by Vi Voxley
It was terribly ironic that it took a Nayanor attack to make Jackie realize how much she wanted to live. She wasn't prepared to give up on anything like Tom worried.
No capitulation for me. Not to the illness. And not to Nayanors.
A fighter flew over her so closely Jackie ducked instinctively, thinking it actually brushed against her, but of course it was far off the ground. Way too close for comfort, though.
There was no choice. Ellora was gone. Her only hope was to hide in the sparse forests by the mountainside and pray she wasn't found. Nayanors were famous for not leaving anyone behind – men were killed and women were taken – and Jackie didn't think she'd suddenly developed a faith in miracles.
The only good odds could have come from finding a crevice in the hill or a small cave that could hide her heat signature from the raiders' scanners.
The fighter landed a little away from her. Jackie knew she should have run already, but something kept her in place. She moved away from the path, peeking from behind a tree she knew wouldn't hide her.
I just want to see one of them.
The hatch of the fighter opened and a warrior stepped out, casting his gaze over the edge of the forest.
It was he who nailed Jackie's feet to the ground like they were glued there. For some time between a second and an eternity, she just stood and stared.
Sure, like every other Terran woman, she'd been warned that for all their brutishness and cruelty, Nayanors weren't unpleasant to the eyes, but nothing could have prepared Jackie for the truth.
The warrior – a warlord actually, considering how he dealt out orders to the men following him in a deep, powerful voice – was the single most gorgeous man Jackie had ever seen.
It wasn't mere lust that filled her, although there was a fair share of that, courtesy of living like a nun ever since she heard her diagnosis. She stared at the man observing the forest with a knowing, easy smirk on his lips. It was obvious to Jackie that she'd somehow ended up twenty feet from a Nayanor harbinger, one of the most dangerous and merciless creatures in the galaxy.
All the while standing there like an idiot with a heartbeat so loud the warlord had to hear her. Jackie tried to concentrate on running, hiding, escaping. But all she could focus on was how merely looking at that man made her feel.
From head to toe, the harbinger was surrounded by an aura of power. Even in the midst of powerfully-built Nayanors, he stood out, more than seven feet tall, with a body like a titan, short hair the color of dirty silver and eyes like deep, dark pools that drew her in like gravity.
The look on his face told Jackie very clearly that it was a man who was used to getting what he wanted and making the world bend when it didn't pay up.
I need to go. Gods, what am I still doing here?
At that moment, the second Jackie's resolve finally ripped itself free from the mesmerizing power of the harbinger, the warlord turned her way.
There was no doubt in her heart. He'd seen her.
A wild, predatory grin spread on the harbinger's lips. The look of a born hunter.
Jackie didn't think she made for much of a prey, but she wasn't a cowering rabbit either. She turned on her heels and once more, ran.
It was the hardest thing in her life not to look back to see if she was being followed, how far the warlord was. Nayanors wore sturdy, massive spiked armors, dark like the night. It wasn't exactly a sprinting outfit, but on the other hand they were warriors. Not soldiers like on Terra. Men who'd been bred and born for battle.
Jackie ran as far as she could without collapsing. Finally, she had to stop or her heart would. She leaned against the small cliff she'd hidden behind, looking around, trying not to breathe too loudly but the panting made it hard.
There was no one in sight.
Jackie should have been glad, but instead every inch of her tensed up like a cat who senses danger.
Nayanors don't just give up on prey. And I'm not that fast.
Jackie's heart thundered in her chest as she peeked around the corner again. Her long strawberry blonde hair fell on her face, coming out of the ponytail with all her mad rushing. She pressed her body against the cliff to see further.
Someone tapped her shoulder.
Jackie screamed. She was standing in a second, turning around so fast it made her dizzy, only to find herself face to face with the harbinger.
The warlord had the same amused, hungry grin on his lips. His incredible dark eyes bore into her, making Jackie shiver from head to toe. She told herself firmly it was just fear, but up so close it was very hard to deny how gorgeous the man was.
