She caught his glance at her arms and aborted her move to cover the darkening bruises. “There was this woman in the restroom who objected to my dating preferences.” Her lips twisted in a bitter frown.
Gorzo found this deeply disturbing. His selfish desire for a relationship with her was causing her to be attacked by her own people. He’d known that many humans didn’t appreciate interspecies mating, but hadn’t considered that it would put Jessa in physical danger. Perhaps this was all a mistake.
Before he could tell her his doubts about going forward, she scooted around the booth until she was brushing against his side. “I reported the bitch to security. I don’t care what anyone says about us. I want you, Gorzo. If you were to offer your claim this very minute, I would gladly accept.”
His primal surged at the words and contact with her body even as doubt and suspicion pricked at his more sensible side. A short time ago, she’d run away from him. Now she’d suddenly changed her mind. Clearly something had changed during her confrontation in the ladies’ room. Perhaps it really was defiance towards the bigotry of some humans that made her mind up for her.
He wasn’t certain that was a good way to begin this relationship, but at the same time, his primal didn’t care about her motives. It had already decided that she must be his. If he tried to delay making the offer, he’d have a fight on his hands. Though he had good control over his primal, he didn’t like risking a true conflict with it when there were so many people around who could get hurt if it went berserk.
In truth, he was as eager as his primal to claim Jessa, despite his doubts. Once she was his to protect, there would be time to learn about the woman behind the barriers she put up. Once he’d touched her and tasted her, he might be able to concentrate on more than just the hunger she inspired in him. Then he’d be able to focus on earning her trust.
Though he wanted to fold her up in his wing and tuck her closer to his side, he resisted the instinctual urge and instead turned to face her, placing a short distance between them. He collected her small, soft hands in his, closing his large grip around her. She was dwarfed by him, as most people were. He’d have to be so careful. He’d once believed that it wouldn’t be much fun to be careful with a mate, but now all he could think about was proving to her how light a touch he could have.
She watched him with anticipation in her eyes. Her pulse pounded rapidly in her wrists, throbbing against the fingers he’d closed around them. Her scent was tinged by arousal, even though there was also still a touch of fear. He would prove to her that she had nothing to fear from him, and once she was under his protection, she would have nothing to fear from anyone. He would move the sky and the earth to protect her. “Jessa, I offer you my claim. Will you become my concubine? Will you return to Sanctuary with me and live within my home? Will you accept all that my title and strength have to offer you and share your companionship in return for my protection?”
She licked her lips, and Gorzo couldn’t help the soft growl that escaped him. This time, it wasn’t even from his primal, which’d fallen silent within him, waiting for her answer with the patience of a predator certain he will have his prey.
“I accept your claim, Gorzo. I accept all that you offer. I accept your….” She bit her lip and broke their eye contact, glancing down at the table to try and disguise the sheen of tears that suddenly welled over her eyes. “I accept your home.”
*****
After Jessa accepted Gorzo’s claim, they both sat there somewhat stunned at how quickly things had moved. Or perhaps Jessa was the only one feeling stunned. Gorzo had fallen silent after her acceptance, though the tension in his body was obvious since he still maintained his grasp around her hand.
What had frightened her for a moment was the sidelong look he’d given her when she’d first suggested that she’d be open to his claim. He’d seemed hesitant, when before he’d been so eager. She feared that she’d sown a seed of distrust within him already because of her erratic behavior.
Despite any doubts he may have been having, Gorzo was still eager enough to lean forward after a moment and brush his forehead against hers. From the documentation she’d been provided on the umbrose, this was the equivalent of a kiss, which was something the umbrose were unfamiliar with.
There was no time like the present to teach him about it. As she tilted her head to seek his lips with hers, he froze, his hard muscles trembling like those of a wild animal fighting restraint.
At first, she was hesitant as her lips brushed against his. Then she pressed harder against his lips, enjoying the warmth of them and the relative softness in comparison to the rest of him. He groaned as she moved her mouth over his, allowing her to slip the tip of her tongue between his sharp teeth. Admittedly, it was a dangerous move, but she still trusted that he wouldn’t hurt her.
Instead, he gasped and pulled away from her, sliding back along the booth to put more distance between them. When his eyes met hers, there was something wild inside them. “Not here, Schodecora.” His usually smooth baritone was ragged and broken. “I only have so much control. The taste of you has nearly destroyed it.”
Jessa dropped her gaze, shaken by the intensity in his eyes. Her focus fell to his lap. Like all umbrose, he was wearing a loincloth, a barbaric garment the umbrose found most comfortable because it left their upper bodies and wings free as well as their talons. The evidence of her effect on him was obvious and disturbingly large. She swallowed and looked away from the tented material, feeling flushed and anxious. At some point, she would have to take that erection inside her. She had no idea what it would feel like, and a part of her that had felt dead for a long time, but was now tingling in awareness, couldn’t wait to find out.
While her attention had been distracted, Gorzo had apparently summoned one of the event coordinators. Jessa blinked in surprise when Ms. Flores approached their table.
