Mated (15 page)

It was over too quickly. But then, she’d never really stood a chance against these

monsters. Still, she’d struggle until she took her last breath.

Tek gave her a brief look of amusement before turning to his companion, the man

she’d first stabbed. He was leaning against the far wall, hands clutching his stomach.

“This human becomes more interesting, Dron,” said Tek. “She acts unexpectedly.”

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Dron didn’t respond, just continued standing there with a stupefied expression on

his face.

The amused look faded from Tek’s face. “Dron? Are you okay?”

Dron looked over at them with blind eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but

instead gurgled out a thin trickle of blood. With nothing more than a soft exhale, he collapsed to his side, eyes unseeing. The movement dislodged his hands from his

stomach, freeing a large amount of blood and something squishy that looked

suspiciously like intestines.

“Oh god,” she choked out. She looked away before she could be sick.
Guess that

wound was deeper than I thought.

“Dron?” Tek said in disbelief. He stared at the lifeless form for another long

moment before turning back to Natalie. “You disemboweled him!”

Uh-oh.

Pure menace rolled off him in waves. Yeah, he was pissed about her killing his

companion, all right.

Natalie’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared up at the Malucon’s monstrous

form, unable to look away despite her fear. “What…what are you going to do to me?”

“I should kill you right now, pest,” he replied, his words cold as ice. “Believe me,

you will pay for this.”

Her mouth dry, she waited for him to do something. To break her in half, to beat

her unconscious. Something. Instead, he released his grip on her throat long enough to grab her by the arms and start dragging her from the room.

“What…where are we going?”

“To see the captain,” Tek said in the same cold tone. “He will decide what to do

with you.”

That couldn’t bode well for her. Not at all.

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* * * * *

“Am I to understand that this little slip of a thing—this
human
—brought down one of my fiercest warriors?” the Malucon captain said to Tek in disbelief.

Tek visibly gritted his teeth. “She simply caught us unaware, Captain. The human

is half the size of even the puniest Malucon runt. Who would have expected that she

would attack us?”

The captain turned to level Natalie with another incredulous glare. She stood stock-

still, afraid to move or even speak. With the number of Malucons in the room, it seemed best to be as unobtrusive as possible. She had to admit, when she was planning her

attack, she hadn’t imagined that she’d survive long enough to be put in this position.

Tek had dragged her down to the ship’s control room, a room as different from the

Spygian control room as night and day. Where her men’s command central was

sparkling clean and minimalistic, this one was grimy and cluttered. The controls

themselves were antiquated by Spygian standards, levels and cranks in place of buttons and touch screens. And the Malucon ship obviously took more manpower to fly.

Besides the captain and Tek, there were three other Malucons in the room, and they

were all large and scary-looking.

“What say you, human?” the captain spat out in a disgusted tone as he approached

her. “Should I make you suffer the same fate as Dron?”

She recoiled at the foul odor wafting from the captain’s tooth-rotted mouth. “I…”

What could she possibly say?

“Humph,” the captain grunted, turning away. He seemed to be appeased by her

cowering demeanor.

Well, screw that. She was done cowering. She was never going to do that again. She

might be terrified. She might be asking for a gruesome death. But she wasn’t going to take it lying down.

Straightening up tall, Natalie said, “What did you do to my men? Are they dead?”

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The captain stiffened, slowly turning back around. The look on his face was

scorching enough to melt ice. “You dare to question
me
?” His hand shot out, encircling her neck and tightening into a hold that had her choking for breath.

“Scrawny, worthless human,” he said to no one in general. “What a miserable

excuse for a female. Why did we drag her on board? We should have killed her on

sight.”

“At least let us use her first, Captain,” one of the Malucons protested. “We’ve not

rutted for too long.”

“No,” Natalie gasped, unable to help herself. She’d fight this until she took her last breath.

The captain’s eyes narrowed, a lopsided smile coming to his face. “Yes,” he said.

“Might as well make some use of her before discarding her.”

He grasped the neckline of her tunic. Natalie reached up with shaky hands, tried to

pull him off her. But he was too strong. His grip tightened, the seams in the fabric

starting to come apart with a loud tear.

“No,” she screamed.

Suddenly a loud siren began to sound. A mechanical voice said, “Intruder alert.

Embarkment bay breached. Intruder alert. Embarkment bay breached.”

“What’s happening?” barked the captain, carelessly releasing Natalie and turning

away.

A harried-looking Malucon quickly shifted a lever on his control board. “Captain, it

appears a ship has latched on to ours and is boarding in mid-flight. The ship managed to remain undetected until it made contact with ours.”

The captain cursed. “Those damned Spygians. How did they find us again so

quickly?”

“What?”
Her
Spygians? Her men were still alive?

“Prepare for attack, men,” the captain called out, striding over to his chair.

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Forgotten, Natalie started to scoot toward the door leading out of the control room.

She’d made it ten feet from the door when the captain remembered her. “Valn,” he said, looking briefly at the Malucon who’d so casually suggested using her before discarding her. “They will want their mate. Take her back to her cell and make sure she remains

inside. Should the Spygians come for her, kill her.”

“Yes, Captain,” Valn said. He grinned with obvious relish as he stalked toward her.

“No,” she yelled, making a run for the door. If she could just get close enough to the bay, maybe they would see her…maybe she could call out for them.

Valn caught up with her just as she reached the threshold. She had no time to utter

more than a short scream before he covered her mouth with his large, meaty hand as he lifted her by the waist.

“Come now, human,” his harsh, lust-filled voice sounded out in her ear. “We’re

going to have ourselves a bit of fun while your worthless Spygians get their hearts

carved out of their chests.”

He ignored the kicking of her feet and her frenzied struggle while he carried her

down the hall, in the opposite direction from where the remaining Malucons had

headed.

