“Why didn’t you put them there to begin with?”
Was that disapproval he heard in Kaje’s tone? He studied the warrior a moment and decided that it was. Roarr was almost amused. Kaje didn’t understand what he was up against yet.
“They have a lot to adjust to and all three are used to being autonomous. They can stay where they are for now.”
Hopefully, in two weeks time all three would be claimed and mated, and the sleeping arrangements for his impending guests no longer relevant. Kaje, however, was still scowling.
“I don’t like it. The prophecy, the celebration, and the increase in rebel activity. We don’t normally have this much excitement in the Keep. At least we don’t have to worry about threats to our guests from Earth.”
“No,” Roarr agreed, though he wasn’t as certain.
Earth and the powerful Tel group shouldn’t be able to smuggle assassins to Delroi, but it had happened before. The Delroi were more diligent now, but Roarr knew if Tel tried it again, the spy would likely be inserted into Earth’s diplomatic team or be a talented telepath capable of influencing the minds of anyone who came in contact with him. He finished the last of his drink and stood.
“We’ll deal with any problems as they arise,” he said. “I’m on my comm if something comes up.”
And he sincerely he hoped it didn’t. He had a recalcitrant mate to claim. Somehow he had to convince her they belonged with each other without resorting to seduction. But he knew that might prove impossible.
Chapter Ten
Roarr checked in with Parker and Zola first to let them know his mother would provide dinner in her private quarters. Zola begged off, claiming exhaustion, and she looked it. He made a mental note to have Jarek check on her later. It turned out Parker had already made plans with Kaje. Roarr was surprised Kaje hadn’t mentioned it, but he approved of his Steward’s determination. After speaking with her about appropriate dinner attire, a conversation he’d never imagined having, he walked up the hall and paused outside Kareena’s door.
Should he knock? Just go in? She was his mate after all even if she’d made the choice to keep things slow. He opted for both, knocking and immediately letting himself in. The apartment was quiet. He checked the rooms before making his way to the balcony. The sight that greeted him made him catch his breath. She was lying on one of the wide loungers, wrapped in a thick white towel that did nothing to hinder his imagination. Her hair was wet and she sipped a glass of gazzi. When he stepped outside she looked at him with heavy lidded, drowsy eyes that made him think of slow lazy sex.
“You look relaxed,” he said, sitting by her hip.
“Are you planning on ruining it?” she asked, with just a hint of tease in her tone.
“No,” he whispered, then leaned forward to catch her lips.
It was a languid kiss, a hello after a long trying day. Just his mate and her sweet lips, giving as much as taking, forgetting all the things that seemed to keep them apart. He wanted it to never end. But of course it had to. When she leaned back her expression was thoughtful and worried.
“What happened today? What’s wrong?”
“Why do you think something’s wrong, angel?”
She gave him a look he could well interpret, but the only person who’d ever dared use it on him was his mother. A look that screamed, I see you right through you so quit stalling and talk. He didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to respond. He was supposed to take care of her, not the other way around.
“Roarr?” she asked and stood, clutching the ends of the towel where it crossed her chest.
The setting sun was at her back, creating a halo of soft amber light around her, and he’d never seen anything so magnificent. Knowing that she was his, and his alone, only made the sight more powerful. She stood and waited until he snapped back to attention.
“Yes?” he responded when he regained control of his tongue.
“If you really expect this thing between us to go anywhere, don’t blow me off like that. I’m not an idiot. I can see something is wrong.”
No doubt she could, but he doubted she wanted to know she was at the center of his worries. And there was no way he could shield her from them either. He sighed.
“You’ll hear all about it at dinner with my mother and sister. Get dressed and we’ll go over.”
She walked inside and he followed her to the bedroom she’d chosen. “What about Parker and Zola?”
“Zola isn’t feeling up to it. She’s turning in early. Parker is having dinner with my Steward and his brothers.”
“Kaje Stian, right?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as she shifted the belongings in her closet. There was much more than they’d bought in Saber City and he made a note to thank his mother later for filling in the gap.
“Yes.”
“And your brother?”
“He sent a message. He may make it late, but probably not.”
“What do I wear to dinner here?” she muttered, and he moved up behind her. He trailed his fingers along the maroon.
“These are my house colors. No one in the Keep or our city, outside of my family, can wear them.”
“You picked them out,” she said softly.
He leaned down to nibble her neck, in the sensitive spot just under her ear. She jumped at the initial contact, but in a second was leaning back against his chest. He resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her and take her to bed.
“I did. And I hope to see you wearing them soon.”
She turned and looked up at him. “Can’t wear them now, huh?”
He almost smiled. “You’d be making a declaration, baby. One I won’t hold back from. Are you ready for that?”
She bit the corner of her lip and stared at him for several seconds before shaking her head. “No. I can’t yet and I won’t promise I ever will,” she ended defiantly.
