Had to be the bond. His mother and father had described it but as he’d grown through the years, he’d taken those stories to be exaggerations to satisfy a young child’s whimsy.
“I see.”
He sighed. She didn’t see at all. Everything about her posture said the opposite. Her slim frame practically vibrated in place. She was scared. As she should be. She’d allowed herself to be trapped alone in a room with a stranger. An elite assassin.
Her fear gnawed at him. Words of comfort bubbled up inside of him but Garik choked them off at the last second. This was ridiculous. He was the last individual anyone should seek comfort from. Why had he ever agreed to give her his bonding vow?
She shivered and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It was easy to see the tiny bumps dotting her arms and her nipples thrust promptly against her dress.
He didn’t feel any chill, but his body was also working overtime to heal his injuries, so there was a low-level burn he’d been fighting off for days now. “Are you cold?”
“Yes.” Her answer was slow in coming as if the realization of her position suddenly weighed on her.
Garik glanced around for a way to heat the room. Against one wall was a mounted heating unit. He crossed to it and studied the sensory panel and display of buttons. He selected the lowest setting to increase the temperature without roasting him in his sleep.
“This will make it more comfortable.”
Why he felt the need to say anything was beyond him. It had to be his injuries and extended stay in a dungeon taking him off his game. Caring about the elements was the least of his concern. Except, her comfort mattered to him. He barely restrained the urge to roll his eyes at the idea. He needed to find a way, and quickly, to get used to the bond creating all sorts of urges in him toward her.
To distract himself from that line of thinking and what it would mean for his future, Garik started removing his clothes—boots first, then his shirt. By the time he reached for the flap of his pants over his groin, she was on the opposite side of the mattress where the pile of blankets was stacked. She had to be tired too.
The itching in his right thigh let him know the wound was knitting together and he didn’t want her to see it and worry. One of Maurin’s guards had taken particular delight in stabbing him there and twisting the blade round and round. He decided to keep his pants on though their state wasn’t salvageable.
Garik lay on his side of the mattress facing her. He propped his elbow upright and cupped his jaw to watch as she chewed her bottom lip, indecision crossing her face. One look down the length of his body sent her gaze skittering away. Right now, she appeared more nervous than the rabische he’d compared her to. “Saedra?”
“Mmmh?” She stared at the ceiling and had her arms about her torso again.
Garik bit his inner cheek. He was aroused, his shaft thick and throbbing. He couldn’t help that but he also didn’t have any plans to do anything about it. “I won’t touch you. You have my promise that I will not attempt to have sex with you tonight. I just need to rest and it would be stupid for us not to share the bed.”
And he would not sleep with her awake. Sleep he desperately needed to gain his strength.
Her lids fluttered, but soon she was kicking off her shoes and pulling the dress above her head. Once done, she stood before him in a short white shift with thin straps. The bottom skimmed the top of her thighs. It did a decent enough job of covering her though her silhouette revealed more of her shape than he thought she knew. She snatched up the blankets before he could get a good look, opening them with a brisk snap and threw them over him and the bed before climbing in.
Garik fought the inappropriate urge to laugh. Laughter was a pleasure he hadn’t experienced in years. Yet, he found himself wanting to do it for the second time this evening and all because of her.
She scooted about and pulled the covers up to her chin and eyed him across the short expanse of the bed. “You’re not what I expected.”
Garik had just folded his arm down and laid his head on the synthetic material of the mattress when she made that announcement. “What did you expect?”
“A ruthless killer who would slit my throat the first chance he got.”
Air froze in his lungs. Needing to breathe, he released the breath on a rough exhalation and pounded the mattress with the flat of his palm. Saedra jumped but it wasn’t enough. Garik rolled to his back and cursed a blue streak to relieve his anger. When he ran out of words, he attempted to calm his temper. When that didn’t work either, he rolled back toward her and lashed out in a vicious tone. “Why in heppetti did you come into my cell if you thought that?!”
How she’d risked her life made him furious, because that was something Garik or any other assassin from the Guild would do without hesitation if their life depended on it. If there had been a weapon at hand and she seemed the least bit dangerous, he would have killed her on the spot. The only reason she was alive boiled down to her ridiculous deal demanding he bond to her.
She was his mate for life now and Garik had to grit his teeth to keep from reaching out to shake her for the chance she’d taken.
***
Garik’s anger was a living flare between them. Saedra swallowed. For a moment, she considered leaping from the bed and running but if she knew her father, and she did, he’d have patrols out looking for them until the early morning hours. It was best they stay hunkered here in this hidden shed for shelter. Her contact promised it would be safe for a day or two.
The heat of Garik’s stare burned the side of her head, but she refused to turn, keeping her gaze stubbornly aimed at the ceiling. She didn’t need to see the condemnation in his gaze to know her actions had been stupid and dangerous. Her lips firmed. She’d had no choice.
“I did it because I had no other option.” The words blurted out on their own.
It was easy to hear his heavy exhale and Saedra was smothered in humiliation. Her actions had been rash. But the alternative would have been her death when, not if, her father decided her existence no longer served a purpose. That didn’t even include what would happen if Hritham, got a hold of her.
