by S. E. Smith
Ariel cried out as she fell over sideways onto her hurt shoulder as the straps dissolved. Rolling over onto her knees, she fought back against the nausea. She struggled to her feet and held onto the side of the fighter.
“Open up, sweetheart. I need to get out so you can change shape. I need you to help me,” Ariel ordered in a tight, calm voice.
Precious shivered but responded to Ariel’s command. A door formed and Ariel moved out cautiously making sure she wasn’t about to be fired upon. She moved up against the side of the building where the golden fighter rested and leaned her head back. Using her good arm, she moved carefully up the one that didn’t want to work. She grimaced when she got to her shoulder. It was dislocated. It was going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch when she popped it back in. Sweat beaded on her brow just at the thought but she gripped her arm firmly and pulled. Ariel bent over double, throwing up as the joint popped back into place. She remained that way until the worse of the pain faded before looking up at Precious with tears in her eyes.
“That hurt,” she croaked out with a harsh chuckle.
Forcing herself back up, she looked carefully at Precious who seemed a little dimmer than before. “Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?”
A light wave of warmth touched her briefly before fading. “Let’s go get our mates. We’ll deal with whatever happens when we get there.”
Ariel watched as Precious stood up, wobbled, then straightened. It took off with a stumbling run for a building across from where they crashed. Ariel moved in behind the golden symbiot trying to focus on what was ahead instead of the pain. She kept her left arm tucked in close to her body while her right hand clenched around the laser pistol she took from the guard on board the D’stroyer. Two fighters flew overhead forcing her to duck down under a fallen slab. She watched as one fired on the other. The second exploded into a flaming ball before crashing further down. Ariel wiped her forearm across her brow and nodded at Precious to keep going.
They moved as a team. One would move forward and check before the other followed covering the rear. With a nod, Precious sank sharp claws into a metal door and ripped it loose from the frame. The inside of the building was dim and smoky forcing Ariel to cover her nose and mouth. Stepping through, she followed the faint connection Precious had to its other half and Mandra. She was royally pissed and ready to kill someone.
..*
“So nephew, it looks like you will be the first of my brother’s sons to die. I had hoped it would be Zoran followed by your two younger brothers. It doesn’t matter. You will all soon die. I care less in which order,” Raffvin snarled out.
Mandra looked at his symbiot which lay motionless on the cold floor of the control room. His uncle’s symbiot had attacked it. While it was not destroyed like those of the guards back home, it was greatly weakened. Since he split it, it was smaller than his uncle’s symbiot and not as powerful. Mandra focused on the threads of gold on him. He ordered them to return to its larger form. At first, it fought but eventually the call of its wounded form was too much for it to resist.
Mandra shifted the weight of his symbiot so it was better protected. “You are a coward, Raffvin. You have no honor.”
“Who wants honor when they can have power, nephew? It is a shame you will not live long enough to see what true power can really do,” Raffvin called out.
Mandra could tell Raffvin was moving closer. He rolled away from his symbiot behind another console. Laser fire followed his movement. He hissed as another shot burned a path through his vest into his side. He ignored the pain as it sliced through him.
He rose up and returned fire hitting one of his uncle’s men before ducking down again. “I am no nephew to you anymore. You lost the privilege of calling me family when you killed my father. How could you kill your own blood?” Mandra asked loudly as he slid another energy cell into his pistol.
“I should have been king! I was the oldest. The gods and goddesses were wrong to push me aside and choose your father. I will return and when I do, I will take your mother as my bride as she should have been in the first place. She will bow to me just like the rest of our people,” Raffvin angrily responded.
Mandra rolled to the side and fired at where his uncle’s voice came from. He was rewarded with a harsh cry of pain. He rolled back as his uncle’s symbiot snarled in rage. He felt the force of the energy blast as it hit the console knocking it and him backwards several feet. He rolled just as another burst exploded through the console.
“Enough! It is time to finish this,” Raffvin bit out. “Kill his symbiot then kill him. I want him to feel it as his essence dies!”
“No!” Mandra roared out rising up and firing the rest of his charge at his uncle. Two shots hit Raffvin before the black symbiot moved in front to absorb the energy bursts. A piercing wave of energy hit Mandra in the chest throwing him back against the far wall. He hit hard and collapsed, gasping as he tried to draw in a breath. His head rose as his symbiot moved toward him protectively. He tried to call out but couldn’t get enough air into his lungs to make them work. A burst of energy hit his symbiot knocking it to the side. Two more bursts hit it, knocking it over several times before it lay still. Mandra raised his head. Tears burned the back of his eyes as he watched his symbiot, a part of him, struggle to rise again. The black symbiot of his uncle moved closer preparing to send the last burst of energy that would destroy it. Mandra watched helplessly as his symbiot struggled to stand. The huge black symbiot rose up, shifting into pure negative energy. A burst of pure black power poured out of it in a deadly wave heading for the smaller, golden creature. Before it could hit, a small form jumped in front of it taking the brunt of the pulse.
