“Uh—speaking of Ania. She’s unconscious. Zade and I put her in her room to sleep it off. She said the fight exhausted her. Boca is with her,” Gwen said.
Malachi turned to Liam. “Ania is merely adjusting to my absence. Her body is realigning its energies. She will be fine soon. I’m going to miss being in her.”
Synar nodded and turned, only to have Malachi put a hand on his arm. He looked at the hand, unable to remember the last time his brother Conor had touched him. His body felt Malachi’s hand as if he were a stranger.
“There is a benefit to Ania with my absence,” Malachi said softly. “Without my constant presence, Ania can better choose to be who she wants without having to fight my spirit. There are many other benefits, but I would prefer to talk with her about them first. I do not wish to refuse you. It is merely out of respect for her sacrifice, Liam.”
“I detest hearing you call me by my given name while you walk in my brother’s form. Address me as Synar. I will tell the crew you are my brother who has repented of his evil ways. You will continue to do as I command,” Synar said harshly.
Malachi chafed at his abrupt tone, but bowed his head. Ania Looren was the only being who had ever talked to him respectfully since his change. His appreciation for her climbed higher.
“My commitment to your family remains, as does our sacred contract. I will also protect your mate with my life even if it means the end of this body,” Malachi said. “May I go to aid her now?”
Synar nodded. “You may move freely around the Liberator as you must, but you are to do no harm without me or Ania commanding it. I will see to putting you into quarters where you can care for Conor’s body in appropriate ways. We will discuss this more later.”
Malachi bowed his head again. Obedience for now was a small price to pay for his new freedom. He left the room, closing the door behind him.
In the hallway, he looked around in a wonder he had not felt in a long time. Seeing no one, he paused to study Conor’s body with amazement again. There was no spirit within it competing with him, no need to battle another entity for control of limbs or mind or emotions or anything.
Ania Looren had given him a great gift in freeing his spirit from her body. Malachi was suddenly very glad that he’d followed his instincts and had been good to his reluctant female host.
With that more positive thought in mind after the depressing conversation with Liam, he headed in the direction of where he could feel her.
His reluctant demon master might never consider him family, but Malachi was starting to feel very connected to the demon master’s wife.
***
Back in the captain’s quarters, Gwen and Synar stood silent for long moments. When Gwen couldn’t stand the uncomfortable quietness anymore, she broke it with business.
“The supply ship has been emptied of our cargo. They have requested permission to leave and the crew is waiting onboard. As far I can determine, they just gave your brot—I mean, Conor Synar a ride here. The crew wasn’t working directly for him,” Gwen said.
“If you are convinced they are without malice, let them leave,” Synar said, not looking at her.
Gwen started to say more, but instead walked to the wall com.
“Dispatch—this is Commander Jet. Clear the supply ship to leave,” she ordered.
Gwen listened until she heard a confirmation. In the background, she heard the supply ship’s engines engage. Did that mean they were back to business as usual now, she wondered?
“So what’s next, Captain?” Gwen asked, letting go of the com and addressing Synar again.
“Now you leave me alone so I can grieve my brother,” Synar said firmly.
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. Zade—I mean, Dorian asked me to wait with you until he arrives. As spiritual counselor, he has authority over this situation,” Gwen said, defending her right to act on what she could tell now had been good advice. Synar didn’t need to be left alone until he was less angry and thinking more clearly.
“Fine,” Synar said. “Make yourself useful then and have Issa Onin put in lockdown until Ania wakes up. Peace Keeper Looren and I will explain this fouled up situation to the Peace Alliance together. I suppose Malachi will have to be present as well for them to believe we would do something so horrendous. We may be hiring our services out as mercenaries if the Peace Alliance doesn’t want to work with us anymore.”
Gwen pressed the com link again. “Engineering—this is Commander Jet. Chiang, are you there? I need you in the Captain’s quarters—the real ones. Come as soon as you can and come alone. We need discretion.”
“On my way,” he answered. “Gwen—I mean, Commander—Lieutenant Zade’s mother is on the supply ship as a passenger. Were you aware she was leaving?”
