To Catch A Warrior [Unearthly World Book 5]

by C. L. Scholey

  “My little prisoner,” he said with a deep growl making her shiver.

  Titus gripped the bars over her head and entered her with a sharp thrust making her cry out. His grip was so tight the bars began to bend as his movement became fierce. Zabbie’s legs were caught in a firm grip by the metal-like material. Her cheek pressed to the hard surface as she gasped for each breath.

  Titus threw back his head and roared. He pulled out, his arm wrapped around her middle tugging. Zabbie was stuck and couldn’t move. Titus slipped his hands higher on the hard material and bent the bars to release her knees and undid her hands. He was out of battle mode to better manhandle her without hurting her. The short tuffs of her hair were just long enough for him to get a small grip with his fingers. An arm around her back and hand in her hair, he was on top of her, thrusting into her. Zabbie wrapped her legs around his waist, burying her fingers in downy fur on his chest. Titus kept most of his weight from her but enough to pin her. She was his prisoner for certain. He had captured her heart and she hoped he would keep it.

  Powerful thrusts moved her against the hard surface beneath her, both warrior and floor unyielding. Titus lowered further and she buried her face against him as he slowed his demanding thrusts. A small boom in the distance sounded, the rumble of thunder, and Zabbie was excited. As yet she had seen no rain on the planet.

  “Does your planet get storms?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Is your backyard safe enough to continue this in the rain?”

  “Hell, yes.”

  “I’d love to feel the rain on my bare skin again.”

  “I’d love to feel the rain on your bare skin again.”

  Titus chuckled and Zabbie began to sit up. A motion behind the glass caught her eye and with irritation she yanked on her clothes. Cy’s back was to them. Titus saw where her gaze had gone and groaned.

  “Well, at least he had the decency to wait,” Titus said.

  “He needs a damned bell.”

  Zabbie stormed past Titus.

  “You don’t need to check up on me when I’m with my own mate.” Titus was growling as he said this.

  “She made a bangor disappear, maybe more.”

  “You’re lucky she doesn’t make you disappear.”

  “See, admit it then, you know she’s capable of anything.”

  Zabbie listened to Cy grouch as they walked. She wished he’d get a pet. Titus was annoyed and the warriors were arguing. Cy was upset by the recent events. He was always upset by her recent events. As the two continued to argue Zabbie walked ahead. She didn’t want to listen to how horrible her mate’s best friend thought her to be. She also didn’t like it when they argued, they had been friends forever. No matter how hard she tried to be nice to Cy he was relentless.

  The six foot black round circle appeared from nowhere and Zabbie had no time to react when she was sucked in. She heard Titus roar and Cy yell, but both sounds were cut off as the hole closed. The soft feel of the jungle ground was now a cold hard surface beneath her feet and she almost toppled over. Zabbie turned, gazing around the shuttle and out the window at space. She had been kidnapped.

  “What the hell?” she muttered.

  “Long time no see.”

  “Damon?” she whispered as the pilot of the vessel vacated his seat and stood. Zabbie was stunned.

  “Did you miss me? It’s been a while.”

  Zabbie almost smiled. He was alive, he had come to her rescue, and he’d be surprised she didn’t need rescuing. Damon opened his arms wide and for a second she thought of hugging him. At least one of her last family had survived. There was something in his look that kept her feet rooted to the floor. For a moment his features changed and a Tonan warrior stood before her before changing back.

  “It was you all along,” Zabbie whispered, incredulous. “All that time. A Tonan warrior.”

  “We knew humans were getting wise on Earth. A damn renegade Tonan saw to that. We decided to infiltrate and scatter a few humans across the galaxy.”

  “But to take us to a planet away from everyone and help us survive. Why?”

  “It amused me. When the war began we had females safe on another planet we could harvest later. I was in no danger of falling prey to female wiles; my kind have must but not to mate. It’s simple sex and you were appealing but not enough back then; I admit I was curious. I have slammed between a few legs in my time. But at my age I have control. Some of our younger Tonans, not so much, everything was going to hell and I had no clue.

