by Mary Auclair
He would lose his life before allowing anything to happen to her.
Karian focused his attention on the eyes of the aakvan. It was a spectacular animal, well equipped for the rough, adverse living conditions it survived in. It was a formidable adversary when he was in his best condition. As injured and weak as he was, it was deadly.
Karian flexed his muscles, spreading his talons wide. His muscles twitched and a cramp took hold of his injured leg. He had lost too much blood, and now his muscles were weak with dehydration. The fever didn’t help, blanketing his mind with fog and slowing his thoughts.
Yes, the predator had chosen weak prey in him.
The thought made him clench his jaw. He was Commander in Chief of the Eok armies. He wasn’t going to be killed by an animal. He slowly shook his head, his senses returning to their old acuity by pure force of willpower. He wasn’t defeated yet.
“Rose, run.” He tilted his chin to the side, but his eyes stayed on the monstrous creature. “I’ll hold it off for as long as I can.”
“No way. I’m staying with you. With the two of us, we can scare it off.”
Of course, he should have known the stubborn, infuriating female would choose this moment to defy his authority. He usually appreciated her spunky spirit, but this wasn’t the time to juggle with death. This was a time where life could end at the tips of sharp claws and merciless fangs.
Karian was acutely aware of Rose’s body, standing just a few paces behind him. He didn’t need to look at her to know she was mesmerized by the predator in a way he knew very well. It was a deadly hypnosis, the same hypnosis prey experienced a few seconds before the death blow.
In front of him, the monster licked the air, flicking its forked tongue in his direction. He knew what the creature tasted.
Blood. Fever. Weakness.
Digging its claws deeper in the dirt, the aakvan waited for an opportunity to make its move.
Behind him, Rose moved and lost her footing. The predator’s eyes flicked and its pupils retracted until only two faint lines remained in the yellow of its irises. It was going to pounce.
“GO!” Karian yelled, angling his body between the animal and Rose.
The monster followed Karian’s movement, then a decisive flash crossed its eyes. Its gaze flickered between Karian and Rose, clearly assessing which one of them was the bigger threat.
After only a second, its gaze steadied on Karian. Its instincts told it to kill the bigger, stronger male before attacking the female. In the next heartbeat, the aakvan hunched on its hind legs, then jumped, claws at the ready. It had the speed of a reptile, moving in a blur of fangs and claws. A fraction of a second before the long, curved claws connected with his flesh, Karian dodged, dropping to the ground. As he dropped, he turned and slashed at the creature’s underbelly with his talons. He managed to cut the unprotected skin, but his strike wasn’t as deep as he wanted. The predator twisted midway in the air and returned the slashing motion with its own claws as its snout snapped shut an inch from Karian’s arms.
Karian crouched on his legs, the pain from his injury nearly blinding him.
The aakvan fell on the dirt and rolled away before regaining its footing. The creature licked its underbelly where Karian’s talons had slashed the skin open, then brought its head back, staring at Karian with a new glint in its eyes.
It was personal now.
Karian and the monster circled each other, while the aakvan flapped its tail on the ground in anger. The creature bled on the sand, limping slightly. Satisfaction welled in Karian as he recognized the signs of weariness in the animal’s eyes. It was surprised to have misjudged its prey, and was now careful about how it was going to take him down. Karian had hoped if he could injure the animal, it would realize he was no easy kill and walk away. It wasn’t going to happen that way, though. Being injured only infuriated the animal, and now it was as much about retribution as it was about hunger.
One of them was going to die here, and it was up to Karian to make sure it wasn’t Rose and himself.
A furious hiss escaped the animal’s open mouth, exposing its fangs. Its spine rippled with wrath and it snapped the air, the sound both dry and chilling.
After another minute, the monster pounced again. The animal aimed its claws straight at Karian’s chest, its mouth open and ready to snap at his neck. Just in time, Karian dropped, turning his back to the ground and his talons at the creature. As the monster’s lower body was above his head, Karian slashed his talons, as far and as hard as his fading strength allowed.
He felt his face split in a wild grin as his talons embedded in the monster’s thigh. A rage-filled roar filled the air, and the aakvan twisted in midair, its snout clasping on Karian’s thigh, digging its fangs gums-deep into his flesh.
Karian screamed, pain and understanding mixing together as the sharp burn of venom spread in his muscle.
The monster let go of him and backed away a few steps, flipping its tail and hissing, but without the fury of before. It was limping badly and blood was gushing out of its wound in a steady flow, but it had won. Karian held his previously intact leg where the aakvan had bitten him.
A burn spread from the bite site, accompanied with a burrowing feeling, like ants on fire under his skin, alongside his veins. The venom was acting, leaving a numbed emptiness behind the pain of the inferno. The emptiness traveled up his leg, taking over his limb at a frightful pace. The ground raced to meet him, and Karian realized he had fallen down.
He tried to get back on his feet, but they seemed to be melting under his weight.
The monster took a step back, its cold stare assessing the effect of the venom. It was waiting for the poison to render its prey defenseless before starting to feast.
