Evex_Warriors Of Ition

by Maia Starr

  He nodded, pleased so long as he could stay blissfully in the dark about Amlodesh.

  “Have a placement ceremony set up for tomorrow,” he said quietly, unwilling to ask me the question that was plaguing him.

  Fenris looked between us again like we were madmen and grabbed me by my shoulders, turning me forcefully away from the window. “How is Amlodesh? I can’t reach anyone.”

  “Dead,” I said, and the word almost sent me crashing down into a wild fury.

  Fenris let out a screeching bellow: echoing through the hollow council chamber so tortured that the timber of it would stay with me forever.

  My father stood there, useless without someone telling him what to do, and then he spun on his heel and headed for the door.

  Fenris fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands, and suddenly I was right back where I was when our mother died. The bearer of bad news.

  I swallowed the sob that was edging up my throat, unsure if I should leave him. The Dendren made his way toward the door and stopped as Fenris’ mate stood to the left of the towering double doors.

  She had dark skin and tender, beautiful eyes. I’d met her in passing only a couple of times. Fenris and I hadn’t been on good terms, so getting to know her wasn’t a priority. But at that moment, I was jealous of him.

  Someone would come to his aid. When I left this room, she would sweep in and tell him everything would be alright, and he would believe her.

  That was something I didn’t have.

  “Father,” I called to him, and he turned in surprise at my address. We were to refer to him as Dendren at all times, family or not.

  He turned with his wise, tired eyes and nodded toward me.

  I licked my lips, now laser-focused as I enunciated, “Where’s Pash?”

  He looked at me curiously then and lowered a brow. Then something seemed to click, and he gave a slow nod as he said, “She’s in the gardens.”

  I didn’t remember leaving the buildings after that. My body took over and let my mind rest, my body morphing to my full form. I spread my wings out and sped to the gardens: sprawling fauna and flora down by the mainland.

  My body stretched through the obstacle course my father had set in place: the sky a training ground for his warriors. Narrow rings lined the path to the gardens, and I flattened my body to race through them, never missing one.

  When I reached the gardens, I felt exhausted: my head spinning in a crowd of emotions: fury ranking in the top now. It didn’t take long to find her, my love.

  She was standing with Illox, holding his hand and wrenching away as she saw me near. I looked down at her clothes: a pale pink shirt that clung to the smallest, roundest belly.

  My breath sped up, and I watched a look of terror wash over Illox’s face as he quickly took to the sky without her.

  You’d better run.

  “You lied to me,” Pash spat, holding her hand up to stop me as I marched toward her.

  I reached her and grabbed her by the shoulders, squeezing until I couldn’t feel my hands anymore: my eyes filling with tears and a wild rage crawling up my throat as I pictured the black ink spilling out of Amlodesh’s mouth.

  “You’re pregnant?” I whispered out with such pain that I could barely stand to hear my own voice.

  Pash looked up at me with calculated, fearful eyes as they traced back and forth from mine. She tried to broaden her shoulders and loosen herself from my grasp but I only squeezed harder.

  “You told me the breeders were dead,” she spat back, seeming just as furious as I was. “Now I hear they’ve been released to Renden!”

  I let her go, shoving her backward and watching her stumble as I fumed, “And you told me you’d be mine when I returned.”

  “Then I guess we’re both liars.” Her words were venomous as she literally spat toward me.

  I turned from her, overwhelmed by my anger and needing a release. Pash shifted, only halfway, letting out her beautiful, feathery wings and vaulted toward me. Now I was the one being shoved.

  “I had the opportunity to test whether I could conceive,” she said. “You should be happy for me.”

  My eyes went wide then, and she fluttered backward, leading me into a garden maze: high walls of green and purple trees that we could both get out of as easily.

  “I’m elated,” I hissed. “Can’t you tell?”

  She lurched forward once more and tried to touch my hand, but I ripped it away.

  “I’m not concerned with you any longer,” I seethed through clenched teeth.

  “This is all I ever wanted,” she said, now on the verge of tears. Real or fake, I couldn’t be sure. “And you can’t even muster up a smile. You really are a selfish prick; you know that?”

  I felt heat tense in my stomach, and I pierced a stare through her that made her twitch. “Should I? Should I be happy for you?” I enunciated. “You would have eight humans murdered for their ability to get pregnant when all along you could do the same?” My eerily calm tone turned into outright screaming by the end of my sentence.

  For her sake, I needed to get away from her.

  “What should you care what the humans feel?” she yelled back, her blue eyes darkening. “I thought you were on my side, always, Scashra! Otherwise, I never would have done this!”

  “You wanted them dead!”

  She shook her hand and threw her hand out in front of her. “Say what you’re really mad about!”

  “You!” I yelled. “Fucking Illox!”

  She winced at that and fixed a lock of long, silky hair behind her ear, willing to accept her scold.

  “You,” came another sharp jab. “Using me.”

  Pash swallowed, and her heaving breaths began to slow as she carefully began walking toward me. I went to speak but snapped my mouth shut, and she gave me a stare that was suddenly sweet and tempered.

  Conniving.

  “What?” she asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Please, Scashra. We used to tell each other everything.”

