by Becca Van
However he’d been pleased to see River talking with Annie as he and his brothers had talked to the Cardinal Warrior leaders. He’d been flabbergasted and awed as they had told him and his brothers the story of the slave gold bracelet and hoped that meant that River was supposed to be their mate.
His body was aching to claim her and every time he, Palk, Hakk, or Toak touched her their birth-ident marks went crazy. His mark burned and sent desire shooting through his veins to center in his hard cock. It was a difficult enough of a struggle while not touching her, but even worse as soon as his skin made contact with hers.
“Did any of you ask Damk why our birth-ident marks are reacting the way they are to River?”
“I took the opportunity to meet Damk out in the hallway when you were asking questions about the story of goddess Branwen,” Toak said.
“I wondered where you’d gone off to.” Hakk shoved Toak’s shoulder and raised his eyebrow.
Toak took a deep breath and by the gleam in his eye and the way his lips curved at the end, Stryk had a very good feeling about his youngest brother’s next words.
“Damk accessed the archives and showed me the script.”
“Get on with it,” Palk snapped impatiently.
“A birth-ident mark only ever heats, glows and swirls at the contact of his true-mate.”
“Thank the gods,” Stryk whispered.
“That’s not all.” Toak paused to swallow audibly. “When the true-mate is cemented the female will also receive a birth-ident mark.”
“That’s good.” Hakk nodded. “Other warriors will not be able to refute a claim on a female if she has the mark.”
“I don’t want any other warrior seeing that part of our mate’s body,” Stryk said angrily. He was already feeling very possessive of River and the thought of another man even being close to her had his ire rising.
“You didn’t let me finish.” Toak frowned at Stryk before continuing on. “If our mate agrees to bond with us, the mark will be the same as ours and it will appear on the side of her neck.”
“Even better,” Palk smiled with satisfaction. “Our claim will be seen by all and no warrior would ever dare to approach our mate.”
“There’s just one thing.” Toak held his finger up.
“What?” Hakk asked.
“She’s not our mate yet.”
“She will be and very soon,” Stryk said in a determined voice as he took a step in River’s direction. She was currently standing out on the balcony taking in the view. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms, rush back to their rooms, and join his body to hers, but he knew he couldn’t do that if he didn’t want to scare her. However, just the thought of any of their men looking upon her beautiful face and body sent anger coursing through him.
“Calm down, brother,” Palk murmured as he placed a hand on Stryk’s shoulder. “If you let her see you like that you will scare her away. Our true-mate is going to need time to become familiar with us and our home.”
Hakk sighed loudly. “Palk is right. She is in a strange world and the only person who has any connection with her just left with her mates to go back to their home world.”
Toak nodded. “Just think how you would feel if you were the only person among another species on a world you’d never been to or heard of before. From what Baro said earlier, the humans of Earth haven’t traveled much further than their own moon and think they are the only living beings in the universe.”
“Our mate is very strong inside.” Hakk was staring at her back, his purple pupils almost glowing with his desire.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Stryk muttered. Although she’d had every right to run screaming from them when she appeared on their planet with no explanation or warning, he had caught fear in her eyes a few times and then there was the fact she had collapsed in a faint. It wasn’t that he thought she was weak, but he suspected she was good at hiding her feelings and if he and his brothers were going to have a successful loving relationship with her, he wanted to know what she was thinking and feeling. He'd discerned the way she'd tensed up on several occasions, and when she'd crossed her arms over her chest, he knew it was a sign to keep off or stay away. Being a leader of Safura and a warrior had made him very observant of others’ body language. Plus there was the fact that he had seen her almost panting and the pulse at the base of her throat fluttering rapidly as a sign of the façade she was keeping in place.
And that wasn’t all.
She was so small. Her body was so petite, she barely reached his shoulder, and even though she had curves, she was slim, lithe, but he was scared a strong breeze could blow her over.
Safura was known for its wild tempests which would be dangerous for her to be caught out in. And that was without mentioning the large, ferocious ricktobeasts. Those animals were as tall as three men and could kill an unsuspecting warrior with one swipe of their long thick metal-like claws.
Just the thought of any of those near her scared him to his very bones, but so did the fact that she could find some of his men attractive. He thought about keeping her locked up here in their rooms, but quickly vetoed that idea because he didn’t want his mate to think she was a prisoner.
However, what scared him the most were the Pendag.
If those alien bastards got an inkling of the fact they had a female on their planet he knew they would try to get to her to use her as a bargaining tool for their precious resources. Water was in abundance on Safura and coveted by the Pendag since their home world was an arid desert, but that wasn’t all the enemy coveted. Those fuckers needed the illumcrystals to power their ships and their homes. No other crystal in the universe was as powerful as the illumcrystal. They could power their war ships for months at a time on just one small piece and they need never change the one powering the large abode. It was so powerful that one chip had been and would continue powering everything in their home for generations to come.
