by KD Jones
“Condition? I sprained my ankle and it was healed. Toro wasn’t too busy. He was by my side the whole time until the healer told him I was healing properly.”
She saw him bite the inside of his cheek like he was trying keep from saying something. “Leader Toro is interested in you. He takes care of his people. I’m sure he would be a good mate.”
Was he fucking kidding? “I’m sure he would be.”
He turned his back on her and moved farther away. “I apologize for injuring you.”
“For the thousandth time, you did not hurt me. I grabbed you and you tugged free. It was my own fault my foot twisted and I fell. As you can see, I’m completely healed.” She turned around in circles to show him.
“I’m grateful for that. I will escort you back to your room so that you can rest.”
“Oh no, you don’t. We’re not going anywhere until we have a serious discussion.”
“I don’t have time for this. I have a job to do.”
“Your next meeting is this afternoon. I believe you have a couple of hours to spare to talk to me. You owe me that.”
He sighed. “What do you want to discuss?”
“How about you constantly pushing me away every time we get close? Why do you do that?”
“I don’t want you to think I am looking for a relationship.”
“Who said I wanted a relationship? Maybe I just want to fool around.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You are not the type to just fool around.”
Damn it! He was right. She had to really care about a guy to let him get that close to her. “Spending time with me doesn’t mean we’ll end up together forever.”
His eyes filled with pain. “Nothing is forever.”
Her heartstrings pulled tight. Something happened to LemAN to make him feel such pain and be wary of any new relationships. “Are you mated?”
He shook his head. “No longer.”
“What happened?”
“I do not wish to discuss this with you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You owe me a real explanation. You kissed me back. You touched me in private places. You get me aroused and then leave me aching and hurt, wondering what I did wrong.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong. You are a brilliant, strong, and beautiful female. You deserve a male who can offer you a full mating.”
“Maybe I’m not looking for a full mating. I’m probably too independent. I get sidetracked all the time which makes having a serious conversation nearly impossible. I don’t have a lot to offer anyone and have often thought that no man would have me.”
He surprised her by moving quickly to stand right in front of her. He cupped her face with his large hands. “I can’t believe you would think such a thing. You have a very caring nature. Any male would be lucky to have you.”
“Just not you. You wouldn’t want to mate me?”
He let her go and stepped away. “I had a mate once.”
“Please tell me what happened.”
“She died with childbirth complications along with my son.”
Her heart ached for him. “I’m so sorry, LemAN. How long ago was it?”
“Five years, but it sometimes feels like only yesterday. My mate bled out and I was helpless to do anything. Then I held my son…he was so tiny he fit in my one hand. He lived two hours and went to the great beyond.”
Teagan couldn’t stand it. She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. It took him a few moments before he put his arms around her. She didn’t say anything, just held on to him. She had never had a family of her own but she couldn’t imagine losing both your spouse and your child in one day. No wonder his heart was broken.
“I’m so sorry, LemAN.”
“The pain was so incredible I didn’t want to go on but somehow I did. I promised I would never mate again.”
Now it was all making sense to her. His reluctance to let her get close to him. Maybe he really wouldn’t be able to let her in, but she had to try. What she’d said about wanting to just share sex was a lie. Already she could feel her heart falling for him.
She reached up to put her hands on his face and pulled him down so she could kiss him.
“Teagan, I can’t…”
“Shh, let me do this. Let me touch you. No expectations, just us here.” She kept kissing him.
LemAN responded with a groan of defeat. His big hands pulled her harder against him and it was like the gates had been thrown open. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her down and coming with her.
His big heavy body lay on top of her and she loved it. The only problem was that they had too many clothes on. Reaching between them, she tried to undo the hooks to his uniform coat.
Chuckling at her frustration, he quickly opened his coat and shirt and shrugged them off so that his chest was completely bare. She didn’t waste any time in rubbing her hands all over his warm muscles.
“You feel so good. You’re so strong.”
He tugged the straps of her overalls and pulled the top part down to her waist. Then he slid her tank top up and off. She felt vulnerable about her body. She could get away without having a bra and hadn’t bothered putting one on. Her insecurities faded away as he cupped her breasts in his hands reverently.
“So beautiful,” he whispered as he kissed her nipples.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held him to her chest. His lips and teeth were doing wicked things to her. Every time he sucked on her she could feel it reach straight down to her pussy.
“Do you like that?” he asked her.
“Fuck yeah!”
Then all hell broke loose when the lights began to flash and a loud, shrill alarm went off. LemAN jumped off her, and she had never felt so cold. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know but I’m going to find out,” he told her as he put his shirt and coat on.
She sighed but looked for her shirt. At least she’d got him to confess his secrets to her. That was something, right?
Chapter 6
He glanced at Teagan, who was running to try to keep up with him. “You should have stayed in my room.”
“No way.”
