Venomous Heart

by Mary Auclair

  Even that wouldn’t secure Ava’s safety. There was only one way to make sure she stayed safe.

  “I am claiming her as mate.” The words left his mouth, clearly audible above the whispers of the human crowd. Prime Councilor Aav stared at him, her mandibles clacking in a slow, thoughtful way.

  “You cannot claim a hybrid as mate. Reproduction of specimens such as this is strictly forbidden. There is no telling what defect she might breed.”

  The metallic voice was pensive, and Arlen knew that behind that unreadable surface, the Mantrilla was thinking fast. She wanted Ava, and she wasn’t used to be denied what she wanted.

  “Eok genetics dominate any female genes,” Arlen answered easily. “The offspring of our union will all be Eoks.”

  “There are no precedents for this.” Prime Councilor Aav still eyed Arlen, not retreating from her stance over Ava.

  Arlen felt the burning of Ava’s purple eyes on him, but he didn’t take his eyes off the Mantrilla.

  “Eok law is clear.” Another male voice intruded in the conversation and Arlen stared in shock as Khal appeared at his side, his face stern and his attitude one of polished calm. It was so unlike the young, casually brash Eok warrior he usually was that Arlen stood dumbfounded for a second. “If an Eok feels the call of the Mating Venom, nothing can prevent them from claiming a mate. The denial would drive them to madness, to bloodlust. It is a matter of honor to allow the Claiming.”

  Arlen stood mutely as his eyes went from Khal to the other Eoks standing in the square, their faces closed off, their bodies on high alert. He knew they would stand by him, trigger a war if need be.

  But would Prime Councilor Aav understand that?

  “Surely one female is not worth triggering a diplomatic breach.” Prime Councilor Aav lifted one clawed leg as her soldiers moved restlessly at the edge of the assembly. A hundred had descended from the Matriarch’s ship onto Aveyn’s surface—a number Eok warriors could easily defeat in combat, but nine hundred more were still aboard the hovering black figure of the ship, just a short distance away.

  Even his Eok troops couldn’t beat those odds.

  “This is no breach of diplomacy. This is a matter of life or death for an Eok.” Khal spoke again, his voice confident and full of authority. Arlen’s heart filled with pride as he saw the warrior his younger brother was becoming. “Commander Arlen is son to Enlon, Chief of the Erynian tribe. This would mean war.”

  At the word, the Mantrilla soldiers moved, clicking their mandibles furiously. The Eoks moved in a fluid, well-practiced motion, their talons shooting out, ready to answer violence with violence. From the corner of his eye, Arlen saw Ava bend over the still unconscious body of the female who had given birth only a few days before. Shouts erupted among the humans and Arlen knew that soon, panic would follow.

  Her mandibles clicked with wrath as Prime Councilor Aav bristled at the words, but a trilling sound made her soldiers stop dead in their tracks.

  “The unity of the Ring is my first and only concern.” It was a blatant lie, but Arlen wasn’t going to contradict her. “If the claiming of the female is that important to you then I look forward to attending the ceremony tonight.”

  With that, Prime Councilor Aav turned, her claws digging into the dirt as she led her soldiers back to the light transport that would bring her back to her ship, whose monstrous proportions dominated the sky like an impending storm.

  Without saying another word, Khal stepped forward and picked up the unconscious woman from the ground, then walked back inside the medical facility. A young-looking human man broke out from the ranks and ran after the woman.

  “What did you do?”

  Arlen turned toward the owner of the small voice, still crouched on the ground. Purple eyes reflected the harsh sunlight and pearls of sweat covered the opalescent, almost translucent skin. Ava’s round mouth was open in an expression of shock and disbelief.

  I made you mine, Ava. Nothing can stop this now, not even me.

  Mating Venom flowed freely inside his mouth, through his veins. It would not stop, would not abate from now on. He had no choice. In reality, he never had.

  His body had chosen for him, and he would claim this female. Claim her and hold her so close, he would never let her go.

