Page 21 of The Naga Warlord’s Virgin Mate

They had no chance to respond, it was the robot menace that answered. A screech echoed over the tundra that made every single one of us reach for our ears to shield them. Some weren’t fast enough and I saw blood dripping from the ears of at least three of the unconscious males. A sonic weapon tailored especially to sensitive Naga ears, I seemed far less stunned by the noise than they were.

The mechanic creature reared back, lifting half of its long body into the air while balancing on the remaining dozen legs. Sharp hooks engaging on those feet that drove deep into the frozen ground to anchor it. Then those front legs shifted and I was staring at the barrels of at least a dozen laser canons that started to glow white hot as they powered up.

I wasn’t in its direct line of fire but I wasn’t taking any chances, rolling off my boulder to get behind those stones for cover. I landed hard, wrenching my shoulder and shooting radiating pain up my arm but I ignored all of that and crawled as fast as I could between a gap in the rocks. Just in time, an explosion boomed and dirt and rocks flew every which way, pelting any of my exposed flesh.

Krashe, where was he? He’d been right in the path of that canon fire. Was he hurt? Dead? I risked life and limb by sticking my head out of the gap as soon as the dirt and rock stopped falling but I didn’t care. Squinting against the cloud of dust I searched for any familiar shape and spotted a dark red arm not too far away. I didn’t know if it was Krashe or someone else, but they weren’t moving.

I grabbed that arm and started pulling with all my might, trying to drag that impossibly heavy weight to safety. I’d managed to budge them just enough that I could see the curled tip of a tail, pale red, so definitely not Krashe whose tail tip was nearly black. I grabbed it anyway, pulling on that tail to get the whole body behind cover. It was pure adrenaline that fueled me, fear making the back of my neck crawl the entire time I was exposed. Where was my Warlord?

When the dust settled again, my hearing also seemed to come back, a high-pitched ringing first and that was followed by the screech and crash of a furious battle. When I crawled over the fallen warrior out of my hidey hole, I dragged his spear with me to wield as a club. My eyes were huge as I spotted the robotic beast, shimmering purple and silver in the sun. It was moving, rapidly shifting on its many legs, and from its back hung at least three Naga.

I recognized Krashe in an instant, hanging from a handhold high up on the creature’s back, hacking at a segment on its neck with his sword. His tail he’d wedged between ridges to help him hang on and he wasn’t alone in using that tactic. The other two were doing the exact same thing, but lower on the towering machine. I was pretty sure that one of them was the leader of the group that had attacked us, I recognized those nearly orange scales.

A crater was still smoking right next to the pile of boulders, several broken or burning bodies lying haphazardly around the edges. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, a hint of copper, and something that smelled distinctly like motor oil. The remaining, still mobile, Naga had scattered, hiding in the low shrubbery or the boulders scattered around my own pile. It didn’t look to me like any of them were eager to pitch into the battle Krashe and those other two were waging on the back of the machine.

To be fair, I didn’t know how to help either. I fully understood why Krashe had told me to stay out of this, because what the hell could I do against a giant, independent war machine? I was tiny next to that thing, and though its shiny surfaces were scratched up, dented, and even rusted in places, it was fully functional. Whoever had created this weapon had been extremely advanced, and extremely interested in total destruction.

At least it looked to me like Krashe was relatively safe on the back of the robotic centipede. The guns couldn’t shoot him where he was perched, the robot seemed to be ignoring him in favor of laying salvo after salvo of laser fire down along the alien shrubs whenever it sensed movement.

I thought that maybe my fierce Warlord was getting to it, sparks were flying with each strike of his sword. He was severing wires near the head of the machine that I hoped were extremely vital to its ability to function. I’d only just started to feel like we might be winning this battle when the machine shivered and plating along its long body started to shift and move. Krashe was starting to lose his precarious perch, worse, it looked to me like the barrels of more laser artillery had been exposed. Krashe or one of the others had triggered defense mechanisms, they must have reached something vital.

If that monstrosity wasn’t distracted, it was going to blow Krashe to shreds. He’d done the impossible and curled his long body up on top of the head of the machine, still sawing away at the cables inside, wrenching his blade to cause massive damage. It was working, the headlights—that seemed to peer at us like they were eyes—were flickering, and some of its legs were twitching in strange ways.

When guns raised along a rail on the spine of the robot and aimed directly for Krashe’s form at the top, I knew what I had to do.

Chapter 14

Krashe

I was clinging to the third-grade revenant by my sword and my coils. My scales clattering along my back to help my muscles cool down and sustain my tight grip. My focus was absolute, destroy the machine and end the danger to my mate. Climbing atop the machines and finding their vulnerable spots was the only way to kill them, but usually, warriors tackled such a beast with much greater numbers than this.

