He chuckled. “He doesn’t know that I was the monster’s mate. He, in all likelihood, assumes I had been torn to pieces along with his soldiers.”
So he sent some smugglers to check it out. No doubt he hadn’t told them of the dangerous creature lurking about. What an asshole.
I frowned. “You think he recognized I was a Rijitera?”
He paused for a moment and then shook his head. “I do not know, perhaps not. The public history of them always depicts them in armor. The recordings and paintings in our family archives are locked in a separate vault from the written accounts. I don’t know that he even knows what a Rijitera looks like.”
I guess it didn’t really matter, but I liked the element of surprise. Guess I’d have to be extra murdery when I ran into him next time to make up for the potential loss of secrecy.
The ship was making slow loops around the desert, hovering over where the crash site was. It landed and disappeared from our sight, my heart stuttered. I’d have to leave the girls, again. No way was I ever letting Ohem out of my sight again.
I looked up at him to find his eyes on me. “Are you well enough?” He asked.
I’d never be injured enough to let him go into a fight alone ever again.
I nodded. “I’m fine. Let’s go kill these assholes.”
He flared brightly for a moment and started towards the crash site, moving fast. I followed; every step torture. My muscles screamed and my bones were like shattered glass under my skin. Still, I followed and swallowed down any sounds of pain. Ohem was watching me. I gave him a wolf’s smile and picked up my pace, not wanting him to order me back. He’d fail miserably, but I didn’t want to fight with him right now.
The trek across the desert took longer than normal. Ohem had gradually slowed his pace, forcing me to slow to match it. It had allowed my body time to warm up, and the pain had lessened some. He knew. He’d known he wouldn’t have been able to make me leave him to fight alone, so he’d been subtly going easy. Sneaky bastard.
God, I loved him.
The blocky matte black ship of the Vrax was on the ground, its engines still powered up, and there were eight shark assholes patrolling the site of the massacre. My hackles rose at the sight. I hated this fucking lake. It would forever feature in my night terrors. Being back here was doing weird, not friendly things to my mind. It was almost like I was having a panic attack.
Ohem’s hand on my shoulder made me look at him. He did that calming, slow flashing pattern with his Izi and damn if it didn’t work. I nodded at him to let him know I had myself under control.
“I am alive,ursang,” he whispered. I did a little jump and licked his chin.
“I know. Love you,” I growled at him and advanced. Ohem followed me and together we walked out onto the lakeside.
The shark aliens didn’t notice us. Shocker. They really were the worst aliens imaginable. Why anyone would hire them was beyond me. I snorted and lifted my muzzle. I let loose an eerie hunting howl. The sharks whirled to point their shitty, bullet filled guns at us and the fight was on. I darted forward, shoving the pain that caused me aside, and snatched the gun out of the hands of the shark closest to me. Or at least that was my intention. His arm just ripped off right along with the gun.
I stared at the arm in my hand and then back at the screaming, thrashing shark on the ground, holding his bloody stump with his other hand. I mean, yeah, I’m strong enough to pull someone’s arm off, but I hadn’t even been trying for that. Huh, how about that? Seems like the berserker demon shift had left some side effects beside the pain. Effortless arm ripping capabilities. I could live with that.
I crushed the armless shark under my foot and used his arm to brain his buddy. My new victim’s head exploded. Blood, brain, and bone spraying all over his comrade next to him.
Oh yeah, baby!
I’d gotten stronger. I’d have to have a scientific discussion with my mate later about why that might be. I flashed my fangs in a grin and started weaving in and out of the sharks, slashing and biting. Ripping them apart. I never lost sight of where Ohem was, acutely aware of him on the field at all times. I was paranoid now and wasn’t allowing myself to drift too far away from him, just in case. The paranoia was helping me ignore the internal screaming my body was doing from the pain I’d shoved deep down. I was watching him in my peripheral vision and it was magnificent to behold.
He was beautiful. Fluid and savage. I was witnessing a being perfectly adapted for killing find joy in its purpose. He moved gracefully, with no wasted movements. Slashing with his black claws, his Izi blazing and taking on an ominous light. He punched through chests and crushed heads. Ripped bodies in half. Where I snarled and growled, he was absolutely silent. He really was a Terrible Terror. A creature out of our worst nightmares and he was all mine! I practically vibrated with pride. Ohem caught me admiring him and I swear he stood taller, his muscles flexing a little more and he killed with greater enthusiasm. Would it be taboo to fuck on blood-soaked ground?
I tore the head off the last shark, and was striding towards my mate, my movements predatory. when the ship shot me. It threw me forwards enough that I stumbled and nearly fell. My pain reminded me it hadn’t been shoved deep enough, just muted in the fight’s adrenaline, and it flared again in a sunspot of pure agony. I whined, and I righted myself, shaking from the effort, and turned to give the ship a snarl. It was struck by something and exploded. The force of it knocked me back into Ohem’s waiting arms. We slid backwards several feet and stopped. The ship was nearly broken in half, a vast hole blown into its side by whatever had hit it.
Two sleek black shapes roared over our heads, their engines blasting us with heat. The new ships were arrow shaped and nimble, turning sharply and coming to hover over their handiwork.
They were just the super advanced, futuristic planes I’d been led to believe aliens would have. There was a yellow symbol on the bottom of the alien ships, right under the pointed nose. Swirling lines around two spears.
Ohem was laughing, that loud happy sound that made me want to jump him.
I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder. “What are you laughing at?” I asked him, curious and a little nervous.
He chuckled and stepped back from me, but kept a steadying hand on my shoulder, and put his left fist over his chest and roared.
He was super stoked. Must be his crew. I was getting excited too until a deep voice bellowed from the ship’s intercom systems.
“Step away from the General or we will open fire!”
