Aeron laid his forehead against the door and took a deep breath. He wanted to answer his brother, but didn’t know how. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. He’d felt such an explicit, sudden urge to claim her—even from his brother—he’d lost control.
Now he felt like the biggest asshole in the universe. She’d actually kicked him to make him stop. He’d deserved it…and more.
Nausea roiled through him. Swallowing hard, he kept his expression blank as he turned to face his brother. “I don’t answer to you.”
Hauk’s glower darkened. “Are you kidding me? She came over here to see both of us. She’s finally thinking about mating with us and you act like an asshole. Worse than one! Finn’s gone for the next moon cycle so it’s the perfect time to win her over with no distractions. You’re—”
Aeron turned back toward the door, ripped it open and stormed out. Slamming it behind him, he just sagged against it. Everything his brother was saying was true. But that didn’t mean he needed it spelled out for him. Their son was just a year away from Samio training and was on a school trip for one moon cycle. His class was up in the mountains on a geology trip. He’d left the day before Aeron’s training accident, but there was no way either he or Hauk was telling him what had happened. Finn would just worry.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Aeron headed down the steps, then stopped and sat on the last one. Going after Brianna right now would be a stupid move. He didn’t know what to say to her yet. Didn’t know how to explain his possessiveness, because he didn’t understand it himself. He wanted to apologize but first he needed to get his shit together. He just hoped he could figure out how.
With their first mating, he and his brother had been mated to Namari, their childhood friend. She’d been tall, beautiful, with dark hair and very reserved. So different from Brianna in personality, though he and Hauk had loved her. Hell, they’d all been friends since childhood. Their families had known each other forever and it had just been assumed they’d mate. And they had.
When she’d died giving birth to Finn, Aeron had never even considered mating again. Neither had Hauk. Then he’d met Brianna with her smartass attitude and he’d been lost.
The door opened behind him and he tensed. It shut and a moment later Hauk sat next to him and handed him a glass of ale. Aeron took it grudgingly. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Hauk just grunted and took a swig of his own drink.
The building tension inside him somewhat eased. But not much. He didn’t want to share Brianna. He thought he’d been fine with it until he’d seen the lust in Hauk’s eyes at the medical building. Then something inside him had gone completely primitive when he’d found them kissing.
With Namari, they’d sometimes shared her, but often she had alternated between him and Hauk. Aeron had been fine with that. Now…he didn’t like the idea of not being there when Hauk was touching Brianna. He took another swig, refusing to dig deeper into his reasoning. Tomorrow he’d go see Brianna. Once he apologized things would be okay between them. It had to be.
Chapter 4
Hauk stripped off his tunic as he entered one of the training rooms of the Samio, and laid it on the bench against the wall. Today he and Aeron were training the sixteen-year-olds. All the instructors rotated to different age groups so each student learned a variety of fighting styles and methods. Though their planet was now peaceful it hadn’t always been that way. Their leaders often sent them on scouting missions and they came across space pirates and other trouble more often than not.
Even though their fighting was usually from a spacecraft, Luminet males were still well-trained in hand-to-hand combat. His people were very serious about survival. Especially with such a low number of females on the planet. Despite their lack of diseases and their numerous scientific discoveries, an overall low birth rate on Lumineta was the one thing their scientists hadn’t been able to fix. Artificial insemination methods had all failed so far too. Not to mention their females often died during childbirth—and most gave birth to boys. However, so far the humans to give birth since arriving on the planet had all had girls and they’d all had healthy pregnancies. The thought of Brianna having his and Aeron’s child, regardless of the sex, put a smile on his face. He didn’t know her well but after the kiss they’d shared, he wanted to know her a lot more intimately.
Shoving that thought aside, he headed for the weapons center. It was a wall covered in daggers, knives, pulse guns, sparring sticks and many other tools to maim or hurt another. The more dangerous weapons were to be used in training against replaceable androids. He grabbed two of the sparring sticks. Today they would show the class close-quarter fighting. Hauk and Aeron were only a year apart and had grown up fighting as brothers should. They knew each other’s weaknesses and strengths so this would be a fair fight. It was always anyone’s guess who would win in a battle between the two of them.
Normally he enjoyed sparring with his older brother, but he was still annoyed with him. Last night he’d finally got to experience Brianna’s sweet lips. The heat and desire she’d emanated had been like a drug. She’d trembled under his kisses, but not from fear. She’d wanted him. It had been over twelve moon cycles since he’d been with a woman. Just a female he’d met on an off-planet mission. He’d needed the release after going eight moon cycles before that. Now, however, he could barely remember what that last female looked like.
Ever since meeting Brianna thoughts of other females had faded. Unfortunately she’d been too scared to even consider being with him. So he’d shut those fantasies down. Or tried to. The petite redhead had gotten under his skin without even trying. He hadn’t admitted it to his brother but it had stung that she’d rejected him without even getting to know him. But last night had changed everything. Even thinking about what it had felt like to have her legs wrapped around him—he jerked his head in the direction of someone calling his name.
Aeron was staring at him from where he stood in front of their younger charges, a question in his eyes and Hauk realized he’d probably said his name more than once.
