by Nia Mars
His warmth suffuses me. Oh yeah, I can definitely picture ‘accepting’ him. But...
“I can’t picture accepting five men.”
“I know it’s for the good of the galaxy, but I can’t say I like it either.” The words rumble out of him. “I think there was an Oath Forger who accepted most of her kreks, but not all. The bond still worked.”
Does that make me feel better? Not at that moment. Most is still a lot.
I draw in a deep breath. “I wish I could go with you.”
His hold on me tightens. “I wish that, too, my Ava, but I would never put you in danger.”
“Do you think you could find my sister and bring her here?” I hold my breath.
He shakes his head. “Contact with new planets is strictly regulated. It’s one thing for me to fight pirates in space. To take your sister... Earth would have to have a treaty in place with the Federation first, with explicit permission from the planetary authority on Earth for us to remove private citizens from the surface.”
“The pirates don’t need permission.” My tone is surly, and I don’t care.
“And that’s the difference between them and us. We follow laws.”
The air leaves my lungs in an annoyed huff. I want to see Lily so badly. But, yeah, I know the request was a long shot. For one, how would Koah even find Dallas Colony? It’s not like there’s a giant welcome sign over the entry, conveniently turned toward the sky. I haven’t a clue about the colony’s geographical coordinates. He can’t track down every survivor on Earth and ask them if they’re related to me.
“I wish I could show you where I used to live.”
He grins. “Display frontier planet FP7865,” he says to the screen.
My breath catches as a brilliant blue Earth appears on the display. As I bolt up, my eyes fill with tears, blurring the image, and I rub them away with the back of my hands, hungry to see.
“Rotate.”
The display obeys. I jump out of bed and run over, point my finger to where I think Dallas is located. Of course, I could be off by a hundred miles or more. Still, it’s the best I’ve got. My heart beats a thunderous rhythm. “Here.”
“I’ll make sure it’s safe,” Koah promises, his solemn tone a contrast to the lava heat in his eyes.
My nightgown. Shit.
I dive back under the covers, and he pulls me into his arms. “Is that the latest fashion in Merim?” He tugs on the sheet. “Let me see.”
I snatch the sheet back. Let’s change the subject, shall we? “What will I do here while you’re gone?”
“Resist those three jackasses.” He grumbles. “Four, if Roax decides to show his ugly face.”
The thought that Roax is ugly cheers me up. The other four already overwhelm me plenty. It’d be nice if I could stand next to just one of them without heart palpitations.
When Koah begins drawing slow circles on my arm, I absentmindedly mimic the motion and draw slow circles on his chest. His shirt is soft and so thin that I can feel his skin through the material.
His heat soon seeps through my skin and pools in the expected places. When he presses his lips against my forehead, I tremble. The truth is I want to give in. I want to accept him. But I’m also not completely ready just yet. For one, would the others expect me to accept them immediately after? I can’t. No way.
“We would sleep more comfortably naked,” he suggests.
I roll my eyes. Honestly, Koah wouldn’t be Koah if he didn’t at least try.
“I’m okay.”
He gives a low grunt, not bothering to disguise his disappointment.
“Tell me about the family that you lost.” I’m not asking only to distract him. I want to know more about him. I might have spent more time with him than I have with the others, but it’s still mere days. We still barely know each other.
He remains silent for a long time before he says, “My territory is next to Tiam’s territory. Our territories have been at war for generations over border disputes. When Tiam’s older brother came to the throne, he decided to quickly end the war by murdering the royal family, my family. He snuck in an assassin disguised as kitchen help.”
I hold my breath.
“Poison,” he says darkly. “In the pudding. I was called away on a military matter, intercepted pirate communications that needed to be acted on, the sooner the better. I missed the pudding course.”
He rubs a hand over his face. “Everybody else at the royal table had the poison, but some more than others. The children died first. They were the smallest, and they liked sweets the most.” His voice is raw with pain. “My youngest sister was six years old.”
