Tears welled in Jana’s eyes and she blinked fast to clear her vision. Her heart clenched hard and robbed her of breath. This was exactly what she’d always wished one of her parents would say to her, but the timing sucked. “Mom, seriously. I want to have this conversation, I really do, but not here and not now.”
Her mother blinked back tears, too, but her voice was level and calm. “I know, but just in case something happens tonight, I don’t want any of us to have regrets.”
Jana pulled her in for a tight, one-armed hug. As nice as it was to have her parents understand that they’d hurt her, she knew they’d had their own grief to work through. They were human, just like her. They made mistakes and had problems and weren’t perfect, just like her, but they could get better. They could take the good as well as the bad, and that was what made everything all right. She didn’t want to be perfect, she liked herself just as she was. It was a revelation a long time in coming, breaking through another of those walls in her mind, but better late than never. She smiled and breathed in the familiar scent of her mother’s hair. “I love you, Mom. We’re going to get through this, and we can finish this discussion on board the ship.”
“Okay.” Her mom squeezed her back, and her dad wrapped his arms around both of them, kissing the tops of their heads. “We love you, too, baby.”
Farid spoke softly from behind them, “Your Majesty, we need to move.”
They broke apart with an embarrassed laugh. Her dad patted her shoulder. “It’s going to take some getting used to with people calling you ‘Your Majesty.’”
“Don’t worry about it.” She shrugged and turned to tow her mom after their Kin Guardian. “You’re my family. You still call me Jana.”
She kept her gaze moving, watched for an attack, felt the ground rock beneath her as their fighter wings fired their razer cannons on something in the distance. An explosion lit the night sky, making the air around her vibrate. Farid snarled, and she winced in sympathy. The bombardment of noise wouldn’t be good for the half-feline Kith. The white noise that made a low hum throughout the town made her temples throb, so she didn’t want to imagine what it did to Farid.
She swallowed, trying to shove down her anxiety over what had happened to Kyber, where he was, what he was doing. The connection between them trailed to nothing, a deep void that scared her. It was worse than when he’d been kidnapped by Arthur. Then, the longer he was in the noise, the less she was able to sense him until he’d severed their One link entirely. Whatever they were using now had been amped up, because she’d lost all mental contact with him the moment they’d left the shuttle.
It shook her more than she’d like to admit.
“We’ve got company coming.” Farid’s voice jerked her out of her worry about Kyber and brought her back to the here and now. They took cover in some bushes beside the road, but it wouldn’t block a bullet. They were too exposed. Shit.
She adjusted her grip on her razer, tried to regulate her breathing and the way her heart had begun to race. Her hands only shook a little. “Protect my parents. They don’t know how to fight.”
Soldiers were on them in moments, bullets flying. Several went down in the charge, falling under the sizzling onslaught of razer fire. Farid shouted something else, some warning, but she didn’t catch it. She was too busy keeping herself planted between her parents and danger. Her mother screamed once, but other than that, her parents remained silent and stayed out of the way of those with weapons and the knowledge to use them.
Three soldiers went down before her razer before two more crashed through the bushes, driving her into a wide, grassy yard. Farid took her place in front of her parents, and she watched her father slug a man in the face. She almost grinned but snapped her focus back to the soldiers before her. They had their guns trained on her.
One barked at her, “Put your gun down and surrender.”
Yeah, right. She didn’t bother with a verbal response, just shot him in the thigh and sprinted across the lawn toward a small house. Bullets send dirt flying into her face, and she leaped for the cover of the wooden porch, twisting midair to fire at the second soldier. She hit her mark, and he screamed and went down.
Another man grabbed her arm from behind and smashed her hand into the porch railing. Her razer went tumbling under the deck and she felt his gun press under her ear. Slamming her head back into his face, she latched on to his forearm and pulled his pistol over her shoulder until she could bite down on his wrist. He shouted, dropping the gun. She kicked behind her, her boot heel making solid contact with his shin. Squirming free of his hold, she thrust the butt of her hand under his chin and snapped his head back. He stumbled away, into the front yard again, and she went after him. He pulled a huge, wicked knife from his utility belt. She swallowed and kept her gaze on the gleam of the blade in what little moonlight was revealed by scattered clouds.
