by Laurie Roma
He wouldn’t have done that…maybe.
“Ha! Of course you would have.” Insult filled her voice. “Did you think I changed your weapons simply for the color? Nay, I gifted you a magical sword that will never dull, nor will it even fail to cut what tries to harm you.”
Deeply touched for such a precious gift, he said, “Thank you.”
“You are my nephew. I am coming out. Tell me what happened.”
Malik sat up and brushed the purple dirt off of him. “Three bird Dinos attacked us, and one carried Matt off toward the lake. And this one pulled me off with it after I killed it. Or maybe I didn’t kill it, but its dead now. The others might still be fighting the last Dino bird.”
“I will find Matt. That one seems to attract trouble.”
Overhead, an enormous gold and black dragon burst into the sky, and it was carrying the last of the Dino birds in its mouth. It closed its powerful jaw, and the bird was broken in half. Both pieces of the Dino fell to the ground as the dragon sped off toward the lake in pursuit of Matt.
He watched in awe for a moment, then spun around when he heard chittering behind him. Hellfire, there were five small neon-orange Dinos coming out of the tree line toward him. They were smaller versions of the green ones they had seen by the lake, and he recalled Amari’s warning about the small ones being more dangerous. Their two feet carried them fast, and their front claws extended as their mouths opened wide in anticipation.
But Malik was not about to be any Dino’s meal.
He took a fighting stance, holding his sword in front of him. As the creatures attacked, he met then with brutal force, swinging and slicing, but the damn things kept coming at him from all sides. Malik killed one of them with a slice to the neck, then he jumped back as blue blood spilled out of it, along with a small amount of a thick, metallic sliver liquid.
What in hellfire was that?
He spun around to dispatch another by stabbing it, then he dragged the sword up so it was split down the middle. He saw more of the silver liquid, but couldn’t take the time to examine it. He was pulled back when two of the Dinos latched onto him, one on his sword arm and another on his leg, he called forth his energy and shocked both of them until they let go and fell to the ground.
Energy lightning sizzled out of him, and he realized that the Dinos hadn’t been able to penetrate his armor with their teeth, although, it hurt like a demon where they had clamped down on him. That was another thing he had to be grateful to the Dragon Warriors for, but it couldn’t help him as the last Dino hit him from behind with enough force to knock him to the ground. When the Dino stood over him ready to clamp its mouth down on his neck, Malik rolled away just in time to avoid those snapping teeth, but it kept coming.
Then a massive cat hit the Dino with the force of a meteor.
The cat slammed it to the ground and bit into its flesh. Malik knew that it wasn’t a Dino cat…it was Reva. He would never forget what she looked like in her cat form. She must have sprinted down the mountain path to see if he was still alive, and it lifted his spirits that she had been so worried about him. It was probably wrong for him to feel that way, but pride filled him to bursting when he saw she had come to his aid.
A Helios in shifted form was a sight to see, and his Helios in attack mode was absolutely breathtaking. She was all golden fur and sharp, deadly fangs and claws. Reva ripped into the Dino with a vengeance, clawing and biting into it. She tore into it and didn’t stop attacking until it wasn’t moving anymore.
Malik flipped back onto his feet and slammed his sword down on one of the stunned Dinos’ neck, hard enough to decapitate it. The other one got up before he could get to it, and it leaped at him, jaw wide. Malik shoved his sword into its mouth, then he flung it to the ground before he cut off its head.
When he turned around, he wanted to take her in his arms, to thank her for coming to him. However, as he started over to her, he could see that something was wrong.
Reva stood frozen in place, her body shuddering. She kept shaking her large cat head, as if she were confused. He looked down and saw the strange silver liquid pooling out from all of the Dino’s bodies, then he glanced up to see the same liquid dripped from Reva’s fangs. Alarm struck him as the silver seemed to move on its own, as if it were being absorbed into her.
“Reva?”
