Paladin's Pride 3: Her Forever Knight

by Angelina Evans

  “She’s critical.”

  The VanDai’s words drove her harder. She wouldn’t lose this woman. What she had gone through to make it this far was a matter of speculation but if even a tenth of it were true, she deserved more than to die handing over the information she’d risked everything to make known.

  “I won’t lose her.”

  Eln wasn’t sure she even realized she’d spoken aloud. Her ability to focus amazed him. Three and a half hours into the surgery and she hadn’t even paused. That Genae still lived amazed him even more. Her body had come close to shutting down more than once only to have a surge in her vital signs. The woman’s will to live was beyond anything he’d ever seen. If she survived, it would be almost as much her own doing as Llaryn’s.

  * * *

  Kai cursed as he watched Paladin and Ryvn being pounded. His own ship bucked and shuddered with each strike. They fired back but they didn’t have the laser power of the League ships.

  Pure white light flashed under the belly of the lead destroyer. They were firing up their world destroyer. The charge would take out all three VanDai ships.

  The muscles in his jaw worked as Kai calculated their distance. They had to be closer or their own weapons would be ineffective. It would be only minutes until the destroyer could fire its weapon.

  “Kai. Ryvn.” Paladin’s voice crackled through the room, interrupted by laser strikes. “We’ll use their charge against them. The dimension wave should follow the power trail back to their ship.”

  Kai’s lips thinned and his jaw tightened. It was a daring move and their only chance. It would take split second timing and they would all have to act as one. His ship shuddered and faltered.

  “Divert all power to the forward shields.” His expression grim, he watched the light under the lead destroyer start to blaze. He pulled his control panel around and ran the initial sequence for his weapon.

  “Wait for the strike,” Paladin ordered.

  Kai’s hands closed over the arms of his chair and gripped tight as another strike threatened to spin them. Part of each blast was getting through his shields. The damage was extensive but it would hold. He wouldn’t allow anything else. Genae’s life was at stake.

  Light flashed.

  “Now!” Paladin’s voice sounded like thunder.

  Kai jabbed the control panel and activated his weapon. The view screen radiated white. Everything froze.

  Black lashed back along the line of pure, pulsating power the League vessel had released. A lightless void wrapped around the lead destroyer, caught the other two in its rolling wave and collapsed in on itself. Where the destroyers had been, only empty space remained.

  For one moment there was silence then Paladin’s voice filled the void.

  “Let’s go home.” Paladin’s voice was quiet, almost subdued.

  Kai understood his leader’s feelings. They had destroyed three of the most powerful vessels the universe had ever seen. Their own weapon, its power tested in combat for the first time, had proven itself.

  “Get us home.” His expression grim, Kai leaned back in his chair. Damage reports scrolled across the screen of his control panel. The damage was extensive but the Therik would hold until they got back to Sai-two. Until he got back to Genae.

  He started to lift his hand to open communications with the planet but stopped. He would find out from the healers in person how the procedure had gone. Good or bad, he didn’t want to hear the news on board his ship with his crew listening and nowhere to go to vent whatever emotions he would be feeling.

  With grim determination he focused on his ship. His fingers flew over the control panel as he directed what repairs could be done while they were in space.

  * * *

  Llaryn’s eyes teared as she fought to keep the woman on the table alive. She didn’t know anymore if the tears were from exhaustion or emotion and she didn’t care. She’d never fought so hard for anything. As she’d worked, the battle had become personal. She would not lose this woman. Yet the faster she moved, the harder she fought, the closer the woman came to dying. She paused to wipe the sweat from her forehead and silently cursed the loss of seconds.

  Eln watched, awed as Llaryn reconstructed Genae’s heart. She was no longer just removing viral DNA, repairing the genetic code and moving on, she was building tissue, rebuilding DNA one building block at a time but faster than he could see.

  He glanced at the monitor and his shoulders slumped. The pit of his stomach burned. “We’re losing her.”

  The flickering motions of Llaryn’s fingers never faltered. “Increase the load of the recirculator.”

  Eln opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it again. Increasing the amount of blood flowing through the recirculator would decrease the blood flow through the heart. The lack of oxygen to the tissue would increase the rate of the heart’s deterioration. The Mriln healer had to know that.

  “Do it.” Her order was quiet but laced with steel.

  Eln did as she said. It wouldn’t change the outcome. The result of the procedure was already set. Genae was dying. Not even the Mriln wizard operating on her could save her.

  Llaryn’s fingers slowed and finally stopped. She lifted her hands from Genae’s chest, removed the fingertips and took off her goggles. When she looked up at Eln, her lavender eyes were clear, her expression serene.

  “Leave me with her for a moment.”

  He nodded, turned and walked away.

  Chapter 9

  Heartbreak and Homecomings

  “Disable the molecular transport inhibitor,” Kai ordered for the second time. When he got his hands on the tech manning the MTI, he was going to rip his throat out.

