Then he knew Guryon’s holdings had probably been searched before with similar results. Like Haemeg and his killers, they hadn’t lived to tell about it. Haemeg’s note had pointed him straight to the truth. Fadek knew that Haemeg had left the clues, but not where. That’s why he tried to kill Roran.
With the rest of the information Herminia had found, the answers all fell into place. Haemeg had figured it out too late. When Guryon learned that Roran had killed Rhazien Fadek, someone else would be coming for him.
He needed to expose Guryon to the High Council, but who could he tell? How many of the Council aligned with Guryon? Who did he dare trust? If he disclosed his findings to the wrong people, they could make him disappear.
Roran shoved his fingers back through his short hair and sighed ruefully. He’d always known that death was inevitable. He had been a warrior all his life, knowing that death could come anytime. But now, he had Becca, his solmatu, and he was on the verge of getting everything he ever wanted. He had his mate, and he was taking her to his homeworld to build a home and make a family.
“Hey, Ran,” Becca said as she walked onto the bridge. “I thought you would wake me when you finished healing.”
When she reached his chair, he took her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap, claiming her lips in a passionate kiss. “I wanted you to rest up because I’m going to need your special attention. It makes me hard just thinking about it.”
“Yes, I can tell.”
Of course, she could because his hard length was pressing against her buttocks as she sat on his lap. She giggled and kissed his mouth, playfully.
The bleak mood that had weighed heavily on him mini spans before lifted. Roran didn’t want to think about his potentially short future. He only wanted to lose himself in the soft lips of the warm woman in his arms.
He slipped one arm under her legs and the other around her back, picking her up as he stood. Becca put her arms around his neck and kissed his chin while Roran carried her into their bedroom.
Chapter Nineteen
Roran set Becca on her feet beside the bed facing him. First, he took off his shirt then he pulled Becca’s untucked from her pants. She smiled and raised her arms so he could pull it off over her head. Unfastening her cargo pants, he went down on one knee as he pushed them to the floor. She stepped out of them and her shoes.
That put him at eye level with her pussy. He gripped her butt cheeks and pressed his lips to her mons. Becca caressed his head while he lingered there for a few moments. His hands went to her hips, and he dragged his lips and tongue up over her belly as high as he could reach before he stood and stripped of the shorts he had been wearing.
Not surprising, his cock sprang up, hard and ready for action. Becca’s lips parted as she paused to admire its impressive length and breadth, reaching for it. Curling her fingers around it, she stroked its length with one hand and then the other, relishing the silky feel of it.
Roran made a low growling sound. Becca moved closer, pushing down on his cock, so its length pressed against her pussy. She pressed her lips to the middle of his chest and slit her arms around him. Dragging her mouth across his chest, she taunted his male nipple with her tongue then her teeth, biting carefully down on it until Roran groaned.
He seemed content to let her have her way with him while he caressed her back and toyed with her hair.
Becca gave his other nipple the same treatment, then hugged him for a moment, rubbing her smooth cheek against his chest before she continued. He hugged her for that moment, then let her pull back.
She returned to kissing and laving his muscular chest and worked her way down over his six-pack abs to the base of his cock. Caressing his balls with one hand, she stroked his cock up and down its length with her cheek.
“I love you,” she whispered and looked up at him with a tender smile before turning her attention back to his cock.
“Me’ara, I love you, too,” he murmured huskily and widened his stance as he grasped her intention.
Becca followed the caresses with her hands by lapping up and down his cock with her tongue and lips. Then she swiped the drop of precum off the head.
“Becca,” he murmured her name on a sigh of pleasure, stroking her hair with his fingers.
Taking the head of his cock into her mouth, she hummed with pleasure. The sound vibrated over his length. As he groaned, she started moving back and forth, taking him as deep as possible and sucking as well as working the rest of his shaft with her hand.
Roran could hardly string two coherent thoughts together with Becca, almost deep throating his cock. His climax was forming as his scrotum tightened around his balls, and tension in his lower back increased.
As delightful as her mouth felt around his cock, he’d prefer to come with his cock buried deep in her tight, wet cunt. He gripped her upper arms and pulled his cock from her mouth, lifting her up, so they were chest to chest.
“I don’t want to come in your mouth,” he murmured and kissed her.
Roran wanted her beneath him, writhing and pressing him to her while he drove her to climax thrusting into her. After a long deep kiss that left them both panting, he set her down and pulled back the cover on the bed for her to slide into it.
He joined her, laying down facing her, and she moved to press herself against him. He kissed her, swirling his tongue around hers as she caressed his face. Running his hand down her back, he pushed her bottom, so they came together, and his cock nestled at the juncture of her thighs. They were both panting with arousal when he parted their lips.
Tipping Becca onto her back, he leaned down and closed his mouth over one taut nipple and suckled it. He stroked her abdomen, moving tauntingly slowly toward her mons; here, he dipped his finger inside. Her inner walls clenched as he pressed his thumb against her clit in the same rhythm as he sucked her nipple.
