by Anna Carven
The Kordolian’s dead-serious expression stole her attention.
Mari became acutely aware of how provocatively she was dressed. Usually, that sort of thing wouldn’t bother her, but the way he was looking at her made her feel very exposed.
Not that she minded, when it was him.
“Did he hurt you?” His voice was rough like gravel, and laced with the promise of danger. “Were the two of you…” He took in the naked man’s appearance.
Shit. She knew how this must look to the casual observer. A naked guy in a bed, a sexily dressed woman…
The Kordolian’s fangs appeared, his features sharpened by a look of pure naked jealousy.
“What the hell is going on here?” The man on the bed tried to move, his hand slipping to his nether regions—as if to remove the silver noose. Mari shook her head. Don’t move, she mouthed, waving the control-wand in the air. I’ll zap you.
Her former captor paled into insignificance as Mari turned to the Kordolian. The effect he had on her was stunning.
Her lips parted. Her breaths came deep and fast. Her eyes widened as heat surged through her core. Her body was doing things that were beyond her control. There was something quite exhilarating about having a fully armed alien warrior drop out of the skies like some sort of mythical god.
And then there was the way he stared at her, as if he wanted to devour every inch of her; as if he would murder anyone who dared lay a hand on her.
Holy hell. It turned her on like crazy.
“I’m okay,” she rasped, “and he and I didn’t do anything.” She shuddered. “I couldn’t think of anything worse. I’m dressed. He isn’t. See? He’s nothing, nobody to me.” In that instant, Mari’s entire world shrank into a solitary point. There was only the two of them. Nothing else mattered. “Who are you?”
“I am Iskar of Kythia,” he said simply, as if that explained everything. Unexpectedly, he dropped to one knee. “Maribel of Earth…” His voice was a deep, sensual growl, and she loved the way her name sounded as he shaped it with his exotic Kordolian accent. “Will you be my mate?”
Mate? Her head spun. A thousand brilliant thoughts exploded in her head, coalescing into perfect certainty.
Her knight in dark, alien-tech armor had come for her. She’d wishfully summoned him in her thoughts, and he’d come.
Nobody had ever done that for her before.
It was a no-brainer.
“Hell, yeah,” she said, grinning.
He smiled. It was vicious and possessive and tender and beautiful, all at once. Twin fangs gleamed. Crimson eyes brimmed with unspoken emotion. He rose, holding out a hand. “That is the correct answer. I wasn’t going to accept anything less. Come with me, Mari.”
She didn’t hesitate. He curled a powerful arm around her, holding her close. Although his armored body was hard and unyielding, Mari felt safe.
“What the hell are you people doing?” Naked guy on the bed finally sat up, drawing the sheets around him. This time, Mari let him. With Iskar around, he wasn’t a threat at all. “You think you can just barge onto my property and take what is mine? I will have the Enforcers so far up your ass you’ll be choking on law and order. You have no idea what you’ve just done, you fucking moon elf.”
“No,” Iskar growled. “You have no idea what you have just done. You took something that is mine.” His arm tightened around Maribel’s waist. “If I get even the slightest hint that you might come after her, you are a dead man.”
Mari couldn’t resist; she stuck her tongue out at the guy as she threw him the control-wand. “See ya.” She winked.
A dark metal rope dropped through the hole in the roof. Iskar clipped it to a port at his waist and gave it a tug.
Then they were rising, the hot air swirling around them as they ascended toward a dark, silent ship. Mari nearly pinched herself. She wasn’t dreaming. This was really happening.
Still gripping her tightly, his arms like folded steel around her waist, Iskar leaned in, touching his forehead to hers. He closed his eyes. “Maribel. I am sorry I did not come for you earlier. I will never let this happen again.”
Intense relief washed over Mari as she reveled in Iskar’s powerful words. They went up into the dark ship, and suddenly all was still as the hatch closed beneath them. They were in the rear of the craft, in a small bay that was separated from the rest of the ship.
