"I am expecting a daughter," Dr. Kazz'mon guided me to the examination table with her canary-yellow belly visibly occupied.

"How much longer?" I knew this appointment was about me and not her, but I couldn't stop myself from showering her with questions.

"Many months," Kazz'mon smiled and motioned permission for me to touch her small swollen tummy.

"And it stays inside you the entire time?" The notion was mind-boggling.

"Yes, Mourning Crow," Kazz'mon chittered. "I can send you some instructional documentaries about our reproduction process that we show to our emerging females. Though you might find the finale very disturbing."

"Maybe," I cringed my ears slightly. "Eh'kt tried to explain it to me once, but it got confusing. Like where do all your internal organs go?"

"The end results far exceed the chaos and carnage," Kazz'mon snickered and waved for me to lie down on the examination table. "I promise."

"Have you borne a youngling before this one?" I stretched my neck up to maintain eye contact with the doctor.

"Yes," Kazz'mon pulled a large metal scanner into place above. "Only one, many, many cycles ago. His name is Shar'koth. He's brought great honor to Jahaa."

"I bet he's easy to spot," I laid there grinning and wiggling my toes. "If he's got yellow quills like you."

"He is!" Kazz'mon's melodic laughter brought the room to an abrupt silence. "He's among Lor's task force. You can meet him. I anticipate his presence at his sister's birth."

"Does that mean?" My foot began to tap involuntarily. "I can be present as well?"

"Yes, of course," Kazz'mon held my foot still. "One moment. It's important that you remain motionless."

The scanner revved up with blinking lights and a soft humming sound, then Kazz'mon tapped on her black tablet.

"There, all done," the jade and yellow Zhaguai smiled. "You may sit up. Also, if you have time in the future, I would like to learn more about razkur naming methods."

"Happy to!" My ears shot up high. "The tricky part will be figuring out where to start."

"Probably best to start much later, on another day," a tall middle-aged male razkur strolled up to me with his own black glass tablet.

"Fair enough," I snickered to myself. "How's it looking? Did the migration go ok?"

"We'll know for sure in a few minutes. The results of your latest bloodwork and bio-scans are processing now," the razkur doctor flapped his ears forward taking a preliminary listen to my internal organs. "Oh, forgive me. My name is Clay Fox, and this is my associate, Sea Star." The male razkur doctor pointed to his female physician counterpart across the room finishing up collecting fresh anatomical scans of Eh'kt and Shale."

"Nice to meet you," I made a small bow with my head. "How are you liking Sahei?"

"The humidity is a little uncomfortable and the bathrooms in our lodging are downright terrifying," Clay Fox chuckled. "But the foliage is amazing! I've never seen so many flowers."

"Gotta get some thermo-bands," I tucked one of my fingers under one of the shiny synthetic bands wrapped over my collarbone. "It feels weird on your chest but it beats sweating on everything."

"Yes, that does seem a fair tradeoff," Dr. Clay Fox bobbed his head. "I'm beginning to regret our initial decision to turn them down when we arrived. I assumed we'd be indoors the majority of the time, but what's the point of visiting a new planet if you're too hot to explore during your off time?"

"They look good," Sea Star cantered up with my lifemates behind her.

"Ah, yes," Clay Fox scrolled through the newly updated data on his tablet. "I'm not seeing any indication for concern with male Zhaguai compatibility. Kazz'mon," the razkur turned to the yellow and jade Zhaguai doctor.

"Your synthetic adaptations are to be commended."

Clay Fox's eyes went big as he scanned over Eh'kt's and Shale's bio-charts. Then he turned to my mates. "Razkur pouches can be transferred to any male once it detaches from the mother. However, due to the hybridization, this embryo is fragile."

Eh'kt's quills twitched anxiously.

"Success requires that the carrier be genetically related," Clay Fox explained. You two are currently the only individuals in existence capable of this task and it may likely be true for any other children you produce in the future."

"Iron Coyo," Sea Star spoke up. "Oh, my! Sorry. Eh'kt, you intend to be the carrier?"

"Yes," my black-scaled mate raised his head.

"Then that means, Red- er- Shale," the female razkur shook her head and turned to my other mate. "Should Eh'kt be injured or expire while the pouch is attached, you must be prepared to take his place. It's imperative you learn and work together. There's a reason it takes two razkurs to carry a pouch during the second stage."

Shale grunted in acknowledgment.

"Late pouch transfers are risky even when the carriers are razkur," Clay Fox added. "But Sea Star and I have arranged to remain on Sahei and work with Kazz'mon for the remainder of the pregnancy to ensure everyone's safety."

It still sounded weird.

We were going to be a baby. A little mini combo of Eh'kt, Shale, and me.

I was certain I was wildly unprepared, but how did that differ from anything else that had happened in my life?

We'd be ok. Eh'kt and Shale said so. They're not the type to fail.

The big second delegation was in town along with all the Council Elders and the Supreme Matriarchs. The entire capital was bananas with razkurs and representatives from other clans swarming all over.

Shale and Eh'kt spent the last few months with Menthla's first and smaller envoy preparing the Zhaguai to receive a large influx of razkurs. Lost Coyote was among them. She retired as Karawarak's captain of the guard and was the first to volunteer to go off-world to partake personally in Menthla's merger into the Eternal Nexus.

She proved an invaluable leader. She organized food preparation, proper lodging, and assigned a special task force of her own to prevent any unwanted culture shock while the politicians were in town. The most urgent being, overseeing the installation of industrial-grade sound dampeners within the Zhaguai's cylindrical architecture to keep my fellow razkurs from succumbing to our natural instinct to seek and sing to our heart's content at the sweet spot epicenter within every structure.