Becca moaned softly and tipped her pelvis upward against Roran’s hand.
“Fuck me, Ran. Fuck me now,” she rasped. “I want to come with you inside me.”
“Yes, me’ara.”
They repositioned, so Roran was on his hands with his knees between her parted thighs. He lowered himself onto her, poising the head of his cock at her entrance. She pulled up her knees, so her feet were flat on the bed and spread her legs wider to accommodate him.
Staring into her eyes, he lowered himself the rest of the way to the hilt. She “aahed” with pleasure, and his lips twitched. He sank the rest of the way against her breasts, squeezing them against his chest, and she put her arms around him, alternately rubbing his back and hugging him.
This was his woman, his soul mate, his partner in life. She told him in so many ways that she loved him and wanted him. When he fucked her, pounding into her hard and fast, she egged him on with her caresses and the adorable noises she made as he pleasured her.
The closer to orgasm he took her, she slid her hands down to his lower back and met him thrust for thrust, keening louder and longer. The combination drove him closer and closer until the first couple of contractions squeezing his cock inside her took him over the edge of nirvana to climax.
He roared, and she wailed as they rode the waves of ecstasy together. Then it only took a gentle thrust, or the pulsing of his cock to make her climax again, or still.
They stayed joined while they both caught their breath from the exertions of their coupling. Hot, sweaty, and satisfied, they kissed and caressed.
“Me’ara, my sweet, me’ara,” she whispered, stroking his face with her fingers. “Love seems like such an inadequate word for what I feel. Like it started with a tiny spark and grew into a whole forest fire.”
Roran smiled down at her. “Mm, me’ara, that is solmatu.”
Eventually, they separated and lay together with Becca’s head nestled in the hollow of Roran’s shoulder. He held her cuddled close to his side, and they dosed for a while before they eventually left the bed to shower and dress.
Roran called Feenix for a status report th
rough the ship's com as they left the cabin to get something to eat in the galley. He heated their food while Becca made hot drinks for them. Placing them on the counter, they went around it and sat to eat on the other side.
“I had Herminia do some research for me while you were sleeping. We have a bigger problem than I even dreamed. Haemeg’s murder goes all the way to the top of the food chain.”
“How so?” Becca arched an eyebrow.
“It seems that one of the most influential members of the Consortium High Council has his fingers deep in this whole mess. We already connected Haemeg’s murder with the delivery he made to Rhazien Fadek. That information allowed them to send ships to destroy Farseek undetected.
“I don’t think if Haemag knew what he was delivering that he would’ve gone through with it.” Roran shook his head. “I don’t just think it; I know it. He would never have helped in the destruction of Farseek had he known what he was delivering to the Sargan Empire.”
“He certainly seemed devastated when he learned what he had inadvertently done. Now that we know the who, and the what, do you know why?”
“Evzen Guryon, probably the richest man in the quadrant, was trying to eliminate the competition for his agricultural products. He has at least two worlds inside the Sargus empire tended by slave labor. I think he got greedy and decided Farseek had to go.”
“So, Guryon is trying to eliminate anyone who knows he is behind it.” Roran paused to take a spork full of his stew. “They started with Haemeg, then eliminated those assassins, then sent the assassin’s assassin after me. Now, since I killed him, they will probably send another assassin after me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Try to stop the assassin and figure out how to stop Guryon. With him pulling strings on both sides, this war will never end.”
Chapter Twenty
Roran had been poring over the virtual computer screen all through first meal and for a whole span since. He was researching the high council of the Consortium, which they ruled as a democratic republic. The senate governed three hundred planets and elected the High Council from its members.
Usually, planetary rulers did not serve as Consortium representatives, and certainly not the high council. Evzen Guryon was doing it; however, since the Consortium had no laws against it.
Roran had Herminia searching through both the high council public records as well as news outlets to determine which of the high council didn’t align with Evzen Guryon. Herminia found one, a strangely unlikely representative from a distant colonial world like Farseek. However, she had an impeccable reputation for fairness and justice. Her name was Arla Drakakis.
Roran was embarrassed to realize that he didn’t even know the name of Farseek’s planetary representative to the Consortium. It never came up in his day to day service as a military black OPS spy. He didn’t even think that Deeto, his handler, dealt with any Consortium representatives directly. Roran didn’t dare call him while en route to Bekket because communication frequencies were not entirely secure.
“We have to go to Halor after we get done at Bekket Station. Then I need to contact…” Roran paused, glancing at the list on his virtual screen. “Karlek Parnatu, and set up a face to face meeting as soon as we get there.”
“And who is Karlek Parnatu?” Becca asked.
“I’m sorry. I forget that you can’t read any of this yet,” Roran said. “Parnatu is Farseek’s representative to the Consortium Senate. He is one of two people I hope can help us expose Guryon. There is also one member of the high council, Arla Drakakis, who has consistently spoken out against Evzen Guryon.”
“What if you’re wrong about them?”
