by Mina Carter
Led by General Hopkins, they brandished assault rifles at the warriors around them. Warriors that were only armed with blades and knives as far as she could see. At least two of them were down, motionless on the floor as deep pools of crimson widened around them. She gasped, her instinctive need to go to them stopped by Fenriis’ hard arm across her waist.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, General?” Madison demanded, fury radiating from every line of her slender body as she tried to fight off one of the marines who had dragged her away from Danaar.
“Ending this ridiculousness right now!” Hopkins snapped back, his face flushed with anger as he looked at the Lathar with hatred.
“We should be blowing these assholes out of the sky, not talking to them. They’ve offered us nothing but aggression… or have you forgotten them taking Sentinel Five?” he demanded. “Or her!” He waved at Amanda, half hidden behind Fenriis.
“Stand down, General!” Madison ordered, her voice tight as she shook off the marine’s grip. “That is a direct order!”
“I have authorization from the president himself,” Hopkins snarled back, nodding to the marines either side of Madison. “Restrain her… She’ll be facing questions when we return to Earth. You!” He turned and gestured with his handgun toward Amanda. “Get over here. We’re not leaving you here with these animals.”
Amanda shook her head. “Not a chance. I’m staying right here.”
Hopkins' lip curled as he looked her up and down. “That fond of alien cock, are you? Well, I’m sure the boys in the squad can remind you why human men are better.”
“Over my dead body,” Fenriis snarled, stepping in front of Amanda as Hopkins moved forward, brandishing the gun in his hand.
“Oh, that can be arranged. Believe me,” the human general snarled, facing off against the much bigger Latharian warrior.
Amanda’s heart leaped into her throat, fear for Fenriis rendering her speechless. She knew the Lathar were big and hardy, but if he hit Fenriis point-black…
“No! Leave him alone!” She tried to push her way to the front of the group, to get between Hopkins and Fenriis, but hard hands clamped around her arms. She hissed and fought like a wildcat, trying to keep her eyes on Fenriis.
“Secure the females!” Fenriis ordered with a small nod to Danaar.
Both men moved like lightening, Danaar easily cutting Madison off from her marine escort as Fenriis went for Hopkins. Amanda’s eyes widened at the sheer speed of the big Lathar.
Hopkins didn’t even get the chance to blink before Fenriis’ hand had closed around his wrist. The sharp crack of breaking bones filled the air as he twisted and yanked the general toward him, wrapping a big hand around the general’s throat, the handgun in his free hand.
The marines went into action with shouts and more gunfire. She squeaked, covering her ears as she was yanked backward away from the action. The lights went out and she couldn’t see anything, just the flash of guns going off and red lasers slicing through the smoky air.
The noise was deafening. All she could hear was the rasp of her own breath and her heart hammering in her chest as she was dragged farther backward into the darkness. She didn’t struggle, allowing the warrior who had hold of her to take her to safety.
He was one of Fenriis’ men, so she was safe. Certainly safer than in the melee of the mess hall. The bigger form of the warrior cut off her view of the chaos as he pushed her through a door.
She breathed a sigh of relief, one tempered by worry for Fenriis, as the door slid shut behind them and cut off all the noise.
“Thank you,” she said, a smile forming on her lips as she looked up, only to freeze in place as she realized which warrior had plucked her from the mayhem beyond the door.
The dead-eyed warrior who gave her the creeps stood in front of her, his hand hard around her arm as he yanked her up against him.
“Mine,” he hissed and slammed his mouth down over hers.
* * *
“Round them up! In the corner,” Fenriis bellowed orders as his warriors surrounded the human soldiers. They were blind in the darkness, blundering around like fools as they fired wildly.
A feminine cry made Danaar roar and wheel away in the darkness. Fenriis let him go, other warriors filling the gap. He’d seen the way Danaar looked at Madison… sometimes a warrior had to do what he had to do.