"Gods above," she whispered. "Did you teleport behind me?"
It shouldn't have been even close to the top of her priorities, but somehow, insanely, it was. She was caught already. All the plans and tricks washed away like drawings in sand as Jackie only wanted to know how she'd been caught so easily. It was insulting.
The harbinger laughed. His deep voice echoed back from the mountains. Jackie felt goosebumps.
"No," the man said. "Why do you ask, female?"
"It's just not fair," Jackie said, resting against the cliff, feeling trapped between the rock and the harbinger's huge body. "No one should be able to sneak around in armor like that."
She was grasping at straws, making small talk like that. Jackie knew what was going to happen, after all. Everyone knew. Every woman on Terra knew that Nayanors came and took what they wanted and none of the women were ever seen again.
And there she was, trying her hardest not to imagine what a man that stunning looked like without his armor.
"Fair?" the harbinger asked, taking a step closer. "It's not supposed to be fair. In battle it's good to let the enemy hear you, to make them know you're not afraid of them. But I can move very quietly if I need to. And I wanted to look at you."
It didn't help with her pulse at all.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack," Jackie protested quietly.
"I could say the same," the harbinger growled and suddenly he was very, very close to her.
Black, bottomless eyes held her gaze as the warlord leaned down, lifting her chin up. Jackie was pinned between the cliff and the armor, unable to struggle free. She was left with no other option than to meet the man's eyes with her own. Her light greens searched his dark as the man closed the last of the distance between them, holding her tightly now.
"I always knew I'd find my female on Terra," the harbinger said. "I have to admit that despite that, I wasn't prepared. When I saw you before, it took me a long moment to follow you, hence your headstart."
Jackie wanted to be mad at the implied insult that she would have been caught in two seconds if the Nayanor hadn't been so stunned by her, but that wasn't the prevailing emotion.
That would have been "oh hell".
The grin was back on the harbinger's lips as he spoke firmly, his words making Jackie feel that by simply uttering them, he was making everything he said real.
"I am Kol-Eresh," the warlord said in his deep, sonorous voice. "And you are my fated. You will be mine from now on until the darkness comes and nothing in the galaxy could take you from me."
Jackie's mind was racing a thousand miles per hour, but the one thought that shouted the loudest in her head was:
Wanna bet?
Thoughts of her illness and the terrible fate that was in store for her were banished by Kol-Eresh's lips on hers. The harbinger pulled her in for a ravishing, wild kiss that left Jackie breathless for the second time in a few minutes.
She gasped when he claimed her lips, trying to push herself free, but she might as well have wrestled the cliff behind her. And after a moment, she found herself responding, unable to deny how the harbinger's kiss sent electric thrills down her spine. No one had done that to her in years, if ever.
Jackie told herself that it was a horrible idea to be that vulnerable, but it wasn't working. Her apparent fated kissed like he hunted, without mercy or possibility of resistance. Jackie
was left reeling from it when Kol-Eresh finally drew back, a wide smirk on his lips.
"Your name?" he asked. "I want to know my fated's name."
"Jackie," she breathed, her legs shaking against her better judgment. "I'm Jackie."
The harbinger's eyes flashed like she'd somehow spoken a spell.
"Jackie," he repeated and for a second, she could have believed in name magic, that the warlord was actually tying her to himself by that. "Come with me."
The second the harbinger stepped away from her, Jackie bolted. She ran without care this time, knowing it was futile, but she had to try. Attraction was nothing, as was the fact she would never have a life with that man. There was no future where she would voluntarily spend her last days as a prisoner on some cruel, lost world.
She heard the warlord behind her.
"Jackie!" the voice called when she dashed between a small pathway too narrow for the harbinger to follow.
The tone of Kol-Eresh's voice was dark and... something else. Warning?