Hauk tossed the sparring rod to him. “Sorry, I was thinking about Brianna.” He knew that he would incite his brother by admitting it, but it was what he wanted.
Aeron refused to talk about what had happened last night and Hauk knew better than to push him when he was in one of those moods. He could tell his brother was feeling overly possessive of Brianna and he didn’t blame him. But after that brief taste, Hauk wasn’t walking away. Maybe he should, out of loyalty, but fuck that. He missed being mated, and he wouldn’t settle for just any female. Neither of them would do that. Brianna brought out the mating hunger in both of them so his big brother would just have to learn how to share again. And Hauk knew that the best way to help Aeron do that was to bring all this shit out into the open.
Aeron plucked the rod from mid air, his features growing lethally dark. Oh yeah, Hauk had pissed him off good.
Normally they would order their class to the sidelines while they took their places in the middle of the light blue mat. Then they would mock fight in slow motion, instructing the boys how to attack and defend.
Instead, Aeron rushed at him, rod raised in the air. The weapon was roughly three feet long and solid all the way through. Getting hit by one hurt something fierce; Hauk knew that from a lot of experience.
Dodging to the right, he barely missed being hit in the face. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the dozen or so students scatter to the edges of the room. He was also vaguely aware of them murmuring to themselves, but he tuned everything out and focused on his brother.
Across the mat, Aeron’s face was a mask of anger and determination. His green eyes glittered with that lethal look Hauk had seen many times. It had just never been directed at him until now.
The first rush from Aeron had been unplanned and sloppy. Launched from emotion. Not now. This time his brother held the rod in one hand, his movements efficient and practiced as he began slowly moving i
n a circle.
Hauk’s movements mirrored his brother’s as they circled each other. He wanted to tackle Aeron and beat some sense into him. Looked like he’d be getting the chance.
“I love the way she tastes.” The second the words were out of Hauk’s mouth, Aeron growled angrily, his green eyes flashing with unconcealed rage.
But his brother didn’t rush him again. Just patiently circled, looking for an opening, a weakness. Impatience burned through Hauk. He tossed the sparring rod to the mat and got into his fighting stance with both hands half raised. He didn’t need to explain what he was doing.
There would be no weapons. Just their bodies.
Aeron smiled and did the same. As he threw the weapon down, he made his move. The rod hadn’t even hit the mat before Aeron lunged forward, his fist barely grazing Hauk’s jaw as he dodged his brother’s blow.
As Hauk moved out of the way, he swept one foot at Aeron’s right ankle, taking him off balance. But it wasn’t enough. Aeron twisted back, his elbow raised. Instead of slamming into his face as his brother had no doubt intended, he hit Hauk’s shoulder.
The blow jarred him, but not nearly enough to take him down, and Hauk fought back. From there it was one hit after another. To the shoulder, the stomach, the face. Back and forth they went, grunting in victory or pain with each strike.
Hauk wasn’t sure how much time passed. The only thing he was aware of was their panting breaths and the thud of fists against muscle, all because of Aeron’s possessiveness. A truth Aeron wouldn’t even admit.
Something hard slammed across Hauk’s back right before big arms encircled him from behind. Someone yanked him away from Aeron with fierce strength. Hauk blinked, watching as his friend Linc did the same with Aeron.
Hauk blinked again at the blood covering his brother’s face, then he looked down at his own bloody hands. That was when he tasted the metallic tinge on his tongue. He was bleeding too. As he glanced down again, he realized blood ran down his chest. Likely from when he’d been punched in the nose. Breathing hard, he shrugged off whoever was holding him.
Turning, Hauk saw it was the warrior Darius. He ignored him as the reality of what he and Aeron had just done set in. The training room had been cleared out leaving only the four of them. He and his brother had behaved like animals in front of their students.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two? You want to kill each other, do it on your own time.” Linc rarely raised his voice and he didn’t now, but his words had a razor’s edge to them that promised punishment. Before either of them could answer, their friend continued. “Your woman is in pain and you two idiots are here beating the shit out of each other instead of taking care of her. I should punish you for that alone. What’s the matter with you, not taking care of your female,” he spat the words as an accusation.
Linc’s words penetrated the haze in Hauk’s brain. As he jerked to attention, his brother did the same.
“What happened?” he and Aeron asked practically in unison.
Linc’s expression changed immediately, surprise in his gaze. “You didn’t know?”
Panic hummed through him, beating at Hauk’s insides with no restraint.
“Know what?” Aeron rasped out.
Hauk was grateful because he couldn’t find his voice.
“She’s fine, but…someone attacked her last night on her way home. She stayed with me and Saroya. I assumed—”
Hauk finally forced his vocal cords to work. “Where is she now? Who hurt her?”
“She’s at my place and is taking the next two days off from work. She didn’t want to, but when I told her boss what happened, she insisted. We don’t know who hurt her, but someone hit her in the stomach with what she described as a long board, then ran away when she screamed. She said they planned to hit her again, but there were concerned citizens who intervened. She was bruised, but nothing internal. With the Luminet meds she’s on, she’s probably completely healed by now.”
