Engulf [New World Book 5] by C.L. Scholey Page A

blade.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Abri was terrified. They were being attacked by the vessel outside and now she was being attacked by the being inside. When Raiden’s fangs slid into her tender flesh Abri tried to scream but felt awash with lethargy. She had been drugged. There was no pain and yet she could feel Raiden’s fangs slicing into her. Was he eating her? Was this what they had intended all along? She was food. Her legs buckled, but a large arm was wrapped around her midriff, holding her up.
    She was watching out the window as the large gray vessel was now confronted by an ebony vessel. Had they come to save them? It was too late; a blue streak of lightning was coming directly at the front window. Abri knew she was going to be obliterated. She was spun back around and crushed to Raiden’s chest right before her surroundings exploded.
    They were spinning through the dark space like a bullet. Abri couldn’t move. She felt the warmth of Raiden’s chest as her breasts were crushed up against him. Her arms were wrapped tight around his neck and her face buried into his throat. Her legs encircled his waist. With widened eyes she could see the stars. Abri had no clue what had happened. Somehow she was outside, in space, engulfed in a creature’s arms. She gasped for air for brief seconds before realizing she could breathe.
    “It’s all right, don’t be afraid.”
    Abri heard Raiden. She felt surrounded by him. She was afraid and yet not. She wanted to be afraid—tried to be afraid. It was the only normal reaction she should be having, and yet her emotions seemed stymied.
    “How?” she whispered. Raiden didn’t answer her. Had she only imagined hearing him? “How?” she said again.
    “What?”
    Abri tried to jerk back, but couldn’t move, it was like she was fused to him. “How,” she said louder. “And don’t yell in my ear.” Abri was astounded, she could hear. She could make out Raiden’s words in her left ear. She hadn’t imagined it.
    “I can’t hear you in my left ear, the sound only goes to my right,” Raiden voiced.
    “It only goes to my left.”
    “What?”
    Abri was feeling frustrated. His lips were right next to her left ear and he kept shouting. “Don’t yell, Raiden.” She realized because her mouth was almost pressed into his neck her words were muffled. Why couldn’t he hear her?
    Abri gasped when she saw the two large vessels come into view. Blue lights once more sluiced across the dark atmosphere. Another blue streak smashed into them and they went spinning. Abri wanted to scream as she and Raiden were flung across the empty airless vastness. Somehow Raiden had tucked her inside his armor. Was that why he bit her? A ritual to allow her in?
    She should be terrified of him—Abri wasn’t, but she was annoyed. She was flying through space pressed to a being she had just met. A being that had bit her. Something told her no matter how often the Tonan—being—things shot at Raiden, he would remain unscathed. Abri determined her life just went from odd to holy shit.
    “What is going on?” she demanded. “Why can I suddenly hear out of one ear? Why are we flying through space?”
    “Our shuttle exploded,” he said stating the obvious. He sounded irritated.
    “Well stop this armor of yours; I want to get off.”
    “I don’t have a control panel.”
    “You mean we’re going to float like this forever?”
    “Cobra will pick us up once the fighting stops.”
    “Cobra?”
    “Our leader.”
    “How long does it take two indestructible vessels to fight? And don’t ask me how I know they’re indestructible—while I’m floating in outer, fucking space.”
    “You were a lot easier to deal with when you couldn’t hear.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “I suppose since we’re mated I better get used to it.”
    “Mated? What do you mean we’re mated?”
    “In order to save your life I needed to mark you so my armor would recognize