The Demon Master's Wife (Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE)

by McDonald, Donna

  Ania stopped her trek to ponder his words.

  “My mind is a jumble of decisions that need to be made, just as you predicted. I seek the will of the creators and hope they make the right path known to me. Now stop worrying about me and fix your own life,” Ania told him firmly, smiling about his problems again as she walked out.

  Chapter 4

  Gwen sighed for the millionth time and tried to control her shaking hands enough to key in her report. It was taking all her focus and all her control to keep her mind off her body’s vibrating condition. Her usual ability to focus on work was destroyed.

  All she could think about was him.

  “How are you?” Ania asked from the doorway of the control room.

  Gwen jumped, her hand going automatically to her weapon. Fortunately, her heartbeat steadied enough to see it was Ania before she drew it.

  “Jumpy?” Ania asked, walking closer.

  She could tell Gwen was having some serious trouble resisting the Siren’s call. Not many creatures could hold out against the lure of a Siren who had set their mind to claim you for their exclusive use. There was nothing about physically pleasing a mate a Siren didn’t know or wouldn’t do, but the cost was a level of physical fidelity that lasted until death.

  “I’m pulling a double-shift, which is Zade’s fault. I suppose you’ve heard what happened,” Gwen said, looking at the computer screen instead of Ania.

  Ania walked to the console desk and perched on the edge of it, energetically offering her help and sending all the compassion to Gwen that she could. It wasn’t much these days, but she felt compelled to offer.

  “Yes I heard the story. Synar sent me to check on Dorian because he had an Alliance meeting,” Ania said, walking to Gwen. “I think I can help you if you will allow it.”

  Gwen snorted. “Help me? I still don’t even know what in the hell happened. Zade didn’t touch me. He just paced in front of me and did—I don’t know—mental things to me. He wouldn’t stop even when I asked him to many times. I had to stun him, Ania. He left me no choice,” she said.

  Ania laughed loudly, the musical sound of it echoing in the room. “I have not genuinely laughed in two years. You and Dorian have given me more amusement in a few hours than I thought I’d ever feel again. You don’t have to convince me how insistent and arrogant Dorian can be. I well know it to be truth. Now do you want me to help you or not?”

  “Sure. Start by telling me what Zade did to me,” Gwen demanded. “It’s all I can do to maintain my duty station and not go to him. My body is vibrating with lust and I can barely work for shaking. Look.”

  She held out her trembling hands for Ania to see.

  “I couldn’t fire a weapon right now if my life depended on it,” Gwen said sadly.

  Ania sighed at the distress on the female warrior’s face, knowing Gwen held herself accountable for all of her exchange with Dorian.

  “Dorian has not done permanent damage to you. You are simply adjusting to sharing his unusual mating vibrations. He is a Siren. Most species react very strongly to them,” Ania explained, smiling at Gwen’s frustration. “Most beings find the extreme pleasure Sirens offer to be worth the discomfort of their urge to dominate their mates.”

  “Well, I am not most species. Nothing happened at all between us before today,” Gwen said harshly. “Why did Zade suddenly decide to make a move now? Why not two years ago when I was interested?”

  “Dorian was devoted to his celibacy for spiritual reasons that he alone has the right to explain,” Ania said. “Giving up that vow of celibacy to mate with you was not an easy decision for him and not something he would do lightly.”

  “You think we’re potential mates too? Like hell we are,” Gwen denied angrily. “Zade and I are not mates. Mates—wait, you said Zade was going to mate someone, but you didn’t say it was me. You knew this was going to happen. Why the hell didn’t you warn me?”

  Gwen glared when Ania shrugged.

  “This is the primary reason why I have come to help you now. Dorian also asked me to explain it to you, but I am enjoying his suffering. If you were not in pain and facing more, I would not be here,” Ania explained.

  “So you gave me the silent treatment to torture Zade too? I think I could kick your ass on the mat right now, shaky hands and all,” Gwen stated, glaring harder.

