Chapter 19

Ophelia

I had never been the violent type, but for the first time in my life I truly wanted to harm someone in the most vicious fashion. The mere thought of my fist connecting repeatedly with that wretched female’s face was literally orgasmic. The absolute gall of Oluina and her mother just blew my mind. In what world would Gaelec apologize to them or even consider returning to the life of near servitude and helplessness they had trapped him in? Especially considering what he had now…

But it was also her shameless cowardice that she would try to duel me that made her all the more despicable. Even the two huntresses who had accompanied her looked increasingly disgusted with her behavior. The stupid bitch didn’t know when to quit. She just kept digging her grave deeper and deeper. Although they were all relatives, I could see these two females either demanding that she step down as Head Huntress or for them to decide to leave the Pride as well.

As relieved as I felt to see Ylis return just in time to send that foul lot back from whence they came, I had not actually feared for my own safety. The entire village would have stepped in to keep her from assaulting me. It would have simply sucked to have the story going around about how all the males of the Gyota Pride ganged up on a huntress, beating her into submission before casting her out merely because she had wanted to challenge their matriarch. It didn’t take much to destroy a reputation. Sadly, a mere whisper often sufficed as people were usually far too lazy to actually investigate the truth and facts behind the rumors they heard.

The smile stretching my lips as I watched Gaelec silently taunt Moriak when Oluina finally decided to leave turned to shock and then horror when my mate suddenly shoved me out of the way. It was only as I fell back from the strength of the push that I finally understood what had prompted what looked like an unprovoked attack. Almost in a blur, I saw a blade flash by, right where my face had been but seconds prior, slicing through my husband’s arm in the process.

A painful gasp escaped me half a beat later as I landed hard on my butt, and a lancing pain radiated through my leg. But I cast the pain right out of my mind. Fueled by adrenaline, I jumped back onto my feet and whipped out my blaster while everyone around us appeared to burst into action. My surroundings faded, my whole world entirely focused on my nemesis as I watched her yanking out a second dagger from her weapons belt. Before it even had a chance to leave her hand, I had my blaster trained on her, and I fired without hesitation.

The shot struck her straight in the chest. The way she flew back before landing hard on the ground, you’d think she’d been hit by a battering ram. It was somewhat accurate. Her entire body began to shake, rocked by violent spasms of the powerful electric discharge from my blaster set to maximum Taser mode. I silently thanked all the powers that be that I had opened the latch that kept my blaster secured in its holster on my hips as soon as I realized who was coming.

I liked being ready in case of foul play. And today, that might have saved a life.

Ylis and the other females of our Pride—who had been rushing towards Oluina to intercept her after her initial attack—shifted as one with an eerie level of synchronism to tackle the other two females who had come with her cousin.

But I only had eyes for my husband. Like our females, seeing Oluina out of commission, he instantly switched his attention to Moriak, who was coming at him with his spear raised. That angered me far more than it freaked me out. Having seen my mate battle the idiots who had sought to depose him, I had no worries about his skills on that front. However, duels never involved piercing weapons as they were not to the death. He should be using a staff, like Gaelec was, or settle for a fist fight should the proper type of weapon not be available. Granted, he was visibly acting on instinct to seeing his Head Huntress knocked out.

But that fight literally ended in less than a minute.

The two males, approximately ten meters apart, ran towards each other. Kazaer, Faran, and Danel were rushing Latsa and Olmar, who immediately raised their hands in surrender.

Gaelec only ran three steps towards Moriak before leaping forward like a jaguar. I’d read about Nazhrals being similar to many felines in their abilities to jump five to six times their own height. But this blew my mind. My mate shot forward like a bullet, taking his opponent by surprise, who then attempted to jump over him.

Mid-air, Gaelec twisted around, slamming Moriak’s legs with his staff just as he was leaping over him. The latter cried out as he was sent crashing onto the ground, face first. His attempt at twisting into landing on all fours failed miserably. But my man, carried by his momentum, landed into a roll and directly back onto his paws. He raced back to his rival, who was scrambling to get up. Another savage blow of Gaelec’s staff on the back of his legs had him roaring in pain.

Pressing his knee on the small of his back, my mate yanked Moriak’s head back by his mane and swiped his right hand in front of his throat. For half a beat, I thought he’d slit the fool’s throat. To my relief, his hand stopped but a few centimeters from his neck, vicious claws extruded, ready to finish him.

“I yield!” Moriak shouted, his voice filled with pain and panic.

A slow, steady growl flowed out of my mate as he continued to hold his nemesis’ head back, making him bend backward at an angle that had to be excruciating. Judging by the force with which Gaelec fisted his hair on his nape, I was surprised a clump hadn’t been torn right off.

For a scary moment, my mate appeared to fight the urge to kill anyway, or at least to beat him to a pulp. The whirlwind of emotion that flashed over his features told a story of grief, rage, loss, and hatred. Moriak destroyed so many lives, stole his youth, and enabled the downfall of one of Melelyn’s long-standing Prides. I couldn’t fault my mate for wanting to exact revenge.

But he couldn’t go down that path.

A muscle ticked on his temple, and he pulled his upper lip into a snarl. A part of me felt this was a battle he needed to win on his own. Yet another screamed that, as his partner, it was my duty to draw him back into the light when he began to stray.

The latter won.

“Gaelec, my love, he’s not worth it,” I said in a soft voice.

