“I know.” And he did know. He and Lorelei had shared a connection since birth. Born of the same womb but not the same egg, they had shared the powers of their parents. Lorelei had taken after their mother, who had been a High Priestess, where he took after their father, who had been mostly werepanther. His body lacked the colorful, tribal-like tattoo markings of the Shamenians, but he could not only shift into a werepanther, where Lorelei could not, he was one of the most powerful shifters around.
He turned and looked into his sister’s face and knew that she was reading him—scanning his mind. He didn’t care. He had nothing to hide from her.
“You love this woman, don’t you?”
Bradi nodded his head as he touched Marisa’s hand. “I do.”
“And she carries your child?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you look so troubled?”
“She’ll never accept what I am, and even if she does, she’ll never forgive me for how she came to be pregnant.”
Lorelei moved next to him and put her hand on Marisa’s head. “You seem so sure that she’ll disappoint you. Why is that?”
Bradi looked away, not wanting to answer her question.
“Brother, just because Nina and I were blinded by lies and hatred does not mean that she will be as well. Have faith that she loves you.”
The thought of Marisa loving him made him laugh. Her heart belonged to his best friend. It didn’t matter that he was dead—she’d always love Pete.
“So, Nina didn’t tell you everything after all. Did she?”
Bradi glanced at his sister and gave her a questioning look. “Huh?”
“Did Nina tell you how it is that you sit here before us?”
“Yeah, Marisa saved me. She gave too much of herself during the transfer of her power and now…” He couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud. Now Marisa was dying.
“True, but did Nina tell you why she allowed Marisa to order them all away?” He shook his head and Lorelei nodded. “She asked Marisa if she loved you, and Marisa said yes. Nina then told her what you are, Bradi. She told her that you’re a shifter, a werepanther, and she still saved you.”
The notion of that sounded very romantic, but Bradi knew better. The woman only tolerated him. She didn’t love him. “She probably said that she loved me to get them to leave us alone. She doesn’t want anyone knowing about her gifts. And if I’d have died, she wouldn’t have any way off the planet. She’s resourceful.”
Lorelei shrugged. “I suppose you’re right…but then that wouldn’t explain why, when Nina ran to check on you, she found Marisa wrapping her body around yours and telling you that she would follow you into the spirit realm if you tried to leave. Do women who don’t care for a man often do that?”
He stiffened, doing his best to absorb what he was hearing. “She said that she’d follow me?”
“She did.”
Bradi stood and took his sister in his arms. Her belly was round and he didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to hug her. “Bloody hell, I can’t lose her, Lorelei. I can’t. She’s my mate. She doesn’t know it yet, but I marked her—claimed her. I can’t lose my wife. I love her so much that it hurts to breathe without her next to me. Tell me what to do. I’ll give my life for her. I love her that much.”
Lorelei patted his arm and nodded. “I’ll do what I can for her.”
“No!” Bradi shouted, remembering what Nina had warned him about. “You aren’t to put any strain on your body. You almost lost your child once. I’ll not let you sacrifice it for us.”
“Well, it’s good to know that someone in the family has some sense,” a male voice said from behind him. Bradi turned to find a tall blond man standing in the doorway. He tipped his head to Bradi and looked at Marisa. “She is beautiful. I can see why you love her.”
Jealously hit Bradi like a train and he felt his lip curling. Lorelei laughed and patted him on the chest. “Brother, this is my husband, Sevan. Sevan, my brother Bradi.”
“Good to meet you, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Don’t call me that. I have no title anymore. When Marisa returns and tells the Commission what I am, they will hunt me down and execute me.”
“So sure that she’ll disappoint you,” Lorelei muttered, shaking her head. She put her hand out to Sevan and walked to him. “My brother is so bullheaded.”
“Wow, a member of your family is bullheaded? You don’t say?”
Bradi couldn’t help but laugh. He liked Sevan and knew that the man loved his sister.
