“Well spoken, Leric. Something to ponder once we have matters in hand.” And if he’d failed with his chosen, others could learn from his loss. The weight of such a thing caused him to seek out his chair, where he brooded, watching and waiting for word. His exec retreated to his own station, respecting his sovereign’s obvious request for space.
The crew moved quickly and efficiently about their tasks and prudently ignored him. No doubt they’d chewed over his confession to Neira and while, generally speaking, the word of the sovereign was law and willingly adopted as thought and action by his people, they had to know something hadn’t gone according to plan given his presence here. When he should be bonding with his chosen.
“Sir.” Leric broke into Vayne’s train of thought and he focused on his exec, who was tapping away on his display. “Ambassador Rush’s name has come up three times. I’ve confirmed it with all sources.”
The lassitude that plagued him since his revelation about Neira and his own ineptness was replaced with a sense of elation. So his intuition had been correct, back when he’d seduced Rush’s daughter, Fiona. The man’s reaction to him had teased the senses, a mixture of fear, scorn and cunning. The fear had obviously won out, unless someone with more brains had warned the ambassador. Vayne had no idea who had assembled the assassination teams, but Rush used Fiona as the reason to expel Vayne and bar him from Earth after he’d escaped. Now it appeared the man was a still-living culprit, linked to the unleashing of the genetic weapon.
“Who does he have ties with?”
Leric consulted his display. “No one alive from that time except for Senator Annis. They have considerable history. Matriculated together and ran in the same circles. Same political leanings. Annis is presently in an advanced care facility. Old age complicated by Winns disease. Your chosen shared his name as well.”
Winns was easily contracted by humans who traveled to certain planets, Ureses being one of them. The unfortunate Mr. Winns had been the first to die from the disease, for which there was still no known cure. “Map his itinerary for the past decades, at least two before the war. Compare against what we know about Baraith’s.” Humans lived well over a century with proper medical care and nutrition, and Annis would have had the best of those options, so his culpability was entirely probable.
He waited patiently, and within a few moments Leric confirmed the old man’s travel to Ureses and another of those planets. There was no apparent good reason for him to have been on either. The timing provided him the opportunity and access to Baraith on both, sealing his fate. “Have him removed from the facility and dumped in one of the ghettos.”
“It’s likely he’d succumb to Winns within the year, Sovereign.” Leric offered another option as dictated by his status. “Or he could be terminated at once.”
“Or he can live out that year without comfort, alone and without resources. Wandering aimlessly.” Neither he nor Leric were under any illusions as to what twelve months with that disease in the slums would be like for Annis. It wasn’t enough suffering after what he’d done. Those in the ghettos tended to torture and taunt the crazy ones, rather than kill them, so the old man might pay the entire time. The hunters would carry out his orders and no doubt be happy to return home with a hostage.
“Yes, sir. And the ambassador?”
“Have him brought here. Recall all the hunters from Earth.”
“Not take him to Nibiru, then?” His exec knew that execution needed to happen publicly for Rush, once he’d confessed his crimes, but that was a moot point. He would confess and the Shadalla would have at least one mentally competent individual to see punished—but Vayne required the man on the Tomodr far more at the moment.
“We have a blockade to breach, Leric. Bring the ambassador here. He has a variety of uses.” And I have the need to face him personally before he is held on Nibiru.
“Sir.”
That left Baraith, and perhaps Rush would prove helpful in that regard as well. Vayne waited for the serenity that should rise and soothe him, knowing he’d found the last of those responsible—and still alive—for the genetic crime. But while he could admit to a certain satisfaction, he couldn’t settle.
“I’ll be in my quarters. Alert me to any changes and to the arrival of our ships. And of the ambassador.” He’d lay odds Rush would arrive first, the hunters’ small predator craft being quick and difficult to track.
Leric acknowledged him, and Vayne pushed to his feet, suddenly weary and in need of his lifemate. Her proximity would nurture him and the irony wasn’t lost. He should be meeting her every need, rather than expect her to assuage his.
Once again entering his cabin, Vayne was struck by Neira’s natural, spicy scent as it surrounded him, a fragrance forever etched on his senses. He inhaled deeply and approached the bunk, wondering who was the master and who, the captive. He laid a hand on her shrouded form and she came up off the mattress in a welter of flailing limbs, right into his arms. She was shivering, her lips nearly blue with cold and Vayne cursed himself for leaving her.
Cuddling her close, he murmured, “I have you, little warrior. I have you.”
In time she was soothed and he marked the moment when her demeanor changed from that of a lost waif both seeking and offering solace to…something vastly different. Something passionate and wanton. All his angst and soul searching fell away as his dominance surged to replace it, Neira’s telegraphed need so dire he had no choice but to meet it.
He managed to lay her shaking body upon the bunk, reluctant to put any space between them but desperate to remove his clothing—the better to experience the heated velvet and silk of her against his naked flesh.
“Hurry.” Neira’s moan spurred him on and his tunic joined his leggings in less than a stint.
