by Mina Carter
Another whoosh and the sensation of movement. A hard hand grabbed her upper arm and she yelped, trying to fight off her attacker, only to be pulled up against a solid body as her strike was blocked with a hard arm.
“Quiet, female,” Daaynal’s voice rasped in her ear. “There’s more than one.”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see, sliding back to back with the big Lathar. He moved easily, a reassuring presence.
A strangled scream that turned into a wet gurgle cut the silence and then Daaynal was gone. Another thud reached her ears, like a body hitting the floor, and then the doors slid open, light slicing through to illuminate a scene right out of a horror film…
Sardaan had seen many dead warriors. The life of a Lathar was often brutal and violent. Death was an inevitable part of it. Battles were common, injuries even more so, and he’d been to pay his respects in halls like this many times before. It never got any easier.
Aariin was laid out on the altar, beneath the symbol of the mother goddess. Like all warriors he wore his leathers, his weapons at his side for his journey to the life beyond. Sardaan took a few steps forward to reach the altar.
Isan had done a good job. Apart from the fact he was pale, Sardaan could almost believe the young warrior was asleep. The horrendous wound that had almost cleaved his chest in two was covered by his combat jacket, the edge of a sealed wound just visible by his throat.
Sardaan rubbed a hand over his eyes tiredly. He’d contacted Aariin’s father to let him know the fate of his son. The older warrior had merely shrugged. No, he did not want his family colors given to the boy at the rites. The boy was Quesen, he’d said. Third born to an oonat, thus not an heir.
Not important.
Not worthy.
Silently, Sardaan unfolded the fabric over his arm and draped it over the body of the younger man. His colors were that of a minor line of the K’Vass, but something was better than nothing. And, as the last remaining member of his family, he had the right to grant them to whomever he pleased. In life or death.
“Go into the next life with honor, brother,” he murmured in a low voice, hand clenched over his heart in the traditional salute before turning and leaving the hall.
Shaking his hair back, he forced his mind to return from contemplation to the present. Back to Dani. His mate. She was finally and properly his mate. He never thought he’d be lucky enough to have one, ever. Like most Lathar of his age, he’d consigned himself to a lifetime of solitude, brightened only by the comradeship of his brothers in arms and the occasional visit to the pleasure houses.
Some warriors had resorted to taking concubines from other races. There were several in the galaxy, but most weren’t genetically compatible with the Lathar. Hell, he’d even heard tell of one Lathar, a C’Vaal he believed, had taken a Krynassis female as his mate. He bit back a snort. He’d like to see how that played out for the C’Vaal. But then… that clan were more pirates than warriors. They had to be given their territory out in the Deniar expanse. Still, Krynassis females were rare and queens were very protective of their female offspring.
Unlike some, the idea of taking an oonat concubine had filled him with revulsion. He’d long ago decided that when he needed an heir to continue his line, he would have his seed implanted rather than bed one. He’d always held off on that, hoping the healers would perfect the ex-vitro technology they’d been working on for years.
He shook the thoughts off. He wouldn’t need to worry about implantation or concubines now he had Dani. His mate. Pleasant memories of their night together filled his mind as he walked down the corridor. Heat filled him at one specific memory—the feeling of her tiny body beneath his.
She was obviously a warrior, with a slender, taut figure packed with lean muscles… but she was also soft and giving in all the right places. And the heaven of being balls deep in the silken embrace of her tight body… he shuddered with pleasure at the memory. Perhaps he could sneak back to their quarters between training and his shift on the bridge?
“Computer. Locate my mate,” he ordered aloud, knowing the ship’s computer system would pick up his command, a small buzz of pride filling him at the words.
He only had to wait a couple of seconds for a reply, the smooth gender-neutral voice of the ship answering him. “Danielle K’Vass is currently located in the Imperial Suite.”
He paused mid-stride, a frown creasing his brow. In the Imperial Suite? Why was Dani in the Imperial Suite?