Chapter Fourteen
Stegian tapped his fingers across his desk and let the information he’d been given sink in. His long nails scraped over the wood surface and he knew that if he chose, he could shred it with one hand, but why? He wasn’t a barbarian, a monster like the Commission had tried to make him out to be. No. He’d risen above their betrayal and had made an empire for himself. He’d taken this otherwise pointless planet they’d inadvertently exiled him to and made it a thriving home for others like him.
It would have been perfect too, if two men and their children hadn’t interfered.
Raiden Janelle and Chreathe Beauden had decided to rally against him, and lead the Shamenians and the supernatural traitors who had been aboard the vessels herded from Earth to fight him. Chreathe was a hard kill, but worth it in the end. Raiden, on the other hand, had proved to be a vital pawn in Stegian’s master plan, and he mourned the day that the werepanther’s ungrateful children had put him down.
Oh, he had been one to watch. His torture techniques proved to be most invaluable.
Stegian thought about Janelle’s children once more. Seven in all, they could have been the destruction of him and his men, especially since they had teamed up with Chreathe’s sons. Fortunately, one of Chreathe’s boys had been easy enough to mind control and had swayed to his side.
The other, Christian, now the Chieftain of the Shamenians, proved to be stronger than Stegian had bargained for. Still, his plans for the planet and then total universal domination were moving along accordingly. Stegian had managed to control Raiden long enough to see him send his sons away and destroy one of his own daughters.
Now, one of the Janelle boys, Bradiainn, was back—and mated.
How interesting.
He’d always found Raiden’s sons to be a unique challenge. They seemed to have more resistance to his psychic vampire commands than their father had and Stegian always loved a good fight.
“Master, I bring you your food.”
Stegian glanced lazily up at his loyal servant, Yunoc, and then to what would be his first meal of the day. A sexy, blonde werehyena stood before him. He couldn’t remember her name and it didn’t matter. He only wanted to fuck and suck her anyway.
“Come,” he said with a flick of his wrist.
The girl’s eyes widened, yet she came forward. Only wearing a collar, he could see her erect nipples and couldn’t wait to run his tongue over them. His cock stirred to life and he put his hand out to the girl.
“Take me in your mouth and give me your wrist,” he said, pulling his shaft free from his pants.
The girl moved forward and dropped to her knees, putting her hand up to him in the process. He licked along her wrist and found the perfect spot where her blood ran fast. He waited for her hot mouth to slide over his cock before he sank his fangs into her tender skin.
The girl sucked him sweetly, flicking her tongue over the head of his cock at random moments before deep-throating him. She was good at what she did, but his mind was preoccupied. At some point during the suck-off, he felt her loosening her grip on him, but he paid no attention.
His mind drifted back to Raiden Janelle’s children, and the news he’d just heard. He’d wanted to get his hands on those boys for almost a decade, and now it looked as though he would. Knowing that Bradiainn had mated made the deal even sweeter. Stegian now had the advantage he needed to bring another Janelle to his knees. It was almost too easy. The next generation
of Janelles needed to be wiped out or controlled. He didn’t care which.
“Master,” Yunoc said.
Stegian looked down at the werehyena and released his seed into her mouth. She lay motionless, with her head on his lap, and he realized that he was still sucking on her wrist. Lost in thought about bringing the Janelle line to an end, he’d taken too much blood.
“Yunoc, get this whore off me and throw her to the wolves. They’ve earned a treat.” He motioned to the girl in his lap. “Oh, and bring me another girl. I feel the need to fuck something now. I’m horny. Death always seems to do that to me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Marisa moved around the compound slowly. Her entire body still felt like it’d been trampled by an angry herd of elephants, but other than that, she couldn’t complain. The bug she’d contracted seemed to be easing up and the people here—or rather shifters—seemed friendly enough.
“Good morning, Marisa. How are you feeling today?”
