Page 20 of The Naga Princess's Soldier Mate

Astrexa hissed in fury, but the crowd remained completely silent—eerily so. I could feel all their eyes boring into me, feel the unease that had settled over them. Jabbing my hand at the pile of dead warriors Khawla had left in his wake, I curled my lip in distaste. “You claim to be the most enlightened Clan, the Clan that guards us from another calamity, and this is what you do to each other? Needlessly waste blood, kill and banish your females, deprive your males of a mate!”

That had gotten Aser’s attention, and with a furious hiss, he rose beneath the red silk canopy. So far, he’d acted magnanimously, faintly amused, but I’d crossed the line now. Before he could say anything, Astrexa interfered. “You talk of mates!” she said gleefully. “But your abomination of a male lies dead beneath a tunnel collapse! He is gone, and soon you will follow him!” With a roar, she charged. There was no more time for words or displays, no time for posturing like what usually preceded thesefights. My body knew what to do, though, having gone through these battles hundreds of times before.

Astrexa was also a familiar opponent; she had singled me out from a young age and relentlessly fought with me. Sometimes, we’d clashed multiple times a day. Now that I was not at war with myself over what to do, I felt free—stronger, faster. It was kill or be killed, and I could not die when Reid needed me. There was only one option: defeat Astrexa once and for all.

We were all fangs and claws as we clashed, and I held nothing back, driving Astrexa back across the battlefield with strike after strike, my mating marks glowing like beacons. Vaguely, I recalled campfire stories of the males. They niggled at the back of my mind, trying to tell me something important, but I could not figure it out—not until I struck Astrexa across the face and marred her cheek the way she’d marked mine. The female flew to the side, crashing against the dirt-packed, straw-strewn floor, and skidded several feet away from me.

I glanced at my hand in surprise, my eyes wide at how hard I’d managed to strike my nemesis. That hadneverhappened before; it hadn’t happened before because I didn’t have a mate then. But I had one now, and my bond with Reid was not one-sided. I recalled the rumor: a mated Naga male grew stronger to protect his female. Maybe the myth was true, and maybe my mating marks allowed it to work both ways.

“Did not expect that, did you? I’m stronger now, Astrexa. It’s over. I don’t want the Thunder Rock throne, but you aren’t getting it either,” I told her as I gave her a moment to get back up. She hissed furiously, blood dripping from her face and from the claw marks across her chest. I only felt the sting of somescratches on my hip, nothing more, but I’d scored plenty of hits on her. I did not feel satisfaction about that the way I almost expected, and that relieved me. I did not relish seeing her in pain, humiliated, even if she deserved it. That wasn’t me; that was all her. But I was proud of myself for finally showing her that I would not take her crap.

“Surrender now,” I told her as she began circling me. She could not have signaled more strongly that she was running out of options. Unlike our male counterparts, we always fought face-to-face, but now she was circling to find an opening, to catch me by surprise. If she could, she’d stab me in the back at this point. “Surrender, and your life will be spared,” I warned her as I turned with her, rotating slowly to keep her in my sights.

“Never!” she hissed, her eyes flashing with fury and misplaced pride. The crowd was finally responding; I could hear them roar and hiss, but I did not look at them. If I so much as blinked, Astrexa would strike, and I was not going to fail at the last moment by making a stupid mistake. When she leaped at me, I was ready for her, and we grappled together, tails tangling, claws ripping.

When I rose, it was to tower over an unmoving Astrexa, curled in a ball on the ground. She was not dead, but I’d caught her across the throat in a bad way, and blood was rapidly pumping from the wound. I could not mask the horror I felt at being the one to do that, backing away slowly, my mating marks winking out like they had never been.

“Sazzie!” a voice called out, and in surprise, I turned to search for the source. There he was—my mate. He stood beside Aser, his hand wrapped tightly around the smaller Naga male’s throat,and his eyes glowed silver. He was all right. He was here! My warrior. My soldier. My mate. Standing so proudly inside the nest of the viper, its king his hostage. Yes! We were going to be fine; I knew he’d come for me.

“Reid!” I shouted back at him and began to rush across the pit toward him. I never saw the strike coming, though I should have. Pain flared through my body, and I went tumbling to the ground. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and, from a distance, voices called my name.

Chapter 16

Reid

The distraction I needed came far sooner than I wanted it to, or maybe it just felt that way because I didn’t want it to be her. Sazzie shouldn’t have to put herself in danger—not ever—but she was. Instead of leaping into that pit and fighting the danger for her, I had to be smart about this and trust that she could hold her own. For a little while, at least.

Then she stunned not just me, but the entire crowd with her proud and blatant display. I could barely believe what she was saying; it was too good to be true. The mating marks—they did not lie, and neither did she: proudly declaring me her male, her mate. My brave angel. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected her to make such a bold move. If I wasn’t already head over heels for her, I was now. I loved this girl, this Naga female with the tender heart.

It felt like I was being torn in two as I passed the turned backs of the crowd and moved away from Sazzie rather than toward her. There were too many guards around the fancy sitting area Aser was in, so I could not approach him directly. Thanks to my mate, all eyes were on the fighting pit, where her bold declarations had now ended and transformed into a vicious clash between my mate and her nemesis.

The crowd was deadly silent, stunned by what they had witnessed, but the two battling Naga women made enough noise to cover my approach. It held them all riveted too, even Aser, who had risen and was watching them with a frown onhis squirrelly face. There was a towering pillar not far from where the self-proclaimed King was located, and I used it to my advantage, climbing the thing as high as I could. My fingertips shaped into metal claws with a thought, the nanobots rushing to do my bidding.

