Rescuing Reya (The Beast Masters Series) Read Online Free Page A

stars, the Voxenites ’ air
is poison to certain people,” Utan said. “It sounds
as if this female is one of them. We must make haste.”
    “Poison?” Altan asked, his mind on
the woman and her long blonde hair and wide blue eyes. She was so tiny. So
weak. “Is it fatal?”
    “Without treatment, yes.” Utan pressed a button on his desk and a woman dressed in red sheer material entered.
    Her gaze moved to Altan . He knew
her well. He’d fucked her on many occasions for coin, of course. He always paid
her above her going rate for her services. She began to remove the strip of
material covering her breasts.
    Utan rolled his eyes. “No. He seeks not services of the flesh. Seek out Manuk . Tell him we have a Voxenites ’
poisoning.”
    She gasped. “Yes, Master.”
    She rushed away.
    Utan looked to Altan . “Where is the female?”
    “I lost her scent near here.”
    “The mines of Tagun still toying
with you?” his brother asked as he moved to Altan’s side.
    “Yes.”
    “Come, we shall search for her.” Utan moved outside and began stripping from his clothing quickly. He tossed his
pants at his brother and stood unabashed in his nakedness. “Can you shift?”
    “Not with ease,” Altan confessed.
“The mines…”
    Utan nodded and shifted forms quickly. His massive black beast form was a panu or, as those
with ties to Earth called it, a panther. Altan liked
Earthly customs and ways. More than he should as a Ralen male. He followed behind his brother as Utan raced in
the other direction. Altan was prepared to run far
and work hard to keep up with Utan’s beast form. When
his brother came to a grinding halt, he nearly tripped over him.
    Altan gasped when he spotted the young female sprawled out on the ground. She wasn’t
moving. Emotions poured over him, causing his beast to push toward the surface.
Fur sprouted on his knuckles first, then the backs of his hands and his lower
arms. His shift wasn’t full and he knew why. The mines of Tagun .
He’d have to force a full change or be trapped as such.
    Altan moved to her side just as Utan was shifting back to
his human form. Utan touched his shoulder.
    “She yet breathes, brother. Bring her within the House of
Pleasure. The healer has been summoned.”
    Altan knew his brother’s words were to be calming, but the fear of losing the tiny
woman, whom he had yet to learn a name for, was too much. His body knew deep
down she was the one for him. The woman he was to collar. He could also see
clearly how weakened she truly was. He could not lose her. To lose her would be
to lose himself. He knew as much, and from Utan’s expression he did as well.
    Utan nodded to the forest. “Go, Altan . Go deep into the
woods and force a shift. It must be done. You are too close to the Heat to
allow this to simmer. I shall watch over the female. I shall ensure healers
treat her and I will come for you should her condition worsen. Go.”
    “Thank you,” he said, nodding and rushing off.

 
 
 

Chapter Five
    Utan wiped the woman’s brow and spent far longer than he should staring at her
sleeping form. She was to be Altan’s when he returned
from his forced change. His brother was too close to the Heat to return until
he was in control. If that meant more than one day, so be it. So far, it had
been five. Altan would not risk the harm he could
bring to Reya should he return too soon and the beast
overtake him fully—it was unthinkable. Ralen had seen
such things occur in its history in times far past. The results of a male’s
beast taking control were whispered about among the people from an early age so
they fully understood what was at risk.
    Utan shuddered as he thought back to the story his uncle had told both he and Altan upon Utan’s sixteenth year.
It was the story of Wanu , a respected warrior and one
of the heads of the sectors. His Heat had come upon him swiftly and without
much in the way of warnings. His selected, a young female from planet Tagun , had