He tossed his head back and his cock exploded inside her pussy. She drowned in the sensation, which sent her into an extended orgasm that left her weak and throbbing. It shook her, shattered her into a million pieces, leaving her unsure she’d be able to reassemble herself again.
He belonged to her.
Where did that thought come from? It had to be some residual effect from mind-blowing pleasure. But with his cock buried deep inside her, his breath hot in her ear and his arms trembling, she couldn’t help the feeling that he was hers, that as much as she had been bound to him, he was tied to her.
That was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
She expected him to collapse on top of her, dismount her like she was an animal. She wasn’t prepared for the gentle kiss, the drugging touches and the sweet murmurs. He wasn’t abusing her. He didn’t “take” anything she hadn’t given him. And while she didn’t like what that said about her, she realized she’d been wrong about him.
“Please, Tory.” She didn’t even know what she was asking him for.
“You should have come with me, Alexandra.” He raised his head and stared at her.
“You were under Tribunal arrest,” she protested. “What you asked was too much.”
His eyes flickered, hardened, something bitter and ugly back in his face. “I suppose it was. I should have known you would always choose Teran One over anything real.”
“Teran One is my home.”
“And I was a disgraced Commander with a nothing bloodline.” His cock, still buried inside her, twitched. “But now, you have no one but me.” He lengthened, hardened. “You see, they sold you out. I claimed you. They rejected you.”
“No!” She knew he was right. But it made everything she’d ever believed pointless, worthless.
“Yes!” He gripped her hair tighter until she cried out. Stars, it hurt, but not as much as the possibility that she could have had something special, something real, with this man and had thrown it away for nothing. For a king who had sold her out. For a planet that wanted her dead. For a brother who betrayed her.
“Betrayed!” She shouted the safeword at him.
The tears she’d cried for the last twenty-four hours dried up and she was numb. It didn’t matter what he did to her. It didn’t matter. Nothing did.
Immediately, he slid his cock out of her and released her hair. But he didn’t leave her. Gently, he stroked her hair, his body still naked on hers. “Shhh, little Alexandra. You will find my revenge more pleasurable than your duty.”
He slipped away from her and pulled on his clothes. “Until you are willing to give yourself to me completely, I will keep you restrained.”
What the hell did he mean? She had given herself to him. Didn’t he realize that? He gazed down at her, his finger slid along her tear-stained cheek. “I don’t just want your body, Commander Zeerah. I want your loyalty. I want your ‘duty’ to be only to me.”
“Then you’ll have to leave me tied up forever,” she said bitterly. She would never shirk her duty to her planet for sex. Never.
He shrugged. “That’s no hardship for me.”
She opened her mouth to berate him, but he was gone before she had a chance. He left her thoughts of the past swirling through her brain.
Chapter Four
“Pacing will not make the information come faster,” Jezar informed Tory. As if he didn’t know that. Years of careful cultivation, of money spread in the right places, wouldn’t be rushed because he was in a hurry. His sources on Teran One were questionable and their verifying information took time. Alex probably thought he’d walked away from Teran One, hurt and vengeful. The truth was more complicated.
Part of his vengeance meant cheating Teran One merchants, especially those with government contracts. That required sources and agents on the planet. Yes, he’d stayed in touch these past few years. He’d planned his revenge on Alexandra for a long time.
Now, he needed real-time news. His sources were transitory and on the move. Chaos had taken over on Teran One.
His new mate had no idea of what events had transpired while she had attempted to carry that cargo.
Essentially, if his informants weren’t a bunch of liars, a civil war was brewing and the two sides were not the ones Alex thought they were. On one side, the Royal Family. On the other side, the hungry First Families all vying to take over. So far, the ruling family had maintained control. But not King Darius. He was finished. Pontoon ran the government now. Darius sat on the throne but he had no power. Did Alex know her cousin essentially ruled with an empty hand?
Her fear for her sister seemed justified now. She hadn’t asked Darius not to marry Celeste off. She’d asked Darius not to let Pontoon marry her off. Perhaps Alex had figured out her cousin was king in name only.
