The Unexpected Bonding Vow

by Michelle Howard

  “What makes you think you can get me out?”

  Garik hadn’t been able to decipher an exact number on guards for Maurin but there were more than a dozen. When they’d first captured him, he’d tried to escape and earned another brutal beating for the effort. The second and third attempts had gotten him the same treatment, ending with him chained to the wall. Garik had to be more careful if he tried again or he’d be too weak. He was damn near at that point now.

  “Trust me! I can.” A flare of anger crossed her face, revising his opinion about her meek personality.

  “I don’t trust anyone, little girl,” was his response to all that fiery passion.

  She sank back on her haunches and balled her fists on her folded thighs. She was getting prettier by the minute in this dim lighting unless he was hallucinating. If this was all a dream induced by his injuries, Garik was closer to death then he’d originally thought.

  “You’re a fool then. You will die, Garik.”

  He smirked. Couldn’t help it. As battered as he was, did she really think he feared death? Death came to all and in his line of work, it came all too soon for many. “Unless I accept your help, of course.”

  Her lips pursed at his mocking tone. “Yes, damn you.”

  She amused him far more than she should. Clearly, his brain was rattled from one too many blows to the head because he heard himself say, “I am a Gerelin. We don’t have marriages. We mate bond.”

  Was he actually considering this? Vows of matehood were not taken lightly and considered extremely serious by his race. It was a bond until death and not broken any other way.

  “Mate bond?” she leaned forward and one hand settled on his outstretched leg. “It’s similar to the concept of marriage, though, right?”

  He tensed from the contact, calculating the quickest way to incapacitate her. Then realized her touch was incidental. She didn’t even seem to notice she’d done it. But he noticed. And so did his cock, which offered a determined twitch as if to prove there was life left in him yet. Since she was looking at him for a response, he nodded and studied her to guess her angle.

  Her quick grin flashed. “We can do that. It will work just as well for my purpose.”

  Why was she so focused on marriage? Garik choked back an immediate denial and pushed up against the wall to sit up straighter. His body protested with every move. Maurin’s men had worked him over good. “What exactly is your purpose?”

  Her end game.

  “Freedom.” She said it with finality and her brows creased low over almond-shaped eyes he couldn’t discern the actual color of.

  Chapter 4

  Saedra knew she was taking a chance with her proposal, but she’d thought long and hard over it when the idea first unfolded in her mind. It would cover her twofold with an escape and a binding contract that meant her father wouldn’t be able to marry her to Hritham if she was caught.

  Getting away from her father had been the plan since before her mother had died. At an early age and with her mother’s counsel, Saedra had learned to avoid Maurin’s more violent episodes whenever possible. Sometimes—she glanced at her weaker right leg—she wasn’t always successful.

  “Do you really think I’m going to offer a life long commitment to an unknown who came in the cell I’ve been kept in for weeks? A cell in the dungeon of the target I was assigned to eliminate?” Garik snorted and a glimmer of rage passed in those cold gray eyes watching her so intently.

  His feelings were understandable. She knew he would have doubts. Only they didn’t have time for her to list all the reasons it was in his best interest to help her in order for her to help him. She went straight to the point. “Do you want to die?”

  He arched a dark brow along with a pointed look around them.

  Saedra firmed her lips, took a deep breath then spoke again. “Do you want vengeance?”

  That resonated. She heard it in the sharp intake of breath he couldn’t hide. All she had to do was impress upon him the importance of this. She leaned forward in eagerness. “Then you don’t have a choice. I can get you out and all you have to do is—” what word had he used? “mate...all you have to do is your mate thing with me.”

  He shifted and a grimace of pain crossed his features. For a moment, Saedra wondered if it was too late and he was going to die whether he accepted her unorthodox bargain or not. Rough fingers landed on the back of her hand and squeezed. She glanced down and found her hand clenching on his thigh. One that was obviously injured if his expression was anything to go by.

  Appalled, Saedra yanked her hand back, finding her fingers damp and sticky. She’d been squeezing his injury! “I’m sorry. So sorry.”

  One of the many habits her father hadn’t been able to cure her of was Saedra’s need to touch and be touched in return.

  The tendons in Garik’s throat flexed as he swallowed. He was panting too hard to speak. Saedra automatically reached for his shoulder to soothe his suffering and froze in mid-motion. A hot flush filled her cheeks as embarrassment crashed over her and she let her arm drop in her lap.

  Garik finally caught his breath, the corner of his mouth twitched. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”

  His voice was hoarse, the rasp still present from screaming, no doubt. Steps scuffed out in the hall and they both tensed. Saedra stared over her shoulder, breath suspended as she waited to be caught. There was no excuse she could offer for her presence here. No reason that would be valid or believed. She wasn’t even supposed to know these dungeons existed, let alone that a prisoner was in them.

  When no one entered their private corner and the sound of boots faded away, she firmed her resolve. Crossing her fingers behind her back, she said, “I need your answer now, or I’m leaving alone.”

  Not that she would. There was no way she’d get out from under her father’s household without help. This man might be weakened but he had connections. There was an entire organization of people who would surely come to his aid if she got him somewhere safe to contact them. The Assassin Guild members had loyalty to the brotherhood.

