by S. E. Smith
He loved her! That was what the feelings were that were driving him crazy. He had heard about it, even seen it between his father and mother, and Hunter and Jesse. For a minute he was stunned. He leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to Kali’s slightly parted lips.
“I love you, Kali,” he whispered in wonder, looking at her with a growing determination. “I will not let you expose yourself to danger. I can’t. You are my life.” He picked up her wrist and pressed another kiss to the inside of it, over the dark markings claiming her as his. “I am Razor. I belong to Kali as she belongs to me. Forever will I tie my life to hers. I will care for, protect and give my seed only to her. She is my Amate. She is my life.” His voice faded on the last word.
My life, he thought as he turned to look up at Cutter who was walking through the doorway.
“Thunder and Vice are heading over to Badrick’s apartment,” Cutter informed him as he glanced at Kali. “Jag just arrived with the Star Raider. He heard the message and sent a team over to the Usoleum Starship. It has been seized.”
“Good,” Razor commented, standing. “You will remain on Earth to oversee the rebuilding and the withdrawal of the troops. I must return to Rathon but there is another matter that requires my attention before I do.”
Cutter nodded. “Chicago was the last major city not under control. Except for some smaller bands of rebels in remote locations, the transition should go smoother now that Parks is in control.”
Razor nodded, looking down at Kali again. “Yes,” was all he said. He had formed a compromise on their way to Allen’s stronghold with Kali’s brother. He had offered to support him in exchange for Kali. At first, Parks had resisted. It wasn’t until Razor pulled Kali’s brother to the side and asked him how many times she must almost die before he would agree that Razor had a better chance of keeping her safe.
It was not a part of Razor’s personality to negotiate or even care if Destin Parks agreed. As far as Razor was concerned, Kali already belonged to him. But, there was some instinct deep inside that told him he needed Parks' alliance if Kali was to come to accept him as her Amate.
While it was highly unusual, there were cases where a female taken by a warrior later rejected him. In their race, the women held the power over a male. If she rejected him, his mark could be removed from her, but hers would forever tie him to her. A warrior did not give his mark easily or to just any woman. He knew instinctively when he found his Amate, not so the female. She was not tied to the male as he was to her.
“Did you notify Patch I needed his assistance?” Razor asked.
“Yes, he is waiting at the landing site,” Cutter said, nodding toward Kali’s unconscious form. “What makes them so different? They are so fragile yet they fight with a fierceness that any warrior would be proud to stand beside in battle.”
“I don’t know,” Razor admitted, glancing at Cutter as they began their descent. “I don’t know.”
*.*.*
Fifteen minutes later, he was once again laying Kali on the bed in the makeshift medical unit set up at the National Guard Armory. He had to press his lips tightly together to prevent the coarse words he wanted to unleash on Patch. The healer was muttering under his breath about what a sorry piece of work Razor was for not taking better care of his Amate. Cutter, who had followed them in, didn’t bother hiding the chuckle that escaped.
“Just heal her!” Razor barked out.
“Why? So you can let her get beaten up again?” Patch retorted angrily as he pulled the medical tray closer. “Maybe if I don’t, she can remain safe here in medical.”
“Darling, that girl is going to find trouble no matter where she is,” Chelsea said as she walked into the room. “She’s got too much fire to be tied down.”
“Well, put the fire out,” Razor growled, glaring at Chelsea as she slipped a blood-pressure cuff around Kali’s arm. “What are you doing?”
Chelsea raised an ebony eyebrow at Razor and pursed her lips together. She didn’t break eye contact until he shifted from one foot to the other in agitation. Only then did she refocus on the task at hand.
“I’m checking her vitals the old fashion way,” she snorted. “I don’t like those odd things Doc Patch uses.”
“I told you they didn’t know when not to fight,” Cutter muttered to Razor under his breath.
