Soon, the beejus sweet taste of revenge would flood my tongue, and I’d show him justice. After making sure Hartlin could never hurt another person, I’d walk out of the prison on my two—or four—feet.
And when I escaped this pit from hell, Khal would be with me.
“It wasn’t Spike,” Khal said with complete certainty. Not a hint of disbelief shadowed his eyes, and his hands hung loose at his sides.
He truly believed his friend over me.
I paced across the small cave we’d turned into a make-shift bedroom, my steps choppy. My arms flailing. “He was going to rape me.”
“He was drugged, like us. They tried to force him into doing it but he refused.”
“You don’t force a hard-on.” I shivered and wrapped my arms around my waist, holding back my goosebumps by will alone.
“You do with moodar.” Khal hesitated and glanced toward the direction where Spike had fled. “He said nothing happened, he knew instantly that you were mine.”
Satisfaction burned like a welcome flame inside me, giving me a rush much like a triple shot of cava. Not only was I Khal’s, but Spike had run when I shifted. He’d done the same just moments ago when I rushed him.
So, he was afraid of my little griffin, was he? Perhaps I could give him another display.
Khal may believe his friend, but I was there. I knew what happened.
“You know Hartlin can make us do just about anything,” Khal said, as if I was a child who needed to be reasoned with.
It irked me, but I knew he was just trying to be practical. “If Hartlin came down here this minute and said he’d kill me if you didn’t love me in cat form, would you?”
“Love you?” he murmured, taking a step toward me. Need rang out in his voice, and hope blazed in his eyes.
“You know, don’t you?” I said softly.
“We’re bondmates,” he said with utter conviction. “Drugged, so we didn’t know it.”
I nodded and crossed the chamber to stand in front of him. After unlinking his crossed arms, I stepped between them.
Despite our conflict about Spike, Khal pulled me close and kissed me.
Holding him, I stood on my toes and gave him everything I had. As I’d do forever if the fates let me.
My mate. My love.
My heart thumped in time with Khal’s, and a moan worked its way up my throat. How could I want him again, at a time like this?
But he was the half of me I never thought I’d find. I couldn’t deny him. Or myself.
Worry about our future made me desperate, and I clung to him. Who knew if each time we came together would be our last? Only in this man’s embrace did I feel complete. If they took him from me, I’d follow.
I hated that I was endangering him with my love, but I couldn’t help it.
We dropped onto the bed, our legs entwining. In a fever, we yanked at his clothing, needing to feel skin on skin.
When we were both naked, I sighed.
His fingers trailed down my body, lighting fire wherever they touched. I arched up against him, moaning when he cupped my breast, his palms rough yet tender on my nipple. As I whimpered, he worked his hand down between my legs, which I parted. He stroked me, his fingertip dipping into my heat.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Khal. Please.”
“I’m here for you, sweetheart. Always.”
I wished it could be for always, even if that meant we remained here in this cold stone pit forever.
He rubbed my clit, making my body spasm and tremble. Greed overwhelmed me, and I eased him onto his back. As he smiled lazily up at me, his eyelids hooded, I took charge, kissing my way down his body.
Fading bruises near his ribs got extra attention, as did the long scrape across his rock-hard abs. I hated that they’d hurt him, that they’d keep on hurting him.
When I took him into my mouth, he groaned. His hips lifted, seeking my warmth. Pulling all of him inside me, I stroked my tongue up and down his length, flicked it across the tip.
He rose up partway and ran his fingers through my hair, stroked my neck. Cords stood out on his neck like nylonium wire as he tipped his head back and groaned, pumping slowly past my lips.
His muscles tightened, and an increase in his thrusts told me he was close.
I wanted to go over the cliff with him.
Releasing his engorged cock from my mouth, I rose over him and centered myself with my legs straddling his waist.
“Lyrie,” he murmured again as he stroked my breasts, my clit. Bringing me to a fever pitch.