  “I claimed you as mate.” Arlen almost hissed at the outraged expression on her face as he said the words. Because he wouldn’t back down now. He would tear up the fabric of the Ring itself to take her.

  And nothing would prevent it now, not even Ava.

  Ava widened her mouth to speak, but shut it again as her gaze followed the flight of Prime Councilor Aav’s transport. When those purple eyes settled back on him, he knew this was meant to be.

  “I saved your life, Ava. It belongs to me now.”

  10

  Ava

  “It’s not fair.” Uril pouted, standing by the large window looking down at the crowd gathering outside in the garden. “Why do I have to stay inside?”

  Ava exchanged an exasperated look with Edmila as Uril turned his back on them.

  “For the hundredth time, it’s not safe.” Ava spoke evenly, although her patience was wearing thin. “We just can’t risk you being out there.”

  Uril turned around, facing them with an all-too typical teenage attitude.

  “And for the hundredth time, if it’s not safe for me,” Uril made a quotation mark in the air when he said the word safe, “then how come it’s safe for you?”

  Ava exhaled forcefully, controlling her exasperation in the face of Uril’s unusual pigheadedness.

  “Doctor Ava has a lot to do right now,” Edmila intervened. The girl had stayed with Ava after the disastrous scene with Prime Councilor Aav, reassuring her that the new doctor, Dr. Yrakan, was taking great care of Christie and her baby. Ava still didn’t relent in her stance that he should never have allowed Prime Councilor Aav to force them outside in the first place, but after witnessing for herself the terror the Mantrilla could provoke, she at least understood.

  Uril turned toward the window again, still sulking. Edmila bit her lower lip as she kept working on Ava’s flaming red hair, plaiting the top portion in a long braid, then wrapping the whole thing around Ava’s head while allowing the full length of the lower portion to tumble freely. The style showed off Ava’s pointed ears—ears Ava always did her best to conceal. Yet, she had to give it to Edmila, this way of wearing her hair showed off her slender neck and the beauty of her large purple eyes.

  It exposed everything that made her what she was. Not entirely human, but not entirely Avonie either.

  She locked gazes with Edmila in the mirror as the girl finished her work. They hadn’t spoken in front of Uril, hadn’t told him anything of the scene down in the courtyard. Somehow the boy had slept through it all, safe in the confines of the mansion.

  Safe under guards provided by Arlen.

  “You look wonderful.” Edmila tried to smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. She knew none of this was Ava’s choice.

  “Maybe I could just sneak out on the balcony, watch from there.”

  “I said no!” Ava shouted, turning around to face the boy. Uril stared at her, the hurt obvious in his golden eyes. “You don’t understand, it’s dangerous.”

  Maybe she should tell him. Maybe the truth was better than a lie. But how could she tell a twelve-year-old boy that a monster was waiting outside, ready to tie him to a vivisection table and open him up while he screamed?

  What kind of new nightmares would invade his already nightmarish life?

  Maybe hiding the horrific truth from him was causing more harm than good, but as his golden eyes fixed on her, they were full of what made Uril truly afraid. Full of the fear that she would find something in Arlen that he couldn’t give her. That she would leave him behind for a better life.

  As if she could. It would be like cutting out her own heart.

  If she told Uril about the Gene Protection Council, it would terrify him. His heart was fra
gile; he still hadn’t recovered from the shock of the attack by Will Harl and the others. More fear, more shock, could push him down a downward spiral he might never recover from. And she was still nowhere close to retrieving the Exo-Heart. Telling him that a furious Mantrilla was just waiting to discover him to drag him into a chamber of horrors wasn’t going to result in anything but hurt for him.

  And Uril had lived through enough hurt to last him a lifetime.

  “You know what? I don’t think it’s safe for me either.” Ava told him the half-truth in a soothing voice and when his sulking expression vanished to be replaced by concern, then fear, she had to add, “It’s just hard to explain right now, but you have to trust me. Everything is going to be okay.”

  Uril still looked at her with that stubborn streak he had, but he finally nodded. “You look nice.” He crossed his arms over his slender chest. “But you can’t wear your medical uniform at your own wedding.”