Her head stopped shaking, then it lifted, and those cat eyes locked onto him with a predatory gaze. She snarled low. It was an angry sound, filled with menace.
Then…she lunged at him.
He barely missed getting gutted by her sharp claws as he dove out of her way. She twisted mid-air and swiped at his back. Malik would have been mortally wounded if he hadn’t been wearing his armor. Jumping back onto his feet, he tried talking to her, reasoning with her, but it was as if she were no longer there.
As if she were just an animal who didn’t recognize him at all.
She pounced again, and this time her claws skimmed over his armor near his thigh. When she couldn’t draw blood, she snarled in rage. The cat plowed into him, knocking him to the ground, and she bit down on the arm he’d raised to block his neck and face from her sharp teeth.
Hellfire, his lady was actually trying to kill him.
Malik was really having a bad day. How many ways could he possibly die on this damned planet? He had already survived the impossible, but if he couldn’t get through to her, he didn’t know what he was going to do.
He wouldn’t use his sword on Reva. He had promised not to ever hurt her, though, he still had to shock her a few time to stop her from killing him. He didn’t know what was wrong with her, and he needed to figure out what to do to bring her back to him.
Malik knew that he had to move her away from the pool of silver liquid still on the ground. She had started to act crazy as soon as the silver stuff had gone into her, so he forced her to follow him as he struggled to stay out of her reach.
But the pool of liquid seemed to be following them.
When she lunged at him again, she took him down. Those sharp fangs zeroed in on his neck, and he knew he hadn’t moved quickly enough this time. He kept his eyes on hers as he waited for the female he loved to kill him…but she didn’t.
Instead, Reva’s vicious snarl turn into a sharp cry of pain as she was thrown off him by a blast of light. He sat up and saw that she had shifted back. Her nude body lay on the ground, and she was trembling as the silver liquid leaked out of her eyes, ears, and her nose. The liquid moved on its own as the drops came together, forming a smaller pool than the one slowing moving toward them.
He looked over as Amari walked toward them with a grim expression on her face. Next to her was Matt, and he was scowling at the silver liquid. Malik rushed over to Reva, careful to avoid the puddles of silver liquid that had made her a primitive killing machine. Reaching out to pull her away from the silver pool, he stopped when Amari spoke in low, harsh voice.
“Do not touch her. All of it is not out yet.”
Amari raised her hands and sent another blast of magic at Reva, and it struck her like a physical blow. Reva’s body convulsed as the magic hit her, and more silver liquid leaked out of her eyes and nose. The liquid slithered to the other puddle, and when it all connected, it shifted and formed a perfect, shiny circle on the ground.
Reva’s back arched, and she gasping for breath, and Malik didn’t wait for Amari’s permission to go to her. He rushed over and lifted Reva into his arms, carrying her away from the silver circle. He sunk down to the ground with her cradled in his arms. Her body still shook, but it was vibrating from all the magic that Amari had shot into her, not from that poisonous silver liquid.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you, my lady, my love,” Malik whispered as he cradled her in his arms. She clung to him, pressing her nose against his throat, just breathing him in. He tilted his head to the side, allowing her better access to him. She definitely had a thing for his throat, and he was immensely pleased that she wasn’t trying to rip it out this
time.
It broke his heart when she whimpered, and he found himself rocking her gently to soothe her. When he tried to get her to look at him, she pressed against him tighter, and simply held on. Her bare skin was hot to the touch, and he rubbed his hands up and down her back.
Matt stepped toward the silver circle, then he jumped back as it seemed to ripple. “What is that shit?”
“Silver goo.”
“Is that the technical term?” Matt asked dryly.
“It is what we call it.”
Malik glanced up. “What did it do to her?”
Amari sighed. “I do not know, exactly. We have seen the silver goo on several planets we have visited. There had been no record of it being on Vexar, but I saw it last time I was here. I am not sure if it has a purpose, except to drive beings crazy. It tried to invade one of my fathers around two hundred years ago on a small planet we visited. One of my other fathers was able to blast it out of himself, so that is how I knew to do so.”
