by Marie Harte
“Synster—”
Rafe saw red. Without pausing to consider his actions, he shoved the laser away a second before Synster fired, hitting the wall instead of Erin. The blast mark would have put a hole through her heart, and Rafe reacted predictably.
22
Breaking Synster’s neck wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it should have been, but they were pressed for time. Tossing the piece of filth away, Rafe hurried Erin toward the exit just within reach. He felt a sharp sting in his side as he shoved Erin out of the oppressive labs into the bright, crisp sunny day.
“Where to now?” she asked.
“That way.” He pointed at two ships sitting side by side. Mara’s Light and Dreyk’s weapons ship, The Found.
“The Found?” Erin asked as they ran unnaturally fast through the open clearing at the ships and the Fas brothers, though he didn’t see Anin.
“Don’t ask.” Pain burned as Rafe ran, and he found it more and more difficult to breathe. They reached the ships just as Dreyk and the giant suddenly appeared before Mara’s Light. Apparently, Blue Rim’s anti-teleportation protection only extended to artificial means of transport. Well, at least Erin had her brother back. Rafe glanced around. And her sister as well. Anin huddled on the ground between the Fas brothers. Rafe could hear them talking softly, telling her not to be afraid.
Ryen groaned and regained his feet with Dreyk’s help, but when he spotted Anin looking terrified, he let out a roar of rage and charged Nu and Set.
Nu turned as Set stepped in front of Anin to protect her from the oncoming threat. Erin, of course, had to join the fray, and she left Rafe’s side to try to intercept her brother.
“Ryen, they’re protecting her,” she shouted. “Look.”
Ryen reached Nu and tossed him aside. Stunned, Rafe stared, having never seen anyone defeat the Fas brothers so easily. They were Ragga and stood heads above most men. Yet Ryen topped them both, and despite his injuries, he looked mad enough, and mean enough, to kill.
“Don’t Ryen,” Anin said softly, surprising everyone. She stood shakily and wouldn’t let anyone touch her, but she lifted a hand, her palm out. “These men saved my life. We owe them our thanks.”
Ryen stopped, glaring at Set. Erin grabbed his arm as well, as if to hold him back. Then the anger seemed to leave him. Rafe wondered if Ryen relaxed because he finally noticed how protectively Set stood in front of Anin or because Erin really was as strong as she looked. The thought made him grin. And then he laughed, feeling a bit dopey about the entire situation.
He’d raced to her rescue only to watch her decimate her opponents. Pride warred with anger that she’d had to defend herself at all, but humor won out. He chuckled, and when he saw Catam, Lurin, and Mara racing out of the building to join them, he thought their expressions of irritation amusing as well.
“Listen up, everyone.” Dreyk said in a loud, calming voice. “We need to get out of here so I can blow Blue Rim to hell. Not to mention the peacekeepers are on their way. Blue Rim called them the minute Mara’s Light began hassling them.”
“So we have what, a few minutes at most?” That was enough to kill Rafe’s mirth. Damn. They were supposed to have more time. Rafe rubbed the back of his neck, dizziness taking him by surprise.
“Shit. I think we’ve been spotted.” Nu pointed to a large protrusion extending from Blue Rim’s roof that aimed at the ships. “Let’s go.”
Set scooped up Anin and raced with the crew of Mara’s Light aboard the ship. Before Erin could protest her separation from her sister, Rafe hustled her aboard The Found. Dreyk followed, dragging a confused and wavering Ryen.
“Erin, keep your brother in line,” Rafe ordered as he and Dreyk set the controls and quickly piloted into the air, and none too soon. Where The Found had been sitting, a blast suddenly took out a large chunk of ground. “I’m really beginning to hate Blue Rim.”
Dreyk turned the ship around, and Rafe watched Erin lower her brother to the floor. He was bleeding like a sieve, and he acquiesced to her care without protest. In moments, he lay still.
“Ryen?” Erin prodded him, a worry darkening her face.
“I’m…okay,” he slurred.
“Hold on,” Dreyk warned. “Here we go.” He pooled the ship’s massive firepower and held his finger over a button. “Good riddance.”
A large boom left the ship, and then, through the clear bridge, Rafe and Dreyk watched as Blue Rim Laboratory exploded.
