Starlight [Warriors of Dareen] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Sara Anderson

  Kara slowly shook her head. “I do not need a man. I had one and decided it was not as great as books made it sound.” No, Kara did not ever plan on allowing a man to hurt her like Ryan had. She had learned her lesson well. No matter how sexy Agent Joran was, she had to remember her vow to herself. She would go back to what was normal for her. She would care for her friends and do her job well. Those things brought her happiness and did not rip her heart out of her chest. They were safe.

  Deputy Mason came in with a drunk. “Fucking pig cop. I am going to sue you assholes,” The drunken man fought the deputy as he was pulled along. Kara blinked as reality crashed back in on her. She tried to pull herself together. She was making a fool of herself, getting all hot and wet over a man like Agent Joran.

  “Was there anything else you needed, Agent?” she asked, hoping her voice was steady and not as pathetically shaky as she felt.

  Joran searched her face. Kara had that tingling feeling again. His lips tightened and his eyes squinted with a determined look, then he replied. “Do you always take care of everyone around you while denying yourself your own needs?”

  Shock hit her that he had once again easily figured out what was going on inside of her head. The man knows me too well, she thought. No, that was impossible. Men, no matter how well they could question a suspect, could not read minds. She just needed to get control of herself. She caught herself letting her guard down again. She could feel herself pulling away from him, building her walls back in place. She had made the mistake of letting Ryan see her heart, and giving him the ammunition to hurt her. Kara had vowed to never again allow anyone that kind of power over her again.

  Joran’s face changed, as if he saw the moment her defenses were back in place. He sighed with regret. “I need the itemized list of the search warrants for the April seventeenth search of the Warehouse on Warren Street.”

  “Sure, give me a moment.” Her chair squeaked as she spun around to face her computer, thankful to finally get her mind on her work for a change. She brought up the internal database and logged in to access the records. Work, mind-numbing work, was what she needed. “Would you like this printed off?” she asked when she found the proper document he was wanting.

  “Yes, please,” he told her. She glanced up and her eyes locked with his again. She shivered, feeling naked as he stared into her eyes. “You are so beautiful, Kara. Another time and place I would take you and make you mine. Forever.” His eyes focused on her face, trapping her once again. “Do not ever doubt your beauty.”

  Kara shook her head and cleared her throat. Why was this man getting to her so easily? “Let me print it for you,” she said, once again breathless. She was finally able to tear her gaze away from him. She almost felt drunk as she hit the icon for printing. He stared at her as if he was trying to soak in every detail of her face while the document printed. She handed him the paper once it was done. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

  He took the paper from her but his hand covered hers. It was so warm. She wanted to lean in close to him so he could wrap his arms around her. In the one motion of his hand covering hers, she felt safer than she had since her father was alive. The two years she dated Ryan, she had never felt this safe with him. Why was a stranger making her feel things that the man she contemplated marrying never could?

  “Thank you, Kara,” he told her, breaking her out of the trance. He smiled at her, as if she was a delicious little morsel and he was a predator on the hunt. “We will talk again. I still have a punishment to hand out to you for not telling me all I wish to know, unless you have thought better and decided to obey me.”

  Kara once again felt trapped by his gaze. “I already told you, it is nothing but personal drama.” No way was she going to tell him about Ryan. If he knew how clumsy she was, or how awful she was in bed, he would never speak to her again. Besides, she reminded herself, she was a strong woman that did not bow to the whims of a man, no matter how much she wished she could have a night of hot sex with him.

  “Have it your way,” Joran whispered, leaning in close again. “I meant what I said about punishment.” When he leaned back up, his eyes were full of amusement, but she also saw lust as well. His smile was full of promise. He straightened up, took the paper, and turned to walk back to where he had been working.

  Kara stared after him, too stunned to hide her face like she normally did. Laura was suddenly there. “Oh my god, Kara. That was so hot, the way he looked at you, and how he touched your face.” She crossed her arms over her chest with her hands clasped just under her chin and sighed. “That was far better than any book I have ever read,” she told her with a dreamy expression on her face. “What did he say? Did he ask you out? Out to his place for some hot nookie? It looked that way,” Laura said, sounding breathless with excitement.

  Kara tore her eyes away from Joran to look up at Laura. “He wanted some copies of police reports.”

  “What! That was no business transaction. I was expecting him to lay you out on the desk and ravish you.” Laura gave her a look like she did not believe her at all.

  Kara sighed. “He also wanted to know why I was upset, but I did not want to tell him the whole Ryan saga so I told him it was personal. He didn’t like that and threatened to punish me.”

  Laura clapped her hands over her mouth and squealed as she bounced in excitement. Her hands finally dropped and she looked at Kara with longing. “Kara, that is so hot. Oh god, you are so lucky. That is just what you need, a spanking and then some hot sex.”

  Kara’s cheeks burned bright red. “No I don’t, and I have told you all about my problems with sex.”

  “You, dear, just need a real man, and that fine agent there is just the man to show you what sex can be like.”

  Kara shook her head at Laura and rolled her eyes. She was always the romantic.

