by Isabel Wroth
He took her to their bed and didn’t bother to even try to get her to disrobe, cuddling her close, throwing his leg over hers to surround her without crushing her. “I cannot tell, are you crying because you are happy, or upset?” Either way, it didn’t make the sound of her tears any easier to bear, “H-happy!” She wailed, making him crack a smile and nuzzle his face into her throat, “I ne-never thought this would h-happen. I accepted it, I had t-to, and then you gave me your b-blood and you t-told me it w-would, but I didn’t b-believe it would be so easy. Or so s-soon.” He did the only thing he could think of to distract her from her tears. He used his claws to shred her dress and kissed his way across every inch of her body, feeling her hiccup and shudder, the teeming wave of her overwhelming emotion crashing against him when his lips paused on her belly.
He purred for her, rubbing his cheek across the soft skin that soon would stretch and round with their cubs. Babies. He looked up at her with his lips still touching her skin, a smug grin curling the corners of his mouth to see that while tears still dripped from her lashes, she was smiling softly back at him. Her fingers skated down over his birthmarks, the story of his lineage, pressing tight when he slid down further and sliced his tongue down between the sticky sweet petals of her sex. He made sure that all the sounds she made for the rest of the evening were only sounds of pleasure. She fell into an exhausted sleep, her back tucked against his chest, curled in his arms, her hair tangled between them, murmuring in her sleep while her hand covered his where it was splayed on her belly. “No matter what comes of tomorrow, I will protect you always, my one. My heart.” He whispered in her ear, and she made another soft sound, sleepily purring, “Mmm, love you, too.”
She still couldn’t quite believe it, and Tarek had found her twice, lost in thought with her hands on her stomach, staring at nothing while trying to get ready for some kind of banquet, post festival. She honestly hadn’t really been listening, just sort of dazed by everything. The second time she was in the bathroom, staring blindly down at her hands, jumping in surprise when he’d come in behind her and curled his arms around her. “Are you well, my one?” He murmured in her ear, touching a kiss just there at the soft spot. “Just um, processing.” She leaned back against him and looked at their reflection in the mirror, at how massive a thing he was, towering over her and cradling her in his massive arms like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.
She felt that way, wondering just when it was that she’d fallen head over heels for a hot, alien, shifting man cat. She looked at that face, the gorgeous stark lines, the thick stripe of tawny gold hair, the sexy birthmarks she’d thought were tattoos at first, his eyes. She was in lust with every physical inch of his gorgeous body, but the tender way the fierce warrior treated her, took care with her, spoke to her, touched her. He was just…everything. Everything she never knew she’d needed or wanted in a man. She’d woken up this morning and been dazed, confused, fearful that it had all been a dream. But then he’d shifted behind her, his hand spreading wide and kneading gently at her stomach, and it had come back to her in a breath stealing rush. “I need you to know, that no matter the course my brother sets for us, you are all that matters to me.”
Maybe it was the moment he’d crouched beside her that first day in the med lab, looking at her askance when she’d touched the dimple on his cheek. The one that rarely flashed except when they were alone, “I hope they get that dimple,” She murmured, not caring about anything past this moment, right now. “What?” She shifted and turned around, smiling up at him, touching her fingertip to the spot beside his mouth, “This, we call it a dimple. It only shows when you smile, and you don’t do that very often, unless we’re alone. I hope they get that from you.” It took him a moment to understand the ‘they’ she was referring to, but when he did, that dimple flashed at her and a rumble of sound vibrated in his chest. He didn’t have to say anything to convey his satisfaction, he chose instead to show it with a deep, incredibly tender kiss. “All, that matters.”
Thirty One
The banquet hall was massive, like everything else in the citadel, and impressively carved out of the living rock. Ta’sha had told her that there were close to ten thousand residents within the citadel proper, and another five outside the mountain fortress. All, were apparently to be present tonight, and every member of the pride had been tasked with preparing one of twenty items. There were over five hundred long tables, and the din that filled the cavern the size of the Aria was deafening. Tarek had brought her a dress after their bath, a smoke colored gown embroidered with silver thread and shimmering gems along the deeply scooped neckline, down the sleeves and around the hem. It was stunning, opulent, and she had thought it was over the top, but seeing everyone else in attendance wearing their finest clothes, she was just one among many and glad he had chosen it for her.
He had also taken it upon himself to do her hair again, braiding and pinning coils and loops around the back of her head, leaving tendrils hanging free here and there, tucking silver combs with the same disks and gems sewn onto her dress. She’d asked him where he had learned to style women’s hair so well, and he shared one of those rare, soft smiles with her. “My mother. When I was a cub, I used to love brushing her hair for her. She kept it long, like yours, and it was the color of starlight. As I grew older and found disdain for such things, she teased and told me I would regret being unable to shower such attention on my mate. So I continued, secretly enjoying it, because I got to spend such little time with her.”