“Computer, locate His Majesty, Daaynal K’Saan,” he said carefully, ignoring the strange feeling in the center of his chest. Why was his mate in the Imperial Suite?
“The emperor is in the Imperial Suite.”
Fear slammed through Sardaan like a supernova. She was trying to leave him. That was the only reason he could think of that she’d be in the emperor’s rooms. To petition Daaynal to release her from his claim and let her go home.
He went from a walk to a flat-out sprint within a heartbeat. His heart pounded with fear, a cold sweat sliding down his spine. She couldn’t leave him. She was his and no one, not even the emperor himself, would take her from him. Ever. Even if he had to challenge Daaynal himself.
“MOVE!” he bellowed as a squad turned the corner and filled the corridor ahead of him. They scattered, which was fortunate, since he’d have bowled them out of the way if need be. He ignored the yells and curses as they were left behind him.
Turning the corner, he growled as he realized there was another squad of warriors ahead of him. At his bellow, they scattered. He was halfway past them when the faces registered. It was the Quesen squad.
“What’s going on? Is there an alert?” Riis called out, and the corridor was filled with the sound of running feet as the young warriors sprinted to catch up with him.
“Dani. The emperor’s suite,” he bit out, outpacing them all in his fear.
He had to get there in time. Lady, he had to get there in time. He wouldn’t lose her when he’d only just found her. He couldn’t. Skidding around the corner, he all but slammed into the doors to the Imperial Suite. They slid open and he nearly fell through, so desperate was he to get inside.
“Where is she?” he growled dangerously, advancing on the aide behind the desk. The male had shot to his feet, getting between Sardaan and the door to the emperor’s rooms. They didn’t slide open automatically, obviously DNA locked. Only the emperor and his trusted staff would be able to open them. Sardaan’s eyes narrowed.
And the emperor had his mate in there.
“No! You can’t go in there!” the aide insisted, only to find the bigger warrior’s hand about his throat as Sardaan slammed him into the wall by the door.
“Open it,” he ordered, his hand cutting the other male’s air off. “My mate is in there. Open it now.”
The added encouragement of his dagger pressed up under the male’s jaw and the appearance of the Quesen team behind him seemed to just the incentive the warrior needed and, with a small gasp, he reached out and slapped his palm over the entry-plate on the door.
The door slid open, illuminating the room within. It was painted scarlet with blood. For a moment, he stared at the scene of chaos. The room was filled with grim-faced warriors attacking two people in the center of the room. The emperor bellowed with rage as he fought back, a … Sardaan’s heart all but stopped… a slender female figure fighting back to back with him as the big drakeen bot skittered and danced around him, keeping the thick of the attackers away and stopping the pair from being overwhelmed.
“QUESEN ASENDAR!” Sardaan bellowed, ordering the warriors behind him into battle. They reacted instantly, flooding the room and hitting the emperor’s attackers from the rear with all the speed and ferocity of the highest trained warriors. Pinned in between their target and the new group at the rear, the attacking group was soon cut down. Sardaan himself accounted for many of them, cutting them down with the heavy combat daggers sheathed in his boots.
Then there was just one. His gaze
narrowed as he recognized Ter T’Raniis, half his face covered in blood and a snarl of fury on his face as he stood in the middle of his fallen warriors. Sardaan’s lip curled back. First Aariin and now a failed assassination attempt on the emperor himself? Ter was either delusional or suicidal.
“He’s mine,” Sardaan snarled as the emperor’s drakeen bodyguard skittered forward. It stopped instantly at his words, without a signal from Daaynal himself. Further proof to the rumor that the Imperial bots were piloted by the man himself.
“Come on then, T’Raniis…” Sardaan’s voice was low and dangerous. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Ter laughed, the sound malicious as he focused on Sardaan. He had to know he wasn’t getting out of this alive. “Come on then. I’ll split you in two like that little Quesen you got so bent out of shape over. Then I’ll claim your woman for myself.”
