by Abel, Regine
But there was little time to dally. After a moving farewell to my young siblings, the Miegly, and our still unresponsive mothers, we set out to rendezvous with the Vanguard fleet. Tabitha traveled with me aboard my ship. Reaper and Rogue traveled with Chaos aboard his vessel, while they ironed out the final details of our move to Khepri.
It took two days to reach our meeting coordinates—two days during which I spent as much time as possible with my mate. Once the battle began, Tabitha would be with the Vanguard while I would be on a near suicide-mission on the surface of Zekuro. Even now, as the massive fleet of the Xian Warriors loomed in the distance, my hearts constricted at the thought of parting with my mate. She would likely stay onboard one of the Vanguard battlecruisers to prepare the attack with their troops. As one of the Veterans, she would be leading and coordinating the efforts of the Operators, Soulcatchers, and Portals.
As soon as our fleets met, I flew over to Legion’s battlecruiser, with Dread and Tabitha onboard my chaser. We landed inside their docking bay right behind Chaos’s vessel, which also carried Rogue and Reaper. It shamed me to admit that I was struggling to hide my nerves at finally meeting the legendary Legion in person. Like many of the human psychics at the time—and apparently still today—my mother had been infatuated with Legion. Growing up, in many of the dream-walks in which I got to spend time with her, Mother would tell me stories about his great deeds and how the galaxy hailed him and his brothers as heroes.
I had wanted to be like him: beautiful, strong, fearless, loved, and admired. Instead, I had been the monstrous offspring of the foulest male in the universe, hated not for any reprehensible actions of my own doing, but merely for what I was and for existing. To think that I would stand next to him as an equal made me feel unsteady. Until now, I’d never thought anything could surpass the battle on Janaur, when I’d first battled alongside the Xian Warriors.
The keening sound of the ramp lowering was quickly followed by the doors of the ship opening. Legion, Wrath, Raven, Ayana, Myriam, Linette, and a third female I didn’t know stood as our greeting committee. Tabitha’s hand slipping into mine startled me, though it thankfully didn’t show. I couldn’t tell if she had done it to comfort me or to make a statement as to the nature of our relationship, but I welcomed it.
While the Warriors’ faces remained impassive, Ayana gazed at our joined hands before beaming at us.
“Congratulations! You chose well,” Ayana mind-spoke to me.
“Thank you, sister. I am blessed.”
She gave me the same comforting psychic nudge I’d come to expect from each of the very rare times we had communicated.
“Welcome aboard, the Ravager, Bane,” Legion said, looking regal in the same Vanguard uniform they were all wearing. His gaze shifted to my woman, lingering on the scar of my bonding bite on her shoulder, then flicking down to our hands before looking back up at her. “Tabitha, you were missed.”
I couldn’t tell if there was an underlying meaning to his words, or how he felt about our bond. However, I chose not to dwell on it.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I responded in a similar cordial tone, feeling stupid for being so star struck. Still holding Tabitha’s hand, I gestured at my brother standing on my left. “This is my brother Dread. We do not have an official hierarchy, but he would qualify as my first officer.”
“Greetings, Dread,” Legion said.
Dread bowed his head in salutation before turning to look at Ayana. “Thank you again for saving my life.”
“Don’t mention it. In fact, you should thank your brother for saving mine first so that I could live to save you,” Ayana said with a gentle smile.
I smiled back then turned to look at Chaos and my other two brothers approaching. Legion’s face immediately lost that formal, guarded look, his face melting with fraternal love for the imposing Warrior. They exchanged a brotherly hug, slapping each other soundly on the back before stepping back. I inwardly berated myself for the silly sense of envy I felt at such a welcome. After all, my own brothers gave me this kind of love. But deep down, I merely wanted to belong to something greater; something I could be proud of.
“This is Rogue and Reaper,” Chaos said to Legion and the others. “They are Meredith’s oldest sons.”
A strong emotion crossed Legion and Wrath’s features. Raven had been too young to know her before the General abducted her.
After greeting them, Legion turned to give me an assessing look. “And who is your mother?”
