Death Waltz

by A. M. Hargrove

  Jurek squeezed his lids together and broke their contact. His hands pulled her toward him and held her against him. “This changes everything.” His body ached with emotion.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t take any chances with you or Smidgen.” He took her hand and pulled her back into the room. She was puzzled by his behavior, but thought he was only concerned with her condition.

  “We can no longer delay in our offensive against the enemy,” Jurek stated. Everyone in the room was focused on him. He turned to Marik and Ludo and asked, “Have your men found any signs of January on Xanthus?”

  Ludo answered, “We’ve found some evidence, but we can’t pinpoint a location.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” he thundered.

  “What it means is that we’re getting an odd mix of traces on her. It’s faint, like she’s there, but she isn’t.”

  Jurek slanted his head, brows drawn together. “Xanthian technology isn’t that sophisticated to cover her up so effectively. I want your best guesses, now.”

  Marik said, “Abaddon.”

  Rykerian groaned. Liasare’s hand went to Jurek’s thigh and squeezed it. He paid it no attention.

  Ludo said, “I agree.”

  Tak stared straight ahead and didn’t offer up a thing until Jurek prodded him.

  “I’m waiting, Tak.”

  “You won’t like this.”

  Jurek’s hand slammed the table. “Goddammit, I don’t care whether I like it or not. We need to know the facts so we can find her. We also need to know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Fine,” Tak bit out. “I sensed Praestani power when I was there. Is that good enough for you?”

  The chair Jurek had been sitting on went flying into the wall and broke into several pieces as he came to his feet. All of the Praestani present remained seated, but the Yarristers, other than Xarrid who knew Jurek’s reactions well, all flew to their feet as well.

  In a deadly tone that brooked no discussion, Jurek asked, “How long have you known this?”

  “Not long.”

  “Quantify.”

  “I did another pass earlier today. That’s when I felt it.”

  “Anyone else care to share with me other enlightening things, such as treasonous information?”

  Silence greeted him.

  “So, let me get this straight. The entire team of how many? Fifty? Has been running searches for over a week now and no one, not one single person has detected Praestani power until today? Do I have that correct?”

  Ludo stammered his reply. “Er, you have that correct, my lord.”

  Liasare didn’t have to look at Jurek to know all hell was about to break loose in the conference room. Every molecule in her body was reacting to him and Smidgen was kicking her so hard it felt like he was trying to leap out of her. He was not a happy little fellow at all.

  She wedged her body in front of his and he barely noticed her. “Tak, get everyone out of here. NOW!”

  Jurek’s anger controlled him. The room faded from his vision and everything went to black. Liasare tried to get into his mind, but was blocked. His guards were up everywhere, and she couldn’t penetrate any of them, so she did the only thing she knew that would break down his barriers. She kissed him.

  Initially, he didn’t respond, but then his reaction was so fierce, it frightened her. He was the Jurek she initially met on Earth all those months ago. Gone was the softness he’d acquired since falling in love with her. He spun her around and her back slammed into the wall, bruising her shoulder blades. She cried out, but his mouth absorbed it. His hips thrust into her, the waist of his pants digging into the soft flesh of her abdomen.

  “Is this was you want?” he growled into her opened mouth. “Is this how you want it? Rough and hard?” he reached between her legs and rubbed her sex, even though she still wore her stretchy yoga pants. He yanked her shirt up and pulled it over her head, trapping her arms behind her as he began sucking on her left nipple. She still wore her bra, but it didn’t matter. She responded to him as though she was as naked as the day she was born. Her head rolled back as she moaned his name. “Tell me you want more. Just like this. Say it,” he demanded.

  “Yes, I want more.”

  He quickly moved his hands to her pants and pulled them down to her ankles, and buried his face in her. She cried out his name as his tongue found her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she felt her climax approaching, but right before that blessed moment, he stood up and said, “You don’t get to orgasm yet.” Then he unzipped his pants and just stared at her as he held himself. “Do you want this, Liasare?”

  She looked at him stroking himself and her mouth started to water as her desire spiked. “God, yes. I need you, Alaric. Now.”

  When his tongue ran over his lower lip, like he was anticipating the greatest thing ever, Liasare begged, “Please.”

  His half-lidded eyes were now lavender and swirling with silver. “I’ve been in love with you since that first moment. I’ve worshipped you with everything I have and I’ll always worship you, with my heart, mind, and soul. But right now, I’m going to fuck you, Liasare, until you scream my name. I’m going to fuck you until your legs can’t hold you up any longer, and then I’m going to fuck you some more.”

  “I thought we never fucked,” she rasped.

  “I was wrong. We make love every minute we’re together. With our eyes, hands, bodies. But sometimes, like right now, I have the urge to fuck you. Hard.” And he slammed into her as she cried out his name. He pulled her leg up around his waist and thrust into her over and over, until their powers merged and they both came with an explosive burst of energy. But he didn’t stop. He kissed her neck, the place where her shoulder and neck joined, then bit it, and nipped his way back to her mouth. And then he began to move in and out of her. Slowly. Sweetly. Softly. All the while he murmured words of love to her. He made a complete one eighty on her. Hard and dominant one minute, to soft and sweet the next. He grasped her other leg and wrapped it around his waist to join the one that was already there and continued to rock into her. Liasare felt her pleasure mounting.

