Page 62 of Gravel and Grit

He shook his head in immediate denial and mouthed his response.

Never, my heart.

Just before it finished its turn, he glimpsed the man yank Mira back. He aimed a gun at her chest, smiled, and fired.

A moment of shocked stillness then… rage.

A bellow clawed its way up his throat, scouring it raw. Fury to suffocate the fear fell over him. Wrath to mask the anguish swallowed him. He embraced it, let it consume him.

He would kill them for that. Nothing else mattered.

A sound like static filled his ears until it was all he could hear. With it came a feral kind of calm. The need to feel their lives leave them, to tear them apart was like knives in his chest.

The next minute was broken images, like snapshots appearing before him.

His body acted without him. His mind was blank. The only thing left was cold, murderous fury.

The helicopter spun to face him and opened fire. Tucking his wings close, he darted below them then rose quickly and gripped the landing skids.

They would die, choking on blood and fear.

Zaek bared his teeth and turned to stone. Alarms immediately blared inside the cockpit. Men's voices screamed orders as they were thrown off balance.

He could smell her, her pain.

They tried to correct their flight, but he was too heavy. They spiraled toward the ground, bucking and spinning out of control.

Using his claws to rend the metal, he ripped off the door with a roar and climbed inside.

Horror and agony were the last things these men would ever feel.

The closest soldier tried to raise his rifle. Zaek jerked it out of his hand and slammed the butt against his face with such force the rifle snapped in two, and the man’s face caved in. He was dead before he slumped to the floor.

The next two struggled to their feet amidst the spinning of the helicopter and tried to rush him. Snarling, he kicked one in the chest, revelling in the sound of bones crunching under the blaring of the alarms and the tang of blood that perfumed the air. The second tried to stab him. He felt the impact, as the blade broke on his stone skin, but nothing more. Turning slowly, he looked down at the man.

This was the one who’d hurt his Mira, the one who’d shot his mate.

Zaek roared in the man’s terrified face and snagged his arms in a brutal

grip. Stretching them out wide, ignoring the soldier’s feeble struggles, Zaek pulled. Bones popped out of place, muscles tore, and flesh gave way under the pressure. Blood sprayed everywhere. The man screamed in agony. Zaek didn’t stop there. Spittle flew from his mouth as he bellowed again and beat the man to death with his own dismembered arms. When he was barely recognizable as Earthian, Zaek turned on the last two soldiers and the two pilots. They all went down with gurgling cries of terror, their blood mixing in with the rest already soaking the interior.

With the helicopter corkscrewing to the ground, he tore them apart with such savagery their blood painted his stone form red and coated the walls.

Dismissing the gore and death with cold satisfaction, Zaek turned to his mate. He tenderly, carefully lifted Mira’s still form off the floor and cradled her to his chest.

He flew out seconds before the helicopter crashed to the ground with a scream of crumpling metal and an explosion of fire and shrapnel.

Almost lost under the noise of the deafening blast, Zaek just barely heard her heartbeat, the soft thud of it faint and uneven, but it was there.

She lives.We have not lost her, not yet.

Zaek pushed himself, flying faster than ever before. His wings ached and his heart was thundering with the strain, but he did not slow.

They were close, so close.

Mira had begun shivering in his arms from the cold. He held her closer, but rejoiced because her shaking meant she lived. He wouldnotlose her. He would make it to the retrieval location, activate his sigil, and get her aboard the ship. They would have a fully equipped Med-Bay. They would save her.

Zaek could feel her blood seeping out of her, sluggishly but steadily.

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