by Isabel Wroth
The beast he held in his jaws fought like a demon, but Alec’s blood was on his claws, Kalix could smell it. It sent him into such a killing rage there would be no stopping him until this traitor was dead. Blood filled his mouth in hot, furious spurts.
He’d finally caught the bastard by the throat.
The traitor fought harder to get free, claws raking at Kalix’s belly in an attempt to eviscerate him, but he ignored the pain of it and wrapped his legs around the larger male’s body. Claws curved into his flesh while Kalix bit down harder, forcing his teeth to meet.
Kalix tore his enemy’s throat out with a victorious roar, shaking the flesh free of his mouth and snarled over the corpse.
A soft sound had Kalix whipping around to Alec, his beast pleased to find that she had thrown another knife into the coward who’d jumped on his back.
Hit the traitor right in the ass with it, and when the idiot had stupidly turned, Alec plowed the entire length of her sword right into his open mouth.
“Don’t know which one of the boys you are, but that... was impressive.” Alec winced. Her arm pressed tight to her belly where bright red blood was leaking out in a steady stream.
Kalix’s claws scraped on the stone as he scrambled toward her to identify where else she was bleeding. The slice across her cheek was deep enough he could see the white of bone.
Her belly, but he couldn’t tell yet how bad it was. The trio of rake marks across her thigh were turning her trousers black.
“Quit that.” She slapped at him weakly, trying to get his bloody muzzle off of the uninjured side of her face.
Kalix streaked backwards, leaping into the lake to rinse off. Pulling himself back up in his two legged form, he felt the skin on his knees shred as he slid across the rock to her.
Alec goggled at his nudity, said his name in disbelief and were the situation not so dire, Kalix would have allowed her to look her fill.
“How bad is it? Never mind, open your mouth.” He bit into his wrist, curling his arm around her shoulders and held his bleeding vein to her lips.
Alec turned her face away with a grimace, not seeing how his heart shriveled in his chest at her rejection.
“Come on, you and I both know that won’t work. It’s okay, it’s not that bad.”
Kalix glanced down at the amount of blood pooling around her. A muscle ticked above his eyebrow and before he could check himself, he roared at her,
“Open your mouth!”
Her mouth dropped open immediately. More out of shock than obedience.
Nevertheless, Kalix took the opportunity to press his arm to her lips, growling tightly while his entire body shook with fear.
“Swallow it. More.”
Alec grimaced with distaste but she obeyed. She suckled softly until his body healed itself and he had to take his arm away to bite down again, dripping his blood directly onto the cut on her cheek. He watched it close before his eyes without as much as a scar.
“Move your arm, let me see,” he murmured to her, holding her tighter when she made a small sound of pain and lifted her arm.
He could see the slick shine of her intestines but by some miracle, the coward’s claws hadn’t perforated them.
“I will rip their carcasses to shreds and let the carrion animals feed on their flesh!”
Alec hissed as his blood went to work repairing her wounds, the burn of it no doubt intensely painful.
“The hell you will! This puny little human took out two fully shifted cats, SHIT! What is your blood made of, acid?
“You will not rip them apart. I’m skinning the one without the hole in its ass and making it into a rug.”
“ALEC!”
Kalix’s head whipped around to see three beasts approaching, Zhenya riding the one in the middle, two more warriors atop the other two beasts.
“Alec! Are you okay? What do I do, what can I do?” Zhenya was in a panic, flinging himself off the warrior that had brought him.
Running up the hill like a little skagarra, he flung himself down next to Alec, his young face so pale he was gray with fear.
“You can explain to me what the hell you’re doing up here! There’s trouble, and you come barreling in without a weapon?
“Zee! Didn’t I tell you not to buy into all this, ‘you don’t need a weapon, nothing bad will ever happen again’ crap? I know I told you that was bullshit. OW!”
Kalix had ripped a strip of her shirt off to tie jerkily around her leg, not liking how long it was taking for his blood to heal that wound.
The pain of his temporary dressing interrupted her shouting at the cub. After shooting him an irate glare, reassuring him with her anger she would be fine, Alec went right back to yelling at Zhenya, who also seemed relieved by her anger.
“You wipe that smile off your face and look at what happens when you let someone else tell you when you are or aren’t safe!
“You go over there right now, young man. Get one of those good for nothing assholes to give you an anatomy lesson. And get my knives out of that one before they start to rust.”
Zhenya obeyed, but not before he threw himself down to hug Alec tightly. Her expression got soft, tender even when she hugged the cub back for a time. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing and shoved at him, but gently.
“Get off me, you little shit. I want a full report at dinner on ten different ways to take down a fully shifted cat, you hear me?”
Zhenya nodded and bounded over to the two beasts with her blades still stuck in them, grunting and heaving with effort to get the sword out.
“You speak to him like a warrior,” Kalix murmured, biting into his arm again, making sure enough of his blood saturated her belly wound to seal it. He wanted not a single scar to be left after this incident.
“If I babied him, he’d know something was wrong,” Alec grumbled, cheeks pink with embarrassment when he caught her looking down at his naked cock. Even in pain, she was admiring his body. Good.
