by Marie Harte
The male nodded. “Straight to the underground caverns. This is no drill. We have intruders on the periphery.”
Watta blinked. “Yes, Arghet.” She took Mandy by the hand and raced with her toward the cluster of women gathered by the children.
But before they could get close, another woman gestured them to go another way. She looked different, the paint lines on her face and her empty expression one that made Mandy hesitate.
“Please, come,” Watta said. “I must make amends. If I offend you or your mates by not offering you the proper protection, my life is forfeit.”
Mandy hustled after her, joining the woman and Watta as they raced in another direction.
“Don’t worry. This is an alternate route to the caverns,” Watta explained.
The woman with them wore a ragged xechelln tunic and had no shoes, unlike Watta and Mandy. She stopped suddenly, and Mandy ran into her back.
“Oh, sorry.”
The female turned, her expression no longer blank, but angry. “Your debt is paid. Be gone.”
Mandy turned to ask Watta what the heck the woman meant, but Watta had already run away.
Mandy had a bad feeling and turned to go, only to run into four large warriors she didn’t recognize. One was bigger than even Talzec, full of muscle and riddled with scars. He didn’t smile, talk, or frown. He just stood there, intimidating, his chest full of brightly colored tribal markers, and one particular flashing tattoo that flared red under his left cheek.
The smaller ones—Zehn- and Lore-sized, which wasn’t saying much—appeared menacing. One had a scar across his face, another had a slash marring his chest, and the fourth she knew. He had one eye and had fought against Zehn before they’d reached safety.
He was… “Nasuhl,” she whispered. Before she could set fire to anyone, the giant clamped a large hand over her right shoulder, took hold of her neck, and squeezed. And she knew no more.
Chapter Ten
WHEN MANDY AWOKE, it was to find herself draped over the shoulder of a very large man. They were running through a darkening jungle. When she braced herself on his back to look around her, she didn’t see anything familiar. The terrain looked slightly different, the vegetation dense, the scent not sweet, but musky, thick.
The male holding her was larger than her barbarians, and he scared the living crap out of her. She gave an experimental squirm, and he tightened his arm around her hips, holding her still.
“Shh. Easy female,” he murmured. “No harm to you or your young.”
She flopped down against his back, confused. Had he said something about young? She wanted to ask him but didn’t want more attention she could do without.
After more running that had her stomach sore from grinding into his shoulder, they finally stopped.
The big male put her carefully on her feet on the ground and steadied her when she swayed.
“Thank you.”
He nodded but didn’t speak.
The one-eyed creep who’d fought Zehn neared her, and the others circled close. Of the female who’d been with them, she saw no sign.
“I am Garnuk, your new master. Fleen and Haen are your second masters.” Fleen had the facial scar, Haen the slash across the chest. “We are the Nasuhl interior guard, the most powerful of our clan’s warriors.” He grinned, and she saw pointed teeth. “You, Earther, are our reward before we hand you over to our new allies.”
She had a terrible feeling about this. “Allies?” She glanced at the silent giant, curious they hadn’t acknowledged him at all.
Then Garnuk withdrew his whip and cracked it over her head.
She jumped.
“You will speak only when spoken to. Come and witness what will be expected of you until we make our exchange.” He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her with him into a small clearing. There, the female who’d been with them earlier waited, naked, on her hands and knees. She was all skin and bone and scars.
“Skehl, hold this one.” Garnuk shoved her back, and she fell into the giant. She froze when Garnuk started whipping the female and cursing at her, blood oozing from her old scars.
Mandy winced at each strike, alarmed when the woman keened with pleasure. Despite the appearance of loving the pain, those wounds had to hurt. And Garnuk seemed to thrive on each lash. He lifted his loincloth, nothing holding him back, and revealed a turgid cock. A true sadist.
“Watch and learn, Earther,” he rasped as he strode to the woman, wrapped the whip in both hands and looped it around her neck while he mounted her from behind.
