Brax

by Kelly Lucille

"Then you can order the Tellox off Earth, return the women being held to their homes and help the Earth government set up some kind of protection against future raids."

  He blinked at her far-reaching plans. "And how do you propose I manage what you say?" he asked as he continued to enjoy the quickness of her mind. "The first two maybe, but the last?"

  "You have shield technology that could protect the planet from even the Tellox. If the Earth had it, they would be safe."

  "And how,” Brax asked grimly, suddenly losing his easy enjoyment of his mate. "Would you know about Tellox defense capabilities?"

  When she did not answer, just began to get up, he pulled her back down and for the first time really looked inside her head. Not just her feelings but her thoughts, what she was attempting to hide from him.

  Ariel struggled trying to separate them mentally and physically so that they ended up wrestling over the bed until he had her firmly trapped beneath his big body. He found her memories and dived like he was plunging head first into dangerous waters. When he saw what she had managed to do with the teacher he cursed and fought back his instinctual fear for her. He did not have to tell her how much danger the information she had would have been if his brother had been the one to mate her in truth.

  But Ariel was nothing if not pragmatic, and while she found she could not keep him out of her thoughts and emotions she could and did return the favor, diving head first into his own memories and thoughts. She just did not expect the fact-finding mission to form even more bonds between them. She surfaced from his past with the blackness and death that had been his life for longer than she had been alive screaming through her mind. The light of finding his mate after the darkness was almost painfully sweet.

  She felt exactly what it meant for him to have found a mate. She did not notice the tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. Not until he did. Not until he was moved unbearably by them. She could not remember the last time she had cried, and he understood that. He had seen it. He understood they were for him. He knew it and accepted them tenderly kissing them off her face with near reverence while she gasped for breath and tried to corral her out of control emotions and think. Not so easy to do cuddled naked with the hardened warrior who had never known softness, bestowing such tender appreciation on her.

  The way he touches me. She tried and failed to ignore the need that smoldered between them just waiting for a spark to ignite it once again.

  She knew two things absolutely. She would never be free of this man, and two, he would never help her keep other Tellox from finding what he himself had found.

  Oh, he would protect her with his last breath, she knew that as well as she knew that he would kill brutally and efficiently any and all who would stand between them, but he would not help the Earth. He would not betray his people to save hers.

  As bound together as they now were, she had never felt more alone.

  CHAPTER SIX

  "You've found out that the future of your race is dependent on the females of Earth and your idea is to let your people attack us?" Her voice was scathing, as she flopped down onto the low couch and crossed her arms. "I wonder that you Tellox were able to traverse the stars with brains like this."

  She had started in as soon as they woke again, and he started to make plans to get them out of there. She was dressed in what she considered casual space uniform, a tunic and leggings made of nearly the same weightless soft fabric as the bedding was made of.

  She was barefoot, something that she knew distracted Brax by the way he kept studying the pearl pink nail polish on her toes. It was a left over from the last time she had gotten together with her sisters and been conned into what they called girl time. Which she called a waste of time, but secretly enjoyed.

  Ariel glared at him, willing him to listen, when his eyes once again drifted. He was on a slow burn and projecting which she was trying to ignore in favor of harping incessantly until he saw her way. She would say this for the man. He had kept his temper and his libido in check for longer than she thought he would.

  Her plan was a simple one, talk until he either changed his mind and changed the king’s orders from outright war to stealth, or until he got angry enough to storm out of the room for some peace. She needed him gone if he was not going to change his mind. She had a simple, though admittedly problematic plan to take action herself if he would not stir himself. Hell, even if he did she would take any chance given to change the odds in her people’s favor.

  He growled low in warning, but she ignored it. She was past her fear of him. One thing she had learned in her delving of his mind was that he was not Rygan. He would never hurt her. It was fear of herself she was dealing with now. It would be too easy to settle into this belonging between them and let the rest go. But she had never been a quitter, or a coward. And no matter what bonds their freaky DNA had formed she was still Ariel Bird. She would never settle peacefully into mediocrity while she breathed. Her sister Sara called it her megalomaniac complex, but she got things done and that was all that mattered.

  "Has it occurred to you that you will be killing the very women you hope to steal?"

  "The men will not kill any of the females," he said exasperated. "We are not animals without thought."

  "Evidence to the contrary,” she muttered thinking of Rygan.

  He growled again but let it pass. Knowing exactly who she was referring to. He brushed along her mind again, but she managed to keep what she wanted to keep hidden locked away. If he really wanted to he could force the issue but for now he was giving her the space she needed. And probably he did not want to read the same arguments in her head that she was not shy about telling him out loud.

  "What if the mates your men need are not in this generation?"

  He finally stopped his scribbling on the com pad in his hands and turned to contemplate her. "Explain."

  "What if the mates you are looking for are in the next generation of humans to be born? The histories on the teacher made it sound as if it was not unheard of for a male to wait hundreds of years for his mate in some cases. We females cannot create the next batch of blood mates for you, without males to help, in this case human males."

