Gods above!Zai thought. She must be carrying at least two young in her belly.
Her face twisted in pain and she bit back a low moan as her stomach visiblymoved. The birthing process had already begun. The thin tunic she wore was soaked through and tangled around her legs.
“You see, Master Hunter,” Queen Gaia practically purred, “such is the reward for our patience and perseverance after a long, successful hunt. What an extraordinary find.”
She made a show of looking around them, scanning the area from atop her warhorse.
“But where is your Mate, little lioness? Surely he couldn’t have left you defenseless, to face such staggering odds by yourself. And in your delicate condition besides.”
“Gone,” the female growled low.
“You will never find him. He will come for you when you least expect it and kill you all.”
“Will he indeed,” the Queen mused, not really asking a question.
“But I know exactly how to find him. You animals are linked telepathically, aren’t you? And the bond is especially strong between Mates. I wonder what he will do when he hears the sounds of his beloved dying. Will he come running as fast as he can?”
She flicked a glance at one of the guards.
“Let’s test that theory, shall we?”
Without warning, the Dark Hunter stabbed the she-lion through her thigh as two other guards held her still.
She valiantly bit back her scream until blood leaked out of the corner of her mouth.
“I don’t think he heard you, my dear,” Queen Gaia said softly, red eyes flashing.
“Again.”
The Hunter stabbed her other leg through the calf, but the lioness gritted her teeth and endured.
“Fuck you,” she snarled at the Queen, her eyes black with pain, rage and hatred.
One of the Queen’s dark brows ticked up at the insult.
Zai knew that look. The lioness had just sealed her own doom, even more horrifically than before.
“No,” the Dark Queen murmured.
“Fuckyou.”
She gestured with a turn of her head at another Dark Hunter standing watch. Two guards held the female’s upper body down, while two others held her lower body still, bloodied legs stretched open.
What happened next was something Zai had witnessed more than once. The Dark Ones’ brutality toward humans and other Immortals they sought to subjugate was a public affair; rape and torture were commonplace.
But this…
His hand tightened on the hilt of his dagger.
He could end this. The lioness was beyond saving; it was too late for her. But he could stop the senseless violence.
The Queen was mesmerized by the carnage before her, sadistic glee twisted into every line of her expression. The other Hunters were distracted by and directly embroiled in the grotesque scene. If Zai acted now—
Almost without thought, his dagger flew, sinking directly into the back of the Hunter rutting into the now unconscious female.
“You!”
The Queen reacted a second too late. For the time it took her to unsheathe her sword, Zai had already slashed his own in a downward arc.