After a heavy silence, Garik asked, “What does Maurin have on you? Are you his wife, lover?”
At his harsh questions, Saedra flinched and dug her nails into the blanket. “No! I told you that. I’m not the type of person who would have asked for marriage while legally connected to another. I was merely a reluctant member in his household.”
She stuck to the simplest lie. Saedra had been a member of his household. She was also his daughter, but that wasn’t anything she wanted to share while lying in bed next to a known assassin who had been locked up and tortured by her father.
“A member of his household?” Garik repeated, raising his voice on the end to make it a question.
Saedra nodded, fully committed to her tale as she gave the shadowy ceiling her complete attention.
“Let’s say I believe you.”
Saedra recoiled because his very tone indicated he didn’t.
“What next? At least tell me you have a way off this forsaken rock as well.”
Outrage stymied her need to remain still. Saedra rolled on to her side, facing him to snap, “Yes. As a matter of fact, I do have shuttle passage for two booked on a touring cruise vessel due to arrive in three days’ time.”
His eyes widened and his mouth did that intriguing twitch again, just a slight lifting of his lips at the corner. Saedra held her breath but no smile was forthcoming from him.
Instead, she got. “So, we need to stay off of Maurin’s radar for three days then.”
This was the tricky part of her plan where Saedra was hoping luck and fortune favored her. She scooted closer to him and pressed the flat of her hand on his chest. “Exactly. We can use the hover-cycle to get to the traveling port.”
Garik’s gaze dropped to her hand and she pulled it back on a dismayed groan. At some point she needed to learn to keep her touch contai
ned. She knew she was tactile by nature. A result of her mother’s generous and affectionate personality, she figured. Saedra hadn’t had anyone since to release her need to touch and be touched in turn. “Sorry.”
Despite her apology, he continued to stare at her as if she’d committed some great atrocity. Rolling her eyes, she settled down, giving him her back again. “I’m going to sleep. It’s been a trying day, to say the least.”
Silence was his response. Saedra bit her bottom lip and worked to get her heart rate to slow. She’d never been in bed with a man and it didn’t matter that they weren’t even close or in contact. The sound of his light breathing reached her easily, his muffled groan as he must have decided her interrogation was over and lay behind her.
Minutes ticked by while she studied the inky darkness around her. Loneliness rose like a yawning pit in her core and tears stung her eyes. Saedra attempted to swipe them away. These weren’t sad tears, they were tears of relief after the pressure of getting to this point.
Her mother would be pleased. Saedra smiled, her eyes growing heavy. Thinking of her mother’s happiness at Saedra’s escape was enough to eliminate the rest of her tension. The heating unit in the room must have been a decent model because the room was already taking on a toasty feel.
That plus her sheer exhaustion contributed to her body shutting down. A rare feeling of safety and well-being filled her. Saedra shuffled backward and snuggled deeper into the covers. A pleasant haze filled her mind and she soon drifted off to sleep.
Unlike the man in bed beside her, holding in a groan at finding a plump ass nestled against his groin. It took him a lot longer to find sleep.
Chapter 8
Garik woke the next morning, surprised he’d slept at all. It hadn’t been the light sleep he typically used to maintain an awareness of his surroundings either. This was a deep rest. One his body had very much needed.
While his body ached and his ribs still stung, there were definite signs he’d recovered, namely his ability to breathe unhindered. Despite all of that, something plucked at his mind, urging him to wake and move. Not danger necessarily but he kept his eyes closed and tried to pin down the odd feeling as he took stock of his surroundings without moving.
Silence echoed back. Yet he wasn’t alone.
Had Maurin discovered him?
Garik shifted his head about, once more using his physical senses to figure out what disturbed him. A pleasing scent teased his nostrils, light and airy. Not the thick, cloying scent of a sex share worker but not the familiar spicy notes from women he had an understanding with in the past either.
Desire rose as if shaking off the beating he’d taken from Maurin’s guards. This enchanting aroma was all around him, leaving Garik unable to pinpoint the direction of the source. His heart picked up its pace in anticipation, arousal tensing the muscles in his abdomen.
For some reason, his arms were pinned down. A weight was thrown across his chest, keeping him flat on his back in a...bed? He stiffened, tipped his chin down and opened his eyes slowly.
Waves of brown blocked his view, strands tickling along his jaw line. Long hair. Feminine hair, if the silky texture and the source of the amazing smell was any indication.
Beyond that, his gaze followed the natural arch of a narrow back and a slim thigh thrust between his parted legs. Tangled covers wrapped loosely about their hips.
Memories flashed through his mind about the previous night. His escape. Saedra. She slept on top of him instead of hugging the edge of the bed as she had been when they’d fallen asleep.
Garik tried to recall when she’d actually moved toward him in the night but couldn’t. Nor had he awakened from the contact, which in itself should have sent terror raining down his spine.
An arm was hooked loosely about his waist and the top of her head was snug beneath his chin, while light snuffles signaled her slumbering state. But it wasn’t fear Garik was feeling. Not from...Saedra. His bond mate.
