The Jasmine shuddered as it took another blast. Adelina watched as they tore through space at speeds she hadn’t thought possible until a Corinthian prince had given her his secret tech and she’d found a genius mechanic who’d managed to improve upon it.

Now her starship led the fray into Khara. Adelina tried not to think of her brother William on the front lines – leading the criminals alongside her cousin Prince Ajax. He’d begged to take Giselle’s place, and Adelina didn’t have the heart to deny them after they’d all witnessed her sacrifice.

Adelina had sent that to the livestream as well – she sent everything she could to keep them up to date and hopefully give them enough warning to flee if she failed. Where they would go, she had no idea, but her mother was smart. As were the lords and ladies like Joslynn and Masha who’d remained with their people.

Now a tiny recorder was on her chest as well as a few key others. Her tech would splice the images into a cohesive vid as he received the recordings and send it to the livestream.

Adelina would rule with honesty.

“Faster,” she ordered, feeling the weight of Kaita’s plea heavy on her chest. They needed to get to the capitol as soon as possible or she’d lose someone else who didn’t need to die.

Another blast nearly sent them off course, but the shields held thanks to the scientists’ tireless work and the Neprijat tech they’d used to make their own. The first product of the teamwork of five peoples.

She wished she could bask in that success longer.

“We have to engage,” her captain said as the battlefield before them became clear.

Neprijat warships fought other Neprijat warships. The only way to tell friend from foe was the red and gold splashed across their bows. Adelina had begged the rebels to mark themselves somehow. She’d given them a phrase to use, ‘we fight for the queen’ along with her crest and prayed her allies in the Khara system would listen.

Anyone from her fleet who knowingly fired on an ally Neprijat would be committing treason. She’d made that very clear.

“How much farther to Khara Prime?” Nash demanded. “We don’t have much time.”

“We’ll never get there if we burst through this war zone and end up in a million pieces,” the captain snapped.

His steel was why she’d hired him.

“Engage only to get through and be quick about it,” she ordered. “I want our troops on the ground as quickly as possible.”

The captain grumbled but didn’t argue. He barked his own orders, getting the crew to man the engines, the weapons, and the fighters to scramble to their ships and burst forth from the Jasmine like honeybees from their hive.

The ship shuddered again, but it held. “Shields?” she asked, checking her console to see where the others were.

Varan, Kaiden, and Nash stood behind her. All three of them glared at the obstruction before them. Each was armed to the teeth in their armor – ready to fight the second their feet touched Khara Prime.

But Adelina knew most of the battles for Khara would be fought in the skies. That was what Asher was in charge of. She would take the Wolf and the Rose to the capitol and police those skies, taking it. The warriors on the ground would reinforce the Corinthian and Neprijat rebels.

They would release the hounds soon. If they hadn’t already. It was only a matter of time. And those creatures could wash through her forces on the ground like a tidal wave of death and destruction.

Adelina watched as her forces collided with the Neprijat’s. Her rage still simmered under the surface and she felt cold – ruthless. Nothing and no one would escape her wrath this time. This was it. This was the end. She would be sure of it.

They would all pay for what they’d taken from her.

As each enemy warship burst into a million pieces, thanks to the updated weaponry, she imagined those deaths paying for everyone who’d died in the bombing of the palace nearly a cycle ago. She imagined the innocents on her border planets finally getting retribution.

Then every person she’d loved who’d been taken from her.

Her father and king.

Raena.

Alpha.

Giselle.

And that there could be more made that rage that simmered, boil.

She watched Asher’s ship, the Royal Rosanera, lead the way to the border planets, slicing through Neprijat forces as smoothly and gracefully as he did in the Games.

Her brother and Hand led the rebel Neprijats who’d made it to them on time. Their enemy didn’t seem to know what to do when their own ships fired on them. That had been why she’d put the first wave of warriors led by William in the Neprijat ships they’d commandeered over time.

The element of surprise would only serve them for so long.

“I’ll take the border planets Lithios, Leva, and Kepri,” Asher reported over the fleet-cast.

