Chapter 7

ENURRUA

DAY EIGHT

She ached badly.

Her whole body ached like it had never ached before; like she had fallen down the side of a very tall mountain, rolling the entire way, gaining bruises and bumps as she went. The insides of her thighs felt raw and battered the most, and her sensitive ass stung badly.

What was wrong with her?

She reached out with her mind in search of the warmth and the staggering aura of the one she so loved. He could always sooth her just by embracing her with his aura. Aricia could always feel his aura behind those psychic shields, so utterly powerful, yearning to be released. She had always wondered what it would feel like to be hit with the full force of his aura and love. Her mother had told her just before Coming of Age that when a wolf loved her, truly cherished her, he would hold nothing back, that she would experience the most heavenly understanding she had ever felt. When her mate wrapped the full power of his aura around her, nothing else would matter to her except to love him back just as utterly.

Aricia had felt it with Martin the moment she had met him. The inconceivable power lying hidden, just beneath the surface, wavering against the shields he held in place by force of will alone. She always wondered what it be like if he had hit her with that full power, to be submerged in his very essence. The fever no longer burned in her blood and she smiled dreamily as she realized he must have had her over and over again and that was why she was so sore. That's why the fever was gone from her, no longer causing her blood to burn for him.

She reached out to her love, calling to him and Aricia's azure blue eyes snapped open when she felt nothing.

Aricia felt nothing but an empty void.

An infinite black wall unlike anything she had experienced before. It was seamless and never ending. She reached out to her beautiful Persian red haired lover Anja, the closest to her heart, next to the wolf that had claimed her soul. Anja was always open to her due to the pleasures and closeness they had shared in the last year together. Many nights of blissful enjoyment they had shared, when her beloved was so far away from them. Again she found nothing except that empty black void.

Dysea ... gone.

Isabella ... gone.

All she felt from anyone was an infinite black void.

Aricia sat up quickly in the bed, groaning in soreness, the rough sheets under her skin causing her to look down. She wore a skimpy light tan dress that barely covered her body and then she saw the many bruises dotting her legs and thighs. Her arms held many of the same bruises, like the grip from strong hands holding her. Her azure blue eyes darted further up and she took in her dreary surroundings. The room was large with an open patio door that led out to a balcony. The colors were dark, not bright like the palace on Apo Prime. There were several pieces of furniture that looked neither comfortable nor inviting. Even the bed she lay on was simple and definitely not built for comfort.

Where was she?

Aricia slid off the bed slowly, clenching her teeth together, suppressing the groan that threatened to escape her lips due to the soreness between her thighs. What had her beloved done to her to make her so sore? Martin was large ... so very large. She, Anja and Dysea had measured him once while he had slept, joking like school girls as he snored away while they stroked him to full hardness with feathered caresses. A full half inch past a dozen he was, and Aricia had been amazed she had taken him entirely into her body. Amazed and so very happily fulfilled. When she told her mother this news, after Dasha came to stay with them in the villa in Sparta, her mother didn't believe her at first, until Anja and Dysea had finally relented with knowing smiles and confirmed it. Dasha had said then it was a gift for a gifted man who needed to take care of her daughter.

Martin had been her first. Aricia was only eighteen months past the Coming of Age at a hundred and eleven years old. Martin had been her first, and they had claimed each other under the Centennial of the moon that wonderful night in Eden City. He had done so many things to her that night, and many nights after, that caused even her wildest imaginations to pale in comparison.

Yet for all his enormous size, and the consecutive hours they had spent continuously making love, her beloved had never left her this sore. Throbbing with desire and the delightful aches of the utterly fulfilled yes, but never painfully sore as she was now. It was almost as if he didn't care about her needs and simply pounded her into the bed. Almost as if he was a callous brute and unconcerned about her, something she knew he was not. Something he could never be. Aricia moved slowly, biting her bottom lip once more against the soreness, and went to the doorway, feeling the cool breeze caress her. She inhaled deeply, a myriad of scents she didn't recognize floating to her. The air smelled of ocean, and Aricia could see the dark rocky beach far below her, and then the whitecaps of the ocean in the distance. The palace was not near an ocean, of that she was sure.

