Page 81 of Venomous Lust
Hazel’s gaze went around the battlefield. The Ilarian army was all but defeated, with only pockets of resistance remaining, fighting in an orderly manner despite the overwhelming odds. Knowing their biological end was near, but not fearing it.
Muharee warriors stood everywhere, their bodies fused with the Medina, directing the white roots’ attack. A hundred, a thousand roots obeyed the commands of a single Muharee, turning the very ground of Muhar into a deadly weapon.
As Hazel’s gaze went back to Khal, his eyes widened and his hand extended, but it was too late.
Cold fingers closed around her throat and she was yanked back, her balance precarious.
“Stay where you are, Commander Khal, or your bloodmate will become plant-food.”
Knut was holding her close to his body, an ionic gun against her temple.
Chapter 25
Khal
Knut’s hands closed around Hazel’s throat and Khal’s entire body froze. He hadn’t seen or heard the Avonie sneak up under the cover of battle.
Rage filled his veins, running through his body like the digestive mucus of the Medina, clouding his judgment.
“Unhand Hazel!” Khal shouted, his talons fully extended into long, deadly weapons at his sides. “Your army is no more, your wealth is gone. You’ve lost.”
“Have I?” Knut retorted, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of Hazel’s neck, pulling her to him like a shield. “I still have the bomb, Commander Khal. I might have lost the battle today, but I haven’t lost the war.”
Khal took a step forward but stopped as Hazel whimpered, the barrel of the ionic gun pressing into her skin with bruising strength.
“Just like an Eok. So much power, so much raw strength, yet you would give up your victory for a female.” There was more than just derision in Knut’s voice. It was almost as if the monster within him was fascinated by the concept of love, but unable to understand it. “Your kind could rule the Ring, but you’re too afraid of your own power. I am not. I’m going to take power, and I’m going to wield it to mold the entire Ring to my image.”
“My kind is not afraid of power.” Khal circled Knut, putting his body between Knut and the Mother—Roohl’s old ship and undoubtedly the place where Knut had put the negative particle bomb. “We are ready to die for each other, to sacrifice for those we love. That is something you will never understand, and that is why you lost.”
Knut’s thin mouth pursed into an ugly sneer, but he didn’t respond. That was a first for the Avonie male. Khal moved again, gaining on Knut, who took a step back. Khal had seen the flicker of doubt in those purple eyes, that first glint of fear.
Behind Knut the white roots stood silently at attention, poised like waiting snakes, ready to strike. But Khal couldn’t let them do that, not with Hazel’s life hanging in the balance of a finger on an ionic gun’s trigger.
“All your planning, all your thinking… but there was still one thing you didn’t count on. One thing you never saw coming,” Khal went on.
Khal glanced to the side, to where Yalko stood, his flesh embedded in the Medina, his yellow eyes gleaming with a hatred born of bottomless grief. And all around Yalko were dozens, hundreds of white roots, dripping their acid mucus, ready to strike down the one responsible for so much pain on his planet. Dozens more Muharee warriors stood behind Yalko, flanked by white roots, waiting for their revenge, blocking Knut’s path to the Mother. The few Ilarians left were still fighting, but it was a done battle. A done battle that had wiped out all of Knut’s forces.
All because the Muharee had made the ultimate sacrifice for what and whom they loved.
Knut opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes followed Khal’s. His pupils shrank to fine lines and abject fear painted his features as he understood.
He was dead already.
“No!” Knut’s voice rose, shrill and full of panic. “Stand back, you savages!” He lifted his ionic gun from Hazel’s temple and pointed it at Yalko. He fired, the ionic detonation filling the already noxious air with the stench of iodine.
He missed Yalko, but a Muharee warrior behind Yalko fell. It didn’t matter—none of them stopped moving.
“Hazel! ” Khal shouted her name as he dived for Knut. The few seconds of inattention from Knut were all he needed. Like she understood this was their only opportunity, Hazel moved. She was small and light, but she fought Knut’s hold with all her strength. She brought her elbow up to Knut’s side, embedding it deep in the vulnerable flesh of his waist.
The Avonie cried out in pain, loosening his hold on her throat. Death gleamed bright in the purple of Knut’s eyes as he understood what had happened. As Hazel slithered out of his grasp, he brought the ionic gun back toward her.
But it was too late. Khal was already on her.
Another detonation saturated the air. Hazel screamed, the sound broken and full of anguish as Khal’s arms closed around her. Then his shoulder hit the stones and he rolled over her, protecting her precious, fragile body with his own. Her tiny hands were clenched around his neck, holding on to him like he was a lifeline.
Khal looked up to see Knut still standing, still holding the ionic gun.
Gone was the monster, the master manipulator who had ruined thousands upon thousands of lives.