“Keeping up with your thoughts is like chasing a star speeder,” Jezar commented.
“Then get out of my head,” Tory snapped.
“They cannot kill her while she is with you.” Jezar gazed at him with those eerie green eyes.
“If someone hadn’t tipped me off about her cargo, she’d be dead.” Just the idea made his blood run cold.
It all seemed convoluted, the way Teran One politics often did. Two thoughts kept him pacing. One, the person who tipped him off must have hoped Tory would kill her. Perhaps if Tory had been a different kind of man and Alex hadn’t been, well, Alex, that might have worked. The cargo alone warranted her death. And most people wouldn’t have questioned whether the Commander knew what was in her cargo hold.
The second thought was someone was trying to kill massive numbers of people. The fact that Alex’s bloodline, his bloodline and several others on Teran One were near extinction. Why?
His head throbbed. Tory was no historian. Some people were good at keeping all the bloodlines straight. He wasn’t.
But Alex was.
Did she realize what was at stake here? Both of their lines were close to being eliminated. To fight back, he had taken her as his Saria, as his mate. The only way to survive was to fight to together to save their bloodlines.
Genetics were always the key on Teran One. Matings were often arranged and planned a generation in advance. As Alex had said, fucking her wouldn’t make his pedigree better. But their children would have the rights of one of the First Families and the vibrancy of alien blood. Even if he’d mated to one of the minor families, he would have had influence and could have negotiated a mating for his children from a better position.
Bloodlines were all about time. The longer a family lived on their lands, breathed Teran One air and fought against the planet’s enemies, the more influence a bloodline would have, the more valuable a bloodline would be.
Tory had always blithely ignored the constraints of bloodline etiquette. The corps had taught him that everyone’s blood was red on the battlefield and it didn’t matter what your last name was or who your grandfather might have been.
But when he’d been exiled and his brother was killed, it left him as the last heir to Ingle land, Ingle rights. Suddenly, the things that he had ignored and rejected became his legacy. He wasn’t going to let the things his father and his grandfather had fought for disappear. It became more important to mate than ever. A child would have solidified his place on Teran One.
The only mate he wanted was Alexandra Zeerah. He had fought and plotted and planned to win her. What he hadn’t counted on was his gut-wrenching need for her and her rejection of him. Right now, all she did was work against him. What good did it do for her to surrender in his bed but nowhere else? Her bitter denial of him during the Saria ceremony spoke volumes. She hadn’t spent five years missing him. If all he was going to get was her sexual surrender, then that’s what he’d get. She treated him like the enemy, like he was still guilty of the crime that had brought her to his bed. Even his innocence hadn’t changed that. And how could he ever break down the wall she’d built between them?
“Teran Four has put in a bid of fifty-eight million leders.” Dink’s announcement
broke into his thoughts.
“Ah.” He glanced at his man at the helm. Blond, big and with a perpetual frown, Masterson came from Teran Four. “What do they want to do with it, Bud?”
Bud’s frown deepened, grooves appearing beside his mouth and eyes. “What they always want with anything, Commander. Domination.” He shook his head. “In the end, they want to be in charge with the other Teran planets subject to them.”
“And they want to create the end?”
The man’s bright blue eyes met his. “Control is their first priority.”
You don’t trust him. Jezar’s mental voice intruded.
No, I don’t.
Let me read him. I can tell you.
You know why I won’t.
It amuses me that you are squeamish on my behalf.
I know what it costs you, my friend.
Yet with Alexandra, you were quite willing to “cost me”.
Reading Alex was a pleasure for you. She is incapable of the dark ugliness that hurts you.
You are correct. She is incapable of it. Do you want to know—?
No, I don’t.
Jezar’s dry chuckle in Tory’s mind was annoying.
“Accept the bid and contact the others with the status,” Tory ordered. “I’m going to get a history lesson.”
“Are you sure that is the lesson you will receive?” Jezar asked, definitely amused.
