The Night of The Gods Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

They’ve escaped Ares Tech.
But they arrive somewhere far worse. When Alyssa and Max land in the Scarax Galaxy, they only have each other. That wouldn’t have been enough for Max – once. Now she’s all he needs as they battle their way through the bowels of a desert planet writhing with enemies.
The Observer isn’t gone. Max will need to uncover the secrets of his Hendari crystal by the time they next meet, or his every nightmare will come true. He can’t control Alyssa again. So it’s time to fight for her instead.
....
The Night of the Gods follows a legendary creature and the man tasked to protect her as they bring the Scarax war home. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab The Night of the Gods Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
The Night of the Gods is the 12th Galactic Coalition Academy series. A sprawling, epic, and exciting sci-fi world where cadets become heroes and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Dec 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005900953

Book preview

Chapter 1

Commander Max Farsight

It took a few heart-pounding, throbbing, skull-shaking seconds until he realized what happened.

They’d escaped. They were safe. Right?

Alyssa wobbled badly. So badly, it took a moment to appreciate she was still naked. Whatever had happened to her holographic armor had burned her clothes clean off. It was clearly not a fact she cared about. Falling back down to one knee, she dropped her hands and stared at them, worry lines marking her brow. What? she managed as her lips trembled with a weakness he’d never seen.

Max finally got over himself. They’d transported to God knows where, with a Hendari crystal that was somehow in his body, but Alyssa was his priority.

Snapping close, he clutched her shoulder, careful never to let his gaze deviate once. Are you okay? The armor, can you rip it off finally? Excitement powered through his tone – tinged with hope.

It was an emotion he hadn’t truly let himself feel ever since she’d fallen into Andrew’s clutches, but now it raced in like the universe’s most violent tidal wave.

Alyssa looked down at her hands glumly. With shaking fingers, she secured them on her shoulder unit. She didn’t even try to pull. Max waited. Come on. You can do it, he stammered, more for his benefit than hers.

I’m trying, she said softly.

You aren’t. I can see your shoulders are hardly moving, he stammered.

He fixed his own hand on her shoulder, even though he knew there was nothing he could do. Sure enough, he couldn’t even interact with her holographic armor, let alone hope to pull it off. Did that mean he stopped? No. For about 20 seconds, he kept trying.

Alyssa gave up, though. Her hand dropped quickly into her lap. Her eyes started to roll into the back of her head.

No way, he hissed as he held her shoulder and helped her balance. You need your wits about you. We are…. He had no damn clue where they were.

Silence swept over them. It allowed him to tilt his head back, to strain his neck muscles as he stared at the three stars above. Working as blindingly quickly as a sophisticated computer, he tried to go through every triple star system he knew. There weren’t that many examples – not with habitable planets. Which is precisely what this had to be. They were both breathing. Sorry, he was. Alyssa didn’t actually need oxygen. The holographic armor only made it look as if she was breathing to fool people who didn’t know what she was.

That just reminded him he needed to get this stuff off. He secured his fingers around her shoulder again. Once more he tried fruitlessly to rip the armor off. This wasn’t fair. They’d escaped John’s clutches only to arrive on some unknown alien planet with no help whatsoever and that damn armor still in place.

Alyssa slowly reached up. She had to concentrate hard. For every movement, she had to scrounge deep.

He’d seen her do incredible things. For six months, he’d had to come to terms with her power. Now that force leaked out of her as if she were a pipe someone had stabbed.

He tried one last time but fell flat on his ass.

She blinked back her weariness, then stared directly at him. It’s okay, Commander. At least we’re out of their clutches.

Yeah, he forced himself to say, though a lump of emotion sank deep down his throat. It felt like he would choke on it for the rest of his damn life. Why not? It would be appropriate. He had to keep going back to the fact he’d done this to Alyssa.

He’d told her to wear that armor in the first place. He—

She tried to walk. It was an awkward affair, but she managed it.

She clearly didn’t care that she was naked. Not once did she attempt to hide her body.

She assessed it, though, as if seeing it for the first time. It’s not your fault, she finally breathed. It appears you were manipulated from the beginning.

He’d already figured that out himself. And every second he hadn’t been fruitlessly struggling to take her armor off her, his mind had been playing through the possibilities, haunting him with every fact he’d been too stupid to see. His top lip suddenly became sweaty. He locked trembling fingers on it, somehow too weak to wipe it away.

He tried not to stare at Alyssa for decency’s sake. She didn’t have the same compunction. He might not be naked, but you tell that to her gaze. It was direct enough that his clothes became irrelevant. She stared past them, or at least she attempted to use her limited ability to do so. You have a Hendari crystal, Commander. And it seems that everybody knew that except for you.

