by Lynn Tyler
Taking pity on her, he looked down at his desk and shuffled some papers around. “I ordered you a standard Helan wardrobe. It should be delivered soon.”
One of the papers he’d been pushing around his desk caught his eye, and what it said made his adrenal glands work overtime. “Shit.”
Kim’s translator was clearly working well because she leaned over the desk to see the paper. “What’s wrong?”
Kerek had to smother a smile. Her curiosity didn’t annoy him at all, like it might for some Helan males. One, she couldn’t yet read Helan, so it wasn’t like she could actually figure out what was going on by looking at the paper. And two, he appreciated curiosity in a person. Besides, it had obviously given her something to focus on besides the fact that she was standing in nothing but a cum-stained sheet.
The subject wasn’t a laughing matter though. “Jedan warships have been spotted on the edge of this quadrant.”
“And this is a bad thing?” she asked as she hitched a leg up and perched on the corner of his desk.
“Yes. The Jedans are a hostile race. They search solar systems for viable planets, and then strip them of their resources.”
Kim frowned and touched the corner of the paper with her index finger. He had the insane urge to lift that finger up to his mouth and suck the very tip between his lips to lave it with his tongue. What the hell? He’d never felt the need to do anything so intimate with anyone but Thantos before. If he didn’t know better, he would say he was starting to bond with Kim, too, but when he searched for that telltale bond, it was nowhere to be found.
“What about the planet’s population? How are they supposed to survive if the resources are stripped?”
Kerek blinked. Crap. He’d gotten distracted looking for the bond he was starting to hope would form. It would certainly make things easier if he and Thantos were both bonded to their female mate. Giving his head a little shake to clear it of his musings, he looked up at her gravely. “Jedans don’t care about a planet’s population other than for the slave labor they can obtain. They may turn a stripped planet into one of the pleasure destinations if they find the inhabitants pleasing to look at, but that’s almost worse than them just leaving the population to die out.”
She blanched but didn’t question him further. Good thing, too, because he didn’t really want to tell her that it was rumored that Jedans used the people of their conquered planets as prey for their sport hunting. “Will the Helans be able to protect Earth from the Jedans?”
Kerek glanced down at the paper again. “We are rerouting a number of battleships and warships to rendezvous here. It should be enough for now. We’ll have to assign a section of our military to patrol your solar system’s borders, but there’s enough time to get that into place before the Jedans can send out too many of their own cruisers.”
Kim looked like she was about to pass out, and Kerek searched frantically for something to say that would get her mind off the Jedans. “You never answered my question,” he said quickly. “How are you?”
“A little weird, actually. It’s kind of like there’s someone else in my head. There are sensations running through my body that seem like they’re happening to someone else.”
Sadness swamped him. There it was. The confirmation that she and Thantos had bonded fully. And she had no idea how special that was. “That’s because you and Thantos have somehow fully bonded.”
She shot to her feet and stared him down. “You wanna explain how that happened?”
Kerek heaved a big sigh. “I’ve already been in contact with a doctor about that.”
“Well, does Dr. Tabar have anything to say about this? Does he need to run any tests? Should I go to the sick bay now?”
This was where things could get a little sticky. He threw up his shields, blocking Thantos from their conversation although his mate would know something was up. But he really didn’t want Thantos to have to hear any negative reactions to what Kerek was about to tell Kim. “I actually spoke to a different doctor. Dr. Sathon, back on Helan. He’s the high royal family’s personal physician.”
A frown marred her forehead, causing it to wrinkle and her blonde hair to flop down into her eyes. She pushed the hair out of her face with one hand while she clutched the sheet closer with the other. “Why wouldn’t you ask Dr. Tabar?”
Thantos’s unease with the sudden interruption in their connection battered at him, breaking Kerek’s heart. He hated causing his mate pain or discomfort, but he really wanted to spare Thantos’s feelings if Kim reacted poorly.
He chose his words carefully. “Let me be clear. What I tell you does not leave this room. Do you understand?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything else.
