by Marie Harte
“Damn thing itches like crazy,” he muttered, and unable to help herself, Mara laughed out loud with relief.
His gaze travelled over her with concern. “Uh, Captain?” Catam waited until she composed herself. “Are you all right?”
She nodded and wiped at the blood smeared over her chest.
“Why don’t you take this vest?”
She graciously accepted the garment, belatedly aware that her ripped shirt showed more than Catam should ever have seen of his captain.
As if he read her thoughts, he grinned. “I can’t say I wasn’t hoping to one day see you with your clothes off, but this isn’t what I’d had in mind.”
His light-hearted teasing did wonders to ease her mind.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what the hell are you doing here?”
Catam flushed. “Blame Gren. It’s a long story. I would have been here sooner, and I’m sorry I wasn’t.” His eyes narrowed on her chest. “You should never have been hurt. It’s my fault, really. Nu and Set are steamed I assumed Master Utal’s role. They’re currently busy occupying Sara and at least a half dozen Elaran torturers a few doors down.”
“Shouldn’t we go help them?” She tugged the surprisingly soft black vest around her, the fading heat of Catam’s body warming her, soothing the chill that had threatened earlier.
“Trust me, Mara. They’re more than fine. I deliberately riled them to make them stronger. You know how rough Raggas can get when their blood is really pumping.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you, Catam.”
“Same here. When Captain Gren ran into us a few days ago and explained things, I thought he was half-crazed. But when he introduced us to the real Lady Sara, we knew we had to go along with him.” Catam paused and frowned. “I’m sorry there was no way to tell you what was happening. I’ll bet Gren’s arrival shocked the hell out of you on the ship.”
“You could say that.”
Felan groaned, and she and Catam shared a look. After taking care of him and Maltor, making sure neither guard would wake any time soon, she and Catam exited the cell. They locked the door behind them as they left.
“This way,” Catam said and guided her to the loud noises behind an overly large metal door. He banged on the door, and it opened slowly.
Nu peered out at them. A relieved grin lit his face when he saw her.
“She’s here, Set,” he told his brother. “You can let that one go. He’s not going anywhere.”
Nu opened the door wider to allow them entrance. Mara gaped at the sight that met her eyes. Set dropped an Elaran soldier to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Several men appeared to be dead, while a few groaned pitifully amidst the torture racks and chains all around. Sara lay unconscious on the floor.
“Captain Mara,” Set exclaimed and grabbed her in a massive hug. He set her down after Nu socked him in the ribs.
“She can’t breathe, you idiot.”
“Sorry, Cap’. We were worried maybe things weren’t going so well for you.” He glared at Catam. “But that whoreson Mardu wouldn’t let us help you. Instead he stuck us with this mess.”
Mara eyed the littered bodies. She counted more than the six Catam mentioned. She counted twelve, including Sara.
Catam shrugged. “You did a decent job taking care of them. What’s the problem?”
“We’ll settle up later, Catam,” Nu promised in grim voice. Mara had never appreciated her crew as much as she did right now. “But first I want to hear about the captain. And what the hell happened to Vez? How did you get down here, Cap? The only thing Catam would tell us was that we had to cut liberty short to settle up some score.”
Fear for Lurin returned, and she urged Catam and the others to follow her. “Not now, Nu. I’ll fill you all in once we’ve saved Lurin and Gren.”
“Lurin? You mean captive Vez?” Set asked in astonishment.
“Who’s Gren?” Nu asked, glowering. “Catam, you and I are due for a serious talk.” He cracked his knuckles, a sure sign Catam was in trouble.
“Later, you rock,” Catam growled and earned a glare from both Fas brothers. “Just follow the captain and we’ll get our answers.”
They grudgingly agreed and Mara hurried, feeling an urgency to find Lurin and Gren that scared her.
Gren groaned and tried to move but his limbs refused to obey. Pain and pleasure mixed as Cari sucked his cock so hard he wanted to curl into a ball for protection as much as he wanted to come.
