He only wore a breechcloth and an enormous double-stranded necklace of white metal and large green stones that hung down his chest to his navel. The fool didn't even bother to wear shoes. What's the point?
Don't get caught with your pants down, moron.
My heart sank at the memory of Goro's statement.
Would I ever see him again? Yes. Dammit. Crazy Darla has arrived to clean house.
"I see you've come back to me. It's as if fate willed it." Voldon shot me a smug smile.
I seriously doubt the natural order of things wanted anything to do with a person who uses mind control to dominate others. "Three years, Voldon! I thought I'd never get off those horrid free-thinking starships." I forced a brilliant smile. What's next? Better work on a nice safe subject. "So I hear you have something of mine."
A chuckle rumbled from the throne.
Voldon stared in my direction as if he had a monster hard-on and was just about to lick his lips.
Where are the Crellons when you need them? They could have a party here with him.
Voldon waved a hand that casually hung from his elbow resting against one of the throne's arm.
How could he just sit there while my life dangled so precariously? How? Oh yeah, he was an animal.
"Bring in Rellerk to meet his mother," Voldon thundered.
What a name. I would have thought of a better one. Something totally different. Something mine.
Movement behind a long orange curtain to the left set the sheet of fabric fluttering. A barefoot child, toddler aged, ran out wearing the same breechcloth Voldon wore, straight to Voldon and stood at his knee.
At least the gremlin didn't run to me.
"Say hello to your mother, Rellerk," Voldon instructed.
The child carefully studied me.
Cautiously. If he had any of my genes-those genes would be the ones wielding caution. Or the child didn't understand English. Why in the world was Voldon speaking English to his child an unimaginable distance from Earth? I suppose I need to act agreeable. "Hello, Rellerk. My you're a big boy."
Voldon's intrigued mask split with a grin. "I knew you'd be happy to see him."
Apparently he really couldn't read my mind. "When I heard about my son, I couldn't wait to meet him." Hopefully, Rellerk didn't want to have anything to do with me. But feigning happiness would undoubtedly save my ass. I threw out my arms. "Come give me a hug."
Rellerk just watched me with indifference.
Voldon grabbed the boy beneath his shoulders and hefted him onto his lap. "He'll warm up to you soon enough." Voldon shot me a wink with all that casual familiar Earth language. "It's not every day one meets his mother."
This was all too damned freaky. I'm still not buying who's the mama here. "Who can blame the child?" I chanced a step toward them. "I thought you'd never come for me." I faked a tumultuous sigh.
"Anything for you, Darla."
To think the creep still thought I was interested in him. I suppose that's good. But he needs to lock me in a tower until Goro arrives. Out of sight. Out of mind. Just what was I supposed to say next? What now? Do we conquer the rest of the universe? I scanned the crowd to the left just to look curious about something.
"Show my mate to her chamber."
* * * *
What appeared to be a day's sunset, night, and sunrise passed with Darla in absolute seclusion. She realized her personal chamber turned out to be the Voldonian equivalent to a tower room. Nice locked door. Sick monstrosity of a curtained bed sporting endless layers of orange bedding. One large floor mirror. And no indication that Voldon would be joining me other than the bed looked like a sex pit. I posed the kept woman in front of the mirror and studied my long sexy blue gown's wispy reflection.
What in the world does Voldon want from me?
When he learns I can't give him a sexually-bound shifting mate, what will he do? And there was nothing left to think or do. I had slept on the bed, paced, and stared at myself in the mirror until I had to break down and shoot up again. Since I joined, The Cause, my life had become something akin to the actresses in those porn movies. I had sex. And more sex. Shot up. Then was locked away until my services were needed again. Albeit, I was celibate for three years. But this is how I feel about everything now.
Maybe this was Father's Hell? I'd gone and bound myself to a powerful charismatic barbarian who I'd fallen in love with twice. And I was taken from him only to be thrown into solitary confinement by the universe's nut job who somehow genetically engineered my son.
