Jasmine’s head was still ringing. “You killed my mother?”
“She wasn’t your mother,” he growled. “I killed my mate because of you, you ungrateful little bitch. I’ve had reports of how easily you submit to this Garathani offal, and now you can submit to me, for once.”
That was it. Ragan King was a dead man.
An arm looped around her neck and Jasmine reacted instinctively, throwing the man over her shoulder. He landed with a heavy thud and groaned. She kicked him in the face until he lay still.
Ragan’s eyes widened. “Impressive.”
“You’re next,” she promised coldly.
“I don’t think so.” Siri aimed Shauss’ ray gun at her.
Jasmine dropped into a crouch and shoved her father’s legs out from under him just as the weapon discharged. He landed on her back like a sack of cement, knocking the breath out of her, but she rolled him off her in a massive surge of adrenaline and leaped on him again, punching him in face with enough force to split his nose.
A wave of hot energy buzzed past her head as the woman fired once more, and Jasmine rolled, pulling Ragan King’s limp body in front of her.
“Siri,” another male voice gasped. “Mark is dead!”
“No!” she screamed. “No!”
“The mission has failed, Siri,” he said. “We must leave here before they come.”
She turned and fired. Clutching a burning hole the size of a fist in his chest, the man gasped and fell over.
Then Siri refocused on Jasmine. “You Garathani bitch, you will die for this.”
Jasmine glared back. “You first.”
“Die!” Siri screamed, firing again.
Jasmine shoved Ragan King toward the woman just as the weapon’s discharge blew a huge hole though him. Shaking with fear, she dived into a barrel roll and tumbled across the floor. Her fingers brushed the scalpel and she paused mid-crouch to grab it up. Before she could stand, a hand grabbed her by the hair and shoved the weapon under her chin.
“Now you die,” Siri ground out.
Jasmine brought her arm up with a loud kiai and buried the scalpel in the older woman’s face. Siri fell to the ground, twitching, and Jasmine grimaced when she saw her—she’d driven the thing right into her eye.
Terrified panting grabbed her attention. “Shauss!”
“Help me!”
She scrambled for the table. “I’m here, it’s okay,” she breathed, kissing his face and his lips. “They’re gone. They can’t hurt you.”
When he took a shuddering breath and quieted, she grabbed his hand and kissed all his fingertips. Then she looked around and snatched up his uniform, which was crumpled in the corner. Draping it over as much of his trembling body as it would cover, she wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed hot, moist air on his cold cheek.
“Don’t leave me here,” he whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said soothingly. “Everything will be fine, I promise.”
A moment later Kellen pivoted through the entrance, his weapon raised. When he saw her, he gave a jerk of his head and Tiber slipped in behind him, also pointing a weapon. They scanned the room, taking in the carnage with wide eyes before venturing farther into the mine shaft.
“Are you all right?” Tiber asked.
“Help him! There’s some kind of a neural trap holding him.”
Kellen looked around and then fired at a box mounted in the corner. Sparks flew as it exploded and the lights went out.
Shauss jerked and then his cold arms closed around her. “J-Jasmine?”
“What, Shauss? I’m here. Everything’s fine.”
“You d-d-disob-beyed me.”
She chuckled, nuzzling his ear. “Damn right I did, and I’d do it again to keep you safe.”
Tiber and Kellen worked in the near dark to haul him up off the table, and then Tiber wrapped his arms around them both. Just as the flare bubble engulfed them, he planted a loud kiss on her temple, and said, “Remind me never to back you into a corner.”
Chapter Twenty
“How is Shelley?” Jasmine asked Monica over lunch in the minister’s dining room.
She and Shauss had slept through breakfast. He hadn’t made love to her but she could hardly complain, considering what he’d been through yesterday. He had kissed her and held her body tightly against his in those precious five seconds before he passed out and slept like the dead for eighteen hours. And their quick shower this morning, during which he’d soaped and rinsed her without a word, had held all kinds of dominant promise.
A promise she wasn’t taking for granted just yet.
“She’s completely out of it.” Monica shook her head in sympathy. “She had no idea he was Narthani.”
“How could she not know?”
“He didn’t have a spur.” At Jasmine’s wide-eyed look, she said, “I know, I know, but apparently the spur is a recessive trait and boys with Narthani mothers and human fathers don’t have a spur.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. She’s freaked out and keeps trying to go into labor. I don’t know how long we can hold it off. The nurses are giving her lots of TLC, but I’m going to go back and check on her as soon as I’m done here.” Monica polished off a big glass of milk and then wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her suit. At Jasmine’s arch look, she said, “What? If they can’t give me a napkin, I’m damn well going to use my sleeve.”
Jasmine could only smile and hope that Monica never changed.
“Oh, and did you hear?” Monica tossed an arch look of her own across the table at Kellen. “Turns out that Empran was hacked. By Mark. That’s how he could get around without being detected by Empran. Of course it made opening doors and turning on lights a bitch, but I guess that was a small price to pay for being invisible.”
“Empran wasn’t hacked, my love. Bonham simply uploaded some additional code.”
