Forced to hang on for dear life when her knees buckled, Mairi buried her hands in his thick golden hair and held him to her breast, demanding more. Corded muscle wrapped around her, lifted her feet from the floor and laid her down on the soft bed. Raiden turned his attention to her other breast, sucking and nibbling until her hips bucked with a mind of their own. On her back, her Shen throbbed with every beat of her heart, shot a current of lust straight to her core.
Wet with welcome, her inner muscles clenched in expectation as his hand explored the plane of her soft stomach, her thighs, and dipped in just enough to tease her. Her hips rose in greeting, eagerly inviting his exploration.
The rhythmic pull at her breast was suddenly joined by the blissful invasion of two fingers in her core. A whimper escaped her throat, and she bucked beneath him. Moving his fingers in and out, stretching her just enough to tease, he brought her to the brink time and again, but didn’t allow her to find release.
At last he pushed her legs apart and settled his hips in the cradle of hers. The tip of his cock stroked her outer lips, made her core clench in agony around emptiness. Claiming her lips in a kiss that stole her breath, he entered her in one smooth stroke. Instantly, she clamped down around him and exploded into a million pieces.
He held perfectly still, watched her face with an intensity she found unnerving. When she’d recovered enough to breathe, he smiled. And moved.
Thrusting slow and deep, he rebuilt the tension until her nails dug into his shoulders and she was whimpering, begging with a voice she didn’t recognize as her own, for release. Mairi locked her legs around him and forced his body into hers with a ferocity she never knew she possessed until they both lost control.
He swelled, filling her impossibly full as his orgasm claimed him, and she followed him over the edge into bliss.
Naked except for her bracelet, she sprawled across his chest. Everywhere her hair fell, soft black curls tickled his skin like a thousand silken butterfly wings. Raiden hadn’t felt this good in too many spins to count, or wanted to remember. He felt whole. All thanks to the beautiful woman who’d risked everything to save a stranger. That act marked her as truly noble, and deserving of someone better than he.
“Mairi, what does the mark mean?” Like a moth drawn to a flame, his fingers traced the warm symbol on her shoulder of their own accord. He didn’t deserve her, but he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to let her go.
“It’s the mark of a Timewalker. It’s called a Shen. It means eternity and protection.”
“So, is some crazy old man going to whisk me away to another time to save a drowning princess someday?” The question was only half a joke. The thought excited him, and repulsed him at the same time. Adventure always stirred his blood, but if he went, he would have to leave everything that mattered behind. His family, his crown... his woman.
She laughed. “No. The Archivers marked you for me. I was told that all the Timewalkers are women.”
“Why?” That seemed ridiculous. If the fate of billions hung in the balance, why would these Archivers never send a man to save the world?
“I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because women aren’t as arrogant, or driven by our baser urges.” He could feel her mischievous grin on his chest and tried not to rise to the bait. “We’re more careful. Less likely to explode in a fit of testosterone rage. And, we are mothers to the next generation. We can create a home and our own happiness once the job is done.”
“Is that so?” It couldn’t be helped. What man could listen to that diatribe and not be annoyed.
“Absolutely. We’re better at everything.”
Hidden by her mass of hair, her face eluded him. But when her shoulders started shaking, he knew she was playing him, so he gave her a playful slap on the rump.
“Hey!”
“You asked for it.”
Mairi raised up on an elbow to look at him. Her smile stole every sane thought from his head. “I guess I did. And I haven’t answered any of your questions.”
“What questions?” He’d taken her twice already, yet his cock was surging to life again.
“See what I mean about testosterone?” A knowing look entered her eyes, and she elevated her eyebrows.
His hands, which had been a hairsbreadth away from sliding over her ass, fell to the bed in defeat. “All right. I’m ready to listen. Tell me everything.”
