by S. E. Smith
“Star,” Madas whispered. “We need to leave. I hear footsteps approaching.”
Star turned her head even as Jazin stood with her still trapped against him. Her body hanging against his like a rag doll. She nervously licked her dry lips. She needed to get through to him that they were not the ones he needed to fight.
“Jazin,” Star said, slowly raising her arm up so she could lay her palm against his hot cheek. “Sweetheart, we need to leave. The bad guys are coming and they want to hurt you again. I won’t let them ever hurt you again but I can’t fight all of them. We need to follow Dakar and Madas. They are our friends. Can you do that?” Star asked in a trembling voice.
Jazin turned his head and sniffed Star’s wrist before he opened his mouth and ran his tongue over the rapidly beating pulse. “Mine,” he purred.
“Yes, I’m yours but the bad men will hurt me, kill me, if they catch me,” Star whispered desperately as she saw Dakar and Madas motioning for her to hurry. “Please, help me. I’m scared.”
Jazin’s eyes narrowed and he growled again. “Go!” He snarled turning with Star in his arms still.
“Put me down,” Star begged. “We can move faster if I follow you.”
Jazin shook his head forcibly but Star pushed against him, pleading softly, until he reluctantly let her slide down his long length. Even as her feet touched the ground his fingers locked around her wrist like an iron shackle. She barely had time to scoop up her crossbow before she was pulled through the door and into the dark corridor.
“This way,” Dakar muttered. “There is a hidden set of steps. If we are lucky, Tai Tek won’t be aware of them.”
Chapter 13
Star’s side hurt but she refused to complain or slow down. Not that she had much choice in the matter. Jazin was being a wild man at the moment. The narrow, hidden passage at the opposite end of the corridor had been a surprise. It reminded Star of some of the hidden passages in the English castles her, Jo, and River toured one summer between shows. The architecture was very similar making her wonder if perhaps humans were really the descendants of aliens after all.
She stumbled as they neared the top. Jazin immediately whipped around and wrapped his other arm around her pressing her against the wall. He buried his nose in her neck and licked a drop of sweat as it trailed down along the side of her silky skin. He pressed closer, grinding his pelvis into hers. She choked back the squeak of surprise that threatened to alert everyone in the fortress to their location when she felt his hard erection.
“You have got to be joking me!” She hissed out, wiggling in an effort to get free. “You are horny? Now?”
Madas soft chuckle barely reached her ears but it was enough to let her know that her friend heard her startled exclamation. Star’s face burned with embarrassment. Jazin continued to rub against her, licking and sucking on her neck, shoulder and earlobe like they were a couple of horny teenagers in the back of a matinee.
“Will you stop that!” Star hissed in his ear as his hand reached up under her shirt searching for her breast.
Dakar rolled his eyes before he motioned for Madas to go ahead of him. “I told you the medicine makes him more aggressive.”
“Aggressive I can understand. But horny?” Star muttered as she fought to grab the hand that had found her small breast and was pulling at her nipple. She moaned as she felt her body respond. “Jazin not now, damn it!”
“Someone comes!” Madas hissed out pressing back against the dark opening.
Ten guards came rushing down the corridor. A silent curse burst from Dakar’s lips before he let out a roar of rage and pulled his laser sword. In such close confines, the laser pistol would be too dangerous. The blasts would ricochet off the smooth, polished walls like sunlight on a mirror. He cut three down almost immediately before the others regrouped and fought back. Madas charged into the melee, swirling and slicing with her sharp claws and slamming attackers back with her tail. Three of the guards circled around, spying Jazin. Star’s eyes blazed with pure hatred when she saw one with a long, lighted whip he was unfurling.
“Oh, like hell no!” She snapped out, raising the crossbow over Jazin’s shoulder and releasing an arrow.
The guard dropped the laser whip and grabbed his chest. He looked at Star’s blazing eyes in disbelief before he fell backwards, dead. Star wasn’t finished. She released two additional arrows. One pierce the throat of the other guard while the other hit the third guard in the shoulder, knocking him backwards into Madas who turned and swiped her unsheathed claws across his neck.