I sunk down slowly, taking each exquisite inch of him inside me. Like the previous time we’d come together, the stretch from his size filled me to overflowing. So tight and hard and deep, I almost came right away.
But I wanted this to last forever, even though it couldn’t.
I wanted this time to be perfect.
“Ride me, sweetheart,” he said, and I did, rising up and sinking down. While he pumped up into me, his face filled with intense strain, his eyes closed to absorb every moment.
I started slowly at first, but an urgency for him consumed me, and I lifted and fell as fast as I could, seeking my pleasure while giving it back to him tenfold.
With a snarl erupting from his throat, he flipped me onto my back, our bodies still connected.
Then he pulled out and drove himself inside. Over and over, while I locked my legs around him and keened out his name.
We crashed together, our moans echoing around us in the small cave chamber. I felt him come inside me, hot and hard and deep.
Panting, Khal collapsed on top of me. He groaned and propped himself up on his forearms, staring down at me. He kissed me. Whispered a string of words in Aaidarian that must be about love, because the feeling blazed in his eyes.
I blinked fast, because the last thing I wanted him to think was that I was crying. Tears of joy, as they said.
His coming inside me meant he finally trusted me.
So silly to feel joy in a place that held nothing but pain.
We cuddled together, but too soon, I knew we needed to get up. Get dressed. Prepare ourselves for whatever came next.
“I’ve got to get you out of here.” The fear in Khal’s voice sunk through me faster than a viper’s teeth. It would rip me apart just as effectively.
“We’ll get out. We have to.” How could I find a scrap of hope in this desolate place? Maybe because I knew that, whatever was thrown our way, we’d face it together. “So, tell me. You didn’t answer my question. Would you?”
He tugged his shirt over his head, pulled on his pants. “You know I would never shift and take you.”
I nodded. “Didn’t think so.” Stepping around him, I reached for the clothing I’d flung aside. “I know he’s your friend.”
Khal sat on the edge of the bed, watching me with his gorgeous amber eyes as I stepped into my pants, pulled them up, and closed the fastening. “He’s like a brother to me. He and me and Becka…”
“The woman you loved,” I said carefully. I wasn’t jealous. How could I be? She’d died, while I was here now, with Khal. Mated. We’d just shared the most wonderful moment on this very bed.
“I…Becka died sixteen years ago. She was special.” He swallowed deeply, as if pushing away the horrible memory of her still form lying on the ground.
She’d been pregnant with his child.
“But it’s you I love,” Khal said, standing. He took my hands and squeezed, sending confidence and assurance through in his touch.
“And I love you.”
I also loved our baby, which, somehow, I knew I already carried. It was too soon to feel it flutter deep within my belly, but, gods willing, I’d escape before our child quickened.
I’d protect it with my life.
“I just can’t see Spike doing anything like that,” Khal said, and I had to wonder if he kept reinforcing this because doubts were taking root in his mind.
“You’d be surprised by who’d betray you,�
�� I said bitterly. Like the friends who’d turned their backs on us when we needed them. And even some of my own family. “Those you think you can trust will just as often slip their dagger into your ribs the second you turn away.”
“We’ve been best friends since we were kids.”
It was clear Khal wouldn’t budge on this.
Perhaps I was more jaded. I used to carry a tiny speck of naivety, too. That feeling I could believe in others. But I’d learned too many hard lessons.
“You’d been isolated and deprived. And you must’ve shifted after he left,” Khal said. “That’s a confusing time.”
“I’m not mistaken,” I grated out, losing my patience. “I remember everything.”
Footsteps approached down the tunnel behind me, and I whirled, my fingers extending into claws effortlessly.
My practice was paying off. Soon, my griffin would rise and seek vengeance.
Spike appeared in the doorway, hanging his head, as if he was a kid who hated having to disturb his big brother who was fooling around in bed with his girlfriend. “They…” His eyes flicked to me, and I took pleasure in the flare of anxiety I saw there.
Khal may not believe me, but Spike knew what happened that night. Naturally, he’d deny it.