Jessa glanced quickly at Gorzo and found that he’d moved so his lap was concealed under the table. The wildness in his eyes was still evident to her, but Ms. Flores didn’t seem to notice anything as Gorzo asked the woman what the next step was once someone accepted a claim.
A brief flash of surprise crossed Ms. Flores’s face as she glanced at Jessa, then it disappeared behind a professional mask of courtesy. “Naturally, there will be many preparations to make. I can get started on the forms that will be necessary for the Common Council, and I’m sure Lady Lilith will be more than happy to work on the umbrose side of things.” She clapped her hands together, a big smile spreading across her face. “I’m so happy for you both! This is a wonderful turn of events! I’ll get started right away!” She didn’t even wait for a response, no doubt truly thrilled that her matchmaking company would finally have a success story to tell.
Jessa looked back at Gorzo after the woman walked away. His eyes were on her, studying her face, which caused the heat of a flush to rise up her neck. Her pale skin had always made embarrassment difficult for her to hide.
This flush was also filled with the heat of her excitement for what was to come. The conflicting emotions of anxiety and anticipation almost made her forget her underlying purpose. There would be time for her to worry about that later. For now, the best thing she could possibly do would be to focus on the way Gorzo actually made her feel. At least in that, she wasn’t putting on an act. She wasn’t certain she could’ve truly fooled him if she was.
“So… tell me what your home is—”
“General Gorzo?” Lady Lilith’s voice interrupted Jessa’s attempt to cut the tension and silence that was stretching between her and Gorzo, who seemed content to just look at her.
He responded to his name slowly, turning to the other human woman like someone coming out of a dream, as if he were reluctant to look away from Jessa. “My lady?”
Lilith’s eyes were wide above her veil as she approached their table. “I heard the news! I think this is wonderful!” She stopped next to the fern that gave the table the illusion of privacy. “Howeve
r, there’s so much we need to do at this point! The sooner we process you both, the sooner you can join us in Sanctuary, Jessa.” Her eyes met Jessa’s and crinkled at the corners as if she were smiling.
A twinge of shame and fear slipped past Jessa’s excitement. They were welcoming her arrival, when she planned to betray them. She buried those feelings, as she’d had to bury many feelings in the past. Her determination would get her through this, and for her own sake, she had to allow her desire for Gorzo to take the lead. Since it was real, he wouldn’t be able to see through it. Soon, Micah! I’ll be with you again, soon.
Jessa should have been thrilled with her success. If she wasn’t a liar and a traitor, she would have been thrilled with finally having a home to call her own, something she’d waited for since she was a toddler. Instead, the kernel of misery inside her grew a little bigger with each plan that Lilith laid out for them.
All the while, Gorzo watched her face, so Jessa couldn’t allow even the hint of her despair to slip into her expression.
*****
The strain of her conflicting emotions was growing too difficult to conceal, so it was fortunate that the event ended not long after Lilith came to their table and laid out her plans. The couples were to go into a lavish human meal, which Jessa had been told was nothing in comparison to Sanctuary’s food. There they would sit at a long table to visit as a group before they were all taken on a tour of Dome City’s most impressive sights.
Since Jessa and Gorzo had already decided to make things official and were clearly eager to act on that, Lady Lilith and Ms. Flores pulled them from the remaining activities and led them in different directions to start processing. Jessa cast one last glance at Gorzo, who had protested about having to leave her side when he was supposed to be the one protecting her. It was only her words that made him follow Lady Lilith. She swore she would be safe and would join him in Sanctuary as soon as possible.
Then he was gone. His broad, winged back and the beaded braids swinging over the tattooed gray flesh was her last sight of him. If someone had told her five years ago that she would agree to share the bed of a demon, she would have called them a lunatic. Now she was looking forward to it and couldn’t even summon any shame for that. The shame was for the way she would eventually betray him.
There was little time to ponder her feelings however, as Ms. Flores had her filling out a dizzying amount of forms. Her fingertips actually ached from typing on the datapad she’d been provided, and her head pounded as she answered question after question with the background that had been carefully expunged of all mention of her time as a Diakonos.
When the Holy Order had done the purge, they’d been very thorough for the Displaced Ones. Her background was innocuous, yet not so sparse that it would raise suspicion. She’d spent several years working at a machine shop. The work was satisfying enough to get her through the long days, though her heart had been elsewhere, focused on if she’d ever get to see Micah again.
Prior to her time at the machine shop, the Diakonos had provided her a background of schooling and a job in a crèche—a cruel reminder of the task she’d truly performed for them.
The information she provided in the forms—which went into more detail than the forms she’d initially filled out when she’d signed up for matchmaking—seemed to check out with Ms. Flores, though it took hours for her to finally be free to return to her apartment and begin the process of packing up what belongings she’d been cleared to take to Sanctuary. Whatever else she had would be put in storage or sold if she didn’t plan on ever returning. Jessa would be selling everything. She knew there was no going back.
Chapter 9
Jessa was exhausted when she stepped through the sliding door into her apartment. She sank down onto the hard metalline tiles of her entry alcove and hugged her knees, staring sightlessly into the almost bare room, her mind struggling with the herculean task of thinking anything at all after a long, eventful day.