Mentioning Aariin was the wrong move. Threatening Dani was an even worse one. White hot fury exploded through Sardaan’s veins like an antorian dump into an engine’s fuel injectors. He went from standing into motion within a heartbeat, his blades slicing through the air like glittering arcs of moving death. He didn’t bother with any posturing. No special moves. Nothing fancy. Instead he used brute force and speed to take both blades through Ter’s neck. Side to side. The lethally sharp blades sliced through skin, flesh, arteries and vertebrae as they weren’t even there.
Ter blinked as Sardaan finished the movement, his arms spread out to the side, blades dripping blood. For anyone watching who hadn’t seen the whole thing, he would have looked wide open, his face, throat and torso vulnerable to any attack Ter might launch.
But the other warrior wasn’t going to attack. Even though he blinked slowly, the movement was simply the reaction of his dying brain as, slowly, his head slid to one side while his body slid the other way. His corpse hit the floor in two dull thuds, already ignored by Sardaan as he whirled around. He’d avenged Aariin. Now it was time to find his mate.
His gaze immediately latched on to the slender figure in the middle of the carnage, blade in her hand. Relief hit him in a cold rush and he crossed the distance to haul her into his arms before he’d taken his next breath.
“Traitor!” Daaynal bellowed, striding forward at the same moment the aide in the doorway made a run for it. The aide pulled up sharply as the Quesen blocked his escape. A flick of his wrists later and he had a blade in each hand. The young warriors didn’t flinch, watching him with hard expressions. Pride filled Sardaan when the older warrior roared and tried to rush them, expecting them to scatter as they usually did.
Instead, they stood their ground. More than. With an answering bellow, they met his attack, using a combination of the moves Sardaan had been drilling into them and the ones they’d learned from Kenna and Dani. The clash of blades and grunts filled the room as they surrounded the aide. He was forced to defend himself on all sides, his expression changing from grim determination to concern, and finally to fear as the realization he couldn’t beat the Quesen flitted across his face.
Riis moved in when he tried a sleight of hand stab to the ribcage of a warrior who’d left an opening. He grunted and twisted to avoid it and then yanked the guy toward him, spinning him around into a deadly embrace. A hard arm over the front of the guy’s throat, he cut his air off.
“Don’t kill him,” Daaynal ordered as Riis’ shoulders bunched, ready for a neck-breaker move. The barked order stopped him in his tracks and he simply tightened his hold until the male stopped thrashing. Letting go of the limp form, he allowed the male to fall to the floor.
The threat dealt with, Sardaan concentrated on Dani. He was torn between holding her and checking her over. There was a splash of blood across her thigh. His gaze narrowed as he yanked her closer, checking her leg.
“Sardaan, I’m fine!” She smiled, grabbing for his hands. “I promise. I’m okay.”
“Thank the gods,” he breathed, pulling her closer. “You about killed me there, female. I thought you’d been killed. Worse…”
She chuckled, smoothing her hands over his shoulders. The touch helped ease the tension running through his body. Holding her against him, feeling her tiny form tucked against his, helped. “What could be worse than me being killed? You guys don’t have zombies or anything, right?”
“Zombies?” He shook his head. “I have no idea what that is.”
He wrapped his arms around her, his lips against her hair on the top of her head. Inhaling, he dragged her scent deep into his lungs.
“I thought you were trying to leave me,” he admitted raggedly. “I thought you’d come to ask the emperor to release you from our mating.”
She pulled back, surprise in her eyes. “No… why would I do that? I came here to ask him for a job.”
“Indeed,” Daaynal stepped forward, the big drakeen bot sidling backward to its charging alcove. The metallic glint of a pilot’s uplink band was just visible in the fall of his dark hair. He completely ignored the dead males on the floor, focusing on the couple. “And I have decided to accept. Your mate has become our new human-Latharian liaison officer.”
13
He wanted her to stay.
So much so that as soon as the emperor gave them permission to leave so he could deal with the aide who’d been part of the assassination plot against him, Sardaan had whisked Dani right back to his quarters. He’d spend the next couple of hours proving exactly how much… desperately taking her as though he expected her to be snatched away at any moment. She shivered as she lay in the middle of the rumpled sheets, tired and replete, watching her handsome mate dress for the second time that day.
