“I built the neutral zone,” Deus says. “Obviously there had to be another way in and out of this place with five other warlords using it to settle scores.” He gives me a grin which goes straight to my core. “I brought some friends,” he adds, and wrapping one arm around me, he turns us to see Dalox, Dante, Driok, Dexx, and Darax coming through a door at the rear of what looks like a closet.
Dalox holds the biggest ray gun I’ve ever seen in my life and has a look of complete thunder on his face. Dante holds nothing and gives me a smile which is instantly rewarded with a deep growl from Deus. Driok’s chest is criss-crossed with bandoliers holding various weapons, and Darax holds something which looks expensive and sophisticated. Dexx has a giant axe in one hand and a hammer in the other.
“The Ulep have weaponized our own warriors against us,” Deus says in my ear. It would appear, over time, they havebeen capturing and fitting control collars before releasing the warriors back into our various sectors.
“Is that why they’re…what they are?” I ask.
“The Ulep are using our own shifting ability against us,” Dante says with a wrinkle of his nose. “I believe I have been able to isolate the compound they have been using and we can shift them back.”
“What about the Ulep?”
“If we can identify the warriors with the collars, we can disable them and get our crew back.” Deus says.
“They haven’t attacked any of the Sarkarnii females because either they didn’t know about them or didn’t consider it worth it,” Dalox growls. “Which means they are currently approaching those outside of here with one of these.” He nods at Darax who holds up a sleek looking ray gun. “It’s a disruptor, which should subdue them while Dante doses them up.”
Dante pulls something which is partially a gun and partially a syringe from his waistband. Deus growls again.
“We are to keep you safe, little mate.”
“I’m sorry.” I let a sense of failure flood through me. “I shouldn’t have run.”
“You were the bravest of us all, female,” Dalox growls. “You saved us from ending up like those warriors out there.” He nods at the door. “Now we get a chance to liberate Vorostor and the Sarkarnii once and for all.”
I look up at Deus, my brow furrowed.
“The Ulep didn’t leave. Driok thought he had rid us of them, and rightly so, but they are like a creeping fungus, with their tendrils in everywhere.” Deus snorts out some smoke. “But we have them now.”
“How?”
“We have their signature, little female.” Driok holds up a small black wand. “And we can track them wherever they go, thanks to Deus and you.”
“We finally have the upper hand against the hidden enemy,” Dalox growls. “But that’s enough congratulating Deus, or it will go to his head. It’s time to end this.”
He takes a step towards the door, which groans unpleasantly, buckling in the middle.
“Time for the Ulep to pay,” Driok growls.
“Time you weren’t here, little mate,” Deus says in my ear.
“I was there at the beginning.” I gaze into his eyes. “I need to be here at the end.”
Deus looks over me, his eyes aligning on the wound on my hand, his nostrils flaring and a growl ripping from him.
He takes it, and slowly, with infinite care, he runs his tongue over the injury. I hiss as he touches it, as it begins to tingle.
“As the females have venom which can incapacitate a mate, Sarkarnii males have venom which can heal,” Deus rumbles, capturing my chin with his clawed hand. “I will always be here for you, my Lydia. Whatever you want, I will make sure you have it. Wherever you wish to be, I will take you. If you want to fight, I will fight at your side. If you want to mate, I will fill you to the brim.”
“And if I want to breed?” I ask, my breath catching in my throat at the audacity of the statement.
Except, in this moment, this near death experience, I want nothing more than to think of the future. To think of what we can be, what we can have.
“If you want to breed…” Deus’s words are a rasp, his eyes entirely on fire as he searches my face. “If you want to breed, I will hook you and fill you. Then I will worship you every day until you birth.” He leans in closer. “Then we will do it all again.”
The door crashes open, but Deus has hold of me. I am no longer a mouse, but I belong to him in the same way he belongs to me. There is no other, there never was. There is only the past and the future. Together we are the future.
Deus releases me as a mutated Sarkarnii barrels towards us, foam flecked and an obscene distortion of the incredible creatures they are. Deus slams his first into the thing, sending it flying.
“Dante,” he says calmly. “One for you.”
