Mate Her (Warriors of Hades 2)

Maybe sex was far from what they should have done at a time like this, but it was all any of them had... each other. At least that was how she’d felt. Clearly, the others couldn’t give two damns about her.

But then Minka felt the sting of something land in her neck. She reached up, felt the hard, thorn-like quill of the Razzora, and knew she was done.

The creature used it to numb and paralyze its prey, and in a matter of minutes she’d be lying on the floor, aware of what was happening, but unable to do anything but wait for the inevitable.

2

Brawn moved through the thick trees, trying to gather prey for his and his brothers’ meal for tonight. Thorque and Lukin were back at the ship, steadfastly trying to repair it. After one of the engines took a beating during hyper-speed, they were forced to detour to this godforsaken shit of a planet until the part could be fixed.

But they were making good progress and should be on their way to their home planet of Hades before the next nightfall. The toxic Bolla trees opened up, and the clearing showed a field of Daggina flowers with their thorn-like petals that shot out as a defense mechanism for anything that threatened them.

Brawn unfurled his wings, let them stretch out the fourteen-foot span, and felt the power move through him. In one giant flap of his wings, he rose above the tree line and scanned the surroundings. The planet was lush with foliage, but it was a carnivorous world, one that took from anything that set foot on it. He scanned his surroundings, trying to find something more edible than the shit plants they had found.

He needed meat, but as far as he could scent, the animals he had come across were inedible, not unless he and his brothers wanted a lot of pain while eating and digesting their food.

He flapped his wings, let the wind run over his skin, and needed to get home where the heat would protect him as well as help regulate his body temperature. His kind was made for the hot, fiery temperatures of Hades, for the flames and lava, and the black Azteccena Mountains that covered his world. They could survive in this cooler climate for a short time, but not for long, and with each passing day they stayed away from their planet, or the very least out of their temperature-controlled ship, they grew weaker.

A warrior of Hades was never weak, never let something as simple as the fucking temperature let them off their guard. But some things were left out of their hands, so they tried to keep themselves out of situations where they were vulnerable, even to a weaker species.

They killed, maimed, and fought for what was theirs. Their kind was feared amongst the galaxy for their ruthlessness and their cunning ability to fight until the end. But the battles they fought had been when others tried to take control of Hades.

Of course they had ventured from their planet for battles when it was needed, and although they fought to their last breath, Hades warriors always killed immediately, so their weakness for temperature didn’t make them vulnerable.

He scanned his surroundings again and again, training his superior eyesight on anything that moved that could be his prey. And then there he saw it, a nasty fucking Razzora Beast plowing through the Bolla trees, tearing them down in its clear haste to get whatever it was chasing. Brawn looked in the direction of where the soon-to-be meal of the creature was and zeroed in on the spot.

There, lying on the ground with a dart in her neck, was a human female. It only took Brawn a second to react. He used the power behind his wings, spread them out to their full length, and flew in her direction. The beast was getting closer to her, and although Brawn shouldn’t interfere or care if she was about to die, there was something in his gut that told him he needed to get to her.

He dove down, moved through the timberline of the trees, and right before the Razzora reached her, he landed on the ground beside her. He had her in his arms and was getting ready to be airborne again when the Razzora broke through the last tree. The creature roared out when it realized Brawn was taking its meal.

Brawn bent his knees and lifted into the air, but not before the Razzora ran one of its claws down Brawn’s calf. The pain was searing from the toxins the beast excreted, but Brawn pushed through the discomfort and flew toward the ship. It was a few miles away, but he eventually saw the massive silver-and-black spaceship that was a second home to him and his two brothers.