Prime Target

by Monette Michaels

  The man turned white at Damon’s anger and stammered, “I meant no disrespect. I mean … Prime … not mated … well, you know … um, I meant to say the collar was a smart move.”

  “No.” Rage simmered under Damon’s skin. His hand flexed as if it wanted to shift to the man’s scrawny neck. “You meant to imply she was a mistress to more than one Prime male. You don’t know fuck all what you think you know. Plus, what she was in the Prime social hierarchy is in the past. Catch the fuck up. Things have changed in Prime society. She has a fucking choice now.”

  Seven hells of Jupiter. Had Susa known she’d receive this kind of unwanted attention when she’d left Cejuru Prime? He’d bet she had. The Caradocs and their mates would’ve warned her. It had taken a lot of guts for her to venture out into, what was for her, an unfamiliar galaxy to visit a cousin she hadn’t seen since she was a toddler. His woman had a lot of courage, far more than the sniveling male sitting across from him, looking down his nose at her.

  “Um, yeah … okay. I understand. Consent and all.” The flustered male threw back his beer, coughed, then added, “Just some friendly advice. I’ve been on a lot of these cruises as a Dom, and I can attest the polyamorous types will still put the moves on her—and you. Collar or no collar.”

  “They can try.” And they wouldn’t get far.

  Damon only wanted this one woman, and Susa was the faithful and true type. She was also his, and his alone—he just needed her to choose him back.

  While Damon stored their bags at the shuttle terminal concierge desk, Susa entered the jewelry store in the terminal waiting area. She’d spotted something earlier, something she hadn’t expected to see outside of the Cejuru solar system—a Prime warrior’s cuff, one a gemate would give to a gemat upon the final joining of the spirit, mind, and body. Damon might not understand the meaning of the cuff, but she wanted him to have it now.

  As she turned away from paying, a man, a stranger, approached and grabbed her arm. “Come with me, and I will not hurt you.”

  Without any hesitation, Susa turned into him and shoved the heel of her hand up his nose with as much force as she could muster, then kneed him in the crotch.

  “Damon!” she screamed. She gave the man, now bloody and moaning on the ground, a wide berth and ran toward the other side of the large waiting area. Damon was already running to intercept her.

  By the time she reached Damon, a security officer stood over her assailant who was being held down by a male bystander who, for some reason, scowled at her.

  Damon pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tightly. “Did he hurt you?” He held her away from him at arm’s length and scanned her, then dragged her back into his arms and rocked her. “I’m never going to let you out of my sight again. Ever.”

  “He didn’t get a chance to hurt me, lubho.” She stroked his back, soothing him. His big body was rigid, battle-ready, against hers. “Our self-defense practices were put to good use. As soon as he touched me, I reacted.”

  “And screamed and ran, just like I told you. Good girl,” he whispered against her hair. “You’re shaking. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Before she could answer, a man wearing the uniform of Terminal Security approached. “I am Lieutenant Gord. Please tell me your names.”

  Susa angled her head. “I’m—” Her mouth was suddenly as dry as dust. She coughed. Her throat tightened and no words came out. A delayed reaction to her scare.

  “I’ll handle this.” Damon kissed her forehead and looked at a terminal employee hovering next to them, a concerned look on her face. “Please get my woman some water.” The employee nodded and ran to one of the refreshment stands. Then Damon addressed Gord. “This is Susa Anghard, and I am Damon Martin.”

  Susa accepted the water offered to her by the employee, whispered a strangled thanks, and took sips to moisten her mouth. Swallowing was another matter, and it took several sips before her throat relaxed.

  “May I ask Ms. Anghard what happened?” A com-pad in hand the officer spoke to Damon. “And may I record this?”

  “You good, Angel?” Damon tightened his hold on her when she nodded, conveying he was there to support her in every way. He’d stop this if she needed him to. “Take your time. Tell Gord what happened.”

  “Um—” She coughed and took another drink of water. “I’d just purchased something in the jewelry store. Oh, Damon.” She gripped his arm where he held her. “I dropped it when I ran.”