  "You're reaching." But he was thinking about it.

  "You kill a man, his mate is not a blood mate, but maybe her children to come would be, or her grandchildren, but we will never know because now she dies without conceiving, and you have a warrior without a blood mate. And what of the children he would have made? How will that affect future generations? You did say there was only one blood mate per in the whole of existence. How many have you already destroyed warring with Earth, your future in-laws?"

  "And what is your alternative; keep my men from looking for their mates. It can't be done. Now that they know where to look they will be hunting with or without permission, and I would not withhold it having found what they seek." His eyes trailed over her, possession simmering in his gaze. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She needed to distract him fast. It was too easy to lose focus when he looked at her like that.

  "There has to be a way that your men can search for their mates without causing any collateral damage. You people can be invisible, use a little tact. How do you recognize a blood mate? Surely you don't just try women on like shoes until you find the right fit?"

  He smiled at that and it was clear from the pulsing waves of desire flowing over her that all this talk of mates and claiming was working on his libido. Which in turn was sparking hers.

  But he answered her questions without pouncing; she just didn't know how long he would. She could feel the sexual heat building even as they both pretended it wasn't there.

  "A man is drawn to his mate as if he must have her rather than his next breath. As I want you. It is not something easy to describe, other than to say you know when you feel it. You know the heat of a mating call; how would you describe it?"

  She was breathing hard she realized, there was a whole room between them, but she
could feel his touch wherever his eyes drifted. He was seducing her with a look, setting fire to her blood. Ugh. Focus.

  "Like an awakening." He continued. "An animal need to possess, until all you feel, all you see is the need to mate, and then the taste of blood, hers and yours, mingling like lava in your veins, burning you from the inside out, until you feel everything that the other feels. You can describe is as well as I."

  She tried very hard to ignore the call of his voice, his desire. She stood, agitated, pacing around the room, but always with him in view should he pounce. Her voice was not steady when she finally cleared away enough haze in her mind to form a complete sentence.

  "Why not send them in invisible, in small groups, with orders not to let anyone know they are around. They could move freely looking for their mates. It would work better than just to show up and start your usual brawling and growling. That leads to fighting, and bloodshed, and the very women you want could be killed or hidden. You said yourself an unmated warrior eventually will give up hope, and it’s already been what? A thousand years give or take? How long before they start going bad like your brother, especially if others are finding their mates? Seems like that would send some warriors right over the edge."

  She was literally shaking with the need to touch him; her words were coming faster and faster as the desire inside her built to unbearable. She felt the need surfacing trying to take over, her body calling for its mate, and he just stood there as hard as steel, watching her, feeling her fight it. Bastard.

  "People could live their lives never knowing you and your men were back. A few women disappearing every now and then would not cause the panic that your full force return would."

  "Come here." The words were growled, and she felt them all the way down her spine, every nerve ending shouting YES!

  She turned to make another circuit of the room. Ariel knew she was being obvious, moving too fast, her hands bunching together and twisting with each step. She would not look at him.

  "Look at what's already happening, people dying, a panic. A woman one of you hopes to mate sits in your prison and mourns the brother your people killed right in front of her. Now you expect her to mate with one of you? You want to keep kidnapping a bunch of wives and mothers, sisters, daughters while their families die at your hands? They won't stand for it. They'll fight."

  He took a single step toward her, all seven feet of hard muscle and pulsing desire. She ignored him with a herculean effort.

  "They'll fight and die, and your blood mates or future blood mates will die with them. And you could have prevented it; with a little brain not brawn you could have what you wanted without endangering my people..." She hadn't heard him move again, but when she turned to do her next frantic circuit of the room, she rammed into a hard naked chest, his arms circling her waist and lifting her until her feet dangled a foot off the floor and they were eye to eye.

  "They are not your people anymore," he growled, and she could feel his dissatisfaction at her word choice.

  It was like coming home to be back in his arms. It would almost be easier if she could hate him.

  "Yes, you have what you want." Her words were bitter but soft, "But my family..."

  "I am your family, me," He shook her, possessive rage coming over him from out of nowhere. Using one hand to hold her and the other to pull back her head so that his eyes were a fiery inescapable brand of ownership. "Do you think I cannot feel you wanting to go back to Earth? You will forget what you left behind, do you think they would have you now if you could go back. You are Tellox, an enemy."

  She did her own tugging as his hair was the only thing she had to loose her frustration on. "I'm not asking you to send me back, and I know what I have become, I don't need you to tell me that. Do you think I can't feel you coursing through my blood, my mind? That I don't know that I have become a wild thing? Instead of a person of logic and science? You don't have to tell me that, Tellox, I know it well enough." She breathed in on a shudder, still trying to ignore the feel of him along her entire length. It was frustrating beyond belief for him to bludgeon her with this when she fought to keep some part of herself unchanged.

