Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 74: Chapter 74

“If Commander Viper was tracking my comm unit, and I assure you, he was. He might have already taken Jennifer and Zircon as prisoners,” she said, turning away from Dor.
“You must give that to me.”
“Oh no,” growled Larimar. “Not until we find out what the fuck is going on.”
“Give her the damn thing,” Jasper said. “Look, I am sorry I yelled. Caro is there,” he growled, and that was the only explanation he needed as far as any were concerned.
Heliodore snatched the plain black thing from his brother and handed it gently to Daeja. He didn’t know what it was or how it worked, but she did. And that was good enough for him.
“It is a comm unit for communications, much like your cellular phones. This unit runs on a much higher electromagnetic frequency, but without the harmful side effects of too much radiation you see on Earth,” she explained.
She wiped her graceful fingertips over the disc, and suddenly it came to life.
“I am hailing the ship’s command center,” she whispered when a holographic face filled the area above the disc.
“Ah, Medical Engineer Daeja 5368205qtR37. At last. You are late,” the soon-to-be-dead motherfucker snarled at Heliodore’s mate.
“Yes, Commander Viper. My apologies, sir,” she replied with too much emotion.
“You took too long,” he snapped like an impatient youngling.
The scenery flew past the windows as Jasper raced towards their home. But Dor knew it would be too late if she did not distract the Commander. He watched her lower her pink lashes and flutter them at the Commander, in a shy-like manner.
“I have missed you, Commander Viper. This planet is so confusing,” she mewled like some pitiful chit.
What. The. Fuck.
Heliodore had to grip the door to stop himself ripping the comm from her. He wanted to kill that motherfucker. Especially when his gaze drifted to that fucking silver catsuit she’d put back on.
Daeja had the front fastening undone to show her ample cleavage. Cleavage that was his, dammit!
Forcing himself to trust her in this, he gritted his teeth while she played the simpering female. Yes, he saw red, but that was okay. He knew this was some plan she had, and he had to trust her.
He did trust her.
However, trust did not mean it was easy. Especially when the man so obviously leered at her.
Grrrr.
Shit.
“Lift the comm unit, so I may see you properly,” Commander Viper said in a voice that reminded Heliodore of this fucking creeper they’d had to guard once.
Guy was a total pervert, but he was a paying customer. Regardless, he and his bros had put the fear of God into that bastard before returning him unharmed to his home—well, mostly unharmed.
“That is it, tip the comm unit further.”
“Like this, sir?” she whimpered, tilting it so he could stare right at her cleavage.
MOTHERFUCKER.
Do not growl. DO NOT GROWL.
“I thought I had one more turning, Commander.”
“Do you, Daeja? I think not. I have made some discoveries whilst you wasted my time. Friends of yours? I hover over their dwelling now, lasers at the ready.”
The holograph shimmered and images of Jennifer and Zircon in shackles that seemed made of light filled the space.
“Conny,” mouthed Larimar.
Concern marred his sweet mate’s face, and her magenta eyes darkened with rage as the next image appeared. An older man with wrinkles and a kind face in the same shackles.
His hair was all white, but his eyes were a deep violet and they widened when Daeja gasped.
“What have you done with apakein?” she asked, dismissing all pretense at flirting.
“I want what you were sent to find, Daeja. You have found them, yes?”
Heliodore held his breath. He wanted to rip apart the sonofabitch who caused that expression to cross his mate’s face.
For that offense alone, he would make sure the piece of shit suffered.
“Yes,” she replied. “I have completed my mission.”
Daeja could not keep her anger from showing with that last sentence.
“Good. I will give you one Earth hour before I destroy the home of these Earth beings. Then we shall discuss the termination of the pods and your reassignment to my bedchamber,” he stated.
“Yes, Commander. I will report immediately.”
The comm unit went black as Jasper rolled to a stop a little bit away from the house. He turned around in the driver’s seat.
“I have to go to Caro.”