  I cocked a brow at that and shook my head in disgust. “Is that right? How about we try this. How long have you been with Illox?”

  “A year,” she sighed.

  “A year?” I repeated in shock. All this time I’d be fawning over her, and she was already claimed by someone else. I’d just been too stupid to see it. I laughed miserably to myself and shook my head.

  She took a long breath in and shared, “You should be happy that I can have dragonlings.”

  I was shocked. That was her argument?

  “Excuse me?” I asked, incredulous.

  “I said…” she began nervously. “If we’re to be together, then you should be happy that I’m one of the eniwan who can still have children. How could I ever have been worthy of being your chosen if I couldn’t give you children?”

  Her eyes looked sad then, and it only filled me with more anger.

  “So you did this for me then?” I raged. “The audacity… that you think we would ever be together now? After this? After you betrayed me?”

  “Scashra,” she snipped at me. “I said I would be yours when you became Dendren, not when you came back!”

  “No,” I said sharply, “When I came back was the entire… deal.”

  “I said when you were Dendren!” she screamed, holding a protective hand over her belly.

  I looked down at it, and my eyes went wide once more: hands trembling in fury. “I’m not… in line… for the throne.”

  “Don’t be so blind, Scashra! The king wants to hold you back in the council room tomorrow. Why do you think that is? He already told me he’s choosing you to be his heir.”

  “Why?” I demanded. “Why over Fenris?”

  “Because you aren’t with a human,” she snapped. “No one creating a half-breed can be a king. The only way Fenris can take the throne is if you, the Dendren, and Amlodesh all die.”

  A rush of numbness shot through my center, and I looked up at her as though I’d al
ready forgotten.

  “Well then he’s one down already,” I said.

  Pash’s eyes twitched, and she searched my eyes, shaking her head no. My lip began to shake, and she breathed, “Not Amlodesh?”

  “Get away from me,” I said tersely as I turned away from her.

  I could hear her crying in the maze but couldn’t bring myself to turn around. She used me. The whole time she’d been with Illox: probably tried to con him into killing those girls as well, and when he wouldn’t, she came to me.

  Her willing slave.

  Chapter Seven

  Chloe

  I couldn’t stay in the hospital room any longer, even though Scashra had asked me too. Sitting there with her body was too much for me. I just kept picturing Alecia.

  I wondered if she had suffered a similar fate: wondered if she was taken here and succumbed to the same poison that was affecting the eniwan.

  Logically, I knew that didn’t sound right. But the thought still haunted me.

  Without thinking, I wandered out to the lush green valley below the glowing, purple building. I steered clear of the large stream coming from the waterfall above, but happily paced the area outside of it and let the rain wash over me.

  The water was refreshing and warm on my skin. At the edge of the valley was a small forest that, if you walked through it, led to the edge of the island cliff.

  I could hear some commotion in the forest and, against my better judgment, I began to walk toward it.

  The whole night sky had filled with a dense fog that stopped almost completely when I reached the edge of the forest. Heading in, I could hear the rain hitting the tops of their strange trees: stumps of thick bark that spread out into bulbous leaves, like hard orbs on the ends of branches.

  Crickets, or whatever the Cadir equivalent was, could also be heard sounding throughout the forest.

  Stepping in further, I could see Scashra, heavily armored as he had been before. He stood in front of one of the trees, his black hair damp and matted to his skin: face pale but flushed in his cheeks.

  I went to say something but stepped back as I watched him start to furiously punch the tree, scraping his fists against the sharp bark and screaming out a furious battle cry to no one.

  The crackling bellow made me go stiff.

  I licked my lips awkwardly and listened to his cries, suddenly feeling worse now than I did before. He was Parduss… but even they could feel loss.

  His meltdown continued, and I watched him: his angled jaw and sad face drawing me closer to him until I couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

  “I feel I should say something before this gets too awkward,” I said, hoping it sounded at least somewhat charming.

  I stood with my hands behind my back, foot stretched out behind me, tapping my toe against the wet ground.

  Scashra looked over at me with tears in his eyes and quickly wiped his face on his sleeve, breathing out in frustration.

  “Your hands are bleeding,” I said, pointing to them from afar.

  We could hear lightning crackling off in the distance, and I shuddered at the overpowering sound.

  Scashra set both of his palms on the tree in front of him and bent far over so that the top of his head was resting against the bark.

  I swallowed nervously and walked over to him, setting a gentle hand on his arm. “Are you okay?” I asked, stupidly. I was never very good at things like this.

  “No,” he said, toneless.

  “I know the feeling,” I offered. “What’s wrong?” I asked and then gave a long pause. “Spaceship ransacked?”

  Scashra drew his brows together in a deep frown and looked over at me curiously.

  “Alien species take you against your will?” I teased, smiling a little bit.

  “No,” the shifter stood upright then and stifled a laugh, against his will I was sure.

  “Aw, well, if you know anyone who has, I can definitely sympathize.”

  His thin, pointed lips drew into a small smile, and my expression fell. “I’m sorry about your sister,” I breathed out carefully and then pulled him into a strange, soft embrace. I wrapped my arms around him and drew his head into the crook of my neck. He was all but crouching to make the hug happen, but he seemed willing to give it a try anyway.