My gaze flicked towards Wrath who immediately stiffened, his eyes widening slightly. I gestured at both Dread and myself. “Our mother is Elisa Thompson.”
“Elisa? My Elisa?” Wrath asked.
I nodded, deeply moved by the even more powerful emotion that crossed his features.
“Right,” Legion said after an awkward silence settled between us. “We have much to discuss. Please follow us.”
Taking Ayana’s hand, Legion led us out of the docking bay with Chaos and Wrath closing the march. Despite it being my first time aboard a Vanguard battlecruiser, I immediately felt at home, if only for the familiar black and gold. Still, it felt strange seeing so many human females and Xian Warriors, each of them pretending they weren’t eyeing us with curiosity—some with suspicion—as we walked past them en route to whatever boardroom Legion was taking us to.
We entered a large room which contained an imposing conference table, non-surprisingly black with gold accents. At the other end of the room, a large, circular, holographic star chart floated above ground at eye level, displaying our current location in space and all nearby planets. An oversized, stylized, golden Gomenzi Dragon adorned one of the dark side walls, and a giant monitor hung on the opposite wall between two large windows looking out into the infinite void of space.
Legion gestured for us to take a seat at the table. I settled on the left side with the dragon at my back. To my delight, Tabitha settled next to me, with Dread to my left. Legion, his mate and Soulcatcher settled across from us. I suppressed a smile when Rogue and Reaper took a seat on each side of Chaos who seemed pleased by it. The growing bond between them warmed my hearts. Wrath sitting next to Dread with his Soulcatcher Linette hinted that he, too, might want to form a bond with the children of his former Soulcatcher.
I would welcome it.
“Thank you for the intel you have provided us about Zekuro,” Legion said, jumping immediately into the meat of things. “The Coalition is one day behind us, but they are hoping for a swift resolution.”
“Which usually means nuking,” Ayana said, a clearly displeased look on her face.
Legion gave her an indulgent smile before continuing. “As you can see, our women aren’t onboard with that approach because of the primitive species living on the outskirts of the General’s city.”
“As far as we know, he still hasn’t shown any interest in experimenting on them,” I explained. “The handful of species there have no visible traits that could be exploited for military or genetic advantages. Worst case scenario, Khutu might use them to feed his Breeding Swamps, but it is unlikely. The resulting Drone Swarm would threaten his own city.”
“To be fair, the Coalition also wants the easiest solution to reduce the risks of any more of us meeting our permanent death,” Raven said in a conciliatory tone. “I hate that approach as much as our women, but the Coalition is really squeamish about losing any more of us.”
“It is good to hear your Coalition values your lives far more than the General does his troops,” I said with derision. “I’m surprised they didn’t just tell you all to make more babies. Surely Liena wants a mini-Raven or two?”
Raven stiffening, his face closing off, took me aback. I replayed my comment in my head, which I had meant as a friendly teasing, and failed to see what might have offended him.
“Bad subject,” Tabitha mind-spoke to me. “Babies are a sensitive topic with the Xian Warriors.”
I barely manage to keep myself from looking quest
ioningly at her to avoid giving her away. What the fuck did that mean? They couldn’t be sterile considering Ayana had given birth nearly a year ago.
“That would not be a viable option,” Chaos explained in a calm voice. Legion’s head jerked towards him, as if to question the wisdom of him sharing anything with us. Chaos sustained his stare and, with a sigh, Legion appeared to yield. “It is extremely difficult for mated Warriors to conceive.”
“Our little Phoenix is almost a miracle,” Ayana said. “God only knows if we’ll manage to have another.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, blown away by that news. “You have Kryptid blood. You should be able to make babies almost on demand.”
“But our dragon blood impedes it,” Raven countered. “Gomenzi Dragons, too, rarely have more than one or two offspring over their extremely long lifespan.”
“We have double the amount of dragon DNA that you do, and we can reproduce as easily as fertile male Kryptids,” Rogue argued. “Genetically speaking, your Kryptid DNA means you should be able to impregnate a queen with hundreds of offspring. If you aren’t, then your mating glands aren’t working as intended.”
