by Meg Xuemei X
“How do you know there’s someone alive in the ship?” he asked.
“A girl has to have some talent to go up against a guy like you.”
A powerful Empath could sense consciousness from afar. When I’d first felt a sole awareness in that ship, my heart had almost rammed out of my chest. My long, desperate wait would be over if that consciousness belonged to a Fallen Angel.
“A guy like me?” Marrok put up a disarming smile. “You can’t find a nicer man than me.”
“We’ll see,” I said.
His eyes dropped to my lips. “It’s a deal then, Kaara. You’ll find out.”
He wanted a kiss. But I knew his wicked lips would do more than kiss me.
I swallowed.
“I’m certain you have more talents than you know.” He raised his voice. “I can help you discover those other talents.”
His pack roared with laughter.
Not only did they believe their alpha would win, but they also thought he would conquer the Wickedest Witch’s general today. Wolves were born with top speed and a superior sense of smell, and their alpha was the strongest of them all.
While they were so sure the victory was already theirs, they didn’t know the speed I possessed. And they didn’t know the target was trapped in the ship’s sealed container, so Marrok would lose the advantage of his amazing sense of smell.
I could trace the Angel with my empathic magic. No walls of steel or glass could stop me from sensing a consciousness.
If Marrok reached the Angel first, the fierce Angel would fight him instead of being claimed. But I could make the Angel cooperate by showing him the runes on my angelblade. The First Seer had promised that the Fallen Angel would recognize its meaning and wouldn’t harm me.
I’d beat Marrok—that much I was sure of.
I flashed Marrok an inviting smile before I broke into a run toward the ship.
Marrok raced after me, then slowed to a trot beside me—not a step behind and not a step ahead. When I picked up my pace, he quickened his stride too, running beside me with an amused, sexy grin on his face.
“Shouldn’t you go the other way?” I asked in exasperation.
“Where should I go?”
I pointed to left.
“Why would I do that?” he asked.
“Go find your own entrance.”
“We can share the entrance. I’d like to keep you company.”
“This is a contest, Marrok!”
“So?”
“A contest of wits, strength, and speed!”
“We’re evenly matched.”
“I don’t want a tie,” I said. “And I don’t need any company.”
“My instinct says you want my company more than you want anything else.”
I sneered. “My instinct says you need to find your own way into the ship. Don’t you wolves all have a superior sense of smell?”
“We do,” he said. “But I like your scent more than any others, definitely more than whomever is inside that ship.”
“That isn’t how this works, Marrok. We have to play by the rules. You agreed to them.”
“But you didn’t exactly explain the rules. You simply said whoever claimed the poor soul in that ship would win.”
“How about we use our common sense and go our separate ways now?”
“My common sense says I should keep you near me if something is alive in that ship,” he said. “Whoever is inside is dangerous, unless it’s already dead.”
He was right on that.
I veered to another path. “If you keep following me,” I ground out, “I’ll declare myself the winner and you don’t get to kiss me at all.”
“Fine, I’ll leave you for now,” he said. “If you encounter anything nasty, hide or run. And wait for me.”
Like hell I’d do either of those things. “Worry about yourself,” I muttered as he veered away.
Chapter 5
I stepped into the ship through a torn opening in the hull and followed the blink of the angry consciousness, my angelblade in my hand.
I didn’t blame the Angel for being hostile. Crashing onto this doomed planet would send anyone into a fit of rage.
I was curious to see what he looked like. If he was the one I was looking for, he’d have black wings, and that was all I had to identify him by. I also didn’t expect him to be benign.
The First Seer had said the Angels were top predators.
And normal, sane people would never visit Pandemonium.
Kingdoms and empires across the galaxies had heard about this doomed planet, so they packed their worst criminals and most-hated exiles in outdated ships and sent them here for the harshest punishment.
My team was made up of former criminals as well, but fighting for daily survival bound us to each other. They were all terrified of the Wickedest Witch, yet realized it was better to serve her than to be eaten by the cannibals, drunk by the vampires, and ruled by a band of cruel criminals and militants. The shifters didn’t allow any outsiders into their pack, so everyone who wanted a fighting chance settled with me. I was actually the nicest, most sane person on Pandemonium.
As I drew closer to the consciousness in the ship, my hand tightened on the hilt of my angelblade. The Angel wouldn’t strike me down once he saw my blade, but would he spare Marrok?
Was I actually worried about the wolf alpha? Apart from the fact that we were both lusting after each other, I knew nothing about him. I shook my head. I had no reason to worry. I would meet the Fallen Angel first; Marrok couldn’t smell the target while he was still contained.
I padded quietly inside the dead ship.
There was no sound of humming machines, no lights flickering overhead.
It was like that every time. Something drained the ships the moment they entered Pandemonium’s atmosphere. Whenever I thought about the sinister, dark force on this planet, chills ran down my spine. My empathic ability couldn’t sense it, yet I had the dreadful feeling that whatever it was, it would never allow any of us to leave here.
Which was why I desperately needed this Angel. He could be our antimatter. He could be our best weapon to tear the grimy net open and get Fia and me home.
