Chapter 22

cannot believe I let that fucking laser hit us. Shit! We were going down.

I hit the evacuation button. My crew would eject in the pods. I needed to kill that Kanenites asshole to give us more time. I lined the enemy ship up and fired. Yes! I'd shoot it twice if I could vaporize that ass again, just for the inconvenience of having to crash my girl's ship. I looked at Terrek. I gave him the nod, signaling that he would escape with Darah.

"Go to the jump pod. Leave now!" I yelled at Terrek. I could see the pain in his eyes.We discussed this, and he promised me. For a second, I thought he would grab me, too. He better not. I need to save whoever cannot make it to the eject pods."Take her," I said.I was glancing at Darah as she broke my heart. She was crying to get me. I love those two. ?Goddess Dammit! You better not let me die. I am not ready to leave them yet. We just barely started.' I prayed.

Okay, it was time to focus. My heart pounded, and I locked onto the pod carrying my mates. My wrist communicator will now be able to locate them. I sent an alert to the fighters that were assigned to flank me. They knew that protecting my mate's pod was a priority.

Damn this thing. It must be the Kanenites' engineering because this was a piece of shit compared to the Galactic ships. The upgrades I installed were the only reason I could keep flying, but barely.

Most of my crew had ejected. Fuck, here we go. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"I pull hard to maneuver the ship with an extended and engaged manual joystick. Meaning we were screwed. Ember ran through the smoke with Candy in tow. Great, just great! Another stubborn female who doesn?t obey orders. I would reem her ass if I weren?t out of Time."Brace yourself for impact!"Was all I could get out when Ember morphed with her wings exploding from her back. She grabbed the beast, Candy, and me. She wrapped us up in a cocoon of her tuff wings.Ember's arms suddenly wrapped around me, and I was cocooned tightly with Candy wrapped up in leathery wings. I felt the scales rubbing my cheek raw and the sudden thunder and jolt of the crash. The Ship bounced and skid to a stop.Ember had us protected in her wings. She rolled to unfurl her wings and let Candy and me free of her embrace.I stood in the smoke and transformed into my battle form. Ember grabbed Candy and used her wings to cover him as she ran through the fire. I ran after her, the fire licking my body but not scorching me. As soon as I made it outside the ship, Kanenites, and Galactic fighters were engaged in a laser blast fight above us. An enemy ground transport was heading our way, firing at us.Ember transformed into a vast blue dragon. Incredible! I thought her wings were excellent inside the ship, but this beast was a new level of badass. I dodged a laser from a craft above. My Galactic Warriors made a hit on that asshole. The ship exploded, and shrapnel flew at me.Fuck!? I yelled as I hit the sandy surface of this moon, going prone and covering my neck.My new dragon friend flapped her wings so hard I was dragged a few feet on the surface while that ship's debris was blown away. I owe her. I can't handle another spinal injury. Ember was blowing her fire at the Kanenites' ships. Where can I recruit a fleet of these dragons? I stood up and felt a brutal hit to the back of my ribs.I have had it with this bitch! Andromeda was attacking me. I turned and raked my finger claws across her face. The deep scorch of my fingers wounded her face. My nails marked her face forever with my strike. The look on Andromeda's face was comical. She wasn't expecting my battle form. Fear reached her malicious features as she evaluated me.Now I understand how Candy feels, wanting to kill this chick."That's right, run, make this fun, you evil shit," I growled in my monstrous battle-form voice.In the event of a crash, the core power system shuts down, allowing the stasis containment to be awoken and set free. It?s too bad in this case. Now Andromeda was on the run.The dragon burned the ground transport and picked it up, tossing it into three flying fighters like blazing cannons. The three ships crashed, and she set them ablaze.Candy ran past me as he chased after Andromeda. He pounced and latched onto her arm. Part of me was disappointed I didn't get to her first. I ran up to them."Please don't let him kill me!""Good boy, Candy, it's not time to kill her yet." I reached for Andromeda and yanked her to her feet. Candy did not let go of his hold on her arm. When he pulled away, her arm came with him. He hissed and roared at her, pointing his tail. The threat was so intense I got a fisher of fear. Shaking it off, I held Andromeda in a tight grip. I slapped a clotting pad on her shoulder's severed arm wound.Defeated and resigned to being my captive, Andromeda went limp as I dragged her behind me.A couple of Kanenites manage to escape their burning crashed ship. Candy ran after them next. He pounced on one and stung the other with his tail. I felt like he was taking out his aggression on the enemy. Giving my captive