Grimaces and grunts signaled my team’s agreement, as reluctant as it was. I just needed them to hold off until I saw the Terran in charge. Obviously Hank had called them in while he waited for us to arrive. Probably thought we’d bring Natalie’s sisters, as commanded.
The doors swished open and a dozen Terrans swarmed out carrying weapons similar to the one Hank was still pressing against Natalie’s head. They spread out in a half-circle, effectively penning us in, though we still had the forest at our backs.
They leveled their silver weapons at us, sunlight sparkling along the metallic finish. As pretty as they appeared, we all knew the damage a Terran ‘gun’ could do. One zap of its orange light would severely injure a Warg beast, and could easily kill a Warg man.
Worry wriggled like a kronkworm in my belly. We had no such weapons — had never needed them. Since long before our ancestors were even born, Wargs had been the top of the food chain on Thracos. We only fought each other, and always hand-to-hand. Or paw-to-paw, as the case may be. We’d spent generations fighting off the aliens the same way, only losing a few to their ‘guns’.
Now, staring down into twelve perfectly round holes that held the promise of death, I wondered at how lucky we’d been. As a tall, lean older Terran strutted from the craft, I prayed to the Elders for our luck to hold for one more day.
The man walked up to Hank and gave Natalie a long, lingering appraisal. My beast snarled, drawing a sharp glance from Teema. How dare he lay eyes on her? It took every scrap of strength I had to keep it at bay, but only for her sake. If she hadn’t been in extreme danger, the man would have been dead by the time his leering gaze reached her perfect toes.
“Where are the other two, private?”
Hank stood up straighter, but his weapon never dropped an inch. “Commander Wrent, sir! They claim they don’t have them, sir!”
Swallowing a hard lump of hatred for this new man, I stepped forward. All twelve soldiers took a step closer to me, one of them shouting, “Don’t move!”
My beast catalogued each face so I could kill them later, but for now, I focused solely on the man in charge. My lips curled in what I hoped looked like a smile and not a snarl.
“Commander Wrent, my name is Markon. I’m the alpha. The leader of the Hill Wargs.”
“Whatever,” Wrent said, waving away the introduction as if it was an annoying gnat. “We want the other two Terran women.”
I held my hands up to show my sincerity, something I’d learned from my father. Thrane would have shown the man his fist. “I appreciate that, Commander Wrent, but as I explained to Hank, we don’t have them.”
Wrent rolled his eyes. “Then get them.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Commander.” I let a note of disappointment flicker in my voice, even though I couldn’t have been happier that Sienna and Arlynn were safe and far away in Solan’s village.
I kept my focus on the leader, even though my eyes longed to shift over to Natalie. I wanted to comfort her, tell her it would all be okay. I hated that our last words to each other had been spit out in anger, but displaying the connection between us would signal weakness.
“He says they’re with another pack of mutants, sir,” Hank chimed in.
“Shut up, private.”
“Yessir.”
“I’m afraid he’s right, Commander Wrent. Natalie’s sisters, Sienna and Arlynn, are with the Valley tribe.”
“Son,” Wrent sneered, striding halfway between Natalie and me but keeping a safe distance from us ‘mutants’. “Son, do you know who I am? I’m the Lead Commander of the Terran Training Center.”
Oh, how I longed to say what I really thought about his title. Instead, I choked out, “Impressive.”
“Damn straight it’s impressive, son. Now these men pointing their laser guns at you know I’m not someone you fuck with. So I suggest you get your ass in gear and go fetch them.”
The man really should have thanked whatever gods he worshipped that he still had a head. At my stony silence, he tipped his head to the side.
“Did you hear me, son? Hustle up! Those genetic misfits have a mission and I aim to see they fulfill it.”
“Mission!” Natalie snorted. “Some mission. Fuck a bunch of nasty generals until we’re worn out. And then what, Commander?”
“Shaddup,” Hank hissed.
“Yes, you fat whore. Listen to him or else I might decide to send you to a miner’s camp on Tooibas instead.”