The path won her a few seconds, but judging by the sound of it, the harbinger was simply forcing his way through sheer rock to get to her.
For the first time, Jackie felt real fear.
He's going to get me. He's going to drag me away and take me to his home world and I'll never see anything or anyone I love ever again.
The bitter tears in her eyes weren't just for the alien world. The realization that she was going to die, more alone than she'd ever imagined she would be, finally hit her.
Perhaps it was the tears running down her face and clouding her vision. Perhaps it was the mad, dream-like running. Perhaps it was the fact that the endless, deadly chasm was very well hidden.
Jackie went through the motions of a cartoon she'd seen as a child. It seemed to her that against all logic, she took a few steps over the edge of the cliff before she realized there was nothing carrying her weight anymore.
No ground beneath her feet.
I don't want to –
Jackie fell.
Three
Kol-Eresh
Kol-Eresh jumped.
Without a second's hesitation, the harbinger cast himself into the chasm after his fated.
He'd lived through some horror on his home world Luminos, some of which Kol-Eresh still remembered, but nothing in his life had compared to seeing Jackie disappear in front him. The scanners of his fighter had picked up the danger before so Kol-Eresh knew exactly what it was that expected him.
A thousand-foot drop into nothing.
He'd been so close to her that right before his fated fell, Kol-Eresh had been about to grab her and pull her back to safety. Running straight-on to the loving grasp of gravity, all he could hope for was that she'd managed to grab on to something to slow her fall. Or else it was going to be too late.
The harbinger ripped his gigantic sword from the sheath when he jumped, turning in air and catching Jackie.
The second his fated was in his arms, Kol-Eresh knew that it was only a matter of strength to save her and he had plenty of that. Instinctively, she clung to him as the sword in his hand cut the cliffside while they rolled down into the depth.
"Hold on!" he called to her.
The crash was harsh. It was impossible to thrust the sword into the cliff wall from a freefall, but Kol-Eresh saw a small ridge that would do for a leverage. He aimed for it and in the next second, they slammed against the chasm wall, hanging from the sword that was caught between the rocks.
It was precarious to say the least.
For a long moment, Kol-Eresh didn't move a muscle, simply held on to Jackie as she shivered in his arms. He could feel his fated's gorgeous body shudder under his fingers. She was bleeding despite the fact he'd broken her fall with his own body.
The alternative was unthinkable, after all.
Slowly, very slowly, Jackie raised her beautiful, curious green eyes to him, looking around. Her face was inches from him and he loved her sweet, soft breath on his face.
"Will it hold?" she whispered as if she was afraid that even speaking louder would send them to the bottom of the chasm.
"Yes," Kol-Eresh growled. "But we have to move. I need you to trust me."
Jackie's eyes told him she thought he was joking. Kol-Eresh felt his usual grin spreading on his lips. He had no quarrel with the female trying to run from him. It was a natural thing for them in the beginning when the prospect of spending their lives on Luminos was still the only thing they could focus on. His fated was no different and that made the harbinger glad.
He wouldn't have wanted a cozy, submissive female. Half the joy of a fated bond was taming your mate, fighting her fierce spirit and making it your own.
"You have got to be kidding me," Jackie said.
"Do you want to die?" he asked her in turn.
The female looked down, immediately regretting that decision judging by how tightly she clung to him. The sword wobbled a little and it made her tense up even further.
"No," she said firmly, an odd note in her voice. "No, I don't."
"Then listen to me. You will do as I say and I'll get us out of here. Do you understand? Only what I say. Nothing more and nothing less."
"I understand," Jackie replied, nodding, her head still pressed against his shoulder guard.
It was impossible to resist her like that. Her soft, fresh scent washed over Kol-Eresh like a wave that enveloped him, turning him on at the worst possible time. He ached to bring her back to his ship, the Leviathan, to have Jackie in his bed, naked and willing beneath him. The harbinger groaned at the back of his throat, forcing his desires away for a later, considerably more convenient time.