  “I did not say it was honorable of me to enjoy that he suffers. I realize now that I did the same thing to you that Dorian did to me with Synar. For all intuitives, there is a constant war inside about whether to inform a person of their destiny or not. I chose not to warn you because you refused to look for yourself, but now I think perhaps I did not make the right choice,” Ania said.

  “No shit—it’s just my sanity at stake here. And everyone wonders why I don’t want to use my intuition. It’s just another weapon,” Gwen said snidely, sinking into a chair. “So exactly what did the controlling Siren bastard do to me?”

  “Pleasured you. Marked you energetically,” Ania said softly, walking to sit in the chair across from Gwen’s. “Now I must ask you an important question about it. Did you touch Dorian’s skin when he was vibrating with the Siren’s call for you?”

  Gwen sighed in resignation. “Siren’s call? Hell—I have no idea. Zade fell on the floor and then I fell on top of him when I lost control. If I touched him, it was through his clothes,” she said. “Something told me to stay away from him and I did.”

  “Sirens emit addictive pheromones when they are fully aroused, and the Siren’s call is a special set of mating vibrations. On Rylen, eating and drinking with the locals puts organics into the systems of those exposed and creates an immunity to the most intense of the vibrations. Without the immunity, feeling constant desire for a Siren can be a challenge to bear,” Ania said. “You can only think of bonding and not much else.”

  “Zade did this to me knowing he would cause me to suffer?” Gwen asked, unable to believe Zade would consciously do such a thing to her.

  “No—not really. Zade did this intending to meet all your needs and because he is suffering with desire for you,” Ania corrected. “He’s suffered for you for two years. He feels the vibrations of everyone’s pleasure. I can only imagine how much he endured as you sought relief from your urge for him with other males.”

  “Come to think of it, Zade was the first male I asked for bonding when I came aboard the Liberator. He knew even back then, didn’t he?” Gwen demanded, pounding the console with a clenched fist. “I swear I’ll kill him next time he comes near me.”

  Ania laughed. “To kill him is to kill your primary source of relief until you can visit Rylen and build your immunity. I have another solution, but it will not be as helpful as just bonding with Dorian would be for you.”

  “You’re telling me I have no choice but to have sex with Zade?” Gwen demanded.

  “Well, I might be able to teach you how to stoically bear the desire you feel for him, but Dorian is feeling an echo of your condition. He will seek you out and test it at every turn. Siren males cannot help themselves when they have begun calling their mate. All my bonding experiences before Synar were with Sirens. I lived among them for almost a century,” Ania said. “I never mated with one, but they can be extremely intense during just normal bonding. No other planet contains more possessive males, not even Earth.”

  “What do you mean you dated Sirens before Synar? I thought Synar was your first bonding partner,” Gwen asked, wincing at the question when she saw Ania’s shocked expression. “Curse my tongue. It was a rumor I believed. Forget I asked. It’s none of my business anyway.”

  “No—that’s okay. I do not mind you knowing any truth about me. The Siren males I had relationships with all pleasured me without physically breaching my body. I had taken a spiritual vow to stay physically chaste in that manner. My longest relationship was with a Siren male named Aegean who convinced me that what we did was too minor to count as breaking my vows,” Ania said, her mouth quirking. “It took Sy
nar to point out how naïve that was on my part, but he was still the first male to breach my body.”

  “Breach your body? No wonder you didn’t want to do it. That doesn’t even sound good,” Gwen said resentfully, not understanding how Ania could just laugh about it all. “I don’t know how he did what he did, but Zade never touched me—not once in the entire time he was there. Stunning him was the only way I could get him to stop though. Maybe I am more Earthling than I realized, but that mental connection lacked intimacy for me. I still don’t understand how he could just make me feel that kind of desire without any physical contact.”

  Ania laughed even harder hearing proof of just how badly Dorian had failed with Gwen. “Sorry—I just, well I wish I could have seen Dorian get caught off-guard. He does not let that happen often. I would have loved to have seen his face when he saw your weapon aimed at him.”

