by Abel, Regine
Bane
Xian Warriors 3
Regine Abel
Cover by
Regine Abel
Copyright © 2019
All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal and punishable by law. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This book uses mature language and explicit sexual content. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Bane
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Also by Regine Abel
About Regine
Bane
The Dragon has awakened, and he will claim his bride.
As the Vanguard’s top analyst, Tabitha discovers a secret message which could allow them to deal a severe blow to the Kryptids. The last thing she expects during that mission is to run into the ‘enemy’ who haunts her dreams. After getting her heart crushed years ago, Tabitha has sworn off genetically engineered warriors. Yet, she cannot resist her attraction to the dark and mysterious hybrid named Bane. As they prepare for a bloody war against the Kryptids, she realizes there can only be a future for them if she can bring Bane and his people to the Vanguard’s side.
His hearts have ached for Tabitha from the moment he set eyes on her. And yet, time after time, he has let his fierce and fearless Queen walk away. It had been both for her safety and out of duty to those under his protection. However, the tide has finally turned. He and his people may be the monstrous creations of the Kryptid General but, for the first time, freedom is within their grasp. Now that he has a chance at a future with his Queen, and at safety for his people, nothing and no one will stand in his way.
Dedication
To brothers and sisters, be they blood or otherwise, who protect each other against a society that rejects them. To those who will always stand by family with love and devotion against adversity in all its forms.
To my parents and my siblings who have always had my back in my times of need.
I love you.
Prologue
Bane
I stared at my sire with the ever-burning urge to kill him, slowly, painfully, and to laugh in his face as I tore him limb from limb. General Khutu, military leader of the Kryptid army was the true embodiment of evil. Malice or cruelty didn’t drive him, only ambition. Decades ago, he had decided the world would bow to him. He has ever since single-mindedly pursued that goal. People, whatever their species, age, or gender were mere tools for him to use in any and all ways that helped further his cause.
So many had suffered and died, sacrificed to the altar of his ego. He had exterminated or enslaved entire races, used their populations as guinea pigs in his twisted experiments first to create his hybrid sons—like me—and then to give life to nightmarish war creatures to bring the galaxy to its knees.
“Approach, my son,” Khutu said, his back facing me as he stared at his latest creation inside the lab.
I complied, cringing inwardly at the term of endearment, which he fortunately rarely used—and especially not in public. My feet sunk slightly in the cushiony surface of the floor made of thick, organic material.
I hated this liveship—or any of them for that matter. Entirely grown out of organic tissues shaped into a vessel, they were low maintenance, easily modifiable, and just as effective as a vessel built out of more traditional material. But who wanted to live inside a mindless creature eager for you to bleed or keel over so that it could digest you for self-repair and general maintenance?
Carved directly into the reddish-brown tissue that lined the walls of the ship, a transparent membrane acted as a window through which my sire was admiring the work of his bioengineers of mixed species—each one working against their will and under duress. In response to the General’s signal, they opened the front panels of a series of cylindrical, tinted glass tanks. The panels lowered into the ground revealing the naked form of a dozen Mimic females.
No. Modified Mimic females.
My anger and hatred rose another notch as I gazed on yet another desecration of a peaceful species by the General. Their normally dark blue skin was now covered with yellowish-brown chitin scales and plates. The texture of their usual black hair appeared odd, a little too shiny and almost plastic-looking from where I stood. None of them had their signature stormy eyes, but instead had black eyes lacking pupils or sclera, same as the Xian Warriors. I couldn’t tell if the originally aquatic creatures still possessed vertical gills alongside their necks because of the scales now covering them. A tiny pair of bug wings dangled lifelessly at their backs. If not for having seen their faces before the experiments, I’d have never guessed they’d originally been Mimics.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” Khutu asked, grinning with needled teeth at the females.
I could kill him right now and end all of this.
As if he’d sensed my thoughts, he turned his multifaceted, oversized eyes towards me. The mandibles framing his oddly human mouth flexed in a clear sign of his blossoming annoyance that I hadn’t responded quickly enough to his question.
“Stunning,” I said, proud that my voice didn’t betray any of the disgust I felt for the mutations he’d imposed upon those females.
He cast a swift glance above my head, his lips pinching ever so slightly in further irritation that he couldn’t read my aura. I learned at an early age how to silence it after receiving one beating too many because it betrayed my true feelings. It was the first thing I’d also taught my half-brothers to spare them from our sire’s abuse.
“But what are they?” I asked, genuinely intrigued—and worried.
“Your queens,” he said, matter-of-factly.
I gaped at the females who had stepped out of their tanks and were standing still, evenly spread out in front of us, then turned a confused gaze towards the General.
