Raines, Elizabeth - Marooned [Wicked Missions 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (11 page)

When the second cord snapped, the Charhock moved, shifting its wing as if to show her which binding she should attack next. Just as she pressed the knife to the rope’s surface, a rustling sound caught her ear. Betinsa froze, waiting to see if she’d been discovered by the Dracorians. Sweat trickled down her back, making her shiver.

“It’s just me,” Hannah said as she knelt next to her and jerked another knife out of her boot. “Let’s get this big guy outta here.”

“This is the female,” Betinsa said, still not entirely sure how she knew that fact. She simply
did
. The women quickly cut through two more ropes, and the Charhock pushed up against her prison of cords. Several broke as she spread her wings. Just as soon as she got all the way to her feet, she let out a loud roar that made Betinsa’s heart leap to her throat. She glanced over her shoulder to see the Dracorians spilling from the tent, each with a stun-stick at ready.

“Fly!” she shouted at the Charhock. “I’ll free your mate!”

But she didn’t leave. Instead, she turned to bite at the bindings of the second panther.

Betinsa stepped in front of Hannah, holding her knife and snarling as her fangs grew. The time for vengeance had arrived. Bloodlust raced through her veins, and she would have met the attack head-on had she not needed to protect Hannah. “Run!” she shouted over her shoulder, needing her friend to understand why she would remain.

Hannah aimed her laser pistol and shot the first Dracorian to reach them right between the eyes. He went down with a heavy thud as two more rushed the women. Hannah got off one more shot before one of the Dracorians lunged out and struck her with his stun-stick. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she went down hard, unconscious. When he pulled out a knife and bent over Hannah, clearly ready to finish her off, Betinsa sprang.

Landing on the alien’s back, she sank her fangs deep into his neck and severed his carotid artery. He dropped to his side as Betinsa jumped from him, landing in a crouch next to Hannah. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, trying to smear away the putrid green blood of her enemy. As two more Dracorians ran at them, she growled low in her throat, ready to kill both of them to protect her friend.

The sound of discharging laser rifle echoed through the camp as small blue bursts of light hit both of the aliens. They collapsed dead at Betinsa’s feet just as Matt and Drake came toward her, running and shouting her name.

She wanted to fling herself into their arms, but the Charhock drew her attention with a roar. When she locked eyes with the creature, the Charhock stopped trying to free her mate, folded both of her front legs, and dropped low enough for Betinsa to jump on her back. The panther was calling to Betinsa, telling her what she needed to do to finish this.

Grabbing the silky fur, she climbed the Charhock until she sat straddling its shoulders. With a flap of enormous blue wings, the panther took flight. Betinsa felt the joy the creature held deep in her heart for being free again and dug her fingers tightly into the animal’s coat as they swooped back over the camp.

Drake, Matt, and Hannah were firing at the small advancing Dracorian force. They were outnumbered, but the Charhock evened the odds as she swooped down, scooped two of the aliens into her mouth, and took to the sky again. Betinsa could hear their shouts for mercy, but since they’d shown none to the Charhock, she wasn’t surprised when the creature didn’t grant their requests.

Not sure what the panther would do with her former captors, she gasped when she saw where the Charhock was heading. Settled in the tallest of the trees was a large nest, and in that nest rested four baby Charhocks. Their ebony coats glistened in the dim light, their wings nothing more than pin-feathers.

Their mother swooped low, landing on the edge of her home. The babies scrambled toward her, growling and mewling until she dropped the Dracorians in front of them. Her offspring bit and clawed at their food until the screams of their victims finally ceased.

The Charhock roared as she flapped her wings again to take flight, quickly returning to the campsite. This time, Betinsa could see that the four Dracorians remaining alive were kneeling in front of Matt and Drake, their hands against their heads. Hannah was sitting up while Linc fussed over her.

The danger had passed.

Betinsa nearly lost her balance when the Charhock dropped toward her mate. Clenching her fists tightly, Betinsa held on to the thick fur as the creature landed next to the second panther. Betinsa took things from there. Sliding off the side, she shouted, “Linc, the knife!”

Linc picked up the serrated blade and tossed it, burying it in the ground at Betinsa’s feet. Snatching up the weapon, Betinsa hurried to hack through the ropes holding the male to the ground. Linc, Drake, and Matt soon joined her, and in no time, they’d freed him.

The male Charhock rose as he roared and flapped his wings. Then he turned his head to look at Betinsa.

Drake held his breath, not sure what to expect as the second of the Charhocks padded slowly toward Betinsa. After watching her fly away with the first panther, he prayed its mate meant her no harm. The animal stopped right in front of her, the breath from its large nose rustling Betinsa’s long, black hair.

“What’s that sound?” Matt asked, coming to stand at Drake’s side.

“I think…it’s purring at her.” And it was. The Charhock also extended its tongue and licked Betinsa’s face. “It likes her.”

“It should. She just saved both of their lives.”

“That she did,” Drake replied. “So what do you think will happen now?”

Chapter 9

“
Fearless
, you will land at docking port one,” the flight controller said. “Officials will be there to meet you.”

“Understood,” Hannah replied before silencing the com. “I can still make a run for it, Indigo. My ship can outfly the Fraiquan escorts. I know tons of places you can hide out for a while. Seems kinda shitty that they’re gonna punish you for saving their panthers.”

“No, Hannah. I won’t run away,” Betinsa replied. “I’m resigned to my judgment.” And she was. Her heart was content. The Charhocks—
all
the Charhocks—were safe and would thrive for generations to come, bringing peace and prosperity to her people for many, many years. The fact she’d played an important role in saving them might be considered mitigating circumstances against her charges of trespassing on the sacred moon, but she couldn’t count on it. What she needed to do now was focus on how to get Matt, Drake, Hannah, and Lincoln out of this mess.

