Sarazen's Hunt

by Isabel Wroth

  Alec knelt before the creature she shared her body with and welcomed her with open arms.

  Here kitty, kitty. She thought to herself, smiling when the massive animal padded on silent paws to face her. Help me. Hunt with me.

  She smiled at the beast, and the beast smiled back.

  *****

  A’tarey and his mate took the children back to their quarters as soon as it became obvious what Loro was doing. The medics lifted Zhenya’s fragile form onto a stretcher and slowly backed out of the hall with him, their eyes not on their patient, but on Alec.

  He saw more than one sedative being palmed, just in case.

  Kalix waved the Vol Hollin males away, preparing to fight his mate’s bloodlust. Despite remaining in her human form, the scent of her beast permeated the hall as though Alec had taken her fur, and when her eyes snapped open, it was definitely the creature within staring back at him.

  Alec’s pupils were no longer round, but split vertically in the vibrancy of her irises. Her gaze jumped around the room with the precision of a predator, the commanding energy of her dominant female blew through the hallway like a chill wind, raising the hair on his body and made several of his warriors chuff in response.

  Answering her call to hunt.

  Kalix called her name softly, her power billowing around him, seeking for what, he didn’t know. He watched in awe as she sniffed her blood covered hands, her lips quivering with fury as they peeled back over her teeth.

  “We hunt now,” she growled, lifting her nose to scent the air, sinuously turning away from him, her steps silent and filled with deadly grace.

  In spite of the obvious presence of her beast, he was confounded to see no evidence of her fangs.

  He followed as she tracked back and forth, turning left, right, crouching with the fingertips of one hand to catch her weight as she bent and inhaled at something on the bloody floor.

  She leapt to her feet and sprang into motion, taking off down the hall so fast she was almost a blur.

  He followed, shouting orders over his shoulder as he went. “Secure the area, no one leaves the fortress crater. Tell everyone to get out of her way but be on guard for the Scylla!”

  Kalix chased after his mate, not certain what she and Loro had discussed about Alec’s beast, but this was not bloodlust.

  Alec had been too in control, too focused on the scent of her prey. He lost her briefly in the foreyard, but heard her shriek of triumph and followed as fast as his feet would carry him.

  He rounded the corner in time to see Alec run up the length of a tree that had been felled by plasma fire and leap off into space, landing on the back of a fleeing warrior in full armor, riding him to the ground.

  Kalix saw his warriors moving in the trees toward them, but Alec’s warning snarl vibrated the vegetation and froze them in their tracks.

  He got closer, dropping to his haunches to show her he had no intention of stopping her. To be honest, he was curious and more than a little bit aroused to see her harnessing her beast with such bloodthirsty skill.

  The warrior beneath her tried to get up, but Alec chose that moment to use the energy and fury of her cat like a focused laser.

  “You think you’re safe from me in your tin can, asshole?” she hissed, smiling a brutal, vicious smile when the traitor beneath her started to scream, seizing and flailing as his beast fought to emerge, Alec’s power trapping it in that excruciatingly painful in-between where the animal wanted out, but couldn’t break through.

  “You have three seconds to get out of that armor yourself, or I’ll do it for you.”

  “I don’t think he can hear you over his screams, my One,” Kalix mused, glancing around at the stony expressions of the warriors circled around them

  Alec’s savage smile widened as she released her claws and sank the tips into the heretofore indestructible metal of the screaming male’s armor, slicing through it like paper.

  First around the throat and neck to pop off his helmet, then around again until she could pull the torc free.

  It sang as she flung it across the grass, and by the time it landed with a thump, the traitor’s protective armor had vanished.

  His mate’s cold laughter made him shudder with perverse pride, noticing several warriors take a step back and regard her with a whole new layer of respect.

  “Well lookee here. Blinded, no doubt in excruciating pain, my little brother got you in the kidney. I’m so proud.”

  With a jerk of her arm, Alec whipped a prone warrior three times her weight over like he was a wet blanket.

  Even in pain, even with broken bones, even with his beast shredding his insides in an effort to be free, the murderous traitor still looked up at Alec with hatred burning in his eyes.

  “You... are... an abomination,” he choked out, blood frothing and bubbling at the corners of his mouth.

  Alec laughed and leaned forward as though preparing to give the warrior an intimate kiss.

  “That’s one name for what I am. But I prefer, Executioner.”

  *****

  Alec stood over the corpse of the warrior who had thought he could take Zhenya from her, his blood cooling on her arms, his heart clenched carefully in her hand.

  Her beast retreated with a contented purr, satisfied with their savagery, and like water trickling from a spilled cup, her anger drained away.

  If not for the bond Kalix had kept wide open between them, she would have been terrified he would take one look at her and turn away in disgust.

  With it, Alec understood the hardness of his expression was one of understanding and approval, gauging her receptiveness as to whether or not she would allow him to approach her now.

  At any time he could have overpowered her, battered her into submission with the beast that was her mate, and prevented her from having mutilated the traitor at her feet. He took her free hand, giving no indication he found the squelch of blood to be repulsive, and held fast.

