Kalen: Warlord Brides (Warriors of Sangrin Book 2)
Page 16
Kalen pushed between the Suhlik and Esa, raising his force field. The claws slashed down and skidded across the shield. His sword swung low, chopping into the lizard’s side. It barely penetrated the armor but it was enough. A volley of fire from Seeran and Paax slammed into the Suhlik. The lizard twitched with the force of each impact, stumbling back. Kalen gathered up Esa in his arms and ran towards his clan.
Out of fire, he fell to his knees, still cradling the girl. Meridan joined him, inspecting the child for injury.
Esa could move again. Whatever hold the Suhlik had on her must be proximity based. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Are you hurt?”
Sniffling, she shook her head and squeezed the bear tight. A thin, mechanical voice emanated from the toy. Perhaps once it’d had an understandable message but age and repeated play had worn it down to a meaningless drone. “Watson is hurt. Can you fix him?”
Then, completely counter to everything Meridan expected, Esa thrust the battered old toy towards Kalen.
He poked at one stuffed limbed, torn at the seam and hanging on by a literal thread. “Perhaps. It is badly damaged but I have the tools I need in the medical bay.”
Esa threw herself at Kalen, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. He remained stiff and motionless for a moment, and then patted her awkwardly on the head.
The big softie.
Paax rounded the corner. “The databanks were destroyed but I think we have what we needed.” He held up the controller device. “I’ll have the engineers poke at it and see what we can find.”
“Sir.” Kalen climbed to his feet, which was difficult considering he had a girl clinging to him.
***
In the medical bay, Kalen used needle and thread to attach Watson’s arm. “I have not done this in some time,” he said. Each stitch was even, white thread against the chocolate brown fabric. “This technique is backwards but good to know if better options are not available.”
Meridan did not want to point out that stitches were still quite common on Earth.
Another medic brought the tiny sound box back after repairing the speaker and replacing the battery. Kalen reinserted the sound box and stitched up the incisions.
“The patient is ready to be discharged,” he said, handing the stuffed bear to Esa.
She squeezed Watson with all her might. A female voice sang “Happy Birthday Estella,” from the bear.
Meridan held Kalen’s surprised gaze.
“You fixed him!”
The song continued, finally concluding with a short, “Momma loves you.” Tears poured down Esa’s cheeks. Estella’s cheeks. The bear had a recording of her mother’s voice. She’d played it so often the mechanism had worn down.
Meridan pressed the back of her hand to her lips, struggling not to cry herself.
Kalen
The surgery was simple once he knew what to look for. Uffern carreg. There was no good word for it in the human’s language. Obsidian, perhaps. Hellstone for the poetic. The mineral had… unique properties. It stopped teleportation. Many ships and buildings used uffern carreg to shield themselves from unwanted teleports. The Suhlik used it to contain Esa. Estella.
He found a pea-sized lump on either femur, her clavicle and both humerus bones. Paax speculated that the mineral deposits and the control device created a containment field. They would know more when the engineers deconstructed the device.
After surgery, Estella rested in a recovery room. Paax debriefed the team. He was not one to mince words.
“She’s your responsibility now,” the warlord said.
“Understood,” Kalen said.
“It is better to have one with her abilities working with us, not against us.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Even though she is female, she will receive a warrior’s training. She will not dishonor this clan. That is the condition on her remaining on the Judgment.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“She’s a human child,” Meridan said. “Can she hold up to Mahdfel training?”
Paax frowned. Only Terran females ever questioned his orders or commands. It must be a species flaw. “She will need to learn control and mastery of her abilities. She has a skill. The clan will train her.”
“Make her into a weapon?”
“Gaining mastery over her abilities does not make her a weapon. It makes her safe among us and will decrease accidents.”
“She’s a child. She deserves to have something that resembled a childhood.”
Paax tossed a weary look to Kalen. “I will not argue with your mate. You have your orders.”
“What about my sister?”
Kalen’s back went stiff. The warlord might indulge a female’s impertinence once but his patience would fray.
Paax sighed. “Mylomon and his female were not at the rendezvous point.”
“What?!” Meridan started for the door. Kalen laid a firm hand on her shoulder to top her egress. “We have to search for them.”
“I received a transmission,” Paax said. “They commandeered a vehicle and Mylomon is pursuing his mission. As originally planned.”
“With my sister? What mission? Where?” Meridan’s questions came out so fast they tumbled over each other.
“Peace. Mylomon will keep his mate safe, even though she insists on placing herself in danger.”
“When will they be back?”
“When his mission is finished.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Meridan
Kalen took her by the hand and led her into his office. The space contained a sofa and a desk. The surface was clear, as if it never saw much use. He pressed his hands against the control panel and the glass walls turned smoky and opaque.
She didn’t like the idea of little Estella training alongside adult Mahdfel warriors but Kalen had a point. Learning to use her abilities was the best way to guarantee she didn’t hurt herself or others. “Where will Estella live while she is being trained?”
“With us, of course. She is our daughter.” He said it so matter-of-factly, as if she were simple for not knowing.
“Our daughter?”
A serious, hungry looked settled over his face. He spun her around, pressing her belly to the surface of the desk. He kicked open her legs, settling himself into the space.
“Kalen—” she started to protest.
“I am unworthy to claim you, Meridan Vargas.” His voice was a rumble, thick with desire, setting off a cascade of need in her. He worked open the flex-armor suit at the back and peeled down the fabric, exposing her back and bottom.
