Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2 (16 page)

Jazin released Star, thrusting her behind
him as two more guards came at him. He snarled, charging at them.
He rolled at the last minute, snatching up the laser whip and
flowed back to his feet behind them. With a flick of his wrist, he
wrapped one end of the whip around one of the guard’s neck and
pulled it back with an adrenaline filled jerk. The man’s body
continued forward even as his severed head fell backwards. Star’s
scream echoed in the corridor as she watched in horror. The second
guard rushed for Star, determined to use her as a shield. He never
made it. Jazin jumped, landing on his back and twisting his neck
with a savage jerk.

He looked up into Star’s horrified eyes and
snarled. “Mine! Mine to protect.”

He stood up and walked toward where she was
pressed against the wall. He stopped in front of her and gazed down
into her light blue eyes for what seemed an eternity. For a moment,
doubt and reason fought for control of his drug-crazed mind.

“Star,” Jazin muttered in a small, confused
voice.

Star could see Jazin fighting for sanity.
For just a brief second, she saw his eyes clear and concern and
love shine through the medicine coursing through his system. She
lifted her hand and gently touched his cheek, a small smile of
understanding curved her lips.

“You are safe now,” she whispered right
before the glaze clouded his eyes again.

Jazin reached out and gripped Star by the
waist, raising her up until her face was even with his. He crushed
his lips against hers in a dark, possessive kiss that burned with
barely suppressed desire and violence. Dakar’s voice broke through
the heated promise of possession.

“Move,” Dakar yelled out wiping blood from
his face as the last man fell to the floor. “Jarmen says Tai Tek
has two dozen or more men headed this way.”

Jazin’s head jerked up at the sound of the
familiar names. He fought to bring an image into his clouded mind
to match the first name but all he could picture where burning
amber eyes. He turned, rolling his shoulder and wrapped his large
hand around the small wrist. The female’s name had whispered
through his mind but he couldn’t remember it now. All he knew was
her scent called to him to mate, possess, claim, and kill any who
would try to take her from him. Everything in him narrowed down to
getting her away from everyone. He had to get her alone, somewhere
safe, and when he did he would lay his claim to her.

“He has killed all but Tai Tek and the men
he just brought,” Dakar murmured as he pressed his hand to his ear
where his comlink was located. “He says they are headed this way
and there are at least fifty of them total.”

“Go,” Jazin said with a jerk of his
head.

Dakar nodded and stepped over the bodies of
the dead guards. Jazin lifted Star into his arms, holding her face
against his shoulder as he followed. Some part deep inside him knew
that this was not something his mate was used to. Her horror had
cut through him as she stared at him. It hurt worse than the
injuries to his body. Even as he thought that, he knew his body was
healing at a rapid rate. He could actually feel the skin pulling
and knitting together. He felt the bones in his ribs shifting and
the calcium in his bones bridging the gaps between the broken
pieces. He could even feel the blood replicating and replenishing
his diminished supply. His mind was a whirlwind of blinding rage
and desperate need. Every breath the female took, every sound from
her lips, every touch of her skin drove him out of his mind with
the need to take her. Her scent alone was enough to make him want
to drop to the floor or press her up against a wall and impale her
on his throbbing shaft. It was only the part of him that recognized
she was in danger that prevented him from doing what his body and
mind were demanding. The predators need to protect his mate from
danger overrode everything else.

They were almost to the ground level when
two dozen well-armed men came at them from what seemed like every
direction possible. The resounding roar of the men as they rushed
forward was deafening. Dakar and Jazin both responded by pushing
the two women in between them. Star quickly loaded the crossbow,
firing arrow after arrow into the group of attackers until she had
exhausted her limited supply. She pulled the knives River had given
her and began throwing them with the deadly accuracy she had
learned from River and her parents. When she was down to her last
knife, she held it…. waiting. Dakar and Madas were working to keep
the guards coming from their front and left from getting any closer
while Jazin was moving with lightning speed, cutting a path through
the guards coming up from behind them.

