by Anna Carven
Silence. Kail watched the people carefully. Some faces revealed shock and surprise. Others tried to hide their guilt. The man choking under his hand looked resigned.
“Explain!” Kail thundered, taking up where Riana had left off.
“I-I was told your kind had to be eliminated at all costs, even if there was to be… collateral damage.”
“My kind?” Kail shook his head at the absurdity of it all. It took all of his self-control to keep from snapping the man’s neck there and then. His anger was mounting. His temanjin screamed, desperate for revenge. “Even if that cost were war?” His voice was deceptively soft. “Because you do know what would have happened to your planet if you had killed us?”
Foolish Humans.
The Human species would not survive if the Imperium sought revenge.
Emin’s face was going red. Kail relented, loosening his grip just a little so the man could speak. Behind him, the boss-man was edging back, trying to get away. “Don’t move,” Kail growled.
“You always said war was good for business, didn’t you, Sir?” The one called Emin looked up at his master, bitterness twisting his lips into a thin smile. “Apparently, a war with Kythia would be a good reason to forge a Human-Ifkin-Ephrenian alliance. We’ve just signed a weapons deal with their governments.”
Sometimes Kail could not understand these fucking Humans. They would destroy something as precious as the life of his mate, and for what? Greed? Self-preservation? Sheer stupidity?
Their fate had been decided.
Kail would kill them all.
But not in front of her. He would not have her witness this. Seeing what he’d done back there in the tunnels had traumatized her a little bit, even though he’d meant well. “Riana, I need you to—” The sound of voices made him pause.
Human voices, coming from the foyer. The sound of many booted feet. Hands on guns.
“Oh, finally.” Boss-man sounded relieved. “What took them so fucking long? Can you please deal with these nutjobs?”
Humans wearing combat armor burst into the room, pointing their guns at Kail.
“Get down!” Someone was yelling. People scrambled for cover, diving under the table. Emin squirmed. Kail tightened his hand.
Some idiot fired a bolt-gun, its deafening roar eliciting screams from the Humans in the room as the window behind Riana shattered.
They had fired at her? Oh, no. That was unforgivable. Kail rose, forgetting his hapless Human victim.
Then he froze.
They were aiming at her.
“Don’t move, Kordolian. Or she dies.”
Fuck.
Although he was still, anger coursed through Kail’s veins. He felt as if he might explode. They dared threaten her?
He took stock of his surroundings. The bald man lay beside him. The boss-man was to his right, having edged away from Kail. Behind him were the newcomers; soldiers or guards of some sort. He counted six. Riana was standing in front of the shattered window with the cold wind swirling around her.
Think.
He was in a bind. Revenge was so close, but he couldn’t taste it. Not yet. Not when Riana was in danger.
Without her, this would have been so easy.
“Put down your weapons and surrender, alien.”
Kail never surrendered, ever.
But now he had no choice. She was his greatest weakness and his greatest strength.
And he would do anything for her, even lay down his weapons and submit to these infernal Humans.
He raised his hands slowly, placing his plasma gun on the table.
That was when he saw her shaking her head.
Follow me, she mouthed.
And then she jumped.
She was there, and then she was gone, the cold wind swirling around the shattered window. The boss-man laughed coldly.
His temanjin roared. His victims were so close he could almost taste their deaths. He could just whip out his sikkor and fulfill his duty, right here, right now.
But he couldn’t afford even the slightest delay.
What was actually a microscopic fragment of time seemed like an eternity as he made his decision.
Decision? It wasn’t a decision at all. It was the only thing he could do.
In three long strides, Kail had closed the gap, ignoring the hail of gunfire that exploded around him.
He followed her, jumping off the edge into oblivion.
Chapter Forty-One
She was falling. That was all she knew as the cold air rushed around her. She was so close to the glass. She didn’t quite understand how she hadn’t crashed into it yet, because the building tapered from the top like a pyramid, but she had jumped out as far as she could, and the wind swirling around her seemed to pull her into its vortex.
