“How long until you can determine the sex, Cilia?” Alrik asked.
Laney frowned. “It’s a boy.”
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “I agree.”
But Cilia frowned. “A few weeks. You can’t be sure of that yet, Laney.”
Oh, but she could be. Just as sure as she’d been that she was pregnant in the first place. Why did that disturb Cilia so much? “I am.”
Cilia sighed. “We’d hoped … well, you’re just one woman.”
Ah, she understood. The Delroi had come because they weren’t having daughters anymore. They’d hoped the women of Earth would.
“I promise you a girl next time,” she said dryly before she could censor herself.
Next time? She was insane. Once would be more than enough. Alrik grinned, though, and she found she wasn’t as worried as she’d been earlier. Desperate to get back on safer ground, she changed the subject and turned to Barak.
“What did you find out?”
“No matches on the tattoos. We’re running ID’s through the database.”
“How long will it take?”
“Several hours probably.”
She checked her watch. It was a couple of hours till dinnertime. Enough time for her to walk over to the hostage rooms and try to dig up some information on her own. She eyed Alrik. He’d protest.
“Don’t you have something to do?” she asked.
He raised both eyebrows. “Trying to get rid of me?”
She grinned. “Just for a couple of hours.”
He scowled. “I don’t want you further involved in this.”
“A little late for that,” she said lightly, edging her way past him and to the door.
She glanced over her shoulder. Almost there. Just another couple of steps. He caught her arm as she walked over the threshold. He was still scowling and his eyes were cloudy with emotion. Was he going to refuse to let her help? She held her breath.
“One hour, Laney and I come looking for you. We’re having dinner with Daggar and Barak tonight.”
She almost sagged with relief when he spoke, but kept a tight reign on herself. Living with Alrik was going to be akin to an armed truce. She’d take what she could get without a fight gracefully, without any kind of gloating or sense of victory, because, God knew, it wasn’t going to happen often. She grinned despite herself. On the other hand, life would never be boring would it? Nodding, she turned on her heel and strode away, uncomfortably aware of Jaxon’s pursuit and Alrik’s gaze boring into her back until she disappeared out of sight.
She tried the common room, and when she found it empty, knocked first on Eldridge’s door then Black’s. Neither answered. Annoyed and concerned by their absences, she returned to the common room and stared out the window. In the glass she saw Jaxon looming behind her.
“Is there a way to find out if Eldridge and Black are onboard?”
He stepped closer. “The General can find out.”
She pressed her lips together. She wasn’t ready to involve Alrik yet. She needed to contribute something, not be relegated to the sidelines. Which reminded her of something that had bothered her earlier. She turned around to face Jaxon.
“What’s your role here? Will you always be the one following me?”
She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm out of her voice, and damn him, he just arched an eyebrow. Damn all Delroi warriors and their lack of language skills. She growled, rested a hand on the butt of her pistol and took an aggressive step forward. He finally responded but his amusement was evident in his eyes.
“I’m the Captain of your Guard, my lady.”
She cocked her head to one side. Interesting. “I have a Guard?”
Jaxon chuckled. “Yes. It’s a little unusual.”
“Is it? Why?”
He shrugged. “Usually a der’lan is protected by the household Guard. Barak thought it might be useful for you to have your own.”
So Barak didn’t trust her after all. She narrowed her eyes. How many men assigned to her worked for Barak?
“And are you all spies?”
Jaxon snorted. “I told him it wouldn’t take you long to figure that out. To answer your next question, my lady, we aren’t here to spy on you. We’re here to help you where we may.”
That gave her pause. What kind of game was Barak playing? Until she knew, she would play her own. She checked her watch. No time now.
“In that case, find out where Black and Eldridge are. I want a report on all their movements in the morning.”
Jaxon banged his fist against his chest. “Yes, my lady.”
Without another word, afraid to trust herself to say anything else, she stepped around him and returned to Alrik’s quarters.
Cilia, Daggar, and Barak were all there, along with several people she didn’t know. The two pregnant women she’d seen in the garden with the same two warriors hovering nearby, a couple of warriors she’d seen around Daggar or Alrik, and two more men she thought she’d seen in the healer’s bay. Who she didn’t see was Alrik and, frowning, she made her way through the crowd to Daggar’s side.
“Alrik?”
He nodded at the door to the bedroom and she turned to watch Alrik step through. His appearance had the usual effect on her. How the hell was she supposed to make it through this dinner when just looking at him and wondering what he’d do with that vibrator later was almost enough to make her come? He met her gaze and gave her a smile that could only be described as wicked. Then he filled her head with visions as he walked over. He led her around the room introducing his guests and all the while the visions got kinkier and sexier. Finally the circuit was over and she was again standing near Daggar. She struggled to keep her face calm and expressional, to keep her breath under better control than a pant.
“Are you okay, Laney?” the Overchief asked. “You look a bit flushed.”
She glared at Alrik. “I wonder why.”
Alrik tried to look innocent, but Daggar clearly knew what was up. He chuckled and had the good sense to cover it with a cough when she transferred her glare to him.
“I think it’s time to eat,” he said.