My blood boiled at the things he said to Natalie but I reminded myself that I had to remain calm for her sake. Holding up a hand that trembled with rage, I drew Wrent’s attention away from her.
“This is all quite pointless, Commander Wrent. You see, Sienna and Arlynn are now Wargs. They’ve been transformed. Natalie is the only Terran remaining in our forest.”
Wrent’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Bullshit!”
“It’s true, you fucknut,” Natalie sneered, drawing his attention again as I silently willed her to hold her tongue. “A single one of you limpdicks go near them and they’ll rip your throats out with their teeth. God, I’d love to be there to see it!”
Wrent gaped at her for a moment before snatching his hat from his bald head and throwing it to the ground. It reminded me of something a whelp would do when he didn’t get his way.
“Dammit! How could you let this happen, private?” He stomped back to Hank, who flinched as spittle flicked onto into his eyes. Natalie leaned away from him as much as she dared.
“I-I’m sorry, sir.”
Wrent pushed his face right into Hank’s and glared at him fiercely. Now he reminded me a little of Thrane. “Yes, you are,” he seethed through clenched teeth.
Stepping away, Wrent scrubbed his bare head with his hand and he mumbled to himself. I didn’t understand his angst over women they’d already rejected. Something more was at stake than I knew, that much was obvious.
For the first time, real fear flared up. Desperate men do desperate things. If he was in as much trouble as I suspected, he might do just about anything. My father had taught me that there was no negotiating with unpredictable men. I caught Rikor’s eye. Get ready. He nodded and flashed subtle hand signals to the others.
“Well, shit,” Wrent grumbled. “Now that they’re mutants, I guess they’ll just have to be put down.”
A deep growl rumbled behind me. “How dare you say such things about Wargs,” Rikor said, his fangs growing and hair sprouting all over his body.
“Rikor,” I hissed, but it was too late. Before the aliens could blink twice, Rikor had shifted to his beast form.
Several soldiers cried out and backed away. One tripped and fell backward, his weapon emitting a high-pitched screech that nearly ruptured my eardrums, and a bright orange beam shot out of it. Everyone dove away from the flash of light.
Teema screamed and my blood turned icy in my veins. Rikor fell to the ground, covered in blood. Her wail of grief turned to a screech of rage. With the speed and agility of an experienced warrior, Teema shifted and sprinted for the fallen soldier, who was trying to scramble to his feet. He didn’t have a chance. The last thing I saw of him were his intestines flying into the air above the wildflowers.
Then the world filled with orange light and raging beasts. Shouts echoed across the field as the Terrans either ran or advanced. Wrent barked out orders. Claws swiped, blasts singed fur, smoke filled the air. And the screams. Some from fear, some from pain, some from rage. Yet I remained silent. My eyes never wavered from Natalie.
The moment violence broke out, Hank cowered backward. He waved his gun around, trying to figure out who to shoot. Even from this distance, I could see Natalie was waiting for the right moment to break free from his grip.
My beast wasn’t about to wait.
The shift only took a moment, but every second counted. I had to get her back…now. Crouching low in the grass, I slinked toward them, pausing only to duck the stray beam of killer light or to let a Warg bound across my pat
h.
“Close ranks!” Wrent shouted at his men, and they all moved toward him, constantly shooting.
I risked a peek over the field. Hank had backed his way to the edge of the craft, still holding Natalie in front of him like a shield. If I didn’t reach them before he got inside, I’d never see her again. I couldn’t let that happen. No time to hesitate. I had to act now.
With a deafening roar, I sprinted across the meadow, closing the distance between us so quickly Hank barely had time to react. Soldiers ran to intercept me, shooting and shouting, but I ignored them. My eyes locked onto Natalie and she smiled.
That’s why I didn’t see it coming. Even shifted and in the midst of battle, when my senses should have picked up on every minute detail, I was so overwhelmed with love for her, that I didn’t see Wrent step up beside Hank. I didn’t see him raise his gun. I didn’t see the ray of orange light spurt out at me.
All I saw was her.
