She leaned forward and bit him on the neck, a low growl vibrating from her throat, and he couldn’t hang on anymore. He pulled his thumb out of her ass and lifted her legs until her thighs were on his hips and he could drive deeper and harder inside her. Mine. She’s mine. His cum gathered and exploded from him and his shout made his throat sore. Her answering cry and the way her body curled around his extended his pleasure. He moaned against her hair, irrevocable words hovering on the tip of his tongue. His mate. His woman. His love.
But he didn’t say them. She still called these times together “fucking”. She still questioned his commitment to their mating. She wasn’t ready to hear that he had feelings for her, feelings that began when he was a raw commander standing by her side, fighting a common enemy, and had continued even in his exile. She’d never believe it and he couldn’t stand it if she questioned it.
Instead, he murmured other words, expressions of desire. She ran her hands along his shoulders and he stroked her back. They were intimately connected and he didn’t want to let go. He kissed her, reveling in the small sigh that escaped her lips as he did. It gave him hope that maybe she would want more from him than the cold mating of the Saria. Maybe she would see him as the comrade in arms they had once been.
Alarms screamed in the cabin and they broke apart. “Shit,” he said. God damn it. He wanted more time.
She was in her uniform before he’d even had a chance to start dressing. He couldn’t read her expression. Did she regret giving in? He shook his head. There wasn’t enough time to convince her. He’d hoped three months would give him a chance to earn her trust, but they didn’t have three months. If his sources on Teran One were correct, they didn’t even have three days before the bond between Alex and him was tested.
He grabbed her arm and whipped her into his embrace. He kissed her with all his pent-up emotion, knowing she wouldn’t understand but needing to touch her.
Then, he broke the kiss and stepped toward the cockpit. He glanced back and she stood frozen, two fingers on her lips.
When he entered the cockpit and saw what they faced, his stomach rolled. A Teran One Dar Fighter had found them and was demanding credentials. The window to land on Ardasia was only minutes away. How could he stall?
Before he could do anything, another voice broke in. “This is Ardasia space. State your business, Teran One Fighter.” Ah, Ardasians didn’t like interference from alien law enforcement.
“They are flying a Teran One vessel. It falls under our jurisdiction.”
“You are incorrect,” the Ardasian communications stated. “This shuttle is scheduled to land in ten minutes. Do you have a Teran warrant?”
Of course they didn’t. That would require a lengthy process. “We believe this shuttle is involved in the robbery of highly classified items taken by Commander Tory Ingle.”
“Unless you have a warrant to prove your accusations, you must respect Ardasian space.”
Silence.
The fighter’s engines fired up and flashed as it veered off into space. Tory followed the blip on the screen representing the fighter as it disappeared. “We won’t have long.”
“Maybe we should just go back to the ship,” Alex said, a wrinkle on her forehead.
“No. I need to see Kera.” He wanted to bite his tongue. Kera had started the whole argument earlier.
Alex stared at him. “Why? What’s so important about this woman?”
“She’s a seer, someone who has visions of the future. There’s only a handful of Ardasians who have clear visions, though many have sporadic glimpses of the future.” He didn’t say more about Kera. Alex couldn’t be more mistaken about Kera’s relationship to him, but he didn’t think she’d believe him if he explained. “The Ardasian government has authorized Kera to speak to us.” He met Alex’s direct stare. “That’s rare.”
She nodded, clearly not convinced if her tightened lips and narrowed eyes were anything to go by. “Okay.”
He tried to lighten the moment. “Besides, you need to relax a little.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “I’m not sure visiting an entire planet of telepaths is exactly relaxing.”
“They’ll be respectful.” Tory had never had an Ardasian poke around in his head the way Jezar did. Again, it was against their code. But Jezar had a larger mission, a bigger goal, which overrode the Ardasian code. Tory hadn’t asked because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
They landed the shuttle on in a large hangar half a mile above the surface of Ardasia. When they exited the shuttle, they entered a busy station with several different ships taking off and landing. The landing bay was high above the surface of the planet and Tory smiled when Alex peered through one of the huge windows to the lower levels where other shuttles were docking and departing.
The place was a busy mecca with aliens from all over the galaxy trading and networking. Visitors were welcome, not colonists. Ardasia was closed to settlements. Probably because keeping the peace between telepaths living together was hard enough without adding normal humans to the mix.
“I’ve never seen so many aliens before,” Alex said, her eyes wide and flicking everywhere.
“Ardasia is a major trading planet. Their services are used by every inhabited planet within the galaxy,” Tory whispered in her ear as they strode toward a long escalator. “Don’t move as we descend. They scan us while we wait.”
“What are they looking for?”
“The usual. Weapons, contraband, plagues.” Tory stayed alert. Just because they were on Ardasia didn’t mean they were safe. And Alex wasn’t exactly nondescript. She carried herself like a military commander and she garnered a lot of stares because she was fucking gorgeous. He should have made her braid her hair before going planetside. Right now, it curled past her shoulders and gave her that just-fucked look he had been going for when he told her to mark her territory.
