by Dena Christy
"No. But I suppose I must since what is going around in my head is keeping me from sleep." But where to start. "He had stopped using the money I had been sending for treatment. I don't know how long ago he stopped, but I knew the last time I was home that he was getting worse. It was like he shrunk. He was a shell of the warrior he'd been before."
"And how did you feel about that? About him not using the money?"
"Angry. Why would he not let me help him? Why would he not let me save him?"
She was quiet for a moment. "How long have you been on this planet?"
"Five years."
"And do you consider this planet to be your new home?"
"Of course not. Thonax will always be my home."
"Perhaps your brother thought it was time for you to stop sacrificing your life for his. I don't know much about your brother's disease, but were the treatments he had been receiving making him any better?"
Rone cast his mind back to the few times he'd been home to see his family.
"I have been home four times in the last five years. And each time I was home he was a little worse. Not drastically, but I suppose the treatment was only slowing his decline, not stopping it." Why had he not seen it before? Perhaps he'd made himself blind to his brother's condition to justify why he was continuing to offer himself up as a sacrifice to his brother's illness. "Why did he not tell me that the treatments were only dragging out the inevitable?"
"Would you have listened?" She gave him a soft smile in the darkened room.
"No, I would not have. I was determined to do whatever it took to save him." And he'd foolishly spent most of five years away from his brother, away from his family. It was time he could have spent with Tage, time with his brother he would never get back now.
"Perhaps with him knowing that the treatments weren't working, it could be that he wanted you to move forward with your own life."
"He did. He had recorded a message for me before he died. He asked me to look out for his son, and told me that he wanted me to find my own happiness." And he knew without a doubt that his happiness centered on the woman lying with him. And he'd come very close to not having her at all. "I do not know if he had stopped the treatment when I was home the last time, but I am grateful that he did not tell me if he had. I think he had, since he was so much worse. And he did try to speak to me about the treatments, but I was not prepared to listen to him."
"Why would you be grateful about that?" A frown crinkled her forehead and he reached for her, to smooth it with his thumb.
"If he had told me that he'd stopped using the money when I was home the last time, I would not have returned here. I would have had no reason to. And if I had not come back I would not have taken your bounty." He looked deeply into her eyes, and they widened for a moment when she caught the implication of what he was saying.
"I am grateful too, that your brother didn't tell you. I'm almost certain I'd be dead by now."
He put his arm around her and held on to her. "That has what has been keeping me awake. The thought of what would have happened to you had I not been sent to hunt you."
"When you first turned up at my home, I certainly wasn't grateful. If it had been someone else, someone without your abilities I'm sure I would have managed to get away without them finding me. But I don't know how long I would have managed to elude the android. I would not have known it was an android hunting me." She looked away for a moment, and when she looked back at him, there was a hesitation in her eyes. As if she wanted to say more but was reluctant to.
"What is it?"
"If you had not taken my bounty I would not have met you. I would not have known it was possible to want and need someone the way I want and need you." Her eyes were big in the dimness of the bedroom, and he could see her vulnerability.
Could it be that she was feeling the same as him? Did she too think that they were fated to be together?
"It is the same for me. You are the woman I have been looking for."
"So do you want to have a future together? Once we get through this?"
"I do." He brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her softly. As he felt her soft lips moving against his, a thought occurred to him. One he couldn't believe the he hadn't thought of before. Perhaps neither of them had been ready to undertake what was unfolding in his head.
What was stopping them from walking away from everything? There was nothing holding him on this planet anymore, now that he no longer needed to make more money than was possible on his own planet. And she had said that once this was over she would no longer be a courier. What was stopping them from declaring this situation was over now? What was keeping them here, embroiled in this game with the machine and his master? Perhaps it was time they walked away.
He pulled back and her eyes drifted open. Dare he ask her? It would be going a step further than just saying he wanted and needed her. It would be very close to confessing that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. What if she was not ready yet to hear it? But could he continue to put her life at risk because he was afraid that she would reject him?
"Rone? What is it?"
He'd been staring at her and not saying anything. He could kiss her again, could distract her. But he knew that he had to tell her what he was thinking. Had to ask her to walk away from everything she'd known for him.
"There is nothing keeping me here on this planet now that Tage is dead. Is there anything keeping you here?"
She was quiet for a moment as her eyes searched his. "What are you saying?"
"We could leave. I could take you to my home, to Thonax. We could be together, we could build a life with each other. We can walk away from the machine, we can walk away from the danger. You'd be safe there."
"Just like that? We just walk away? What about Landis?"
"Landis has the information off the chip. If he decrypts it he can use it to get his vengeance for his father's death if that is what he wants. And if he doesn't, he has the resources to do whatever he wants with his future." If he believed for a moment that Landis was in danger he would not be suggesting that they walk away. Landis had money, which on this planet equated with power, and it could buy a lot of protection. Landis would be fine if he and Cheria walked away, and he thought that perhaps Landis would endorse them leaving the game. "We were brought here for a reason. Perhaps it was not to hide out. Maybe it was to escape."
