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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
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DRAZ
The underground prison’s cooler than the rest of Edrobaz, designed to be uncomfortable for any Suevans who find themselves on the wrong side of our laws. Not torturous, but a constant, nagging coldness that nips at my scaled hide.
Blue lights bounce through the clear flexiglass cell, an impenetrable membrane that allows sound and light to pass, but not, say, an angry Roth. The cool temperature likely will not bother him the same way it would a Suevan, but he is anything but comfortable.
The Roth is furious. He doesn’t speak, but his grey nostrils flare slightly as I stand in front of his cell. His chest is bandaged, and black blood seeps through the wound my mate so efficiently placed.
Dergoz stirs next to me. Always ready to fight, Dergoz exudes a feral energy that’s fully honed on the prisoner in front of us. We called him the Brute in our wars against Roth on the settled planets, a title he fully earned, willing to do anything against the Roth to seize the advantage.
I thought he was over the top then, but he’s even more on edge now.
Likely from the frustration of not being able to mate his female. Guilt slides through me, oily and slick. Finding out that my Ni-Kee is the only one able to understand our language still, through some fluke of the implant programming, has left me both counting my lucky stars and saddened for my fellow Suevans.
A door closes softly, and footsteps sound against the stone floors.
“Has he spoken yet?” Alvez asks. He turns towards the cell, the blue lights illuminating a criss-cross of scars along his scaled back. The Suevan spent time in the Roth fighting pits, taken as a child on a settlement and raised as a gladiator slave. The male has every reason to wish the Roth a brutal death, and yet, he appears the most in control of us all.
“No.”
“And he was working with the southern Suevans?”
Dergoz makes a rasping noise of disbelief, clicking his talons along his crossed arms. “I ca
“The Roth have long been persuasive,” Alvez answers, his eyes full of cold, calculating rage. “I am sure he made his promises seem as sweet as they were false.”
“He threatened to take my mate,” I say, and both males turn to look at me. “He did not know the human females were compatible, or if he did, he made a show of not knowing it, and offering her a place as a bed slave and breeder with him.” My knuckles crack as I tighten my fists at the memory.
Alvez’s hand clasps my shoulder, offering strength and solidarity. “He did not succeed.”
“I worry, my friend,” I tell him, my heart speeding up and my tail smacking against the floor. “I worry that the Roth know, and that they head for our women, even now. Or Earth, to harvest as many females as they can and once again become a mighty foe.”
“Our transport to Earth—you think they tail it, even now?”
“It is a possibility,” I admit.
“We need those females,” Dergoz growls. “Our males need mates.”
“What are you suggesting?” Alvez says, his eyebrows drawing up.
“If the human males ca
“That is not our choice to make.” I narrow my eyes at the male, exasperated. “The females ca
Dergoz makes a fist, slamming it into his open hand. “The Roth are not the only ones whose numbers dwindle. We must reclaim our place in this galaxy, and the human females are the key. They are not treasured on Earth. Their people sent them here like troblek to slaughter, without a clue of what we intended for them.”
Alvez makes a sound of agreement, and I cock an eyebrow at him. “You agree with this plan? To pillage Earth for females?”
“I agree that their Federation deceived them, and that our mates have been dealt out a great wrong. But I do not think brute force is the correct path to the females.” He puts an extra emphasis on the word, and Dergoz growls, his muscles bunching in irritation.
“Then what is it you think best, gladiator?” Dergoz rasps, challenge inherent in the question.
By the Suevan skies, Having all the warlords together in Edrobaz is volatile. We’re too used to command, to working independently of each other, since our time together in the settlements fighting off the Roth. Not to mention, these males are strung tightly, shedding frustration like so much skin during a youth’s first molt.
Alvez steps closer to Dergoz, menace radiating through him. “This gladiator thinks that we should use our brains. The human females are clearly unused to being treasured. The ones we already have are our greatest lever for the rest of the human females. We lavish our mates with affection and gifts, and they will in turn spread the word back to Earth. Then we can begin offering places to select Earth women here, where we can pair them up with males of our own.”
Dergoz grunts, a calculating expression in his gaze.
“This is not poorly conceived,” I say. “But it does not solve the problem of the Roth.”
Alvez faces the cell once more, and the Roth stares us down, his black hair flaring around his shoulders, buffeted by a nonexistent wind.
Damn energy manipulators.
“No, it does not,” Alvez says. “We need to send a contingent of Suevans to guard the transport.”
“I can send a team,” Dergoz says, his tail slapping against the floor again.
I try not to sigh in a
Alvez snorts in amusement, one brow raised. He runs a finger across the straps of the weapons slung across his chest. “I can also send warriors.”
“We send warriors from each clan,” I say. “And we send a few southern Suevans, too.”
“They are traitors,” Dergoz’s eyes light up with fury.
“They are Suevan, and we have done wrong by them if they thought to turn to the Roth instead of to us. We must mend this broken bridge between us if we hope to stand strong against the Roth’s eventual assault.”
“The prince will want to send some from his clan,” Alvez says.
I nod my agreement. “We need to find him and his female.”
“I will go,” Dergoz says, and I tilt my chin, considering the male.
“You would leave your mate?”
“Aye.”
“There are Crigomar out there. You would risk yourself and your future?”
Dergoz’s expression grows thunderous. I stand my ground. “Until my mate can understand me, there is no point to putting her in harm’s way.”
Harm’s way? Does he think himself a danger to her?
I shake my head. “It is your choice. If you want to search for Prince Kanuz and the female warrior Gen, then so be it.”
“And the Roth?” Alvez asks.
“Find out what you can,” I say curtly. “I know you are best equipped for dealing with their tricks.” Years of enslavement to the Roth has left Alvez with deep scars, but there is no one with better insight into how the Roth’s mind works, a point we made good use of during the settlement wars.
Alvez nods once, and I turn to leave, Dergoz lagging along in my wake.
I am ready to leave this business for the moment, to turn my mind to more pleasurable pursuits.
Like the surprise I have in store for my precious mate.
Like the pleasure I intend to wring from her supple body afterwards.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
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