Page 2 of The Ozar Triad

The one on the right had black hair that flickered with electric-blue highlights. Fine strands were brushed off his face, the ends grazing his shoulders. He wasn’t quite as broad as the others, but his arms were a work of chiseled art, decorated in swirls of deep lavender and black ink. He wore a sleeveless flak jacket, in which silver projectile-type objects were packed into the folds. Two pistols hung at his hips in a low-slung holster.

Each of the men had horns that twisted from their temples, sleek and matte black. One set curled upwards, another swept backwards and into glossy black hair, and the other followed the curve of his skull to disappear behind his head.

The men stilled in the open doorway of their craft. Their heads swiveled in unison to pin her. Pierce her. Impale her.

Her heart pounded and she flushed hot from her head to her toes. Everything around her dimmed, fading to black, except for the complete and utter focus on these three beings. Her skin pickled with awareness and her core throbbed with a heavy pulse. What the hell was wrong with her?

Move!Run! Get away!Survival drummed into her over many years kicked in. She forced her gaze from the strange men and the monsters, looking for somewhere to hide. She took a stumbling step forwards and fire lanced through her shoulder.

Claws sank into her flesh to the bone. She was dragged back against a scaly chest, her throat gripped by another clawed hand. Her lungs seized in agony, her airways constricting. She clutched its wrist, struggling to keep it from tearing her neck clean off.

She was distantly aware of a thundering roar and through blurred vision, she saw the mountain-men race down the ladder from their craft and bolt towards her, looks of absolute fury on their faces. They clutched bladed weapons that could only be described as brutal.

More reptilian monsters raced towards them across the highway between aircraft, meeting the trio in a headlong rush. The first man slashed into one of the reptilian monsters without breaking stride.

She gasped sweet air as the monster pinning her released her neck to tug a weapon from its belt. She sagged, but was held upright by the claws still embedded in her shoulder. A light flashed, and a crimson streak appeared on the arm of the tallest man. He didn’t even flinch, simply stepped forward and decapitated another monster with an almost languid sweep of his hand that held the lethal sword in his grip. The head tumbled across the ground in a gush of bright green blood. The body dropped a moment later.

If they could be so brutal to these monsters, then there was a high probability she would be next. Nobody pinned a person with stares like that if they didn’t have something on their mind, and by the size and aggression of them, she didn’t stand a chance. Inherently she sensed if she didn’t get away now, she never would once they reached her, and she was no man’s toy.

A glimmer of metal caught the corner of her eye. She glanced down at the knife lodged in the belt of the monster that had clawed her arm. Her training kicked in. In one smooth motion, she yanked the knife free and sliced through the wrist holding her. The claws ripped through muscle and skin as the creature staggered back. She stumbled as a fresh wave of agony seared through her. The monster held up a severed stump, green blood pouring from the wound.

She ripped the severed hand free from her shoulder. Pinning her arm to her chest in a futile attempt at minimizing the white-hot agony of her torn arm and shoulder, she used the confusion of the battle and pushed through creatures that had stopped to watch, disappearing between the crushing bodies of the crowd. She didn’t know where she was going to go, or what she was going to do, but she needed to get away from here.

All she had to do was work out what sort of nightmare she’d found herself in and try and get the hell back home. Even if it was the last thing she ever did.

Chapter Two

Rujali

It couldn’t be.

Rujali could hardly comprehend they’d found their mate, but he knew it as a certainty as soon as he stepped out of their jet and into this godsforsaken place, loosely termed a space port inIsildur.It was a haven for the worst kinds of species, but the one their long search had brought them to.

The Ozar Crystal was here without a doubt. After a year-long pursuit without setting foot on their Homeland, they were close enough to retrieve it. Hope was finally in reach. A blast of ethereal energy had alerted the central intelligence tracker on board the cramped jet they’d called home for too long and they’d flown to this hellshole of a place to follow the signal.

The loss of the Ozar Crystal had been felt by every member of his Homeland. Without the crystal, no mate-bonds could form. Without mate-bonds, there were no Quads, and without Quads there were no children. That, coupled with the infighting between the Homelands of the Arabis and Erion, the Ozar Homeland’s future was at stake.

They’d kept the loss of their crystal a secret. The Ozar wasn’t unique. Each Homeland was powered physically and spiritually by their respective crystals. Without the crystal, the Ozar Homeland was weakened. If the Arabis or the Erion Homelands found out, with the power of their crystals behind them, the Ozar Homeland was seriously threatened. The three Homelands had been infighting and bickering on and off for centuries and no love was lost.

Truly, Rujali was sick and tired of it. It was unrelenting and unproductive, but no matter how anyone had tried to rectify the situation over the decades, their differences had just been too difficult to overcome. So, for the protection of his Homeland and for the future of his people, it was imperative that they find and bring back their crystal.

They could not return home empty-handed. He’d thought he’d be able to locate the crystal, and the species who had stolen it, the moment they landed. Instead, he’d found something even more precious. Something he’d never dared hoped to find out of their Homeland, let alone in a place like this.

“Is it…?” Klaej asked with a gasp.

Setzan nodded. “Mate.”

Rujali’s gaze fell to the small female standing at the base of the jet staring up at them, as though she had been inexplicably drawn to them, just as they were drawn to her, held together on that transcendental moment of mate recognition. He couldn’t identify her species, but he had never laid eyes on one so perfect before.

She was tiny, yet her small body revealed gentle curves he knew would be soft under his hand, different to their own hardness. Her skin was pale, lacking the deep colors of their own kind, yet alluring. Her mop of mid-brown hair flopped over her startled eyes, the color of his favorite dessert. Her hair was shaved on one side of her head, while a long lick of a fringe fell to her chin on the other side.

From this moment forward,shewould be his favorite dessert. One he would eat any time of the day if she would allow it. He could imagine folding her over his bed and entering her most secret of places over and over again. His cock twitched with the thought, something that had not happened in the ten years since the Crystal of Ozar was stolen. That part of him had remained as dead as his Homeland.

Without the crystal, there were no mating Quads in his Homeland. With no mating Quads, there were no children. His race was dying. Without the crystal, there was no hope.

Now, not only had they tracked the crystal here, but they’d also found their mate.

He could hardly believe it was true, but she was here, right in front of his eyes.Their mate. The female that would save not only their Homeland, their Triad, but their entire race. She was precious beyond belief.

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