Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven)

by Lyons, Brenna

  She rounded the last corner and headed for the door with a sigh. The key fought sliding into the lock, and Amy cursed aloud. It had been too much to ask that Rietin’s men had permanently fixed the problem. She made a mental note to talk to the manager about it in the morning.

  In the meantime, she had to get in.

  She focused on the keyhole and gasped in surprise. It wasn’t that the lock was fouled. There was something inside the opening. Realization that it was some sort of hardened glue made her heart race.

  Rietin. Amy turned back toward the stairs, pressing and holding the number five, the autodial she’d set to his cell phone.

  She stopped short, her breathing going strangled at the sight of Lucy holding her father’s sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. Though she’d often mused over what irony it was that someone as irrational as Lucy was trained in using and had access to firearms, the irony was no longer, in the least bit, amusing. I never thought she’d use one on anyone else, let alone me.

  There was no question Lucy intended to use it now.

  Amy dropped the phone, hoping the autodial had gone through. If Rietin saw her calling, he’d come up to investigate, open line or not.

  Please let him investigate.

  “Home from your date?” Lucy asked.

  “What?” What in the world was Lucy talking about.

  “Or don’t you feather-heads call it dating?”

  “It wasn’t a—”

  “Let me get this straight. You have a whole world full of men who would lay at your feet for a kiss, let alone a fuck or a wedding ring, and you want to steal our men. Pathetic, Amy. Really pathetic.”

  “He’s a friend. I have no interest in Josh.” No offense, Rietin.

  Not to mention, after that stunt you pulled with Jason, you have no room to talk. Of course, saying that could win her a prize of buckshot before Rietin could arrive to save her.

  “That’s not what he says.”

  “What?” What had Rietin said? And in what context? For that matter, when had he talked to Lucy?

  “You took him to the consulate.”

  “You’re following me?”

  “Were you having him tested as a match? Did he want to test?”

  Her anger threatened to uncork. “No and no,” she offered calmly. Her mind worked fast. What other reason could she have for going there with Josh? “He has an interest in Sakk culture. The consulate seemed like the perfect place for him to learn more.”

  Her smile was slightly manic. “In other words, he wasn’t Sakk-descended.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” she lied. “I’m not privy to Josh’s medical—”

  “It’s just one disappointment after another, isn’t it?”

  Amy bit back the urge to reply to Lucy’s wild delusions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rietin creeping up behind Lucy. She forced herself to look at her former friend. Amy had to keep Lucy’s attention on herself.

  The shotgun came up, and Lucy grumbled a curse. “The least you can do is answer me.” Her finger tightened against the trigger, a not-so-subtle warning.

  Lucy has never liked being denied or ignored. And she’s never excelled at subtlety.

  Words stuck in Amy’s throat. It wasn’t just Lucy’s outburst. Nor was it the shotgun pointed at her chest. It was Rietin’s lunge for Lucy leaving her breathless.

  “Answer me!”

  He knocked the weapon up and aside, and Amy dropped toward the floor. If it was pointed up, down was the direction she needed to be moving.

  “I’ll kill you!”

  Overlapping with Lucy’s shout was the roar of the shotgun. Trails of scorching pain ripped through her. Amy’s head hit wood. Hard. Everything went black.

  ****

  Rietin wrestled with Lucy Ferguson, setting off the other shot into the ceiling in the process. It wasn’t as easy as he would have imagined. Insanity makes one strong.

  Strong but not skilled. Whatever training she had, it didn’t match yans of military training. Not to mention, she would have to reload to use the weapon again.

  With one hand wrapped around her weapon, he used the other to lay blows. Admittedly, he laid the first two with less force than he should have used, but the idea of striking a female, human or not, was against everything he believed.

  The woman is trying to kill me. She is trying to kill a match.

  That was all he needed to spur him into motion. Rietin laid a blow against her skull with the power to kill. She crumpled, and he let her fall. Self-preservation demanded he know if his adversary was alive or dead before showing her his back, so he checked for a pulse.

