“My Warrior, I need you to know I enjoyed every moment of our life together. You have both honored me and loved me. When I’m gone, I want you to find her. The one you were always meant to be with.”
“There is no one besides you Brie.” His voice sounded hoarse as he tried to keep himself under control. He knew this day would come when her body didn’t align with his.
“Warrior tell me about that day.”
He smiled, she always saw him as a warrior even when the males of her planet saw him as nothing except an object to be used. He met her eyes the yellow reminding him of the most precious jewels.
“The fighting was over, and The Created now had a chance at a real life. We could have females and children, there was a great cheer that went up. I remember it circled the planet.”
The Scientists and the rest of the population heard their celebrations no matter where they were. That was when they realized just how many Created occupied the planet.
“I knew that you and I would be able to get a bigger domicile and live our lives together. Remember I came to you that night in your domicile so happy that our time had finally come. That was the night you finally set your fears aside and allowed me to love you. I’ll never forget the sight of you, how beautiful you looked taking me inside of your body for the first time.”
“I couldn’t lose you. I knew what was expected of me, I understood that Yaksim expected us to be together and in a different lifetime we would have been, but I couldn’t give you up. You had my heart, and all I wanted was one more day with you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you. That love grew, but I didn’t know, didn’t understand until you were grown and more than able to meet me word for word that you owned my heart.”
He leaned over to press a gentle kiss against her lips.
“Never forget I loved you too.”
“That night he came into your domicile without asking permission and caught us as I was holding you tight.”
“You made such sweet love to me that night and every night after.”
“He was furious and threatened to kill me. You were his, and I understood because I felt the same way. He came at me, but I held back because I knew you cared for him at one time in your life. I never wanted you to have the memory of me killing him.”
He breathed as her hand rubbed up against his chest. They had centuries together that were now coming to an end. She wouldn’t make it through the night. She warned him, but still, he wanted to deny it.
“He left, but we both knew it wasn’t over. Physically he couldn’t beat me, but he was devious and intelligent. He started a small campaign to revoke the rights of The Created to live. He wanted us decommissioned.” His voice was sour when the words came out. Yaksim wanted them dead, not just him, but all of them.
“I never thought he would go that far.” Her lashes lowered covering her eyes to conceal the guilt she felt. Yaksim wanted to kill a group of beings because she broke her promise to him. After years of thinking about it, she still didn’t know where the two of them went wrong.
“Do you regret leaving him?”
“Never. I was meant to be with you in this life.”
“The next life…?”
“I can’t wait for you in the next life. We both know you may never come to the next life, but if you do, there will be someone there for you, and it can’t be me.”
He closed his eyes as the stake of her words found its mark. She was right, the Scientists believed that in the afterlife you meet up with your soulmate even if you missed them in your first life. She would meet Yaksim, and he would be alone. He wouldn’t even put up a fight because she was right there was no guarantee he would end up in the afterlife, and he had derailed her life long enough. Was love enough to change the course of a female’s life? He didn’t know, he just knew his heart craved her.
He allowed himself to go back to the planet of his birth. The lavender sky held him in its grip as he looked upward. How many times had he put his life on the line working with males that weren’t his brothers to protect the planet? No, he worked to protect Brie.
“The Created started meeting in secret at different locations to plan our escape.” There were so many of them that it looked like it would be impossible to pull them together. They all got the messages except for two groups of Created. The originals were never heard from and considered dead along with the seconds.
“You helped us my brave female. You found out information and got it to me so I could spread it around.”
“The fight was brutal.”
It had been brutal. He held her close and drew her into his memories one last time. The Created had moved away from the populated areas and were preparing to leave when the Scientists came with weapons they used on the aliens attacking their world. They now planned to use them on The Created. They set up a barrier around the transfer station they needed to get to the ships they commandeered and fixed over the years they protected their world.
The first burst made the lavender sky red and killed the families of The Created that were escaping.
“Retreat!” He called out making sure Brie was in his arms as he ran.
“What are we going to do?”
“Fight it’s what we were created to do.”
He tucked her into a bunker knowing that the Scientists would gain pleasure by making her a casualty of war. There was one central station that was controlling the weapons they were firing. The Scientists designed the weapons, but The Created upgraded them. Now they had no knowledge of how to fire them and needed their central computer do it for them.
It needed to be knocked out before they killed the people who protected their planet and won them their freedom. The building that housed the computer was so close to him that he could see it in the distance.
There was no way they would expect him to be so close but with Brie’s clearances they were taking a different path to the ships.
He looked back at her hiding place and then started to run. Once again for Brie, I will fight the enemy. Slipping into the compound wasn’t hard because they had minimal security.