Her face was flushed with desire and this time her golden eyes were dilated with lust and not fear. As he watched, the tip of her tongue crept out to moisten her short upper lip. Vayne tried to rein in his beast but lost all semblance of control when she reached between them and stroked his pulsing cock. She wasn’t hard to pin beneath his weight, soft in all the right places even as her toned body fit against his with no give. He wrestled her hands above her head and fastened them into the cuffs with the ease of long practice.
“No.” Her breathing changed from passionate soughing to restricted pants.
“It is our way, little warrior. Especially this first time.” He remembered his promise to explain about the restraints and how he’d been distracted. “Neira. I won’t hurt you. You have my word.”
Thick, black lashes cloaked her gaze, blocking his read on her and his hearts hammered with fear that she would refuse him. “I can’t be restrained.”
“You can. With me.” Vayne stared into her eyes as her lids fluttered open and let her see into him. “If you touch me this first time, even in passion, a…part of me…will construe it as interference, resistance, and I’ll get rough with you. I won’t allow it.”
Inch by infinitesimal inch her glorious body relaxed beneath him as she gave him her trust, and Vayne had never felt so honored. He wanted to ask about her change of heart. Why she’d responded to him and needed him so badly that her arousal perfumed the room and she fairly seethed with yearning, but he ascribed to one of the Home World’s sayings. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Although how a nearly extinct quadruped might compare to his lifemate was beyond him, except for the wild, untamed part of her. And the beauty. And the fact she was also one of a kind.
Leaning in, he kissed her, absorbing the taste and feel of those firm lips, pressing firmly and possessively before licking along the seam in a quest for the treasure within. On a whisper of a moan Neira parted for him and he slipped inside the moist cavern, working over her teeth, testing her palate before teasing her tongue with his own. Only when he knew she required more air than what she’d drawn through her flaring nostrils did he pull back, and her tawny eyes blinked open.
“You taste like mel, sweet and smooth an
d golden.”
“Honey?”
“The same.” Vayne set his lips against her temple, pressing kisses downward, over the curve of her cheek, the sharp angle of her jaw and the long length of her neck. He paused to nibble at the pulse that beat so quickly there, his hearts speeding up in response. Tearing his mouth away, lest her response pull him too quickly, he shifted to place a knee on either side of her waist and sat back. This was something he refused to rush, no matter how his beast insisted he take her immediately. “Lights.”
Neira flinched and blushed. An actual pink flood of color washed over her cheeks.
Knowing he loomed over her, something that gave him great satisfaction, he checked her for fear and was relieved to see nothing but embarrassment. Placing a finger just below the hollow of her throat, he traced a light path along her body to the top of her pubis. “Beautiful.”
Neira squirmed and tried to look away but he pinned her with his gaze. “I’ve seen you naked for days, little warrior. Washed every inch of your body. Why are you shy?”
Visibly searching for words, whether the ones she thought he wanted to hear or the truth, she finally answered him. “This is intimate. I don’t do sex this way.”
He’d been correct not to put her beneath him and thrust into her wetness, then, despite the nonverbal consent. Still, he wasn’t going to ask for it now. If she refused him, then she did, but he wasn’t asking. His beast nodded its approval via his cock and he used his other hand to stroke it. Neira’s gaze locked on the movement and her red nipples pebbled harder. “This isn’t merely sex, Neira. Understand that.”
Vayne held his breath. Of course he had to gain her consent, his beast be damned. His moral compass served him well in this regard, at least. Neira bit the corner of her bottom lip, something so curiously erotic yet out of character that he immediately wanted to kiss her again.
“I need you, Vayne. I suffered while you were gone. I tried to hate you for making me dependent in any way, however you did it. But dammit, I need you to fuck me.”
“Do you consent?”
“I’m in your cuffs and not screaming the place down, and I’m not trying to kick your balls into your throat. I’d say that’s consent.”
“Neira.” His balls rested on the patch of hair decorating her mound, a delightful, soft, whiskery nest, and he had only to shift his body a few parsis to fit his anxious cock against her opening. Plunge deep inside of what had to be heaven. He could feel the heat radiating up from the apex of her thighs, calling to him, and her scent made him mad. He chose his response deliberately. “I can fuck any number of females—”
She tensed and glared, that mouth he’d just plundered and caused to swell like a blossom now flattening into a thin line.
“—but you are not merely any female. You are my chosen.”
“I can’t, Vayne. I can’t be your chosen, not forever. But I need you.” Despite his own frustration and anguish he nearly laughed at the miserable look on her face.
“What is it you truly fear?” he asked carefully.
“Losing myself. If I am to live, then it has to be on my terms and not as a mere extension of Vayne Palldyn.”
With a heavy heart he swung off of her and to the floor, reaching for his uniform leggings. It nearly killed him to withdraw from her and his beast snarled impotently. Neira let out a sound suspiciously like a sob behind him and he turned to see her tug herself back with the cuffs to sit up against the head of the bunk. She watched him with a guarded expression and curled her legs under her as he once again freed her wrists. He resolutely didn’t look at her breasts and found it painful to even match her stare. What was there to say? “I have news.”
She blinked and swallowed hard, visibly shifting to follow his new line of thought. “Did you find him?”