That could’ve felt like a slap. She didn’t deliver it like one. Several days ago – hell, who was he kidding? Several hours ago, he would’ve taken that as an insult. He would’ve inferred from her relatively blank delivery that yet again she was belittling him. She wasn’t. And this was a fact he needed to hear.

He stared at his hands. He let his gaze dart across the fingers, which was easy now he wasn’t wearing his armor. It might have retracted for now, but make no mistake, he hadn’t shrugged it off when they’d transported to this planet. He could still feel it in his hip. At any point, it could come out and control him once more.

Alyssa didn’t let her gaze deviate. He wondered if she could actually see something. It was clear her armor was now in complete control of her. She didn’t look away. Until finally her eyes darted up to his. I had no clue. How did I have no clue you had a crystal inside you?

He became uncomfortable, sweat clinging to his brow. It slid down his taut neck muscles. He’d grown used to wearing armor, despite the fact it had been trying to kill him. Armor usually got rid of irritating body sensations like sweat. It dried it up before it could stick between your shoulder blades. It got rid of it before it could make your skin cold and shivery.

Now there was nothing to stop the brisk wind marching past his shoulders from sending shudders deep down his back. I really don’t know what’s going on here, he admitted in a quiet voice. But we just transported to an unknown alien planet. I’m assuming it’s still within Coalition space. I hope like hell it’s still within our space, he corrected himself as a blast of emotion tore through his chest. We have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that it isn’t. We have to find out where we are, and we… I dunno. I was about to say we have to contact the Coalition, but I guess that’s not a good idea. We just have to figure this out on our own.

I suppose I better get some clothes, Alyssa said, no real urgency in her voice. Again, she stared at her body.

Max glanced at her but quickly turned away. He cleared his throat.

Alyssa was….

Yeah, she was naked now, and he could see every curve and line. But the light was gone. And that’s the only impression he got as he stared at her. He imagined that was the reason for her morose attention.

She looked truly naked, in that the thing that always adorned her was gone.

This was wrong.

Though Max liked to think he was rational, the last 24 hours had proven he was the exact opposite. He felt, and those feelings often ruled his life. But this one was less escapable than the rest. This was wrong. Alyssa should not be removed from her light. Never. And he would have to try until his heart stopped and his gut exploded to get that damn light back to her.

At least that hardened his resolve. He nodded toward the simple path leading up. They might be on an alien world, but the best way to ascertain where they were was to encounter someone or something with technology.

There was another way, but he wasn’t game enough to try it. If he could figure out a way to independently put his armor on, he could use its sophisticated scanners. But he would run the risk of them somehow communicating with Ares Tech. Sorry, scratch the somehow bit. If Ares Tech was close enough, the Observer would come for them. Just the thought of him made Max’s hackles rise. They cascaded up high through his chest like they were attached to the tail of a cruising comet.

Come on. He deliberately took a step away to give her some space.

He didn’t expect what happened next. His hand was open because his mind was elsewhere, because his body kept rehearsing everything that’d happened back in Ares Tech. Suddenly he felt her slightly cold fingers slip into his.

He froze.

You would think she’d just pushed him down and kissed him. The way his body reacted, the way nerves surged through his gut, up his throat, and back down to his heart was like this was their first date.

But—

I apologize, she said as she pulled her hand back. I thought you were instructing me to place my hand in yours.

It took a while to swallow. Don’t apologize. I… Alyssa, though he’d been struggling not to stare at her, he did, you don’t have to follow what I say anymore. I’m not your commander. Turns out I never was. I was a convenient tool that others used to control you.

Yet you are all I know. So let’s go. She walked ahead. She moved quickly, turning from him before he could see her expression. If she were anyone else, he’d conclude that she’d deliberately done that so he couldn’t see what was going on with her.

But she was Alyssa Night, the beast without emotions, the monster without a heart. And the person, the person who was so much more.

Chapter 2

Alyssa Night

They’d arrived on some planet. She could not guess where it was. She hadn’t selected this as their destination when she’d momentarily broken through the control of her holographic armor to use the Hendari crystal. She had no clue what galaxy they were in – though, just like the commander, she hoped it was the Milky Way.

… But was that a justified hope?

That Observer had attempted to control her, had attempted to force her to release her power.

The war Alyssa had run from her entire existence, apparently, was back.

Max became quiet. They reached that rise. He clearly didn’t know what he was doing with his hands. He would clutch them in and out only to let them fall fruitlessly against his legs.