“It’s gone now, Erin. No more Blue Rim to worry about ever again.” Rafe was moved by her tears of gratitude. “Smile, baby. It’ll all be okay.” He slurred that last word and saw Erin frown. “Ryen will be fine, right, Dreyk? Just need to bleed on him…” The room tilted, and Rafe fell out of his chair to his knees. “Fuck, my back hurts.”
“You idiot.” Dreyk scowled and left the controls. “Erin, tell the ship to set course for the rendezvous point. It’s pre-programmed, but you need to hit the blue, red, and green buttons together to sequence our launch.” Dreyk laid Rafe on his belly. “I’ll get to Ryen as soon as I save your mate’s sorry ass.”
Dreyk touched his back, and Rafe hissed in pain, the world turning hazy.
“Stars, Rafe. You’ve been burned and blasted, and you’ve lost a lot of blood. Stupid drun.” Grumbling under his breath, Dreyk pulled a knife from a side sheath. Erin cried out. But Rafe lost the rest of what was said as blackness overtook him.
“Erin, I’m not going to hurt him. Watch.” Dreyk cut Rafe’s burned shirt away and cleared the area around his wounds. Then, slicing his own forearm and grimacing at the pain, Dreyk squeezed blood over Rafe’s back. The ship jolted and shifted direction, and he felt Erin looming over him and his patient.
“Can I help?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Dreyk clenched his fist to bleed heavier. “Next time tell your mate to duck when someone’s shooting at him.” He glanced up to see her frown of worry. “It’s okay. A minor wound that bled a lot. He’ll be fine in a minute. It’s your brother that concerns me. Looks like he’s suffered some massive trauma.”
Erin glanced at Ryen, and her eyes welled with tears. She looked as if she wanted to go back to him but refused to leave Rafe’s side.
Stifling a smile, Dreyk held his arm up and clenched a hand around the wound, forcing himself not to heal. “If you would, keep watch over Rafe while I look on your brother.”
“Thank you.” She knelt and put Rafe’s head in her lap. Stroking his hair, she leaned down to kiss him. “I love you, Rafe. Get well, soon, honey.”
The lumbering Mardu sighed in her lap and nuzzled her thigh. Lucky man. Dreyk turned to his next patient, not so sure how this healing would turn out. Watching Ryen kill had taken Dreyk back to an earlier time, when he’d watched many of his brethren turn on their creators. They’d fought with the same fervor the original Creation warriors had displayed during the war, or so he’d been told. And if that turned out to be the case with Ryen, Dreyk would have no recourse but to put the man down.
Sighing at such a waste, Dreyk dribbled a bit of his blood over Ryen’s wounds and studied the male, who now lay quiet and unmoving on the floor. “Is it true you and Ryen and Anin are siblings?” he asked Erin.
“I think we share some of the same genetic coding, but we were all created. I’m not sure the definition of siblings applies to us.”
“But you’re family.”
“A social experiment that pleased Canunn. He wanted us to develop affectionate ties to one another, and we exceeded his expectations.” Erin smiled, still petting Rafe. “I love Anin and Ryen, and they love me.”
If Ryen can feel love, perhaps I can work with him. “Your brother… Is he always so violent?”
Erin shook her head. “He wasn’t always this way. But Synster trained him to be a fighter, to never lose. And they did things to stir his appetites. Ryen fights and has sex often, and that keeps him somewhat calm, or so Synster said. Honestly, I think if Ryen was left alone and not prodded so much, he wouldn’t need so many wom
en and battles to help him relax.”
She had a point. But Dreyk had spent the last several hundred years hunting down his kind and terminating them when needed, so as not to repeat their mistakes from the past. It was hard enough to hear what people thought about his kind. But to have their expectations justified by crazed Creations… Dreyk wouldn’t tolerate that. Working with Cheltam allowed him to do good through other means as well, and he found he liked having a purpose other than to eradicate Creations from the System.
Meeting Erin and her kin gave him hope. Seeing her with Rafe showed him that he wasn’t the only Creation capable of living a somewhat normal life. Now he had to show Ryen he could do the same. He hoped.
