She looked down at herself and he did as well, noting the dried blood and sand in her cut up legs. Bradi sighed. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. You’re hurt.”
“I’ll live.”
“Doc?”
“Yes?”
Bradi couldn’t seem to find the right words, so he did what felt right. He drew her against his chest and held her to him. She didn’t fight him, but rather, slid her arms around his waist and returned his embrace.
“We should clean out those cuts,” he said softly, still holding her close.
Chapter Seven
Nina Janelle moved with a grace most human women didn’t possess. She stopped in front of Pheebes, a trusted warrior among her guards. “What was so urgent that you needed to pull me away from my duties?”
“Forgive me, my lady, but I bring news that I think you should know.”
She motioned for him to join her in her office. “Tell me this news.”
“A group of my men, the panther group, were returning from a scouting mission on the edges of the red sea and encountered an outsider.”
“An outsider, really?” Nina’s interest was piqued. They kept close tabs on the number of outsiders they permitted on the planet. Aside from the group that had arrived two months ago with her brother-in-law, they hadn’t had any outsiders here for more than a few hours in decades. “Go on.”
“Yes, my lady. At first they assumed the woman was alone, and they were starved for…” His eyes shifted downward.
Nina knew the sexual cravings that the men had were great, yet she discouraged them from seeking fulfillment from anyone other than their chosen mates. Stegian, an evil vampire sorcerer who had terrified her people for over a hundred and fifty years, and who was bent on destroying her family and her people, could invade the minds of almost any man—but unmated ones were most at risk. They’d found that men who gave into carnal pleasures and who were not mated were most vulnerable to the vampire’s mind control. “Go on.”
“The men cornered her and immediately noticed that she bore the mark of one of our own. Thinking that she could be the mate of one of Stegian’s men, they inspected further. She was with child, and they claim that she was covered in the scent of—” He stopped and stared at her.
Nina nodded her head. “Of who, Pheebes?”
“Of Bradiainn.”
“You are mistaken.”
Nina could believe that Stegian was behind just about anything. She could not and would not believe that one of her brothers was back. They had all left the planet on bad terms.
Pheebes shook his head. “No, my lady. My men say that a large black panther surged forward and challenged them for the woman. Do you think he has been sent by Stegian to try to kill you and your sister?”
Nina’s eyes widened and her heart raced. As much as she didn’t want to believe it was true, she’d seen her own father turn against his family. Bradiainn had been banished from the planet by her father due to his rumored involvement with Stegian. If it was true, and he was back, he was a threat she didn’t want to imagine coming up against alone.
“Tell no one of this. Organize a party of five men. Bring extra horses. We shall set out in an hour. If Bradiainn is here, we shall find him.”
Chapter Eight
Bradi finished putting the last of the large leaves over the crude structure and climbed underneath it to join Marisa by the fire. She sat there rubbing her hands together with her knees to her chest. It gave him a fantastic view up her ultra-short shorts and he savored it. His cock stirred to life and he could almost taste her sweet skin as he watched her.
He reached out to turn the brula he’d managed to catch to keep it from burning over the fire and he moved closer to her. She shifted and gave him a wary look. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You look cold and I’m burning up, so I thought you might want to be close to me.” It was only a partial truth. Because I want to hold you seemed like too bold a statement.
“Oh,” she said, moving closer to him. She looked up at the meat and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s edible?”
He chuckled. “Yes, it’s similar to rabbit.”
“I’m going to eat a bunny?” She sounded so innocent.
Laughing again, he turned the meat. “No, brula. Similar but not the same thing.”
“How do you know so much about this planet? I thought you were from Margaidia.”
He had to hide his delight. She knew, or thought she knew, where he was from. That meant that she’d paid attention to the details of his life. He nonchalantly turned the brula again and shrugged. “Well, I lived there for the last twelve years but I wasn’t born there.”
“Where were you born?”
He smiled. “Tell you what—I’ll tell you a secret about me if you tell me one about you first.”
Marisa stiffened. “I don’t have any secrets.”
“Fine, then neither do I.”
She glanced up at him and shivered. Sliding his arm around her, he waited for Marisa to scream at him or hit him. When she did neither, he assumed it was safe. They sat quietly and watched the brula cook. His gaze kept going to her legs and he wished that she’d come clean about her ability to heal just so she could mend the angry cuts on her body.
“Bradi?”
“Hmm?” he asked, not wanting to let her go and praying she wouldn’t ask him to.
“What happened to the ship? It was fine, and then all of the sudden it wasn’t.”
The same question had plagued him from the moment he’d felt the first signs of distress on the ship—and that had been a day prior to the crash. His gut told him it was sabotaged, but he didn’t want to believe that one of his own crew members would do such a thing. The meteoroid shower could have been to blame, but even that wouldn’t have caused the amount of destruction he’d seen on board the ship. “I’m not sure, baby.”
When she didn’t balk at his term of endearment, he took it as a good sign.
She sighed. “Peter is probably dead, isn’t he?”
He exhaled slowly. “Yes. Probably.”