She turned to find the blond healer and leader, Christian, standing behind her. When she’d woken in the infirmary a few weeks back, she’d found him sitting in the corner of her room. At first, he’d scared the hell out of her, but once he’d shown her that he possessed similar gifts, she’d accepted his offer of friendship. “I’m good, and how are you today?”
“Don’t you mean how is Bradiainn?”
“No, I said what I meant.” She narrowed her gaze on him.
The men on this planet seemed to share a common bond—being pigheaded. Christian winked at her and she couldn’t stay mad at him. “Is there any chance that you might want to tell me why everyone’s in such a hurry around here?”
“Some things are better left for your mate to tell you.”
“Yeah, when I get one of those, I’ll be sure to ask him.”
Christian put his hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. “Go to him. He is in the training yard with the others.”
Marisa huffed. “He’s known where to find me for the last few weeks. The one time I did see him, he turned and ran in the other direction. He’s a stubborn jackass and I’m tired of dealing with him. When the next cargo ship leaves for Margaidia, I’ll be on it. Before you say anything, know that I’ll wipe my memory clean of this planet. I won’t risk the Commission finding out about any of you or your secrets.”
Christian’s eyebrows rose. “You can do that?”
She held up her hand to him. “The med chip that’s embedded in my skin has options for me to erase used information. I’ve been studying it when I have the chance, since you people seem to be experts at jamming it.” She gave him a hard look. “And I think I can get it to wipe out my short-term memory—at least several months’ worth.”
“So, you will not only forget Sargaidia, you’ll forget all that has occurred with Bradiainn as well?” Christian asked, his face void of emotion.
She patted his mammoth arm gently and smiled. “Now you’re getting the picture, champ.”
“I see. Does Bradiainn know about this?”
“I think that would require him to come within a twenty-foot radius of me, don’t you?” Marisa turned to head back to her room when she felt her stomach flutter. Glancing down, she attempted to access her med chip. It immediately fizzled out.
“Marisa, there you are!”
Marisa turned to find Lorelei coming toward her. The woman was as tiny as could be, all except for the swelling mound of her stomach. She claimed that she was only entering her sixth month of pregnancy, but she looked closer to nine months. If Marisa hadn’t been assisting Christian during one of Lorelei’s check-ups, she’d have never believed the news.
“How are the twins doing?” she asked.
Lorelei touched her stomach and rolled her eyes. “When one stops kicking, the other one starts. I don’t know how my mother did it. Three sets of twins would push me over the edge. If Sevan thinks for one minute that I am letting him impregnate me again, I’ll chop his—”
Christian cleared his throat and put his hands down over his groin. “Some things are better left unsaid, Lorelei.”
“Men,” Marisa snorted, “are all the same.”
“Care to try another one on for size, Doctor?” Christian asked.
Marisa balked playfully. “Like you could handle me.”
He reached for her and she stepped away. Marisa giggled. “So slow. Is that because you’re not a shifter? Are all Chieftains as pokey as you?”
Christian’s eyes lit up and he laughed. “Careful, little doctor. I would hate to have to teach you a lesson.”
Marisa laughed and took a fast step toward Christian, teasing him. He grabbed hold of her and spun her in a circle. “Ah ha, what will you do now?”
*
Bradi walked up from the training fields with one thing on his mind—checking on his wife. He’d spent more time lurking in the shadows over the last several weeks than not. He knew he was being a coward, and the fact that Nina had come right out and called him one to his face didn’t help either.
Come to think of it, every member of his family, including his holographic sister, had come right out and called him a coward.
Somehow, the thought of facing Marisa and telling her that they’d not only had sex but that she now carried his child, was his wife, his mate, his life, scared him to death. Being in love was the hardest thing he’d ever done. If she left, he’d never survive without her.
Bradi heard the sweet sound of her voice and followed the sound of it. He saw his sister Lorelei first, with her hands on her hips, complaining about never letting Sevan impregnate her again, and then he saw Marisa. Her long brown hair blew softly in the breeze and the white gown she wore made her look like an angel.