  Or so it was believed by those on the outside. Like Saedra. She had to believe. She had nothing else to go on.

  Garik stared at her long and hard. Refusing to back down, Saedra met him stare for stare. Then she saw it. She’d won. It was there in the way his shoulders slumped, the narrowing of his laser sharp gaze.

  “Know this,” he snarled in a low threatening tone, “what I offer is to the death. Whether we part after this or not, you will always feel the bond—the connection between us. Is that something you are willing to live with?”

  If he thought he was scaring her off, he had no idea. She didn’t have to think twice about it. “Yes.”

  He struggled to sit upright from his slumped position and Saedra cupped his shoulders to assist. She couldn’t believe he was going along with it. Relief and hope loomed in all its brightness and tears wet her lids but she refused to let them fall.

  His frustration at needing help was evident on his face. “What makes you think I can save you when I need you to save me?”

  The question was full of sarcasm. Saedra’s answer was easy. “Those of the Guild don’t fail when they take on a mission.”

  She wasn’t catering to his ego. It was simply the truth.

  His expression hardened. “Then you equate your life to a mission? One without monetary pay?”

  Was he teasing? She couldn’t tell since she had no one who shared humor with her. “I don’t have any funds to tempt or convince you. The only offer I have, the only thing you might want with value—is your life. I can save it despite the fact I might not look like much.”

  Everyone underestimated Saedra.

  More intense staring from him. She resisted the urge to squirm and held his gaze while her heart thrummed a discordant note. Please don’t refuse. Please don’t.

  “Tell me who you really are,” came the rough demand.

  There were some things she couldn’t share. N
amely her father. He might not believe her or help if he knew her father was the reason he was here. “I already did. My mother named me Saedra. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

  “Saedra,” he repeated in a soft voice that did things to her. Sexual things.

  “If you betray me,” he growled on a wave of menace that trapped the air in her lungs, “there will not be a corner in all the worlds where you can hide from me. I will hunt you down until I find and kill you.”

  Her pulse jumped then beat at a rapid pace. Saedra understood the risks. She was dead either way if she didn’t leave. Her nod was short and brisk. “I know.”

  “You need to be closer for this to work,” he muttered as if he hadn’t just threatened to end her life.

  Then the meaning of his words sank in. He was agreeing?! Saedra crawled closer before he could change his mind and looped an arm about his shoulder. He couldn’t hide his groans of pain as she adjusted him. “Hang on. Almost.”

  Due to the proximity, their heads bumped but he didn’t pull away. Instead, seeking the crease of her shoulder and neck, he trailed his nose up the column of her throat where he inhaled deeply and exhaled softly. It was the oddest thing and parts of her body she thought long dormant or defective tingled in reflex.

  Saedra blinked and tried to ponder her body’s response. This instant physical reaction she was having to him was new. There was nothing in her life to compare it to. Her father would have killed any man she expressed an interest in and the ones who worked for him didn’t make any attempts to get close to Saedra though they made occasional lewd comments outside his hearing.

  Except for Parson. Parson was in a class all his own.

  As a result, she wasn’t as familiar with the behavior between men and women who shared an attraction. Her parents were not an accurate example.

  “I have your scent now. It will activate my mating hormone.”

  Snapping back to the moment, Saedra wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that. “Okay?”

  “Pain is involved,” he whispered behind the shell of her ear where he seemed content to rest his face.

  “P-p-pain?” Her voice trembled on the one word. His casual nuzzling had her sensitive flesh going hot then cold.

  “Mmm,” he agreed on a hum. “Get closer.”

  Saedra wasn’t sure that was possible. She was already crouched and curled practically in his lap between his thighs. Cold seeped through the material of her dress, his hands at her waist a warm weight yet chilled.

  Everything else about him was burning hot. Very hot. The back of her hand brushed his temple. Perhaps he had a fever. Her heart jumped. If so, it could make what they needed to do trickier but she wouldn’t lose faith yet. More concerning was the feel of her breast swelling with an unfelt before fullness and a tightening in her nipples as they rubbed against the cloth of her dress.

  The sensation of Garik’s teeth scraping her throat distracted her further and Saedra twitched on a soundless gasp then settled. What had he done that for? Her body was too close to pull back and see his face.

  His hands tightened on her waist and he seemed content with their intimate position. Every breath he took feathered against her skin and her core started a rhythmic clenching.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  She wasn’t sure. He hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to explain anything about the process of bonding for Gerelins. “Yes.”

  He breathed out, then leaned back and she missed the soft touches from his lips on her neck. When he grabbed one of her hands in his and brought it up to his mouth, lips teasing in the same way they’d teased her neck, Saedra didn’t think anything of it. She let her fingers remain lax in his grip.

  She was willingly being touched by a man for the first time and it was pleasurable. More than that. She could see now why women enjoyed it so.

  His other hand came up to cup the back of her head. “While its typical to go for the throat, that requires an intimacy I don’t think either of us want. Still, I need to make sure it’s visible for the time when we eventually part ways. To warn others.”

