by Sadie Carter
His relief kind of stung a little. She knew she was a pain in the butt. People didn’t tend to like her. She was short-tempered, she rarely thought before she spoke, and she wasn’t that interested in other people’s petty problems.
But for a moment there…she’d kind of thought he wanted her. After all, he had offered to show her his cock.
And she was betting that he had a magnificent cock.
“You need to learn caution, to think before you act, to obey those who are charged with your care.”
Okay, enough was enough. She was about to tell him where he could shove his opinions— forcefully—when a siren blasted through the room.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, startled.
Blonde Ashley ran into the room, giving up the pretense of hiding while she listened in on their conversation. And wasn’t that just great. Saffron just loved providing plenty of material for the gossip mill.
Moroco grew grim. Well, grimmer than usual. “It is an emergency siren. Both of you must stay inside. Place the house into lockdown mode. It will mean no one can enter or leave. Once the siren has been turned off, then you are safe to leave.”
“Lockdown mode? What’s that?” Ashley asked, her voice rising to a high pitch that was worse than the siren.
“Emergency siren?” Alarm filled her. “What’s going on?” Her first thought went to Sophie, and she moved towards the communicator at the door. Nothing happened. She turned back to Moroco, fear slicing through her. “I can’t get through to Sophie.”
Moroco shook his head. “All communications except through the emergency channel will be suspended.”
“But what about Sophie?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Toriq will take care of his mate.”
Yes, she supposed so, but just because Sophie no longer needed her didn’t mean she didn’t worry about her sister. She’d taken care of Sophie all her life; it was hard to turn that off.
Moroco pressed something on the communicator attached to a strap around his wrist.
“I will show you how to turn on lockdown mode,” he told her, turning towards the door.
“What? Where are you going? What is going on?” Ashley grabbed hold of his arm.
Saffron had to bite back a growl. The urge to snatch Ashley’s hand off his arm was almost impossible to control.
Holy shit, Saffron. Get yourself under control.
Obviously, she needed to get laid. It was the only explanation she could think of for this weird attraction to Moroco. She felt a surge of satisfaction as he shrugged off Ashley’s hand and gave her an irritated look.
“I am needed.” He brought up something on the communicator screen by the front door. “Press here after I have left and the house will go into lockdown.”
“What about Ashley?” Ashley said. “She’s out there alone. What if there is a psychopath running around murdering people? Or a wild pack of animals? She’s probably frightened. Anything could happen to her.”
Her concern might have been more believable if there hadn’t been a note of excitement in her voice.
“I have a headache.” Saffron rubbed at her temples.
“Once the house is in lockdown, the noise of the siren will quieten,” Moroco told her.
“It’s not the siren that’s the problem.” She glared at blonde Ashley who now had crocodile tears running down her face. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Ashley turned to scowl at her. “Ashley is my friend! I’m worried about her. Everyone knows that you have no friends, so I guess you wouldn’t understand.”
She knew the other woman meant it as a dig but Saff didn’t care about her lack of friends. She had her sister.
Except now she had to share her with Toriq. And when Sophie needed something, she would go to him first, not Saffron. She didn’t need Saffron any longer. They would drift further and further apart until…
She was alone.
Ashley turned to Moroco. “You have to find her!”
He stared down at her in horror and took a step back. Saffron nearly smiled. Obviously, he was not a man who could cope with tears. Good to know. “I am certain she is fine. If I see her, I will direct her to safety.”
“But you can’t leave us here!”
“Oh, for God’s sake, you just told him to go rescue your BFF, how is he supposed to do that if he’s here?”
Moroco’s communicator buzzed and he looked down at it. “Sophie is fine. Toriq said she is at home.”
He’d asked after Sophie for her? That was actually kind of sweet. And totally unexpected.
“Thank you.”
“Enough talking. I must go.” He turned to her and pointed his finger. “Set the security on to lockdown mode and remain here. Do you understand me? You will stay here where it is safe. I will not be disobeyed in this, Saffron.”