“First, I need you to concentrate on blocking your bond with Thantos. Picture a brick wall and focus on that while I tell you some of what’s going on.”
Kim rolled her eyes but then narrowed them, as if she was actually doing what he asked. “Okay. I’m in a windowless, doorless brick room.”
That sassy mouth of hers was going to get her in trouble. “Look, Thantos isn’t your typical Helan male. He doesn’t have the drive to prove his dominance. And he has absolutely no control over his bond. He can’t shield his emotions or his physical reactions. He is completely dependent on our bond.”
Her eyes widened. “Doesn’t your society value dominance and control in their males?”
“Yes. The amount of value placed on those traits has dropped substantially, but there are still those out there that would look down on Thantos and even question his ability to do his job should they find out.”
“So this Sathon is the only one, besides you, that knows about this?”
“No.” The soft answer came from the bedroom door.
Thantos stood there, a soft towel wrapped around his waist, his shoulder-length hair ruffled around his face, curling softly at the ends. The sonic shower didn’t use water but rather a high-frequency sound wave that literally vibrated dirt and grime away. Not as pleasant as the water showers back on Earth or Helan, but they did the trick.
And since his talan was standing right there, able to hear everything they said, there was no point in blocking their bond. Kerek let his shields fall and felt Thantos’s relief.
Thantos crossed the room and walked around the desk to stand beside Kerek, settling his hand on Kerek’s shoulder. “Dr. Sathon knows, as does most of the royal family. It’s not something you can really hide from those close to you. You did a good job with your shields, lira.”
Kim blinked and smiled a little. “Does that mean I can quit imagining myself in a tiny, airless room?”
The hand on Kerek’s shoulder twitched, as if Thantos wanted to reach out and touch his new female mate, but it stayed exactly where it was. Kerek leaned his head down until he could touch his cheek to the back of his mate’s hand. The self-control Thantos was exhibiting in not reaching for his new, still skittish mate was astonishing. Kerek would have been all over her in a heartbeat.
“Yes,” Thantos said, returning the smile.
Thantos relaxed immediately, telling Kerek that Kim had indeed dropped her own walls. “Were you saying that you spoke to Sathon earlier?” His hand crept up to cup his cheek, thumb stroking over Kerek’s jaw gently.
Turning his head, Kerek kissed Thantos’s palm. “Yes.”
“How is Queen Jacy feeling?”
Kerek relayed his conversation with the doctor to Thantos and Kim, laughing along with both of them at the retelling of Jacy’s antics. Thantos sobered when Kerek told him about King Nalan’s Choosing Ceremony.
“Is it bad that King Nalan has put off his Choosing?” Kim asked curiously.
Kerek could feel Thantos’s mind racing and could see each of the possibilities why Nalan might put off his Choosing, before he answered Kim’s question. “There are many reasons why King Nalan might delay his Choosing, but the most likely is because he didn’t want to force the male he wishes to choose into
a relationship against his will.”
Kim looked at them thoughtfully. “So, it’s not normal for males to force others to mate with them.”
Kerek felt Thantos shake his head more than he saw it. “No. In fact, we tend to know our mates quite well before we bond, although there are cases where bonding happens without conscious thought.”
“Like us?”
Thantos’s regret was like a sharp edge of steel to the belly. “Yes,” he said quietly, turning away and staring out the window.
Kim’s eyes filled with tears. Kerek could guess she was feeling the shaft of guilt Thantos was experiencing. “It’s not because of you, lira. Know that.”
She nodded and tried to smile, but it was weak and slipped from her face quickly. Kerek was on his feet and around the desk instantly. He chafed her arms, acutely aware that there was only a thin sheet and a pair of silk sleep pants separating them. “Kim, you are experiencing Thantos’s feelings. You need to take a breath and focus on your own feelings.”
She did as he said and relaxed, leaning into him just slightly. “Why is he feeling so bad?”