“Are you sure they won’t be mad we didn’t bring any prisoners back with us?” Drake asked.

“The Charhocks made that choice, not I,” Betinsa replied. “No, my people will consider the deaths of the Dracorians to be a proper sacrifice to the Charhocks.”

Matt snorted a laugh. “Not like the panthers gave us much choice. Snatched ’em up and flew away before we could even decide what to do with them. I imagine they’re baby panther food by now.”

“Last chance,” Hannah said, turning to look over her shoulder from the pilot’s seat.

Sad instead of joyful to see Fraiqua again, Betinsa realized this return to her homeland might be her last. She shook her head. “I must face my people and accept their verdict.”

A few minutes later, the ship sat down with Hannah’s usual…
finesse
, bouncing twice before it skidded to a stop so she could drop the landing legs. Linc shook his head and laughed on the first skip across the tarmac, probably because he was used to her awkward landings.

Glancing over to her mates, Betinsa couldn’t suppress a grin at how green Matt’s complexion had turned. The man clearly didn’t possess the stomach for space travel. Drake, on the other hand, sat pensively staring out the window, tapping his lips with his extended index finger. Had so many of their things not been lost in the crash, he would probably be wearing his ceremonial robes, ready to offer his official greetings to the Fraiquan government representatives who would be sent to meet them. Now, those same representatives would probably be coming to arrest them all.

That
, she could not allow.

Popping her seat belt, Betinsa hurried to the ramp ahead of everyone else. She ducked to scoot down it before the hatch had even opened all the way. She would present herself as the one who committed the offense, confess what had happened had been all her doing, and then plead for mercy for her friends. Surely they wouldn’t execute three humans and an Odiran when it had been all her fault they’d set foot on Katenya.

Three Fraiquans—two dressed in long, flowing, red velvet robes that marked them as members of parliament and one shaman in teal vestments—waited at the entrance to the docking area. As the sounds of footsteps coming down the ramp rang behind her, Betinsa hurried to the Fraiquans. Just as soon as she stood before them, she dropped to her knees and bowed her head. “I’m here to beg your mercy,” she said in her own language. “Not for myself, but for my friends. They have done nothing wrong. The sin of violating the sanctity of Katenya falls solely on my shoulders. Punish me. I am ready to face a righteous death. But spare the others. Please. And spare my family shame. Let them keep their name.”

A blue hand reached out to cup her chin and force her to look up. The shaman smiled down at her. “My child, you should not kneel before us.”

“But, sir, I—”

His hands grasped her upper arms as he forced her to stand. “Do you not see that we are the ones who should kneel before you?”

She blinked, not trusting her eyes as the senators and the shaman doffed their hats, each dropping to one knee and bowing his head. She didn’t even have to look over her shoulder to know that Drake and Matt had come to stand behind her. “I…I don’t understand…”

“You saved the lives of the Charhocks,” the shaman said, his eyes rising to find hers. “And in saving the Charhocks, you saved your world. You’re now exalted, an oracle to your people. We kneel to give you our admiration and our love.”

“But… I don’t want this... I don’t wish anyone to kneel before me.” She tried to grab the shaman’s hand from where it rested against his heart. He reluctantly let her have it, and she tried to tug him to stand. “Please. Please don’t do this.”

The three Fraiquans got back to their feet, smiling and staring at her with such wonder in their eyes, she felt tears brimming her own. Two strong hands settled on her shoulders and the scents of her mates comforted her. Her heart pounded as she tried to take in all that was happening. Her mind refused to believe it.

The shaman bowed to them all. “Oracle Betinsa Nungio,” he said, still in Fraiqui, “we welcome your mates and your friends. We have a feast prepared for the formal joining ceremony between you and your mates tonight. Your family has arrived, your mother ready even now to help you don the robe she wore to join with your fathers.”

None of this was happening. She was supposed to have been slapped in chains by now as they dragged her away to await execution. Her mind simply couldn’t absorb all that the shaman had just said.

Oracle?

Joining ceremony?

That
finally registered. The shaman obviously knew of her
comchi
, probably because he was spiritually attuned to everything that happened on Katenya. But there could be no joining ceremony, it simply couldn’t happen. So as to not embarrass Matt and Drake and force them to tell the shaman that they wouldn’t marry her, she continued in her own tongue. “There can’t be a joining ceremony. I haven’t asked these men to stay with me, nor have they asked me to share their lives with them. They’re humans and don’t follow our customs. They didn’t understand the importance of claiming me as their mate.”

An angry spark flashed in the shaman’s eyes, his frown as fierce as Earth’s winter wind. His fingers brushed the small scars on each side of her neck. “You bear the marks of your mates! And they
dare
refuse you the joining?”

She shook her head. “They have never refused me. I can’t ask them to take part in our customs. Our ways are not their ways. They may wish to return to Earth without me as their wife. There shall be no joining ceremony.”

“But…but…”

Betinsa shook her head again and continued in English, knowing Matt and Drake would start asking questions if they weren’t included soon. She prayed Drake didn’t know enough Fraiqui to understand all that she’d explained to the shaman. The faster they got through this, the less humiliation she’d feel. Giving the senators and the shaman her best hard stare, she said, “These people and this Odiran shall be allowed to leave on the
Fearless
.” Whirling around to face her friends, she tried to find the proper words. “All is well. I’m not to be punished. Since the Charhocks survived because of us—”