  “Tell me. Tell me how much this means to you. And that you never want it to end. Tell me that no matter how much of an ass I am, you’ll always walk by my side. To ground me and keep me steady of mind, because dammit, Liasare, I can’t live in a world without you.”

  “I’ll always be here for you. Always. And I never want this to end. And I’m going to come.”

  “I love it when I make you come. Let me see your eyes. They’re the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Other than you.”

  Liasare grabbed his face and kissed him as her orgasm crashed into her. Wave upon wave rolled over her, and Jurek felt her spasms as he trailed her, finding his own release.

  When they both settled back into reality, Jurek grinned at her. “I spoke with our son.”

  “I know. You can do that whenever you want, you know.”

  “I hope he doesn’t mind that I fucked his mother.”

  Liasare laughed. Loud. “We won’t tell him.”

  “Um, I think he knows. It’s a little hard to hide.” He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Thanks for taking control of things for me. I was really pissed.”

  “I was afraid you’d hurt someone.”

  “Hmm. Most likely I would have.”

  “I guess we need to call everyone back in. They’re going to wonder what we’re doing in here.”

  “Really, Liasare?” Then he laughed and her whole body shook from it. “If they’re outside in the hall, there’s no wondering about anything with the moans coming from you, love.”

  Liasare’s face heated and Jurek laughed even harder. He put his hand on her cheek and said, “Christ, I love making you blush.”

  “We were that loud?”

  “Um, not we. You, love.”

  “Why didn’t you shut me up?”

  “Why ever would I do that? I love hearing t
hose moans coming out of that sweet mouth of yours.”

  “Jesus. There’s a whole contingency of people right outside this door. Are you kidding me?”

  “Hey, you started it.”

  “To save everyone.”

  Since he was still deep inside of her, he rocked his hips into her and purred, “Don’t get all huffy with me or I’ll take you right back there again.”

  Her breath locked in her throat and she wheezed, “You’re such a tease.” She thrust her pelvis right back at him and his eyes swirled with silver as his head dropped to her neck. His tongue ran a long hot wet trail from her ear to her shoulder and they were both lost again in each other. But Jurek did them both a favor and flashed them to their bedroom.

  Afterwards, as they lay together, Jurek wondered how one woman had the ability to affect him so much. His hand ran up and down her back, pressing into the soft indentation of her spine, letting his fingers linger there. His mind filled with worry over what they both faced.

  Liasare lifted her head and said, “Don’t. Everything’s going to be fine. I’ve seen it in my visions.”

  Jurek growled and pulled her up on top of him. She squiggled a bit. “Not comfortable?”

  “It’s okay now. In a couple more days though, it won’t be.”

  “I’m not going to bring you to Earth with us, you know.”

  “I’m going anyway. I’m the draw.”

  “I won’t put you and Smidgen in danger.”

  “There is no danger.”

  “You are naive, love, if you think that.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder and traced the profile of his nose with her finger. “You have the most perfect bone structure. I hope Smidgen looks exactly like you.” Her fingers traveled down his neck to his collarbone and then his shoulder.

  Jurek laughed. “And I want him to look exactly like his mother. All fiery eyes and chestnut waves. But you’re trying to distract me.”

  “No, it’s just the way my brain is functioning. If I don’t go, we stay at a stalemate. That won’t work. Abaddon will do something to draw me out. You know he will. And who do you suspect is the traitor among us?”

  “No clue. It can’t be any of us or I would’ve felt it. And it can’t be Tak. If it were, why would he have brought it up? He clearly was the only one who figured it out.”

  “Good point. I’m glad to see you’ve calmed down over it. So what’s next?”

  “I’m going to Xanthus. I want to try to find her myself.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “You most certainly are not.”

  “Yes, I am. We were born of the same mother. If anyone can find her, it’s me.”

  Jurek mulled this over for a moment. Liasare wouldn’t be in any danger, as they would travel in their energy forms.

  “Ok, so long as you stay linked to me, as in you shall not at any point in time release me. Clear?”

  “Yes, your worshipfulness.”

  “Liasare, this isn’t something to joke about.”

  She looked at him and knew she wasn’t playing fairly with him. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I promise.”

  Gently, he moved her on her back and placed his hands over her rounded belly. “I can already tell that I’m going to be in for it when this one arrives. You two are going to conspire against me and I’ll be in serious trouble.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked in all innocence.

  “Don’t you dare give me that look. You know damn well what I mean.”

  “Are we going to give him your name?”

  “Do you want to? Because I don’t care. There’s nothing that states he has to be named a certain way. And honestly, I think my name is quite ridiculous.”

  Liasare played with Jurek’s hair while she thought of her answer. “I don’t have a good response for you. I love both names I call you, but Alaric has more meaning for me, mostly in a sexual way. Because of that, I don’t want to call him that. What if we were to combine the two and call him Larek?”