Mairi rested her temple on her palm and traced a circular pattern on his chest with her free hand. “I don’t know what your Farseeing ceremony entails, but Rogan is an Archiver. I don’t know how the Archivers do it, but they keep track of all the Walkers, all the timelines, activate the time strands for us, and find our mates. When they choose a mate for one of us, he is branded with a matching Shen. The mark serves as a link between the Walker and her mate. My parents could communicate telepathically. Mother said my grandparents could feed each other strength, even if they were halfway around the world from one another. Apparently, our Shen formed some kind of physical link between us that allows us to share wounds.”
“Or strength.” Interesting concept. But, with this link between them, what would happen when one of them died? He didn’t want to ask, but the question flew from his mouth anyway.
“I don’t know for sure, but my mother believed once bonded, one could not survive the other.” Mairi stared at his chest, and he wondered what he would see in her eyes when she thought of being linked to him forever. If he survived his mission, she wouldn’t have a choice. If he didn’t, he’d destroy her. What the hell was Rogan thinking?
“So, tell me why Rogan sent you after me.”
“I already told you.” Sassy. Oh, she was courting trouble.
“I know. But you were an intruder on my ship at the time, and I didn’t believe a word you said.”
“In the previous timeline, you rotted down there, at the bottom of the Fire Sea. Your ship wasn’t found for over two hundred orbits. A few spins after your disappearance, the king of Herhma was assassinated with Trillian poison. Your disappearance, and his death, sparked a war between Qillius Two and Herhma that bled into other systems and killed billions of people. Apolo had your entire family murdered, one by one, until he took the throne. Qillius Two defeated Herhma, but within five orbits, he sold out all the survivors to the Triscani invaders and disappeared.”
“What?!”
Every microscopic shred of peace deserted him in a heartbeat. The Triscani were a race of reptilian slavers despised throughout the systems. Fortunately, they weren’t the brightest creatures, and their technology was nowhere near as advanced as the human worlds. They coveted Herhma, with its mass of water and minerals, for their own. Qillius Two had nothing to offer them, except fresh meat. Lots of fresh meat. And rumor had it the Triscani liked nothing better than human...
Raiden jumped out of bed and began a frantic search for his clothes. “Damn it, woman! Why didn’t you tell me? God help us, we’ve got to get to Symon.”
“Who’s Symon?”
“He’s the heir to the throne of Herhma, and a good friend. Since neither of our fathers could be reasonable, I was on my way to meet with him when my ship went down. We are on a hunt.” He had his black pants pulled halfway up his leg when another thought struck him. If both his and Symon’s fathers died, Apolo had to have people on the inside, high-level traitors working with him on both planets. Both planets. “Where’s your knife? I need it.”
“On the table.”
“Can you call Farra and the beasts back here?”
“Yes.” Mairi was sitting up in bed, her hair cascading around her shoulders like every fantasy he’d had since he was thirteen. And if he didn’t do something, neither one of them was going to make it off this island alive. How could he have been so damn weak? First her injury and then the lure of Mairi’s passion had distracted him. He should’ve removed the device immediately. If Apolo had high-level traitors working for him, they might have access to his homing frequency. It wa
s a long shot, a chance he was willing to take when only his life was at stake. But his link to Mairi changed the game.
“Get dressed. Call her. We’re all leaving right now.”
Confusion clouded her eyes, but she quickly donned a dark red pantsuit borrowed from Farra’s things and ran outside. High-pitched and urgent, her strange squeal didn’t surprise him this time; he just hoped the older woman would hurry.
In a rush, he buttoned his black pants so he wouldn’t shock poor Farra when she returned. Raiden grabbed the small knife off the table and flipped open the tiny blade. Right pant leg pulled up to his knee, he took two deep breaths and plunged the knife straight into his calf until he hit bone. Like butter, his flesh split open to expose his tibia as he pulled the knife down toward his ankle.
Mairi stumbled against the doorframe on her way back inside. Sweat poured from her face and she was glassy-eyed with pain. “What are you doing?”