He stayed close to the ground making sure that no one was watching him from the trees or the hills. The sound of breathing stopped him cold as he approached the door.
“I should have known you would hear me.” Yaksim stepped out of the deep shadows that surrounded the doorway. “I knew you would come here. It was the safest path for you to bring Brie. My Brie, did you really think I would let you steal her away from me?”
“She doesn’t want you.” The yard was deserted, there was only the two of them, but Yaksim had the upper hand with the weapon he was carrying.
“I won’t let you have her I’ll kill you first. So cocky, you look just like him. I should have killed you the moment you were born.”
Slade smiled at him while he was judging his chances of surviving the blast. Yaksim raised his weapon firing. Slade dropped, the weapon caught him on the side of his arm while his body was already rolling taking his opponent down.
They fought over the weapon. Slade ripped it out of his hands and placed it against his skull.
“What are you going to do when she finds out you killed me? Me, her rightful mate.”
He raised his fist and hit him several times as Yaksim laughed.
“It will kill her when she finds out I’m dead and you did the killing.”
“Then it’s a good thing that he won’t be killing you.”
Both heads turned to see a male standing by their side. He hadn’t been there a minute ago.
“Who are you?”
“Someone you’ll meet again, but right now you have to shut down the controls, so your brethren don’t die.”
“I have no brethren.”
“Tell me that the next time we meet. Go.”
He slowly moved not wanting to leave Yaksim alive. He would come after Brie.
“He will have an altogether different prey than Brie. I have plans for Yaksim.”
&
nbsp; Slade moved. The power emanating from the male labeled him as Created and more. He might even be one of the first.
He shifted his attention back to turning the grid off that the Scientists were using to control the weapons. The door was open he went in to find the grid lit up. There were several unarmed Scientists around it. He knocked them out and destroyed the panel. They would never use those weapons again.
When he came back outside no one was there. He went to get Brie, and they made their way to the ship that would give them their freedom.
Chapter Two
“You never told me you fought Yaksim.”
“I didn’t remember it until tonight.”
She nodded and stroked his chest. “You weren’t supposed to remember. My death was the catalyst to release the memory. I always respected him. The others thought he just had uncanny timing, but I knew that we had created so much more. If we actually created him, I was never sure about that.”
“Who was that male?”
She opened her mouth and closed it. “I believe he wants to introduce himself. There is something I need to tell you before I die.”
She tried to lift her body up but fell back. He picked her up gently and laid her on his chest. She smiled at him.
“This is where I wanted to be. I hope you can forgive me. They would have killed you immediately if I told you this, so I kept it for all these centuries. My people have few things they are weary of, but identical twins are one of them.”
“Twins?” He knew what the word meant, but there were no twins on the planet they came from.
“There have only been two sets of twins born on my planet. The first set was born long before both you and I ever breathed air. They are still thought to be the reason the planet was at war with itself for so many centuries. The second set was you and your brother. You were the second, and they immediately wanted to kill you. I couldn’t let them. The minute I looked at you I knew you had to live.”
“I have a brother?”
Her head nodded weakly against his chest. “Please don’t hate me.”
“I don’t but why didn’t he ever come for me?” Family was a sacred word to them. How could his brother, his twin leave him?
“Like you didn’t know he existed. He didn’t know you existed. You were removed from the womb before either of you were fully awake. I think you both have an ache in your heart that nothing can erase. It’s looking for a connection with your twin.”
A twin, identical, someone that looked like him, thought like him.
“Why Brie?”
“Because you were never meant to be second, no matter what your birth said. He was half covering you. Protecting you as if he knew. How could I do less than your brother?”
He brought his hand up and stroked her back. A brother, he would think about it later he wouldn’t let his last minutes with Brie be interrupted by this thought.
“Sweet Brie.” His hand caressed down her arms before his head lifted to kiss her.
“I wish I could make love to you one more time.”
Her body was much too fragile for him to love but her mind was still strong.
He used the same connection and showed her how his hands were moving over her back stroking her down the sides the way she liked.
“Touch me, Slade.” Her voice was sexy and sultry in his mind.
He turned her over and stared into her golden gaze. How he loved the color, just the sight of them made him warm. His mouth lowered as he pressed against her allowing her to feel his hardness.
“Hurry,” she begged.
He took her mouth in a deep kiss sliding his tongue between her lips and caressing her. He moved to her throat kissing her and then to the claiming mark he had given her centuries ago. He kissed it again allowing her to know she was his.
He moved down to her breasts desperate to love her one more time. He took her nipple into his mouth sucking on it as she arched her back.
“I know what you want. I want to take forever with you.” She no longer had forever to give him. Once again there was that pain behind his eyes, but he ignored it. All that mattered right now was Brie.