Tears burn my eyes.
“Two sisters, three brothers, my father...my mother died last. She keened in gut-ripping agony for two full weeks, begging me to help her, to save her. She died in my arms, screaming.”
I hug him. He’s so big I can’t even put my arms completely around him.
“I killed Tiam’s brother,” he tells me, and his voice holds no remorse. “I vaporized him into space. I wanted to kill Tiam too. I was going to challenge him to a duel with Tembrian swords. But then you came.”
I understand in that heartbeat that I know nothing about the tensions between the men. It’s not simply rivalry, not only macho competition. It’s decades of war and spilled blood. And I am somehow supposed to forge an oath of peace. I’ve never felt more inadequate.
I realize that Koah’s entire body has gone stiff. He is waiting for me to reject him, to blame him for being part of the violence. I hold him tighter instead. Then, exhausted from then day I’ve had, I fall asleep in his arms before I can come up with any other questions.
When I wake up, he’s propped on his elbow again, watching me.
He brushes my hair from my face. “Good morning, my Ava. You are as beautiful as the sunrise over the mountains of Hend. As stunning as the waterfalls of Geral. As beguiling as—”
I mumble a response to make him stop. Koah the warlord poet. It’s too much. My heart might melt. I need a second here. I can’t handle this much amorous male this close to me in the morning. I’d like to be eased in to it, if it’s all the same to everyone.
I’m not going to get my wish. He leans forward and brushes his lips against mine. Then he pulls back the blanket, and his eyes focus on my body fast and hard. “Every time I look at you, you steal the air from my lungs, my Ava.”
He’s leaving, the thought sears through my brain. And I let him kiss me. When his hand sneaks up my ribcage, over the thin material of my nightgown, I let him do that too. Then I let him cup my breast.
The need is instant. I mindlessly arch into the warmth of his palm. More, more, more, my blood drums.
I want to ask him not to go. But I also want the pirates defeated. I want my sister safe.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but in the long seconds that follow, I even forget about Lily. Nothing exists but Koah’s mouth on mine and his hand on my breast. When he brushes a thumb over my nipple, I groan into his mouth. And then he’s on top of me, his weight pushing me into the soft mattress.
Once again, my thighs move to cradle his hips. We’ve been here before. We need to stop. But I don’t protest when he lifts to support his weight on his knees and on one hand, then pulls my nightgown over my head with the other.
Chapter Three
KOAH SUCKS IN A SHARP BREATH. The indigo of his eyes swirls with heat as his gaze glides up my bare body. His voice is hoarse. “You are perfect, my Ava. Have I told you that yet?”
Common sense peeps up: I need to get that nightgown back on.
In a second.
My need is a wild beast. It wants what it wants. It will fight for it with fangs and talons.
He dips his head and kisses my nipple, rubs his warm lips over the tight bud, then nibbles it, and then gently sucks it into the heat of his mouth. I can’t speak. I arch against his lips like I arched against his palm just moments ago. Mindless.
He teases and sucks a
t me mercilessly until I squirm, until I bury my hands in his thick hair to make sure he doesn’t move away.
He doesn’t. He simply slides his questing lips across the short distance to the other nipple.
Oh.
The texture of his hair is different from mine. Rougher. The strands are stronger. At the same time as I marvel at that, I feel him hard and ready between my legs.
He rubs against me and steals my breath. The twin sensations of his mouth on my breast and his cock rubbing over my clitoris are too much. I spiral up and up. Then his fingers find my free nipple and tug and twist.
I had plenty of fumbling attempts with my ex-boyfriend at the colony, but I never felt anything like this, never even close. Sharp pleasure assaults me on too many fronts. I soar, flying without a pod. I can see through the glass dome above to the soft white clouds floating in the incredible blueness of the sky, and I feel like I’m floating among them.