“Probably not, but I’ll learn something.” He glared at Jezar, who only grinned. “You’re in charge, Jezar.”
The Ardasian nodded and sent Tory a quick smile. Yeah, Jezar knew it wasn’t just history that drew Tory back to his new mate.
When he entered his quarters, he couldn’t help the jump of his cock. On his bed, Alex’s brown hair fanned out, her curves exposed for his perusal. The emptiness in her eyes concerned him.
He sat down on his bed. “Are you hungry?”
Her lips tightened and she turned her face away from him. He sighed. “I’d say you are.” He rose and pressed buttons on his console.
This ship was more luxurious than most vessels. Everything he needed was here in his quarters. Food, water, air, entertainment…all at his fingertips. Yet what he really wanted was completely out of his reach.
Oh, clearly he could make his mate scream with pleasure. But touch her in any other way? Certainly not now that he’d destroyed the pristine vision she had of her brother and forced her into the Saria bond.
The smell of the wolden fowl with a side of root boolers made his stomach growl. But first, he should take care of his new responsibility. He set two plates down on a table in one corner of the room. He caught her gaze following him, but she glanced away when he looked directly at her. Distrust, fear and resignation all registered on her face, drooped and tired.
With as little contact as possible, he untied her restraints and released her. He pressed a button and the restraints on the bed disappeared. She sat up slowly, her fingers massaging her wrists. He opened a drawer and removed one of his old uniforms. He handed it to her. “It’s too big for you, but I didn’t know I was going to be mated this trip.”
“Neither did I.” The bitterness in her voice made him wince. She dressed quickly, refusing to meet his gaze.
“Have a seat.” He waved a hand at the chair opposite.
She slid into the chair, her gaze fixed on the top of the table. He sighed. “Alex, I need your help.”
Her head shot up and she glared at him. “And why would I help you? You—you…raped me!”
His jaw clenched. Did she really see it that way? Suddenly, he didn’t want his food anymore. It hurt. Damn it. She’d wanted him. He felt old and tired. Why was he bothering to save his bloodline? He shoved his plate away and his fist closed. He took a deep breath. If that was how she was going to see their time in bed, he couldn’t change her mind.
“As much as I need your help, you need mine. Celeste’s life may be at stake.” He tried to keep his voice steady. Considering the geyser of emotion inside him, he thought he did pretty well.
“Celeste is fine,” she spat. “King Darius will protect her.”
“King Darius has lost his throne. He is king in name only,” he said as he studied her expression. “Celeste is a danger to both sides of an upcoming civil war. A civil war you’ve helped along with your blind duty.”
She jumped to her feet, color blazing along her cheeks. “At least I know what duty means.”
“Do you?” he shot back. “Then do it. You are my Saria. Help me to continue my bloodline and yours.”
Her chin shot up. “If you want to fuck me until I’m pregnant, I will lie down and let you.”
He ground his teeth together. This was what she wanted. She wanted him to force her, try to break her so she could lie to herself that he had raped and coerced her. “Well, then, you’d better eat something. Lying down takes a lot of energy.” He meant to remind her that she hadn’t remained a passive lump of flesh beneath him as he had fucked her and by the way the color left her face and her hand tightened on the back of the chair, he was pretty sure he succeeded.
She sat in the chair and picked up her fork. He leaned back and watched her eat. Everything she did was smooth and confident. It was a pleasure to observe the way her hands moved and how her lips closed over the fork. She shot a glance at him and flushed. He allowed the silence to stretch. Let her break it. After all, he was a rapist.
“This is very good,” she murmured, not raising her eyes to look at him.
“Thank you.” He loved the way her hair curled around her shoulders and how her freckles dusted the tip of her nose along the bridge to her cheeks. Funny. Those two years they’d fought side by side, he’d respected her mind and abilities. He saw her as a woman, certainly, but admired her more for the way she fought. It wasn’t until he kissed her that he’d fallen for that smattering of freckles. Five years ago, she’d been an up-and-coming officer, sure of herself as a soldier, but less confident as a woman. He’d thought that kiss was the beginning of something much more. How could he know that the very next night he’d be drugged and then accused of treason?