The way other men, alien and human alike, glanced her way made him glad he’d marked her the way he had. He wanted to reach up and stroke the mark to emphasize it.
They reached the lower floors on the planet surface and he led her out into the Ardasian capital city. He had plans for her. He knew his Alex. She loved history and the city housed one of the biggest museums of ancient artifacts.
“Where are we going?” she asked when they slid into the seats of a hovertaxi.
“You wanted to see the falls. I aim to please,” he answered.
The streets of the city teemed with life and hovercars whished past above and below them. The taxi driver used telepathy to anticipate the other drivers and somehow they all got where they were going. It always fascinated him. The culture on Ardasia was so different from Teran One. Here there were no bloodlines or ruling families. The Ardasian Judges ran everything and they were completely incorruptible. As few as ten could end up on the Judges’ Ring and no more than fifteen had ever been recorded. The requirements to be a Judge on the Ring were stringent. A Judge of Light was more common but also went through rigorous vetting before they were allowed to serve.
He caught sight of Alex’s face. Her gaze was riveted to the window of the hovercar. She looked like a little kid—excited, thrilled, fascinated. She turned to smile at him. “This is amazing.”
He grinned. He knew she’d love it, just as he had. His first visit to Ardasia had been like that too. Jezar had shown him everything and he had eaten it up. Now he paid it forward, pointing out the sights as they sped by them. The Judge’s Ring Chamber, grand and solemn. The Ardasian Theater, brightly lit and colorful. The Oracular Round, a large temple where Ardasian visionaries shared their sight with the rest of the planet. Finally, they reached their destination. The Orlani Falls.
The taxi dropped them at a small platform and Tory paid the man. He took Alex’s arm and led her along the walkway. She craned her neck. “Where are they? I don’t see them!”
“They’re up ahead. You come up on them suddenly.” He reached down and twined his hand with hers. “Do you k
now how the falls were made?”
She shook her head, keeping her eyes on the walkway ahead. He smiled. “Thousands of years ago, this was the edge of a sea. There was a beautiful woman who lived in a small cottage, alone and lonely. She sang to the ocean since she had no one to sing to. And then, a man of the sea heard her singing and came to her. He made love to her on the beach.” They had almost reached the falls. He could hear the roar and smell the water. “But when morning came, he disappeared under the surface of the sea. She stood on the edge of the incoming waves and sang for him until her voice gave out and she wouldn’t sing again, for the memories were too painful. The woman’s heart broke and her grief was so strong, the crust beneath where they had consummated their love cracked and split. The sea water rushed away into an underground cavern. The sky opened and fresh rain covered the land until the crack healed and the water pooled. But the place where the opening had been was marked by the Orlani Falls.”
On the last word, they stepped into paradise. Alex gasped. “Oh, it’s beautiful.” She leaned over the railing and stared at the sight. Even though Tory had seen them before, he never got tired of the falls. They were spectacular, spanning a mile across and tumbling four miles down. The drop-off was stunning. Rainbows glittered as sunlight sparkled through the water droplets, creating a kaleidoscope of color. A long bridge crossed at the top of the falls, its graceful lines a perfect complement to the dramatic water. Trails dotted along both sides of the falls, which were so massive that if there were other people visiting, he couldn’t tell.
“What a sad story to go with such a beautiful place,” Alex said as he held her hand and they strode across the bridge.
“Oh, that wasn’t the end,” he told her. He had to shout, since the rushing water drowned out his normal voice.
“How did it end?” she yelled back.
“I’ll tell you on the other side.”
They reached the far side and a trail led them a distance away from the falls. He finished the story. “He came back for her.”
“The man of the sea?”
Tory nodded. “He came for her, but the sea was gone and he couldn’t reach her. And the falls became a barrier keeping him out.”
“So it is a sad story.”
He shook his head. “No. Because he never gave up. He stood in the fresh water pool beneath the falls and called to her every day, even though she couldn’t hear him, even though he would die if he was away from the sea too long.” He stopped and met her gaze. Did she understand why he told her this story? Would she hear what he was saying? Or would she just think he was entertaining her? “He waited for her. And one day, on the edge of the falls, she saw him on his knees in the water and she finally sang again.”
“And they lived happily ever after?” Alex smiled as if amused.
She didn’t understand. He sighed. Why should she? “They lived happily ever after and their children always tell the story so the Ardasians don’t forget.”
“Don’t forget what?”
He met her gaze. “That all grief passes. That resentment breeds pain. That love conquers all.”
She glanced away. “A romantic notion.”
“Yes, it is.” He squeezed her hand. “Are you hungry?”
“I am.”
“I know a place here, but it’s not well known by tourists. Strictly local,” he told her and smiled.
“Another adventure? Sure, why not?”
What did he expect? He should accept the fact that she was his Saria, mated by contract, not by anything else. He let her hand fall from his and ignored the dull pain in his chest.
Chapter Ten
The trails were surrounded by tall, thick trees. To Alex, it seemed to be a fairy land, complete with tales of undying love and cracks in the planet’s crust. The story about the Sea man and the woman reminded her of the fairy tale on Teran One.