This latest, and truly official, envoy brought along one of the firstborn Abura drones newly birthed from its Liege and nested with the traditional sarro grubs. It was white and the size of a lynx, like the ancient Abura, but it retained the new glowing orange saliva. Also, while it still hissed and swished its stinger-tipped tail at any Zhaguai it encountered, the Menthla strain didn't outright hate Zhaguai and understood they were the razkur's allies.

Lor's task force had been busy as well, and she had become one of the biggest proponents of Menthla joining the Nexus. Her task force worked tirelessly with razkurs and not just with the Lycan Unified Territories. It turned out all of Menthla intended to join.

Now that my people were finally aware of what they were fighting, the razkurs had been on fire. Shifting tech production, re-distributing the military, and aiding the Zhaguai with specialized weapons and defensive construction. No one was more invested in standing up to the Graven and Lor insisted that the Nexus supported its inclusion. There were many Zhaguai working to combat the Graven, but Menthla had become the primary outpost to coordinate robust operations.

Lor even spearheaded the initiative to aid Menthla in setting up mining stations across our moons to aid the razkurs in rebuilding their hobbled space program.

"You will need to adjust your schedule, Mourning Crow," Sea Star instructed. "To stay close to Eh'kt during the final weeks to trigger your milk production."

"Also, the initial DNA analysis from our previous scans shows that the embryo is predominantly Zhaguai," Clay Fox spoke to all three of us. "Razkur females only nurse their newborn for a month. Then they switch to bonemeal gruel. However, your youngling will require extended nursing and may never switch to gruel."

"I have already begun synthesizing a comparable formula," Kazz'mon supplemented. "We will adjust the nutrients as needed."

"Does that mean we can aid with feeding?" Eh'kt chimed in excitedly.

"Yes," Kazz'mon nodded, then she turned to me with a serious gaze. "Mourning Crow, prepare yourself. There is an instinctual pain that comes when you feel you are unable to properly provide for your offspring. It is a false sensation that may be difficult to overcome. You will not be physically capable of nursing to the extent that your suckling requires. Zhaguai growth demands a great deal more milk for a longer period. This makes you no less of a bearer. These are biological facts. Depend on us and your mates to aid you through this stage."

Clay Fox then took Eh'kt and Shale aside to illustrate how, when transferred, the pouch would lay on his back between his shoulder blades and that Kazz'mon was designing him a state-of-the-art Zhaguai-sized protective harness.

All three of us had been counting down the days until this milestone, the successful migration of the embryo and the thickening of the lining in my abdominal pouch, but Eh'kt was especially ecstatic. He awoke this morning fully charged and rumbling on all cylinders. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was on the verge of singing.

He and Shale also claimed my scent had shifted drastically this last week, and the pair had been noticeably growlier than usual. So much so, that when I returned home this morning, after an early hunt for our breakfast, I discovered all our furniture strategically rearranged so that my mates could exploit their cache of rechargeable, portable phantom blinds.

They were taking turns stalking me.

First, Shale tackled me from behind and pinned me down on the floor of our living room. He finished quickly then vanished, leaving me to wander around our house confused with his seed dribbling down my legs.

Next, Eh'kt pounced in and immobilized me with my back against the wall. He was deliberately hostile and rough. Sure, I could have made an effort to fight off my mates, but I was more than curious to discover what manner of climax was laying at the end of their odd amorous stratagem.

That strange back and forth went on for a while, each of them striking hard and cumming fast, Zhaguai-style, then backing off and leaving me in silence. They'd occasionally hiss and lure me into different rooms and switch up turns at random to keep me guessing. Plus, they were brief each time to ensure I didn't finish.

I was still work-shopping titles on what to call this game. My current favorites are 'hide and fuck' and 'pin the dick in the razkur'.

When they finally decided it was time for me to take my turn, my mates did not disappoint!

Eh'kt was on top with Shale thrumming below me. I lost track of which was up and, as usual, my limbs refused to do what I told them. Normally, if it's just one of them, I can influence the situation, but when it's both of them, all nuances are gone. My circuits kick into overdrive and there's only one speed, like nitrous oxide being injected into a supersonic jet engine.

Eh'kt had lapsed into one of his trademark feral streaks, squeezing us in his arms and roaring 'mine'. It was like he was channeling lighting and all you could do was ride along. He made all three of us finish at the same time and I remember coming to with my hands shaking and relaying to my mates that it was possible to trigger an orgasm while one was already in progress.

"Do you wish to know the sex?" Clay Fox brought me back to the present, calling everyone over as he approached me with the results of today's scans and blood draws.

"Yes," I bounced on the examination table.

Clay Fox and Sea Star's ears went wonky as they pointed to each other's tablets.

Shale took my hand and I exchanged unsettled glances with Eh'kt.

Then Clay Fox flicked his ears up. "Males!"

The three doctors huddled together, murmuring to one another while Shale's grip grew tighter.

"Identical twins," Kazz'mon tapped the results up on the large view screen built into the wall. "Too small at this state to show you anything noteworthy, but these latest scans prove the results are definitive."

"Don't panic," Sea Star smiled at Shale with her ears dancing overhead. "Though you will need to reorganize your plans for the coming months."

"We understand this occurrence is rare for Zhaguai," Clay Fox brought his tablet flat to his chest and folded his arms around it. "But it's frequent enough for razkurs that there shouldn't be any need for concern. The pouch will split safely into two and we will attach one to each of you. Their growth should progress normally."

"However, Mourning Crow," Sea Star interjected. "You will require an implanted contraceptive. Otherwise, you'll have to peel-off any pregnancies that occur while your bonded are carrying."

"Implant. Please and thank you," I nodded vigorously. Anything to avoid a repeat of what happened before.

Shale's quills started tapping oddly. His eyes were glossy and the chambers of his massive Zhaguai heart began pounding loudly as his hand slid over my pouch.

"There will be more to discuss for your pre and postnatal care in the coming months," Kazz'mon stood next to us, tapping on her tablet. "Shale, I'll schedule a time frame for you to be fitted for your own harness."

