by Sadie Carter
Well, not so simple since she’d lost her memory. What if it didn’t return? What then?
The door to her room opened, and she sat up sharply. She moaned as a sharp pain shot through her head, and she swayed slightly.
Suddenly, Macon was next to her. The heat from his body engulfed her. She’d always ran slightly cool, but with Macon touching her, the cold was chased away. He pulled her close, and she was surprised by the urge to lean against him. She still didn’t really believe him, but for the moment she would play along.
“Are you able to sit on your own?”
“Of course.” She moved back, trying to hide how much pain she was in, but she could tell from the way she watched him that he wasn’t buying her act at all.
“Here is the pain inhibitor.”
She shook her head.
Ow. Idiot. What had she been thinking?
“Stop moving,” he growled at her.
“Kind of harder than it sounds.”
“Lie back.”
“That involves moving,” she pointed out.
“Be quiet and let me care for you.”
He gently laid her down onto the masic, which was surprisingly comfortable considering how sparse the room was. She kind of expected the masic to be hard and the sheets to be scratchy. But, in comparison to some of the places she’d slept, this was heaven.
“Is that what you are doing? Caring for me?”
“You act as though that is odd. Have you not been cared for before?”
No, she hadn’t. And the feelings it was inducing were something she wasn’t sure she liked.
“Open up,” he told her.
She pressed her lips together stubbornly.
Macon frowned down at the slight female lying on the masic beside him. She looked far too pale for his liking. He didn’t want to care about her, but she was his responsibility. It was up to him to ensure she was healthy and protected. Even though she was not his mate.
He could tell that her pain was real. Racar should have been more careful with the dosage. She was tiny, and it was obvious he had used too much serum.
“You are in pain. You need to take the inhibitor.”
“I don’t like the way they make me feel. I go a little loopy.”
Loopy? “I do not understand.”
“I’ll be out of it until the drug works its way out of my system. I won’t be able to protect myself.”
“You do not need to protect yourself. I am here.”
“Can you hear yourself? You sound like a bad actor in a soap opera.”
“I do not know what a soap opera is.”
“It’s bad acting, dramatic pauses, and outrageous storylines. I’m not taking the inhibitor.”
“You will. You are in pain. You need the inhibitor to sleep. To heal.”
She frowned.
“I promise to protect you. You may not know me. But I always keep my word. Always.”
He got the feeling that she wasn’t used to trusting anyone. To letting down her guard. Perhaps this memory loss was a good thing. He was gaining much-needed insight into who she was.
“Fine,” she said grudgingly. She shook a finger at him. “But don’t think this is me doing what you tell me. I’m not going to stay chained to the stove, barefoot and pregnant.”
He looked at her askance. “They chain pregnant women on Earth? And why do they take their shoes? Is it so they cannot run if they get free of the chains?” What sort of place did she come from?
“What? Huh? Oh God, no. It’s a saying. Sorry.”
He let out a deep breath. “Humans are most difficult to understand. Especially when they say things they do not mean. Now, open up.”
She swallowed down the inhibitor.
“Go to sleep.”
She yawned. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re bossy.”
“No.”
“Huh, well, you’re bossy. I don’t like bossy people.” Her eyelids drifted closed. “And big men. I don’t like big men.”
“Is there anything else?” he asked dryly. Obviously, the pain inhibitor did not just make her ‘loopy,’ it made her speak more freely.
“Yes, I don’t like men who think they are always right. Or who think just because I’m a woman that I’m weaker than they are. That I need protection. I don’t need anyone’s protection. I look after myself.”
“Has no one ever protected you?” he asked, knowing he should be asking her about her past. About who she really was. But this insight into the real Annabel was just too fascinating.
She shook her head then reached up and patted his cheek. “You are cute, though. Although you frown a lot. You should smile. A smile would make you look more approachable and less like you’ve just swallowed a fly.”
Swallowed a fly?
“How come you’re so serious?”
“That is the way I have always been.”
“You don’t ever have fun?”
“Fun? Why do I need to have fun? I have my career. I have worked hard. I have attained a high rank.” He had met someone who he could consider mating. No, he couldn’t think of Hagartha right now.
“You sound like me. Fun’s overrated. Are your parents’ dead?”
The change of topic caught him by surprise. “Yes, they died when I was young.”
“That sucks. Mine are dead too. Did you get taken into care?”
“Care?”
“Yeah, the system. Did the state take you and foster you out to people to care for you? ‘Cause I know how some of those foster homes can suck.”
“Suck?” He had heard the term before.
“Yeah, when my mom got really sick once, some damn do-gooder rang the state, and I got sent to one of those homes for a bit. It was over-crowed. Most of them were. Most carers are only doing it for the money the state gives them, so they take too many kids on. There were six of us in one room. We all had to share a bed.”
“These people were paid to care for you, and they put you in crowded conditions. Children?” He was horrified.
“Oh, that wasn’t the worst of it, that was pretty typical. It was the dad. He used to watch us.”