Karian blinked back the sudden sleep that threatened to take hold of his mind. He was losing his grip on consciousness. With a surge of willpower, he shook his head to fight off whatever terrible effect the venom had on him. Comprehension dawned on him, terrible and without mercy. He was going to die, and soon.
And after him, Rose was going to be killed.
Karian watched as the predator moved and hissed, thumping its tail on the ground impatiently. The world was starting to move in a slow, muddy fashion.
Rose’s face came in front of him, her large gray eyes full of unshed tears. Karian held her gaze, knowing that if he let go, he would not come back. Darkness was going to swallow him, and death was going to follow.
The predator’s tongue flicked and it tilted its head, its stare turning hungry.
Time was up.
His mouth formed the words, and he heard them in his mind.
Rose, go. Save yourself.
Karian turned his eyes to the monster, staring at the beast. He knew death was coming, and so did the monster. The beast slapped its tail on the sand a few more times, saturating the air with dust. An abrasive cloud spread, surrounding the world with an angry red glow, as if the air was preparing for the bloody scene that was to come.
Emptiness invaded his body, and his fingertips vanished into oblivion. The world spun in an endless spiral of darkness.
ROSE
Something broke inside her at the sight of Karian lying on the sand, his head lolling on his shoulder, blind to the horrible death that was coming for him. A deep shudder raced down her spine at the idea of the aakvan’s merciless fangs tearing through that magnificent body. His last words came to her mind. Even about to die, he thought more about her safety than his own.
Rose, go. Save yourself.
That was what Karian had said. Not help me. No, he’d said save yourself. Perhaps that was what gave Rose the motivation she needed to stay and fight. Perhaps it was only that Karian owned a part of her, and she couldn’t bear the thought of being parted from him.
Rose leapt, covering the few feet separating her from Karian. She landed across his chest, and turned to face the creature as fast as she could. She was shielding him with her own body, her torso spread over the unconsc
ious figure as best as she could. He was so much bigger than she, it was hard for her to protect him entirely.
Her eyes met the monster’s stare, and she almost melted under its cold, calculating assessment. Its pupils reduced, then returned to normal, and its tongue flicked out, tasting the air. It lowered its head, and Rose was sure that if it could have, it would have snickered at her.
She should have felt anger. She would have welcomed the heat and bravery that fury usually gave her, but that didn’t come. What she felt was pitch black despair, running along her nerves, shutting down every bit of hope she had.
The monster took a few steps, pacing in front of her with a heavy limp, then it stopped. Its flickering tongue poked through its snout again and she got a perfect, blood curdling view of the long, venom-dripping fangs inside its mouth. It was going to attack at any second, as its curiosity faded and its instincts took over, driving it to kill.
She was nowhere near as stoic as Karian had been in the face of her own death. Fear crept inside every pore of her body, its insidious cold furrowing through her last seconds. Answering a primal need for comfort, her free hand rose along her side with all the intention of clasping at her heart.
Midway, her fingers ran along a cold metallic object.
The ionic blade!
Without pausing, she wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the short sword, then brought it back in front of her. Its long, shiny metal was bare of the glow of power it was supposed to have. Rose’s mind raced and she flipped it over between trembling fingers. It took a few seconds for her to understand she had to push on a small, oval indentation to engage the incredible power of the blade.
As soon as she pressed the switch, she felt the rumble of power run along the metal, sizzling through the dust as tiny particles of sand were obliterated into nothingness. Her arm shook, but she held the blade in front of her with both hands as the monster flicked its gaze to the pointy object.
It tilted its head, sensing the pulsation of electrical power coming from the weapon. It was an animal, and it had no idea that the blade could slice through its skin and bones as easily as through water.
Dismissing the small blade, the beast brought its stare back to her.
She sensed the impending attack before her eyes registered the massive mouth opening, intent on inflicting a killing strike. It didn’t need to weaken her with poison. She wasn’t threat enough. It would simply tear and eat her while she screamed. The image came to her mind: blood and gore spilling out of her torn abdomen while she stared helplessly at the sky, not even having the strength to scream.
The aakvan struck. There was a tiny fraction of a second when the beast’s mouth opened and its neck extended to snap at her upper body. For this instant only, the animal was vulnerable. Rose ducked under the massive jaws, rolling on her shoulder like her father had instructed her. She flipped back under the creature, holding the blade clear of her body, and sliced at the soft skin at the junction of its neck and body.
Blood gushed out of the wound, drenching her in a metallic stench. It invaded everything. Her vision was a pool of red, her mouth filled with the coppery taste, and her skin was covered in the hot, sticky fluid. She was entombed in blood. A second later, the monster fell on its side, its tail flipping a few times, its jaws snapping, then it stilled. It was dead.
She stood over the body of the beast, the ionic blade between her fingers, watching as the pool of blood grew at her feet.
A sound coming from behind her tore Rose away from her contemplation, and she stared at Karian. He wasn’t unconscious, but the paralysis had crept to his arms. He lay, propped up against the rocks, his arms limp at his sides and his eyes shining in his midnight blue face like beacons.
Rose rushed to him and her lips met his, not caring for the blood covering her face. Karian returned the kiss, but his lips felt limp. He was losing his battle. She pulled away and looked as his head lolled on his shoulders like a doll’s.
