Rekker: Warlord Brides (Warriors of Vaznik Book 1)

by Ava York

  “Damn you! Damn you to—”

  I struck his neck with the lance, and twisted the blade further into him to shut him up. He was finally dead, but I wasn’t satisfied. Not the least bit.

  There were still too many of those bastards around.

  Far too many for one lonely supply hub.

  What were they all doing here?

  And where was Lila?

  My fury knew no bounds as I rushed my way through the forsaken ship, a maze that went on for far too long. I cut through more guards like they were nothing, and blood splattered all over me. I reeked with Suhlik filth, but I didn’t give a damn about anything at that moment.

  I was angry beyond anything and I swore my body was going to have scars from how much it was burning. There was a fire burning within me and out, and there was nothing that was going to vanquish the burns until I found Lila.

  As I traveled on further, my stamina started to wane, but my heart insisted that I keep going. It was practically shouting in my ears to keep going.

  I could feel her, feel my mate calling to me.

  Our bond was true, and if I could just get my breath, I’d find her.

  But there were too many guards, and with my failing strength, I couldn’t take down all of them. I had to hide somewhere for a moment to gather strength, so I slipped into an empty room to regroup.

  The room was small and dark, a perfect hideout for me. I kept myself still and hidden in a corner, the only sound being my beating heart. My heart kept hammering, urging me to leave at that instant, but I soon heard guards shouting to each other from beyond the wall. I didn’t pay attention to what they could’ve been shouting, it was all gibberish to me.

  I glanced briefly into the hall to watch them go. They shouted out orders to one another in loud, annoying voices. It started to give me a headache. When they were gone, I escaped to the opposite side.

  As I wandered to a lower floor, I could hear more guards speaking close by. This time, they were guarding a particular room with glass lining the walls.

  None of the other guards were keeping watch on a room, so why was this one so special? As I drew closer, I could vaguely see Lila inside with another guard. Before I could react and burst in, the guards spotted me.

  “Hey, you!” They shouted in loud voices and unsheathed their weapons.

  Through wasting time, I struck down the guards before they could charge. More blood splattered on my face and my nose scrunched from the repulsive stench. However, my attention was focused on the windows into that room.

  Lila sat in a chair, gagged and tied down by ropes. She struggled to stay calm, but there was so much fear in her eyes.

  So much so that I couldn’t stand seeing her so small and vulnerable in that chair. My heart tore itself to pieces seeing her like this.

  Standing across from her was a familiar face.

  And suddenly the extra guards made sense.

  Aeritz was a notoriously cruel Suhlik general, who had kidnapped and tortured so many innocents, it was impossible to know how many lives he had taken.

  It must be in the millions. The worst thing he had done, however, was that he’d destroyed an entire race by poisoning their planet when they refused to allow him to establish a base in their low atmosphere.

  We’d run against each other in the past, but it had always resulted in a draw.

  But none of that mattered now.

  What was he even doing here?

  What was he planning?

  That’s what I should have been wondering.

  That was the information High Command would have wanted.

  But I only cared about one thing.

  How could I get to Lila?

  Lila

  I stared apprehensively at my captor, it was all I could really do. They’d bound me to a chair, my gag so tight all I could produce were muffled grunts. Harsh, bright lights glared above.

  Why did it have to be so bright? White light flashed, cold metal walls surrounding me. Goosebumps crawled all over me and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. My heart beat swiftly in my chest and I struggled to breathe, especially with a cloth stuffed in my mouth.

  My captor was huge, he towered over me with crossed arms and a smug look on his ugly face. Two jagged scars crossed his face, and his eyes blazed a deep amber color. It was like staring into angry flames that never went out.

  Despite their fire, there was no light in them, no warmth, just like this bright, cold room.

  It was so cold I couldn’t stop shaking.

  The hunger in his gaze disgusted me. His smile grew as I glared at him, showing rows of yellow teeth that shone like gold coins.

  Repulsive breath spilled from his mouth and my nose scrunched with disgust. He began pacing the small room, his large feet pounding the floor.

  The room was empty except for a metal table and the metal chair I sat on. It was like some sort of interrogation room.

  For some reason, it looked like the room was getting smaller the longer I stared at it, but that was not possible.

  What kind of people needed to have interrogation rooms in a supply station?

  My throat felt dry and I couldn’t stop shaking. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let fear overwhelm me, but my body couldn’t handle the stress of captivity.

  How could I have been so stupid? I should’ve stayed with the others, stayed on the Calliope.

  Now Rekker would be in danger, just because of me.

  I tried to yank myself free from the ropes, but it was futile.

  The Suhlik chuckled as he walked up to me. He grabbed my chin and yanked it forward. I gained a good look into that hateful, burning gaze.

  “Well, aren’t you a feisty little one.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face and I tried to turn away, but he had a good hold of my chin. His fingers were so cold.

  I shuddered at the touch and felt my stomach twisting and turning like I was going to throw up. I grunted through the cloth that gagged me and tried to spit it out, but it was wrapped tightly around me.

