Chase’s features twisted.
Malekith stepped forward, towering over the shorter male.
“Am. I. Clear?” he growled.
Chase struggled to hold Malekith’s burning eyes but, after the count of several heartbeats, he lowered his gaze submissively. Malekith’s tail twitched, the droplet of venom hissing when it connected with the snow.
“Yes,” Chase muttered.
Malekith’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, Commander Ska’arzal,” Chase mumbled sullenly.
Malekith shoved Chase away from him with enough force that the human landed on his backside in the snow. Behind him, Clara snorted softly. Glancing over his shoulder at her, he winked and allowed her to see the small smile he reserved just for her; she offered him a shy smile in return.
“It’s not funny, Clara,” Chase hissed between clenched teeth and Malekith watched the smile disappear from Clara’s face. The scent of her fear stung his nostrils. “You’ll pay for this when we get home, I swear it.”
Malekith stepped forward, his pale eyes now blazing a bloody crimson, his pupils contracted into slits.
“Is that a threat?” he growled.
“No,” Chase muttered under his breath but Malekith heard the lie in his rapidly beating heart.
He glanced over his shoulder to find Clara staring heavily at the snow. Anger rolled through his veins like lava, the emotion so strong that he could taste it on his tongue, hot and fiery, causing his fangs to pulse with the desire to tear out Chase’s throat.
“It’s nothing, Commander,” Clara’s sweet voice filled his ears. She touched his shoulder as she sidled around him, reversing their positions and placing herself between him and Chase, and gently pushed against his chest.
Malekith reached up, curling his fingers around her smaller ones, clasping her palm to his chest as his other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against him.
“It is not nothing,” he admonished her gently. “I want to know what he means by the fact that you will pay for his humiliation when you return home.”
Clara’s honey-coloured eyes flickered nervously.
Malekith glared down at Chase. “Well,” he demanded. “What did you mean by that?”
Chase glanced between him and Clara before finally focusing on him.
“Nothing,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean nothing by it, okay?”
A snarl erupted from Malekith’s chest, his tail lashing in front of him, the stinger jerking in sharp twitches.
“Why do I not believe you?”
Chase glared hatefully up at him. “Clara.”
Her shoulders slumped and her head lowered dejectedly, she attempted to move closer to Chase. Malekith stopped her by tightening his hold upon her waist.
“You do not need to go with him,” he told her. “You are afraid of him, Clara. I can smell your fear.”
“But …” she hesitated. “Where would I go?”
Malekith met her gaze. “With me.”
The thought of Clara in his home, in his territory…
“Don’t even think about it, Clara!” Chase spat, his eyes blazing with fury. “I forbid it! Do you hear me, woman? I own you!”
I own you.
Those words echoed in the back of Malekith’s head, taunting him, haunting him, reminding him of a time when he had been little more than property to the females that were his ta’len’a’s kin.
With a furious snarl, Malekith, grabbed Chase and lifted him up by the front of his jacket until their faces were mere inches apart.
“She is not your property,” he snarled, his fangs flashing at the sides of his mouth. “Clara is more than capable of making her own decisions but you will no longer be a part of her life.” When Chase’s expression closed off, Malekith shook him threateningly. “Do not test my patience, human.”
Chase held his hands up in a universal gesture of surrender and when Malekith released him, he glared once at Clara before storming away in the opposite direction.
Malekith turned to Clara.
“Are you al—”
He fell silent at the sight of fresh tears rolling slowly down Clara’s lovely cheeks. She met his gaze and her lips curved upward in a smile he had never seen before.
“Yes, Commander,” she whispered. “Can we go home now?”
2
Clara
You can do this, she thought. You can do this, Clara.
She stared for several long moments at her reflection, her eyes focused on the dark purple bruise that covered most of her left cheek. She would not be able to hide something like this from Malekith – erhm, Commander Ska’arzal; he watched her far too carefully with his inhuman gaze. She did not have any makeup that she could use to cover the bruise because she had not expected to find herself downtown after work. Chase rarely allowed her to leave his sight and he always demanded that she call him every hour on the hour while at work. He controlled every aspect of her life and the only reason he allowed her to work at the Embassy was because he believed that Clara would never show an interest in their ‘alien sovereigns’, as he so harshly described them.
She lifted a hand, her fingers tentatively brushing the bruised flesh on her cheek. She winced. Chase had struck her hard in the face. She couldn’t remember why. When he first hit her, she feared that he broke her jaw because the pain was so intense. When she returned to work the next day, wearing several layers of makeup, her cheek throbbing, her skin tingling from the broken blood vessels, Malekith had asked her if she was alright. She nearly broke down then and there and planned to tell him the truth but, before she could respond, the phone on her desk rang.
She caught her own gaze in the mirror. The woman who stared back at her appeared defeated, with her shoulders slumped, her face pale, her eyes dark with misery.
She sighed and bowed her head, unable to hold her own gaze any longer.
Why did I let him do this to me? She thought despondently, her eyes beginning to sting with the threat of tears. Why did I let him beat me? Why did I let him yell at me? Oh God, why did I let him break me?
