Van, Becca - Help Me Fly Again (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

The sound of large wings flapping with enormous strength echoed around her as she wriggled, still trying to get free.

“I’d stop that if you don’t want me to drop you,” the male stated with a fierce growl.

Sandi froze as she felt his hold on her loosen in warning. She clung to his forearms, praying he wouldn’t drop her.

“Who the hell are you? What do you want?”

“I am Retep Dnop, leader of the Redloh Clan, and you are now my woman.”

“Like fucking hell. I’m mated with Dreab and Erup Reyrd. You can’t take someone who is already mated.”

“It seems I can and I have. There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t be mated to the Reap Clan. They would never let their woman out of their sight.”

“Well, they didn’t exactly. I snuck away,” Sandi replied, regretting her spontaneity.

She realized she should have listened to her new mates. She had let her stubbornness get her into this mess. Even though knew she loved her two new mates, she knew she had to do this for the people back on Earth. She had signed up to keep them and the planet safe. She intended to do just that and, in her determination, had gotten herself into trouble.

“Their loss is my gain. You are mine now.”

“I don’t care what you say or think. I’ll never fucking be yours,” Sandi replied through clenched teeth. She saw Retep move his free arm up to hold her across the chest, and she took the opportunity staring her in the face. She opened her mouth, bent her head, and bit down on his arm with everything she had.

Retep yelled in pain and released her. She was suddenly plummeting back down to the ground. She was looking death in the face. She didn’t scream. She was too scared to. She was frozen with fear and closed her eyes, waiting for the pain she knew would come, before she died.

Sandi screamed as she smacked into a hard, muscular chest. Tears were coursing down her face, and her breath slammed out of her lungs. She opened her mouth, trying to get air, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get a breath. She opened her eyes and stared into the crazy leader’s face as he watched her struggle. Her eyelids closed again as black spots began to dance before her vision, and she became dizzy and disorientated. The last thing she heard before she passed out was the crazy Redloh Clan leader’s laughter.

* * * *

Dreab entered their home with Erup on his heels. He knew as he entered, Sandi was no longer there. He turned to Erup and saw the worry evident on his brother’s face.

“She’s not here. Where the hell would she go?”

“Um, there’s only one place I can think of,” Erup replied.

“No. She wouldn’t, would she? Not after the warning we gave her, surely?” The sinking feeling in Dreab’s gut told him Sandi was stubborn enough and probably didn’t care what they told her about the dangers. She had been so focused on wanting to assess her ship’s damage. She had wanted to see if she could fix her ship so she could leave. They obviously hadn’t done a good enough job pleasuring her. Dreab was going to spank her ass when he found her, and then he and Erup were going to fuck her within an inch of her life and talk her into staying with them.

They had already initiated the start of the change by getting her to swallow their seed. She would end up like they were with wings. He hadn’t known until after she had pleasured him and his brother with her mouth that she would be initiating a change to her genetic make-up. He had scented the change in her skin and wanted to tell her but didn’t know how. He knew his Sandi would have a fit if she knew what was happening to her. He was unfamiliar with the female species of Earth and, until now, had no idea she would be able to become like them. She would be able to soar through the sky with them and maybe they could even make love to her when they were airborne. Not to mention it would help strengthen their bond. He hoped eventually she would want to have their younglings. He could just imagine her belly swollen with their offspring.

“Come on. We’d better see if we can find her,” Dreab growled as he walked out of their temporary home and headed to the surface tunnel.

“I think we should move her to our real home down below, Dreab. If Sandi feels more comfortable, she may not want to leave so badly. And we should tell her that her body is changing. Her scent has changed slightly, and I think she is becoming as we are,” Erup stated wisely.

“Yes, I think you’re right. We should have taken her there from the start. I’ve really mucked things up, haven’t I? How the hell is she going to take the news of becoming an Eagronian?” Dreab asked with frustration.

“Never mind that now. Let’s go get our woman.”