He swiped at her, and she jumped out of his way. Their little dance took them in wide circles on the grass. Her muscles shook with strain, her breath racing in little pants. He lunged forward, slicing into her tunic, obviously expecting to hit skin. His eyes widened as his knife glanced off the mesh armor under her tunic.
“Technology rocks.” She jabbed her fingertips into his throat, crushing it. He hit the ground and she had to brace her hands on her knees for a moment. She was so tired, yet so much adrenaline hummed through her that she felt like her whole body was vibrating.
“Jana.” The low, gritty voice sent ice flowing through her veins.
She spun around, and there he was. Arthur. His craggy features, silver hair, and deep brown eyes might have been warm and friendly on any other man, but she’d seen the evil behind the mask.
Terror so huge it threatened to strangle her bloomed in her chest. She wanted to scream, to cry, to run, but it was far too late for that. So, instead of doing any of those things, she settled into the fighting stance Bren had drilled into her and waited for him to make his move.
His gaze tracked her, anticipation heating his gaze as he looked her over thoroughly. “You’re even prettier with your hair short, Jana.”
It was all she could do not to heave her guts up. She arched an eyebrow. “I’ll be sure to pass your compliments on to my husband. He’s been dying to hear from you again.”
He chuckled, and the sound scraped over her nerves like broken glass. They circled each other, each watchful for an opening. “Oh, we’ll catch up later. Don’t worry.”
“I won’t.” She forced herself to smirk, but sweat chilled on her skin and her teeth chattered a bit. She could smell her own fear.
Apparently, he’d had enough waiting because he charged her. She sidestepped and kicked his legs out from under him. The man was built like a bull, and went down hard. Rolling, he caught her ankle and jerked her off her feet. The breath exploded from her lungs as she crashed over onto her back.
And there it was, her worst nightmare revisited. Arthur on top of her, her helpless beneath him. Weak. But unlike the last time, she didn’t lie there and take it. If he was going to hurt her, she was going to hurt him back. She’d go down fighting, kicking and screaming instead of sobbing and begging. A fierce smile curved her lips while she pointed her fingers and drove the tips under his armored vest and into his side. He flinched away from the hard contact, and she took advantage, heaving him off her. She whipped her arm around, slamming her fist in his face. The crunch of bone and cartilage sickened her as his nose gave way.
He coughed and snorted up blood, lashing out with his foot to catch her in the hip. Pain rocketed through her, made black spots swim in her eyes. He rolled, straddling her waist. He slapped her hard across the face, and she felt her lip split. Blood coated her tongue, and her ears rang, but she couldn’t give up, couldn’t stop now.
His hands closed around her throat and she knew she was going to die. Just when she’d regained the will to live. Panic held her tight in its grip. Her vision darkened around the edges. Oh, God. She couldn’t breathe.
Twisting under him, she punched and clawed at him. Anything to break his grip. She bucked hard, lifting them both off the ground. Then her hand shot out and caught him in the balls. She grabbed him in a death grip, wrenching at his privates until the breath whistled from his throat like a teakettle. The harder he squeezed her throat, the harder her fist crushed his gonads. She might die, but she was taking the part of him she hated most with her.
A deep roar ripped through the sound of Arthur’s squealing, changed the expression on his face to pure horror in the blink of an eye. The hairs on the back of her neck rose in response, and her muscles tensed even further. She barely saw the blur of Kyber’s movement before his black-and-white-striped body hurtled its enormous bulk through the air and tumbled Arthur away from her.
