by Sadie Carter
“Why is that interesting?” Dex asked. “Why did you shoot at Macon?”
“He wasn’t giving me what I wanted. Wasn’t that obvious?”
“And what is it you wanted?” Zoey asked.
“Annabel.”
Macon glared down at him.
“But why come in all guns blazing?” Zoey asked with a puzzled frown. “Why not just walk up and knock on the door?”
“Jeez, now why didn’t I think about that?”
“Rich, please, I’m trying to sleep, and your sarcasm keeps interrupting me.”
The male’s gaze softened as he looked down at Annabel. “Sorry, kid. Forgot what a light sleeper you are.”
“Annabel.” Macon leaned over her, ignoring everyone else. “How do you feel?”
“Kind of icky.”
“Icky? What is icky?” He looked over at Racar, who appeared confused.
“She feels yuck, a bit ill. Probably because of the blood loss,” Rich explained. “Lots of fluids, food when she’s up to it, and some rest. She’ll be fine.”
“Annabel?” Macon prompted.
Annabel sighed and opened her eyes. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
He ran his hand over her hair. “Do not scare me like that again.”
“Why Macon, I might actually start to think you care.”
“You will not risk yourself again.”
“Because you’re worried if I die, you will too?”
“Because you are my mate and I care about you!” he thundered.
Everyone in the room paused, there wasn’t a breath of sound as Annabel stared up at Macon, her eyes wide. Her head was pounding. She felt weak and out of sorts, but all she noticed right then was the look of intensity on his face. The way he stared down at her as though she meant everything to him. “I thought you hated being mated to me because I was a traitor and a human, that I was too weak, fragile, short, and that I smelled funny.”
“You do not smell funny. You smell like Annabel. Like mine. You are not weak. You are mine. And I will not lose you. Risk yourself again, and you will go over my knee.”
“Wow, didn’t think he had it in him. You go, Macon. Go all Christian Grey on her ass,” Zoey cheered.
Rich snorted. “Dude, I hope you weren’t attached to your balls.”
“What?” Macon asked, looking confused.
“Really?” she asked, remembering Zoey’s words about how Dex had spanked her for risking herself to save him. Because her life meant more to him than his own. “If I hadn’t jumped in front of you, then you would have been shot.”
“And you believe I would prefer you were shot? I would take a dozen blaster shots if it meant you were protected.”
“Oh. You do love me.”
“Seriously?” Rich asked. “He just threatened to spank you, and you’re all like ‘oh, you love me.’ Did you bump your head or something?”
“It’s his way of telling me he cares.”
“That he cares? You know most people show they care with flowers or chocolate, not bodily harm.”
“Relax, Rich, he’s not actually going to spank me.”
“Do not test me on that,” Macon warned.
“How is he still breathing?” Rich asked her.
“Because she loves him,” Zoey told him. “Same as he does her. Romantic, really.”
“This is romantic?” Dex asked. He shook his head. “I still do not understand what romantic is, then.”
“Macon’s a bit old-fashioned,” she said.
“Old-fashioned? He’s practically dragging his knuckles along the floor. I don’t understand what you’ve done with my sister. She looks like my sister, but she definitely doesn’t sound like her.” Rich frowned.
She sighed. “I’m mated to him, Rich.”
“As an act. I don’t know why, but I’m guessing you have your reason for the pretense…” he trailed off as she shook her head. “It’s not a pretense?”
“No, I am really mated to him. What’s more, I want to be.”
“You do?” Macon asked. He took her hand in his. “I have not treated you well. That will change.”
“You didn’t have any reason to trust me. I get it.”
Rich frowned. “Are you certain they haven’t brainwashed you?”
“Very sure. Why are you here? I thought if I got caught I was on my own.”
“I knew something was wrong as soon as you stopped answering my coms, so I hired a transporter to bring my team and me to Zerconia. When I learned you were actually here, I changed plans. You’re my sister. You seriously thought I would leave you here?”
“Yes.”
“I feel insulted.”
“Wait. You sent her to spy on us?” Dex asked.
Annabel nodded. There was no hiding it now. “I haven’t formally introduced you. This is Reginald Richmond Rogers. My half-brother. We have the same father.”
“I know that name,” Dex said.
“He tried to overthrow High-Councillor Duncan,” Zoey reminded him.
“Oh. Why did you send Annabel to spy on us?” Dex asked.
Rich looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t tell them?”
“No. I was caught. I knew I had to fall on my sword.”
“What sword?” Macon asked. “Why would you fall on it? Would that not harm you?”
She patted his hand when he held hers tightly. “Easy, big guy. No one’s getting hurt. Well, not yet, anyway. Give Rich a few more hours, and he’ll piss off someone badly enough that they’ll probably want to kill him.”
“Oh, I already want to kill him. He shot you.” Macon’s eyes flashed red once more.
“Yeah, I’m not too happy about him trying to shoot you.” She glared at her brother.
“How was I to know you’d lost your mind and mated one of these Neanderthals. Come on, Annabel. You don’t believe in this mating crap. It’s all a scheme.”
