Fated Mates: Paranormal Romance Series Starters Boxset

by Hariharan, Laxmi

  She half angles her body.

  Just enough for me to see the rounded flesh of her breasts. Her nipples are pointed and tapered and waiting for my touch. The muscles of her belly flex as if she’s inviting me to ravish her. And I want to. But I must not. I will not do this. Not now, not until I’ve made it up to her for the hurt I’ve caused her. I drop my hand to my side.

  “I can’t.”

  13

  Gia

  He struts away, and I can't take my eyes off him. His wide shoulders narrow down to tight flanks. His thighs are corded with powerful muscles that undulate with each step. He moves like a big cat. Silent yet powerful. The man is lethal, and he’s an enigma.

  Warmth fills my chest. My arms and legs tingle.

  He’s Fae, he hurt me with his psychic energy, and he still turns me on.

  I’d actually stripped in front of him. I am not sure what goaded me to do so, except that I’d wanted to see the impact it would have on him. Which is apparently not enough to have him stay.

  Why had I invited him to stay?

  Had it been that little burst of temper which had sent a frisson of anticipation rolling down my spine? My nerve endings are still raw, and while my body is tender, it’s nothing compared to that bone-shattering hurt I had awakened to earlier. Clearly, he’d managed to heal me, and I am not sure if I want to know how. Fae are supposed to have magical energies after all…so perhaps that’s what it was? Goosebumps rise on my skin.

  Something inside me insists I don’t want to find out the reason for his strange reaction, his aloofness…yet.

  I shake my hair back then step into the shower cubicle and turn on the faucet.

  Let the hot water pour over me. Sinking into my skin, locking in the heat in my bones. The last of my aches melts away.

  By the time I am done, the water is running cold.

  I use one of the towels to pat my skin dry; only then do I realize I don’t have any new clothes. Wrapping another towel around myself, I hesitate at the door. I don’t want him to see me in just the towel, I don’t. But he’s already seen me naked. He’s squeezed my breasts and stuffed his fingers inside my pussy and—my thighs clench. Damn the man. I shouldn’t feel such primal need for him. Shouldn’t miss him when he’s not here, near me.

  My heart begins that familiar thud. My insides quiver. I toss my head and flounce out.

  The room is empty, and the bed has been made.

  The sheets have been stretched tight, not a crease. Huh! Guess that military training comes in useful in more than one way. And on a chair by the bed are neatly folded clothes.

  I walk to the chair and shake out a pair of jeans, a shirt, even underwear. How did he get hold of them? I survey the room again. It's furnished with a double bed, a nightstand with a chair next to it, and a closet in the corner. There is a mirror pushed up against one wall. I shrug into the clothes.

  Of course, everything is my size.

  I walk out of the room and down the stairs. The scent of coffee attracts me to the kitchen. I pour myself a cup. My captor—or my savior? I am not sure what he’s meant to be—is not to be seen.

  I cross over to the window, and flinging the panes open I lean out. Trees line the property. The air is crisp and clear, and I can see all the way down the valley to the next slope. We are on a hill of some kind. I assume we are still in Russia, but where?

  The hum of people talking reaches me. I leave the kitchen, following the voices to the closed door on the other side of the corridor. I press my ear to it.

  I know I am eavesdropping, but big deal. He shot at me; I can listen in on his conversations. Besides, he hasn’t restricted me to my room or anything, has he?

  “I can’t come back to Singapore, Boris.” His voice rumbles through the closed door.

  “Why not?” Boris’ reply is muffled. It seems to originate from a communication device.

  “What’s come up to make you stay back when your people need you most?”

  “I am not at liberty to discuss that.” Anger laces his tone.

  “First you screw up your mission, then you insist you need to go AWOL. It’s not like you, Dante—”

  Dante. The name fits him. Fire and ice…he is both. A dangerous name for a dangerous Fae male.

  Dante’s tone hardens. “I couldn’t let her die.”