No. I'm not getting all soft and mushy over that kid.
Yes. This is definitely Hell. I've got one last dose of Goro's blood. The clock is ticking until I start hurling. Now, how does a person escape? I treaded my well-worn path back to the narrow arrow-slit window to stare at the eerie world cast in blue.
Everywhere, the castle guards littered the castle grounds in red uniforms. The gate was almost red because of the number of guards clustered at the frilly metalwork. How could Goro save me with all these damned guards? The only way to get out of this mess began to look more and more like saving myself. The clock ticked far too quickly to wait much longer. And escape seemed impossible.
The door squealed and swung open into my room.
Who was there? I headed back toward the center of the room to see.
Lizard Guy stood out in the green hallway, watching me.
What was he waiting for?
"Voldon requests your presence. Hurry." The alien landed his palm on his torch as if to warn me not to balk.
Why not? An opportunity for Crazy Darla to check out her surroundings might provide escape options. My clicking footsteps followed the guard and I down to the same grand hall where Voldon sat on the same throne in disgusting opulence.
Nothing along the line of escape came to mind in passing doors and descending the winding staircase. Not one whisper from the parted crowd dared imply a means of escape where I stood before my captor and son.
How am I going to get out of here? I've got one shot left.
"Join me," Voldon commanded.
As in love and war?
Her gut curdled.
Lizard Guy nudged me toward Voldon.
Oh, as in proximity. As long as Voldon keeps his hands off of me, things are going to be okay. I climbed the five agonizing steps to stand where Voldon pointed almost effortlessly with a wave of a palm.
Right next to him.
His disgusting arm snaked out around my waist, pulling me against the biting frame of his throne.
"I've been waiting for you, my love mate," Voldon called, a demanding smile upon his face.
So my solitary confinement was to ensure any thought I had about escape was futile?
His hand petted my gown.
Or my hip beneath the fabric. Talk about having balls.
* * * *
Walking past Voldon's nonresponsive guards was the most unnerving experience to Goro. The most any soldier managed was to look in his direction.
This was a trap. Nothing more. Nothing less. Voldon expected me to follow this path all along after he captured my mate. And the chase, the game was the part Voldon thrived upon. The bastard is toying with the wrong warrior. I approached the guard at the castle's large metal door.
The guard heaved the massive hatch wide.
Past planet Svalor's cleansing blue light, Voldon poised upon his dais in golden light cast beyond the castle entry. Even worse, Darla leaned against the bastard's throne in a manner nobody would evaluate as anything other than seductive. But she craned her upper body away from the bastard. Awkwardly. She obviously hated standing there.
My blood boiled an unusual heat for an Xquine.
No touching my mate.
Sweat beaded across my brow.
Albeit, the blood lust is upon me. Anything could make my blood boil. And one fatal mistake could cause me to ruin my last chance in righting the universe back along Destiny's path. I must remain calm.
Nobody shouted or opened
a channel through mindspeak.
The worst kind of hand-to-hand combat. Mental. The preferred approach of dangerous highly-evolved psychics whose powers had merged into telepathy and manifested in the disgusting choice of mind control. No, it's not enough for some beings to have the ability to read the minds of others. To always understand a person. No. A power-hungry being like Voldon must possess others. But now Voldon's inability to control me has led me to his place through a personal vendetta. And here I stand right where he wants me.
But he won't play me like his puppet. I stepped into the great hall's orange ambiance. Orange, the color known for encouragement. Was this a joke? Voldon struck me as the dominant black type.
The ridiculously-dressed crowd of nobles from all of the universe's cultures Voldon conquered witnessed each of Goro's footsteps in their forced act of paying homage to their emperor. Silently they observed me. Perhaps hoping I would be the one to end the madness of their lives. To release their worlds from mind-control subjugation. Or the point of this stage of the game was to embarrass me by holding my mate captive before an audience? To put me in my place as they say on Earth.
