Fusion (Crimson Romance)

by Candace Sams

  His eyes glowed red and actually expanded back and up, making them several times larger and tilted. His ears elongated into points that pierced through his thick mane.

  If she had to describe him now, he was like some cross between a legendary werewolf she’d read about as a schoolchild and some new species of feral lion. Even the color of his skin seemed to grow darker by several hues. It was as if his body was attempting to assume the color of the landscape.

  The overall change was simultaneously hideous and fantastic. While she watched, she sensed absolute, utter fear in the Condorians. Those with weapons began to slowly lower the muzzles. Their eyes widened so the whites were clearly visible. It was like they were afraid of attracting the creature’s attention.

  No one made a sound except for Soldar.

  He opened his be-fanged jaws, drew air into his lungs, and roared like a beast declaring its territory and supremacy. The sound of the deep bellow filtered through the landscape and into canyons many yards away.

  He curled the lips of his upper jaw, and slowly brought his arms forward in a bunched position similar to the way body builders posed to display massive pecs.

  The leather of his high boots split and fell from his legs in long strips. His feet grew and his toenails lengthened just as his fingernails had.

  When it appeared the transformation was complete, he swung his lion-wolf head to the left and right. Lyra felt her heart beating so hard that everyone near must surely hear it. Her mouth went dry and sweat broke out on her forehead. But some instinct made her pick up one foot, then the other. Even as others remained immobile, she slowly stumbled forward.

  Soldar swung his massive head toward her and lowered his chin. The effect was chilling. His red eyes narrowed and he glared at her menacingly. He lunged forward taking in yards as he did so.

  She heard Myranda whispering commands to stop, but those words seemed to come from another reality. A few seconds more and she didn’t hear the entreaties at all. Sol still barreled toward her like some rabid beast. His muscular arms pumped as if doing so would generate speed. Then he stopped a few feet from her, in a sliding whirl of dust and rock. With her presence so much closer, he issued another long, warning growl.

  His eyes glowed more fiercely as he stared straight at her. As far as she knew, everyone else remained still. He leaned toward her and she felt his hot breath against her cheeks. Their noses almost touched and drool fell from his jaws in thick, foamy strands.

  She never lowered her gaze.

  What seemed like an eternity later, his growls faded until he made no sound at all. As she stared straight into his eyes, his ears slowly turned forward. It was as if he was listening. For a long moment neither of them shifted their stances.

  That was when she knew a heart could actually break.

  Tears clouded her vision and fell down her cheeks. Salt in them stung wounds on her face as sadness overwhelmed her.

  At first site, she’d assumed he’d tear her apart. Perhaps she’d moved toward him so he would. Her body ached, but repeated blows from a drunken Condorian guard were nothing compared to the pain in her soul.

  How could she have fallen in love with this self-serving, devious man?

  He could have shape shifted into any horrific creature and it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d actually been the hero she’d made of him. Everything she knew about Soldar Nar was a lie and she’d had a lot of time to think on that as she’d been beaten. Her once beloved Craetorian warrior was in the company of murdering savages who would butcher everyone aboard the Venus, including his own brother.

  There was no doubt in her heart that Cordis was an ally. D’uhr hadn’t yet made the familial connection between the men. When Cordis was dragged forward, the look she’d seen on Soldar’s face was worth a million words. The agony of D’uhr’s command forced his shifting experience. He’d been unable to control his emotions, and now he stood before her as some manifestation of his own, horrible guilt.

  In a cruel twist of fate, he would experience what millions of others had at the enemy’s hands. He’d see his sibling die. Worse, he’d see it done by his own hands. And he was sleeping with the man who’d ordered it.

  There was nothing she could do to him that God wouldn’t. For however long he lived, he’d have his sibling’s blood all over him. She could almost pity him. Almost.

  The beast before her tilted his head one way, then the other.

  No language would ever come out of those misshapen jaws. His canine-like tongue couldn’t be capable of forming words. But she believed he was aware of everything. Somewhere in that animalistic shell, a man was still alive and he knew what he’d done. His anger had driven him toward her, intending to rip something apart. What was left of any conscience made him stop when she confronted him.

  She slowly shook her head, turned away, and prayed he’d rip her back open. With her heart smashed, someone or something needed to end her suffering. He whined plaintively. She sensed he wanted her to face him again but there was nothing left to see.

  He’d made his choice, she’d make hers.

  She stumbled back toward Myranda and was quite ready to die with the others.

  • • •

  Soldar reached out for her, his palms upturned in a supplicating gesture. He knew he’d changed and recognized the unmoving terror on the faces of everyone present. But seeing the pain in Lyra’s eyes was devastating.

  He dropped his arms and stared at the back she presented. There were things she didn’t understand and he could never explain. Even now, at the end of their lives, he still loved her. Nothing would ever stop that.

  That man — the one who’d lain with D’uhr — wasn’t him. Memories bled into one another, but his soul, heart, and conscience all denied that foppish, self-serving coward who’d so readily ingratiated himself with the enemy. He had not betrayed his world and had never been imprisoned on Signus Mondi or any other penal colony.

