~More from Bound by War (Laken's book)
LAKEN HELD his hands out from his body, the long deadly spines that exploded from his knuckles ready to defend what was his. Blood pounded through his veins. His head thumped with the chant of mate, mate, mate.
His instincts screamed that danger, in the form of a tall, white-headed Tah’Narian, was coming for his mate. His body tensed, and his anger notched upward. He wouldn’t allow Raiden near the male in the medibed. Fear and anger battled equally inside him, but the one clear thought he had was that he must protect what was his.
Physically speaking, Laken was no match for Raiden. He simply didn’t have the height or the bulk. In a bare-knuckled fistfight, he was going to lose. But he did have the same damn training as Raiden, and he most definitely had a weapon—but he didn’t want to use those against Raiden.
He just wanted his friend to get his head out of his ass and back off.
“Everybody calmed down!” Hamza snapped. “Raiden? Back the hell away from the medibed before Laken comes after you with those spiny things of his.”
“But it’s that damn Blishue! Why is he on this ship? We should’ve left him on-planet.”
“They weren’t capable of treating his injuries. At least, not right now. Not with how badly the war affected them. It’s why half the Unity’s medical staff is in a cargo bay here on the ship,” Neo said. “He might have died from blood loss if we hadn’t beamed him up.”
Raiden backed away from the medibed but crossed his arms over his chest. “And?”