  My neck felt warm with his skin pressed against it. Suddenly, it was getting harder to tell myself it didn’t feel amazing to have him this close to me.

  “You’re being too kind to me,” he said after some time, pulling away just enough to stand upright once more. He looked down at me, and I felt my face go warm.

  He was as arousing and sexy as I had ever seen him. I shrugged, trying to push the feelings aside.

  “I was being sarcastic, but, sure. Kind. I’ll take it.”

  He shook his head. “No, you were trying to make me laugh.”

  I flushed: our bodies still pressed together, his hands now on my hips. “How are you so resilient?” he said, squinting his eyes at me.

  “Believe me, I’m not,” I protested.

  Scashra’s eyes flicked back and forth from mine, and all I could hear was the hum of the creatures in the forest and the dripping rain just outside of the canopy.

  I looked up at the green and brown, hazel eyes of his and felt my middle go hot right in between my legs. My hand found its way to his cheek, nervously, and I pressed it flat against his smooth skin.

  Scashra leaned into my height and pressed his lips against mine, taking all of the breath out of me. He pulled my body even closer, and our lips started moving in unison, dancing together in something that started out as curious and sweet and quickly turned into something far more passionate.

  “What was that?” I asked, pulling away from the kiss.

  “I need you,” he said, moving his hand over my breast, keeping the other firmly on my lower back. “I’ve needed you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  “Funny,” I said in between kisses, “I didn’t think I was that charming.”

  “Your body,” he moaned, touching me and pinching my nipple between his fingers. He kissed me and breathed hard into my skin. “You’re so beautiful.”

  His tongue moved inside my mouth, flicking and rubbing against mine like a preview of what was to come.

  Soon he laid me flat on the mossy ground below us and started undressing me as quickly as I began to undress him. He pulled off my sticky, wet blouse and I struggled with his armor, trying furiously to get it undone.

  Eventually, he took pity on me and undid it himself.

  His body was amazing, cut and toned. He laid on top of me until my breasts just grazed his chest: wet skin against wet skin. I held his face in my hands, feeling him stroke himself up and down against my most sensitive area as I studied him.

  Scashra’s face had such beautiful features: a strange kindness in his eyes I hadn’t seen before.

  I pulled his face closer and desperately wanted to lick up his cheek or bite his lips: tell him to pound me and revel in the sexiest encounter I had ever had, but instead, I kissed him softly and let out a small moan.

  If we were going to be screwing at any point, it wasn’t going to be tonight.

  He pushed inside of me, thick and filling, and there was a warming sensation that I felt pulsing through him—something unique to the Parduss.

  “Mm,” I said and raised my hips up to me him: let him in deeper.

  His hands searched my breasts and found their way up to my hair, seeming more enticed by the dark red stands than any other part of my body. He studied it curiously as he slid in and out of me.

  Scashra leaned down and kissed me again, breathing harder.

  “I’ve waited so long to have you,” he whispered, and the hot breath against my ear sent goosebumps down my arms.

  I writhed against him. “Then why’d you wait so long?”

  He grimaced at the question but didn’t respond, instead letting out a guttural groan and continued to explore my body with his hands.

 
His eyes found mine, and I could feel my face going red. I’d never been with someone who would watch me during sex. And now I was hooked.

  “I’m gonna cum,” I whispered, unsure if he even knew what it meant.

  The heat from him was too much, enhancing all my senses until I couldn’t control myself anymore. I pressed my fingers into his back and could feel my body contracting around his as the friction between us intensified. I was letting out deep moans like I’d never heard from myself before as my orgasm washed over me with intense waves.

  Once my climax was over, he began to pound into me, no longer politely waiting. My body sank into the soft ground under me at the force of it: my legs splayed out and wrapped around his back for stability.

  I could tell Scashra was going to finish when I started to hear his voice sound out through his breath. Little grunts of pleasure followed by a long, deep sigh.

  My body filled with him and I could feel it, wet, down my leg as he pulled out.

  We both laid on the edge of the forest, naked, staring up at the strange bulbous trees.

  Scashra laid his head on my breasts and ran his hand down my stomach and thighs, up and down.

  “What happened?” I asked, stroking his hair and feeling his heartbeat finally begin to slow down. “When you left?”

  “I was…” he moved slightly, but I continued working my hand through his curly, wet strands. “Betrayed by somebody,” he concluded with no sign that he would expand on the story.

  “A friend?” I asked.

  He shook his head against my chest. “Not anymore,” he enunciated.

  My eyes went wide at the statement and, though he couldn’t see it, I nodded.

  “I know the feeling,” I said.

  He looked up at me then, resting his sharp chin in between my breasts and catching my eyes. “Then I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Me too,” I said.

  He watched me for a long time before turning his profile back to my breasts and settling there.

  “I’m sending all of your people to Renden for good, to live by the Dendren. The researchers and the breeders.”

  “I thought the researchers were supposed to be shipped off to the mainland to get eaten?” I teased.

  He smiled, and I could feel it against my skin, which made me smile stupidly.