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“You’re pirates,” she snorts. “If this was fair, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Don’t make this worse by breaking conduct. It won’t go well for us.”
“Fine,” she agrees.
When the crowd has satisfied themselves with new bets, the ringleaders shout for us to begin. The scrapping starts. The only thought keeping me from total insanity is the knowledge that my mate’s life is not at stake for the time being. She will still be considered a prize and none of these fools would go so far as to seriously injure her.
The Verguli underestimate her, so when the battle begins, three of them surround me while Varger attempts to grab her. They strike at me, trying to force me to maneuver away from my female, but I duck their efforts and snag one by the ankle with a sweep of my leg. I launch myself up and slam my head into the closest opponents.
“Back for more?” I hear my mate taunting him behind me. “Maybe I can take another eye to even things out. You’re looking lopsided.”
Don’t turn your head. Don’t turn your head.
I focus on the males in front of me, only hearing a groan and a crunch from behind. I deliver a few more blows and hazard a single glance over my shoulder. Raina is dodging an angry swing from Varger and she’s still standing. Good enough for me.
I grab hold of a Verguli arm and yank it down. Then I put my foot into the soft juncture where arm meets exoskeleton. Another crunch and a yelp. This bug-man falls limp as the other two rush me. I take their companion and swing him at them, walloping one in the stomach. They’re thrown back but largely unharmed, tossing the injured male to the side.
But when I take a second glance at my mate’s fight with Varger, I abandon any thought of finishing off the two other Verguli. Varger has taken ahold of Raina by the waist and he’s trying his best to wrestle her into submission. She bends her knees and leans forward to elbow him in the gut with all her momentum. Perhaps that move would hurt a male with an unprotected belly, but Varger is unfazed. He grips down tighter on her, and I catch his small smile. He’s taking pleasure from her struggle.
I turn around. I bare my teeth and rush to my mate’s aid, using one hand to grab Varger’s neck and one to punch him under the armpit where he’s soft. His body stutters enough for his grip to loosen. Raina throws herself down to the ground and then crawls out from underfoot on her hands and knees. Varger grimaces and tries to sweep my legs while pushing me off balance, but I feint and knock into him with my shoulder. But instead of letting him fall, I go with him, crashing into the ground. We slide, and the crowd jumps out of our way.
I pin him, digging my boots into his ankles. Some ravenous part of me takes over and I even bite him, digging my teeth into the soft flesh at the base of his antennae. I sit up and punch him.
“You should know better,” I say, panting raggedly, “than to touch what belongs to me.”
I sink my fist into his face again, slamming one of his remaining eyes.
“Not—yours—” He manages to continue arguing with me even though I have him beat.
“The spirit decided. You had no chance of winning.”
He laughs with blood running down his cheeks. “You Kar’Kali are all such fools. Your god is dead and soon you will all be dead along with him.”
I stand on top of him, half expecting his plates to crack under my weight. They hold strong. He can barely put up a fight at this point, and the mating beast demands more pain. He needs tosufferfor what he’s done and what he tried to take from me. I should probably leave him now and claim my prize, check on my mate. But I pick up his arm, and with one foot on his neck and one firmly in the center of his chest, I twist and tear hard. There are no bones inside, no strong muscles. The brittle chitin cracks as I dismember him like no more than a crustacean I plan to suck the meat out of.
Varger shrieks, all eyes bulging like they too might pop out of their sockets.
Gasps, cheers, and laughter abound as I toss the arm across the floor.
“I could stop there,” I jeer, “but you touched her with both arms.”
“That’s enough.”
The raucous sounds of the crowd die down in an instant at the sound of the captain’s voice.
We turn to watch Kyrrth stand at the threshold of my quarters, where the crowd has parted for him. Those that were huddled in the doorway have already disappeared.
“All three of you are getting spaced,” the captain states.
I step off Varger’s chest and take a few deep breaths.
“Varger is the one who started this,” Raina argues. “If anyone should be punished, it’s him.”
Kyrrth stares at her for a beat, as if floored that she would dare to address him. Then he rudely turns his back and ignores her, speaking to me instead.
“My security officer informed me that your human was taps away from launching my escape pod,” the captain snaps. “I told you to keep her from meddling on my ship and you’ve failed. Now you’re acting like a lunatic and dismembering my crew?”
I say nothing to that point. The height of myamma’karage is fading, and I start to realize I might have taken things a bit too far. The discarded arm lies twitching on the ground, and one of the other Verguli that I fought with bends to pick it up. The spectators slowly trail out of my quarters, ducking their heads to avoid eye contact with Captain Kyrrth.
