by Abel, Regine
As expected, the Scelk had died during the night inside the containment box. Liena put it in the cold storage for a thorough autopsy by someone more qualified for that task than she was.
Unfortunately, we were forced to make a major change of plans. We’d forgotten that my Father’s crew didn’t have a Shield with them. Using the psychic disruptor to disable the Scelk would also disable their own Soulcatchers and Portal. This meant that once we’d confirmed that the disruptors and sugar darts worked, Father’s crew would join us and Liena would have to tag along.
Linette had landed us in stealth mode near Hepon’s village, a short distance from the clearing where we had interrupted the execution squad. I gave my mate a final kiss then shifted into battle form. With Wrath in the lead, and our psychic disruptors firmly attached to our weapons belt, Chaos, Steele and I raced towards the village. Liena had shielded me so we could communicate easily, despite the device.
Formed in circular rows, the village contained a little over two hundred dwellings made of whitewashed wood and thatched roofs. The wide, pale streets of packed dirt and cobblestones sprawled between the rows of houses. The eerie stillness and utter silence, aside from the wind whistling through the leaves of the fruit trees lining the streets, would have led anyone to believe the town abandoned. But our scanners told a different tale.
We didn’t detect the presence of a single Kryptid amidst the Janaurians huddling inside their homes. With a tilt of his head, Chaos gestured for Wrath to proceed to one of the houses containing the fewest people. He opened the door, which didn’t possess any locking mechanism.
“We come in peace,” Wrath said loudly, as he entered the house.
I followed him, leaving Steele and Chaos to stand watch outside. With my mind shielded, I had full use of my psychic abilities and didn’t sense any threat on that front. The door opened on a large room that served as both family room and eat-in kitchen area. We moved past it to one of the three connected rooms where our scanners indicated the Janaurians were hiding. Four of them held each other fearfully in one of the corners of the mostly barren room, but for a large bed, a wash pot, and a series of shelves containing various items including a number of loincloths that served as coverings for both males and females.
“Do not be afraid,” Wrath repeated. “We wish you no harm.”
One of the two younger females whimpered. The two older Janaurians, a male and female, no doubt their parents, placed themselves protectively before them despite their obvious fear. It suddenly dawned on me that, in our battle form, we resembled the Kryptids too much. These poor people certainly believed us to be just another bug breed despite yesterday’s battle. I placed a hand on Wrath’s shoulder, indicating he should give me the lead.
I shifted out of my battle form, ignoring Wrath’s concerned frown. “We are Xian Warriors, here to help free your people of the Kryptids. We know how to get rid of the Scelks on your young. We have removed the one that was controlling little Hepon. He’s safe now.”
“Hepon?” the Janaurian I assumed to be the father asked. “You have Hepon? Cured? Where?”
His gaze flicked beyond my shoulder, seeking the boy.
“He’s safe on our ship. We didn’t want to take a chance bringing him here until we had chased out all of the Kryptids,” I said in a soothing voice. “We will bring him back as soon as we are sure the village is free of Kryptids and danger from the Scelks.”
The male exchanged a look with his mate. They seemed to come to a wordless agreement.
“We saw you fight yesterday,” the male said in a shaky voice. “They got inside your heads, too. They—”
“They can’t anymore,” I interrupted in a gentle voice. “They took us by surprise yesterday. We had not expected them to have such an ability. But we are prepared this time.”
The couple exchanged another look, gleaming with a sliver of hope.
“They have left the young in the village’s Gathering Hall,” the female said. “Please, please defeat the Kryptids. They will kill my mate and me to feed their Drones, and they will take our daughters to breed more young for their Scelks. Please…”
“Where is the Gathering Hall?” I asked.
They gave me very simple directions: dead center of the concentric village.
“Are the Kryptids with them or are they elsewhere?” I asked.
“They all left after the battle, yesterday,” the father said. “But we think they are getting reinforcements. They left the young to keep watch on us.”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” I said with my kindest smile. “Please remain inside. There may be a battle, and we wouldn’t want any of your people getting hurt. If you see any others like us, they are allies. Do not fear them.”
“Thank you,” the mother said. “The Maker watch over you.”
With a final nod, I turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind us before shifting back into my battle form.
“Let’s go exterminate some parasites,” I said.
“Hear, hear,” Wrath replied.
We rejoined with Chaos and Steele before making a beeline for the Gathering Hall. Where the other buildings had been rectangular, this one stood out with its round shape and much larger size. It had clearly been designed to welcome all the villagers at once with room to spare for guests.
As we began our approach, the children poured out of the building with the same creepy slow walk as the first time we encountered them.
“Liena, stand ready to shield the others,” I mind-spoke to her.
“Understood. Be safe.”
We armed ourselves with our dart guns, one in each hand, and opened fire. The children flinched from the sting but otherwise ignored it and continued to mindlessly advance towards us. We’d set the darts to leave a black splash at the point of impact to ensure we didn’t inject the same child more than once. We initially considered using red, as that color would stand out more against their albino skin, but it might have sent the wrong signal to witnesses. While Liena felt confident two or three doses wouldn’t harm them, we didn’t want to take unnecessary risks that could jeopardize their well-being, considering the amount of trauma they’d already faced.