The mutual nullification fairytale.
The story of a family out to destroy each other, each with grievances, each with bitterness. Bloodlines would fight each other for dominance, for power, for land, over petty differences. Until the Saria tradition began, families attacked other families, eliminating competition, creating long-standing feuds satisfied only by the blood of the innocent. The newer families, who arrived after Teran One was founded, were targeted, their lack of status making them easy pickings for the First families. Vengeance kept some families divided and fighting for centuries. Hundreds of years of mass murder with entire branches of bloodlines completely wiped out led to chaos.
To save Teran One, the Stender line had created the Saria ceremony, where a single member of an offending family could be used as an object of revenge. It had been an uphill battle to get the families to quit massacring each other.
Until one man claimed a woman from the other family as his Saria.
Newly arrived on Teran One and immediately targeted by another family, he wanted to end the bloodshed and stop the violence. But both sides were so filled with hatred, he had to win the Saria’s heart. Their courtship spanned a year in which her family and his continued their bloody warfare. But through persistence, through courage, he won her in the end. When they faced the Tribunal Judges and performed the ceremony, he declared the amendment of Mutual Nullification.
That man had founded the Ingle bloodline on Teran one.
The Stender family, backed by the Ingles and the Zeerahs, solidified the Saria practice and strengthened the ruling family’s position. The ceremony became ingrained in the fabric of Teran One society, the Ingle story being told regularly to show its effectiveness. But it was a fairytale told to little girls to give them hope. A hope dashed by reality. In real life, the Saria ceremony ended familial violence through personal violence on one member. Alex had always thought that was the case. Did she now?
At her side was a man worthy of the mating. He had courage and patience. He’d shown intelligence in dealing with his enemy. He’d followed the rules even though those very laws had convicted him unjustly.
The story he told her started to sink in. Resentment breeds pain. She’d been so angry with him. Not because he’d betrayed Teran One, but because he’d never explained himself. When accused by the Tribunal, he’d denied it and refused to say more. When asked for an alibi, he had none. When they demanded a statement before their judgment, he stayed silent. He’d acted like a defeated man.
Five years and he never contacted her. That had rankled. It didn’t matter that she’d rejected him, refused to go with him when he was banished. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t sought him out. Of course, he didn’t know how hungrily she collected news of him, his exploits, his crimes. He had no idea how her brother brought him up as an example of her inability to choose a mate, since she’d requested a courtship contract with Tory. What did he know about her now?
“Tory, I’m sorry I didn’t come with you,” she said.
He stopped abruptly and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I wanted to. When you asked me. But I didn’t know how you felt about me and…” She couldn’t explain without revealing too much.
“Didn’t know how I felt about you?” He stared at her. “I begged you to come with me. It was all I cared about.”
She met his gaze. “I thought—” What had she thought? She thought he wanted some revenge on her brother for accusing him. She thought he would whisk her away and then leave her. Not to mention what she saw. Or thought she saw. “I thought a lot of things that don’t make sense now.”
His face shuttered and turned away. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“But it does. Don’t you see?” She grabbed his arm to make him look at her. “If I had thought for a minute that you were innocent, that my brother had framed you, I would have fought tooth and nail to get you home.”
He stared at her. “But you thought I was guilty.”
Time for the truth. Time to tell him the one thing she hadn’t wanted to ever admit to him. Ever. She dropped her hand away from his arm and hu
gged herself. “I had a good reason to think you were guilty.”
“Oh?” How did he manage to sound mildly curious about something so…so…awful?
“I saw you that night.” She swallowed. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Do you remember what happened the last time we saw each other before the trial?”
He was silent for a moment and then said, “I remember we kissed for the first time.”
She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t watch his face when she told him what she’d seen. “I…begged my father for a courtship contract. He refused. I showed up at your house to force his hand.” And she could have. Once in Tory’s bed, she could have negotiated the contract and her father would have withdrawn any objections. It was a radical choice, but she’d been willing to make it. And then, she’d seen him with another woman. “I saw you with Samara,” she blurted.
Tory’s hand wrapped around her arm and turned her to face him. “Alex, I don’t remember a fucking thing from that night. What was I doing?”
He didn’t remember? She blinked. “You seemed…drunk, stumbling. She was holding you up, laughing.” Alex bit her lip. “All I could think was we’d gotten drunk the night before and you’d kissed me. And here you were with someone else.”
“How did that make me guilty of treason?” His gaze held hers.
“Because you said you had no alibi. You didn’t say you didn’t remember anything. You said you had no alibi. You didn’t tell them you were with her, so I thought—” She glanced away and stared at her feet.
“You thought I was sleeping with this woman and she was a spy?”
Alex nodded. “Even if I doubted my brother, I saw you with my own eyes. When you didn’t admit it, I thought you were lying.”
“The last thing I remember about that night is leaving my quarters to meet one of my men. I don’t remember meeting Samara.” He shook his head. “I didn’t tell anyone I didn’t remember. What would be the point? I don’t expect you to believe me, Alex, but you were the only woman I ever wanted. Then and now.” He released her and strode up the trail.
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