The brother circled Ohem slowly, tsking and shaking his head in disappointment. “I had given explicit instructions that you were not to be harmed. You were never supposed to know, Ohem. I had arranged for you to be taken to a mining encampment on Crosos. The moon is very isolated. You would have heard no news until I came to rescue you. It would have already been done by then. You would have only known me to be a hero of the Unity and your rescuer.” He placed his hand on Ohem’s shoulder and my mate flinched. “I am deeply sorry it has come to this. I hadn’t wanted to come myself, but your ship was closing in and you were getting too close to Vero. I couldn’t leave it to anyone else. A job well done is done by your own hand, you understand?”
Don’t you do it, you bastard. Don’t do it!
Ohem’s brother raised a small handgun looking weapon and pressed it to the side of my mate’s head. Time froze.
An unholy roar erupted in the valley. The soldiers screamed in terror and ducked, their weapons pointing wildly in every direction, but no one fired, too panicked to think.
A nightmare landed in their midst. The screaming intensified, soldiers shooting blue fire at the beast that had started slaughtering them. The fire did nothing. Only enraged it more.
It rent meat from bone. Tore limbs from wailing bodies. The creature turned towards the still kneeling Ohem, the brother was scrambling away in terror. It screamed in rage and attacked, but two soldiers stepped in its path, shooting their blue fire at the creature’s face. It cut them down like a scythe through wheat. The brother was moving, a black blur heading for the open ramp of his ship. The monster could not let him escape. It needed to feast on his flesh; wash itself in his blood. The brother needed to know agony before he died, for daring to threaten that which belonged to the creature. Soldiers blocked its path, sacrificing themselves so their leader could escape. The monster moved fast, disappearing and reappearing in a blink, butchering the soldiers.
The brother’s ship was closing its ramp, lifting off the ground, its engines sending scorching hot air billowing across the valley. Its weapons whined and fired, blue flame engulfing the monster. The brother breathed a sigh of relief from his seat in the cockpit as the plasma shot hit the monster.
He screamed in renewed terror when the creature jumped from the flames, roaring its rage, deafening them, even inside the ship. It cleared the fifty feet of space between itself and the ship, claws scoring the hull but not gaining purchase. The creature howled in rage as it fell back to the ground, watching as its prey escaped.
The creature turned to see the carnage it had wrought. Bodies and blood covered the valley floor; a single black figure still kneeling on the ground.
“Jack,” the mate whispered, and the creature remembered.
I was towering over Ohem. Even when he stood, I was looking down at him. At least three feet separated his head from mine.
I was confused, my mind was on fire. Ohem reached up and ran his hand down my chest.
“Jack,” he said again.
He caught my naked body when I fell from the shift.
I awoke in Ohem’s arms. My body was one large sore, like I’d been run over by a train. Every muscle and bone hurt. I’d shifted into somethinghuge. Something impossible. I’d lost myself to the shift. That had never happened before. To anyone in any of the clans on Earth. I moved my eyes to Ohem’s. “What happened?” I needed it said aloud. I felt like I had gone insane and hallucinated the whole thing.
He stroked my hair, glowing a sad faded yellow. “My brother Rakis, Councilor of Stellios, is working for Vero. Maybe even driving him. They mean to start a war. You saw him try to kill me. You killed them all, Jack. You were ferocious.” There was pride in his voice.
I gaped at him. Ferocious? I’d been huge!Unhinged.
“I think,” he said slowly, “somewhere in your line, one of your ancestors mated with a Y’ani.”
I stared at him, eyes wide. “What is that?” I couldn’t help but feel trepidation. I was used to being a monster, but whatever the fuck I had turned into made my normal monster look like a damn poodle.
“Y’ani were enormous creatures that inhabited the harsh frozen planets known to be incredibly dangerous. They would enter a type of trance. A killing rage the likes of which had never been seen before. They died out naturally in direct relation to the great difficulty they had in reproducing. It would seem that one of your ancestors mated with one before that happened.” He gathered me close to his chest, and pressed his mouth into my hair. His voice was pensive. “You were twice your normal size and mass, Jack. Plasma shots had no effect on you. I was about to die. Shot by my brother.”
I flinched at the memory. I’d almost watched my mate be murdered. I would have nightmares of that moment for the rest of my life.
“It triggered your enhanced shift and the trance. You saved my life. Again. It would seem I am becoming quite the troublesome mate.”
Was he nuts? He’d have been just fine on his own had hisown brothernot distracted him and then tried to kill him! His brother was responsible for his capture and imprisonment on the smugglers’ ship!
That was so messed up!
I was going to kill that motherfucker so hard. I was going to eat him alive! Starting at the bottom so it lasted longer! Rip out his heart and lay it at Ohem’s feet! I took a few breaths through my nose to calm my growing rage and leaned away from him so I could place my hands to either side of his face. I needed to look into his eyes and make sure he understood.
“You will never be troublesome, Ohem.I love you.The circumstances of our meeting and my berserker shift have absolutely not been your fault. Never doubt your worth to me. Whatever challenges you face, whatever the danger, I will be there fighting beside you. Fighting for you. No battle is too great. No enemy that I wouldn’t face down for you. I am a Rijiteranursangand I stand with you. Forever.” I kissed his jaw, then his hard cheek. He turned his head and pressed his mouth to mine. I opened to him and his tongue stroked inside. The kiss was gentle, sweet. I kissed him back, reassuring myself that he was here with me. I’d come so close to losing him.
I had never been this angry in my life, wrath was swirling inside me like a storm, a hurricane about to make landfall and kill everything in its path. I wanted revenge for the pain my mate was feeling. I needed to right this wrong. My body swelled, trying to change again. Searing agony stabbed me from all over. My body went rigid and then limp. Ohem grunted and held me tighter. It would seem like I wouldn’t be shifting anytime soon. He broke away from the kiss and stood. “I love you too, Jack. You are right, we face this together. I am hurting and angry, but with you beside me, we will conquer all.” There was my scary, fierce mate. The alien General rose and walked with sure strides back towards the oasis.
I glared into the sky as he walked. My mate’s arms held me securely while I quietly seethed.I’ll find you, Rakis. You will never run far enough to escape me. You will never have enough power to stand against me. No matter how large your armies are or how advanced your weapons, I will cut you down.
????
The girls were still behind the waterfall when Ohem carried me into the oasis.
