by Mary Auclair
Control? Who was he kidding? Control was a white unicorn lost in space where Hazel was concerned. Control was the Midnight God’s mate, as elusive as she was entrancing.
“The Mating Venom cannot be controlled.” Speaking the words made Khal realize how true it was. “All I can do now is delay it.”
He had watched all his brothers fall victim to its attraction, but he had never understood the true pull of it. The irreversibility, the ravaging obsession of it. The Mating Venom was a poison whose effect could not be truly expressed with words. None could understand it before feeling it.
The Mating Venom was like a hook, dug deep in his gut, one that would neither release nor relent.
“Does Hazel know this?”
Hearing her name on the lips of another male unleashed a torrent of bile up his throat and Khal snarled, barely containing the savage impulse to shred the other male to pieces. The instinct would push him more and more toward violence, he knew. His body perceived any other male as a rival until the moment he claimed Hazel as his.
This situation is much more dangerous than I thought. I have to do something.
“She doesn’t,” he stated simply, but put all his strength behind his words. “And she won’t. Nothing is more important than our mission, not even my attraction to Hazel.”
“It’s not just an attraction,” Zaxis pointed out. “You can’t ignore it and continue on the mission like it didn’t happen. The mission is already compromised, like it or not.”
“And what do you suggest we do?” Khal bit out his answer, letting all his frustration out. Because he knew Zaxis was right. He knew the Mating Venom compromised the mission, he knew he couldn’t just ignore its call and, above all, he knew the mission was what mattered most. More than anything else.
Because if he failed, then all those he loved could die in an endless, bloody war. And Hazel with them.
“It’s too late to turn back now. What little advantage we had, we lost when we were boarded by the Mother,” Khal said. “If Knut doesn’t learn of our mission from Captain Roohl, he will from another of his bounty hunters. There are too many now who know about us. We need to hurry, it’s our only chance of success.”
A race against time. A race against himself. This mission was going to be his undoing.
“We need to carry on then.” The Avonie male inhaled deep and long, then nodded. “But how will you resist claiming Hazel?”
“We’ll stick with the plan. I will put her on a ship back to Aveyn as soon as we land on Garana.” Khal knew as he spoke that, as simple as it seemed, that one task would be harder than anything he’d ever faced. It had been two days, and already thinking about being separated from Hazel made him grit his teeth and clench his fists. “Then Earth. She has a sister there. She will be safe.”
Safe from me.
But even as he formulated the thought, he knew it was a lie. Hazel wasn’t safe anywhere, not in the Ring or beyond. He would hunt her down mercilessly, relentlessly, until she was his.
“It’s going to buy us some time, but from what I know about Eoks, it won’t last long.” Zaxis sounded doubtful, but he didn’t contradict Khal. There was no other choice anyway.
“All we have to do now is hope it’ll be enough time,” Khal said.
Enough time before the madness takes hold of me and I’m nothing but a beast.
Khal turned again and walked back toward the control room. Whatever lay ahead, it was nothing compared to the war he would have to wage with himself.
* * *
Hazel
She didn’t know what to think, what to feel. The way Khal had kissed her… it was like she had come home. Never in her life had Hazel felt this intense sense of belonging to someone else, like the fabric of her very being had been crafted for him.
And then he’d left.
Khal had turned away from her and left her there, dumbfounded and alone, reeling after the most incredibly sensual experience of her life.
That fire that had run through her veins, that incredible lust. Where had it come from? As Khal had kissed her, the lust had risen and risen in her mind, in her body, until it was like a brazier, consuming her one bite at a time. Until there was nothing left of her but a shell of herself, a shell filled with a carnal need akin to an unquenchable thirst.
She would have given him anything he’d asked at that moment, just to keep him there. Just so he wouldn’t stop kissing her, touching her. She had ceased to be a person, only a body full of need.
And she hadn’t cared a bit.
