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“It is too late to wimp out now,” Yorbek said, one of the Fifteen, aiming a blaster at the three. “You’re here now, and you’re going to help us see this through. What his inner circle has hidden from everyone is that the Magnar and his whore are both our prisoners. Why do you think Pattel and Krygor suddenly cancelled all of his engagements?”
“She’s all prepped and ready for our cocks,” Hagan said in a sadistic tone. “And I can tell you firsthand that she doesn’t need Denax to take a Braxian. So get down there now.”
“I don’t think so,” Ravik said, stepping from behind the tree.
“I don’t think so either,” I said, deactivating my cloak.
“Impossible!” Hagan breathed out.
And then chaos reigned.
Yorbek turned his blaster towards us, but I shot him first with my own blaster, set to stun. He wouldn’t get off that easy. He would suffer as he had intended for both Ravik and I to suffer—more even. Boros, Niklas, and Raylor threw themselves at three of the other Braxians. The Guldans tried to escape, causing the right diversion for me to stun their guards.
With a battle roar, Ravik charged our enemies. Fear kept a few of them paralyzed for a moment and then they jumped into action. Unlike the day of the hunt, they had not brought swords. While I had no qualms using the blaster and my makeshift blade, Ravik went in with his bare fists. The first man shifted his head to the right, avoiding the blow only for Ravik’s other fist to land solidly in his gut. It hit him with such force he was lifted off his feet. He doubled over and Ravik brought down an elbow hard on the back of his neck, raising the other one to block an attack from another man. He kicked the second man hard in the chest, making him fly backwards. Turning back to the first man, he grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up with one hand, and slammed the back of his head on the ground. Dazed, he tried to get back up but never had a chance; Ravik’s foot stomped down hard on his face. Even through the loud noise of battle, the sickening crunching sound resonated loud and clear. The man’s body jerked violently before going still.
The second man charged Ravik again, who met his attack head on. Hagan tried to seize the opportunity to attack him from behind. Racing forward, I threw my makeshift dagger at him. It embedded itself in the meaty area below his shoulder. Hagan yelled and lost his momentum. He stumbled back away from Ravik while trying to remove the blade which remained out of his grasp. I reached him just as he started turning towards me. I backhanded him, my strength increased by the armor. His head jerked to the right, and then he screamed, his entire body seizing as I jammed the taser wand into his gut at maximum intensity. I pulled away the wand and yanked the blade from his shoulder. He cried out and swung his arm at me. I ducked and tased him again, but this time in the balls. Hagan started doubling over but I head-butted him, my horns cracking the bones of his prominent brows. He stumbled back and I slashed the blade across his stomach, enough to make him bleed, but not deep enough to kill.
An incoming Braxian forced me to step away from my prey. Unlike Hagan, this one was truly a warrior and put me on the defensive. Too fast for me to get a hit in, and too strong for me to sustain any of his blows without breaking, I kept dodging and backing away, seeking an opening that would give me the advantage. It came in the form of Ravik’s whip wrapping around the man’s neck and yanking him back. Or rather, my beast took over from there, bashing the man’s face into a pulp, his victim’s blows glancing off him seemingly without effect.
I turned back to see Hagan running off just as the sound of Krygor’s approaching shuttle joined the chorus of battle.
“Ravik!” I yelled, extending a hand towards him.
Needing no more to guess I wanted the whip, he tossed it in my direction before resuming bashing on his helpless opponent. The wet spots on his back indicated his wounds had reopened, but it didn’t seem to trouble him. I caught the whip mid-air and then chased after Hagan. The ground suddenly rushed towards me. Yorbek, having recovered from the stun, tripped me as I ran past him. I fell hard with an oomph. Rolling on my back, I raised the taser wand just in time to zap him as his massive hands reached for me. He shouted then slapped it out of my hand, hard enough that I feared for a second that he’d broken my fingers. Grabbing my dagger, I slashed at his face. He screamed and recoiled as the blade cut across his nose and cheek. Scrambling to my feet, I pushed a command inside the nanites of the makeshift weapon and threw it at him. He tried to avoid it but the improvised weapon found its mark, sinking into his side. Boros tackling him to the ground spared me from further delay in hunting down Hagan.
