He shifted and we stood, but he kept his arm about me. “Forget the damn sheriff, Cassie. You have to come with me. You don’t have a choice.”
“Yes, I do,” I countered, crossing my arms over my chest. “And I choose to go to town.”
He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Why? Why? I keep saying the same thing. If you leave, he’ll follow. That is the logical conclusion.”
Maddox shook my shoulders, gently, just enough to force me to lift my head and meet his gaze. “And I keep saying the same thing,” he replied. “Neron knows that you mean something to me. If he hasn’t figured out that we’re marked mates, he will soon enough.”
I tried to wiggle out of his hold on my shoulders. “I’m not your marked anything. Let me go.”
“I can’t. I don’t want to. You’re mine, and I’m yours. I’m the only person who can save you. The only person in the world, in the entire universe, who belongs to you.”
I dropped my arms to my sides, the conversation seemingly futile. “No one belongs to another person. And I don’t believe that you’re from… from somewhere else.”
Lifting his free hand, he held it before me, palm out. There, in the same place as my own, was a birthmark that looked just like mine.
“It is a birthmark, Cassie. You’re right. But it has a purpose, connecting us together. It’s a mark that proves you are mine. My mark,” he said.
A mark. All this time I’d thought it something else, something benign.
Gently, he took my wrist and lifted my left hand up, looked at my own palm. “Your mark. They are in the same place and they are pulsing with heat. Mine is. Is yours, Cassie?”
I looked between our two marks, looked at the pale design I’d studied since I was a girl, at the raised flesh that had been innocuous to me. I’d always wondered about the odd birthmark, the hypnotic swirls. I’d never considered the scar might be something else until five days ago when the dreams began. The dreams. And Maddox.
When I didn’t respond to his question, he put our palms together and linked his fingers with mine.
I gasped as heat flooded my body from that small point of contact. My breasts grew heavy and my core clenched, aching for his touch. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest and I could not tear my eyes from his lips, his skin. My hand clutched at his, desperate for more contact. My gaze lifted and I noticed the pounding of his pulse at the base of his neck, the strained muscles of his jaw as he clenched his teeth, fighting for control. When I finally looked up into his eyes, the darkened irises, the intense desire I saw there stole my breath.
He believed every word he said. Did I dare believe him? How could I not when proof of our connection blazed through my body like liquid lightning? “I don’t understand any of this,” I whispered.
“I know. Your mother should have shared it with you when you were of an age to understand. You should have known your history, the truth of the mark should have been handed down to you, but you were orphaned and the truth died with your parents. I’ll tell you all about it, but now’s not the time. I need for you to trust me. Let me take you away from here. We must go to my ship where it’s safe. Nowhere else on this planet can I protect you from Neron, until I remove him as a threat.”
“Until you kill him, you mean.”
Maddox glanced back at the house and the image of Mr. Anderson’s dead body returned to me full force. “Does he deserve less?” he wondered.
“No.” If he was responsible for Mr. Anderson’s murder, he deserved worse than death. I wasn’t sure Maddox had some magical ship that would protect me, but I was convinced I would be safer traveling with him than remaining on my own. The rest? Our marks? This mating business? I’d figure the rest out later. I glanced at the house, dread like a cold finger tracing my spine.
“The ship is well hidden while we hunt. It is too far to walk. Do you have horses?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you agree? You’ll come with me?”
“But Mr. Anderson.” I thought of the man who had done his best to raise me, had lived through his wife and son dying. He’d been a good man and had been slaughtered. I was just going to leave him on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
“I’m sorry for the loss, Cassie. He—and the boarder upstairs—shouldn’t have been cut down like that. But you don’t want to be next. I refuse to allow it.”
I looked at him, the earnestness, the deadly intent lurking behind his eyes.
“Yes. But only until Neron is dead. I’m not coming as your mate… as you call me, and I’ll expect you to keep your hands to yourself.”
With an extreme act of will, I twisted my hand free of his, breaking our connection. The feel of his rough palm, the birthmark—no, the mark—made me ache to keep the contact. My thoughts and my feelings did not match. I couldn’t just succumb to the lusty need I had for this man, this stranger. I could not succumb to my newfound baser needs as my mother had. Desire was possible, and so were the complications. I knew nothing of Maddox, especially where he came from. He knew too much about me. I’d let him take liberties, intimacies that even Charles never had.
Maddox could possibly be unstable and he had a very unsavory man wanting to kill him. And me. I needed Maddox to capture Neron so I could get on with my life, return to the boarding house and run it myself. With Mr. Anderson gone, it was all I had, all I knew. My desire for Maddox, once he was gone from my life, would wither away. I just had to abstain in the meantime.
But he’d not been all hands and leering gazes like Mr. Bernot and some of the men in years past. While he’d kissed me—and what kisses they’d been!—he hadn’t been forward. Eager, yes. Pushy, no. I wouldn’t even think about how I’d eagerly accepted his advances. And so I pulled my hand away, breaking the connection, for my mind did agree with my body in that, at least. We did have a connection.
He did not attempt to stop me, but his shoulders relaxed and I wondered if he felt relief that I’d agreed to accompany him, or regret that he’d asked.