“Yes, you protect her and Kim. I will help free our brother,” Larimar said.
Then all eyes were on Daeja.
“Right,” she said. “You two should Shift. Jasper, you sneak into the house. I will approach the ship alone. Wait until the shields go down, you will recognize it as the hum you hear now,” she said, opening the door and all the males in the car winced.
“No,” Heliodore said and shook his head. “It is not safe for you to go alone.”
“I will be fine. He cannot hurt me in front of an audience. Hurting females willingly on a ship where the ratio is three to one would not be wise. I will not be alone with him.”
“Daeja. Fuck, I’m so sorry,” he growled and pulled her to him, kissing her lips hard, but briefly. “I am so sorry for everything. I will fix this. I vow it on my life.”
“It’s alright,” she said, her voice shaky. “I wish we had more time. I wish—” Daeja did not finish what she was about to say.
Holding on to the comm unit, she pressed the underside. One second, she was there, the next, poof.
Fucking hell.
Dor was going to do everything he could to ensure that was not their last conversation. Trusting her was difficult, but he knew now he would entrust her with everything.
His body, heart, and soul. She was his reason. His life. His mate.
His kevola.
His Wyvern could not wait to unleash hell on the motherfucker who’d put her in this position. Scales erupted across his skin, shredding his clothing as muscles tore, bones broke, and his body grew. Dor growled and let his Shift roll through him.
Be ready. Protect the females. He snarled inside his brothers’ minds.
Everything after that moment happened fast. Somehow, in his Wyvern shape, he found the matebond between him and his kevola.
He followed the pink and yellow braided tendril until he was there, inside her mind, seeing what she saw and listening through her ears.
“Release them, they have nothing to do with this,” she argued for Zircon and Jennifer, but the slap that followed sent pain flaring through the side of her face.
“You have failed, Daeja 5368205qtR37,” snarled Commander Viper.
He knew it was that bastard, recognizing his pasty white face and pale orange hair. The bastard clearly had a death wish. Rage rolled through Heliodore, but he felt his mate’s Wyvern. She was pressing him to wait a moment more.
Her beast was trying to tell him something. Oh yes, the force field, or whatever it was, was still going strong. He would not be able to break through it.
Larimar, can you sense anything on the ship? Anything that can help us?
He sent the thought directly into his brother’s head, and the response was immediate.
Lower life forms. Pets, I think. And fuck, Dor, ghosts. They carry the dead on that ship. Hundreds of them. There are more Wyverns like us. And Zircon! I found him!
Drakein, Heliodore corrected him.
Yes, his brother acknowledged.
Then he was focused once more on his mate, on the tiny sign she had promised when the fields were down.
The hum stopped and Heliodore flew into action.
“Where are the pods?”
Daeja’s face burned where Cass Viper had struck her only moments before. She could not believe the male would dare hit her, but clearly, he was losing his grip on reality.
“You have struck a female?” whispered Andriel.
He was one of the male guards who’d taken arms beside Cass Viper, as was his duty as a member of the warrior caste.
“Quiet, filth! I am in command here! I am Chief, and we will take over a portion of this planet with our mighty Drakein⁠—”
Daeja snorted. Then laughed.
Like ROTFL, as her mate had taught her a mere turning ago.
Sadness filled her at the hurt that had passed between them, but her heart told her it would heal. With time, they would grow to trust and understand each other. He had told her he loved her, and frek, but she felt the same. She would tell him too.
If she lived past this moment.
“You dare snicker at me? Your future Chief,” Cass Viper snarled.
“I already told you, Commander,” she sneered the word. “The stasis pods were destroyed fifty years ago.”
“No, you said you found them,” he growled, and behind him, she saw Zircon’s eyes glowing brightly with his beast.
“I found them, but they are not younglings trapped in stasis, Cass Viper!” she spat his name like the curse it was.
Her foolish Commander had been too wrapped up in trying to find her to realize who he’d captured. The fool.
It was only more proof that he did not deserve the title he tried to steal.