She turned and made her way back into the bedroom, going to the simple looking door. She passed her hand over the panel to unlock it, but it didn't move. She did it again and still nothing. Aricia turned once more, allowing her eyes to take in more of the room. As at first glance it was dreary and not at all designed for comfort in any way, not even remotely. There were no computer consoles, no dispensers for food, and just the two simple couches.

That was when Aricia noticed the scent.

It was definitely male; a musky bitter scent that crinkled her nose and it permeated her entire body somehow. Concern began to creep into her senses and she looked around the room further, desperately trying to find something that would tell her where she was and why she could not touch her beloved's thoughts to ease her concern.

She spied the lone dresser on the far wall and moved to it. It was an ancient piece of furniture and ornately carved with dragon heads like from the books she had seen as a child. There were several drawers in the long dresser and she began opening them hurriedly, finding nothing more than the simple thing she was wearing now.

Fear began to creep through her now, a fear that was starting in her belly and slowly moving outward. Her azure eyes were growing wider and she scanned the room once more seeing the small table by the rough bed she had awaken on. She had climbed off the other side of the bed and missed it before. She saw the simple looking holoimager on the table and moved back to the bed quickly picking up the imager. She drew her legs underneath her on the bed and activated it, her eyes going even wider.

"Hello sweet Aricia." Joric's image and voice filled her head and the fear that had been growing inside her belly suddenly became overpowering. "I'd like to welcome you to your new home my newest mate. I thought I would give you a day or so to grow accustom to your new station, serving me. Serving me in any way I chose you to serve me as my new mate. What you have on is all you will need to wear so don't look for anything else. Our females wear as little as possible. And you will not be able to use that wonderful weapon branded to your arm Aricia. The entire room has power inhibiters in it and you won't be able to call it no matter how hard you try. You are wondering perhaps why you can not Mindvoice your pathetic old mate; that is because he is a fool who did not know what you going through. It is called the Lunmai, and it is the Second Coming of Age Aricia. Remember the fever sweet Aricia, the burning in your blood to mate? I satisfied that for you Aricia. I cured the fever in you, and I had a wonderful time doing it. You were so receptive to my advances sweet Aricia. I must have had you a dozen times in the first three hours alone, oh yes; and easily another thirty or more on the return trip to your new home."

Aricia's hands were shaking brutally now, barely able to hold the imager in her fingers. She shook her head slowly back and forth. "No!" She spoke softly. "No."

"You are probably saying to yourself that I am lying to you." Joric's smug voice continued. "Allow me to show you sweet Aricia."

Aricia's azure blue eyes went as wide, as the image changed to her bent over some sort of chair almost completely naked, Joric behind her gripping her hips. She watched as he leaned over her naked body and pulled back on her long lustrous hair.

"Louder Aricia! Tell me you choose me as your mate Aricia. Isn't that what you want more than anything! More than the King! Tell me you want me more than your precious King Aricia!"

"YES!" She screamed. "YES! I choose you! Claim me! Take me as your mate!"

Aricia dropped the holoimager on the bed as if it was a hot plasma iron as she saw Joric grunt and thrust himself inside her body in the image. A pain unlike anything she had ever imagined could exist ripped through her as the full color pictures flashed on the holoimager now sitting on the bed. Joric's foul body grunting and groaning, him taking her in every conceivable position, and she was squirming underneath him whimpering in delight like some common street whore. The images flashed back and forth across her eyes, each picture driving the knife deeper into her chest, her hand going to between her breasts, pulling the skimpy dress tighter and tighter, trying to shield her from some imagined pain.

Then the image changed and she saw Martin, her beloved Martin, her beautiful wolf and soulmate. His eyes were wide in horror; Anja and Dysea with looks of unbelievable pain on their faces as they stood within a room in the palace. She didn't hear the words the strange man was speaking but she saw herself pressed up against Joric far too intimately, and then she heard Martin scream out his rage and change before he leaped at Joric.

And then the knife punctured her heart, as she saw herself instantly change into her wolf form; she saw her very own claws slash deeply across the chest of the wolf who had stolen her soul as she protected the man who had raped her.

As Aricia watched herself being led away, the sound of the mournful wolf howl shred her heart and what remained of her soul into pieces and Aricia screamed.