And now he was back to being the jerk. She had a vision of biting that waggling finger. Damn, that would be satisfying. Instead, she gave him a disgruntled look. “Just go.”
“Wait.” Ashley reached for him again. That girl was just asking for a slapping. “You’re just leaving? Aren’t you supposed to take care of us?” Tears dripped down her face. Damn her for being an attractive crier. Saffron wasn’t. She got snotty, she hiccupped, her face grew blotchy and her nose went bright red.
Bat. Bat. Bat went Ashley’s eyelashes. She did have amazing eyelashes. Quite dark for someone who was supposedly blonde, but then Saffron had her doubts whether the carpet matched the drapes. Did women still have carpet nowadays? It was so long since Saffron had bothered to think about her personal grooming down there that she didn’t know.
Jesus, who cared? Wasn’t like she was going to get laid anytime soon.
“No.”
Saffron bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. Moroco turned to Saffron. “Take a pain inhibitor if that headache continues and remain inside.” He left with another firm look aimed her way.
Saffron placed the house on lockdown mode. A loud beeping noise sounded, then all the windows closed, shutters coming across them. Lights flickered on throughout the room and thankfully, the siren noise did fade.
Blonde Ashley turned to her. “Why are you throwing yourself at him? Everyone knows you don’t want a mate.”
Wait, what?
“Me throw myself at Moroco?” She started laughing as she turned and walked into the kitchen. She needed a drink. She didn’t care that it was only eleven in the morning. She poured herself a glass of minca. It wasn’t as nice as sola, but her budget didn’t extend to sola. Actually, her budget didn’t extend to anything. If the Zerconians hadn’t been paying her living costs, she’d be homeless and hungry. It was a scary thought. She hated being reliant on anyone.
She’d come to Zerconia because it had been the easiest way of leaving Earth, and Maxwell, Sophie’s psycho ex.
But Maxwell was dead now. Sophie had a huge-ass warrior to take care of her every need. And Saffron had no real reason to stay here. She should leave on the next transporter heading for Earth. After all, she’d come here under false pretenses. She had no intention of becoming a mate to one of these Zerconian warriors. She never had. Of course, she hadn’t expected Sophie to mate with one of them either.
Could she really leave her sister? Her pregnant sister?
But how could she stay?
“I see the way you look at him. You’re brave to go after someone with his background, I’ll give you that.”
“God, are we still talking about this?” she asked, pretending to feign boredom as she stared at the contents inside the cooling unit. She wasn’t at all hungry. Her stomach was tied up into too many knots to even think about eating. The siren continued to blast outside. The fact that it was muted made it no less alarming. What was going on out there? Concern filled her. No doubt whatever it was, Moroco would be in the thick of it.
Not that she cared about him.
“Everybody knows you didn’t come here to find a mate,” Ashley stated, a
s though it was a terrible crime.
“Well, whoop-dee-do.” Saffron was really growing tired of the other woman. She shut the cooling unit’s door.
“You’re here mooching off the Zerconians when you have no intention of mating any of them. I’ve heard they’re getting ready to tell you to leave.”
They wouldn’t, would they? Even though she’d been just thinking about leaving, she felt a surge of alarm at the thought. No, of course they wouldn’t. She was Sophie’s sister. Toriq wouldn’t allow them to send her away. But what could he do if the Emperor ordered her to go?
“You know that fucking him doesn’t mean you get to stay, right?”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not going to fuck Moroco.” And if this cow kept this up then Saffron was going to teach her what happened to mouthy bitches in her neighborhood. Blonde Ashley practically cried when she broke a nail.
Saffron had grown up fighting. And fighting dirty. It really wouldn’t be a fair fight.
But she didn’t give a shit about fair.
“I get why you chose him. He’s got to be desperate for sex by now.”