Kerek glanced over his shoulder at his mate and found that Thantos hadn’t yet turned around. It’s all right, talan. I won’t be upset if you tell her. Kerek looked back at Kim to see if she’d heard Thantos’s words as he’d sent them into Kerek’s mind. Interestingly, she didn’t seem to have heard them.
“He would have had you choose your own path.” Kerek was reluctant to say anything more until he knew the true strength of their bond.
The door chimed, and all three of them jumped. “That would be your clothes arriving. Why don’t you go and hop in the sonic shower, and I’ll have everything put in the bedroom for you to choose from. Just press the pad on the shower wall, and the sonic beam will deploy.”
She cast another look at Thantos but nodded her head. Hitching the sheet up a little higher, Kim hurried into the bedroom, the door sliding shut behind her.
He answered the summons, thanking the young crewman for bringing the clothes by, and wheeled the rack into the bedroom. The rolling bar was filled with silks, velvets, and satins. Nothing but the best for the mate of the ambassador. In fact, aside from the royal females, Kim would be the best-dressed woman on Helan.
“She hasn’t agreed to come back to Helan with us when we leave,” Thantos said, not turning away from the window. “And she’s your mate, too, remember?”
Kerek blew out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding, instantly alerting Thantos to the fact that something was wrong. Thantos spun on his heel, his long red hair swinging. “What are you hiding?”
“I’m sorry, talan. I didn’t want to alarm you but…” It was easier to drop his mental shield completely rather than actually say the words.
Shock made Thantos’s eyes widen. “You didn’t bond with her? At all?”
Kerek shook his head and caught Thantos up against him. “We’ll work it out.”
The comm system beeped, chiming the pre-set alarm that Kerek had set before he’d taken Thantos and Kim to bed earlier. It was time for Thantos to get ready to leave for his afternoon lecture. If he didn’t leave now, he would be exceptionally late, and that did not look good for an ambassador’s reputation. “Time for us to go to the shuttle. Well, once you get dressed, anyway.”
Thantos sighed and nuzzled into Kerek for a moment until he pulled away. “King Jaron has assigned me a couple of personal bodyguards. There’s no need for you to come with me.”
Kerek’s gut tightened, although he wasn’t sure whether it was because of the thought of Thantos going to the planet’s surface without him or the idea of another couple of trips in the shuttle if he did go with his mate.
His decision was made for him when the comm beeped again. Instead of the automatic alarm, it was the bridge. “Chief Kerek?” It was Consort R’oan.
“Yes, Consort?”
“I know you would prefer to accompany Ambassador Thantos to the surface, but you are needed on board. Our Chief of Communications is needed in the sick bay for the rest of his shift. You will also need to draft a new announcement.”
The relief that shot through him was almost comical. At least it made Thantos lose that haunted look and smile a little. “Can I ask what new announcement I need to draft?”
R’oan’s voice reflected his enthusiasm, even though they were only on audio. “Our Chief of Communications has just told me that his female mate has conceived.”
Oh gods, what a miracle. This was one announcement that he couldn’t wait to give. Now no one, not even the woman in the other room, could deny that humans were compatible with Helans. “That’s wonderful news, Consort.”
“Oh, it gets better.” R’oan’s voice actually went up an octave with his excitement. “D’Arik has sent a message. Apparently, Dr. Sathon has confirmed that Queen Jacy is expecting a set of twins. Both girls.”
Kerek almost fell off his chair at the news, and Thantos’s sharp intake of breath echoed in his ears. Girls. The Helan species finally had a real hope of survival.
Chapter 9
The sonic shower was the absolute coolest thing she’d ever seen. Kim had had to stop herself from flinching when the beam crept closer to her toes, but she’d barely felt anything except a slight vibration. The sensation was not altogether remarkable, and she certainly would have felt fresher and more relaxed if she’d been able to shower with running water, but the sonic shower was lightning-fast, and her hair had come out clean and shiny, without even getting damp.