25
Natalie
“No!” I screamed as Markon fell. Hank dragged my struggling body behind the shuttle, toward my old life, and then Markon and that evil commander disappeared from sight.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he hissed in my ear, his hot, rancid breath nearly making me vomit. “Your mutant boyfriend’s dead. No one to save you now.”
He flicked his tongue along the curve of my ear and grabbed my breast with his free hand. Kicking and screaming, I tried to free myself from his grip but it was too tight.
“Ooh, yeah, fight me, baby. Guess if I can’t have Sienna, you’ll have to do.”
All the fear and pain and misery I’d repressed my entire life bubbled up to the surface. Every time my parents refused to feed me because I was too fat, every horrible and pointless gene therapy session, every day the trainers made me exercise until I puked. It all coalesced into a hard, bright point of light that gave me strength and energy I never suspected I possessed.
I’d vowed to die rather than get on that shuttle with Hank and I meant it. But maybe instead of me dying, it could be him.
The sounds of fighting grew louder on the other side of the shuttle, but I ignored it all to focus on my task at hand.
Literally.
I stopped struggling and let him nuzzle my neck, pretending to give in. His grip relaxed slightly, putting enough space between us for me to reach behind me. When my fingers grazed his inner thigh, he moaned. When they latched onto his crotch with the strength of a pissed-off Warg, he shrieked.
Hank pushed me away, his hands flying to his bruised junk. The clunk of his laser gun falling to the ground sounded like sweet, vengeful music to my ears. Snatching it up I ran to the corner of the shuttle to put distance between us. Rearranging the family jewels might hurt but it wouldn’t stop him for long. I needed to finish this, then go find Markon.
I raised the gun as I spun around, sighting down the barrel. He’d straightened up and was moving toward me, offering the broadest target I could have asked for. Back at the Center, I’d heard new guards being taught to always aim for the torso, so my sole focus was on the center of his chest.
If he hadn’t lurched to a sudden stop, I would have pulled the trigger and blasted him to that mining station on Tooibas, but the way his body shuddered stilled my finger. At the same time his face twisted and contorted in agony, he let out a bone-chilling scream that rattled me to the core. I looked down at the unfired gun in my hand, completely confused and more than a little terrified.
By the time my gaze flicked back to Hank, red blooms had sprouted on the front of his grey jumpsuit. The blooms turned into a vertical streak that spread from his throat down to his groin.
What the hell?
Just as suddenly as he’d stopped moving, he stopped screaming. His head lolled to the left and his body went limp. Except he was still upright.
Seriously, what the hell!
The front of Hank’s jumpsuit, where blood now flowed freely, tented outward. White points poked out of the fabric, tearing it and Hank’s chest wide open. I couldn’t turn away as everything that had once been inside Hank spilled out, and his body split in two.
A scream froze in my throat at the horror I’d just witnessed and the horror standing before me. A green-eyed, brown-furred Warg with gore-covered paws and bared teeth stood over the body, snarling. The world tilted on its axis and I stumbled sideways.
Time slowed to a crawl as I caught a glimpse of the once-peaceful meadow from around the corner of the shuttle. All the beautiful flowers had been trampled flat and blood stains glowed in bright contrast to the crushed blooms. Warg beasts hurtled through the air, tackling gun-wielding soldiers. So many Wargs. I recognized several from the Valley tribe. But no sign of Markon.
“Natalie!”
It dawned on me that someone had been calling my name over and over again, but I couldn’t hear it through the static hissing in my brain. I’m in shock, I thought numbly, turning around to face my fate. But instead of staring into the dark depths of killer Warg eyes, a beautiful and bloody naked woman stood before me.
“S-Sienna?” I stuttered. My world tipped again and she rushed forward to catch me in her arms.
“Shh,” she soothed, wrapping me in a warm, sisterly embrace. “I’m here. We’re here.”
Behind her, a black-furred Warg crumpled in on itself until only the lovely form of my other sister remained, worry etched on her face. She rushed up, and took Sienna and me into a fierce bear hug.
“Arlynn? Am I hallucinating?”
