Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(58)

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.#p#分页标题#e#

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.#p#分页标题#e#

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.

He told his warriors to take the enemies alive and lock them up, if they were willing to surrender. They would face the Elders as well, but Corden suspected their fate was going to be harsher than that of the technically unborn clones.