Chapter 9
I caught her. She is mine.
When she smiled and ran, I thought she was laughing because she was escaping, and the money was what she wanted. It could buy her a lot of useful things.
The rejection stung so badly I locked up.
But she wanted me to chase her.
She wants me.
I churn the idea in my mind until it is a roiling hot soup of desire and confusion laced with excitement. I’m still not convinced she wants my kind. But she wants a mate. She smiled at me. She wanted me to catch her.
The sound of her delighted screech when I scooped her up still rings in my soul, stitching it back together.
I’m just not sure if I’m ready to expose who I am to her yet. I need to find out why she isn’t scared of me like the other women were, more so than simple familiarity. I can kill aliens much bigger than a human with one pyretic blast. Still, she trusts me. And that is rare from a human.
“Hey, congrats, brother!” Hatchet shouts as he hikes down from the mountainside in the distance with a female over his shoulder. She is red-banded and pounds on his back with her fists as she squirms and fights his grip. “Oh, shut up. You like it!”
She scoffs loudly enough that I can hear her.
He chuckles triumphantly and slaps her ass. “Behave, female! No other species here will put up with your snark like mine will. It’s me or no one, gorgeous!”
“Just don’t eat me, you oaf!”
Hatchet growls in lust. “Oh, I’m going to devour all of you later…”
She props herself up to glare at him. Hatchet grins back at her, then rapidly flicks his tongue in the air. She makes a noise of surprise and relaxes over his shoulder.
The scent of Brynna is strong, and the pull of her grows harder to resist. She is light compared to the Talhuskin. I’m not surprised one of them invaded the complex. But I am furious that they targeted her. It just proves my theory true. Anyone who helps us has a Talhuskin target on their back.
Hatchet disappears down a hillside that slopes away from us, leaving Brynna and me alone.
“So what’s your name?” she asks.
I glance back at her, but I’m certain I won’t be able to talk for hours.
Such a roar damages my throat because I do not use it anymore.
It is for monsters, the kind the federation does not want.
The kind that are out of control. But I wanted so badly to kill the Talhuskin, and I knew if I did, I’d be removed from the race.
Then, I’d lose Brynna forever and be locked in a cell, unable to fight for my kind or lead them home.
Abr grounds follow stricter laws, Earth laws.
They have police. We do not have enough civilized society for such things.
Not yet. We are still trying to survive.
So I had to let my Inferno out, the only other way I knew how.
I try to rasp an apology, but only embers come out. The forest is thankfully damp, so I do not worry about a fire. I’m certain the hoverdrones would put it out if they detected one.
“Oh, can’t talk?” She hums a sad note. “Well, thank you for saving me. I know your kind are at war. I’m Brynna, by the way.”
So she doesn’t recognize me.
Maybe she hasn’t met that many of us and doesn’t know how to tell the difference? We’re usually in suits or armor around her.
“Well, I have to ask, since you probably know I just visited your world, did you save me because you want me or because your people need me?”
I slow as we crest the last hill, and I get a look at the Abr complex. She really doesn’t know.
Easing her off my shoulder, I clutch her tightly as I gently lower her to the ground. Her curvy body slides down my chest and over my aching erection. I’ve been savoring the scent of her pussy close to my face since we left the beach.
“Oh.” Brynna blushes a darker hue that nearly matches mine. “You are packing a hot rod, aren’t you?”
Lust surges through me. I barely manage to control it as I fold myself around her, desperate to map how her body feels against mine and soothe this craving my Inferno has for her. When I find the scent of a Mindor on her neck, a rumble of hatred makes my hackles rise.
“What is it?” she warily asks.
I sweep my nose over her neck, mapping the scent so I can keep my senses open for the male when we encounter him.
“The Mindor? You can smell him, can’t you?” She looks up at me with her big, dark brown eyes and smiles. “Not into pack mates. Or sister mates. So you want me? You’re not just protecting me? I’ve heard how your kind is protective with your females. But it’s, you know, spaceport gossip.”