She’d wrapped a towel around her chest, right under her arms, even though there was no moisture on her skin at all. Grimacing at her image in the mirror, she leaned forward and tried her best to finger comb her hair into submission.
When her hair was as neat as it was going to get without a comb, she took a deep breath and walked into the bedroom. There, against the far wall, was a huge rack of clothing, just as Kerek had promised.
God, they were all dresses made of silks, satins, velvets and any other luxurious material she could name. Some materials she couldn’t even identify. She fingered one made of a lightweight jewel green, marvelling over the color. It matched Thantos’s eyes exactly.
The door slid open, and the man himself walked in, smiling apologetically when he saw her. “I’m sorry, lira. I would have given you some privacy to get dressed, but I really need to get dressed myself if I’m going to make my lecture on time this afternoon.”
He opened the closet door and extracted a pair of black pants and a slate-gray tunic-like shirt. The color should have washed him out, but she could already tell he would look gorgeous.
Thantos dropped the towel around his waist and bent over to shimmy on the tight pants, affording her a spectacular view of his naked backside. He turned around to grab his shirt and smiled when he caught her stare, causing her to blush. Crap. She was probably as red as a fire truck right about now.
Thantos chuckled, the rich, low sound sending shivers down her spine. “Don’t be embarrassed. I just forget how modest most humans are. As a rule, we Helans are quite comfortable in our skin.”
The shirt went on next, followed by a pair of socks and a pair of boots. Kim watched in fascination as Thantos quickly began to weave small braids at his temples. The Consort Varin had had the same braids, with little bells attached to the bottom when the Helans had first made contact with Earth. “What are the braids for?”
“Historically, they were to keep hair out of the eyes during battle,” Thantos explained. “The more braids, the higher the male’s rank in the military. I’m not a warrior by any stretch of the imagination, but my rank as Ambassador gives me the right to wear the braids.”
She nodded and played with the ends of her hair, cursing herself when she caught the nervous habit. “Is Kerek going to the surface with you?” She was torn about whether she wanted Kerek to be going or not. On the one hand, she didn’t want Thantos to go alone. On the other, she didn’t want Kerek to suffer from the s
huttle trips again.
Thantos smiled and shook his head. “No. He’s needed here on board, so Consort R’oan has assigned me a couple of bodyguards while I’m on the surface. Plus, I’m going to see if I can arrange for the rest of my lectures to be done via satellite so that I don’t have to leave the ship quite as often. Because, just like you, lira, I don’t want Kerek to suffer any more than he has to.”
Lira. They had both been calling her that since they’d first met. Now that she had the translator, she knew that the word meant “dear one.”
Before she could puzzle out the reason behind the fact that the two of them were referring to her by an endearment, Thantos bent down so that he could look her in the eye. “Don’t think too hard, Kim. We’ll talk when I get back if you still have any questions. Okay?” He kissed her forehead and left.
Soft words floated back to her, the men’s low voices arousing and soothing all at once. “You will be careful,” Kerek was saying. “And you will come back to me at the end of the day, ready for me.”
She crept over to the bedroom door and peeked around the opening. Kerek and Thantos were standing chest to chest, their bodies touching from thigh to shoulder. Thantos had his thumbs hooked into the waistband of Kerek’s pants, and Kerek had one hand cupped around Thantos’s cheek and the other tangled in his hair.
“Of course I’ll be safe. And I already can’t wait to be back home.”
Kerek nodded once and slammed his mouth down on Thantos’s. The pair of them groaned and ate at each other’s mouths until Thantos was shifting his hips.
The sensations that were wracking Kim’s body had nothing to do with simply watching their display. Nope, she could feel a hard bulge against her stomach, the eager anticipation, the soft slide of fingers through her hair, and the silken lips against her own, despite the fact that she was standing all by herself.
Shit, there really was something to this mating bond stuff. She was starting to see why the women had looked so happy. She couldn’t begin to imagine feeling the pleasure of not one but two men at the same time as they felt your pleasure. It was a wonder that any of them actually left their rooms.