She rolled to her knees and crawled forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Do you have to go on bridge duty right now?”
He shifted position, dropping his shoulder and pulling her into his lap for a long, hard kiss. She melted against him, her arms still around his neck. The heat of his body against hers made her shiver again, even though they’d just finished. By the time he broke the kiss, both their breathing was compromised.
“You are far too much of a temptation, little mate,” he rumbled in a deep voice. “But yes, I do. I don’t want to earn Danaar’s ire. He’s already pissed that the vice president went back to your ship. I don’t need to make that worse by neglecting my duty.”
Dani slid out of his lap as he put his boots on. “Danaar and Madison Cole?”
She’d only spoken to the ship’s acting commander once before, but the impression of a tall, growly, intensely focused man had stuck in her mind. He wasn’t at all the sort she’d find either approachable or attractive. The idea of him and Madison Cole…
“He likes her then?”
Sardaan nodded. “Like she’s the moon to his sun. I’m surprised he didn’t try and claim her while she was aboard.”
Dani snorted in amusement. “Have you met Madison Cole? Shit, the woman scares even me. I’d rather take the All-Trial against your damn combat bots than face her in a bad mood.”
He grinned as he looked over his shoulder. The lights by the side of the bed caught his unusual eyes, making her shiver. He really was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Of course, it helped that she was halfway in love with him.
Existence paused in the second between one heartbeat and the next.
Halfway in love with him… No, she wasn’t halfway in love with him. She was completely and utterly head over heels in love with her sexy alien husband.
Her eyes fluttered closed for a second. How… when had that happened? She’d been so determined, knowing the danger he posed to her heart, to not allow it to happen. But somehow, he’d gotten past all her defenses anyway, found a place for himself in her heart. And…
She didn’t want to let him go. Ever.
Surging forward, she wrapped her arms around him suddenly from behind and kissed the side of his neck.
The deep chuckle he gave vibrated through his back where she pressed against him, his hand over her wrists w
here they crossed on his chest. “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining…”
“Nothing.” She pressed her face into the curve where his neck met his shoulder for a moment and then lifted up. She nipped lightly at his ear and smiled as he sucked a hard breath in. “Why? Don’t you like it?”
The chuckle was replaced by a deep, warning growl. “Oh, I like it. Carry on like that though, and I’ll have you flat on your back, my cock buried balls deep in your tight little pussy before you can say the word.”
Heat slammed into her without warning and he chuckled at her needy little gasp, turning to plant a hard kiss on her lips. “Hold that thought… for later.”
* * *
She was still reeling from the kiss as he stood, grabbing his jacket from the hook by the door. Then, with a wink and a heat-filled glance, he left for the bridge.
Flopping back on the bed, she grabbed the pillow and held it to herself. It smelled of him, so she buried her face in it and breathed in deeply. Adjusting to her new normal would take a while but… she smiled to herself. She would do it. Somehow. With her new job as liaison officer, and him, they could make anything work.
A soft chirping got her attention and she lifted her head. What was that? She frowned as she looked around, finally spotting the blinking light on the console over the desk. It hadn’t been there before. She was sure of it. And the sound definitely hadn’t.
Sliding from the bed, she wrapped one of Sardaan’s shirts around her like a bathrobe. It might as well have been, the warm, silky fabric hitting her at mid-thigh and, more importantly, covering her completely. Reaching the desk, she stood in front of it for a moment. The console was unfamiliar to her and the keys she could see were all in Latharian.
“Hello?”
She leaned forward to wave her hand in front of the little blinking light. It didn’t look like a power light. A screen burst into life out of nowhere. Even though she’d been briefed on Latharian tech, it still made her jump. Thankfully, she managed not to squeak or anything equally embarrassing. It had been bad enough to realize that she had been utterly useless in the fight in the emperor’s quarters without making a fool of herself as well.