“As in your new brides?” I asked, hesitantly.
“No. As in your new mates,” he answered mockingly.
My stomach dropped, a nauseous sensation twisting my insides at the thought of any of those females touching me or me touching them in any sexual way.
Khutu turned to look at one of the females, quite attractive, with full lips, a pointy chin, tall, slim body with generous breasts and sensually curved hips. She smiled and advanced one step. As soon as she started shapeshifting, I immediately guessed the General had telepathically ordered her to do so. Of all the wretched forms she could have picked, she took on his appearance.
Growing in height and mass, the Mimic turned into the General’s insect-like humanoid body, with broad shoulders and a hard face. Every detail was perfect, from the upper part of his head, shaped like a helmet with a crescent moon Deynian horn—which I’d inherited from him—to the spikes around his forehead. The same thick, black, chitin plates covered her muscular body, inhumanly narrow at the waist. She raised her now chitin-armored hands, splaying their five fingers to show their vicious claws gradually coming out of their tips. Then crouching down on the three seg
ments of her legs, she vertically jumped at least two meters high, landing effortlessly on her feet.
Unsure how to react at this display, I gave Khutu an uncertain look.
He chuckled. “You’re wondering what’s so special about an enhanced Mimic that simply morphs into another being.”
“Yes,” I admitted, already dreading what would follow.
“Go on, Shuria,” Khutu said out loud.
When she didn’t react right away, the General frowned then must have reiterated the command telepathically because seconds later, her throat began to swell and undulate in a fearfully familiar fashion.
“No way,” I whispered.
That triggered the proud and gloating laughter of the General. Shuria turned towards a free-standing, tall metal panel on their right while the other modified Mimics and bioengineers stared on. Her lips parted and the glistening, sharp tip of a mouth dart appeared between her white teeth. She spit it out, and it flew at dizzying speed before embedding itself into the metal panel. I couldn’t hear the sound that it had made, but I knew the material enough to know how powerful her throw had been.
“Unlike the originals, these Mimics do not only take on the appearance of a target, they also take on their abilities while in that form,” Khutu boasted in that grating, clicking voice I so hated. “If she morphed into you instead, she could take on your battle form and be able to spit your venoms, darts, and fly just like you.”
My blood turned to ice realizing what a powerful creature the General had engineered.
“She could soul-transfer, too?” I asked, glad that my voice revealed nothing of my rising panic.
To my utter relief, Khutu lost some of his arrogance as he shook his head.
“That part remains a mystery I intend to solve. When they morph into one of my Soulcatcher brides, the ghost of a psychic vessel appears in their psychic minds,” Khutu said pensively. “I believe if they remained in that form long enough and trained their psychic muscles, the Mimics could act as real Soulcatchers.”
“But wouldn’t their vessel vanish the minute they morphed into something else? If they were holding one of our souls at that point…”
“It would make for a rather unpleasant experience,” Khutu said with a creepy smile. “But I have not created them to be Soulcatchers. They will birth the next generation of elite warriors… with you.”
Khutu gestured at Shuria who took back her natural form. She slowly strutted her way towards the window separating us. Her eyes locked with mine and a sensuous smile stretched her lips. My stomach churned again, feeling violated by this unwanted attention.
“You will impregnate her,” Khutu said, matter-of-factly. “I’ll also give you four more of her sisters to start your harem. Do well, and I may grant you even more. My bioengineers are confident your offspring will combine their mothers’ mimicking abilities with your extended lifespan and soul-transfer ability. They will be unkillable; the ultimate war machines.”
Trying to keep a neutral expression on my face despite feeling ill, I tore my gaze away from the female still trying to seduce me and looked at my sire.
“You honor me,” I said with pretend gratitude. “But why not sire such powerful sons yourself?”
“I do not possess soul-transfer,” Khutu said in a slightly clipped tone.
In theory, he didn’t. None of the naturally born Kryptids like him did. However, over the decades, the General had been secretly using some of the bioengineering breakthroughs of his research team on himself. Unlike us hybrids and the Xian Warriors who both had an average lifespan of two hundred years, Kryptids like him had much shorter lives. The Kryptid Queens usually lived up to one hundred and fifty. The Generals, such as Khutu, who took turns mating with the Queen once a year for her to store additional sperm to lay more Soldier and Worker eggs, had an average lifespan of one-hundred years, with the Soldiers at eighty and the Workers at a mere sixty. Yet, Khutu had been leading the war against the Galaxy for at least eighty-five years, meaning he was well over one hundred now, despite looking no more than forty.
Who knew what other enhancements he had given himself?