  “The damned console on the shuttle lost communication. That’s the only thing broken, so when I said it was busted I wasn’t lying or I would have been in a heap of trouble when my tail grew. Tonans have a nasty habit of lying and it was hard to curb. I figured it would be a few years before Tonans arrived, I settled in for the long haul. I admit you became more tempting.

  “Until I learned of the Gorgano, which was beautiful fate. Handy little ugly bastards. They can’t penetrate our shield so they figured if you can’t beat ’em join ’em. The plan was simple. You were one of the few captured first on the planet. My idea really, you were the strongest minded of everyone—except me. The second I learned of the Gorgano I knew you were the perfect specimen for my plan. The others weren’t as durable as you and died. Too much information at once is too much for a human brain. You’re lucky I watched you closely and had them experiment on the others. The second I left the Gorgano to their own devices they’d end up blowing one of you up. I kept a close eye on you, my prize. You were released and sent back to the planet to watch the others killed. Then you were captured and released, and captured, each time we learned of how much more mind invasion you could take. I had the devil of a time keeping those pricks from killing you. You see, I knew you were getting stronger; when they found out, they got nervous.”

  “Your cruelty knows no limits.”

  “I’m a Tonan; tell it to someone who cares.”

  “You sent me out of the tree house when the Tonans attacked.”

  “They were searching for females. They had no idea they invaded a harvest planet and I had no clue of the Gorgano yet. I was only trying to keep the harvest females safe until I could explain. I would have gotten the other females back, but there was nothing to be done about the dead males. They were rogue Tonans; I learned I was now a rogue Tonan. One of our own kind killed a Tonan leader on Earth, what a kick in the teeth, poor Krish, bet the bastard never saw that coming. Served him right. Krish above all should know a Tonan of Taz’s kind are tricky little bastards to deal with when in must. You females really are dangerous; it was speculated he had a human mate. I hadn’t had time to explain why I was there on the planet to the other warriors. You have to admit it was chaos, all those bodies dropping. All my hard work destroyed, we even had a kid on the way. Fucked up my plan, I was pissed. But I thought things could be salvaged.

  “I couldn’t have everyone see me put up my shield. I thought I’d go back for you later. The harvest was over, everything changed. It appeared the war between Castians and Tonans was gearing up. But our ship was intercepted by the Gorgano who offered a lucrative deal and our plan was set in motion. We became allies, the Gorgano and rogue Tonan. The Gorgano wanted to see if a human posed a threat. Females do. The males don’t. I should have been more specific about not killing at random. The stupid Gorgano killed a male in plain sight and you all took off like scared rabbits into the winter zone. Fuck, I hate that place. No sun, no rays, you and your fucking snowmen. Tonans have their own agenda, at least they did at the time. I have big plans for you.”

  Zabbie was astounded. Damon had laughed with them in the winter months, played with them. Snow ball fights, snow horses. His betrayal was building a horrendous ache in her belly.

  “Tonans and Gorgano returned to the planet and toyed with the males. My kind didn’t care what they did to the men. The females lasted longer. The Gorgano proposed their plan of altering you, using you to kill the enemy as your power gr
ew. They had a crazy notion you might penetrate a Castian shield. It was then I realized once you could kill a shielded warrior they’d try and set you against Tonans. Dirty betraying bastards. Imagine us both having the same idea? Only, I wanted the Gorgano gone. As well as the Tonan and their mates who hide with Cobra.

  “Do you remember snapping? You were fucking awesome to watch. The Gorgano started dropping like flies. I warned them to leave the pregnant female alone, but they didn’t listen. Your last companion. It, you, got messy.”

  Zabbie did remember. Her hand went to her heart. Lissa was so scared. Zabbie remembered being enraged, too late. Too late to save Lissa and her unborn baby. Why was she always so late in acting? She hadn’t been lately; she had done everything on time. She remembered her vow when Lissa died, no more coming to the party late.