Mandy turned her head away, unable to bear the sight. But she couldn’t block out the noises. When Garnuk ceased—a real two-minute wonder—the other two men had a go at the woman while he encouraged them. Skehl remained with Mandy, unmoving. She wanted to think he was acting protective even though she knew better. Apparently Skehl, though large and strong, wasn’t on the same power level as the others.
The males finished and started drinking together, then Garnuk started with the woman once more. This time he stared at Mandy as he worked her over, and she did her best to pretend she couldn’t feel him staring at her. “Good girl, Uftah.” He smacked the woman’s bloody flank and left her to celebrate with Haen and Fleen.
Covered in blood and other fluids, Uftah rose and sauntered to Mandy. The Nasuhl woman had the appearance of a victim, but the hard look she shot Mandy said otherwise.
Uftah slapped Mandy in the face. “Offworlder slut. You’re not good enough to suck my warriors’ cocks.”
Mandy stared in baffled horror. Despite her bruises, bite marks, and bleeding—hell, one of her eyes had swelled and a cut sliced her lip, not to mention the rest of her body—Uftah remained loyal to her clan. “You’re crazy, lady.”
Angered, the woman tried to hit her again, but Skehl brought his arm up to block her. “No.”
A simple word, but he attracted the others with it.
Garnuk, Fleen, and Haen surrounded them.
“Give us the offworlder and prepare for discipline.” Garnuk smiled and flicked his whip. “It’s been too long, Skehl. I think you missed this.”
“No.” Skehl put Mandy behind him. “No more.”
“Your father was nothing,” Fleen spat. “Your mother a whore. And you. A disappointing failure continuing to—”
Skehl roared and knocked Fleen into a tree with one punch. The others watched in shock as the giant defended himself from Haen then launched himself at Garnuk, who yelled to Uftah to fetch their backup. Uftah darted away.
Knowing she had a small window of opportunity, Mandy called upon her power and watched Garnuk’s whip, as well as the hand holding it, burn with a blaze of blue fire. Blue? That’s new.
He screamed, but she didn’t wait around to see what else happened. Mandy fled into the jungle and ran.
It wasn’t long before she heard movement behind her. Garnuk’s backup must have been close by. She knew she’d never beat a barbarian in speed or strength and decided to make her stand in a copse of trees with a large boulder at her back. She focused on the pair of barbarians following her. Both had stringy hair, pale skin, and the sickly flutter of colored tattoos across their chests. Nasuhl warriors, of that she had no doubt.
She typically only had enough fire power to work one major blaze before “flaming out.” Small fires didn’t take as much out of her, but to light an actual person on fire took effort. Humans weren’t that combustible. She could manage two adult sized individuals, but then she’d be weak afterward.
With nothing else to lose, she focused and called on more energy than she’d estimated, immolating the warriors in front of her. They screamed in agony, and though she wanted to, she couldn’t find an ounce of pity for them. Instead of the weakness she’d need to deal with having expending so much energy, she continued to simmer with power. Her anger and fear transmuted to fire, and the glory of it stunned her.
She thought she felt Zehn and Lore trying to pull her back. But she couldn’t stop.
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“Well now, that’s impressive.” Mike Francisco spoke from her right.
Energy snapped at her side when he tried to telekinetically shove her down. But her fire scorched, burning away his influence. Before she could make him scream, someone tackled her and caught fire when she burst into flame.
The cries of her enemies gave her strength. But then someone yanked hard on her pyrokinesis, and she started to grow dizzy. Crap. “Not yet,” she croaked.
And passed out.
***
Zehn had never been so worried. Mandy had been taken. Lore and he had felt her panic and then nothing. Hours later, they still hadn’t found her. Their clan had routed the interlopers, a Nasuhl raiding party filled with their weak and sickly. An oddity that called for further investigation. Except they knew why the raid had failed. It hadn’t meant to succeed, only to distract them.
With Talzec and Xav out with men searching, Lore and Zehn following her energy signature, and Arghet and Katan controlling security of the village with several hundred warriors strong, no one would invade the Vyctore. But they now had a score to settle.
