Inseparable

by D. M. Mortier

  Thorne sat heavily on the nearest chair, slumped over, and held his head in his hands.

  Saina almost felt sorry for him. She looked to Tarik to see what he thought of Thorne’s behavior. He stared back at her and shrugged his shoulders. Usually she could read Thorne’s emotions easily, but her usual link to him was blocked. Treading a bit cautiously, she moved toward him. As soon as she was within reach, Thorne pulled her into his lap.

  She was shocked as the shield he’d put up was suddenly gone and the raw emotion he was feeling hit her like an avalanche. His heart was racing, he clutched her hard against him, and he couldn’t seem to control the trembling of his body. She tingled all over as she was overwhelmed by his conflicting emotions: his love, his fear of losing her and his sense of relief. It all bombarded her senses.

  He remained silent. His arm was tight around her waist as if he were terrified she would leave her perch on his lap.

  “I saw…” Thorne’s voice cracked as he raised his gaze to hers.

  Saina’s gaze blared as she, too, became affected by his visceral emotions.

  He swallowed. “I saw you with him, and I thought you were having an affair,” he said hoarsely.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her lips over his. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re an idiot?” She smiled gently.

  He laughed as she intended he would. “Yeah, it’s not every day someone calls the king an idiot.”

  “You’re also intensely loyal, honorable, a man of integrity, and a great leader.”

  “Now you’re just trying to mend my battered ego,” he said drolly.

  She ran her fingers through his hair. “Did I tell you that you’re fine as hell? I mean, beau-ti-ful!”

  Thorne covered her lips with his, effectively cutting off her teasing.

  “Hey!” Tarik protested. “I’m still here! You know, long-lost brother? Hello?”

  Saina reluctantly pulled away and turned so she could snuggle deeper into Thorne’s embrace. “All right, brother of mine, you have my full attention.” She grinned at Tarik.

  “How did you know who she was? And how did you know to come look for her now?”

  “Identifying her was easy,” Tarik smirked as he showed Thorne the picture of their mother. “I’ve been in Calison for years and was almost giving up hope of ever finding Saina. Your citizens are very loyal to you,” Tarik said that more as a compliant than a compliment. “I’d began to give up hope until she walked into the hospital a few weeks ago. I myself only began working at the hospital a few months back.”

  Thorne started firing questions at Tarik. Only after Tarik had answered Thorne’s numerous questions did he seem to relax. They spent the next hour getting better acquainted, even getting food delivered to the office to have dinner together. It was agreed that the relationship would remain between the three of them. Not even Saina’s parents could be told of her existence. Tarik wasn’t happy with that arrangement; however, he agreed for fear of endangering Saina further.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Thorne frowned at Andre, who stood in the hallway of Saina’s apartment, giving him a lame-ass excuse for his presence there. It had been three days since the night they had found out about Saina’s brother. The emotional toll of thinking that he’d lost her and then finding out that, instead, she still loved him as intensely as he loved her, was intoxicating. Once they’d returned to the apartment, they’d fallen on each other and had barely come up for air ever since. He and Saina had gotten into an all-encompassing cycle of making love, eating together, bathing together, and then making love again. They’d lost track of time, and the outside world was an intrusion to be ignored.

  Waking up with her this morning, he’d been determined to return to the castle and work, having every intention of telling her that she was on another timeout. He was not prepared for how she changed his mind before he barely got the words out. Even as he tried to speak, she crept under the covers and wrapped her lips around his cock and cupped his balls in her soft palm. In seconds his balls had tightened, and his cock was at its full twelve inches deep in her throat. He was pissed and aroused as hell at the same time. Gripping her hair with his fingers, he’d intended forcing her off his dick. He should’ve known better.

  As soon as he gripped her soft hair, she started sucking him deeper into her throat and moaned with a sexy sound of enjoyment for the taste of his essence on her tongue. He tangled his fingers in the strands of her hair to hold her steady as he thrust his length in and out of the warm cavity of her mouth.

  She had immediately stopped his action by pressing a finger into the base of his balls, hollowing out her mouth and sucking him deeper.

  He howled as his seed was forced from him and he flooded her throat.

  She swallowed it all and sucked the rest of his jizz from him.

  He remembered feeling as weak as a baby and was quite helpless in stopping her from climbing on top of him. When she turned her round ass to him, bent over, and took him deep, no one could blame him for fucking her as though he were trying to stamp his ownership on that ass all over again. In fact, he shouted “mine, mine, mine” many times in the ensuing hour.

  The equipment he’d ordered for an examination room to be installed in a room in the apartment had arrived the day before. Now that Saina had changed his mind about going to work again, he couldn’t wait to examine her and check the stats of his child himself.

  Andre’s presence was delaying the first time he would be hearing his child’s heartbeat.

  “Why are you here again?” Thorne asked the question impatiently.

  “I thought you might be in danger.” Andre shrugged. “It’s not like you to not show up at the palace for so many days.”

  “It’s six thirty in the morning. Has someone died or is going to die?”

  “Nah, I…” Andre fell silent and stared at something behind Thorne.

