Kellen didn’t think. He attacked. The unfamiliar scent of enemy Ravager reminded him of a past spent constantly on the defense against a clever opponent—the Savage clan. They’d taken root in this new world as if made for it.
He didn’t wish to kill, not yet. Kellen slashed with his claws and bit into several bodies, doing damage to a few Ravagers before he realized too many more had arrived for him to handle. Though it annoyed him to pull back, he did, aware Nev would have skinned him for admitting defeat before the enemy. Or worse, given him to Will for discipline.
But Kellen had brains as well as brawn. A Ravager could find new strength to fight another day, but he couldn’t battle an opponent if captured or killed.
Unfortunately, his enemy had smarts as well. Someone shot him. He felt a sting at his throat, what should have been mortal wound. Except the pain he expected to feel wasn’t there, and neither was the blood. Just a dart he pulled out as his vision faded and he faltered on his feet.
That split second of inattention was all it took for his foe to tackle him to the ground and tie him up.
But as he lost his sight and senses, a strange feeling of homecoming saturated his brain, and he didn’t struggle the way he should have—the way he wanted to—as he let himself be carried away by the enemy.
* * *
Eric Savage,Prime of his pack, king of the Ravagers in the United States, studied the huge Ravager currently unconscious in the central courtyard in his territory. Upright, he’d be close to eight feet tall. Filled with furred muscle, his claws still out and stained with flesh and blood, the Lawless cur even looked dangerous asleep.
“Big bastard, isn’t he?” his second in command commented.
Though his chief of security—and fellow packmate—was doing a perimeter check with Vicki, their human mate, Eric and Dom stood with a few of the security force assigned to watch over the old Lawless den. Even months after the Lawless clan was no more, they continued to find a few stragglers here and there, but none so large or ferocious as the Ravager they’d brought back to the compound today. A lucky thing they’d been doing a sweep and had the resources to take him down.
Eric stared at the big bastard.Do we kill him or keep him?Unlike many of the Lawless Ravagers they’d accepted, Kellen didn’t smell of rot or disease. Hisguerwas pure, untainted by unreasonable rage or fear. He felt…clean.
Wrapped in techile-bondage wire that bit into flesh and bone and didn’t break, the large Ravager slept on, breathing deeply. It looked as if they’d found another berserker, a species of Ravager raised on the homeworld to search and destroy on command.
Eric supposedly had an ancient forefather with berserker blood. But any link to his history had been lost when the Dekken had come to annihilate his planet, like so many others they’d taken.
Dom leaned down to poke the lumbering Ravager, earning a low growl for his efforts. He grinned. “Guess he’s not as out of it as he wants us to think he is.”
Instead of appearing worried, Dom seemed amused. Great. Eric sighed. “What?”
“What what?”
Logan, proud member of Kate’s new pack, stepped closer to look down at the male. “He’s huge. Took a big bite out of my shoulder.” Logan grinned, not at all bothered by the wound, though Eric had a feeling Kate would throw a fit when she found out. “Fierce but smart. He’s Lawless, but I’d swear he hasn’t been back in a while. I’d have remembered him.”
They watched as the Ravager male slowly resumed his human form, still massive, with muscle and an inborn strength. He blinked, spotted Logan, and frowned.
Logan cocked his head, staring back with curiosity. “What’s your name?”
“I think that’s my line.” Eric ignored Dom’s grin.
But the Ravager disregarded him, focused on Logan. A little too intently, to Eric’s way of thinking.Interesting.
“Kellen Lawless. Who are you?”
“Logan. This is our second in charge, Dom, and our Prime, Eric.” Logan nodded to them.
Kellen sniffed and turned to show Eric his teeth. “Savage bastard.”
Dom rose and kicked Kellen hard in the gut, making the berserker suck in a breath. “That’sPrimeSavage bastard to you.”
“Dom,” Eric growled. He kneeled to stare into Kellen Lawless’s eyes, not backing down until the berserker looked away. “Better. The Lawless clan is no more.” He waited until Kellen whipped his gaze back to Eric’s, his shock not feigned. “Nev is dead. Will is dead. The rest of your pack is either integrated with ours, dead, or gone from Cross Step. This is Savage territory now. So you’re either one of us, or you’re an enemy. And you know what Ravagers do with their enemies.” Eric bared his teeth and heard the Lawless warrior swallow. “What’s it to be?”
Kellen didn’t knowhow to process the news. His family was no more? His prime dead? Will dead?
He glanced at the Savage prime, a powerful beast who radiated ferocity. He’d seen Eric Savage on a few occasions in his short time while in Cross Step. Then he’d been sent away, gathering intelligence for Nev. In the years since, Eric had apparently gained in strength. He seemed healthy, whole, and mighty.
The instinctive need to obey told Kellen he’d found a worthy opponent. The question became, should Kellen attack the prime out of a loyalty to his now-dead clan or accept this change in circumstance? Something he’d wanted for years. Freedom from the Lawless bastards who’d forced him into this new, unwelcome world.
Yet he was a warrior bound by honor. It chafed to acquiesce to a group he’d considered his enemy for so long. The Voids knew Nev and Will had frothed at the mouth at the mere mention of the Savages.