Aricia screamed in hideous pain of the heart and spirit, a scream that carried out the window and across the landscape of the oceans and land below her, piercing everyone who heard it and making them turn towards the large mansion. It was a shriek many of them knew, and after a moment they simply lowered their heads in disgrace and continued what they were doing.

Joric stood in the main antechamber beneath the room where her wail of shame and unfaithfulness echoed through the walls and he smiled maliciously as he drank the ale.

Mother! Come quickly! It is Tablina! Something is wrong! Terribly wrong!

Isheeni's cry of alarm surged through Arzoal and she raced through the tunnels of their mountain home, scattering rocks and brushing past others of her kind in her maddened dash to her daughter and friend. She burst into the smaller cavern and saw Tablina withering on the stone floor clutching her head in some unseen agony. Her daughter's azure scaled face turned to her panic stricken.

It began moments ago mother! I don't know what it is? I tried ... I tried to enter her mind but I was smashed aside but some unseen force! She is in such pain mother! Such horrible pain!

Be still Isheeni! Arzoal spoke as calmly as she could and moving forward quickly. I will help her.

Arzoal calmed herself and reached out with her mind. She and Tablina had a unique connection and she grabbed onto that and allowed Tablina to pull her in. Arzoal's flame colored eyes went wide and her huge wings sprang outward from her shoulders and back as the most indescribable pain Arzoal ever felt ruptured into thoughts. She saw wolves, two black wolves; she saw blood and suffering, and the wrenching betrayal that ripped through her being. It was the child ... and her agony over what had happened was a hundred fold what she and Tablina thought it would be. Arzoal shuddered in agony herself now, reaching past the pain to reach for the thread of thought that was Tablina. She found her, Tablina's mind awash in the same agony but without the strength to even partially shield it as Arzoal was. With a deep outward breath Arzoal grabbed on to that thread of Tablina and began pulling her back. She saw a forest, towering pine trees and bright sunlight. She saw the face of the child now, so amazingly beautiful, her azure colored eyes changed to wolf eyes, her long wolf fangs out. She saw the face of the handsome man, his yellow/gold orbs points of light unlike anything Arzoal had ever seen His fangs were out as well, both of their lips stained with blood, each other's blood.

Never with anyone else Aricia. This ... this only we will share.

I love you Martin Leonidas. With all that I am. I will never betray you, never hurt you. Nothing will ever come between us as long as I have your love.

She saw them together again, the downward slash of the child Queen's claws against the monstrous black wolf's chest, four streaks of red erupting from the black fur. She saw the child Queen standing in front of the butcher's son Joric, protecting him in some odd fashion. The sorrowful howl of the huge black wolf staggered Arzoal almost to the point that she lost her connection to Tablina. She needed to leave this pain quickly before it overwhelmed even her in its intensity.

Arzoal gave one last heave with her powerful mind and pulled her friend with her, slamming her psychic shields back down before she had to experience more of the agony. She staggered back as Tablina gasped for breath, the sound a cry of relief in the cave.

Mother! Tablina! Isheeni's voice filled Arzoal's thoughts, allowing her to refocus.

Arzoal leaned her head over to the ground, taking a deep breath with a swell of her large chest, her wings slowly folding back onto themselves as she calmed. I ... I am fine Isheeni. It ... it was the child Queen. It was a pain ... a pain unlike any I have felt in all my long years of life daughter.

Isheeni's azure eyes grew wide. The child Queen? How ... how is that possible mother?

Tablina groaned loudly as she struggled to sit up. "Arzoal?" Her voice was soft and barely discernable.

Be at peace Tablina. I have enhanced your mental shields my friend. You are safe now. Arzoal told her.

"Oh Arzoal, what have we done?" Tablina gasped out.

Tablina what ... what do you mean? We did what ... we did what we had to.

Tablina's eyes looked up at her wide in shock and amazement. "They ... they have shared blood!" She gasped. "By the gods what have we done?"

Tablina what are you saying? Arzoal demanded. What do you mean?

Tablina slumped to the cave floor unconscious.