Jazin released Star, thrusting her behind him as two more guards came at him. He snarled, charging at them. He rolled at the last minute, snatching up the laser whip and flowed back to his feet behind them. With a flick of his wrist, he wrapped one end of the whip around one of the guard’s neck and pulled it back with an adrenaline filled jerk. The man’s body continued forward even as his severed head fell backwards. Star’s scream echoed in the corridor as she watched in horror. The second guard rushed for Star, determined to use her as a shield. He never made it. Jazin jumped, landing on his back and twisting his neck with a savage jerk.
He looked up into Star’s horrified eyes and snarled. “Mine! Mine to protect.”
He stood up and walked toward where she was pressed against the wall. He stopped in front of her and gazed down into her light blue eyes for what seemed an eternity. For a moment, doubt and reason fought for control of his drug-crazed mind.
“Star,” Jazin muttered in a small, confused voice.
Star could see Jazin fighting for sanity. For just a brief second, she saw his eyes clear and concern and love shine through the medicine coursing through his system. She lifted her hand and gently touched his cheek, a small smile of understanding curved her lips.
“You are safe now,” she whispered right before the glaze clouded his eyes again.
Jazin reached out and gripped Star by the waist, raising her up until her face was even with his. He crushed his lips against hers in a dark, possessive kiss that burned with barely suppressed desire and violence. Dakar’s voice broke through the heated promise of possession.
“Move,” Dakar yelled out wiping blood from his face as the last man fell to the floor. “Jarmen says Tai Tek has two dozen or more men headed this way.”
Jazin’s head jerked up at the sound of the familiar names. He fought to bring an image into his clouded mind to match the first name but all he could picture where burning amber eyes. He turned, rolling his shoulder and wrapped his large hand around the small wrist. The female’s name had whispered through his mind but he couldn’t remember it now. All he knew was her scent called to him to mate, possess, claim, and kill any who would try to take her from him. Everything in him narrowed down to getting her away from everyone. He had to get her alone, somewhere safe, and when he did he would lay his claim to her.
“He has killed all but Tai Tek and the men he just brought,” Dakar murmured as he pressed his hand to his ear where his comlink was located. “He says they are headed this way and there are at least fifty of them total.”
“Go,” Jazin said with a jerk of his head.
Dakar nodded and stepped over the bodies of the dead guards. Jazin lifted Star into his arms, holding her face against his shoulder as he followed. Some part deep inside him knew that this was not something his mate was used to. Her horror had cut through him as she stared at him. It hurt worse than the injuries to his body. Even as he thought that, he knew his body was healing at a rapid rate. He could actually feel the skin pulling and knitting together. He felt the bones in his ribs shifting and the calcium in his bones bridging the gaps between the broken pieces. He could even feel the blood replicating and replenishing his diminished supply. His mind was a whirlwind of blinding rage and desperate need. Every breath the female took, every sound from her lips, every touch of her skin drove him out of his mind with the need to take her. Her scent alone was enough to make him want to drop to the floor or press her up a
gainst a wall and impale her on his throbbing shaft. It was only the part of him that recognized she was in danger that prevented him from doing what his body and mind were demanding. The predators need to protect his mate from danger overrode everything else.
They were almost to the ground level when two dozen well-armed men came at them from what seemed like every direction possible. The resounding roar of the men as they rushed forward was deafening. Dakar and Jazin both responded by pushing the two women in between them. Star quickly loaded the crossbow, firing arrow after arrow into the group of attackers until she had exhausted her limited supply. She pulled the knives River had given her and began throwing them with the deadly accuracy she had learned from River and her parents. When she was down to her last knife, she held it…. waiting. Dakar and Madas were working to keep the guards coming from their front and left from getting any closer while Jazin was moving with lightning speed, cutting a path through the guards coming up from behind them.