He no longer wore his armor, though Alyssa could tell it was still within him. He was very wary of his left hip. When he accidentally brushed it, his whole body stiffened.

But now they reached the rise, he had a new distraction.

Alyssa hoped they’d come across some city or some settlement – something easily recognizable. Perhaps it would be flying the colors of the Coalition. It was not, because there was no settlement there. There was nothing but an expansive desert. It rolled toward craggy hills in the distance. Their tall, jutting sides framed and led the eye up to the triple-star sunset. For, make no mistake, the suns were setting.

They lit up the horizon line, sending brilliant glimmers of illumination blasting out, almost like the exhausts from massive heavy cruisers. Golds and reds and yellows marched across the sky like dripping paint on a chaotic canvas.

It was far away from the drab stone wall she’d stared at for millennia.

It even took the commander’s breath away. She watched his chest stiffen, saw his head angle up as his eyes fixed in silence on the stunning vista.

It couldn’t last. The reality that there wasn’t a settlement in sight caught up with him. He stammered through a swearword. Then, without pause, they started walking down the hill.

She paused herself, then followed. Shouldn’t we walk in the other direction in the hopes we can spy a settlement?

I think I can see something. I might be fooling myself, but there’s an object buried in the sand halfway down there. He pointed at it.

She went to tell him he was wrong, but she realized one unnerving fact. Her gaze was blurry.

She was aware of the desert, and her eyes could trace the undulating dunes with their dusky, muted tones. But that was it.

She went to clutch her cheek but stopped.

Though Max was mostly paying attention to the world in front of them, she knew he was practically tied into her nervous system. He would react to any movement. And the worry lines dancing over his brow would only get deeper.

Forcing her hand to fall flat by her cold leg, she continued down the hill. It was an odd sensation to feel sand underneath her toes. She’d heard several Coalition staff mention this experience before. They seemed to like it. She found it overly scratchy. Little shards of what could’ve been shells or stones impacted her flesh. For someone who’d never been cut, she felt them digging deeper and deeper, her flesh yielding like a leaf to a knife. She found herself uncomfortably shifting her weight.

I’m certain that’s a downed ship, Max said, every word breathy with hope as he pointed to whatever he spied in the dunes.

He didn’t push into a jog, but he sped up.

He was soon down the side of the hill. Alyssa remained halfway up. She struggled, falling over once or twice.

Every time, she told herself to rise to her feet once more. That didn’t make it easier. She had no experience with pushing past weakness – weakness was something that beset others, not her.

Max didn’t look at her. Considering he usually took every opportunity to stare her way, she could predict his reticence was because she was naked. To humans and many other soft-fleshed races, removing one’s clothes was frowned upon except under certain circumstances.

Max whipped his head around as she fell for the third time. It’s okay, he tried. Fear haunted every syllable. It’s okay, he promised, Alyssa getting the impression he was promising himself and not her, we’ll find something on that ship. We’ll get you the help you need. We’ll break that damn armor off you, and you’ll never, ever put it on again.

This wasn’t an order. It was a promise. It brought the slightest smile to her lips. It couldn’t last. The dusk on this planet was quick. The wind was quicker. It marched into her skin, blowing her short hair around her face. She wrapped her arms around her middle and shuddered into them, not that it brought back any warmth whatsoever.

Max paled. Her visual acuity might have been decreasing, but she watched the blood draining from his face. Come on. He reached out to her, his hand opening wide.

She froze. She would not make the same mistake twice. It had been… what was the word? Oh yes, embarrassing to take his hand when he hadn’t offered it to her. Had it not been for the pernicious effects of her armor, she might have even blushed.

But Max didn’t drop his hand. Give me your hand, Alyssa. Come on. We’ve got to get to that ship to get you somewhere warm. Though I can’t even believe I just said that. You usually have your own incredible, unstoppable power, but now… this is so screwed, he muttered chaotically, his thoughts jumping around like cruisers in a slipstream.

She suddenly became aware of her hand, every sensation, from the tingles along the tips of her fingers, to the shiver shuddering through her skin. They got 10 times worse when she finally slid her hand into his.

His fingers were warm – insanely so compared to hers. He felt like the desert during the day while she was like the cold sand at night.

He didn’t shiver back, and he certainly didn’t drop her hand.

Wordlessly, he pulled her on.

She slipped and fell, almost with every step as her weakness… why describe it? All she had to do was feel it. It marched through her, getting worse with every second. At first, she’d assumed it was the energy she’d used to transport them. It wasn’t. Whatever the Observer had done to her armor… the effect was spreading. And it was here to stay. It felt like it was doing permanent damage to her.