  “You know it displeases me when you call yourself that. Executioner,” he chided.

  Of all the things she’d just done, he picked that to be miffed over? It was all she could do not to laugh.

  “I told you, if there’s another name for what I do, what I am, I’d use it.”

  “Justice,” T’chan called out.

  “Protector,” Ka’denn added.

  “Guardian,” called another.

  “Warrior.” One by one, the ring of tall, powerful, battle hardened warriors gave her a new name.

  A lump of burning emotion settled in her throat as she looked at each of them in turn. Vale stepped forward with a grin, jerking his chin up at her as he made a triumphant fist.

  “Abomination,” he crowed with praise.

  Kalix grunted, turning to wipe a bit of blood from her cheek. “I like that even less.”

  When she laughed, the ring of warriors raised a fist and shouted out together,

  “Abomination!”

  *****

  Loro didn’t even bat an eyelash when Alec strode through the doors of the infirmary covered in gore, carrying a heart in her hand.

  In fact, Loro gave the barest of smiles. Alec ignored the squawks of the medics who hurried to clean up the trail of blood she’d left behind on their clean floor.

  “You found harmony with your beast?” Loro asked.

  “I did. How is he?” Instead of being swaddled up on a medical bed, Zhenya floated in a clear tank of pink regeneration gel, a breathing tube down his throat.

  It hadn’t been more than an hour since his attack, and in spite of Loro’s healing blood, the gel still had more work to do to finish repairing the severity of his wounds.

  “Alive,” Loro reported hoarsely. “His body is well on the way to being completely healed. The medics are concerned for his eyes, they were... ruptured with the force of the attack.

  “The gel may repair them, but his sight may not return. Tor made mention of replacing them entirely, but wishes to wait and see how he heals.”

>   Alec digested the news with a hollow feeling in her chest. He would live, that’s all that really mattered.

  However, there was the question now of how to handle the issue of their mating. Loro was several centuries older than Zhenya, and he was still just a kid.

  Alec couldn’t recall a single instance where Loro had spent more time than necessary with Zee, or treated him any differently than the other children, but the questions still needed answering.

  “How long have you known he was your mate?”

  “From our first meeting.” Loro admitted softly.

  “Did you speak to him about it?”

  The Keeper made a face of affront, glancing at her sideways. “Of course not. That would have been inappropriate.”

  Loro raised her chin proudly, crossing her arms over her chest in a way Alec was sure was meant to look tough, but it looked more like the Keeper was hugging herself.

  “He will be my mate, but he is a child yet and for now my beast is content enough with having given him our blood. I will return home to my clan and wait. If my beast becomes too difficult, I will ask to be put in stasis.”

  “I don’t object, but putting yourself in stasis would leave you vulnerable. These Original Council bastards would leap at the chance to get their hands on you.”

  Loro hummed a sound of amusement, tilting her head as she let her gaze wander over Zee’s face. It was a kind look of an elder to a child, but Alec saw hope there too. Relief.

  “My family lives on S12, in a remote location on the ice. They will protect me if necessary.”

  Alec intended to say more, but Tor approached with an empty jar and a droll look at the heart she still held.

  “Don’t throw it out. It’s for Zhenya.”

  Tor’s lips wiggled as he fought a smile, his amusement plainly dancing in his eyes.

  “An odd gift to give a recovering patient.”

  Alec shrugged and dropped the heart into the jar, tipping her head toward the gel-filled tank.

  “I promised.”

  “So you did,” Tor agreed gravely. “Would you care to visit the enzyme shower? It’s just through there.”

  Alec rocked back on her heels and looked down at herself. Her clothes were splattered and sticky with blood, and to be honest the smell and the tacky chill was getting to her.

  “Probably a good idea. Loro—”

  “I will remain until you give me leave to go,” The Keeper assured her calmly, standing protectively beside the tank, her gaze roaming the room, her expression daring anyone with ill intent to get past her.

  NINETEEN

  “How is he?”

  Alec was alone in her quarters, Clary’s holographic image beside her as they stood on the balcony and looked out onto the oasis.

  Things had changed over the past few weeks, some for good and some for ill.

  Every open ground water source now had a silver dome covering it, the mesh made from ore and so far had been able to keep any of the Scylla from infiltrating the fortress.

  Each of the six sectors now relied only on the daily rainfall to meet their water requirements, and thankfully things were going well in that aspect.

  The only places on the planet the Scylla could now exit the underwater river systems were from the prison wells, where at any given time there were over a hundred warriors waiting to greet them.

  Zhenya had made a remarkable recovery, but his eyes had been so damaged the intricate web of nerves couldn’t come together correctly.

  Tor had replaced them via a transplant, and with a bit of Loro’s blood, Zee was now good as new, sporting a pair of vivid orange gold peepers. Alec hadn’t gotten used to the punch of shock every time she met Zhenya’s otherworldly gaze.

  His eyes were too old for his face now, filled with knowledge the boy had yet to gain for himself.

  Other than his eyes, you would never have known that not long ago he had lay in the hall, fighting for his life.