Ashley gave her the once-over, making it clear that she pretty much thought he would have to be desperate to sleep with Saffron. For God’s sake, she wasn’t some ogre. With the right clothes and some make-up she could actually look presentable. She just wasn’t interested in dressing up for some man. They were way more trouble than they were worth. What did she need a man for? Sex? She had a vibrator if she got horny and it didn’t pester her for cuddles afterwards or want reassurance about how big it was and how it was the best.
Men. So needy.
“Are you implying that he would have to be desperate to have sex with me?”
“Yes.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Even when red started to fill Ashley’s cheeks, which wasn’t a good look for someone with such pale skin. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Wow. You are such a bitch. I don’t want Moroco.”
Liar. Liar.
She turned away, ready to end this conversation by leaving.
“Did you know that he had a mate?”
She paused. It felt like a stab to her gut. He’d had a mate? Why hadn’t he said? Why had no one told her?
Ah, maybe because the only time he talks to you is to scold you or remind you how stupid you are. And why would anyone else tell you that? It’s not like you’re interested in him.
“None of my business.” She forced herself to keep moving to her bedroom even though she longed to press Ashley for details. What did she look like? What was her name? Where was she now?
“He killed her.”
All right. Even she couldn’t ignore that. She spun on her heels.
“He didn’t.” He was an asshole. Prickly as hell. Bossy. But she knew, deep down, that he wouldn’t have harmed someone in his care. Especially not a mate.
“Did he tell you that? And you believed him?” Ashley looked at her with fake-sympathy. Poor little Saffron, falling for the big, bad Zerconian’s lies. Saffron snorted to herself. She was nobody’s doormat.
“He hasn’t said anything to me.” Not about his mate and certainly not that he had killed her. “But he would never harm his mate.”
“That’s not what I heard. I heard he disobeyed the Emperor and took her off-planet. She never came back.”
“That doesn’t mean he killed her.” Saffron turned away again. This conversation was ridiculous.
“That’s not what her family thinks. They think he killed her. They wanted him put on trial. Instead, the Emperor sent him to the Academy.”
“Because the Emperor didn’t believe he killed her.”
“Because he’s a good healer and the Emperor didn’t want to lose his skills,” Ashley retorted.
“So he gets away with murdering someone because he’s a good healer? Does something seem a little off about that?”
Ashley just looked confused. Lord help her.
“Listen to me.” Saffron strode closer to the other woman, making her face grow cold. She knew a bit about intimidation tactics. She didn’t care what this woman thought of her, but spreading lies about Moroco was not something she could just stand by and let happen. “You’re going to stop spreading lies about him, you understand me? Bad enough the poor man lost his mate but now he has people spreading rumors that he killed her? If I hear you saying that he killed her again I’m going to rearrange that oh-so-perky nose for you.”
It was a bluff. But when Ashley paled and took a step back she knew it had worked.
“You can’t threaten me!”
“Wasn’t a threat, sweetheart. It was a promise.” Oh dear, this was almost too easy. Then Ashley’s eyes filled with tears. And this time she thought they were real tears.
Wonderful.
“It’s okay for you, your sister is mated to one of them. You’re not going to be forced onto that transporter in a few weeks to head back to hell.” Because of all the excitement around here lately, the transporter headed back to Earth had been delayed several times and was now scheduled to leave mid-January.
“I thought you said they were getting ready to ask me to leave.”
“That was a lie and you know it.”
Actually, she hadn’t known it.
“He was my last hope until I heard he’d already been mated.”
“What? Moroco was your last hope? You and Moroco?” She bit down on her lip to hold back a laugh. It was just so ridiculous. But the miserable look on Ashley’s face stopped her.
She was serious.
“You thought you and Moroco were a good match?”
“We don’t have to be a good match, do we? Just a match. If I have a mate I can stay. I don’t have to return to Earth.”
“There are hundreds of other warriors.”
“And none of them are my mate.” Ashley frowned. “I felt sure one of them would be. But I touched them all. Nothing.”
