“Did we not share memories of childhood?”
Meridan was torn between frustrated screaming and rolling her eyes, so she did both. “Did you think I wouldn't know about the ceremony? That Earth girls don’t talk and share their experiences? Or maybe you just don’t like getting my consent. This is just like the test. You decided to go ahead and do it without telling me.” Kalen continued to make decisions for her, not with her.
“It was not I who authorized the test.”
“But you authorized this tea fiasco.”
“I did not want to give you the chance to say no.”
“What?” Meridan was stunned. Say no?
Kalen looked abashed at his behavior. “There is another with a claim. Ninety-eight point five, but we are ninety-nine point eight.”
“So I could refuse you?”
“The warrior could legally challenge me for you.”
“Thanks for fighting over me like a piece of meat.”
“I did not wish to fight.”
“Not helping,” she said glumly. That hurt worse. She wasn’t worth fighting for. His terrible words This is not what I wanted, came rushing back to her.
Kalen crouched at her feet and took her hand. “I am not good with words.”
“Or people.”
He nodded. “The warrior in question is more skilled. I would lose in a challenge and I will not lose you, wife.”
“Because we are a ninety-nine point eight percent match.”
“That. And because I require your bedside manner.”
“So I’m useful.” His words stung her pride. He didn’t desire her. He wanted her because she was free labor in the medical bay. Useful.
He rubbed his chin, searching for words. “I wanted you.”
“No,” Meridan said, pulling away. “You wanted to fuck me.”
He grabbed her wrist, holding her in place. She attempted to shake his iron grip off but failed. “No, I wanted you as my mate and it confused me.”
“Because of my exemption.”
“That and no other female has ever called to me the way that you did. I thought it was just sex but it was more.”
“Is that why you beat up Vox?” He growled at the mention of her friend. “Sorry, sorry. But is it?”
No answer, just growling.
She slapped his chest. “Is it?”
“Yes. No. He felt the same compulsion.”
She grinned. Kalen didn’t know what to do with his attraction to her so he went with the Mahdfel equivalent of pulling pigtails. It was cute, in a barbaric way. Then his words sank in. “Wait, the same compulsion?”
“He is the other match.” Kalen hung his head, shoulders sagging. “I understand if you want to refuse my claim and accept his.”
Oh. That sweet, insecure idiot. Meridan went all marshmallow and gooey inside. A hand under his chin lifted his face. She kissed him gently, her lips brushing lightly over his. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Because he is your friend. Because you enjoy spending time with him.”
Meridan silenced him with another kiss. Kalen could list reasons all night but she already had the reason she needed. “I don’t want Vox. I want you.” Another kiss, more demanding. “I’ve known him for two years. If I was even remotely attracted to him, it would have happened already but it hasn’t. You, however... I was ready to jump you the second day.”
“To jump is also hanky-panky? You Terrans and your baffling idioms.”
“In this context, sure.”
“Why not the first day? Because I knew you were for me the moment I scented you.” His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in.
“That first day wasn’t your best. You’re an acquired taste.”
He hummed in his throat. “I enjoyed your taste. Very much.”
She wasn’t going to blush. She wasn’t.
“I think you should claim your mate, husband,” she said, pushing him back to the floor. She straddled him and positioned herself over his cock. The tip prodded at her entrance and his hips bucked up. Slowly she slid down, letting him stretch her. She sighed at the fullness. His fingers dug into her hips.
Fully seated, she rocked forward. He groaned, eyes closed. She moved slowly, letting each delicious inch of his perfect cock glide out of her before going back in. He guided her, raising and lowering her ass. Movement grew frantic and she lost her rhythm. She felt herself tighten on him, close to her climax.
He hissed and rolled, pinning her beneath the hard planes of his body. Her heels kicked at his butt. He moved in short, hard thrusts, driving deeper.