Mari squinted as her eyes adjusted to the low light. The only form of illumination came from faint blinking blue lights in the wall.
The space was cocoon-like, with curving black walls on all sides.
But most importantly, it was private.
Mari looked up at her savior. Her feet were now planted firmly on the floor—encased in those ridiculous silver heels—and he still hadn’t let her go. “Iskar of Kythia,” she murmured, inhaling his delicious masculine scent as she whispered in his ear. “You just abducted me.” Her tone was gently teasing.
“I warned you to be careful,” he rumbled. “You make me crazy, woman. For a man like me, that is a very dangerous position to be in.” He took her face into his hands, stroking her cheeks with gloved thumbs. With her six-inch heels on, Mari stood about half a head shorter than him.
“What does that mean for us?”
“It means I can’t live without you. I can’t spend the rest of my life pining for you like a szkazajik in heat. I am lost to you.”
Whoa. His intensity blew her away. Iskar’s words rang with such conviction that Mari feared she would be sucked into his powerful vortex.
“I don’t know much about you.” She tried to reach for an anchor-point, because this was all happening so damn fast, but the truth was, she was already hopelessly lost in him.
You’re fierce, and powerful, and kind. The first night we met, you saw right through me. Nobody has ever done that before.
“No, you don’t, but we can rectify that. We have plenty of time.”
“You barely know me, either.”
“I know enough. I know what I want.” He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her close. “Are you with me, Maribel?”
She looked up into his determined eyes—eyes that wouldn’t take no for an answer—and saw her future. With this man, there was no uncertainty.
“Yes,” she said simply, knowing full well that there was no going back, not from this man. That was perfectly fine with her.
“Good.” He kissed her.
In the dim light, in the blissful silence, he kissed her, and this kiss was different. It was full of delicious urgency. Mari felt his hunger and responded with her own, their tongues meeting. His mouth was warm and insistent and wanting, betraying the depths of his need.
His hands raked through her hair. Suddenly, his armor-gloves were gone, and she could feel the heat radiating from his fingertips as they caressed the back of her neck.
He took charge, holding her tightly, kissing her fiercely, filling her with growing desire.
“If only I could strip you naked right now and fuck you to my heart’s desire, I would. You do not know what agony you have put me through, Maribel.” He slid his hands up-and-down her back, making her shiver—in a good way.
Iskar’s touch obliterated all thoughts of the awful experience Mari had just gone through. She liked the way he held her.
As his hands curved over her ass, he let out an appreciative growl. Mari’s insides turned to mush. Her legs quivered. Her pussy throbbed. “I would like that very much,” she whispered, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be swept away.
“Unfortunately, we have too much company here, including your enterprising young sibling.” Iskar’s voice was taut. His whole body was taut, like a wire that was about to snap. “For our first time, I want to take my time. I want to savor you as I please. So wait, my human, until we have arrived.”
“Artoo really asked you to find me? He’s onboard?”
“He is.”
Than
k the stars! But Mari wasn’t entirely surprised. As soon as she’d realized her rescuer was the Kordolian, her first thought had been: thank the stars, Arturo’s safe.
As Iskar held Mari close, burying his face in her tousled hair, an extraordinary realization struck her.
For the first time in her life, she, a child of the Dust Alleys, felt safe.
All it had taken was for her to be abducted by a fierce warrior-alien from Kythia, and that was totally okay, because now he was her mate.
“Where are we going, Iskar?”
“Home.”
Coming from his lips, that word sounded unbelievably good.
Slowly, gently, Iskar disengaged from her, placing a possessive hand at the small of her back. “Come with me.” He guided her through a narrow doorway that opened up into a wide cabin. The ship was so dark and still and silent that Mari didn’t know whether they were moving or not. It was a slightly disorientating experience.
They passed rows of armor-suits and vicious looking weapons arranged on racks—sleek alien guns, blades, and other things she didn’t recognize.