She gagged for air, her throat burning, and she rolled into a fetal position on her side. Forcing her eyes to stay open, she saw Johar and Bren race up behind Kyber, handling the remaining soldiers who tried to shoot at the emperor. Farid and the Kin Guardian helped her shaken, but unharmed, parents to their feet. They all watched the feline Kyber slice into Arthur’s torso, ripping open the bulletproof jacket. Then the flesh parted under those deadly talons and fangs, and there was more blood coming from one body than she’d ever imagined possible. The general’s screams echoed down the street, all the more terrifying for their helplessness. Bones broke under the weight of Kyber’s massive paws. He snapped his jaw around Arthur’s neck, shaking the general’s body like a ragdoll. The shrieks cut off, and the silence made her shiver.
He continued to drag his prey around by the neck long after it was dead, shaking the carcass crushed between his curved fangs.
“Kyber,” she whispered, but no actual sound came from her bruised and swollen throat. She coughed, and agony screamed through every inch of her. Stumbling to her feet, she swayed for a moment before she got her balance. Her father reached out to steady her, but she held up her hand to stop him.
Limping over to Kyber, she set her hand on his shoulder. Even at his most monstrously feral, at his most enraged, at his least controlled, she trusted him not to hurt her, not to turn on her. And that, finally, was the answer she’d been waiting for. This deep, unquestioning faith in him. She tangled her fingers in his silky fur and tugged. Her voice was barely more than a hoarse croak, but she knew he’d hear her. “Kyber, stop. Drop him.”
His hackles raised and he growled low in his throat, but he leaned ever so slightly into her touch. She stroked her fingers down his neck, crooning reassurances to him. “It’s all right, my One. It’s over. Put his body down. It’s over. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
He gave one last vicious shake before he flung Arthur’s corpse far from them. Tears of relief streaked down her cheeks and she collapsed to her knees beside him. She smiled when he turned to her and buried his muzzle in her chest, a shudder wracking his body. It was over. It was finally, finally over.
Whatever happened to them, whatever they did to each other, she knew they’d never damage each other the way they had again. They had survived the worst. Arthur was a nightmare they could put behind them.
Staying with Kyber was one thing, but she was ready for the whole bond whenever he was. Even with the white noise blaring, she knew the wall on her side of their connection crumbled to nothing. She trusted herself to make it through whatever came at them and trusted Kyber with her life, her heart, her soul.
She loved him, she always had, she always would. The truth she had known the first time her eyes had met his hit her full-force. It was staggering in its simplicity. Kyber belonged to her, and she belonged to him.
The rest they would conquer. Together.
7
Kyber didn’t know how long he’d slept, but it was deep, peaceful, dreamless slumber. He awoke in his bed, naked and wrapped around his equally naked mate. Jana’s feminine scent made him hum in the back of his throat, and he buried his nose in the crook of her neck. The sheer feline lassitude that lulled his body into boneless relaxation beckoned once more, and he closed his eyes.
When he came to alertness again, it was to see Jana’s beautiful face bathed in starlight from the skylight in their quarters.
He propped himself on one elbow, content to watch her sleep. Her chest rose and fell in the rhythm of deep slumber, and their link told him that she dreamed of him and the last time they had loved. His cock came to rigid attention at the erotic images flowing through her mind. A smile that was entirely smug crossed his face. Was there anything sweeter than knowing your woman had been well-satisfied and would likely be so again as soon as she awakened? He couldn’t think of anything that could please him more at the moment.
Except, of course, renewing the bond with his One.
But there was time for that. Relief, profound and deep, wound its way through him. He hadn’t earned any second chances, but destiny had blessed him more than he could ever have guessed, certainly more than he would have supposed when he’d been on his knees in chains. That was the past, and it would remain there. He had his One in his arms, his enemy lay dead by his hand, and he had time. Time to win her again, time to heal from all that he had suffered, time to help his people grieve for those they had lost.
“Mmm.” Jana stretched her arms above her head, pointed her toes and arched her back, her body bowing off the gelpad. Her gray eyes opened and a grin curved her lips when she looked up at him.
He smiled at her, stroked back the dark flames of her hair, and dipped forward to kiss her. She hummed again, her palms lifting to cup his face. Their lips clung for a long moment before he let her up for air and grinned down at her. “Hello, my One. Did you sleep well?”