THUMP

Shale dropped to his knees with his forehead pressed against my stomach. His shoulders trembled and he made a strange rasping sound, and then I realized he was sobbing.

The doctors hushed and backed away, and then Kazz'mon quietly guided Clay Fox and Sea Star out the doorway.

Shale's heart raced and his lungs were on the verge of hyperventilating. Then he stammered, "Two can be worthy...?"

I held him and stroked his quills.

"Three are worthy. It will be true for two," Eh'kt knelt beside Shale, stroking his knuckles over our mate's back. "They are us. We will guide them."

Shale lifted his wet face from my belly, then he hooked us tight into his big red arms, clinging to us while pledging himself to the future.

...

"Are you hungry?" Shale smiled at me as we crossed the street.

"Yes, Please!" I skipped between him and Eh'kt as we left Medical Prime.

Across the central courtyard, we saw Dran waving his big brown and blue arm in the air at us. Shale pointed and directed us to go visit. He was oddly enthusiastic about conversing with the warrior.

As we drew closer, we saw a few others were with him, E'pire, Lost Coyote, and two of Dran's prized reptilian hounds.

"Hey," Dran smiled. "What brings you out this way?"

"Twins!" Shale blurted and pulled Dran in for a hearty embrace, paired with a slam on the back.

"Well done!" Dran sputtered, in startle at the unexpected physical contact and did his best to return the manly back-pat.

"Most commendable, Mourning Crow," E'pire greeted me with a gracious dip of her head. "I have every confidence your offspring will prove worthy."

"Oh, they will!" Shale slapped his hand joyously on E'pire's shoulder.

The blue and white Forged warrior craned her head slowly at the unprecedented familial jostle but arched her wide-set fangs into a subtle smile.

"Identical males!" Shale puffed his chest at Lost Coyote holding up three fingers. "Having three bearers will make training much more feasible."

Something told me it might be necessary to petition an emergency executive order from Oru forbidding her Adjutant from issuing a Jahaa-wide announcement across every Zhaguai's wristcomm.

"Will you be performing a traditional naming ceremony?" Lost Coyote bounced her ears in my direction. She wore casual topless razkur attire paired with a black thermo-veil. "Or do Zhaguai do something else?"

Eh'kt thrummed at me curiously.

"It's not a big thing," I wagged my ears. "Mostly, it's a small gathering that hangs out while one of us volunteers to get high on xeda-root and waits for a vision," I tossed my fingers up in air quotes. "Unless the little guys make their names known earlier. If we did it, we'd perform it shortly after birth and we'd schedule a babysitter."

"This can be arranged," Eh'kt scrolled his claw through our joint schedule.

"Whatcha guys doing out here together?" I inquired to the others. "Did we miss a party-in-the-park invite?"

E'pire quirked her brow at me, then stoically straightened it out. "I was escorting Lost Coyote to the commissary before returning to an Institute assembly. Then she will be joining Oru and I for our nightly meal."

"My bearers invited me to join as well, but I had to run an errand today," Dran knelt to one of his black scaley hounds and scratched its jowls. "This deadly lady is expecting pups and my other big lug just likes smelling the city."

"We're going to eat as well," Shale couldn't stop smiling. "We had an appointment with Kazz'mon and the two razkur specialists."

"Oh yeah, did Kazz'mon tell you?" Dran folded his arms proudly over his burly trophy-covered chest. "She expects a female!"

"Yes," Shale thumped his first on Dran's forearm. "It appears your prediction about our pairing in the Joust this season was dead on!"

Lost Coyote twisted her ears back and forth in confusion.

"She's not a lifemate," Dran was quick to explain the parental dynamic to his off-world razkur visitor. "Shale and I competed against many challengers and I was paired with Doctor Kazz'mon in this most recent Convergence. I requested permission and was approved to keep tabs on the pup's progress. I've never procreated with an academic before!"

Lost Coyote looked up at him with her ears asymmetrically puzzled, "And that's all the interaction you'll have with the child?"

"It's more information than is typically shared," Shale explained. "Most females don't allow any communication with Joust partners beyond what the law requires."

"Rearing is different with lifemates," Dran leaned in, letting his thick black long quills drip onto Lost Coyote's shoulder while pointing toward Shale, Eh'kt, and I, "You'll see it firsthand with these three."

"There are many things in your culture to acclimate to..." Lost Coyote rendered the Forged a soft musing smile. "I suppose our ways must seem just as curious."

A small crackling sound perked my ears up, and my chest suddenly brimmed with nausea.

"I hear it too," Lost Coyote's ears sliced up sharp toward the sky like mine.

I unleashed splayed my claw and scoured the central courtyard for the source.

"Mate?" Shale instinctually snagged a foot long dagger strapped to the back of his belt and the others followed our lead.

My mates and comrades couldn't yet sense the danger, but the curdle in the air was unmistakable. "Graven!"

Suddenly, a long stream of yellow plasma whipped across the courtyard, scorching a massive oozing scar into the populated streets.

We darted for cover and a siren triggered, then the city-wide anti-Graven defenses went into effect.

"Come, vessel," a caustic voice bellowed from the top of a nearby building. "Do not deny your purpose!"

It was a black and green male Zhaguai, but his chest was a gaping glowing mass oozing yellow plasma. A heavy blazer had fused into his arm and it was primed to fire another devastating blast into the center of the city.

"Who is that?" Lost Coyote shook the dust from her ears and regained her footing.

"Tanot, I think," Dran checked on his hounds, then handed the former captain his warhammer. "Last I heard, he was a long-range scout on Lor's taskforce."

"He's dead now," I growled while inspecting my mates for damage. "Don't be fooled."

"You refused our gifts and severed our summons," the corrupted Zhaguai shouted. Then his weaponized arm flared and fired.

