by Regine Abel
“Correct,” Ghan said.
Amalia licked her lips and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I can go check it out, see if I can sense her.”
Ghan frowned and Behn cast me a wary glance. My instinctive reaction was to say no. I bit my tongue to keep myself silent.
“I won’t lie, Amalia,” Ghan said, “I don’t want you anywhere near that place. And I know Khel wouldn’t, either.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but Ghan raised a pacifying hand.
“I’m not saying no, but I’m setting some strict boundaries.”
Amalia clenched her jaw but nodded stiffly.
“You need to be within a quarter of a mile distance from your target to be able to detect them,” Ghan said, “so I will allow us to fly no closer than a fifth of a mile from that house. If you are able to detect her from there, great. But if you aren’t, we turn back. Even in stealth mode, I do not trust V not to have some unexpected trick at the ready.”
Ghan looked at me to see if I would challenge his decision. I really didn’t want her going there, but he was acting overly cautious with such a large radius. Even though I knew he would give his own life without hesitation to keep her safe, it reassured me to know he would rather throw the investigation than put Amalia in harm’s way.
I nodded my assent.
“Good,” Ghan said. “Let’s head out then. We’ve got a flight to catch.”
CHAPTER 19
Valena
Zhul and I fell into some kind of a semi-truce. I hated the distance between us but at least he no longer gave me the contemptuous glares of the first couple of days. After nearly two weeks in this damnable place, with no one else but each other’s company, ignoring me wasn’t much of an option for Zhul.
And I made the most of it.
Beyond him feeling betrayed, I understood his fear that he didn’t truly know me. But he did. Not wanting to pressure him, I gave him some space the first week. I didn’t begrudge his right to be upset, but now it was time to get over it. Zhul was my mate, Hall of Records be damned. And as horrible as it may sound, our forced intimacy twice a day actually played in my favor. In spite of his anger, Zhul wanted me. He had no problem getting hard without requiring any ‘intervention’ on my part. His efforts at remaining cold, detached, and clinical were faltering.
Even when he drank from me or injected me with his Thylin, he often forgot to do it on my wrist. Driven by passion, he would pull me to him and bite my neck instead. To think I had dreaded this ever happening to me. Granted, it was a male I cared deeply for, but still… Just the thought of his lips on my neck made my nipples pebble. And his venom through my veins… Goddess! I felt moisture pool between my legs just thinking about how it felt. I had never done drugs before, but if they caused sensations even half as amazing as Zhul’s Thylin, it was no wonder people became addicted.
First, an intense wave of calm settled over me. Then the most exquisite tingles would spread through me. Electric sparks crawling over my skin suddenly made me even more sensitive to the slightest touch. But it was the fire within that undid me. It felt as if a cocktail of bliss, love, and extreme joy had been shot directly into my bloodstream.
That venom was no joke.
The pathetic tunics Nurse Rosthan provided us also helped my cause. Long t-shirt would be a more accurate description for them. They barely reached me mid-thigh and Zhul loved my legs and my markings. I made sure to sit or lie down in the common area in a way that caused the tunic to ride up and expose as much skin as possible. I would often sit cross-legged in his line of sight, rocking the top leg back and forth to draw his attention. Every time I caught him ogling – which was often – I struggled to suppress my satisfied smirk.
Teasing Zhul turned out to be a lot of fun. However, I needed him to want me more than just sexually. I wanted him to fall for me all over again, but this time with no secrets between us. First, I needed to regain his trust. My gloves were always nearby and I made a show of putting them on every time we interacted with each other. Granted, they reminded him of my ability and my lie, but it also reassured him that whatever he saw was entirely me.
After the cold-shoulder treatment of the first week, we started talking more, mainly during lunch and dinner. Initially, it was light, tentative discussions on fairly generic topics. This week, we’d started diving into more personal matters, most of them related to our respective youths. Zhul had already revealed quite a bit about himself back at his house. The rest, though it shamed me to admit it, I had taken from him. So while I already knew most of what he confided in me, hearing it from his conscious perspective was enlightening.
True to his former self, Zhul began preparing meals for us, even if it came from the replicator. It paled in comparison to the feasts he made back home, but it beat the tasteless gruel that had been customary at the Blood House.
Home…
Zhul’s house embodied what I considered a place I could call home. Watching him set our food on the table, I wondered if we would ever go back there. With the General hanging between life and death, our chances of regaining our freedom seemed to dwindle with each passing day. Having Zhul with me made it much easier. But the thought of what would happen to our offspring terrified me. Worse yet, I didn’t know how my mate would fare should our captivity last too long.
The replicator only had two meal choices for breakfast and lunch. Fortunately, they provided different choices this week from what we had last week.
“Thank you,” I said, when he set my plate down before me.
“Don’t mention it.”
I chuckled. “My mother would disagree with you. She’s quite the good behavior police.”
Zhul raised an inquisitive brow as he took his seat. “Is she?”
