by Lisa Daniels
His hand slid over my mouth, “Please, I value your honesty. I don’t want you thinking about me. This is about what you want. I have been here with you ever since you arrived, and I made my decision about you even before that first night. This is about you.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded by his words.
He moved away, “Obviously, I didn’t learn everything, but at this point, nothing I learn will change my mind.”
“I don’t understand.”
He sighed. Rubbing his forehead with a hand, he took a deep breath. “My people choose mates based on a few key personal factors. Once a final decision is reached, there is no going back. That is why we are usually very slow and deliberate in making our final decision.”
I asked, “You have been watching me for about a month?” He nodded. I bit my lip, “You… you watched me with the intention of what, exactly? What is a mate to your kind?”
“It’s… difficult to explain because humans don’t have anything equivalent.” He placed a couple of fingers against his lips as he thought about it. “Probably the closest thing you have is marriage, but even that falls very short of anything like choosing a mate. Humans use different means and laws to regulate marriage, as if their governments and monarchs have any say in something so personal, so individual. You can end a marriage. In most places, marriage is not a partnership. It is a debt, or a bargain, or a way to form an alliance. The motives are all wrong. Choosing a mate means accepting a person for who they are and loving them anyway. It is a partnership, and usually one where the woman has the upper hand. I mean, you guys are the ones who have the ability to have babies. Males can’t compete with that. We understand our own limitation, and so we don’t try to rule over our women.”
I scratched my head, “Then why are you messing around with me? We aren’t the same species.”
An expression crossed over his face that I did not understand. “That is a long story. To shorten it, our women are few and can never bear children. Some of the males accept that and bond with their own species, but if we were all to do that, we would die out.”
“So, you are interested in me as an obligation to keep your species going?”
He laughed a little, “No. I am interested in you for you. I mean, the fact that you are so gorgeous doesn’t hurt, but that was not what drew me to you. Had you had any undesirable qualities that I could not have lived with, I would have moved on. You would never have seen me, and…” his voice trailed off for a moment. “Your life would have been different.” I was curious what he didn’t say, but was already too busy trying to fully understand what it was he was after to consider what would have happened if he had found me undesirable.
“Does that mean that you followed me to try to determine if you wanted to live with me? For the rest of our lives?”
He nodded, “Yes. You were never simply a passing interest to me. You were an unexpected treasure. I never thought I would find someone else—it so rarely happens. But then I saw you trying to care for the woman, despite not knowing the situation. Even when you learned he was a shifter, you wanted to think the best. Not to alleviate your own guilt, or at least that wasn’t the only reason. You found it difficult to believe that he would spare her life only to throw it away.”
“Well, it didn’t make sense. Even if he knew he was going to make it, the guard said that they almost always escape. What would be the point in sparing her life, then just… it didn’t make much sense to me. Of course, I also didn’t want it to be true. But I didn’t see how it could be. I’ve heard people in the palace say too often how unimportant women are and how we are only good for a few things. Yet it is women who do most of the work, who take care of the family, and when the men go to war, the women keep the country together. All of that taught me to take generalizations with a rather large… glass of salt. If I had known that she would be a slave, I may have weighed the options a little longer, but I could never have killed her.”
“I know.” He smiled at me.
“So, what happens now?”
“That’s up to you. I will be staying here until you have either asked me to leave or made your decision. I will give you as much space as you need to consider it.”
“Why did you decide to appear yesterday?”
“Ah,” he cleared his throat, “I didn’t want your first impression of me to be one of violence.”
“Oh, right,” my mind went back to the incident and the first time Braxton had spoken up. “Spoon. You ended up using violence anyway.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to let him hurt you. So…”
I laughed, “That was very sweet of you.” I began to nibble on one of my thumbnails. “If you don’t mind, can I see if I have this straight?”
“Of course. If I sense anyone coming, I will interrupt, but after yesterday, they are going to be avoiding you for a while. We probably have as much time as you require to get the story straight.”
It was strange to be given so much control, and it made me feel a little apprehensive. I bit my nail hard enough to break it. “Oh, geez. And I promised my father I would stop biting them.”
“I can help you with that, if you really want to stop.”
“Really? How?”
“I can only help if you choose to stay with me.”
“Are you trying to sweeten the deal? Because I don’t—I don’t think that is—”
“No.” He shook his head. “What I meant was it would take me being with you for a long time for the method to work.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, because…” He went into something long and complicated, losing me fairly early.
Finally I shook my head. “Sorry, I don’t understand most of what you are saying.”
“I know.” He gave me a warm smile, “That was partly to prove the point.”
I punched his bicep, and immediately began to shake my hand.
Braxton took my hand and started to rub it. Instantly, the pain dissipated. His eyes stayed on mine as he gently kissed my fingertips before releasing my hands.
“Isn’t that cheating?” I asked, my cheeks flushed.
