Claimed (23 page)

Oh, god! He’d changed. His breastplate rocked back and forth on the floor, its leather straps snapped in two, and bits of shoes lay under the hulking mass of his body.

“Get Tina out of here,” he commanded, his voice so low it reverberated through her like the beat of a drum.

Sedric gripped her arm and started to pull her backward. What was he doing? They couldn’t leave! Sorvar would need them, he’d need Sedric to have his back. “Sedric, we can’t leave. You need to watch Sorvar’s back. Dane won’t pass up the opportunity to attack Sorvar while he’s fighting your father.” Sedric didn’t listen. He kept pulling her towards the statue, but before they could reach it, the windows exploded inwards and winged beasts flew into the throne room.

Tina cried out as glass rained down, tiny shards slicing into her. She stared at the hideous form of a Crasgich as it flew towards them. Sedric growled, his hand tightening painfully around her arm.

Sorvar roared, his fury burning in her as he beat his massive wings and lifted off the floor. A blast echoed, followed by another roar as Sorvar’s father was thrown backward into his throne.

Sedric roared beside her and rushed towards the human male standing in the centre of the room, a weapon in his hand pointed at the now injured king, leaving Tina standing alone.

A strange noise drew her gaze towards a single human male. Dane stared back at her, a strange weapon pointed directly at her. The hatred on his face made her stagger back a step.

Time slowed down as she watched him, as she watched the blast leave the weapon and head towards her. It was instinct, something primal in her, some new part of her that made her wings snap out and wrap around her, protecting her, but they didn’t stop the blast from hitting her, or her scream of pain that ripped through the throne room and silenced the chaos for a bare second.

* * * *

Tina’s scream and pain ripped through him, stunning him for a second. Sorvar whipped around, twisting his body in mid-air, beating his wings to keep himself aloft.

The male who had demanded her return stood below him with a weapon pointed at Tina. The silence in the throne room was absolute for a few short seconds before he roared and chaos broke out again. Tina’s fear twisted his stomach and left him feeling nauseous.

Crasgich and humans fought against palace guards. More guards were coming in through the main doors, and Morgath males were fighting Crasgich out the windows, dark shadows swooping through the air only to clash back together.

Where had the Crasgich come from? How had they breached their planetary defences? Sorvar shook his head. It didn’t matter. They were here, and defeating them was all that mattered. Protecting Tina and his young was his only priority.

Sorvar dove for the male Tina had reacted to so strongly. Her dislike for the male had almost overwhelmed him and had made him wary of the male. He’d never expected the male would try to kill her, but obviously the male had decided if he couldn’t take her with them then he was going to eliminate her. Maybe that had been his orders all along.

Whatever the case, Sorvar didn’t care. The male was going to die. He could shoot him, but he wanted to kill him messily, painfully. He reached for the male as he rocketed down towards the floor, his hands extended out in front of him. The male must have sensed him, or felt the disturbance in the air because he tried to turn and point the weapon at Sorvar, but he was too late.

Sorvar closed his clawed hands around the male and swept him up off the floor. The male cursed, struggled, and tried to bring the weapon around to point it at him, but Sorvar closed his massive hand around the weapon and the male’s much smaller hand and squeezed. The male screamed as Sorvar squeezed harder, crushing the delicate bones, then pulled.

Dark satisfaction swirled inside him as the male screamed like the pathetic creature he was as Sorvar slowly ripped his arm off.

“Please, please. Oh god, please!” the male begged between sobs.

“What are you begging for, human? Leniency? Forgiveness? Or perhaps a painless death?” Sorvar demanded. “Or are you begging this god you believe in, that he will come and save you?”

The male whimpered, a pitiful sound that only enraged Sorvar further. He beat his wings, the larger span of his shifted form making hovering with the heavy weight of the male easy. When no answer but whimpers were forthcoming, Sorvar growled and shifted his grip.