“Oh yes,” I said, smiling fondly. “She’s a stickler for good manners. Please and thank you are obvious. However, she also expects you to show proper table etiquette. From not starting to eat before everyone else is seated and has received their food,” I said gesturing at him, “to properly using your utensils.” I waved my fork and knife. “But also everything else in between, including respecting your elders, cleaning up after yourself, dressing properly… I think my habit of not wearing shoes stemmed from a need to rebel at this excess of propriety.”
It was his turn to chuckle. I loved the deep, rumbling sound of it.
“Didn’t you get in trouble for it?”
“No.” I gave him a smug smile. “I only took them off at the playground. She didn’t like it much but that didn’t qualify as inappropriate.”
Zhul gestured for me to dig into my food. “So you were a brat.”
“Sometimes. But it was my curiosity that got me in trouble.”
I took a bite of the roasted khelfis. The tender meat all but melted in my mouth. Although it tasted good, it felt like sand when I swallowed. The same thing had happened yesterday but not as intensely as today.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Most cases weren’t serious, but the one that changed my life was the day the Sisters entered their season.”
Zhul frowned slightly, his eyes studying my face closely.
“Every day, twice a day, the guards would take most of the females to the private rooms. I had seen that before but didn’t think much of it. But this time, they started taking my mother.”
I swallowed hard remembering that fateful day.
“I could feel something was off with how tense she had been in the days leading up to it. Going to that room greatly upset her, though she tried to play it off as nothing.”
My stomach grumbled. I took another bite of food but once again, it felt like a thick lump in my throat.
“Veredians usually begin showing the first signs of their ability around the age of three, though the more precocious do so a little after two.”
I cast a nervous glance at Zhul to read his reaction. He nodded for me to continue, his expression neutral but his gaze intent.
“Before the breedi
ng program, Veredians only had one ability triggered by touch. But since Gruuk began breeding us with Korletheans, a few of us have begun displaying a secondary ability. Specifically, the second generation of Veredians born through the program, like Amalia and me.”
I took a sip of water, hoping to clear my throat, but even that felt thick and murky going down.
What’s wrong with me?
“Valena? Are you all right?”
My eyes snapped up to Zhul, confused for a moment. Then I realized I had been staring at my glass. I shook my head as if to shed the fog and put my glass down.
“Yes, I’m fine. Sorry. It’s… I’m not used to talking about this.” I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ear. “My secondary ability manifested for the first time a little after I turned seven. Or rather, that’s when I realized for sure what was happening. But for all I know, it could have happened before. Mother wanted me to help with one of the chores and I didn’t want to. I looked her straight in the eyes and thought if she wanted that thing done so badly she should do it herself. She did.”
“You made her do it just by staring at her?” Zhul said, his voice thick with tension.
Our eyes connected for a second before I looked away.
I nodded.
The silence stretched for a moment. I gave him an uncertain look, expecting to find condemnation in his eyes, but he merely seemed troubled.
“And you used this secondary ability on the day they took your mother to the private rooms?”
This time, it wasn’t the food making me feel choked up. Memories of that day haunted me still.
“Yes,” I breathed out. “There were only six of us with secondary abilities. The Sisters made us swear never to reveal them to our captors for our own safety. But that day, I couldn’t resist finding out what was happening behind that door. When I approached, a Guldan guard ordered me to go back to the playground. I wasn’t thinking, too consumed by the need to know what was happening to my mother.”
Zhul pushed back his half-eaten plate and leaned back in his chair.
“You ordered him to leave?”
I snorted. “Kind of. Making him leave would have been the smarter choice. But I was just a child. I ordered him to look away and pretend he didn’t see me go in.”
Zhul winced.
“I opened the door to see a Korlethean on top of my mother. I screamed, thinking he was hurting her. The expression on his face when he looked up terrified me. His eyes were glassy and wild. I thought he was rabid, not knowing at the time he was under the effects of Dalyria.”
I clasped my hands on my lap to stop their trembling. Even after all these years, the guilt of what I had done clawed at me.
Tears pricked my eyes. “I didn’t mean… I thought he was hurting her.”
“So you tried to protect her,” Zhul said softly.
I nodded. “I thought he should die… So he did.”
A tear slipped down my cheek and I wiped it with the back of my hand. That Korlethean had been as much a victim as all of us in that compound. He hadn’t deserved to die. That they gave him Dalyria further proved he had refused to force himself on my mother. If only I had stayed out of that room, things could have turned out quite differently for all of us.
“My scream had alerted the other guards. They weren’t sure at first what I had done since there were no cameras inside the private rooms. But there were cameras outside that showed what I did to the guard.” I hugged myself, while staring off into the distance. “Gruuk didn’t shout at me. He only said it was unfortunate to waste such a talent, but it made me too dangerous. The guards burned my eyes the same day.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I gave him a sad smile. “It’s a terrible thing growing up knowing you have the blood of an innocent on your hands. But the worst was all those years after Gruuk gave me to his son. By then, I was mature enough to realize how I could have ordered the guards to free us all with this ability.”
“You were just a child, Valena. No one could have expected you to think like an adult.”
