Warrior's Devotion (Warriors of Vor Book 2) (3 page)

“Mates…heat…this is just too
weird,” Janelle muttered. “Any chance for a ticket home?”

“I don’t mean to sound like a
jerk, but you sound pretty damn ungrateful,” Grace chided. She might have been
the smallest woman of the group, but she had a presence that commanded
attention. “I know this is all strange, but I wouldn’t even be alive if those Wraith
creatures hadn’t saved me and brought me here.”

That caught Abby’s attention. “Neither
would I. My ex-husband was stalking me and followed me from Atlanta to New York
where I was working as a pastry chef. He was waiting for me when I got off work
and stabbed me. I would have died in that alley if that Wraith hadn’t saved
me.”

Braec looked absolutely appalled.
“Your males abuse their mates on Earth?”

“Some do,” Abby told him
softly. “But from what I understand, a husband on Earth isn’t the same thing as
a mate here.”

“No, they aren’t,” Braec
growled. “Mates are cherished here, and it is the ultimate dishonor for a male
to strike his mate, let alone try to harm her in a grievous manor. I would kill
any male that committed such an offense.”

Abby paused for a moment before
saying, “Good to know.”

Rox leaned an elbow on the
table and moved her goblet around in a circle on the table. “So, the Wraiths
only take humans who are meant to die on Earth?”

Braec shrugged. “They only save
those of you meant to be mates to the Vor. They can somehow sense who will be
compatible.”

“I guess I owe them then,” Rox
said somberly. “I was a cop back home. LAPD. We were doing a raid on a house
and my asshole team leader gave the order to storm it before we had all the intel.
Shots were fired, and since we didn’t know that there was a meth lab on the
premises, it fucking exploded into a freaking inferno. I’d be ashes if I hadn’t
been brought here.”

“I was in an IED explosion with
Jordan,” Tex told them. “She was the lieutenant of my unit out in Iraq. We were
on a recon mission when our two Humvees hit a roadside bomb that took us out.
Those Wraiths showed up and saved us before we died.”

Janelle’s shoulders slumped.
“I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been very nice since I got here, but this is all a
lot for me to take in. I get bitchy when I’m scared, and I’m not handling all
of this very well.”

“You were a singer, right? I’ve
heard you on the radio,” Abby said, warming to the woman after her apology.

“I was. I liked my life back on
Earth. I’ve always wanted to sing, to have people listen to my music, but all
of that came with a price. My career was just starting to take off, but the
last few months have stressed me out to the max. Like you, I had a stalker,
however, I didn’t know who he was until he broke into my home. He was crazy and
said I was bewitching him with my voice, so he tried to kill me and blew up my
house.”

“Here’s to shared trauma and
surviving explosions,” Rox said as she clicked her goblet against Janelle’s and
Tex’s.

Everyone at the table turned to
look at Grace who had been sitting quietly as she listened. “Nothing like that
happened to me, but then again, I always knew I was going to die young.” She
smiled sadly. “You see, I was born with a weak heart and there was nothing
anyone could do to save me. I’ve tried to fit the most into the time I’ve had,
but when you’ve always known you have an expiration date, being given a second
chance at life is a blessing beyond compare.”

Abby smiled at her. “I agree about
being grateful for a second chance, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to be a
mate—”

Her words were cut off as a male
stormed into the entrance. All the Vor warriors were large, but this was the
biggest male Abby had ever seen. Her eyes went wide as he shoved the guard at
the door aside as if he weighed no more than a speck of lint and surveyed the
room with an almost feral look on his face.

Then his eyes locked with hers,
and he let out a low growl.

“Mine!”

CHAPTER TWO

Prince Dracor Krell was tired
as he flew back to the fortress.

For the last few days, he had
been traveling to the other clans to inform the chieftains that the Wraiths had
brought the first group of humans to their planet as planned. Although he was
the captain of the guard and brother to the king, Dracor had welcomed the
chance to be the one to travel to the other lands. It was a tedious errand, but
his brother, Kadan, had allowed him to go since he understood why Dracor had
asked for the duty.

The reason was simple…because
Dracor knew he would scare the humans.

Hellfire, he even scared most
of the Vor females he came in contact with. How could the human females not be
terrified of him?

As a race of shifter
warriors that were far different than humans, the Vor were born with stripes on
their skin that were hints of their other half. In their natural state, most of
the males were muscular from hours of training as warriors. But when they
shifted into their demon form, the stripes spread over their entire bodies,
turning them black as night and powerful wings manifested from the middle of
their backs.

In a world where most of the
males were similar in size and strength, any abnormalities were seen as a flaw.
All of the Vor had black hair and eyes that were varying shades of brown, with
black, oval-shaped irises, and beyond that, the males that stood out were usually
undesirable to females.