The week was a blur of negotiations during the day and Alrik’s sweet torture at night. After the first few days when she thought she would crawl out of her skin if she didn’t get him inside her right now, they gave up pretending nothing was going on. She had discovered the joys of almost-exhibitionist-sex, and was way too familiar with the inside of many of the ship’s hideaway rooms. Closets were her personal favorite—no choice but to get up close and personal there. His people seemed to expect this as par for the course and hers saw it as a sign she wouldn’t protest the upcoming marriage too loudly.
But wherever she went, she heard whispering that suspiciously ceased when she made the scene. Many of her old friends were not quite so sociable and some were flat out cold. She couldn’t dredge up enough interest to care about personal betrayals. Sex—sex with Alrik—consumed her. Protecting her unborn child was a damned close second.
She scowled and quickened her pace. Her investigation was going nowhere. Every day she received reports of Black’s and Eldridge’s movements, along with any deviation of the Earth contingent. There was nothing there. No unauthorized communications. No secret or even open meetings with enemies. She made sure Jaxon gave copies of his reports to Barak, but the spymaster hadn’t reciprocated. She had no idea if he was making better progress and Alrik was maddeningly silent when she questioned him.
He had been on the surface all day, but had let her know an hour ago he was returning. He should arrive any minute now. The first time he’d tried to go to the surface alone, he’d rushed back. They couldn’t take the distance between them. Today they had been fine. The bond was firm. Despite that, she didn’t think they would get off the craft before she ripped his clothes off. She grinned. Something told her he wouldn’t mind.
Coming up to the last turn, she heard furtive whispers and skidded to a stop. She tilted
her head to one side and tried to distinguish the voices. Bob, General Scott, and the Prime Minister.
“This is stupid,” Bob hissed. “You don’t know Laney like I do. She won’t do it.”
“She will if you order her to,” General Scott answered in a cold voice.
There was an abrupt silence. She heard shuffling feet, and imagined Scott and the Prime Minister trying to glare Bob into submission. She bit back a chuckle. She could have told them not to waste their time. Once he decided to do or not do something, Bob was as immovable as a mountain.
“Taking out Torfa is the only way for us to be free of these people, and she’s in the best position to do it,” General Scott finally added.
She held her breath. Here were her conspirators. Or were they? Was this something separate from the attack at the testing ground?
“They’d kill her and annihilate us.”
“Not necessarily,” the Prime Minister answered. “Her initial distaste for the situation is pretty well known. We just make it known she bided her time. She lulled them into a false sense of security and took the opportunity when it arose. They won’t attack all of us for the individual actions of one woman.”
She blinked in surprise. Interesting. The information about her pregnancy either hadn’t been leaked or they didn’t understand the implications. There was no way she’d kill the father of her child. He was her son’s only real protection. If she’d ever doubted her own people posed a danger to him, that doubt was now banished.
A plan took shape in her mind. She stepped around the corner so she was in full view. When all three of them turned to look at her, she stepped forward and smiled, knew it was cold and savage and didn’t give a damn. Bob flinched, but the other two didn’t seem to think anything was out of the ordinary.
“Gentlemen,” she said into the silence, not even bothering to acknowledge the rank or station of any of the men standing there. If her ties to Earth had mostly been broken on the day of the attack, now they were irrevocably severed.
“Sergeant Major.” The Prime Minister nodded at her. “You heard our plan?”
Still smiling, she answered. “The ninth circle of hell will melt before I marry against my will. You don’t need to worry on that account.”
The Prime Minister smiled, and there was something ferocious and nasty in it that made her skin crawl. If she didn’t come through, he had every intention of looking elsewhere. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Odd how your plan so closely mirrors mine.”
Bob looked sick, his eyes flashing knowledge. They’d served together so long he knew she was up to something, just didn’t know what, wasn’t sure what side she would come down on. She could see the question, the confusion in his eyes. Would she kill the Delroi general or was she stringing the Prime Minister along? He really should know her better. Well, she’d deal with him later.
“When?” General Scott demanded.
The tremor started in her hands and she shoved them in her pockets before anyone noticed. Bob’s gaze flickered. She met General Scott’s eyes with a hard glare of her own.
“I’ll be in touch with General Darren. Under the circumstances, I’m sure you’ll agree that the less you know the better.”
Scott’s suspicion was easy to read. “Why haven’t you already done it, then?”
“I’d prefer to get out alive,” she replied dryly. That much wasn’t an act at least. And she was done talking. She nodded to Bob, hoping there was a world of understanding in the action and walked away. Once she moved far enough away to not be observed, she let anger hasten her steps.
She went back to their rooms and noticed Jaxon was still gone. No one had been waiting when she’d left the rooms earlier. She frowned. She’d grown accustomed to Jaxon’s steady presence. It would have been nice to have him as a silent witness earlier.
Inside the sitting area, she paced and fumed. It was hard to say what made her angriest. That they assumed she’d play a part in their plan? Execute the plan? Or that they were not only willing to sacrifice her life, but the first real chance for peace and recovery on Earth in a generation. The Delroi weren’t just bringing unattached males. There were scientists and engineers and doctors, food and supplies, and the technology to make more—all things in desperately short supply.