But what she said and what his empathy sensed from her were contradictory. Her brain and her heart were at odds, which gave him hope. He was careful to conceal that knowledge, certain she would withdraw if she discovered he was aware of her conflict.
“Are any of these colors neutral?” she asked.
He looked over the selection then nodded. “Except for that one, they all are.”
“No red.” She cocked her head to one side. “I’ve always been partial to red.”
“No one wears red in the Keep,” he said carefully.
“Your mother does,” she pointed out. “Then again, family, right?”
He really didn’t want to get into the traditions involved with the goddess cult yet, but he knew he couldn’t delay long. There was so much she didn’t know about Delroi.
“Or is it a goddess thing? This is maroon. She was wearing blood red,” she said. He didn’t know if she’d picked it up from his mind or drawn the conclusion herself.
“Yes. In my clan, we consider red the color of death and life. And because only women give life and only priestesses of the goddess mete out death…”
She nodded. “I get it. I only get to wear true red if I join your mother’s cult.”
The idea of her doing that filled him with dread. It would expose her to danger. The worst part was he couldn’t interfere. It was clan tradition and he even agreed with it. Or had until it included his mate. His Earthling mate. As they would say on her planet, this would bring all the crazies out.
“Yes, but there are complications with that you don’t understand yet,” he said, pulling out a silk Delroi style outfit in black and handing it to her. She accepted it with a look half amused and half exasperated.
“Gee, babe. Why don’t I understand? Is it my feeble female, Earth brain? Or your communication skills?”
He growled and with a snicker she danced out of the way, pointing an imperious finger towards the door as she did. “Go. Let me get dressed.”
Gods, the woman would make him insane. She thought he could be tossed out of her bedroom so easily? Fuck that. He took up post in front her door an
d crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’ve seen you undress. I’ve even done it for you, baby. I don’t think there is any need to kick me out so you can put clothes on.”
She glared for half a second before dropping the towel. “Fine,” she said.
He sucked in a breath, forcing himself to stay still when all he wanted to do was push her to bed and bury himself balls deep. He barely registered her jerking her clothes on, and he wasn’t better off when she was dressed. The top was a creamy color, short sleeved, deep bodice, and cut off a couple of inches above her navel leaving a stretch of smooth skin around her waist. The pants clung to her hips, flared a bit at the thighs and fell evenly to the floor. They looked light and feminine. Sexy.
“Guess I’m going barefoot,” she said, looking down at herself.
“What?” Her statement startled him out of his reverie.
“All I have is boots,” she pointed out, too calmly, like she was talking to a simpleton. “They don’t exactly fit with these clothes.”
He looked her over. She was right. He was surprised none of the people who’d been involved with getting her local clothes had thought of getting her anything other than boots.
“What about the slippers you had on ship?”
“I think I left them at your house in Saber City. We left in a rush,” she reminded him. He couldn’t deny that. He’d been anxious to get her out of the city. Someplace safe and easier to defend.
“You’ll be fine for tonight. We’re just going to the family wing, and we won’t be seen.”
He wondered what she’d think of the hidden passages. They riddled the Keep and city, though access to the family quarters had been curtailed centuries ago. Her current apartment was one of the only points that led into his rooms. The other led outside the Keep. It was a secret long kept in his family, and oddly, he was looking forward to sharing it with Kareena. As a child he’d had a lot of fun finding the passages and secret ways around. He knew his mate had never had a lot of fun. Maybe she would find this intriguing.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded and he smiled, looking forward to surprising her. He didn’t leave the room. Instead he took her hand and tugged her into the deep closet. He shoved all the clothes on the back rod aside and pressed a knot sized spot. It looked innocent enough but it was a sensor plate coded only to his family. The wall slid aside, opening onto a dark tunnel that lit when he stepped into it. She followed, her expression delighted and surprised. She laughed when the wall slid shut behind them.
“Wow. How many tunnels are there?”
“I have no idea. This is the only one to the guest quarters from my wing. It splits into several passages on my side. My suite has two that can only be accessed from it. One into the Keep and one into the city.”
“Escape routes. Cool.”
The tunnel was wide enough they could walk side by side. He put his hand on the small of her back and prodded her forward. “I think they were for servants originally. Other than my family they haven’t been used for generations, and they’ve been wiped from all the blueprints we’ve found.”
“Smart,” she murmured. “And there’s an exit from your rooms into the city?”
She asked it much too innocently and he wasn’t buying it for a minute. That was a particular bit of slang he didn’t need to borrow from Earth. He came from a people who lived on the edge of a desert. Bartering was nothing new.
“There’s an exit from my wing. That’s information only shared with my family and my mate.”
“So you’ll only tell me how to escape when it’s too late?”
It was a damned good thing he’d brought this up before they got too far. He took a turn that would lead him to the corridor outside his mother’s rooms.
“I don’t want you to escape,” he said lightly. “So I won’t tell you anything to aid it.”
They came to the door and she stopped, leaning close and looking up at him. Such a temptation and she had no idea.