Her big tough, scary man cat, born and bred for war, had braided his mother’s hair for her at night. Like he couldn’t get any more sexy. The end result was gorgeous, and he made her feel that way with the hunger in his eyes while he looked her over, “Beautiful.” He rumbled, and had kissed her until she wilted against him. They were seated now at the table closest to his brother’s, and before the feast got underway proper, T’mai came and bent close, whispering in her ear, “Thank you,” She frowned curiously at him, and his eyes dropped briefly to her stomach, winking at her when she blushed and nodded back. Ignoring the nearly painful stare Niora gave her, and sat curled alongside Tarek while Ne’tare and Te’sha personally set trays of food before them and the rest of the humans and their warrior mates.
It was an amazing affair, somewhat uncomfortable with the way Niora and Tarek’s father, who hadn’t yet spoken one word to her, continued to shoot glares her way, and how the council members who sat at a table all their own did the same. Some of them openly displaying their displeasure, others smiling easily at them, some neutral, but they were under an incredible amount of scrutiny, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit. Her cat was pissy about it too, so it put her off her food, but Tarek kept hand feeding her little bites of the special dishes, distracting her.
The night wore on, and finally T’mai shoved back from his seat and stood up. He was plainly visible from up on the raised dais, their own table only one level down, so their view of him was unobstructed. He was another gorgeous man, nearly identical to Tarek in looks except for his dark hair. All night, he had struggled not to look at Elenna, who was sitting between Tara and Cassie, picking at her food and looking like she was forcing the smile on her face. She was the only one among her crew who hadn’t been claimed in the forest, and Tarek’s explanation why had left her dying to go and tell her. He’d forbidden it, claiming that if she did, she put Elenna in even greater danger, but it was hard to see her so depressed when she thought no one was looking.
A hush went over the crowd, and soon it wasn’t the din of so much laughter and talking that was deafening, it was the silence. T’mai smiled at everyone in the hall, but she wondered if he knew how forced it looked. “Another festival has come and gone, and this season has seen a record number of blessed mates to have found one another. Such is the reason for our celebration,” A rousing, Rou, Rou, ROU! Sounded from the entire pride, even Tarek and his warriors joined in, the sound so loud she glanced up at the ceiling of th
e cave and prayed it didn’t come down on their heads. “From the stars, another race of beings were found, discovered under attack from the Na’ah, and for now only a handful sit in our midst.”
Every eye in the hall swung to them, the eagerness for more information about she and her people ripe in the air, and T’mai introduced them, not specifically by name, but explained their presence and what it meant for their future. What touched her the most, was the honest pride that rang true in his tone. “The warriors of the Fifth fleet have sacrificed their place with us at the festival and are even now, seeking out what may remain of the human race, and should they be found, they will be welcome here without question.” She was surprised by the ready eagerness that ran through the hall, and how Tarek squeezed her hand as T’mai went on. “Unfortunately, a pall has been cast over our most time honored tradition, as some among us have decided that the humans do not bring us hope or chance for more potential mates, that instead they bring threat to us. Those few, sought to keep these human mates from being found by our eldest and most honored warriors, by toxin that was intended to deaden the bond already created between them.”
She was not the only one watching carefully for reactions on the faces closest to them, trying to catch the scent of guilt or fury, but the immediate and overwhelming surge of outrage that filled the air made it impossible to smell anything other than that. Charcoal and fire, sharp, eye watering. Several males demanded to know who would do this, what was being done to find the traitors and T’mai held up his hands, not flinching or backing down from those accusing eyes. “As of this moment, I have few answers. The traitors who have confessed and had been awaiting judgment, in my own den, have despite the security protocols and round the clock surveillance, mysteriously been murdered. Taking their secrets to the grave. What infuriates me most, is that not only was such a treacherous act committed right under my nose, it was committed against my kin, my brother.” Tarek shifted subtly beside her, not moving his lips from where they rested on her brow. “All of you know what he sacrificed for our pride, almost a millennia of service away from Saraz, protecting us and turning our armada, our fighting warriors, into the most feared in the galaxy.”
Rou, rou, ROU! The pride chanted, and she heard Tarek’s throat work. “Among the stars, among a handful of our warriors who have gone the longest without the succor of a mate, he finds his one. At first glance, the humans seem weak and inferior. I admit I thought this when I first received his report, and I admit now that I am shamed by these thoughts. I am told that with no certainty of success and inferior starships, what remained of the human species left their dead planet in search of a new home. Adapting and surviving against odds few have been able to. Surviving a full out assault by the Na’ah, surviving what I can only classify as a miracle, when four of the human females underwent a conversion brought on by ingesting their mate’s healing blood. Not knowing what to expect, not understanding what was happening, they fully transformed in a way none of our females have yet done. I was amazed. Further when I met them, and saw how they had managed to adapt with grace and acceptance. How loyal already they were to their mates. That an attempt to keep them from such justly earned, deserved reward, was made by my pride…I have no words to adequately express my disgust. My shame. It makes me question many things, makes me question those I thought loyal to me, makes me wonder if such a thing would have happened if it was our rightful pride ruler standing here in my place now.”