Now that he was gone, Hazel did. She cared very much. Hazel paced the length of Khal’s private quarters, alone and restless. She hated everything in the room that reminded her of the Eok, from the bare, sleek lines of the furniture, to the wall that dissolved into the most striking view any living being could hope to see.
I don’t want to see him ever again.
As soon as she thought it, she knew it wasn’t true. In the short time since she had met him, Khal had turned her world upside down. She could no more stay away from him than she could resist watching the stars in the dissolving wall.
She was helpless against it, a slave to her attraction to him like a moth to a flame.
And it made her mad, madder than she had ever been. Because this time around, she wasn’t able to fight her own feelings. Never before had she been a victim of herself, of her own attraction. It had taken all her strength to keep away from Khal for the last half a day, and she could feel her resolve softening by the second.
There were more dangers waiting for her in the Eok’s embrace than there had ever been at the end of Bobbie’s fists, or even inside Knut’s cell.
I will end up a slave to this feeling if I’m not careful. I can’t ever let this happen again.
It didn’t matter how much her body sang for Khal, how much her pussy clenched whenever he was near her or put his wicked, large hands on her. She wasn’t going to have her fate dictated by a male ever again.
I’m free, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to remain that way. I’ll fight for it if I have to.
As she repeated the thought, a great shake agitated the Myrador. The bed rolled into the floor, disappearing into the sleek surface as if it were never there to start with. A panel folded outward on the wall opposite the bed, fashioning itself into a comfortable-looking landing seat, complete with heavy restraints. The next second, a siren blared three times above her head.
Hazel stood there on the shaking floor, her mind a blank. Then the blank filled with understanding. She knew what this meant.
The Myrador had begun its descent to Garana, the Frontier planet. The last bastion of civilization before the endless violence and war beyond the Ring. On wobbly legs, Hazel walked the few steps to the dissolving wall and flattened her palm against it.
Instantly, the solid white dissolved to reveal a blazing red orb, whose surface seemed covered in dark, angry twirls—the deadly sandstorms of Garana, with clouds as black as the darkest hearts. Hazel knew the stories, whispers in the night from when she was just a little girl, of the planet where the storms were savage enough to block out the sun making it seem like the middle of the night, and where warriors bathed in blood. She had always laughed at those stories, thinking them unbelievable, too cruel to be true. She wasn’t so sure anymore.
Staring at the red planet, all she could think about was that Khal was done with her.
This is it. I will never see him again.
He was going to load her onto the first ship back to Aveyn like she had never crossed his path. Like nothing had happened between them. Like she didn’t matter.
Her throat closed up, and nausea made her jaw clench.
I’m going back to Sally. This is what I want. This is all I want.
Hazel held on to the thought as she walked to the seat fashioned into the wall. The Myrador was really a top-of-the-line ship if seating was provided in each room during landing and take-off. She sat in her seat and fastened the restr
aints over her body as the ship began to shake.
The view beyond the wall changed at a dizzying speed, and soon, it was obliterated by the thick cover of clouds above Garana. Then the view of the clouds disappeared and an endless expanse of white replaced them. The wall had shut off her view of the landing, probably in an automatic security measure.
Panic threatened the edges of Hazel’s mind as the feeling of being trapped intensified. The sensation of the fall was almost unbearable as the Myrador descended to the surface at an ungodly speed.
Then, just when Hazel thought she was going to pass out, the world came to a stop and she breathed easier. Seconds followed seconds and then a soft thud announced that the ship had now touched solid ground.
This is it. Garana.
The place where Khal would get rid of her. Hazel got rid of her restraints in a hurry then got to her feet, her eyes stinging and her heart swelling with bitter pain.
Would he even say goodbye? He hadn’t even come to tell her they were landing.
Anger coursed through her body, unleashed with the same fury as the lust Khal’s kiss had released. She embraced the anger like a lover, wrapping her broken heart in it until it was all that remained.