She rolled her eyes. “What the fuck do you think hacking is, Kellen?”
“The deficiencies in Empran’s sensory protocols and the cerecom system have been rectified and I’m confident there will no further breaches.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll take my iPod, please.”
Zannen stepped behind Monica and she shivered when he trailed a huge hand over her neck and shoulder. “You might want to be nice to him, Dr. Smart Mouth. We have plans for you tonight and if you piss him off, he may not even try to keep me in line.”
“You don’t scare me, you big, bald cream puff.”
He leaned down and his breath ruffled her hair for an instant before he rose and continued on his way.
Deep pink stained Monica’s cheeks and she stared at her plate, speechless.
Confused, Jasmine asked, “Are you okay?”
Monica looked up at Kellen. “Why did I hear him in my head?”
“Because your cerecom implant has fully integrated into your nervous system. I’ve been hearing you all week,” he told her with a grin.
“Say what?”
“I heard you the first time when you were shrieking about the block that ate Ketrok. That’s when I hear you most often, when you’re shouting out loud as well. You should have heard what you were thinking when Zannen claimed you,” he added.
“Thanks for the bulletin, asshole.” Her glare should have set his head on fire. “So that’s how you knew about, um, Hastion.”
He just smiled as her face turned red again.
“So who else has been listening to me?”
“Only Empran and I have had access to your cerecom transmissions, and after we bonded, Zannen. You’ll need to learn to control and direct your transmissions as soon as possible so that you can send and receive from the rest of the crew as necessary.”
“I’ll get right on that.” She blew a raspberry at him. “So did Jasmine get an implant too?”
Jasmine started—she’d been wondering the same thing. Maybe hers was transmitting to Monica already.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Tiber
said. “Although, thankfully, hers hasn’t integrated enough to transmit yet. If she’d transmitted yesterday within range of Ragan King’s neural trap, he’d have captured her cerecom signature and used neural restraints on her as he did Shauss.”
Her stomach twisted. “That wouldn’t have been good.”
“So, Miss King,” the minister began from the head of the table.
Jasmine shuddered. “Would you mind calling me Jasmine, Minister? I’ve developed an intense diversion to that name.”
“An understandable reaction,” he said. “According to our protocol, you are officially Jasmine, third house Andagon.”
She tested it on her tongue. “Jasmine Andagon.”
“Can you live with that?” Shauss asked.
She smiled at him. “I can live with that.”
“Getting back to my original query, Jasmine,” the minister continued, “what do you plan to do with the rest of your life?”
She looked to Shauss for some input, but he just watched her with intense eyes, saying nothing.
“I want to be wherever Shauss is,” she said tentatively, hoping he wanted that too.
“Females are not allowed to accompany their warrior mates on military missions,” Cecine said.
“Oh.” Well that sucked.
“However, I believe you could serve Garathan in a unique and vital capacity.”
Jasmine eyed him doubtfully. “You do?”
“I do. The general council convened this morning and your name came up. The consensus was that you’ve demonstrated all the most admirable qualities of a warrior. You exhibit both an ability to follow orders and a willingness to ignore them and take control of a situation if the need arises. You display an aptitude for combat but you are not ruled by your need to fight. You have excellent instincts but you don’t act without thinking. Most importantly, you don’t hesitate to risk your life when you feel others are in jeopardy. You are a fierce defender of those you care about.”
Stunned, she could only blink back tears, her heart beating unevenly.
“Furthermore, you are a Garathani who was raised on Terra by Narthani parents, and you’ve demonstrated a rare capacity to embrace and act in the best interests of all three races without bias toward one over another.
“With all these factors in mind,” he concluded, “the council has voted to appoint you as our new Terran ambassador on the condition that you complete an abbreviated officer training session aboard the Heptoral.”
Jasmine swallowed hard. “I’m…honored. Flabbergasted, really.”
“You should be,” he said with a smile. “You will be the first female in the Garathani fleet.”
Monica hugged her. “Oh my God, Jas, I’m so proud of you!”
“My sister, the warrior,” Hastion quipped. “And I was her first victim.”
“It will be a challenging mission to rebuild trust among three worlds, but I believe you are more than equal to the task.”
Lips trembling, she looked at Shauss. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“What do you want, Jasmine?” he asked. “I may dominate you in our bond, but you are your own person.”
She hesitated. “I want both. I want to stay with you and I want to be ambassador.”
“The Heptoral is assigned to the Terran ambassador for the duration of this mission.” He contemplated her for a moment, and then said, “I will allow you to accept the post on two conditions. First, you will accept a full-time security detail and follow the directions of the security officers. Your life may very well depend upon being able to react without question.”
Jasmine nodded. “I can do that.”
“I hope so since I’ll be heading your security team.”
Tears prickled in her eyes as she nodded again. Yay!
“Second, your commission will last only five years, at which time we will retire to our farm. I believe Boydon will be ready for a much-needed vacation by then. At that point, we will begin producing young. I find I desire your children very much indeed.” He hesitated before adding, “I assume you desire my children?”
