Ambushing Ariel by S. E. Smith Page A

his. Ariel could feel the panic welled up inside her; Eric’s mocking voice coming back to her.
    Never, Ariel thought, never again.
    Ariel reacted out of self-preservation and fear when she realized Mandra was going to kiss her and possibly more. She brought her head up sharply into Mandra’s nose as hard as she could. She could hear the bone crunch and felt a moment of disorientation as she saw spots but she didn’t let it slow her down. Using her body and her hands that were suddenly freed as he grabbed his nose, Ariel pushed Mandra off her and scrambled to her feet. She touched her forehead which was throbbing. Her eyes flew to where Mandra was groaning on the ground and a small stream of blood was seeping through his fingers.
    Mandra pushed up into a sitting position with one hand while the other still held his quickly swelling nose. A small squeak escaped Ariel when she saw the heated look of reprisal in them. Turning, she bolted back toward the palace determined to hide until she could figure a way to get off this blasted planet and away from the huge male warrior who was confusing her so much.
     

Chapter 8
    Mandra slammed into the conference room where three of his brothers were sitting around a huge, rosewood color table with a holovid screen in the center. His nose was back to normal but his temper was not. He couldn’t find the damn female. He was about ready to order every last warrior in the palace to stop what they were doing and search for her. He couldn’t even depend on his symbiot to help him. It seemed the female realized that there was a connection between them. Oh, it was with her. The female had threatened to remove every bit of it from her and not have anything to do with it again if it gave away where she was hiding. His symbiot refused to take a chance until it knew the female would not follow through with her threat.
    “What is the matter?” Zoran asked standing up when he saw the murderous expression on his brother’s normally impassive face.
    “You!” Mandra growled out moving toward Zoran. He pushed him back until he had him pinned up against the wall. “You are responsible for all this mess!”
    Zoran locked arms with his brother in surprise. Both men’s arms strained as they locked into a battle of wills. Zoran grunted and pushed Mandra back a couple of steps. He found his brother must have been working out a lot more or his time in captivity had made him weaker than he thought because Mandra was not moving any further.
    “And what, pray to the Gods and Goddesses, did I do?” Zoran asked looking into his brother’s frustrated eyes.
    “You brought those females here! I should kick your ass good for that,” Mandra growled out low.
    “I second that!” Creon said walking into the room. “I’ll help you, Mandra, with total enjoyment.”
    “I’ll third that!” Trelon muttered under his breath.
    “I guess it is unanimous,” Kelan called out from where he was sitting at the table rubbing his throbbing brow. “I wanted to do it while we were still on the V’ager .”
    Zoran frowned as he looked at all his brothers. “What the hell is going on? What is wrong with the females?” Zoran asked.
    “I can’t keep up with mine,” Trelon said tiredly. “She keeps disappearing on me.”
    “Mine keeps pressing me to take her back to her planet,” Kelan said angrily. “I will not let her return. What if she doesn’t want to come back?”
    Zoran looked at Mandra who had released him and turned away to walk over to the small recess where refreshments were served. “What about you two? I thought you were going to find mates for the other two? Surely there are males who will take them,” Zoran said in confusion.
    Mandra was shocked as he lost control at the idea of another male claiming Ariel. Zoran barely ducked in time to miss the glass Mandra threw at him. Creon was on his feet growling dangerously at Zoran at the mention of giving Carmen away to another male. Zoran looked back