He moved his hand up to cup her face. The more he thought about it, the more right it seemed. She was his woman, he wanted her to be his mate. She wanted a future with him, so why not start that future now?
"Come home with me. Come to Thonax with me so we can build our future."
Chapter 21
Could she do it? Could she walk away from this planet, from everything that was familiar and move toward an unknown life with him?
What was holding her here? She had money, she had two homes, but all the possessions she'd accumulated didn't make her as happy as laying here in his arms did. What was to stop her from cutting her ties with this planet and embarking on a new life with him?
Nothing. There was nothing anchoring her here and as she tested the notion of leaving everything behind to go with him to a strange and unusual planet, she found that she wasn't afraid. He had shown her that he would protect her, that he would care for her and she didn't think that would stop once they left this planet.
A soft tentative smile crossed her face and she took a deep breath.
"Yes." A feeling of peace settled over her. This was the right decision. She wanted a future with him and he was right. There was no reason for them not to start that future now. In actual fact, with a machine hunting them, there was every reason to leave.
A look of relief mixed with joy crossed his face, and she could not hold herself back from him. She felt so close to him in this moment, she wanted that physical connection with him as much as she wanted the emotional one.
She fused her mouth with his and he growled in that sexy way
she loved as he rolled her onto her back and rested lightly against her. He kissed her deeply, and she put her arms around him, loving the weight of his body against her. Her need for him grew the longer she kissed him, and the clothes they'd worn to bed were a barrier between them that needed to be eliminated.
She pulled her mouth away from his, and looked into his eyes.
"I want to be naked with you."
His eyes flared and there was a snarl of desire on his face as he eased off her and set about removing his clothes. She tugged at her garments in her haste to get rid of them. She was trembling with her need for him, and the cool air in her bedroom touched her fevered skin and caused it to tighten.
Once there was nothing between them, he moved her body so that she was laid out before him, so he had access to every inch of her. Her breath shuddered out of her as he leaned over her, his breath brushing against her sensitive skin. She could feel her desire, her need for him building, and when his mouth came into contact with her skin, a fevered cry escaped her.
He dragged his tongue over her flesh until he came to the taut peak of her breast. She ached for him to take her into his mouth, and her eyes rolled shut when he did what she needed. He sucked on her flesh as his hand drifted down her belly, very slowly. Too slow for her.
She took hold of his wrist and moved his hand down until it was between her legs. She needed him to touch her, to stroke his fingers over her and bring her the pleasure she knew she would find with him.
He stroked his fingers over her clit and she groaned his name. How had she managed to go through life without this? Without his hands on her, without knowing the ecstasy that could be found at his touch?
She trembled as his mouth skated down her belly, until he moved so that he was between her thighs. He moved her legs further apart so that she was exposed to him fully. She looked up at him, and she shook with her need for him.
"Please."
He obliged her, lowering his mouth between her legs, and she buried her fingers in the silk of his hair as he pleasured her with his tongue. Tighter and tighter her body coiled as he made love to her with his mouth. She couldn't think, all she could do was feel as he built the fire of her desire inside her.
She clenched the bedding in her hands as the tension grew so great that she could not hold back the orgasm that slammed through her. She called his name as wave after wave of pleasure went through her. Never had it been like this. Never had she experience such joy in the arms of any other. She was meant to be with him, and now there was nothing holding her back from loving him.
As she came back to herself, she was aware of him pressing soft kisses to the insides of her thighs as he waited for her to return to him. She looked up at him, the feelings inside her nearly overwhelming her. She wanted to be connected with him in the deepest possible way.
"I want you inside me."
As if he'd only been waiting to hear her say those words, he moved swiftly so that his pelvis was between her spread thighs. He positioned the head of his cock at the slick entrance of her body, and she grasped his hips, digging her nails into the flesh of his buttocks as she pulled him inside.
His cock slammed inside her and she hung on to him. He was the master of her, and she the slave to the pleasure he brought to her. He was her magnificent warrior, who would never hurt her, who would always protect her and in that moment she knew, without doubt or hesitation that she was deeply in love with him.
It should scare her, that feeling, but it didn't. When she was ready to give him the gift of her love, she knew with an instinct deep inside her that it was something he would hold on to, that he would cherish. Just as she knew that he would cherish her.
As if he too was feeling the same thing that was coursing through her, he slowed his movements and with himself buried deep inside her he rolled so that he was on his back and she was on top of him. He moved his hands up to caress her hair, and pulled her down so he could kiss her tenderly.
He pulled back, looking deeply into her eyes as if searching for an answer.