Darla's pained expression showed she didn't care for her new status.
Kill me now. Or die when I shape shift in a few hours. Something was going to end very very soon.
"Why have you come?" Voldon questioned in English. "You're disturbing my happy family's reunion."
Darla winced.
Voldon would die before I left this world. But guards lurked everywhere wielding torches. A torch would vaporize Voldon. So, something else unfolded. Just mind games. He wants to prove he's stronger than I am. "You have something of mine. I'll have it back now."
"There hasn't been anything to take from Xquine in years. Except your honor."
How could any warrior ignore the cretin's insulting an entire planet's legacy while standing there deep in the blood lust? I inhaled deeply to maintain a calm exterior. "I can see the woman can't stand your touch." I scanned all of the sets of emotionless eyes to search for agreement somewhere in Voldon's court then met Voldon's dark gaze.
Anger flashed therein.
"Throw him in the dungeon," Voldon shouted.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Goro's mate would never live freely if he died a fool's death fighting guards packing torches. Better to wait for another opportunity for liberation than throw everything to ashes. Just wait. So I stood before the guard's at torch point.
Voldon shoved Darla toward Goro. "And throw his mate in with him. Maybe he'll accidentally tear her from limb to limb." The bastard let out a demonic cackle.
So Voldon knew we had mated.
By the time I grabbed Darla before she crashed into our containment cell's solid back wall, I began to feel lightheaded. In a few hours I would transmute into fangs and fur. And Voldon would pull us into his arena to try to kill us.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. I did what you said." Darla wrapped her arms around my shoulders and sank into my chest. "I hid my telekinesis. Tell me what to do."
Just her touch seemed to cleanse my mind of the blood lust's nausea. I snaked held her tightly. Just for a moment. To help her feel safe again. "I didn't expect you to know what to do." That was truth. "How long have you been here?"
"Since yesterday. I have one shot left."
"I'm here. You don't have to worry about that now." Or at least until we're thrown into Voldon's coliseum. Voldon would certainly try to kill us himself. To convince the crowd how invincible he thought himself to be. "We're going to have to work together now."
She sucked in a long deep breath and leaned back to look into his eyes.
Fearless she was once again.
"I'm ready," she said. "He's going to throw us into his little game pit. Right?"
Crazy Darla probably was ready. And she knew what to expect. "Yes. He doesn't have your powers. He can invade minds and control weaker beings. But he can't invade yours. You can beat him with telekinesis, Darla." Or she'd have to try, especially if anything happened to me.
"What about you?"
I'll work on ripping him limb from limb. "He won't throw us into the arena until I've shifted."
Her brow pinched. "When will you?"
"In about two earth hours."
She threw her head to the side and sighed as if something were wrong. "I used a syringe a few hours ago. I'm sorry. I never can time these things right."
We were better off with her in human form with her telekinetic power. "You did what you had to do. And you will again soon enough."
She shot me an understanding glance. "Just be careful. I don't want to live without you."
Those words hit me right in the soul. I'd be cursed if I didn't survive this final battle.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The ravenous hunger for blood, the tremors, and the nausea came upon Goro before he could devise a better plan. But a plan was a plan, he noted. The smell my mate's sex only made my blood sizzle more. I could almost taste her flesh in simply licking the air.
A tingling prickled under my skin.
The shifting. I'm becoming an animal for first time of my life. I caught Darla in my arms and stared into her brown eyes. "The change is upon me."
Those eyes widened fifty percent. "What will happen? Are you just going to bite me?"
A pain shot through my arms.
Not if what were-assassins say is true. I should have a lot of self-control. "No." She'd seen many were-assassins in were-form. But seeing it and experiencing it were two different things. "They'll come for us. They have to. We're the star entertainment at the midday feast. My plan is to throw you over my shoulder and run. When I do, hang on. If at any point in time you think using your telekinesis will help us, by all means, go for it."