Mandra’s hoarse cried of horror echoed throughout the hanger as he watched Ariel’s small body jerk as the powerful blast hit her in the chest. Her body began to glow, first black, than gold, than a brilliant red as the energy continued to flow into her. The smaller symbiot with her absorbed itself with Mandra’s half. The gold shimmered dimly before becoming brighter. The larger gold symbiot moved with deadly speed slicing through the black symbiot, cutting it in half. The part that was still flowing the negative energy into Ariel seemed to expand suddenly before swirling in bands until it disappeared into his mate. Mandra struggled to his feet even as he watched his mate collapse lifeless on the floor. He stumbled forward ignoring everything but Ariel’s unmoving figure.
Zebulon and several guards moved in, shooting at Raffvin’s retreating back. They systematically killed the men protecting him as they followed. Zebulon ordered the warriors to follow him as he went after Raffvin. Mandra fell next to Ariel. He still couldn’t catch his breath from the energy burst he took to his chest. Looking down, he saw blood pouring from a gaping wound and realized it was his. He looked back at his mate. Her body was still surrounded in swirling colors of red. Her long white-gold hair had come undone from the tight bun she had it in so it was splayed around her like silk. Her face was peaceful, an almost serene expression on it in its stillness. Mandra reached out a hand and ran the back of his fingers gently along her cold cheek. He looked up as Zebulon came toward him. He watched as his friend’s face twisted in pain and grief as he stared down at Ariel’s still form. Looking down again, Mandra closed his eyes and let the peace of darkness take him.
Chapter 23
“The answer is no. Just like the first time you asked me, the second time, the hundredth time. It was no then and it will still be no. I think you are really cute but I am not interested in becoming your lover, your mate, your whatever you call it,” Ariel said with a sigh of exasperation.
“My bound,” came the deep, amused voice.
“Whatever,” Ariel muttered in her best ‘valley girl’ voice. “I have a mate.”
“Yes, but he doesn’t seem to want to wake up. I think it's only fair to say I would never resist waking up to you,” the voice responded.
“I am really going to have to hurt you to get rid of you, aren’t I?” Ariel laughed.
“I can think of less painful ways to convince me to leave,” the voice flirted.
“I am going to kill your ass as soon as I can get out of this bed,” Mandra growled out forcing his eyes open where he stared at Bahadur with murder reflecting from them.
“I was merely trying to entertain your mate while you recovered,” Bahadur said smoothly shooting Ariel a hot look that said he would like to have been doing more.
Mandra forced his body to obey as he sat up and reached for the covers. “You are a dead Curizan admiral. Tell Ha’ven and Adalard they need a new one.”
“Oh no you don’t, you big oaf! You have been on death’s door for several days! You are not going to scare me like that ever again,” Ariel said grabbing Mandra’s bare shoulders and pushing on him to lie back down. She gave a squeak of surprise when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down on top of him.
“Go away, Bahadur. You can find your own damn female. Just leave mine the hell alone,” Mandra growled out darkly as he pulled Ariel even closer.
Bahadur laughed. “I will as soon as you tell me where the female’s planet is. I might have to take some time off and go check it out. I would like to see if I can find me one just like your mate. I find her species… exciting,” Bahadur said letting his eyes roam freely over Ariel’s soft curves.
Ariel turned her head and glared at the big Curizan. “I hope you do. Make sure you make a comment like that to one of them as well. I’d like to see how excited you get when they beat your ass into the ground,” she replied hotly.
“Bahadur, get the hell out of my sleeping quarters before I let my mate show you just what the women on her planet can do,” Mandra said in amusement.
Bahadur laughed and bowed to both of them before excusing himself. He promised to return ignoring Mandra’s hot response he could get off his damn warship. Both of them listened as the door shut behind him. Neither one of them said anything for a while. They were just enjoying being together again.
Mandra chuckled as he thought about the fire in his mate’s eyes. He threaded her long tresses around his fingers enjoying their silky strands. Letting his head fall back, he closed his eyes savoring the feel of her lying on top of him. His arms tightened when he felt her shift but she was merely getting more comfortable. Burying his nose in her hair, he breathed in her warm scent with pleasure.
“Tell me what happened,” Mandra asked quietly without opening his eyes. “Start with how the hell you got out of the detention cell.”
Ariel sighed as she relaxed against Mandra’s hard, warm body. “Precious busted me out. I stole the guard’s laser pistols and Precious brought me to where you were.”
“I thought I lost you again,” Mandra murmured looking down at Ariel. “I love you so much, mi elila.”
Ariel lifted her head up enough to look into Mandra’s golden eyes. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
She had been afraid she had lost him. She told him about what happened when she and her Precious entered the control room where he was. She saw Raffvin’s symbiot about to destroy Precious’ other half while Mandra was gravely wounded. She didn’t stop to think when she threw herself in front of the injured symbiot. She remembered feeling the power behind the energy burst as it hit her but everything got blurry after that. She remembered feeling the necklace Tia gave her heating up and glowing. The wave of energy was attracted to it. She felt it absorbing the dark energy from the black symbiot, pulling it from the creature who fought to break away but couldn’t. The force of the energy flowing through the red crystal also pulled at her.
