The Alien's Revenge - Ella Maven Page 0,31

meaty thump.

“Don’t. Move.” That was Daz’s voice, but his tone was one I’d never heard before, laced with an unspoken threat.

“Please,” I mumbled to Sax. “Where’s Drak?”

His brows lowered, and he blinked at me. “Drak?”

I ignored the pain shooting daggers into my side and struggled in Sax’s arms. He finally lowered me, so my feet touched the ground. I whirled around and gasped. Drak knelt on the ground, a chain wrapped around his torso binding his hands behind his back. Daz stood above him, a spear aimed at his neck. My heart sank into the dirt with a thud.

Drak’s eyes were blank. With his head bowed, the wound at the back of his skull where the Kulk had struck him with the spike ball bled profusely, dripping down his face. The injury to his shoulder looked mangled like raw meat.

Drak’s aura was… something else. A large gap had appeared in the center like a heavy curtain had parted and beyond was a swirl of orange and yellow that raged and flashed. He’d had a flashback when the Kulk had called him a Drixonian, like the word jogged something loose. This whole time, had he not known what he was? If only I’d uttered Drixonian once in all the time we’d been together…

“Your betrayal of our race never ends. Now you harm a female? Daz should have killed you when he had the chance,” Gar growled with a tremble of rage in his words as he advanced on Drak. “We won’t make the same mistake again.”

“No!” I cried and rushed to Drak’s side. I didn’t get far. Gar’s arms wrapped around me and hauled me back. I screamed as he squeezed my ribs, and Drak went wild. He surged up to his feet only to be smacked back down by the flat edge of Daz’s spear. Blood gushed anew on his scalp, coursing down into his eyes to drip from his chin. I bucked in Gar’s hold. “Don’t hurt him, Daz!” I managed to shout from my swollen jaw. “He’s my mate. Look at our wrists!”

Daz turned furious eyes to Drak. “You beat your mate?”

“The Kulks did this!” I cried as my body bucked with sobs. “They attacked us and burnt Drak’s home and he’s trying to get us to safety.”

Daz went still, until only his head swiveled to face me. “What?”

I wasn’t a crier, but I couldn’t seem to stop the sobs from ripping out of my throat. This was so fucked up. My face hurt like a motherfucker, my ankle screamed in pain, and all I could taste was the iron of my own blood. I could only see out of one eye, and I couldn’t imagine what Drak and I looked like right now. My body shook from pain and fear and fatigue. “Drak would never hurt me.”

“Miranda, we saw him carrying your prone body through Nero’s eyes. When we confronted him, he said nothing—”

“Because he can’t talk!” I cried. “Look at his throat.” I inhaled sharply before getting myself under control. I pushed against Gar’s hold as I looked Daz straight in the eye. “He’s my mate, and I swear to God if you hurt him, I’ll launch myself off the cliff. Frankie would never forgive you.”

Daz’s nostrils flared. “He’s a traitor. We cast him out over fifteen cycles ago.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Well, people can change. It’s been fifteen fucking years.”

“Daz,” Ward spoke up. “He did save Reba and I from the hunner swarm.”

Daz’s chest heaved, and he watched me for a long time before looking over my shoulder, his gaze skimming each of his warriors in attendance—Gar, Ward, and Sax.

Finally, he dropped the spear at his side, and gestured to Ward. “Get him up. We’ll take them back and deal with this in the morning. Miranda needs to see Val for her wounds.”

“Drak’s in worse shape than me,” I said as Ward gathered Drak’s chain in his hands and tugged him to his feet. He swayed, and I wanted more than anything to wrap my arms around him.

“We won’t waste medis on—”

“Daz, if you finish that sentence, I’m going to grab that spear and gut you.”

He rolled his eyes to the sky and sighed heavily with his hands on his hips. Finally, he met my gaze. “Fine, we will treat his wounds, but he will be locked up until tonight.”

“Locked up!”

“That’s final, Miranda. I won’t put the whole clavas at risk on your single opinion.”

I wanted to stomp my feet and rage, but I had