The rest of them penned the humans into the corner of the mess hall. It was child’s play to nudge them into position and then reach in and disarm them. A few resisted, only to find out that Latharian elbows were the hardest things in existence. Especially when applied heavily to ribs and jaws.
Within minutes, though, the lights snapped on and the humans blinked, temporarily blinded, only to find themselves surrounded, their own weapons pointed at them.
“You can’t do this!” Hopkins was still at it, his face purple as he yelled. “I am General Adam Hopkins! I report directly to the president! He will have your—”
“Oh, SHUT THE FUCK UP, HOPKINS!” Madison Cole’s furious shout cut him off. Fenriis half turned to see the human woman striding toward them, half shrugging off Isan, who was trying to heal up a wound on her arm.
“You jumped up little piece of shit!” she hissed, getting right up in the human’s face. “You were under strict orders not to cause problems on this mission! Shit, I should have had you taken off the list.”
“You! You’re the reason I’m here!” Hopkins bit back, the light in his eyes almost manic. “I’ve been telling the president for weeks he should replace you. That you’re too… interested in these… these… aliens. It’s unhealthy. But…” he looked her up and down with a sneer. “I’ve heard all the stories about you—”
Danaar growled, about to step forward, but the human woman beat him to it. With the sort of speed that would have done a Latharian warrior proud, she struck, grabbing the human’s balls and squeezing.
He squeaked, eyes bugging out of his head as the muscles in Madison’s arm bunched. “Stories? Really? Are these the ones you and your little buddies swap in the locker rooms because you’re scared of the possibility of a woman in power? Let’s hear them and they’d better be fucking good ones, General.”
Fenriis resisted the urge to press his own legs together. He had no sympathy for the guy—he was the lowest of the low—but the wince in his balls was a hard-wired response.
“Ah-ah…” Hopkins had no response, his jaw moving mechanically as his brain focused totally on what had to be a crushing grip on his balls. Madison hissed and pushed him away, turning to look at Fenriis.
“I do apologize, War Commander,” she said, back straight as she looked at him. He had to give her credit. Surrounded by alien warriors when her own guard had just gone on the offensive, and she was still acting as cool and collected as an empress. “These men were not acting under my orders. They will be severely punished when we return to our ship.”
Fenriis shook his head. “That won’t be happening.”
She froze, and for a moment he saw the worry in the backs of her eyes before she masked the expression. “What do you mean?”
“You boarded our vessel and fired upon us…“ Fenriis drew the sentence out, more for the men behind Madison than for the woman herself. “That is an act of war. You will all be taken to cells and will await the justice of a warrior's court.”
She did pale at that, and the tiny stagger made Danaar growl and step right up to her side. His glare clashed with Fenriis’. “She’s injured. You can’t put her in a cell.”
Fenriis had never intended to. The males, yes, but not the female. Especially not when she was hurt. But she didn’t know that.
“She’ll have to be watched. After this betrayal we can’t trust any of them…”
The corner of Danaar’s lips quirked as he realized what Fenriis was playing at. And so he should. The two of them had been friends practically from the cradle. They’d grown up together, trained together… hunted and killed their fi
rst sandwryms together. The day Danaar couldn’t read him was the day he’d bury his friend.
“She’s mine. I will take responsibility for her,” Danaar’s pronouncement was punctuated by a feminine gasp.
“I am not yours!” she hissed as Danaar took her arm, still arguing as he led her away.
Fenriis ignored them in favor of looking around the room. Now the lights were back on, he could see the results of the little attack the humans had orchestrated. Two warriors were even now being cared for by Isan’s healers, one already being stretchered away for treatment. He noted which warriors they were, not surprised those particular two had put themselves in harm's way.
He turned to look at Hopkins, stopping the warrior about to haul him off to the cells with a look. “If either of them die because of your actions, you and your planet will suffer the consequences. You didn’t want our protection? But if they die, by the fucking gods, you’ll wish you had it.” He nodded to the warrior holding the human. “Get him the draanth out of my sight.”