  Something was wrong with the way his past and present were all colliding like some bizarre collage in his brain. He raised his clawed hands toward his head as a stream of images threatened to blind him.

  A sudden scuffling sound made him whirl in an instant. His focus immediately returned.

  Fornax was now positioned behind Cordis and had cruelly grabbed a section of his hair. With it, the Condorian pulled Cordis’ head backward and exposed his neck. In Fornax’s right hand was the sword he’d been order to use.

  Soldar snarled and bunched his muscles to bolt to his brother’s defense, but Fornax manifested one of the more evil grins Soldar had ever seen and raised the sword higher.

  “If you can shape shift back, you’d better do it!” Fornax warned. “It won’t stop me from killing whoever this is, but I can do it slow or quick … you decide.”

  Soldar felt intense anger and hatred again. Even if he’d wanted to, there was no way to calm himself. Instinct told him that controlling his emotions was the only way to resume his real persona.

  D’uhr moved to Fornax’s side and pointed toward Cordis.

  “Who is he?” D’uhr demanded. “Do as my son says and shift back now.”

  Soldar looked down at Cordis. His brother knew how to get out of such a compromised position. They’d practiced it as cadets many times. He was either injured or afraid for his sake. And that he couldn’t stomach.

  His animal alter ego wouldn’t be quashed. There was no reason to return to his real body as long as he could fight better in this one.

  He lowered his gazed to the dirt, and breathed deeply.

  Cordis’ scent came to him. It was recognizable in its cleanliness and its lack of fear. He closed his eyes for a moment and hunched downward in a subservient position. His acute hearing picked up the most subtle movement indicating the two Condorians had moved closer together. He didn’t need to see either
of them to know exactly where they were.

  From a crouching position, he propelled himself forward with such speed and ferocity that no volley from any weapon would stop his forward momentum, even if the guards had the presence of mind to gather their wits and fire.

  With his body in flight, he raised his head and roared. His outstretched, clawed hands hit both Condorians at the same time and sent them sprawling many yards away. D’uhr had time to draw his sidearm, but it went flying to the left. The sword Fornax held to Cordis’ neck also took flight and swirled some yards away.

  With Cordis’ body being forced back to expose his neck, Soldar had taken the chance and launched horizontally over him. He had the satisfaction of smelling blood. D’uhr and Fornax writhed in the sand, some distance from each other. But he knew they’d try to get up no matter what injuries they’d sustained.

  Behind him a woman shouted ferociously. Like some avenging goddess, she ordered a charge. He knew the command came from Lyra.

  She loudly encouraged the crew to fight for their lives and freedom. He felt a rush of energy he’d never known. So many Condorians were sick that she’d instantly recognized the chance his launching attack provided. With the fight on, he heard the Condorians shouting at one another, and photon rifles began to fire.

  The allies in this fight had a small chance to beat back the enemy. There might be a way for a few to escape to the interior of the ship and seal the hatches. But all that hinged on the servants and prostitutes doing as Lyra ordered. They’d have to charge the Condorians, lose many friends in the initial attack, then hold themselves together long enough to divide the enemy’s lines.

  But would they have the courage to pick up any dropped weapons and fire them, or close in quick and fight hand-to-hand?

  One thing was certain. If they cringed against the hull then everyone died.

  Whatever else happened, there were a few allied fighters who could direct that battle. This included Lyra and Cordis, assuming his brother still lived.

  Instinct for battle fired every muscle in his body. But he focused on the architects of this disaster. He looked for D’uhr and his son.

  The Condorian officers and guards weren’t trained to think for themselves. Every decision of their lives was dictated by someone higher on the food chain. If he could take out the leaders, the minions might falter.

  D’uhr pushed himself to a sitting position and screamed in agony as the open, clawed incisions across his face bled freely. One of his eyes hung loose from its socket. But if the smell of blood energized a shape shifted Craetorian, it most certainly strengthened a Condorian admiral’s inhumanity. Condorians were at their most brutal when severely injured, and Soldar finally understood why.

  The rage his race had suppressed to keep from becoming so savage was what he’d tapped to shape shift. But the Condorians wore that fury and hatred outwardly, every day of their lives. They need do nothing more than perceive another being as an enemy or feel pain inflicted during a fight.

  On D’uhr’s face, Soldar saw the glazed expression of a crazed despot who’d been utterly betrayed. He glanced to his left and his lips twisted maniacally. The vision of his son lying in the dirt, bleeding and struggling to get up, was the last nerve Soldar could have tapped. Caring little about those in his charge, D’uhr seemed to focus on what he wanted at that moment. The obsessive need for revenge was etched into his features.

  With the cunning of the animal kingdom he represented, Soldar began to circle the admiral. His hearing was so acute that Cordis’ voice sounded in the melee, and he took heart in that deep, familiar tone.

  D’uhr pointed at him with the index finger of one shaking hand. “You’re dead, Craetorian! No one betrays me. No one,” he rasped as he struggled to see with one eye.

  This wasn’t the fight Soldar had envisioned, and some of his ire began to ebb.