Chelsea’s chuckle echoed in the room as she heard Cutter’s remark. She shook her head as she recorded the results. These Trivator warriors were good at fighting, but clueless about human women if they thought they would just let them walk all over them.
“Honey, I’ve tangled with kids high on drugs, dealt with bank robbers, raised three kids, all of them girls, and not a one of them ever got the best of me,” Chelsea commented. “You growl and snarl all you want. All it will get you is my foot across your tight-looking ass.”
“Tight-looking ass?” Patch repeated, looking at Chelsea in surprise before looking at Razor who scowled at him in frustration. “Now that is an image that I never thought of before.”
Chelsea’s infectious laughter pulled the tension from the air. She shook her head. This is what she loved about her new career. She met all kinds of people still; but now, they usually weren’t trying to kill her.
“You know what you boys need?” She commented as she took a warm, damp cloth and began cleaning the blood off of Kali’s face.
“No, but I suspect you will inform us,” Patch replied dryly as he ripped open the tear in Kali’s shirt covering her wounded shoulder and applied cleanser to the cut.
“You’re right, I’m going to tell you,” Chelsea said, looking specifically at Razor with a knowing eye. “You need to go have a talk with my Thomas about women. Bless his soul, after being in a house for over thirty years with us, he knows a thing or two that might help save you a lot of headaches, not to mention heartache.”
“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Cutter announced thinking of one female he was still looking for. “Does he know everything about them?”
Chelsea just shook her head again and muttered ‘stupid men’ under her breath. “He can tell you all you need to know,” she promised.
Patch paused as he finished sealing the wound on Kali’s shoulder. He glanced from Chelsea to Cutter to Razor. A gleam of interest brightened his eyes.
“Don’t meet with him until after I’m done taking care of the wounded. I want to hear what he has to say,” Patch said, returning to the task at hand. “There is another transport coming in with wounded, so it will be a couple of hours.”
Chapter 23
Razor stared at Thomas Cuddles in disbelief. He rubbed his left ear as the man sat back in his seat and raised his beer bottle up to take a deep swig from it. He shook his head. No, his hearing was fine.
“Are you serious?” Patch asked in disbelief. “That’s it? That is the answer to the women of Earth?”
“Yep,” Thomas replied, wiping his hand across his mouth and grinning. “You follow those rules and you’ll live a long and happy life.”
“You are not serious,” Cutter remarked with a frown.
“Oh, I’m very serious,” Thomas said, nodding his head. “I’ve been married to Chelsea for thirty-one years, four months, and fourteen days. We’ve had three daughters, all of them married now. Let me tell you, I gave their husbands the same advice.”
“This is impossible!” Razor growled sitting forward. “How can these things make her happy?”
“How can they not?” Thomas asked, pointing his beer bottle at Razor. “You’ve got to accept her as she is and not try to change her.”
“But she keeps trying to get herself killed!” Razor retorted, setting his beer down on the table with a thud and running his hands through his hair. “I can do the others. I can kiss her and cuddle her and… wash the dishes. But…”
Thomas shook his head slowly back and forth. “There is no ‘but’. You have to accept her. If you try to change her, then she isn’t the woman for you. Let me explain,” he sa
id, leaning forward again. “When I met Chelsea I was studying accounting at Washington U. She had just been recruited by the FBI. I knew this was important to her even it if scared the hell out of me. Over the years there were a few close calls. She was shot twice. Once when our daughter Lettie was only a year old. I wanted her to quit and we had a huge argument. I finally realized that she wasn’t trying to prove how big and bad she could be. It was more than that, it was who she was. She was born to help and to serve others. It was because of that part of her that I fell in love with her. She was an amazing agent, but she was also an amazing wife and mother. When I finally accepted that, our relationship became stronger than ever before and I fell more in love with her every day because every day was a special one.”
“Why?” Patch asked curiously. “Why would every day be a special one?”
Thomas sat back again and looked at Patch before turning his gaze to Razor. He knew what the male was going through. He felt a pang of sympathy for him. He had gone through the same thing and Chelsea had shared her talks and insight about Kali Parks with him.