Arghet mentioned Watta had been the last to see Mandy, and after Lore had ripped into her mind, she’d admitted everything. Morlo, that coward, had yet to show his face.
A weakness, that. Jealousy and petty bickering among the women? Those who were better and kinder than the men?
That alone stunned Zehn. But more shocking—Lore had used his power to find Mandy. He’d always kept it hidden from everyone but Zehn. Yet he’d unleashed it without hesitation for their mate.
Now they hunted, needing her with every breath.
I never told her about the babe, Zehn admitted. I meant to, but then the alarm sounded. She finally opened up to us fully. We’re bonded, and she doesn’t know. He felt horrible, guilt-ridden. Wrong.
Lore was the one to knock some sense into him. Find her, then apologize. Spend the rest of your life making it right. But first, we must find and protect our mate.
They ran, faster, harder, longer. Into the following day, where they found the burned bodies of Nasuhl, but no Mandy. Blood and the sight of a skirmish. But still no mate.
And then they encountered something even worse.
A giant Nasuhl warrior, larger than even Talzec, covered in blood, the scent of Mandy on him. That smell stirred Lore to crazed violence. Zehn barely held him back from attacking the male, having trouble handling his own rage and pain.
Cease. We must find out where she is, Lore.
I’ll find out. Lore once again telepathically dug for information. After a moment, he shook his head. I can’t. He’s blocked, somehow.
The giant, covered in old scars, strange tattoo patterns—one on his face—and blood, had the coldest eyes Zehn had ever seen. He stood over two carcasses of flesh and bone, unrecognizable by clan or gender, though Zehn thought them warriors by the sheer mass of tissue.
“The offworlder is gone,” the giant said in a deep voice.
“I’ll kill you,” Lore roared and almost broke out of Zehn’s hold.
“Escaped that way.” The giant nodded behind him.
Zehn and Lore froze.
Rustling came from the north, growing closer.
“They come.” The giant flexed his bruised hands. “Go. Find the female. She’s with young. Protect her.”
Surprised the man could tell such a thing, they nevertheless left with his terrifying battle cry hanging on the air. The sound of war faded behind them as they raced to find Mandy. Do you sense her? Zehn asked Lore for the hundredth time, his own mind filled with confusion, panic, and hope.
I…yes. Ahead. But she’s not alone.
They ran into Talzec, Xav, and several of their clansmen before finding Mandy.
Xav pulled them back when they would have investigated the noise ahead. “We have a scouting report. Humans and the Nasuhl are collaborating. We’re not sure why. But they have Mandy. She’s fine.” He yanked Zehn back when he’d automatically tried to charge after her. “We wait. Talzec is going in.”
We don’t wait. She’s our mate, Lore argued.
Agreed. To Xav, he said, “We’ll flank from the opposite side.”
Xav glared. “And wait for my signal. Use your head. Your mate and our leader are vulnerable. Do not engage and put them in harm’s way.”
Zehn knew the order to be sound, but he couldn’t contain the instinct. He moved like the wind with his bond-mate, circling behind the human encampment and taking out the Nasuhl guards, one by one, with swift, silent lethality along the way.
Once in position to finally see the landscape of their enemy, Lore asked, We’re not going to wait for Xav’s signal, are we?
No. But first we need to see what’s happening.
Good. Lore patted Zehn on the shoulder. There she is.
They stared at their naked mate. Mandy had a few bruises but nothing that looked seriously dangerous. At least, not on the outside. It helped that she was no quivering maid, crying in a corner. No, their mate appeared furious enough to scorch the humans and Nasuhl surrounding her.
Lore and Zehn exchanged a relieved grin. Our mate seems ready to kill. I’m so in love.
She is the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. Zehn gave a mental sigh. Mandy, in a rage, and naked at that, turned him into a lusting beast. Better that than a worried male eager to jump into the fray at the possible cost of her life.
Mandy’s gaze lifted to their position. She glared, and the word baby? rang inside his and Lore’s minds. She just reached out to us!
I’m pleased our mate has finally communicated with us, spirit to spirit. Lore cringed. But I now think we have more to be wary of than our enemy.