  “Since when did a mere civilian come in the way of your duties?”

  “I cannot tell you the reason, Commander. I know there will be consequences to fouling up my mission, but I’ll just have to deal with the outcome of that…after—”

  “You have no idea how serious this is. The Elders are demanding that you come back and face trial. Do you know what that means?” Boris snaps.

  “You’ll kill me as soon as I set foot back in Singapore. Even as we speak, I bet you have already sent soldiers to hunt me.”

  There’s the scrape of Dante’s chair against the floor.

  “I trained those soldiers. Even though the bastards changed loyalties, I expect they’ll manage to track me down. Doesn’t mean I can’t make it difficult for them.” Dante laughs. It's a harsh, cruel sound.

  A cold feeling fills my chest.

  This Fae, he’s lethal. A trained soldier. I’d forgotten just how much danger my life is in with him. And all because why? Because he’d almost fucked me?

  His footsteps thud, and I assume he paces, back-forth-back.

  “If you come back and bring her with you, perhaps there’s a chance—”

  “No.” His reply is harsh, final.

  “What is it about her anyway? A pretty face? A succulent pussy? I thought better of you—”

  “Don’t you fucking talk about her that way.” Dante’s voice lashes through the space.

  I pull back from the door. He’s angry because the other guy insulted me? My mouth goes dry. Why is he defending me? Why does he care what his superior thinks of me?

  “So it is as I suspected.” Boris sounds calm. Too calm.

  Fear skitters down my spine.

  “You have no idea.” There’s no mistaking the sarcasm in Dante’s tone.

  “I can hazard a guess, soldier, and I can tell you that you are headed in the wrong direction. Once you take this road, you are on your own.”

  “No, you listen to me, Commander.” Dante’s tone hardens. “I’ve spent all my life in service of the Elders. I’ve let them dictate every part of my life. I’ve dropped everything and always rushed to them when they needed my help. This occasion, it doesn’t work that way. I need time to complete what I’ve started. Things are too delicate as it is… One wrong move and—” He swears.

  “Last chance, Colonel. If you don’t turn yourself and the human in, it will not end well.”

  “I am not coming. I can’t leave my mate and— Fuck.” There’s the sound of a crash, then something hits the floor and shatters.

  I freeze.

  Mate? Whose mate? His mate? Who is his mate? I don’t want to accept what he’s talking about.

  Sweat slicks my palms.

  I rub my hand against a twinge of pain in my chest. There it is again. That strange pain I’d woken up with. It’s not like heartburn, it feels more intense, more deep-rooted, as if something in my veins has been changed. As if I’ve been ripped apart from the inside and put back together all over again. I raise my arm and look at it, at the fresh pink skin. Like the skin regenerated overnight. But that’s not possible, is it?

  “When were you going to tell me, Colonel?”

  There’s silence, then the sound of footsteps as he paces again. “Didn’t mean for it to come out that way, Commander. But you see now why I am not able to leave?”

  There’s the low sound of his swearing.

  “I understand, Colonel. Better than you’d imagine.”

  “Sir?” There’s surprise in his voice.

  “Question is, do you understand the magnitude of what you have taken on? Not only is she human, and you know the track record of Fae’s mating with humans i
s—”

  “I understand the dangers, Boris, but it was the only way to save her.”

  “And then you are a military man.” The Commander seems to continue as if he hadn’t heard Dante. “You put your life at risk all the time. Once you consolidate the mating bond, if something were to happen to you, it also endangers her life.”

  “It won’t come to that.” He huffs out a breath.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I…”

  Dante lowers his tone, and the uttered words are too difficult for me to pick up. I lean in closer and press my ear to the door again.

  “So you see…” The rest of his words are too low to be deciphered.

  “I don’t agree with your plan, Colonel, but if that’s the only way out…” Boris seems relaxed. Almost bored by the conversation.

  “It is, sir.” The floorboards creak, as if Dante has widened his stance.