"Whose woman are you?" His voice was a growl as he flexed his hips up, moving inside her and she groaned at how good he felt.
"I'm your woman. I never want to be anyone else's woman." It seemed right, pledging herself to him in this moment. And she wanted to claim in in return. "And you are my warrior. You will never belong to another."
She moved so that she was sitting up and she moved her hips against him. The friction between them was delicious and soon there was no more words between them. They moved together on the bed, each striving for the paradise they could build together. Cheria's body climbed higher toward ecstasy.
The sight of him laying prone beneath her, so strong and fierce in his need for her, that it sent her over the edge as she ground her hips against him. Her orgasm exploded inside her and it triggered his. His fingers dug deeply into her hips as she felt each pulse of his orgasm inside her, matching her own.
She collapse on top of him, and they clung to each other as they drifted in the ocean of pleasure they'd built with each other. She never wanted to move again. Never wanted to be outside the protective circle of his arms.
Reality returned slowly and a chill crept over her cooling skin. He shifted so that she was beside him on the bed and he reached down to pull the jumbled covers they'd kicked to the foot of the bed over them.
Once they were inside their warm cocoon, they held on to each other, drifting toward sleep.
"Are you sure? This is truly what you want? To go with me and leave this place?"
If there was any doubt inside her, now was the time to speak of it. But there were no doubts. This was the right decision. She'd meant what she'd said to him in the throes of her passion for him. She was his and he was hers, and nothing on this planet could compare to that.
"I'm sure."
"Then I will go tomorrow and see if there is a ship going to Thonax."
She smiled as she closed her eyes. Their new life could start as early as tomorrow.
* * *
"Make sure you have the stunner with you."
Rone saw Cheria roll her eyes, and he knew that she was getting annoyed with him. This was the third time he'd said this since he'd started making preparations to leave the house and go book them passage on the next ship destined to Thonax.
"I told you I will. It's right here." She lifted the stunner, which was sitting on the kitchen counter next to where she was standing. "The sooner you go and book our passage the sooner you'll be back and will be able to see for yourself that I'm safe. Besides, Wes has one of his littles spies watching the front of the house."
He stepped up close to her and put his arms around her. They'd already discussed that it was wiser for her to stay here, that the less she was seen around the neighborhood the less risk there was of them being discovered before they could get away.
"You should not chastise a warrior for wanting to make certain his woman is safe." He leaned down and kissed her mouth. She clung to him and it took all his willpower to pull away from her. They would not be escaping to Thonax unless he booked passage, and in order to do that he needed to tear himself way from her.
He turned and made his way down the hall toward the front door. She followed behind him, and he looked at her one more time as he pulled open the door.
"Make certain you lock it behind me." His hand gripped the door knob tightly, and as he looked at her he could not shake the feeling that he should not be leaving her.
"I will. Now will you go please? Our new life isn't going to start until we get off this planet." She gave him a small push, which would not have moved him if he had not been willing to be moved.
He stepped out the door and she closed it behind him. He waited until he heard her engage the lock before he went down the front steps and made his way down the street. He was on alert, looking for anything that was out of place or out of the ordinary, but the street looked the same as it did when he'd been around this neighborhood befo
re.
Perhaps it was the glimpse of freedom for both of them that he could now glimpse that was making him feel uneasy. It seemed too easy, for them to decide that they were walking away from everything and going to Thonax to start a new life together and to have it unfold without incident.
He headed to the docking station, studying every face he encountered to make sure it did not belong to the one who hunted them. The machine's face was not among those he saw on his way, and slowly his body relaxed. Soon enough he and Cheria would be safely on their way to Thonax. They only needed to remain hidden until it was time to leave.
The port was busy with shuttles coming in and out of the docking station ferrying passengers to and from the large space vessels that hovered just above the planet.
A harried looking clerk was at the booking desk, and Rone joined the line to buy passage on the next ship leaving for Thonax. He hoped they would not have long to wait for the next ship. Thonax was not a popular tourist destination, and usually the only ones coming or going to the planet were Thonaxians who were here for work.
"Rone, don't tell me you are going home again? You aren't due to come back for at least another year, aren't you?"
Rone turned his head and smiled when he saw Uron come up to him. He was from Rone's village originally, although since he'd become a space pilot he was rarely home unless he was on leave. He captained a cargo ship transporting goods from Thonax and bringing goods back. He also occasionally took passengers as well, and the last time Rone had gone home, he'd been on Uron's ship.
"I am indeed going home, this time for good." Rone reached out his hand and Uron grasped his forearm while Rone grasped his in turn. Once they let go, their arms fell to their sides.
"This is good news, is it not?"
"Good and bad. Tage has died, so there is no need for me to remain here."
Uron looked saddened for a moment. "I am sorry to hear of your brother's passing. He was a good man. He will be missed by the people in our village. But you said there was also good?"