“Not Baraith. Yet. But the last two living conspirators are mine. And it’s you I have to thank.” He moved to release her hands and she grabbed at the linens to pull them over her, obviously cold again. Vayne called for more heat in the cabin and paced to the chair.
“Will you tell me the plan?” Her flushed cheeks belied the calm question, and her arousal wafted to his nostrils.
“Of course.” Somehow he gained control. He shifted to ease the aching of his balls and shaft, concentrating on the fact his little warrior would know he’d have a plan. She was his perfect counterpart and how could she not understand that? Quickly sharing what he’d doomed Annis to, he marked a brief flare of distaste on her lovely face before she nodded.
He took a deep breath, a mistake, because she smelled so damn good. “And the ambassador will be here as quickly as my hunters can arrange it.”
“You’ll have the military after you in full force.”
“No. I have complete confidence that Rush will be taken without a trace, no evidence left, and his absence will be explained only if I wish it.”
“You’ll use him as barter to get past the Outriders? To ensure we get to Nibiru safely?” Neira rested her hand against her throat and he admired the long lines of it. Was he wrong to experience a frisson of hope when she spoke of his planet as her destination?
“I will use him if necessary.”
Huddling beneath the blanket, Neira again chewed on her lip. “You would let the entire, sordid mess come to light? Won’t that give the Home World unwanted insight? They’ll learn about your need for females to continue your species. You’ll be giving up a tactical advantage.”
Ah, his little warrior, ever the soldier. Not daring to touch her, his beast roiling beneath the surface of his control and raving to join with her, Vayne contented himself with a shrug. “As you pointed out earlier, it was but a matter of time.”
She stared at him, then slowly shook her head, never taking her gaze from his. “You’re doing this for me. Because of me.”
“You are my chosen. I’ll protect and defend you to the death.”
A huge tear gathered in the corner of one eye before escaping the confines of her lashes and rolling down her cheek. Vayne could have sworn he heard it splash down, given his heightened senses and how in tune he was with her. He somehow stayed sitting, very nearly past the last of his famed self-control. He might have gone to her, whether to comfort or take her as his own he didn’t know, when the display signaled a request to enter.
Neira broke her stare and faced away from him toward the hull. Vayne shoved to his feet, grateful for the interruption because he could see no way to breach the impasse. Time was running out on all fronts. He keyed the door open and the panel slid wide to display his medic, Stenlor. The other male’s eyes were wide with apprehension and Vayne frowned.
“What is it?”
“Sovereign, I signaled you via the com but there was no response. And I believe you must see this.”
Vayne cast a look at the display panel. He’d forgotten that it had been set for bridge traffic only, considering their current state of readiness. He reached for the tablet clutched in Stenlor’s hand. Scanning the information, he raised his eyes to the other male’s, and the medic gave a confirming nod.
“How? Do you have an explanation?”
“No. I’ve set more tests to run while I came here, sir. We aren’t as well equipped for this kind of research on the Tomodr but I entered everything I had and what seemed applicable from the data banks.”
Vayne stepped out into the corridor, using his bulk to force the medic along the hall. “You’re aware that my chosen is resisting me.”
Bowing his head, Stenlor grunted an acknowledgment. The little scene in the ship’s mess had indeed been bandied about. But Vayne didn’t care. There was something momentous here and while he had yet to process it completely, it didn’t feel horrible. A thought struck that burgeoning sense of hope dead. He waited until he could be certain of sounding as befitted a sovereign and not a man hopelessly enamored by a feisty leicat of a woman.
“Would…involvement with another of our kind, even someone less evolved, have caused this ability?” The
other male didn’t know what had caused Neira to break down, only that she had and required medical support. He’d done the compatibility testing at the same time, something else Vayne was certain he was going to suffer for when Neira found out. But in the meantime the thought of Baraith… A knife to his gut would be more palatable.
Immediately, the medic shook his head. “Nothing in our files would support that theory. I thought of it, of course, considering our species’ inclination to dabble with otherworld females. But there would be evidence in her genetic markers and there is none. Your chosen has never been bonded and nor has she borne children.”
“But if she has the ability to resist—it’s not me? I am producing—”
“Yes, sir. In goodly amounts. It was apparent when I determined the likelihood of procreation. Your pheromones are more prevalent and potent than Leric’s, which is why it is so puzzling. You and the Earth human are a near-perfect match and offspring are a certainty.”
Only if he was successful in getting his seed inside of her, Vayne thought ruefully, keeping his features impassive. “Near perfect?”
“Well, she isn’t Shadalla.”
“Thank you, Stenlor. Keep this confidential and encrypt all files. We may soon be face-to-face with representatives of the Home World and I haven’t yet decided what they should be privy to. And, when possible, I want you to seek information on all the other otherworld females and their Shadalla mates. I will personally consult with Leric.”
The other man’s head tilted and he got a faraway look on his face. The medic wasn’t only an excellent physician but a brilliant scientist too, one who loved space travel. Vayne was suddenly beyond pleased Stenlor was along on this trip.
Focusing again, Stenlor nodded. “I take your point, Sovereign. This puts a very different face on things. One that excites the scientist in me. It couldn’t be something terribly obvious and very unlikely any of the males would overtly share because of bringing their bond under scrutiny.”
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