  Alive. Rietin cursed himself for his disappointment. The last thing the Sakk needed was the death of a human at Sakk hands.

  But the time to worry about that was later. Rietin wrenched the weapon from Lucy Ferguson’s hands. Then he turned toward Amy.

  Her stillness caused his heart to stutter in fear. Rietin was at her side in a heartbeat, cursing at the blood trailing off her face and soaking through her shirt.

  He scooped her up and bolted down the stairs to his van, using the remote to open the side door when he was still a floor away. With Amy laid on the floor of the vehicle, Rietin dragged out the medical kit. Battle bandages were necessary.

  Thankfully, they were also fast. Meant to be used in the heat of battle, the bandages would apply pressure and slow bleeding chemically after application. Rietin had them in place in moments. Then he wrapped Amy in blankets and wedged folded ones around her. He tossed the weapon in the back, trying to keep it from sliding against Amy on the way.

  He slammed the door as he heard the first sirens approaching. There was no time to deal with human authorities. Amy needed the Sakk healers.

  She needs the safety of the Sakk consulate and its shields.

  Once they were out in traffic, he contacted the consulate. In addition to having the healers ready for Amy’s arrival, the warriors at communications would liaise with the human police. The last thing he wanted was Lucy Ferguson escaping punishment for her crimes.

  ****

  “Sakkra!”

  He dropped the spoon next to his plate, grumbling sacrilegious oaths. Was it too much to ask that he be granted a meal in peace? When he’d agreed to take this post, Sakkra hadn’t realized the problems he would have to personally attend to would be non-stop.

  I have to answer them. There will be no peace until I settle the latest disaster. “Yes?” He didn’t bother to mask his irritation.

  “Rietin has contacted us, Sakkra. It is most urgent.”

  His heart stuttered, and he knocked his chair over in his scramble to his feet. “What is the situation?”

  “The young match has been injured. Rietin is bringing her here for medical attention.”

  “Zhick,” he cursed. “Comms, follow me.”

  He rushed into the corridor and shouted an order to clear a path in Sakk. Warriors pressed to the walls, and the order passed in a thundering wave in every direction.

  Sakkra ran for the tunnel entryway, warriors falling in behind him. “Direct Rietin to the bunker entrance. Have the medical team meet us there.”

  “Yes, Sakkra,” the same warrior who’d been briefing him replied from the nearest overhead speaker.

  In the background, other warriors coordinated Rietin and the medical team, repeating Sakkra’s orders.

  “How soon will Rietin arrive?”

  “He has reached the inner marker.”

  “Zhick!” Sakkra nearly doubled his speed, going from a jog to a sprint, and still he reached the bunker door only heartbeats before Rietin’s van squealed to a halt in the underground bunker.

  In the distance, the metal blast shields closed them into the secure level of the consulate. Though it was protocol and not a sign that they were under physical attack, Sakkra shuddered.

  Rietin wasted no time. He launched from the vehicle without shutting down the thundering engine, dragged the sliding door open, and lifted a blank
et-wrapped bundle that was surely Amy out of the back. He turned with her in his arms, and Sakkra’s gaze locked onto the crimson on the tracker’s hands and clothing.

  “Zhick!” Sakkra pushed a hand through his hair. “How severe is it?”

  The tracker didn’t meet his eyes. He hurried by Sakkra. “She will live, but there is no question this will leave scars.” Rietin shouldered past gathered warriors on his way to the tunnel, stopped, and barked out an order for a hole, just as Sakkra had earlier.

  His stomach a wriggling mass, Sakkra followed him. By the time his tongue unglued, Amy was on a transport cart. The battle bandages on her face were dotted in blood, attesting to deep wounds beneath. He let loose a series of curses.

  The warriors lining the walls were less restrained. Grumbled promises of death for those responsible had Sakkra thanking Sakkan that the blast shields were closed. In this state, it would be far too easy for his men to become an unruly mob.