“Maybe a little.” He smiled and adjusted his body so that I got a full view of everything. My eyes did exactly what he wanted them to do. My heart began to race as I found it impossible not to imagine what had happened only a few hours earlier. “Would you like to?”
My eyes snapped to his face, and I felt my body heat up. Giving him a quick nod, I looked down, the shame in my thoughts making it difficult to look him in the face.
“Please look at me.”
With difficulty, I managed to bring my eyes up to look into his.
He gently stroked my head, “Don’t be ashamed of how you feel. You have nothing to apologize for.” Braxton leaned forward and his lips brushed against mine.
It was too much for me and I leaned forward, wanting more. His hand cupped my breast, taking me by surprise. I moaned as his lips moved down my neck and began to suck on my nipple. Arching into his warmth, I began to say his name, almost like a chant.
Again, he was very careful with me, moving my body to better feel him inside of me. I lasted longer than the last time, but I still could not manage to stay awake as he continually caused me to orgasm. I fell asleep begging him for more. Again, I had a dreamless sleep and woke to the feel of his body against mine.
If this was the way he wanted to make me feel for the rest of my life, I already knew what I wanted my answer to be.
Chapter 7
They Are Coming
Braxton woke me with a tender kiss. He placed his hand on the side of my face, “I’m sorry to wake you, but someone is coming. I had not expected this, but it’s possibly Spoon.” Despite the serious look on his face, Braxton couldn’t help but snicker at the name. “He must have told them there was a prisoner down here. You are in no condition to be walking in front of them.”
I tried to protest, but as soon as I tried to raise myself up from the bed, I understoo
d what he meant. Walking was definitely going to be difficult.
He pulled me close, “I am very sorry. I should have realized, but it is so… controlling myself with you is far more of a challenge than nearly anything else I’ve ever experienced. I will give you time to recuperate before doing that again.” I wanted to protest, but he didn’t give me time to talk. “I’ve already dressed you and will place you in the kitchen. I know it would be better to leave you here to rest, but if they see you lying here…” his voice trailed off, and I knew he was right. I had felt sick once over the last year, and the number of men who had tried to take advantage of that had been one of the reasons for one of my transfers. “So, I will put you in a chair at the table.”
Carefully, he lifted me up and carried me toward the kitchen. “Don’t call to them or do anything that will draw attention to yourself. I am hoping that they are just coming to find out more about me. If so, I will keep them busy. Wait for me in the kitchen.”
“What should I do while I wait?”
“What supplies could you use while sitting down?”
“Um, potatoes?”
“I take it you need a knife for those, too?” It was the first time I had heard him sound uncertain outside of what he had told me last night.
“If you want them skinned first, yes.”
“You mean you don’t have to remove the skins?”
“No, you don’t.” I smiled at him, “How do you usually prepare potatoes?”
“I don’t. Cooking is not one of my skills.”
“So you would expect me to do it? Was that what drew you to me?”
“Didn’t even know you could until I smelled your cooking that first day. At first I thought you were more like my sister. Gorgeous woman, but cannot cook worth a damn.”
“What do looks have to do with cooking?” I scowled at him.
“It shouldn’t have anything to do with it. But so many men prepared food for her that she never bothered to learn. Her husband takes care of that stuff now, and she does all of the house maintenance.”
“You mean cleaning?”
“That too. She may not be great in the kitchen, but her skills with tools are unrivaled. You would not believe the kinds of things my sister can sculpt, it’s just—I’m so sorry, that does not help us now. What else do you need?” He placed me gently on the chair, the table between me and the door.
“A pot and some water. Oh, and the knife in case they decide to talk to me for a while.”
“I will try to prevent that.” He placed the potatoes on another chair near me, saving me from having to lean over to get them. The other stuff was in front of me almost before I could grab the first potato. “I need to hurry,” Braxton said, heading to the door. “They will be here within a minute. Please try not to make noise, and hopefully they will ignore you.” He stopped just before he passed out of sight. “I am very worried about you, and I… really don’t want to leave you alone right now. Not in your weakened state.”
“I’m not an invalid,” I let my annoyance seep into my voice. “Go before you get caught.”
He looked at me, obviously wanting to say something. Then he was gone.
I was still working on the first potato when I heard the door open. Without realizing it, I was holding my breath.
I recognized the voice that called out, “Where is the prisoner?”
Braxton sounded unconcerned as he lazily called out, “Right here. Have you decided to release me? That would be fantastic as I do have better things to do than sit in a dungeon.”
The voice sounded a little further away the next time the guard spoke, but I could still easily make out what he was saying. Jacob was not one to talk softly or to mumble. “Ah, that explains why there was no prisoner listed down here. You are a shifter.”
“My dear second-in-command Jacob, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. How are you doing? I trust they are keeping you busy.”
“That is no concern of yours, barbarian.”