“Let the pain take you, Thesha,” Cari whispered and lifted herself over him. She’d already come twice from rubbing against him while she used a knife to slice him to ribbons. Blood covered his body, looking worse than the actual wounds. The constant stinging hurt, but Cari’s gratification from his pain sucked the energy from him in waves.
She poised herself over him, holding his throbbing cock in her bony fingers as she stared into his eyes.
“Call me by my name. Say it.”
Gren gritted his teeth, refusing to call her Mistress even if it killed him. He felt as if his dick was ready to fall off, it hurt so badly. He had been hard, without relief, for too long, and she prolonged the agony, not letting him come while taking her own enjoyment.
His search for help had yielded him little. As weak as he was, he’d barely been able to find Sernal, let alone coax him into speeding his assistance. He had enough trouble holding on, and he knew Lurin needed his help. He worried Lurin might not wake. Gren sensed nothing from the Thesha, when there should have at least been a faint heartbeat or lift of spirit with which to connect.
He felt a lashing blow to his left cheek and blinked into Cari’s furious gaze.
“You will answer me, slave.”
Gren’s body shuddered as she teased him with her pussy, drawing down and making him arch to maintain the contact with his sensitive shaft. He hated the fact that she made him want her. He hated his lack of discipline and the fact that he’d relaxed his guard and let Vendon, of all people, close enough to do harm.
Gren would have killed Cari and himself in the process if it hadn’t been for Lurin lying helpless on the bed. But as Cari rode him, his shame grew until he thought death might be preferable to this.
“Let him go.”
Mara? He stared up at Cari’s fuzzy image, heard a man curse, and then felt Cari lifted off his body.
“Shit. He needs aid quickly.” Catam timed Gren’s pulse and tried to stop his bleeding. “He’s dying, Mara.”
“No,” Gren rasped weakly. “See to Lurin. He’s worse off than I am.” The poor bastard has someone to love. ”Don’t leave him when he’s only just found you. Help him,” he sent Mara, and prayed she heard him.
Mara didn’t know what to do. Gren looked horrible, while Lurin rested in seeming peace. Yet something told her Gren spoke true. Not willing to chance his life, she hurried to Lurin’s side and blanched when she felt the stillness surrounding him. She reached for his arm. He felt cool, his heat gone.
“Lurin,” she whispered and stroked his face with gentle hands. “Come back to me. I need you here,” she urged.
Still she felt nothing.
“Gren, I don’t know what to do,” she cried, knowing she was losing him.
“Call out to him with more than words, Mara,” Gren managed. “Show him the way back.”
She heard Catam curse, heard him welcome someone else into the room, but she knew little time remained. Knowing that Lurin came from a world steeped in energy, she closed her eyes and looked deep within herself. She had no idea whether or not she’d be successful, but she’d die trying.
Doubts about the Thesha no longer mattered. Faced with a life without Lurin, her love buoyed to the surface. Placing her hands over his heart and temple, she broadcast waves of adoration.
“Lurin, return to me. Please. I love you. Don’t leave me, not like this.”
She continued to bathe him with her love, imagining her energy flowing into and around him. She thought she felt it wo
rking. Like when they made love, when their bodies, minds and souls merged with one another. As one. While it felt unnerving to be so open with another being, it also felt right.
“Lurin, please.”
He had to accept all that she freely gave. She sensed a small piece of him that remained apart from her. If he wouldn’t open himself to everything she offered, she had a horrible feeling he wouldn’t survive.
Lurin struggled against the darkness until he had nothing. Cari was a vampire, a demonic soul-sucker whose menacing spirit spoiled everything she touched.
Weak already from having to control Sara, he had no way to fight Cari’s evil with his life ebbing in a steady stream. He felt so alone, so cold. He needed help. He needed Mara.
No longer able to sense her, Lurin began to slide into serious decline. They had bonded in Sara’s cabin, so he should have been able to sense her no matter what. Why then could he no longer see her? Panic flared at the thought that she had somehow died and left him behind.
How could he hope to live without her? He tried to astral project, to mind bond, but to no avail. Weakness consumed him until he knew nothing but pain and sadness before an emptying numbness stole his mind.