“No, I was not,” Gwen said, biting her lip. “Zade suspected there was an issue and is on his way there. I’m sure he will have that under control soon. Thanks for letting me know. I need you here as soon as you can make the walk.”
“Leaving engineering now,” Chiang answered.
Gwen sighed heavily as she released the com link again, imagining the headache Zade was probably going to get from dealing with his strong-minded parent. She suddenly had a sincere appreciation that her mother never left Earth. It already bothered her to know it was about time for her father’s regular visit, which he scheduled on her birthday every other year. At least he didn’t stay long when he came.
She looked back at Synar, who was sitting at his desk staring at the blank desk unit monitor.
“Can I get you anything? I can have the food staff bring you something to eat or drink,” she said. “Or something from medical? I never take anything other than stimulants or sleep aids myself, but I know they have herbals to soothe emotions as well.”
Turning his head, Synar looked at his first mate, one hand hovering over her weapon holster and the other running through her short hair until it was standing on end. It struck him as ironic to be one of the few creatures this fierce female felt compelled to nurture. She’d been doing that to him since she’d come onboard.
“Zade is a lucky bastard to have chosen you for a mate,” Synar told her, wanting to laugh at the flush climbing her face.
Gwen’s eyes widened at the compliment. It was the most personal thing Synar had ever said to her.
“Not sure how to answer that, Synar,” Gwen said honestly. “Thanks—I guess. So is that a ‘no’ to the food and drink offer?”
Synar laughed. He didn’t want to, didn’t feel like it, but figured he must look worse than he felt for Gwen to keep pressing to help him. Then he felt a strange ripple in the air as he looked at her, and Gwen clutched her mid-section and fell to her knees.
The ecstasy of the vibration was as exquisite as it was unexpected. And familiar—her relief about how familiar it was amplified her pleasure. Gwen met Synar’s questioning gaze with her own shocked one.
“It’s Zade. He just sent me a really strong bonding vibration,” she said, writhing as her body paid the homage required with wave after wave of orgasmic release.
It was so powerful and swift-acting, Gwen hadn’t been able to fight it off. She closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep from calling out.
Synar stood and rushed over, only to have Gwen hold up a hand. “No. Don’t touch me. Turn around please, Synar. I’m having trouble maintaining decorum here.”
Gwen watched her superior turn, and then she closed her eyes tighter, moaning despite her resolve to bear what was happening silently.
Why are you doing this, Dorian? The plea seemed to rip from her brain to travel where it needed to go.
Made a mistake, she heard in her head. Sweet joy. Ship . . .surprised me . . .need help
Then there was nothing and the pleasure was gone.
“Synar—quickly, I need a hand up,” Gwen demanded.
He turned back quickly and lifted a weaving Gwen to her feet in one pull. Holding her up with his grip and one hand on her arm, Synar studied her fac
e.
Gwen ripped away from him instantly and smacked the com.
“Dispatch—this is Commander Jet. Stop the supply ship. Don’t let it leave,” she demanded. “I think Lieutenant Zade is still on it.”
“Commander, the bay doors are open and the supply ship is almost through them. I can’t stop it now without damaging everyone onboard and our ship,” the engineer answered.
Synar moved to the com. “This is the Captain. If you can’t stop the cursed ship, you better find a way to track it. I don’t want it lost. You got that?”
“Yes, sir,” dispatch answered.
Gwen leaned against the wall. “I’m pretty sure Zade is on that ship, Synar. He—he—Oh God. I’m going to be sick.”
She ran to the bathroom and barely made it in time. Wave after wave of dizziness hit her, as she was violently ill.
Synar opened his door to the brisk knock and pointed to Issa when he saw the male there.
“Chiang, we need to put the ambassador in a lockdown room. Ask security to put a guard on her. First call medical. Commander Jet is sick.”
Chiang headed to the bed and then caught sight of Gwen kneeling on the floor in the bathroom being ill. Her energy signature reached out to him. Her distress was tangible to his senses.