If the Pendag had come to ask for trade instead of poisoning their water things may have been very different, but those assholes had as good as declared war when they’d wiped out all the females on Safura. There was no way in hell Stryk or his brothers were going to offer trade after they had all but destroyed their chances at procreating.
If he had his way Stryk would wipe them all out of existence but the elders had shut down communications with any other planets in the galaxy and the warriors of Safura had become reclusive. They had spent their time training in case the Pendag ever came back and he could see now, how wrong they had been.
Thankfully their scientists and medics had worked hard to eventually find a cure to clear the poisons from the water and soil but they had also sprung ahead leaps and bounds with their technology. Maybe now that a tentative alliance had been formed with planets Aeros, Cardinal, and Zennox, it was time to share those advances. The other planets also had an abundance of water which would be a draw to the enemy and although those worlds had power crystals, too, those crystals weren’t as strong as the illumcrystal. But first things first.
Stryk nudged his brothers and then took the lead out to the balcony where River was leaning against the stone railing as she stared at everything around her. It was time to talk with their true-mate and get to know her. Hopefully it wouldn’t take her too long to decide to agree to be theirs. He couldn’t wait to hold that delectable soft warm body against his once more.
“River?” Stryk walked up next to her and although he didn’t touch her, he was close enough to smell her sweet scent and feel the heat coming off of her body. Palk, Hakk, and Toak moved in close to her so the she was surrounded by them. When he saw her muscles tense he glanced at his brothers giving them a signal to move back a few steps at the same time he took two steps to the side. “Are you feeling well?”
River turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow but he wasn’t sure what the action meant, though her next words were sarcastic he had no idea what the word meant either. “Peachy.”
“Talk to us, Rive
r. Tell us what you are feeling,” Stryk urged. He and his brothers needed to understand her so they could help her. He could tell by her eyes she was in some sort of emotional turmoil, but she managed to keep the expression on her face blank.
He frowned and wondered why a female would feel the need to hide her emotions. Had someone hurt her?
“Really?” she asked. “You really want to know what I am feeling?”
Stryk became even more worried because with each word she’d spoken her voice had risen in pitch and the look in her eyes was a mixture of fear, confusion, and sadness. He hated that she was feeling so much unrest and vowed to do everything he could to make her transition into their world, their lives, as easy as possible.
“I feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole and Dorothy being hurled around by a twirling tornado all at the same time.”
Stryk glanced at his brothers to see if they knew what she was talking about and they each shrugged in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“I feel like I’m going crazy. Is that succinct enough for you? How do you think I feel? Here I am on a world, God knows where, in God knows what galaxy, with no real knowledge of how I got here or how to get back home, surrounded by huge, hunky, strange men and aliens, who think I’m their mate. Does that answer your question?”
Stryk’s heart felt like it was bleeding when he saw moisture well in her eyes. The pain in those beautiful green windows to her soul was nothing like he’d ever witnessed and hoped to never see again. She turned, pushing her way through Hakk and Toak and rushed down the stairs and into the gardens.
Stryk cursed under his breath and began to follow but Palk grabbed his arm to stop him. “Give her a couple of minutes to herself brother. She needs time to accept she is no longer on her home world.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to offer her comfort?” Hakk asked as he moved to stand at the top of the stairs.
“She hides her inner self from others and herself. Do you think she will tell us what is wrong when she’s only just laid eyes on us?” Toak asked with a frown.
Stryk looked at his younger brother in a new light. They were all so used to giving orders and sorting out problems amongst their warriors the only time they had free was a couple of standard hours before taking their night rest, and although none of them would ever hurt a female none of them were used to the emotions or dealing with the weaker sex. When decisions were made they were made with fairness and logic but never compassion, but Toak had just shown more of himself than Stryk had ever seen. His younger brother was full of wisdom and benevolence and maybe he and his other two brothers could learn how to reach their mate through him.
“She is heading toward the warrior training sector,” Palk stated in a worried voice.
“I don’t think she will encroach on the training ground,” Toak said. “She was on the verge of crying and wouldn’t want any of our men to see her that way. She didn’t want us to see her fall apart. Our mate is used to being in control. I have a feeling she has been alone for a long time.”
* * * *
River didn’t know where she was going but it didn’t matter. She needed time to herself so she could get her riotous thoughts and emotions under control. She’d learned to push all her feelings down deep and ignore them but right now she felt like they were in a bubbling cauldron and even putting a lid on the swirling, boiling reactions inside of her wasn’t going to be enough to stop them this time.
Any other time she might have taken in the massive flowers blooming under the warm sun and inhaled their sweet perfume but instead she veered off the path and ran through the tall plants and tried to stifle the sobs erupting from her mouth. Tears ran down her face and blurred her vision but she didn’t care, she just needed to be alone.