  She looked toward the downed man, now surrounded by several more uniformed officers and the man who’d initially restrained her attacker. “I don’t see it.”

  Gord snapped his fingers at another officer nearby who ran over carrying a bag with the jewelry store’s logo. He pulled out the black leather case and held it up. “Is this it?”

  “Yes, thank you.” She took it from him and clutched it to her chest. “So, the man came at me from the side. He grabbed me. Told me to come with him and … he w-wouldn’t h-hurt me.”

  Damon cursed. His rage pummeled her senses for several seconds before he controlled it.

  “I reacted just as Damon taught me.” Susa’s lips twisted in a self-satisfied smile. “I hit him in the nose, kneed him in the groin, then ran to Damon.”

  “You did very well, Ms. Anghard. I only wish more people knew the basics of self-defense.” Gord gave her a professional smile. “Have you ever seen your assailant before?”

  “No. Never. We’re just visiting from the cruise for the day. I don’t think he was on the ship. Damon?” She angled her head.

  While Damon might have buried his strong emotions behind his mental wall, his face was dark red with anger as he glared at the man who’d attacked her. If looks could kill, the man would’ve been dead.

  “No. Never saw him before,” Damon finally responded, his tone devoid of the anger reflected in his expression. “Not even while we’ve been on-planet.”

  If this man had been stalking her at the resort, both Damon and she should’ve felt it—either Susa through him or him through Susa, that was how connected they’d become.

  “We’re very sorry this happened while you visited our planet.” Gord gave her a slight bow and handed her his com-pad. “Please read the text transcript of your statement. If it is accurate, please indicate so and sign.”

  With Damon looking over her shoulder, Susa read and signed the statement. She then handed the com-pad back to Gord.

  “Since you’re passing through, the recording and the signed transcript will serve as evidence against your attacker, along with other witness statements and the security cameras feed. If the prosecutor has further questions, where might we contact you?”

  “We’re only here for the day,” Damon answered for them both. “If you need anything after that, we’ll be on the Dreamcaster until it reaches Jump Station Charybdis, our final destination. I’m one of the station owners.”

  Gord inclined his head. “Mr. Martin. I have heard of you and your station. No worries, sir.” The officer’s whole demeanor had changed from merely professional to one of fawning respect. “Be assured, if we need any future statements from either of you, they can be done through a video deposition. Enjoy the rest of your visit. Be well.” The man then turned and strode off toward his men who’d cuffed her attacker and were leading him away.

  “Let’s go, Angel. Do you want to put your purchase with the others?” Damon asked.

  “No, I’ll put it in my beach tote.” She tucked it in the large woven bag she’d brought from the ship. “I’m starved.”

  Damon moved her to his side and held her to him with his arm around her waist. “Are you still shaky?”

  “I’m better. The water helped—and telling the lieutenant helped also. It all happened so fast,” she said. “I didn’t have a chance to get too scared. I knew even if my moves didn’t work, you were already on your way to me.” She relaxed against him. “Gord was very impressed when he found out you owned Jump Station Charybdis. What’s up with that?”
<
br />   “Nothing.” Damon steered her around a group of people standing in the middle of the boardwalk along the beachfront.

  She snorted. “It was something. So tell me, or I’ll just ask Borac.”

  Damon heaved what sounded like an exasperated sigh. “When Borac and I first purchased the station—”

  “You mean when you won it in a card game and asked Borac to go into the management of it with you. My cousin told me that much,” she said.

  “When I first won the station, the former owners gave us some trouble.”

  Susa rolled her eyes. He was obviously downplaying the trouble.

  “Borac and I quickly established a reputation of holding onto what was ours.” Damon stopped by the cantina’s patio hostess station and tipped Susa’s face toward his. “And that’s all the detail I’ll go into.”

  Reading into what he didn’t say, she concluded it had been bloody trouble. Her Damon was a warrior.

  Soon, they’d complete the Prime mating trinity of spirit, mind, and body. He’d be her warrior and her gemat. Her heart swelled with a rightness and happiness she’d never felt in her life.

