Ambushing Ariel (28 page)

Ariel pressed a kiss to his neck, ignoring the other men who were gathered protectively around them. She looked over Mandra’s shoulder and saw Bahadur looking at her with hunger, regret, and… understanding? She buried her face against Mandra’s neck just wanting to feel his arms around her.

“I’m okay. I was scared at first but the most incredible thing happened. It was amazing,” she whispered against his neck. “Can we return to the ship? I have a promise to keep.”

“By the gods and goddesses,” Zebulon whispered looking on the other side of the force field at the tiny creatures staring intently at them. “Will you take a look at that?”

Ariel turned to look at Tia and Tamblin who were watching them with avid curiosity. She smiled as she turned in Mandra’s arms. Nodding to them, she watched as Tia raised her hand before they turned and disappeared back to their miniature world.

“Amazing, huh?” Mandra asked watching as the tiny creatures disappeared into the darkness.

“Yes, and utterly cool,” Ariel whispered looking up into Mandra’s eyes which still held the dark fear deep inside them. “I think you are going to be happy with the end result.”

“I already am. I have you back in my arms… safe,” Mandra murmured resting his forehead against hers for a moment before picking her up and turning with a nod to the others to move out. He wanted her off this damn moon before something else happened.

Mandra looked down at his mate who was sleeping peacefully. They returned from the planet to find out that the Tasiers had multiplied… exponentially. The crew aboard the
D’stroyer
was frantically trying to capture thousands of the things. The damn fur balls were everywhere! They had stepped out of the shuttle to find the things hopping through the landing bay. They were in the corridors, vents, training room, engineering, even on the damn bridge. And those were the ones the crew hadn’t eaten. By the time they finally rounded them up there was not a single man on board that wanted to ever eat another one again.

Ariel had laughed so hard she could barely talk. It seemed the tiny creatures who took her needed the furry creatures. They had been the creatures that once flourished on the small moon. Tasiers liked the sand and the sand liked their poop. The mushroom trees were spread and grew from it. The tiny creatures were forced to seek refuge under the sands when traders captured all the Tasiers. Without the poop, the mushrooms died and the moon heated up. It took them three days to finally make sure they had captured all the Tasiers on the
D’stroyer
and transport them down to the unnamed moon. Almost overnight, small fields of tiny spores popped up through the sandy soil.

Mandra and Ariel had spent last night on the moon in the large cavern. After Ariel introduced him to Tia, Tamblin and many of the other tiny creatures who journey up from their world to see the replenishment of their much loved fur balls, they had shifted into their dragons. They flew over the vast sands, made love, flew some more, and loved until heat, exhaustion, and the impatience of Adalard, Zebulon, and even Bahadur forced him to return with his mate to the warship. He took her again and again once he returned, determined to taste every inch of her in an effort to chase the fear of almost losing her away. He knew as he made love to her before she fell into an exhausted sleep the last time they came together that there was no way he take a chance with her life. He would need to find another way to stop his uncle.

Mandra grabbed Ariel’s arm as she swatted at him in her sleep when he leaned over and brushed a kiss across her lips. “Sleep little warrior, I have work to do.”

Ariel grumbled in her sleep and rolled over pulling his warm pillow against her before she settled back down with a soft snore. Mandra tenderly brushed her long white-gold hair back away from her shoulder. His eyes lit with triumph at the additional dragon’s marks on her shoulder. He had given her three additional marks to go with the ones on each side of her neck. She now had his dragon mark on her left shoulder, one on her breast, and one on the inside of her thigh. Her passionate cries still echoed in his head as he took her over and over during the night.

Mandra glanced one last time at his mate, feeling a fierce need to protect her sweep through him before he pulled on his clothes and left his quarters. Plans needed to be finalized. He was going after his uncle with a small fleet of fighters consisting of both Curizan and Valdier warriors. He was going to kill his uncle and he was going to make sure he lived through it.

