Escaping Fate (Veredian Chronicles Book 1)

by Regine Abel

  “I want you, Khel. Don’t make me beg,” she whispered against my ear, breaking down the last of my defenses.

  I crushed her lips with a blistering kiss. She tasted sweet, like crushed berries. I slipped a hand between us to caress her gently, making sure she was prepared for me. She moaned and spread her legs wider to facilitate my access. The musky scent of her arousal wafted to me, making me ache even more for her. Her hips gently swayed in response to my touch. Coming back up for air, I bored my eyes into hers.

  “Do you accept me, Amalia?” I asked.

  “Yes, my mate. I accept you,” she murmured, sliding her hands down my back to rest on my butt.

  I positioned myself at her opening and pushed in. She closed her eyes, exhaling a shaky moan.

  “No,” I grunted, cupping her face as her eyes fluttered open, startled. “I want your eyes on me while I claim you.” It was silly, but I wanted there to be no doubt in her mind who was taking her. I wanted her to see me, to be with me…

  She swallowed and licked her lips, acknowledging my request with a sharp nod. Her lips parted as she began to breathe heavily in anticipation. I joined my body with hers with slow stroking motions, in and out. Inch by inch, I moved past the resistance, feeling her warmth welcome me. She was so incredibly tight and soft. I gave her a moment to adjust to my girth.

  “Khel!” she gasped lustily as I began to rock in and out of her.

  “You’re mine, Amalia,” I growled, fighting not to lose control. “You’re mine and I’m yours.”

  Her sexy gasps and moans drove me mad. Her grip tightened on my ass as she lifted her pelvis to meet my thrusts. Her brazenness made me increase the pace. I had feared she would be a weak, squeamish little thing that would require much coaxing to bring out of her shell. Instead, I got a strong and wild vixen. I had a glimpse of that strength when she stared down that prick Dervhen, but I never imagined this goddess driving me insane.

  The urge to be even deeper inside her, make her part of me overwhelmed me. Snaking an arm under her knee, I lifted her leg to open her wider. Her body bent willingly. I began to pound into her. Her coppery skin, covered with perspiration, glistened under the soft light of the room. Arching her back, she closed her eyes with a shout halfway between pleasure and pain. I was lost in a world of sensations, the tight grip of her walls caressing me with each stroking motion. The slapping sound of flesh meeting flesh mingled with the drawn out moans emanating from my mate.

  She felt so good, I didn’t want this to end. My balls drew up, begging for release. I could sense she was close, her eyes fluttering. I needed her to climax before seeking my own relief. I changed the angle of my thrust to hit her sweet spot. A strangled cry ripped from her throat as she dug her nails into my back, marking me. After a few more powerful strokes, Amalia screamed with rapture, devastated by the orgasm that engulfed her. Her inner walls clamped down almost painfully around my length and I roared my own climax. Hands clasped on her hips in a bruising hold, my seed erupted deep inside her. I claimed her lips in a hungry kiss, our labored breath intermingling.

  Lowering my lips to the throbbing artery in her neck, I sank my fangs into her. An all-encompassing euphoria swept over me as the potent hormone in her blood passed into me. As it raced to neutralize the toxin, blissful tingles spread through my body. I wanted to drain every last drop from her but I forced myself to retract my fangs and licked the puncture wounds shut. The thin sheet of sweat on her skin added a salty tang to her sweet taste. It was true, the more oxytocin I absorbed from her, the faster I would be rid of the Taint. But the hormone was also responsible for the feeling of ecstasy that lingered after a female’s orgasm. Each drop I took from her lessened the intensity of her rapture. Taking all away would leave her feeling numb and apathetic.

  Holding her tight, I rolled us so I would lie on my back with her on top to avoid crushing her. I whispered her name fervently.

  “You are mine, Khel. And I am yours,” she said, her face buried in the crook of my neck, echoing the words I had uttered earlier.

  With that, she claimed another piece of me, filling it with an emotion I wasn’t ready to name yet. I gave her a fierce hug and closed my eyes.

