Page 292 of Hunters and Prey

Chapter 4

Roman

City of Orun

Planet Anarr

The Hai System

Roman adjusted his armor and then activated it. Metal shot out from his back to reinforce the bones in his wings. A nearly invisible shield covered the membrane. The rest of it reinforced his organs, forearms, and shins. Anything else could be managed.

“It was reported to have minimal activity,” Leo said, hanging out the side of the transport ship to peer at the City of Orun below them. “We’ve never had much Neprijat presence on Anarr to begin with since we’re the closest to the sun – easy to box in.”

Roman nodded. He knew this, but not taking precautions was stupid. They hadn’t before and look what happened.

An entire race had bowed before the Neprijat when they arrived on their doorstep. Roman understood why, but he was still furious about it. He would much rather have fought the scourge even if it meant there would be no Drakesthai survivors.

“This should be quick,” Alexei said, tossing a plasma rifle to Leo. “How many more Neprijat outposts before they’re cleared completely?”

Roman caught the second rifle and checked the plasma chamber. “I’ve sent Mikhail to lead a team in the City of Cieux. There are four others on the planet, and then those orbiting Anarr. There will be much to do. We have to make sure that as much of it is done as possible before the Draga queen sends orders to wipe Hai clean of the Neprijat. After all, she’s tasked us with clearing the space from here to the Draga border.”

Both Leo and Alexei nodded their understanding. Then they left to check on the rest of the warriors.

Sometimes Roman wondered if the disease hadn’t been unleashed on his people…if they hadn’t lost so many of their numbers, would they have still bowed before the Neprijat?

The ruling council on Hai Delta had decided that they would rather accept the scourge overlords than be wiped out completely thanks to the disease that had been set upon them two centuries before.

A disease given to them by Draga – where his mate was from. Roman still didn’t know how to feel about it, though the queen had already changed so much of his thinking on the matter.

But that still didn’t change the fact that two hundred cycles ago his people had answered King Beo of Draga’s call for aid. They had helped Draga push the Neprijat back in their brief alliance. There were pics and vids and battle reports to prove it.

Yet none of that proof existed in Draga. Roman had scented the truth of Queen Adelina’s words when she’d told them as much.

Which meant the disease hadn’t been solely on Draga.

After the war was won and the shield against the Neprijat had been erected around the Draga System, their contact with his people had dwindled to nothing. That shield had kept them separate from everyone else, and the one Drakesthai envoy his people had sent to request help with the disease had been denied.

King Beo hadn’t believed any in the Draga System could have poisoned the Drakesthai. The king had blamed the Neprijat, who certainly had the tech for it.

Roman watched as they descended on the outpost, aiming for one of the landing stations. He supposed the king had been right about the Neprijat bit, but the matter was complicated. It hadn’t just been the Neprijat.

‘Multiplied like vermin’ was the phrase some in Draga had used to describe the Drakesthai.

After that first war with the Neprijat it took almost ten cycles for the Drakesthai physicians to even consider a targeted disease – a biological weapon. Roman couldn’t imagine the terror his people felt when those first females died in droves during childbirth. The infants hadn’t survived either. Female babes became increasingly rare until there wasn’t more than one female child per mother – those that survived the process.

And that was if they could even conceive.

It was why they’d tweaked their genes a century ago so that one Drakesthai female would have multiple mates. It was supposed to increase the odds of offspring, but so many of the same problems continued to persist.

His own mother, Zoya, had conceived one female child, but his sister had been stillborn.

Oddly enough the genetic tweaks didn’t always hold true which was why males occasionally mated to an Unchanged Human female and were able to have offspring. The babes were almost always born without wings though, and almost always male.

Until Queen Adelina had arrived, all attempts at reversing the infertility and lack of females were failures. If they tried to ensure a female was born, the miscarriage killed the mother every single time without fail. It was a vicious, effective disease that had planned for the long-term. And his people didn’t possess the same medical prowess Draga did.

That his mate possessed.

The transport landed and Roman checked all his weapons, eyeing his brothers as they did the same.

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