Dracor knew it all too well from
experience.

From a young age, he had known
he was growing faster than his peers. It had worried him, enough so he had
begun to starve himself in an attempt to stop it. When his mother and father
discovered what he’d been doing, they had taken him to task, telling him he was
special and that he shouldn’t worry about being different.

But that was easier said than
done.

Dracor’s size and strength made
him a great warrior, but it also made him an outcast of sorts. On Vor, strength
was coveted, however, it was also feared. Over time, the male warriors accepted
him. As their captain of the guard, they trusted him to lead them in ensuring
the safety of the king.

Because the other males were
afraid of him, so were the females. Due to the decreasing number of females on
the planet, all of the males guarded them fiercely
and catered
to their every need.

 The females
who didn’t have a mate had their choice of males to spend time with, and they
usually changed partners each time they went into heat the four cycles during
the year.
Dracor
got the occasional offer to share sex from females that took pity on him, but
he always turned them down. He didn’t want to be with someone who was only with
him because of sympathy.

He wanted to feel the touch of
a female who truly wanted to be with him.

No, what he really wanted was a
mate.

Finding one’s mate was the
thing that every Vor dreamed of.
Mating was sacred. It was a calling, a
binding of two souls into one. The Vor felt a bond with their mate the instant
they scented them, and that bond only grew throughout the years. Dracor and
Kadan had witnessed that bond between their parents. Kadan had always been too
busy running the kingdom to worry much about it, but Dracor wished for a mate
more than anything.

It was why he had been for the
idea of bringing the humans to Vor after the Wraiths suggested it.
The Wraiths
were a powerful race of elemental shifters that lived on their planet. The Vor
had given sanctuary to the small group of Wraiths left after their home world
had been destroyed years ago.

The Wraiths
fed off of the Vors’ emotions, absorbing them from the atmosphere. Positive
feelings such as happiness and pleasure gave them more energy than anger and
hatred. Normally, just being on the same planet was enough to keep them going,
but as positive feelings decreased throughout the Vor, the Wraiths had grown
weaker.

Faced with
possible extinction, the Vor had to do something to combat their dwindling
numbers. Far too few babes were being born, and those that were seemed to be
predominantly male. The Wraiths said they would travel to a place called Earth
to find mates for the Vor and bring them back. It was something that would help
the Vor, as well as the Wraiths, and secure a future for both races.

Dracor
couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have a child of his own. It had hurt to
see the hope spread among his people as he traveled to each of the clans to
tell them of the humans’ arrival. He had felt that same kind of hope when Kadan
had told him of the Wraiths’ plan, but all of that at changed when he’d
witnessed the first human being carried off of the Wraiths’ vessel.

It was then
that he’d gone to his brother and asked to visit the clans.

Dracor shifted
back into his natural form as soon as he landed in the courtyard within the
walls of the fortress. He looked up at the castle he called home and thought
about just flying up to his room to avoid speaking with anyone until he got
some sleep. He let out a sigh as he heard his name being called. Too late to
escape now, he turned to see his friend Taitt hurrying toward him.

“Greetings,
Taitt. How has the kingdom faired in my absence?”

Taitt grinned
at him. “We’ve barely held things together while you’ve been gone.”

“Good to
know,” Dracor said with a laugh. “Each of the clans have been notified of the
humans’ arrival, and they will await the time when my brother declares they can
meet them. Have I missed anything while I’ve been gone?” He began walking
toward the front steps of the castle, but came to a stop as Taitt spoke again.

“Your brother
has mated one of the humans.”

Dracor felt
joy surge through him that his brother had finally found his mate, but his own
heart sank. “That’s wonderful news.”

“It is. You
should have stayed to see all of the humans. They are a strange race, varying
in shape and size, not to mention they have different hair and eye color the
likes of which we have never seen before.”

Dracor
frowned. “The one I saw had hair the same as ours…and she was small. Very
small.”

“She was the
only one with black hair, and she was the smallest of the group. The
others…your brother is mated to a female with hair the color of flame.”

Dracor’s eyes
widened. “Truly?”

“Yes, it was a
sight to see. Your brother scented her as soon as he entered the coliseum. He
shifted and bit her right there before carrying her off.”

Dracor’s laughter
boomed out. “Oh, I can hardly wait to make fun of him for that. He’s the one
who is always lecturing about discipline and self control.”

“That will
have to wait. It’s been three days, and they’re still enclosed in his
bedchamber.”

Dracor tried
to smile, but he knew his friend could sense his sadness. “Ah, the wonders of a
female in heat.”

“You will find
your mate one day, Dracor.”

“Perhaps,” was
Dracor’s only reply as he started up the steps.

“The plan is
working. Four human females have been claimed so far,” Taitt told him as he
followed. “The only issue was that there’s a human male in the group brought
from Earth.”