  “And you are sure there is no way in or out of the safe house?”

  “She could try to scale the wall, but I doubt she’s strong enough for that.”

  I set my jaw. That’s a challenge if I ever heard one. I am definitely going to have to try to get over that wall.

  “Then there is the door.” Dante hesitates.

  “Door?”

  So there is another way out. Relief floods me.

  “It leads out from the study to a hidden passage and all the way to the closest town. But the study is locked when I am not here, sir, so I am sure she won’t get to it.”

  Okay, so I need to find the key to the study and then find the door and escape. A second route. It’s more of a challenge, but worth the try.

  “Well, if you are confident, soldier—”

  “I am, sir.”

  How did he get access to a communication device? Since the tsunamis had changed the geography of the earth and leached the ground of trace elements, all kinds of comms devices have gone out of circulation.

  The thoughts rush around in my head, and I try to make sense of everything I’ve heard.

  His footsteps approach the door, and I make to rise, but already the door is swinging open.

  Busted. My throat goes dry.

  Light pours from the open doorway.

  I don’t look up. His feet clad in military-issue boots come into view.

  My hand shakes, and coffee spills from the cup. The drops slosh toward my freshly skinned arm. I brace for the burn—which never comes.

  The drops of coffee weave away from my arm, up, drifting up as if drawn by an unseen force which I know is coming from him. I follow the arc of the drops as he raises his arm and simply sweeps them over to the side to deposit them in the bin in a corner of the room.

  The cup tilts in my hand, and I am not surprised when it rights itself again. “I guess I don’t have to worry when you are around. You’ll always be there to clean up after me, to prop me up when I need it, make sure I never hurt myself again.”

  “You make it sound like a bad thing.” He squats in front of me.

  That scent of fresh rain and dark chocolate deepens. The ball of heat in my chest twinges.

  His thighs are massive, and with him crouching like that, the muscles bunch.

  I can’t stop the visceral thrill that sparks at my nerve endings. Can’t stop my gaze from dropping to that bulge between his legs. That beautiful, large erection that is outlined against the apex of his pants.

  My mouth waters. My core shudders. A pool of moisture gathers in my pussy.

  A low twinge of heat tugs at my belly. How can I want this man so much? He'd come to kill the very woman I'd been charged with protecting. Yet every pore in my body insists I need this man. His touch, his feel, his scent, I want to draw it all in and revel in it.

  My fingers seesaw. The half-filled cup tips. He reaches out and rights it, then takes it from my nerveless hand and sets it on the floor.

  “You are not making this easy for me.”

  His voice yanks me out of the sexual haze that envelops me. “Oh, yeah?” I narrow my gaze on him. “I’m not making it easy for you? You’re the one who’s keeping secrets from me.”

  “How much of that conversation did you hear?”

  “Enough.” I ball my fists in front of me. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “Tell you what?” He tilts his head. His look is casual, and that’s the last resort.

  Something snaps inside me.

  “That you mated me when I was unconscious?”

  14

  Dante

  My heart stutters. My insides twist. Of all the scenarios I had played with, this was the worst. I am not sure what I had planned, but it wasn’t her stumbling across the truth like this. Or perhaps I’d wanted her to.

  Which is why I had been conversing with the commander via hologram and hadn’t bothered to keep my voice down.

  Perhaps I’d wanted her to find out and save me the need to break the news to her.

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Explain it then.”

  I stand up, then hold out my hand for her.

  She refuses it and clambers to her feet.

  Something like disappointment weighs down my shoulders. What had I been expecting? That she’d welcome this news with open arms and accept me?

  She doesn’t know anything about me, obviously. All this should come as a shock to her. But still something in me insists that she should understand this is the only way out. Aren’t mates supposed to recognize each other? Hadn’t she sensed the way I had sniffed her and known it was her at the bar? That she’s the only one for me?

  “You are upset, it’s understandable.” I raise my hand to place it on her shoulder.