“It’s not. And like I’ve told you all along, these guys are honorable. They don’t have an ulterior motive. High-Councillor Duncan isn’t getting a payoff from them for sending women to Zerconia. There’s nothing going on.”
“You believed we paid High-Councillor Duncan to send women to Zerconia?” Dex asked.
“You thought we were effectively buying them?” Zoey gaped at him. “But you knew there was already human mates, right? Surely you didn’t think we’d agree to that.”
“I didn’t think you got a say.”
“But all the women that weren’t mates were sent back on the transporter,” Zoey pointed out.
“Well, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
“Rich thought that the human mates were coerced and held against their will. I tried to tell him otherwise, but once he gets an idea in his head, it’s hard to dissuade him.”
“I wasn’t certain there had been a payoff, but I thought something fishy was going on. I needed evidence that Duncan was up to no good. He’s not fit to be the High-Councillor.”
“But you are?” Zoey asked coolly.
“This isn’t about me,” Rich bit out.
“Rich doesn’t trust High-Councillor Duncan. He thought the campaign vids that were used to get women to volunteer to go to Zerconia were misleading. And they were, kind of. They never really explained the mating process.”
“What campaign vids?” Zoey asked. “We never made any vids.”
“I can show them to you when I have my tablet,” Rich said. “Duncan has to be getting something out of this.”
“We rescued his grand-daughter,” Dex said. “In return, he agreed to send a transporter to Zerconia. But we did think the women volunteered to come.”
“They did,” she told him. “But I’m not certain they fully understood what they were volunteering for. Some of them seemed to think they were just here to have some sex and a holiday.”
“Duncan can’t be trusted,” Rich said darkly.
“Why?” Zoey asked.
“Rich’s father, our father, was suspicious
of High-Councillor Duncan. He thought he was stealing money from public funds.”
“Last time I saw him, he was on his way to confront Duncan,” Rich told them. “Only, he died of a heart attack before he got there.”
“And you’re determined to prove your father was right?” Zoey asked.
“Yes.”
“Rich, this isn’t the way to do it,” she said tiredly. “These guys really are honorable and honest and loyal. They don’t really know how to lie. Just look at Dex and Zoey. Dex would die for Zoey. He adores her. Yeah, he can be an idiot, and I’m sure he fucks up plenty—”
Zoey snorted. “He sure does.”
“But all he wants is for Zoey to be happy. And he places her happiness before his own. He just wants her happy, healthy, and safe. It sounds mad and sure, the mating stuff is weird, but if you spent any time with the two of them, you’d realize how much they love each other. You’d always figure out that Zoey is kind of crazy and Dex is slightly cavemanish.”
“Hey!” Zoey protested. “I’m only crazy because of Dex, thank you very much.”
“They’re not part of any scheme of Duncan’s.” She stared over at Dex. “I never sent him any documents. I was trying to convince him to let this go.”
“They thought you sent me something?” Rich asked.
“That document with the cost of sending the women to Zerconian on that transporter,” she explained.
“I got that from one of Duncan’s people. They’re not as loyal as he likes to think they are.”
Annabel licked her lips. “Can I have some water?”
Racar reached for a glass and tucked a straw into it. Macon took it from him and held it up for her.
“Annabel, you need to rest,” Racar told her. “I’m going to give you a sedative.”
“No!” Annabel told him fiercely.
Macon stared down at his mate, worried by her pale appearance. “You need it, my mate.”
“She doesn’t like being sedated,” Rich told him with a smug grin as if pleased to know something he didn’t.
“Rich, you are not helping.” She frowned then grimaced in pain.
“Get the sedative,” Macon told Racar. He was her mate. He hadn’t been a very good mate up until now. In fact, he had been a terrible mate. But that changed now. He would take care of her.
“Macon, I don’t want to go to sleep. I’ll be helpless. What if someone attacks?”
It hurt him that she didn’t trust him to protect her, but there was little trust between them. It would take time to build that up.
“I know you have no reason to believe me, but I would never allow you to come harm.”
Rich snorted. “Ah, hello, she’s been shot. I think that constitutes harm.”
“Because you shot her!” Zoey half-yelled. “Jesus, how someone hasn’t shot you yet, I don’t know, because I’m feeling damned tempted right now.”
“I’ve come close a few times,” Annabel said. “Please, Macon.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
He glanced up at Racar with the intention to tell him to put the sedative down. He owed her this at the very least. But Racar stared down at Annabel worriedly. He glanced up at Macon. “She needs sleep. The regen chamber fixed the blaster wound, but the blood loss still took a lot out of her. It will help her heal and rest.”
Macon looked back down at her. “I am sorry, my mate.”
“Macon, no, wait.”
Rich stood, looking worried.
“Don’t shoot him. Promise, no matter how much he pisses you…” she faded away, falling into sleep.
He studied her, relief filling him as he saw her chest move up and down.
“So she protects you even lying there on the bed, half-dead,” Zoey spoke to Rich. “And yet you sent her to spy on us without back-up or an exit plan. What kind of brother does that?”
“Annabel is tough. I knew she could handle herself. We didn’t grow up together. She had it tough growing up. Seriously tough. I took her and her mother out of the hellhole she lived in and moved her into my place. Got her mother the best care I could. Annabel and her mother were my father’s dirty little secret.”