A smirk touches my mouth. She talks as much as Drathious females.
When I try to respond, the ache in my throat makes me turn away and wheeze out embers again. I shake my head and look down at her. My communication is going to have to be silent, so I gently tap a finger to her chest. Then I hold up two fingers and cross them.
“Both, then?” she asks, studying the short dark claws on the ends of my fingers.
I nod.
“You want me. And you want to protect me,” she confirms.
Again, I nod. But I’m not sure she wants me, so I point to her, then to myself.
Brynna squirms a little as she shrugs. “Just don’t torch me before the week is over? I’m…uh…well… You’re definitely hot and strong. But forgive me if I’m hesitant. Death by demon is not what I had envisioned.”
I’m not surprised. I shake my head and point to the sky.
“Not a demon?” she asks. “A dragon then?”
I waggle my head. Cinuska would say so. But I’m not from the depths of a planet like Earthen demons. I am from another solar system.
She runs her hands over my bruised and scarred sides. Her touch is silky and unexpected and sends a rush through me, lighting up my chest. “Are you okay?”
Seeing her face glazed in my light tells me just how much I’m losing control already. I jerk back.
Brynna releases me. “Sorry! Whatever I did…”
I take her hands and put them back against me. I need to get used to her contact and breathe through the tides of scorching desire that make me want to tear the clothes from her gorgeous flesh and take her on this landing.
“Wow, that strong of an effect, huh?” She bites her lip. “Not going to lie. I’m definitely curious about you. I’d like to get to know you better.”
My heart thumps harder. I’m anxious to explore her more as well.
“But I’d also like to get back so I can check on a friend. She’s a Blue.”
I want to make her happy so she will pick me. So I don’t hesitate to pick her up and sling her over my shoulder again, then hustle down the hillside.
“You…can…slow…down.” Brynna laughs in bursts like my hurried pace is a bit too fast. So I ease my speed and aim for the Mingle Celebration.
“Thanks,” she gasps. “Sometimes, being human in this universe really sucks. We’re not strong like so many of you.”
But she has saved so many with her skills. Humans create things when they do not have our natural strengths. They engineer far past their species’ age.
The thumping electronic music of the mingle hall on the bottom floor becomes audible as we enter the race valley again. I carry Brynna past the hedge maze and the prep huts, past the ropes course, and catch the scent of the Mindor male that licked my fated.
My Inferno growls as I look around at the other males carting their chosen inside. My wings twitch, wanting to be free so they can curl around my female and protect her from him.
She is mine. He cannot have her.
“Are you hungry? Your stomach sure is rumbling.”
I blink and glance at Brynna’s plump ass. I’m hungry for something, for sure. It’s just not food. Pressing my nose to her hip, I inhale a deep breath of her scent: sweet flesh, a hint of something herbal and floral, and light musk.
When we enter the Mingle Celebration with booths along the edges and buffet tables loaded up with food along the walls, I reluctantly set Brynna back on her feet. The sensation of her luscious body gliding down my chest and over my rigid cock drives me crazy with need.
She closes her eyes and hums a note of delight. “You keep sliding me over that magic wand of yours, and I might forget my manners.”
My heart stalls for a beat before charging in my chest. I catch the Mindoran’s scent as he walks closer to us, no female under his arm.
Brynna is mine, and I have to make my claim known.
So I draw her against me, guide her face close to mine, then gingerly rake my pointed teeth over her neck, covering his scent with mine, and leaving red marks in her skin in a pattern any Drathious would know.
But it’s enough to stop him in his tracks.
I glower at him as goose bumps spread down her neck and Brynna’s surprised inhale registers in my mind. Several alien males and human females look over at us in disgust, a few in horror.
But Brynna almost seems turned on by the mild pain I’ve caused her. All I care about is what Brynna thinks. So I straighten and peer down at her.