"Down!" Eh'kt blocked the incoming debris from hitting my body.

Eh'kt lifted off of me with a chunk of metal sticking into his back. "It's nothing." My mate yanked the shard out and helped me up.

I knew the wound would seal itself soon, but I hated that the Graven had harmed him.

Dark circles speckled the sky.

"Move!" Shale pulled Eh'kt and I to our feet.

Several gigantic metal spears descended from the sky and pieced deep into the city streets. Then the silver spikes sprouted out into a tangled network of massive barbed hedges.

A barrage of fat blue lighting bolts followed immediately after, shattering glass and igniting fires with each ravenous touchdown. Several of the strikes connected with the tall metal spears and electrified the barbed barricades. Plus, one extra large bolt struck a medium-sized cylinder tower and brought the structure crashing down.

Another volley of spears came flying down.

"Hold tight!!" Dran leaped in, scooping Lost Coyote to his chest and then sprang them both out from under the shadow of an incoming spear.

A second spear smashed into his line of egress as he scaled up the side of a building with the female razkur clinging on. The wall ruptured from the collision and sent them both tumbling down in a hail of rubble and shattered glass.

A flash went off and then the rapid pulse of heat melted the glass shards covering the ground.

Dran was on his side, roaring in agony but remained firmly wrapped around Lost Coyote. He didn't dare let the molten glass touch her skin.

"Dran," Lost Coyote cringed. "Your face!"

The brawny Forged rolled up and lifted their bodies from the wreckage. Half his face and arm we coated in red-hot glass.

"Are you harmed?" Dran reduced his grip on the razkur.

"I don't think so," Lost Coyote's ears perked up. "But my back is sore."

Dran tried to open his arms further, but the glass glaze was hardening quickly. He snarled and jerked his elbow up, cracking and pulling the glass off his skin with chunks of his flesh coming loose with it.

"More above!" Lost Coyote's ears sharped at the sound of additional spears whistling overhead.

Dran put the razkur down and ripped his face and shoulder free of the remaining glass. Then he ran with her toward a section of the street not covered in giant round shadows.

"You're bleeding!" Dran shouted at the former captain. There were shards of metal embedded all over Lost Coyote's back.

He saw E'pire across the street waving them down and a robust metal pedestal rising from the ground.

"There!" Dran pointed. "To my bearer!"

"Hurry!" E'pire shouted.

The broken street quaked when the spear landed and Dran nearly lost his footing.

"Whoa!" Lost Coyote spun and yanked him back upright, but the sudden twist compounded with her blood loss snatched away the razkur's balance and she collapsed.

"E'pire! Your medkit," Dran spooned Lost Coyote carefully into his arms.

"I'm moe-ay-" the razkur's eyes drooped and her head dipped involuntarily.

"Try not to move," Dran carried her to one of the many emergency pedestals rising across the city and saw his friends running in to join them.

"What the fuck are those?" Lost Coyote muttered half-lucid, pointing up at the city skyline.

Two more malformed silhouettes took positions on rooftops near the corrupted Zhaguai, formerly known as Tanot.

One was a hulking blue fish woman wielding a blue-lighting spear. She stood on two legs and had a wide webbed fin spiking out her head and back.

The other was the amalgamation of a dire wolf and an oversized man, he was shielded in metallic fur and slashed about a matching silver metal whip while filling the sky with grating high-pitch shrills.

"Will this work on her?" Dran glanced up at E'pire with his half-stripped face seeping viscous blue while plucking out an orange-filled syringe.

"I do not know," E'pire inspected the razkur's back side. "But she will perish soon if untreated."

"Bite my hand," Dran shoved the side of his uninjured hand to Lost Coyote's mouth. "It will burn."

The razkur nodded and bit, then sank her teeth in when the solution invaded her circulatory system.

Myself and the others converged on the emergency cache and were startled by Dran's half-bloody appearance.

"Are these Graven or minions?" Lost Coyote groggily opened her eyes. The heat started to return to her body.

"Neither," I shook my ears. "They're corrupted. People who either gave into temptation or a slayer who defeated a Graven but failed to excise the infection permanently. They're nothing but empty puppets."

"E'pire," Lost Coyote sat up. "Do you have another one of those injections for Dran?"

"The damage is superficial," Dran protested with a chuckle.

"But Graven blood is not," E'pire shoved a green syringe at the stubborn male whom she may not have birthed biologically but did raise and train from a suckling.

Dran lowered his head and conceded to the authority of the two insistent women.

"Arm yourselves!" Eh'kt reached into the arsenal stored within the emergency cache while Shale passed out wristbands that activated personal anti-Graven shields. Then Eh'kt pulled out a heavily armored pulse-wave minigun for himself.

I chose a sword as my chain sickle was currently with a craftsman getting upgraded. Shale claimed two battle axes crested in red plasma and E'pire took a shield and sword, while Lost Coyote regained her footing and returned Dran his warhammer to claim a spear. Then Dran whistled for his hounds and activated his seeker drone.

"No Mercy!" I growled.

"Mourning Crow," E'pire took a solemn stance. "This is a fight you cannot part-take in. You are responsible for more than yourself."

"I can't leave you all now," I leered at my mates, urging them to back me up.

"Lor has constructed special safety shelters for pregnant bearers and offspring," Shale opened a map on his wristcomm. "There's one nearby, unharmed. They're built with reinforced shielding."

"One of us will escort you," Eh'kt stepped forward.

"No," I dipped my ears reluctantly. "I hate to say this, but it's going to take all of you and more to defeat those things."

"Anti-Graven defenses are being dispersed as we speak," E'pire laid her hand on my shoulder. "Go now. Protect your offspring. Trust in your lifemates and your clan."

I opened my wristcomm's map, blinking the location of the shelter, and nodded, then ran.