I pulled out the witch light—Fia’s magical gift. The crystal illuminated the path before me. This nameless ship seemed to have been in good shape before it had tumbled down. It felt familiar, almost like it was a ship from the Lithuaria Empire.
I shook off the unsettling feeling and treaded on the passage toward the front of the ship. I sensed the Angel’s consciousness was right above me. All I needed to do was find the stairs to reach him.
I scanned the surrounding area of the ship as I treaded through the corridor, listening for every little sound, probing everywhere with my senses.
Marrok was being quiet, but I spotted his consciousness. I suppressed a smile. I’d definitely beat him on reaching my mark, despite his fine sense of smell and superior vision in the dark. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Marrok’s face when I claimed the Fallen Angel.
I focused on my target. The Angel’s mind was predatory. He was here to kill, and his emotions raged, his fury overwhelming me.
What kind of Angel was he?
A second later, my senses picked up that he had broken free. He was heading straight toward me with stealthy steps.
A sudden awareness flared in me.
He was hunting me, as if he knew me.
It wasn’t the Angel. It had to be something else.
I flashed the angelblade in front of me.
I found myself in the inhabitation deck. Against the side wall were two vast, sealed containers with suspended alien beasts inside—they looked like the type of predators that could hunt their targets across the universe with only a whiff of their prey’s scent. I’d learned about most of the assassins from a book called The Most Lethal Bounty Hunters in the Icearth Galaxy.
I was glad they were dead now, but who had sent them to Pandemonium? It wasn’t as if we were
lacking hunters and monsters.
The one who had survived the fall was the most deadly of all, and it was close to me. Too close. It was moving much faster than I’d expected or liked.
I turned, looking for a shelter, but the thing was suddenly on the bridge above me.
It was a she.
She was nearly ten feet tall with two mighty heads. When she exhaled, regarding me with contempt, a stream of fire puffed out of her mouths.
She had no wings.
A memory flashed through my mind. I’d seen a drawing of the creature. It was called Eshmaki, one of the demon species. When I’d read that book, I’d dismissed it as being just another load of shit, yet here she was, an Eshmaki
For so long, I’d been waiting for the Angel, but a she-demon had come to crash my last hope.
Rage and dismay surged through me, but my fear was more devastating.
The Eshmaki had a magical trace in her.
She hadn’t fallen here by accident or misfortune. She’d come to hunt.
But who?
Recognition sparkled in her intelligent, evil eyes, and she grinned. I saw her intentions clear as day through my emphatic probe.
Horror rammed into me.
She’d come for Fia.
As if it wasn’t enough to banish my princess to this hell hole, the royal house had to send the deadly hunter demon to assassinate her, to remove the threat once and for all.
Even though they knew she had no memory of them, they still feared her. They feared one day she might find a way back and rain her wrath down on them and the whole Lithuaria Empire.
I was the first and final barrier between them and Fia, so they’d marked me as well.
That was why the she-demon was grinning in delight. Her prey had come to her lair unwisely.
I would never allow her to reach my future queen.
Bitch! It ends here. Now.
Adrenaline pumped into me, expelling the icy fear in my heart. However, I wasn’t stupid enough to face the demon alone.
I would lure her out of the ship and let the shifters overwhelm her with their numbers. I would, of course, fight with them and stab the she-demon in the back.
I turned back toward the way I’d come, about to ran as fast as I could.
The Eshmaki whistled piercingly—her version of a hunting cry—and jumped from the bridge.
She would cut my retreat. I wouldn’t be able to outrun her.
So I leapt into the air as the she-demon jumped, thrusting my angelblade toward one of her heads, the bitter taste of adrenaline lingering on my tongue.
I’d timed it exactly right, and my legendary blade could cut into anything.
The Eshmaki twisted in the air, her heads dodging away from my blade. The demon was unbelievably flexible and fast for her enormous size. The Lithuaria royal house must have spent a fortune to find this hunter. They wanted to make sure the princess and I were dead, even on Pandemonium.
Her claws slammed into my chest, sending me flying backwards.
I crashed to the ground, my angelblade flying from my grip.
But the she-demon hadn’t won completely. Though my blade had missed her head, I had managed to slash across her thick shoulder. A wound inflicted from an angelblade was fatal to all races. The Eshmaki might not fall now since their kind was die-hard, but the cut would weaken her.
I had bought Fia some time and that was all that mattered. I didn’t care that my time was up.
The Eshmaki landed beside me, dark blood dripping from her shoulder onto my belly. She glared down at me, roaring fire down at me and nearly singeing my violet hair.
I didn’t want to die bald.
It was a strange thought to have as I stared death in the face, but to a degree, I was as vain as Fia. That might be one of the reasons Fia and I got along so well.
I rolled out of the path of the she-demon’s breath, my fingers stretching out to reach my angelblade, but it was too far.
The Eshmaki stepped on my blade, both her faces sneering down at me.
I couldn’t warn my princess that death was coming for her, but I could warn Marrok to get the hell out of the ship.
I took a deep breath, then released it into a howl that was not too unlike a wolf’s.