It didn’t matter, I’d taken down revenants before on my own, though never a third-grade one. Joxra was clinging to the machine further down, stabbing madly at the cogs and pistons beneath the powerful plating that covered it. Whatever he was hitting, it was disrupting the revenant’s ability to walk, making it lurch sideways in strange patterns. But I’d hit the motherlode, as was usually the case the higher up on the machine one got. I was affecting its sight.

A few more strikes and I’d kill it, I was certain. My blade had sawed through many thick cables, the special properties of the stone we used absorbing some of the lightning arcing inside the body of the machine. But it did not absorb all of it, my fingers tingled, my arm was going numb, and my heart was starting to race in my chest.

Inevitably, we triggered the revenant’s final attack. More red-fire barrels spinning into position to take me out. I fought to curl my body out of the way and still deliver the final blows. This revenant was fast, and its weapons moved easily, the red rot had not yet damaged its ability to move freely. I was going to have to leap off, circle around, and try again.

Ice froze in my veins when the barrels of those red-fire weapons suddenly swiveled away from me. I heard the whine as they heated up but I was already moving before they could fire. Instead of leaping to safety, I struck with my sword, roaring with rage. Go down, you abomination! My blow struck true, blue lightning sparking up the black blade that sizzled out into nothing.

The revenant started to pitch forward as limbs lost power, weapons angled down, and then the whole machine sank. I clung to the top, riding it down to the ground, and throwing my body in a powerful leap at the last moment. Naomi was right in front of me and I caught her in my arms, rolling her with me to make sure we were both well out of the way of the collapsing machine.

She’d crawled out of her hiding spot and yelled at the fucking revenant. She’d caused the distraction that had allowed me to kill it. She’d done so by putting herself in mortal peril. I was completely torn between feeling utter awe at her daring, which had been far greater than that of any of the warriors on the ground with her. Or furious anger at how much risk she’d taken. What if I hadn’t killed it before it fired? What if it had fallen on top of her? She couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the way…

I held her tightly against me, my chest tight with the powerful emotions roiling through me. I couldn’t deal with this now, I’d snap at her, and I didn’t want that. I found the perfect distraction in the warrior males that had survived the battle. I fell back on old patterns and started barking orders, demanding a status report, dispatching two fit ones to scout around, and others to treat the injured. That they fell into line instantly was no surprise to me, they were far too used to obeying my orders and rattled after the third-grade revenant had taken out half their numbers.

Still cradling Naomi in my arms I moved from one body to the next, engraving their names in my mind. Bitter Storm was a huge Clan, I didn’t know every warrior personally, but I knew every face and name. Even though we were at odds now, I still felt their losses. If I had not taken Naomi out here, they would not have died. Then I remembered that they shouldn’t be here at all, but out on the battlefront at the Thunder Rock Village. The Queen had divided our forces by sending these warriors after us.

Joxra approached quietly, his head downcast but his eyes peeking at Naomi in my arms. She wasn’t protesting my tight grip, but she was patting me along my shoulders and neck. Stroking me along my long hair even. The tiny jewel-green Sleara had darted out of the bushes where he’d been hiding and winged up to land on my shoulder with a little chirp. I felt calmer knowing Kiwi was safe and sound, inexplicably getting attached to him just like my mate had.

“I’m fine, Krashe,” she murmured, “I knew you just needed one more strike.” I realized she’d said those words before but I hadn’t been able to listen to them, too worried and furious to focus. At least it sounded like she was just trying to reassure me, not upset about my reaction to her after the fight. I was still struggling not to be too rough; the battle high still gripped me.

With Joxra’s eyes on us, I dipped my head down to nuzzle her temple. Finally, that soothed my ragged, exposed feelings until I could draw in a cleansing breath. “You brave female, promise you won’t ever do that again!” I still sounded furious to my own ears, my voice raspy, hissing rather than speaking. Normally, my tone would not bother me, my warriors were used to me being gruff and short. Naomi was an entirely different matter, I didn’t want her to think I was mean; a completely new experience for me.

She lifted her chin up and angled her face toward me, her blue eyes sparkling with her own battle high. I knew instantly what she wanted and I didn’t hesitate. I pressed my mouth to hers in one of those mouth-matings that she called kisses. Joxra drew in a shocked breath to my left, staring openly at the sight and I felt a surge of satisfaction. The warrior would probably never know what this felt like, and he was missing out.

When Naomi pulled back, I clamped my hand around the back of her head and pulled her back in. Flicking my tongue into the warm cavern of her mouth, I drew her taste and her scent deep into my body. She was alright, she was here in my arms, where I’d make damn sure she’d stay for the rest of her life.

Eventually, I allowed the kiss to end and lifted my eyes over my mate’s head to meet Joxra’s shocked ones. He was one of my best warriors, an officer I’d appointed to a critical role in the battle at Thunder Rock. “Did the attack go through? Who took your place?” I demanded of him, desperate to know if the Clan tried to move forward so we could finally address our food shortage.