.
.*

Ten days later, the
D’stroyer
made its way through the asteroid belt surrounding the small planet housing Raffvin’s hidden base. Bahadur had traveled ahead of them for a scheduled delivery of weapons and supplies. He would disable several of the satellites that would warn of their approach and make sure Raffvin was on the planet. Adalard had left four days before to gather his forces. They were in position waiting for the
D’stroyer
to give the signal before launching their attack. They would need to be careful. The planet was sparsely populated but there were numerous small villages scattered throughout the area. Raffvin had set up his base using the population there as slave labor to build it.

Mandra looked up as Ariel came up next to him on the bridge. He had been looking at a holovid of the planet below them. She was dressed in the black vest, leather pants and boots of their warriors. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she had a fierce look on her face. His eyes dropped to her hips where laser pistols rested. The frown on his face turned to a fierce scowl.

“What do you think you are doing?” He growled out in a low, dangerous tone.

Ariel raised her eyebrow and looked at him calmly. “I’m a soldier. If you are going into battle then you will need someone to watch your back. Precious and I will be doing that.”

Mandra glanced down to where Precious lay on the floor looking up at Ariel with worship in its golden eyes. “No!” He bit out fiercely.

“Yes,” Ariel replied quietly. “I can’t let you go alone. I’ve been trained extensively in military combat, including hand-to-hand. Your uncle has threatened those who I care about, including my own people. I take that as an act of war.”

Mandra breathed in deeply before letting it out. Looking down at the map, he shook his head again. “I can’t, Ariel. I can’t take a chance of anything happening to you. Precious will go with me. I will need my symbiot when I battle my uncle. I explained our suspicions about what happened to the other symbiots that were destroyed. Precious and I may be the only ones strong enough to fight against him. I…” he swallowed down the bile in his throat before continuing, “I cannot take a chance of anything happening to you.”

Ariel raised her hand touch Mandra’s cheek. She waited until he looked at her. She wanted him to know she felt the same way about him. It was a two way street. She needed to know he would be safe and come back to her.

“You are also planning on leaving a part of Precious with me. This will weaken both of you,” she replied. “If you will not let me go with you, at least take all of Precious.”

“I can’t,” he whispered. “If I don’t survive and Raffvin is able to destroy a good portion of my symbiot it would be a death sentence for you. At least with a portion of my symbiot you have a slight chance of survival.”

Tears filled Ariel’s eyes but she refused to let them fall. “We both know if you die then I die as well. If there is a chance at life, or even of death, then we need to be together… all of us… you, me, our dragons, and Precious. We are one now. What happens to one happens to all of us.”

Mandra closed his eyes and turned his lips into her palm pressing a kiss to the center. He knew she was right but it didn’t matter. He needed to know she was safe on board the
D’stroyer
so he could fight without fear of something happening to her. He needed that tie to pull him back from wherever he might go.

When he opened his eyes, they glowed with golden flames of determination. “No,” he said firmly before he turned away and nodded to two members of his security team. “Lock her up in one of the detention cells until this is over.”

Ariel looked at Mandra in disbelief as the two warriors grabbed her by her arms. Precious jumped up with a furious snarl but a sharp command from Mandra stilled the golden symbiot that shook with rage. Mandra pulled the two laser pistols out of the holsters on her hips and laid them down on the table.

“Take her,” he said turning away from the shock and betrayal in his mate’s eyes as she fought against the two men holding her.

“No! Mandra, damn your stubborn hide! You are so going to regret this when I get my hands on you!” Ariel yelled as she was pulled off the bridge.

Mandra gritted his teeth as she continued screeching threats at him. He looked up at Zebulon who came to stand next to him. He glanced back down when he saw the sympathy in his friend’s eyes.

“She will forgive you. Just make sure you bring your sorry ass back to her so she can kick it first,” Zebulon said quietly.

Mandra nodded sharply. “Let’s go. It’s time.”