  “We were busy transporting the remaining Gorgano to our vessel when you went nuts on their ship, but for a female who refuses to kill, well at least her own kind, you move fast. You killed until there was no one left on the mother ship. You escaped and flew into a fucking sun when we attacked your vessel. Commendable.

  “We figured you were dead or as good as when the Gorgano lost any mind contact. They were so pissed. Then suddenly you resurfaced, contact was reestablished. The Gorgano had no control over you, even parts of your memory were returning. It wouldn’t have been long before you pieced everything together. What was fact, what was fiction. You grew stronger in your absence. You were teaching yourself mind control. The Gorgano are scared shitless of you. We bided our time, but when you transported the bangor onto the Tonan and Gorgano ships cloaked in space above the planet we knew it was time to get rid of you.”

  “You expect me to lie down and die?” Zabbie clenched her fists.

  “The reason you escaped wasn’t only the female dying, it was because you found out the Gorgano were going to kill you. You can’t kill, or so they assumed. The Gorgano gave you suggestions; they tried to make you think you murdered the humans. They suggested you murdered Lissa and were jealous of her baby. It didn’t work. Your honor and integrity are written in stone. You won’t kill, you won’t take a life other than an animal; you were useless to the Gorgano and the Tonans. Until you wiped out a bunch of the Gorgano in a rage.

  “I realized that works to my advantage. You can’t touch me. My shield won’t allow it. The Gorgano want me to take care of you, but in the end Tonans want the Gorgano dead, too. There can be only one ruler of the universe. So instead you will come with me. When I get you with child, you’ll do what I want to save the baby. This is a male cycle. You will have a son, Zabbie. I’ll even offer the child a piece of my shield. Rare, but he will be that important to his father. You should be pleased. I’ve seen Zargonnii warriors, you should be grateful you get me and my looks instead. They might actually want you to mate with them, as if, when you can have me.”

  “I did mate.”

  “Well, I’ll forgive you. I scent no child.”

  Zabbie was concentrating. It came back, her memories. Her friends crying, screaming. They had been so happy at one time. Damon had been so protective and secretive. He was the only lie left because he was the only lie. She had thought at one time he would be easy to fall in love with, but there was something holding her back. At one time her ebony hair had flowed to her ass. Damon told her once when he came across her drying the mountain of curls with her fingers threading the strands she was too proud. She laughed him off; it wasn’t pride, she had her mother’s hair, touching her hair reminded her of her mother. Damon told the Gorgano to burn it off.

  Rage the likes of which she only felt once before engulfed her. Betrayal and loathing built until she thought she would explode. No one would take her from Titus.

  “We knew there would come a time you would exercise your power. If not and the sun killed you, well, we could try again with another human female. We were all surprised when a hangar full of bangor suddenly appeared on our vessels. Damned things kept us busy. I left in a shuttle as they killed the last ones, the Gorgano were too afraid to take you aboard their vessel. We can follow at a leisurely pace.”

  Zabbie and the others thought she had transported only a few bangor somewhere else. Apparently they were mistaken. It occurred to her how strong she was when she realized she transported every bangor within a mile of any child. She was that powerful. She knew she was; Damon was about to find out now.

  “Damon, we were close, I thought you were my friend, I mourned you. You betrayed me and everyone else who needed you,” Zabbie said. “Hell hath no fury.”

  “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  “Definitely the hard way.”

  Damon’s shield went up. He strode toward Zabbie. With a wave of her hand he was tossed against a wall.

  “Little bitch. You’ll have to do better than that,” he said snarling.

  “Oh, Damon, I plan to.”

  With Damon’s explanation a calm fury settled over Zabbie. She wasn’t crazy, she was dangerous. Damon pushed away from the wall and went for her. Zabbie hated his shield. It was ugly. She hated his tail. The tail wrapped around Damon’s legs squeezing tight to throw him off balance. He bellowed when he had to snap his own tail off. Images of the firewall invaded her thoughts. Damon’s shield was a ball of flames. The flames were extinguished.