  “Physically he’s alright. He was practicing the stalking techniques A’tarey has been teaching him and happened to catch Bolin in the act of murdering Eurn and the other two warriors. Got the fucker in the kidney with his knife even while Bolin was cutting him up.”

  “I’m not surprised Zhenya survived. He’s too tough to die. Something he learned from you.”

  Alec ducked her head at Clary’s praise, deciding not to respond, because what could she say? Zee was one hardy human.

  “Emotionally, I think he’s just confused. He was mad as hell Loro left without saying goodbye, claiming he didn’t even get to say thank you, but I think it’s more than that. He’s spent a lot of time with Kalix, talking about guy stuff.”

  Clary made a sound of understanding, “Tell me about Loro. What’s she like?”

  “Patience personified.” Alec admitted. “She never once lost her temper, no matter how much the kids tried to mess around during lessons.

  “I appreciated how she chose to punish them for not paying attention, by making them run laps around the main tower or doing chores in the orchards.

  “She was firm, but never raised her voice in anger, always encouraged the children and took special time with those struggling to learn Saraz without a language converter.

  “In addition, she has balls for days. She was the only one around here who’d spar with me at first, and for someone who’s essentially a librarian, girl can kick some ass.”

  “You like her,” Clary stated with a smile.

  “I do. She tossed the medics out of the way and didn’t hesitate to cut into herself to give Zee her blood and kept me focused when I was close to losing it.”

  “About that. I’m still a little confused by what Kalix meant in his report, about you giving into bloodlust, without actually losing yourself the way Andi did. She didn’t recognize Ohlen, went totally off the deep end and didn’t remember gnawing some guy’s spine.”

  Alec set her chin in her hand and shrugged, leaning on the balcony. “Loro and I talked a lot about using the energy of the beast and harnessing it to affect others the way you and I can. She pointed out that I thought of my beast as a separate entity, not part of the whole that makes me, me.”

  Alec shot clary a hesitant look, not sure if she was making sense.

  “I’m following.” She encouraged.

  “They keep it quiet, but the women in Loro’s family, they have three forms like the hybrids do. Four, technically.” Noting Clary’s surprise, Alec nodded.

  “I know. She says it’s a learned skill, a complete harmony between you and the beast. I was skeptical because she wanted me to do a lot of meditation and touchy feely emotional shit with the cat. Deep breathing.

  “I felt like she was trying to do all the therapy stuff Jonas wanted to do, but she made it work for me. We’d spar, and then we’d do the talking and meditation.”

  “I could see that being more your learning style.” Clary teased kindly. “And the forth form?”

  “The beast is primal, it wants to feed, breed, hunt, fight, and lie around in the sun. It doesn’t care about vengeance or understand emotions.

  “The fourth form is that fine line between human and the two-legged beast form most Sarazen females have.

  “You have all the power and predatory skills of the beast, the super heightened senses, but keep your human form and your sanity.

  “My rage and I are best friends, and Loro just suggested I get to know my beast in the same manner, so she would understand what I needed and not drag me into bloodlust.

  “But I won’t lie, at the end I wanted nothing more than to go furry and rip out that asshole’s spine.”

  Clary was quiet for a while, processing what Alec had shared. “I had no idea there were any native females able to take more than one form, and in light of the continued crap from our enemies, I understand why Loro’s family keeps it quiet.

  “I’d like to learn more about it, but I’ll keep it between Tarek and me. I’m glad her version of therapy helped you.”
>
  Alec ducked her head, “It really did. I’ve had to take a lot of lives, but this time I liked it. More than I should have and I was worried Kalix would look at me differently. He assured me the delight came from my beast enjoying the kill.”

  “That’s good. Speaking of mates, where’s your big guy at?”

  Alec waved her hand in the direction of the prison. “Off practicing his aim on live targets. He’s armed every warrior here with a belt of knives and they train by attacking the Scylla when they come up the well. Any luck with the fishing expedition?”

  Clary sighed, her image wavering as she returned to the interior of Alec’s suite of rooms. To Alec, it looked like Clary was suddenly sitting in the middle of a potted plant, which was funny.

  “On the way back to Moika, Commander Dax reported a ping on their instruments. A possible lead on where one of the last two ships might be. The planet is close to a black hole, which apparently alters space time?

  “It was confusing the way he explained it, but basically, for every day the warship is in orbit out of range of the black hole, it’s an entire month on the planet.

  “He wants to explore the possibility of more humans having survived a wreck, and then he’ll move on to Moika. No more than a few days. Unless you feel like the situation is escalating on your end?”

  Alec wanted to say hell yes, they needed the cure now, but the truth was they were holding steady.

  The prisoners had been moved out into the desert, where the only water came from the sky, and with the well in the mine capped off, they had been able to get back to work without any further danger.

  With rigid safety protocols in place and armored warriors guarding each well font, there had been no further reports of infection.

  The planet was still under quarantine, only a handful of shuttles and transports had left the surface, a few more unmanned supply ships had come down, but they were honestly doing alright.

  “There hasn’t been a cure for over fourteen years, we can wait a little longer.”

  Clary smiled gratefully, making a little sound when she realized she had a plant in her holographic lap.