The Princess and her Bounty Hunter: Alien Romance (Fated to the Alien: The Psychic Matchmaker Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

aquamarine color, but not bright and vibrant, more like a sea churned up by a storm. Dull, dark and sinister.
    However, as darkness settled further, the glow became brighter, almost hovering above the surface of the water like a fog. He scanned the bog for any more of these creatures, all the time pulling back from the one still making its endless patrol. As if it was searching. But for what?
    “Of course.” It made sense. The ship had landed, and he had got out, knowing he was stuck: where would he go? The bank, and the shelter of the trees. Skirting wide around the creature, Mak headed towards the bank, but the trees were too close together. He would have to land and then get out and move on foot. All he had to decide was which direction to take?
    Then he had his answer. On the bank, across from where the ship had gone down, was a glowing trail. Under the trees, where darkness was deepest, he could make it out like footprints in wet sand. His only concern was, that anything else out here would be able to see it too. The knowledge of those dead miners played a little trick with his mind, and he shivered, glad he had weapons to defend himself with.
    Or he could simply return to Stellia and seek out a different bounty. But Mak wasn’t the best for nothing—he had never walked away from a difficult fight in his life.
    Time to ditch his rover, somewhere out of the reach of the freakish thing in the water, and head inland on foot. A small clearing in the trees around fifty feet from the edge of the bog seemed about as good as it was going to get. He was certain nowhere was safe on this planet; if the big thing in the bog was any indication, then he was going to meet trouble.
    Unless life had never left the water. Maybe evolution had stalled. He might just hold onto that thought. Undoing his harness, he checked his weapons, slung a pack on his back, which contained a mixture of weapons and supply rations, and headed outside, relieved when his feet hit solid ground.
    Taking out his taptab, which showed a similar grid to the one on the rover, he switched it on, and checked the reading. It flashed to show proximity and he extended its range as far as he could. If there was a big bad bearumba out there, it would be picked up.
    He shook his head as he stepped over a fallen branch. Not sure if he could hear the sound of another creature in the distance, or whether it was the one in the bog roaring into the night. Beneath the trees, the sounds were distorted, giving him little clue as to its true location.
    Another call, another shudder passed through him. It felt as if the planet was haunted, ghosts and ghouls waiting to crawl out of the glowing bog and grip him with their bony hands. Who knew how many souls had been killed on this planet? He was not going to be one of them. He had to keep his mind on the job. Hunting was ingrained into his very nature, and a good hunter never let himself be distracted.
    He kept walking, the darkness beginning to settle, the bog behind him was becoming dimmer, but so too was the glowing trail before him. He suspected most of the gloop had dried on his quarry’s clothes. Only a faint blob or two kept him moving forward in the right direction.
    A whoop sounded nearer, he could imagine some bird flying down to pluck him off the ground and carry him off to its rocky crevice somewhere high above them, where its monstrous chicks were waiting, hungry for fresh meat.
    He sighed. That kind of thinking was never useful; he had to focus.
    Then the taptab in his hand picked up a heat source. If it was his bounty, he was close. A few more steps and the infrared image cleared enough for him to make out the outline of a body clearly, lying down, knees drawn up. At least the bounty was still alive.
    All he had to do was catch him.
    Slowing his pace, he moved noiselessly, not wanting him to bolt when he found him. Silent, like the clouds passing by overhead, he drew closer.
    This was what he did, and he was good at