a view of how vicious he could be.Terrek tried to warn me of the chetaht predator, but nothing could prepare me for this sight. The gore from his powerful bites and claws I get, but the guy that was melting from the inside out after that stinger tail struck. Now, he looks like he was dipped in acid. Gross! That was indeed a dangerous stinger. I was so glad that Candy liked me.Andromeda may be an asset since her father was so high-ranking in this universe. I pulled her to the prison wall and checked the clotting pad. She screamed from the pain.The wall surrounding the prison was a cold reminder that my mates were inside. I noticed the atmospheric towers as a ship had almost crashed into them. I wonder how long we could breathe if the tower were destroyed.With a new urgency, I placed a demolishing grenade on the wall. Running away, dragging this woman with me. The wall exploded. The sky was filling up with more and more Galactic ships, we are taking the lead over this battle.As I breached the wall, I was ambushed in hand-to-hand combat. Dropping Andromeda, I heard her weakly cry out to be saved by her kind. Ember and Candy joined me in our ground fight."Take Candy and Find my mates, I ordered. I will be there shortly. They may need backup more than I do."Ember looked around briefly, accessing my opponents. She shrugged and took Candy to help my mates. Knowing that dragon and Candy would protect my loves, something inside my chest calmed. I faced the enemy before me and let my finger spray my fires out. Molten liquid set blaze to the beings that thought they had a chance when they attacked me.A mass of Kanenites rushed me, and I lost my captive in the swarm of beings that engaged me. I set off another grenade, and bodies blew apart all around me. A galactic fighter ship gave me cover. I broke free of the ambush and recovered Andromeda, who had been abandoned and left lying on the grey powdery surface of the moon. I ran for the prison and my mates.I saw several Kanenites ships launching off the moon and taking heavy fire. Most crashed in a fiery blaze, and one or two slipped by. I entered the building and went through a maze of smoke and rubble.Finally, I saw my mates surrounded by the nude females held here. The sight made me want to return to the fight and execute more savagery to the evil kind that would treat beings this way.One way or another, I will prevail in this war. Candy pounced once again, this time to greet me with slobbery kisses. I was glad he is worthy and on my side. I gave him a quick pat on his head as I saw my Darah, her nose swollen and her uniform bloody and frayed. She ran into my arms.Don?t ever send me away like that again. I lost my mind thinking you died in a fiery crash.? She said to me in tears.How did I get this lucky to have her and her pure love for me? I looked over at Terrek while I hugged her. The love that shined in his eyes melted me."I love you too," I said to Darah, meaning it, and I felt bad I hurt her by sending her away. Their safety was always my priority, so I could not promise I wouldn't do it again if needed.This battle was wrapping up. I sent orders to salvage Darah's things from the ship I crashed. I know that the guitar and her sack from Earth are essential to her. I felt bad I crashed her ship. I knew she claimed it and was proud to have it as hers. It was her new home, and I wanted her to have it her way. Her happiness was important to me.We made our way to the triage rescue ship. Those females needed a lot of assistance to heal from this imprisonment. My reports showed favorable odds for us in this war. I really can't stand a tyrant. I was feeling so grateful that we survived and had a successful mission. I just mentioned something to my mates about the reports I was getting."Thank you, Flame, for saving my people and all those who were slaves," Terrek said.He passed out and fell into my arms, realizing he was injured badly. My fear for him replaced any rational thought."Medic!" I cried."Terrek, baby, why didn't you tell us you were hurt this badly." I cried as I lowered him to the floor."Terrek, oh my god, no!" Darah cried as she sank next to his other side.I pulled off his boots and lost my breath, revealing a bloody wound. When a pool of blood poured out like a wave all over me and the floor. Franticly, I pulled another clotting pad and placed it on his thigh. The Clotting pad failed him. He lost too much blood, and the wound was bigger than the pad."Terrek, don't leave me, fight Terrek, fight!" I cried.The medics pulled Darah and me away from Terrek. I growled as I transformed and barely stopped myself from striking out to get to Terrek. Ember stepped in and contained me. She is probably the only thing strong enough to do so now. Darah's sobs only amplified my pain."Calm! Flame." Ember ordered in my ear.All rational thought was gone. Fear and anger had made me wild. I had never lost it like this before. Part of me could hear Darah crying. Most of me was scared for Terrek.Darah reached for me. Her touch gave me a piece of sanity back, just enough to snap out of it.