An involuntary spasm opened his eyes a fraction to let him see Gren covered in blood, Nobless Cari over him feeding off his pain.
Lurin was responsible for this. Because of him, Mara had been captured and perhaps even killed, and now Gren lay dying. Lurin wanted to cry but couldn’t, the loss of what he might have had with Mara burning his insides with cold.
He wanted so badly to return to that mystical time when he and Mara had bonded. If only he could go back, he would open himself to her, leaving himself vulnerable to her love and her pain, accepting her as she had accepted him.
He longed to feel Mara with him, touching her flesh to flesh and soul to soul. He imagined her within him, bonding all over again, releasing the distrust that kept him from finding true happiness. Stars, but he loved her so much.
The numbness taking control of him slowly ceded.
“Lurin, come back to me,” he heard whispered again and again, until she seemed to shout.
Warmth burgeoned inside him, and he arched uncontrollably, heat breaking through the ice of loneliness. The pain was excruciating, but the fact that he actually felt anything at all made him want to shout with joy.
“Please Lurin. If you really love me, come back to me.”
At that moment, he surrendered everything he had to Mara. He gave her his heart and soul, shared his innermost thoughts and secrets. He held nothing back. She experienced every ugly thing he’d ever done, every sexual act and every beautiful climax he’d bestowed among his female conquests.
He heard her gasp and felt her shock. Past caring about the risks, he knew, deep down, that she accepted him. Lurin believed in Mara. His heart beat again.
He inhaled deeply and heard her cry his name. She leaned over his chest, hugging him tight, and as his strength returned, he hugged her back.
Dimly aware of the noise around him, Lurin drowned in Mara’s scent and touch. His heart healed; his spirit followed until he felt whole again.
When he opened his eyes, strange men crowded the room. He held up a shaky hand to wipe one of Mara’s tears from his cheek and smiled at her, bemused at the radiant grin she returned.
“Catam, Nu, and Set saved me from having to kill Cari’s man servants,” she informed him, her voice as faint as he felt.
“They’re dead then?” Bloodlust filled him as he recalled the servants’ hands on Mara.
She cleared her throat, her voice stronger. “Not quite. But Catam put them in an awful lot of pain.”
He grunted. Not the punishment he would deliver once he was up and about, but it would have to do for now.
“What’s going on? Who are these people?” He noted several men wearing utilitarian grey uniforms buzzing around the room.
“They’re peacekeepers. System law, courtesy of Sernal, Catam’s brother.”
“Catam’s brother?”
Mara continued to stroke his hair as she explained. “Gren’s contact, Sernal, is a Mardu lawman. Apparently, Cari Elaran was up to misdeeds on Mardu, Sernal’s planet, so he had no problem helping Gren out with this. I’m not sure how Gren and Sernal are connected, but at this point I’m not questioning such a good thing.”
“Gren’s all right then?”
Mara’s lips tightened. “He’s been better, but he’ll be okay. A med tech is seeing to him now.”
Lurin braced himself on Mara’s arm and slowly sat up. He heard Gren cursing before he saw him, and the man’s profane grumbling eased his worry.
“He must be okay, he nearly took that tech’s head off,” Lurin said with a sigh.
Catam and the Fas brothers approached, pushing past a few stiff-necked peacemakers.
“Glad to see you made it,” Catam said.
“Thanks, I think,” Lurin said with a grimace. His head pounded with a massive headache, but he felt better with every breath he took next to Mara.
“Sorry for everything on the ship,” Nu said, looking uncomfortable. Both he and his brother seemed repentant for their part in his capture. Curiously, neither Mara nor Catam apologised for their involvement.
Reading his expression, Catam shook his head. “Oh no. I’m not going to say I’m sorry for doing my job. And I’ll smash you in the stomach again if you disrespect my captain.”
Mara chuckled, and the Fas brothers cracked a smile.
“I’ll only agree because I won’t allow anyone to disrespect Captain Mara, soon to become my mate. My wife.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nu and Set stood flabbergasted, but Catam rolled his eyes.