“My mate is not a dirty little secret.”
“His father had an affair with Annabel’s mother then went back to his family,” Zoey explained.
“Annabel is the best agent I’ve got. She can outshoot and outsmart any of the others on my team, plus she’s lethal with a blade.”
“Team?” Zoey asked.
“My security team. Plus, she’s female. I needed a female, so I could easily get her onto your planet. She’s also a damned good hacker. There are few who are better. She was the best choice. Of course, I didn’t count on her falling for your bullshit. In the beginning, she stuck to the brief, she did her research. But then she would tell me how honorable you guys are. How well you treat your women. She tried to convince me to stop. I told her to find me something I could use.” He looked around at them all.
“She didn’t send me anything I could use, so I decided to see what I could find out from my end. I bribed one of Duncan’s people, and he gave me some documents to leak. I can’t believe she fell for this mating bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit,” Zoey told him.
Rich just watched her with sympathy. “Come with me, once you’re away from these brainwashers, you’ll figure out the truth.”
“You threaten to take my mate from me?” Dex roared.
“Easy, big guy,” Zoey said soothingly. “Nobody is taking me from you. Tell you what, I’ll reverse that offer. You can come home with us, see how things are for yourself. It’s what we would have offered if you’d just come to us with your concerns.”
“And how do I know you won’t just put on some show?” he asked.
Zoey nodded. “I guess you won’t. But you seem like a smart guy. I’m sure you can work out the shit from the sugar.”
He snorted. “I like you.”
“Yeah, the feeling’s not mutual. What do you say? I mean, she’s not going to leave with you anyway.” Zoey nodded down at Annabel.
Rich looked around at them all. “All right, I’ll come with you on two conditions.”
“What are these conditions?” Dex asked.
“I can talk to your human females alone, without the males.”
Dex was silent for a long moment.
“He won’t harm them, Dex,” Zoey said.
“Of course I won’t hurt them.”
“If their mates agree to this. Second?”
“If Annabel wants to leave when I go, you’ll let her go with me.”
“No,” Macon barked out. “He will not take her from me.”
Zoey leaned forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. “If she wanted to go, would you really make her stay?”
Yes. No.
“You’re mated, Macon. She won’t go with him, but we might be able to make him see the error of his ways. That will only make her happy.”
He did not like it. Not at all. But he nodded. It was time to start putting his mate first.
Chapter Eleven
“I can walk.” She glanced up at Macon’s face, although it was hard to see him properly when he held her tucked up against his chest as he carried her onto the shuttle headed back to Zerconia.
“You heard Racar. You must rest.”
“Yeah, but Racar’s a worrywart. Besides, I’m pretty sure that rest doesn’t equate to needing you to carry me to the toilet. It certainly didn’t mean you had to stay in the bathroom with me.” Lord save her, but she was still mortified that he’d heard her pee. She’d only just managed to get him to turn his back.
“You could have fallen. You are still dizzy from lack of blood.”
He didn’t need to tell her that. The truth was, she was pretty certain she couldn’t walk. Her legs felt like strands of spaghetti.
Macon settled her on a pallet at the back of the shuttle.
“I can sit.”
“No.”
She sighed. “So we’re back to this, huh?” She couldn’t believe it when he’d said he really cared. Had it all been some drug-induced dream?
“Back to what?”
“One-word sentences. Back to you treating me like I’m a dirty secret you don’t want anyone to know about. I’m your version of a gambling addiction, aren’t I? You can’t give me up, but you don’t really want me hanging around, either.”
He stared at her, his face carved from stone. Then he tucked a blanket around her. Disappointment filled her. She didn’t know what she’d expecting. Maybe that things might have changed between them.
When he turned to look at her again, there was nothing stonelike about the look on his face. “You are not my dirty secret. I am not your father. I am not ashamed of you.”
“I’m loud, undisciplined, untrustworthy, and what else? Oh yes, too short.”
His face grew fierce. “While I may have said those things to you once, I no longer believe them. You are courageous, more courageous than I could wish you to be, loyal and smart.”
“But still too short.”
“Luckily, I am strong and can move you where I need you. If I have to hold you up to kiss you properly, then so be it.”
She blinked. “I’m really confused.”
Macon ran his hand over her head. “I could have lost you. I shall have nightmares for years to come.”
“Sorry.”
“No. I am sorry for the way I have treated you. I have been a poor mate to you.”
“Well, in fairness, you got a pretty crap deal in the mating lottery. A liar and a spy.”
“Yes, you lied. But I am guilty of that also. And you may have been a spy, but you had your reasons. You are a spy no longer.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked to hold them back. “I tried to convince Rich he was wrong. I really did. But he was so certain. And I thought he could be right. Until I came here and saw for myself.”
“I know.” He cupped her cheek. “We are going to start over, you and I.”
“Start over?” she asked.
“Yes. Zoey has told me that it is called a clean slate. I have made mistakes. I am sorry I was so rough with you the first time we joined.”
“Why are you sorry? I enjoyed it.”
“I stayed away from you because I knew you had to hate me for the way I…wait, did you say you enjoyed it?”