“Because I never knew if it would be our last,” Thomas replied in a quiet voice. “I made sure that I made each day a special one. Most importantly, I made sure to let Chelsea know how much I loved her.”
“How could you stand by while she placed her life in danger over and over again?” Razor asked in a low voice. “Why would she do that to you?”
“I could stand it because I finally accepted that when it is our time to die then it really doesn’t matter if you are an FBI agent or someone driving to work. Death doesn’t care what your job is,” Thomas explained. “Yes, her job was dangerous, but she was smart, well-trained and took precautions to reduce that danger. I had to trust her, just as she learned to trust me that I would take care of our girls. A relationship is about being a partner. Not a part-time one, but a full-time, 24/7, 365 days a year partner.”
“I will not leave Kali behind,” Razor said, standing up. “She will be by my side.”
Thomas looked up at the huge warrior’s dark, determined face and smiled. “As long as she is beside it and you don’t expect her to walk behind you,” he remarked.
“Is that when, as Chelsea so eloquently told us, she would ‘put her foot across our tight-looking ass’?” Patch asked curiously.
Thomas’ deep chuckle shook his slightly rounded frame. “Oh yeah. And let me tell you, it only takes once to learn not to let her too far behind you,” he laughed. “You’ll do fine. Just trust her.”
“Trust her, accept her, love her,” Razor repeated with a short nod. “I will remember.”
Thomas sat back in his chair and watched Razor as he left the mess hall. He shook his head. The man was hard-headed. He was going to have to learn the hard way. He just hoped he didn’t screw things up too bad or both he and Kali Parks were in for a difficult journey.
“Do you think he will follow my advice?” Thomas asked distractedly, sipping his beer.
Cutter glanced at Razor’s departing back. “Yes,” Cutter replied, standing and stretching. “Yes, but it will not be easy for him. He is used to giving orders and expecting them to be followed.”
Patch sighed when his comlink pinged. He was needed in medical. Setting his own beer to the side, he rose as well. He turned and gave an apologetic smile to Thomas.
“Thank you for your insight,” Patch said. “I’m afraid I must return to medical.”
“I’ve got to go as well. Jag is supposed to have a report on his findings to me in ten minutes,” Cutter said with regret. “Thank you for your wisdom, Thomas. I will think on it as well.”
Thomas watched as the two Trivator warriors hurried away. His eyes lit up with love and delight when the figure of his beautiful wife appeared in the doorway. A huge smile curved her lips when she saw him. He stood up and opened his arms for her.
Maybe he should have told them a few more pointers, he thought as he gave Chelsea a long, deep kiss.
*.*.*
Razor stood outside the bathroom door in his apartment. He discovered that Kali had woken shortly after he had left medical. Chelsea had helped her back to his room as the medical unit was filled with mostly wounded human males from the fight at Allen’s former headquarters.
Colonel Baker had insisted that Kali be moved for her own safety. He was thankful for that, but irritated that he wasn’t immediately informed that she was awake. Now she was refusing his request to open the door.
“It is dangerous for you to be alone,” he growled. “You lost a lot of blood.”
“That happens when you get stabbed,” she retorted.
“You were still recovering from the last time you lost a lot of blood,” he reminded her. “Kali, open the door.”
“I’m not talking to you,” she called out.
“Yes, you are,” Razor replied, confused. “I hear your voice.”
“Well, I’m not talking to you anymore,” she argued back.
“But, you are still speaking,” Razor said in frustration, clenching his fist and leaning against the door. “Kali, I demand that you open this door.”
Silence greeted his demand. He banged on the door in frustration. His brow creased in worry when there was still no response. What if she had fallen unconscious again? What if she had hit her head when she fainted? What if she was in the shower and drowned? All kinds of horrible thoughts flowed through his mind.