He drew her deeper into his arms and was surprised when he felt her shift her body to meet his. Kissing the top of her head gently, he rocked her slowly. Marisa turned her face to meet his and when he noticed the unshed tears in her eyes, he instantly wanted to rip something apart.
*
Marisa stared into the blue depths of Bradi’s eyes as the firelight sparkled off them. It struck her how handsome Bradi was, and she was grateful for the warm glow of the fire because it masked the faint red glow she now wore. This man, whom she’d assumed was a pig, sat so quietly, stroking her back gently and rocking her softly. How was it that he could be so thoughtful when she’d only ever considered him a candidate for Chauvinist of the Year award?
Bradi’s full lips were framed nicely by his dark black goatee, and when he tipped his head slightly to look at her, she couldn’t help herself. Leaning in, she pressed her lips lightly to his.
His entire body stiffened and for a minute, she thought he’d push her away from him, but he didn’t. When she felt his hand move into her hair, she realized what she’d started.
The kiss remained chaste at first, and that bothered her. Was she not as good as the women he normally surrounded himself with? Marisa had never undergone any drastic body changes, so her breasts were hers and hers alone, as was the rest of her body. At five foot five, she just missed hitting his shoulder and she knew that men tended to prefer the intergalactic supermodels to tiny women like her. Didn’t they?
Opening her mouth slightly, she let her tongue slide along his lower lip. She was met with a moan and Bradi’s grip tightened in her hair. Pulling her head back slightly, he brought his mouth down hard on hers.
At first, she forgot to breathe. Sure, she’d been kissed before, but never like this. Never with such raw, unbridled passion. His tongue dove in and out of her mouth, mimicking mating, and Marisa’s legs drew together in an att
empt to quell the burning between her thighs.
Bradi began to ease their bodies to the ground and she didn’t fight him. She needed comfort, needed to lose herself in the moment. Guilt over her lust for Bradi tried to surface, but she suppressed it. Stranded on a strange, primitive planet with no hope of going home, she needed to feel something—anything—and for all the faults Bradi had, not making her feel wasn’t one of them.
His hands seemed to be everywhere at once and she realized that she too was feeling him. Letting her hands glide over his back, she bunched his T-shirt up to feel his hot skin beneath. Hard muscles greeted her and she drew in a sharp breath as her pussy quivered. She worked his shirt over his head and couldn’t believe how incredible his body was. The very thought of him fucking her damn near brought about an orgasm. She could only dream what the real thing would be like.
Bradi was always shy about letting people see him partially dressed, and she couldn’t understand why. “You don’t have an ounce of fat on you.”
Bradi chuckled and she realized that she’d spoken aloud. He bent his head and kissed her collarbone lightly. “Mmm, I have yet to find any fat on you either.”
“Oh please, my—”
He silenced her with a kiss as he ground his hips against her. The pressure of his hard shaft through the fabric of his pants was more than enough to stimulate her swollen clit. Each rub, each sway of his hips brought her closer to climax.
Bradi’s hands found their way to her breasts and in just seconds, he was rolling her nipples between his fingertips, causing her to moan for him. When his fingers slid into the top of her shorts, she tensed a bit. He stopped and looked down at her, capturing her in his mesmerizing gaze. “Do you want me to stop?”
She bit her lower lip and shook her head. “No, but I need to tell you something and you have to promise not to laugh.”
His eyebrows arched as he nodded his head. “Yes?”
“I’ve never… I’ve never been with a man before.”
He nodded and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. “We can stop until you’re ready, baby.”
“No,” she said, a little too fast. “I’m ready, but I thought you should know so that…”
He smiled. “So that I’d be gentle with you?”
That wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. “Well, I guess gentle would be nice, but more importantly, I think you should know that I wasn’t kidding about not being able to tolerate the shots.” The doctor within her kicked into gear. “That means that I have no form of birth control so you’ll have to pull out of me before you ejaculate. I know that you had your shot, but those aren’t one hundred percent unless both parties are up to date. Plus, I think you should know that something odd may happen during this. I’ve never told anyone about this before but I come by my healing honestly.”
He gulped. “You’re telling me if we join, there is a high chance of pregnancy?”
She blushed and nodded. “Yes, but there is more, Bradi. I’m different. I don’t know how to explain this very well.”
Bradi rolled off her quickly and grabbed his shirt off the ground. He turned toward the brula and gave it a hard twist. When he didn’t look at her or speak to her, she had to fight tears.
“Bradi?” She sat up and drew her legs to her chest, having never felt more humiliated in her life. She had been on the verge of confessing her gift to him and he’d acted this way. Climbing to her feet, she cast him an angry look.
“Sit down,” he said sternly, but didn’t face her.
“Look at me.”
“I can’t,” he said, his shoulders hunched as he seemed fixated on turning the food.
It hit her then. He couldn’t look at her. He didn’t really want her the way he claimed he did, and the very idea of a possible pregnancy caused this reaction in him. Her bottom lip trembled. “I get you don’t like me. That I came between you and Peter. I didn’t mean to damage your friendship with him, Bradi.”