“Watch you?” he did not know what she meant but knew it was going to be something he did not like.
“Yeah, like when we were showering, he would just walk in. There was no lock on the door. Then he’d stop and stare for too long.”
Her words horrified him, and he leaned forward, taking her hand in his. The horror pushed aside the shock of arousal from touching her.
“Did he ever hurt you?”
“No.” She yawned. “He tried. That’s when I learned I had to be tougher and smarter. ‘Cause I had to protect myself. No one else would. I was lucky, though, I got to leave when my mom got better.”
She considered herself lucky?
He fought to control his fury. How he would enjoy laying his hands on that evil man. He turned to look down at her, wanting to reassure her that she was safe while with him, only to find her slumbering quietly.
“Any siblings?” she asked slowly.
“No. Most Zerconians do not have siblings.”
“Huh, could be a blessing. Siblings can be a pain in the ass. Like big brothers.”
“You have a brother.”
“Yeah. He’s a nuisance most of the times. Then he’ll do something really generous, and you forgive him. I didn’t know he existed until a few years ago. He saved us.”
“Saved you?”
But she was already asleep and didn’t answer. He did not know how long he sat there, watching her. But he did know one thing. This was not going to be as simple as he had thought.
Chapter Seven
She couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep. She should have never taken that pain inhibitor. And since she’d awoken, Macon had barely given her a moment to herself. She was surprised she was allowed to pee on her own. What was up with him? He acted as though he thought she would take off at any moment.
She might have if she cou
ld have gotten a few minutes to herself.
She needed to figure out an escape route if things started to get weird. Not that they already weren’t weird. But weirder. Was that a word?
“I have to go out,” Macon said abruptly.
Hallelujah! Seemed like someone was listening to her upstairs.
“Okay, bye.” To say things were awkward between them was understating it.
“Some of the human mates wish to check on you,” he added. “They will be here shortly. I have ordered some refreshments for you to serve them.”
Damn it. There went her moment of peace.
The door buzzed and he went to answer. She moved out onto the balcony and glanced down the cliff face. There would be no getting down there. It was almost a sheer drop. She’d need to figure out an exit route on the other side of the house. Mind you, if she got rid of these human mates before Macon returned she could just walk out the door, get the lay of the land and figure a way out of here.
***
The Empress of Zerconia was not what she’d expected. Not by a long shot. She was funny, impetuous, and sarcastic. Only the Empress, or Zoey as she’d said to call her and Mila had come to visit. Macon had ordered enough food to feed a small army. Although it was kind of sweet of him to think about it. She didn’t have a clue how to be a proper hostess. She’d never entertained before.
“I never realized Macon lived up here,” Mila said. “It’s an amazing view.”
“Probably trying to get some peace and quiet,” Zoey said. “He’s not exactly the most social person.”
“So it’s not just me? And here I thought I was special,” she said dryly. “He doesn’t exactly seem thrilled to have me here.”
Mila winced. “I think it was a bit of a shock for him to find you were his mate.”
“Is that really why I came here? To find a mate? Did I tell you that?”
“Oh, um.” Mila glanced over at Zoey, looking guilty.
More alarm bells rang in her head. “You’re not telling me something.”
Zoey gave Mila a disgruntled look. “Racar doesn’t want us talking too much about the past. He thinks you need to remember on your own.”
“And if I don’t? What then? Look, I’ll be honest. I am not the type of person to sign up to become a Zerconian mate. I wasn’t looking for a man. Last thing on my agenda, really.”
“Guess you’re well-matched to Macon, then, since he was not looking for a human mate,” Zoey told her.
“Zoey,” Mila whispered, giving her a quelling look. “I don’t think you should tell her that.”
“If you guys aren’t going to tell me what you know about why I came here, then the least you can do is tell me about Macon. I’m flying blind here, and it’s starting to piss me off. I know there’s something going on that no one is telling me. Macon acts like I’m an inconvenience. He’s polite, formal, and kind of cold.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t take that personally. He’s like that with everyone,” Zoey told her.
“But he is also loyal, trustworthy, and protective,” Mila added.
“If I wanted to live with someone loyal and protective, I would have gotten a dog,” she said. “A dog would cause me less grief and not look at me like he expects me to steal his mother’s china tea set.”
Zoey sighed. “Macon wasn’t looking for a human mate. He thought he had a mate. A Zerconian woman.”
Well, shit. That explained a lot. “But how do we know we are mates? I mean, I only have his word for it. So how do I know for sure?”
Mila and Zoey looked at each other. Mila turned red, and Zoey rolled her eyes. “Are you more aroused?” she asked bluntly.
“What?”
“Do you feel more hot and bothered than normal? Is it starting to get painful? Do you look at Macon and just want to jump his bones?”
“Uh.” Well, yeah, she was kind of aroused. All the time.
“That’s it? But maybe it’s just lust.”