“We’ve got Minara,” William reported. It was one planet but close to the capitol so it would be heavily guarded.

Adelina’s teeth ground together but she acknowledged her brothers. “Lord Sirus, please ensure they have the forces they need. The Drakesthai, the Unchanged, and Brogna. How far from the inner planets are you?”

“We’ll be within spitting distance of Arcadius,” the Brogna Chancellor reported.

“And we’re nearly at Capuli,” Prince Vasili told her.

That meant Adelina had her ragtag army of thieves and assassins. She had her mates, and Sozav. She had her Queen’s Guard, Nadyah and Ian. They could take Khara Prime and the palace.

“Excellent. Once those planets have been secured and the space wiped clean I want you to push any enemies towards the outer planets. Then you will reinforce Khara Prime.” Adelina checked her armor and her blades again.

Soon.

Soon she would be in the fight. Her body was already thrumming to move and fight and kill the enemy. The wolf was ready to howl – signaling the beginning of her hunt.

Neprijat warships fell like falling stars. Most cluttered up space, making their path dangerous, but others fell as they were dragged into the gravity of a moon or planet. The debris would fall, most getting burned up, but the larger pieces would land, creating an impact where few would survive.

She’d ordered them to keep most of the damage from the planets but there was only so much that could be done in the chaos of war.

“Time?” she asked.

“Ten minutes. That’s Khara Prime,” the captain said pointing. “We’ll fly around it. Don’t miss the exit time or you’ll be too far from the planet to make it.”

Adelina nodded.

“We won’t be late.” She turned and nodded at her mates.

Adelina refused to think of the odds of their success. She refused to consider the signals of her ships going dark all across the Khara System. There was no room in her head for the fear and terror. There was no room to wonder who would live and who would die.

There had been no pretty speeches this time. Adelina had simply ordered the entire fleet to move and now to their designated positions the moment Kaita’s beacon had gone off. They didn’t have time for a speech no one cared about – not when they were still angry with her about the Neprijat rebels.

Varan, Kaiden, and Nash followed her without another word. Adelina knew Ian and Nadyah were already on the transport ship, making sure it was prepared to launch the moment she needed it. Her Queen’s Guard was there as well and all the other warriors – anyone not essential to making the starships fly – were on the hundreds of other transports that would land on Khara Prime in ten minutes.

Adelina hadn’t given a speech for more than one reason. But the most important was it didn’t matter what she had to say. Everyone knew what they needed to do. And they would win or they would die.

There was no other option.

At least they were holding their own based on the reports she tallied in the back of her head as they came over the fleet-cast. She’d lowered the volume on her suit so she could think and process.

Adelina looked at Varan.

Then Kaiden.

And finally Nash.

All three stared at her as they stood in that massive hangar with too many transport ships to count. This was it. They would take Khara. If they won…

She didn’t want to think what else the gods and goddesses would make her sacrifice for this victory.

“I love you,” she told them. “Don’t die.”

Varan grinned at that. “Nah, we’re too stubborn to die.”

Adelina still felt that ruthless cold suffusing her system, but she couldn’t help the way the corner of her mouth lifted in a tiny smile. “Isn’t that the truth.” She looked to Nash and Kaiden, both still snickering at the joke – but they all knew truer words had never been said. “Nash, you get to lead point. We will follow you until the king is dead. Then I will take over.”

She still hadn’t told them of her plan if all went to hell when they reached the king, or for the horde. And Adelina had no plans to. Only she could carry that burden, and she couldn’t afford to let anyone make her question this decision. Even the males she loved with her heart and soul – her entire being.

The ramp lowered as she tapped her gauntlet and Nadyah peered down at them from the top. “Ready?” she asked, eyes only for Adelina.

Another shard of hope for the future. Adelina had no plans to squander the possibilities she’d worked so hard for.

“Let’s go,” she said, walking up that ramp – knowing it could be the last time she saw her flagship – the home she’d made with the people she loved and cared about.

It may be manned by thieves and assassins, but they were her thieves and assassins – they were willing to die for her and probably would.

