“Becoming set for life. They delivered a significant amount of supplies and promised me transportation out of this dust heap just for handing you over. Quite profitable for me. Now, which of you is the lucky lady?”
He looked among them, his eyebrows raised. “No volunteers?”
“Enough of this,” one of the males growled, his optic implant moving noticeably as his glowing iris turned and expanded. “We will just take them. Veral’monushava’skahalur will recognize his mate when he comes.” He turned and glanced at his companion. “Deal with the betrayer.”
Marcus’s smile fell. “I’m sorry, what?” He looked from one to the other, his eyes widened as a blaster was pulled out and leveled at his face. The loud discharge from the weapon made Terri jump, her breath panting out of her in terror. Marcus’s body twitched, his face nothing but a gaping hole, before he finally collapsed into the dirt at the feet of the Argurmas.
Holy shit!
The first male turned and looked upon them sternly, eyes steely. “I am Anakmasha’senat’amibdar, Lieutenant of the First Guard of the Imperial City of Argurumal. One of you has broken our laws, but in doing so may have opened an opportunity for a study of your genome if your codes are as compatible with ours as your mating indicates. You will have the honor of possibly strengthening Argurumal. Your presence is required.” He paused. “Any female who comes forward will be… rewarded.”
“Don’t you dare, Christie,” one of the women hissed.
“You heard it… We’ll be rewarded! I want far away from this hellhole,” Christie said. She craned her neck. “Hey! It’s that one over there, the blonde holding up her dark-haired friend, Meg.”
The Argurma rumbled as his head turned, his silver cybernetic eyes resting on her. A low growl rattled in his chest and his mandibles expanded, lips parting to draw in her taste and scent. There was a strange red flash in his pupil, and he nodded. “Confirmed. DNA presence of Argurma implanted embryo lifeform. You will come with us, female.”
Terri shook her head in denial as she stumbled back, dragging Meg with her. The massive, dark hand shot forward, grabbing ahold of her before she was able to retreat more than a foot. He dragged her forward, removed a silver band from his belt, and snapped it open.
“Hey, what about my fucking reward?” Christie shouted.
Anak, as Terri mentally dubbed him, turned to his companion and gave him a meaningful look. The male moved over to her, pulling out an identical band that was snapped immediately around her neck.
“Your reward will be to become experimental breeder EB02 and join EB01 for testing of your codes. Zarnolmatek’inyafor’kashen lost his mate. He will have the honor of breeding you. You will enjoy considerable renown for your contribution.” His head turned as he looked down at Terri. “Come, EB01.” He was still staring down at her when he addressed Zarn in their own language. The other male smirked, throwing Christie over his shoulder with one arm as he pointed his blaster at the women huddled together. “All females will proceed in order without complaint. You will provide good genetic base material for our scientists to experiment with.”
“Great. Going from the slave of one group of assholes to science experiment of another,” Becky groused.
“And silence will be required,” Anak snarled. He unholstered his blaster and pointed it at Terri. “Come, EB01,” he repeated, his mandibles rattling in irritation.
Terri could see his vibrissae moving around him with aggression. Terri swallowed but her heart leaped just seconds later when Veral strode into the torchlight. He was smudged with gray dust and ash from the campfire, but she didn’t think she’d ever seen a better sight. His eyes strayed to her to make sure she was okay before returning to narrow on Anak.
“Anak, release my mate, and these females under her protection.”
The male chuffed without humor. “You are not one to make demands, Veral. You have been an outcast of our civilization too long—a reckless, malfunctioning system on the verge of destruction who has dared to flaunt our customs. At least your miserable life is worth something through the offspring you’ve seeded in this female. This new blood will be studied to see if there is anything that we can harvest to make our species stronger. Be honored that you were able to provide at least that.”
Veral stepped forward again.
Anak cocked his head at him. “What are you going to do? Attack your own and bring dishonor upon yourself and your mother’s house?”
“Of course not,” Veral snapped, and Terri’s heart sank.
Anak chuffed, “As I thought.” He turned away to fasten the band around Terri’s neck. She stared at her feet in disappointment. She didn’t know what made her look up, but when she did, it was to see Veral soar through the air with his claws extended.
The male shouted as he attempted to shrug Veral off, but her mate climbed his way up until he was able to reach over Anak’s shoulders, his claws digging in and rending through the scales and flesh over his neck and chest. Unlike a human, the warrior didn’t go down right away. He twisted himself repeatedly as he choked on his blood. It was just enough of a distraction, however, that Veral’s hand was able to slip down unnoticed to the blaster held tightly in Anak’s hands.
The males fought and twisted, blood smearing between them as they battled each other over the blaster, fangs and claws flashing as they struck at each other. Terri heard a scream, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the struggle in front of her. She willed Veral to win. She watched as her mate pulled back his clawed hand and swiped it in punishing blows over and over across Anak’s face. The male spat out blood as he glared up at him.
“You are willingly dishonoring your mother’s house. You truly are malfunctioning,” Anak choked out.
“I am not. I honor my mother by honoring my mate. She is mine to protect!”
Finally, he twisted the weapon out of Anak’s hand, his body lifting away from the male as he leveled the blaster at the male’s exposed face and fired.
The blast sounded just as loud as before and made Terri’s eyes water. She rushed over to her male with a shout, throwing herself against him. His arms caught her easily and pulled her tightly against his body, his mandibles purring to soothe them both. “Thank the gods,” she whispered.
“Fuck. Umm, guys, where did the other baddie go with the dumbass chick?” Becky asked.
Veral snapped to attention, a snarl ripping out of him as he swung around, barely in time to evade the blaster shot. Pushing Terri to the ground, he rounded on the male, bringing his own blaster up. He fired twice, the lasers hitting the male in a vulnerable point in his armor between his chest plate and abdominal plates at point-blank range. Zarn stumbled back, blood pouring over his armor. Despite how grave his wound looked, Terri knew that his nanos were working to fix him.