She had been suspicious at first, too. No doubt, generations of war bred it into her. But in the week she had been on board their ship, she’d watched the Delroi closely. They were a stern, perhaps severe race, true. But they were fair and appeared to care well for their own. Alrik had shown her no cruelty. She wasn’t altogether positive that, were their situations reversed, she would have been capable of the same restraint.
And there was the child to consider. She knew his chances would be better with his father’s people. Her own couldn’t let go of their paranoia and suspicion long enough even to test this peace.
She sighed, some of her anger ebbing when she thought of Alrik. She had to stick to the plan. She’d let Alrik know what was going on, then corner Bob. Find out how deep he was. The real question was, were the Prime Minister’s plan to kill Alrik and the Delroi rebel attack on Earth carried out by the same group? It seemed too coincidental to her. If the rebels really wanted to undermine the Torfas what better way than having a third party assassinate him?
When she refused to assassinate him, her former allies would tap someone else for the job. She could avoid that by having them arrested, but the only authority she might have to do that was Delroi. No, they needed to be dealt with another way. She’d never approved of the Prime Minister’s appointment. Played right maybe this was the chance to be rid of him. She had to act quickly, though. Instinct told her they wouldn’t wait long for her to kill Alrik or refuse to. She would refuse. There was no use pretending to herself any longer she was here only for the child. Sometime in the last week, she’d fallen hard for the enemy warrior.
“Mate,” she whispered, testing the word on her lips.
Where was he? He should have arrived by now. Her heart pounded. Had they gone after him so soon? She slapped her hand against the door panel and damned near sprinted to the landing bay. The shuttle was there, but it was empty. Where the hell was he? She’d try Daggar’s office. When she left the shuttle bay, she was running, her sense of urgency and danger high.
The guard outside the door let her in without questioning or announcing her. Finally some progress on the road to trust? Daggar and Barak both stood by a view port and turned to watch her enter.
“Where is Alrik?”
Daggar’s eyes were cold and angry. Suspicion flashed across his face before he answered.
“I was hoping you could tell me,” he answered dryly.
What was going on now? How would she know where Alrik was? Her confusion must have shown.
“The bond, Laney,” Daggar said so softly she almost missed it.
Oh. Right. She should have thought of that. Did she want to use it to track him down? She looked at Barak and Daggar and felt the heavy weight of their disapproval and distrust. And reached for Alrik. A little backup never hurt.
At first she felt only swirling anger and dark need. The force of it staggered her and she was distantly aware of Daggar grabbing her elbow for support. She struggled against the flood of emotion from Alrik, afraid she’d get sucked under and be unable to find her way out. She felt as if she was sinking deeper. Then she felt warmth surround her, felt herself lifted and shielded. Alrik was with her, let her see him coming down the corridor and then through the door. The connection was severed.
He came to her, and setting his hands on her shoulders, shook her a little. She met his gaze and recoiled at the fury there.
“You went too deep, Laney.” Somehow he managed to force the words through clenched teeth. “You can touch the surface of my mind, but no more.”
She pressed her lips together to hold back angry words of her own. How was she supposed to know that? It was not as if she’d done it on purpose. She’
d just reached out to find him. This was all new to her. She didn’t deserve his fury because she was inexperienced in mental bonds. Her eyes narrowed and she jerked out of his grasp. He’d already been furious; now he was just taking it out on her. I don’t think so, bubba. Well, there was the remote possibility that his anger had been at her for something else. He seemed to spend a lot of time irritated with her.
She looked at him, noting the cold glint in his eyes and the tension tightening his body. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. She reached out but he kept his mind closed. Shit.
He jerked away and moved to the other side of the room, but not before the connection between them opened again. He paced, his fury a living thing between them. His presence in the room was enough to accelerate her pulse and the anger in the air seemed to exacerbate it. The nearer he came, the more her body responded. Her breasts ached and her pussy clenched as if preparing for the spasms of orgasm. When she thought she couldn’t stand the build up of sexual tension anymore, he stood still.
His hooded gaze wandered over her body possessively. Stopping inches from her, he loomed, big, masculine, and sexy. Anger seemed to ooze from his pores and the combination of it and lust held her stationary, her thighs trembling so hard she was afraid to try to move.
“So, when are you supposed to do it?” he asked.
Alrik couldn’t believe that after the week they’d spent together, after discovering they were going to have a child, she would conspire with her countrymen to kill him. There was no denying the evidence though, gathered thanks to his brother’s guarded nature. The ship’s sensors had been set to track the movements of the entire Earth contingent and record conversations in public areas.
Instead of the woman he expected to meet him in the shuttle bay, his grim faced brother greeted him. He had refused to accept the news, and had to hear and see the records for himself. It was a blow. Under normal circumstances, conspiring to kill a general was a death sentence, but nothing about this situation was typical. She was his woman and he wasn’t willing to give her up. Then there was his son. Besides, their plans for this planet were nonnegotiable. They couldn’t afford the damage or loss of life that would result from continued war.
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