The world shifted, growing smaller before my gaping mate. My leather clothing began to rip. My skin began falling off in chunks.
* * * *
Darla could only stand there and watch her mate stretch inches overhead as his human skin fell off. He had a distorted horror-type muzzle with nasty teeth. Jagged teeth that could make a population stampede. And his hands weren't really hands anymore. More like arthritic clawed digits. He could probably grab as good as other were-assassins I'd seen in action. But it wasn't like he was going to try to play a piccolo. Everybody was certain to haul ass, everyone except a were-assassin's soul mate. A were-assassin in were-form would trash whoever it came upon while searching for blood to satiate its blood lust. And hopefully he wasn't going to bite a hunk out of me.
Would he attack me to end his discomfort? He was Xquine. And they tended to be volatile-according to what I'd learned. If the blood lust were any indication, I'm about to get gnawed. Hopefully, he could control himself. Like how he did before releasing that deep jungle sound after climaxing. Or we'd never get out of imprisonment.
Someone started screaming.
It's not me. My mouth is closed. Thank the stars. And Goro said to wait. He'd doze his way out of Dodge. I took a step back toward the cell's glowing bars, giving him more room to move.
Guards suddenly stood before their cell.
But Goro towered before me. Controlled by some inner intelligence. That's my mate. By the assessing look in his eye, he meant to follow his plan. If anyone could, the indomitable Xquine warrior could stick with a plan. I stared into his unique burning orange eyes.
A familiar shadow danced in those glittery orbs.
My mate was in there, buried down underneath the fur and fangs. And he recognized me.
The containment wall suddenly blinked and disappeared.
Why? Apparently, Voldon just allowed the were-wolves to run into his trap.
Goro's furry arms threw me over his shoulder in one rough sweep.
So he didn't act like or look like a hunky fireman from earth. I wasn't about to argue. He followed his plan. Let's cheer for his ability to recall said plan in were-form.
We plowed through the corridor.
Would the guards pursue? I shoved off Goro's back enough to twist my head around.
Lizard Guy watched me with a hint of curiosity in his expression.
Was someone going to torch us?
Effortlessly, Goro rounded a corner and plowed onward where only I could see his furry legs and feet.
Blue light showed between those lower limbs.
They must be approaching the arena he mentioned. This coliseum. If it is anything like the one in historic Rome, I don't want to join in those blood baths.
Speaking of blood, my head became quite warm from the blood draining into my head. It even seemed harder to breathe as I bobbed slung across his shoulder.
Goro stepped through a doorway and into a sandpit.
Joy. Sand wasn't the best thing to run through. Voldon would have the upper hand. Or would he when facing a were-assassin?
A loud noise shrieked away the silence.
The sand slowed Goro a bit. But he planted himself a good distance from where we entered and turned, apparently assessing his surroundings.
Hell. I couldn't see much of anything. Throw in the pounding blood in my head and I needed to get vertical again. Pushing up was totally out of the question. Maybe Goro would cooperate. "Put me down. I can't see or think in this position."
Goro tightened his grip on the back of my legs.
"It's okay to put me down, Goro. I can help you more if I'm thinking clearly."
The crowd fell silent.
Why? If only I could see. "Put me down." I pounded the course hair, uh fur, on his unyielding back for emphasis.
The world blurred as my feet swung to the ground. And kept moving. The shift in position made me more than a bit lightheaded and dizzy. I blinked away the delirium and found Voldon climbing atop a squatty boulder in his new black leather outfit. He seemed prepared for hand-to-claw combat now, or just self-confident. Did he fancy himself the equivalent of a were-assassin dressed in black?
Long pikes stabbed toward the clear sky in an immobile act of protecting the mad man, encircling the stadium. Each pointed rod held a skull on the end. A humanoid's rotten skull, bones littering the poles' bases where other skulls had lost enough tissue to fall.
Feral Flaw Page 19