SPARTA

DAY TEN

"Damn you Aihola shut up and calm down for a moment!" Dysea's voice snapped in the transmission, causing Aihola's amber eyes to close.

She had regained consciousness to find Tarifa missing from Sparta and right now there was a planet wide search underway. Aihola was incensed at the moment. Not that they were caught unaware, she knew they could never plan for everything. She was incensed because she had seen the Lycavorian who had taken her Tarifa. He had been in Eden City days ago, and Tarifa and Selene had told him and his cohorts to leave Earth and never return.

Aihola took a deep breath and opened her eyes slowly. "Forgive me my Queen." She spoke softly.

"And don't call me that!" Dysea barked. "I may be a Queen ... but after what we shared I am always your friend first."

Aihola nodded her head. "Thank you Dysea. That means a great deal to me."

"Bella and I are on our way to earth now. We will arrive in two weeks. What has there happened Aihola? And hold nothing back from me!" Dysea spoke.

"They took my beloved Dysea." Aihola spoke. "They took my Tarifa. And if they harm her in any way, I will skin the flesh from their bones and laugh as I do it."

"Who took her?" Isabella demanded as she moved into the transmission next to Dysea.

"Martin's people took her." Aihola spoke. "They said something about a ship."

"Nauta Melme's people? Aihola ... you know as well as I that Lycavorians would never do something like this." Dysea spoke. "It is not in their nature."

"They were Lycavorians Dysea. I saw them with my own eyes; the same ones who came here to trade almost two weeks ago. Tarifa and Selene turned down their offer for whatever reason and told them to leave." Aihola continued.

"Turned them down why?" Dysea asked.

"She said ... she said she felt something evil from them." Aihola spoke. "She is full wolf now Dysea and her senses are more acute than mine in that regard. Because of my vampire genes I am only half wolf thanks to Dekton." Aihola saw Isabella whisper something to Dysea in the transmission. "Dysea ... what is going on? Where is Martin?"

"Aihola ... what of the Oracle? What of Helen?"

Aihola looked at Walter who was sitting across from her but out of the transmission. Dysea picked up on this right away.

"Who is there with you Aihola?" Dysea demanded.

Walter moved around to Aihola's side of the table and squatted next to her. "It is I my Queen." He spoke.

"Walter ... Holy One ... what is wrong with Helen?" Dysea demanded once more, forcefully this time.

"She is gravely injured my Queen." Walter answered. "Dilios is with her now. It was another bomb my Queen. This time targeted only on her. She caught the full blast of it. She is clinging to life, and the doctors from the fleet above do not have much hope for her I'm afraid." He spoke his voice grave. "They say if she makes it through the next day or so ... she may survive. They do not want to predict."

Dysea closed her eyes within the transmission and shook her head. Isabella leaned closer, "Senior Polemarch Dymas do you know who I am?"

Walter nodded. "I do Lady Isabella." He replied.

"Will you take my orders?"

"Without question Milady; you are to be the fourth Queen to my King. That is not in question." Walter told her.

"Have you locked Sparta down Senior Polemarch?" Isabella asked.

"Tighter than we did when the bomb almost claimed the King and Queen Dysea." He answered.

"Keep it that way Senior Polemarch." Isabella spoke. "I don't care what you have to do, but know this. The assassin you are searching for is undoubtedly Lycavorian, and posing as a Spartan that you trust." She saw his eyes grow larger. "I know it is hard for you to believe, but it is true. There have been events here..." Aihola and Walter saw her pause as well. Aihola leaned forward.

"Dysea ... what is going on?" Aihola spoke.

Dysea looked up once more. "There is a government of Lycavorians outside the Union Aihola. A large group that no one told us of before we arrived here. They are nowhere near as large or strong as the Union, but it appears they are considerably more ruthless. They adhere to laws and traditions that the Lycavorians we know abandoned thousands of years ago. They have ... they have succeeded in taking Aricia from Nauta Melme in the most hideous of ways." Dysea saw Walter's eyes widen.

"Taken her how?" Walter demanded.

"She had a condition called Lunmai. It is ... it is basically a second Coming of Age. It is exceptionally rare in your females Holy One. She goes into lust again ... the need to mate becomes overwhelming ... and these ... these vile men used that against her to betray Nauta Melme and allow another male to claim her as his mate. It was all done very deviously but well within the Union law it appears."

