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A sense of wrongness oozed through Rhaego’s veins like thick acid. Something wasn’t right. But what?

His muscles ached and his limbs were weighed down as though packed with wet sand. He swallowed and tried to clear his mind, but his throbbing head made that difficult.

Aurora. The name was like smoke curling off his smothered fever. Thoughts of his witch bled into focus, feeding the heat.

Memories of her cries, her acrid fear, her scream spilled into his gut like an accelerant, and when his eyes flashed open, his fever blazed. He’d been caught. He’d failed.

The room he sat in was dim and damp. No windows. One door. One desk.

Two occupants.

Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, was King Yaskan.

Rhaego struggled, but the metal binding securing his arms behind his back and his ankles to his chair legs was strong. It wouldn’t be broken now when tranquilizer still coursed through his system. Perhaps not ever.

“Don’t bother,” the king said. “Even if you break free, there’s a squadron outside this door.”

Rhaego blew his knotted hair out of his eyes, glaring. “Where am I?”

“You’ve seen better days,” the king commented mildly, ignoring his question. The cold set of his mouth betrayed his light tone, as did the fever glowing in his eyes.

Growl burning his throat, he met the king’s furious gaze.

“I tried to help you,” Yaskan hissed, low and venomous. “When the Queen brought her suspicions to me, I snubbed her. She told me to keep a careful eye on the humans since there was a band of miscreants out there looking to steal them. But I thought that couldn’t be you . Not the son of the great Ishara.”

Where was Aurora? His gut felt hollow, but there was a tug inside. There was no discernible way for him to believe it was true, but he sensed she was close. Was she? Rhaego’s gaze flicked to the room’s door. Where did it lead? Was he in the palace dungeons?

“Look at me, buck!” King Yaskan bellowed, making the walls tremble.

Slowly, he did. “Where is she?” he rasped in a venomous hiss.

“Is that all you have to say?” The king chuffed out a laugh. “You’re a traitor to your city. Your family. For what? A bride?”

It was Rhaego’s turn to laugh. “Is that what the Queen told you? Do you know why a band of miscreants is looking to steal your humans?”

He lowered his head, baring his fangs in a grin when the king’s brows knit. The was no use hiding Marsol’s secret now. He was caught, and the Queen would be tipped off. Telling King Yaskan about Diana might be his only way of getting out of this now. But did the male have any heart left? “One of those humans has a mate. Did the Queen tell you that?”

The king blinked but said nothing.

“Vila—”

“The Queen,” King Yaskan corrected.

“She sent the human away, knowing she’d been recognized by one of my band.”

The king’s mind worked behind his gray eyes, and hope swelled in Rhaego’s chest. Was the king nobler than he’d thought? Could he reveal what Aurora was to him without fear she’d be used to control him?

“I’ll address that rumor with the Queen.” Yaskan’s tone had turned bare. Political. Emotionless.

“It is no rumor.” Rhaego almost couldn’t believe his detachment. “It’s a disgusting violation of our Goddess’s plan. You’d stand with her, knowing this?”

“The Goddess abandoned us long ago. I care for our people . If what you say is true, it saddens me. But we have to think of what’s best for us all.”

“And bowing to the Queen is best for us?” Rhaego’s lips twisted in disgust. “How does it feel to be a king with an overlord? My mother told me you were stronger than this.”

Bright crimson invaded King Yaskan’s eyes before abating. He was a master of control, but had that control made him dispassionate? Too cold without a fever to warm his heart?

“And your mother told me that you are not a blight. I, too, saw something good in you, but you’ve proved us both wrong once and for all, haven’t you?”

Rhaego’s chest expanded, teeth grinding. Had she done this? His own mother? Had she betrayed him? His heart rebelled against the idea. She wouldn’t…

Yaskan lifted from the wall as though readying to leave.

“Where is she?” Rhaego asked again.

“Your mother is resting comfortably. I will take care of her now. You need no longer concern yourself.”

He’d meant Aurora, but the king’s assertion made him laugh humorlessly. “You’ll take care of her by feeding her elixir and stoking her flare?”

