Chapter 20

Rael pushed himself to the very edge of his endurance, the muscles in his legs screaming as he tore through the wilderness.

He was getting closer.

In the dead of night, under a sky full of alien stars, he was gaining on them.

Elian”s kidnapper was heading straight for the city. Rael could see the route Korvax was taking, his feet barely touching the ground as he ran through the night.

If Rael didn”t stop him, then as soon as he got there, he was going to sell Elian.

And then there”d be nothing that Rael could do to get him back.

At the break of dawn, Rael finally caught sight of them.

In the distance, Korvax was running through a clearing in the wilderness, its thick underbrush bordered by two steep hills. At the end of the clearing, the path to the city waited, its spires just beginning to glow with the first light of dawn.

He had a captive slung over his shoulder, and by the stars, that captive was…

Alive. Still fighting.

Relief and fury warred in Rael”s chest. He”d catched up to them just in time.

Elian was battered and bruised, his head hanging down, his long hair hiding his face. His bound feet dangled down by Korvax”s hip, his bound hands hanging limply in front of him. Even in his bedraggled state, there was a fiery defiance to him, a refusal to be completely cowed.

Rael”s mate. His human.

He was alive.

Rael gritted his teeth, fury and determination warring in his breast. He was going to stop this bastard. He was going to take Elian back.

Korvax whipped around at the first sound of Rael”s racing footsteps, headed straight toward him. He bared his teeth savagely, but without surprise — he had to have known that Rael would be after him. ”Took you long enough. You must be getting old.”

Elian had been hanging over Korvax”s shoulder, but at that, he looked up. ”Rael!” he cried.

Rael”s jaw clenched. He was going to break every bone in Korvax”s smug face. ”Let him go.”

Korvax raised an eyebrow. ”Oh, I don”t think I will. You see, I”m about to sell this little pretty thing.”

Rael reached for his blade. ”Over my dead body”

”That can be arranged.”

Korvax cast Elian to the ground, and charged. Rael roared, and he met Korvax head on.

And as he lunged into battle, his heart burst with one singular, undeniable emotion, drowning out all others.

Love.

He loved Elian. He”d denied it at first, trying to ignore it, but now it filled him with a fierce, undeniable strength. He was willing to do anything to keep Elian safe, even if it meant facing down an army, even if it meant breaking every single one of his kind”s rules.

He was an alpha Borraq, in love with a human — and he was going to fight to save him.

Korvax struck first, his movements a flurry of wicked precision honed by a lifetime of underhanded dealings. But Rael was prepared, his own combat skills forged by the harsh demands of the wilds. He deflected the blows with an ease born of intense training, his counter-attacks scoring glancing hits that only enraged Korvax further.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rael caught Elian flinching, the human clearly awed by the ferocity of the exchange. He longed to offer reassurance, but couldn”t spare the distraction. Not while Elian”s freedom was at stake.

Wait for me, my mate…!