The humans were trooped out by grim-faced warriors, but Fenriis was no longer interested in them. Instead, he scanned the room for Amanda, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Have you seen Amanda?” he asked the nearest warrior, only to get a shake of the head in return. Worry began to set in when he got the same answer from everyone he asked.
“EYES ON!” he bellowed, and every warrior in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at him. “Where. Is. My. Mate?” he asked, looking at each of them in turn. “She was in this room. Now she is gone. She’s not the sort to run off on her own. So find her!”
The warriors looked around and then one at the back spoke up. “Fnaal is gone.”
A chill chased down his spine at the name. Fnaal was one of those warriors. The ones who kept to themselves and never stepped out of line, but still, there was always something… odd about them.
He’d always been solid and dependable in battle, but didn’t integrate with the others. On leave, he never frequented the pleasure houses with the other warriors and Fenriis had heard a couple of males mention he preferred different pursuits.
At the time he’d thought Fnaal preferred the company of males, which wasn’t unheard of, but now he had a horrible feeling he might have been wrong about that.
“Find him. Now!” he ordered. “Rip the damn ship apart if you have to, but find them!”
8
Amanda froze as the Latharian’s lips crashed down over hers, trying to pry them apart. Violently, she yanked her face away, twisting to try and get away from him, but he was too strong for her.
“Behave, female,” he hissed, his grip in her hair tightening until she gasped in pain. “You’ll do as you’re told, when you’re told… like a good mate should.”
“I’m not your mate,” she gasped, her words swallowed by a cry of pain as he shook her.
“Silence! You’ve been mine since the moment I saw you. I am the chosen of Ursal-Kai… look!” He lifted his arm and shoved it in front of her. There was some kind of design on the inside of his forearm but not a tattoo or anything. It looked like it had been branded into his skin.
“I belong to Fenriis,” she argued, her feminist principles taking a back seat to survival for the moment. “He’ll be coming for me.”
Dead eye snarled in fury, ripping the necklace from her throat and hurling it to the floor. “He is not chosen. I was told the first female I saw would be mine. You are mine.”
“Fuck you, asshole. I am not yours!”
She slammed her knee into his groin but he twisted at the last moment, blocking her movement with his hip. Rage twisted his face and he lashed out. Pain exploded in the side of her face and it took her a second to realize he’d hit her.
“Females behave or they get disciplined,” he shoved his face into hers to hiss. Before she could answer, he latched a hard hand around her wrist and dragged her into the darkness.
Within seconds they were out of the main corridor and into a section of the ship she hadn’t seen on their tour. Instead of the clean, well-lit corridors they’d walked through before, dead eye dragged her along ones that were dank and dark.
Pipes snaked along the floor, nearly tripping her up. She barely managed to stay on her feet.
“HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” she screamed to try and catch someone's attention. Something told her that if dead eye got her to where he planned to go, she wasn’t getting out. Not alive anyway. Or if she did, she’d probably wish she had died.
“No one can hear you,” dead eye hissed, yanking her closer.
His hand closed over the back of her neck and he paused for a moment to look down at her. The lust in his eyes made her feel sick to her stomach. “You’re so beautiful… so tiny and delicate.”
He raked a look down her body. “Good hips, though. You’ll birth me healthy sons to carry on my name.”
“Ha! You fucking wish!” she hissed. “I’ll never bear you children. Ever.”
His expression turned to one of thunder and he yanked her up toward him, grinding his hips against hers. “You will. I’ll fill your womb before the night is out.”
The thick bar of his cock against her stomach made her blood run cold. She whimpered and he smiled, mistaking her reaction.
“Thought that would make you change your mind. The chance to be with a real male, not those pathetic excuses on your planet… it would turn any female’s head.”
Before she could do anything else, he walked her backward, pinning her against the wall with his bigger body. She screamed, fighting like a wildcat as he tore at her dress. Shoving his hand between her thighs to push them open, he wedged his hips between them and fumbled with his fly. She managed to get a hand free and lashed out, scratching him across the face.