I’d watch him like a hawk. Or, in my case, like a dragon.
Because this man could not be trusted.
“Why did you lie to Khal?” I asked, striding toward him.
Stepping backward, his gaze darted to Khal. “What the hell you talking about?”
“You tried to rape me.”
“Whoa!” Backing away further, he raised his palms. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe the innocence in his wide-eyed expression. “Talk about a shift hangover.”
Khal came over to stand with me. “You were down here.” His voice rose, and I could swear skepticism rang out in his words. It pleased me; maybe I was getting through to him. “With Lyrie.”
“Yeah.” Spike’s arms splayed out. “They sent me here, dude. You know that. I told you. But—” He shook his head, and his hazel eyes glistened. “I couldn’t do anything like that to a woman. Even drugged, I wasn’t able to shift and fuck Tina. You saw that yourself.” His voice grew whiny. “Besides, Lyrie smells like you, bro, and you know I’d never poach on a woman who’s yours.” He turned to me, and his voice softened. “Lyrie. Try to remember. It’s not like what you thought. I approached you, but you were scared worse than a she-cat in a house on fire. Hells, you’d been down here long enough to drive a healthy person insane. Beatings, starvation, it all gets to you, messes with your mind.”
A worm of unease dragged itself through me. Spike had tried to rape me, hadn’t he?
As if he knew I wavered, Spike rubbed my arm. “Hells, I didn’t know you were working up to your shift. I woulda stayed down here, helped you. The first time you shift can be tough. It’s damn confusing. It’s not all that out of the ordinary for shifters to imagine things happening that aren’t real. Hallucinations can be a bitch. Your cat perception takes time to adjust. You were overstimulated, worn out. Stressed.”
Maybe that was it.
But I couldn’t shake my suspicion that Spike was twisting the truth.
“So, what’s up, Spike?” Khal asked. “You started to say something a minute ago.” Impatience threaded through his voice. Was he irritated because Spike had interrupted us, or were my earlier words finding purchase?
“I could hear them out there in the hall. They’re coming.” Spike narrowed his attention on me. “For her, that is. I imagine it’s time to test her. See if all your fucking took.”
“It’s not fucking,” I said, stalking him.
Khal held me back.
“Yeah. Sorry.” He winced, and his shoulders slumped. “You two’ve bonded, huh? Congratulations?”
He didn’t sound very excited about the prospect. But, then, who’d want to find a soulmate in a horrible situation like this? At any moment, we could be killed.
“Since they’re not here, yet,” Khal said. “Give us a second alone.”
Spike perked up. “Sure thing, dude. I’ll, uh…” He waved toward the cave entrance. “Be out there. Near the stairs. I’ll stall ‘em for ya, if ya want.”
“Thanks.” As Spike left, Khal turned to me, and his words grew urgent. “We need to solidify our plan.”
I grumbled and sat on the stone bed we’d created with a flat surface and a thin blanket. “I don’t like it.” He’d suggested he create a distraction while I escape.
But we thought we’d have more time to come up with something better.
No, I thought I’d have more time, to talk him out of something that might see me free but would surely see him dead.
Khal sat and put his arms around me, pulled me into his warmth. It seemed I’d be peppered with gooseflesh for the rest of my life. Only when we lay wrapped up together was I truly able to find peace, and that was always short lived.
All due to Hartlin.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Assuming everything goes as it should, I’ll be right behind you.”
“What if you’re not?” My twisted hands on my lap were mirrored in my belly, where tension and anxiety coiled into a tight mass.
“Then you go on without me. Get to safety with the Resistance.”
“Well, well, well.” Hartlin stood in the doorway. Guards flanked his rear, though two moved forward to stand just inside the cave, as if Hartlin believed he needed the protection.
He did.
“Isn’t this cozy,” he said, staring around with a snide twist on his lips.
I jumped to my feet and tightened my spine.
Mockery rang out in his words. “Love the way you’ve fixed the place up.”
He knew we’d been given nothing but the blanket and an irregular ration of gloppy gruel.
