Page 13 of Alien Devil's Wrath
Something primal exploded through Zarek’s controlled facade. The cold calculation vanished, replaced by raw fury that transformed him from predator into force of nature. His rational mind simply disappeared, subsumed by an instinct so basic it bypassed thought entirely.
The convict’s scream cut off abruptly as those massive hands closed around his throat. But Zarek didn’t just kill him. He destroyed him. Systematically, methodically, driven by a rage so deep it seemed to come from his very bones.
“Fascinating,” I breathed, watching the display.
When it was over, the man was barely recognizable.
Zarek stood over the remains, chest heaving, his hands dripping crimson. His red eyes blazed with something beyond anger. Something possessive and primitive and utterly intriguing.
He looked from the bloody aftermath to me, and I felt that familiar electric thrill race down my spine. But this wasn’t the clinical appreciation I’d felt watching him work before. This was something deeper, more personal.
This was possessive instinct in its purest form.
Not protecting a guide or defending an asset. This was a male responding to a threat against something his base instincts had decided belonged to him. The difference was written in every line of his body, every harsh breath, every drop of blood decorating his hands.
Satisfaction curved my lips, warm and approving and completely genuine. Because I wasn’t seeing this as a romantic gesture, wasn’t playing the grateful damsel rescued by her hero.
I was witnessing the monster inside him finally unleashed, and I approved wholeheartedly.
“Well,” I said, lacing my fingers together to keep them still. “That was remarkably thorough.”
His gaze fixed on mine, and I saw the exact moment he realized what he’d just done. Not the killing. He’d killed before, would kill again. But the way he’d killed. The possessive fury that had driven him to tear apart a man who’d dared touch what his instincts claimed as his.
Our gazes locked across the carnage, and in the space between heartbeats, an unspoken understanding passed between us. Predator to predator.
This was recognition. This was the beginning.
And I couldn’t wait to see where it led.
ZAREK
The ridge gave us a clear view of the valley below, and what I saw there made every muscle in my body go rigid.
Black banners snapped in the wind above a fortified compound, the fabric bearing the insignia I’d hoped never to see again. A stylized skull wreathed in barbed wire. The mark of my old mercenary unit. Slade’s unit.
The compound sprawled across the valley floor, a fortress of dark stone and metal that served as the prison’s administrative heart. Guard towers rose at regular intervals, their searchlights sweeping the perimeter in lazy arcs. Beyond the walls stretched communications arrays, transport pads, and the central command structure where Slade ruled his domain.
This was where he’d built his power. The nerve center of a prison planet where he could play warden and king.
My hands clenched into fists. Every detail of that insignia was burned into my memory. The exact curve of the skull’s jaw, the number of barbs in the wire, the way it had looked painted on the side of our transport ship before everything went to hell.
The shield generators were visible from here, massive towers at each corner of the compound, their energy fields creating the barrier I’d punched through on entry. Eight seconds. That’s allKallum had managed to give me. To leave this rock, I’d need those shields down completely. Which meant coming back here, whether I wanted to or not.
“Problem?” Bronwen asked, watching my face.
“The compound.” The name tasted like ash in my mouth. “It’s in our way.”
She peered down at the fortress, then back at me. “So what’s actually out there? You pointed northeast when we started, but you never said what you’re looking for.”
I’d kept the details to myself since we met, giving her only direction and distance. But standing here, staring at the banners of my past, the truth felt inevitable.
“There’s a crash site beyond those walls. A ship went down in the wasteland beyond the valley’s basin.” I kept my voice level, controlled. “Something I need is inside.”
“What kind of something?”
“Something that belongs to me.”
She waited, clearly expecting more, but I didn’t elaborate. The Regalia and everything it represented wasn’t her concern.