“Erin, I’ll be right back. Keep an eye on them both, would you?”
She nodded, and after grabbing a bowl and some water and bandages, Dreyk returned. To his surprise, Ryen was awake and trying to stand. What incredible stamina.
“Lie down.”
Ryen glared up at Dreyk and worked his way to one knee. “I don’t need—”
“Ryen,” Erin tried, but Dreyk interrupted.
“You don’t know what you need. Now lie the fuck down.” He put a hint of power in his voice, and like before, something strange passed between him and the giant male. It was almost like recognition.
“No, I—”
Dreyk kicked him onto his back and moved too quickly for Ryen to argue. He straddled Ryen’s waist and pinned him to the ground, his hands fastened to Ryen’s bloodied wrists. The attack startled Ryen, and though he tried to fight back, weakened as he was and under Dreyk’s imposing strength, he couldn’t move.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m trying to heal you. But I can’t if you won’t let me.”
Ryen lay quiet, staring into Dreyk’s eyes. Like Erin’s, Ryen’s eyes were far from normal. Dark blue centered around an iris of paler blue, surrounding a golden pupil. The effect was mesmerizing, and the scent Ryen released in subtle waves nearly made Dreyk tremble with lust.
Narrowing his gaze, he released his own scent and watched Ryen’s surprise.
“Yeah, I can do it too. Now are you going to relax and let me help you or what?”
“I thought we were the only ones,” Ryen rasped with a nod to Erin.
“You thought wrong.” Dreyk stared, oddly tense as he waited for Ryen’s acceptance.
Ryen looked from Dreyk to Erin and focused on her hand petting Rafe’s hair.
“He’s a friend, Ryen. You can trust him. He saved our lives.” Erin smiled and leaned down to kiss Rafe’s cheek again. “And you’d better learn to love Rafe too, or I’m going to kick your ass as soon as you’re well enough to stand on your own two feet.”
Ryen looked back up at Dreyk, closed his eyes, then opened them again with a sigh. “Go ahead and heal me, medic.”
“It’s not medic. And it sure the hell isn’t Sir. It’s Dreyk.”
Ryen blinked, his scrutiny as much assessing as curious. “Dreyk.”
Satisfaction blazed through him, and Dreyk fought the urge to smile. “Okay, Erin. Now that you can see I’m not going to eat your brother for breakfast, why don’t you take Rafe into the back room and get him comfortable? We have a few hours before we’ll hit our destination. In the meantime, we need rest. I’ll tend the giant here, then I’ll take him into my quarters down the hall from yours.”
Erin smiled. She let Rafe go, gently putting his head back down. Crossing to Dreyk, she leaned down to kiss his cheek when he turned his head and met her mouth, surprising her.
He winked. “And Erin, there’s something else you should know.” He whispered what he thought might interest her. From the way her cheeks reddened, Dreyk knew he’d been right to tell her.
He and Ryen watched her haul Rafe to his feet and over her shoulder then carry him out of the room down the corridor and out of sight.
“What did you say to her?” Ryen asked, his deep voice in keeping with such a large man. Hell, Dreyk was a mere head shorter than Ryen, but he didn’t come close to matching the man in sheer bulk. And Dreyk was no lightweight.
“I told her we’re not all sterile. And that if she wanted to produce young, I could help her with that.”
Ryen’s eyes widened, and Dreyk laughed.
“Shit, that didn’t sound good, did it? Good thing Rafe didn’t hear me. I meant that I could jump start her reproductive organs, if she wanted. She’s committed to that Mardu and no one else. And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t try fucking with her relationship,” he warned.
Ryen looked unsure of himself, and the expression astonished Dreyk. He’d bet his last bek Ryen rarely felt hesitant about anything. He’d been bred not to. “I just want her and Anin to be happy. That’s all.”
“Good.” Dreyk took the cloth he’d been holding tight, dipped it into the warm water, and began bathing the blood from Ryen’s bare chest under so much ragged material—what had once been his shirt. “What about you?”
“Me?”
“What do you want?”
Ryen stared up in confusion, then closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
He remained silent as Dreyk worked on him, and Dreyk felt an instant empathy, seeing himself in the wounded Creation. Get better and I’ll help you find out, he promised, interested in his sudden need to make Ryen’s world right.