“Chaos?” I asked as the children got closer.
“I’m fine. No mind-fuckery happening here,” he said, reloading one of his dart guns.
“Same here,” Wrath said while emptying his dart guns on the kids.
“Ditto,” Steele answered.
“NOOO!” a Janaurian female yelled, running out of her house.
She stopped dead in her tracks, a confused look on her face when the targeted children didn’t fall but kept advancing. Other Janaurians also trickled out of their houses and observed us fearfully. With our scans indicating no presence of Kryptids in the vicinity, we shifted out of our battle form to be less frightening. The steps of the children at the head of the pack began to falter as the effects of the sugar solution started kicking in.
In the absence of any sign of aggression from the young ones, we remained still, reloading and targeting those that hadn’t received a dose yet, while they stood in a tight circle around us. A few of them blinked, their previously dead-looking eyes returning to life. They shook their heads before wincing and holding the back of their skulls, just above the Scelks on their napes. Seconds later, their parasites fell off, landing on their spindly legs with the dexterity of a cat. They scampered towards the adult population, no doubt in the hopes of finding new, suitable hosts.
Big mistake.
The parents immediately began stomping on them. Before long, the liberated children also joined in the massacre. Although a number of Scelks managed to escape, we didn’t worry much; they’d soon be dead.
“You can bring Hepon,” I mind-spoke to Liena.
The children ran to their parents, crying and laughing all at once. My throat tightened at the sight of those who had been orphaned by the first execution squads seeking comfort from neighbors and other ch
ildren. While waiting for Liena’s arrival, we quickly explained to the villagers how we had forced the Scelks out with sugar.
“What of the other villages?” one of the Janaurian elders asked.
“We are going there to free their children as well,” I said, reassuringly.
“Sorenan Village is where all the Kryptids went,” the elder said. “The young over there are no longer Janaurians. Their souls are dead. They are purely vessels for the Scelks. There is nothing left to save. They have been infected for six years, since the Kryptids first arrived.”
Six years? How the fuck did we not know it had been going on this long?
“Are you certain they are beyond redemption?” I asked.
“The Scelks have merged with their bodies. They no longer speak like us, and barely look like us. Their hearts are dark and evil.”
It echoed what I had seen in Hepon’s psychic void; his soul being slowly strangled by the tendrils of the parasite.
“We will get rid of them, then,” I said, not relishing the prospect of fighting younglings.
“MAMA!”
We all turned around at the high-pitched shout in Hepon’s youthful voice.
“Hepon!” a relatively young Janaurian female shouted back.
Releasing Liena’s hand, Hepon ran towards his mother who also raced towards him. She caught him as he leapt into her arms and held him tightly while rubbing her cheek against his.
I marched towards my mate who was surrounded by Tabitha, Tyonna, and two of Doom’s Warriors. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I drew her into my embrace, and she leaned against me.
Hepon’s mother lifted her ivory-white face towards us, her large yellow eyes brimming with tears. “Thank you for saving my baby.”
“It was my honor,” Liena said, smiling as we approached them. “You be a good boy and listen to your mother, okay?”
Hepon nodded, staring at my mate with affection. She leaned forward and kissed his head, as bald as his mother’s and the rest of the Janaurians’.
“Stay safe. And the next time you see those bugs, eat a lot of sweets,” Liena said.
“I will.”
With a last farewell, we headed back to the ship, shooting with our blasters any lurking Scelk we encountered. On our way, I conveyed to Linette and Father the elder’s revelations through mind-speak. They both performed long-range scans which seemed to confirm his statements. Still, after the near disaster of our first raid, we chose to err on the side of caution and raided the nearby villages with both my father’s units and our team. It proved to be overkill in the absence of any Kryptids, but it allowed us to sweep through the small towns quickly to free the children and move on to the next.
A scan of Sorenan Village made it clear our task there would not be quick or simple. It qualified more as a small city; one crawling with Kryptids and Swarm Drones. In light of the numbers of enemies we’d face, we needed to revisit our strategy. We gathered on our ship, the leaders of Doom’s unit joining us. We didn’t dare use coms. While the Kryptids would likely fail to decrypt our messages, even encrypted ones could be used to trace their origin and frequency to locate us—something we couldn’t afford right now. Our stealth technology had allowed us to avoid detection so far. We didn’t want to jeopardize that.
We debated for hours which strategy to adopt. By the time we came to an agreement, it was too late in the day to launch an attack, which we expected to take a while.
As agreed upon with Legion prior to our departure, Ayana contacted me psychically for an update. Man-to-man psychic communication was limited. The greater the distance, the longer it took to establish the connection. For this reason, psychic human males weren’t allowed in the Vanguard program. While human females also had a range limit within which they could contact another soul, as long as that distance wasn’t exceeded, they could make the connection instantly. Ayana was the only known human able to connect with any mind regardless of distance.