Almost there, almost there, Max said for what felt like the fiftieth time. If she’d still possessed her true energy, she would’ve been able to count each instance, but as it was, her memory was starting to fail her. This fugue descended on her, thick, impenetrable, and just as cold as her crawling skin.

They finally descended onto a flat section of sand. It was crunchier, harder, and didn’t sink with every step. But that also meant it didn’t spare her feet. They were cut now. Actually cut. It was horrifying to note that, even more horrifying to feel the blood oozing between her toes. Not once in her existence had she felt or seen her own blood. She’d assumed she didn’t have any.

All she was was a creature built of energy, correct?

Maybe this armor was doing something to her, or maybe as her energy fell back, her natural physical form was being revealed. But make no mistake, that blood was real. It was even colder than her skin. And as it slicked across her toes, it attracted more sand to it. Each hard particle stuck between the webbing of her feet, grinding against her skin until they cut it further.

As night descended, her eyesight became even less reliable. She could blearily see shapes ahead of her, but that was it.

Max knew exactly what he was after. She heard the pace of his breath increasing. Though her own sensations were dimmed by her fatigue, she felt his fingers tighten with anticipation and his heart beat harder as it throbbed up into his hand. That’s it. God, it’s an actual ship. Thank God. Come on.

They got several meters away. She knew that because she finally saw the edge of the ship visible through a heaped dune. It looked like an animal carcass. There was metal, but it had been pared back at the edges like a predator slicing through its prey’s stomach. Old rusted consoles littered the rough sand around them, their guts spewed out everywhere.

She stood on one such item, and pain shot through her foot. She lurched, but Max wouldn’t let her fall. He helped her back to her feet. He kept his eyes on the ship. Real hope vibrated within him.

I don’t recognize the make. It could be Coalition. Just really old Coalition, he muttered, every word alive with anticipation.

She let herself be pulled on by it. If she focused on his hope, it would detract from her agony.

He let go of her hand once he reached the ship. His back arched a little, his shoulders pushing out hard. It was clear he was becoming alert. While they’d found a ship, it was an assumption that it was safe. Yes, it looked like it’d been swallowed by this desert for centuries – that didn’t mean there weren’t surprises aboard.

Alyssa didn’t know much about how the galaxy worked, but she understood there were limited resources in most places. That meant that any resources there were were usually guarded viciously. While it seemed no one was around, perhaps they intended to come back for this bounty. Somebody had picked over this carcass – perhaps even recently.

Just wait here. Don’t touch the ship, though. It could be booby-trapped. They used to do that a lot on the Rim, he murmured.

He disappeared into the belly of the ship.

It was a different experience standing here on her own, blood slicking her feet, the cold wind robbing her of what precious little heat she had left.

Different and horrifying.

Sitting in a prison and contemplating the end was entirely different from experiencing it. Alyssa wanted to believe there was nothing that could ultimately kill her, but she was driven to the edge with every breath.

The Observer had altered her somehow.

How?

When Isabel Carter had returned from the Scarax Galaxy, she’d told the Coalition what the Observers were. They were all that remained of the Hendari. They weren’t alive anymore. They were echoes – living memories of what they’d once been. And the more they interacted with universal affairs, the more they lost their coherence. The Observer who’d helped Isabel had succumbed to such a fate.

So what was happening with John? He had interacted. He’d done that in the most horrifying way possible. And by the sounds of it, he had been controlling Ares Tech for some time. Yet he didn’t look like he’d been on the edge of disappearing. He’d been in complete control.

Something… something didn’t make sense here.

Alyssa distracted herself with those thoughts. They couldn’t bring her warmth, but at least they could stop her from worrying about every tremble digging into her hips, ramming up her spine, and shaking into her jaw.

It took three more minutes until finally Max returned.

Greasy marks covered his cheeks and hands. He’d obviously been belly-deep in some system. But a smile spread his lips, wide and true. Gripping the side of the ship, his firm hold suggesting there was nothing to worry about, he inclined his head toward her. It’s fine. Just a downed transport. And it’s Coalition, he said through another breath. That smile grew, infecting his face with his hope and cheer.

Back in the Scarax Galaxy, Alyssa had never smiled. She’d failed to recognize the importance of those muscles around her mouth. Now it just happened on its own. Her body knew what it wanted to do, so it did it.

Max didn’t turn away from her move, didn’t ignore it. It simply made his smile deeper. Then he held