Then Ryen shifted under him, and wonder of wonders, Dreyk felt something hard pressing against his ass. That scent enveloped him again as Ryen fell under a hazy, healing sleep, and Dreyk smiled.
“I’ll see to it that you’re happy, Ryen. Just see if I don’t.”
23
Rafe pretended to sleep while Erin coddled him. She carried him into his bed, and he fought a flush, that his woman carried him. She put him down gently and removed his clothes, and his embarrassment faded under the pleasure of her soft touch. He peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw her stripping as well.
In a heartbeat, he hardened, unable to maintain an air of indifference any longer. He loved looking at her deliciously sensitive nipples, at her flat belly and long, long legs.
“Always ready, aren’t you?” she whispered, and he hurriedly feigned sleep again. “Me too.” She sighed and lifted him over her shoulder again, giving him a perfect view of her delectable ass.
She carried him into the lav, and in moments they were clean. To his relief, she wore only a bruise on her belly and one on her face. The others had either faded or she’d healed that quickly. Erin carried him back to bed and laid him down. Then she fitted herself next to him and put her head on his shoulder, and the rightness of their togetherness had stupid tears filling his eyes.
He closed them tight and hugged her to him, uncaring if she knew he’d wakened. To his surprise, she breathed deeper, and he realized she’d fallen asleep.
“I love you,” he murmured and drew her closer, wincing at the slight pull on his back. But the day’s worries took its toll on him as well, and with a sigh he joined her for a short nap.
What felt like hours later, Rafe woke to an erotic tease. Erin’s hand wrapped around his cock. She was squeezing him and tugging, turning his semi-hardness into a blazing erection.
Moisture pooled at his slit, and he gently rolled her onto her back. It was his turn to take care of her. “Let go, baby. Let me take care of this.”
She smiled, and Rafe kissed a trail down her neck to her breasts as he rubbed his shaft over her belly. Taking her nipple between his teeth, he toyed with her until the bud flushed red and hard. He gave her other breast as much attention, not aware of anything but Erin as she chanted his name and gripped his hair.
His cock demanded relief, but Rafe couldn’t take her without tasting all of her. Letting go of her breast, he licked his way down her belly, teasing her navel.
“Oh, Rafe.” Erin urged his head lower. “Please, more, Sir.”
“More,” he agreed and settled between her thighs. With slow, deliberate licks, he found the center of her heat and feasted. He
r spice lit his body from the inside out, and he couldn’t help thrusting against the bed as he imagined fucking her, his mate, until he got her with young. He sucked her clit, feeling it ripe and ready, and she moaned as he played with her.
“Flor, you’re so good. So mine.” Rafe thrust a finger deep into her pussy as he ate her, and when she came, he knew it wasn’t enough. He continued to fuck her with his fingers. This time he added a smaller finger to her ass, and the scent of loving she let go nearly made him orgasm.
“In me, please,” she begged, and Rafe groaned.
He mounted her and thrust hard, sighing at the exquisite agony, hovering just outside of orgasm. “Take it, baby. All of me.” He fucked her hard, his pummeling strokes continually rubbing her clit until she came again, squeezing him with her tight inner walls.
Erin cried out and pushed him into his own climax, and together they reached wainu and stayed there.
“I love you so much,” Erin gasped and began crying.
“Me too,” he could barely get out. “Stop the waterworks, baby. I didn’t tell you that you could cry.” Even happy, her tears bothered him.
Erin seemed to have lost her submissive tendencies rather quickly. She punched him in the arm.
“Ow.”
“I’ll cry if I want to.” She sniffed, and they lay together in peace for a while. “Rafe?”
“What’s that, love?” Flor, he loved how she felt in his arms.
“Would it bother you to know I can’t have children?”
He froze, not having anticipated that. But though he wanted to raise their children eventually, the potential future was nowhere near as important as Erin. “Only if it bothers you. I can live without children. But not without you.” An image of Gar’s tearstained face after losing Taika hit him hard, and he hugged her tighter to him. “I need you with me, always.”
Erin squirmed until she lay on top of him, and he could see her face. “But what if I weren’t sterile? Would you still love me?”