“Kalen, someone will see us.” It was a weak, half-hearted protest. She loved this dominant aspect of her husband, the part of him that took what he desired and left her breathless.
“No one will disturb us.” One strong hand in the middle of her back pinned her to the desk’s surface. The other gave her bottom a swat. The stinging sensation went straight to her core.
“Listen to me, wife. Everything I have is yours. My rank, my place in the clan, but more than that. My every breath, my thoughts, my hopes, my heart and all my tomorrows.” His fingers parted her lower lips. Already drenched, he stroked the slick flesh. “Every smile is yours. Every laugh. I thought I wanted these things from you but now I know I’ve always wanted to give them to you.”
She shouldn’t be moaning. She shouldn’t be enjoying her husband manhandling her when he should be apologizing but his actions were turning her into a giant marshmallow on the inside. A quivering, needy marshmallow.
“I have nothing else to offer you but myself, completely. It is a poor bargain for everything you have given me.”
“I haven’t given you anything,” she said.
A finger pushed inside her. Meridan gasped. She struggled to focus on his voice, distracted by his hand pumping in and out of her.
“You’ve given me the one thing no other Mahdfel male has: a daughter.”
Marshmallow. Completely.
“I claim Estella as mine because she is yours, and you are mine. You are my heart, Meridan.”
So close to the edge, she quivered with need. She needed more. She needed him. He pulled his hand away, causing her to whimper in protest.
“Kalen—”
“No, will you let me finish, woman. You are my heart but I have not been honest with you.”
“Kalen, you don’t have to—” He didn’t have to make a speech but he needed to finish what he started.
He pulled down the suit enough to make room for himself between her thighs. He lifted her hips, tilting her ass. His cock replaced his hand. It prodded at her eager entrance. She moaned in frustrated longing.
She didn’t have to wait long. He plunged in her ready channel, pushing in deeply. Every inch of him lit up her nerves in a pleasure overload. He stretched her, filling her completely. He pumped in and out, again and again. Meridan lost the ability to follow what he was saying, which was good because he stopped talking. All that came out of him was the possessive growls and whispered “I love you.”
He loved her. He was adopting a foundling child for her. They were adopting Estella.
His sharp teeth nipped at her ears, pace less measure, less controlled. His member swelled, beginning to twitch. Soon. Meridan surrendered herself to her husband’s need, knowing that he loved her.
She loved him. She had for some time but was too stubborn to see it.
His hand reached around and rubbed her clit. She exploded with sensory overload. Her channel gripped him tight, milking. He came with a shout, his hot seed coating her womb. They had a daughter. At this pace, they would soon have a son.
Kalen wrapped an arm around her waist and they stumbled back to the sofa. They rested there, panting. Gradually she came back to herself. She didn’t have to check to know he had that smug grin on his face.
He pulled her into his lap. Tenderly an arm went around her, cradling her to his chest. “I wanted you, Terran,” he said. “So help me, from the moment I saw you, your scent clouded my senses and I wanted you. When you were injured, I understood that I was a greedy male, unworthy of a spirited female such as yourself. I healed you here.” He laid a hand on her chest, where the scar used to reside. “But I also healed you here.” A hand on her abdomen. “I had the ability to leave that as it was but I wanted you and it was the only way to keep you.”
He placed a kiss on top of her forehead. “Forgive me.”
His words sank in.
He’d wanted her. He’d wanted her enough to steal her.
That sweet idiot.
Meridan grabbed his chin and pulled in him for a proper kiss. “Thank you for telling me.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “You are my heart, Meridan Vargas. If you will keep this unworthy male.”
“I have something to tell you,” she said.
He drew back, eyebrow raised. A blush crept over her. She wanted to tell him. She was certain of her feelings now. Had been certain for some time. He’d just poured out his heart and she couldn’t manage three simple words.
“You love me,” he said with certainty.
“Yes. I love you.”
His arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. “I knew.”
“How?”
“Your blood runs hot because you love.” Again the tone of absolute certainty.
A smile crept over her face. “What else do you know?”
“I know we will spend our days squabbling. We will have many children because your heart is large and will take in any foundling we discover.”
“You think?”
Another nod. “And I am a fortunate male because all of this you choose to share with me.” A kiss. Sweet for a moment, then increasing in intensity of heat and need. He pulled away, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. “Let me show you again how fortunate a male I am.”
A shiver of anticipation ran through her. “I’d love that.”
Epilogue
Daisy
Daisy stared at the smoldering remains of the Suhlik fighter ship. “I thought you knew how to fly those things.”
“Fly, yes. Land, no.”
She snorted, barely suppressing a smile. The look on Mylomon’s face clearly indicated that he did know he just quoted her favorite movie.
Her husband picked up the supply satchel and slung it over his shoulder. He started walking towards the cliffs. He paused briefly, looking over his shoulder at her. “You are slow, female.”
Daisy sighed, leaning on her walking stick. She refused to let him carry her but he also refused to slow the pace to accommodate her twisted ankle.
It was going to be a long mission.
Daisy and Mylomon’s story continues in Mylomon, available now.
Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed Kalen. I know the ending is a bit of a cliff hanger. Sorry! But I’m writing Daisy and Mylomon’s story right now. It will be published mid-December.
Until then, if you enjoyed the story, please leave a review. If you found a typo, let me know at Nancey@Menurapress.com. I’ll get right on it.
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