A violent shudder coursed through him. His steady growling stopped abruptly, and he blinked as if emerging from a trance. Despite that, he didn’t release him right away, but he lowered the hand that had been hovering in front of Moriak’s throat, ready to shred it to pieces. His claws retracted, and he stared at the back of the older male’s head with a mix of hatred and contempt. The whole time, the pathetic Alpha kept pleading to be released while apparently struggling to breathe.

Suddenly, Gaelec smashed his face into the dirt, although nowhere near hard enough to cause any real harm. Maintaining his face pressed to the ground, my mate leaned forward to speak into his opponent’s ear.

“It took me mere seconds to knock you down and make you snivel and whimper like a wounded cub. Don’t ever come back to my lands again. Don’t ever show your face to me, to my mate, or to anyone that I value. Should we cross paths, no amount of pleading and begging will spare you. Next time, I will break every single bone in your body before I gut you like the animal you are.”

He released him just as brutally and got off him with an air of pure disgust on his face. His almost feral look, with his fangs bared, was both terrifying as hell and sexy as fuck. He took a couple of steps back while watching his defeated foe spit out the dirt and rocks that had gotten into his mouth when my mate shoved his face into the ground. Head bowed, Moriak clumsily got back up before limping towards the exit.

Oluina—who had been painfully recovering—stared at her defeated Alpha with burning resentment. She turned to us and started yelling a bunch of foul words.

I had zero time for that shit.

“Oh, shut the fuck up, pétasse !” I snapped before zapping her again with a second electric jolt.

She fell back down from her sitting position, her body shaken by spams again.

I turned to her companions, the anger I felt visible on my face. “You pick up that trash and take her back to your village. And make sure to warn her that the next time she comes here or tries to mess with me, I won’t be zapping her ass, I’ll put a fucking hole through her. I can’t fight like you Nazhral can, but when I shoot, I don’t miss. She picked the wrong woman to mess with. Get her the fuck out of here.”

They didn’t say a word or even appear to want to argue. Hooking a hand under each of her armpits, her two companions started dragging her towards their speeders.

“Remember well, Moriak, not to ever show your face here again,” Gaelec warned in a tone that brooked no argument, before glaring at Latsa and Olmar who were staring at the whole scene in shock. “And that applies for you both as well. For the record, know that even had you succeeded—which obviously wouldn’t happen—you could never get your greedy hands on any of this advanced technology. The day I leave Gyota, all this leaves with me, as per my agreement with the UPO.”

He waved at the beautiful village we had steadily been erecting.

“You want something like this? Earn it instead of trying to leech off the work of others. Now get out of my village,” Gaelec spat.

“ Enculé !” I muttered at the idiot as he clumsily got back onto his speeder.

One of the females shared a speeder with Oluina, who seemed too out of it to ride on her own. They set her own speeder to follow and left under the jeers and mockery of the rest of our Pride.

Although they all stated that they would not follow another Alpha should Gaelec ever be defeated, I still hated that this possibility existed. Clearly, my man was badass. But where will things stand twenty years from now? Granted, an Alpha wasn’t technically obligated to accept a challenge. A would-be usurper could simply be driven out of the village by everyone. I wanted to believe that this would be the stance he adopted going forward.

Gaelec turned to look at me with an amused expression. “What did you just call him? Is that the word for male prostitute?”

I snorted and shook my head. “No. Generally, it would be like calling someone an asshole or motherfucker. But the literal translation for this one means a person who got fucked in the ass,” I admitted sheepishly.

He burst out laughing and shook his head as if I was a hopeless case. But considering what just went down, I believed the epithet was more than appropriate.

“You’re wounded,” I said, grabbing his wrist to look at the cut on his forearm.

“It’s nothing, my mate. Those fancy medical pods Kayog sent us will have me as good as new in minutes,” Gaelec said reassuringly.

I still took a moment to have a closer look to make sure it didn’t require an urgent intervention. Only then did I look at him with the depth of emotions he awakened in me.

“You saved my life, just now,” I said, my throat constricting with emotion.

“I did half the job, you did the other,” he said. “Although you let her off easy.”

“Not really…”

“Yes, you did,” Ylis interjected. “This was a murder attempt that nearly succeeded. She spilled blood after trespassing on another Pride’s lands. Based on our laws, her actions warrant her execution.”

“Maybe so, but ultimately, no one died,” I argued. “At the end of the day, I don’t want her blood on my hands. You’ve seen how the other huntresses and the two males who accompanied them looked at Oluina and Moriak. I may not be an expert in Prides, but I am certain these two will be demoted when they return home.”

“Moriak will be cast out,” Danel said with conviction. “He was defeated in thirty seconds and squealed like a swine for mercy. The huntresses will demand his removal and eviction.”

Ylis nodded. “Moriak is done for. As for Oluina, if Rozel doesn’t demote her, they will both fall.”

“Well, that’s no longer our problem. We have an amazing new home, and an even more amazing Pride. Let’s not give those idiots any more of our time,” I said.

After a few more cheers, everyone scattered to get back to their work, except for Faran and Kazaer who headed into the forest to make sure the intruders were indeed going back to their own village.

“Now let’s go patch you up,” I said, rubbing my nose against his.

It immediately began to twitch, his whiskers flailing as he fought the urge to sneeze. I burst out laughing before I kissed his lips.