Page 74 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

“Where?” Mia breathed, but Alara was already turning away, placing herself between the dueling men and the humans, her own sword drawn.

Mia caught a glimpse of Zoran’s eyes and inhaled sharply. White hot fury gleamed in his face, matched only by the deceptively calm eagerness in Kaelen’s eyes.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “They’re going to kill each other.”

“Mia,” someone hissed, and with that, Mia turned and fled.

Zoran faced Kaelen, bitter rage twisting inside him. He’d tolerated the other warlord’s insolence for far too long, both before the disasters and after. That Drexus now wanted contact with the human women, after so viciously opposing Zoran in the Warlord Council, was bad enough. But now to approach a mated female?

To touchhisfemale?

And to have Mia accept that touch meekly, to bestow her beautiful smile upon that wretched northern claw?

Zoran’s vision narrowed to the warlord who had thwarted him at every turn. “I shall kill you for looking upon my mate.”

Kaelen smirked, his sword held at his side. “Will you then kill every male here as well? For surely all who have met your beloved have admired her grace and charm.”

“She is not a work of art for the masses to admire.”

“I know too well what she is, Zoran. Howhumanshe is.” Kaelen rotated his wrist, swinging his sword in a neat and deadly circle of glinting steel. “I grow weary of talk. Attack me or run after your littleklika.”

The insult hit Zoran exactly as Kaelen had intended it to, breaking Zoran’s control over his fury. He whipped his sword in an arc, swiping the sharpened tip at Kaelen’s midriff.

Kaelen leaned back, narrowly avoiding evisceration, and laughed. “The Southern clans must have forgotten their discipline, for yours to break so easily.”

“A warrior of the southern clans would never insult another mate’spjora-la.”

“What insult did I proffer upon your exquisite mate? If she were mine, I would never allow her to escape my bed.”

In some dim part of his mind, Zoran knew the other warlord was baiting him, and knew, too, that it was working. Now was the time to pull back, to regain the rigid discipline that had allowed him to rise to the warlord rank in the first place. The discipline that had given him the necessary control to woo his mate when the temptation to simply claim her had ridden him so hard.

Perhaps if the male challenging him were any other, Zoran could have embraced his control. Yet was Kaelen Drexus the male to challenge him, and such challenge must be answered.

Dimly, Zoran remained aware of their surroundings, of the crowd quietening and stepping out of the way. Of his mother placing herself firmly between them and the most vulnerable among them.

And he was aware also of the sneer on Kaelen’s face and of the many, many times the Drexus warlord had thwarted Zoran’s purpose. From the time of their childhoods, when they first entered the clan-wide Ky’Lota trials, Kaelen had set himself against Zoran, for no other reason than that he could.

Then to bring Mia into their feud?

Enough!

With fury adding strength to his blood, Zoran attacked, pressing a hard offensive that few other warlords could hope to match, his sword a merciless harbinger of the Fates’ bidding. Kaelen parried every slash and thrust, eagerly matching Zoran’s zeal as they danced around the pavilion.

They had made a full round when Kaelen made his first offensive move. His sword hacked down, aiming to cleave Zoran’s face in two. Zoran easily blocked the downswing, and the two warlords’ swords slipped along the blades, locking at the guards.

An inhuman scream split the air, sending the first glide of fear along Zoran’s skin.

“Vyirkolen,” Kaelen growled.

Zoran snarled, “Did your Var’Kolite blood urge you to send it to harry my clan?”

“When will you forget the taint of my great-grandmother’s blood?” Kaelen snapped. “Think what you will of me, Zoran, but even I would not risk the future of our race by setting a monster upon the human females.”

Alara snapped her sword flat against one of the pavilion’s posts. “Enough foolishness for one day. We must—”

A woman’s shrill scream pierced Zoran to his soul.

“Mia!” he roared.

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