“I give her what she wants,” he hissed. “I always have.”

“Too bad she never wanted you.”

The king’s lips parted at that, wrath steaming off his horns.

“Where are the humans?” Rhaego growled. He meant Aurora, but now that the king’s disrespect for the Goddess and matehood had been confirmed, he feared revealing his desperation to find her.

The king saw through it. “Your bride, you mean?” He lifted a heavy brow, then sighed. “I pity you, buckling. I always told Ishara she was raising you to be too needful.” His ruby gaze met Rhaego’s. “I know what that’s like. The greed for a female is an infection hard to shake once it invades. If I could’ve dissuaded her from raising you the way she did, I would have.” He stepped toward the door. “I came here because I hoped by some miracle you’d have some explanation for me, some excuse I could make sense of. But I see I was wrong. You will not see the human again. You will not see your mother again.”

Rhaego roared, thrashing in his shackles.

The king stopped at the doorway, leveling him with a contemptuous scowl. “You’ve betrayed your city, your people, your mother. You are a blight upon us all. And now…” He lingered at the door, disdain oozing off him in toxic clouds. “Your fate is in her hands.”

Her?

Rhaego’s calculating mind stilled at that. The king’s eyes connected with someone as he left and then that person glided into the room, and he felt his blood drain.

Vila. The Queen.

She wore a high-collared pleated lavender gown. A silver sash fell elegantly over her left shoulder. Her shocking blonde hair was slicked back, and running from ear to ear across the back of her head rose a silver circlet topped with deep blue gems. A matching wide silver belt cinched in at her waist. The opulence was a stark contrast to the simplicity her mother had preferred.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she announced with a placid smile. “You’ve been giving me and mine quite some trouble as of late.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Rhaego glared and strained to pull his wrists apart.

“Mmm.” Her yellow eyes burned into him. “Quite strong, aren’t you?”

He pushed horns and glared at her beneath heavy brows, heaving in cold air and breathing out steam.

She flicked her wrist toward the open door, and a guard whose face remained covered with a dark mask entered. Only his golden eyes were visible.

“Just in case you get out of hand.” Vila perched on the edge of the desk closest to him. He snarled, and she chuckled. “So snappy. No wonder Yaskan said you’d never managed to keep a wife. Your mother was such a model citizen. I’m surprised you turned out so…disagreeable.”

“Do not speak of my mother,” Rhaego grated, a stab of pain lancing through his heart. Why did he still defend her?

Vila took in a quick, bored breath as though she were arguing the color of the sky with a child. “I don’t understand you lot. You…dissidents.” She grinned. “I’m working to help you. Can’t you see that? Don’t you want Earth reclassified? Matehood restored? Even you might find a mate one day. Someone who enjoys this aggression, perhaps.”

In situations like this, the wise thing to say was nothing . Don’t speak. Not even to tell lies. There was always a chance of giving something away, and Vila was diabolically clever. He shouldn’t underestimate her. And yet…

“Your mother stands with the Goddess, and she is humiliated by you.” He spoke the words without vitriol, stating them as solemn fact. “You’re a stain on her good name.”

Vila’s mask fell. Emptiness hollowed the life from her eyes, and her lips thinned. “You’d know, wouldn’t you?”

Rhaego didn’t answer. He wasn’t like her. The wrongness of the comparison struck him, unlocking some understanding inside his heart.

He shouldn’t speak, but he couldn’t help himself. “Is your soul so corrupt that you have no remorse for what you’ve done? You ripped mates apart,” he pressed, real curiosity building in him. How had she become so wicked?

“I’m doing what needs to be done.” Her gaze grew distant. “No one else has the strength.”

