Ni-Kee… my Ni-Kee, reeks with the scent of her fear, and I know not what she has planned, but I know this is not her.
She is not the quiet, subservient woman she presents to the Roth.
She is playing at something, and I hate it. I hate that she must act thus, to distract him or to risk his wrath.
My stomach churns, sick with shame and desperation.
When he lowers his face to hers, inhaling her lovely human scent, I can bear it no longer. Hot blood streams from the wounds on my arms and wrists, and still I struggle, refusing to simply watch him move his body any closer to hers.
The threat of his lips meeting her mouth grows too real, and I’m snarling, beyond thought.
When she slips the knife—my energy knife—between his ribs, I almost don’t notice it.
But the Roth stumbles back, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
It’s not a killing blow, not necessarily for a Roth, but it’s enough.
“She is as fierce as they said,” one of the traitors says, and then his talons slice through my bonds. “You will bring us mates from her planet,” he tells me.
I ignore him, launching myself at the Roth, putting myself between him and my mate.
Nothing will come between us again.
My talons jut into the leathery hide of the Roth, just below his chin. It would be so easy to end this, to end him.
He laughs wetly.
“Draz,” Ni-Kee is saying, her soft hands on my shoulders. “Are you all right?” The question comes out on a choked sob, and I rub my tail across her leg, refusing to turn from the threat of the Roth.
“I should kill you slowly,” I tell him.
“Do it,” my mate says harshly from behind me. Fury radiates from every inch of her.
“Go ahead, then, Suevan warlord,” the Roth says. He grins up at me, his teeth and fangs stained with blood. “Your female would have been mine. I would have replaced her memories of you with better ones of me. Humans are fickle. But now my people will know their women can be bred. And we will take them, by the hundreds, until the Roth are strong again.”
“Bastard,” Ni-Kee breathes.
Frustration sets me to snarling again, and I rake my talons across his throat, leaving new gashes there.
Not enough to kill him.
“We need him alive,” I grit out. The other Suevans, the ones who Ni-Kee somehow managed to convince to help her, watch the proceedings with wary eyes.
“I think we’ll be okay if he doesn’t survive,” Ni-kee says, and there’s a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes that makes my blood sing.
The Roth laughs at this, his gaze skating over her skin.
“He’s trying to goad us into killing him,” I tell her.
I glance back at her, partly to reassure myself that she’s alive and unhurt, and partly because I will never be able to go more than a few minutes without feasting my eyes on her again.
Her knuckles are white, a fist clenched so hard around the hilt of the energy knife that it trembles.
“I know that, and I’m tempted to do it all the same.”
“Then do it if you can, human,” the Roth taunts. “I will send word to every Roth ship in the galaxy that your planet is ripe for the picking. Human wombs will overflow with Roth offspring—”
Crack.
My elbow flies, landing squarely against his temple, and the Roth goes silent beneath me.
“Think, my love, think. Why would he be so desperate to end his own life? He knows something he does not want us to find out. He knows we can find it out. And so we take him back to Edrobaz, where we can persuade him to share what it is he so fervently does not want us know.”
“Fuck.” The word explodes out of her, the tension draining from her body. “We have to get the Federation that interplanetary defense system, and fast. What if he sent word back already? We can’t allow the Roth to take my people.”
I notice then how pale she is, how deep the circles beneath her eyes are.
“We honored our promise to send aid, my heart. A ship left from Lidolan with the tech as soon as the mating ritual began. It will be there quickly.” I make a mental note to check on the ship’s progress. Perhaps they should take a different route to Earth, to ensure that the tech arrives before any possible Roth ships closer to Earth.
“We will protect Earth as best we can. You and me, my human warrior.”
“Why not a warlord?” she asks, and I grin at her.
“Is that what you want? To become a warlord? It is not enough to be married to one?” I already know her answer, but I want her to say it.
“Yes, and why not both?”
I stare at her for a long moment, before breaking into a smile. By the sky and Suevan ground, I am glad to see my female again.
“The Suevans helped me. The separatists.” She jerks her chin at where the two Suevans still stare between us with uncertain eyes.
“They will be rewarded. Brothers, help me secure the prisoner.”
The Roth’s breathing is shallow and uneven. Every rational part of me knows that I should make sure he makes it to Edrobaz in one piece.
I still hope he dies painfully on the way.
The separatists toss me a length of rope, and I tie him quickly, not taking any care to be gentle.
Once I’m satisfied that he will not be able to wriggle free, I place a gag over his mouth. He’s spread enough poison already.
“She said that you were negotiating for more human females from Earth,” one of the southern Suevans said. “Your mate said that we would be allowed women of our own.”
Incredulous, I slowly take in my clever, devious mate, who meets my gaze without a shred of shame.
She would do it all again. The truth of it’s written across every defiant line of her face, in the stubborn set of her jaws and the lush pout of her mouth. This reckless, brave, and stubborn female risked herself to save me, and I’m equal parts furious with her and so very proud of her.
“Mine,” I growl, then pull her close. She melts into me, and I cup her chin. My fangs scrape across her lips in a savage kiss, and the addictive scent of her arousal fans my lust higher.
I force myself to pull away, leaving Ni-Kee panting against my chest, her fingers clutched against my back, as though she cannot stand to let me go.
My heart.
“We make for Edrobaz immediately,” I tell the Suevans. “We will pull the Roth behind us on a sled. You will be welcome in my city for as long as you wish to stay.”
A horrible roar goes up behind us, and icy fear skates over my senses.
The fucking Crigomar.
The separatists share a look, shifting uncomfortably as they note my obvious rage.
“Are they under control?”
“The Crigomar?” Ni-Kee asks.
“They’re gaining ground,” I tell her. “I swear to the Suevan skies, I will do all in my power to repair the bond between our people, but if the Crigomar hurt my mate or my people, you will wish you’d never been born.”
The separatists exchange another nervous glance, their tails twitching behind them in tandem. “We understand.”
“One of you needs to come with me, and the other needs to tell the rest of your team to turn back with the Crigomar.” The words ring with the steel of command, and they stand up a little straighter.
“Understood.” The taller of the two only hesitates momentarily. “Will I still be welcome in Edrobaz if I do not accompany you?”
“All Suevans are welcome in Edrobaz. But yes, I will tell my warriors to keep a lookout for you. Tell me your name, warrior.”