  “Hmm, I don’t know. It sounds a lot like Alaric. But you know, if we stay here much longer, I’m going to,” he kissed her hip, “start something we probably shouldn’t.”

  Just the thought of having him inside of her again made all of her markings glow. “Well, would you look at that? Looks like someone else is on board with that idea. Roll on your side.”

  “Alaric, we need to go.”

  “Oh, Liasare, what I have in mind, will not take long. I promise.” She lifted her head and looked down and saw his erection and knew exactly what he was talking about.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, they were back in the conference room and stuck their head out the door. No one was in the hallway. “Well, I guess they must’ve figured out we left,” Jurek said. “I need to get them all back here.” It didn’t take long for them to arrive and Liasare couldn’t stop the pink flush that spread across her cheeks.

  “Are we all ready to begin?” Jurek asked.

  “We’ve been ready,” Tak replied. His gaze stayed on Liasare and he asked, “What about you, Brownie? Are you?”

  “Um, yeah,” she answered as she cleared her throat. Jurek shot him a look that told him to shut it.

  “So, Liasare and I are going to do a check on Xanthus. She feels that if January is there, she may be able to sense her since they both carry the same DNA. We’ll also be on the lookout for Praestani power. I want all the Vesturions armed with Praestani weapons. Tak, see to that.”

  “What? This was never discussed,” Tak argued.

  Jurek’s fist hammered the table. “This was never your decision to make. It was up to the King and Queen and we have determined it is essential for their protection. They can be trusted not to use these unless absolutely necessary. And they won’t share them with anyone else. Will you?” Jurek asked as he turned to them.

  “Absolutely not,” Rayn answered, speaking for all of them.

  “Anything else Tak? And let me say this before you answer. I certainly hope there isn’t because we have deep trust in our Vesturion allies here.”

  “No.”

  “Good. So Liasare and I will run our checks today and then tomorrow we leave for Earth. Our goal is to draw Abaddon out. Liasare will remain on Praestan. I don’t ...”

  “That’s not going to happen. You can say that all you want but you won’t stop me from going. And if I don’t go, you’ll never draw him out. End of story.” She rose to her feet and walked out of the room, all eyes on her. Maddie and Saylan were both grinning, along with Xarrid.

  “That’s going to take some convincing, my friend,” Xarrid said.

  “Tell me something I don’t know. So let me just get through today and I’ll deal with tomorrow then. If you want to stay here, you can. If not, we’ll see you at our designated meeting point on Earth.” Turning to Tak and Marik, he said, “Make sure they’re given their weapons before they depart.”

  Then he was gone ... to hunt down his mate and try to persuade her to stay on Praestan.

  Chapter Nineteen

  They argued the entire time they traveled, while Liasare’s hand was entwined with Jurek’s. He was sure to keep her fingers tightly latched to his, because there was that part of him that feared something would happen to her, no matter what she said about her visions.

  “I don’t care what you say. I’m coming with you tomorrow,” she insisted.

  “If you do, I won’t get a damn thing done because my mind will be preoccupied with you.”

  “Then un-preoccupy it.”

  “Liasare, you know that’s not possible for me.”

  “And you know it’s not possible for me to stay on Praestan. What would you have me do? Knit booties?”

  “Well, now that you mention it.”

  “Damn it, Jurek!”

  “We’re here. Now quit arguing and start paying attention to your senses.”

  “Aye, aye your highness.”

  “Annnnnnd, for that smart comment, I t
hink I’m going to have to spank you when we get home.”

  “Oh, you wouldn’t dare!” Liasare huffed.

  “Oh, wouldn’t I? How about we do our duty here, and then we head home and you find out?”

  Liasare wanted to snatch her hand out of his, but couldn’t since they were in their energy forms. But as quickly as that thought rolled through her, so did something else. It was the force of recognition.

  “I feel her.”

  “Speak.”

  “Well, shit, I’m not a damn dog.”

  “Cut the crap, Liasare. I don’t want you to lose your sense of her. Is it getting stronger or weaker?”

  “Staying the same.”

  Jurek changed direction. “How about now?”

  “A little weaker.”

  He shifted course again.

  “Stronger.”

  He stayed this course and said, “Keep talking to me.”

  “Yes. She’s definitely close. And getting closer.”

  “I feel Praestani power too. Someone is keeping her contained. Let’s locate her and then decide what to do.”

  “This way.” Liasare led them toward where she was feeling January. When the sensations were the strongest, she said, “Right here. She’s here. What do we do?”

  “We move in for a look.”

  “What if there are Praestani there?”

  “There aren’t. I only sense a faint echo of one. If there were one, he or she is gone.”

  They moved through the building that was being guarded by Xanthians. They inspected room after room of cubicles where prisoners were kept, until they found her, lying on a stainless steel table, unconscious.

  “She’s alive, right?” Liasare asked.

  “Yes, in a suspended state.”

  “Can she be moved?”

  “Yes. You and I will have to separate. I’ll take her, but you follow me. I’ll have to break through this power barrier first.”

  Jurek eyed it and knew it wouldn’t pose a problem for him, for it was weak and faded, as though the owner of the power hadn’t been here in days.