“Using humans as pawns—”

“Yes,” she interrupted, voice lilting an octave higher and revealing her anger. “They are pawns. Insects beneath us that we happen to be distantly connected to. I tire of being cast as your villain for taking advantage of a valuable resource. Humans are a drop in the ocean in this universe. What about our people? Our females? Do you not see our suffering?” She pointed to the sky, curling forward. Her pale skin pulled taught over her delicate bones, turning her features birdlike and sharp. “I’ve been to your Howling, and you know what I heard? Screams loud enough to crack stone. You’re blessed to live among the strength of our females, and they’ve rewarded you by hiding their agony so you don’t have to hear it. But it exists. I don’t care for the preferences of a handful of Class Four barbarians. Their distress is nothing. Nothing ”—her hand slammed against the wooden desk with a loud crack—“compared to what lives caged inside us every day.” Her sneer turned vicious. “Just ask your mother.”

“Pain for pain is the answer, then? You’re wading through tar and hoping to reach the shore unsullied.”

Vila chuckled, arms crossing. She looked down her nose at him and sighed. “I am not unsullied.”

“What will you do with this hatred of humans if you succeed?”

“I’ll use them, of course. We’ll learn how they tick. Learn what allows them to stir our instincts. Perhaps it’s their world. Their atmosphere. Perhaps it’s a bond in their DNA. Or maybe a thread of data in their brains we can extract and inject into ourselves. I care not what the answer is. They are a means to an end.”

“You sound like the PRIC members we’ve tried and jailed.” Rhaego’s jaw cracked he ground his teeth so hard. “How long have you been a member?”

She blinked down at him, unaffected. Her mask fell back into place as quickly as it had left, and she stood, clapping her hands together. “As you know, I have a very important hearing with the Intergalactic Alliance approaching, and I can’t afford these constant interruptions you and your ilk are causing. So, let us make a deal, shall we? You help me capture all of your little friends, and in exchange…” Hands clasped in front of her, Vila lifted a brow at Rhaego.

His laugh echoed through the room. “I’d sooner rip off my horns than make any deal with you.”

She eyed his horns dreamily. “That could be arranged.” With a little shake of her head, she continued. “Come now, I’m very good at making deals. What is it you want?” She peered at him with narrowed eyes, almost like she hadn’t asked him the question but herself and was now trying to read the answer in his expression.

Rhaego bared his fangs.

A flicker of an idea lit her callous gaze. “What about that wife of yours? Yaskan said you were fond of her.” Fire licked at Rhaego’s insides, his fever boiling. “What if I gave her to you?” she said slowly.

“She is not yours to give,” he managed between clenched teeth.

Vila hiked her shoulders. “I have colleagues who feel differently.” An evil, nasty grin curled her lips. “What if I gave her to them ?”

Red invaded his vision, his snarl promising ripped flesh and gushing blood.

A trilling laugh pounded into his mind like hammering nails. “Oh, this is excellent,” she chirped happily.

Confusion plagued him, but then he saw the mirth in her gaze as she studied his eyes and knew they’d turned black. His breath failed.

“Could she be your mate, buckling? How very sneaky of you to hide such critical information from me. How long have you known?”

Rhaego roared at her, wrenching against his bindings. The chair gave an ominous creak.

She sighed at it. “Yes, you might be too strong to have this kind of fun with me. That’s disappointing. Oh well. I don’t need anything more from you at the moment.” Vila sauntered to the doorway, unphased by his raging. “A few weeks away from your mate should help you see things my way. I can’t wait to discover the whereabouts of your little band of heathens.” She giggled.

Fever-stricken, Rhaego bellowed as the door slid open, tearing at the cords of his throat. They would not take Aurora from him. Never.

“Kadion,” she purred, resting a hand on the guard’s shoulder, “make sure stronger restraints are delivered to the tower before we get home.” The male nodded, turning to follow his Queen out the door.

Mind boiling over with seething fury, Rhaego almost missed the name. Kadion. The male had fought alongside them before. Was he on their side now?

He looked at the guard as Vila left, meeting his stare. The male pulled the door closed, but when a crack of space still remained, Kadion spoke to another soldier nearby. “His marks are flickering to life. You need to gather stronger restraints immediately in case they appear. Those manacles won’t hold.” After a silent pause, he barked, “Move.” The sound of boots shuffling away hit his ears past the buzzing in his mind.