  Had he been thinking clearly, Sakkra would have called a lock-in for his men the moment he learned what the emergency was. Now that every male within the consulate likely knew, it would cause more harm than good to lock them away from the injured female.

  The cart started moving. One healer held Amy’s head still to avoid jarring her wounds. A second ordered tests on the keypad and read off results. A third pushed the cart and shouted a list of supplies and procedures to the comms., which would relay them directly to the master healer preparing for her care.

  Murmuring in the ranks announced the warriors passing updates on her condition along the line, forward and back. There were more than a few protests when they learned she’d been shot with a native weapon.

  Warriors peered around the healers at her. Some bowed their heads in silent promises of protection. Others raised their heads and hands in prayer and hummed Sakkan’s healing song for her. At med call, the warriors were closed outside while Rietin and Sakkra accompanied Amy in.

  The healers pulled a drape around her. Sakkra started to protest, then calmed himself with the fact that they likely had to remove her clothing to treat her wounds. It was unavoidable that the healers would see her unclothed. It would be unacceptable for Sakkra and Rietin to see her in such a state.

  Updates came in over the comms, and Sakkra attended to them all, though always with an ear to what the healers were discussing behind the drape.

  Reports came in that the human authorities had collected Lucy Ferguson and transported her to medical aid.

  The healers worked at removing pellets of metal from Amy’s face and shoulder.

  Rietin explained the entire fiasco, from beginning to end.

  Representative Ellwood demanded a meeting by vid-comm at Sakkra’s earliest possible convenience.

  Sakkra ordered a team of warriors to Amy’s family. The last thing he could conscience risking was injury to her family. Though Lucy Ferguson was imprisoned, there were others who hated the Sakk, and an unprotected Sakk-descended family was easy prey.

  Comparisons of Amy’s wounds to battle damage sent a sick swirl through Sakkra’s stomach.

  At last, the healers opened the drape. Amy was dressed in an ornate sleeping gown, and the linens on the bed had been changed, but the healers’ surgical wraps had enough of her blood on them to turn Sakkra’s stomach in worry.

  He went to the bio bed, assessing the damage to her with a wince. A series of wine-colored lines and dots marred her cheek. Another peeked from beneath the neckline of the sleeping gown, racing away toward her shoulder. A few of the wounds were stitched, indicating that they would leave scars.

  “How many will scar?” Sakkra asked.

  Gabin, the master healer, traced the longest line along her cheekbone. “This one.” He motioned to the one on her shoulder. “This. And those that are knitted manually.” He hesitated for a hand of heartbeats. “It will likely never be as it was, but I am certain it will not affect her desirability.”

  Sakkra rattled his wings, furious at the tactless handling. “And what of her sense of self?” he demanded. “Females are fragile like that. Things like scars, especially such visible scars, make them self-conscious.”

  Gabin tipped his head. “I meant no offense. You are correct, of course.”

  Rietin groaned. “I should have realized Ferguson might find a way through the security door. I trusted that she had no way into the building. When I saw her pull the trigger, I had no choice but to act. I should have reacted faster...earlier perhaps.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Sakkra snapped. “You did all you could, considering the circumstances. You got her here in time to save her life.”

  Gabin cleared his throat. “I have been reading human medical texts. If the humans would aid us with the reconstructive surgery...what they call plastic surgery—”

  Sakkra glared at him.

  The master healer shifted as if in discomfort. “We have not developed the skills in eradicating scars they have.”

  “At this moment, we face the very real possibility of war with the humans. Though it pains me to admit it, securing their help is not our most immediate concern.” He didn’t add that it was unlikely they would reach any human medical professionals with expertise in this field tonight.

  Gabin sighed and nodded. “As you say, Sakkra.”

  Rietin leaned against an empty bio bed. “You realize our most immediate concern,” he stated wearily.

