Neither of his previous mates had lasted much longer than a century no matter what care he had taken to preserve them. The only thing Dorian had not done was to share his life force, but that was altering the greater plan all beings participated in too much. His beliefs forbade it. True—with the first human mate he hadn’t known how to do it, and with the second there had never been sufficient motivation.
At the end of each mate’s life span, Dorian had grieved the loss of them from his life until he was mad with it. Caring, losing, and grieving was not a cycle that he wished to repeat. The last thing he’d expected was to so quickly find yet another mating connection when Gwen had joined Liam’s crew. Getting over the loss of his last mate was one of the reasons he had taken a post on the ship to begin with.
When Liam’s head came forward and his eyes opened again, Dorian’s attention came out of his thoughts of mating Gwen to marvel at the change in his long-time friend. Liam Synar had been a student where Dorian had been teaching. In his face now, Dorian saw someone he had not seen in a while. He saw a male who knew his true purpose, someone excited about life again. Even the air around Liam shimmered with an expanding quantum of possibilities.
No wonder he felt needs within himself awakening, Dorian decided. His close connection to Liam would naturally involve that kind of energy sharing.
“I feel the power again,” Synar said, looking at Dorian, his eyes fluctuating, pupils changing shapes as the familiar energy filled him once more.
Synar knew Dorian would understand that the demon was calling to him. Though he loathed the dark power he’d inherited from his father, Synar had also missed it in the time they had been apart. Never having wanted to wield such power, his last use of the demon to kill those that had almost killed his mate made it obvious that everyone was safer when Synar was away from his demon’s host.
“If anyone has harmed as much as one hair on her, I will see to their deaths before Malachi has a chance to seek his revenge,” Synar said viciously, forgetting his audience as he searched his intuition for answers to concerns that threaten to eclipse all other thoughts.
Dorian smiled, understanding that bald truth for what it really meant. It wasn’t the demon that Liam was worried about, but rather the demon’s host.
Gwen’s eyebrows shot up as she unbuckled her safety harness and stood. What the hell had happened to Synar’s voice while he meditated?
“Synar? What did you say?” Gwen demanded, needing to ask before she imploded from the need to know what was going on.
Ignoring Gwen and her question, Synar walked impatiently to the shuttle door. He was out of the craft before the landing plank had even fully lowered.
Dorian put a hand on Gwen’s shoulder to stop her from following.
“Hold the demands sitting on your tongue and use your eyes instead,” he ordered, concern for Gwen’s mental state overwhelming him once more. “At the moment, Liam is not the captain you normally serve. Remain as stoic as you can so as not to distract Liam from what he must do today.”
“What do you mean?” Gwen demanded.
“It is not for me to say,” Dorian returned, clamping down on his urge to tell her everything, to warn her about what was to come. “For once in your bloody life, Commander, use your intuition for the greater good.”
Gwen jerked away from Zade’s grip and stalked to the door, not willing to take advice from a male who continually counseled her like she was a child. It irked her that Synar let him get by with his disrespect.
When they all got out of the shuttle, Gwen could see they had landed in a barren area just outside what appeared to be a city. Looking around, she saw there were other shuttles, like some gigantic parking lot in a desert.
She saw the two suns in the sky and the one giant moon rising nearby. She knew they were in what Earth called the Taurus constellation of her own galaxy, but she couldn’t believe they were on the planet they were on. It was one of the most peaceful planets in recorded history and one known for it’s benevolence to all.
“Is this really Pleiades?” Gwen asked Synar sharply, who to her consternation just continued to ignore her.
Heaving a sigh of resentment at Synar’s lack of response, she glanced over her shoulder at Dorian who nodded briefly in answer.
At least it was a planet that had been among the first to adopt the English language, Gwen thought, so she’d be able to hear and understand what was said. She looked over to Synar who was staring ahead, his eyes unfocused and all but glazed over. She wasn’t sure he’d even come out of his meditative state. Gwen pulled herself up straighter, prepared to do what was necessary.
“Captain, this is a peaceful planet of the Alliance. Why have we landed an hour’s walk from the city instead of inside its walls?” Gwen challenged because she was the only one on the crew who could.
Synar turned to glare at her, and Gwen swallowed hard but did not back down from her right to ask him questions. In fact, it was her duty to question him.
“If the crew is at risk, I want to know,” she said sternly, keeping her voice as calm and cold as possible.
“The crew is not at risk. You are not at risk. I am working to make sure that remains true. I needed time to prepare to use my power again—that’s all,” Synar said, his gaze boring into hers. “Could we make the walk in silence while I do so?”
What power was he talking about? His Norblade warrior tendencies? Synar was not making any sense, but after searching, Gwen found her intuition wasn’t sending off any loud alarms yet.
With Zade’s advice to use her eyes suddenly seeming to be not only her best option but her only one, Gwen nodded once to let Synar know she accepted his statement. Then to reassure the crew, Gwen lifted her hand to the dirty road, sweeping it to indicate they would all follow.
Gwen watched Synar stalk off, leaving them to follow or not. It was obvious that her captain didn’t really care at this point.
The biggest part of Synar’s attention seemed to be on wherever they were going.
Contemporary books by this author
Dating A Cougar
Book One of the Never Too Late Series
Dating Dr. Notorious
Book Two of the Never Too Late Series
Dating A Saint
Book Three of the Never Too Late Series
Dating A Metro Man
Book Four of the Never Too Late Series
Dating A Silver Fox
Book Five of the Never Too Late Series
Carved In Stone
Book One of the Art of Love Series
Created In Fire
Book Two of Art of Love Series
Captured In Ink
Book Three of Art of Love Series
Commissioned In White
Book Four of Art of Love Series (novella)
The Right Thing
Single Title (non-series)
Paranormal/SciFi books by this author
The Demon of Synar
Book One of the Forced To Serve Series
The Demon Master’s Wife
Book Two of the Forced To Serve Series
The Siren’s Call
Book Three of the Forced To Serve Series
The Healer’s Kiss
Book Four of the Forced To Serve Series
Commissioned In White (Art of Love Series) Page 20