Zehn swallowed a groan. You may be right.
***
Mandy could not believe her barbarian jackasses had given her their second seed when they’d promised they would leave the choice to have a baby in her hands. She was so angry she was surprised she hadn’t managed to blow up the camp. Between the mangy Nasuhl, their sadistic leader, Uftah—that bitch—and the Franciscos in all their criminal glory, it was a wonder she didn’t just quit and give up.
She’d never been surrounded by more evil than right now. Yet she felt the worry and love from her men in the tree line. They’d either scaled a tree or rested above the small clearing she was in, on those rocky ledges where the Nasuhl had supposedly set up watch.
She closed her eyes and drew on her calm. Not so easy to do when Mike slapped her in the face. She opened her eyes and stared at him, imagining him with half his face burned off.
He must have read her rage, because he quickly stepped back. “Very well, Morlo. You have delivered your promise. The girl for the weapons.”
Mandy glanced at the crates of pulsers and wondered what Mike thought he was doing.
Morlo, the apparent Nasuhl leader, smiled. Large, muscular, and nasty. He’d done nothing but swear and insult the Vyctore clan since she’d arrived. She could see why he was in charge though. He had a commanding presence, a lot like Talzec. But Morlo was the evil version, his gaze dark, his mien punishing and cruel.
She felt his unclean energy when he stepped closer, and she typically couldn’t sense too much unless she called forth her fire.
Uftah smiled at him, and the expression lightened her twisted features. Oh boy, the woman loved him. Talk about messed up. He snapped his fingers, and Uftah fell to her knees and crawled to his side. Unfortunately, she hadn’t yet cleaned up from her earlier encounter with Garnuk and the others. She looked and smelled disgusting.
Garnuk, who stood by Morlo, smirked at the fallen Nasuhl woman.
“You are a fitting concubine,” Morlo praised her. “On your feet, whore.”
She rose, smiling from ear to ear.
Ew. Woman, grow a spine. Mandy wanted to slap some sense into Uftah, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t do any good. Besides, Haen or Fleen had already been there, done that.
Mandy wondered if Skehl had sur
vived and hoped he had. For some reason, he’d saved her. And she couldn’t be more grateful. Now if only she could beat some sense into the Franciscos.
Her head throbbed. Too many concussions the past few days. She knew better than to call on her inner fire when the pain grew so intense. She’d tried it once years ago and blacked out, nearly suffering an aneurism. Never again.
So she had to rely on her wits. And her mates. That they’d come for her warmed her inside. She loved them. But she didn’t like them very much right now.
What Skehl had said about young kept poking her to pay attention. So she’d looked deep inside herself. And felt it. That spark of something delightful tying her even closer to Ussed’s wonder. And her barbarian boyfriends.
But really? After all that talk about trust and affection and how they’d never take a woman’s choice?
A freakin’ baby?
Talzec walked into the camp, a towering figure of fury and power. Even the humans stepped back, giving Morlo and Talzec the spotlight. “It is time. The Nasuhl will be no more.” His tattoos flashed, and his eyes glowed golden, no white orb left. The freaky look upset the Nasuhl as well.
Good.
“You have proven that you have no honor. No worth, nothing to contribute to anything or anyone.” Talzec smiled, and she shivered at the menace she could feel. “I will do to you what I did to Daveen.” He lifted a fist. “I will smash you to nothing.”
“You can try.” Morlo grinned and accepted the pulser Garnuk handed him. He aimed it at Talzec, who shrugged. But when Morlo fired, everyone was shocked to see the alien tech work outside the tech barrier.
Talzec staggered as the laser shot his shoulder, leaving a scorched graze in its wake.
Scared out of her wits, Mandy tried to scoot away, but two humans suddenly came up on either side of her and pulled her back with them. She was now hunkered in the middle of the Franciscos and their pulsers. Damn it.
Talzec shocked them all by laughing. An inhuman shriek came from outside their encampment. The sounds of running footsteps, the roar of an animal, and then all hell broke loose.