  * * *

  There were no words to describe the wonder of waking up with Amalia wrapped around me. Like all Tainted soldiers, my only experience with intimacy were short tumbles with pleasure workers always eager to see the back of us – that is when they even accepted us. The encounters were mechanical and devoid of warmth. Last night, Amalia had wanted me and reveled in my touch. I never dreamt a female would explore my body with such tender hands. I hungered for her again but silenced my desire. Not wanting to pressure her, I ran us a bath instead. It seemed to please her. I intended to keep pleasing her.

  Jhola had just finished setting down breakfast when we stepped onto the patio. She raised her hand in greeting but froze, her eyes bulging. She covered her gaping mouth with her raised hand.

  “Is something wrong?” Amalia asked, cocking her head.

  “N… No.” Jhola shook her head, her eyes welling up. “Everything is fine. Everything is perfect! The Goddess blessed this home when she bestowed you upon us.”

  She looked at me with affection, a trembling smile on her lips, then scampered back inside. Amalia’s befuddled gaze lingered.

  “What just happened?” she asked as we walked to the table.

  “Have you noticed anything different about me this morning?” It was a bit of an unfair question considering we’d only known each other for two days.

  “Err…” She hesitated, inspecting me from head to toe.

  “My Taint, Falihna,” I said when she gave me a stumped look.

  Her eyes zeroed in on my face as she examined the dark capillaries. She tilted her head to the side, looking for the answer. It struck me once more that she truly didn’t see my Taint unless you called her attention to it. Her eyes suddenly widened in understanding.

  “They’re fading,” she whispered in awe. “It’s actually working!”

  “It’s more than just working, Amalia. A Tainted male usually only hopes a mate will stop its evolution. If his mate can produce oxytocin, he can expect for some, but never all, of the symptoms to fade over a long period of time. You haven’t known me long enough to realize just how many tendrils completely vanished from my skin in a single night. And the others are less prominent than they were. It seems you are reverting it.”

  She beamed. “That’s right! I’m awesome like that!”

  I shook my head, laughing. We ate breakfast, making light conversation. My mind kept returning to yesterday evening – Amalia twirling in the rain. Up until that moment, I hadn’t truly understood how many of the things we took for granted she had never experienced. It both broke my heart and angered me. Yet, it also filled me with joy knowing I would be the one putting the world at her feet.

  After breakfast, I gave her a tour of the compound. She didn’t realize how she honored my warriors by making eye contact and greeting them with a smile. Pearls and even Norms usually treated Tainted males like ghosts, invisible and wholly repulsive. My soldiers were practicing hand to hand combat, most of them wearing nothing but breeches. I hurried her through the training ground, convincing myself it was because of my warriors’ distressed looks. They wondered if they should stop and cover themselves. But if I was honest with myself, the awed expression on her face bothered me. It was surely due to my warriors’ skills, but I couldn’t help wondering if that extensive display of muscled, sweaty male flesh had anything to do with it.

  I took her to my office. It was typically Xelixian, grey and clinical, since I often received other military officials here. We were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Yhan, one of my top soldiers, stood in the doorway. He gave me a salute and a respectful bow to Amalia.

  “General, my apologies, but First Officer Ghan requires your presence in the conference room.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” Yhan saluted again,
bowed to Amalia and walked away. I turned to Amalia. “I shouldn’t be too long, Falihna. You can either wait here for my return or I can take you to Lhor in the Situation Room.”

  “Lhor is here?” she said in a surprised tone.

  “Yes. Ghan and I have matters to discuss with him in a little bit.”

  It bothered me how well Amalia and Lhor got along. Goddess, I was being such a shit. I didn’t doubt Lhor’s loyalty, but I was insecure with my mating. Amalia almost chose him and I still didn’t know what tipped the scale in my favor. I wanted to ask but feared the answer. Worse, it scared the shit out of me that every day spent under the same roof, she compared the two of us and found me lacking. I didn’t have Lhor’s charisma and easy going nature. What if by the end of the Trial she decided she liked him more?