"NOT SPARTAN LAW!" Walter bellowed coming to his feet. "NOT OUR LAW!"

Dysea nodded slowly. "I know ... unfortunately ... Earth is now part of the Union and we must adhere to the law. They have ... they have also discovered that Martin fathered a child with the High Coven Princess Yuri, before he became aware of whom he was, before the Great Fire."

"Blood and thunder," Walter spoke.

Dysea nodded. "Yes ... it is quite shocking I know. This different sect of Lycavorians has threatened to release the information if Nauta Melme attempts anything in regards to Aricia. Another group within the Union's own government ... the elves..." Dysea spat contemptuously. "They have made a similar threat if this Ambassador L'tian's daughter is not returned to him.

"Yuriko ... do they know of Yuriko as well Dysea?" Walter asked.

Dysea nodded in answer to his question. "They know of her as well." She replied softly. "Whatever happened before the Great Fire, before Nauta Melme discovered his true ancestry, his true calling, we do not hold this against him. We love him too much. And he has never lied to any of us Walter, least of all to the three of us. He had no idea this was the case until only a few weeks ago, you know that as well as I. It is a very long story that I will relay to you when I arrive."

"Has he gone after Aricia?" Walter asked. Dysea was silent as she stared at him in the image. "Dysea ... has he gone after Aricia?"

Walter and Aihola watched Dysea break into tears and leave the transmission. This was difficult for Walter as he had never seen Dysea cry in all of her lifetime. Isabella watched her for a long moment before turning back to the screen. "Senior Polemarch ... they ... this fever, this Lunmai ... they recorded it. They showed it to all of us, to Martin. It ... it shows her screaming for this other male, while he was taking her from behind, begging him to take her as his mate." Isabella lowered her head and looked at the deck where she was. "We ... we watched her beg this pig of a man to fuck her and make her his mate!" Isabella screamed looking back up. "When ... when Martin flew into a rage, Aricia attacked him while protecting this vile man who had claimed her. She injured him deeply."

Aihola's amber eyes were wide, "A jal nindel udos mir orthae nau!" (By all that we hold sacred no!)

Isabella took a deep breath and nodded. "Indeed Aihola of the Drow." She spoke softly. "Martin ... he ... he has withdrawn. He will not allow us to penetrate his Mindvoice shields and none of us is anywhere near powerful enough to force our way in. Of us all, only Aricia could have done that. And while the physical wounds she inflicted on him have healed, I don't believe the emotional wound will. I fear ... you know how he holds his emotions in. He is a Spartan. I fear he will destroy himself, especially now that he can not turn to the Oracle. I fear for what he will do to himself in his grief."

"Isabella ... what ... what can we do?" Walter asked.

"Is there an officer from the Lycavorian fleet with you?" Isabella asked.

"Just outside," Walter replied. "My father has gone to Eden City to sit beside Selene as she negotiates the last of the contracts Earth has received."

"Please have him come in; he will know what I will tell him." Isabella told him, looking at Aihola while Walter moved. "Aihola of the Drow ... you said a ship?"

Aihola nodded. "I heard them say they needed to get back to their ship. I'm sure of it."

Isabella nodded. "Then more than likely they are not even on Earth any longer." She spoke.

"No!" Aihola gasped.

Isabella met her eyes. "They will not kill her Aihola." She spoke quickly. "Your lover Tarifa is far too beautiful for them to just kill her. I have studied your species of elves while I have been gone Aihola of the Drow. Walter ... he created the Drow to be the most like Spartans in every way did he not?"

Aihola nodded slowly. "So he has told me and others."

"Martin has told me of the strength of this woman who is your lover ... this Tarifa." Isabella spoke. "Your people ... the Drow ... it is instinct for you to chose the strongest of mates is it not. Like the Spartans."

"It is?" Aihola spoke.

"Your Tarifa ... is she a strong woman?"

"She is stronger than I, as she has proved many times." Aihola replied instantly.

"Can she ... can she survive being taken against her will Aihola?" Isabella asked.

