Page 3 of The Ozar Triad

If he’d known he might have found her here, of all places, he would have happily lived in this hellshole for the entire year of the search both he and his brothers had embarked on, simply to wait for her and save himself the endless traveling, the endless arriving at intergalactic pit-holes only to find that they were too late, that the energy the tracker had detected from the crystal was only residual. Why it had been stolen, he had no idea, but between the three of them, they were going to find out, and return it to its rightful place in the Ozar Tower back in their Homeland.

“She’s beautiful beyond words,” Klaej said, his voice soft.

“Breathtaking,” Setzan said.

Rujali nodded. “She is ours, brothers.”

“What could she possibly be doing in a place like this?” Klaej asked.

“That is the question. Let us go down and introduce ourselves to our mate, and then we will take her out of this place and put her somewhere much more suitable,” Rujali said.

Tossing his long braids behind his shoulders, he stepped towards his future.

The female seemed to snap out of her trance and staggered away from the group of scaled creatures close behind her. One of them hissed and lashed out at her, sinking his talons into the soft flesh of her shoulder. She screamed as crimson blood poured from between its imbedded claws. Their mate was wounded! Blinding hot rage raced through him, her agony his. A roar erupted from him. He ripped his sword from the sheath at his back, jumping the distance to the ground, and pounded towards his mate. The ground shook as his brothers followed him. He wasted no time and slashed the head from the shoulders of the first scaled creature.

There was a hot flash, and a laser seared his arm, but he didn’t even feel it. Keeping the momentum of the swing, he changed the arc and slashed downwards and severed the creature’s head. Klaej roared behind him, and Rujali spun to face him as several of the scaled-ones bore down on them.

Where the hells had they come from?

Heated laser fire danced around them. Rujali slashed at the closest creature, slicing a green strip of welling blood down its front. Setzan grunted as he impaled another with his short-blade. He sliced upwards, gutting it before it had a chance to topple dead to the ground.

He’d not seen these creatures before in any of his long travels, and he’d been over great distances in the universe. They seemed almost out of place. Just as out of place as their female.

He glanced around to see where she was, his heart lurching when there was no trace of her. “Brothers. She is gone!”

Setzan glanced around with a scowl before roaring his warrior cry and lashing into the fold of scaled-ones that descended on them. Klaej severed the head of one, while Rujali plunged his long sword into the soft underbelly of another.

At a loud clack-hissing sound from one of the creatures, the rest scattered like the cowards they were.

Setzan started to pursue one, but Rujali barked at him, “Leave them. Our mate is more important.”

Setzan gripped his sword tight in his fist. It went against every fiber of their being not to end a fight, yet he managed to turn away, the heat of battle on his face, his features tight and grim.

He lifted his head, scenting the air. “She is bleeding.”

A growl thundered in Rujali’s chest. “And they will pay, brother—we will make sure of it—but she is our priority.”

“This way.” Klaej pushed through the crowd of onlookers.

Setzan snarled at them, and they scurried away like bugs.

While Rujali and his brothers were bigger than most, nothing stood between a Negari and their mate. And they were royalty. The mate-sync was the strongest of them all. Finding her was imperative. If they had to stomp over every species in this space port, they would. It was wise that every being stayed out of their way.

Klaej squatted and swiped his finger on the ground. Rujali saw the Klaej’s fingertip was coated with crimson. Klaej tasted her blood. Rujali knew Klaej’s body would merge with her essence. It would be easier to scent her that way. His brother was known for his tracking skills.

“She is hurt. I can taste her pain. And her fear.” Tension radiated from every pore in his body.

The same tension now rippled through Rujali and Setzan. Triplets were connected that way. What one felt, so did the others, especially with extreme emotions like this. Urgency to find her writhed through Rujali’s veins like a living thing. It was untenable to think that she was hurt and scared in any way.

Rujali pressed his hand to Klaej’s shoulder. “Then lead the way and we will find her.”

Klaej gave a sharp nod. Now was not the time to delay with wasted emotions like fear for the safety of their mate. She was in need, and they would put aside their weaker emotions.

Their mate wouldn’t be lost for long. They would soon have her where she belonged: in their arms and in their bed. Safe. Protected. Cherished.

She didn’t know how important she was to them.

But she would understand soon enough, and she would comply like mates should. It was their duty to protect her, just as it was her duty to submit.

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