A soft meow preceded the feeling of a small triangular head butting her calf.
With a slight smile, Jessa slipped one hand off her knee to pat the Servo Cat 7000 on his faux-fur head. A rusty purr greeting her petting. Mewster McFiggins had been reluctantly approved to travel with her to Sanctuary after a flurry of communications between Lilith and Ms. Flores. Apparently, the prince of the umbrose didn’t approve of human technology, but was willing to make minor concessions for the comfort of the incoming human concubines.
Figgy would have to undergo extensive scanning before being cleared, but since he was a standard model Servo Cat, it shouldn’t take long for them to see that he was harmless. Three years ago, she’d bought him with her very first paycheck from the machine shop. She’d bought him for Micah, even though she’d accepted that she might never see him again.
Figgy’s company rejuvenated her somewhat, giving her the energy to take a good look around her apartment. She didn’t have much other than her robotic cat and his charging station that really needed to be packed. She had no attachment to any of the furniture, which was all second-hand. There were neighbors who would gladly take it off her hands, though she wasn’t certain she should explain where she was going—assuming they didn’t watch the newstreams and recognize her.
Her minimal clothing options were mostly jumpsuits designed for the machine shop. Along with those uniforms, what few dresses and tunic pantsets she owned made up the sum total of her wardrobe. The dress she wore now was purchased specifically for her meeting with Gorzo. She wondered if he’d liked it. She’d agonized over the purchase, trying on what seemed to be hundreds of outfits before choosing this dress.
Glancing down at herself, she saw the stained portion of the dress where the fragile fabric had been sprayed with water in the restroom during her meeting with the sentinel.
Tears welled in her eyes. How am I ever going to get through this?
*****
The day of her move arrived without incident. Her neighbors had been happy to take her furniture, as most of the people in her complex were struggling financially, just as she had been. They’d all known about her date with an umbrose, and when she’d told them she was leaving, they’d made the connection.
To her surprise, they’d all been supportive. She’d expected coolness in their demeanor, if not outright hostility like the protestors had shown. Instead, she’d been treated to a flurry of interested questions. Some of the single women who shared her floor had even expressed their own interest in checking out the matchmaking company. They’d simply been too nervous about doing it, uncertain what the umbrose were like.
They looked to Jessa for reassurance and for advice. This wasn’t an uncommon situation for her. Throughout her time in the orphanage, she’d been called “little mother” by the staff, because she had a tendency to nurture, despite her solemnity—or perhaps because of it.
Thus far, she had nothing but positive things to say about the umbrose, though in truth her experience was very limited. Things had moved very quickly out of necessity on her side. As for Gorzo’s motivations, she’d seen evidence of what pressed him to offer a claim so fast. It still made her uncomfortably warm thinking about it.
Her last taxi ride to the air-center was also uneventful, save for one thing. She received an encrypted communication that simply said:
It’s all been taken care of.
Hold course until time for delivery.
You will be extracted.
Since she hadn’t been given the device the Diakonos had promised, she had no idea what had been taken care of, and to be honest, she didn’t want to know. The guilt was already nearly crushing her. It was only by pretending that her motives were as harmless as she wished they were that she was able to go through with this at all. She would wait until the Diakonos contacted her again. Until then, she would try to live as if this truly was the real thing, and she really was going home.
*****
Gorzo looked around his room for the hundredth time, wondering what he co
uld do to make the austere quarters more welcoming for his concubine. Nervous energy fizzed through his body, making all of his flight receptors stand on end. He’d lost count of how many times he’d tried to burn away the excess energy through flight. He’d also tried to do so by taking on some fights in the arena, though the opponents had been disappointingly weak and easily defeated. He’d even sparred with both Balfor and Ranove in the hopes of calming his nerves. Though they’d posed more of a challenge, it had not been enough to distract him from his anticipation. Eventually, he’d run through all the challengers brave enough to take him on, and yet, his anxious anticipation still plagued him.
It had only taken a week to finalize all the pointless paperwork and arrange for Jessa’s transport to Sanctuary. Gorzo had asked to remain in Dome City with her until that time, but the current alliance between humans and umbrose had very strict rules about allowing their people into DC. Lilith had told him that it was better this way and would decrease tension with the humans if they didn’t have to worry that the umbrose were planning on moving in to what were already overcrowded domes.
Since Gorzo found most humans to be tiresome—albeit with notable exceptions—he didn’t regret that he wouldn’t be trapped in the humans’ bubbles, but he did regret not being there to protect Jessa. He also regretted not having an opportunity to see her home. Perhaps it would have told him something about her. Then he could have done a better job preparing his own quarters for her arrival.
As it was, he’d had to guess about what she would like based on the profile provided by the matchmaking company. From what he could tell, she had simple, inexpensive tastes, but that may have been due to her financial situation. Gorzo could offer her much more. His high position in Sanctuary had led to his amassed wealth, as each battle they’d won against the adurians returned the spoils to the umbrose in amounts based on rank. Since Gorzo was a general, he’d taken many spoils of their war with the adurians. He’d also been granted a stipend for his position.
Jessabelle's Beast (Shadows in Sanctuary Book 3) Page 7