Page 69 of Queen Isabella

The giant orange gorilla attempted to slap Bellator away, but he bit down on the gorilla’s forearm and yanked Soleno off balance, tossing him to the ground. Bellator didn’t let up and continued shaking his head. Soleno roared in pain when his arm and part of his torso separated from his hairy gorilla body.

Oh god!She gasped in horror, not sure if she saw organs before the strange Vorto biology kicked in and sealed the wound. Where the wound had been, a new arm started rapidly growing, reforming a smaller gorilla. If there was a new arm, what was happening to the old one? Her gaze swung toward Bellator.

The severed arm fluxed into plasm and dangled from Bellator’s jaws, slowly oozing toward the ground. He spat it out, and it instantly morphed into one of Soleno’s betas.

“What the…” She blinked, perpetually stunned by the Vorto’s abilities and mortified by the violence at the same time.

Soleno and his beta rolled out of striking distance and remerged. Bellator followed, slashing with his paws. Soleno kept backing away. Bellator changed tactics. While reared up on his hindlegs, he shifted into Vorto form. If she thought the Vorto were tall before, this version of Bellator mixed with Invicta and Militus was absolutely huge. His fists looked like weapons of mass destruction as he swung at the overgrown orange gorilla. She cringed, scrunching up in her seat as the pair traded kicks and punches.

“No. No. No. No,” she murmured, though it was drowned out by each hive shouting advice to either Bellator or Soleno.

Bellator made a sweeping kick. As his foot made contact, Soleno’s arm formed a blade, and stabbed Bellator in the chest. Militus, Invicta, and Bellator instantly separated, and Bellator lay convulsing on the ground. He was having trouble holding his humanoid form, his plasm was pouring out of his gut, staining the dirt like blood.

“No!” Isa screamed. She leapt off her seat and raced inside the circle. “Stop this!” she wailed, getting between Soleno and her teddy bear. “Stop. Someone please help Bellator.” She dropped down beside him, tears flooding her eyes.

To her surprise, Soleno stepped back, his horrible giant blade turning back into an arm, as he separated from his two betas.

Her hive swarmed around Bellator, looking equally shocked.

“Please! Please help him,” she pleaded with Artifex and Phara as her hands fluttered over Bellator. If he was human, she’d know what to do, put pressure on the wound, but he wasn’t.

The grim expression on Artifex and Phara’s faces made her tears flow faster.

“My queen, I’m sorry I failed you,” Bellator rasped, his mournful voice in her mind already sounding weak.

“No! You did not fail me!” Isa adamantly shook her head. “We have to do something, now! We have to get him back to the hive. Use that machine that fixed me?”

“It is reserved for queens,” Bellator murmured.

“No. Please. Use it on him!” she demanded as she caressed Bellator’s trembling cheek.

“All right.” Artifex nodded.

Artifex fused with the other servitors from their hive, fluxing into a truly large purple hawk. Gently they picked Bellator up with their talons and took off for the mountain.

“Fly fast.” She blew them a kiss.

She wanted to go with them, to be by her sweet teddy bear’s side. She would have if it weren’t for this stupid competition. This horrible tragedy undoubtedly meant her hive lost theConlatus, but at the moment all she cared about was whether Bellator would be okay.

Isa looked away from the shrinking sight of Bellator being rushed to their mountain home, to find Soleno, Andren, Lehzen and the rest of the Nemus gathered opposite of Phara and her hive. Both sides were staring expectantly at her.

What fresh hell is going to happen now?Her shoulders slumped. She knew this day was going to be terrible. She’d read about ancient war games on Earth, yet that didn’t begin to compare to seeing the violence up close. Supposedly this was better than full blown war between the hives, but it didn’t feel better. Her heart was breaking.

“Did you decide, my queen?” Andren asked her.

“Did I decide?” Isa cocked her head. Maybe the midday alien sun was cooking her brains. But that couldn’t be the case because she’d been under shelter all morning. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Decide what?”

The Nemus trio and even Phara looked confused.

“The winner of theConlatus. You decide what hive you want,” Galis answered.

For a moment Isa thought Galis had oversimplified things, since he was prone to doing that. Except, the way both hives continued to stare at her, they were seriously waiting for her to answer.

It felt like she was struck by a bolt of lightning. Isa staggered from the shock.

Could it honestly be that simple?She wandered back to her seat under the leafy awning.

Everything that happened that day tumbled through her mind. TheConlatusstarted with a dance. She’d joked to herself that it was a mating dance since Phara’s moves were so erotic. But maybe it actually was a mating dance, showing off the skills of the consorts from both hives.

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