Star twirled around when she heard Madas cry
out in pain. She watched as her friend fell backwards over the body
of a dead guard, blood pouring from a wound in her leg. One of the
guards let out a roar and raised his laser sword, preparing to
embed it through Madas’ chest. Star screamed as she threw the knife
she held tightly in her fist. The blade struck with such force it
knocked the man back several steps before he collapsed. Star raced
toward where Madas lay on the floor. She scooped up one of the
laser swords beside the dead body of another guard and charged
forward. Jazin and Dakar where too busy to see what had happened.
Star twirled, slicing through the stomach of one attacker before
bending almost backwards as another flicked a laser whip through
the air. She saw the lighted tail as if it was in slow motion as it
arched within centimeters of her chest. She straightened as the
tail withdrew. Madas thrust upward with the sword she had clutched
in her bloody fist from where she lay on the floor. The man’s
screams of pain filled the chamber along with the other sounds.
Star stumbled as she made her way over to Madas as two more guards
rushed them. Her arms trembled with fatigue but she would never let
anyone hurt her friend as long as she was standing. She thrust
forward at the same time as one of the guards kicked out, catching
her in the stomach with such force that it lifted her off the floor
and flung her back several feet where she landed hard on the cold,
stone floor.

Star struggled to drew in a breath of air.
Everything was fuzzy on the edges. She clutched at her stomach but
was unable to catch her breath. Darkness blurred her vision even as
she heard Jazin’s roar of rage, Madas horrified cry, and Dakar’s
shout of denial.

I’m so sorry,
Star thought,
I love
you so much.

Time slowed down until she could swear she
could see the smallest dust mote as it drifted through the air. She
saw Jazin twirling in rage at the men who had rushed her. The man
who had kicked her fell to his knees under the force of the blows
from Jazin’s sword. His head fell away from his body as he toppled
over. Madas rose up, balancing on one leg and her tail swinging the
double-sided battle ax. Dakar killed one guard before another
thrust his sword into his side. She heard his cry before he turned
and struck the man down. Out of a dark passage, a man appeared. He
was tall, muscular and had the most beautiful glowing eyes she had
ever seen. He moved through the few guards that remained striking
with a deadly precision. As the last man fell, all three turned to
look at where Star laid unmoving. Her eyes slowly closed as Jazin’s
lithe form moved through the maze of dead bodies.

She tried to open her eyes but it was too
difficult. “You are safe now,” Jazin whispered as he gently lifted
her small body up.

Star gave in to the darkness as it
surrounded her. Her arms falling limply as she was lifted with
impossible care. The burning light calling her home.

*.*.*

“Where am I?” Star asked as she looked
around her in wonder and confusion.

The world where she was standing looked like
it came out of a Van Gogh painting. Small thatched roofs where
barely visible in the distance. The sky was a deep purple. A stark
contrast to the fields of gold. A few trees dotted the landscape of
rolling hills leading to the edge of distance mountains. Huge birds
soared high in the sky, their large red, yellow, and green feathers
standing out. White clouds dotted the sky like a child’s first
finger painting.

Star turned in a circle in the golden grass.
It was almost as tall as her. The sounds of birds taking flight had
her shading her eyes to see what had startled them. Her eyes
widened as huge space ships broke through the atmosphere. She
watched in horror as the ships fired on the thatched roofs of the
village. She couldn’t see anything due to the smoke that filled the
bright beautiful sky but she could hear the screams. She turned as
the painting she was in seemed to melt around her, the colors
twisting, blurring, blending together until a night sky filled with
millions of brilliant points of light were the only light to see
by. The night sky was not black but a rich, dark blue. It reminded
Star of River’s eyes. Swirls of a lighter blue danced through the
painted night, flowing like a river through the universe. She could
almost swear she could see movement in the heavenly stream.

