Page 139

Then, he lumbers towards me – stretching open his jaw to show off row after row of his sharp, dagger-like teeth. He’s finished with the idea of fucking me – not that he could, now I’ve ruined his disgusting cock.

Now, Gab’nah wants to rip my fucking head off with his powerful jaws.

But at that instant, a crash echoes from behind me. A wave of sound and fury rolls like thunder, and the entire Toad mothership is suddenly rocked from side to side.

Alarms blare out, red lights flashing. They confuse my vision – but not nearly as much as the sudden realization that the three auras of my men are no longer light years away, buthere– on this ship, and not far away from where I’m standing right now.

They’rehere.

I turn, just in time to see the doors of the throne room open. The Bullfrog guards rush through, summoned by Oblog, and I sprint after them.

As I stumble into the throne room, my eyes widen.

I see the Aurelian’s Reaver – embedded in the very bulkheads of the throne room, hanging twenty feet above us.

The vessel is warped and tangled, black smoke billowing from the ruined engines. Likewise, the bulkheads are cracked – groaning and creaking under the strain of the Reaver penetrating them.

Up above, the side door of the Reaver opens and my Aurelians descend – launching themselves twenty feet into the water, their Orb-Blades active and read.

When they splash down, they’re ready for war.

The moment I sheared that finger from my hand, my triad had used my aura to take a one-in-a-million chance, and Orb-ShiftinsideLord Oblog’s ship itself.

“Kill them! Kill them!”

Lord Oblog shrieks from his throne. Bullfrog guards rush in from all the sides, while the mechanical Sentinels fire, shots thundering across the room.

There’s chaos – abject chaos, and within it, I understand why Toads have never dominated the Aurelian Empire. While fearsome in their strength and numbers, Toads and Bullfrogs have none of the discipline or stoicism of Aurelian warriors.

All around me, Toads and Bullfrogs are ripped apart, and tumble from the friendly fire. Between them, the Aurelians dart and duck – so outnumbered and surrounded that the Sentinels are hitting Oblog’s own men in the confusion.

Marcel, Quint, and Lucius dance. They spin and weave, in a spectacle of deadly beauty. When I say Aurelians are made for fucking and fighting, I’d only truly witnessed the first of those.

Now, I see three Aurelian warriors, Bond-enhanced, doing what they were born to do.

With shards of wood, they’d killed a dozen Bullfrogs.

With Orb-Blades in their hands, they’re angels of death.

I stand there, and a Bullfrog head flies over my shoulder, landing wetly in front of me. I stare in horror as the creature’s bulbous eyes blink twice – and then go blank.

That momentary pause nearly killed me, though. A huge arm suddenly grabs me – and from the cold, slimy grasp of it, I know it doesn’t belong to an Aurelian.

I’m spun around, and stare into the face of death.

Gab’nah has limped into the fray, hunting me for his revenge.

Row after row of yellow teeth descend toward me, accompanied by the stink of rotten meat. The stench floods my nostrils as I scramble backward.

The scarred Bullfrog opens his jaw as wide as they can stretch – obscenely wide, more than enough to engulf my entire head.

Instinct takes over – and I lift my Orb-Knife and I stab.

I stab over and over, not looking where I plunge the blade, and then not seeing as the Bullfrog’s mouth engulfs me, and his teeth clench down on my skull.

The light of the world disappears. Pain stabs through me as his huge teeth rake and crush…

Then, foul, black blood spews up from Gab’nah’s throat.