The portion of skin near the most damaged bit pulses yellow, as if it can’t change like the rest of his hide. The burn mark stays the color he normally is.
“You fool.” Aekaz’s voice is broadcast through the arena as he grabs Kitaico’s damaged appendage.
But Kitaico doesn’t thrash like his first victim. Instead, he swipes his foot around, kicking out the other hopeful’s legs.
As Aekaz drops to the dirt, Kitaico scrambles up the nearby rock, jockeying for a better position. But the brute jumps back up to his feet, looking up at my mate and laughing with his whole body.
“Having the higher ground will do nothing to stop me,” he says before rushing Kitaico like hell on wheels, scrambling up the side of the rocks.
Despite Kitaico’s defensive stance, when Aekaz’s hand grips his arm, he can do little but try to stay as far back as his reach allows.
“I’ll be sure that your mate is well taken care of,” he tells my alien, his vicious voice dripping from the speakers.
The combination of the glint in his eye, his grip on Kitaico’s arm, and seeing what he did to the first male has my vision tunnelling.
I think I scream when Aekaz spins my mate around, pushing his chest into the pile of rocks as he pins him down, using his knee to hold Kitaico’s arm tightly against his back.
I can almost make out the feeling of the many hands that must be supporting me, but through the blur of tears, I cannot bring myself to avert my gaze. My body feels like it’s operating on its own, separate from my mind.
Kitaico’s shoulder muscles twist and his jaw clamps as he tries to get out from under the giant Andjin’s grip.
Aekaz turns his eyes skyward, ignoring the struggling male beneath him. He doesn’t even break a sweat keeping his hold. Cockily, he looks directly into the camera before leaning down and whispering into my mate’s ear.
“You’ve met your fate, and his name is Ae—”
25
no antidote
Aekaz’s knee presses into the space between my shoulder blades, forcing me against the rough outcropping of rocks. Behind me, the brothers grapple with his leg, their frantic efforts to dislodge him proving futile against his unyielding strength.
His grip is unshakable, trapping my arm behind my back and leaving me helpless to escape no matter how much force I exert with my free hand.
I’ve been bested by Aekaz.
He’s taking his time, showing off to the arena. I feel like a prize kill, about to be dispatched by its hunter.
I know he’s yelling at the crowds, but I can’t make out what he’s saying because all I can hear is a muffled scream through his nonsense. The sound is far away, but I’d know the tenor of Lena’s voice anywhere.
The pain behind it is something I haven’t heard before, though. A strange sensation flows through me. My body reacts to her cry, and some kind of hot power courses through my veins.
My mate is in danger.
I buck, barely lifting my shoulder off the ground. A guttural sound leaves my throat as I sputter against the burning in my body. The pain that radiates from the spot where my arm connects to my body is blinding. But I fight through it. I do it for Lena, to protect her, to keep her safe. Growling into the sandy surface of the rocks, I feel the black granules sticking to my spit on my chin.
She is mine and mine alone, and I refuse to leave her.
Another wave of adrenaline courses through me, igniting a fiery heat in my chest. As I push my body beyond its breaking point, my shoulder pops free from the joint, sending a shockwave of agony through my entire being. Free from the restraints, I’m able to maneuver my body smoothly out from under Aekaz’s knee.
Instinctively, the cocky bastard reaches for me with his hand, like a spoiled child seeking a favorite toy as it rolls away.
I don’t hesitate this time, and neither do the brothers. They bind themselves like whips onto his wrist, dragging the huge male forward. He stumbles over a particularly jagged rock, his side scrapping against it hard. I can smell the blood as it blooms from the wound on his torso.
I can’t tell if he’s stunned at the injury, or at the battle swinging in my favor, but he freezes all the same.
His eyes go wide, and his skin flashes the color of fear when he’s unable to stop me as I bite down on the side of his palm, engaging the venom in my fangs. I deliver the killing blow.
He’s stock still as the brothers release him, as if he’s unable to believe that unremarkable Kitaico has ended him. I jump back out of his reach, far enough that his foretentacles won’t be able to bring me in for retaliation.
“I’m sorry it ends like this. I only do what I must to protect my mate,” I mutter, honestly regretful to take his life.
I know in a different world he might have been kinder.
Being part of the Great Proving has shown me what it can do to a male, how it can kill any kindness in a person. What would I be if not for Lena? Would I be driven to madness in the pursuit of a jewel?
Aekaz’s flesh darkens as my venom works through his bloodstream. The blackening veins trail up his palm and wrap around his wrist. I regret what I must do when the pain has him falling to his back, clutching his hand against his broad chest.
I find no joy in this murder, but his screams mean nothing compared to Lena’s. I would kill a hundred hopefuls if I meant I could take her home.
As I turn my back to the dying male, I know that I still have Roinsi left to find.
Just one more step and then I’ll be home.
I’m only able to take a single step away before I hear a splash. I pivot, thinking my final remaining opponent has jumped from the shoreline and is making his attack.
But my mouth drops open as I see the egg Lena arrived at being dropped into the ocean. But it’s not Lena that’s inside. It’s a different human woman. She pounds her fist against the side of the egg as it sinks below the surface.