  “Hi, Andre,” Saina said cheerfully.

  “Your Highness,” Andre whispered absently. He seemed stunned.

  Thorne didn’t blame him. Saina had just come out of the shower and wore only an ivory silk robe to cover her nude body. She looked fresh, young, beautiful, and sexy as hell. Even after three days of fucking until his dick was protesting, he still got hard looking at her. She was any red-blooded man’s wet dream.

  Thorne pulled Saina against him to shield her front with his body and his palms covered her round ass from Andre’s view.

  She immediately curled into him.

  “Fuck,” he breathed. Before he realized it, he was helplessly stroking her through the thin material of her robe.

  “Please call me Saina.” She smiled at Andre.

  Thorne tightened his arm at her back, pulling her closer to him. “If he didn’t come here again, he wouldn’t have to call you anything.”

  “I needed…” Andre started to explain, but Thorne put his palm up to stop his speech.

  “I won’t be in this morning,” Thorne murmured, fighting his arousal like hell. Saina wasn’t fighting anything. She purred and snuggled closer to him, causing her hard nipples to stab his chest. He hissed under the onslaught of lust bombarding him. “Next time, don’t come here,” Thorne warned softly.

  Andre nodded and turned to leave. “I think you should know that Anastasia has been making inquiries about her,” he said as he arrived at the door.

  Thorne frowned. “Why would she be interested in Saina?”

  “Are you for real?” Andre scoffed. “Everyone has been talking about the beautiful doctor from Europon who gained the king’s attention.”

  “That was four nights ago, and our interaction was short,” Thorne dismissed.

  “It was almost fifteen minutes, and you asked her to dance. No one has seen you dance in public since your father was king.”

  “Is that all?” Thorne asked coolly.

  “Yeah. Do you want us to put some security on the queen?” Andre asked. “They m
ay go after her.”

  Thorne felt Saina’s indrawn breath at Andre’s reference to her as the queen. He tightened his arms around her, wanting nothing more than to make her just that. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  “I want to know what she’s asking,” Saina insisted. She looked up at Thorne and held his gaze. “This isn’t just about us,” she whispered.

  “This is the risk you insisted on taking. You’re not going back to that damn hospital!”

  She sighed. “And I would make the decision to come here again if it meant I get to be with you.”

  Her soft reply immediately doused the flames of his rising anger. “If you want to have a conversation with Andre, you need to get dressed.”

  She reached up, pulled his head down, and gave him a probing kiss. “Stop giving Andre such a hard time. It’s you that I love. And besides, I like him.”

  “That’s the problem right there,” he grumbled.

  Andre snickered with amusement.

  Thorne glared at him.

  Saina held his chin in her palm and turned his head to regain his attention on her. “I’m going to get dressed. Drop the jealous, insecure boyfriend act. You’re my husband, my baby daddy, and my king; act like it.”

  Andre started to chuckle, but one glare from Saina had him choking back the sound in his throat.

  “And you to look me in the eye, not my breasts and, for damn sure, not my ass. That’s fucking disrespectful.”

  Andre started sputtering. “I’m sor—”

  “Save it. You and Thorne have better things to do than you teasing him about me.” Saina turned and left the room.

  Both men watched her leave.

  Thorne punched Andre in the stomach as soon as Saina was out of view.

  “Hey?” Andre protested.

  “That’s for fucking with me.”

  “You make it too easy.” Andre laughed. “You should see your face! You’re like a lovesick teenager around her.”

  “That shit’s not funny.” Thorne frowned.

  “For a guy I’ve seen plough through women like they’re just old shoes, it’s not funny, but it’s damn astonishing.”

  Thorne grunted, not at all liking that observation.

  “Did I hear the queen correctly? Is she expecting?”

  Thorne sighed and thrust his fingers into his hair in agitation.

  “Daymmmmmmn!” Andre exclaimed in awe.

  Thorne smiled sheepishly. “I’ve got to get Anastasia out of Calison and out of my life. This means I must rescue my sisters, despite the risks. If we don’t settle this before my son is born, others will be able to challenge him for the throne.”

  “We still don’t know how to combat the laser they fired on you, when it seemed you were being eaten alive. This is more than risky. It could be fatal if they shot you in the heart or head.”

  “What could be fatal?” Saina asked as she walked back into the room.

  “Umm…” Andre looked at Thorne uncertainly.

  Thorne opened his mouth to try change the subject, but Saina gave him a stern stare.

  “Before you think to lie to me, know that I heard most of what Andre said and now know you lied to me by omission. Don’t do it again,” she warned. “So, when did you get shot with a mysterious laser, and why are you likely to get shot again, which, according to Andre, will more than likely be fatal?”

  Thorne stared down at her for a long time, debating how much he should tell her.

  “All of it,” she muttered, clearly reading his mind.

  “I’m going to rescue my mother and my sisters,” he stated quietly.

  She nodded as if she didn’t anticipate any other action. “About damn time.”

  “There are risks.” Thorne frowned at her.

  “I’m guessing that this is the fatal kind that Andre mentioned.”

  “Yes. They seem to have developed a laser that could, once I’m hit with it, kill me instantly if I teleport.”