"She has been raped and taken against her will before and has only grown stronger for it." Aihola answered immediately. "That is why I love her so."

Isabella nodded. "Then she will survive Aihola of the Drow. And you must remain strong so you can help us get her back."

Walter returned with the young Lycavorian Captain then and he looked at the monitor. "Lady Isabella?" He spoke. "Command me."

"Queen Dysea and I will arrive in two weeks, if not faster Captain. I am sending you a transmission now that is unique to this clan of Lycavorians. They use a Phased Flux Converter in their fusion cores. Realign your sensors to scan for this signature. Track it ... by any means. Have one of our Frigates follow it Shrouded if you have too. I don't care."

The Captain nodded, "As you order Lady Isabella. And when you arrive?"

Isabella looked at him and they saw her eyes change to vampire cobalt blue. "When we arrive Spartan ... Dysea and I are going to find this assassin. When we do ... he or she will die a very painful death. And whether we have to intern the Oracle, or she will recover, we're going to load every Spartan Centurion in your city Walter. Then we are going to go after Tarifa, no matter where those dogs have taken her, and show them that it is very unwise and unhealthy to injure or attack friends of Martin Leonidas. That is what we are going to do."

LYCAVORIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC CRUISER

"Open your eyes she-elf wolf." The male voice spoke to her. "I know you are awake."

Tarifa allowed her eyes to open slowly so she could focus. When she did, she found herself staring into incredible violet orbs that were gazing back at her intently, violet colored eyes that held no malice, no lust, no hostility, just intense interest.

The face of the blond haired man focused even more, and she saw the strong solid jaw, the thick eyebrows and thin lips, and the neatly trimmed blond mustache and beard. The face was deeply tanned and weathered, but it was extremely handsome. The dirty blond hair fell to his shoulders, which Tarifa saw were very broad, but it was clean and she detected the soft wild aroma of the deep timber that she remembered from her childhood.

"Do not try to move too quickly." He spoke to her again. "My brutish brother hit you rather hard and you took quite a knock on the head." He reached up with a large hand towards her face and Tarifa moved quickly to get away, only to feel a wave of nausea sweep over her and she froze, closing her sapphire eyes once more to fight it. She heard him chuckled softly. "I told you not to move too quickly Tarifa."

Her eyes opened again and she looked at him. "You..."

"Yes I know who you are." He told her before touching the side of her head and probing with gentle fingers. "Does this hurt?" Tarifa shook her head slowly. "Good ... that means he didn't crack your head, which is decidedly thick from what I can see."

"Where ... where am I?" Tarifa asked.

"You are on board a Lycavorian People's Republic cruiser." He answered her question. "You are safe ... though I wouldn't recommend going out for a stroll among the masses any time soon."

"You ... you have kidnapped me?" She snapped.

The man, a young man if Tarifa was correct, shook his head. "No. My brother Rommna kidnapped you, against my advice. But then he was never very smart."

"Your brother? That ... that pig is..." Tarifa hissed now.

He nodded. "Yes ... unfortunately for me, he is my older brother."

Tarifa's eyes went wide and she struggled to sit up. "Nya Istel?" She gasped, the last thing she remembered was Aihola falling to a similar crushing blow from a P190. The young man got up and moved to the small sink and mirror where he started to disrobe. Fear gripped Tarifa as she saw him pull the shirt off his very broad shoulders, revealing three long red gouges in his back and shoulder. Tarifa couldn't help herself as she watched the very well defined muscles of his back and shoulders flex as he moved, in obvious pain, but holding in the sound.

"If you are referring to your Drow elf lover, she is very much alive, and decidedly quite angry at the moment. With good reason no doubt." He spoke turning around. Tarifa winced when she saw the jagged gouges across the front of his steel hard abdomen and powerful chest. They were even deeper than those on his back. Tarifa watched him as he moved to a cabinet and began looking for something.

"With good reason?" Tarifa asked, keeping the relief in her voice hidden.

He turned those violet eyes on her again and nodded. "Oh yes, with very good reason." He said. "My brother took you from her, something I would be extremely upset with as well were I her." He obviously found what he was looking for as he pulled down the small can. "She is different your lover; very beautiful in her own right, but different. I can see the attraction she has to you though."