“It’s alive,” Malik said, looking at the circle.
“Aye, it is.” Amari flicked a hand at it, and the circle lit with pure black fire before it disappeared into a cloud of pure white smoke. “Now, it is not.”
Malik shielded Reva’s naked body as she moved against him restlessly. She started clawing at him with her fingertips, but she wasn’t able to gain purchase since he was wearing armor. When one of her hands reached up and fisted in his hair, she pulled hard, making him wince.
“I feel far too much energy inside her.”
Amari frowned. “I might have used too much magic on her.”
“You what? Take it out of her,” he demanded, then he grimaced as Reva bit his neck.
Amari smiled at the action. “I could, but I think you will have more fun. I will take this one up to join the others. We will walk down the mountain slowly to give you time.”
Matt sighed. “I’m relegated to ‘this one’ now?”
“Aye. You need to stop getting into trouble, human.” She pointed toward where the rocks created a small shelter. “You will be safe there. I have shielded it for you.”
“If you can do that, why didn’t you shield the ledge up there?” Matt demanded.
Amari raised a brow. “I assumed you would have been able to keep yourselves safe for ten minutes. I was wrong.”
“Hey—!”
Malik blinked as they disappeared. Not because they were gone, but his clothing had also disappeared. Did she really think he was unable of removing his armor himself? She really had to stop doing that.
It was certainly quicker, but he wasn’t at all comfortable being naked in an area where the bodies of slain Dinos were. He stood, taking Reva with him to the rock shelter. She was all but humming with energy, and he knew he had to take some of it from her to return to her back to her normal self. He sat her down on a small rock ledge, and she immediately wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer so their bodies touched.
“Reva? Don’t worry, helicca. I am going to help you.”
He lifted her head so he could look into her eyes, and he saw the hunger burning in her amber gaze. Her claws dug into his ass, making him hiss, but the bite of pain made his cock swell until he was hard as rock. He’d wanted to tell her what he was going to do, explain that he needed to draw the energy out of her. When he did it, he would need to use that energy or it would harm him.
Instead, he would just show her.
Malik pulled her hair back, taking her mouth in a heated kiss. The taste of her was a dark fantasy. He could barely see her in the small, rock shelter, but he knew her face, knew her body as if he had been born with the knowledge. His rough hands gripped her hips, pulling her toward the edge of the rock she was on, and his hard erection pulsed against her stomach.
He began drawing some of her energy into him as he pushed her thighs apart wider with his hips. The power hit him like a lightning strike, and he finally realized just how much magic she had inside of her. She made a mewing sound of need that he’d never heard her make before, then he positioned the head of his cock at the entrance of her slick pussy. He thrust deep, sheathing his entire length in her hot, wet core, and felt completely merged with her, body, heart, and soul.
Reva felt the raw power bouncing around inside of her, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of his hot, hard length embedded deep within her. The pleasure of his entrance bordered on pain as his thick cock had parted her tight muscles, but it was a welcomed feeling. She needed him to ground her, to bring her back from wherever she had been before. Where there had only been the cold and the dark. Now, the hunger clawing at her made her unable to focus on anything but him.
It was as if only the two of them existed in the world, and she loved it.
She loved him.
His fiery kisses burned through her, and she arched against him, wanting him to move, to thrust his cock in and out of her until she came apart. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t stop shaking from the combination of whatever the silver goo had done to her, and the Dragon Warrior’s magic. The power within her was like a drug, potent and addicting, but so was Malik’s touch.
When he began to move, she pumped her hips against him. She sucked on his tongue, driving herself crazy with the taste of him. She needed more, needed everything. Her hands gripped his ass and the back of his neck, holding on as he pushed her close to climax with each powerful thrust, but it wasn’t enough.
She needed something more from him.