LemAN sighed with frustration not only from denial of sexual gratification. The female was determined to put herself in danger. He wasn’t sure what the alarms meant but it couldn’t be good. Balar warriors were rushing past them, he assumed to take up defense. He hit his comm link.
“Lieutenant, what is happening?”
“Sir, two Morin transports have been detected. One seemed to be firing on the other. Then one of them just…disappeared.”
Cloaking. The Morins were getting better at cloaking themselves without being near a luna. “What about the second transport?”
“It took some heavy hits but we’re tracking it now.”
“I’ll be returning shortly. Have all warriors prepare for battle.”
“Yes, Commander.”
LemAN ended his communications as he spotted Leader Toro. “Have there been any casualties?”
Toro turned to look at him. “Not yet but a few shuttles tried to land on the south side near the mountains. My warriors killed two Morins but there are three on foot we have not found yet. We’ve disabled their shuttles to keep them from leaving.”
“Keep at least one Morin alive for questioning,” LemAN ordered.
Toro growled. “Do you think that I don’t realize the importance of questioning the enemy?”
Teagan stepped between them as she had done last night at the banquet. “Easy, guys. Let’s not fight each other. What can I do to help?”
“If you could use your decloaking skills that would be appreciated.”
“My equipment and the computer program I’ve been working on are back up on the Horizen.” She looked at LemAN who was shaking his head.
“No. You’re staying here within the Prime Building where the structure is reinforced.”
“You have a job to do and so do
I. This is why I’m traveling with you, so let me do what I need to do.”
He ran a hand through his hair. They didn’t have time to be arguing and the truth was she was right. They needed her to help find the enemy. “Fine, come with me. We’ll make our way back to the Horizen. Leader Toro, keep us updated on the tracking of the rogue Morins.”
“Good luck, and make sure to protect our little Teagan.”
LemAN growled at the male referring to Teagan being theirs, but there was no time to comment further. He needed to leave now. Grabbing Teagan’s hand, he made his way outside to the landing pad. He heard overhead announcements for all the Balar civilians to take cover and remain inside the Prime Building until further notice. All warriors were to report to their supervising officer for assignments.
He helped Teagan on board the shuttle and took the pilot’s seat. Within minutes they were moving up into the sky, heading toward space. When all this was over, he was going to have to think long and hard about his reaction to Teagan. His feelings were more than mere attraction; they bordered on something he had never felt before, not even with LoraLI. He didn’t feel guilty like he thought he would, and the fact that he hadn’t thought about LoraLI while with Teagan surprised him. He had to keep his mind clear so he could protect Teagan.
“Is it the Morins for sure or could it be another alien race out here?” Teagan asked with concern.
“That’s what we have to find out.” He hit his communicator. “This is Commander LemAN leaving the Balar surface. I need two warships to escort us back to the transport.”
“Two warships are on their way, Commander.”
“Are we in danger?”
“It’s better to be prepared.”
*****
Fifteen minutes later they docked on the Horizen. Teagan kept out of LemAN’s way but followed him. She expected that they were heading to the command bridge but when they got on the lift she was confused.
“Where are we going?”
“To get your equipment then taking you to my quarters.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “What for?”
“It’s the safest place for you on the ship. My level is reinforced because it runs the center of the ship.”
Teagan wasn’t sure what to say. He was being protective which was great. They still had a lot to talk about but she realized this wasn’t the time for it. He had a job to do and so did she.
At her quarters she rushed in to grab her computer and the equipment she used to expand radio frequencies. Last week she had LemAN’s people attach little movable satellite dishes to the hull of the ship. She had created a program to search for radio frequencies that the Morins had used to bounce off lunas and camouflage their ships.
They went up another two levels to LemAN’s quarters. It was a little bigger than hers and she knew that he purposely didn’t use the larger quarters available for commanders and important guests. That said a lot about how humble and genuine he was.
“Stay here until an all-clear has been announced. We don’t know what’s waiting out there for us.”
She reached for his hand and pulled him to her, giving him a quick kiss. “Be careful. I’ll notify you if I detect anything.”
He cupped her face with his hands and she couldn’t help but feel small and delicate—protected almost. That wasn’t something she was used to feeling. She kind of liked it.
“You will remain here for me?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her again before letting her go and leaving. She had to sit down on the nearby chair. The man knew how to kiss. She needed to get to work herself and find these bald-headed bastards. Then she and LemAn could get back to working on building a relationship.
After spending time with him, she was coming to know him to be a strong, caring, wonderful man. She had watched him help train his warriors, sacrificing much of his life for his people. He was patient with her despite all the questions she asked, which she knew must be irritating. She now understood the ache he carried inside his heart, and he had stolen a piece of hers without even trying to. She wanted more with LemAN, and was willing to fight for a chance to have it.