“Queen Adelina?” a voice she didn’t recognize asked over the fleet-cast.

Adelina looked to her mates, feeling the now familiar prickle of warning. “Yes?”

“A signal has been sent to the Neprijat horde. They’ve picked up their pace and will now be here in an hour. Maybe two.”

Of course they would. The Goddess was testing her. “Noted,” Adelina stated. She checked to make sure every ship she commanded was selected. “If you cannot defeat the Neprijat in that time, push as many as you can to the borders.”

Confused agreement. No one questioned her. Adelina nodded at Ian and he went to the cockpit to tell the pilot.

The ramp closed behind them with a final clank and Adelina breathed deeply. Then they were off.

He hated fighting in the sky. Unless he was on a fighter or manning a weapon, Varan felt goddamn useless and he hated that more than anything.

But now they were seconds from the drop and he bounced on his toes. Ready.

He glanced at his wife again, but he sensed nothing from her. If he dug deeper he could feel her swirling rage, but that was it. On the surface she was calm, cool, and collected.

Adelina was the perfect leader. Nothing fazed her.

She gripped the handle as the transport evaded the Neprijat’s long-range cannons.

They were headed for the palace, but Adelina had ordered the pilot to land in the market square. She wanted to make sure as many enemies were taken out as possible.

Varan decided she was more than capable. That rage would serve her well as would the wolf he could see in every movement – ready and waiting to sink teeth into flesh and taste hot blood. He, Kaiden, and Nash would provide whatever cover she might need.

The transport landed with a harsh thud but they all held their ground. Relief filled him and then the anticipation. Now he could finally fight instead of watching it from the Jasmine’s bridge.

Varan and Nash exited the transport first with Kaiden taking off for the skies the second his feet touched the ground. Three other transports landed with them and the Drakesthai forces followed after Kaiden.

The Queen’s Guard went next led by the captain, Peyton. It was back to full force now and they spread out in perfect formation.

The marketplace was a dead zone. The sky was dark and the stars twinkled in the eerie silence. There had already been a battle here from what Varan could tell.

The capitol in general felt dead.

He could hear fighting, but it was in pockets and concentrated around the slave pens and military posts. Fire raged where Kaita’s ships had exploded. Rubble littered the streets. Varan could see the palace looming in the distance.

At least the lights were still on. It allowed them to see and their own lights would blend in rather than be a beacon for the enemy. Varan rolled his shoulders back as he took it all in. He didn’t like how even the palace seemed dead.

Had Kaita’s forces and her people already swept through? Had any survived?

Adelina came down the ramp of their transport then, rifle already in her hands with Ian and Nadyah at her back to bring up the rear. Varan stopped to watch her for a moment, memorizing the fierce way she looked out at the broken city.

He committed the scene to memory, including her stance, the strength in her shoulders, the way the moonlight shone on the gold of her armor, the points of her vicious crown.

Those amethyst eyes blazed when they found him and Varan knew he would spend as much time as the gods allowed worshipping her.

“Move out,” Nash commanded, watching her the same way Varan did.

And through her he felt their favorite brute and the Drakesthai prince tied to his heart. Varan knew they saw her as he did and that alone was enough for him. She would be protected no matter what happened. It was what they’d promised each other only an hour before.

She didn’t die. None of them could take it if she did. If one of them was forced to sacrifice themselves for her – they would do it without hesitation for the other two. For their own sake as well.

He rolled his shoulders back and grinned as he hefted his rifle up. This is what he wanted. A dirty messy battle where he could feel the death of his enemy by his own hands. If the other battles were any indication it wouldn’t take long to get to his blades and Varan relished that prospect.

Nash signaled for them to move out, activating his helmet. Everyone followed suit and Varan glanced up at Kaiden in the sky, scouting with his squadron of Drakesthai. They were nothing but black dots, but the moonlight made their wings glitter ever so slightly.

The warriors from the other transports fell into step around them and the entered the city streets.

A small army to help take the city and the palace back.

Varan noted the marks of battle that had already been left, bodies and broken buildings.