.
.*

Mandra slipped into the smaller fighter that Precious formed. He left the other portion of his symbiot outside the detention cells where it was ordered to protect their mate. He received clearance and quickly accelerated. Connecting with his symbiot, he and the other warriors began their decent down to the planet. They would be coming in on the far side and move rapidly over the terrain towards the base. Adalard was deploying fighters to come in on the other side. Bahadur had contacted them to let them know Raffvin was on the planet and the satellites were disabled but to hurry. They would only be offline for a fifteen minute window. It was the best he could do without raising any suspicions.

He broke through the atmosphere and ordered his symbiot to stay as low as possible. They were on radio silence until the actual battle began. Mandra cursed as he caught his first visual of the base his uncle had built. It was a domed fortress that was almost the size of the Valdier palace. Lights flared as Adalard began his attack. Bahadur had the shields down and bright lights burst upward as laser cannons mounted on the top of the dome returned fire.

“We’ve taken out the main cannons. Our ground forces are moving in to secure the outside perimeter,” Adalard called out as he broke radio silence.

Mandra gritted his teeth. “Affirmative, we are heading down into the main building. Let us handle any warriors with symbiots.”

“Affirmative,” Adalard said over the sounds of explosions. “I think most of his men are mercenaries he has hired from other star systems.”

“Can you cut through the central line? I see fighters lifting off,” Mandra barked out.

“On it,” Adalard replied.

Mandra watched as Adalard’s fighter and several others turned and began chasing the fighters that had lifted off. He focused on getting inside the dome city and as close to the building Bahadur said his uncle used as a command center. Landing smoothly several hundred feet away, he jumped out of Precious not waiting for his symbiot to change shape. It would meet up with him in seconds. He fired at several mercenaries as they poured out of a building to his left. Rolling, he fired at two more that came out. Precious, in the shape of a huge Werebeast, tackled another warrior, biting down and snapping his neck with a shake of its massive head. More men poured out of several nearby buildings as fighters overhead fired at them. Mandra transformed to his dragon and breathed dragon fire at the long line. Screams erupted from the men as flames burst all around them.

Mandra watched as Bahadur came out of another building walking calmly through the chaos while firing his laser pistol. Every once in a while his body shield would flash as someone returned fire. He had to admit the son-of-a-bitch had nerves of steel. Moving forward, he transformed back into his two-legged form and met up with him.

“Your uncle is on level three. There is an emergency shaft leading down to it. Go through the main floor to the far left. A door will take you down there. Be careful, though, he has at least a dozen men with him,” Bahadur said as he fired at another group of men swarming toward them. “Go, we’ll cover you.”

Mandra and Precious took off across the open area covered with dead bodies. Zebulon and several others on his security force followed him firing at the enemy as they made their way through the thick metal doors of the central building. Smoke drifted thickly in the air. Mandra and the other men quickly covered their faces with breathing masks. With a nod of his head, they fanned out and began moving slowly through the debris toward the stairs Bahadur told them about.

Mandra shifted the laser rifle he was carrying so that if fit snugly against his shoulder and stepped over some fallen material from the ceiling. He glanced up and saw several fighters streaking by. Explosions rocked the ground as the fighting outside continued. He waved his hand toward Zebulon who nodded and muttered something to the two men next to him. They moved, spreading out to his right. Precious suddenly snarled and launched itself over the debris. The strangled gurgle was the only sound the mercenary made before Precious tossed his limp body aside. Several other symbiots found hidden mercenaries and killed them.

A sense of warning caused Mandra to roll suddenly. “Look out!”

Zebulon and several of the men dove for cover as a mercenary hidden by the door tossed an explosive. The flash followed by the concussion of the explosion shook the building. Debris rained down showering the men with broken pieces of metal and stone. Mandra rose up at the same time as Zebulon and fired at the last location of the mercenary. The sound of their laser fire hitting flesh was loud and they watched as he collapsed back against the door.

“Is everyone alright?” Mandra called out.

“I have a man down. His symbiot is with him but he needs to be lifted out,” Zebulon called back.

“Get him out of here,” Mandra ordered. “You two, follow me.”

The two warriors nodded and moved in behind Mandra. “Zebulon, cover my back and make sure no one enters or leaves here alive.”