He wrapped one hand around the male’s head, his tail whipping back and forth with his rage. He would kill anyone who dared harm his mate. Anyone who tried to take her from him would suffer the same fate as this useless male. Sorvar dug his claws into the hard skull of the male and ripped his head off, then flung the limp body towards one of the windows and let the head fall to the floor below.

A flash of alarm inside him drove him to sweep across the room to Tina. He tucked his wings in and plummeted towards the floor, flaring them out at the last minute to slow his descent. He landed with a thud behind two human males closing in on her.

Sorvar grabbed the male in front of him, snapping his neck before he could even utter a sound, and threw the body to the side. The second male was in the process of turning when he slashed at him. His claws opened him up from neck to groin. The male screamed, a hideous sound of pain that echoed through the throne room. Sorvar gave the dying male a sharp shove and sent him toppling over backward.

Tina stood, leaning against the statue of his father that he’d hated ever since he was a child. One wing hung limp behind her, dark blood dripping on the floor, and a dark stain spread across the shoulder of her white top.

He stepped forward, intent on taking her to Bavric, but a look of horror on her face, the surge of her fear inside him, and her yell in his mind made him spin around.

Sorvar, look out!

Two Crasgich males were closing in on them. Both young by their size, both inexperienced and easy to kill.

Pavri, hide behind the statue,
he ordered.

The closer the males came, the more obvious it became exactly how young they were. They did not yet have the viscous secretion between their widely spaced scales, and their eyes didn’t bulge. They weren’t even adults yet.

Sorvar growled. These pups thought they could take him, thought they were strong enough to bring down one of Nardoc’s sons. A flash of vicious amusement flowed through him. Their father had been lax in their education, but he was happy to teach them all they would ever need to know about the Morgath.

A low chuckle rumbled up from his chest as he stepped forward to engage the youngsters. They looked at each other before turning back to him, their gazes wary.

“Your father has sent you to slaughter, pups. Do not think I will go easy on you because you are still children,” Sorvar said. He would give them this one chance to run. If they refused his offer, he would kill them.

Their wings fluttered behind them as they hesitated. “We are not children,” the one on the left insisted.

Sorvar laughed. Now was not the time for amusement, but he couldn’t help it. “Pup, you haven’t even been through your first moult yet. How old are you? Thirty? Thirty-five?”

“Old enough to know you have stolen the female who could provide us with sisters. Father has tasked us with retrieving his new mate. We will not fail,” the chatty youngster replied.

A surge of Tina’s fear shot through him, making him growl. They would not get their hands on his mate, and if the Crasgich chose to lie to his sons that was his problem. Nobody knew yet if Tina was capable of producing female young. Sorvar didn’t care that they were ignorant and didn’t have time to set them straight. And like most of the Crasgich’s offspring, they wouldn’t listen anyway. At least not to a Morgath.

They were raised to hate him and his people. They were raised to believe the Morgath had stolen their planet, stolen their females and stolen their ability to breed, when in fact none of that was true. Their father and leader was a lying deceitful monster who brainwashed his young to believe everything he told them.

Sorvar slashed out with his claws, catching the two youngsters off guard. One fell to the floor with his neck gaping open and his stinking blood pouring out onto the floor. The other put up a valiant effort to defend himself, but he was no match for Sorvar’s greater height, strength and speed.

His screams drowned out the sounds of males fighting and filled the throne room, bringing an answering roar from outside that shook the walls and sent shards of glass raining down from the broken windows.

Sorvar answered the roar with one of his own, causing every male in the throne room to stop and turn to look at him.

A deep growl slashed through the room. “Sorvar, he’s mine.”

Sorvar turned, a growl rolling through his chest to see his father standing in front of the throne, his wings spread and lifted in preparation for flight. Another roar from outside propelled his father up into the air, then he was gone out the windows. Damn it, his father was injured.

“I want my female! The male who brings her to me will be honoured above all others!”