The ancient city stretched below her, a dense, intricate network of people and buildings and vehicles. It was a giant tapestry that had been woven over thousands of years, threads of all colors sewn in and rethought and replaced. Even on this grey, cloudy day, it was magnificent.
Maybe this was going to be the last thing she ever saw on this Earth.
If that was the case, it was a good sight.
But she didn’t think she would die today.
She closed her eyes. Time slowed. She surrendered to the laws of physics and gravity.
And then he was there.
He caught her in mid-air, and his powerful body wrapped around her like a sheath. He held her close, one large hand protecting her head, the other supporting her back as he took control. He wrested momentum from the Earth and made it his own, angling his body so they fell away from the building.
They still hadn’t crashed into the side.
When they finally touched the glass, they were moving at such velocity that he could only kick powerfully, sending them careening into mid-air. Now they were away from the side of the building, still plummeting, but in a controlled way.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered, his voice barely audible above the rush of the air. “You should have let them take me.”
Riana shook her head and leaned into him.
They would have killed me, and then you would have…
She didn’t want to imagine what Kail might have done.
He squeezed her, enclosing her in a protective cocoon of impenetrable exo-armor and muscle and Kordolian male.
He twisted this way and that, positioning them for the fall.
Riana didn’t dare open her eyes. If this was the last thing she remembered, being held tightly in Kail’s arms, then that was okay too.
Faint screams reached her ears, growing louder and louder until the voices were all around them, and Kail was beneath her, tucking her head into his chest, bracing for impact.
They hit the ground, and a great jarring force shook her body, and Kail was all around her, shielding her, protecting her, absorbing the force of the fall.
She became dimly aware of the sound of voices and sirens and the fact that the pavement underneath them had actually cracked.
And then Kail retracted his helm, those eerie nanites retreating beneath his skin as he met her gaze.
She looked back at him, losing herself in glacial amber. Even though the world swirled around them, frantic and chaotic, she found stillness in his presence.
Even as the Enforcers surrounded them, their guns raised, she wasn’t afraid.
Kail closed his eyes as the sunlight hit his face. Ignoring the fractious world, Riana leaned in and kissed her lover.
Around them, people were going nuts. Riana didn’t care. The world could wait.
Her Kail had snatched her from the jaws of death yet again, and that was a terrible, wonderful, glorious thing.
Chapter Forty-Two
She lay on top of him, tracing her fingers over the intricate scars that swirled over his magnificent shoulders and down his back.
Kail was lying on his stomach, asleep. Riana pressed her ear to his back and closed her eyes, liste
ning to the steady rhythm of his breathing.
She savored these moments, enjoying every last drop of him. It had been two weeks since the madness in London. Two weeks, and they were back in the deserts of Naea, and some days, Riana could hardly believe she was alive.
“Mhmm.” A deep rumble reverberated through Kail’s chest. “What are you thinking, my love?”
“You’re awake?”
“I rarely sleep.” Surprising her, he moved, rolling over and somehow managing to lift her up in the process. She ended up lying on his chest, looking into his eyes.
He pressed a finger to her temple. “What goes on in that convoluted mind of yours?”
“Convoluted?”
“That is a compliment.”
“Oh.” She traced her fingers down his cheek, feeling his rippling, swirling scars. “I was just thinking about how good life is right now; how good it is to be here with you.”
“It is good,” he agreed. “You are good.”
Riana stared at him, a fragment of thought taking hold. “This temanjin thing. Is it real?” She’d never been one for superstition and mumbo-jumbo, but some of Kail’s instincts were just too uncanny.
“I don’t know,” he replied, running his hands down her naked back. They ended up over her ass, a favorite place of his. “There is an instinct that guides me. Whether it is something real, or just my imagination, or some kind of higher intelligence, I don’t know. All I know is that it works.”
“That it does.” Riana sat up, straddling him. “So was the temanjin upset when he didn’t get his revenge?”
In the end, Kail hadn’t been able to kill Emin and the man they’d later found out was the CEO of Scarabus Enterprises.
“It seems there are… other forms of revenge besides death. In this case, I find your version… acceptable.”