She knew why.
Chase had been subtle with his manipulation, going about it slowly, taking his time, using his criticisms of her to eat away at her confidence until she relied on him for most major decisions. Her mother suspected what was happening first and begged Clara to leave Chase before he forced her to cut all ties with her family; she stupidly told her mother that Chase would never do such a thing. And, yet, that’s exactly what he’d done. He’d isolated her, moved her to the other side of the city and forced her to break all ties with her family.
She trembled now, her hands shaking violently. She crossed her arms but that did nothing to stop her body’s violent tremors.
What’s wrong with me? She thought.
“Clara?”
Malekith’s deep, rumbling voice sounded on the other side of the bathroom door followed by a swift knock.
“Clara,” he growled, “open the door.”
Her hands shaking, she gripped the knob and slowly pulled the door open.
He stood before her in all of his mighty glory, his opalescent horns towering a foot above his head, the very tips nearly brushing against the ceiling, his white hair falling in loose waves around his shoulders and framing his pale face. He stared down at her with his inhuman eyes, the irises such a pale blue as to be mistaken for white, his pupils contracted into diamond-shaped slits. Sharp cheekbones enhanced his chiseled jaw, his lips thin and masculine and hiding the fangs at the sides of his mouth. Her gaze trailed down his body, lingering on the black material of his shirt that covered his broad chest. There were two weapons’ holsters on either of his thighs, one for his energy blade and the other for his blaster. His tail twitched between his legs and, for the first time, she decided to really look at it. It did not resemble a scorpion’s tail in spite of the stinger on the tip; his tail was long and sinuous, pale white like his skin, and resembled a li
on’s, with the stinger at the very tip.
“I promise you that my tail is not very interesting, Clara,” he murmured, a soft chuckle rumbling in his chest.
Heat suffused her cheeks and wormed its way down to her belly where it spread to much more intimate places. She squeezed her thighs together.
“I’ve never seen your tail up close, Commander,” she whispered.
Malekith stepped forward – and awareness sizzled along Clara’s nerve endings.
With slow movements, he tenderly cupped her chin and tilted her head upward and forced her to stare into his eyes. His pupils contracted into thin slits, his eyes carefully trailing over the bruise that covered the left side of her face.
“Oh, Clara,” he growled, the rumble in his voice sending butterflies fluttering madly in the pit of her belly.
“I wanted to tell you,” she whispered, hunching her shoulders defensively, “but…”
His thumb caressed the smooth skin of her jaw before gently trailing down the curve of her throat. The tips of his fingers brushed the long strands of her hair behind the shell of her ear. A shiver raced down the back of her spine, the gentle pleasure of his touch blazing through her nerve endings and forcing her to swallow the soft gasp that threatened to escape her lips.
“You do not need to explain,” he murmured.
Her eyes widened.
Malekith took a step forward, forcing Clara to step back or allow him to press his body against hers; her back bumped into the counter top. His thumb ran slow, sensual strokes up and down her throat.
“I was like you once,” he revealed, his voice softening, growing somber. “I know how it feels to be completely powerless and at the mercy of another individual.”
He tilted his head toward her, his horns gleaming with streaks of blue and purple fire under the bathroom light, his slit pupils dilating just enough that the blackness of them caught her gaze.
“I was a slave for most of my young life,” he whispered. “Unlike your beautiful Earth, Clara, I grew up on a planet where the males of my species were considered lesser-than. I suffered at the hands of the females that ruled me. From a young age, I was trained to serve the female that would eventually become my mistress. I was taught by my ta’len’a, my mother, and her sisters. Any mistake, no matter how slight, I was brutally punished for.”
His thumb gently caressed her throat, slowly climbing higher until he brushed her bruised flesh; she reared away from him, even just the whisper of his skin on hers sending a slow pulse of pain writhing through her cheek.
“The males of my species are known for being physically attractive,” he rumbled, his tail winding loosely around her calf. He brushed the back of her knee with it, his gaze intense. “My ta’lnar, my father, in particular, was considered exceptionally attractive when it came down to a physical appearance. Everything that a female desired, he was.”
He slowly took hold of her hands, guiding her to touch the base of his horns before slowly sliding them upwards.
“A male with horns as large and as long as mine are cherished,” he murmured and Clara’s breath stilled in her lungs when his lashes closed, providing her with a momentary reprieve from his unnatural inhuman eyes. Her lips curled in a small smile when a low growl rumbled in his chest.
“Clara,” he breathed, the alien timbre of his voice sending pleasant chills careening down her spine to pool in the center of her belly, “if you only knew how you tested my control...”
She jerked her hands away from his horns, her heart thundering wildly in her breast, the pulse beating rapidly in the large vein in her neck.
Memories of her time with Chase assaulted her mind, the anger that consumed his handsome features every time he stared at her while uttering those words, the strength of his hands as he twisted her around to face him or pinned her body against the wall, and the muscles in her body tensed with phantom pain.