  “Mating,” Ava corrected him. Like it mattered what they called it. It was a claim, an ownership, something she had strived to avoid all her life. Her throat suddenly closed up and her voice broke. “Not wedding, it’s a mating.”

  “Well, if I can’t be there, then at least I want to know what you’ll look like.”

  He turned his back to Ava and went all the way to the imposing closet against the wall beside her bed made of carved wood and encrusted in shiny stones. A closet chosen by someone who liked to dress her up like a doll.

  Her closet, filled with her clothes. Clothes from another life, when she was living under Knut’s thumb like a pampered pet.

  My own little pet.

  Knut’s voice slithered in her ears as Uril opened the doors, revealing a shimmering array of fabric. The sight of each one sliced through Ava’s heart like a blade made of velvet.

  “Don’t.” Ava wanted to turn her back to it, but she couldn’t. “I don’t want to wear any of them.”

  But Edmila had already joined Uril, and the girl was rummaging through the content, giggling and shrieking at every gown like it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Because it probably was.

  As pretty as a doll. You really are the best of toys, my dearest.

  Again, Knut’s voice slithered inside Ava’s mind as Edmila pulled a flowing silver and purple gown from the closet. As Ava’s eyes locked onto the glimmering, precious silk, embroidered with strands of pure silver, a flood of emotions came back to her, along with the memory of that hateful dress.

  She was sixteen and standing in front of a long mirror, staring at her own reflection like it was that of a stranger. Behind her, the man she had come to consider her father stood with critical, self-satisfied appraisal on his thin face.

  “Perfect.” Knut ran the tip of a long finger along the curve of her shoulder and Ava shivered. “Just the way I made you.”

  “I don’t want to do this.” Ava’s voice shook as Knut’s dark purple eyes flashed, his pupils restricting to fine lines, a sure sign of displeasure in his usually polished face. “Please don’t make me.”

  “I want to remember you just the way you are now,” Knut whispered the words against her ear.

  Before she was broken, that was what he meant. Because by then, she had figured out why he had taken such a keen interest in her. Why he made sure she was educated by the best tutors in the Ring, why she always ate the best food when the others ate the gray sludge of the food ration pouches. Why he insisted she was always perfectly coiffed, perfectly dressed.

  Because she was his. He’d never intended to sell her to anyone. He had designed every inch of her body, from her pointed ears to the width of her hips, to her flaming red hair.

  She was nothing but a doll made by design. The ultimate caprice of a fabulously rich and powerful man. A life created just so he could play with her like a cat with a mouse.

  And once her mind was broken, he would finally claim that body he had designed with all the devious sickness he hid behind his closed bedroom door.

  On that day, Ava would cease to be a person.

  “You can paint me if you want.” Ava lifted her chin and Knut’s smile broadened at her challenge. “I won’t beg you. Ever”

  “Oh, yes you will.” Knut spoke like he tasted something sweet on his tongue. “One day, you will beg me.”

  Ava opened her eyes, shaking the memory away. Knut was gone. He had lost. What he wanted to do to her didn’t matter anymore.

  “Not that one.” Ava shook her head. “I’ll wear whatever else you want, but not that one.”

  Edmila made a face but placed the purple gown back inside the wardrobe. Then she squealed, retrieving a heap of silk the color of flowing lava. “This is the one.” She twirled, the gown pressed against her body, her eyes wide with marvel. “I’ve never seen a fabric this color.”

  Ava actually smiled. “I’ve never worn it.” She got up and stared at the dress. It was cut tight against the ribs, revealing the shoulders and back entirely, then flared in dizzying patterns of reds and oranges all the way to the flared bottom. “It’s ambersilk.”

  “It’s marvelous.”

  Even Uril raised impressed eyebrows at the dress. Ava didn’t tell them that this was the very one Knut had intended her to wear on the day he would take possession of her body. A day she had been only too lucky to escape, thanks to the invasion of the Eoks on Aveyn.

  Because, in the end, she had begged him. Begged him like she had never begged before, begged Knut to save the one person whose life was worth more than her dignity. And she would beg again.