Warmth spiraled from inside as emotions set off mini-explosions while he tried to capture what it meant. No answer came to mind, only a growing need to see to her care, a desire to do more than nuzzle the wealth of hair rubbing the side of his face.
Garik raised his arms from the bed and held them hesitatingly in the air. He should move her but didn’t know how to go about it without waking her. Forcing back his unusual reluctance, he placed his hands at her waist. She moaned and cuddled closer. Cuddled. Wonderment burst through him followed by a cinching sensation in his heart that almost had Garik arching up on a sudden gasp.
His hands tightened, the fabric of the blanket and her thin shift bunching between his fingers. No one had ever at his harsh questions cuddled with him. He was an assassin.
There was so much blood on his hands. So many deaths, yet this woman, unconcerned with the risk to her own life, slept deeply in the same bed with him—her body practically wrapped around him. Garik closed his eyes and inhaled, needing a moment to control all he believed in rearranging down to his soul. Priorities realigned along with new goals.
He didn’t care if it was the bonding vow causing this shift and change. She was his. And Garik Denikon, assazi or not, protected what belonged to him. He opened his eyes as the vow solidified in his head.
Hands at her waist, much more confidant about his actions, he slid to the left with the intent of moving from under her weight. Saedra made a mewling sound and her arm tightened about his waist, the thigh between his legs pressing dangerously close to sensitive body parts. He froze.
Saedra crawled closer, nuzzling the base of his throat. Her hair swirled like a sensuous glide over the bare skin of his chest. Garik muffled a groan and allowed his head to drop back on the bed to gather his breath.
The more she moved against his body, the harder his cock got. Every muscle tensed as he fought to hold himself back. When he felt in control, Garik made several more attempts to move away, even managing to reach as far as the edge of the bed. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief and get up, Saedra followed with an annoyed murmur until she was once more curled back in his arms. On his chest. The only difference was the lean leg she threw over his hip instead of between his thighs.
Sweat beaded his brow. If not for her shift and his pants, his cock would be thrust directly between her thighs.
Disgruntled mutterings filled the air, too low to discern the words, but the tone was enough to convey her displeasure at him moving her. The vise-like grip returned to his chest and Garik found himself rubbing the fine slope of her delicate frame, his hands moving up and down her back in reassurance until she settled.
Rubbing her back? He stilled. What was wrong with him?
“Garik?” Saedra mumbled, this time loud enough to understand.
“Yeah?” His voice was guttural almost unrecognizable. Garik dropped his arms to the bed. He shouldn’t be touching her, had no business craving the knowledge of how silky her skin would be without the cheaply woven clothing she wore between them. The impulse to rip the shift up and over her head was a strong one. Clenching his teeth, Garik repeated, “Yeah?”
Her head swiveled on his chest before lifting. Dazed brown eyes met his stare, the drowsy look tempting him to lean forward and kiss her slightly parted lips. He edged forward, prepared to follow through on the thought then stopped at her startled inhale. Their mouths were in touching distance. He felt her moist breath on his lips.
Against his will, visions of her naked and on her knees as she serviced him with that mouth slammed to the forefront of his mind. His cock strained against the opening of his pants, fully onboard with the idea.
“Garik?” Her voice still held a sleepy note.
Confusion lit her gaze, her brows forming a small crease in the middle. Shifting about, she placed her hands on his chest, arched up a bit and drew her knees forward until she straddled him. Right in touching distance of his prominent arousal. The move had the added benefit of thrusting her breasts directly in his face, the outline of her nipp
les daring him to suck them.
It would be all too easy to do that and more. Garik groaned and mentally chastised himself for his thoughts. Before he could predict her actions, Saedra reached up and brushed back the hair falling over his brow. Garik caught her wrist. Her soft gasp set his cock ablaze.
“Sorry. I...I just—” She tugged against his hold, her lips curling in an adorable snarl when he didn’t release her.
Dim lighting from an artificial generator on the moon base depicting morning filtered through the single window and allowed him to see her face burn fiery red in a flush that dipped down the slope of her throat. A throat he’d like to bite and kiss and suckle and many other things that would dirty up her innocent act.
If it was indeed an act. So far, her every action and reaction was that of a naive woman with a propensity for touch. It would take Garik a while to get used to that. The touch part that was, if he let himself believe she wasn’t a liar and this wasn’t a trap of some sort.
Her gaze dipped to his mouth and the thumping pulse at her throat beat a rapid tattoo. Tension increased as they stared into one another’s eyes. It wouldn’t take much to roll them both over, slide his hands beneath the bottom of her shift and push his pants down. From there, it would be nothing to sink between her parted thighs and guide his cock into her heated folds.
Even as the thought flickered through his mind, Garik knew he couldn’t act on it yet. He needed to focus on survival and whether or not he could trust her.
Could he trust her? The answer wasn’t clear. She’d assisted him in escaping Maurin’s dungeon, but there was more she wasn’t telling him and Garik was determined to find out.
Making his decision, Garik released her wrist and grabbed her at the waist. He jackknifed into a sitting position then swung her off of him and to the side. Another twist in the opposite direction and he surged to his feet at the side of the bed.
The Unexpected Bonding Vow Page 7