The male turned to pull the door closed the last inch, and his focus flashed toward Rhaego. Something burned in Kadion’s gaze for the split second their eyes met.

Had he meant for Rhaego to hear that? Were his marks flickering? Had he meant to reveal the mate strength that would set him free was within reach?

Rhaego focused and felt the oddest sensation roving over along his fingers. They pulsed like the beating of a heart. Could it be?

He forced his eyes closed, concentrating like he never had before. Shouted instructions floated to him from just outside the door. He shut them out and thought of only one thing.

Aurora emerged in his mind like a dream, soft hair glowing in sunlight, eyes alight with warmth. She smiled, displaying her pretty teeth.

I love you.

Her words echoed into his swelling heart, intensifying the ache.

Rhaego had loved Aurora since the first time he’d laid eyes upon her, and the feeling had only deepened from there. The tug in his belly built. She was near. He could feel it. She needed him now, needed him to be more than what Yaskan and the Queen and everyone else in Tuva believed he was.

He needed to be what she believed he was.

Aurora’s kind eyes never saw in him what he feared they would, and she was imbued . She felt the energy of the world in ways others couldn’t. So why did he doubt her when she spoke of his worth?

Rhaego’s breaths evened, the noise ringing through his mind fading to nothing.

He could not be unworthy. Because she was divine. And he was hers.

The sounds of boots pounding into the room had his lids lifting. Rhaego strained his biceps, and the metal cracked apart. He stretched his arms in front of him, eyes burning. Curls like rising smoke drifted across his hands, and he grinned.

He was hers.

Tranq darts pelted his body, and something sharp and scalding jabbed him in the neck, sending electricity coursing through his muscles. It only made them swell. A blessed strength he’d never felt before flowed through him. The Goddess had gifted him his mate and the enhanced strength that came with it.

He turned his dark grin toward the male, fists clenching.

“His hands… Do you see his hands?” Murmurs broke out across the room.

Rhaego’s wicked smile widened. The flames of his fever and his mate bond danced in his chest, the instinct finally meeting the partner it’d been yearning for his whole existence. With an easy tug, he wrenched free of his ankle binds and rose, horns dipped, fangs bared.

They’d made a mistake when they placed him in a small room. There may be a squadron of soldiers outside the door, but they could only stream in six at a time. He snarled and lunged, ramming his horns into the male blocking his exit. His charge was so strong that he barreled through four soldiers, knocking them to the sides before finally pinning the first male to the opposite wall of the tunnel outside his cell door.

Whirls of purple uniform fabric crowded in around him on every side. He didn’t know how many male’s he’d need to fight, but his fever purred at every drop of blood he spilled.

Rhaego slashed through the closing circle of soldiers, his fangs and claws sank into flesh and he ripped away tranq guns, bending them in half without effort. The brute force of his sturdy fist was enough to render even the largest soldier immobile.

He carved through the males as though cutting through a school of alugpia. Their blows stung, but the injuries were nothing more than scratches to him. Even the blade wounds did little to cut through his bloodthirsty progress.

His enhanced skills were too good. He was too fast for them. Too strong. He thought of Aurora and felt he could take on a whole army if they stood between him and his witch. Three soldiers banded together before him with their electrified prods and shoved them into his neck.

His claws lunged out, grabbing two of them by the throat. Before he could tackle the third though, a new soldier knocked his companion over the head.

Rhaego kept himself from lashing out just long enough to recognize the helpful gesture. The male fought off more soldiers, and he narrowed his eyes at him. He looked familiar.

“I know where she is,” the soldier called, eyes fevered and movements sharp. Controlled. He was a good fighter. The male’s eyes locked on Rhaego’s marked hands. “I can help you get to your mate.”

Rhaego hurled off two males who’d leapt atop him and thought harder. His eyes lifted to the helpful soldier’s horns, and he grinned—one straight young horn and one shorn at the base.

“This way,” the male called, fighting his way down the hall behind them. Rhaego followed.

Time to retrieve his mate.