“Like she could hold out against one of them,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?” Mara stared at Lurin in shock then switched her gaze to her crewman.
“Nothing.” Catam shrugged and gave Lurin a catlike grin. “Congratulations, I think.”
“Come on, Mara,” Lurin cajoled, wishing now he hadn’t blurted his desire in front of her crew. “You love me and I love you. What could be more right?”
“What indeed,” Gren added in a gruff voice as he hobbled to join them.
“You look like shit,” Nu said bluntly.
“You really do,” Lurin agreed.
“Thanks,” Gren said sourly as he wrapped a bloodstained blanket tighter around his body. “You have to ask her to marry you, you idiot. You don’t just tell a woman she’ll marry you.”
Mara smiled, and the warmth in her grin sent Lurin deeper into love. “It’s okay, Gren. Lurin belongs to me now, so I figure that’s the last order he’ll be giving for a long, long time.”
Her crew hooted with laughter, and Gren chuckled before groaning with pain.
“I owe you one, Gren,” Lurin said, aware that without Gren’s help, he and Mara wouldn’t have any more tomorrows.
“Look, promise me you won’t tell Mara about what happened in my quarters and we’ll consider the debt repaid. I definitely don’t want to be on the receiving end of her wrath.” Gren shifted, clutching the blanket tighter as Catam stared at him. “And what’s with the Mardu?”
“Lurin?” Mara stared from Gren to Lurin with a gleam in her eye.
“Yes, love?” “I have no idea why Catam is staring at you like that. Make that, staring at us like that.”
“Tell Gren that I think I may have become telepathic thanks to you.”
The others looked puzzled, but Gren’s eyes widened.
“Shit.”
“Exactly,” Mara purred. “My memories seem to have returned fully.”
“I think I need that med tech again,” Gren murmured and ambled as quickly as he was able from the group.
“What was that about?” Nu asked, confused.
“Who knows,” Set said. “Gren’s an odd one for sure, but he’s one hell of a warrior, considering he’s not from Ragga.” He pulled his brother aside and they listened to s
ome nearby peacemakers discuss Gren’s exploits.
Lurin ignored the Fas brothers, drawn to Mara’s smile.
“So Lurin, how do you feel about space travel?”
He grinned at her, sending her explicit images of what he planned on doing to her in the very near future. He had a feeling their energy merge had changed both of them. He felt a piece of her inside him, and a piece of him inside her. Together forever.
“I love space travel,” he answered with a sly grin. “But how will we manage with your crew, especially since Catam won’t stop staring at me?” He turned his gaze on her irritating bounty hunter.
“It’s all right, Catam. Lurin never did any of the things he was accused of,” Mara reminded the Mardu.
Catam shrugged. “I know, Mara.” He leaned closer and murmured, “True Thesha are incapable of harming women.”
Lurin and Mara stared at him in shock.
“How long have you known?” Lurin asked quietly. He glanced at the Fas brothers, grateful the pair continued to be heavily involved in their discussion about Gren.
“Since the beginning.” He seemed to enjoy Lurin’s surprise.
“You son of a—”
Mara interrupted. “How did you know?”
“I’m of the Xema class. We know things.” So saying, he gracefully bowed, winked, and left them with congratulations.
“Xema class?” Mara asked.
Lurin stared at Catam’s back. “My people consider them cousins, if you will. I’ll be damned.”
“That little sneak,” Mara huffed. “When we get back to my ship, I’m going to—”
“Make sweet love to your husband.” He sent her several more pictures that had her blushing like wildfire. “You know, if Catam’s brother is a peacemaker, I believe he has the wherewithal to marry us, love. Then again, Gren’s a space captain, isn’t he? He could marry us, if you like.”
“Gren I’ll deal with later, after the poor man has healed enough to fight back,” she promised. She cupped his face in her hands. “I love you so much. We’re going to have so much fun being together.” Her finger caressed his lip. “Especially when I show you what it means to obey your captain.”