“How can you be so sure, Roarr?” she whispered. “You are so certain we should be together. I don’t believe in destiny, and even if I did, that doesn’t mean we’d make each other happy. That we would be compatible or even like each other.”
He stopped her before she could open the door. “First, we do like each other and we are compatible.” Where did the woman get these ideas? “Second, our destiny is what we make of it.”
“So you admit that some of these matings,” she said, holding up fingers like punctuation marks, “don’t go well?”
Did he dare answer that? Or not?
“What makes you think otherwise?” he asked instead of answering.
“Oh gee. I don’t know, Roarr. Maybe meeting your mom and hearing about your sister and brother, but no one has once mentioned your father. That might have made me wonder about these great matches of yours.”
He hadn’t talked about his father in years, and hadn’t seen him in even longer, but she had a right to know. He pressed the panel on the door and ushered her through.
“We need a drink and some privacy for this conversation,” he said.
She followed him into the private sitting room off his mother’s suite and accepted the glass he handed her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to bring up old ghosts.”
She was obviously already reading him very well. He shook his head.
“You should know.” He took a deep breath. “Before I was born, my mother was heir to the Keep. The clan comes to me through her. This isn’t that unusual on Delroi. If there is only a female heir the line will pass through her. But because there wasn’t a male heir, the clan was weakened. Which is why my mother made the choices she did.”
Kareena nodded, but he felt her unease. “I understand.”
“At some point though, if you are a female heir, you need children. My parents met in their thirties. They liked each other, they knew they weren’t mates, and it really didn’t matter as long as they were content and there were children.”
“And your father?”
“He returned to his clan when Kayna turned eighteen.”
“And? That’s it? Not much of a story, Roarr.”
He saluted her with his glass. “No, it isn’t but there really isn’t much to tell. They knew they wouldn’t stay together permanently, they hadn’t met their der’lans, and they both wanted children. It was a simple arrangement.”
That was all true.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
He sat on the sofa across from her and leaned back. Debated how much to tell her, thought about his parents odd relationship.
“Roarr?”
She stood and crossed the small space between them. He grabbed her hand and tugged her to his lap before she could sit next to him. She met his gaze calmly, her expression and her eyes almost gentle.
“My parents weren’t mates, Kareena. They didn’t have the connection we have. My mother is loving and warm and open.”
She cocked an eyebrow and he laughed.
“She’s also driven and tough and protective,” Kareena said.
“She is that too. My father…is a warrior through and through.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s tough. Reserved. He isn’t open or emotional.”
“And by emotional you mean affectionate, don’t you?”
“Yes. Except with Kayna. He’s different with her, but as a general rule women seem to undo us, so that isn’t a surprise,” he said with a teasing smile, hoping to change the subject. She didn’t take the bait.
“So you never see him?”
He shook his head. “Kayna visits him every summer, but I haven’t seen him in years.”
She struggled to free herself and he let her go with reluctance. She was no longer open and easy to read. Somehow he’d said the wrong thing.
“Why are you so upset, baby?”
Her eyes were shiny with held back tears. She pressed her
lips together and shook her head. “It’s not you. I lost my father a long time ago. He was all I had. I can’t imagine us being at odds if he were alive.”
“At odds? Did I give you that impression?”
She shrugged. He wondered if she realized she’d moved closer again, unconsciously seeking comfort.
“It’s what you’re not saying, I guess. Also, I am a telepath. You’re conflicted telling me about this.”
“I don’t want you to get the idea that we’re like them.”
“Because we’re destined,” she said, dripping sarcasm. Damned if her irritation didn’t just make her sexier.
“Yes. Fate, as you’d say.”
She shook her head and looked down. “That’s not enough.”
Not enough? What more did she want from him? Sweat, tears, blood? His heart wasn’t enough?
“I would give you everything, woman, everything you ever dreamed of. If you would just let me.”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind and he knew he had.
“You can’t say things like that,” she said waspishly.
“Why not?” he countered. “Because it makes you want something real? Because it makes you doubt your path? It’s true, so why shouldn’t I say it?”
Why shouldn’t he indeed? This was his world. He didn’t see anything wrong with it. Or unusual. Or just plain odd. And the weirdest thing was a part of her wanted it. Wanted the fairy tale. Wanted the impossible. What the hell was that about?
“I haven’t decided and pressuring me is not helping your cause,” she said, almost wincing at the breathlessness in her voice. She was losing her mind. She wanted him. But she didn’t. Well, she didn’t want him for his brains. Was uncomplicated sex too much to ask for? Apparently. It was also a total lie. The man had the gall to grin at her.
“It is not just sex.”
That was so not cool, his being able to pick up her thoughts so easily. She had to focus on something real and not fantasy.
“Aren’t we supposed to be having dinner with your mother and sister?”
If her change of subject bothered him, he didn’t let it show in his expression or leak from his mind.
Freedom (Delroi Prophecy) Page 11