When the sounds of the training warriors reached her ears she stopped her maddened flight and sank down onto the carpet soft green grass and bent over as she clutched her stomach. She tried to keep her sobs quiet but wasn’t sure if she’d succeeded.
River cursed that her body and mind chose this moment to rebel and let the pain inside of her out. She was normally calm to the point of emotionless but somehow those four men had managed to break the shields she’d erected over the last twenty-five years with one question.
She didn’t know how long she sat hidden among the flowers and plants nor for how long she’d been crying but finally the emotional storm slowed and then ceased. Her eyes burned from her tears, her cheeks felt sticky as the salty water dried on her skin and she probably looked like she spent the night on an alcoholic bender with her red eyes and nose, but again she just couldn’t muster the energy to care. She was totally exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep. With a sigh she rolled onto her side in the fetal position and slept.
* * * *
River opened her eyes when she heard the chanting and at first she began to get scared, afraid she would find herself sent to another planet with strangers, but as the chanting got louder she felt a peacefulness wash over her and sighed as her fear dissipated completely. She gasped in awe when she saw a beautiful woman walking toward her and for some reason knew that this was the goddess Annie had told her about. She had so many questions and only hoped she would be able to ask them.
“Hello, River. Yes, you’re right I am Branwen.” Branwen sat down on the grass next to her and took a moment to arrange the long, white, flowing, toga style dress she was wearing around her legs.
“Why me? Why did you send me here?”
“Are you not searching for love?” Branwen asked. “Were you not praying to the gods for someone to love you for who you are?”
River swallowed and nodded. She had spent the last five years praying for someone to love with a desperation against the loneliness in her life. “Yes.”
“I have given you the chance to love and be loved in return. Are you going to throw it away?”
“They don’t know me. I don’t know them. We aren’t even the same…species.”
“Do you think I would send you to men you were incompatible with?”
“No,” she whispered her reply.
“They have need of you, too. Nearly all of their females are with the gods. The Safura warriors cut themselves off from the universe and hid themselves away, scared to open themselves up because of all the pain they have already endured.”
River met Branwen’s golden eyes and could see she spoke the truth. “If they are closed off, then this won’t work.”
“They were already beginning to hope again and working hard to form an alliance with the other planets in this galaxy. The alliance is tentative and there are some who will do everything to prevent the treaty. You have the power to bring the worlds together but only if you reach out to your mates.”
“But I don’t know anything about this place or any of the others. How could I do…”
Branwen held up her hand. “Once the true-mate is complete you will have all the knowledge you need to go forward. You can deny your heart’s desire if you wish but your body doesn’t lie.
“They need you as much as you need them. Open your heart and embrace your destiny River Caisson.”
River blinked when Branwen began to fade right before her very eyes and as her eyelids grew heavy once more, she felt the light touch of a soft hand on her brow. Once more she was enfolded in warmth and tranquility and sank into a deeper sleep.
Chapter Four
Hakk had found it hard to leave their mate to her solitude but he heeded his brothers’ wishes and stayed on the balcony as he stared at the last place he’d seen River. It had been almost an hour since she’d disappeared from view.
Stryk and Palk had been called away to sort out a petty argument between the kitchen staff and Toak was currently reclining on one of the lounge chairs near the wall of the house.
Hakk was about to try and convince Toak they should go look for their mate when he caught sight of her in the distance. She looked a little disheveled but to him she was the absolute visa
ge of feminine perfection. Her red hair looked like it was on fire beneath the waning rays of the sun and as he caught sight of her body moving through the plants and flowers, his soft cock twitched and began to harden. She was barefoot and wearing her strange garb but she looked so damn sexy. The sheathe around her hips and upper legs wasn’t tight but firm enough for him to see the gentle sway of her hips as she walked and the top covering her upper half molded to her generous breasts as they moved slightly beneath the silky blue fabric. His cock went instantly hard and it took all of his strength of will to not go to her and scoop her up into his arms.
When she was close enough for him to see her face he could tell that she had been crying. He smelled the salty liquid on her face and the whites surrounding her pretty eyes were shot through with fine lines of red. She looked up and her step hesitated for an infinitesimal moment and he didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until her foot landed on the first step as she continued up them.
She glanced at Toak as he rose to his feet and then looked his way for a second or two, but she didn’t maintain visual contact and her face was once more in that expressionless mask.
When he heard a loud noise coming from her stomach he remembered that none of them had partaken any of the feast which had been laid out for them over a standard hour ago and felt guilty that his mate was experiencing hunger.
“Would you like to come back to the feasting hall to eat and drink?” Hakk asked as he took a step in her direction, but he stopped when she sidestepped.
“Yes, please.” She licked her lips as if they were dry.
