Page 65 of The Blind Hordesman

He doesn’t answer.

He leaps at me, and this time, I don’t roll away. I’ve waited for this moment since I first heard of the imposter back in Mexico when I hunted for his son. His body hits mine, and an electric current zaps me, reminding me of the dome Dreikx erected. Under him, I lie there trembling as he pounds my head with his fists that are somehow charged with the electric field, which makes my muscles cramp. Venom shoots out of my teeth and travels down my throat. I shout a battle cry and swing, throwing him off.

He grunts, so he’s hit something. Likely a tree.

I leap after him, connect my fist with his face.

Electricity zaps my fist.

I hit him again and again, and everywhere I fucking touch, I’m getting electrocuted.

My armor’s cracking, plates falling off from this shit he’s using.

It’s some kind of fucking tech, and in Silence, he shouldn’t have it. Damn it. I remember Dreikx flying in his pod during Silence. This asshole devised fucking tech armor. But how? There’s gotta be a chip on him somewhere. I need to find it. This isn’t natural, so he must be carrying something on his person that gives him this shit.

He grabs my shoulders and head-butts me.

My already damaged head armor cracks and presses on my brain.

He head-butts me again.

I tremble from the electric shocks he’s forcing on my body, and smile, blood and venom seeping through my teeth. “Again,” I say and return the favor. I pull my head back and slam it against his forehead, then stay connected to him as he pulls me in closer to the electric force that courses over the top of his armor. It sizzles as it burns through mine and makes us both shake.

I slide up the tree trunk, taking him with me, and find the current has attached us to each other like lovers. I pull back to head-butt him again. He leans to the left and bites my cheek. His venom shoots into my body, takes over my muscle control, and I drop to one knee before him.

Stepping back, he releases me. “There kneels the son of Loven. I regret not having an audience for this. The strongest Alpha kneels only for the king.”

His venom races through my body. I feel it traveling down my neck, shoulders, arms, and as the imposter circles me, he kicks my other leg. Both my knees hit the ground, and I spread my arms out, looking above where the noon sun hovers above the forest.

He stands behind me, grabs my face, and I know he’ll twist and end me.

“Death can’t die,” I say. The red armor blades shoot out of my wrists, and with a shout, I spin and jab them into his gut. One slides off his bloodied armor, but the other blade slips between the plates on his belly and enters his gut. I jab the other one into the same place and tremble as his armor keeps sending electric shocks through me. I bring him closer, feeling his breaths on my face.

He places his hands on my shoulders again, shocking me there too.

I jerk my arms, and the blades rip him from navel to throat.

The imposter moves his arms up to my neck, squeezes tightly, and I spread my arms, splitting him in half.

Chapter 25

Kiki

We made it only a few miles out when the Silence shook the general’s pod. By then, the ventilator he attached to my mouth cleared the poison out of my lungs, and Dreikx, Arkin, and I exited the pod to watch from a distance as Regha males fought for their lives. Grandma told me stories of Horde, of their bravery and cunning, and I cried as the sea filled with their blood as thousands of hatchlings ripped the Horde apart.

But then the Warlords that invaded my ranch rushed to help the Horde, and I cheered them on, hoping it would be enough. Oh, how times have changed. I never thought I’d cheer on the very males who destroyed my former life and forced me out of my home.

When the battle died down, many bodies floated on the sea, and I walked down the beach and into the water, moving between them, bumping into severed limbs, headless torsos, searching for Seer. His dad joined me, and his uncles and his brother. Even the Telean general soaked his suit. We searched for what felt like hours with the surviving Warlords and Horde regrouping and resting on the land.

When we couldn’t find Seer in the water, the group of us walked along the beach. According to Seer’s dad, who swore by his instinct, his son was alive and in pursuit of the imposter. The search lasted an entire day, during which I tired and fell many times, but couldn’t give up and wouldn’t let them take me elsewhere. I threatened to imprison them if I become queen.

Loven marches ahead of everyone, with Vemlox and Kinre hopping from tree to tree, a skill, apparently, exclusive to the Horde. Dreikx walks behind everyone, and Arkin, of course, walks with me. He’s so paranoid someone will come out of the woods and steal me that he’s tied our wrists together. The whole family is fond of rope.

“I have a brain,” Dreikx says.

I glance at Arkin.

“Ignore him until he clarifies.”

---