Pleasure pushes me higher and higher until I nearly touch the sun. And then that pleasure breaks, and I’m torn apart like the original spirit, Smys, and I float in a million sparkling pieces before I gently fall back into the palace, into my bed.
“My Ava.” Koah looks ready to burst with pride, but also with unfulfilled need.
As pleasure slowly ebbs, embarrassment rises. He’s the one going off to war. If anything, I should be the one giving him a gift.
I want to. I want to give him everything his indigo eyes are silently asking for. But the question I’ve been doing my best to bury in the most remote, cob-webbed corner of my brain pops up to slap me, and it’s a doozy. It’s like a meteor hitting a planet and knocking it off its rotation.
What if, while I’m pretending to be the Oath Forger here, the real Oath Forger shows up? I can’t rule out the possibility. It could happen.
I’m not the real Oath Forger. I can’t get so deeply into the role that I forget that it’s just pretend.
Pretending to forge an alliance with these men is one thing. Sleeping with them is another. I could get pregnant. And then what happens when the real Oath Forger comes?
Their perfect alien mate, I think while Koah nibbles my ear. My body wants to sink back into pleasure, but at the same time, I feel as if someone had dunked my head in a bucket of cold water.
The kreks are supposed to make perfect alien babies with the real Oath Forger, not me.
I really, seriously, should have thought about this before, dammit. How far am I willing to go with this charade?
As far as it takes to ensure peace and safety for Earth, but no further, I decide on the spot while Koah trails kisses toward my mouth, his hand trailing down my abdomen.
So sex or no sex? I can’t decide. So, until I can decide, I’m not going to do it.
We are supposed to have a getting-to-know-each-other phase, right? I can do that. It could take quite a while. Roax is not even here. In the meanwhile, the men sign their peace treaties and defeat the pirates.
And then, eventually, either:
A: The Oath Forger comes, they kick me out and join with her. Regardless, the peace will stand, reforged by the real Oath Forger.
B: The Oath Forger never comes. And I eventually “accept” the men. Peace happens, and Earth is safe.
C: I get discovered, and in revenge, they blow Earth into smithereens.
To be honest, I can’t see that last one happening. The kreks are not perfect, but none of them are evil. If they find out that I’ve been lying to them, I think they’ll be disappointed with me, and they’ll be angry with me. But I don’t think they’ll take their anger out on Earth.
I’m angry too. Koah’s hand between my legs notwithstanding. I’m furious with the Federation. The Zebet is holding hearings and playing games of bureaucracy and diplomacy while people are dying on Earth. The senators need time to decide what to do with us? How about freaking helping? How about first making sure that the pirates don’t take us all, and then worry about the rules of planetary conduct?
So, to hell with anything else. I will play my role here. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure my sister and others on Earth will be safe.
I move my hands, which apparently had been digging into the muscles of Koah’s back until now, to cradle his face. “Koah.”
Instead of welcoming him inside my body like my rushing blood demands, I reach up to give him a goodbye kiss.
The explosion comes at that very moment. My heart lurches into a race as I clasp the man on top of me. Then I realize the loud sound wasn’t an explosion but people banging on the door.
“Koah!”
“Are you in there?”
“Open up!”
“You have one second to open this door before we break it down, dammit!”
Koah swears, long and hard, then bites the rest off before looking into my eyes with dark displeasure. “Can I kill them?”
“I thought we needed them for the alliance.”
“We’ll find a way to get around that.”
I can’t help a grin. I press my mouth to his, one last time. “You’d better open the door, and I’d better put on something.”
As soon as he registers the possibility of the others seeing me naked, he’s on his feet. My gaze snags on his enormous erection. I blush hot red, then look away, tugging on my nightgown as he heads to the door, grinning.
“Well, at least we’re in time.” Tiam bursts in first, and, of course, doesn’t miss any details.
I have my nightgown on and the cover tucked to my chin, but I still feel naked from the way Uthan, Tiam, and Dason are inspecting me.
