Page 48 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
My eyelids slid closed as a bolt of energy raced through me.
Fuck. This is it. I’m dying.
But strangely, instead of the cyborg’s shot killing or hurting me, my muscles went slack. I couldn’t move. My eyes wouldn’t open, and my limbs were rag-doll limp. This was some sort of paralysis device.
I fought down my panic.Breathe, Ella.I needed to have all my wits about me to survive this shit. But it was disorienting and frightening not being able to see what was going on around me.
Teken shouted. Then there were the sounds of weapons being fired. The mercenary yelled something in his harsh voice, and suddenly, all firing ceased.
What the hell is going on?
Fear twisted my stomach when I felt myself being carried. My eyelids twitched. Then I was able to open them. I sighed with relief that it was Teken lugging me over to a tree. Once we arrived, he set me down with my back against the rough surface. Lifting my hand, he took my pulse and, seeming satisfied with what he felt, his other hand smoothed back my hair. He nodded with a grim face before letting go and getting to his feet. He shouted something to the slave catchers in an abrasive tone.
It sounded like a challenge.
Yes! Give ‘em hell, Teken.
28
Teken
When the stunnerbeam hit Ella and she went limp, I felt it right in my chest through our faint mate connection.
I was terrified that the cyborg had miscalculated and killed her.
Then I saw her breathing steadily, and I relaxed a little.
For hours as we fled, I had defied my physical instincts and focused on our forming mate connection. It was like an invisible string that tethered us together; it wasn’t strong, but it was there. Now we were caught, and another instinct had risen within me to shift into my beast. But I’d exerted too much energy already, and the time it took to shift would leave her unprotected and at the mercy of the catchers.
The cyborg was smart and waited for me to get distracted, to make a mistake. He wanted to steal Ella and make a mad dash back to the Omers. But I was smarter than all of them. I was an alpha. A Wulfaen. And the cyborg was not taking my mate from me.
“Anyone who comes near her will die,” I threatened in a cold, firm voice. “You will never take her back with you.”
Belland snorted as he touched down. His wounded arms were crawling with medical nanites. I wondered if they were embedded in his cyber systems or if he just kept vials of them handy.
He kept his stunner aimed at me even as he held up his other set of arms placatingly. “Let’s be reasonable…” His eyes narrowed. “Gladiator,” he spat.
I stiffened. He figured out my race. Now I would have to kill every male here, along with any reinforcements that showed up. Everyone. It could not get back to the slavers that the Gladiators were involved in any capacity; this would cause war between the Omers and us. My actions were mine alone, and I could not drag the entire Gladiator race into a war that was not of their choosing. I had to clean up this mess with the Omers and catchers on my own… and hopefully with the assistance of my pack—if Brax got to them at all with my message.
“Yes.” Belland continued. “I know you’re a Wulfaen. You gave it away by heading toward the one sector that is inhospitable to anyone but your own kind. You could have headed to the outposts, but you did not. Besides, your evasion skills are too good for a common bandit.” He paused with a smirk. “Look. I want no trouble with you, Wulfaen. Just walk away. Leave us the earthling, and we’ll forget this incident ever happened.”
“No,” I barked.
The cyborg frowned. “You’ve stolen the property of my employers without paying and without her being safely conditioned. Humans are unpredictable and dangerous. She could easily turn on you.”
I barked, “My female will not, and she does not need conditioning.” I eyed him cautiously. “She is my mate. She belongs with me, and you will not harm her.” I kept glancing back and around to make sure none of his handful of remaining men tried to flank me or slip close to where Ella lay helpless.
“She is not yours,” the cyborg snapped.
I stared at him silently. I had no intention of arguing about what I knew was fact—Ella was my one true mate.
“And I have no intentions of harming her,” Belland replied. His flat-faced mask with its staring eyes only made his tone all the more creepy and dissonant. “That’s bad for business, after all. The damaged ones sell for less. But I’m afraid I’ll have to differ with you on one point. She belongs to the Omers.”
One of the catchers rushed me, and I shot him in the chest. He gagged and fell over. I ignored the heat of my rifle’s power pack blistering my hands and swept my aim around at the rest of them. Two more stopped short and backed off.
“You can’t kill us all,” Belland chuckled. “But you can walk out of this alive—if you hand over the female. My boss would not want trouble with your pack. From what I’ve heard, the Omers want to do business with the Gladiators. You buy their earthling females, and all will be forgiven. Now… hand her over.”
“I will not,” I growled. “She is my mate—”