I wanted to punch them all for sending me away, but there was no denying that their mandate was correct. There was more at stake than my desire to face down the monsters who ravaged my homeworld. My little ones may have been too small to hear and see properly, but I had a responsibility to them and my triad.

The hum of anti-Graven aircraft filled the sky above, dropping weapons, armor, force-shield domes for survivors, and lighting rods to reduce the deluge of damage brought forth by that beefy fish lady.

Help was coming. My mates and friends would not be abandoned.

"Ow!" My leg stung out of nowhere.

WHOMP

Something latched onto my calf and threw me into a wall.

"What the-?" I shook my head and tried to stand up.

A shadow expanded around me.

I was in an abandoned alley and there was something thick, black, and pulsing wrapped around my leg, trying to rip through my personal shield.

I could hear my friends fighting in the distance. My mates were in full combat mode with the Zhaguai, Tanot. Eh'kt's mini-gun was laying down cover fire in short, controlled bursts while Shale moved around, hacking off valuable appendages.

A dark form solidified in front of me. It was a tall, muscular, male razkur with sleek, neatly shorn white hair. His pale skin bubbled forward, but his eyes shined black. He had a series of large weeping open claw gashes branded into his chest and a greedy smirk smeared across his lips.

Bold Step...

A dozen big black tentacles wriggled up from his shadow below and coiled around me before I could get back up on my feet.

"Long time, no see, Mourning Crow," Bold Step pulled me closer and tightened his tentacles.

He looked exactly the same as I remember. Well, except for the disgusting corruption coursing through his veins, and I could have sworn he was taller. Though, back in Thorngate, I was always looking up at him from a thirteen-year-old perspective.

"I never thought you were the sort to run away from a fight," Bold Step brought my face close to his with one of his longer tentacles coiling up my face. "How things have changed."

He was former military and working as a firefighter in Thorngate while training to become a rescue service pilot before the city was stolen. He was the fellow who took a shine to me and had he worked up the nerve and chosen differently, I would have made him mine.

"It was all well and good when you were gallivanting across the universe killing off useless Graven," Bold Step wormed a rogue tentacle tip toward my lips. "What a sublime method for ridding our congregation of detritus."

His tentacles squeezed my arms and pried the sword from my fingers.

"But then you chose to stray from us," Bold Step's breath stank of moldy fruit marinated in bile. "And sent a pack of refuse and razkurs to disrupt our sacred rituals."

His tentacles continued slithering up and down my body, desperate to find a weakness in my shield.

Is this what I would have become that first time I slayed a Graven, if I hadn't instinctually rejected their filth? Best guess, my element, instead of shadow, would have been blood.

"Oh, come now," the abomination that inhabited Bold Step's long hollowed-out shell grinned. "This is a reunion. It's ok to say hello."

"This is your end," I tried to jerk my head away from his probing tentacle. "Coming here was your fatal mistake!"

That old sensation of rot and despair sloshed inside my stomach and my lungs burned with the stench of death and madness. In an instant, my thoughts were transported back into that wretched black hole that was Thorngate.

But this time, everything was different.

I wasn't alone.

I had a clan, a family, and I had finally returned to Menthla.

The little suction cups on his tentacles expanded and flared thousands of tiny fanged mouths. They gnawed at me but couldn't breach the thin anti-Graven barrier.

Bold Step reached out his hand and raised my arm before his face. I tried to fight him, but the pressure was inescapable.

"Here's the culprit," the corrupted razkur shifted his gaze with a wink to my wristband, powering my shield.

I had no pity for Bold Step, even if a sliver of him still remained. I told him how to reject their corruption. I even demonstrated to him how the process was done. I never knew what happened to him after we parted ways, but apparently, just like when it came to admitting his feelings for me, Bold Step was a coward.

"Let's try this," the abomination licked his lips.

A thin spark of lightning shot down and struck my wrist.

I screamed from the jolt and then heard the melted bracelet rattle on the ground.

The tentacles constricted but stopped nibbling at my skin.

"You're with pouch!" He smelled me up close. "But you reek of that reptilian scum."

I tried to growl and bite him, but a stray tentacle filled my mouth.

"Shh..." Bold Step's eyes gleamed at me in wicked delight. "Rejoice! This means I no longer have to kill you."

That nasty throbbing tentacle squirmed in further, all sticky and bitter, forcing my eyes to his.

"Come, we will travel to the Blessed Garden," Bold Step reduced his number of tentacles but kept the strongest few out. "You will live long enough to see your pouch transferred to me."

No!

I tried to struggle free and bite down into that awful invading thing.

The embryos were too small for him to hear that there were two, but it didn't matter.

It was a death sentence!

My babies will die without Eh'kt and Shale!

I fought against his constrictions with every morsel of strength I could muster. But the more I withdrew, the more he strangled. My vision blurred, and the alleyway was spinning into black. Then that prying tentacle pushed in further down my throat and I couldn't take in air to breathe.

I wanted to bite it off, but I knew better than to allow any portion of him permanently inside me.

In the distance, I could hear E'pire's shield and blade clash with the spear of the fish woman.

The sound of her fighting that slayer solo was magnificent.

Bold Step laughed, then he turned and let me fall sideways, dragging me away toward the noxious call of the Graven.

I heard the fat slap of a corrupted slayer's head landing hard on concrete and what I hoped wouldn't be the last time I heard my mate's triumphant roar.

Everything was dim and hazy.

I tried to scream, but I could barely move.

Stop!

I wanted to reach my wristcomm but my hands were bound behind me.

My eyes blinked slowly and for a second I thought I saw a shadow zip over Bold Step's spine and head.

Suddenly, Bold Step's head and back exploded in a spray of black as my mates descended on him in a hail of claws and white laser fire.

The corrupted slayer slithered into the shadows, releasing me of its strangling tentacles and clearing my airway for much-needed breath.