  “Well, my great plan backfired on me. Zade fell unconscious and still gave me the longest orgasm I have ever had,” Gwen admitted. “I couldn’t look at him afterward without wanting him again. Does that mean I’m addicted?”

  “Either that—or maybe something much worse,” Ania said, belly laughing again. “Natural mates tend to go immediately into the strongest of bonding cycles with each other. Do not attempt to eradicate him with other males either, not if you value their lives. Dorian will kill them without remorse, and Synar couldn’t stop him. He won’t be able to stop himself. However, other males—if they are wise—will probably refuse you now anyway. Despite Dorian’s concerns, your energy appears to be marked quite well with his energy signature. It is as if you were already completely mated to him.”

  “No way—you’re kidding, right?” Gwen asked, shocked.

  Ania shook her head, unable to stop smiling even when confronted with Gwen’s genuine dismay.

  “So Zade’s put me in a permanent state of lust for him and stamped an energetic ‘no trespassing’ sign on me,” Gwen said. “What if I kill him? Does that end his Siren whatever-you-called-it?”

  “In English, it is referred to as the ‘Siren’s call’ dubbed that from ancient Earth literature. The Siren term for it is much less romantic. To answer your question though, did knocking him unconscious stop him?” Ania asked.

  Gwen pounded the console again and rose to pace.

  “What are my choices then?” she asked.

  Ania laughed again, but her smile was now one of pride.

  “You were right, Gwen Jet,” Ania conceded, crossing her arms but nodding respectfully to her companion. “While my body still breathes, you and I are going to be friends. I admire how you face problems and move right into solutions. I’ve known beings many centuries older than you who still haven’t learned to do that.”

  “I need answers not philosophy, Ania. How do I sleep tonight without looking Zade up and jumping him?” Gwen demanded. “And before you ask, no I’m not going to. It’s the principal of not giving in to a male trying to force me to bow to his will. I promise you I would only want to shoot him again after I had used him for sex, no matter how great he might be.”

  Ania rose and walked to her. “I understand your resistance completely. With your agreement, I can help you bear your burden for maybe enough time for you to finish this shift of duty, but the effects are only temporary. Tomorrow you will be in this same lusting condition again.”

  “How can you help me?” Gwen asked.

  “By being willing to share your discomfort,” Ania said, reaching out to put a hand on each of Gwen’s arms. “Shalan te shalan me saren. The gift of the Pleiadians has become great empathy for all creatures. When our empathy is engaged, we must act.”

  “Okay sure—help me then,” Gwen said, then immediately felt something being pulled from her body. She kept her gaze trained on Ania’s until she finally let go.

  “Wow—I can see why you’re struggling to constrain this,” Ania said, dropping her hands and laughing.

  “Why? What do you see?” Gwen demanded.

  “I see that Dorian’s even better at bonding than he brags about being. Maybe sharing wasn’t such a good idea after all. I won’t be able to look at him the same way again.”

  Ania laughed at her own joke, because she never thought of any male that way, but then saw Gwen frowning at her. It only made her laugh more.

  She also felt Malachi relaxing inside her. Apparently sharing Gwen’s pleasure echoes were good for him as well.

  “Do you regret my assistance? Do you want me to return Dorian’s full desire to you?” Ania asked. “It is easily undone and no one will know but us.”

  Gwen raised her hands in front of her. They were steady for the first time since Zade walked into her room.

  “No,” she said firmly, determinedly meeting Ania’s amused gaze. “So now what?”

  “You need to cross your fingers that I don’t get an urge to bond with Dorian before this dissipates,” Ania teased.

  Gwen frowned again. “If I told you I was jealous and wanted to hurt you for even joking about bonding with Zade, would you think I was crazy to want to stay away from him?”

  Ania grinned. “No. I would say you are being very angry and very—Earth female.”

  Gwen snorted and looked away. “Why don’t you just kick my ass again and get it over with instead of insulting me?”