  “Oh ok,” Amalia said, snapping me out of my dark thoughts. “If you’re not going to be long, then I’ll just wait for you here.”

  That pleased me.

  I’m such a shit.

  “I’ll be back soon, my heart.” I brushed a soft kiss on her lips.

  I hurried to the conference room to find out what Ghan needed. There were two Dantorian weapons manufacturers and our quartermaster with him. They needed me to sign off on a slight modification to our new weapons’ array. It was more of a formality since I had already reviewed the revised specs, but a legal one nonetheless. I signed and gave the Dantorians my regards before leaving the room. Ghan followed me.

  “What’s the hurry?” he asked.

  “Amalia is waiting for me in my office,” I said.

  Ghan stopped dead in his tracks, his face shutting down. My steps faltered and I walked back to him, confused by his reaction.

  “Amalia is what?” he asked in a deadly cold tone.

  I blinked, a sense of unease curling in my stomach. “I said, Amalia is…”

  OH FUCK!

  My face drained of color and we both ran to my office. We moved fast but quietly so she wouldn’t hear us coming. I’d been so focused on my insecurities that I’d forgotten the most basic of security protocols. As General, this was unforgivable. I just prayed to the Goddess Ghan’s suspicions were wrong.

  When reached my office, the door was closed. My stomach dropped – I had left it open. Why did she need privacy unless she was up to no good? We opened the door soundlessly. Amalia wasn’t shuffling through my desk but leaned over the conference table on the left side of the room. My heart nearly shattered when I saw her hand resting on the embedded control panel. The intense look of concentration on her face left no doubt she was hacking into our systems. My fangs descended as Ghan and I reached for our blasters at the same time.

  “Gotcha!” she whispered, her voice tinged with excitement. “On screen.”

  The large wall-mounted vidscreen in front of Amalia lit up, displaying the Situation Room where Lhor sat at the conference table, working on his datapad.

  What the fuck?

  Ghan and I exchanged a confused look.

  “Let’s see you outrun this,” she said.

  Lhor recoiled in surprise then frowned at his datapad. He tapped the screen a couple of times then shrugged, settling back into reading whatever it displayed. After a few seconds, he recoiled again, raising a questioning hand at his datapad. He straightened in the chair he was reclined in and tapped multiple times on the screen, his frown deepening.

  He eventually tossed the datapad on the table and threw up his hands. “What in Gharah’s name is wrong with this thing?”

  Amalia giggled. She jumped on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands. “How do you like that, mister Kirnhan? That’ll teach you to make fun of my Xelixian!”

  She was playing a trick on Lhor. There were no words to express the relief that flooded through me, even though that didn’t prove she hadn’t first tampered with our military secrets. I was starting to care a great deal for her, even more so after last night. My gorge rose at the thought of interrogating her for espionage and tossing her into a cell.

  The lights in the Situation Room flickered on and off. Lhor stood up from his chair, looking around him with a bewildered expression. Amalia threw her head back, laughing at the ceiling. Lhor’s bafflement would be comical if not for the cold dread running down my spine.

  Ghan walked into the room, deadly silent. Amalia nearly jumped out of her skin when his large hand took command of the control panel. Despite her six foot three, Amalia barely reached Ghan’s chest. She had to bend her head back to look up at this face.

  “Wow, you’re big,” she squeaked, before casting a guilty glance at me.

  He stared at her, his face impassive, before turning on the vidscreen in the Situation Room. Lhor faced the screen, surprised to see us.

  “Everything is fine, Lhor,” Ghan said over the com. “It seems Seha Praghan wanted to settle a score with you regarding her language skills.”

  Lhor’s jaw dropped as he stared at Amalia. She gave him a sheepish grin, wringing her hands. He closed his mouth and bowed his head in respect. But the smile that stretched his lips afterwards spoke volumes about his plans to get even.

  “We’ll join you shortly,” Ghan told Lhor before terminating the communication.