  “Lots of fire,” the guard chortled. His cold voice was filled with so much malice. Everything about him was cruel and unnerving. A chill shivered up my spine and I shuddered.

  But I tried not to be scared. I tried not to. He didn’t scare me. He didn’t. I had to stay strong. I had to.

  “Let me get a better look at that mouth of yours.” The guard took off the gag and I coughed. He traced a finger below my lip and brought it into my mouth.

  In immense horror, I bit his finger and the guard yanked his hand away.

  “You little bitch!” he exclaimed and raised a hand to slap me.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, but nothing happened. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and the guard stood, there taking slow, deep breaths as he glared at me.

  He had such a hateful glare. Even when he chuckled, his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Mmm, no, beating you first would be no fun.” He bent down and grabbed my chin, yanking it forward once more. “A good fucking would be much more entertaining, see how long you can fight. Yeah, I’d like that very much.”

  Every fiber of my being numbed as my fear finally took hold. Nausea flashed through my head and the white lights were growing brighter and brighter. So much brighter. It felt like I was going to go blind right there.

  I shut my eyes, wanting to scream, but my throat was so dry that only a whimper crawled out. I couldn’t even say anything. I was so helpless.

  I thought about the women in the hold, the ones I’d led to the shuttle. They’d survived.

  They’d get out of this. Rekker wouldn’t let them be taken again.

  They’d go back to their families, those children would be fed.

  Before I succumbed to my fate, the door slammed against into the wall with a metallic clang. My eyes flew open, and there was Rekker, bursting into the room.

  My mouth dropped and, as I was about to shout his name, Rekker threw a fist at the Suhlik’s face, shoving him backwards.
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br />   The guard slammed into the wall but surged back to his feet with a roar. As he did so, Rekker directed his lance in the guard’s direction.

  There was so much anger and hate in his eyes, it almost scared me. I was struck speechless. Unlike the guard who stared on with an empty, cold chuckle.

  “Well, well, well, this is quite a surprise,” he said, as if the two were longtime friends. Who would ever be friends with such a monster?

  Before my captor could say anything else, Rekker rammed another fist into his mouth.

  The Suhlik’s head knocked back and he staggered to the side, holding his bleeding jaw. The Suhlik spat out some blood and his empty expression changed to that of unbridled rage, and he released a deep and frightening snarl that twisted and turned my stomach until I felt like throwing up.

  He pulled out a spiked mace and rammed Rekker back into the opposite wall. The two collided into it, but Rekker kept his ground and attacked back.

  He used the lance to shove the guard to the ground, but before he could strike again, the Suhlik took out a hidden knife and stabbed Rekker through the leg.

  “Rekker!” I screamed so loudly my throat ached.

  Rekker dropped to his knee, but he was able to rip the knife from him and toss it away. The guard got back on his feet and smirked down on him.

  I wanted to break out of my bonds so badly, but no matter how much I fought against the ropes, it was useless.

  “Give it up, you’re about ready to collapse,” the Suhlik hissed and raised his mace to strike.

  “Rekker!” I yelled again, wrenching to escape my bonds once more. My arms strained, the ropes cutting into my forearms.

  Rekker griped his lance and struck the guard across the head, knocking him backwards. He staggered while Rekker stood, breathing labored, shifting into an offensive position.

  He was trembling and I worried that he really would collapse.

  However, there was so much fury in his eyes that he wouldn’t give up right there.

  Not a chance. He wouldn’t give up until that monster was dead. Rekker charged forward, meeting the guard’s attack with a heavy crash.

  Their weapons clashed together, and the clang of weapons colliding bounced in deep echoes about the room.

  They grunted and yelled as they kept clashing and lunging at each other.

  There didn’t seem to be an end, but Rekker appeared to be slowing down. My stomach clenched.

  However, that fury in his eyes didn’t waver. He kept fighting on, despite the exhaustion weighing him down. He kept fighting despite having a bleeding leg. He kept fighting no matter what.

  My breath caught in my throat, as Rekker kept standing and kept fighting, no matter how tired he appeared. He charged once more at the guard, and this time managed to strike him back onto the floor.

  Rekker huffed and took a moment to breathe, but it was long enough for the guard to rise back to his feet.

  “You are as annoying as a Xanderian gob fly . . . ” my captor grumbled as he caught his breath as well. He clutched his heaving chest. “I should’ve killed you when I first had the chance.”

  “I can say the same for you.” Rekker spat out a ball of blood and clasped his fist around his lance.

  “Heh, I wish we could talk further, but I really want to have a taste of your blood right now.”

  “And I want to tear out that tongue of yours so you can shut the hell up,” Rekker threatened in a voice that caused a chill to crawl up my spine.

  Rekker was huge. A warrior. I knew that.

  But he’d never sounded so malicious before. Dangerous.

  He was almost as terrifying as the Suhlik, but I had to keep myself focused. I also had to try and get out of these bonds.

  “Heh, heh, heh.” The guard chuckled and dragged his feet forward. He was losing strength now, not to mention he was coming in my direction. Here was my chance. Rounding up a boost of strength and confidence, I slammed my foot into my captor’s knee and he dropped to the floor.

