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I heard the menacing growl at the same moment he did. Out from the shadows came a pair of massive beasts. I realized why I hadn’t seen any weapons carried by the last two thugs. Shapeshifting darwolves didn’t need them. Their razor-sharp fangs were far deadlier than any sword, slicing through bone and sinew.
They’d been lingering in the darkness during their transformation but the scent of blood must have speeded up the process. Kaal told me Harald described the Daran shapeshifters as demons, without a spark of sentient being in them. Listening to their deep-throated growls, looking into their eyes glowing as red as flames spurting up from the fissures, I believed him.
With a roar, the first one sprang. Kaal wrapped his arms around the beast’s throat. Jaws snapping, the creature sank its teeth into his shoulder. Instead of trying to pull away, Kaal seemed to embrace the beast. They locked in a dance of death that went on forever. Finally the darwolf’s jaws slackened. Its head drooped and a jet of blood spurted out, drenching them both. He shoved the shifter away and I realized he’d wrapped the garrote around its neck, pulling it tighter and tighter until he nearly severed its head.
Fully in beast mode, the second darwolf sprang at the wounded shifter, snarling and snapping. Kaal backed away and I dragged him into the hut, pulling the makeshift door shut and barricading it with the biggest rock I could roll into place. He collapsed on the ground and I wrapped my arms around him, shaking, as we listened to the dying creature’s shrieks and groans.
The shifter ripped the other animal to shreds, devouring it. I couldn’t bear hearing the horrible sounds. Covering my ears, I burst into tears.
Kaal held me close until the noise died away.
“That... that could have been you,” I sobbed.
“I’m all right.” He got up and rolled the stone away, then pulled the wooden doorway aside and surveyed the area. “They’re all gone. Our guards were taken into the nearest hut when the fight broke out and two of the men who attacked me managed to get away during the darwolf’s attack.”
“What about the third man—the one you hit with the club?”
“Just a few bones left. Looks like the shifter ate him too. Lucky for him, he was already dead.”
“How can you be so calm? Those men, those beasts, any one of them might have killed you!”
He shrugged. “I come from a savage world. Only the strong survive.”
Blood oozed from the deep bite marks on his shoulder, mingling with that of the darwolf spattered on his chest. I swiped away my tears and pulled myself together. I’d tended to injured men before. Pouring some water from a pitcher I’d found onto one of the grimy rags that made up Harald’s bed, I swabbed away the blood as best I could.
Wearily, Kaal leaned forward, closed his eyes, and allowed me to fuss over him without protest. But when I dabbed gingerly at the bite marks, he snatched the cloth from my hand.
“Hand me that jug of whiskey.”
I passed it to him. He tilted his head back and took a big slug, then offered it to me. I shook my head. He had another gulp, clenched his teeth, and poured the rest over his wounds. “Zibaru’s finest. Guaranteed to kill any infection—if it doesn’t kill me first.”
Kaal sagged back against the wall, wincing when his torn shoulder came in contact with the rough stones. His eyes were half-closed. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead and his jaw was set but I knew him well enough by now to know he’d spring to his feet at the first hint of danger. He’d never give in to pain or weakness.
Torn, I took a good look at the half-naked stranger slumped at my feet, the being Fate had thrust into my life.
I’d never met anyone like him.
We had nothing in common. I’d studied history and philosophy, science and art. He was uneducated. I came from a long line of learned scholars, famous artists, great rulers. He was wild and uncivilized. I believed in equality between the sexes. He made me call him Master, spanked me like a naughty child, took me without asking permission. He drove me to the peak, fierce and hard, then cradled me in his arms when I came crashing down. He listened to me, cared for me, comforted me, and dried my tears.
My bodyguards and my dearest friend were dead because of him. But I knew this man now. Despite what had happened, I’d learned to trust him. Here in Zibaru, he’d stepped in to take their place. He faced down both man and beast for me, killed them with his bare hands. Wounded and exhausted, he fought to protect me—and he’d do it again and again, till his dying breath.
I reached down, brushed a damp lock of hair off his forehead. Without opening his eyes, he caught my hand in his. Drew it to his lips.
My father was a brave man. A man of honor who lived by his own strict moral code. I loved and respected him. All my life I’d been looking for a man like him. A man I could give myself to, body and soul.
I never dreamed I’d find him in a savage alien from another world.