  She swerves under my arm and stalks into the room that doubles up as a study. She crosses the floor to the table and chair that’s pushed up against the wall. Of course the space is empty. She swivels around to stare at me.

  “You have no idea what I am feeling right now.”

  Her shoulders are so tense, she’s wound so tight that I can literally feel the anger crackle off her skin.

  I rub my palm over my chest. “Believe me, I have an idea.”

  She goes pale at that. “You feel it, too?”

  “The mating bond?” I peel back my lips in the semblance of a smile, and I am sure there’s nothing nice about it. Or so I’ve been told. It’s a look that’s brought many an opponent to heel, caused many to flee, but this woman, she simply juts out her chin.

  “So apparently it’s not a one-sided thing.”

  I can’t stop the bark of laughter that escapes me. “Trust me, it goes both ways. If there had been another route…" I raise my shoulders then let them fall.

  “Fae are the most technologically advanced species. Surely you could have teleported me to your doctors or something.”

  I fist my fingers at my side, then begin to pace again. “When I saw you fall, I reacted on instinct. All I knew was that you were hurt, and I had to get you out of there.”

  “You were stricken by a jolt of conscience.”

  “Or something.” I snort. “How do I explain this to you. I saw you at the bar and—”

  “And knew you had to fuck me.”

  Anger curdles my gut. I ball my fingers into fists at my sides. “Then I followed you in and saw you trying to relieve your arousal.”

  “And you did fuck me, with your fingers.”

  This time, white sparks explode behind my eyes.

  I stalk over and grab her shoulders. “Listen to me, woman. I saw you, I had to have you. Yet I left without taking you then. Only to have you appear on stage and throw yourself between me and my target.”

  “I was protecting her.” She winces.

  I know I am hurting her with my grip. I loosen my fingers but can’t make myself step away from her. “I didn’t know that, did I, not until I’d already hit you.” I massage the muscle I’d hurt.

  Her shoulders quiver.

  I know it’s my touch that’s making her react
in that way. My groin tightens.

  “Would anything have changed if you’d known I was going to be there on stage as her bodyguard?”

  I hesitate. I want to tell her it would have, that I’d have broken off my mission midway if I’d known I was going to hurt her, but the truth is, I wouldn’t have. A more considerate man would have perhaps lied to her even. But the fact is, with the mating bond tying us, there’s no way I can keep the truth concealed from her for much longer.

  The knowledge sinks in, just as I realize what this means.

  I am more vulnerable to her than anyone else. If she wants, she can get to know everything about me, use it against me. She is a threat to me. And yet I can’t kill her.

  I also can’t let her out of here, not until I’ve made sure I’ve consummated the bond, and made sure she’s dependent on me, enough for her to never challenge me.

  “It wouldn’t have made a difference.” Her voice is flat.

  “You’re right. I’d have simply found another route to get you out of the way so I could complete my mission undistracted.”

  “And now?” A nerve thuds at her temple. Her chin quivers. She holds up her hands as if to ward me off, then takes a step back, and another, until she comes up against the window. Her hip brushes the wall, and she gasps. “Now it’s too late.”

  I take one step forward, then another.

  She gulps. “You are scaring me.”

  “Good.” I peel back my lips.

  “What are you thinking? Whatever it is I want no part of it.” Her fear is a palpable presence growing with every second. Tugging at my skin, sliding into my blood.

  Curiously, it makes me want to gather her close and soothe her. The ball of heat in my chest twinges, warning me to be gentle with her. She’s mine, I need to care for her. Protect her. I push aside the thoughts crowding in on me.

  It’s best she sees what I am. A male who has the blood of many on his hands. Who hasn’t hesitated to take lives. Who’d do it again if needed. Only first I need to satisfy this strange craving I have for her. This need to learn her every secret, to wallow in her scent, to bury myself balls deep in her and use her femininity to bring that humanness she’d touched in me earlier to life.