The silence was strained, and telling. Those same questions were being asked by the entire pride now that T’mai had voiced them to the room. She wanted to twitch, wiggle under the scrutiny, but her cat wouldn’t allow it. Wouldn’t allow her to do anything other than sit proudly beside her mate, and trust that what was happening, was the right thing. “I hadn’t seen him in more cycles than I care to admit, and the first thing my brother says to me upon returning home with his mate, is that he declines his promotion to the elder council, wishing to be with his mate and to liaise with her people to welcome them into our society. He tells me he does not want my place, that I have ruled our pride well and he wants none of it. He tells me this in front of our sire, in front of the council, and still my brother and his mate are threatened.” He shook his head and looked down at the table in front of them, “In many ways I have not fulfilled my duties as your pride ruler, ways that make me question why I have not been challenged before. I can only assume that it is because the same architects of the plot to keep my brother from his mate, keep the strongest of our warriors from their mates and weakened by the vulnerability, the distraction of not being able to claim them by our laws, with the intent to kill their females and later them once madness had claimed them because of that loss, those elite among us. I can only assume it was their intent to keep us weak and distracted, to further their own plots.”
Snarls and growls filled the hall, making her cat shiver inside her, the feeling of fur sliding beneath her skin and the need to rise to this challenge, the need to hunt, became almost overwhelming. Tarek was there in her mind immediately, soothing and calming her beast, breathing a cool wind through the furious heat building. She squeezed his thigh in thanks, barely managing to force her claws back inside her fingertips first. “For what purpose, I do not yet know. But it will not stand. My brother’s little mate is fierce,” He stated, shooting her a warm, amused smirk, while she was sure she was turning beet red under the scrutiny leveled on her now. “She confronted the male who had corrupted her food, commanded him to deliver the message that I will speak now, for all of you to hear. For our betrayers to hear. She said to him, that for some reason he and his kind assumed she and hers were a threat. But assured him that was not the case. She told him, if she was given a reason, she would fucking demolish him and his conspirators, and all others that threaten her mate and the peace he deserves after so long away from his pride, his home.”
Tarek silently asked her if she’d actually said that, amusement plain along their bond, and she almost gave in to the urge to squirm, confirming that she had. He almost smiled. “This however, was my favorite part. I quote, ‘Council your pack of foolish idiots, to give us reason to continue seeking peace, to continue adoring our mates and staying out of your ridiculous politics. We want none of it. The day you give me a reason, me and mine will become a threat.’” She glanced around the hall, and saw more than one face grinning, ear to ear. Brennaugh coughed into his hand, doing his best not to laugh, but Falken was half bent over, shoulders shaking while he choked on his laughter. Her people looked proud, and were sitting tall and not smiling, so much as smirking. Shit. “Sister,”
She gulped down her nerves and stood up to face the pride ruler, touching her fingertips to her chest and gave the bow she truly felt he had more than earned, “Asho,” He clicked his tongue at her and she looked up at him, feeling Tarek rise to stand at her back, but T’mai was looking at her with warmth, with approval. “What would you do for your mate?” She didn’t even hesitate with the answer to his weird question, despite how it put her on edge. “Anything.”
“You would demolish any who threaten him, and the peace he deserves.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He is my home. My one.”
She saw the flash of envy, the pain and ache that moved through his golden eyes, and it made her heart ache for him in turn. But he masked it before turning his gaze back to the pride, “Does anyone present here, doubt her words?” Silence, so profound it made her skin crawl. T’mai nodded like he had expected no less of an answer, and walked down the steps to stand in front of them. Tarek’s muscles turned to stone, but other than that he didn’t move at all. Didn’t shove her behind him or push her to the side, forcing himself to show that he felt no threat from his brother. Trusted him with her between their formidable bodies. “I give you this command then, brother, in front of every member of our pride.” The air felt like it was sucked out of the room, everyone holding their breath, “There is a reason you are
feared by our enemies, and it seems that the ones who have bred closer to home, forget that reason. Make them remember. Make them run before you in terror of your wrath, line the halls with their pelts so that our warriors make walk over them until they fall to dust. Rule this pride as you were meant to, all along, with your mate at your side. This remarkable female who is your match, in every way.”
Tarek sighed softly, but reached out and met the hand T’mai held out, their forearms clasping with a sharp slap, muscles bulging as emotion flowed from brother to brother. “As you command, brother.” Niora shoved to her feet so fast that her chair crashed to the floor, “No challenge has been issued!” She hissed, and T’mai didn’t offer her the respect of even a side long glance, “Would you challenge the commander of our armada, to take his place as ruler of this pride?” He drawled, and chuckles were heard around the room, which only incensed Niora more. “No. You easily roll over to show your belly to him, but I will not so easily give up my place. If the alien Asha’na wishes to rule, then I challenge her to prove she is worthy.”
Tarek snarled, curling his arm around her waist, and she heard every chair at their table scrape back as to a one, Brennaugh and his warriors, Tarek’s warriors, the warriors and females who had come to them in the forest, her crew, all shoved to their feet in show of support. She heard Tarek suck in a breath to no doubt give Niora the dressing down of a lifetime, but she lifted her hand and curled it around his arm. She looked up at him and smiled, letting her cat stroke against his along the strange filament of their bond, pushing her confidence at him. ‘She won’t get within ten feet of me. Let me prove it to them.’