by Mina Carter
Dani sucked a breath in, moving closer to Shannon. She opened her mouth to argue but didn’t get the chance.
“No.” Isan’s voice was just as dangerous a growl as Danaar’s had been.
“What?” The bigger warrior turned, his brow furrowed and anger on his face. “You dare defy me?”
Isan flicked his hair back over his shoulders, his expression just as forbidding. “I do. She’s not going to the cells. She’s coming with me. She’s mine.”
“I fucking well am not!” Shannon argued hotly, but both men ignored her.
Danaar nodded curtly. “Make sure she doesn’t get into trouble. Dismissed, both of you.”
17
“No! Leave her alone!” Dani struggled against Sardaan’s hold as they were dragged off the bridge.
“Let me go, you asshole!” Shannon hissed, fighting Isan every step of the way. Like Sardaan, though, he was Lathar and easily kept the human woman under control. With a snarl, he threw her over one scarred shoulder and stalked off.
Dani turned on Sardaan, fear for her friend coloring her features. “Please, you have to help her,” she begged, pressing her hands against his broad chest. He savored the feeling even though he knew it wasn’t because she wished to touch him, but because she needed something from him. Still, she was actually looking at him now, not avoiding his gaze. He could work with that.
He covered her hands with his own, desperate to pull her into his arms again. All he wanted to do was hold her close without the stiffness or any barriers between them. But he didn’t. Not yet. Softly, softly, he told himself.
“He won’t hurt her,” he told her gently, trying to reassure her. “I promise you that.”
“How?” She looked worried, her hands still under his as she twisted to look toward the corridor Isan had carried the redheaded woman off down. “How can you promise that?”
He tucked a strong finger under her jaw and made her look at him. “Because he’s looking at her like I looked at you when I first saw you. Because he’s already halfway in love with her.”
She froze, shock in her dark eyes for a moment. Then she shielded them with a downward sweep of her lashes and refused to look at him. “Don’t say that.” Her voice was as fragile and broken as he’d ever heard it, a soft whisper of sound he had to lean down to catch.
“Say what, kelarris?” He kept his voice low and soft, not wanting to scare her but also not prepared to let the subject slide. But even so, he was shocked to his core when he spotted the single tear tracking down her cheek.
“Don’t say you loved me.”
Guilt and shame hit him like a ship at max speed at her whispered words. The misery in her voice wrung out his heart and made him feel like the lowest of the low. A warrior without honor barely deserving the name. She was one of the strongest people he’d ever met, certainly stronger than a lot of warriors he knew, and he’d reduced her to tears.
“I won’t,” he murmured as he scooped her up into his arms and started to walk toward his quarters. They weren’t far and this wasn’t a conversation to be having in the corridors. He had too much to say to her, and he didn’t want people listening in. She would be more comfortable in their own rooms.
“You won’t?” Her voice was filled with confusion, but she didn’t fight his hold on her, settling into the cradle of his arms easily. Her body betrayed her by relaxing marginally against his before she remembered to be wary of him and stiffened up a little. It was only a tiny movement, but it gave him hope that her defenses weren’t completely raised against him.
“Nope.”
He shook his head, hair dancing over his shoulders. She was watching him now, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he let her look her fill, only looking at her when he’d walked through the doors into their quarters and they’d closed behind him. Her look of confusion was adorable, but he easily caught the exhaustion and hurt lurking in the backs of her dark eyes.
“I won’t say I loved you because that’s not true,” he clarified, turning and heading toward the seating area rather than the bed. He sank down into one of the low couches, settling her into his lap. She felt right curled up against his chest, her soft touch against his bare skin tormenting him.
“You don’t? Then why didn’t you leave me in the cells?” Her voice was a sharp gasp and she pushed against him, trying to get free of his arms. Whether it was a combination of exhaustion and misery, her struggles were no more than that of a week old deearin kit, easily contained.
“I won’t say I loved you,” he repeated, holding her still and stroking his thumb against the fullness of her lower lip. “Because that implies I no longer do. It’s not that I loved you but that I love you.”
She stilled, every movement frozen as she looked at him. Then she closed her eyes, shielding her expression from him again. Another tear leaked from the corner of her eye, from under the closed lid. Then another. And another.
“You Lathar,” she whispered, shaking her head, her voice wavering. “You’re so fucking literal.”
She didn’t open her eyes so he did the only thing he could think of. He leaned in to kiss her. Softly at first, brushing his lips over hers gently. He learned the shape of her lips again, not pushing her for more than she wanted to give. For a long moment she didn’t move, just let him kiss her, and the tears streaming down her cheeks damn near broke his heart.
He pulled her closer, about to give up kissing her in favor of just holding her, and then it happened. Her fingers moved slightly against his chest. Just a small jerk at first, like she was just remembering how to move her hand after a long period of inactivity. At first he thought it was just a reflex, but then she touched him. Stroked his skin.
He caught his breath, lips stilling just against hers as he looked at her. She didn’t open her eyes, even though he silently begged her to, but her lips softened under his. Slowly, watching for any sign she’d changed her mind, he pressed his lips against hers in the softest, gentlest kiss he could manage.