  “You don’t have the authorization to…”

  “I do.” Paladin’s voice whipped through the communications system like a lash. “Disable the inhibitor.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Kai gritted his teeth. His hands clenched hard enough on the arms of his command chair to bend metal. With a vicious curse, he launched himself out of the command chair. In four strides he was across the room. Minutes later he was in the molecular transport room. The MTI tech rushed in behind him.

  Kai closed himself in the transport cubicle. “Is the inhibitor down?”

  The young VanDai nodded.

  “Then transport me,” Kai snapped. His claws flashed out, fully extended. The back of his neck prickled. Unease clawed through his belly. Something was very wrong.

  Before he could make the order a second time, the Therik disappeared and the molecular transport center in the Palladium materialized around him. He ripped open the front closure of the cubicle and started running. He wasn’t surprised when Paladin caught up with him but didn’t pause to acknowledge him. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

  As he rounded the corner to the procedure suite, he saw Eln stepping out of the room. He looked gray, his shoulders slumped.

  Killing rage exploded inside Kai. His claws extended and his fingers flexed as he raced toward the healer. He slid to a stop in front of the other VanDai.

  “Genae?”

  Eln looked at Kai, his eyes dull, and shook his head.

  Kai roared and charged the door.

  * * *

  Llaryn waited until the door closed behind Eln. She looked at Genae’s motionless face, the color seeping from her cheeks as life drained away. She wouldn’t let the woman die. Not when there was another choice.

  Meticulously she removed the router and closed Genae’s chest. By every vow and tenet of her people, she was forbidden to use the true art of the Mriln on an outsider. She had always agreed with the laws her people had created for their own safety. But she couldn’t let the woman die. Even if it cost her own life, Genae would live.

  Placing her hands over Genae’s chest, her left hand over Genae’s heart, Llaryn focused her life’s energy into her hands. The door opened and the VanDai, Kai, stormed through, his expression murderous. The big VanDai leader ran in behind him, follo
wed closely by Eln.

  Llaryn closed her eyes and sank into herself. If she could have pulled back in time to live, that option had now been taken from her. She had revealed the nature of the Mriln to outsiders. Her life was forfeit.

  * * *

  Kai stared. He didn’t know what he was seeing. The Mriln woman glowed, her lavender eyes lit from within before they closed. Her hands, pressed to Genae’s chest, pulsed with golden light.

  Eln rushed forward to the monitor. “It’s not possible,” he muttered. “She’s alive.”

  Kai felt as if a fist slammed into his gut. He looked at Genae, watched as color seeped back into her face. When she blinked, the strength drained from his legs and he went to his knees beside the table, her small hand caught in his.

  “I take it the good guys won.”

  Her voice was soft, sounded almost rusty but was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard. He raised his head, his eyes moving restlessly over her face. The drama going on around them couldn’t penetrate the moment.

  “You doubted it?” His brows rose and he tried to look arrogant.

  She smiled and shook her head. “I never doubted you.”

  Kai pulled her away from Llaryn and into his arms. He wanted to crush her against him but cradled her gently instead. Until he knew she was healthy, she was the most precious and delicate creature in the universe.

  “I love you.”

  Kai lifted his head enough to look down at her. His mouth settled over hers, a slow melding of lips and tongues. When he lifted his head, they were both breathless.

  Her arms wrapped around his neck and he held her close. The feel of her breasts rising and falling against his chest with each breath was a miracle he would never take for granted.

  As Kai dropped beside Genae, Eln grabbed the monitor and swung it toward Llaryn. Her vital signs were deteriorating rapidly.

  “She’s killing herself to save Genae.”

  Paladin vaulted the end of the table and grabbed Llaryn around the waist. She collapsed over his arm, her body limp.

  “Bring her in here.”

  Paladin followed Eln into the next suite. When the healer motioned for him to lay Llaryn on the table, he had to fight himself to release her.

  As the VanDai healer swung the monitor into place over Llaryn, Paladin knelt by her side. He captured her hand in his and studied her face with dark, brooding eyes.

  Eln injected her with something. She winced but Paladin couldn’t be sorry, it told him she was alive.

  “She’ll live,” he said.

  It wasn’t a question but Eln answered it anyway. “She’ll live. Whatever she did drained her to the point of collapse. Her vital signs aren’t strong but they are stable. With enough rest and quiet, she should be fine.”

  “Leave us,” Paladin ordered, never looking away from Llaryn’s colorless face.

  As the door closed behind the other VanDai, Paladin rose to his feet and leaned over Llaryn. His eyes glittered with a cold, consuming fury as he stared at her. He reached out and grasped her face.

  “Llaryn. Look at me.” His tone was one of pure command. It reached her even in the depths where she had sunk inside herself. She tried to resist, tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her.