“We’ll clear what we can, break off if necessary, and then go to the palace,” Nash said, switching to their legion’s channel.

Adelina nodded and Nash’s gaze lingered on her. He didn’t like having her in the middle of the fight any more than Varan or Kaiden did, but she was more than capable as she’d proven over and over. And they would all be there to protect her.

“Follow me and stick together,” Nash ordered, turning down a wide street that went off the market in the direction they needed. “Team one, sweep the marketplace and then bring up the rear while team two, you go east and team three goes west. The queen’s team will go north. Everyone circle back around to join us once the surrounding area has been cleared.”

The first team was already gone, following orders, and the others prepared as they moved forward.

“What about the hounds?” Ian asked, shifting closer to Nadyah.

Both of them would bring up the rear as they had when they took back Hai due to Ian’s medic abilities. And Nadyah wouldn’t leave him. She was best suited for protecting him. Varan gave her a nod when she jerked her chin at Adelina.

They would take care of her.

Even if he doubted they would need to. She had shed her mask of humanity completely.

“If anyone sees hounds, come back to my team immediately,” Adelina said. “They will overwhelm us if we are in smaller groups.”

Nash nodded his agreement.

“Let’s go already,” Varan said with a playful grin. “I want that palace.”

Nash snorted, but gave the signal to pick up the pace.

They jogged down the street, keeping their eyes out for any enemy Neprijat, but Kaita had done her job well. If there was anyone in the buildings they kept to themselves. Varan knew they didn’t have the time to sweep each building.

It would have to go on the list of things to do after they won…

Because they would win. He’d make sure of it.

“Enemy!” Varan shouted. He fired as an entire legion of Neprijat came around the corner. Nadyah stepped forward to fire with him, as did Adelina.

The warriors fell in droves, but they fired back, testing the limits of the armor’s shields. Varan gritted his teeth. This was always the worst part. The distance didn’t allow him to take them down and gave the enemy far too much opportunity to wear down his shields and kill him.

Then the Drakesthai arrowed towards them and Kaiden ordered them to brace themselves.

Explosions rocked the city streets. A few of their warriors stumbled and fell from the blast, but Nash roared for them to advance.

Then they were running, Adelina fastest of them all, somehow speeding past even Nash. Only Ian could keep up with her. That damn royal blood. Varan cursed and fired on what he could see despite the smoke covering everything.

Smoke and debris made their path dangerous but he leapt over the fallen walls and cracks in the pavement, dropping his rifle in favor of his double plasma blades. The edges crackled with that force that could cut through anything and everything. It sliced through armor like butter.

Black blood sprayed everywhere.

Varan attacked, taking down warrior after warrior, falling into a rhythm as he moved in tandem with Nash, whirling as they searched for Adelina. Every once in a while he caught a glimpse of her, but she was so bloody fast.

Adelina used the smoke to her advantage, disappearing only to appear before a Neprijat like a ghost. Her blade sliced across throats, stomachs, inner thighs. Anything to take them down without slowing her.

He admired her form.

The movements weren’t as beautiful as he knew she could be.

It was efficient.

Brutal.

She was the wolf bringing death to its enemies. Nash noticed as well and they shared a look. How many had she taken down, imagining they were the king?

Giselle’s death had hit her hard and they all knew she hadn’t recovered from it. There hadn’t been time. But there was never time in battle to grieve for those who had fallen.

But Adelina no doubt planned to exact her revenge here on this battlefield.

Varan paused when he caught the howl of a hound and the hair on the back of his neck raised at that horrific sound. It would haunt his nightmares for cycles. If he lived that long.

Nash ordered Adelina back into formation and she didn’t hesitate. The legion tightened around her and Varan could feel her irritation at the leash, but she didn’t go against Nash. The brute led them forward, jogging once more.

Another howl. They needed to get to the palace as quickly as possible.

“Hounds are coming from every direction,” one of the teams reported in. “We’re on our way to you now.”

The other two checked in and Varan felt his heart pound as they burst through the smoke and dust to see nothing before them. Where were the hounds?

Nash slowed, checking his gauntlet. “They’re everywhere,” he muttered. “So why can’t we see them?”