She looks around, unfocused, like she’s suddenly drunk and trying to find the words for what she feels. “I…should probably check on my friend.”
Screens around the room play scenes from the race that now air on the holofeed for public viewing. Brynna takes my hand and leads me through the crowd of dancing couples as colorful lights bounce and sway over the crowd.
A glass smashes against my head, covering the ground in broken fragments and me in a sticky, sweet liquid.
Brynna ducks and hesitantly looks back.
I stop.
The second glass the Derorsin throws, I catch.
Focusing my rage into my hand, I heat it until the glass melts and drips to the floor in globs.
I shake what’s left of it free of my hand and throw a fiery glare at the knobby, brown armor-plated version of a Denarso.
His kind are supposedly allies. Perhaps they are like us to Talhuskins.
But if so, I wager he wouldn’t attack me like he and his friends just have.
A Mindor crashes into me, tearing my hand free of Brynna’s.
She shouts as we tumble and get into a fist fight on the floor. He tugs at my wings with painful force, snarls at me, and bares his teeth, starting his shift.
I kick myself free of him and get onto all fours. He launches toward me, tackles me again, and claws at my skin, ripping it open with horrific pain. My monster responds the only way it knows how and catches fire, though it is barely a wisp of flame under the control of Eluni’s arrestor.
The Mindor yips, snarls, and scrambles off of me. Fur on his forearms lightly smokes. He lunges at me, snapping, in full wolf form.
“Enough!” Ohni appears out of nowhere, a tranquilizer gun in hand as the music stops. My team rushes in behind her, but she motions them back. “I do not want a battle here. Fenrysin, shift back, or I will knock you out and have the guards escort you to a cage.”
The Mindor straightens into a humanoid shape.
Ohni lowers her rifle. Her armor gleams in the neon lights of the club. She raises her voice and speaks to everyone. “This is meant to be an event that brings people together. If you cannot behave, I will remove you from the race. This is your final warning!”
She sighs and slings the rifle over her back. “I am getting so tired of this shit. We’re all at war. This is your chance to escape that, find love, and build a better future. But that isn’t going to happen if y’all can’t leave work at work. Got it?”
Aliens and humans around us agree as Brynna appears behind Ohni, protected inside a squad of human security officers. More squads have filled the doorways, a mixture of humans and aliens.
As I get to my feet, I wonder why the room has fallen silent. Then I hear a familiar Rage roar over the screens.
“Talhuskins are banned because of what they have done to Drathious for far too long.” Ohni looks me over and lowers her voice, “But you have to control that fire.”
I nod because my voice still won’t work.
“He helped the Denarso take females from us,” Fenrysin growls.
Ohni turns to him. “Where is your proof? Last I saw, a Drathious soldier worked with Thorians to return your females. That same soldier has served several years on a Special Forces Terran squad, here with us, infiltrating and rescuing humans. He tore apart a Denarsoan ship’s computer system so they could not escape with Amphiran females.
And he killed one of the Talhuskin leaders with his bare hands. ”
Technically, it was with his talons. But I’m not going to try to correct her. She’s still on my side. That’s what matters right now.
Brynna eyes my injuries with pity and growing concern, then glances back at Ohni as she corrects the Mindor.
“I know you don’t like it. No one likes having their beliefs challenged because that means we have to figure shit out again.
But I have multiple accounts that can confirm with video evidence what transpired.
I research every male and female who will race.
Do not make me tell everyone what you did, Fenrysin.
I will leave that admission up to you. You were approved, but I am watching you.
” Ohni circles a hand in the air, and the security teams move out.
“Those look really bad. We should get you patched up.” Brynna motions me toward the door.
But I don’t want to ruin the party for her and point to the buffet.
She smiles. “I filled up before the race. Besides, the lunchroom is open all day and night. Anything we want we can get later. Come on. I have just what you need.”