His finger slid down and felt the wetness between her legs. With a smile of joy, he raised up and impaled her. She screamed her pleasure as he moved deep inside of her keeping the pace hard and fast. Loving her one more time the only way he could.
He felt her legs go around him before she screamed her body shaking and shivering. He held off on his own release, this was for his love.
“I want it all.” her words were whispered, but they touch him.
He gave one last thrust as he came with deep groans of pleasure.
She opened her eyes to look at him. “Thank you.”
“No, sweetness you don’t thank me. I thank you for the centuries of life and love you have given me.”
“One more time.”
He placed her on the bed and rolled over until he was snuggled against her. He lowered his mouth to her and gave her the sweetest goodbye he knew how to. Her last breath caressed his lips.
His heart cracked. There were things to do, arrangements to be confirmed. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and slept tomorrow would come much too soon.
*~*~*~*
The day was beautiful the emerald sky sparkled like a jewel. This was the kind of day that would make Brie sit outside taking in the beauty of the trees and the sky as she watched insects flit from flower to flower.
One day he thought he might look back and enjoy this day but not now, not today. He would pay any price to stop today from occurring. If only he could go back to a time when she laid in his arms warm and alive. Unfortunately, time didn’t stop for anyone.
He made the arrangements, called the necessary officials and now it was time to say his final goodbye. Brie lay in a casket with a clear top. That was how the citizens of this world were laid to rest. Soon she would be loaded onto a funeral rocket and shot directly at the sun.
When he first found out about the custom, he was appalled, but she loved it.
“This is how I want to be buried, Slade.”
“Brie be reasonable they shoot you into the sun. There is nothing left not even a place for me to come and visit.”
He was standing up looking out the window staring up at the sun that was way too bright. She walked over to him hugging him from behind. He loved her tiny form that was only five foot three inches to his six-five frame.
“When I’m gone Slade, there will be no need for you to stay here. I want your next life to begin.”
His hands covered hers, and he stood silently. She still didn’t understand life started and ended with her. To ask him to find another after having loved her felt like a betrayal.
“Brie, rethink it.”
“I have several times before I decided to talk to you. When my body dies, I want it to burn to let my spirit out. It’s the one custom of my people that I am unwilling to let go.”
The burning of her body would set her spirit free so that it could begin the journey of looking for her mate. The one she would spend all of eternity with. It was selfish, and he knew it, but he didn’t want her to be with anyone other than himself.
“I will do as you wish.”
Now she was dead, and he could do whatever he wanted, and still, he gave in to her desires. He would not dishonor her or their love by going against her wishes.
“She looks so young.”
The voice brought him out of his thoughts. He knew they were there but thought to ignore them on the off chance they would go away.
Five Created stood in front of him. Each of them had no one. Their brothers were long dead in the war they were created to fight, and these five like him were alone. An individual that had no family. They were The Broken.
His face went stoic as Brie’s memory came back to him.
“Why are we letting them into our house? Each one of them of them is broken.”
“As you will one day be.” Her yellow eyes s
tared at him with such pain that he didn’t want to pursue the line of thinking. “One day Slade I will no longer be here.”
He would be broken, he knew she was right but refused to acknowledge that even as he allowed the males into his home.
“She’ll always be young to me.”
The Created were standing with their legs slightly apart. Their hands were held in respect crossed behind their backs. They were dressed alike in black shirts that reminded him of their uniforms, black pants, and boots. Their outfits mirrored his own.
There was a clearing of a throat. The director of the home going service was drawing attention to himself.
“Are you ready?”
He turned to look at the male his eyes promising death if he continued to press this service.
The director stepped back and politely lowered his head to wait.
“Why are you here?” His voice was lethal when he talked to The Broken.
“She was our friend.”
They were lying. This was more than she was a friend. She invited them in treated them like family even though she knew they were broken. To be accepted when no one else would accept them made her important to them.
“She is glad that you have come to say goodbye to her.”
They nodded. Each one knew that she felt she would be standing with them when they paid their final respects to her.
Akron approached the casket and dropped to his knee. “Brie, I wish you safe travel through the stars. You will be missed.”
Jabari walked to the casket and dropped to his knee. “Brie you didn’t have to accept me, but you did. Travel safely you will be missed.”
Thrice walked to the casket and dropped to his knee. “I remember the first time I spotted you. You were at the market, you bought a piece of fruit, then walked up to me when all others were making a wide berth around me. You gave me the fruit and told me if I wanted brothers to come to the address you rattled off. Travel safely Brie, I’ll watch over him like you watched over me.”
Phoenix walked up to Brie’s casket and dropped to his knee. His head dropped against the clear top before he straightened up.
Lucca (The A'rouk Brothers Book 3) Page 18