“How can you be so certain?” Raven asked, his voice laced with an odd mix of doubt and hope.
“Because one of our brothers had found his soulmate on the human colony of Elhoran,” I said, pain and anger stirring deep within me at the tragic memory. “We’d gone there to warn the population of an impending Kryptid raid. She decided to come with us in order to be with him. They had three sons in two years, two of them being twins. Unfortunately, bonding provokes visible changes in us,” I said, looking at the single golden scale on my forearm. “Despite all of our caution to keep him away from the Kryptids, the General got wind of it and used one of the Mimics to get to his family.”
I didn’t need to go into further details for them to guess what the General had done to all of them. We weren’t allowed to reproduce without his blessing because of our dragon blood. He needed to ensure we wouldn’t birth offspring loyal to us instead of him.
“I am our Chief Medical Officer,” Rogue said. “Once the war is over, I would be happy to work with your medical teams to identify the source of the problem and rectify it.”
“We would be grateful for your insight,” Raven said, looking slightly stunned. “Liena and my mother will be eager to speak with you.”
“It will be my pleasure,” Rogue said with a smile.
Schooling my features to hide the extent of my pride in our potential ability to greatly aid the Warriors, I gave Rogue an affectionate psychic nudge, which he discreetly reciprocated.
“So,” Legion said, getting back to the original topic, “we do not nuke the planet, but we perform surgical airstrikes over the city.
“Yes, but not the northeast sector, at least, not at first,” I cautioned. “The Scelks, Reaper, Viper, and I are going in to meet with Silzi and free her people. They are the last surviving Mimics, unmodified yet by the General. This is their last chance.”
Legion frowned, clearly preparing to challenge me. I braced for it.
“I can’t let you do that. It’s too risky,” Legion said in a tone that brooked no arguments. “You’d never make it out alive.”
“You can’t let me?” I asked, flabbergasted. Despite that, it shocked me to realize it wasn’t distrust of the Scelks that motivated him, but genuine concern for us.
Legion’s frown deepened, and he pinched his lips in annoyance while appearing to carefully choose his words before replying. “Have you seen the long-range scan reports that Wrath captured after Khutu managed to flee to Zekuro?” he asked, his voice filled with tension. “The city is crawling with bugs.”
I nodded. “Yes, Chaos has shared them with us, and they confirm Silzi’s reports from the surface. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is go down there, especially now,” I added, looking at Tabitha.
Her ivory skin blushed beautifully, and she smiled timidly. Ayana gaped at her, undoubtedly taken aback by my woman’s reaction, so different from the tough exterior she usually displays. Even Legion softened, slightly amused.
“But I cannot abandon them,” I continued, my gaze boring into his. “I swore to do everything in my power to free them. As experiments of the General, they are my people.”
Legion clenched his jaw as he stared back at me. “You know, once you move to Khepri, you won’t be able to keep adopting every stray you encounter,” he said after a beat.
Reaper snorted, and I glared at him. He smiled mockingly at me, showing no remorse or guilt whatsoever. Truth be told, I indeed couldn’t resist feeling protective over the weak and the persecuted. When I’d gotten it into my head to try and save some of the Scelks, my brothers had given me a similar speech about strays.
“Duly noted,” I mumbled. “With the help of the Scelks, we have already set a plan with responses to various scenarios that could arise. Tabitha’s insights have been invaluable in ironing out certain details. I will be happy to run it by you.”
“Very well,” Legion answered with a certain degree of reluctance.
We spent the next few hours discussing our plan of attack, pausing only long enough for an impressively good meal. To my surprise, Legion invited us to stay on board for the remainder of the trip. I gladly accepted in order to stay by my woman’s side, but also to further prepare for the war. We seized the opportunity to test Crinax on the Warriors, now that they had plenty of replacement Shells around. Chaos volunteered himself. After a first false alarm, his body successfully processed the toxin. When the venom of his mouth dart effectively turned to acid, the Warriors’ roars of approval tickled me in a very pleasant way. The proud look on my Queen’s face was an added bonus.