“You dare⁠—”
But the unworthy male did not have the chance to follow through with his threat.
“Commander!” One of his guards raised his arm and pointed to the viewing screen. The shields were down. She looked at Zircon, and the male nodded. It was time.
“What I did not tell you, Cass Viper, was those younglings have grown up.”
“What? Lies!”
Nerves assailed her, and yet she knew in her heart her mate would not meet his end just yet. Cass Viper was simply no match for Heliodore’s enraged Drakein.
This pale pretender was not worthy of his title. Before she had struck her deal with Jennifer, Daeja had asked for sanctuary for her and her shipmates. She knew now they did not need Viper to seal the agreement.
No, he was a false leader. Cruel and ill prepared for what was about to happen. But she also recalled those who had suffered at his hands on the journey over.
The women he’d terrorized and the men he’d had killed in the night. Cass Viper was a scoundrel and deserved the reckoning headed his way.
She saw the fear enter his eyes just as her mate crashed through the screen using his fire and ice flames to shatter the reinforced glass that had survived space travel but was no match for him in all his fury.
Everything else happened in rapid succession. Zircon bust free of his shackles, he turned and ripped the manacles holding Jennifer, who was unconscious, and her apakein, before flying out of there with the two of them in his claws.
Larimar was holding his own against males who were only half-heartedly putting up a fight. But Heliodore, well, he was a force to be reckoned with.
He went straight for Viper, who tried to call on his Drakein. The worthless male did not stand a chance. Fierce pride welled inside of her as her powerful mate, yellow scales glowing like the sun, came forward in a fluid move and attacked.
With two sharp strikes, he dispatched the tyrant. The Wessex brothers were victorious. The few guards who had been loyal to Commander Viper out of respect for the old laws laid down their weapons in surrender.
Daeja ran to open the doors to free the others. Several females wept and embraced, gathered now as they were on the lawn of the Wessex estate.
“Daeja,” Jennifer said amongst the chaos. She limped a little as she approached, her hands open, a symbol of contrition. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior⁠—”
“There is no need. You have promised to help the males and females who have surrendered and would make this place their home, and I am grateful to you and the DPCA.”
“Yes, well, it’s not like we could have a whole slew of Wyverns, excuse me, Drakein, running around New Jersey exclaiming over every rectangular building they see,” she snarled.
“Yes, well, round is better,” Daeja replied, and winked.
“I second that,” her mate added and sided up to her.
Heat spread through Daeja’s body at his approach. Yes, she was angry and hurt, but she could not suppress her biological need for the male.
“Please, kevola,” he whispered into her ear, lips ghosting over her neck, exactly on her mating mark, sending shivers through her body.
“Um, I will leave you two alone,” Jennifer said. “But I wouldn’t let him off easy.”
“Thanks a lot, Jenn!” Dor cried after her, and the Owl Shifter winked before she went to join her work brethren.
Daeja noted a pair of eyes following the female intently, but her focus returned to her own currently unclothed male. Too many unmated females were milling about, some who’d caught sight of the marvelous specimen Dor made.
Daeja moved in front of him, hissing angrily at the younger ones who did not know better than to turn their heads. She shot pink flames at them, and they screeched and turned away.
“I fucking love it when you get possessive, rosebud,” he growled.
“Well, you are strutting about cock on display like some proud roo-ster,” she snapped at him.
“If you want me to cover up, come with me and let’s talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Daeja straightened her shoulders.
“Then I have nothing to wear,” he countered.
“Heliodore, put these on,” she snarled and pushed a pair of sweatpants into his hands as another female leered too close.
“Will you talk to me?” he asked.
Daeja was tracking the females with wandering eyes. Angry, she opened her mouth and roared in their direction, shooting pink flame in warning. She might be mad and hurt, but the male was still hers.
Mine.
“Yes, mate,” he grinned.
“Yours.”
“We shall see if you are worthy, revolko.”
But who was she kidding?