Star twirled around when she heard Madas cry out in pain. She watched as her friend fell backwards over the body of a dead guard, blood pouring from a wound in her leg. One of the guards let out a roar and raised his laser sword, preparing to embed it through Madas’ chest. Star screamed as she threw the knife she held tightly in her fist. The blade struck with such force it knocked the man back several steps before he collapsed. Star raced toward where Madas lay on the floor. She scooped up one of the laser swords beside the dead body of another guard and charged forward. Jazin and Dakar where too busy to see what had happened. Star twirled, slicing through the stomach of one attacker before bending almost backwards as another flicked a laser whip through the air. She saw the lighted tail as if it was in slow motion as it arched within centimeters of her chest. She straightened as the tail withdrew. Madas thrust upward with the sword she had clutched in her bloody fist from where she lay on the floor. The man’s screams of pain filled the chamber along with the other sounds. Star stumbled as she made her way over to Madas as two more guards rushed them. Her arms trembled with fatigue but she would never let anyone hurt her friend as long as she was standing. She thrust forward at the same time as one of the guards kicked out, catching her in the stomach with such force that it lifted her off the floor and flung her back several feet where she landed hard on the cold, stone floor.
Star struggled to drew in a breath of air. Everything was fuzzy on the edges. She clutched at her stomach but was unable to catch her breath. Darkness blurred her vision even as she heard Jazin’s roar of rage, Madas horrified cry, and Dakar’s shout of denial.
I’m so sorry, Star thought, I love you so much.
Time slowed down until she could swear she could see the smallest dust mote as it drifted through the air. She saw Jazin twirling in rage at the men who had rushed her. The man who had kicked her fell to his knees under the force of the blows from Jazin’s sword. His head fell away from his body as he toppled over. Madas rose up, balancing on one leg and her tail swinging the double-sided battle ax. Dakar killed one guard before another thrust his sword into his side. She heard his cry before he turned and struck the man down. Out of a dark passage, a man appeared. He was tall, muscular and had the most beautiful glowing eyes she had ever seen. He moved through the few guards that remained striking with a deadly precision. As the last man fell, all three turned to look at where Star laid unmoving. Her eyes slowly closed as Jazin’s lithe form moved through the maze of dead bodies.
She tried to open her eyes but it was too difficult. “You are safe now,” Jazin whispered as he gently lifted her small body up.
Star gave in to the darkness as it surrounded her. Her arms falling limply as she was lifted with impossible care. The burning light calling her home.
*.*.*
“Where am I?” Star asked as she looked around her in wonder and confusion.
The world where she was standing looked like it came out of a Van Gogh painting. Small thatched roofs where barely visible in the distance. The sky was a deep purple. A stark contrast to the fields of gold. A few trees dotted the landscape of rolling hills leading to the edge of distance mountains. Huge birds soared high in the sky, their large red, yellow, and green feathers standing out. White clouds dotted the sky like a child’s first finger painting.
Star turned in a circle in the golden grass. It was almost as tall as her. The sounds of birds taking flight had her shading her eyes to see what had startled them. Her eyes widened as huge space ships broke through the atmosphere. She watched in horror as the ships fired on the thatched roofs of the village. She couldn’t see anything due to the smoke that filled the bright beautiful sky but she could hear the screams. She turned as the painting she was in seemed to melt around her, the colors twisting, blurring, blending together until a night sky filled with millions of brilliant points of light were the only light to see by. The night sky was not black but a rich, dark blue. It reminded Star of River’s eyes. Swirls of a lighter blue danced through the painted night, flowing like a river through the universe. She could almost swear she could see movement in the heavenly stream.