“Kali,” he called out, the edge of desperation making it deeper and louder than before. “Kali? Answer or I will break the door down!”
He was about to follow through on his threat when he heard the lock turn and the door cracked open a couple of inches. Kali’s tear-stained face peeked up at him. Her bottom lip trembled and she angrily brushed at another tear as it escaped to run down her cheek.
“What?” She snapped. “I want you to leave me alone. I want you to… to just go away!”
“You are hurting? I will call Patch. He will give you something for the pain,” Razor murmured in concern as he studied her red eyes. “Come, I will help you to the bed.”
“I am not hurting, at least not where Patch can help me,” she replied. “I don’t want to… to lie down.”
“What is wrong, fi’ta,” Razor asked in a husky voice. He raised his hand and captured another tear as it fell. “Why do you cry?”
“I ‘cry’ because I’m so mad I want to hurt two of the stupidest men on the Earth,” she growled in frustration. “I want… to ‘cry’ because… because… because I just want to cry.”
Razor’s eyes softened when she sniffed. He remembered Thomas’ advice about cuddling. Earth women liked to cuddle. He pushed the door open a little further so he could tenderly pull Kali closer. Wrapping his arms around her, he breathed a sigh of relief when she buried her face against his chest.
“Who are the two stupidest men?” Razor asked gently.
“He gave me away? I thought he loved me! I’m family. You don’t give family away,” she whispered in a choked voice.
Razor bent and carefully picked her up. He turned and carried her over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. The same confusing feelings he felt before threatened to drown him again, only this time he knew what it was. Thomas said to trust her. To be honest with her. That she would know. Thomas said that women didn’t smell a lie like a Trivator. He explained that they knew instinctively when a male was being deceitful.
“He does love you, Kali, just as I do,” Razor replied in a quiet voice. “He did not give you away. He gave you to me. I am now your family.”
Kali rested her head against his chest, her ear pressed against his heart. It was strange how similar he was to a human man, but also so different. It skipped a beat when he said he loved her. She lay still for several minutes as he held her close to his warm body.
She didn’t know if what she felt for him was love or lust. All she knew for sure was that her body ignited into molten lava whenever he was around. She had never had a reaction to an
yone the way she did to Razor.
Okay, whenever I even think of him I short circuit, she thought. But still, is that love or infatuation?
She had no experience with what she was feeling and it had been so long since she had talked to another woman about feelings, she had no idea what to do. Maybe she should talk to Chelsea. She seemed like she would know. After all, she had been married for a long time and had three daughters who were also married.
“Why did he tell you to take me away?” She asked in a quiet voice.
“Because I couldn’t stand by and watch you die like mom did,” a husky voice said from the doorway.
Razor’s eyes connected with Destin’s for a long moment. His arms tightened possessively around Kali when she started to sit up. He hadn’t realized that the door to his living quarters was still ajar. When he had entered his rooms early and found the bed empty, his first thought was that Kali had escaped again. It wasn’t until he heard a sound coming from the bathroom that he realized that she was there.
“Destin!” Kali exclaimed in a tear-choked voice.
*.*.*
Destin studied Kali’s red, swollen eyes. He didn’t plan on coming to the National Guard Armory. He had fought against it, but he couldn’t leave her. He couldn’t let her go without telling her he loved her. That she was his Kali. His wind sprite, his baby sister, his family. When Razor stopped him in the narrow alleyway, he had almost killed the bastard. At least, until Razor asked him how many times did Kali have to almost die before Destin realized that it was time to accept the Alliance’s help in rebuilding the Earth.
He licked his lips and stared back at Razor. “May I come in?” He asked quietly.
“Yes,” Razor replied.
Destin would have to have been blind and deaf to miss the possessive way the Trivator warrior was holding his sister or to miss the warning in his voice. Razor was making it clear that Kali belonged to him and he was not going to let her go. In that, they were still in agreement. Destin realized that Kali would always put herself in between him and danger.