“You throw knives better than some of my warriors.”
Alec snorted at him and pushed away to scoot back against the rocks, grimacing as his blood knitted her flesh back together.
“Fourteen years of constant combat practice. The Scylla had body armor, only way to get them down for good was a shot to the eye.
“We ran out of bullets and ion pistols six months in, knives and arrows are reusable. Hey! Do not put holes in my rug! Use the other one. It has holes and claw marks all over it!”
Kalix glanced over his shoulder to see one of the warriors kneeling beside Zhenya, solemnly explaining to him the best ways to incapacitate a rampaging beast.
He’d drawn one of Alec’s knives over the back of the dead male’s knee, where the tendons were.
The warrior blinked at her ferocious shout, ducking his head to hide his grin and took the cub over to the one Kalix had taken down.
“Thanks, by the way, for coming in to save the day. Gut wounds suck. This is healing really fast, almost doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
Kalix nodded, not certain he would be able to speak to her with the respect she deserved. His beast’s worry for his mate faded, returning to rage that how dare she put herself in danger.
How dare she allow herself to be hurt! He looked away, catching A’tarey’s gaze and jerked his chin at him.
“My mate wants those two for the floor of our chambers. See to it while I carry her back—”
“You do realize that you’re naked, right? And as you’re continuing to speak over me like I’m deaf, or too wounded to be thinking clearly, your dick is in danger of being ripped off.”
Kalix blinked, certain he hadn’t just heard his mate speaking Sarazen. Her narrow-eyed expression and how she thoughtfully looked down at his groin, then pointedly back up to his face...
Time had not diminished the fact that his beast found her challenges incredibly arousing.
“You were given a language converter?”
She gave him a dark, disgusted look. �
��Yes. I was. ”
*****
The warriors around here were over the top paranoid. Way more than she’d ever been. Almost to the point of driving her insane with how close they’d hovered.
Alec had ruthlessly used her dead sister as an excuse for needing space and alone time. Time to grieve in peace, she’d said.
It was the truth, but had been the only thing Alec found she could say to get the warriors off her ass and let her walk around without an armed escort.
Standing there now, listening to those same warriors getting their asses chewed out by the guy who was basically their king, his third in command, and Kalix? Alec felt mildly guilty.
Not enough to step in, but enough to warrant an apology later.
Tarek had arrived with Brennaugh, about ten minutes ago.
Alec had never met the other warrior, but she was able to put a face to the name from how Clary had described him.
The most beautiful male she’d ever seen, despite half his face having been ravaged by scars. Clary was so right. If Brennaugh hadn’t had those scars, he would be way too beautiful to look at.
Tarek, Brennaugh, and Kalix were taking turns in ripping the stone-faced warriors assigned to protect her and the other humans.
Something about how unacceptable it was Alec had even been alone in the first place to be such an easy target.
Alec was listening, Zhenya standing next to her doing the same, while she was coiling a thick vine between her hands in preparation for dressing her kill.
“What are they saying?”
Alec glanced at Zee, wondering not for the first time why the kids hadn’t been given language converters.
“The guys in charge are ripping our guys a new asshole for letting me come out here by myself.”
Zee frowned at her, at them, then back up at her with this expression like he was wondering if the guys in charge had ever met her.
Alec’s lips twitched. “They’re starting to repeat themselves. I think—”
“She is human, A’tarey. A human, female. Not anywhere near strong enough to fend off any sort of attack from anything on this planet.
“Yet you allowed her to leave the safety of the fortress alone, unattended anyway. Do I have that right?”
Alec’s jaw clenched when she heard Brennaugh’s scathing accusation. She handed Zee her vine, took a deep breath and marched herself toward the knot of boneheaded males, the muscle above her eyebrow ticking in outrage.
“What are these corpses still doing here? J’ave, get rid of them. I want their heads to be mounted outside the citadel—”
Alec rudely interrupted Tarek, the ruler of this planet, honestly not giving one shit at this point.
“You can remove the one all chewed up and clawed to shit. The other two are mine.” Tarek’s head turned slowly, like he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.
He narrowed his eyes at her, condescendingly informing her that she need not concern herself with the remains of her attackers.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I killed them. So the remains are my concern, as they belong to me.”
Every male but Kalix turned to look at her, blinking with wide-eyed expressions ranging from disbelief to flat out shock.
Tarek didn’t look away from her, turned his head slightly in Kalix’s direction, and the silver-eyed asshole grunted in her general direction.
“The yellow one she had already killed by the time I arrived. The second one jumped on my back and after gaining his attention, she killed him too. The third is mine,” Kalix confirmed, sounding extremely less than thrilled to have to admit that she, a little human girl, had killed two fully shifted Sarazen cats.
All by herself.
“But this right of combat belongs only to Sarazen warriors. You are not a Sarazen warrior,” Kalix added.
It was all Alec could do to not leap across the distance between them and show him just how much a warrior she was.
She threw her hip out, crossed her arms over her chest, ignored Kalix completely and faced down Tarek, who kind of did intimidate her a little bit. He was just so... powerful.