"Relax, then," he told Jackie. "I will throw you."
"Throw me?" Jackie spurted. "No!"
Kol-Eresh chuckled. It was natural for other species to fear death, but their absolute refusal to save their own lives continued to amuse him.
"You will do as I say," he replied calmly. "You are my fated. I would not let you die here. If you don't trust me, trust that."
Jackie seemed to consider that. Nayanors were famous for being protective of their fateds and they certainly weren't anywhere near helpless.
"There has to be another way," the female said, her voice almost pleading. "You can't throw me. I'm not the heaviest woman in the world, but I'm not a toy you can fling around either."
Kol-Eresh considered. Dealing with Nayanors was easier that way. All he had to do was order them and the warriors fell in line as was their place. With the female, it was more difficult. Obedience wasn't built into her.
"If I just reached that ledge, I could climb –" the female began, but Kol cut in.
"Stop," he ordered, pulling her closer to himself. "I will try to save your life now. If you do as I say, nothing will happen to you."
"And if I fail?" Jackie asked, exasperated. "I'll fall to my death."
"We both will," Kol-Eresh said, shrugging, adjusting his grip on the sword. "I would never let you fall alone. Are you ready? Relax."
There was a strange glint in Jackie's eyes, especially when he said the word "alone". After a long moment, the harbinger could feel his fated untangle her fingers from the straps of his armor and prepare to do as she'd been told.
"Close your eyes," Kol-Eresh said. "Before you know it, I will be there with you to claim those soft, sweet lips of yours again. I won't deny myself that."
Jackie's lips curled into a small smile as she closed her eyes.
"Nayanors," she sighed. "That's the first believable thing you've told me all day –"
Kol-Eresh eyed the ledge he'd chosen, barely larger than her, and threw her with all his might. The female screamed when she was propelled through the air, landing heavily on the ledge, grabbing a hold of it like she was afraid the gravity was going to reach out and drag her over the edge.
The sword slipped free.
"No!" the harbinger could hear Jackie scream.
He was falling again, but not for long. The chasm w
as growing tighter and it didn't take more than a few heartbeats for him to stop his fall again. The sword was firmly in his hand, but the blade would definitely need sharpening after he'd used it as a climbing tool.
From where he was, in the shadows of the chasm, Kol-Eresh could see his fated on the lone ledge suspended over the fall. She was kneeling on the edge, looking down with clear desperation and fear in her eyes.
It would have been easy and logical to believe that the only thing she was concerned about was her own life. Without him, it would have been hard for her to climb out alone.
That wasn't it. Kol-Eresh watched her for a long moment, a knowing grin on his lips before he made himself visible again, slipping into the light shining from above. He climbed up the cliffside, jumping over the distances he didn't want to bother with, sheathing the sword when the chasm opened up enough to maneuver it.
There was a definite look of relief in Jackie's eyes when she saw him emerge from the darkness.
"I knew you'd be fond of me," he told her when he joined her on the ledge.
Jackie quickly fought down a small smile, shaking her head.
"You're confusing my basic humanity with fondness," she told him firmly. "You saved my life. I didn't want to repay that with getting you killed."
Kol-Eresh chuckled.
"I won't die here," he said, looking around. "It's nothing more than a simple test of my skills and a chance for you to get all the fighting out of your systems. The gods have been wise, but they won't take either one of us. Not before we've gotten the chance to taste each other."
He could see Jackie wince at that. There were so many emotions behind her eyes, he couldn't imagine how a person could feel all those and not burst. The fear was evident, yet so was the lightning-quick flash of desire she couldn't hide from him.
His own body was hopelessly aching for her. The armor he wore and the clothes on Jackie were in the way of pressing his hot skin against hers, feeling her writhe underneath him as he drove into her again and again. Kol-Eresh's lips curled wider in the grin as he imagined plunging his cock into her wet pussy, claiming her for his own.