  “You bitch!” he yelled as he clutched his injured leg.

  Rekker towered over him and, before the guard could get up, he shoved the lance into his chest. Over and over again, he stabbed him until his face was smothered in blood.

  Finally, Rekker stopped and dropped his weapon. He inhaled sharply and turned to me. The anger in his eyes finally vanished and I sighed with relief.

  “Lila . . . ” he breathed out in a shaken voice. He swallowed and came over to free me from my bonds.

  Once he’d freed me, I threw my arms around him. I wanted to cry and hug him as tight as I could and never let go.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I whimpered into his shoulder.

  “You did nothing wrong,” he assured me as he hugged me back. Unfortunately, the hug didn’t last and we needed to go. “Come on.”

  Rekker helped me off the chair, but before we got going, I asked him, “How’s your leg?”

  “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” He took my hand and we dashed out of the room.

  I was surprised he still had the strength to run after all that fighting, but I was thankful for that as I heard guards coming our way.

  We had to hurry, and I was sure that Rekker had had enough of fighting.

  He tightened his hold on me as we made a run for it. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

  The guards’ footsteps were drawing closer and closer, and I could hear them shouting for us to halt.

  I had Rekker back, and we were on our way to freedom.

  I wasn’t stopping, not for anything in the world.

  Rekker

  My leg throbbed as I thundered down the corridors, hugging Lila as close to me as I could. If anyone happened upon us, I was determined to put myself between her and any danger.

  She clung to me like she was drowning, completely shell-shocked from everything that had happened to her.

  It only made me want to hold her tighter, even lift her off the ground so that I could bound toward the docking bays.

  Flashing alarm lights cast intermittent glows into the darkened passages, but we managed to make our way without encountering any other adversaries.

  “Thank the void.”

  We’d wound our way back to the other docking bay, where the captured shuttle still rested.

  I tossed one of Kyre’s little gadgets on the dock control panel, then sealed the door shut behind us.

  “Rekker, are you sure this will work?”

  “Sure?” I shrugged. “It’s our best bet. Does that count?”

  “Sure,” she grumbled, climbing in behind me. “Today you get a pass on definitions. Tomorrow, we’re going to work on clarity in language.”

  Once inside the shuttle, I grabbed the mate to the gadget that was still on the control panel.

  “Step one,” I muttered, “seal us up.” With a hum, an electrical field surrounded the shuttle.

  “Rekker,” Lila whispered, all teasing gone from her voice now. “They captured this shuttle once before. How can you know they won’t take it, and us with it, again?”

  I pulled her against me quickly, then strapped her into the copilot’s seat before returning to the controls.

  “The poor bastards who were taken before didn’t have Kyre on their side.”

  Using the remote, I opened the doors from the interior of the hub into the bay and waited for the Suhlik to race through.

  Then I blew open the bay doors into the black, and watched their screaming bodies be sucked into the void.

  With the sirens blaring around us warning of the hub’s depressurization, I steered us out of the docking bay and into the stars.

  “Or me.”

  While I’m no Cedroc, the stranger’s shuttle was smooth and streamlined, incredibly easy to steer and turn.

  It didn't have any artillery of its own, but made up for it with superior speed and excellent maneuverability.

  The Suhlik fired at us with everything they had. Blast after blast
showered around us. The shuttle lurched as I whizzed us between the flares. We caught a glancing blow, and Lila screamed as we jerked hard from the impact.

  A profusion of blinking lights lit up my control panel and an alarm blared above us.

  “It’s alright,” I called to her through the din, darting my fingers around, tripping the warning signals. “Just a scratch.”

  As I dodged and swerved, the guns of the hub fired again, then suddenly stopped.

  Righting us again, I pushed even harder to accelerate beyond range. The vessel shook with the exertion and I forced it to the limits of its capacity. Lila clamped her hands onto the edges of her seat until I thought her fingers might break from the tension.

  The amber tracking star on my console went dark, and I gasped out a laugh.

  “They’ve got some new problems to deal with,” I answered Lila’s unspoken question.

  Immediately easing back on our speed, the vessel groaned down from its redlines and fell into its natural rhythm. Only after I slumped back into my seat did I realize that I was drenched in sweat.

  Looking over at Lila, I could see that she was completely spent. But we had made it.

  “One last task.” I pinged the Calliope on the emergency channel, waited for the encrypted response, then swore.

  “That son of a bitch.”

  “What?” Lila asked.

  “Oh, nothing. Cedroc just bounced the Calliope into the furthest corner of the system.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means meeting back up is going to take a while.”

  She sighed lightly in response, and I looked over to see her slumped in her seat. Unbuckling myself, I eased over to her and took her hand, working each joint in succession. She laughed at my attentions.

  “Rekker, what are you doing?”

  “Checking for broken bones.”

  “Nothing is broken.” She slipped her hand from mine. “Just very sore, and strained.”

  When I tried to stand, my leg gave out a little under my weight. Lila immediately snapped to attention and her hands flew to my shoulders.

  “Rekker! Here you are looking after me when you’re the one who’s gotten the worst of it. Sit down.”