Primal Heat

by Crystal Jordan

  He blinked and shook his head, his mouth gaping.

  Snatching his pants off the corner of the desk where they’d fallen, she threw them at him and hit him in the face. “Put these on, would you?”

  “I’d rather you took all of yours off again,” he grumbled but obliged her by standing to slide them on. Then he flopped back down, every inch the disgruntled feline, the denied emperor, as he draped a knee over the arm of his chair, and laced his fingers over his flat belly. “Can you tell me why you’re calling a halt to our lovemaking? I thought we were having a rather enjoyable reunion.”

  “Well, you’re about to meet my parents. Sort of. I thought you’d like to have your pants on.” Jana pulled in a deep, steadying breath. She set her palms on the desk. Keying the imager on the smooth glass surface, she received a prompt for orders. “Please connect to my parents.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty,” Vishra replied. The imager flickered for a moment as the direction processed, then a hologram of the Sueni imperial star began to spin as the call was made.

  “It is really so urgent that you contact them now?” Kyber’s voice faded for a moment as he scooted his chair back, leaned down to retrieve his tunic, and jerked it over his head. “It couldn’t wait for a few more hours?”

  “No. With everything that’s been going on lately, I’d almost forgotten what day it is.” The anniversary of her brother’s death. Her stomach clenched in dread. She had to get in touch with her parents.

  “What day is it?”

  She winced, reluctant to talk about it, but he’d been revealing about his past, so the least she could do was return the favor. “Nine years ago today, my older brother was killed. He was on the way home from a football game his freshman year of college. His team won after he ran in the final touchdown.” She passed information about the Earthan game to him through their link. A bittersweet smile curved her lips, remembering the excited sound of her brother’s voice when he called them on his cell phone to tell them about his touchdown afterward. God, she missed him. She shook her head and sighed. “A man fell asleep behind the wheel and collided with Craig’s car. They both died.”

  And then it was all over. A bright future wiped out in a single moment. Had he suffered? Alone on the side of road in the middle of the night. She swallowed, pushing away the questions she’d never know the answer to. “He was a great brother, an amazing person. Valedictorian, full scholarship to the local university, athletic.”

  “I’m sorry, Jana.” Kyber’s voice softened with sympathy.

  “Me, too.” She cleared her throat, staring down at the desk. The imager blinked, letting her know that a connection had been made on the other end. “Display call.”

  “Jana?” Her mother’s face appeared. It was pinched with worry, the way it had been every time they’d spoken since Jana had last seen them.

  “Hi, Mom. How are you? How’s Dad?” The Sueni technology interfaced with the camera on her mother’s laptop, so they could see each other when they spoke. At first, she’d thought it would comfort them to see her and know she was safe on the Vishra. Now, she knew she needed to have a conversation that wouldn’t be a comfort to them.

  Her parents had never recovered from Craig’s death, and Jana had done everything she could to fill in the gap. She’d found a job she liked, that made her happy, because they wanted so badly for her to be happy. Being a flight attendant was great for the travel and interesting people, but she also knew it would let her escape their worry and expectation for days and weeks at a time.

  After Craig died, she was always aware that she was all they had left. They’d smothered her in their overprotective attempts to ensure that nothing bad would happen to her. This last year had to have been a nightmare for them.

  Her mother sighed. “I’m fine. Dad’s good. He’ll be in to talk in a minute. When are you coming home?”

  The conversation was the same one they’d had every single time they spoke. Until today, she’d been grateful for the routine; it meant she could give the same answers, the same false smiles and promises, and then disconnect and bury herself back in her fanatical dedication to saving Kyber.

  She met her mother’s gaze. “I’m not coming home, Mom. I hadn’t lived there for years before I bonded with Kyber, and I’m not going to live there now just to make you feel better about my safety. I’m not going to live on Earth ever again.”

  Her mother blinked at the blunt speaking, so unlike the prevarication she had to have grown used to. “General Arthur called to tell us that…that Kith man had escaped and that we might be in danger now.” Her mouth twisted. “Please come back down here, baby.”