  Evening, back on the Dreamcaster

  Susa relaxed on the couch in the suite sitting area and waited for Damon to finish dressing for dinner.

  After they’d returned to the ship, Gord contacted them. The man who’d grabbed her admitted he’d been paid to kidnap and take her to a meeting site where her kidnapper would’ve turned her over to his employer. She shuddered when she’d heard Gord’s words.

  Damon had snarled and pulled her onto his lap, surrounding her with his strength and warmth.

  When planet security had gone to the rendezvous site at the arranged time, no one showed up.

  Damon had then informed Gord about the previous kidnapping attempt by Goldai, but she doubted there’d be any direct evidence to connect the Umbraxi ruler to today’s assailant.

  Men like Goldai thought they could buy anything they wanted. Unfortunately, the Umbraxi ruler wasn’t taking his previous set-backs as a clue he should give the bak up. She’d have to remain on guard, but she didn’t have to do so alone. Because she had Damon.

  The thought gave her peace of mind.

  Susa picked up the bronze cuff she’d purchased at the shuttle terminal shop. The warrior’s bracelet was a work of art, very masculine in its look and feel, with Prime symbols of protection and energy etched into its surface.

  A satisfied smile twisted her lips. Everyone would know Damon was hers. She hadn’t appreciated the covetous glances at her man from women on the cruise, from their waitress at the resort cantina, nor from the women sunbathing on the resort beach.

  Yes, she’d been jealous—a feeling she’d never dealt with as a sex surrogate. There’d been times in the last few days she wanted to claw out the eyes of the more aggressive women putting moves on Damon.

  She totally understood why he felt the need to collar her; it was his way of marking her as his in order to protect her from predatory males. How could she not want to return the favor?

  Damon was hers, he just hadn’t admitted it yet. The only question now was—would he wear the cuff?

  “Angel,” he sat next to her and touched the bracelet, “what’s this?”

  Susa blushed. She’d hoped to have what she wanted to say all figured out before he’d come into the room. “Um, I…”

  Geep jumped onto the couch. Using his teeth, he snatched the cuff from her hand and then dropped it on Damon’s thigh. Yours.

  Then the pushy little guy, his fur fluffed out with, what she read as, immense satisfaction at a job well done, hopped down and went back to the counter to eat the room service meal Susa had ordered for him.

  “This is mine?” Damon rubbed a fingertip over the markings.

  “Yes,” Susa stammered. “Only if you wish to wear—”

  “Shh, Angel. Of course I’ll wear it, because you chose it for me.” Damon put it on and then held his arm out. “Fits perfectly. Looks like a warrior cuff. Borac wears one.”

  “It is.” She reached for his wrist and traced two of the symbols. “These are for protection.” Then she traced the remaining ones. “These are for energy and strength in battle.”

  Damon leaned into her and brushed a kiss, then another and then another, over her lips. “Thank you. No one has ever given me anything so special before.”

  His disbelief and awe washed over her.

  “Not even Bria?” Susa bit her lip and could’ve killed herself for mentioning her.

  Damon cupped the back of Susa’s head with one large hand, holding her steady when she would’ve turned away. “Not even Bria. I’ll wear your gift with pride.”

  Truth.

  “Damon—” Since she couldn’t turn away, she closed her eyes, because she had to say this and didn’t want to see his reaction to her next words. “I’ve come to care for you … very much.” I love you. “Do you still care for Bria?” Do you still love her? Is there a chance for me?

  “No. Yes—”

  Susa cried out in pain. Pulling away from his hold, she started to get up. She wanted to run and hide and cry until she was numb.

  “Fuck. I—That didn’t come out right.” Damon caught her before she could stand and pulled her onto his lap. His arms held her snugly against him. She couldn’t fight his strength, so sat there, head bowed as she struggled not to burst into tears.

  He still loved Bria.

  “Susa—” His voice was a low croon, a caring sound, one meant to soothe and lure at the same time.

