Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“I don’t know what any of that means,” I confess. Azlan’s brothers’ expressions are nothing short of alarmed.
“Your mate is uneducated,” Skol notes. “She will be a danger to herself and a liability to us all. Did you tell her nothing of our world?”
“We were busy with other matters,” Azlan says, smirking slightly.
“You can have a human fuck toy,” Kain says bluntly. “But you can’t have a human mate, especially one who doesn’t know anything.”
“I can do as I please. I am alpha.”
“You sound like Leonidas,” Skol says.
It’s a soft comment, but it seems to cut through Azlan like a blade.
“Ava is extremely intelligent,” he says. “She will learn quickly.”
“I am?”
I don’t mean to sound surprised, but I’ve never gone about thinking of myself as being intelligent. I have farm sense, but not much in the way of intellectual or academic chops. That’s kind of how I got myself into this mess.
WEEEOOWWOOWOOWOWOW!
I jump as an alarm sounds, and the entire bridge begins to flash red. It’s clear that some kind of emergency is taking place, though I don’t know what kind, or where.
Without a word, Azlan slams his hand down on the console and begins to enter a series of commands.
“Protocol Alpha. Space bender activated. We should be on the planet inside six hours.” He turns to his brothers. “The emergency beacon was just activated.”
“Really,” Skol deadpans.
“I left you lot down there to keep the place secure,” Azlan continues. “It should never have been undefended.”
“You are the alpha. You should be defending it,” Kain reminds him. “You should never have abandoned the pride lands in order to cavort with some human hussy.”
He’s old-fashioned when he’s being a bitch.
Azlan draws in a deep breath. I know he could say something cutting if he wanted to, but Azlan is a leader, and leaders don’t give into pettiness, even when the pettiness would be very satisfying.
“Prepare for battle when we land.”
PART 2
7
We arrive at Azlan’s pride home as dusk is spreading across the great plains. His world is wide and flat and covered in grasses which bend and sway beneath the ship as we skim low in toward a series of homes designed not to break the landscape too greatly. My first thought is that these were made to blend into the landscape for a sort of eco-appeal, but given we are flying into war, I wonder if they are actually camouflaged.
Azlan is issuing commands to his brothers as we descend. I was nervous as to the reception I might receive, but as we land and disembark, it quickly becomes apparent that it’s not going to be an issue, because we have landed amid absolute chaos and carnage.
Signs of a battle are everywhere. There are wounded Leonids being tended by other, slightly less wounded Leonids. There are gluts of blood on the ground, seeping into the sandy ground between the dry grasses. I can smell death and the beginnings of decay. The dead have been collected, but the scent of their loss of life remains in the air. It is cool now, but I can tell it was a hot day, the sort of day in which a body begins to turn in a matter of hours.
“Azlan!” A Leonid warrior rushes up to the ship’s gangway, clutching a bandage to a nasty wound. “Leonidas staged a raid. He took the women. Every female of every age is gone, and we have lost half of the male warriors. We need medical help.”
“Stay in the ship,” Azlan orders me, almost without thinking as he heads out into the fray.
“I can help,” I tell him, following close on his heels. “And you need help.”
“Fine,” he says. He does not have time to argue with me, and he knows I am right. This is an all hands on deck situation.
There is much to be done. Nyan has gathered the ships’ combined medical supplies and is wheeling them out on a trolley. Skol is with him, taking similar action. Azlan is out moving among his warriors, gathering information.
I attach myself to Skol and Nyan, following them and offering help where I can. I know how to tend the wounds of animals and of people. Many are injured, and many are dying. I help those I can, and I comfort those I cannot.
“Where are your doctors? Your nurses?” I ask my most conscious patient.
“They killed them first. It was a coordinated raid. They knew who they were coming for and what they were going to do.”
“Fuck. Me,” I curse under my breath. I had gathered that Leonidas was ruthless, but this level of cruelty seems unnecessary. In human society, it would be a war crime. On the Leonid world, I do not think there is any concept of a war crime. Leonidas is brutal and callous and…
The worst is yet to come.