  “I know Kyber escaped the illegal imprisonment and torture General Arthur put him through. I helped save him.” She felt Kyber twitch behind her, but he was out of view of the imager, so her mother couldn’t see him.

  Her father sat down next to her mother, his lined and worn face coming into view. He looked just like an older, more serious version of Craig, and the reminder made her heart clench. “How do we know for sure that’s true? When we’ve seen you in these calls, you haven’t looked or sounded good, pumpkin.”

  “Look.” She made her tone matter-of-fact. “I know you want everything to be okay with me, but it’s not okay, and I’m not going to pretend anymore.” God, it felt good to say that, to admit it out loud. She loved her parents so much, and she did want everything to be all right, but there had to be room to admit when things weren’t all right. “I know what Arthur told you, and it’s a lie. When I went to Arthur and asked him to let Kyber go, he hurt me. He did horrible things to me. It wasn’t Kyber or the Sueni who hurt me, it was Arthur.”

  “Honey, Arthur said they’d brainwashed you, that you’re part of some cult or harem they recruit women for. We don’t…we don’t want to believe it, but all the things you’ve done lately have been crazy. You’re not acting like the Jana we know.” Her mom touched the screen, her gray eyes reflecting her worry and her desperation not to have to admit that Jana had had something horrible happen. It would take time, Jana knew, but that was their problem, not hers. She would be okay, truly, but not because she’d pretended it was so. Doing that had almost ended her life. If she had admitted to Kyber, to anyone, that things weren’t okay, would she have had to go through so many months of mental torture?

  Jana felt Kyber stiffen behind her, felt his concern for her pulse along their link. She pulled in a deep breath. “I’m not the Jana you knew, Mom. No one is forcing me to stay here, and everything I said is the truth. You’re going to have to deal with that whether you want to or not. I did. Craig died and that wasn’t okay, Arthur hurt me and that wasn’t okay. Bad things happen, and I can’t pretend they weren’t bad. It takes time to heal, to be okay inside, but those things were and always will be not okay.”

  “I know.” Her mother swallowed and looked aside, but Jana knew those two words were probably the hardest her mom had ever had to say. “I wish we could see you again. I miss you so much.”

  “I want to see you, too, Mom.” She pressed her fingers flat to the desk. She took another deep breath, then another. “Mom, no matter what Arthur says, the Sueni are not here to take over the planet. In fact, I know for sure that Kyber’s not going to stay here forever. When he leaves, I’m going with him.”

  A thought, a plan, formed in her mind. Turning, she held her hand out to Kyber. He took it without faltering, and that support warmed her. She smiled at him, pulled him into view of the imager, and perched on his lap. “Mom, Dad, this is Kyber.”

  Her parents paled, blindly reaching for each other. This was the monster Arthur had told them about. Jana’s stomach turned as she remembered her hateful words to him. It was Arthur who was the monster, not Kyber, no matter what beast lurked beneath the Kith’s surface. Her connection with him still vibrated with worry, his muscles were tense beneath her legs, but his voice was calm. “Mr. Townsend, Mrs. Townsend. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  Her father�
�s mouth opened and closed. Her mother’s voice was no more than a squeak. “Hello.”

  Jana twined her fingers with Kyber’s. “We’ll be leaving Earth in the next week, and I’ve decided that we’re taking you with us.” She recognized the regal edge to her voice as Kyber’s. How much of what she’d absorbed from him the day they’d bonded had helped her during the months they’d been apart? More than she’d understood until now. “This is not negotiable.”

  What do you think you’re doing, Jana? The tension in Kyber’s body doubled.

  She prayed he wouldn’t say anything to countermand her, that’d he’d go along with her until she could explain herself, and kept talking to her parents. “I know you’ll want to meet Kyber in person, so we’re coming to get you ourselves. Pack a bag, only the few things you can’t live without, and be ready for us tomorrow night.”