Chapter Eight
Maddox
Cassie was beside me, her spotted mare—she’d explained to me the differences between our animals—sure and steady next to my horse as we rode west toward the mountains, to the safety of my ship. We followed the same coordinates I took to find her, knowing the sooner she was inside the ship, I could use the defenses the technology offered to protect her. Neron couldn’t gain entry and no weapon he had, Earth or Everin, would harm the ship.
The need for Everin technology spurred me to ride faster, keeping one eye on the horizon and my ion blaster close at hand.
She showed me how to ride the animal at a quicker pace, but it was difficult, not easy. As I tried to remain in the saddle, I wondered what she would think of Everis, of our pale purple sky and ancient cities made of stacked stone, much like the pyramids here on Earth. My brother would be happy for me; his beautiful mate would, no doubt, take Cassie in her confidence and teach her everything she might need to know to be a fitting mate in our family, on our planet.
A fitting mate. Acceptable. Proper. As I’d never managed to be.
“So, tell me about your world, Maddox. Convince me you speak the truth.” Cassie stared at the mark on her palm as she spoke. Her demand both shocked and excited me. Perhaps her mind had simply needed some time to accept the truth.
“My planet is very like Earth. It’s called Everis. We have two smaller stars and a pale purple sky that turns a brilliant red when the first star drops below the horizon.”
“Stars? They are so far away.”
“Your sun is a star. So we have two smaller suns in our sky.”
“Two?” She sounded amazed by the concept. Knowing only Earth, perhaps she was.
She sighed and tucked a strand of long, pale hair behind her ear. “What about your family? Do you have a family?”
“My family is powerful, our seat on the country’s highest ruling council, the council of Seven, has been ours by e
lection for hundreds of years. My brother serves now. My father has not been able since my sister’s murder.”
“Maddie?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love her?”
I stiffened in surprise at the odd question and my horse shimmied sideways under me. I calmed the animal, my apology by way of rubbing along his strong neck. “Of course. What kind of question is that?”
She shrugged, as if the matter was of no consequence, but I knew better.
“Cassie?”
She sighed, her gaze tracking a soaring bird as it rode the wind currents high above us. Seeing Cassie now, her hair flying in the wind, her cheeks kissed by the sun, she fit this rugged land with its uncomplicated ways and untamed airs. I tried to imagine her bowing her head to the Sevens or presenting our newborn babe for judgment, and I couldn’t force the images to align.
“Just wondering. Not all children are loved.” The wind seemed to whisper to her. The horse followed her lead as if they were of one mind. There was something wild in her blood, something I knew would be embraced by the elite society on Everis.
“She was my twin and we were inseparable. Neron was… infatuated with her. You see, not everyone has to be marked mates to be joined. Most bonds are by choice, not fate. But Neron’s father was caught breaking the law, offering illegal weapons to another member planet.”
“But that’s his father’s crime. What did he do?”
I had wondered that many times. What had Neron done to deserve what had happened? Nothing, really. His hatred was not that difficult to understand. “He was born in the wrong family. When his father lost his seat on the council of Seven, their family lost everything.”
“That’s not fair. And I thought you said he murdered Maddie. Why?”
“He did. After they lost everything, Maddie broke the betrothal. My father forbid the match, and she had grown to fear Neron and his family, and rightly so.”
Cassie shook her head. “So, she broke his heart and he killed her.”
That summed it up. “Yes.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Do these things not happen on Earth as well?” Were I simply a warrior, a hunter from one of the outer reaches like Jace and Flynn, I would not need concern myself with how she would feel in her new life. Their women were as savage as their men, their freedom complete. Only in the stone cities were the old ways followed.
Our society was strict and traditional, but women held much power, were cherished and protected above all else. And I’d seen the flare of desire in her eyes as I’d threatened to spank her, even more so when I’d held her in place and fucked her with my fingers. She would adjust well. We were an old race, an ancient race advanced enough to ensure none went hungry, none were homeless, our politics staid and our wars limited to the universal fight for survival against the Hive threat that raged in deep space.
And Cassie was young, young and innocent and so beautiful, looking at her caused both my heart and my cock to ache with want.
She took a long time answering my question, but I waited for her to organize her thoughts. I knew nothing of Earthen mating customs, of what my mate might expect from me. Did they not believe in love? In forever?
“Yes. People in love lose their minds all the time.” She sounded so sad, resigned, and I tried to remember that she’d just lost her dead husband’s father and been forced from her home. It was hard to balance the feelings of seeing her heartache with the joy that coursed through me every time I caught a glimpse of her, breathed in the sweet scent of roses and sunshine, remembered the soft feel of her skin under my hands and mouth. It was my job to take away her heartache as much as pleasure her body.
“And have you ever lost your mind for love? For your husband, perhaps?”
She’d been married, and still, I wanted her answer to be no. A deep, primal part of me wanted to be the only man she would ever love. I tried to convince myself that her presence beside me was the only thing that mattered, that I had time to win her over, but the aching organ in my chest refused to listen.