That son of Gharah was mine.
Ignoring Yorbek’s tortured scream, I gave chase again. Boros would have no trouble with Yorbek as the blade would soon finish him anyway. The metal was reshaping itself to spread inside his body as tendrils the size of needles, piercing their way through organs and tissue.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Krygor’s shuttle land, but didn’t stop. Despite his significant head start, Hagan didn’t have the speed of a Veredian. Arms and legs pumping, I quickly closed the distance between us, grateful for the painkiller and the healing nanites of my suit that kept me going. To my greatest pleasure, I sensed a large presence of basic nanites in the whip, a type often used to help soften leather or as part of the products used to treat it. An evil plan formed in my mind as I shot Hagan with the blaster adjusted to the lowest stun setting; I didn’t want him unconscious, just slowed down a little, thanks to the stun setting of Guldan blasters being weak against Braxians.
Hagan stumbled, barely managing to keep himself from face-planting, then screeched when the whip licked his back. He turned around, his eyes wide with fear and pain. Anger descended upon his feature once he realized I—a female—was attacking him. He stepped towards me but I stunned him again, following up with three quick lashes which I didn’t hold back, almost every blow tearing skin. He covered his face and tried to come at me, but I repeated the process of stun and whiplashes, counting his lashes out loud, until he fell to his knees.
By the thirtieth, Elder Pattel, Clan Leader Fenton, and a mix of their men surrounded us, none of them interfering. I no longer bothered with the blaster as I circled around Hagan, making sure every inch of his body felt my wrath. Ignoring the burn in my arm and the exhaustion seeping in, I carried out his punishment until it met fifty lashes. Breathing heavily, I stared with hatred at the back of the bloody mess kneeling before me.
With the battle clearly over, more men gathered around us, bearing witness in silence. My eyes locked with the beloved face of my beast. The same merciless flame that burned within me raged in his gaze.
Marching towards Hagan, I wrapped the whip around his waist and arms, letting the handle hang over his shoulder. Heedless of the confused looks of the Braxians, and the tortured whimpers from the traitor, I pushed a command into the nanites of the whip. Standing next to Hagan while the nanites tightened around him, I faced the men observing us.
Glad that I’d decided to wear my clothing beneath my armor after all, I deactivated the latter, revealing the wounds from the lashing I’d received as well as my Veredian markings. I lifted my chin in defiance at the surprised gasps.
“Yes. I am a Veredian-Guldan hybrid—a half breed as some of you like to say,” I said, with a hard voice. “I will no longer hide my true nature for fear of narrow-minded people hunting me because of what the Goddess made me. I will no longer suffer being bullied or threatened for the right to live or to be free because of what I am—for the right to love my soulmate,” I added, my gaze resting on Ravik.
The pride in his face further energized me.
“If you have a problem with my presence, learn to suck it up, because only one person has the power or the right to send me away, and that’s him,” I said, pointing a finger at my mate, who puffed his chest. “Don’t fuck with a Veredian. We may look sweet and delicate, but when it comes to our survival, we don’t play. The next one who thinks to come at me, this will be nothing in comparison to what will befall you,” I said, waving at Hagan. “I have only one mercy, and that’s my name.”
Right on cue, his groans of pain turned to strangled screams as the whip tightening on him cut off his circulation and squeezed his bones to the verge of breaking point. Soon, they would cave in, and he would be crushed to death as the nanites continued, endlessly, their effort to close as much as possible. The men cast a horrified look as the bones of one of Hagan’s arms broke, and then eyed me warily.
“Your Dagna has spoken,” Ravik said, before approaching.
“Hail the Dagna!” Krygor shouted.
“Hail the Dagna,” the men repeated, slapping their chests with their fist.
Taking me by the hand, Ravik led us back to the small clearing where the shuttles of our allies had landed, leaving Hagan to his agonizing death.
Epilogue