  “Llaryn. Open your eyes and look at me.”

  She had to fight to get her lashes to lift. They felt impossibly heavy, dragging her eyes closed. And when she saw Paladin’s face, harsh with rage, his eyes on fire with it, she tried to close them again. She didn’t want to face him. She couldn’t face herself and what she’d done.

  Paladin’s hands tightened around her face. “Open your eyes.”

  She couldn’t disobey his order.

  “You tried to escape me.” His voice vibrated with the force of emotion raging through him. “You will never escape me. The moment I saw you, you were mine. I claimed you and when you’re stronger, I’ll mate you. You are mine.”

  Llaryn’s lashes fell and she escaped him the only way she could, in the depths of her own mind.

  Paladin released her, strode out of the room and returned with a chair. His brooding gaze never left her as he watched her sleep. He had questions he wanted answers to and when she woke, he would get them. What had she done to save Genae? Why would she have killed herself to do it?

  And he had expectations he wouldn’t compromise on. The first of them being that she never put her life in danger again.

  He settled back in his chair to wait. Waiting was something he was good at. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she would see was him. Until he was sure of her, she would never be out of his sight.

  Epilogue

  One week later

  Forever

  Genae’s breath rushed out as Kai thrust into her. Her inner muscles clenched around him and they both groaned. In the week since the retrieval, he hadn’t been out of her for more than an hour at a time. She was deliciously sore with aches inside and out from his vigorous loving.

  “I’m not sure I can take much more.” All he had to do was enter her and she came; she was so sensitive to his touch. His constant presence kept her quivering and ready for him and anything he wanted to do.

  “You can take anything I have to give.” Kai pulled out of her one slow increment at a time, his nubby texture rasping her silken walls. When only his broad head stretched her, he paused. “Everything,” he murmured, his eyes blazing, and thrust forward in a fast, hard slide.

  Genae shuddered, her orgasm shaking her. She moaned as he pounded into her, sending her higher. Minutes later she could barely breathe as he came, great jets of hot cum filling her.

  He rolled them over so she lay on top, her legs straddling him, his cock still lodged inside her. She snuggled her head against his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat as it slowed. It wouldn’t be long before he needed her again. How long it would take for him to get over the fear of losing her, neither of them knew. At times she was overwhelmed by his intensity yet she would never change one single thing about him.

  Neither of them, though, had to worry about the League coming after them. The fallout from the information she had carried was still being felt. Galaran had been removed from the office of the president. The actions of his generals were under scrutiny and prosecution wouldn’t be far behind. All because Kai had helped her.

  “Do you know anything about knights?” she asked.

  A low rumble vibrated his chest against her. “They happen at the end of every day.”

  She turned her head and nipped his chest. Inside her his cock stirred, his thickening length making her shiver. “Not that kind of night. On old Earth in ancient times, there were warriors called knights. They wore plate armor and chain mail shirts. You remind me of them.”

  “I remind you of men who went around encased in metal?” He sounded indignant.

  She lifted her head and looked down at him. His expression was as disgruntled as his tone. She scooted up his body to kiss him and as she did, his cock was pulled from her wet heat.

  He growled, rolled her over and pushed her legs wide. He spread her labia with one hand and grasped his cock with the other. He wasn’t fully hard but managed to wedge the head of his cock inside her anyway.

  “Don’t move,” he growled.

  She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

  He settled his weight over her, keeping himself propped up on his elbows, so he didn’t crush her. “Tell me why I remind you of these metal men.”

  For a long moment she just stared at him, her attention focused between her legs where she quivered and wept around him. She needed a deeper penetration, not the tease of his head just inside her.

  “Tell me.”

  She blinked and focused on him. “You would do anything to protect me and keep me safe,” she said simply, her words a husky whisper. “Just like a knight with his lady.”

  Kai’s eyes gleamed gold in the dim light. Still propped on his elbows he managed to grasp her breasts, his cla
ws barely extended as he squeezed the tender mounds. At the same time, he pushed against her, his burgeoning flesh stretching her and delving deeper as he hardened, lengthened and grew.

  “So I’m your knight?”

  There was a wicked gleam in his eyes that made her laugh even though her breath broke as he thrust into her. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “Forever,” she purred and gave herself up to his loving once more.

  The End…

  or the beginning, depending on how you look at it.

  Angelina Evans

  Romance. Who can live without it? Certainly not Angelina Evans.

  Born, raised and still living close to the Canadian border, she enjoys visiting her neighbors to the north when she’s not busy writing. Writing has been a part of Angelina’s life since she could first string words together. Seeing her books in print is a dream come true. Her sincerest wish is that readers will enjoy reading her stories as much as she enjoys writing them.

  Angelina loves to hear from her readers -- you can contact her at angelinaevans1@yahoo.com.