No more all-consuming lust. No more butterflies and breathless embraces. Only familiar, reassuring anger, wiping away all those other feelings, feelings she neither wanted nor could afford. She walked down the halls, finding them empty.
Hazel accelerated her pace, her feet finding their way to the loading dock, which was also the only access to the Myrador. As she approached, two tall, broad silhouettes turned to face her.
Deep blue eyes reflected the light and Hazel’s heart did a backflip, sending a rush of need straight to her pussy. Her body answered his gaze like a caress, like he had branded her with his kiss.
“Go back to your private rooms.” His voice hit her like a slap, wiping away any illusions she might have had that he had any feelings for her. “Don’t come out until I come get you.”
Without speaking, Hazel walked closer, holding her head high and keeping her face as emotionless as she could. Inside her, a hurricane raged, hot and angry, blowing everything away in its mighty wrath. Khal wasn’t pushing her aside, wasn’t discarding her. Not this time. She was done being pushed around.
“I’ve heard tales of the red planet.” She was pleased her voice sounded steady and strong. “I want to see it.”
“It’s dangerous. Garana is not a place for a human female.” Khal’s voice was cold and detached; it felt like his tone was cutting small wounds all across the skin of her face as he spoke. Like nothing had happened between them. Like she was nothing to him. “Now, obey me and go back inside the Myrador.”
I am nothing. I am nothing to him, and he is nothing to me.
But it wasn’t true. Khal wasn’t nothing to Hazel, and it made her anger only flare hotter. With a superhuman effort, she peeled her eyes away from Khal and stared at the slowly opening docking door. As it rose, a dense red fog slithered inside. It was like even the air of Garana was drowned in blood.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Hazel refused to look at him, to see the harsh lines of his face tighten at her refusal to obey. “Unless you want to drag me away kicking and screaming, I suggest you lead the way.”
A silence full of reprisal and injured male pride followed, and Hazel couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw Zaxis cover a grin behind his hand from the corner of her eye.
“Get back to the private quarters. Now,” Khal repeated.
This time, Hazel turned to meet his gaze—and immediately wished she hadn’t. Those mesmerizing eyes burned with emotions that raged and fought, barely controlled by that huge, impossibly strong body and mind. Never before had Hazel so fully realized who Khal was.
What Khal was.
An Eok, a warrior whose race had waged war and sown destruction and terror for thousands of years, across all the civilizations, until the Ring was formed. Until they joined the alliance and became a symbol of strength and ruthlessness, but also of control. The ultimate weapon of a power so absolute, it had wiped out all violence right up to the Frontier.
How she was able to sustain his gaze, she didn’t know. But she did it.
Her body wanted nothing more than to disintegrate into a puddle of surrender, but her chin stayed up and her lips remained sealed, pressed hard together as she answered Khal glare for glare. Then the loading dock’s door hit the ground, the ramp extending with a muffled thud.
“Too late,” Khal bit out his words, anger still clear in his face. “Now, if you value your life, don’t say a word.” With that, he turned his wide back to her and faced the four tall, broad figures emerging from the red, metallic fog of Garana.
“Commander Khal,” a male voice called, hoarse and hollow as the figures emerged from the fog. “Welcome to the Frontier.”
Hazel’s heart fluttered and her stomach cramped painfully, fear and anticipation mixing together in equal parts in her body, battling each other. She was a world away from home.
And she was never going back.
Chapter 10
Hazel
“Commander Gerkin.” Khal’s voice was even and calm, but Hazel saw the lines of tension running down his shoulders. He was wary of the other Eok, that much Hazel understood. “I did not expect you to come greet us personally.”
Commander Gerkin came closer. Hazel stared as the face of the Eok took shape in the low light of the red fog. Gerkin was older than Khal, his face marked with deep lines that played over his traditional Eok markings. He looked nothing like Khal, yet somehow looked the same. But where Khal’s rugged, harsh masculinity held an edge of passion, Gerkin’s face was devoid of anything but cruelty. His was a face made for war and violence, the face of one who wouldn’t shy away from shedding innocent blood. His pale blue eyes gleamed with merciless assessment as he took in the sight of Zaxis, then her. A glimmer passed through those soulless eyes and Hazel shivered with horror, deep in her soul.