“Come with me, husband,” she said and reached for his horns. She gripped him at the base, squeezing. He roared, sinking fangs into her shoulder. She shattered into pieces, masking the pain of the bite. He emptied into her and she gripped him tight, taking every drop. She convulsed, hips bucking as the quake of climax gradually diminished.
Kalen laved the bite with his tongue, growling and muttering, “Mine.”
With a content smile, she tried to roll away. “Stay, female,” he ordered. His hands on her shoulders kept her in place. “I’m not done.”
“You can’t be serious.”
His cock remained hard in her. He pushed forward, demonstrating his seriousness. Overly sensitive and swollen, she came again almost immediately. He held himself still over her, admiring her orgasm. Finally, still and panting, he pumped into her again.
“You are mine,” he said. “I will not rest until I fill you with my sons.”
That shouldn’t have been hot but her core rippled around his cock in response to his words. He closed his eyes, pausing momentarily before setting his rhythm.
They moved together slowly, more tenderly. He lavished her with kisses and sucked on her nipples while driving into her. Perhaps it was the benefit of his alien warrior stamina but he never faltered. Not once. The entire night.
***
“Wife.”
“How can you be ready again?”
“My wife is very beautiful.”
“Your wife is old and needs her sleep.”
“Not so old.”
“Hmm.”
“Meridan, the wanting you… I cannot express it.”
“Show me, husband.”
Chapter Fourteen
One Week Later
Kalen
“I require your female’s skills on the surface.”
Kalen stood in front of the view screen at attention, as if the warlord was in room and not peering at him through a lens. “Sir?”
“Suit her up. A shuttle is being prepared to take you both to the coordinates on the surface that I’m sending you now.”
“Sir, my mate is not recovered.” And Cleon 9HSY’s surface below was dangerous. The planet may be classified as dead but it swarmed with Suhlik. The clan had spent the better part of two days driving out the Suhlik.
Paax cocked his head to one side. “I understand she is well enough to assist in the medical bay.”
Kalen’s gaze locked with his warlord and did not waiver. “I could not stop her if I tried.”
“Then she will be most enthusiastic. Be on the surface in an hour.”
Meridan
The flight desk hummed with activities. Shuttles designed to carry small squads to a planet surface sat in neat rows. Crews clamored in and out. Shuttles lifted from the deck, lights on the metal flooring illuminating the path out of the hangar.
Meridan wore a tight fitting, lightweight flex-armor. The red and white nanocarbon fabric barely whispered as she moved. The color designated her as a medic. The armor was durable enough to protect her from stray shrapnel or a direct blast from a plasma gun. Not that she needed to worry about such things, because their mission was completely safe and secure.
Despite the grim expression on Kalen’s face when he presented her the armor. Despite the large gun he had strapped to his back. Despite the flutter of nerves in her stomach.
What the hell where they expected to do on the planet su
rface anyway? What did the warlord expect two medics to do that an entire clan of warriors had been unable to?
“How many warriors are we going with?” Meridan asked, struggling to match Kalen’s brisk pace. The flex in the armor helped propel her forward but her legs just weren’t as long as his.
“We will meet the clan on the surface,” Kalen said. He wore an exo-armor suit. The plates were thicker, designed for hard combat and the matte black color could vanish into the shadows. The helmet was a marvel of engineering. Flexible, thin and extraordinarily resilient material sat on his head. The helmet fit around his horns via a notch at either side. His horns were left exposed but they were not vital organs. A warrior could survive losing a horn. He wouldn’t be happy at the time but they regrew. Meridan had seen plenty of examples of that at SCLB.
“Just us?” she asked. That didn’t seem safe. Or smart. Two medics on a hostile Suhlik planet. Seemed foolhardy. Dangerous, even.
“The area has been cleared. The warlord is waiting our arrival.”
He paused at an older model shuttle. Journeys to the planet surface were done the old-fashioned way, via shuttle. Teleportation during a firefight was impossible. A portable landing pad was too vulnerable. Anything could happen to disrupt the signal and the unfortunate person mid-teleport would be lost. Forever. There was no room for error with teleportation.