  “Is that all you got, little girl?” He was seething and Zabbie smiled.

  “I’m just getting started.”

  Her thoughts tumbling, Damon was repeatedly bashed into the shuttle walls, leaving dents until he was howling. He became a blur of motion. Zabbie had no idea how long she stood there watching him being battered. It was then she noted the blood. His shield was down and he crawled to his hands and knees.

  “You can’t kill,” he gasped as he collapsed onto the ground wheezing, struggling to rise.

  “I don’t need to.”

  “Zabbie?”

  Titus appeared, he glanced around, looking startled, taking in the scene. Zabbie stood with her fists clenched, she gazed from Titus to Damon.

  “The Gorgano sent him to kill me,” she said. “I remember everything. Every cruel inhumane hurtful thing. Titus, this is Damon, a Tonan, an evil vile Tonan. He helped kill all of the other humans. I was their little experiment that backfired, big time. Damon, this is my mate. He is way better looking than you and he knows what a mate needs.”

  “Oh, I know,” Titus said growling. His enraged gaze locked onto Damon.

  Titus strode forward with a deep growl and wasted no time in bashing Damon’s brains to mush. Zabbie lowered to sit as she watched, feeling detached. The shield squeaked and squealed as it separated from Damon’s body. It hovered for a moment then faded to dust and rolled away on a tiny breeze from an air vent.

  “Zabbie, how did I get here?”

  Titus had her up off her feet in a crushing embrace.

  “I think I finally figured out what I’m doing.”

  “Can you will us home?”

  “I could, but right now I want you to myself. Cy will no doubt be howling the rafters down. I’m tired of his drama,” Zabbie said. She trailed her fingers down the side of his face. “I killed many of the Gorgano after what they did. I grew stronger every time they invaded my mind and they didn’t know until it was too late. I know what I’m capable of, and I know what I’m not capable of. I don’t like to kill, but I am a warrior.”

  “It’s hard to catch a warrior.”

  “You caught me.”

  “You caught me too.”

  Titus kissed her.

  Chapter 11

  Zabbie wasn’t surprised when Cy walked into her home without knocking. He was used to coming and going as he pleased. It was still a hard habit for him to break. Zabbie wondered if he ever would. She was glad her abilities didn’t react to every thought anymore. She suppressed the need to transport him back to the other side of the door until he learned manners. There was no doubt he’d spend the rest of his life out there waiting if
she did.

  “Titus isn’t home,” Zabbie said.

  “I know, I just came from seeing him and Finn.” He handed her a vial. “Finn would have brought this by later but I’m headed home so I told him I’d drop it off.”

  “What is it?”

  “A new vaccine he’s been working on. You have Titus’s seed running through your system but for some reason, humans can’t keep a common cold from affecting them. Another human was found a little while ago, apparently he was infected. A virus is making its way through a few females and Finn came up with a high-tech antidote that will change as the virus changes or mutates. He says you should never get the cold, any type of cold, again. Finn was pretty surprised the virus traveled so fast. He says the common cold isn’t common, it’s a seeker. Once loose, it’s airborne and actually tracks humans down.”

  “Well that’s good news. About the vaccine. And I was always suspicious of the common cold. No matter where we would go on Earth there was a virus ‘going around’ somewhere.”

  Cy smiled at her; it was a rare smile, but not his first toward her. Zabbie was hopeful their tentative cease fire would grow into a tentative friendship.

  “I’m going now. Tell Titus I’ll see him tomorrow.”

  Zabbie watched him leave. She sniffed the contents in the clear vial. The odor was pleasant. She took a tiny taste. It wasn’t too bad. She tilted the vial to her lips and drained it. Never having another cold in her life was a pleasant thought. Within seconds Zabbie fell to the floor out cold.

  When she woke, Zabbie struggled into a sitting position. She gazed around at her surroundings. She was deep in a part of the jungle she’d never seen. Nothing was familiar—except Cy.