Alien General's Beloved: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides) (41 page)

The rage was still burning, but Corden pushed it down. It had almost ensnared him in its dark clutches when he'd seen Lana in the arms of his enemy, but now his mind was clear. There was no winning against Worgen with the rage, not against a man who was the closest any Brion had ever come to Radgen.

Worgen didn't let it consume him; he
was
the rage.

And if Brions were to win, if Corden was to win, he had to do it on Brion terms. The trust the Elders had placed in him a long time ago had to be deserved, Corden believed that. They didn't make mistakes, not with things that mattered so much.

As he was pushing the rage down after coming so close to being lost to it. Worgen was letting it overtake him. Belief that only victory mattered had gotten him this far and he wasn't going to betray that even when facing his death.

Corden knew neither of them had been holding back, but the moment when everything finally stood on the line was suddenly clear as day to him. It was an odd scene, one that he hadn't believed would happen.

Enemies who almost respected each other sometimes exchanged last words before one of them triumphed, but he felt nothing like that towards Worgen. And he was utterly sure the feeling was mutual.

It became clear why Worgen had decided to take the breather when the mad general spoke, his rough, deep voice filled with confidence. He still believed the lie he kept telling himself.

"This can only end one way," Worgen said.

"I agree," Corden replied, taking a second to look at his spear.

In a way, it was the symbol of his accomplishments. Brions were very careful with their weapons, but when everything was at stake, they were only that—things that could be replaced. He'd need a new spear when it was all done. The edge was almost blunt now, like him, attacked on all sides by his own weaknesses, but Corden knew he'd won.

If he died, he'd die a real Brion.

"And you still won't see the truth," Worgen said, his voice almost mad, like he was talking sense to someone who refused to listen.

"You won't see that the only thing that matters right now is that you win, that you kill me."

Corden considered that, but the answer was the same as it had been when he first set out to search for the legendary general.

"The only thing that matters is that I protect Briolina and Lana from you," he said, raising the spear. "Killing you is merely the way to do that."

Worgen charged with a roar and Corden knew it was all over. The spears clashed together so fast that he could barely distinguish between them. Instincts and reflexes worked as hard as he did; the duel was almost lost to him in the blur. Worgen brought his spear down on him with a mighty cry, nearly splitting Corden in two, but he caught the blow and held.

The rage might have helped him win, Corden knew that, but he was disentangling himself second by second. Almost at the brink, he'd nearly tumbled over its delicious, inviting edge, but that way lay only insanity.

He was the heart of the storm, not the storm itself.

Worgen struck and Corden parried the blow, the spears twirling around each other. Corden was faster and he managed to stab at the other general's chest. Worgen stumbled back, unable to catch the blow that came at such a bad angle.

Still, he fought back, but what drove him was fury and Corden was fighting for justice. The next strike was delivered so quickly Worgen barely managed to block, but Corden had known he would. It hadn't been his intention to score the hit. All he had wanted was to push Worgen back enough for him to run into the remains of the bedroom door.

Any other time Worgen would have been aware of the door behind him, would have kept the layout of the room instinctively in mind, but now he did not. The anger burning in his heart was blinding him, and the next strike from Corden made him fall back through the door. Corden kicked the remains of the door open, hearing Helia's startled, terrified scream from inside. Worgen was down, but not yet beaten.

The general rolled away from Corden's next blow, but he had stopped the spear inches from the floor like he'd done with Arben. That gave him the second he needed to kick Worgen's legs from under him as he was about to rise. Worgen's spear rose to pierce him through the heart, but Corden put his entire strength behind the blow then.

His spear descended on Worgen, cutting the black spear in two and embedding his blade in the mad general's neck. The armor that came up almost to Worgen's chin caught some of the impact and that was the reason he still lived when the two pieces of his spear clattered to the floor.

Corden stood over him, breathing heavily, trying to see clearly through the rush of battle hormones pounding through his veins. In the corner of the room, Lana was holding the crying girl in her arms. Corden saw that Helia had lent her coat to Lana to cover up at least a bit.

The enemy lay before his feet, defeated at last. Corden didn't want to think how many times he had felt the cold breath of death on his neck during the last few minutes. Perhaps it didn't matter. All that was important was that Worgen was not a threat anymore.

He watched the mad general take heaving, gargling breaths. The bluntness of Corden’s spear and the burning armor were keeping him alive, the heat working to cauterize the wound. Worgen still thought he might live.

Corden heard the call inside him, saying that a monster like Worgen didn't deserve a quick death after all the pain and suffering he had caused. But the monster standing above him looked at his
gesha
watching him with fearful eyes, waiting. And knew that he had to do the right thing, for all  Brions.

He lifted his spear and struck, clean and fast.

He had won.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Corden

Lana ran to him.

Corden would never admit to anyone how much of a relief it was to have her in his embrace. For a second while his
gesha
was waiting for him to decide what to do with Worgen, he'd thought she would remain scared of him.

Cradling her into his arms, pressing his face in the silk of her hair was the best feeling he'd ever experienced. No victory in battle was anything compared to Lana still loving him despite seeing him at his weakest moment.

Realizing the state of his armor, Corden wanted to let go.

"I'm getting blood all over you," he said, but Lana just shook her head and they stood like that for a long, long moment.

"I didn't want you to see me like that," the general finally said.

Lana took a moment to answer. At last, his
gesha
lifted her beautiful blue eyes to him, shining under waves of her curly brown hair and smiled.

"It wasn't a pretty sight, no," she said, still breathless, "but I saw the real you. Now I know who you are."

Corden searched her eyes for any trick, but she hadn't meant that as a goodbye. On the contrary, her eyes were shining with an emotion he wasn't sure he'd seen in them before. It spoke of the future, of a happier time without constant danger and enemies from a dark past.