“What’s wrong with her?” Chiang asked
Scanning Gwen and seeing the energy cord from Zade, Chiang swore and ran past his shocked captain to get to her. It was the first time he’d ever not followed through on one of Synar’s orders, but if Gwen didn’t do the right things, mental instability would be the result. They’d have to lock her up to restrain her.
“Gwen—whatever you do don’t fight the claiming,” Chiang said, brushing back her hair. “An energy cord from the Siren’s call is still in the process of attaching itself to your second chakra. What is Zade thinking? It’s no wonder you are ill. When the pleasure comes, just let it happen. You must trust me. We have to protect your mind from the change.”
“Zade’s on the supply ship. I heard him talking to me in my head. Something is wrong,” she whispered. “He’s in trouble.”
Chiang dropped to his knees. “Dorian is trying to establish a Siren mating bond so you can find him,” he said, suddenly understanding. “Think of him. Think only of him. Make the link and just allow him to do what he is doing.”
“I’m afraid,” she said, clutching Chiang’s hand. “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
Chiang gripped her hand tightly. “Of all the males you will ever meet, Dorian Zade is the most trustworthy and has the best intentions towards you. He would give his life for you without a thought. Will you do the same for him? This is what the cord is asking of you. You’re sick because you resist belonging to him.”
Gwen shook. Her arms and legs, her hips, everything in her trembled. But her one predominant thought was that she had to be with Dorian or die.
“Yes. Okay. Raging fires of Helios, I burn for him even now. If he was here—I wouldn’t care who was watching. I don’t want to feel like this about any male, but what the hell.”
“I know,” Chiang said softly, truly understanding how hard this would be on Gwen’s nature. “I know this seems very invasive. It should improve once the cord is created. I read the first time the cord attaches is always the worst.”
“It wasn’t like this the first time Zade claimed me,” Gwen said bitterly. “I would have remembered it being like this.”
“That’s because Zade was holding back then, not wanting the claiming to be permanent without your consent probably. But it’s obvious he’s not holding back this time. He must be in real trouble to send this to you with such force,” Chiang said, wiping the sweat off her face. “Siren mating rituals can last over a week.”
Suddenly her body was wracked with the fierce passion sweeping through her, heedless of the two wrong males who observed it and her release. She turned her head and cried out, unable to be silent.
When that finally passed, she opened her eyes to see Synar and Chiang both looking at her. Knowing they witnessed her weakness, she started crying.
“Why would Zade have to do this sexual thing though? I don’t understand. Why?” she demanded.
Then of its own accord her spirit reached out to his and she saw him lying face down on the ship, hands bound behind him. He wasn’t moving. Sarinnea slumped in a seat nearby, not moving either.
“I see him. His hands are bound behind him. They took him by force. They took them both—Dorian and Sarinnea. Why did they take them?” Gwen demanded, her voice rising in panic.
Her mind cleared and her body felt relieved. “Don’t just sit there, Chiang. Help me up. Whatever it was has passed now,” Gwen demanded.
Chiang sighed and stood. “It has not passed. It has merely settled for the moment, probably because you allowed yourself to make the mental link. Chances are Zade passed out and didn’t finish. Can you still close your eyes and see him?”
Gwen closed her eyes and drew in a breath. “Yes. I see him.”
She opened her eyes to meet Chiang’s approving gaze.
“Good. Maybe we can use your link with him to track the supply ship and where it’s going. You are wise to answer the Siren’s call,” Chiang said.
“The crew wasn’t working for Conor, so why take Zade and Sarinnea?” Gwen asked.
Chiang shrugged. They turned to Synar who was standing in the doorway frowning in thought.
“Black market traders probably,” Synar said, answering with his intuition. “Many species will pay good money for Siren sex slaves. Dorian would bring a premium because he’s male.”
Gwen felt her blood boil at the thought of Dorian being a sex slave for anyone but her. “I’ll kill any female that touches him.”
Chiang walked out of the bathroom with her on his heels. He headed to the bed and lifted the still sleeping ambassador.