“Then, they will probably have us killed and dispose of our bodies were no one will ever find them,” Roran joked half-seriously and chuckled.
“That isn’t even funny. Guryon already sent someone to kill you, and he almost did.”
“I have a plan to help ensure that we will be safe. Herminia is currently organizing the information against Evzen so we can distribute it over the Halor AI net to all the news outlets in the Consortium as well as the entire senate.” Roran reached over and stroked Becca’s back. “It’s going to happen even before I meet with them, so everyone will know who is behind it if they come after me and subsequently you.”
Roran closed the virtual computer screen and stood up, pulling Becca into his arms and holding her close. “Me’ara, I will do everything in my power to protect you, my solmatu. I want that life we planned on Farseek. I spent ten star-spans fighting wars and another ten as a spy in the Sargus Empire. I’m ready to build a home, grow crops, and make babies with you.”
Becca hugged him back, pressing her face against his neck. “That’s what I want too.”
The journey to Bekket Station took twelve rotations. During that time, Becca worked with Roran to compose a news release revealing Evzen Guryon’s treachery.
From time to time, Roran sensed that Becca was troubled. He had hoped that she would tell him at some point, but she’d didn’t volunteer any information. It just seemed that she was brooding more frequently. So finally, he decided to ask her what was wrong.
“Me’ara, can you tell me what is bothering you?” he said as he came from the bathroom and found her sitting on the bed with a somber expression.
“I am still mourning a life that was stolen from me when those aliens abducted me and put me in stasis for all those star-spans. It may have been thirty star-spans for the aliens, but for me, it seems like only a few months ago. When you rescued me from the slave auction, I had only been awake for three rotations. My only memory before that was sitting on the beach with the book just enjoying the ocean.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears that she tried to blink away.
“I lost my family all at once. They may be all dead; I don’t know. Now, all I have is you, and I’m worried that if something happens to you, what will happen to me?”
Roran put his arm around her shoulders and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “That’s understandable, me’ara. But don’t think that hasn’t crossed my mind. I don’t much like the idea either. What happened to you was unfair and just plain wrong. It’s what I have been fighting against for more than twenty star-spans.” Then he pulled her onto his lap and cuddled her against a shoulder.
“I wish I could give that all back to you because I know what it’s like to lose your family. Mine disappeared after the bombing of Farseek. If they survived, they became slaves of the Sargus Empire. It could take years to get them back if they are even alive. So, I’d truly understand. I’ve just had more time to mourn them then you have.”
Becca put her arms around him and sighed. “I love you, Ran. They would have loved you too.” She choked back a sob, trying not to cry. “I don’t want to cry again. I have cried way too much for something that I can’t change. I’m trying very hard to let it go and to remember the good things about my family instead of dwelling on the fact that they are gone to me forever.”
“I’m so sorry.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “While I cannot change that for you, there is a way to recede the memories of your loss. It is like the technique they use on warriors who have post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“But I don’t want to forget them,” she protested.
“Oh no, me’ara. It won’t make you forget any of it. The technique will simply reduce your mourning span. You won’t feel like it’s been thirty star-spans, but it won’t hurt as much as it does now.”
“Is that something that you would do?”
“I already did. I went to Halor for the procedure, and that’s where I will take you. They will also give you a far better language implant so that you will be able to read our language without spending years learning it.”
“Thank you; I feel better with you holding me like this.”
“Better enough to take care of the state of a certain appendage that is aching for attention?” He gave her a sexy smirk with his eyebrows raised.
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“Don’t think I didn’t notice. I think we can certainly address that.” She kissed him, and things heated from there.
For the rest of the journey back to Bekket Station, they returned to their routine of exercise and combat training for Becca. The physical activity helped to distract them from the losses of their families and the ramifications of their discoveries about Evzen Guryon.
From time to time, Roran still found himself wondering who and when someone would come and try to kill him again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bekket Station was far less impressive than Tegliar Station. For one, it was considerably smaller.
Because Roran was a resident of Bekket station, his assigned docking bay was closest to his flat. Deeto called him immediately, as they were docking the ship and requested that Roran come to his office. Roran was just a little irritated because he wanted to stop at his flat before he went anywhere else.
Roran supposed that Deeto was going to chew him out because he had been out of contact the whole time he was gone. Maybe that was because he had been getting some weird vibes even before Haemeg’s murder. Even afterward, Deeto had seemed unusually stoic about what they had done to their mutual friend.
Since Deeto was his handler, he had every right to command Roran to come and give a report. Even so, Roran didn’t think there was anything too urgent that Deeto needed to know right away. Despite his reluctance, Roran went to meet Deeto and had Becca come with him. His handler was also Farseekan, and he would understand what solmatu meant to him.
“Maker, Deeto, could you even wait until we had second meal?” Roran complained as he strolled into Deeto’s office with Becca on his arm.
“Well, maybe if you have bothered to report the whole time you were gone…” Deeto stopped as he looked up to discover that Roran was not alone. He raised his eyes in askance.
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