  Make what visible? He dragged her hand up to his mouth and flicked his tongue along the underside. Gray eyes hardened as they lifted to her. “Brace yourself but don’t scream.”

  He locked his hand about the back of her neck. Fear shot through her, but Saedra didn’t have long to contemplate the meaning of his words. Piercing sharp teeth sank into the skin of her wrist. The wrist he’d been kissing only a moment ago.

  Agony unlike anything she’d ever experienced ripped into her. Worst than when her father threw her into a wall in his rage and she’d broken her ribs and her leg. Worst then when she’d awakened to find he’d carved a jagged line down the side of her face, scarring her for life.

  Her gaze flew to Garik’s steely one. He didn’t blink as his teeth savaged her. Betrayal a dull ache in her chest, Saedra jerked and fought, but his grip was relentless, holding her in place. Her eyes stayed on his, stunned by his unexpected attack.

  “Why?” she whispered. Why had he hurt her?

  He was like everyone else around her. A liar.

  ***

  Fuck. Garik stared into the wounded eyes cutting straight through his ice-cold heart. The look was one of intense betrayal. It shouldn’t have bothered him. He’d gone on more assignments than he’d ever be able to recount and killed without a hint of remorse, hesitation or regret. Yet, here he was having an unfelt before attack of conscious.

  As strangers, they didn’t owe each other anything. Not even kindness. Except they’d made a bargain. He drilled away the guilt and focused on pumping the hormone he’d released from his elongated fangs into her bloodstream.

  She jerked in his hold, but he relentlessly kept his grip on her neck and fine-boned wrist. To part now would negate the effect and he’d have to start all over, renewing the pain and discomfort she felt. Garik just needed her to hold on a little longer and this would be done. He held her gaze, forcing himself to witness the accusation there.

  Her mouth parted as if to scream. Then her lips clamped down tight on the sound. Admiration rose through him as he sped up the process of pumping the hormone into her system and Garik didn’t often admire anyone. Very few beings surprised him.

  Sensing he’d given her enough, he released the suction on her wrist and licked his lips. The honey sweet taste of the hormone and the tang of her blood mixed in his mouth. He glanced down and ran his thumb over the two savage rake marks from where he’d dragged his canines to break the skin deep enough to inject the bonding hormone and ensure it took.

  Another pang of guilt hit him because he’d scared her. On the other hand, there was a definite twinge of satisfaction flaring from his gut. Others would know this mark for a sign she was under the protection of a Gerelin.

  “Did it work?” she asked on a ragged breath.

  Garik met her gaze and though her voice wobbled, she was still in his arms and hadn’t run away the moment he released her. He reached for the connection inside his core and sensed the tiny light that represented he was a part of a bonded couple. There was also the slight pull of an energy draw between them as his body began to reach for hers in an instinctive need to heal. Triumph surged.

  “It worked.”

  Chapter 5

  Saedra swiped at the useless tears drying on her face. Now that he’d stopped biting her, an actual bite, the pain faded. She held her arm up, turning her wrist about and couldn’t miss the two lines about five inches long on the underside. There was no blood marring her skin as evidence of the serious hurt he’d put on her. He’d licked it clean. The act disturbed and aroused her in equal measure.

  “What did you do?”

  “Bonded us. Gerelins have a hormone in our blood that is released when we share our lifeblood with another. The scar that will form while an unfortunate side effect also acts as a visible sign to all that you are part of a bonded pair and that there is a male who will seek vengeance on any who would harm you.
Actually, other Gerelin will also defend any female after seeing such a mark on her.”

  Saedra jolted. She hadn’t expected that. She turned toward him, shifting sideways on his lap. “What?”

  Garik slid her to the ground beside him on a wince. “It’s a Gerelin thing.”

  So he hadn’t hurt her on purpose. It was a relief that she hadn’t misjudged him. Saedra wanted to follow up on more details about this thing that she hadn’t counted on. That thing which was also warming and softening the tense muscles in her belly.

  Instead, she watched as Garik rose unsteadily to his feet. Saedra stood as well and reached out to his elbow to help steady him.

  Garik eyed her warily but didn’t lean away. “You mentioned you have a plan to get us out?”

  Right. Saedra wanted to smack herself on the head. She switched her grip to his hand, entwining their fingers and tugged toward the door. “Yes. We should hurry. I’ve probably been down here too long and I don’t know if the guards check on you routinely.”

  “They do,” he said as he followed along with a hunched gait.

  Their pace was slow partly due to Garik’s injuries and partly due to Saedra’s fear of being caught. They crept down the hall back in the direction he’d come and toward the stairs she’d used to get into the dungeon. Worry fluttered through her mind at Garik’s stamina but he seemed to have gathered strength since they’d left the cell.

  At the stairs, he placed a hand on her waist and squeezed. Saedra stopped and twisted about to speak but he used his other hand to press his fingers against her mouth in a gesture for silence.

  Voices trickled down the steps. Saedra froze and her heart revved like a space shuttle about to take off. Should they rush up and fight? Go back to his cell where they could wait to leave again? As her thoughts flew, Garik gave a fierce shake of his head and pinned her to the spot with a sharp glare.