“I – I’m sorry, Commander Ska’arzal,” she stammered. “I’ll leave right away—”
Malekith’s eyes flew open, his pupils contracting, and his tail tightened around Clara’s calf.
“Forgive me, Clara,” he growled, the sound reverberating in his chest, “all I meant is that you trigger my instincts.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Malekith tilted his head, a strand of white hair falling between his eyes; her fingers itched to tuck the loose strand away.
“No, ta’lla, it is not a bad thing.”
He turned away, breaking eye contact with her, his tail uncoiling itself from around her calf, leaving her wondering what had just happened between the two of them.
“Come,” he murmured. “It is late and we must wake early if we are to catch the train on time tomorrow.”
“Train?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “We are catching the train to Montreal and then we shall ride the bus to Mont Tremblant. I believe you told me once that your family likes to celebrate the holidays there.”
“Malekith...” she whispered, lifting a hand to cover her quivering lips and blinking rapidly to fight against the hot sting of tears. “You’re taking me home for the holidays? Really?”
He turned around to face her and ducked his head almost bashfully. It was unlike the confident war commander to seem unsure of himself and Clara’s lips twitched with a small smile; that simple gesture endeared him to her.
And, with his next words, he stole her heart. Completely.
“I thought it would make you happy.”
With a soft sob, Clara stepped forward, her eyes sparkling with tears, and wrapped her arms around Malekith’s broad chest. He stiffened for a moment under her touch before he relaxed, returning her embrace.
“Why?” she breathed, pressing her cheek against his chest, listening the steady drumbeat of his heart. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“You are my ta’lla,” he murmured, the strange word sounding foreign yet beautiful when he whispered it in his foreign tongue. He drew back just enough to allow his fingers to caress the side of her cheek, his thumb brushing away the teardrops that lingered there. “I will do anything for you, Clara.”
She stared up at him, her heart thundering rapidly in her chest, acutely aware of the warmth of Malekith’s fingers cupping her cheek, unable to look away as his head lowered towards hers. His hand tightened on the small of her back, gently pressing her body flush against his, and his fingers trailed along her jaw to grasp the back of her neck. His tail wrapped around her thigh, gripping her tightly, the tip caressing the back of her knee. Then his lips brushed hers in a sweet and tender kiss.
For a moment time stretched between them, their hearts beating as one, Malekith’s kiss gently deepening before, at last, he drew back. He gazed down at her, his pale eyes sparkling with hints of red flecks, his pupils blown wide, a soft smile curving his lips.
“Come, Clara,” he purred. “You really should rest. Tomorrow will come soon enough.”
They arrived in Mont Tremblant a little after noon.
As she and Malekith stepped off the bus and the fresh winter air filled her lungs, happiness bubbled up inside of her for the first time since the war ended. Glancing up at Malekith, she found him watching her with a soft smile that immediately melted her heart; she’d rarely seen the commander smile and she thought it suited him. Her cheeks burned with pleasure as she remembered the kiss that they had shared the night before.
Would his smile grow if I kissed him now? She thought, the happiness bubbling in her chest growing at the silly notion in her head. I want to, but…
Chase lingered.
Her ex-boyfriend despised any form of physical affection and would punish her for the slightest offense until Clara learned to ignore her need for it. That did not mean that she didn’t crave it. Malekith reminded her of that last night as he held her close to his chest, his lips pressed against hers in a tender kiss that brought tears to her eyes just thinking about it.
“Why are you frowning?”
; His deep voice pulled her from her thoughts.
“I’m sorry?”
“Why are you frowning? You were smiling a moment ago and I want to know what made you stop.” Malekith lifted a hand and his thumb caressed her lips. “You shine like the sun when you smile.”
Her heart melted.
Had anyone ever said something so beautiful to her before?
Turning her head into Malekith’s palm, she covered his hand with her own.
“I was just thinking that I…”
“Yes?”
Be brave, Clara.
“…that I want…”
He leaned forward curiously.
“You want to what?”
Kiss him, Clara, kiss him now!
She stood on the tips of her toes and pressed a quick, fleeting kiss to his lips.
“To kiss you,” she finished breathlessly, a smile curving her own lips.
The smile that grew transformed him from roguishly handsome to devilishly handsome and butterflies fluttered excitedly in her lower belly. His pale eyes sparkled in the early afternoon sunlight, his opalescent horns gleaming with streaks of blue and purple fire while his tail twitched lazily at his side.
“There it is,” he murmured, his thumb trailing the smile that curved her lips. “There’s your smile that makes you shine like the sun.”
She turned her head away, blushing, her smile unwavering, laughing softly.
Malekith stepped up behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her bottom flush against him, and nipped the shell of her ear; his tail wrapped around her calf.
“I like seeing you this way, Clara,” he whispered, pressing a kiss just under her ear. “Laughing. Smiling. Happy.”
She closed her eyes, her smile growing.
“I like it, too, Malekith,” she said. She lifted a hand to cup his jaw where he kissed her palm. “This is me, the real me, the person I was before I met Chase…”
Stars, Snow and Mistletoe: A Holiday Naughty List Collection Page 18