  “Did you at least find out why he is here?” Laura asked, finally giving up with the sex talk.

  “I have only heard the same thing as you. I think it is the thefts on federal land, but no, he didn’t tell me why he is here.” Kara laughed at Laura’s crestfallen expression. “You look so disappointed. What were you hoping for? A serial killer?”

  “No, of course not. But something interesting, like ‘the mob is trying to take over’ or ‘the new guy at the Walmart is really a terrorist.’” Laura’s brown eyes almost sparkled as she thought of exciting reasons to draw the FBI’s attention.

  Kara snorted. “You are too much. We are in Kansas. Neither the mob nor terrorists would pay us any mind here,” Kara said, still laughing.

  Laura smiled at her. “I am so happy I entertain you.” She stared at Kara for a moment. “So, would you like to go out tonight? Forget about your asshole ex and maybe make Agent Joran jealous? We can make sure he is really jealous so he will spank and fuck you proper.”

  “Laura!” Kara sputtered, shocked her best friend would talk like that here in the office with deputies and Agent Joran around.

  Laura’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Come on, don’t be a prude. You know you want to go.”

  Kara thought about saying no. She was still stinging over being told she was too plain and fat to ever attract anyone interested in her. She thought about that half gallon of ice cream with the hot fudge core in the middle sitting in her freezer. She could order a pizza, get a nice action movie, and curl up on her couch with a soft blanket and her cat. That would have her walls up well and firm by Monday morning. “No” was right on the tip of her tongue when her anger flared. If she slunk home and buried herself in a movie and food, then Ryan would win. She straightened her spine, smiled at Laura, and replied, “Sure, I would love to go out. Where are we going?”

  Laura clapped her hands and smiled. “Awesome, I was scared I would have to drag you out. I am not allowing you to sit alone in that house of yours and turn into a prudish old maid with your cat.” She seemed lost in thought for a moment. “How about we get some dinner and go out for some drinks and dancing?
We will dress in super tight, sexy jeans and barely-cover-our-cleavage tops.”

  Kara rolled her eyes. “I am not dressing in super tight jeans and tops that barely cover my boobs, but drinks and dancing sounds amazing.”

  Laura stuck her lower lip out in a pout for a moment, then smiled. “Great. Well, I am going to dress to attract my own fine man, since you snagged the hottest man in Crawford County.”

  “You could attract men in a potato sack,” Kara told her with a sincere smile. Laura was beautiful, with her long brown hair that always sat just right. She had deep blue eyes and the perfect complexion.

  “We are the same size, dear. You just need to start seeing yourself as beautiful instead of how asses like Ryan try to define you.” Laura raised her hand up to Kara’s face and pushed her hair over one ear. “I see a beautiful woman here. There is nothing you need to do to yourself to make you attractive. Ryan is an asshole that wanted a free ride and somehow you believed he was the best you could do. I will prove to you that men find you sexy if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Laura turned to her own desk to look up places they could go that evening. Kara swallowed the lump in her throat. For the first time, she wondered if Agent Joran really found her attractive and meant every word he said about her beauty.

  Chapter 3

  Joran could not believe he was letting one little human distract him like this. He was on the verge of disobeying his own orders concerning the humans. He had already used his truth sensing abilities on her. He had tried to control himself, but sensing her distress had eroded his control. Now he knew that her soul was hurting. Someone had hurt her, badly. Fury at who would harm such a lovely woman flared in his blood. He took a few breaths to try and regain control of himself.

  This was why he had ordered his warriors to stay out of human conflicts. Their instincts to protect women and children were ingrained in their nature. Joran was no exception. He was even more susceptible, with his empathic and truth-seeking abilities. Her face held such sadness. He wanted to rip apart whoever had put that look on her face. Every time he caught her looking at him, thinking she was hiding from him, his cock hardened as his instinct to protect her rose. She was always hiding behind her hair. Little did the lovely girl know that her hair was no defense against his ability to sense her emotions. Normally, he could ignore stray emotions and concentrate on his mission, but he could not ignore hers. He knew she was aroused around him and that embarrassed her. He also knew she fought her attraction to him, but then she fought letting anyone get too close to her. He wanted to change that, but he was not here to find a mate and bond to her. So why was it, in the weeks he had spent here using the humans’ law enforcement resources to track the Shara, that he had spent so much time thinking about her? She used her hair to hide her pain and curiosity. The pain he felt coming off of her earlier as she once again pulled her hair in front of her face made him lose his control with his truth-seeking abilities. If she was his woman, he would have forced her to tell him who had caused her that much distress. He could feel she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown when he returned from looking at some suspicious activity reports. He was an expert interrogator, a master with his empathic and truth-seeking abilities, but with a mate, he could use physical punishment as well. He could easily tell if she was lying to him, then use orgasm denial to force her to tell him anything and everything he wanted to know. He could make her scream, either as she came hard yet again, or begging to please let her come. Both were effective punishments for a mate that would not obey him. He would teach her to always trust and obey him.