Reva ripped her lips away from his, wanting to taste his skin, needing to feed off him. She alternated voraciously licking and sucking his neck as he pounded into her. The sound of their flesh slapping together thrilled her, and she felt her muscles flutter around his cock as he drove into her faster and harder.
She fell over the edge of ecstasy and her fangs sank into the curve of his neck as she came. Her body shuddered with her release, and the taste of his blood settled some primal instinct she hadn’t even known she had, but couldn’t deny.
He came on a roar of pleasure, and she felt him fill her with his hot seed. She held onto him as his body shook, her fangs deep in his flesh. They were connected, in a way that eased her. She could feel him taking the magic from her, and her desire for him felt more normal, more natural.
She pulled back and licked at the blood on his neck, then looked down at the twin red starburst marks she’d left behind. They would heal within a few hours, but the scars would always be there. It was a claiming mark, one that bound them together until she took her last breath.
Reva had life-locked with Malik, and she hadn’t told him what that meant.
CHAPTER TEN
It wasn’t a usual occurrence for someone to throw up on the feet of the ruler of an entire planet, but that was exactly what Lazio and Rob did upon their arrival on the home world of the Xenon.
On a positive note, at least Rob didn’t pass out this time.
In the hours since they had left Vexar, their group had traveled to Alpha Station: X21, then on to Xenthian, a planet that had been magically cloaked and shielded for thousands of years.
Back on Vexar, Reva and Malik had been interrupted when the rest of their party had come down the mountain. Amari had put Malik’s armor back on him, and had thankfully given Reva another black suit to wear since she had torn the one she’d been wearing when she had shifted.
When the others had told her that Malik had fallen to his death, she hadn’t wanted to believe it. She had pushed herself to run faster than she ever had before to find him, and when she had found him alive and fighting, her heart had cried out with joy. She had joined in, pleased to fight by his side.
But what happened after that was a blur.
She just remembered feeling the icy cold and the dark. It was frightening, but Malik had brought her back, and she had just held onto him. Before they left, she did remember half of the mountain exploding when Amari had destroyed the weapons stored there. The males had been angry about it, but Kahla and Amari
had just watched the flames with a mad glee.
And the three Tarin females had cried with happiness.
Reva hadn’t been able to talk much to Malik about their encounter after they had left Vexar, and she was deeply worried about how he would react when she told them she had bound their lives together…without his permission. She hadn’t meant to claim him on that hostile planet, but she hadn’t been able to fight the compulsion.
Still, she wouldn’t blame it on the silver goo or Amari’s magic. It had been her choice, and she hoped he would forgive her…eventually. Because they were life-locked now, they could speak to each other telepathically, but she was too afraid to do it before she could explain everything to him.
But she hadn’t had a chance to do so yet.
It had only taken an hour to get to Alpha Station: X21, and when they had arrived, Commander Olivia Tavish—formerly Jacobson—her two Krytos mates, Axton and Zade Tavish, and Shay, a female Krytos who worked for them, had been waiting in the docking bay. Axton and Zade owned Asylum, the sanctuary onboard, and they had brought Shay with them so she could put the three rescued Tarin females at ease.
Serena, the only female Tarin who had spoken to anyone, had expressed an interest in staying on Malik’s vessel with them, but the other two had wanted to go to the sanctuary. They had talked it over, but had ultimately felt it would have been too dangerous to take the females with them, which was why they had stopped on X21.
Everyone had understood why Serena said she didn’t want to stay on the space station after she told them she hadn’t seen the sun or been outside for over a year, so Kahla had promised that she would arrange for someone to come to X21 to pick them up and take them wherever they wanted to go.
Shay left to escort the three females to the sanctuary, while the commander and her mates had stayed in the docking bay to talk. Reva, Kahla, and Matt knew Oliva, Axton, Zade, and Shay already, so the Tarins had allowed them to take the lead. The two Krytos brothers hadn’t been very happy to see Amari again. The Dragon Warrior had killed someone in their sanctuary on her last visit, but the less than warm welcome hadn’t phased her at all.