“There most certainly are.” After the Enforcers had taken them in, Riana had produced a datachip containing all the search results she’d gathered on the Darkweb. The evidence had been incriminating enough for the Federation to launch a full-scale investigation into Scarabus Enterprises.
And Emin and boss-man had been arrested on charges of treason and conspiracy to murder.
Riana smiled. “Killing people isn’t always the answer to everything.”
“I would have killed those Enforcers if they hadn’t released you.”
“But they did.” In the end, they’d struck a deal. Riana had agreed not to sue the Federation for wrongful arrest and negligence—almost leading to her death—in exchange for her freedom. It turned out that thing with the Tamanrasset branch of the Enforcers—what she’d later found out was wrongful detainment, not to mention the fucking food poisoning—had been a very serious breach of protocol, and Arin had kept a recording of the original arrest incident in the desert near Tamanrasset.
It had been livestreamed to Legal Defense, and Darius had threatened to go Full Legal on their asses if they tried to put any conditions on Riana.
“Fortunately for them,” Kail rumbled ominously. “And if they had tried to contain me, my brothers would have stopped killing Xargek until the Humans came to their senses.”
Simple as that. Earth needed the Kordolians, whether they liked it or not.
And Riana needed her Kail.
“I was thinking about something the other day.” Riana traced her hands over his broad, muscular chest.
“Mm?”
“Up there in the Shard, you said something about a blood bond. What was that all about?”
For the first time since she’d known him, Kail smiled. It was’t that cold, cynical half-smile he did sometimes. It was a full-blown, fangs-and-all, glorious smile, and it completely transformed him.
God, he was beautiful.
“You share my blood. Therefore, you are bound to me, and I am sworn to protect and fulfill you with all of my being, as you are my most cherished mate.” His tone was oddly formal. “It is an ancient Kordolian tradition. My kind respect the Old Ways.”
A strange thrill ran through her. “I don’t understand. I haven’t shared—”
“Shh.” He grasped her wrists and pulled her down towards him. His lips met hers, and delicious warmth coursed through her. Kail’s powerful arms surrounded her. “The third time I almost lost you, your body had succumbed to the sickness. You were cold like ice, and your heartbeat was very slow. Then it stopped.” He held her tightly. “But I was assigned to protect you, and I refused to let Kaiin take you, especially after you had clung so tenaciously to life. So in desperation, I gave you some of my darkness.”
He traced the lines of her face with the pad of his thumb. His touch sent a pleasant shiver down Riana’s spine.
“The nanites in my blood are terrible things. They repair my cells, but they attack anything else that is alive. I do not know why they didn’t kill you. But after I held you for some time, you grew warm, and your heart started to beat again.”
“You healed me,” she said in astonishment, “by giving me those things.” That would explain the minor miracles she’d noticed, like why her ankle had gotten better so quickly, and how she’d fallen off a fifty-story building and escaped with only minor bruises.
Riana forgot to breathe as the realization dawned on her. He hadn’t just healed her. He’d brought her back to life.
With his darkness, as he called it.
Sometimes, darkness was necessary.
Darkness defined the light.
“I took a chance,” he murmured. “It was… worthwhile.” He moved again, reversing their positions with predatory grace. Now he was on top of her, devouring her with his gaze.
Riana returned his look, reveling in his intensity. “You’re an outrageous monster, Kail of Kythia, but I’m glad you took that chance.”
“As am I.” His smile was a revelation, a secret he kept only for her.
As he leaned in and kissed her again, Riana melted, warm and safe in his embrace. It was the best feeling in the Universe.
At last, she’d found her scarred, deadly, unwavering Kordolian.
Her constant. Her savior.
Her mate.
Dear readers, thank you for taking the time to read my book. I do hope you enjoyed it.
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Also by Anna Carven
The Dark Planet Warriors Series
(in order of publication)
Dark Planet Warriors (Book 1)
Dark Planet Falling (Book 2)
Into the Light (Book 3)
Out of Darkness (Book 4)
Darkside Blues (Book 4.5)
Forged in Shadow (Book 5)
Infinity’s Embrace (Book 6)
Electric Heart (Book 7)