  Her body responded. Her heart pounded. Her nipples tightened, and she grew wet at the vee of her thighs.

  And Damon’s body reacted to hers. His heart raced to meet hers. His muscled thighs flexed beneath her. His hard bulge throbbed against her hip. The evidence of his erection had her inner muscles clenching around an aching emptiness.

  Damon was sending mixed messages. His emotions, the ones she could read, were chaotic … conflicted. His body conveyed only one message—he desired her. It couldn’t just be sexual attraction, could it? It felt like so much more. Had she been mistaken about them bonding?

  “Fuck it all. Look at me, Angel.”

  Tears rolled down her cheek, cold against her heated skin. Licking suddenly dry lips, Susa opened her eyes and blinked as she raised her gaze to meet his.

  The emotion in Damon’s blue eyes and his feelings, completely open now, poured off him and had her gasping. His emotions were strong, unwavering—wrapping her mind and heart in a cocoon of warmth, desire, need, and caring just as his arms held her physically. It all definitely felt very much like love.

  “Shh, Angel. Don’t cry. You’re killing me.” Damon used his thumbs to wipe the tears away. “Bria is my baby sister, so, of course, I love her. As for what I felt in the past, I’m sure now it wasn’t the kind of love a man feels for the woman he wants as his wife or mate. It wasn’t strong enough, because—and Susa, hear me on this, it’s important—I let Bria leave me. I did nothing to stop her. She was gone for years, and I never did a thing about changing that.”

  “You were crushed when Bria fully mated with Iolyn.” Susa looked over Damon’s shoulder at a concerned Geep who’d scurried closer and climbed to the back of the couch. “Mel and Nadia told me all about it.”

  “Susa.” Damon turned her head to face him once more and then cupped her face between his palms. “I can’t go back and change how I thought I felt. My only excuse? I was young and impressionable when I found an infant Bria in the wreck of the Prime ship. She was the only survivor. As she grew older, she was exotic and different from the girls on my planet. As a young man I claimed her as mine, but it was one-sided. I let her leave me because it was what she needed to do, and I wanted her to have what she needed. I didn’t stop her, but I could have. Maybe deep down, I understood she wasn’t meant for me, but out of habit or stubbornness I let myself crave the illusion.”

  Susa blinked, her vision clearing, her heart soaring once more
as Damon’s tender, caring aura expanded to surround her. “So, you love her, but—”

  “Only as a little sister.” Damon kissed away another tear or two. “My heart is free to give to another.”

  Elation swept through her. While she sensed he cared for her in the same way she cared for him, he wasn’t ready to voice it. So she’d wait before she told him that she loved him. After all, he was an alpha-male, and as a breed, they liked to do the claiming. And something deep within her, probably part of her Prime genetics, needed to be claimed.

  But she did need to make one thing clear. “I bought the cuff so other women would see that you were claimed.”

  “Yeah—” He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. “I got that message loud and clear. It’s only fair since I’ve claimed you.” He placed small kisses on her throat above the necklet.

  “That’s what I thought.” Susa touched her collar with deep satisfaction.

  Smiling, she bent and placed a kiss on the cuff already warmed by his body. He inhaled sharply at her gesture. She affected him as much as he did her; it boded well considering how swiftly they approached the final stages of their bonding.

  But the final bonding wouldn’t happen tonight.

  “Hungry?” she asked. “I hear the buffet tonight is seafood caught in the seas off the Laguna Orgais resort.”

  Damon shot her a curious look, but accepted the change in topic graciously. “I heard that also. Did you want to gamble tonight? Or take in the movie we talked about at lunch?”

  Geep moved off the back of the couch and onto Susa’s shoulder. He snuggled against her neck and purred. Okay now?

  Yes, she thought back to him. Geep hummed and settled.

  “Gamble.” Susa got off Damon’s lap and smoothed her long skirt until it fell gracefully to her ankles. “I’m planning on giving my winnings to Borac and Cissy to buy a home on Cejuru Prime so they have a place to stay when they visit me. My house isn’t big enough for guests with children.”