Amaryah's Awakening

Chapter Thirteen

Kozantei, Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Zogan

Zogan cursed as he sat around the table with his council. It was early morning, the suns having just risen over the horizon and Azazel, Ravanna, Mara and Nezerra were all as stressed as he was, the damn Ajal were a serious pain in his ass. They'd been able to block all his attempts to infiltrate their quadrant, the Kozan had no insiders to spy and report back on the exact plans their enemy had in the grand scheme of things. The Ajal were always ahead of them, and that was something Zogan couldn't afford. Too many lives had been lost and many more traumatized by the strategic attacks they'd been carrying out on the Kozan allies.

"There are too many variants in this." Azazel said, looking around at him, "We need to find out where they get their information from."

Mara nodded and Zogan rubbed at his horn, "Nezerra has there been any more information you've been able to acquire?"

She was his emissary and negotiations officer, if there was anyone to learn new information it would be her. He'd only let her join his council last anum, finally seeing her for the strong female she'd grown into and not the little sister he had to relentlessly protect. Although he still counted that among his many duties.

She shook her head slowly, "We're still working on planting someone near the Zon headquarters, it's been sealed off tight, they're planning something big...they have to be."

"Besides helping the Ajal enslave our quadrant you mean?" Mara asked, her eyes were pinched with frustration.

"What is the point of attacking our allies? Why not come straight to us?" Nezerra asked, ignoring Mara's sarcastic question.

Zogan answered quickly before Mara could, "It would seem they aim to weaken us, or it could be a distraction."

Ravanna leaned forward pressing his forearms to the rounded table, "Distract us from what? The attack on Elder's Sanctuary was poorly executed, they should've known their numbers were too little." He hissed, "They are playing a game, and we've been the losers so far, we're only able to show up and do damage control."

Azazel nodded his agreement, but added, "They got the Tyrhung though," his face twisted into a grimace.

Their bonded Kyeet that were seated around the room growled in agitation sensing the stress of their owners. Zogan reached down and ran his hand over the spiny forehead of his, calming them both with the gesture.

"Who could have enough power to free them from their quadrant in the first place?" Azazel asked.

The Ajal had been locked into their first quadrant by the elders and someone, somewhere had gained the key and let them out. Zogan felt his horn pulse in pain, he was growing tired of the guessing and the games. He wanted them all dead, it was a just punishment for the continuous harm they'd done to the fourth quadrant.

"I do not know, but we cannot wait to find out, they grow bolder every rotation, the attacks are becoming more frequent, I'd rather we end them all than focus on this betrayer."

It made no sense running after false trails, of course if they found the informer it would make things easier, but all leads had ended coldly, frustrating them even more amidst the attacks. His patience was wearing thin.

Mara looked up at him, "I agree, the games have grown tiresome, we should take the war to them and banish them from Andromeda."

Azazel huffed in agreement; a savage smile grew on his face. They were both eager for bloodshed, always ready for battle, it was in their nature – probably why they'd found each other and mated.