“Removing the homing device from my leg.” It wasn’t until he saw her face that he realized he felt very little pain. “Damn.”
“Just hurry it up.” Sliding down the frame to sit on the floor, Mairi kept her eyes closed.
With renewed urgency, he pulled the flesh aside and slid the tip of the blade beneath the cylindrical crystal imbedded in the bone. He popped the white crystal free and it hit the floor with a small melodic ping. An instant later he crushed it with one of the iron table legs. For the first time in his life, he was off the grid.
“You finished?” Mairi’s hands wrapped around her right leg. Blood oozed from between her fingers.
When he looked down, he was shocked to find that not one mark remained. His flesh was perfect, unblemished. She’d taken the entire wound. “I’m sorry. I had to do it.”
“I know.” No blame. No question. Her stoic acceptance drove the guilt deeper. Here was the first woman he’d ever fallen for, and he’d done nothing but hurt her.
“I think Rogan screwed you on this one.” Raiden knelt next to her and wrapped her leg with part of the sheet he’d torn from the bed. This wound sharing was a nightmare.
Her laughter lifted his spirits. The gentle stroke of her knuckles over his cheek shook him to the core. “I don’t think so.”
Once her wound was securely bandaged to stop the bleeding, he dared to look into her eyes. The utter acceptance, the love he saw there froze him in place. How was it possible to love someone after less than one spin? “How do I take it back?”
“What?”
“The wound. How do I take it back?” He’d burn in purgatory before she suffered another moment’s pain that was meant for him.
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t.” Farra stood in the entrance in a long red robe.
“There has to be a way! How do I take it back?” Raiden jumped to his feet and finished dressing. Both women watched him, silent as ghosts. Unnerving. Calm. “Well?”
Ignoring the question, Farra walked to the far corner of the room and pulled a small doll from a shelf on the wall. “I assume from your urgent call that we must flee. This is the only thing I care to take with me. Yasra and her family are waiting by the dock.” Clutching the small doll to her chest, Farra walked to the doorway.
Without warning a strange rumble filled the air. The Fire Beasts screamed their alert too late. Mairi scrambled to her feet and limped across the room toward the only window in the rear of the house.
“No! The floor.” Farra slammed the door closed and pulled a blaster from a small box on another shelf. Pointing to a circular design in the flooring she continued. “You’ll drop about two body lengths, then hit a tunnel. You’ll have about three hours until high tide comes in and floods it. The tunnel leads to Yasra’s den.”
Raiden pulled the trap door open and tried to shove Mairi in. No one needed to tell him that if they didn’t get out of that tunnel before it flooded, he’d be the one dead. And he’d take Mairi with him.
* * * * *
Mairi swung her legs into the bolthole and climbed down the small ladder. Farra’s door exploded inward just as her head cleared the top.
“Move!” Raiden had one foot on the ladder between her two hands. Mairi jumped the rest of the way, landed in knee-deep water, and craned her neck to watch Raiden descend. Firing at someone she couldn’t see, he screamed down at her. “Run! I’ll catch up.”
“Go now!” Farra’s order to Raiden tensed every muscle in Mairi’s body as if she could move Raiden by sheer force of will. Whether he liked it or not, their fates were one. She wasn’t moving until he got his ass down that ladder!
“I’m not leaving without you.”
Raiden fired again, then looked down at her. Mairi’s heart dropped into her stomach at the look in his eyes. Resignation. Anticipation. “Go. You’re injured. Get a head start.”
“No.” Oh, she recognized the logic of his plan, but her heart refused to listen. He was up to something. The first rung of the ladder hung at eye level. Mairi grabbed it and pulled herself up. Hand over hand, she heaved her way up far enough to get a grip with her foot below. “I’ll help you fight.”
“Too many of them. I won’t allow it.” Pure male stubbornness glared out at her through Raiden’s eyes, and something else. Something that made her heart hurt. He slammed the door closed above her head and bolted it in place.