“The sewers,” Varan spat a split second before they burst from the ground like an infection. They crawled all over everything, scurrying straight for them.

Kaiden directed the aerial legion and they took out wads of the hounds before they reached them, but the clash of those creatures on their armor was deafening.

Adelina screamed her battle cry and Varan joined in. Nash roared as he swung his massive sword once and took out three of them. It had never been their skill as opponents. It had been their numbers that had made the hounds so dangerous.

The Drakesthai took out hundreds of them from above as the rest of them beheaded as many as they could.

But there were still so many their forward progression had been halted. They didn’t have the time for this.

“Got any ideas, mate?” Varan asked Nash as they pressed back to back, guarding Adelina as best they could. But she was too wicked fast. She sliced heads off like Death with his scythe.

Nash gritted his teeth and grunted as he ripped the head off a hound who’d tried to take a bite out of him with his bare hands. “We make a path and send a team to the palace while we hold the hounds off.”

Nadyah screamed and Adelina whirled. She threw a blade and in that moment everything stopped.

The hound that was on top of the courtesan had its head sliced off by Ian a breath before Adelina’s blade hit the brain stem. Another hound came up behind the prince and those claws wrapped around Ian’s chest, trying to rip and tear and shred—yanking him back.

Varan had to move.

Then Adelina cried out and Varan hesitated.

She’d been distracted and a hound had her pinned. It was Ian or her in that moment – everyone else too busy with their own problems. “Save him,” Adelina gritted out. “Do it Varan.”

The dominance in that command forced him to obey.

True despair hit him for the first time since they’d left Draga Terra. Varan had never been forced to obey his queen, and this time she was sacrificing her own life for her brother’s. He’d known something like this might happen after Giselle, but he hadn’t expected the force to overcome his own will.

Varan beheaded the creature and watched the blood cover Ian who went straight for Nadyah.

Then Varan turned, praying Nash had gotten to her, but she was still struggling. The hound had already bitten through the arm of her armor and red blood mixed with all the black.

Adelina screamed her fury as Varan ran toward her, throwing knife after knife, but the angle of the hound’s head was too awkward – too close to his mate for him to risk a throw for the eye.

Peyton reached her first, plunging the knife into the beast’s neck. Three more hounds pounced on the queen’s guard and Varan kept running.

Nash was under four others and it was like the hounds somehow knew. They understood to some degree how important this was and were deliberately keeping them from the palace.

Two more hounds landed in front of Varan and he roared his frustration. He gutted them without stopping and then whirled to behead them so they couldn’t sneak up on him later.

Adelina pushed off the dead hound and struck upwards as another attacked her. Everyone was frantically trying to reach her as the hounds closed in.

Yells from freed slaves reached his ears and they started working their way in from the outside of the mass of hounds.

They may make it to the palace yet, but if Adelina couldn’t handle those hounds…

Varan was out of knives. He had one blade left and his pistol. Firing plasma blasts only did so much when it took three to the brain to take out one hound, but it did clear his path.

Watching three hounds leap onto his wife—his queen…Varan never knew terror like he felt in that moment.

Then the ground shuddered hard.

Kaiden stood from his crouch; wings spread wide, and ripped the head from the hound with one hand.

Varan managed to take out the other two and panted as Kaiden helped Adelina stand. “Took you long enough,” he joked, trying to catch his breath and ease the fear at the same time. “So dramatic.”

Kaiden gave him a look. “You’re welcome.”

Adelina thanked them and then was gone, back into the fray.

“Bloody hells,” Varan muttered.

“She’s not easy to keep up with,” Kaiden agreed. “But the path to the palace will be clear in a few moments.”

They both glanced at the building that jutted up into the sky. Then Kaiden took off and Varan threw himself back into the battle.

Kaiden watched with one eye as the fight raged below him. The other was on the anti-aircraft cannons firing at their transports and the legions of Drakesthai taking to the skies.

“Take care of the cannons around the palace first,” he ordered. “Then circle out until all of them on Khara Prime have been taken care of. Spread the word to the other legions.”