“Now you know what Dorian felt for you before,” Chiang said softly. “It will not be comfortable to bear the claiming without your mate to aid you, but you will survive. Meet me in medical as soon as you can. Synar, we might be able to use Ania and the demon.”
Gwen looked at Synar in alarm, who answered the question in her gaze with a shrug.
“We’ll just have to explain it as we go. Chiang will be told the whole truth,” Synar said.
“Tell me later. I took the damn job in engineering so I wouldn’t have to deal with drama,” Chiang said, walking to the door. “This Greggor has learned to enjoy his ignorance for as long as it lasts, which lately hasn’t been more than a few eye blinks.”
Chapter 31
Ania woke and saw Conor Synar sitting by her bed looking affectionately at her. That couldn’t be right, but evidently it was.
“Time to torture me?” Ania asked snidely, figuring her attitude didn’t matter if the newly converted demon had found his way back into his old body. “Because if you have anything else in mind, you need to prepare yourself for a fight. I’m your master.”
Ania knew she was too weak at the moment to stop him, but she would die trying. She also could have sworn she saw Liam lock the amulet inside the chest.
“Torture sounds delightful, but I’ve been holding on to this mellow mood and waiting forever for you to wake up just so I could thank you,” Malachi teased. “This body is not as masculine as many I’ve inhabited, but compared to being in a female, it’s wonderful. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have male bonding parts again. Those straps you females have to wear are awful, and your resentment of them is a constant annoyance to your energy.”
Ania breathed out a sigh and along with it a laugh. “Malachi—thank the creators it’s you. So Liam gave Conor’s body to you after all.”
“Oh, I think gave is a little too strong a term for the arrangement. Liam let me know for sure that he considers his brother’s body to still be his property, and that he considers me as his property too. Honestly, I don’t know what you see in the younger Synar. He’s so moody,” Malachi teased, pic
king up her hand. “It is good to genuinely touch you at last, Ania Looren. I thank you for making it possible. Now accept graciously before I have to hurt you.”
Her hand tightened on his, uncaring that he was a demon and that his form was not his true one. What mattered to her was that Malachi, as a being, seemed to care for her without reservations. At the moment, he was the only being who seemed to do so.
“You must thank the creators for this chance to live again,” she whispered. “I am glad for my part in it.”
“Yes, oh great enlightened teacher. I suppose you will instruct me about how to keep pleasing the great orchestrators of our fate,” Malachi added smartly, smirking at Ania’s earnest look.
Ania nodded against the pillow. “Yes—I believe that is my purpose in our connection.”
Malachi laughed. “You sure have a big job ahead of you. Demons are unredeemable, or so I’ve heard for more than a thousand years.”
“We’ll see how full of disrespect you are after a couple centuries of serving the Peace Alliance,” Ania said.
“Hear me well, child of my spirit—I serve Ania Looren,” Malachi whispered. “A fact which will not change for a long, long time. And when Ania Looren breathes her last breath, I will pass to her child.”
“Child—what child?” Ania said on a laugh. “I’m over nine hundred years old, Malachi. Women of my planet don’t have children when they are my age.”
“I keep telling you I do good work,” Malachi said, snorting at her comments. “You are just like every other female no more than a century old now. You’re just tweaked to be a bit more aggressive. Well, and you have some additional skills. But physically—well physically you’re fixed and ready to breed. I knew it would be necessary because you and Synar won’t live forever no matter what I do. In fact, I highly suggest you and Synar have several offspring. You never know when one like Conor is going to pop up in the gene pool again.”
“Was what Conor said about his grandfather true?” Ania asked, ignoring his teasing about her having children.
Malachi nodded. “Yes, but Elan was not as dark as Conor portrayed him to be. Bogdan’s father was a male with rough edges, but he wasn’t truly cruel to anyone but Conor. At the point he warped his grandson, Elan was weak with years and had passed me to Bogdan. However, he was resentful of losing the power. It was the grandson who suffered for Elan’s unhappiness. Still, Conor’s true evil grew out of the darkness he allowed to consume him. Conor never even tried to fight his bad urges, just gave himself over to them at every opportunity.”
The Demon Master's Wife (Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE) Page 27