Holy moly. These guys are the real deal.
It was like something out of a holo-movie.
“Put this on.” A black garment materialized in Iskar’s hand. It was a large coat of some sort—his coat. “There are others in the cabin. You may feel more comfortable wearing it.”
Two pairs of eyes—one human, one Kordolian—turned toward her as Mari slipped on Iskar’s jacket. It was much too large for her, but it covered up her terribly revealing dress.
And it smelled good… like him.
“Sis!” Artoo jumped up from his seat and ran to her. “You have no fucking idea how glad I am to see you.”
She opened her mouth to chide him about his language, but decided to let it slip as Artoo wrapped his arms around her in a giant bear-hug.
“You went and found him, didn’t you?” she whispered in her brother’s ear, speaking in rapid-fire Eskulin. “What made you so sure he was actually going to come for me?”
“I was spying on you last night, remember? I saw the two of you kiss. There was no way he wasn’t coming for you. He’s totally in love with you.”
Mari punched him in the arm. “Idiot. There’s no way you could read all that from a single kiss.”
“Why not? It happens in movies all the time.”
“This isn’t a movie, stupid. What about your MQ exam? You were supposed to get a day-pass for Teluria and register—”
“I couldn’t care less about the stupid MQ exam. You’re my sis, Mari. I couldn’t just let them sell you to some creep.”
A lump formed in Mari’s throat. Unable to speak, she hugged Artoo a little tighter.
“You’ve looked out for me every single day of my life,” her little brother whispered. “Idiot. There was no way I was gonna leave you behind.”
Mari became aware of Iskar, who was watching them with a cryptic expression on his face. He gently guided her toward a cockpit type area, where a young Kordolian with orange eyes was lounging in the pilot’s seat. He gave her a cursory glance but said nothing.
“Take a seat, Mari,” Iskar said gently. “We will be leaving soon. I will be back shortly.”
“Where are you going?”
Iskar’s voice turned glacial. “There is some unfinished business I must take care of.”
Faster than she could blink, he turned and disappeared into the shadows, and Mari was reminded that her Kordolian was not a man to be messed with.
Chapter Nineteen
Iskar twined his fingers with Mari’s as he led her down the ramp. After they’d returned to the Central Galleries in Teluria to retrieve Xalikian and the others, the trip back to base had been short and uneventful. “This is one of our bases on Earth,” he said quietly. “Our core unit is stationed here, but the land itself belongs to a human.”
“Oh?” That surprised Mari. She’d heard rumors of brave settlers who carved out their existences in the desert, but she’d always thought those stories were exaggerated.
“There are humans here. I am not the first Kordolian male to become mated to a human. In time, you will get the chance to meet all of them.”
“This is… amazing.” Shielding her eyes, she looked up at the clear blue sky. A child of the city, Mari had always felt at home with buildings crowding her on all sides. Even the narrowest and dingiest of streets provided some sense of security, a place to hide.
Here, there was nowhere to hide. The merciless desert stretched out around them for thousands of kilometers, and the vast blue sky soared overhead, reminding her that she was just an insignificant speck in the grand scheme of the Universe.
A flurry of activity surrounded the landing-pad. Kordolians wearing sleek black uniforms and dark glasses assembled beside the ship, greeting Iskar with some sort of fist-on-chest salute.
He said something to them in his strange, melodic tongue.
They responded with a single sharp word: “kyai!” At least, that’s what it sounded like. Mari assumed it meant yes in their language. They were respectful, deferent, obedient…
Interesting.
She cast a sly sidelong look at her mate. “What exactly did you say your official title was?”
“I didn’t.” He shrugged, the beginnings of a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. “But if you must know, these days I am known as the Head of Security of the Darkstar Corporation.”
Head of Security? The reception they’d given him suggested he was much more than that. Mari frowned. “Corporation? This looks more like a military base to me.”