“You think I don’t like you?” he asked, still avoiding looking at her.
She nodded. “I know you don’t. You tolerate me. Nothing more. It was wrong of me to seek comfort from you. I get that now. I just thought…I thought you felt the pull too. I was wrong.”
She turned and rushed away, tears streaming down her face fast.
Chapter Nine
Bradi watched her stalk off as he removed the food from the fire to let it cool. He could sense Marisa close to the camp and knew she was safe, but needed a moment without him near her. She was crying and he knew he was the reason for her tears.
He hated himself.
Hated his inability to do things right when it came to the woman. She held his heart, but his head had a hard time being anything but jumbled around her. When she’d told him about the shots, he’d realized then why the panthers had taken to her so quickly—she carried his child. A child he’d beget her with when she wasn’t even fully awake. It didn’t matter that he’d thought she’d been aware during it all. What mattered was that, in the end, he’d taken her virginity, claimed her as his mate, and then planted his seed in her—all without her permission.
He’d done it all wrong and out of order with her. He wanted to go back in time and fix it all. Hell, he wanted to go back in time far enough that it was he who met her first. Not Peter. Marisa was his, and he’d fucked up at every turn with her.
He listened to her sobs and his chest tightened with each one. He wanted to run to her and hold her close, but he wasn’t nurturing by nature, and always seemed to screw up everything when it came to her. He wanted to get her off the planet and far from the reach of Stegian and the others.
He didn’t doubt for a second that the evil vampire was still ruling the dark ones. The others, as his people called them. He couldn’t risk Stegian getting his hands on Marisa.
It wouldn’t take her long to figure out that she was expecting—and with that damned little embedded medical chip she had, she’d be able to scan the baby and know that what she carried was not human. He could jam its frequencies if she was close, but he wouldn’t always be next to her. And when the baby did arrive, assuming they survived long enough to find his family, she’d learn one day that their child was more than meets the eye, as was its father—her husband.
He knew that he should confess everything to her and tell her that he was a werepanther and that they’d made love on the POD, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He couldn’t stand to think about how she’d react to the knowledge that a supernatural being now grew in her womb. Humans hated his kind, and he couldn’t bear to see the hurt and horror in her eyes. Granted, he’d witnessed Marisa do something miraculous aboard the POD, but she wasn’t exactly wearing her supernatural abilities on her sleeve. And there was a big difference between being able to heal someone and being able to shift into an animal.
Her cries grew more distant, meaning she’d moved away from the safety of the campsite. Knowing that it wasn’t safe for her to be alone, Bradi went to find her. Before long he’d have to confess what he’d done and who he was. That would have to wait. Her safety came first. Well, that and the safety of his child now too.
I’m going to be a father.
The thought struck him hard, leaving him doubling over and gasping for air. She’s my true mate and she hates me.
*
Marisa sat at the edge of the small body of water she’d happened upon and marveled at how the water seemed to be turquoise here. It looked like it went on forever. Not wanting to chance what might live in the depths, she stayed a good bit away from the water itself.
Humiliation and confusion swamped her. How could she have been so willing to give her virginity to Bradi? Sure, they’d been through hell, but that didn’t mean she had to give him what she’d been saving for Peter.
Peter.
Guilt swept over her as she thought of how quickly she’d almost replaced him in her heart. She looked up at the planet’s moons and rocked gently. “Peter, wherever you are now, I’m so sorry. I didn’t
mean for this to happen. I didn’t plan on him.”
Someone cleared their throat and she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. Glancing behind her, she found Bradi standing there. “What do you want?”
“I just came to check on you,” Bradi answered softly.
“I’m fine. Now go away.”
He ignored her and came to sit next to her anyway. “Hmm, I see that you found a good bathing spring.”
She perked up at the sound of a bath. “Bathing spring?”
“Yes, it’s not nearly as warm as the hot springs that can be found on the planet, but it’s safe and clean.”
“Safe and clean?”
He laughed softly. “Yes, would you like to eat first or bathe?”
She was starving, but the sound of a bath was too good to pass up. “You can go back and eat. I’d like to clean up. “
“That’s fine. We can bathe if you want to. The brula’s best served cooler anyway.”
Marisa tipped her head and gave him a funny look. “We aren’t bathing. I am.”
Bradi shook his head and motioned to the surrounding trees. “It’s not safe for me to leave you here alone, and I’m in need of a warm bath as much as you, so it makes—”
Putting her hand up, she silenced him. “I get it, okay. Big bad ugly things roaming around equals you and I hopping in there together.”
“Yes, that’s the short version.”
She let her toe dip into the water and her eyelids fluttered shut with the lure of a warm bath. On the ship, they’d only had access to cleansing chambers that used artificial water supplies. And on Earth the water had been restricted for drinking only, so each home had similar chambers. Water baths were luxuries and only the wealthiest of Earthlings could afford them. The lure of actual water was too good to pass up. “Fine, but you need to face the other way.”
Bradi: Paranormal Shifter Fated Mate Galactic SciFi Military Romance (Interstellar Alphas Book 2) Page 6