WarDog: Book Twelve in the Galaxy Gladiators Alien Abduction Romance Series by Alana Khan (large screen ebook reader txt) 📗

Prying my eyes open, I force myself back to the present. I can’t stay in the past one moment longer. I stare at Willa, hoping it will calm and comfort me, but it doesn’t work. She’s attuned to me and knows something is terribly wrong. Her concerned gaze undoes me.

I can’t speak. The only way I can function is to put my features on lockdown so tightly nothing moves so no emotion can escape. But it doesn’t work. I feel the telltale tightening in my chest that signals I’m about to shift. I haven’t done so in front of anyone since I came aboard the Fool’s Errand.

Kill him. WarDog is enraged, growling, snarling, his fangs are dripping with the desire to rip out the throat of the enemy in front of us. I can’t stop him. I throw myself to the floor and feel the painful process as, in a matter of modicums, my bones change form, muscles rearrange, and my face grows a muzzle. The growl that tears from my throat catches everyone’s attention.

I’m sentient in my canine form, just more bestial. I’m a predator with heightened senses and single-minded purpose. Ten annums in the arenas where he was forced to fight for his life has changed him from a hunting companion to a killer. WarDog wants him dead and so do I. He killed my mother and members of our tribe, decimated our pack.

He is my enemy. Attack! WarDog growls and snarls then lunges at one of the screens and bites it until I hear a satisfying crunch although his mouth is pierced with pain.

Zar and Shadow jump from their seats, grab him by his mane, and yank him back from the broken screen. He growls loudly, saliva and blood dripping from the cuts in his mouth. The males are strong, but he continues to lunge, trying to break free of their grip. WarDog is out of control.

WarDog stop, I command him but I can’t force him to let me shift back.

Willa rushes to him and in spite of the males trying to keep her away, she pushes in and wraps her arms around his neck, whispering calmly into his ear. WarDog resists for a moment, then responds to her gentle touch and voice. I shift, shuddering in her arms.

“Does he do this often Willa?” Zar asks. I’m shocked at how calm he sounds after what just happened. This is one of the many traits that has earned him the title of captain.

“I wasn’t aware of any shifts since we came aboard.”

The room is silent. Everyone is looking at me. I swipe my mouth with my palm and see blood. When I glance at the vidscreen I see the bite mark.

“Care to tell us what’s going on?” Beast asks.

I pull a small shard of glass from my tongue. I’m mortified at my loss of control and that WarDog damaged the vidscreen, but I owe them an answer, “I know that male. I have reason to hate him. He’s responsible for the destruction of my home, the deaths of my tribe, my capture, and the ten annums of fighting, locked in my canine form,” my voice is the same timbre as the growl still resonating from WarDog that I’m barely able to restrain.

“I guess we know what your vote will be,” Zar says. “Let’s reconvene in two hoaras. Enjoy Maddie’s feast.”

Willa’s wide eyes and open mouth indicate her shock at my behavior. My gaze darts from hers and I see similar looks on the faces of the females in the room. The males are all standing with a protective arm around the females with looks of concern mixed with understanding. A wave of guilt washes over me. I terrified the females, terrified Willa. I need to gather control.

“Give me some time in my room,” I say as I hurry past her, not wanting to get too close for fear of scaring her even more. Everyone clears a path for me to leave. Filled with shame, I put my head down and rush from the room.

As soon as I’m inside my cabin, I rest my back against the cool metal and force myself to breathe.

Kill him, WarDog insists.

Calm! Is my response.

Placing my palms against the hard surface of the door I return to the present because some of my thoughts are still lodged in the past—in the burning village on Skylose.

I look around the room which holds no personal belongings because I have none. I inventory every stick of furniture and metal rivet on the walls.

I occupy my brain by counting rivets. It soothes me. I allow the past to fade back into my memory. When that doesn’t work, I try to shove it back. The picture of my mother’s beheading fades to gray, then becomes smaller, then finally disappears. I believe I was happier when I had no recollection of my early life.

As I regain some semblance of peace, my canine stops his furious pacing in my head.

Kill our enemy, tear out his throat, protect Willa. He spears me with his angry stare.

He’s practically frothing at the mouth, pushing hard to be released to hunt and kill. He spent too many years in the fighting pits—I can’t let him control me. Now he's embarrassed me in front of the males I’m coming to regard as friends. He scared Willa and the other females.

What if I shift and can’t change back? I stand over him in my mind, asserting my authority and commanding his obedience. I force him to submit and push him into a corner of my mind until he sits, his head hanging and his eyes cast down.

I hold onto the only thing besides Willa that can give me comfort. Revenge. Zar just gifted me many things. He