There was no sense screaming. But she’d beat that obstinate man the next time she saw him. If she ever saw him alive again. Sliding back down to the ground, she moved out of visual range of the opening above, just in case one of the bad guys got curious.
Vibrating through the ground, Mairi could hear Yasra and her family calling encouragement and love to the human woman they considered part of their family. Trudging through knee-deep water, Mairi forced herself to walk away, her heart breaking with every step. A hundred paces later an explosion of pain dropped her to her knees. Raiden had been hit. Not dead. Captured.
Struggling to her feet, a thread of unease, a sadness that permeated the tangle of existence and wove its way into her heart, alerted Mairi that her friend Farra had passed from this life.
Grief pierced her like a thousand shards of glass before she lost consciousness.
Chapter Six
Time had no meaning when she awakened. Day? Night? The intense blackness of the deep surrounded her. She knew she was still in the tunnel. The cold sluice of water into her lungs alerted her to the fact that hours must’ve passed. Farra’s escape route had been claimed by the rising tide.
Throbbing painfully, her Shen pulsed with each heartbeat. Somewhere, Raiden was alive. Hurt, but alive.
She had to save him.
Afraid to get her hopes up, Mairi called out to the Fire Beasts, to Yasra, through the water. The high trill of her response made Mairi’s eyes burn with tears. At least she’d have some help. Following the echoes of Yasra’s voice, she swam through the tunnel until she reached a domed underwater cavern pierced from above by two streams of light. There, three of the beasts waited, circling in agitation.
We worried.
I’m sorry, Yasra.
Farra dead. In one deafening round of cries, all three animals wept their heartbreak at the loss of their friend. Small in comparison, Mairi’s voice rose to join them.
After several minutes, silence returned. Yasra swam up to Mairi, gently nudged her with her hulking body. Your mate lives.
Do you know where they took him? Her heart sprang to life in her breast, sped to a frantic pace.
Yes. My mate follows the humans. They not like you. They not hear us.
Mairi searched the cavern until she saw a small air pocket above. Surfacing, she found the chest Farra had promised her. She opened the lid and stared at a treasure trove of items. On top was a note and a small black box.
Written just a few hours ago, the note entrusted Mairi with a message, and a gift for Farra’s daughter. Opening the black box, she discovered a beautiful necklace. Hand wrought and delicate, a Shen hung from a thick gold chain
. Jena’s name was engraved on the back.
Farra had thought of everything.
* * * * *
Hard as a rock, the cold floor beneath him provided no comfort in the brightly lit cell. Brilliant light shined from three corners of the small gray room. Barren except for a long iron table and several chairs bolted to the floor, the room was obviously used for interrogations. Or worse. Still stinging from the blaster strike, Raiden rubbed his hip absently, glad he could feel the pain. Every agony he endured, he spared Mairi. The comforting pulse of life in his Shen assured him she was still alive.
“Time to wake up, traitor.”
Snaking through his veins like venom, rage burned him from the inside out at the sound of Apolo’s voice. Raiden struggled to his feet. “You’re the only traitor here, cousin.”
“There’s no use lying, boy. They found the weapon schematics in your quarters on Raelle.” Three steps behind Apolo was Tannen, his father’s most trusted military general.
“Tannen, sir! I’m so glad to see you. Tell them to release me immediately. Apolo betrayed us all.” Raiden took a step forward, then stopped dead when Tannen raised his arm. In full dress regalia, his father’s men wore blue and silver. Apolo and Tannen were both formally dressed, their golden hair testament to their blood link to the royal line. Were they going to leave him here to rot while they went of to a party?
“I’m sorry, son. Your father didn’t want to believe it either, but the evidence is irrefutable. How can we argue for your release when they found top-secret plans to both their military operations and their weapons programs on your ship? You’ve been found guilty of espionage and treason. Herhma has demanded you be turned over to them for sentencing. There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing your father can do.”
Timewalkers 2: Mairi Page 5