Seriously? She’d touched them all?
“Well, that’s…um…dedication.” Very weird dedication. Actually, it was kind of creepy.
“I’ve been trying to think of a way to get him to touch me. Today is the closest I’ve ever gotten to him. I thought maybe I should injure myself. Like you did. Then he’d have to touch me.”
“Wait a darn minute.” She held up her hand. “First of all, I did not injure myself. I was shot. Second of all, were you seriously considering injuring yourself just so he’d touch you? That’s-that’s—”
What to say that wouldn’t sound insulting. Idiotic? No. Ridiculous? No. Absolutely fucking insane? Hmm, tempting but perhaps not.
“Really not a good idea,” she finished lamely.
“I know that now. He’s already had a mate. Apparently, he’s one of the few Zerconians to survive losing their mate. But if he’s not my mate that means none of them are.” A look filled the other woman’s eyes. Something desperate. And real.
Oh, shit. The last thing she wanted was to feel sorry for this woman. She was self-centered, shallow, and an idiot. But there was some reason why she was desperate to find a mate.
Saffron sat on one of the stools at the kitchen bench. The siren continued on and she didn’t want to think about what that meant. Surely, they weren’t under attack. Wouldn’t someone have come to warn them? Not knowing what was going on was really killing her.
But hey, she had a distraction now. Trying to figure out why blonde Ashley was so desperate for a mate.
“You don’t want to go home?”
Ashley let out a laugh that sounded all too sad and desperate. And real. For once, Saffron didn’t believe she was playing a part. “More like I can’t go home.”
“Why? You wanted for armed robbery or something?”
“What? No!” Ashley’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “Are you?”
“Jesus. It was a joke. And no, I’m not wanted for armed robbery.” Why was she trying to talk to this woman?
“I can’t go back b
ecause my family disowned me.”
“They disowned you? Why?” And she did realize this wasn’t the nineteenth century, right? She wasn’t suddenly a social pariah because her family gave her the boot.
“Because I got pregnant.”
She looked down at her the other woman’s very flat and toned stomach. Saffron tried to accept herself for who she was, flabby stomach and all. Sometimes she still had flashes of envy, though. All her life, she’d heard about how beautiful Sophie was, how lovely. She got it. She was round, pudgy, her nose was too big, her mouth was too wide and her boobs were definitely more than a handful. Sometimes it had been hard not to resent Sophie for getting all the good genes. But Sophie was so genuinely nice it was hard to hold a grudge against her for long.
“Um, so where is the baby?”
“It was a false positive.”
Alright then. “So, why did they kick you out?”
Ashley gave her a look of disbelief. “Because I told them I was pregnant. That I’d been sleeping with Denny Dennison.”
“Awesome name.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” What sort of backward family did this woman come from? “Look, I’m sure it really hurt having your family reject you when you probably needed them most. But you know what, screw them.”
“What?”
“Come on, if they’re going to kick you out when you’re pregnant then they’re obviously not much of a family.”
“My dad is mayor of our town. We have a nice house, lots of money, social status. That all went away when they kicked me out.”
Saffron rubbed her head. “So, you go back and you make something of yourself and you show them that you don’t need them and they’re the losers for rejecting you.”
The other woman looked thoughtful. She tapped her chin. “You know, you’re right. I jumped on this transporter because I was broke and scared. But I could just as easily find a guy to take care of me back home as I can here. A rich guy. I mean, look at me. What man wouldn’t be thankful to have me on his arm?”
“Um, that’s not what I—”
“Thanks, Saffron. You know, I always thought you were a real bitch. Ashley and I begged not to have to room with you. But you’ve turned out to be okay. I’m going to go research some possibilities. I’ll get some money from my trip here from the government when I get home. I’ll use that to live on while I find myself a man. Yeah, that’ll work. Better than mating with Doctor Death anyway.” She shuddered. “I can’t believe I was actually considering sleeping with him. What a relief I don’t have to.”