  “And if you don’t teleport?”

  “It feeds on my flesh and bones as though it were an acid.”

  “You were hit with this laser before?” Saina asked in alarm.

  “Yes.”

  “When!”

  “A few weeks ago.”

  “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “We were busy trying to get you out of the United States and get you to a safe place.”

  “Was that the injury to your shoulder?” She narrowed her eyes, clearly pissed that something so monumental had happened to him and she was unaware of it.

  Thorne didn’t blame her. Now that he thought about it, he would have been angry, too, if this had happened to her and she hadn’t told him. “Yes, and you healed me. We were dealing with some other crap as I recall and didn’t get around to talking about it.”

  “I want to know what you’re planning.”

  “Wait,” Andre interrupted them. “Did you say she healed you?” he asked. He frowned, clearly puzzled.

  “Yes, I healed him. As I’ve healed him every other time he’s gotten himself poisoned, stabbed, or shot at.” Her voice rose with every word she uttered.

  “What?”

  “Let it go, Andre,” Thorne demanded.

  “I’m not healing you again, Thorne! I’m not going through that again! So, what the hell are you planning that has your head of security worried that you’ll get killed?’

  “I’m going to get my family as I promised,” he said calmly.

  “And how exactly are you going to do this? I’m sure your plans are foolproof.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.

  Thorne laughed. He loved her take-no-shit stances. He was more than twice her size, and she fearlessly confronted him. The thought of the strong sons and daughters she would give him made him even more determined to sort this mess out. “I think my son needs to be fed. Why don’t I tell you about our plans while you eat?”

  She stared him down for a few more seconds before marching into the dining room.

  The men followed her.

  “So, after teleporting into Lokede didn’t work the first time, you think it’s a good idea to try doing this again? Why?” Saina asked. She couldn’t hide the skepticism in her voice.

  “The first time, I didn’t know Lokede as well as I do now, and I also didn’t have anyone on the inside,” Thorne told her.

  “What do you mean you have someone on the inside?” Saina pushed her plate aside and started pacing the room. Thorne and Andre continued consuming the mountains of food in front of them.

  “Ever since the failed attempt, I was concerned for my sisters and my mother. I wanted to know that they were not being ill-treated.”

  “And?” Saina waved her arms in impatience.

  “My mother is rarely seen, but when they do bring her out, she appears to be in fair enough health.” Thorne stood from the table too. He pushed his fingers into his hair in obvious agitation. “My sisters are the wives of the king’s sons, and they are treated as such. They all live on the estate, but in different homes. My spies haven’t witnessed any mistreatment or unhappiness. This is the main reason I haven’t been anxious for their release. I thought I had time.”

  “They’re at different locations on a large estate, and you’re still uncertain where your mother is kept.” Saina stopped pacing to come stand in front of him. “Do I have that about right?”

  “I will get my contacts to give more definitive information and plan our attack with a few men from our elite combat team. Andre is one of them.”

  “It will be fine, Saina,” Andre promised. “We have some good people on the inside, and we have some good men to pull off the mission.”

  “I don’t doubt you think you’ve covered all the bases,” Saina dismissed.

  “There will be messy pieces, Saina,” Thorne acknowledged. “However, we’re going to iron out these few unknowns. We’ll take our time.”

  “While you’re plan
ning, stop trying to think like a soldier and think like the scientist that you are,” Saina admonished.

  Thorne held her gaze quietly for a long moment. He finally nodded and took the seat he’d recently vacated. Waving his hand at her, he silently asked her to sit as well. “Tell me what you have in mind,” he said softly once she was seated.

  ***

  Almost eight weeks later, Thorne and seven of his men entered the massive estate of the Lokede king and his family. With a plan devised between them that morning in Saina’s apartment, which didn’t quite evolve as they’d intended, Thorne was determined that he would at least be more merciful to the people of Lokede than their king had been to the people of Calison.

  They had flown overnight into Lokede and had dispensed a harmless, tasteless, scentless airborne chemical over the city of Camden where the palace, the central government, and the largest army base of Lokede were located. As Saina advised, the chemical had put the inhabitants of the city, which was a population of over two million, into a deep sleep for eight hours. It took about thirty minutes for everyone in Camden to be affected. Not even people indoors were immune to the potency of the chemical.

  They waited an hour after the thirty minutes timeline to land their aircrafts on the king’s estate. Wearing specially designed masks, Thorne and his men, armed with location details and recent photos, collected Thorne’s sisters and their children from the beds that they slept in. The women all slept next to their husbands, who remained blissfully asleep in their beds. The sight of his mother was the biggest surprise. They didn’t find her where they thought they would. Yes, she was in the bedroom the spy servant had advised them, but she was locked in the king’s arms where they slept.

  Rage unlike anything Thorn had ever felt before consumed him. This was the man who’d killed his father, the man who’d issued the order to decapitate his father and order the rape of his sisters! And now had defiled his mother? It took all the discipline in him to not kill the king in his sleep or to not beat the snot out of the fucker! Thorne breathed in and out for what seemed like endless minutes to regain control.