This one is bad to the core.
Khal moved in a single fluid motion and placed himself squarely between Hazel and Commander Gerkin. Relief flooded Hazel as she inched to the side to keep the Eok in her line of sight, but remained mostly hidden by Khal’s towering form.
“Not safe, bringing a female with you.” There was no concern in Commander Gerkin’s voice. No warmth, or any indication that he would actually care if anything happened to her.
And Khal is going to hand me off to him? Hazel shivered.
“The female is none of your concern, Gerkin.” Khal took a step forward and Commander Gerkin inclined his head in acceptance, but Hazel saw the glint of resentment in his eyes. She was right, this one was bad to the core, and didn’t like his authority challenged. “I am here to refuel and send a secure message to Chief Arlen.”
“Follow me, then. But if I were you, I wouldn’t lose sight of her. There are plenty of males on Garana who would like to sample a human female,” Commander Gerkin commented in a detached voice—so cold, Hazel froze in place. She just knew that she couldn’t land in his hands. He would show no mercy. He would take what he wanted, and leave her broken without so much as a shred of remorse.
How am I going to get back to Sally, then? Khal and Zaxis are headed beyond the Ring. I’m trapped with Gerkin on Garana.
Hazel fought off panic at the thought. After Commander Gerkin and his two warriors turned and walked away, Khal met Hazel’s eyes. His face was set in tense lines and there was a savagery in the way he looked at her. For some reason, it made her feel warm. Warm and safe.
How stupid could she be? There was nowhere in the Ring less safe for her than Garana, with or without Khal to protect her.
“Don’t leave my side.” Khal’s voice was hoarse and low, full of warning. “Garana is not half as civilized as the stories you’ve heard.”
The stories she’d heard were full of terror and primitive beasts. Not civilized at all. She opened her mouth to answer, but
no sound came out. She was scared voiceless. Without speaking, Zaxis came to her side and she turned to meet his gaze.
His eyes were deadly serious and his expression was closed off. He obviously felt the same way as Khal about Garana.
Then Khal walked off into the red fog and there was no more time for hesitation. Hazel hurried to keep up, skipping a step every so often as Khal stalked across the open, empty landing strip in long, efficient strides.
Garana was as barren and devoid of softness on the ground as it appeared from above. The red sand blew, fine as powder and abrasive under the constant wind. Visibility was zero after more than twenty feet, and all Hazel could see of the town was a faint outline of low, clumped together buildings. Soon, her eyes were itching and her throat filled with the dust. She coughed, but never slowed down. At arm’s length in front of her, Khal showed no signs of being affected by the foul air, walking with his blue eyes reflecting what low light there was, his gaze alert and his body full of tension, ready for anything.
At her back, Zaxis coughed, but didn’t lose ground. The air was affecting him as well.
Then, just as she was afraid she couldn’t go any further, they arrived at a steel door carved into the face of a low, angular building without any windows or markings identifying what it was. As Khal got nearer, the door opened to reveal yet another hard-faced Eok. This one was younger, and his eyes widened at the sight of the commander of the Earth forces.
“Commander Khal.” The younger Eok inclined his head in deference. “It’s an honor.”
“Let them in, Hayro,” Commander Gerkin’s voice called from a remote, dark corner of the room. “And reserve your honors for a situation that truly warrants it. Commander Khal stepping through the door hardly counts as an exploit deserving of your awe.”
The young Eok’s cheeks became darker as he blushed deeply and he scuttled to the side in a hurried, chastened way. Anger flashed in Hazel at the sight of the young Eok being treated so harshly, but she stayed silent. Eoks could fend for themselves, they didn’t need her intervention. She peeled her eyes off the young Eok and looked around the wide, dark room.