I relayed to her all that had transpired and our success in freeing the children. Hopefully, it would suffice to convince the Coalition to stand down. However, we still wanted them to come to the Rings of Janaur. According to my father’s report, even more Kryptid ships were headed towards the primitive planet.
My mate and I headed back to our quarters, holding hands. Tomorrow would be a grueling day.
Chapter 13
Liena
I barely had a chance to remove my combat uniform before Raven was pushing me under the warm water of the shower. Since the first time we’d made love, not a single night had passed without us going at each other. With Hepon sleeping in our bed last night, being forced to behave had highlighted just how addicted Raven and I had become to each other. His hands, impatient and eager, staked their claim on every inch of my body, caressing, fondling, and exploring. A rumbling purr vibrated from his broad chest as his lips claimed mine. I welcomed his invading tongue, its roughness enhancing every sensation, reminding me how utterly divine it always felt between my legs. That mere thought had me throbbing in all the right places.
I caressed Raven’s back and gently clawed at his scales rendered slick by the water raining down upon us. He shivered, the rumbling intensifying. My man loved getting clawed and bitten—a trait apparently shared by all the Warriors due to their Gomenzi Dragon blood. That same heritage caused them to become unbridled and wild in their passion. I’d never expected to enjoy rough sex, but Raven made it exhilarating, keeping it just on this side of pain. And I couldn’t get enough.
My mate’s hand slipped between my thighs, his long fingers teasing my opening just the right way to drive me insane with need. Raven loved to tease and torment me, always giving me just enough to have me moaning with pleasure but not quite what I ached for until he had me begging. Grabbing a fistful of my hair with his free hand, he tilted my head back, scraping his double fangs along my neckline with enough force to give it a nice burn but not to break skin. His fingers began to dip in and out of me, his thumb caressing the flesh on each side of my clit but never touching it. Joining in the sensual torture, his mouth fluttered around my chest, tongue licking my areolas and nipping at my breasts but completely avoiding my painfully hard nipples.
“Please,” I begged, pushing my chest towards his face.
I fisted his hair with both hands, trying to direct his head—and thus his lips—to where I needed them, but he resisted with a mocking chuckle. I was so aroused, I all but expected the raining water to evaporate on contact with my skin, burning with need.
“Touch me, please!” I begged.
But Raven didn’t touch me. Instead, he dropped to his knees in front of me and buried his face between my legs. I cried out as his mouth immediately latched onto my engorged—and painfully neglected—little nub, sending me over the edge with only a few licks of his rough tongue.
I was still reeling when he slipped his arms behind my knees and lifted me up, pressing my back against the cool tiles of the shower. I felt his loin plate part as he rubbed his pelvis against mine. The friction, first of his scales and then of his rock-hard shaft against my swollen clit, which still throbbed from my waning orgasms, sent bolts of pleasure to the pit of my stomach and along my spine.
Raven slowly pushed himself inside me, his thick cock filling me to the brim. Splayed open, sandwiched between the wall and the hard body of my mate, I gave myself over to his dominance as he began to move inside me. His scales thickened and his shoulders appeared to broaden as his partial shift came over him. It always terrified and thrilled me when his draconic nature took control, making his seed fertile and enhancing his fluids so they would in turn enhance me. He growled with pleasure, each of his increasingly passionate thrusts slamming me against the wall and giving my clit an exquisite jolt that had wetness—completely unrelated to the shower—dripping down my thighs.
I clawed at his back as my legs began to tremble with the rising tide of an incoming climax. Each stroke of his cock fanned the inferno within me. When I
sank my teeth into the scaly flesh between two of the bone spikes on his shoulder, Raven roared with pleasure. Whatever control he still possessed seemed to unravel. His hands, holding me up under my bum, tightened their grip, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh. His bone spikes protruded further as he completed his partial shift and began pounding into me with near savagery. My spine felt on the verge of snapping. I could have sworn his cock was swelling and growing as it hit my cervix with each stroke, threatening to split me in half.
The room soon drowned in the wet, slapping sound of our flesh, my strangled moans from the most sublime pleasure-pain I’d ever experienced, and my mate’s almost animalistic growls as he took savage possession of me. My body seized, every nerve, every muscle contracting so violently, not one sound came out of my mouth, gaping wide open from the brutal orgasm that descended upon me. My inner walls clamped down on Raven’s cock, wresting his release from him. My ears rang from his feral roar, and his seed exploded inside of me in a burning flow. He continued to rock in and out of my sheath with waning intensity until the last of his essence had been spent. I could feel it tingle inside of me, filling me with the most unusual heat. God willing, his seed would take root. But failing that, it continued to enhance me, increase my lifespan, and strengthen my immune system.
Whoever would have thought that mind-blowing sex with a hot Warrior was the best way to keep the doctor away?
“You will break me,” I whispered, covering his neck with kisses while our heartbeats slowed down.
Raven lifted my head to give me a worried look. He always feared hurting me.
I smiled. “Ready for round two when you are.”
His eyes widened, and a predatory smile stretched his sensuous lips. Yeah, I was a sucker for punishment. But what better way to get wrecked than screaming with ecstasy?
* * *