She didn’t stiffen or push against him. Every cell in his body was hyperaware of hers, alert for any hint she was distressed or that his advances were unwelcome. But her lips were warm and soft, and her fingers stroked the skin over his chest gently. He didn’t know if she was aware of the movement, but it drew a groan from the center of his chest and he kissed her again. He feathered his lips back and forth over hers.
“Please,” he broke the kiss to whisper. “I didn’t know you were being blackmailed. I swear.”
She opened her eyes to look at him and he was met with the full force of her pain and misery. “But you thought the worst of me immediately. Didn’t you? You didn’t give me time or chance to explain. You were judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one.”
Guilt and shame welled up from his heart and soul and he closed his eyes.
“I did,” he admitted. “I thought you’d betrayed us… me… and I was so angry I couldn’t see anything else. Couldn’t see beyond it or realize that you might have reasons for what you were doing.”
“I did betray you,” she whispered. “I hacked your system and let them onto your ship.”
“You did.” He smoothed her hair back from her face, unable to stop touching her now he had her back in his arms. “But you had a reason.”
She nodded. “I did what they ordered me to. Then I was going to come to you and tell you. But those bots found me first and…” She trailed off, darkness filling her eyes again. It didn’t take a genius to work out the direction her thoughts had taken. The bots had taken her to the cells because he’d ordered them to.
“You told me everything,” he said quietly, hand sliding into the nape of her neck as he watched her expression. “But it wasn’t to save your own skin. Was it?”
She shook her head, closing her eyes against him again. Soft frustration filled him that she’d shielded herself from him, but he couldn’t be angry with her. He’d figured it was her last line of defense and he wasn’t going to take it from her.
Not now.
“No. It was to stop Radcliffe and his team of idiots from making the biggest mistake in human history. We can’t win a war against the Lathar. Ever.”
“No, kelarris. You can’t,” he murmured, tilting her head to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. No wonder she’d risen as high as she had in the ranks of the human military. His mate was both beautiful and highly intelligent.
“It made me a traitor to my own people, telling you. I knew if they got me back I’d be going to Mirax Ruas too. But it didn’t matter. I’d have saved you all. Stopped a war,” she said softly, curled up against his chest. Silence fell for a few seconds. Then her next words made him freeze.
“Besides, I assumed you’d kill me anyway… so the threat of what Radcliffe would do to me didn’t matter.”
He closed his eyes again, shame and pain locking his body into place. His mate had assumed he, the male who had bonded to her, would… could kill her. And she’d given him the information anyway.
She’d saved her people thinking her life was already forfeited.
He groaned and pulled her closer, wanting to ease the misery in her voice. “I was mad at you, but I could never have hurt you, Dani. Ever.” His words failed him for a moment, but then they tumbled out in a rush. A fall of words he couldn’t control.
“I was so relieved that you talked. Told myself—draanth, I don’t know what stupid shit I told myself—but I didn’t have to do anything to get to you to talk and I wasn’t going to argue. Because if you hadn’t…” He pulled back to look into her eyes. “I’d have been screwed. No matter how mad I was, how deep my fury, I could never hurt you. Ever.”
Lifting his hand, holding it between them, he nodded toward his wrist. “Pull my cuff back.”
She looked at him in confusion but then slowly reached out. With gentle fingers she pulled back the leather covering his wrist. Her frown deepened as she saw the dark marks winding around his skin.
“It looks like some kind of tattoo.” Her gaze flicked to his, and he could tell she still had no idea what he was showing her. “I didn’t think the Lathar did that. Tattoos, I mean?”
He shook his head. He’d heard about the human practice of injecting ink under the skin to decorate it and it sounded barbaric. “No. We don’t have that kind of thing. Occasionally we might use serranas blood for tribal or honor markings but that’s it.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, watching her face carefully.
“They’re not tattoos, Dani. They’re mating marks.”
* * *
He had mating marks on his wrists. Dani had heard about the marks. They’d been mentioned in the small amount of information the Sentinel women had managed to get back to them.
“They are?”
He nodded, expression guarded as he simply watched her. Reaching out tentatively, she traced over the marks delicately with her fingertip. They weren’t raised, and the skin was smooth. Like the design was etched underneath.
“They’re…” She looked at him steadily. “Mating marks for you, the Lathar, are like marriage. More so than just claiming a woman, right?”
He nodded again, a small sound of pleasure in the back of his throat as she continued touching him.
“It’s everything. Once a female calls mating marks in a male’s skin, that’s it for him. For as long as I live, you are my everything.” His arm tightened around her waist. “I’ll never love another, for as long as I draw breath. But I didn’t need marks to tell me that, Dani. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you on that view screen. I knew then you were meant to be mine.”
She gave a small smile, the little kernel of hope that had been growing since he’d taken the gun off her in the cells blossoming. “That would have been kind of difficult given we were on different ships.”
He pulled her closer, his marked hand cupping the side of her neck. “I would have found a way. Taken on your entire fleet, singlehandedly, for the chance to win your heart. For a chance that you might, one day, love me back.”