"Mate," Shale helped me up while Eh'kt maintained focus on the slayer with a new type of two-handed blazer-cannon delivered by the anti-Graven airdrop. The upgraded arsenal was specially designed to repel Graven corruption and inflict maximum suffering.

Bold Step warped from one dark crevasse to the next while trying to snag hold of me with his horrible pulsing tentacles once again.

Mid-attack, Eh'kt flung me a rip-claw dagger while Shale hacked off the incoming tentacles.

"Let us obliterate this monstrosity," Shale spun his red-tipped battle axes in truculent ardor. "Together!"

"Together!" I flashed my teeth and stabbed the dagger into the nearest darkness where I heard Bold Step taking cover.

"Vermin!" He hissed from his hidey-hole and zipped along the wall. Then he stomped out a cloud of black fog at Eh'kt and dove below and between my black-scaled mate's legs. "The vessel will be ours and her youngling!"

Bold Step coiled up behind my mate like an indignant cobra and stabbed Eh'kt up through his back and chest with a broken length of rebar.

The prototype anti-Graves shields did wonders for repulsing Graven cells but were limited when it came to abating regular objects.

"Eh'kt!" Shale charged in fast, slashing his axes into the mass of flailing tentacles keeping us at bay.

"One down, one to go," Bold Step cackled and swished away, letting Eh'kt's punctured body fall to the ground.

Shale roared and leaped over our fallen mate with his axes ablaze above his head. Eh'kt had always touted our red-scaled mate's phenomenal combat talent, but this was the first day I had ever witnessed it at its apex. His speed and power were a whirlwind of blinding terror, but there was more. Today Shale was graceful.

Tentacles shot out again at me from Bold Step's shadow, but I reclaimed my sword and snipped them clean before they could touch me.

The corrupted razkur made a lunge my way, but was immediately cut off by Shale.

"Out of my way!" Bold Step spat, then wrapped a hungry tentacle around Shale's neck to yank the Forged backward. Only Bold Step couldn't latch a solid grip around the mass and length of Shale's long quills.

"Never!" Shale tossed an axe and sank it into Bold Step's shoulder.

Bold Step stomped his nasty black cloud again and coiled to strike.

SHUNK

Eh'kt's second dagger blade hooked in at the base of Bold Step's neck and ripped his head and spine half out.

The abomination reeled back with a pathetic screech and its still-attached head flopped side-to-side.

Arrogant shit underestimated Zhaguai anatomy and their capacity for healing quickly.

I twirled to sever off one of Bold Step's legs and dropped him to the ground in a wriggling mess.

But that ugly fucker was far from dead.

A wave of tentacles sprang from the shadows in a desperate attempt to overwhelm us.

"Take him!" Eh'kt pointed his blades left as he shouted to Shale.

In an instant, my mates pounced in unison, striking in a perfectly timed coordinated assault. All of their recent shared sparring sessions had yielded ruthless results.

They sifted through the black snarl and cleaved a path for one another, inching closer and closer to their target in a stream of methodical rage, forcing Bold Step to retreat out of the alley and regroup with his fellow slayers.

I took aim and sent my sword sailing into Bold Step's torso. He recoiled and yowled, then rolled to his gimped knees and ripped the blade from his body just in time for Eh'kt to cleave his serrated dagger deep into Bold Step's chest.

The corrupted razkur attempted to warp away, but Shale was on him and slit Bold Step's belly wide open. Black slime unraveled from Bold Step's wounds as the razkur scrambled to pull his head and spine back into place.

"You will all writhe in agony when the Graven are done with you!" Bold Step wheezed in a choking voice that was not his own.

"Limp threats from a spineless puppet," I plunged my matching dagger hilt hard into the place that would have Bold Step's heart, holding him in place while my mates sliced off his head and tore out his entire backbone before tossing the leftovers aside to melt away.

The mound of clipped tentacles shrank back into Bold Step's shadow, leaving the vile creature with one last remaining intact tentacle. He used it to fling himself out into the street.

"He runs!" Shale threw his second axe, but Bold Step vanished into a distant shadow.

"Shit," Eh'kt growled.

"He will regenerate easily," I rotated my ears to inspect my mate's chest injury. "How did you know to come?"

"The airdrops are dispersing prototype scanners," Shale opened the city map on his wristcomm. "We saw the fourth slayer light up in the direction you ran."

"We could not risk it," Eh'kt touched his head to mine and grazed his hand over my abdomen.

"Did he harm you?" Shale reclaimed one of his axes from the alley floor.

"The shield held," I shook my head and pointed to the melted wristband. "For as long as it mattered."

"There are more bands in the caches nearby," Eh'kt motioned for him and Shale to escort me to the shelter.

"Not that way," I stood my ground. "I can't risk luring more of those things into a sanctuary for those who cannot fully defend themselves."

Shale grumbled, but he and Eh'kt exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

We return to what was once the verdant capital courtyard. E'pire was atop the fallen spire of a nearby dormitory, driving back the fish woman slayer.

The newly dropped lighting rods had stripped the blue slayer of her single supernatural power and forced her to counter E'pire with only her subpar melee skills.

We caught the tail end of what technically qualified as a battle. E'pire advanced with the sword and shield while blasting the slayer full of holes with a shiny anti-Graven fist blaster. Then the Forged paused her bombardment and charged the weapon to maximum. In a flash of white, the slayer screamed and vaporized into flickers of fading dust.

E'pire bounded down the rubble's slope and joined us at the base.

"She cannot go that way," Eh'kt raised his hand before E'pire could ask why I had returned. "The slayers seek her."

"Then we shall end this!" E'pire clanged her blade flat against the shield with a wide feral smile and roared.

We found Lost Coyote and Dran with his hounds locked in a toilsome battle with the metal-covered wolfman. A massive spiked dome had sprouted around them, with the adjoining barbed hedges webbing across the entire capital, blocking all of Sahei's citizens from navigating sectors.