“But yes, you will have powerful sons,” Khutu said, turning to face me. “Powerful enough to make anyone reconsider their loyalties.”
The intensity of his stare and the coldness of his tone made his underlying meaning clear.
“I am not just ‘anyone,’” I said with a sliver of arrogance. “I am your firstborn son, Father.” The word scorched my lips, but my performance—practiced over three decades—was flawless. It could have even convinced me. “My DNA is 40 % Gomenzi Dragon. As such, it is genetically impossible for me to be disloyal.”
“But to whom?” Khutu insisted, moving a step closer to me, invading my personal space.
My throat itched with the need to summon a mouth dart and smash his face with it. My shoulder blades burned with my scorpion tails aching to burst out and stab him repeatedly with their sharp stingers and unload their lethal venom into him.
“Who else than to the person who gave me life and who made me the man I am today?” I answered with the image of my mother flashing before my eyes. “Your Soldiers hate me the most, but they also hate all of your sons, my brothers.”
“Because you are stronger and smarter than they will ever be,” Khutu said smugly.
Flattering the ruthless bastard always helped smooth tense situations. “Indeed. Because you made us better in every way,” I said, bowing my head in genuine gratitude this time.
And I will destroy you with that gift, too.
But I couldn’t go into open rebellion against him just yet. I needed to get our mothers and younger brothers away from him, or he would strike them down in retaliation at the first sign of treason. If I attacked him now, while we were alone, despite my tremendous power, it wouldn’t be a quick battle. Guards would be upon us long before I could finish him, and then he would wipe us out. The General had no problem eradicating thousands of troops if his experiments showed the slightest sign of ‘defect’ that could turn against him.
Khutu turned around and started walking down the hallway towards his private quarters. I silently fell into step with him.
“There is no question they are jealous,” Khutu conceded. “However, there are more and more rumors implying that you are building your own army within my ranks and deliberately sabotaging missions in order to undermine me.”
My stomach dropped. This had been far too on the nose for him to be making wild assumptions. There had recently been a few too many close calls that almost revealed what we’d indeed been up to. Just yesterday, I had discussed with Dread—my closest brother and right hand—the fact that we couldn’t delay our revolt much longer lest we be found out.
“You do not need to answer that,” my sire said, sparing me from giving a response that would have been weak at best. “Like you said, you have strong Dragon genes, which I gave you and your brothers specifically to ensure your loyalty. But you have indeed failed me a few times of late. I expect better going forward.”
His tone was as hard as the sideways glance he gave me.
“Apologies, Father,” I said, not relieved in the least that he appeared to be so lenient. “The Xian Warriors are becoming increasingly effective and unpredictable.”
“They are,” the General said with a nod. “And the wretched Intergalactic Council has been spamming the Queen with messages about me going rogue. They never should have reached her and yet, somehow, someone is keeping them from getting intercepted.”
We are, you piece of shit.
“Surely you aren’t suspecting us?” I asked with pretend outrage. “None of us has ever set foot on Kryptor. The Queen would eradicate us if she even knew of our existence.”
“I am well aware,” Khutu said with a dismissive gesture. “The other Generals resent that the Queen favors me to both lead her armies and to sire her brood. I cannot eliminate them all too quickly without it becoming obvious. There can only be so
many ‘accidents’ back to back,” he said with a sneer. “But that has brought too much scrutiny from the Queen into my business. I am moving my brides to Zekuro, away from the Queen’s spies. I have built a hive for you there with separate chambers for each of your Queens. You might want to have your brothers guard each section to keep Shuria from murdering the others,” Khutu added with an evil grin. “She’s quite keen on you and those baby mandibles of yours.”
He raised his chitin-covered hand to caress the small mandibles that framed my mouth—one of too many physical traits that revealed my Kryptid heritage. I couldn’t wait to be far from his presence or that of any other Kryptid, so that I could hide them with a partial shift.
Clenching my teeth against the repulsive touch, my mind raced over this latest revelation. The planet Zekuro was located at the very edge of Kryptid space. Khutu had secretly terraformed it and built his base of operation there. It would be a long trek from Gunem—the third moon of Loriad where he currently managed our military—to transfer our mothers’ breeder ship to Zekuro. A long trek during which we could free them and allow us to fight him at long last.
“You will escort the ship and make sure it reaches Zekuro unscathed,” Khutu said.
Just as my heart soared, the General’s next words killed my blossoming joy at thinking how easy he was making this for us.
“I have also decided to get more involved in the upbringing of my hybrid sons. It only makes sense as you will soon be busy raising your own,” Khutu said, stopping in front of the door to his private quarters. “In the same trip, you will bring all of your brothers to stay with me on Zekuro.”
