by Dawn Ryder
The woman was confessed of the murder of a male. Neither was she repentant. She stood by her decision to poison the male and never made excuse for her actions. She had done it to protect her younger siblings and Tova believed her. She knew exactly how unfair life could be.
Tova stopped at the first checkpoint and looked at her wristband. It would allow her into the meeting area but not the sphere itself. What it would also do was report her actions to Hawk and Janus. Tova shook off her worry. If she was going to live with them, they had better understand that she was going to see her friend. Besides, she was not breaking her word to Hawk. She would not enter the sphere. Only the visiting area. It was used by legal representatives mostly.
It was only another female and no cause for concern. Tova lifted her arm and let the duty patrol scan her.
* * * * *
Hawk felt his command unit vibrate. The thing was always strapped to his belt and he angled the screen up so that he could read the message. He received hundreds of communications a day but the one flashing at him turned his blood icy. He stood up and left. His rank allowed him that privilege but he would have done it even in the face of a formal reprimand.
Tova was worth it.
Janus fell into step with him as they moved towards the penal sphere. There was no conversation because both Hunters knew exactly what could happen. There were many crimes that they helped to hide from the innocent. Tova had no true grasp of the horror that might be inflicted on her for wearing his band.
Hawk increased his pace as he realized exactly how foolish he had been to not tell her that he could not live without her.
* * * * *
“Alana?” Tova searched the visiting area but there was no sign of her friend. There wasn’t another robe in sight and females never wore pants. A few males were talking in hushed tones as she circled the area on her way back to the checkpoint.
A hard arm hooked her around her waist, slamming her into the wall. Her breath left her lungs as she hit the wall and bounced right off it. A hard blow sent her back into it.
“Stupid Hunter’s whore.”
Tova jerked her head around to look at Rishan. She barely recognized her sibling. Rage contorted his face as he raised his hand and grabbed her hair. She cried out as he used the strands to yank her against his body. A cold metal weapon of some kind jabbed into the soft tissue of her throat. Rishan turned to face the Hunters who had surged into the visiting area when he attacked, using her body as a shield.
“I’ll bust her fucking neck clean open! Get back!” Rishan pressed his weapon harder against her neck. A trickle of blood ran down her throat. The Hunters hesitated and he dug it further into her. Another cry escaped her lips despite her attempts to hold them back. Rishan snickered at her pain. “You’ll never get her to a healing station fast enough. She’ll bleed out first.”
“Rishan, you are insane,” Tova whispered. Her voice was filled with the horror of seeing what greed had done to her brother. He yanked on her hair again in response.
“Really, Tova? Insane? I think you are stupid to offer your pussy to Hunter scum. I am your blood!”
“So why do you harm her?”
Tova froze. Hawk’s voice was icy. She knew without doubt that he was contemplating a kill, she could hear it. Rishan snickered again and twisted his weapon into her flesh some more. Her body jerked in response to the pain.
“You’re going to let me out of here. I’ll kill her if you don’t.”
Two other males stepped up next to Rishan. “Us! Us! You’ll let us out…with supplies! Understand? We want water, food and protective clothing.”
“The outer gate is always open.” Hawk took a step closer and Rishan moved away from him. Hawk spread his hands wide as he moved even closer. “But you may exit the penal sphere from that panel behind you.”
Rishan was distracted by Hawk as he moved his hand towards the panel in question. It was a fatal lapse on his part. A black-clad hand covered the weapon at her neck and twisted Rishan’s hand away from her throat. Tova was yanked away from her sibling’s hold by Hawk. He didn’t hold her but pushed her into the arms of the Hunters behind him. The clear wall of the sphere shook as Rishan and his conspirators were shoved into it. They landed on each other as their bodies fell through the open panel. There was a frantic scuffle of legs as they tried to escape from the Hunters. They ended up sprawled in a heap on the dirt beyond the sphere wall.
Their guards weren’t interested in pursuit. Hawk blocked the only entrance back into the sphere with his own body. “So go, convict. No one has ever kept you here. The only thing you are forbidden is to return to a civilian sphere. You will be terminated on sight if you forget that.”
“Supplies…we need supplies!”
Hawk turned and took a small bag from one of the Hunters. He tossed it onto the ground in front Rishan. Her sibling fell on it like a hungry animal.
“Go or report to a work colony. By attacking a non-convict and a female you are unfit for a penal sphere.”
Rishan shoved backwards in the dirt before sneering at Hawk.
“Rishan? If you ever touch my mate again, I will kill you.”
Chapter Nine
“You disobeyed me, Tova.”
Hawk was furious with her but Tova was equally displeased with his attitude. She was not some animal that would heel upon his command. Her temper was strained to the limit and there was no holding her tongue once the door to their living space slid closed.
“I am not your pet. Either we are equals here or I will not stay. I am not a submissive.”
Hawk’s breath hissed through his clenched teeth as Tova settled her hands onto her hips. “Rishan deceived me or I would not have gone to the meeting center.”
“I told you not to go to the penal colony, Tova.” Hawk tightened his hands into fists as he tried to keep calm. His eyes flickered over the newly stitched wound on her neck. Rage threatened to overcome his best intentions. She did not have to like it but she would be safe! “In matters of security, you are not my equal. You have not been trained to understand the dangers convicts can inflict. I do.”
“I did not return to the convict sphere. The visiting center is monitored, that is different.”
Her body shivered as Rishan’s distorted face flashed through her memory. The horror of his violence towards her made her stomach twist with nausea. Tova hoped she never looked at true hatred ever again. Hawk caught her up against his chest a second after she shivered and she felt his body shake as well.