The tears finally fell. Her vision was going to come true—she was going to have her baby and her garden with Shauss. Whether or not she’d get the curly hair remained to be seen.
“Of course I do,” she said, wiping her eyes. “What about Tiber?”
“Tiber will do what I tell him to.”
Jasmine held her breath as she glanced at Tiber but he simply smiled. “Where you both go, I go.”
Well, that was a relief. “But don’t we have to have a third?”
“In light of both your heritage and your heroism,” Cecine said, “the council has allowed Lieutenant Shauss to reserve third indefinitely, as Commander Kellen has.”
Monica frowned. “Hey, wait a minute—if you all retire to the farm, what am I going to do for toys?”
“Zannen owns half that farm,” Kellen said. “I’m sure he’ll want to stop in to make frequent inspections.”
She sighed. “I guess that’ll have—”
“Dr. Teague, please report to Infirmary Three for a patient in labor,” Empran ordered.
Monica started to stand up and then froze. “Empran, did you just say please to me?”
“Yes.”
Grinning, Monica opened her mouth to speak but Empran preempted her. “But don’t get used to it, Monica.”
* * * * *
Jasmine stopped into Infirmary Three that afternoon. Shelley was holding one of her tiny babies in her arms while the other slept peacefully in a bassinet.
“Hey,” she said. “They’re beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She stroked the little boy’s bald head. “It’s a miracle they’re so healthy. If it weren’t for the treatments Dr. Tiber gave me, their lungs might not be so well-developed.”
“What did you name them?”
“Nothing yet. I’d planned to name him after his—” She swallowed and looked away.
“I’m so sorry, Shelley.”
“I was married to an alien,” she whispered. “How could I not know that?”
“There was no way you could have.”
“What am I going to do? How can I go back to Earth now? My babies are aliens, Jasmine. They’re part Narthani, and now everyone knows it was Narthanis who blew up those bases. My God, Mark probably helped,” she sobbed.
“Oh honey!” Jasmine leaned over and rubbed her back.
The door opened and the minister walked in.
When Jasmine rose, Shelley grabbed her wrist, and whispered urgently, “Stay.”
Jasmine settled back on the bed beside her.
Cecine hovered for a moment and then moved into the room.
“Please allow me to express my deepest sympathies, as well as those of the council.”
“Thank you,” she whispered without looking at him.
“If you require anything at all, you have but to ask.”
She didn’t say anything and Cecine peered into the bassinet. “May I?”
She hesitated and then nodded. Cecine could have picked up the baby girl with one hand, she was so tiny and his hands so large. He cradled her against his chest and rocked her. If the look on his face was anything to go by, he was smitten.
“So very beautiful,” he said, brushing a light kiss in her hair.
“Could you put her down, please?” When he looked at Shelley, she repeated in an almost hysterical voice, “Put her down.”
“Of course.”
He laid the baby in the bassinet and bowed. “As I said, if you require anything at all, you have only need ask.”
After he left, Shelley broke down. “Oh God, what are we going to do?”
* * * * *
Shauss entered his quarters, fully expecting to find Jasmine waiting for him in his bed. What he didn’t expect to find was Tiber there too, every bit as naked and holding her in his arms while he delved in her mouth with his tongue.
He paused in the doorway, breathing in the d
elicious bouquet of her pheromones. “Starting without me?” he asked in a deceptively mild tone.
Jasmine started but Tiber went on as if he hadn’t heard him and she relaxed back into his hold, running her hands up his arms and into the pale yellow sprigs of his hair. Unwilling arousal speared him—they were beautiful together and he wanted to fuck them both.
After he’d taken care of some business.
Tiber eased away from her mouth and focused on him. “Why don’t you get undressed and join us?”
Shauss raised a brow. “Excuse me, but are you forgetting who the Dom is here?”
“Not at all.” Tiber kicked away the blanket and stood up. His cock stood, as well, pointing straight up his belly. “But I think you have a lesson to learn, Shauss, and Jasmine and I are probably the only ones you might be willing to learn it from.”
“Think again,” Shauss said shortly. “Jasmine disobeyed me yesterday and is due a substantial punishment for placing herself in mortal danger. As will you be if you continue to forget your place,” he added with a ferocious frown.
“Jasmine saved your ass yesterday, and you’re only postponing the inevitable.” He smiled, but his gaze was ruthless. “Now get undressed, Shauss, or I’ll undress you.”
“You and whose army?” Shauss asked incredulously.
“I’m the ship’s psychiatric officer, remember?” Tiber strolled toward him, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. “If I deem it necessary for you to be naked and restrained as part of your healing process, I’m sure the commander and Zannen won’t hesitate to lend me a hand.”
“Healing process,” Shauss snorted. “What have I to heal from?”
Tiber gave him a scornful look. “Do you think I’m blind, Shauss? I saw the look in your eyes when we pulled you off that table, and I see it there still. You’re haunted by the way all control was stripped from you.”
Shauss turned away. He didn’t remember all of what had transpired yesterday, and that alone troubled him endlessly. To lose control of his body had been trying enough. Losing his ability to reason and being reduced to a blubbering child…
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