“No, dork,” she said. “We came to save your fine ass.”
I looked between them, my sisters. We may not have been borne of the same parents, but that was nothing. Our bond was eternal. We’d always be there for each other.
“Good God, is she crying?” Arlynn exclaimed.
“I believe our little scientist finally tapped into her emotions,” Sienna said, hugging me tighter for a moment before releasing me.
I sniffed back my tears but kept their hands clamped in mine. They were my lifeline.
“Would one of you please tell me what you’re doing here?”
“You mean aside from delivering a well-deserved lesson to that asshat Hank?” Arlynn snorted. Her tone was light but when her gaze skipped over to Hank’s shredded remains, her color drained away. She’d always been the most sensitive of the three of us. Clearing her throat, she tried to cover her distress. “We heard you might be in trouble.”
“From whom? Where did all those Wargs come from?”
Sienna grabbed my shoulders and looked up into my eyes. I’d always stood a head taller than any other girl at the Center, which intimidated many of them, but never my sisters. Sienna radiated calm determination. A familiar sense of security washed over me. She’d know what to do. She always did.
“This morning—“
A laser blast ricocheted off the shuttle and zapped over our heads. We all ducked and scurried away from the corner, careful to avoid what was left of Hank. The action was happening on the other side of the shuttle, so we kept it between us and the battlefield. Sienna shifted back to her beast and positioned herself in front of Arlynn and me, our backs close the edge of the forest.
Screams and snarls rent the air but one voice rang out above the rest. “RETREAT! RETREAT!” Commander Wrent shouted to his soldiers.
The man himself ran around the corner, skidding to a halt when he spotted Hank. His bald head snapped around until he spotted us. Sienna’s hackles raised and her growl rumbled across the field to him, but that only seemed to infuriate him. Raising his gun, he took aim.
Before he could blast us into oblivion, ten of his men bolted around the shuttle, some helping others hobble along. They knocked Wrent off balance on their way to the door, sending his gun flying. It landed with a nauseating splat in Hank’s remains. He blinked hard a few times, then bolted after his men.
The air went wild again, whipping my hair around, but instead of ushering in impending doom, it signaled victory, as bittersweet as it m
ight turn out to be. Rage and fear and relief and love filled me to the brim. I couldn’t contain it.
I jumped out from behind Sienna and held up both hands, letting my two most expressive fingers do the talking for me. Arlynn laughed and moved next to me, turning around, bending over and waggling her bare ass in the air. Sienna’s beast tipped her head back and howled so loud the air vibrated. I didn’t even need to be a Warg to know she was telling them to fuck off.
Only when the shuttle was out of sight did I turn to survey the damage. From what I could see, two Terrans — three, counting Hank — lay dead in the meadow. Several Warg beasts hobbled around, sniffing at the injuries of their comrades. As much as I appreciated their coming to my aid, right now I only cared about finding one particular Warg.
Movement caught my eye. A bloodied brown Warg beast with impossibly green eyes limped over to me, his hot breath huffing against my skin as he snuffled up and down checking for injuries. I buried my fingers in Markon’s fur and leaned into his neck, breathing in his sharp animal scent.
When I pulled my fingers from his coat, they came back smeared with blood. “Markon,” I whispered, panic seizing me. Normally, I’d have been the calm, collected Natalie, and gone looking for some first aid supplies. But now that I’d found love, I couldn’t think straight. All this time, I’d been worried that transforming into a Warg would muddle my thinking, when love turned out to be my logical brain’s downfall.
One sweet swipe of his tongue on my cheek calmed me. The wound was superficial. He’d be fine. And he’d be mine.
Forever mine.
26
Markon
“I still can’t believe we didn’t lose anyone,” I said, surveying the devastated meadow. Teema crouched nearby, bandaging Rikor’s superficial head wound. “I thought it was the end for us.”
“It almost was,” Solan agreed. “If it hadn’t been for—“
“Me! If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be rat feed by now, little brother.”
Markon's Claim: A SciFi Shifter Romance (The Last Alphas of Thracos Book 2) Page 13