“You little draanthic,” he grunted, lifting his fist again.
This time though, she was ready for him. Her heart pounded in her chest as time slowed to a crawl. She reached out, her hand moving agonizingly slowly, to latch around the hilt of the dagger sheathed at his waist. Cold sweat slithered down her spine. He’d see what she was doing and stop her.
But he didn’t. Her fingers closed around the hilt of the dagger and time snapped back, like an elastic band. She yanked the blade free and stabbed wildly, still screaming.
The blade sank into his side with a fleshy pop. He grunted, doubling over as a rush of warm wetness cascaded over her hand, and staggered backward.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…” she whispered, horrified at herself as she backed up, sliding along the wall with the bloody knife still in her hand. Her eyes were wide as she watched him fall against the opposite wall, his hand pressed hard against his side. Even in the low light she could see the blood running between his fingers.
He groaned in pain, and the noise broke the spell. With a gasp, she grabbed her torn dress, holding it tightly around herself, and ran.
* * *
“Have you found them yet?” Fenriis demanded as a group of warriors walked into the mess hall. It had become a temporary control center for the search, teams reporting back in periodically.
The leader shook his head and Fenriis’ gut clenched.
“No. We searched sectors seventeen through twenty-one, right down into the maintenance tunnels. We didn’t find them, but we did find this.”
Fenriis’ heart stalled in his chest as the warrior held out a necklace. Delicate against the male’s big palm, the red stones glittered in the overhead lights. Fenriis sucked in a hard breath. It was his. The bonding necklace he’d fastened around Amanda’s slender throat earlier. A dark stain on the chains at the back made him frown.
“Is that…?”
Isan beat him to the punch, grabbing the necklace and putting it on the table. His face grim, he ran the handheld scanner from his portable medkit over it. Fenriis had to lock his knees to keep himself upright as he waited for the healer to announce the results.
“It’s Terran,” he announced, looking up to meet
Fenriis’ gaze. “Trace amounts, and from the pattern of the blood, it may have cut her when it was removed by force. Look… these links are broken.”
Rage bubbled up from the center of Fenriis’ chest, spilling over into the savage snarl that escaped his lips. “I’m going to kill him… I’m going to make him fucking wish he’d never been born. Draanth, I’ll make him wish his entire line had never existed!”
Isan and the warriors around them grunted in approval. Messing with a male’s mate was a serious business and carried serious consequences. Ones far more severe than even cowardice on the battlefield.
“But why?” Isan asked, his face wreathed in curiosity.
“What do you mean why? He took Amanda. Do I need another reason?”
“Yes, yes… I get that,” Isan waved dismissively, the gesture making Fenriis’ rage deepen. The warning growl from his lips had the healer quickly adding. “No, that’s all you need to hunt the draanthic to the ends of the universe and gut him slowly and painfully. But my question was why be bothered about this one… this human?”
He stood his ground, head tilted slightly to the side so his braids rested against his scarred shoulder. “There are many females on Earth. Why not just go take another one? The humans acted with aggression first. No one will argue our right to exact revenge… or your right to take another female.”
“No.” Fenriis’ answer dropped into the sudden silence of the room, every warrior nearby listening in on their conversation. “I don’t want another female. I want Amanda.”
“Why?” Isan pushed. His expression was open and honest, and Fenriis sensed no malice behind his words.
The big war commander sighed, pushing a hand through his short hair. “It’s hard to explain. She’s mine, simple as. I knew as soon as I heard her voice.”
“You mean saw her?”
“No.” He shook his head at the question, from one of the warriors who had crowded around them. “I was shielded so they didn’t see me. I had no intention of letting them… I was just going to check in that there were no non-Terrans in the area and the threat the emperor’s shadow reported was gone, and then leave. But then I heard Amanda speak… and that was it. I wasn’t leaving there without her.”
