Chapter Twenty-Five

*Ragnar*

Pain. It eats at my every nerve ending, feeling like a living creature that crawls beneath my scales to torment me. Lights and colors flash in my mind, none of them solidifying enough for me to truly see, only feel. It is maddening.

Wave after wave of the maddening agony swamps me until I can only do my best to ride them out, resting between the worst bits. I fight with all my might to return to the surface, each throb of pain a hit to my consciousness. Awareness that I am needed drives me to try and wake. Reggie. Her touch and her words are the only thing that help to ground me through it all.

Unlike the last time I was immobilized by the Naga venom, I am aware of who is waiting on me. My mate needs me. Talnag and the others are with her, but my beast and I are the ones she truly needs. That resolve helps me fight the venom faster this time. My body heats up, using energy to break it down. It leaves me locked in the prison of my mind, only able to count down the seconds until I can be with her once more.

When the last of the venom is rendered useless, I gleefully try to rise above this in-between state…only to find that I cannot. My mind and body do not respond to my commands. Another wave of color and light crashes into me, knocking me further away from my mate.

Rage consumes me, my own body betraying me. Like a battering ram, I slam into my own consciousness repeatedly, praying each time that I will come back to myself, that I will open my eyes and see her lovely face.

“Ragnar! No!” Her screams penetrate my mind like daggers. Renewing my efforts to return to her, I snarl out my anger.

“Reggie!” I growl out, hoping she can hear me. That she knows I am fighting to get back to her.

“Bring him back to us.” A foreign voice cuts in, the clicking in the words raising my mental guards faster than I thought possible. The knowledge of that voice is just out of reach, floating away on a blast of color as pain slams into my mind. This pain is different from the pain in my body. This pain feels like a direct assault on my mind.

My vocal cords aren’t capable of a scream, but I come close as the white-hot pain eats into every corner of my mind, body and soul, burning like lava. At first I fight it, wanting to escape the agony. Until I see it destroying the colors and lights, providing me an escape from my own mental hell. Slamming against the barriers that hold me trapped in my own mind, I finally break free.

With a gasping snarl, I am back in my body in a flash. Debilitating agony radiates from my wounds but I shut it out, focusing my wavering vision on my mate. I find her unerringly, processing what I am seeing in a flash. She is being hauled away by a Gilgamite, her arms and legs swinging as she tries to fight. It does nothing to stop the alien, her body slight in his massive grasp. I’ve always considered the Gilgamites to be small, but compared to my tiny mate they are huge.

A roar is ripped from my throat, a challenge as I stumble to my feet. The Gilgamite holding her halts for a moment, casting an unconcerned look my way before continuing to drag her towards a door off to the side.

Warning bells ring in my mind telling me that I can’t let him get her out of my sight. Launching myself forward, I am unprepared when my momentum only serves to slam me back to the ground. Thrashing, I fight the bonds holding all of my legs captive, as well as the collar around my neck. More pain fills me when I feel my scales being shredded beneath the familiar metal.

This set-up is far too similar to those that held me captive on the ship. I fought for a long time to be free of them but eventually gave up because it only ever caused damage to my body. Giving up is not an option this time.

Garnering my waning energy, I lunge forward again. The drag of metal on the floor is torturous but I manage to move a few inches. Again and again, I throw myself forward, roaring out my challenge as Reggie is taken further and further from me.

“Magnificent. Run his diagnostics but make sure to cinch him down. We don’t need him chopping off his own head in the process.” A voice clicks from just out of my view. I pay it no heed, watching with a building fury as my mate disappears into the darkness beyond my reach.

“Reggie!” I shout, calling her name as if it will summon her back to me. Throwing my weight forward, a pained whine escapes when I slice into my neck. The voice has reason to worry. I will slice my own head off if it means my mate is safe. I would do anything for her. Anything.

Tensing my muscles, preparing to do just that, I am not prepared for the chains and cuffs to tighten, dragging me to the floor so that I am completely trapped. Only my head can move, swiveling side to side.

“Elevated heart rates, multiple surface level contusions and a fractured back leg.” Another clicking voice intones, a standard looking Gilgamite moves in front of my face, tapping his long gray fingers on the screen of his data pad.

“Bring me my mate.” I snap, lunging for him even though it does no good. Unconcerned with my show of violence, the male looks up at me with his giant eyes. They are emotionless as he regards me, debating how to respond to my request.

“Your mate will remain with our doctors until her examination is done.” This voice comes from my other side. Twisting as much as I can, I catch sight of someone I had personally hoped to never see again. General Chlithinaxa. We never interacted personally, but we all knew his name. He was the overseer of the experiments performed on the ship.

“If you harm her, no amount of restraints will stop me or save you.” I grit out, baring my fangs. I expect anger. When he grins his own fangs at me, I am taken aback. Gilgamites are not known for their shows of emotion. They are universally known as being bland and emotionless. The perfect scientist who never gets to emotionally involved in anything they do.

“Forgive my slip in protocol but I can’t explain how happy your threats make me.” General Chlithinaxa murmurs, rubbing his chin with his talon tipped fingers.

“Sir, he has full functioning genitalia, and his sperm count is within normal range.” The other Gilgamite says out loud. A shiver of revulsion runs through me when I remember how they gained their data over sperm’s ‘normal range’.

“Fucking gross.” The hushed whisper comes from within the shadows, where I can’t quite see. I don’t need my eyes to know the voice came from a human. Confusion clouds my thoughts when I try to remember how I came to be here. As hard as I try, I can’t remember past the fight with the Nagas.

“Humans have always been nearsighted creatures. ‘Fucking gross’ is hardly the way to talk about something that is quite literally saving your world.” General Chlithinaxa quips, turning to stare at the human in question.

“We mean no offense.” Another man says, trying to placate the general. Sheriff Sam.

“Find Reggie, Sam. If she is safe, then I will not murder every single human within one hundred miles.” I send a vibration out, emphasizing my point. A mumbled grunt tells me I hit my target, even though I can’t see him from my vantage point on the ground.

“He will not be doing that. Reggie is perfectly safe. I wouldn’t search across this whole region for a successful pairing only to kill her now. She is the first documented human that has mated with one of my beasts. They have mated, right?” The General asks, aiming his last question at the other Gilgamite. When he nods, rage ignites my blood when I consider how they would know that information.

“DO NOT TOUCH HER!” I snarl, throwing myself into my bonds once more. Uncaring of my wounds, I fight, needing to get to my mate. To see for myself that she is alright. A loud sigh of displeasure escapes both Gilgamites.

“Sedate him so that we can fix his wounds. Instincts make for a messy business. Thank the gods that we do not have these barbaric impulses.” I want to argue, but the world goes black before I can even flinch at the needle that pierces my neck.