Shuttles also weren’t without risk, however. Enemy fire could target the shuttle, knocking out an engine or worse, but there was always the possibility of surviving a shuttle crash. No one survived a teleportation accident.
“You’re not flying this, are you?” Meridan asked Kalen.
“I am.” Vox strode up the gangway, ignoring them and settling in at the helm. He flicked a switch and the interior of the shuttle awoke. Lights blinked as the computer went through a systems check.
“Explain yourself,” Kalen growled.
Still jealous. Poor baby. Meridan rested her hand on his forearm. Her touch distracted him, causing him to glance down. The growl cease.
“Doing my job, Medic. The clan’s other pilots are busy, so I suggest you strap in. Entering the atmosphere is bumpy.” The shuttle’s engine rumbled to life.
The interior of the shuttle was outfitted with medical equipment and supplies, much like the old fashioned ambulances on Earth. The materials on board could treat the common injuries and ailments that would occur in the field. For anything more complex, the equipment would stabilize the patient while the shuttle returned to the battle cruiser. What exactly was the warlord sending them in to do?
Kalen checked Meridan’s armor one more time. She batted his hands away. “It’s fine.”
“It is not fine. It must function properly.”
“I thought we were going to a cleared zone? What are you expecting to find down there?”
His warm hand cradled the side of her face. “The Suhlik are tricksters. You should never let your guard down. Never assume you are safe. If anything were to happen to you…”
“We’ll be together, right?” She smiled thinly, wanting to convey confidence and mask worry.
His eyes narrowed.
Yeah, she didn’t buy it, either.
A figure ran across the hangar, toward the shuttle. Blonde hair was a bright smudge against the white and red medic flex armor suit. Meridan recognized the gait, the hair, and, finally, the stubborn voice that argued with a spiky haired warrior outside the shuttle. Daisy clutched a helmet in one hand, waving emphatically with the other. She looked like she was about to clobber the warrior with helmet, judging by her dark expression.
A solemn faced warrior dragged Daisy by the elbow to the shuttle door. “Let me go!”
“Sir,” a young warrior with bright, spiky lavender hair said. “Shall I remove Nurse Vargas?”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not even here.” Daisy yanked her arm away. She took a step toward the shuttle.
Kalen blocked her entry. “Return to your quarters.”
“I’m coming with you.” Daisy lifted her chin, determined.
“The surface is dangerous. I cannot allow you to endanger yourself, Nurse Vargas,” Kalen said. “You shall remain on the Judgment, as your mate instructed.”
“You need me. I’m a combat nurse. This is literally my job.”
“My orders—”
Daisy cut him off. “If you’re so hard up that you’re bringing Meri, who panics at loud noises, you’re desperate. You need me on this mission.”
Meridan narrowed her eyes, displeased that her sister was throwing her under the proverbial bus. She didn’t like unexpected noises. No one did. They made her jumpy. She’d lived through enough real life bombings to flinch during thunderstorms.
“Mylomon specifically said—”
“He’s not the boss of me,” Daisy said, pushing past Kalen into the shuttle. “And neither are you.”
Poor Kalen. He stood in the doorway, hands clenched and nostrils flaring. He looked like he was two seconds away from hauling Daisy over his shoulder and carrying her off the shuttle. “Unfortunately, Mylomon is my superior officer.”
“Life’s tough all around, ain’t it.” Daisy stowed her med kit under the seat and strapped herself in. She placed the helmet on her head.
“I cannot allow you to accompany us. The risk is too great.”
The front of the helmet slid down, covering Daisy’s face. Her arms crossed her chest. “Talk to the faceplate.”
“Females,” Kalen muttered. “Stubbornness obviously runs in the family.”
“Obviously,” Daisy said.