  Joran swore to himself again. He should be focusing on his mission instead of the little human. Instead, he was thinking about how he could tell she was thinking about him by how she blushed. The way she stared at him, he knew she wanted to mate with him and he could smell her arousal. That made his cock harden more than once, thinking of the ways he could bury his sex into her. Cock. The language texts he read yesterday said humans often called the male sex a cock. He would force her legs apart and bury his cock into her, making her take all of him. He hoped she resisted him so he could dominate her, punish her when she refused to obey him. He had a punishment room in his quarters. There were all sorts of ways he could tie her in any position he wanted, force her legs apart and make her scream as she came close to coming then begged for him to give her his cock. The more she fought, the more he would dominate her, force pleasure on her until she merely whimpered because she was unable to scream anymore. He nearly jerked when he realized he had done it again. His thoughts had turned to the little human. No, he must not lose focus now. He must keep his thoughts dwelling on their mission.

  He returned his focus to the report from Varnis. Varnis found a group of Shara hiding in a mine. They had eliminated all but two of them, who they took back to the warship orbiting and cloaked over the Earth. Thank the universe that Shara stayed in packs. They rarely went alone, otherwise they would be stuck on this backward planet even longer. Alone, Shara were desperate creatures. They turned even more violent on their own, but in packs, they were dangerous to females. They worked themselves up into a sexual frenzy together. Fuck, both ways the Shara ran were bad for this planet. He wondered if they should just break Alliance laws and inform this world’s government about the dangerous aliens running loose. Did he really have that little amount of faith in his team? Did he really think they were not trained enough to capture the Shara without breaking Alliance laws? No, he had trained Sunter and Varnis well. He was ashamed he doubted them, even for a moment.

  Joran’s thoughts returned to the lovely secretary for the Sheriff for this county. She was alone. He had heard the angry mutters of the deputies about an asshole that broke her heart. He bet that was why Kara was close to an emotional breakdown.

  Shit, I am doing it again. Joran ground his teeth in frustration that once again his thoughts were on the pretty secretary.

  He needed to focus on their mission. He sat heavily in his seat aboard the small landing craft they used to penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere and stay safe from any curious humans as they tracked their enemy. Blowing out a breath, he opened a communication channel to his ship.

  “Commander Joran to Captain Aster. Did you read my report?”

  After a few moments of static, the captain replied, “Yes, Commander, very good work. You have trained your warriors well. They took out the Shara without exposing themselves to the humans.”

  “Thank you, sir. I am thinking there is a pack here in this area. Local food establishments are being broken into and food is stolen, not money, which humans usually value over food.”

  “Looking over the reports you sent, I believe you are correct. That lieutenant you trained in interrogation did an excellent job. His truth-seeking abilities are almost as good as yours. The group of Shara that Varnis brought up confessed they broke up into three groups. The other two groups may know we have captured some of them and interrogated them. If they know, they could turn more dangerous or run to try and hide. If they get into mountainous regions, we are in trouble.”

  “I agree that any human getting too close to them will be in grave danger.” Joran studied the maps of the area. “This state of Kansas is pretty flat, but within a day’s travel are areas that would hide the Shara bastards easier.”

  Joran heard the captain clicking through the reports his men had sent. “This mission is turning into a mess.” Captain Aster was quiet for a time. Joran assumed he was reading over another report or a map of the area they were working in. “I fear our mission will be exposed to these humans. They are not ready to know of us or the other races in the Alliance. Their many leaders still fight among themselves like children.”

  “Not to mention the Alliance’s strict laws about not interfering in developing worlds.” Joran sighed. With a world like this, he struggled to obey the law. As a warrior, it was ingrained in him to protect women, not stand back and watch them struggle to survive on their own. A picture o
f Kara Johnson floated in his vision. His every instinct as a warrior screamed at him to protect her.

  “Let’s get these bastards found and eliminated before we have to deal with contamination,” the captain ordered before cutting the communication link.

  Joran cut the communication link off and sat back to stare at the ceiling of their landing craft. The Shara were close, maybe even in this town. All the females here were in danger. Shara relieved pack stress by rape and smelling their victims fear and pain as they tortured them. They thrive on females’ screams of pain. He was filled with rage at the thought of Kara being tortured as the Shara tortured her. He would find a way to keep her safe. If only he could justify taking her, making her his. Then she could be his mate and he could do whatever he needed to for her to be safe. Lock her in his quarters, tie her to his bed. Hush her complaints by making her scream in orgasm.

  He gave into temptation and disobeyed his own command, and easily hacked into the primitive human communications, quickly finding the area that recorded her line at the law enforcement office. The more he listened to the conversation, the more the rage burned in his blood. He had felt her distress rolling off of her. Now that he knew why, he was on the verge of finding the bastard to teach him some manners. He was on his feet, pacing as he thought of ways to inflict extreme pain on the human, Ryan. He would find him. First, he would pinch the nerves that would make the disgusting human scream in agony without causing harm. Then, once the human had screamed until no voice remained, he would force the human to kneel at Kara’s feet and beg forgiveness. Then, if he gave a convincing apology, he would allow the human to leave. If not, he would inflict pain until he lost control of his bodily waste elimination before ripping his throat out for daring to cause such a beautiful, fragile female pain.