"Can they be cut?" Shale inspected the metal lattice, attentive to the tiny spurs prickling in an attempt to ensnare his hand the second his flesh made contact.

"Only one way to know," Eh'kt adjusted the settings on his anti-Graven blazer and activated a steady cutting stream. "Let's hope the power cores can sustain a persistent stream."

Inside the silver-thorned dome, Lost Coyote and Dran struggled to breach the wolfman's armor. What little their weapons could dent, mended almost instantly.

Dran employed a warhammer in tandem with coordinated assaults trained into his hounds while Lost Coyote kept the wolfman off balance with the blade of her spear.

The former captain may have lacked my raw power, but she was calculating and swift beyond reason. Dran's soft chuckle reverberated each time the wolfman snapped his whip at the razkur only to miss her and get duped into receiving another beating from the Zhaguai's warhammer.

"They can't break through his armor," E'pire clicked, annoyed that we couldn't slice a path through the barrier.

"I don't think they can touch him either," Eh'kt squinted at the wolfman. "His fur must be reactive like the hedges."

Another metal barb fell and we could take a few steps forward, but there were still at least five spiked layers blocking us from the action.

Across the way, Dran issued a series of clicked commands to his hounds and did his best to communicate his plan to Lost Coyote. The razkur nodded and shifted her momentum, slowing down to lure the wolfman closer. Then one of Dran's hounds sprang up and latched onto the wolf's arm while the other jumped and tackled the monster onto his back. Quickly, the hounds hopped around to reorient and sank their teeth around his forearms.

The wolfman howled another ear-splitting screech, but Lost Coyote shut him up with the tip of her spear. Then she rammed the polearm all the way down while Dran tossed out several constrictor-collars to keep the slayer's body and extremities tethered.

E'pire tossed the razkur her fist blaster.

In an instant, Lost Coyote crouched in the ancient technique inspired by our sacred Abura and aimed the remaining blast charge directly into the slayer's mouth.

The slayer thrashed and yowled and then melted to nothing in a blaze of white-hot light.

A moment later, Dran's male hound hobbled to his master's side and flopped down with a loyal whimper.

"Hey fella," Dran knelt as the hound crumpled to his side.

The wolfman's claws had ripped open the hound's underside.

Then the animal licked its master once more, then curled and drifted off quietly from blood loss.

"Dran," Lost Coyote touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"He fought honorably," Dran knelt over his beloved comrade, stroking the length of the animal's silent body. "We knew the maneuver was risky."

The metal hedge and cage creaked and bowed around them, then suddenly Eh'kt's blazer blasted through with ease. Without the slayer's life force, the thorns became hollow and brittle.

We kicked through the hedge and ran to regroup with Lost Coyote and Dran.

"Are there more?" Dran lifted and cradled his dead hound.

"One escaped us," Eh'kt checked his wristcomm map for any lit-up nodes.

"We injured it greatly," Shale added.

"Then we must assume it will attack aga-" E'pire halted mid-sentence and darted at Dran.

A large section of broken wall snapped above him. E'pire dove at him and shoved him out of harm's way.

"Fucking hell," Dran lifted his face from the ground. "That was close. E'pire, are you alright?"

"My arm is cut, nothing else," E'pire lifted off Dran and removed a large shard of glass from her hand and damaged wristband.

Suddenly, a squishy shadow zipped up E'pire and coiled tight around her arm, squeezing vile black ooze into the exposed cut on her wrist.

Dran ripped the black mass off and tossed it where Eh'kt could open fire.

Out of nowhere, a bright slit in the air stretched wide, like a tear in the fabric of reality that sucked what remained of Bold Step back inside.

It was the Graven, calling their foul slayer home.

"E'pire..." Lost Coyote's voice trembled.

The black contagion was spreading fast across the Forged warrior's arm in a web of necrotic black veins.

"Quickly! Do not let me kill any of my brothers and sisters," E'pire tossed her weapons aside and turned to us. "Give me a pure death!"

Dran stepped up to his bearer with his fist clenched and gripped his warhammer. Then he roared and lunged to charge, but Lost Coyote intervened. She blocked his path with the bladed end of her spear, froze, and closed her eyes. E'pire hissed in satisfaction and leaped at the razkur.

In an instant, E'pire's head was severed and the black veins in her arm shriveled away.

I winced and clenched my jaw when the Forged warrior's body thumped on the ground.

Lost Coyote opened her eyes, dropped the blue-coated spear, and stepped away. Then she folded over and vomited.

"You preserved her honor," Dran knelt beside the razkur, stroking her hair and slumped ears.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to meddle," Lost Coyote wiped her eyes and mouth. "But I couldn't let you kill your mother."

"It's good you did," Dran helped Lost Coyote to her feet. "I don't think I could have done it."

"If there was any other way, I would hav-" Lost Coyote shook her head.

"No," Dran hushed the razkur and lifted her chin. "I mean literally."

Lost Coyote's ears drifted slightly asymmetrical.

"She trained me. She knows all my moves," Dran explained. "You were clean and fast. My bearer would be pleased. She's not a warrior you get a second chance at."

I had to step away from the carnage.

"What state is Sahei?" I turned to my mates with tears leaking down my cheeks.

"The capital was the epicenter," Shale sifted through the updates on his wristcomm. "The damage is extensive, but eliminating the slayers has ended the invasion. We will rebuild and be better prepared if the fools ever dare to instigate a next time."

"Bold Step got away," I folded my arms in unease.

"You knew him?" Eh'kt thrummed his chest against my back to soothe my nerves.

I nodded and leaned my head against him.

The slayers came for me, but I felt no guilt. I was the one who walked away. They had a choice. The Graven could have simply let me go, but true to their nature, they chose death. Now they would suffer the consequences of desecrating Sahei.