  "Just think about what I said, if you are capable of thought," she snapped out the last part like a whip angry at them both for circumstances that could not be changed. "People don't have to die for your warriors to get what they want, and it..." Her head dropped down to his shoulder, the fight just flowing out of her. Her arms went tightly around his neck as she finished bitterly. "It doesn't have to always be war."

  "Yet you continue to fight." His hold became painful; he could feel her struggle, her need to run from him, from what she felt for him. "I wait for the moment when you will come to me, touch me without this fight you insist on in your mind. When you will look at me without this conflict in your heart. You still think of them. Running back to them, your love for them. For that I could gladly annihilate them all."

  She stilled, the coldness of his words and the feelings behind it sending ice down her spine, she pulled back. She looked into his eyes, just a small breath apart, she felt her stomach plummet. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

  Her hands framed his face gently, her eyes searching, trying to find a way through his anger and need to dominate. "You have me, you have hope for your warriors, a future for your people, for..." she swallowed. "for... our people. Can't that be enough? Let the bloodshed end, if not for the people of Earth then for the Tellox. You can gain nothing from more killing, and they are not an enemy you need to fight."

  His grip on her hair became more painful. "You try to manipulate me."

  "You feel what I feel. I cannot lie to you. You know what I'm saying is true."

  The anger just seemed to leak out of him. "I weary of battle." His words were simple, but she could feel his frustration and soul deep weariness. He was talking more to himself than her when he continued low. "Must even this be a fight?"

  Then he placed her on her feet gently and walked out of the room. She was still blinking at the door in confusion when she realized she had no idea if she had won or lost that fight. She did know she felt guilty, she shouldn't, she assured herself. She was trying to save lives, and she was not wrong damn it.

  Now that he was gone, she reflected morosely, all she wanted was to call out to him in her mind and get him back.

  But she still had a job to do. And this might be her one shot at it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Ariel went to the main computer complex where she knew extra coms, shields and teleport tech could be found. There were few Tellox on board that were not working on the bridge or engineering. Just enough to ensure the safety of the ship, but the tension was high. Every Tellox she passed bowed their heads respectfully as their eyes burned with their own needs to hunt. They did not speak to her and she had a feeling the sight of her was both a benediction and a curse for them.

  Even with access to Brax's memories she could not have done what she was about to do without her time with the teacher. Memories were not a good way to learn tech for obvious reasons. She knew the Tellox language, her way around the ship and the best way to break a choke hold from Brax. But the tech side of things? What she would be using next was something he did without thinking about it.

  The way she saw her plan was two pronged. Get the info she needed on a portable disk or memory card, the Tellox equivalent and teleport it and herself to Earth without being stopped. And she needed time to make it happen without Brax following right away. She would need time to explain and for the person she was giving the information to leave without being discovered by the furious Tellox that would follow her.

  First things first though.

  She entered the main communications room. If she had not been on a mission to save the world, she might have rubbed her hands in glee at the look and feel of all the tech and com stations in the room, just buzzing with energy.

  A Tellox male turned to look at her. He was nearly as big as Brax, shades
of gold, eyes, skin and hair, like the rest of them. This one sported a zigzagging scar down one side of his face that disappeared into his hair line.

  "You should not be here." He growled, diverting his eyes from her feminine form. "You should return to your room."

  She stepped in and the door closed behind her. He started forward twice and stopped. It was clear he did not want to touch her. After the first once over he had yet to even look at her directly. She walked over to the terminal she needed and the large Tellox stumbled away from it and her as if she had a deadly disease that was highly contagious. She could use this.

  "I won't touch anything. I just want to look around."

  "You are not allowed in here. Leave at once." He stood as far away from her as he could, clearly in a predicament. They were not to look, let alone touch and certainly being alone in a room with her was very very bad.

  To touch the blood mate of another meant death. The laws had not been necessary in a few millenniums, but all knew of them. But how to get her out of here without touching her?

  "You will leave now."

  "No." She sat down at the terminal and crossed her legs. His eyes were caught by the sight of her still bare feet and pink polish. He jerked around so fast he almost ran into the wall. What was with these guys and polished toes?

  "I am very sick of all of you telling me what to do. I think I'll just hang out here until Br…Rygan comes for me. Feel free to continue whatever you were doing." She had almost said Brax and swallowed the lump the near fatal mistake had caused in her throat. The guard did not seem to notice her almost blunder. He was too focused on his own worries. He very nearly had his back to her, he certainly was trying his hardest not to see her. Big monster of a Tellox and he acted like she was his worst nightmare.

  While he was distracted by the back wall she reached under the table, pushed the sequence to open the silent flap from Brax’s memories, and closed her hands around the displacer. She thumbed the gun into what she hoped was a stun position and not kill. Hiding it beneath the extra folds of her pant fabric she turned and faced the Tellox fully.