“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
He nodded slowly then looked at my barely touched plate. “You should eat.”
I frowned and pursed my lips. “My stomach both agrees and disagrees with you.” I chuckled at his confused expression. “The food tastes fine in my mouth but it feels like it’s getting stuck in my throat when I swallow. I’m hungry but not for this.”
“For what then?”
“I don’t know. Just not this.” I made a face at him. “It’s all your fault, too. You ruined me with those amazing dishes you made for us.”
He smiled, a certain amount of pride shining through. But it quickly faded, replaced by sadness. Rising to his feet, he looked away from me and picked up his dishes.
Dammit.
It didn’t take mind reading to know he was thinking of what we had lost because of my secret. That wouldn’t do. Zhul wanted an assertive woman who went for what she wanted? Well, he was about to get her.
Getting up from my chair, I prowled after him. I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around and face me. His lips parted in surprise as he looked at me, wide-eyed.
“Listen up,” I said, invading his personal space, “I’ve hurt you and you have the right to be angry. But you are my mate so you’re going to need to get the fuck over it.”
The way his jaw dropped and his look of disbelief would have been comical if I wasn’t on a mission.
“I don’t care that our vows haven’t been recorded. You are mine and I’m yours until the day we draw our last breath.”
I stepped closer to him. He tried to back away but the counter pressed on his back.
“I’m willing to give you time to realize the female you bonded with is the same female here before you now.” I raised my gloved hands before him. “This is all me, not your thoughts influencing my actions.”
He regained his composure as his gaze drifted to my hands before locking with mine.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me in this messed up life of mine. I’m not losing you.”
I slipped my fingers through his hair. He tried to pull away so I fisted them tightly enough for it to sting. He hissed but didn’t fight me, his silver eyes darkening. My heart leaped in my chest, but I didn’t let my sense of triumph show. Never in a million years would I have imagined behaving this way, but I loved it. It made me feel sexy, powerful, and for the first time in my life, in control.
Eyes locked, I drew his face inches from mine.
“You are mine, Zhul Dervhen. All of you belongs to me.”
One hand still fisting his hair, I grabbed his crotch with the other. He inhaled sharply but still didn’t challenge me. The thin fabric of his tunic and lack of underwear hid nothing of the gradual hardening of his shaft.
“You no longer get to shut me out,” I whispered against his lips, gently rubbing my hand between his legs. “I won’t allow it.”
The sound of his breathing speeding up and the stiffness beneath my touch made my nipples pebble. I kissed him hard. He responded with equal fury. Our tongues mingled and I tightened my grip on his hair further. His cock jerked against my palm in response. Pulling away from him, I ended the kiss as abruptly as I had started it. Zhul looked at me half-dazed, his knuckles white from gripping the edge of the counter so fiercely.
I gave him a smug smirk before turning and strutting towards the sitting area. My eyes caught my mostly untouched meal left on the table. Guilt at not tidying after myself gnawed at me, but doing so now would ruin my swagger.
Sorry Mother.
* * *
The lifeless synthetic voice resonated in the room, stirring me from my restless slumber. “You have one hour remaining to submit your blood samples. Please proceed immediately.”
I felt too weak to move. My tunic clung to my skin, soaked with sweat. A sharp pain lanced through my stomach as it cramped from hunger. I couldn’t remember t
he last time I’d eaten a full meal. Even when I forced myself to eat more than a few bites, nothing seemed filling, as if I tried to survive on water.
My cell door opened with a swish.
“Valena?” Zhul’s concerned voice said.
I couldn’t summon the energy to answer. The growling of my stomach did on my behalf. Zhul’s hand brushed my hair from my face. Through a blur, I saw the worry etched on his face. He picked me up in his arms and carried me to the entrance of the holding area. Before we even reached the door, Sheb’s voice sounded through the intercom.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know but she needs help.”
“Put her down in one of the cells, get her gloves on her hands, then go stand behind the safe line.”
My gloves…
I had forgotten they weren’t on right now. Laughter bubbled in my chest. Something was wrong with me, but the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted to touch Zhul. Maybe he was right. Maybe he shouldn’t trust me not to invade his mind.
After putting me down on one of the beds, he left me only to return moments later with my gloves. His soft hands brushed over mine as he put the gloves on. It was hard but I resisted temptation. He made as if to leave but then paused, cupped my face with his hand and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I watched him leave, followed by the arrival of Nurse Rosthan.
“What seems to be the problem?” she asked while running the portable scanner over me.
I tried to answer but was unable to make my jaw work. My stomach grumbled again, twisting painfully.
“Have you not been eating?” she asked, her voice full of reproach.
“She can’t seem to stomach anything from the replicator,” Zhul’s voice shouted from outside the room.
“Call V,” Nurse Rosthan said after fiddling with her scanner.
I couldn’t see who she had talked to. V’s voice over the com solved that mystery seconds later.
“What is it, Sheb?”
“Nurse Rosthan wishes to speak to you. Valena is ill.”
“Cahla?” V asked.
So that’s her first name…