  But now, it seemed only fitting that she wore it for the ceremony that would tie her to another male.

  Ava stood on a wooden platform, her red dress attracting the eyes of the mixed crowd of humans and Eoks. There was not a single Mantrilla to be seen, but Ava was sure Prime Councilor Aav was only waiting to make her entrance.

  Ava had defied her in front of everyone, and there would be a reckoning. All Ava could hope for was that the reckoning would be on her and only her.

  As the tall, Prussian blue figure approached, Ava noticed Khal had an embarrassed, almost sheepish expression on his face.

  “Where is Arlen?” She breathed the words in a low voice, a stone of dread in the pit of her stomach. What if he didn’t show up at all? Would Prime Councilor Aav drag her away, kicking and screaming, in her red dress? That would be a spectacle for all to see.

  “He’s having some trouble collecting himself.” Khal glanced at the ground and she had the distinct impression he wasn’t telling her everything.

  “What is it?” Ava urged him on. “I’ve been standing here in front of everyone for thirty minutes. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Arlen is usually so in control, it’s annoying,” Khal explained. “But he’s not in control now. I’ve never seen an Eok go down so hard because of the Mating Venom.”

  Ava wanted to ask more but the crowd began to whisper, then shouts broke out. Some people turned around, pointing excitedly to something behind her.

  Khal hastily stepped back to the edge of the crowd, his face full of worry.

  Ava turned to see a sapphire blue giant, shirtless in wide, loose gray pants. His chest reflected the setting sun’s light, showing with stunning clarity each one of the tiny scars that covered his glorious body. They were spread in a twirling, swirly pattern all over his broad chest, arms and abs. As Arlen stalked toward her with the grace of a large cat, his pale eyes settled on her. He stared at her intently, his expression intense and focused, like he saw no one else out there but her.

  Her mouth was suddenly dry and her palms were clammy. She could feel each painful hammer of her heart as it beat inside her ribcage in a fierce, rage-filled rhythm.

  She could fool herself as much as she wanted. This Mating was exactly what Arlen had told her it was. It was a claim bent on branding her very soul.

  And the worst thing about it was that she had lied to herself when she’d said she didn’t want it. She wanted that claim
, that venomous heart, like she had never wanted anything before.

  Finally, Arlen stood in front of her, the skin on his face taut and his expression unreadable. “You are a wonder.” His gaze lowered to appreciate her entire body. “No female ever looked more stunning.”

  The words were simple but they filled Ava with emotion. There was a sincerity in Arlen’s compliment, in the way he spoke, that made it more than just a casual comment. He meant every bit of it.

  “I’m afraid.” For once, Ava let down her guard and told him exactly how scared she was.

  “You should be.” His voice had deepened in the few seconds since he’d reached her side. His face, usually so impassive it made Ava want to punch him, had taken on a very male expression of hunger. “There is no going back now. Not even if I wanted to. And I don’t want to.”

  She didn’t fool herself. She was the mouse in this game, and he was the lion.

  “Turn around, Ava.” Arlen’s tone brooked no argument. It was an order.

  And for once, Ava obeyed. Her entire body was numb with fear and anticipation as Arlen’s heat radiated at her back through the chilly, early evening air. The bare skin on her shoulders was sensitive to every movement of the air, every change in temperature as Arlen came to stand closer behind her. She whimpered as his fingertip brushed the hyper sensitive skin, from her pointed ear down the curve of her neck and to the front, just above the low neckline of her dress.

  “A wonder. And mine.”

  Arlen’s voice had a dreamy tone, fully loaded with a lust that resonated in her own body. Then he kissed her, just in the curve of her neck, where her jugular beat a crazed beat. A flicker of his tongue on her skin followed the light scraping of his fangs.

  Ava shuddered, wetness spreading between her legs, as sudden as it was strong. She knew her body was answering the Mating Venom, that her response was a complex array of biological imperative summoned by the chemical compounds in his saliva, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way her skin prickled with every touch, that the pulsing need between her legs was getting more demanding by the second.