Star’s breath caught as the stars began to
fall around her like a light rain. They seemed so real she actual
lifted her hands up to cup them as they fell around her. The sky
lightened as more and more stars fell until she was surrounded by
the glowing embers. She reached down and picked up one glowing
ember and gazed into it. Inside she could see a battle. A man that
looked like Jazin was leading a group of warriors against an alien
race unlike anything she had ever seen. The twisted bodies were
huge and resembled the praying mantas back home. The light
flickered and died. The skies around her turned to red and she
shivered. The color of blood surrounded her. Jazin was standing on
a hill that was now blackened and dry. His face reflected such a
deep grief it tore at her. But, there was also a determination to
survive, to fight on that she could only admire. Star turned to see
what he was looking at. In the distance, small fighters were coming
out of the sky like the stars she had just imagined. They attacked
the alien species advancing on Jazin and his warriors. The fight
was fierce but it was short as Jazin and his warriors rode into the
fury of battle with a loud war cry.

The red dissolved until the ground shown
with the lighted crystals. All around her were the glittering
stones. New life grew around her as the crystals absorbed into the
ground, growing and spreading. She turned as Jazin walked out from
a lone tree that still stood tall and proud on the side of the
hill. A fierce storm raged in the dark purple skies, lightning
arced as if in a grand display of fireworks. One of the fighters
that had fought the alien creatures landed a short distance away.
Jazin didn’t move. He was a huge, bear of a man. Muscles tensed and
flexed as he kept one hand firmly on the sword clutched in it. His
eyes were a piercing black. Star turned toward the fighter again,
fascinated.

The dark, hooded top slid back and a figure
rose out from it. The body was small, almost child-like in size.
Star couldn’t see what the creature looked like because of the
helmet and uniform but she could tell it was humanoid in
appearance. Her eyes followed the figure as it advanced to within
just a few steps of Jazin.

“Who are you?” Jazin demanded in a low
fierce tone.

The figure reached up and slowly removed the
helmet covering its head. With a shake, long flowing locks of white
blond hair fell in waves down the woman’s back. Star gasped as she
gazed at an image that could have been an exact replica of her
silhouetted against the stormy, dark purple sky.

The female smiled before speaking in a
strangely accented voice. “Starla,” came the softly spoken
response. She raised her hand out in greeting. “From a distant
planet known as Earth.”

Jazin studied the outstretched hand silently
before he grasped it in his larger one and tugged the small female
forward into his arms. “I am Jazin. I claim you as mine,” he
responded with a slight curve of his lips before he crushed her
lips with his own.

*.*.*

Star moaned as hot waves of need flowed
through her body. She was burning. The scene of the Jazin and her
so long ago blended with the hot feel of hands on her own body. She
felt like those stars that had fallen around her. Her body arched
in pleasure as a hot tongue swiped over her swollen nipples. Colors
swirled into focus as her eyes opened in a dazed haze of desire. A
cry ripped from her as the hands on her moved down her body,
touching, stroking, igniting flames as they went.

“Jazin,” Star cried out.

“Mine,” a deep voice growled near her ear.
“All mine.”

Star jerked as she felt a long, hard shaft
of silky skin press against her swollen vaginal channel. Hard hands
gripped her, lifting her hips up off the soft narrow bed under her.
With one thrust, Jazin impaled his throbbing length as far as he
could into the female below him. He was almost out of his mind with
need to possess and mark the female he knew was his. His mind was
still a tortured haze of images from the past week. But in the
recesses of it, a soft calming voice called to him. He recognized
her scent, her touch. When he saw his female flying backwards from
the blow one of the guards had given her, his mind had splintered
into a red haze of death and destruction. He would have killed
everyone in the room if not for the man with the glowing amber
eyes. He remembered him. The man had grabbed him, forcing him back
against the wall in an unbreakable hold as he had struggled to get
at the two remaining figures still living in the room. The man had
spoken to him quietly over and over. Telling him that his mate
needed him. Telling him to fight the drugs and to care for his
mate. Only think of his mate, nothing else but his mate.