Iskar cryptic smile told her there was more to the place than he was letting on. “We are different things to different people, but you are correct, my love. This used to be a military base, but now that we are stateless, we have become mercenaries.”
Mari felt a little dazed, but in a good way. Everything was happening so fast. There was so much new information to take in, and the wide open space—the damn vastness of the place—was a little overwhelming.
She felt the opposite of claustrophobic—if there even was such a thing.
Iskar must have sensed her mood, because he put his arm around her shoulders. “Fear not, Mari. You are in the safest zone on the entire planet, and you are mine. They can’t touch you here.”
Beyond the landing-pad, a series of domed black structures rose out of the red sand. They were sleek and elegant and utterly alien, resembling the loops of some sinuous creature that was half-buried in the sand. The dusty ground rose into a low ridge, beyond which lay the outlines of various human-built structures. A sliver of green hovered on the heat-smudged horizon, promising a hidden oasis.
Never in a million years could she have imagined that such a place existed out here in the barren wastelands. It was inconceivable.
“Iskar, are you in charge of this place?” A little bit of awe crept into her voice, but Mari didn’t care. She loved unraveling the mystery that was this intense, stern-faced alien.
He chuckled. “I am not. My role is to oversee and co-ordinate the armed forces—mercenaries—operating on Earth, but I answer to a higher power. He and his unit stand alone; they do not answer to me.” The corner of his mouth quirked. “It is… complicated.”
“Huh.” Mari couldn’t imagine who Iskar might answer to. Who could possibly be more formidable than the man by her side?
Red dust swirled around their feet as the warm desert wind whipped at Mari’s hair. Iskar quickened his pace, and a sea of Kordolian warriors parted as they passed through, offering solemn salutes.
Holy moly. She was walking straight into a den of wolves.
The most amazing thing of all was that she trusted Iskar. She, a street thief who had long ago learned not to trust anyone, trusted this man.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere private,” he growled, “where you and I can be alone.”
Mari’s pulse quickened. “What about Artoo?”
&nbs
p; “He is safe. The human women will take care of him. Knowing them, they will probably spoil him. Now come with me, Maribel, before I die from wanting you.” His hoarse confession sent a thrill of anticipation through her.
She could feel the intensity of his need. He was like a wire, wound so tightly he was about to snap. Tension resonated through his footsteps. It was in the hard lines of his body and in the gentle pressure of his arm as it tightened around her shoulders.
They walked across a straight black walkway that was several inches off the ground. It led to a windowless dome-like structure made of some seamless obsidian material.
At first, Mari couldn’t see a door, but when Iskar reached the edge of the structure, the wall unraveled, and thousands of metallic threads separated to form an oval-shaped entrance.
She gasped.
“After you.” He gestured toward the ominous entrance in a gentlemanly fashion. Beyond was a shadowy corridor. She couldn’t make out what was inside.
Mari froze. She turned and looked at Iskar, carefully studying his face.
I only just met you last night.
So much had happened since then. She’d been caught red-handed and forgiven, injured and healed, and abducted and rescued, all thanks to the man standing beside her.
The self-saboteur in her tried to plant the seeds of doubt. What if he’s tricking you? What if he wants to enslave you, just like that creepy rich man? You know what sort of reputation these Kordolians have.
Don’t be fucking stupid, Maribel. This is Iskar.
There was a reason she’d agreed to become his mate without a second thought.
But what about him?
“What do you see in me, Kordolian?” He was a powerful man with an army at his fingertips. She was just a street brat.
“A survivor. Someone who refuses to lie down and accept the fate that was forced upon her. A woman who is cunning, resourceful, and brave. A worthy mate.”
It was strangely humbling to hear this powerful creature speak of her in such terms, and then there was that expression on his face.
Savage. Possessive. Tender.
It took her breath away, and deep down in her heart, Mari understood that this man would never, ever hurt her.