Hauk didn’t care if the meds had already healed her. He felt as if he’d been the one hit in the stomach at the news. Someone had dared to hurt Brianna? The sweet, fiery woman who was beginning to mean a hell of a lot to him.
“What’s being done about this?” Aeron demanded.
“The peace officers have started an investigation.”
Hauk looked at his brother, and by Aeron’s expression, he knew his brother was thinking the same thing.
Linc held his arms out before either of them could make a step toward the exit. “Go see the doc and get cleaned up. You’ll scare her if you show up covered in blood.”
Hauk gritted his teeth and nodded tightly, hating that the other warrior was right. They needed to clean up, talk about what the hell they were going to do about Brianna, then go see her.
Chapter 5
Brianna shifted against the soft sheets, thankful Saroya and Linc had offered to let her stay at their place. She felt a bit like a coward, but after what happened last night she didn’t want to go home. The attack had happened so close to her place and so far the peace officers didn’t have any leads. Which was just plain depressing.
There wasn’t much crime on Lumineta, yet she’d been attacked by a board wielding maniac. It was such an odd way to come after her too. However, she knew it was almost impossible to get a pulse gun and even if someone had one, they were usually programmed to work for only one individual at a time—basically leaving a digital fingerprint behind because anytime one was fired, it was logged into a planetary database. That was probably why someone had tried to use such a simple weapon.
Still, it didn’t make sense. She worked at a very small architecture firm and had from practically the moment she’d arrived on the planet. She’d received two promotions within the company when others had also been promoted, and she had no enemies. Okay, she’d thought she had no enemies.
Clearly someone hated her.
For a brief moment she entertained the idea that it was because she was human, but that didn’t make any sense. The humans here had been embraced, probably because of the female shortage. No, all humans had been treated with respect.
As her stomach rumbled again for the third time in the last ten minutes she decided to get up. One of the healers had given her some pills to help with the pain and accelerate her healing. It was time to take another two and she needed food to do that. When she sat up, she braced herself for discomfort but relaxed when she realized she barely felt sore anymore.
Those were some seriously amazing meds.
A chill went through her as her feet touched the stone floor. Saroya and Linc’s home was huge and on a big spread of property about half an hour from town if Brianna had ever decided to walk there. Much of it was made from stone. She’d noticed that many of the homes were made from only natural resources, hers included. Except hers had rich, real wood floors that had a warmth she missed.
She was still feeling raw from what happened with Aeron last night. But she wasn’t reaching out to him. Not after his behavior. She certainly didn’t have the energy to deal with him right now. Tears blurred her vision as she made her way out of the guest room. She angrily batted them away. Crying wouldn’t serve any purpose. Still, she felt exceptionally emotional and knew it wasn’t just because of the attack.
Once in the kitchen she took two of her pills as she’d been instructed. Then she rolled meat and vegetables into a flatbread and practically devoured it. As soon as the food settled into her stomach, another wave of sleep came over her. The healer had warned that the pills would cause her to sleep a lot, but the payoff would be worth it. Her healer had been right because that was all she wanted now anyway.
As she started to leave the kitchen, she heard the familiar soft whooshing sound of the transport platform being activated from the neighboring living room. Instead of heading down the hallway to where the bedrooms were, she stepped into the living room.
And stopped short at the sight in front of her. Aeron and Hauk were stepping off the
platform, looking incredibly sexy, concerned and…angry.
At her.
What the hell? She looked back and forth between the brothers, trying to get a read on them. “How were you able to use that?” The question came out harsher than she’d intended. For homes, unless one had the private code, in order to use a transport platform, the individual had to be pre-accepted by the receiving party.
“Linc gave us a temporary code,” Aeron said, his voice soft, though his green eyes held a touch of anger.
She looked at Hauk again and he was like a mirror image of his brother. She couldn’t imagine why either of them would be upset though.
“You were attacked and didn’t call us?” Hauk demanded, taking a step toward her.
Aeron grabbed his arm and stilled him. Hauk’s sudden show of anger surprised her. It also pissed her off.
That was why they were annoyed? Brianna’s temper flared even as the meds really started to take effect, the need to sleep sinking deep talons into her and pulling her under. Forcing her feet to move toward them, she glared. “I had no reason to call you. And you two can just turn around and…” She struggled to find the right word as lethargy pushed through her. “…leave.” Unable to focus on their faces, she turned and started to head back to her room. She was going to pass out in the next thirty seconds and she wanted to be in bed when that happened.
Behind her she could hear them cursing, but tuned them out. One foot in front of the other. That was what she had to focus on. Or she’d end up flat on her face.
Her world shifted as she suddenly found herself being scooped up into strong arms. Aeron cradled her protectively against his chest. Why did he have to smell so good? All spicy and masculine and just…delicious. She wanted to roll around in that scent. The rational part of her brain told her to push away but she snuggled closer.
“What…you doing?” Crap, she sounded awful. Why were they here? She just wanted to heal in peace. And did he have bruises on his face? It was faint, but yes, that was definitely bruising. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she blinked rapidly. Even though she knew she probably looked crazy, it was the only thing keeping her conscious.
Claiming Her Warriors Page 3