* * * *

The two brothers arrived at the crash site and looked around carefully. Erup saw the hide skin filled with food and a hide flagon of water on the ground near the broken-winged ship. But there was no sign of Sandi.

Erup jumped up on top of the spaceship and plucked a large white feather from the top of it. He held it up to his nose, growled low in his throat, and looked to the sky toward the west. He saw a speck flying in the far distance and watched in horror as the leader of the Redloh Clan dropped a large object from his arms then folded his wings in and dove for the victim. Retep caught the body before it could hit the ground, and Erup heard the sound of deep, masculine laughter drifting back to him on the wind.

“Retep has her,” Erup growled as he watched the cruel Redloh Clan leader get farther and farther away. Erup flapped his wings and was about to take off after his woman when Dreab stopped him.

“We can’t go in there by ourselves. We wouldn’t survive. He’d have his minions waiting for us. We would be dead before we even made it close to him, and besides that, we have no idea where his hidden lair is. We need to plan, Erup.”

“Did you see what he did to her? He dropped her, letting her think she was going to die. What sort of sick fuck is he?”

“Just what you said. A sick fuck. We need to get something of his he really wants and make a trade for our woman,” Dreab suggested.

“And how the hell are we going to do that? We don’t even know what he cherishes the most.” Erup growled as he tried to get away from his brother’s hold.

“Yes we do. He wants his clan to be more powerful than ours. He wants to make the rules, to have the power to make and break rules to his own advantage. So we give it to him. We let him think we concede to him as our better. We’ll take our strongest single males with us, and we will all bow down to him.”

“We can’t do that, Dreab. You don’t know what an upheaval he will cause to our system of justice. He would throw all that we have out. No one would be safe from him or his clan. You can’t submit the whole hierarchy of our system to one insane male. Think of the destruction and enmity he would cause among all the clans. He would have brother fighting brother. There would be no harmony. The females already mated would suffer the most,” Erup said, incredulous of his brother’s plan.

“I didn’t say things would stay that way. I said we will look acquiescent, not that we really would be. Let’s go. We’ve got work to do,” Dreab stated, his voice full of steel.

Chapter Five

Sandi regained consciousness just as Retep was coming in for a landing. Nothing looked familiar, but then, she hadn’t been able to explore any of the planet as yet. She held her body loose, still breathing evenly and deeply, with her eyes open to slits, hoping not to alert her captor she was awake. She must have given herself away somehow, because he started laughing at her again. The man definitely had a screw loose.

“You don’t have to pretend. I know you’re awake,” Retep said as his feet hit the ground and he retracted his wings. He grabbed Sandi, and instead of letting her down, he slung her up over his large shoulder.

Sandi didn’t say anything, but she did take the time to study the scar tissue near his shoulder blades. She knew it didn’t hurt to have wings come out through their skin and then go back in again, but she wondered if she could hurt him by sticking her hand into the cavity. She was about to find out. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm her roiling stomach, Sandi shoved two fingers into the scar tissue and nearly vomited as her fingers sank into her captor’s body. She pushed harder and smiled with satisfaction as Retep yelled and began to pull her off his shoulder. She grabbed hold of a handful of feathers and held on tight. When Retep pulled her off him, using his brute strength, Sandi plucked a handful of feathers as she was thrown to the ground.

Sandi backed away, still clutching the large feathers in her hand as Retep stood over her, his face a mask of fury and pain as he roared at her. When she scrabbled through the dirt on her hands, ass, and feet, one of her hands landed on a large, sharp rock. She contained her cry of pain and picked up the rock. She watched as Retep stepped forward and hauled her to her feet. He drew back one of his large arms, his intention very clear. If he actually managed to hit her, he might kill her. The men on this planet were so much stronger than a human. Sandi didn’t stop to think. She ducked his flying fist, leapt back quickly, slammed the sharp rock against the side of Retep’s head, and got out of his way. She watched as he stood swaying on his feet before his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled to the ground.