Her sad grin made me yearn to stop the horses and pull her into my lap, kiss the sadness from her eyes. “No. My marriage to Charles was… convenient. He was six years older than me and we were raised in the same house. When I turned eighteen, it just seemed… easy to marry him. We knew each other and we both wanted to help run the boarding house. While I felt comfort with him, it was never love. As for losing my mind for love? The only time was behind the chicken coop. With you.”
I was instantly hard from the memory of her wet pussy under my tongue, the taste of her desire on my lips as she’d whimpered and cried out before me, her hands in my hair, holding me closer. Tighter.
I wanted that again. Now. I’d rarely imagined finding my marked mate and when I’d dared hope of such an occurrence, I’d pictured her baring her body with eagerness, calling me to her with her eyes and her words, begging me to take her, to fuck her, to fill her and make her mine. Marked mates were instantly eager for each other, eager to seal the bond through mating sex—sexual fulfillment with the marks touching—and it happened quickly. Most marked mates bonded the very same day. They just knew.
The marks were the guide, the link, the bond.
Now I was forced to wonder just how many mated pairs were separated by distances too far to be overcome.
I knew that eons ago Everians had colonized far-off planets, but Earth was beyond the range of my expectations. As for Cassie, I was surely well beyond her expectations. She’d been married, but the man had died. From the surprise in her eyes as she’d responded to my touch, the man had not pleased her as he should. From her words just now, he’d not gained her heart either. But that was no surprise.
He wasn’t her marked mate. I was.
And so whatever she’d had with her husband had just been temporary until I found her. I was thankful to the dead man for protecting her.
Now… now it would be different. I would awaken not only her mark, but her every dark desire and fantasy. And I would fulfill them. Every. Single. One.
Being a widow left her vulnerable. I was surprised, since she did not know of her mark or her history, that she had yet to remarry. With her beauty, her fiery demeanor, her solid and caring work ethic, surely she’d had Earth men circling about her. Men more worthy of her attentions than those like the fucker who’d had his hand on her ass.
The mere thought of that arrogant bastard made me want to turn my animal around and go kill him, but that would make me no better than Neron. I was just not accustomed to women being treated so poorly, with such disregard and lack of respect. But this was Earth, a somewhat backwards and rustic place. They were not as advanced as Everis in so many ways. And that prompted me to return my thoughts to Cassie’s ignorance of her mark.
She was supposed to be mine, my preordained mate, the one and only woman in existence destined to belong to me. I’d pressed my hand to hers, sealed our marks and allowed the heat of our mating bond to flow freely between us. My cock had swelled to the point of bursting and my skin had felt as if it were on fire. I saw the heat and awareness in her eyes, but she refused to believe in it. She’d merely looked up into my eyes and calmly informed me that she would accompany me only until Neron was dead and that I was to keep my desires to myself.
I’d never imagined she would doubt my claim or refuse my touch. My body was primed and eager for her, ready to strip her bare and make her mine. But I would only bond with her if she agreed, if she wanted me as badly as I wanted her. No, I would only bond with her if she needed it as desperately as I did.
I could practically hear Thorn’s laughter already. That arrogant ass had women falling all over him on Everis, and yet he gave none of them his heart. Like me, he came from a powerful family. And like me, he was not the firstborn and would not inherit title or position on the Sevens. Yet he had a gift with women. Never did he have trouble with a female, claimed he was too good with his cock and left them no breath with which to ar
gue.
The idea of fucking Cassie into submission was tempting indeed, as I had no idea how to convince her I spoke the truth, to convince her to believe me. My only option was to take her to the ship and allow her to see it with her own eyes. I could share her dreams, fuck her to mindless orgasm again and again, but that wouldn’t make her truly believe.
A dream was easily ignored or attributed to fantasy. But a cold, hard ship with sonar cannons and antigravity engines would be much more difficult to refuse.
Cassie continued to surprise me, and for that I was well pleased. She’d saddled her horse and had the mare ready before I’d managed to settle the blanket on my nervous animal’s back. At which point she’d promptly shoved me out of the way and accomplished the task herself in less than half the time I would have required. The horses both followed her docilely out of the barn, like trained pets, not large beasts. She’d filled her saddlebag with a few belongings, added the rifle that had been above the kitchen door, then mounted her mare and looked down upon me like a queen sitting a throne. Even now, I watched her movements, attempting to match the smooth glide of her body in the saddle. And my Cassie did not bounce or slide out of her saddle as I did. She seemed to flow with the horse, as if they were connected, one body.
Apparently, she liked the damn animal more than she liked me.
The thought was irrational and childlike, but it was my heart talking, not my head. She was mine. Mine. And she was not supposed to reject me, or require me to prove my worth. Divine destiny had taken the decision from both of us. I’d never imagined dealing with a female who had no idea what the mark meant, or where I was from. I also never anticipated having to keep her alive and trying to woo her simultaneously. If she’d known of the match, then she would have come willingly.
Instead I’d envisioned myself meeting her on Everis, her mark calling to mine as I carried her to the nearest quiet place, lifted her skirts, fucked her hard and fast, catching her cries of pleasure with my kiss. And then?
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