God, how close to her were her men? Would they make it past the Malucons?

Fear pounded in Natalie’s chest, bile rising up her throat. She felt the urge to throw up and fought it, only because she had a feeling that not even vomit would cause the

Malucon to remove his hand from her mouth. He’d most likely laugh while she choked

on her own puke.

Valn turned a corner and stopped short, entering the first door they came upon.

“This should do,” he said with a grunt, lowering Natalie’s feet back to the ground and releasing her with a careless shove that pushed her further into the room.

Natalie staggered as she caught her footing, taking in a brief glimpse of a room

furnished in much the same manner as her cell—a bed instead of a cot, a nightstand and 112

Mated

a water pitcher—before she whirled back around to face Valn. He gave a lewd grin as

his eyes traveled down her body.

Shit, how had she forgotten that her tunic had been torn? Both breasts were now

fully revealed. But right now, it was either cover up, or defend herself.

Decision made, Natalie flew toward the glass pitcher.

“Where do you think you’re going, human refuse?” Valn said with a gravelly laugh.

She made it to the nightstand. Her fingers closed around the glass pitcher. Before

she could raise it, Valn rushed her, knocking her to the side. Natalie flew back, landing on the bed. The pitcher fell to the floor with a loud crash, shattering to tiny bits. And Valn, with lightning quick reflexes, was upon her in an instant.

“No,” she cried out as Valn straddled her, one dirty hand reaching up to grab the

torn remains of her tunic and rip it even further, tossing the now useless fabric to the side. Valn roughly palmed her breasts, grunting in satisfaction.

“You’ll do well enough for now.”

“Get off me,” she screamed, trying to buck him off, but his weight was too heavy

for her to move him. She clawed at his face with her fingernails, drawing thin, jagged streaks of blood across his cheek.

Valn laughed, holding one of her hands immobilized with his as he grabbed the

other one and pinned it under his knee. “At least you’ve got a little fight in you. It will make this more fun for me.”

“Stop, please.” Natalie couldn’t fight the tears streaming down her cheeks. How

easily he’d reduced her to begging. Even though she instinctively knew there would be no mercy in him.

“Don’t worry, little human.” Valn flashed her a grin, revealing a row of rotting

black teeth. “You’ll find my cock much more enjoyable than those of the puny

Spygians.” With his free hand, he tore at the drawstring holding his slacks up, jerking them down far enough to free his erection.

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“No, god no,” she choked out. His cock was just as terrifying, just as disgusting as

the rest of him. More so, even. It was the same mottled gray as the rest of his flesh. Long and wide, it curved into grooves and ridges that promised pain. “Stop!”

“Don’t worry,” Valn chuckled. “Women very rarely die from it. At least, not the

first time.” He reached down and tore her thong underwear away, then started to pry

her legs open.

“No, sto—!”

The sound of the door sliding open startled the Malucon into pausing.

“Get away from her!” an unmistakable voice yelled from beyond the doorway.

Oh my god.

“Andros!” Natalie screamed, renewing her efforts to buck Valn off her in earnest. A

mere second later, she was free as Valn was roughly knocked off her.

She scrambled off the bed, retreating to a corner of the room as Andros and Valn

went down to the floor in a flurry of kicks and punches. Andros looked like he was

injured, but the injuries didn’t seem to be life-threatening.

“I’m going to tear you apart,” Andros growled between punches. “You dared to

touch my woman. You will die a slow and painful death.”

“I was but giving her what you lack, Spygian,” Valn taunted. “Don’t you think the

scrawny little thing deserves to be rammed by a real cock before she dies? Once I kill you, I’ll be sure to give it to her nice and hard.”

Valn’s fist connected with Andros’ side, where he already sported a large white

bandage. Andros doubled over with a muffled shout. From the blood that began oozing

through the bandage, it looked like a pretty serious injury.

Valn laughed. “I tell you what, Spygian. After I tear your head off, I’ll point it right toward your mate, so it can watch as I pound her senseless. Then I’ll let the others have a turn. If by chance she’s still alive when we’re done with her, it can watch as I slit her throat.”

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“What others, Malucon?” came an angry voice from the doorway. Natalie looked

up to see Leikos standing at the doorway, bloody and battered-looking, but still very much alive.

Another blessedly familiar face appeared in the doorway. “Yes, you disgusting

piece of rot,” Zafron added, the evil grin on his face promising painful retribution.

“You’re the only one left.”

She had the pleasure of seeing Valn’s eyes go wide from shock and fear a moment

before Leikos and Zafron rushed the room and surrounded him. He uttered agonized

cries as they began to beat and kick him, but she shut her eyes when she saw the knife in Zafron’s hand as he raised it toward Valn’s neck. Several seconds later, Valn stopped screaming. Then, a thud as a body hit the floor.

“Natalie.” Her name was spoken in unison as she was embraced by several sets of

arms. She leaned into the body of the man closest to her, inhaling their familiar, musky fragrance.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.

“No, Natalie,” Andros said.

Leikos stroked her hair gently. “We would never leave you.”

“You are safe now, mate,” Zafron added.

Safe.

Natalie’s body began to shake as she took in the impact of their words. Her men

were alive. They had come for her. They had saved her.

Feeling her limbs go weak, Natalie leaned against her men as she sobbed out all her

fear and relief.

She was safe.

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“Our mate grows impatient,” Leikos spoke softly from his seat in the control room.

“Yes, I know,” Andros replied.

“And she is not the only one,” Zafron muttered.

Andros stifled a laugh at Zafron’s tone. Truly, he too was feeling the effects of

waiting to claim their mate once again. It had been over a week since they had burst

onto the Malucon ship and slaughtered all its occupants. Their fear of whatever