Star’s breath caught as the stars began to fall around her like a light rain. They seemed so real she actual lifted her hands up to cup them as they fell around her. The sky lightened as more and more stars fell until she was surrounded by the glowing embers. She reached down and picked up one glowing ember and gazed into it. Inside she could see a battle. A man that looked like Jazin was leading a group of warriors against an alien race unlike anything she had ever seen. The twisted bodies were huge and resembled the praying mantas back home. The light flickered and died. The skies around her turned to red and she shivered. The color of blood surrounded her. Jazin was standing on a hill that was now blackened and dry. His face reflected such a deep grief it tore at her. But, there was also a determination to survive, to fight on that she could only admire. Star turned to see what he was looking at. In the distance, small fighters were coming out of the sky like the stars she had just imagined. They attacked the alien species advancing on Jazin and his warriors. The fight was fierce but it was short as Jazin and his warriors rode into the fury of battle with a loud war cry.
The red dissolved until the ground shown with the lighted crystals. All around her were the glittering stones. New life grew around her as the crystals absorbed into the ground, growing and spreading. She turned as Jazin walked out from a lone tree that still stood tall and proud on the side of the hill. A fierce storm raged in the dark purple skies, lightning arced as if in a grand display of fireworks. One of the fighters that had fought the alien creatures landed a short distance away. Jazin didn’t move. He was a huge, bear of a man. Muscles tensed and flexed as he kept one hand firmly on the sword clutched in it. His eyes were a piercing black. Star turned toward the fighter again, fascinated.
The dark, hooded top slid back and a figure rose out from it. The body was small, almost child-like in size. Star couldn’t see what the creature looked like because of the helmet and uniform but she could tell it was humanoid in appearance. Her eyes followed the figure as it advanced to within just a few steps of Jazin.
“Who are you?” Jazin demanded in a low fierce tone.
The figure reached up and slowly removed the helmet covering its head. With a shake, long flowing locks of white blond hair fell in waves down the woman’s back. Star gasped as she gazed at an image that could have been an exact replica of her silhouetted against the stormy, dark purple sky.
The female smiled before speaking in a strangely accented voice. “Starla,” came the softly spoken response. She raised her hand out in greeting. “From a distant planet known as Earth.”
Jazin studied the outstretched hand silently before he grasped it in his larger one and tugged the small female forward into his arms. “I am Jazin. I claim you as mine,” he responded with a slight curve of his lips before he crushed her lips with his own.
*.*.*
Star moaned as hot waves of need flowed through her body. She was bu
rning. The scene of the Jazin and her so long ago blended with the hot feel of hands on her own body. She felt like those stars that had fallen around her. Her body arched in pleasure as a hot tongue swiped over her swollen nipples. Colors swirled into focus as her eyes opened in a dazed haze of desire. A cry ripped from her as the hands on her moved down her body, touching, stroking, igniting flames as they went.
“Jazin,” Star cried out.
“Mine,” a deep voice growled near her ear. “All mine.”
Star jerked as she felt a long, hard shaft of silky skin press against her swollen vaginal channel. Hard hands gripped her, lifting her hips up off the soft narrow bed under her. With one thrust, Jazin impaled his throbbing length as far as he could into the female below him. He was almost out of his mind with need to possess and mark the female he knew was his. His mind was still a tortured haze of images from the past week. But in the recesses of it, a soft calming voice called to him. He recognized her scent, her touch. When he saw his female flying backwards from the blow one of the guards had given her, his mind had splintered into a red haze of death and destruction. He would have killed everyone in the room if not for the man with the glowing amber eyes. He remembered him. The man had grabbed him, forcing him back against the wall in an unbreakable hold as he had struggled to get at the two remaining figures still living in the room. The man had spoken to him quietly over and over. Telling him that his mate needed him. Telling him to fight the drugs and to care for his mate. Only think of his mate, nothing else but his mate.
The man had slowly released him and taken a cautious step backwards. Jazin had shoved the man further away from him and hurried to Star’s crumbled body. The other male hovering over her moved away as Jazin approached, telling him that she was merely unconscious from having the breath knocked out of her. He had growled lowly at the three remaining figure warning them away. His eyes followed as the two males helped the other female who was injured stand again. He gently pulled the small body into his arms and cradled it against him as he stood.