Braxton was completely unphased by the reception, but I had frozen once Jacob had finally said what Braxton was. Suddenly a lot of his reactions to me made more sense. Why watching me had affected him, and why he was impressed by my refusal to simply accept that shifters were the bad guys. Three months ago I had no idea that shifters existed, and now I had been involved with two of them.
None of this would have happened if those girls hadn’t tried to harm me.
For a moment, I thought that I might actually owe them for their petty jealousy. It would have made them feel that much worse for having failed, and that would have made the gesture that much crueler. But they weren’t worth my attention or any type of revenge, so I decided the best thing to do would be to just ignore them once I returned to my previous position. If what Mrs. Teasdon said was true, I would someday have the run of the kitchen. That would be the best revenge.
But what about Braxton? The thought made me pause. I had never seen myself ending up with anyone. Did I really want to give up my position, something I had worked for, to be a mate? Yes, yes, you do, the little voice said. If you stay, the paranoia and backstabbing will get worse. And they will never leave you alone.
I was so absorbed in fighting with myself that I missed most of the conversation. It was only when I heard the sound of voices growing closer that I pulled my thoughts into the moment. Jacob said, “If you have done anything to the woman down here, so help me, I will see you suffer.”
“I don’t recommend you go in there.” Braxton’s voice was a little louder, and it was punctuated by the sound of boots. “It’s not like you care what happens to her anyway. To most of your kind, she is nothing but a traitor.”
Jacob’s voice asked, “Why shouldn’t I go in there?”
“It’s a bloody mess.” Braxton sounded bored as he said it. I had no idea why he would lie like that. Anyone would think that he had killed me given that wording. It wouldn’t exactly keep them from coming toward me.
“Did you—”
Another guard entered my view, and I pretended to be surprised by the visit. “Oh, hello. How can I help you?”
He turned to look to the side, “You didn’t say that the traitor was a beautiful woman.”
I sat still, thinking perhaps I had heard them wrong. Nothing I had done could be classified as treason—the captain wouldn’t have let me live if that had been the case. That was when it really clicked. People had been saying that Master Falmen was no longer in charge. Whatever had happened, any decisions he had made had clearly been put under further scrutiny, and that probably included my situation. How many people in the palace now felt the same way?
Jacob soon appeared in the doorway. “I never said she wasn’t. But remember that her beautiful face masks her duplicity. Keep in mind what she did and don’t trust her.” Since the last time I had seen him, Jacob had grown a lot colder. I would have felt betrayed, except that they had made it clear I was not welcome with the guards. Having sent me to a dungeon with no one to talk to, there was no question what they thought of me. Jacob had not been unkind, but he had not been kind, either, when he had brought me down here. Now I knew how he saw me. Any desire to correct his thoughts was quickly dashed as he gave me a cold stare.
Instead, I simply returned to my work. “Hello, Mister Jacob. Have you come to further ostracize me, or did you have a real point to your visit?” I looked up and smiled at him, watching his face become more rigid with each word I uttered.
“You would be wise to watch your tongue. The people up there are already restless, and I am one of the only things between you and execution.”
“What about Mrs. Teasdon? You realize that I was only loaned to you, don’t you? Or did Master Falmen fail to tell you that?”
The other guard spat on the floor at the name. Jacob bristled, but managed to remain calm. “Once Mrs. Teasdon learned that you condemned a woman to be a slave for a shifter, she told the guard that she didn’t want you back.”
I was momentarily speec
hless. This whole time I had been expecting to be called back to work in the kitchens. Now, I found out that they had no intention of taking me back. Mrs. Teasdon had been the only reason for me to stay. With that gone, I could not think of a single good reason to allow the torment to continue. The premonition was finally coming true. Next, they would...
I am one of the only things between you and execution.
The meaning came crashing down on me, and I knew that my time at the palace was over. It wasn’t just something I wanted to do—it was something I would have to do if I didn’t want them to kill me. Scratching my head, I let my voice get louder, “I suppose it is a good thing that I have been given an offer for something more meaningful and important, then.” Only I heard the signs that anything was going on outside of the room. I continued talking to keep the guards’ attention on me. “As you said, I didn’t know anything about shifters, being from the north, and—”
“We have recently learned to mistrust anyone who claims not to know anything about those vile creatures. Anyone who works with them risks their lives now.”
I frowned, “Just what happened since you sent me down here?”
Jacob scowled at me, “That isn’t something that should concern you right now. All that you should be considering is how you will make peace with the gods because I will not be able to—”
A loud roar startled all of us. The other guard tried to pull his sword out of its scabbard, but only managed to fumble it, knocking the belt, sword, and all to the floor. He ran into the kitchen and cowered under a table. Jacob fared a little better. At least he managed to get the sword pointed in the right direction as he backed slowly into the room. A couple of seconds later, I saw why they were acting so terrified. Slinking toward Jacob was the largest cat I had ever seen, its muscles moving in ways that let the prey know there was no hope. I had seen that cat in pictures, and nothing that any artists had rendered could do justice to how terrifying it was in person.