"Many died today, but we remain." Shale hooked his arm around Eh'kt and I, while cupping his other hand over the place where our twins were growing. "We will mourn the losses and continue living to honor them."

The ruins of Sahei's capital smelled like Thorngate. Blood and ash and ruin. But I was not alone and I no longer sang for death.

I was home, and the beat of my heart was bright. Eh'kt, Shale, and I would share it all because our song lived on, through our bond and our sons.

...

Oru's visage took form over the aerial holos.

She was draped in red with her face and spear tip smeared in her own blue blood.

"They came to Sahei and openly attacked the Eternal Nexus," Oru's voice echoed across the sky and on transmissions displayed to every city-state on Menthla. "They kill indiscriminately and cravenly seek to steal our sovereignty and integrity. There is only one response for such dishonor!"

The crowd roared below and clashed their weapons in fury while the razkurs on Menthla howled in unison.

"Know that this edict is not stoked by the loss of my mate," Oru continued. "But arrives unanimously and unbiased directly from the Council of Ancients and The Supreme Nexus Matriarchs. We will have justice and the false gods will die!"

Oru clanged her spear as citizens of the Eternal Nexus called out for blood.

"Rise, my brothers and sisters," Oru raised her blood-tipped polearm. "Today, we go to war!"

.

.

.

THE END...

...for now

I know, I know, I'm eager to find out what happens next.

There's sequel and companion books!

...

Chronological Omnibus: The Hunter's Song Books

1. The Hunter Song (Completed)

2. The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood (Complete)

3. Broken Borders - Companion Book (Coming Soon)

4. Raven Tide - Companion Book (Completed)

5. Crazy Wolf - Companion Book (Completed)

6. Labyrinth: Chyani's Conquest (Coming Soon)

...

Check out the sequel:

 Raven Tide is COMPLETED... Start Reading Today😁

Crazy Wolf is Completed... Start Reading Today!

...

But for now, it's time for some Q & A:

Will there ever be any Male Zhaguai / Female Human co-mingling? (in the words of Eh'kt) YES

Will there be any more YGBTQ content? YES!!! But understand, the E'pire-x-Oru chapter required a lot of research and anxiety on my part. So when there is, it would likely be MxM. The idea board is wide open to all options right now. As of now, I'm 💯% planning FxM + MxM action in the upcoming book: Labyrinth: Chyani's Conquest. (this story was originally slated as the 3rd Hunter's Song book but things have evolved and Chyani's role is too critical not to put her name in the title). Beyond Borders will feature Shale, Eh'kt, Mourning Crow with MxM and MxMxF.

Will I ever write scenes that are non-consensual? NO. Not my jam. I can kinda get the fantasy appeal but whenever a character is either not into it or ambiguously wishy-washy about their wants I find it to be a big turnoff. And since all of this content is spewing out of my brain, I'm going to write what revs my engine. All unions in my stories will be consensual.

Will I ever make a Male Razkur / Female Zhaguai story? Yes! Read the sequel, The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood to check it out.

Will Eh'kt and Shale ever have alone time together? Shhh..... it's too early. I tried to be very specific and consistent about each of their individual kinks and adding that aspect to their relationship in this story felt like it would be covering too much ground. I've always felt their relationship to be demisexual, with Shale leaning a bit more pansexual. I plan to depict them alone together as well as with their mate in Broken Borders. Their relationship needed to be in a more mature state for them to get freaky the way I intend. The bond was far too new at this stage in the series.

Do you create the drawings? YES. The cover & all of it. That heavily cropped image of Mourning Crow's eyes up top is of that scene from Chapter 14: Sponge. I really can't show any more of it without getting in trouble but the uncensored high res version is on patreon.com/oloo There's also an uncropped but censored version on my DeviantArt: search 0loo or Mouth and Bubbles. Or check out OloosDomain on Instagram. Also, I plan on going back and creating more images of the characters and scenes from the book, just a matter time - Do I spend it writing the next installment in this universe or do I draw?

Will there ever be any Female Zhaguai / Male Human action? Nope. I'm all about the hot alien fellas. Plus, the M-razkur/F-Zhaguai storyline I have in Lost Blood entertains me more.

...

Thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed this book please remember to click the ⭐star⭐to vote and help others discover this book. Wattpad counts votes for each chapter.

As always, comments are most appreciated.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

💖Click Follow on this account to receive notifications when the new books are posted.

Art updates on Instagram: a.e.shelly

Writing updates on facebook.com/A.E.Shelly.Writer

Other links in bio.

With love,

              -A. E. Shelly (a.k.a. Oloo)

...

Other Fun Things: 

Prominent Eternal Nexus Clans

Clan Jahaa = Clan Wraith | homeworld = Sahei (secular)

Clan Asepa = Clan Nemesis | homeworld = Tecu (religious / all female)

Clan Vesu = Clan Stalker | homeworld = Komis (secular / hunts with hounds & animals)

Clan Celcho = Clan Seeker | homeworld = Oja Crux (largest & oldest clan)

Clan Iquen = Clan Prism | homeworld = Oja Crux (strong tech)

Clan Ervo = Clan Scourge | homeworld = Oja Crux

Clan Usag = Clan Omen | homeworld = Otwat (religious, hates Jahaa)

Clan Hiqoa = Clan Shadow | homeworld = None (assassins / blood feud with Oshee / nomadic)

Clan Oshee = Clan Blood | homeworld = Grion (blood feud with Hiqoa)

Clan Skine = Clan Terror | homeworld = Yol

Clan Yeros = Clan Bounty | homeworld = Awei

Clan Wakloa = Clan Carrion | homeworld = Etune (religious)

Clan Muvu = Clan Slayer | homeworld = Xisi (all male)

Clan Ionus = Clan Reaper | homeworld = Narus

Clan Ungri = Clan Berserk | homeworld = Blath (banished/dead)