Tina’s fear rose sharply inside him, and Sorvar roared at the bellowed words of the Crasgich that boomed through the windows. Every one of the bastard’s sons in the throne room and outside roared in response to their father’s words.

Sorvar backed up, inching closer to Tina so he could protect her. What he really wanted to do was scoop her up and get her out of there, but he knew he couldn’t fly carrying her and fight off the males who would attack him at the same time. His only option was to keep her tucked in the corner and be her shield.

“
Pavri,
get behind the statue. I will protect you until help can come
,”
Sorvar commanded.

Silence was his response. He twisted around, searching for Tina, but only found her blood pooled on the floor. His chest tightened, a painful squeeze before his heart started hammering. Hurried steps took him behind the statue to find the door ajar and a trail of blood leading out. Gods, no. Why had she left? She wouldn’t be safe walking around the palace on her own.

Pavri, where are you?

The surge of her amusement didn’t quite cover the fear she was feeling.

I thought I’d just go for a little stroll, handsome. It was getting a little crowded in the throne room.

Sorvar growled and ground his teeth. Now was not the time for her to throw attitude at him. He stalked for the door and squeezed his considerable bulk through a doorway that was not designed for nine foot of male.

Pavri, now is not the time for jokes. The Crasgich has sent every one of his sons after you. I need to know where you are.

He didn’t wait for her response. He started to follow the trail of blood drips that led down the corridor to the front of the palace.

I’m sorry, Sorvar.
A surge of her fear almost made him stagger.
I believe I’m on my way to the front of the palace, but I have a feeling we are lost... oh, I know where we are. We’re just about to exit into the training courtyard.

Sorvar cursed. How did she get all the way over there? And why had none of the palace guards taken her to Medical? They should be all over the palace.

Tina, who is
we
? Who are you with?

We
would be me and... the male who has a weapon pointed at my head.

Sorvar spun with a roar and raced for the front of the palace. The grand entrance to the palace would get him outside far quicker than going back through the throne room or following Tina’s blood trail.

He beat his wings the minute he barged his way through the damaged and splintered doors, taking to the air with a thrust of his legs and downward beat of his wings.

I’m coming, pavri. I will not let this male take you.

Harsh beats of his wings sent him soaring into the sky and around the palace.

You might want to hurry, Sorvar. We have company.

The fear in Tina’s voice and the tight clench of his stomach told him it wasn’t Morgath males who had joined her in the training courtyard. He beat his wings harder, urging even more speed from the massive span of his wings.

Sorvar passed over his family’s wing of the palace, banked left to avoid the guard tower, and swooped down towards the barracks and the training courtyard.

A high shrill female scream cut through the air as emotion flashed through Sorvar so strong it sent him plummeting through the air. He cursed as he righted himself and kept flying. That wasn’t simple fear he’d felt from Tina. No, that was far stronger.

Sorvar’s heart felt as if it was about to burst out of his chest. Never, not once in his eighty odd years of life, had he felt fear like this. His
and
Tina’s. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Now that he knew she loved him. Not now that she’d finally admitted it to herself, and him, and every male who had been standing in the throne room.

A gust of wind pushed Sorvar up and away from where he wanted to be. With a grunt, he angled himself and pulled his wings in to plummet towards where he need to go, but something hit him in the side, sending him spinning through the air.

Claws raked down his scales and tore at his wings, sending burning pain through him. Sorvar roared, not in pain, but in fury.

He clawed at his attacker as they plummeted through the air, their growls and snarls caught by the wind, whipped away by the strong breeze.

“Sorvar!”

Tina’s scream froze his heart, but it was the rumble of an engine that sent a jolt of panic through him. No. If they got her on a shuttle, it would take hours for him to be able to follow. He would not let them have her for any amount of time. He would not put her through the horror of it.

He gripped the head of the male clinging to him, digging his claws in to get a good grip as they continued to drop, the male’s weak wing beats the only thing stopping them from smashing to the ground.