  He gave me a stern look and I blinked. I put my hand on Amalia’s shoulders and my eyes bore into hers. Her amusement faded at my serious expression.

  “I realize you were playing a trick on Lhor, but you hacked into our military’s most secure system. That’s considered high treason. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Her eyes widened and she looked around the room as if noticing for the first time the environment she stood in. She gasped in understanding and stared at me, horrified. She covered her gaping mouth with both hands, no doubt realizing the implications. After a beat, she shook her head in denial and placed her hands on my chest.

  “I didn’t… I would never… Oh Goddess, Khel, I didn’t even think of that!” she said in a pleading tone. “I would never do that. I mean… I’d never do anything to harm you.”

  She cast a fearful glance at Ghan’s expressionless face and seemed to wither. Every protective instinct in me surged forward. I wanted to tell her everything was okay, but I couldn’t act simply as her mate. This was all my fault. I had to arrest her under suspicions of espionage and Ghan should remove me from command for gross negligence.

  My stomach churning, I opened a com channel. “Yhan, report immediately to my office.”

  Ghan pulled out his personal com device and tapped a few instructions. He read something on his screen, which I couldn’t see, then his eyes rested on Amalia again.

  “I take full responsibility,” I said.

  “As well you should,” Ghan replied before looking back at Amalia. “Don’t ever access our military network without our express permission... Ever.”

  “I won’t, I promise.” She nodded frantically. “I’m really sorry. I just didn’t think.”

  There was a stiff knock on the door which was still wide opened.

  My teeth clenched, I turned to Yhan. “Please take Seha Praghan in…”

  “Back to the estate,” Ghan interrupted.

  I frowned. As much as I wanted to, the general in me knew we couldn’t let this slide with a slap on the wrist. We had to arrest her and have me on disciplinary measures. What we saw didn’t mean she hadn’t done other things before we arrived. Amalia went to Yhan with one last worried look at me. I gave her my most reassuring smile and nodded for her to go on. That seemed to calm her. She gave me a shaky smile, cast a wary glance at Ghan, then left. Ghan closed the door behind them and turned to face me.

  “I should relieve you of your command or put you on administrative hold,” Ghan said.

  It was expected, but that still hurt. “Why did you prevent me from having her arrested?”

  He turned on the vidscreen and projected onto it the report from his personal com system. “When you first told me of Amalia’s ability, I set up a series of booby-traps meant to appear as mai
ntenance subroutines. Amalia triggered four. Three of them were the most direct path to Lhor’s datapad. The fourth led her to a hub containing sensitive data. She backtracked without accessing a single file. Therefore, Yhan is taking her home instead of to the brig.”

  And this was why I had asked Ghan to become my first officer. My respect for him went up another notch. But fuck this was humiliating; such a rookie mistake.

  “You’re not getting a free pass over our friendship,” Ghan said. “Consider this a formal warning, General. Another slip up of this magnitude will result in immediate disciplinary measures.”

  “Understood, First Officer.”

  “Khel, you’re the only male I’ve ever called friend. Please don’t fuck up again. My duty will always come first.”

  “This won’t happen again.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Lhor

  Three days after Amalia’s awkward blunder, things began to normalize. We didn’t think she was a spy, and if not for Ghan’s little test, things would have gotten ugly. But the scare taught Amalia a valuable lesson. In a way, her life on The Revenant had been sheltered. She had much to learn about the dos and don’ts of living in the real world. The repercussions for both her and Khel could have been tragic.

  That said, the little brat had gotten me good and proven herself a worthy opponent. It hadn’t once crossed my mind that she was behind my datapad’s malfunction. I had to get even. No… I had to one-up her… once I came up with a plan. This was going to be fun.

  Khel left for the Council Hall. It shamed me that I welcomed his absence. I’d bailed on breakfast with them because being in their presence was difficult. What doubts I’d held about their intimacy were a thing of the past. Khel’s Taint was fading at record speed. I’d never seen such a dramatic recovery. At this rate, he would look like a Norm in a few days and like a Prime in another week. It could have been me.