Laughing, she made a quick move toward Christian. Christian dodged her playful strike and swept her up in his arms.
Bradi’s heart stopped when the two didn’t immediately break apart. The beast within him tried to rise as he watched Christian’s lips come down on Marisa’s. As quick as the kiss started, it ended, but the beast in Bradi didn’t care how chaste it was. That was his wife, dammit.
He ran headlong at Christian with the primal urge to tear his heart out. How dare he touch his mate? How dare he attempt to lay claim to that which had already been marked?
“Bradi, no!” Lorelei screamed.
He didn’t stop. Slamming into Christian, he toppled them both over. They rolled and Bradi let his claws spring forth from his fingers. He brought the tips up and pressed them to Christian’s throat. “Mine,” he growled out, the beast riding him too high to form much else.
Christian smiled smugly up at him. “Then it is high time you proved it.”
It hit Bradi then that he’d been baited. Christian had sensed him coming and kissed Marisa to get a rise out of him. It had worked. A little too well.
“What the hell are you doing?” Marisa asked, running up behind him. She pushed him hard, and he had the decency to pretend it hurt. “Get off him, and suck those claws back in or whatever it is you do with them before somebody gets hurt. What were you thinking?”
“That you are mine,” Bradi said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, it’s about to get ugly around here. Come on, Christian. We better get out of here.” Lorelei reached down to help him up.
Bradi looked up to find Marisa glaring at him. Her green eyes were livid and he couldn’t recall a time when he wanted her more. She smacked him hard on the back of the head, and he bit back a laugh. “I belong to no one!”
“Not true. You are mine.”
She thumped him upside the head again. “I’m sorry, but the last one must have knocked what little sense you had right out of your thick skull. I belong to no one, Lieutenant Commander Janelle.”
“Actually,” he said, rising to his feet. “I would much rather prefer it if you call me by my newest title.”
“What? Jackass?”
“No. Husband.” He grinned and wagged his brows. “But you’re the only one who gets to
call me that, Wife.”
Marisa’s mouth dropped open and Bradi refused to back down. He’d spent weeks being afraid of this moment and he knew that it was now or never. “And while we’re at it, Wife, I think you should start thinking about what you want to name our child.”
Seconds ticked by, feeling more like hours. He expected Marisa to throw a fit. When she burst out laughing, he wasn’t sure what to do. “Oh, you had me for a minute there, Janelle. The husband thing was good, but the baby thing pushed it too far. Nice try, buddy. A baby requires sex. Of which I’ve had none.”
She laughed harder, and Bradi wasn’t sure what to do, so he gave in to his animal instincts. Grabbing her up in his arms, he ignored her protests and headed toward his quarters.
Chapter Sixteen
“What do you think you’re doing?” Marisa demanded as he plopped her down on the bed gently.
“I thought that would be easy to see. I am about to make love to my wife.” Bradi kicked off his boots and pulled off his pants. The urge to be inside her was too great to bother with a slow seduction.
Marisa’s mouth opened. Spotting an opportune moment, he leaned down and kissed her. Her fighting stopped and she kissed him back. Her mouth tasted so sweet that he didn’t want to break the kiss, but needed to in order to get her undressed. He could have ripped the gown off her, but Nina had warned him that women did not take kindly to having their clothing torn to bits.
He grabbed hold of Marisa’s gown and she smacked his hand. “Bradi? Have you lost your mind? You haven’t even looked at me for close to two months and now you want to get me naked?”
“Oh, woman, I’ve looked at you. I’ve done nothing but look at you. I am tired of standing in the background, worried about what you think of me. I see you accepting Lorelei and Nina, and hope that you can accept me too.”
Bradi: Paranormal Shifter Fated Mate Galactic SciFi Military Romance (Interstellar Alphas Book 2) Page 9