“I wish you wouldn’t stare at me.”
“I’m a rapist. What do you expect?” He couldn’t help it. He sounded bitter.
She raised her eyes. “I didn’t mean that,” she said in a low voice.
“Didn’t you? But it’s so effective, isn’t it?” He bit the words out. “It absolves you completely for everything and it keeps me at arm’s length.”
Two lines appeared on her forehead. “I…Tory…” She couldn’t seem to find the words. “I’m sorry” would have been nice but, considering how they had been reunited, was probably too much to ask.
“Finish eating. You have some lying down to do.”
“Tory…” Her teeth worried her lower lip. “What help did you need?”
Something unwound in his stomach. She didn’t really think he’d raped her. He took a deep breath. “You’re better at history than I am.”
She blinked. “History?”
He nodded. “When was the last time a bloodline was extinguished?”
“Not since the implementation of the Saria,” she said immediately.
“Then why are there bloodlines disappearing now?” He leaned forward. “Your bloodline is almost ended, with only you and your sister left. Mine ends with me unless I have children. I know two other bloodlines in danger of becoming extinct.”
She stared at him. “Stender being one of them.”
He nodded. “Darius is the last of his line. He lost two brothers before he took the throne, right?”
She nodded. “Both of them were killed—” She stopped dead and all the color dropped from her face. He resisted the urge to take her hand in his to comfort her.
Tory nodded slowly. “In battle?”
Her right hand closed into a fist. “You think this is deliberate? That would mean someone has been planning this for…”
“For at least twenty years.”
“I don’t believe it,” she said, shaking her head sharply. Color came back to her cheeks. “You’re just trying to manipulate me, scare me.” Some of her old commanding demeanor came back.
He sighed. “And my motives would be?”
“I don’t give a shit about your motives,” she snapped. “You’ve gotten what you wanted. A mate. Too bad you had to get it by using the Saria law.”
Just once, he’d like to have a conversation, not an argument, with the woman. For a moment he saw red, his anger blotting out rational thought. But isn’t that what she wanted? He took a deep breath and let it out. Now was not the time to inform her of his reasons for using the Saria law to protect her. She didn’t even recognize the danger she was in. “My sources say your sister is being married to Antony Gregor.” Her fork slipped from her fingers and clattered on her plate. He’d never seen the commander so unsettled, so off balance. Granted, he’d tried to keep her that way but she wasn’t treating this situation like a battle. And she needed to. Soon. That’s right, Alexandra, he thought. Antony Gregor, who has gone through three wives. Apparently, his women couldn’t live through the ordeal of marriage to the man. Brutal, powerful and rich, what Gregor wanted, he got. And Celeste was next on his list. From what Tory had found out, Celeste had rejected the big brute and her life wasn’t worth half a leder. Whoever was out to destroy Alexandra’s bloodline was thorough.
“How do we stop it?” Her voice sounded small and frightened. Damn it, he didn’t want that. He wanted her in fighting form.
But she’d said the word “we”. That was encouraging. “Two ways. We announce our mating and Celeste becomes a ward of our family. The second way is to expose who planned to transport that cargo.”
“You didn’t have to choose mate to do either of those things.” Alex kept her gaze on the table, her fingernail running a pattern over the surface. She needed to snap out of it.
“Are you suggesting I should have chosen slave?”
Her features tightened into a bleak mask. “It would have been preferable.”
He lost the fight with his tenuous control and rose to his feet, his chest tight. He gripped her arm and yanked her to her feet. “Mating to me protects your sister. Your slavery wouldn’t. You know that.” He dug his fingers into her arm. “So I can only conclude you’re complaining about sharing my bed.” He shoved her toward the door. “I’m going to give you an opportunity to put your money where your mouth is.”
DarkRevenge Page 5