They hurry closer, ignoring Koah’s warning growl. Uthan sniffs the air. Sniffs! Oh my God, can he smell that I just came? I think my face is about to burst into flames.
They all look at me just like Koah did, as if their unfulfilled needs are killing them. Of course, with the other three, there’s also a layer of hot jealousy.
I shrink back from the onslaught of emotions they bring to the room.
Except...wait a minute. I cannot be this intimidated by these guys. At the very least, we’ll be living together for the foreseeable future. And maybe...well, maybe I’ll accept them eventually, and then we’ll do way more than live together. If I let things get that far... If the real Oath Forger never comes... They could be the fathers of my children.
Brain explodes.
When I recover, I straighten my spine. I hold up a hand, palm out.
“So. This is how it’s going to be.” I fix them with a hard look, maybe not a look as hard as Koah can manage, but I can tell by the way they freeze that it’s having an effect.
“There will be no banging on my door and demanding... Worse, threatening entry. You may politely knock. And if I don’t say ‘come in,’ you will politely go away.”
They blink and bristle. Dason hangs his head. He, at least, looks contrite.
I get out of bed. Their eyes eat me up. Right. Freaking nightgown.
I shake my head at them. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Now they all look poleaxed.
“Please go. I will have breakfast with you in the garden.”
“I’ll be flying off before then.” Koah pushes through them, shouldering them out of his way. He drags on his clothes, then steps right up to me and brushes a goodbye kiss across my lips. “I will see you when I come back.”
“Be safe,” I whisper.
“Just promise you’ll be here waiting.”
As I nod, my heart twists with worry.
He drops one more kiss on my mouth, then turns on his heel and strides away, the very image of a warlord marching off to battle.
The others watch him with dark scowls. I hope they won’t murder him before he can reach his ship. When they don’t follow, for a moment I feel relieved.
Then they all turn to look at me again.
Tiam, Uthan, and Dason, three men I barely know, in my bedroom. Three men who want to claim me. And Koah, the one I know and trust the most, is gone.
; That burst of confidence I just had? It’s gone.
I want to turn and run, but I have a feeling they would enjoy the chase.
Chapter Four
“YOU HAVE A DINING ROOM, you know,” Tiam says as the four of us eat in the garden.
So that nobody has a stroke, I didn’t put on Koah’s crew uniform that mysteriously materialized in my closet. My personal assistant Taly put me in a dress that’s...more than a dress. It’s like an old-fashioned wedding gown, except in pale azure. The skirt part has too many layers, and the strappy, beaded bodice is a little too tight, but... The gown is so gorgeous I couldn’t resist, although I probably should have, because now I barely dare to breathe for fear of damaging it. Apparently, grass leaves green marks on fabric! Why has no one mentioned this?
“Actually, you have both a private dining room,” Tiam tells me, noticing how stiffy I sit to avoid grass stains, “and a larger, ceremonial one.”
I haven’t seen either. “I love the garden.” Grass and all.
He smiles as if that pleases him. In general, everything that makes me happy, seems to make him happy.
All the green that surrounds us smells even better than I remember from the day before. The trickling of the water is like a dream. I stare at what I think is a bee, a little yellow thing with gossamer wings. I’ve only seen one in pictures.
“I will give you a tour of the palace after breakfast,” Tiam offers.
“We will give her a tour.” Dason stands right up to him, which is rare from what I’ve seen so far, so it makes me smile.
Instantly, all three of them are smiling too.
God, this is surreal.
Uthan catches what has to be a dazed look in my eyes. “Let her decide when she’s ready.” He frowns at the other two. “She is overwhelmed.”
When he frowns like that, the golden loops in his eyebrows softly clink together like chimes.
“It’s a lot for her to take in. Let her go at her own speed.” His voice is the deepest among the men. He’s only a few years older than me, but there’s something spiritual to his presence, to his stillness. Like he’s an old soul. He even sounds sage.