Once I was high enough, I timed my leap just right and came crashing through the red fabric roof, directly on top of the viper in charge. We might have been tangled up in all that cloth, but my vision zeroed in on his body heat. My fist curled around his throat before any of his guards could interfere, clenching so tightly that all he could do was splutter and wheeze. “Call off your hounds,” I demanded. I knew he could not understand what I said, but I assumed he’d be able to infer from the context. I was right. He was already hissing at his males to stand down, afraid for his life. The crowd roared now, clamoring together, pointing and shouting at the sight of their King in danger.

I knew his type. They were all cowards at heart, willing to do anything to save their damn hides. “Sazzie!” I called out as soon as his warriors froze around us, uncertain about how to proceed with their leader in my clutches. Proving that this Aser was anything but a warrior, he did not even attempt to use his best weapon—his tail. He hung in my grip, clawed fingers biting into my forearm as he fought for breath, but otherwise remained completely limp. This was a politician, not a warrior, and I thoroughly detested politicians.

Sazzie had struck a disabling blow to her opponent just before my shout, and pride sang in my chest. Look at my brave angel, facing down her nemesis—the childhood bully she’d told me about. The one female, out of all those stupid challengers, who had tripped her up emotionally. “Reid!” she shouted back,elated, and our eyes met. I felt that look sear into me—so warm, so happy, and so welcoming. That look felt like home, and everything else started to fade into the background.

She hurried toward me, and I jerked Aser’s neck hard enough to make the male squeal in pain. “Tell everyone to stand the fuck down!” I warned. But unless Sazzie made that demand heard, I knew we were running out of ways to communicate. She was halfway across the fighting pit when disaster struck. I screamed her name in warning—and I wasn’t the only one.

Astrexa rose drunkenly behind her, the tip of a broken, discarded spear in her fist. When she charged after Sazzie, my muscles cramped, and I leaped without thinking—into the pit, toward her. I never let go of my hostage, and I knew I was going to be too late, even as I raced toward her. My angel began to turn; Astrexa was almost on her, and then there was a blur of dark blue—bodies tangling, colliding, and dust rising in a great cloud.

I knocked Aser out with a sharp blow to his temple, then dragged him with me as I raced across the dirt to that tangle of limbs and tails. The dust began to settle, and I could make out three bodies, Sazzie’s palest blue scales at the bottom of the pile. Astrexa lay on top, bleeding profusely from her neck and abdomen. I dropped Aser to the ground, picked Sazzie’s nemesis up by her arm and belt, and yanked her out of the way. She moved like a ragdoll as I tossed her, and though I could sense a heartbeat, I knew she would not last much longer. That threat was gone.

Beneath Astrexa was Khawla, and briefly, his presence confused me. I had not seen him move; I had not seen him at all, but here he was, between Astrexa and my mate. “Reid?” Sazzie moanedfrom beneath the limp body of the big Thunder Rock scout. It felt like my heart restarted at the sound of her voice, the blind panic and worry for her safety receding to the back of my mind so I could see clearly again.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” I demanded to know as I began to pull the warrior’s big body to the side. He was unconscious, and blood covered nearly his entire face in a macabre red mask. The broken spear tip was protruding from his abdomen, buried deep inside a jagged, gaping wound. He was heavy, but my nano-enhanced muscles had no trouble sliding him off Sazzie and into the dirt at her side. She rolled and sat up almost immediately, hissing, her eyes flashing. She did what I should have been doing: she scanned our surroundings for danger, and we were very much in danger still.

“Bruised, but fine,” she said, sounding surprised. “Back off!” she shouted before I could do so. Warriors had begun to drop into the pit with us from all sides, and her words halted their approach. I grasped hold of the unconscious Aser again and hauled him up in my arms, knife flashing dramatically so they would all see how much danger their leader was in. “Tell them to let us go, or he gets it,” I told Sazzie. I did not want to be holding this despicable coward; I wanted to hold my angel in my arms right now.

My angel took Aser’s brown-clad shoulder in her fist, the fabric bunching and tearing beneath her sharp claws. “We have your stupid King. Move, and he dies. Get it?” she snarled, and when she yanked, I allowed her to pin Aser to the ground beneath her tail and her claws. That left my hands free to check her for injuries, and I rushed to run my fingers over her spine and alongher hips, where a few shallow scratches were all she had to show for her fight with Astrexa.

“Fuck, Sazzie! I thought you died,” I told her, my arm curling around her middle to haul her against my chest. I placed my boot on Aser’s hip to help pin him as I did so and twisted my head to glare at the silent, watching warriors. They had frozen around us, but they were angry—very angry. Without their leader, they were also unsure as to what to do. I hadn’t hit Aser hard; he’d rouse soon enough.

“And I knew you hadn’t, mate,” Sazzie responded, then baffled everyone around us by raising her mouth and pressing a kiss to mine. My body heated in response, battle readiness eagerly morphing into arousal that I wrestled under control with an iron fist. This woman kept turning my world upside down, and I was so fucking proud of her.

Then Sazzie proved how sweet and tender she was. She twisted above the unconscious, pinned Aser to look at Khawla’s prone and dying body. His wounds were very grave, especially the one Astrexa had struck—the blow meant for my mate. He was bleeding out, his breathing shallow and far too rapid, his heartbeat sluggish as it struggled to pump what little blood remained inside of him. He had given his life to save my mate, and for that, he had earned my deepest respect. If not for him, Sazzie would be the one bleeding out at the bottom of this fighting pit. “Can you save him?” my mate asked me.

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