He was gone.
She ran her fingers along Karian’s burning skin, flattening her palm on his chest. Her mind was blank until a feeble heartbeat registered under her hand. He was still alive.
The wave of relief that hit her was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
The relief shrank and melted away. Karian was still alive, but not for long. Not unless she found help, and fast. The problem was that the only help available anywhere close was the same threat they were running from in the first place. Even if it meant a lifetime of slavery, she didn’t have a choice.
Karian wasn’t dying on her watch.
Her first task was to get out in the open and find the pod. Her eyes landed on the beast’s carcass and the ever-growing pool of blood, which had started to disappear into the sand. The threat from the monster was gone, but the smell of blood and fast-decaying flesh could be a new threat of its own. It might attract more aakvans. She was lucky to have been able to strike this one, but luck had a bitchy way of running out when its patience was tempted too much.
There was nothing to do about it, though.
Rose looked down at the still-powered ionic blade. She picked it up between slick fingers. The blood on its surface had long disintegrated, and it shone, perfect, clean, and deadly. She took a few minutes, trying to remember where they had come from, then picked a direction.
Squaring her shoulders, she pushed her pace. She was making good ground, and soon, sooner than she expected, she found herself at the edge of the plain. One last boulder to climb before she landed on the dry, bare sand.
And found herself facing a hissing, terrifying, sapphire blue giant.
CHAPTER 13
KARIAN
K arian slowly became aware of the cold of the steel table against his back. His brain twisted and kicked against the darkness veiling the world, but his eyelids still refused to obey his orders. Memories rushed through the fog, and he held on to them like a lifeline. The first one was the pain. From the minute the beast bit into his flesh, pain had taken hold of him like a jealous mistress, the venom spreading through his veins, setting his muscles in stone-clad agony.
Death had wrapped its long fingers around his throat and squeezed the life out of him. That was how he was supposed to end.
Then the most annoying, disobedient female in the universe threw herself between him and his fate. From the moment her frail, tiny body stood in the shadow of that monstrous beast, he knew. He had been wrong to fight it. There was no other female for him, on any world. Damn the consequences and all that came with it. She had the courage of a dozen warriors in her small, defenseless body, and the heart to match. In fact, if he was honest with himself, he had known all along—ever since she had first burst into that escape pod—he had simply refused to see it for what it was, even throughout the agony of the mating urges.
That last memory of Rose was enough to pull him through the remainder of the fog and back to consciousness.
Karian’s eyes flew open and then shut again under the harsh, white light. A moment later, his eyelids opened a sliver to allow his hyper-sensitive pupils time to adjust to the change in luminosity. Finally, he blinked one last time and turned to meet familiar light blue eyes in the middle of a sapphire blue frown.
Arlen.
He should have known his younger brother would be the one to save him. A surge of emotions whirled in him, but Karian kept them under control. He scanned the medical room, its whiteness leaving no place for doubt. Rose wasn’t with him.
“Where is she?” Karian’s voice was hoarse, and far less powerful than he would have liked. “Where’s Rose?”
“You mean the female we found on Saarmak?” The sapphire face crinkled in disapproval. “That’s the first thing that comes to your mind? A female? After everything?”
A soft shake of his head, a stiffening of his lower lip. Arlen was getting angry. Karian couldn’t blame him.
“Arlen.” Karian stared at the male who stood by his bed, trying his best not to lose patience. “Where is s
he?”
He tried to move, but a white flash of pain shot through his leg, blinding him.
He was vaguely aware of medical equipment beeping and a commotion of people coming into the room, poking him with sharp things and talking in worried, hushed tones.
Time passed like a slow river, carrying pain and worries as he fought to swim back to the surface.
“Where is Rose?” Karian asked again as soon as he came back to consciousness.
“Karian, you need to calm down.” Arlen’s face contorted in a concerned grimace. “We nearly lost you to the Midnight God, twice. The aakvan’s isn’t a venom that easily forgives.”
“I need to know.” Karian reached for the hand that rested on his side, near but not touching his. He squeezed it and instantly saw Arlen’s icy features melt. “I owe her my life as much as I owe you.”
“The female is safe,” Arlen said with a softer tone. “She had some minor cuts and bruises, and needed treatment for her sunburn, as well as dehydration and general malnutrition, but she recovered fast with our medical care. She’s in holding now.”
As his worries for Rose’s welfare subsided, Karian became aware of his surroundings. He looked at his brother, truly seeing his face for the first time in ten years.
The long years since their separation had etched hard lines along Arlen’s once juvenile, carefree features. As Karian studied the familiar face, he recognized some of the old softness, a smile around the eyes, a fullness in the cheeks. Yes, Arlen was still there under the veneer of harsh military discipline, but he was no longer the careless youth Karian had known ten years ago. All the lightness had been leeched from him. Karian wondered how life must have treated his good-natured brother to turn him into the cold, controlled male he sensed in front of him.
“It is good to see you.” Karian spoke softly, the words not coming easily. He wasn’t used to speaking of his emotions, but he knew he owed it to his brother. “You look grown.”