His group nodded, but someone piped up as they all beat their wings in tandem. “What about the warriors on the ground?”

“Only engage if it looks like too many of our forces will perish. Getting rid of these cannons first is of the utmost importance. Only when they are taken out may you engage on the ground. Now go!”

Kaiden wasted no time as he swept over his mate once more, wishing he could fight alongside her. But he would do a better job of keeping her safe if he cleared the path for her as much as he could.

That he’d broken his own orders only moments before was something he wasn’t going to address. And he shouldn’t have to. Saving their queen was not the same as aiding one of the commanders.

At least not for him.

He dodged plasma blasts the size of his entire body as he aimed for one of the palace anti-aircraft guns. He landed hard enough the ground shook and then he ripped the thing from the cement with brute force. The power cut off and the sound of the electricity whirring died away.

Satisfied, Kaiden checked the holomap and located the next.

And then the next.

Some he blasted with his personal cannon, large enough it made staying in position difficult. Every time he fired it threw him back a few meters and he’d have to adjust midair.

The legion of Drakesthai around him made quick work of the rest of the cannons.

When he landed at the last location he didn’t try to dismantle it. No, Kaiden had no such plans. He pulled out one of the discs Varan had given him. A present from a thief. He shoved it into the console on the anti-aircraft cannon and watched as it ripped through layers and layers of protection.

Then he was in. Kaiden selected his legion’s channel. “I’ve got the last cannon on the palace and I’ll provide back up. Take out the rest in the surrounding city.”

They didn’t argue or question this time, not when Kaiden knew they were already getting tired. The muscles on his back ached with how much flying he had to do. And it was only the beginning.

He’d provide cover for his mate and queen, and pray to anyone listening that they’d make it through this bloodbath.

Kaiden glanced down and saw her – a fearsome warrior cutting her way through the hounds and the Neprijat like the skilled predator she was.

All the training she’d done and all the fury he could feel through the bond made her quick as death and just as merciless. Adelina somehow kept her allies clear from her enemies as Kaiden watched rebel Neprijat and slaves join her path of destruction towards the palace.

They were nearly at the bottom of the steps…

Soon, she would be with that monster.

Kaiden hoped Kaita had already killed him. He didn’t feel weak or selfish for the thought despite how much he knew Adelina and Nash wanted that kill. If he could keep his mate from danger he would.

The few females left in his home system were manning the planets and supplies – far too valuable to be fodder for war.

He felt the same about Adelina – but Kaiden had known from the moment she’d challenged him to spar that Adelina wouldn’t stay safe in Hai, or even on her flagship which would still be more dangerous than he cared to think about.

Finding the sight on the cannon he directed it toward the hounds and sent a blast once he knew allies were clear.

There were so many hounds.

Kaiden kept firing. When the Neprijat warriors took to the skies he took those ships down as well. Then he fired at the debris crashing to the planet’s surface from space so it would break up. The smaller pieces caused less damage – less chaos and death for both sides.

Still fires raged across the city. Explosions from the various slave pens and military outposts rocked the earth. The smell of smoke started to burn his throat and still Kaiden fired at the enemy.

It looked like a hell realm as it all glowed red in the night.

“The path to the palace is clear,” he stated, selecting the Queen’s Legion, tuning out all the other channels. “Take it now.”

Kaiden had checked thrice before sending his wife to that monster. He only prayed that Kaita and her warriors had already sacked the palace.

More Neprijat ships came down, from the stars this time.

Kaiden switched back to his legion. “Take what cannons you can. Fire at will,” he ordered, rattling off the numeric codes Varan’s disc had ferreted out.

He gritted his teeth and fired over and over, making sure nothing and no one came close to the female he loved with his entire body and mind, heart and soul. More than life itself.

Adelina sprinted up those stairs white as snow and Kaiden saluted, reminding her he would always have her back.

She touched her fingers to her brow and gave him a nod.

Even in her battle rage she was aware of him, loved him. He could feel it wrap around his soul through the bond.

Kaiden roared his battle cry – for her.