Kalen’s hand slapped the door’s control panel. The gangway fell away and the door closed. “So be it. I do not have time to reason with you. The warlord is waiting.”
The shuttle lifted from the hangar’s floor. “We’re clear,” Vox said, guiding the shuttle through the hangar and into the long, faintly illuminated launch corridor. At the end of the corridor was a hatch. The doors opened and the shuttle left the battle cruiser.
A tension riddled silence filled the cabin. Vox focused on guiding the shuttle to the planet’s surface. Kalen kept his eyes fixed on the screen, searching for something. Enemy fire, no doubt. And Daisy sat with her arms folded and head held high like an obstinate child.
This would not do. Whatever the warlord expected them to do on the surface, they wouldn’t be able to function as a team with their current attitude.
“What are we doing on the surface?” Meridan asked.
“The warlord will inform us of our mission when we land,” Kalen said. “There is no point in speculation.”
“Fine. Let’s just sit in stoic silence.”
“I agree.”
She rolled her eyes. She sensed that Daisy did the same but it was impossible to tell with her helmet in place.
Meridan put on her own helmet and opened a private communication channel with Daisy. Now they could talk in private.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. She turned to face Daisy. Even though they could not see each other’s faces through the helmets, the position felt natural when they spoke.
“Nothing,” came the terse reply.
“Uh-huh. Sure sounds like nothing.”
“It’s just… not what I expected. All Mylo does is sit and stare at me. He’s so quiet. He doesn’t talk to me. I’m sure as hell not going to sit in silence waiting for him. I want to do something.” Daisy’s words came out in a heated jumble.
“He stares at you?”
“Watches me, that’s a better description. He just watches. It’s creepy. You know that feeling when you think you’re alone and then a shiver goes down your back because someone is watching you? It’s like that. You turn around and there he is, watching and not saying a damn thing.”
“You’re still getting used to each other. I understand he’s not a big talker.”
Daisy scoffed. “I need to do something, to be useful. I don’t like being cooped up. Or put on a pedestal.”
“So run
ning into a firefight was the best option?”
“Your husband is bringing you. Why not me?”
“The warlord ordered Kalen to bring me. No one is telling me why.”
“Huh.”
“Right? Weird.”
The comm link went silent. Daisy unfolded her arms, rubbing her gloved hands on her thighs.
“It’s just not like I expected,” Daisy said again. “I know the genetic match isn’t magic but all the couples seem so damn happy. I mean, you’ve worked with the brides and babies. Can you think of an unhappy couple?”
“There’s been a few.” Not many though. Most of the arranged matches were happy unions. Amazingly.
“I dreamed about being matched.”
“I know.”
“I thought he’d be the man of my dreams. Strong and protective. Sweet. I’d never be alone or scared. And we’d be happy and have so many babies. Instead I got a monster that sits in the dark and doesn’t speak to me.”
Daisy’s expectations were juvenile and unrealistic. Meridan knew better than to correct her sister.
“How about you? How’s the arrogant doctor working out?” Daisy asked.
“He’s an acquired taste,” Meridan said diplomatically.
“Wow, that’s a non-answer if ever I heard one. You do the tea ceremony yet?”
“Yes.”
Daisy gasped with excitement. “What was it like! Did you have your moment of quiet contemplation and then screw like bunnies?”
“Gross. You’re my sister, I’m not telling you.”
“You totally did! Sick.” Daisy vibrated in her seat.
Correction. Meridan’s seat also vibrated, as the shuttle entered the atmosphere.
“How about we be grown-ups and not gossip about our sex lives?”
“I don’t want to know about your sex life. I want to know about your love life. Is he sweet?”
Meridan snorted. No, Kalen was not exactly sweet. He had his tender moments but he wasn’t sweet.
“Or is he all aggressive and dominate? Oh, I bet you love it. You’re blushing. He totally is!” Daisy laughed in delight.
Kalen: Warlord Brides (Warriors of Sangrin Book 2) Page 11