“I remember feeling the deep sadness and despair within Raffvin’s symbiot, as if it was being forced to do things against its will. It was hurting so badly I could feel its pain,” Ariel said staring into Mandra’s warm eyes.
“What did you do?” He asked quietly.
“What I always do when an animal is hurt or scared. I talked to it and reassured it that everything would be alright… to trust me,” she replied with a contented sigh and laid her head back down on his chest. “I could feel the moment it did. All that negative energy was just sucked right out of it.”
“What of Raffvin?” Mandra asked rubbing Ariel’s back gently.
“He escaped,” Adalard said as he and Zebulon walked into the room. “But not with his symbiot. It is safe with the others on board. He will be much weaker.”
Mandra sighed as Ariel rolled over to lie next to him. He refused to let her go, though, curling his arm around her to keep her close. He looked at the two men standing in his sleeping quarters.
“How long have I been out and what do you mean, he escaped?” Mandra asked darkly.
“You’ve been out almost a week. Your symbiot was too weakened to heal you. You had to be healed the old fashion way in the regenerator and with healing accelerators. Raffvin escaped. He slipped out after stealing a Curizan fighter. We are tracking him. We think he is going to go after Vox. If he can kill the Sarafin King it will be blamed on the Valdier. He has him locked up at a mining operation the Antrox are running but we are not sure where. Creon is following leads but so far none of them have proven useful,” Zebulon said sitting down in the chair Ariel had been using.
“Have you talked to Creon or any of my other brothers?” Mandra asked as he scooted so he could sit up.
“Zoran says Abby delivered a healthy boy youngling a week ago. She and the babe are doing well. I am not so sure about Zoran. He looked pretty rough. Trelon doesn’t look much better. I guess his mate is due any time now. Your brother Kelan and his mate are on their way back from her planet. They have retrieved Trisha’s father. I heard they also have a few extra females aboard that are causing some problems. Kelan said he was finished with any more Earth women. They were too difficult to control,” Adalard said with an amused laugh. “I was able to get the location of her planet from him. He just warned me that I was to use the information at my own risk.”
Mandra chuckled when he heard his mate snort. “Serves them right if they kidnapped those other poor women the way we were kidnapped. I hope they give whoever took them holy hell!”
All three men laughed causing Ariel to struggle as her temper flared. “Might I remind you, you are still on my shit list for locking me up!” She growled out pointing a finger at Mandra.
“I think that is our signal that it is time to leave you two alone. I’ll make sure the healer knows you are not to be disturbed,” Zebulon said getting up and moving toward the door.
“We will meet later to discuss pursuing Raffvin. Until then, rest… or not,” Adalard said with an amused grin as he followed Zebulon out of the room.
Mandra waited until he heard the outer door seal before looking at his mate. “So, I am on your shit list,” Mandra said pulling Ariel back down to him. “What happens when you are on someone’s shit list?” He whispered as he nuzzled her jaw.
“You have to do everything they tell you. No questions asked,” Ariel breathed out as she felt a wave of desire building.
Stretching her neck to the side so Mandra had better access to it, she shivered as she felt his lips moving along her slender column. “And what is the first thing on this list?” He asked softly.
Ariel turned her head to look at him. Her dark brown eyes glittered with tiny flames as she thought of all the things she wanted to put on the list. She decided it needed to be a really long one considering how scared she had been.
“The first thing is to bite me,” she whispered as she leaned forward and pressed delicate kisses along his jaw.
“And the… second?” He asked huskily as he felt her teeth scraped along his throat.
“… is to fuck me. All… night… long,” she breathed out.
“I think I am going to like being on your shit list,” Mandra said with a groan as he turned her head to the side and sunk his teeth into her.
To be continued…Cornering Carmen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Smith has always been a romanti
c and a dreamer. An avid writer, she has spent years writing, although it has usually been technical papers for college. Now, she spends her evenings and weekends writing and her nights dreaming up new stories. An affirmed “geek,” she spends her days working on computers and other peripherals. She enjoys camping and traveling when she is not out on a date with her favorite romantic guy. Fans can reach her at [email protected] or visit her web site at http://sesmithfl.com.
Additional Books:
Abducting Abby (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 1)
Capturing Cara (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 2)
Tracking Trisha (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 3)
Ambushing Ariel (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 4)
Cornering Carmen (Dragon Lords of Valdier: Book 5) Coming Soon
Choosing Riley (Sarafin Warriors: Book 1) Coming Soon
River’s Run (Lords of Kassis: Book 1)
Tink’s Neverland (Cosmos’ Gateway: Book 1)
Hannah’s Warrior (Cosmos’ Gateway: Book 2)
Tansy’s Titan (Cosmos’ Gateway: Book 3) November 2012
Gracie’s Touch (Zion Warriors: Book 1)
Lily’s Cowboys (Heaven Sent)
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