Sandi took off in the opposite direction and was thankful she had her flight boots and uniform on. Her uniform actually helped to regulate her body temperature when she was flying in space. It would be a great help since this planet seemed to be quite a few degrees hotter than Earth. And her boots were sturdy and would be up to protecting her feet from the rugged terrain.

She kept up a slow, steady jogging pace until she was too hot to keep going. Her face felt as if it was bright red, and her uniform was soaked with sweat. She headed to the tree line and sat down for a short rest in the shade. What she wouldn’t give for the hide flagon of water right now. She was so thirsty. Her deep, even breathing as she’d jogged along had made her mouth dry. She felt as if her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, and her lips were dry and cracked. She closed her eyes for a moment against the bright glare of the sun, hoping like hell she had knocked Retep hard enough that he wouldn’t come after her again.

Sandi must have dozed off, because when she opened her eyes it was twilight. The stories Dreab and Erup had told of wild animals that roamed at night made her jump at every small rustle she heard. She quickly rose to her feet, stretched her tired, aching muscles, and set out once more. She kept her pace steady but also kept her eyes and ears peeled, hoping the two men had been lying about the wildlife. She had no idea how long she had been traveling before she realized she was being followed. The hair at her nape stood on end, warning her of impending danger. She slowed her pace but kept moving, listening intently to every sound. She had seen glowing eyes peering out at her from the trees but tried to ignore them. She still had her rock and was not squeamish about using it again. She just hoped none of the wild creatures thought she looked appetizing.

But it seemed luck was not on her side today. She heard a low growl off to the side and behind her. She turned around slowly, not wanting to startle the creature into attacking her. She moved backward toward the tree line, hoping she could scale a trunk if necessary. She nearly tripped over a large branch since she was keeping her eyes on the glowing, yellow eyes creeping closer. She glanced down then dropped to her knees and grabbed the thick, long limb. She shoved the rock in her other hand into the waistband of her uniform and held the tree limb ready. She kept her limbs loose, not wanting to tighten up too much and affect her swing.

Sandi screamed with rage when the thing pounced. She waited until the last minute then swung with all her might. The loud crack of wood hitting flesh and bone made her stomach churn, but she swallowed down her nausea. It was survival of the fittest, and she intended for that to be her. The creature dropped to the ground, but it was still breathing. Sandi could hear its breath rasping in and out of its lungs. It looked like a cross between a panther and a reptile. It was one of the ugliest creatures she had ever seen. Its tail had sharp spikes protruding from it, but it was covered in black fur and it was twice her size. The large, elongated teeth protruding from its mouth reminded her of a saber-toothed tiger. She lifted the branch high once more and was about to whack it in the head again, to put it out of its misery, when it opened its eyes and looked at her, not moving, not blinking, just watching her. She was mesmerized and was certain she could see two of its offspring reflected in the deep-yellow, golden orbs. She blinked and slowly lowered the limb. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill a creature that was only trying to feed its young. She didn’t know how the animal did it, but it had portrayed its family to her in its eyes. Sandi cautiously turned away and began to walk once more, carrying the heavy limb over one of her shoulders. She looked back to where the creature had laid stunned, only to find it had disappeared into the night.

Sandi had been alternating between walking and jogging all night. Her feet were aching and sore from such a long, arduous trek. Her body needed water. She was so thirsty and so damned tired she just wanted to lie down and sleep. She could read the signs of her body. She was suffering dehydration and knew if she didn’t get fluid soon she would be in real trouble. The sun was beginning to come up, and the cool humidity of the night began to dissipate. The sun had just risen to the horizon in the distance, but the heat was already sapping what little strength she had left. She was dragging her feet and was less alert to danger than she should have been. Her limbs felt so heavy, and she was struggling to hold her head up. Her eyesight was hazy, and she began to see spots dancing before her eyes.