“It’s not,” Zoey said. “I tried to deny Dex when we first mated. I grew more and more aroused, and Dex became extremely volatile. I was a mess. I could barely move. If anyone other than Dex touched me, it was painful. It didn’t ease until we had sex and were fully mated.”
“When Racar touched me, it was painful.” But Macon’s touch wasn’t. “So you’re saying that unless I fuck Macon, I’m going to get hornier and hornier.”
Mila shrugged. “Yes.”
“Well, that fucking sucks. What if I don’t even like him?”
“We’ve never had a mating where the mates disliked each other,” Zoey told her.
Great. First time for everything.
“Look, no one is saying living with these guys is easy. They’re bossy. They like to be in charge. Give them an inch, and they’ll take ten miles. But they’re also protective, loyal, and loving. Dex once got mad at me for risking myself to save him. They would die to protect us.”
“Got mad at you?” Mila teased. “Didn’t he spank you?”
Zoey blushed red and gave Mila the finger. “Whatever. I’ve never felt so loved or protected as I have since I’ve been with Dex. He would do anything for me, and I feel the same way about him.”
Annabel was happy for Zoey, but that didn’t mean it would be the same for her and Macon.
“What does the changing eye color mean?” she asked. She felt like she should know, but she couldn’t seem to remember?
“Zerconians eye color changes with strong emotions,” Mila said. “Red for anger, blue is sorrow. Amber is arousal and purple is happy.”
Weird, but okay.
She listened to Mila and Zoey talk. It was obvious they were close friends, and while it was nice of them to visit her, there was some undercurrent she didn’t understand. Something in their manner that told her they weren’t quite sure of her.
If only she could remember what was damn well going on.
***
Annabel paced back and forth across the living room floor. She was in such trouble. Her body ached. Deep down into her bones. Her nipples were so hard, they were painful to touch, and she’d soaked through her underwear with arousal.
She’d thought Mila and Zoey were exaggerating. But since they’d left this morning, it had become harder and harder to ignore her rising need. This couldn’t continue.
She wasn’t going to sleep with Macon just because she was horny as hell. He was a stranger. Worse, a stranger who didn’t like her. He had another woman lined up as his mate. His life had been disrupted as much as hers had. At least she didn’t have anyone else in her life. Still, she was on a different planet with no memory why she was here or what had happened in these last few months.
Yeah, her life had been disrupted way more than his. He needed to cut her some slack.
Or at least call off the guards. She’d tried to leave the house a couple of times today. Once, out the front door. She’d gotten two steps when two guards stepped in front of her. They’d very politely offered to escort her wherever she liked but had made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere alone.
When she’d tried to sneak out a window, she’d set off some sort of alarm that had them running to her. That had been embarrassing as hell. She’d given up after that. It was obvious that the house was alarmed. She’d attempted to hack into the system, but it had been set up on an outside loop she couldn’t gain access to. Damn it.
She wiped at her sweating brow.
The door buzzed and she moved towards it as it opened, showing one of the guards from earlier. “Yes?”
“Here are your belongings, they were packed up from your former quarters.” He brought in two black bags.
Great. Her tablet had to be in there.
“Thanks,” she muttered as he left. Kneeling, she started to pull everything out. Ten minutes later, she lay surrounded in the ugliest clothing God had put on the earth, some toiletries and nothing else.
Nothing else.
No tablet.
Shit.
She pulled some of the clothing up to stare at it. Why would she have such ugly, baggy clothing with her? Something tumbled out as she pulled up a disgusting yellow-brown cardigan. She stared down at the glasses. She didn’t wear glasses. But as she picked them up, memories returned.
At first, they were slow. Then they became an onslaught, flooding through her.
Mother-fucking, son of a bitch.
***
Macon didn’t want to return home.
But he knew he must. He could not hide like a coward all day. His mission was to discover why Annabel was here. He could not achieve that by staying away from her. He wanted to remain aloof, to keep some distance between them. But the things she had told him about her life last night disturbed him. They made him protective of her, angry on her behalf. It was hard to see her as the enemy when he felt such sympathy for her.
“Everything well?” he asked the two guards standing outside his door. They had merely been told that Annabel was not to leave the house unescorted.
Before he’d brought her back here, Parin had reset his systems, setting up internal cameras and an alarm that couldn’t be hacked into through the internal computer system. Macon hadn’t understood it all, but he knew they couldn’t risk her hacking into their system again.
“She attempted to leave twice. Once out the front door, the next time the alarm sounded as she tried to climb from the window.” Marix watched him curiously, obviously wondering why Annabel was inside his house and why he did not want her leaving.
“Her belongings were delivered to her a few hours ago,” Que added.
“What?” He had intended to be here when they were delivered in case they triggered any memories. “They were supposed to be sent here at mid-afternoon.”
“They were,” Que told him. “It is now close to evening.”
Stars! Where had the time gone? He was not himself today. He found himself unable to concentrate. He had snapped at others for no reason and spent hours in the training room. Trying not to think about her.