Would Khal and I ever have a true home together or would I soon look back at this cave with longing, because it was the last time I’d been with him?
The uncertainty of our situation sank its claws into me, but I held back my tremble. With Hartlin, any sign of weakness would be manipulated, and I refused to hand him a weapon.
“It’s time to check your blood, Lyrie,” Hartlin said. “We need to make sure this shifter isn’t a damn eunuch, like the other one.” He turned and strode through the entrance, assuming we’d follow.
The guards made sure we did, prodding us with their rifles, but not before securing our wrists with nylonium ties.
Spike waited with another guard by the stairs, also tied, his right eye encircled with redness, as if he’d resisted and they taught him better.
“Tried to come warn ya, bro,” he said harshly, directing a glare at Hartlin. “But they got the jump on me before I could reach you.”
“It’s okay,” Khal said as they directed us up the stairs and out into the main hall. The harsh, overhead halolights stabbed into my eyes like daggers. We’d been down in the caves so long, we were turning into night-seeking wints.
“Come, now.” Hartlin strode down the hall. “Don’t dally.”
When I stumbled, Khal growled. I knew he wished he could help me. Protect me.
We walked down the hall, turned right at the intersection, and headed toward the lab.
I’d been here before, right after I’d been captured. When I’d naively thought I would be treated like a regular prisoner. Not like a test subject.
Tina waited for us inside, fidgeting with the hem of her snug, cleavage-revealing top. I wasn’t sure why they let Khal come in with me, but I was grateful for his presence.
Spike was forced to wait outside. Or maybe they were taking him back to his cell.
I did not care, because anxiety was crawling up my spine like a cluster of armor spiders.
Would Khal use this opportunity to create his diversion? He knew I would not leave him.
We would both escape, or we’d fall together.
“Lay down on the table,” Tina said. She gestured to
the metal surface, and I climbed up as best I could with my hands tied.
Tina fluffed her hair, as if her appearance mattered, and cut her eyes to Hartlin, who stood resting his shoulder against the inside of the door. Had she settled on new prey?
“I said, lay down!” Tina glared at me, and her face took on a mocking slant. “Do I need to call in more guards?”
She always had enjoyed encouraging the guards to hold me down.
Tina smiled at the two men standing along one wall. One watched Khal intently, partly crouched, as if he was prepared to leap on Khal if he made one move. The other guard started toward me with his hands flexing.
I lay down. No need to invite more bruises.
Hartlin strolled over and watched as Tina set out her supplies on a small table beside the stretcher.
“I imagine you’re looking forward to good news,” he said. “Of course, if Khal proves as ineffective as Spike, we’re open to a half-breed. We’ll revert to the original plan, and use a fetus.”
Tina froze and dropped her tourniquet. She bent forward to pick it up.
“If I must, I’ll contribute to the cause.” Hartlin stared at me.
“I’ll kill you first,” I grated out, my hands forming fists. Futile move, but I could belt him with them locked together as easily as if I was untied.
“You’re welcome to try.” He chuckled and tapped my arm, stilling it. “I imagine your little pussy might bite and claw, but I can deal with a few scratches.”
Khal growled and started for Hartlin, his hands lifting, but the guards rushed him and slammed him against the wall.
Hartlin watched until the guards had pinned Khal on the floor, then turned back to me. “Never fear. I wouldn’t bother with an emaciated wretch like you. All you’d really need is a loading dose of hormones and an injection of my sperm.”
I stared at Khal, pleading with my eyes, hoping he’d understand my message. Please, don’t get hurt. I need you.
“You’d kill your own child?” I asked Hartlin.
“I’ve already tried to kill a daughter,” Hartlin said, as casually as if he discussed desert flowers. “But Janie slipped my noose.”
“Janie Hartlin is your daughter?”
Behind Hartlin, the guards dragged Khal up and tied him to a chair.
CAT SHIFTERS OF AAIDAR: ENSNARE: (A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 3) Page 14