arm to stop the team. Peering through my scope, a large mass lumbers by. It pushes through the brush without noticing us.

  “Captain?” Roger’s voice fills my earpiece.

  “Stand down,” I say. “It’s just an animal. A bear, I think. Ashton?”

  “It’s moving away. It might be a black bear.”

  The beast continues and we move forward again.

  The trees disperse as the ground becomes more treacherous—the foliage thickening. Cutting through the bushes, branches, and endless plants takes time, and it also makes noise. But as the ground slopes, I spy mountains through the trees ahead.

  It’s hard to imagine that this place—this world—birthed humans. That we were once landlocked and so very vulnerable.

  That we were once considered animals too.

  Ashton’s voice cuts through my awe. “Captain, we have movement behind us and to our right.”

  I stop and cock my head, and he moves to my side and lifts the tablet to show me.

  There’s a small red dot behind where my team’s green dot. It’s back where the battle box would be, moving around the general vicinity.

  Ashton’s voice lowers. “It seems our landing has drawn attention.”

  “It could be another animal or a survivor… Roger, Liam, take the back.” I look at Ashton. “Let me know if it begins to follow us. We need to keep moving.”

  He nods and moves a
way.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  I barely take three steps when Ashton calls out. “Celeste, it’s tracking us.”

  Pivoting, I hear Roger curse under his breath. My men span out and take cover amongst the trees. I lower to the ground and settle amongst the brush. I position my weapon.

  I frown. We hadn’t gone far.

  A few moments later, I hear it, a faint hissing at first and then the subtle snap, snap, snap of breaking twigs.

  Something bigger than the bear, longer than one too, breaks through the trees at unnatural speed. The shadows shift and the creature keeps going, missing us completely.

  We hold our position. A few tense moments pass.

  I begin to close my eyes with relief when the creature reappears. It stops where Ashton and I had just been a minute earlier. It rises, getting bigger, and peers around, creating a long and crooked shape in the small clearing.

  It turns to me and my finger twitches on the trigger. We stare at each other, neither one of us moving. His face is almost humanoid if it weren’t for the pointed ears, scales, and forked tongue tasting the air between us. My mouth goes dry.

  A naga.

  There’s a nasty scar streaking down the left side of his face, ravaging one eye and slicing down through its lips. The scar is deep, painful looking, and had to have blinded him. It makes the naga appear angry…