Dracor stopped
on the top step to turn back toward his friend. “A male? Why would the Wraiths
bring a male?”

Taitt
shrugged. “They said he belongs to one of our females. Actually, the females
haven’t been too happy about all of this, especially the ones who like having
their choice of males to pick from when they go into heat. Though, some of them
are satisfied that there is a greater chance of finding their mates now.”

“What in
hellfire are we supposed to do with a human male until he gets claimed by his
female?”

“His name is
Tex, and he’s a little strange, but he’s been a good resource to learn more about
humans without interacting with the females.”

Dracor nodded.
“Then perhaps it’s best he was brought here. Anything that makes the humans’
transition here easier is a good thing. We can’t afford for anything to go
wrong at this point.”

He pulled the front
door open, then froze in the large doorway. The scent hit him instantly. It was
alluring, sweet, and utterly intoxicating. Dracor felt the growl building in
his throat, and he shoved the guard standing in front of him out of the way so
he could survey the great hall.

His eyes
scanned the room until his gaze locked with a pair of glorious eyes that were a
mixture of green and gold. Taller than the other females, she was absolutely
breathtaking, with curly brown hair and a lush figure that made him ache to
touch her.

He had found
his mate!

“Is something
wrong, Dracor?” Taitt asked from behind him.

Dracor let out
a low growl in response, then shouted, “Mine!”

“Hellfire,”
Braec muttered from across the room.

“Holy shit,
he’s huge!” Rox exclaimed.

The humans
jumped up from their seats, backing away a few steps. Abby glanced around, then
back toward the large male standing in the doorway who was still staring at her.
“D…does he mean me?”

“Yeah, I think
he does,” Tex said.

Dracor growled
again, this time in anger. His gaze narrowed as he glared at the male standing
close to the beauty that belonged to him.

How dare the
male speak to his mate!

Sensing the
danger, Tex stumbled away from Abby and muttered, “You’re on your own with that
one, cupcake.”

Dracor felt
his body begin shifting into his demon form, the stripes expanding and thickening
so they covered his entire body like black armor. The wings burst forth from
his back, and he flapped them once, twice, ready to burst into the air.

He was going
to claim what was his.

He was going
to claim his mate.

Braec sighed
as he jumped up onto the table. “Stay where you are,” he ordered the humans a
few seconds before he shifted into his demon form and launched himself off the
table.

If Dracor has been
paying attention to Braec, he would have been able to brace himself for the
collision, but he only had eyes for his mate. Because of that, the impact of
Braec hitting him full force had both of them flying out of the great hall so
they fell back into the front courtyard.

“Shut that
door, then get down here!” Braec snarled as he struggled to keep Dracor down. He
was no match for the bigger warrior and he knew it. “I need help here! Warriors,
to me!”

Taitt did what
Braec asked, then hurried down the steps to join them. He fell to his knees and
used all of his strength to hold one of Dracor’s arms down while trying to
dodge Dracor’s sharp wings as they struck out even as he was held against the
ground. Four other warriors rushed over to help hold Dracor down, but still he
fought
them.

“What the hell
just happened?” one of the warriors asked.

“Dracor found
his mate,” Taitt panted out.

Horrified,
another warrior asked, “Why are we keeping him from her then?”

Dracor was
enraged by their interference and let out a howl of fury. Braec called forth
the change and transitioned back to his natural form. Staring down into his
friend’s eyes, he said, “Shift back and let me explain.”

“My mate!”
Dracor roared.

“Your mate was
abused.” Braec spoke in softly, hoping that the calm tone would reach past the
rage that was burning in Dracor’s red eyes.

Dracor went
still at Braec’s words. “What did you say?”

Confident that
Dracor would listen now, Braec waved the other warriors back. The other males
let go of Dracor and took several cautious steps back. Taitt rolled over onto
his back, panting for breath as Braec got off of Dracor and sat down on the
ground next to him. “She was mated to a bad male who abused her and tried to
kill her.”

Dracor changed
back to his natural form and sat up abruptly. Rage the likes of which he’d
never before felt surged through him like a firestorm. “Someone tried to kill
my mate?”

“Calm
yourself. It happened back on Earth. There is nothing you can do about that.
You just need to know that if you scare your mate now, you might have a long
recovery before she learns to trust you. I didn’t want you to damage your
mating before it has even begun.”

Images of his
sweet mate raced through Dracor’s mind. He couldn’t imagine why any male would
want to hurt such a beautiful creature, and yet, he knew better than most that
there was just something wrong with some males that caused them to do
unspeakable things.

If he had
claimed his mate in the great hall as he wanted to, she would have hated him.
He was sure that over time he could win her over, but Braec had saved him
countless days of heartache with his quick intervention.

“Thank you,”
Dracor said softly.