*****
LemAN almost turned back to return to Teagan. He worried that she would be scared and he hated that he couldn’t be there to reassure her. How had she suddenly become so important to him in such a short amount of time? Especially since he’d made strides to stay away from her. In a matter of twenty-four hours everything had seemed to change.
Maybe it had been all the time he spent listening to her describe one experiment after another. He couldn’t understand everything she said but he loved to hear her explain it to him. Maybe it had taken seeing her in the arms of another to force him to acknowledge he had feelings for her. Maybe it was the moment when he opened up to her about his mate and child’s deaths. She wanted to comfort him and, Goddess forgive him, he wanted to find comfort and redemption in her arms.
He walked onto the command bridge. “Report!”
“The transports were definitely Morin, but the one being fired upon had older technology.”
“Why would Morins fire upon their own people?” LemAN asked out loud. No one had an answer for him.
Second Commander BorIS responded, “One ship had the ability to cloak, which has made it hard for us to track it. The one that took damage also has a way to hide from us. We’re coordinating our efforts with the Balar military to cover more area.”
“A couple of shuttles landed on Balar and there are Morins on the loose. We don’t know how many. There could be more that we aren’t aware of. Keep open communications with Balar.”
“Yes, sir.”
His comm link went off. “This is Commander LemAN.”
“Hey, I wanted to let you know that my program got a ping farther away. I’m sending the coordinates to Lieutenant ComEY,” Teagan said.
“Thank you. Stay where you are and let me know if you get any more…pings.”
“Will do. Over and out!”
He ended communications. “Lieutenant ComEY, did you get the coordinates?”
“Yes, Commander. Teagan had three sets because she didn’t pinpoint the exact one.”
“Pick the closest and we’ll try that one first.” It was frustrating that they had to take this method of narrowing it down by trial and error.
He watched how his warriors worked hard at their stations. He couldn’t be prouder of his crew.
He thought about his conversation with Teagan. What did over and out mean? It must be an Earth saying. Sitting down in the commander’s chair, he ran a hand through his hair. It bothered him that Teagan could message Lt. ComEY directly. He wasn’t the only male she spent time with. People liked her. Males liked her. She was beautiful, funny, and smart, but it was her innate kindness that drew others to her. Her sympathy for others, her nonjudgment, was appealing.
Lt. ComEY was younger than him, probably closer in age to Teagan. He was a fine warrior who still needed to work on his knife skills in hand-to-hand fighting but overall he always rated highly on his battle skills. He talked in a caring way about his mother so he had a gentle nature. He was a better fit for Teagan than LemAN.
The thought of Teagan with another male, even one as worthy as Lt. ComEY, made his blood boil. Was something wrong with him that he was overwhelmed with jealousy? It was concerning. He needed to take care of this or he might end up hurting one of his warriors.
He stood and addressed his second-in-command. “I need to run by the medic wing and will return shortly.”
“Is everything all right?” BorIS asked. They had been friends a long time.
“I’m sure it is. I just need to check on something.” He left the command bridge.
Taking the lift up to the next level where the nearest medic wing was located, he felt his heart beating faster and faster. An uncommon anxious feeling came over him and he was tempted to go check on Teagan. This was ridiculous. She was perfectly safe where she was.
&n
bsp; When he entered the open door of the medic wing, medic JonAH looked up from his desk. “Commander, was there something that you needed?”
“I think something is wrong with me. I am having problems controlling my emotions and keep feeling anxious.”
“Come sit on the bed while I get my scope.”
LemAN moved closer but didn’t get on the bed.
Medic JonAH held up the thin silver medical scope and scanned him. “Your vitals are normal, but your heart rate is a little up, which could be a result of the current situation with the Morins showing up.”
He rubbed the area on his chest over his heart. “Then why do I feel so anxious…like I need to constantly check on the Earth female?”
Medic JonAH kept scanning him. “Interesting. How often do you think about the female?”
“All the time. I have to throw myself into my work but after a while I will start to think about her.”
“What kind of thoughts?”
“Who is she with? What is she doing? Is she okay or hungry?”
“Does she spend a lot of time with other males?”
“Yes! What does that have to do with my heart feeling like it’s about to burst from my chest?”
“Is your interest in her only because she is the sole female on board?”
“I don’t see the relevance.”
“You were at a banquet last evening. I’m sure there were many beautiful, exotic females there. Did any interest you sexually?”
He was furious. “Of course not!” The thought of touching anyone but Teagan made him feel sick inside.
Medic JonAH smiled as he put his scope away. “I don’t think what ails you is anything physical, more to do with your heart.”
“My heart has been beating fast. Do you have a medication that will help?”
The male shook his head. “No medicine can cure a male falling in love with his true bond mate.”
Bond mate? “What in Kitana are you talking about?”
“I believe the symptoms you described are signs that you’ve found your true bond mate.”
“No. I had a mate and lost her. I had a young and lost him. I accepted that I would not have a family of my own.”