But what moved me the most was the evenings spent with Wrath regaling Dread and me with anecdotes about our mother and her time in the Vanguard. In that instant, more than any other, I understood the strong bond that had been forming between Reaper, Rogue, and Chaos. Those men ached like we did over extraordinary women dear to our hearts. Together, we found peace and a sense of closure, while celebrating our love for them.
By the time we reached Zekuro, I no longer felt like an intruder among elite strangers, but at home with my other brothers.
Chapter 11
Bane
“You better get back in one piece,” Tabitha said with a stern voice, one hand resting on my chest, the fingers of the other fiddling with one of the bone spikes on my left shoulder. Despite her brave front, the fear she felt for me seeped through. “Don’t make me come fetch you down there.”
Cupping her face in my hands, I rubbed my thumbs on her cheeks, admiring her beauty in each minute detail.
“I have waited too long for you not to come back,” I said fervently. “You are everything to me.”
I captured her lips in a deep and passionate kiss in which I poured all the love she inspired in me. Breaking the kiss at last, I pressed my lips to her forehead, to her cheek, and then to the wound of my bonding bite on her shoulder.
An uneasy feeling came over me as I noticed the redness around it. Three days had lapsed since our bonding. It should have fully healed within twenty-four hours, leaving only a beautiful scar. But I’d caught Tabitha scratching at her shoulder an increasing number of times in the past day. Was the wound infected? Was her body rejecting our bond? Rejecting me? I had never heard of such occurrence among the Warriors, and it had certainly not occurred with my brother’s mate.
She hadn’t been a psychic.
It felt like a terrible omen. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on such dark thoughts.
“I love you, my Queen,” I said, giving her one last kiss.
“I love you, too, Bane,” Tabitha whispered.
With a heavy heart, I turned around and rejoined my brothers, Viper and Reaper, waiting for me by our vessel. Off to our right, Legion was bidding goodbye to his mate. Beyond the protectiveness I felt towards Ayana, it troubled me that both her and Legion woul
d have come to this war, leaving their young son alone on Khepri. When I had questioned Tabitha about it, she’d explained that the other female psychics’ limited range required Ayana to tag along. As the most powerful Portal of the Vanguard, she could teleport the soul of a fallen warrior, no matter how far away, to the psychic vessel or shield of any other woman within their range limit. And we all knew this war would be bloody.
Seeing Rage also bidding farewell to his mate Violet stirred a strange emotion I couldn’t define. We hadn’t spoken or been in close proximity in the two days I’d spent onboard the Ravager. I couldn’t deny a certain jealousy that he’d owned my woman’s heart for so long, and a certain anger that he’d so utterly broken it, involuntary though it had been. Probably sensing my gaze on him, he looked up and our eyes locked. Hating to have thus been caught, I held his gaze for a couple of seconds as averting my eyes right away would have been too much like an admission of guilt. Then, I turned back to my brothers before entering our ship without a word.
We took off in stealth mode, using the Vanguard’s latest technology. It was ingenious. Finding out they had been able to see through our shields on Janaur had blown me away as we had possessed—at the time—the finest technology of the Kryptids. But that gave us an edge now as we headed towards Zekuro. While the General might have been able to detect our Kryptid signatures, the chances of the Vanguard’s shield fooling him were high.
Legion and the Vanguard sent in close to fifty stealth drones with firing capability ahead of their fleet. Their women were remotely controlling the pilotless vessels to assess how far they could reach before detection, if any, before their men went in.
The women of the Vanguard blew my mind. I’d known them to be strong and fierce in a combat situation, but it remained difficult for me to reconcile. The Kryptid females were Workers, each assigned to specific tasks that they toiled on almost relentlessly. The entire Kryptid society depended on them to function. From food production, to spaceship building, from tending nurseries to inventing new weapons and medical breakthroughs, they were their people’s backbone, brains, and heartbeat. They didn’t fight, didn’t know how—not that they ever had to. Being sterile, just like the Soldiers, their sole passion was their work, although they did indulge in sexual encounters with the Soldiers purely for pleasure.