“I did.” Tears misted her eyes, and a smile trembled at the corners of her mouth. “You make a wonderful body pillow.”
“A profession the prophets never envisioned for me, I’m sure.” He tried to keep his tone teasing and light, but the sight of moisture welling in her eyes made his chest tighten. He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. “Something has upset you. Tell me and I’ll make it right.”
“You already did.” She ran her fingers up his arm.
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“You saved me.” Her nails dragged gently over his shoulder, raising goose bumps on his skin and hardening his dick even further. “You made everything as right as it can be.”
“I told you that you weren’t allowed to die until I said so.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “Nothing has happened to change that, my empress.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” A grin flashed over her face. Her hand stroked through his hair, and he leaned into her caresses. Her gaze searched his face and her smile faded. “Thank you. I don’t know if I ever told you that. I’m glad you stopped me from killing myself, I’m glad you took me with you to Earth, and I’m glad you saved me from Arthur.”
“I wish I had saved you from him the first time, that he had never had a chance to touch you.” He bowed his head, allowing himself to feel the regret of all the things he hadn’t managed to do, accepting the parts of this horror that had been his doing, and then set it aside. He couldn’t erase the past, couldn’t bring back those who had needlessly died, but he could learn from his mistakes and vow to embrace all of himself—man and beast—embrace his future, his destiny, and never to repeat those errors again. He owed it to all of them, and to his father who had sacrificed his life for him so long ago, to be the best emperor he could be, the best mate to his One, the best man he could be.
“Shh.” She ran her palms down his chest, her fingertip circled his nipple. “There’s no room for sorrow and regrets between us. There’s only tomorrow and all the days after that to strengthen our bond.”
“Yes. I want that, too.” He nodded, meeting her beautiful eyes. More kindness and understanding shone in them than he could ever earn. Gratitude gripped him tight.
Lust followed swiftly on its heels as she curled her leg over his h
ip. He could be half-dead and he’d still react to her. He wouldn’t have it any other way. The scent of her moisture reached him, and he dipped the head of his cock into her passage, rubbing himself over her slick lips. She was drenched for him already, and he groaned. He sank into her, his cock stretching her channel until he was hilt-deep inside of her pussy. “Jana.”
Her eyes flared wide, her breath catching. She arched herself into him until her breasts pressed to his chest. “Kyber.”
“Jana.” This time his voice was little more than a satisfied purr. Her passion pumped through their connection, and he clenched his teeth, his fangs clacking together. I crave you, my One.
“Me, too.” Her eyes grew damp again, but she tightened her leg around his waist.
He went utterly still, fearing he’d hurt her. Sucking in a breath, he tried to regain control of his rampaging desire. The beast struggled against the restraint. “And that’s why there are tears in your eyes?”
“No. Yes.” She gave a soft, breathy laugh. “I like that you called me your One. Not long ago, I never could have imagined you calling me that again. I want to be your One in every way.”
He stared at her in stunned silence for long moments. When he spoke, it was slowly and carefully. He didn’t want to make any assumptions that would scare her into withdrawal. They had already come so far in so short a time. “You mean…that you want to open our bond again? Fully?”
Her chin dipped in a nod. “Yes.”
Uncertainty assailed him. He knew what he wanted, what he was willing to endure to have back what he had taken for granted the day he’d met her. Anything. For her? Anything. Except losing her again. He had to be sure. “You realize that we’ll do other things to hurt each other, don’t you? That I might make more mistakes that bring you pain?”
“Kyber, you’re not perfect, I know that. I don’t want someone who’s perfect because God knows I’m not. And that’s just fine by me. I don’t need some fairy tale. This is better than that.” She squeezed her inner walls around him, and he hissed. She grinned. “We both made mistakes and we’ll probably make a lot more, but the kind of man I want to spend my life with is one who’ll set things right when he finds out he’s done something wrong. You’ve done that every time. You’re who I want, mistakes and all.”
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