  “Can’t—it’s hard to fight well when you’re trying to deal with someone else’s mating urges,” Ania said dryly. “I need to go walk this off. Dorian will suffer without you for one sleep cycle, but I don’t see him lasting for two. Try to reconcile yourself to the situation by tomorrow. He will seek you out so be prepared next time. You can bond with him without mating him. It might be your only solution for now.”

  Gwen nodded. “I hate it, but thank you for telling me the truth.”

  Ania bowed her head. “I am happy to help you deal with your destiny. Please excuse me though. I have to go report to Synar about both of you. I will leave out the angry parts and say you are repentant.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m not in trouble. Synar wasn’t even upset when I told him what I had done,” Gwen said, still amazed by the fact. “He just looked frustrated that it had happened and swore a lot in Norblade. When I left, he was in a bad mood, but I couldn’t tell if he blamed me or Zade.”

  “Synar and Dorian have been friends a long time. He personally knew Dorian’s last mate who accompanied him on the ship they were serving on back then,” Ania explained. “He’s seen Dorian in mating mode before and knows how unreasonable he can be in that condition.”

  “Unreasonable is putting it mildly. If I did take out Zade, it would just be sparing all of us more grief,” Gwen said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

  “You can’t kill Synar’s best friend,” Ania said. “Then he would be truly alone after I am no more. You are not that hard-hearted, Gwen Jet.”

  “I could learn to be,” Gwen said fiercely. “And will you please stop talking about your death like that. It creeps me out. I don’t want you to die. I’m starting to like you.”

  Ania laughed as she left, knowing for all her fierceness Gwen would never be able to kill a male she loved as much as she did Dorian.

  Chapter 5

  Ania stood outside Synar’s cabin door waiting for him to open it. She had walked around until she had adjusted to the sexual arousal she had taken from Gwen. Knowing that she had received only part of what the female was enduring made her more respectful of Gwen’s strength of will and for the depth of Dorian’s repressed desire.

  How they could be near each other for two years and never act on that level of bonding lust was beyond her comprehension. She hadn’t felt anywhere near that kind of desire for Synar the first time she’d relented to bond with him.

  Realizing there was still no answer, Ania knocked a second time on Synar’s door, wondering briefly why Synar was in a room meant for a normal crew member. While she waited again, she allowed herself to be distracted from her apprehension by more pondering about Dorian and G
wen.

  If the willful female would simply learn to use her intuition, Ania thought Gwen Jet would be worthy to be trained as Khalsa. Dorian could even teach her once they reached some peaceful arrangement about their mating.

  When Synar opened the door to her at last, Ania took in his disheveled condition and realized he had been sleeping.

  “Forgive me for disturbing your rest, Synar. All is well and I will see you tomorrow,” Ania said quickly, frowning at his tired eyes and her urge to pass her hands over them to soothe him. “You obviously need rest. I’m sorry I woke you.”

  “No—I’m awake now. I meant to wait for you in my office, but the stimulants weren’t able to keep me awake any longer,” Synar explained, stepping back and holding out a hand. “Please come in and talk to me.”

  Ania didn’t really want to enter his private room, but didn’t see that she had much choice. Given his condition, it was unlikely that he would challenge her anyway. She’d just make her report and go, Ania decided, stepping hesitantly across his threshold.

  “You look like you haven’t slept properly in a long while,” she said softly.

  “It’s been three sleep cycles, but I will manage. I want to know how Dorian is healing. Is that his sexual energy on you?” Synar demanded, his voice tightening as he asked the question.

  “Yes, but do not conclude anything perverse from it. Dorian doesn’t know I carry his lust. He did not give it to me. I am aiding Gwen,” Ania explained.

  Synar adamantly wanted it gone regardless of Ania’s reasons for carrying it around in her aura. Not trusting his ability to prevent himself from taking actions to ensure that outcome, Synar walked to his bed and sank down.

  “You look too tired to have this conversation, Synar. Let me return tomorrow morning,” Ania said.

  “No,” Synar said, reaching out a hand, then dropping it when he remembered she didn’t want him touching her. “I want to know about them now. Please stay and talk with me. Don’t make me order it—I’m too tired to do so tonight.”