  It would take time, but like her connection with Kyber, she wanted the chance to rebuild her love for her parents on healthier, more solid ground. They all had a lot to learn, but they could do it together. She wanted all the people she loved with her. She wanted that time to make things better. Not perfect, but better.

  Her parents glanced at each other, their uncertainty obvious. Her father cleared his throat. “We…I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothing to say.” She reached out a hand to end the imager call. “I love you both, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Some emotion flickered in her father’s face, but was gone before she could discern what it meant. “I love you, pumpkin.”

  Her mom swallowed and looked like she was going to tear up again. “I love you, baby. Be safe.”

  “I am.” She ran her finger over the imager. “Good-bye.”

  Kyber’s hand tightened around hers. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”

  “Arthur wants to use the Sueni presence to start a war so he can stay in power.” She scooted around in his lap to face him. “It’s why he kidnapped you and hurt us both, right?”

  “Right.” His expression was closed, his gaze shadowed. The connection between them had narrowed to the point that nothing came through, and she couldn’t tell what he was feeling or thinking. He didn’t want her to know.

  She swallowed and pushed on. “We’ve always known Arthur kept my parents under constant surveillance since you were kidnapped, and I’m sure that’s increased since you escaped. He has to have bugged their house. He would have been listening. We’ve given Arthur an exact place and date when we’ll both be on Earth, in a place that he thinks is secured.”

  “You’re using us as bait to draw him out in the open.” Kyber’s eyebrows arched, a bitter smile kicking up one side of his mouth. “Knowing how he likes to handle this sort of thing himself once his victims are helpless.”

  “Right. He’ll have plenty of men there already, so we’ll be easy targets.” She bit her lip, waiting to see what he would say.

  His face remained that calm mask, telling her nothing as he stared at her. “This puts your parents at risk.”

  “They were at risk from the moment Arthur knew about them.” And she’d been so wrapped up in her own shit, so busy pretending nothing was wrong, she hadn’t done anything about that until now. She stomped down on the remorse, the self-doubt, the recrimination. She couldn’t change the past, not with her brother, with Kyber, with Arthur, or with her parents. She could only move forward from here and make the best decisions she knew how to make. That was one of her more recent breakthroughs. “I don’t know for sure that Arthur will show up, but we have to get my parents out of there anyway, so why not see if we can kill two birds with one stone?”

  Kyber snorted. “Arthur will be there. I have no doubts. He enjoys toying with his prey too much to miss the opportunity.”

  She squeezed his hand, trepidation and determination twisting tight within her. “Then let’s end this, once and for all.”

  Kyber tested his connection with Jana for the hundredth time. She still slept, dreaming in their bed, so he turned his attention to the gathering in front of him. He stood just inside the entrance to a wide hangar bay watching a dozen Guardians load explosives and other weapons into two shuttles. Bren and Farid consulted with each other over a small imager in Farid’s hand. There’d been cloud cover over most of the Midwestern United States all day, obscuring views of the Townsend home from even the Vishra’s powerful imagers. They had no way of knowing what Arthur had prepared for them down there, but a delay in mission would only give him more time to plot and put the Townsends in more danger.

  Six pilots slipped past Kyber to ready their fighter wings for takeoff. He’d wanted this mission to be small, but well armed. Too large an expedition, and he worried that Arthur would simply kill Jana’s parents and call the whole thing a loss. Their involvement complicated things, but they’d had no better opportunity to get close to Arthur since Kyber had escaped. He was too well guarded, constantly on the move lest Kyber come after him. A grin quirked Kyber’s lips. The man was evil, but he wasn’t stupid. The feline within Kyber purred in anticipation of the challenge, the hunt for a difficult quarry.

  It would all be over soon, one way or another. Kyber would be dead, or Arthur would.

  Or both.

  He turned at the sound of Tylara’s voice in the corridor outside the hangar. She and Johar stood toe-to-toe, and she folded her arms over her breasts. Her expression was calm, remote even, but her eyes gave her away. The midnight irises glowed almost white with the speed of the sparks boiling to the surface. “Of course, you have to do your duty. I didn’t say I didn’t understand, I said I didn’t like it.”