It oozed off him like a palpable aura. Like a well-worn coat that fit him perfectly after years of practical usage.
She cocked her eyebrow at him, intending to tattle on him to Clary the first chance she got when he smiled ever so slightly. Benevolently. Like he was about to pat her on the head.
“You have done well, female. Very well. I am relieved you are unharmed, but this should never have happened. I vow to you it will not, ever again.”
Kalix growled at her. Stabbing his finger at the three corpses behind her, “Those traitors would never have gotten within smelling range if you had remained within the walls of the fortress! It is the job of these warriors to keep you safe—”
“Their job? It’s their job? Funny, I thought it was the job of my mate,” she shot back hotly, making Kalix’s chin jerk back like she had punched him.
Like he was baffled that she would raise her voice at him. She would have much rather punched him, but the black look on his face and the hot tips of his ears were satisfying enough.
*****
Kalix watched his mate stalk away from him with her head held high, quietly gathering up the cub who was trying and failing to hide his smirk, and went to the carcass of the first beast she had killed. Alec pulled a smaller blade from her boot and knelt beside one of the dead beast’s paws.
He was mildly disturbed by how comfortably, easily, she sliced through the traitor’s fur and began to dress her kill. Disturbed, and yet oddly proud.
Tarek clapped his hand down on his shoulder, making Kalix stumble under the weight of it.
“I would have a private word with you, Kalix,” the Asho stated.
The other warriors elected to disperse, quickly, lest they receive any more reprimands, and Brennaugh returned to the transport with a grin pulling at his lips.
“Now that you have given her your blood, I need you to pay very close attention to your female, Kalix.”
The gravity in Tarek’s voice made Kalix and his beast both perk with uncertainty. He searched the elder male’s expression warily.
“You are concerned?” Kalix asked.
Tarek rubbed his hand over his mouth while he frowned in thought. “Alec is... angry.” The Asho took pause to consider his words carefully.
“None of the other humans held such deep wellsprings of rage, and in truth, I was glad when she declined the invitation to the breeding festival.”
Kalix felt his blood begin to simmer. “As am I. Obviously for different reasons. Why such wariness?”
His pride ruler grunted. “Alec did not have a beast of her own, but it crossed my mind, if she had, the power of her fury would have been on the same level as a female experiencing blood lust.
“Now you have given her your blood and soon she will have a beast. We have seen the carnage caused by a female hybrid in full blood lust.
“Andi is the smallest of the females, and yet she completely destroyed a squad of seasoned warriors all on her own.”
Kalix felt as though a stone had dropped through the bottom of his belly. Unfortunately, Tarek was not finished.
“My mate and the first three hybrid females to have taken their beast form did so under extreme emotional distress. But there was a measure of a bond already formed to help keep them tethered to sanity.” Tarek squeezed his shoulder, and bluntly stated, “You have no such bond with Alec.”
Kalix did not need to be reminded his decision to keep away from his mate had more than one consequence. Tarek gave him no time to think on all the many ways Kalix had failed Alec.
“Her rage is powerful, Kalix. So too is her grief. It took Clary and the first four several cycles before their beast came forward. Some of the others it took only one night.
“My greatest concern are the handful of very human, very vulnerable cubs within Alec’s reach.
“With the unpredictability of how her beast
might manifest, you must take care, or you must take her elsewhere to assist her through her change. Understood?”
Gut clenching, Kalix nodded tightly. He thanked his Asho and gave his vow that he would be vigilant.
The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, watching Alec for a moment as she efficiently and quickly, gave Zhenya a lesson on the proper way to skin an animal.
“It makes me wonder,” Tarek said idly, “if I were to broadcast a recording of your mate so efficiently skinning her enemy, would that increase or decrease the traitor’s desire to kill the human hybrids?” Kalix had no answer.
“A’tarey has been in command of the fortress. Since you’ve returned, I give that responsibility to you. Report once you’ve made the security upgrades.”
So saying, Tarek clapped Kalix on the back and left him standing there.
Alec was in the process of kicking the entrails of her kill to the side when he finally approached.
Zhenya stood by, watching Alec carefully while she demonstrated her extremely efficient hunting skills.
“If this was an animal we’d taken down for food, I’d be a bit more respectful. But since this is not food, and it’s not exactly an animal, and as it tried to gut me... it’s no holds barred,” Alec told the boy.
Kalix got close enough for her to flick him a glance, wincing at the quick dismissal of her attention.
Her knife blade flashed in the light, moving quickly and expertly over the carcass. Kalix cleared his throat and decided there was no use in pretending any longer.
“Where did you learn to skin a carcass, mate?” Alec didn’t pause or spare him a single glance.
“Clary’s father,” she clipped out.
By the time the sun had set on the lake, Alec had skinned both her kills and politely asked A’tarey to burn their carcasses.
It seemed Kalix’s mate was not speaking to him at all now.
A’tarey looked to him for conformation of Alec’s order, earning a little hiss of displeasure from the female.
Kalix nodded tightly, wondering what he had done now to make the scent of his mate’s anger intensify. Alec said nothing, silently refusing his help when he offered to carry her pelts for her.
The walk back to the fortress was a long one.
