Bronto's Revenge (Barbarian Lust, #2)(48)

He glanced at Ivy, either visually asking for permission to tell the truth or seeking help. She feigned a smile and wrapped her arms around his tummy and back. It at least put a barrier between him and her mom in case she decided to whack him too. “We love one another, Momma,” she replied.

She raised her nose at Ivy, snubbing her. “Is this true?” she asked Bronto directly.

“Yes, Nodda. Ivy speaks the truth. I love your daughter.”

“You treat her well,” she warned, shaking her finger. Then she turned toward Vulcan. “And you too. These are my remaining girls. If you hurt them you will answer to me.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss them. “Your barbarian ways don’t scare me.”

Sure they don’t, Momma. Ivy giggled. She was the woman who impressed fears of the Barbarians into Ivy and Wisteria every chance she could. She’d told them stories about how the barbaric tribe ripped people’s hearts out with their bare hands or burned them alive. Momma, Momma.

“Where will I sleep?” Nodda asked.

Ivy’s mouth dropped. She glanced at Wisteria and snapped it shut. “You’re staying here?”

“Yes. Your father can worry when he returns home to find me gone. It’ll serve him right.”

Tears filled Ivy’s eyes. She interlocked her fingers through Bronto’s and tugged him toward the fire, bypassing her mom. She and Wisty needed to tell her about her husband’s demise, but how? How could they explain she’d never see him again? And they needed to do it soon.

Ivy’s tummy soured. Her mom was the last person she ever wanted to hurt.

As Ivy neared the fire pit she caught a glimpse of Grunt ambling past the huts. She did a double take. Jade was trapped in front of his body by an arm folded around her neck and her eyes bulged as if she were in pain.

“Bronto, Grunt has Jade,” Ivy blurted.

He whipped around and ran but Rocko was already ahead of him.

“Let her go,” Rocko shouted, coming to a halt. He then held up his hands and walked backward as Grunt moved forward. “Bronto, Zypher, Vulcan,” Rocko shouted. “Get over here.”

Ivy gulped as all four men dashed to Rocko’s aid. “Don’t hurt her, Grunt,” Rocko said calmly. “She’s with child.”

“Don’t hurt her, Grunt,” Grunt mocked. “She’s with child.”

Ivy’s heart stopped. She spun around to run to her mother but Wisteria already had Nodda by the hand and was running to Ivy.

“Rocko, it’s not Grunt,” Vulcan said. “Be careful,” he warned, unsheathing his blade. “It’s a mutant.”

Bronto removed his blade as well. “They’ve turned aggressive.”

“I guess it proves,” Zypher added, “the aliens haven’t left Helixis.”

Wisteria gasped.

Ivy embraced her mom. “Momma, you need to see this. Do you remember when me and Wisty told you about mutants the night we ran away?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Well, that man isn’t human. He’s been turned into a mutant. See the scales on his legs?”

Again she nodded.

Wisteria placed a hand on her mom’s shoulder. “He was captured and killed for an experiment,” Wisteria explained. “By the aliens. They depleted this man of his blood to mix with dinosaur blood. Just like they did to Boar and Father.”

Ivy held her breath, bracing herself for her mother’s outburst. Instead Nodda stepped from Ivy’s embrace. “M-my husband and son are…are dead?”

Wisteria’s gaze softened. “Yes, Momma.”

Nodda fell to her knees. She reached up and squeezed Ivy’s hand.

Just then the mutant exposed its sharp teeth like an animal and leaned forward to bite Jade’s neck. Rocko lunged and punched it in the face. Its head sprang backward then forward.

It then spun Jade around and kicked her in the belly, shoving her into Rocko. She screamed and fell to her knees, clutching her tummy. Rocko lifted her into his arms and ran toward the fire, removing her from the immediate threat.

Ivy’s knees wobbled. She swooned into her sister.

Vulcan swung his blade and cut the mutant’s head off. Green liquid squirted into the air, splattering the men. A stream trailed along the ground where the skull rolled and landed.

Wisteria gasped, Ivy clamped a hand over her mouth and Nodda’s eyes bulged in horror.

“Zypher, take the women to safety. I don’t know what this thing is going to do,” Vulcan instructed. “It’s acting differently than the others.” He moved cautiously, not removing his gaze from the mutant as he knelt beside it and stabbed it in the heart.

Fluid gushed over its chest, pooling near its stomach.

Vulcan glanced over his shoulder. “Bronto,” he said, lifting the mutant’s arms, “grab its legs.”

The instant Bronto clutched its ankles it kicked its feet and its body writhed. “Hurry up, Chieftain,” Bronto urged while struggling to hold on. “This thing is refusing to die.”

They charged past the women and threw the body into the fire. It burst into flames. Puffs of green smoke floated away in the breeze and faded in the distance.

Her mom squeezed Ivy’s hand. “Mercy on his soul,” she whimpered.



Bronto shook his head and stepped back so as not to inhale the rancid smoke. Those damn things were going to be the death of him. He glanced at Ivy, who stood frozen near her sister and mother. All three women appeared scared to death.