Page 62 of Fractured Souls

Pissed off for not defeating him, yet proud of his man for fighting so well.

“Was gonna happen sooner or later,” Nythian wheezed, and it took great effort to push the words out. “Y-you can’t keep on winning forever. Not the way you trained us. I’ll get you next time, bastard.”

His chest was on fire. The pain was both terrible and liberating. He felt better than he had in a long, long time.

You’re fucking nuts.

Imagine if Alexis could see him now. She was tough enough; she’d probably understand it somehow.

He began to laugh… well, it was more of a wheeze than a laugh, like the strangled mating cry of a fucking szkazajik beast. Once he started, he couldn’t stop, even though every little shake of his chest sent a fresh wave of pain through his body.

At least the violence was out of his system now.

His bloodlust might be temporarily sated, but his arousal was still there, simmering just beneath the surface. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the distinctive acrid smell of Kordolian blood as he imagined her scent.

How he longed to touch her, feel her, taste her.

“It won’t go away until you claim her,” Tarak said, his voice little more than a whisper. “This isn’t something we can control or reverse, not even with Zharek’s drugs. What is holding you back, Nythian?”

“Ah…” His bloodied fingers twitched as he imagined her silken brown skin beneath his fingertips, imagined the sinuous curves of her body pressing against him, her graceful hands stroking his skin, his cock…

His erection was coming back.

They’d fought naked as they usually did, because unlike humans, Kordolian males didn’t care much for modesty. But now Nythian drew on the last of his strength and brought back the lower half of his exo-armor, because, well… shit.

“You fear you might hurt her.”

“She was so unstable when she first got out of stasis,” he admitted. “What was I supposed to do? She’s still scared of Kordolians… some of them. I’m going to find out who did this to her. Then I’m going to tear their black fucking hearts out. Permission to do so, Sir?”

“Your plan sounds reasonable,” Tarak said mildly. “But first, you have other significant matters to deal with.”

“Yeah.” He turned his head and looked at Tarak. The General’s left eye was a gelatinous grey mess from where Nythian’s claw had stuck it. The grey mush slowly disappeared as white sclera and crimson iris knitted together.

Tarak regarded him with a patient stare. “Humans aren’t as fragile as you think. She will surprise you time and time again.”

“She already has,” he growled. “But I’m not gonna undo all this progress and scare her off because I can’t control my urges. You made me responsible for her training. I have a plan, and I’m sticking to it.”

“You, who has known only how to be brutal and ruthless.” The General chuckled. “Now you have this human who makes you react in ways you do not understand.”

Nythian narrowed his eyes. “And you just thought to put me in charge of her, huh?” He did not like to be dissected in this manner, not even by his own commander.

His brothers sometimes joked that he was the stubbornest of them all; the worst at taking orders.

“I only speak from experience, brother. Go to her, Nythian. I saw the way she looked at you. The situation now is very different from before.” Tarak’s tone became cryptic, and the suspicious feeling Nythian had been getting for some time grew.

“You gave me this assignment for a reason, didn’t you?”

“I make decisions based on necessity and probabilities.”

“You think I needed this?”

“You are displeased with the outcome?”

“Nah. I just never thought any kind of human would be a good fit for me.” But then there was Alexis, and she wasn’t afraid of him.

“Think of those who have gone before you. Kalan, Kail, Rykal, Torin, Enki, me. You think any of us ever believed we would find a suitable female?” Tarak slowly sat up, propping himself on his elbows. The skin on his back was torn to shreds, but the vicious cuts quickly disappeared as his nanites swarmed over them. “There is a chasm inside you. It exists in all of us. It’s up to you to decide how you want to fill it. There is more to this existence than being an instrument of violence, Nythian.”

“I know.” As always, the General had thought about these things long and hard even before Nythian realized what was at stake. They were free of the Empire now. There had to be more to this life than simply killing and enforcing Kordolian supremacy. “But from now on, this goes according to my rules. You and Abbey get yer blissfully mated noses out of my fucking business.” Once again, his speech lapsed into guttural street-Kordolian.

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