  “Yes, Admiral, I understand. You’re not upset or scared, you just don’t like it.” Johar snarled in her face, hackles rising even in his human form.

  Though he was more than certain Tylara could handle whatever situation might arise, Kyber folded his arms over his chest and propped his shoulder against the doorjamb nonetheless. “Is something amiss?”

  “Yes, sire.” Johar spoke first, cutting off Tylara’s negative headshake. “Tylara is begging to be spanked for her lack of faith in her One.”

  A delicate flush raced up the woman’s cheek, her anger rippled out in waves, but so did her self-doubt…and her desire. She was not worried or frightened by the man’s threat to spank her. In fact, she seemed titillated by the prospect. Kyber hiked up an eyebrow. It was things like this that usually kept him from delving too deeply into his people’s thoughts. Just because he could didn’t mean he should, or even that he wanted to know what went on in the minds of the people around him.

  A flush raced up her cheeks. “You almost died down there once.”

  “I’m not dead, but I have lost enough people that I loved to know that pushing away the things that mean the most to me is no way to live.” He caught her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him and only him. “Just as you have, I’ve witnessed firsthand how badly things can go in a One bond, but I have also seen how it can make you better, stronger. I want that, Tylara. I want that with you. My One.”

  Her voice was softer than Kyber had ever heard it. “I love you, too. You know I do.”

  “Perhaps. You also think I will walk away from you because it isn’t easy being bonded to a woman with more psychic power than I have. And you don’t trust me to keep control of the animal within me. You expect me to dissolve into madness like my younger brother did. You expect me to turn on you the way his twin turned on his One.” Johar ran his thumb over her lip, and she swayed toward him. “But I’m not my family. I am Johar Sajan and no other. And you, Tylara Belraj, are my One. I will have no other but you.”

  Her eyes closed, and her uncertainty rolled over Kyber in a wave. “What if I lose you? What if you don’t come back?”

  “Horrible things happen, my One, but they are no excuse not to live.” He pulled her flush against him, slid his fingers into her dark hair, and kissed her hard. Kyber turned away to give them some privacy. “When I come ba
ck, whole and in one piece, we’re going to bond, Tylara. No excuses, no more running.”

  Her laugh was almost a sob. “Come back to me whole and in one piece and I’ll do whatever you want. Just…come back to me.”

  “I always have, I always will.” Johar’s voice reached Kyber’s ears as he walked away.

  He entered the hangar with his head down, double-checking the razer strapped to his hip. It was a Class Nine weapon, designed to kill. He glanced up to meet his cousin’s gaze. Farid nodded, understanding of what was at stake this night in the older man’s eyes.

  Bren looked beyond Kyber toward the entrance. “Jana’s not with you?”

  The gathered Guardians paused, pinned their collective gazes on him, the same question in their eyes, and he tasted their relief that someone had asked. He fought a wince. “She won’t be joining us. She’s asleep.”

  The truth was she’d laid down for a nap and he’d sent her spiraling into deep slumber. He wasn’t willing to bring her on this mission. He couldn’t gamble with her life. Ever. She was too important to him. Her safety was too vital.

  Johar walked in to join the Guardians, grunted, and jerked his chin at them. Tylara was nowhere in sight, and Kyber sensed that she had gone back to the command deck of the Vishra.

  The Guardians hurried to finish belting their weapons on. They were a mix of Kith and Kin. Kyber had to assume Arthur would be deploying the same white noise machines that cancelled out Kith psychic ability.

  Johar had been working with Sueni scientists to find a way to counteract the static. Simple earplugs had only minimal effect, the sensitivity of Kith hearing meant their ears needed to be completely blocked to remain unaffected. Machines that emitted wavelengths to nullify the white noise had the opposite effect on Kith—they became raving beasts. Johar had decided half-bestial soldiers were less of a liability than deafened soldiers or rabid animals. They would have to take their chances with the static, but Kyber found it bitterly ironic that all their advanced technology was being thwarted by a simple Earthan noisemaker.