Chapter 6
A large, grey wolf slammed into the Eshmaki with an enraged roar, knocking the she-demon away from me. It was the largest wolf I’d ever seen.
The Eshmaki snarled, not appreciating that another predator had taken her prey from her claws. She rolled up and lunged toward Marrok.
The grey wolf grew even bigger at the threat. His jaw opened, his fangs lengthened, and his claws sharpened, protruding from his paws like knives. In an instant, the beast and the she-demon blurred into one giant form, their tangled limbs tearing at each other, their fangs sinking into one another’s flesh, ripping their foe open.
It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
Savage growls and bellows of pain echoed through the deck.
I dove forward to snatch up my angelblade. I would never part with it again.
The Eshmaki threw Marrok backwards out of my line of sight, and I hurled myself toward her. A fraction of a second before I reached it, I fell down on my knees and slid through between her legs, ready to use my signature move.
The Eshmaki stomped on me, but I was faster. The she-demon spun to avoid being impaled by my blade, but I had another small victory when I succeeded in slashing her calf.
If I could cut her tendon—
With a hateful holler, the Eshmaki swept her spiked tail at me. I could have sworn that hadn’t been there before.
Great, could this demon species generate body parts at will?
The wolf swatted the she-demon’s tail away from me and thrust his blade-like claws into her thick back. The Eshmaki twisted her torso, her mouth spitting fire at Marrok.
I charged at the she-demon.
Fire flew into the wolf’s face, but it didn’t burn him.
Relief and realization hit me. The wolf alpha was immune to offensive magic.
Marrok sank his fangs into the demon’s neck, intending to tear her throat out, but the Eshmaki had turned her other head around, her iron fangs piercing into Marrok’s face, narrowly missing his left eye.
Blood poured out of both of them, but Marrok refused to let go.
I leapt high in the air, my angelblade flying toward the Eshmaki’s heart, even as her long claws swung at me, but at the last moment I veered down, my foot landing on her sweeping tail, using it as stepping stool as I twisted and wheeled with a blinding speed, burying my angelblade in her neck.
There was no way I would have been able to pull that off with any other blade.
When I landed behind the Eshmaki, half of her head had been chopped off. But the she-demon was still alive. Her other head was still functioning.
With a furious roar, she launched a series of punches toward the wolf’s head. Marrok loosened his jaws from around the Eshmaki’s flesh, and the she-demon tossed him away. If Marrok weren’t super strong the demon’s blows would have cracked his skull.
Marrok crashed against the deck’s steel wall.
The Eshmaki stalked toward me. Marrok was inconsequential to her. Fia was the demon’s primary target, and I was the fence standing in her way. She needed to eliminate me as soon as possible and then move toward Fia.
I wondered what price the royal house had paid the Eshmaki to make her come to Pandemonium to hunt us.
I dodged a direct hit to my face. The Eshmaki struck again, and I was pushed to the corner. But then Marrok was there, between us once more. I hadn’t even seen him get up.
He hurled himself at the Eshmaki, all claws and fangs and powerful body, ramming into the she-demon in a desperate attempt to separate her from me.
Their bodies twisted and mingled in the air, shredding at each other with claws and teeth.
The wolf howled in agony as the Eshmaki’s claws slashed across his back. In a flash, the E
shmaki pinned him down. The she-demon had the upper hand now. Her jaw opened to twice the size of the wolf, and she was readying herself to bite down on Marrok’s head and end the skirmish.
Marrok’s fierce, sapphire gaze found mine, urging me to run.
Only, I had flown into the air while the Eshmaki was focused completely on Marrok. I had been waiting for this moment, gambling with both Marrok’s life and mine. I had one narrow window to strike, and I took it.
My angelblade ran though the Eshmaki’s head to her open mouth, the tip of the blade an inch from the grey wolf’s widened eye.
I yanked the blade out just as Marrok threw the Eshmaki aside and thrust his paws into the she-demon’s obsidian eyes.
The grey wolf turned, locking his turquoise eyes with me, wildness and violence lolling in them, but I wasn’t afraid of him. Somehow, I knew Marrok would never hurt me, even if he was in the grip of insanity. I had no idea where the confidence came from, but it rang through my heart with certainty.
He pulled his lips back, his teeth bared, and I blinked.
He was grinning at me.
He made to maul the she-demon again, but I shook my head. “That’s not necessary. The Eshmaki is dead.”
Marrok narrowed his eyes on me, and I knew he was wondering how I knew about the species, but he couldn’t ask me in his beast form.
I concentrated, listening to discern if there were more presences on the ship. I blew out a breath of relief when I was certain we had no more company.
I was panting hard, and my chest hurt like a bitch.
Marrok was in worse shape than I was. He was bloody. The alpha definitely needed medical attention, but I doubted I would find any supplies on a ship whose inhabitant had been on a mission to eliminate me and the princess.
“Marrok,” I called.
The wolf transformed, and in an instant, a handsome, naked man stood before me.
I watched in awe as his wounds started closing up on their own.
I’d heard about the shifters’ amazing regenerating ability, but I hadn’t expected him to heal mere minutes after taking a beating like that.