The moment lasted until he remembered they might have been celebrating too soon.

"We still have to take the
Abysmal
," Corden said.

Lana nodded, but the smile wouldn't leave her lips.

"Yes," she said. "We must end this nightmare. I want to be far away from here."

If that wasn't an incentive, Corden didn't know what was.

***

Even with Worgen gone, the
Abysmal
remained dark and looming as Corden rushed through the corridors to the bridge. Signs of fighting were everywhere, but they seemed distant and quiet to him. No wonder, the fact that his warriors were now aboard too was making the battle more even. The only concern he had was whether the
Abysmal
had decided to open fire upon the fleet or not.

Nearing the bridge, the general was joined by his warriors who were heading that way as well. They reported that most of the ship was now under their control, but a few places remained where  fighting still continued. The bridge was one of them.

"What about the fleet?" Corden demanded. "And the
Flora
?"

"They're still in one piece, but we don't know who is in charge on the bridge," one of the warriors responded. "We think they are waiting for Worgen to give the order to fire upon the ships."

That is good
, Corden thought.

There was only one good thing that had come from Worgen's terrible regime, and that was that without him, the warriors didn't dare act on their own. That meant the bridge could be taken before the
Abysmal
opened fire upon the fleet. All they had to do was make sure none of them heard of Worgen's death.

The general considered his options. They could  overrun the bridge with force. Corden knew there was no one left aboard who could  face him, but all it took was one officer firing the
Abysmal
's guns and the fleet dutifully following them would suffer.

No, there had to be another way.

The idea came to him after a minute and Corden ordered his warriors to follow him to the bridge. When they got nearer, he encountered Captain Soren and his men attacking the bridge. Corden ordered his men to stay back and wait. At his command, the break-in attempts at the bridge stopped and Soren pulled back his men, playing out a tactical retreat.

After giving the enemies a few moments to realize something was going on, a message sounded over the ship. Corden listened to Soren's voice with morbid amusement.

"The enemy general is dead," the message sounded. "The rest of the warriors are withdrawing. Bridge, send reinforcements to cut off their exit routes."

The general was pleased. Soren had enough authority in his voice to pull off the trick, and after a few moments, the doors of the bridge opened. At first the doorway was heavily guarded, but seeing no one, the officers started hurrying back and forth, trying to establish order in the chaos around them.

Corden had told his men to wait in hiding, but he was seeing it all with his own two eyes. A grin appeared on his lips when it turned out slipping on the bridge of a Brion warship wasn't that much more difficult that it had been with the
Flora
. Worgen's crew was simply too afraid, living in an eternal state of anxiety, that they were ignoring their own senses.

The general was certain that some of them were able to hear him quietly enter the bridge, after all they had Brion senses too. But none of them raised the alarm, too busy trying to make everything work again.

He waited patiently, observing the many work stations. Corden wasn't about to risk missing one console that could have opened fire on the fleet. After a few moments, listening to the panicked crew try to understand what was going on, he charged out of cover.

The enemies drew their weapons, but it was too late. Corden's spear slashed through them as they tried to stop him, killing quickly and precisely so as not to miss any. He had been right as well. Worgen had instilled a deep fear in the men and had apparently given orders to punish the fleet in the event of an attack.

Three men attempted to fire the
Abysmal
's powerful weapons, but didn't succeed. The screams alerted Corden's men waiting outside, who were now able to break in to the bridge and take it over without endangering the fleet.

Corden watched it all happen with almost passive curiosity. After Worgen's death, there was nothing challenging him on the ship. He ordered a new message to be broadcast, making it very clear which general was dead. Another message was sent to the fleet, telling them it was all over. That the
Abysmal
was no longer a danger to them.

After that, the general stood by the screens, watching the fleet slowly pull away. Some ships jumped immediately as soon as they were told it was safe. Others stayed, like the
Flora
. Corden left Captain Soren in charge, knowing that if there was anyone he could trust with an indestructible ship, it was him.

Now that he had done his duty, all he wanted was Lana.

***

As it turned out, all his
gesha
wanted was to make sure everything was fine.

"There is so much to do," Lana said, the brightest smile on her lips that Corden had ever seen on her. "I have to find out where my old crew is. I have to make sure Helia is fine. And the Torons—"

Corden silenced her with a kiss. Her endless enthusiasm was endearing, even if he longed to claim her again. She had changed out of her ripped clothes, but the new ones seemed to be a size too small for her. A part of the general thought she was doing it on purpose, seeing the mischievous smile on her lips.

"You're right," he said with only a small tinge of regret, gathering his
gesha
in his arms. "We must end this properly. And then I will take you to Briolina."

Lana smiled, returning his kiss, not protesting one bit.

Still, they remained locked together until the calls for both were starting to get too urgent to ignore. Lana was still the captain of the
Flora
and Corden found himself with two warships that required his attention.

They resolved to deal with all of that. Now that they could finally be together, neither of them wanted any distractions.

Corden let Lana go, grinning when she looked back and winked at him, promising great things to come. His cock stirred, seeing her gorgeous body barely covered by her new clothes. The flight to Briolina was going to be better than he could have ever imagined.

But before that, Corden still had duties, and not all of them were pleasant.

The
Abysmal
had to be taken to Briolina, that much was clear to him. It was up to the Elders to decide what would become of it and the clones. He agreed that it was a question neither of them were able to answer.

That still left the originals who had
sided with Worgen. Many had died during the battle, but not all of them. Corden ordered the ship to be searched from top to bottom, putting the
Claw
's scanners to work to root out any who might have thought to hide.