  With his sidearm gone, no photon rifle or bullying son to do his bidding, D’uhr was little more than a nasty swaggering thug. Under normal circumstances, his size and strength alone made him dangerous. But the man’s injuries aside, a slothful lifestyle had taken much out of the once vaunted admiral. He’d been living a hedonistic existence so long that he couldn’t even land a punch, certainly not one that would do much good.

  D’uhr lunged forward.

  Soldar stepped to one side and let him fall in the dust again.

  The repeated sound of rifle fire wasn’t encouraging, but it strangely began to ebb. Even D’uhr noticed and angrily turned his head toward the Venus to find out why.

  Soldar kept his eyes on D’uhr but the shocked and frightened look on the admiral’s face finally summoned his attention as well.

  Injured, sick, or lifeless bodies lay everywhere. Some were Condorian, others were crewmembers, and a few were the hidden allied fighters smuggled onto the Venus. What riveted D’uhr and apparently everyone else was Aigean. She had grabbed a weapon from somewhere, aimed it shoulder level, and now stood right in front of Fornax. From her current position, she couldn’t miss.

  The Condorians began to lower their weapons and back away from the melee. They knew what D’uhr would do to them if they got his son killed. The cellular disruptive sidearm stuck in Fornax’s face was one of the more feared weapons because no one survived a direct hit.

  “This fight is over!” Aigean loudly announced as she turned her head to her left and stared D’uhr down. “Tell your men to throw their arms into a pile by the cargo bay. Have them put their shuttle fuel back into the Venus, return all the food, water, and drugs then back away from the hull.”

  “There are rules of engagement which must be followed!” D’uhr furiously insisted. “My son needs tending. Look how he bleeds from his face and neck.”

  “I will give you the same consideration you gave me,” she told him. “I was never a combatant, but was inflicted with your putrid presence when you captured my ship. I can assure you … I have no qualms about killing your offspring and then turning this weapon on you.”

  Soldar felt his heartbeat begin to slow. If the situation remained in the allies’ favor, he could soon shift back. His anger would abate, with the need to ready the Venus for departure. It didn’t take any mind control techniques to see Aigean’s purpose. Even the members of her crew were already picking up weapons from dead or injured Condorians and placing them by the cargo bay hatch. She meant to take off and leave the Condorians stranded on Reisen Four. With no weapons or means for survival, they’d die slowly or kill each other off for what few containers of water they had on their bodies.

  He lowered his head and tried to see himself as he normally was. He shifted back almost instantly. He even sensed his control of this new ability was getting stronger. The standoff was still in effect but it wouldn’t take much to shift again. All D’uhr had to do was move the wrong way.

  A few long moments more and the admiral furiously gave in.

  “Do as this filthy hag says!” he loudly commanded. “And be quick about it.”

  “When my demands have been met, I’ll release your son back to you,” Aigean promised as Condorians hurried to do as D’uhr ordered.

  Soldar was simultaneously elated and fearful.

  One move the wrong way or one small misstep by any of D’uhr’s men, and the fight would be on again. If that happened, the odds would no longer be in their favor.

  Though D’uhr had lost one eye, the cuts on his son’s body were deeper and hemorrhaging at an alarming rate. As the younger man walked slowly forward in front of Aigean, his eyes rolled wildly and he was barely able to stay on his feet. It was obvious he’d only remain conscious for a few more moments.

  Even as D’uhr backed away so Aigean wouldn’t fire, Fornax fell into the dirt. Unfazed, Aigean simply pointed the muzzle of her weapon toward the back of the young Condorian’s skull. She shook her head at D’uhr when he would
have come to his son’s aid.

  “You Elderian witch! Let my son go now or I’ll — ”

  “You’ll what?” she interrupted. “Have your underlings move faster.”

  “Do as she wants!” he shouted.

  Soldar stood his ground for the moment, but fear for Cordis’ and Lyra’s safety finally made him attract the attention of a robed, female servant. The small figure loped toward him and pushed the hood of her robe back. Gentis breathlessly gazed up at him.

  Thankful the girl had come through the fight unscathed, he briefly took the hand she offered and began issuing his own orders. “Can you get on the Condorian shuttles quickly?

  “Yes … many items the enemy stole from us have not been loaded,” Gentis advised. “For this reason I believe the guards left the shuttles unsecured.”

  Recalling what he knew about enemy craft that had been shot down or abandoned when they could not be repaired, he put the knowledge to use. “They’re only short-range vessels, but they have communication capabilities that are sophisticated — ”

  Gentis quickly nodded. “I understand your meaning, Soldar. I will make sure they are inoperable as well as any weapon delivery systems. If Admiral D’uhr wants off this planet he will have to wait until someone comes searching for him and his people. I will have every drop of his fuel transferred to the Venus, as Aigean ordered.”

  “Good. We don’t want him to warn the command ship orbiting this planet. It’ll be all we can do to get out of here and avoid detection.”

  When Gentis hurried away to complete her tasks, Soldar finally turned his attention to the bodies scurrying about. Some of Aigean’s crew held weapons on the Condorians as they, in turn, handed over their arms. More of the crew was trying to locate the injured among their dead comrades. Several began to weep loudly.