His gaze searched hers and she saw the desperation and conflict hidden in his soul. “Please tell me I haven’t ruined any chance for us. That I haven’t made you hate me with what I did…”
Her heart melted, the last little resistance she had against him gone with the need and misery in his deep voice.
She shook her head, her voice soft as she answered. “No, I don’t hate you. I couldn’t… ever hate you. How can you hate someone you love?”
His grip tightened on the back of her neck and he closed his eyes for a second, his expression tight with relief.
“Thank the goddess,” he breathed and pulled her closer to plunder her lips. The kiss was long and drugging, filled with emotion and need. She sighed, the sound lost in his mouth, and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders to kiss him back.
Although the kiss started off soft, it didn’t stay that way for long. His tongue parted her lips in a soft sweep, and he slid deep inside with a groan, teasing and caressing hers with long, slow strokes. Heat exploded through her, the need to touch him overwhelming all else. With a moan of frustration, she pulled at his leather jacket, needing to touch his skin.
He lifted her up and within minutes, their clothing was gone; pulled off by him, or her, or both of them… she didn’t know which and didn’t care. All that mattered was getting more of his kisses, touching more of his body. Having him touch her.
Barely breaking their kiss, she lay back on the large couch, the leather cool at her back. He was braced over her, his weight on his forearms as he slid an arm under her neck to pillow her head. His hair-roughened knee parted hers and he settled between her thighs, the heavy weight of his erection pressed against her pussy lips.
“Dani… kelarris,” he broke the kiss long enough to whisper against her lips. “Are you sure about this? We can wait—”
She cut him off with a hard kiss, plundering his mouth with ravenous slides and strokes of her tongue. They were both breathless when she pulled away to look up into his eyes.
“I’m sure,” she whispered. “I need this. I need you. Please, Sardaan… I love you. Make all the bad memories between us right.”
He smiled and leaned down to steal the softest kiss she could recall him giving her. It was innocent and sweet in its purity. A promise of love and happiness to last a lifetime.
Then he moved, his cock pressing against the entrance to her body, and he slid into her in one smooth, long movement. She moaned against his lips as he bottomed out, her pussy fluttering and clenching hard around him.
“Oh gods,” he groaned, gathering her close to him as he pulled back to gaze into her eyes.
Slowly, he began to move, his hips pumping in a slow, sensuous rhythm against hers. Each slow pull back and slide seated him deeply within her, his thick cock stroking nerve endings that then cascaded pleasure through her entire body.
But the physical pleasure was secondary to the look on his face as he moved over her, their locked gazes allowing her to see how every little movement affected him. Allowed her to see the love in his eyes as he made them one. She wrapped her arms around him, moving with him, each rock of her hips welcoming him. Cradling him.
But all too soon the emotional needs gave way to the carnal. His face tightened, his thrusts speeding up. Bracing himself over her, a fine sheen of sweat covered his chest and shoulders as he powered into her. His hair swung against his shoulders, the cords in his neck standing out as he drove them both closer to pleasure.
She arched her back, closing her eyes as she chased that edge with him. They moved together in perfect concert. A true partnership, as equals. That thought, the love in his eyes as he looked at her, the feeling of his thick cock buried deeply inside her, all conspired against her and she cried out as her body tightened.
“Oh god… Sardaan, please…” she moaned, clinging to him as he sped up.
“I got you, kelarris,” he promised, voice rough with passion. “Let go. I’ll catch you. I’ll
always catch you.”
So she did. Her body clenched hard around his as she came in long, hard waves of pleasure. It crashed through her, like a sensual barrage, tumbling over and through her like a thousand shards of glass bouncing and cascading off each other. Hard-edged and all consuming, it left her gasping for breath and holding on to him. He was her anchor, her support, everything she needed.
“Holy draanth,” he hissed, his moan guttural as her body tightened around his cock, milking him in hard waves. He slammed into her. Harder. Faster. Movements jerkier, not as smooth as they were before. Then, he threw his head back and bellowed, thrusting into her one last time as he came. Hard and fast.
She whimpered as she felt him explode deep within her, his hot seed bathing her inner walls. It felt like he was filling her up and she bit her lip, hoping that maybe his seed would find fertile ground. Was a baby between them even possible? Just the thought made her wrap herself around him, her heart soft and giving as she whispered into his ear. “I love you, Sardaan K’Vass. I always have.”
He paused to smooth her hair back from her face, his expression serious as he looked down at her.
“I love you too, Danielle K’Vass. I promise you’ll never regret forgiving me. And I’ll prove it to you every day for the rest of our lives.”
Epilogue
“Seriously?” The young Quesen’s eyes flickered from Dani to Sardaan and back again, confusion evident on his features. “You want me to hit a female? What if I hurt her? Females are delicate.”
Dani snorted, her lips quirking with amusement as her husband, elevated to centurion and now in charge of Quesen training, just smiled and spread his hands.
“Hit her or don’t hit her because she sure as draanth is going to hit you. Listen up,” he lifted his voice so the eager crowd of youngsters around them could hear him. “Humans are smaller and faster than we are, and you could learn a lot from them. UP TO AND INCLUDING how to beat a much bigger warrior. It’s happened. Just ask Konaat T’Kiis.”
