Had Tenbel dared to bring a female here who was entering her heat? Was he insane?
That smell infected him. Went to cock and brain and took over. A tingle spread like fire through his pelvis and his balls tightened and drew up.
No. No. No.
One moment he was merely irritated, and the next he was enraged at the irrevocable injustice of his loss, and at the assumption that he could be appeased by an offering of the wrong girl.
A berserker's roar rolled up from his chest like thunder as red filled his vision. Everything dissolved, lost to the animal inside.
The man known as Darre slipped away, and the mad monster of Sector 2 took over.
Tenbel was nearest, his round, bald head shining like an egg. Darre gave in to his temptation to crack it, the sound so very satisfying. He grabbed, set his claws, and squeezed, twisted and tore, and smiled as Tenbel’s skin gave way and blood poured over Darre’s hands.
The pressure in his head and body eased. It'd been too long since he killed something.
The other two males gaped. One of them lost his bowels, the smell of his fear mixing with the scent of Darre's fury. Accustomed to following orders, they hesitated a second too long. Because he didn't want one of them to escape while he worked over the other, he went for the legs of the closest masked man, snapping his bones like breadsticks and immobilizing him before he leapt to catch the other at the door.
The claws of his right hand sank deep into the man’s upper back muscle, pulling the coward back to his embrace so that Darre could draw his left hand across his victim’s belly. He sank his claws into the soft meat, dipped them in, and pulled out the beta’s contents. He pulled at the squishy parts and painted the door with the mess, wanting the still-breathing male to see what happened when one ran from a monster.
The stink of the belly wound reminded the beast why these creatures weren't good prey. They were easy to kill and served no practical purpose. They were too nasty to eat.
When the mess in his deathly embrace quit screaming, he abandoned it and moved on to the one still howling and begging on the floor over a twisted leg. Darre dragged him to a corner and picked him apart, tearing and twisting until noises stopped coming out of him and the only bones left unbroken became too small to make that nice cracking sound.
He'd been leaning in to listen to it, the pop dulled by skin and muscle, when he heard another noise.
There was still one live creature on the floor, a sad little thing all doubled over. He'd almost forgotten.
It seemed hurt. Had he hurt it? He didn't know. But it was singing softly to itself.
Lost to the berserker, his rational mind submerged, he stared down at the little thing on his floor.
It smelled good. It made nice sounds. He wanted it.
He'd have it.
Chapter Four
Monster
The monster picked up the little thing. Spirals of heavy blue-black silk tangled over its back and body. It weighed nothing, a bit of fluff. It was the perfect armful.
Setting the thing on his desk so it was easier for him to examine, he tried to get it open. How to get it to unfurl? He wanted to look at the treasure he'd found.
As he rolled it to its side, then its back, it immediately tried to turn away. It tucked tight against itself with the legs drawn up. He barked a command for it to stay from deep in his throat, something he’d learned as a commander when he'd still been whole.
Whole body rippling in response, the little thing shivered but stayed on its back, legs curled up high against its chest and chin tucked down. Instinctively it defended the softest parts of itself.
It obeyed him just long enough for him to move its tangled hair out of the way and find a face, but then it squirmed belly down, trembling and trying to hide.
Where was the source of that scent? He wanted to taste it on his tongue, to lap it up and get it inside him any way he could.
He wanted to claim it.
How to get it to relax? He stroked his hands over it, careful of his claws, and smoothed his palms over the blood from his kills that had spattered across her back. He felt down the delicate bones of the little creature's spine, neck, and ribs.
How to make her unfurl?
She made little whimpers and sweet, confused sounds. The little thing was lost. It needed to be owned, wanted to be owned. He was sure of it.