  Sakkra ground his teeth at the truth. Their best intentions and safeguards aside, he was about to make a decision that courted war. “She cannot leave when she wakes. Not until she’s safe, and that may not be soon. I will have to convince her this is in her best interests.”

  Silence fell around them. A half dozen pair of eyes stared at Amy. Sakkra didn’t doubt that none of the others envied him his position.

  I would gladly hand it over to someone else. But he owed Amy more than that.

  “Healers...Rietin... Clean up. Command!” he ordered the comms to the command center open.

  “Yes, Sakkra?”

  “Order every warrior to battle readiness. I want the corridors clear and every man armed and armored. Two watch sections, until the all-clear is called.”

  “Yes, Sakkra. And...and the young match?” he chanced asking.

  “She lives and will continue to live, thanks to Rietin.”

  Gabin spoke up. “You three go first. I will remain with—”

  “No,” Sakkra corrected him. “I will watch over her. Clean her blood off of you. I can’t stand to see it.”

  Their voices overlapped in a chorus of: “Yes, Sakkra.”

  The others filed out of the room. Rietin looked back at Sakkra and offered a tip of his head before he disappeared into the crowd of warriors and started issuing orders.

  Sakkra took Amy’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. “Please understand. I only mean to protect you. It wasn’t Rietin who failed you. It was I.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amy stretched, closing her hand on the silky sheet. She recognized the Sakk material and worked on the puzzle of why she was covered in it.

  Lucy. The memory was so stark and shocking, she jerked.

  The shotgun. The sharp explosion seemed to echo in her ears. Her cheek ached and she shied, trying to escape the full bloom of pain she knew was coming.

  She came up hard against a warm wall of muscle. Words she didn’t understand encroached on her muddled mind. Hands closed on her arms and she jerked awake, a scream escaping her lips.

  “Shhh, Amy. You are safe here.”

  Sakkra knelt beside her on the bio bed, his hair feathers disheveled, his expression concerned.

  Her mind was muddled, and words fought emerging. Amy pushed herself up to sitting, and his hands retreated. Seeking the solid reality of him, she grasped Sakkra around his waist and buried her face in chest. Her fingers tangled in his wings.

  “Something for the pain,” someone else whispered.

  She nodded, and a pinch and hiss of air a
nnounced them administering their version of a shot. The ache in her cheek faded away. Once that happened, she was free to enjoy being back in Sakkra’s arms.

  His musk was rich and heady, and Amy bit back a moan. Her libido kicked into high gear. Her nipples peaked and ached for his touch. Her slit wept lubricant that would ease him in. Images of them entwined in the silky material taunted her.

  How many times had she dreamed that? How many times had she woken, aroused, taunted by dreams of Sakkra telling her she was safe as he drove into her ready body?

  Enough to make me consider coming here in the middle of the night to offer it.

  Yes, she was safe in his arms, and Sakkra seemed always ready to hold her when she needed it. Wasn’t that what every woman wanted in a man?

  I’m alive because of Sakkra. Because he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. “Safe. Yes. Because your man saved me,” she breathed.

  ****

  Sakkra wanted to put his fist through something. Amy was clearly aroused, in his arms...and talking about another man.

  “Rietin.” At best, the tracker would be sent to another consulate...or a seed world where Sakkra could ‘reward’ him with fucking genetically weak young matches into their early broods.

  If she chooses him, she’ll stay at the consulate willingly. He had to allow it, though only if she knew and accepted that Rietin could not give her young. Perhaps Rietin’s lack of wings appealed to her. And she could carry with donated sperm, if it came to that.

  She raised her head, a purr escaping her lips. It took a moment for Sakkra to recognize that she was nibbling at his jaw line.

  His cock came up between them, and his breathing went rough in arousal. “Amy...” He didn’t know what to say. If she wanted him, Sakkra wasn’t about to stop her. I’ll kill any man who thinks he has a reason to object.