“I don’t want you anywhere near convicts, Tova! You want to be equals here, fine. I need to hear you tell me that you will not ever place yourself in harm’s way.” His voice was muffled against her neck but his body shook and her eyes stung with tears.
“As you do?”
Hawk sat her down and crossed his arms over his chest. “I am a Hunter. You know this well, Tova.”
She did and his attempt to explain his reasons to her deflated her temper. Her eyes moved over his frame but she didn’t just see the black uniform any longer. She saw her lover beneath it, but he was still a Hunter and that was something that would not be changing. His words would often sound like orders because of it.
“And I am not fragile.” Tova stood up and placed her hands on her hips.
Hawk frowned at her. “Sit back down.”
Tova shook her head as she moved across the floor to prove her feet were steady. She turned and looked back at Hawk. He shook his head at her.
“You need to stay away from the lawless, Tova. Their greed makes them the most dangerous creatures on this globe. There was a time when the few held all the resources and many suffered, even starved. There was slavery and extortion. You view Hunters as harsh but it ensures that the innocent do not need to fear.”
“I do understand. Better than you think. I lived among them. Greed is a horrible thing. It destroys so much.” She thought of her sire and his wasted life. Never had he been happy with what he had, instead he could
only see what he did not own. Tova moved back towards her lover and smoothed her hands over the sides of his face. His skin was rougher than hers and it felt perfect. “What I argue against is your need to leash me. Think you I would ever willingly risk my life? Or more importantly, yours? Rishan would kill you if he could.”
“Or you.” Hawk clamped her against his body as he tipped her head up to look at her wound. “If you must go to the visiting center…let me know first.”
He stumbled over the last few words but Tova laughed. Hawk pulled her chin down so that she could see his frown. She clasped the sides of his face and smiled at him. “Lovers discuss matters, Hawk.” Tender emotion flickered across his dark eyes for a moment. Tova smiled back at him as he nodded his agreement.
“I vote for a leash, but that is me.” Janus snorted with his comment as he walked into the room and dropped a sealed bag on the table. Tova wrinkled her nose at him.
“Fay will be delighted to hear that.”
Janus glared at her. A hard smack landed on her bottom as he passed them on his way to one of the chairs. He lowered his body into one of them before pointing a single finger at her. “You’re trouble, Tova. Hawk told me so the day I had you assigned for food processing duty. He wanted to hit me.”
Hawk let her feet touch the floor as he growled at his comrade. “I vote for a gag—for you Janus. Stop upsetting my mate.”
Tova laughed as she caught Hawk’s chin and turned his attention back to her. “Please, Hawk, I beg you, tell me I do not have to thank Janus for bringing us together.” She added a sigh on the end of her comment and Hawk chuckled.
He pulled her against his body, kissing her before letting her go. “You’ll have to suffer through it.”
Janus cleared his throat loudly and tapped his lips when Tova looked at him. “Come here.”
He made his voice commanding as Tova forced her smile into a firm line. She moved towards Janus as the male watched her. He continued to tap his lips as she leaned over him. The moment their mouths touched his arms captured her and he pulled her into his lap. His hand cupped the back of her head to hold her steady for a hard kiss. “You’re welcome.”
He held her for a moment before running a finger over her tended wound. Anger flashed through his eyes and it touched her deeply. Despite the fact that their concern was stifling, it was also solid and surrounding. Love wasn’t always comfortable but it was the one thing worth working through arguments for. Janus suddenly smiled at her. Tova sprang off his lap as his teeth showed through. The carefree expression was completely unsettling sitting on Janus’ face. He shrugged before pointing at her.
“We’ll call it even, Tova, if you get Fay to stand with you at your pledging ceremony.”
Tova lost interest in Janus as she turned so fast her robe swirled out from around her legs. Hawk was right behind her and lifted her off her feet before she realized he was there.
“Get lost, Janus. I don’t need your help to convince Tova to pledge with me.”
“So you say. But get her to ask Fay to stand with her.”
“Be gone and find your own way to corner that female,” Hawk growled at Janus.
The Hunter stood up and left. Tova squirmed against his hold and he sighed before taking her into their bedroom. He placed her on the bed but leaned over her, trapping her between his arms.
“Not one word, Tova. You will pledge with me.” His eyes flickered with emotion as he caught her hands and covered them with his. “I am a Hunter. Soft words are not something I have much use for but I cannot face the idea of you requesting to leave me. Pledge with me, Tova. Give me children.”
In all her girlish fantasies, she had never envisioned a male demanding she pledge with him. But she had never seen a Hunter as her mate so the hard-edged words fit. Tova realized that she could not bear the idea of him asking her to leave his living space either. Once more, she noticed how alike they really were. They were incomplete without one another to balance each other. She pulled her hands free and caught his face between her palms. It was such a funny embrace because her hands looked so small compared to him. But the fact that his chest shook with a low rumble of enjoyment made it perfect.
“Lovers do have children.” He frowned at her comment and she smoothed the creases away from his eyes. “I would only pledge to a male who promised to always be my lover.”
Hawk grasped her body and rolled over and over on the bed. He pinned her to it as her thighs spread to let his hips settle against her belly. “I will strive to meet your requirements. Lover.”
“Simply remember that I am not fragile.”
Hawk growled in response to her challenge. He pulled at their clothing as the night once again became their playground. Who said that playing was only for children? The only thing that she willingly left to her girlhood fantasies was her perceived notion as to what love was.
Love? Well, love surrounded her in more ways than she might have guessed it could. It flowed between them as Hawk kissed her. The night embraced them again and it was simply right.
About the Author
Email: [email protected]
Dawn welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
Also by Dawn Ryder
Improper Lessons
Improper Pursuits
Talon’s Trophy
Tempting a Lady
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