by Anna Zaires
It was Korum. Her enemy, her lover . . . whose kind had just killed thousands of people before her very own eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mia couldn’t think, her entire body shaking from shock and fear as she watched Korum prowl toward the Keiths. The expression on his face was unlike anything she had ever seen before, a blend of icy fury and extreme contempt. He spoke to the brown-haired female in Krinar, his voice low and cold, and she flinched, as though he had physically slapped her. The other female interrupted, her tone pleading, and Korum turned his attention to her and said something that silenced her right away. The male Keiths just stared, their looks ranging from fear to defiance. Then Korum turned to the leader of the soldiers and asked him a question. Whatever answer he received made him nod, apparently satisfied.
“I asked him if all the other Centers were secured as well . . . in case you were curious about the translation.”
Mia froze, her blood turning to ice. Slowly turning her head to the side, she looked into the gold-flecked eyes of the alien she had just been observing on the other side of the room.
This Korum was wearing the same clothes as his virtual alter ego, but the mocking half-smile on his face was different. So was the fact that he was looking straight at her and speaking in English. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the drama continuing to unfold in the room, but it no longer mattered. Instead, all she could do was stare at the real-life version of her lover . . . who now undoubtedly knew about her betrayal.
“Fortunately, they were,” he continued, his voice deceptively calm. “With the exception of the traitors you see before you, none of the Krinar were harmed. Only a few of our shield posts were destroyed, and they will be easily replaced within the next hour.”
Mia could barely hear him above the roar of her heartbeat, his words not registering in the panicked whirl of her thoughts. He knew. He knew what she had done, and nothing she said or did would change the outcome. All she could hope for now was to delay the inevitable.
“H-how?” she croaked, her bloodless lips barely moving. Her throat felt strangely dry, and she could taste the saltiness of her own tears gathering in the corners of her mouth.
“How did I know?” Korum asked, approaching her corner and crouching down next to her. Raising his hand, he gently tucked the stray curl behind her ear and brushed his knuckles down the side of her face, his touch burning her frozen skin.
Mia nodded, trembling at his proximity.
“How could I not know, Mia?” he said softly. “Did you honestly think that I wouldn’t realize what was taking place under my own roof? That I wouldn’t know that the woman I slept with every night was working with my enemies?”
“Wh-what are you saying?” she whispered, her brain working agonizingly slowly. “Y-you knew all along?”
He smiled bitterly. “Of course. From the moment they approached you and you agreed to spy for them, I knew.”
“I don’t . . . I don’t understand. You knew and you let me do it anyway?”
“It was your choice, Mia. You could’ve said no. You could’ve refused them. And even after you agreed—at any point, you could’ve told me the truth, warned me. Even last night—you could’ve still told me. But you chose to lie to me, to the very end.” His voice was oddly calm and remote, and that bitter expression still twisted his lips.
“But . . . but you knew—” Mia couldn’t process that part, couldn’t understand what he was telling her.
“I did,” he said, reaching out to pick up a lock of her hair. “I knew, and I let things unfold as they will. It wasn’t part of my original plan; it wasn’t why I was in New York. I wanted to find and capture one of their leaders, to extract the identities of the traitors you saw today. But when you chose to betray me, I knew that a rare opportunity had presented itself—that we could strike a blow to the Resistance from which they would never recover . . . and I could catch the traitors in the process.”
He paused, playing with her hair, twisting and untwisting the strand around his fingers. Mia stared at him, hypnotized, feeling like a rabbit caught by a snake.
“And so I played along. I gave you every chance to succeed in your treacherous mission—and you did. You turned out to be resourceful and clever, quite inventive really.” His eyes took on a familiar golden gleam. “That night when you stole my designs was . . . memorable, to say the least. I very much enjoyed it.”
Mia swallowed, beginning to realize where he was leading. “Y-you planted fake designs,” she whispered, a searing agony spreading through her chest.
He nodded, a small triumphant smile curving his lips. “I did. I gave them just enough rope so they could hang themselves with it. They learned how to disable the shields, but not how to keep them disabled. The weapon they were relying on wouldn’t have functioned properly; I had designed it to work under testing conditions but not when it was really deployed. And I let them have a few minor weapons, so they could do some damage and get caught red-handed trying to escape . . . like the cowards that they really are. I knew that they would trust you when you brought them the designs—because you had already given them enough real information by that point.”
“So you used me,” said Mia quietly, feeling like she was suffocating. The pain was indescribable, even though logically she knew she had no right to feel this way.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he said astutely, a savage smile on his face. “It hurts to be the one used, the one betrayed . . . doesn’t it?”
“Was any of it real?” asked Mia bitterly. “Or was the whole thing a lie? Did you set it all up, right down to our meeting in the park?”
“Oh, it was real, all right,” he said softly, now stroking the edge of her ear. “From the moment I saw you, I knew that I wanted you—more than anyone I’ve wanted in a very long time. And I grew to care about you, even though I knew it was foolish. With time, I hoped that you would feel the same way about me, that if I showed you how good it could be between us, you would realize what you were doing, the mistake that you were making. And you were close, I know . . . Yet you still betrayed me in the end, not caring what happened, whether I would live or die—”
“No!” interrupted Mia, her eyes burning with a fresh set of tears. “That’s not true! They promised me . . . they promised you’d be all right, that they would give you safe passage back home—”
“Back to Krina?” he asked, his voice dangerously low. “Where I would be out of your life forever? And how would they have ensured that I stayed there?”
Mia could only stare at him. Somehow that thought had never crossed her mind. In the background, virtual Korum left the room, and so did the soldiers with their prisoners in tow.
He gave a short, harsh laugh. “I see. That never occurred to you, did it? That deportation was a temporary solution at best? No, the traitors would’ve never deported me . . . I am too dangerous in their eyes because I have both the desire and the means to return to Earth with reinforcements—and that’s the last thing they would want.”
Mia felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She hadn’t known . . . They’d lied to her. She couldn’t have gone through with it, couldn’t have done it knowing that he would be killed in the process. She had to convince him of that. “Korum,” she said desperately, “I didn’t know, I swear—”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Even if you didn’t mean for me to get killed, you still had every intention of exiling me from your life forever, you still betrayed me . . . and that’s not something I can forgive easily.”
“So what now?” asked Mia wearily. She was beginning to feel numb, and she welcomed the sensation, as it took the edge off her terror and pain. “Are you going to kill me?”
He stared at her, his gaze turning a colder yellow. “Kill you? Did you listen to anything I said in the last ten minutes?”
He wasn’t going to kill her? The numbness spread, and she could only look at him, unable to feel anything more than a
vague sense of relief.
At her lack of reply, he said slowly, “No, Mia. I’m not going to kill you. I’ve already told you that before. I’m not the unfeeling monster you persist in thinking me to be.”
Getting up in one lithe motion, Korum waved his hand, and Mia shut her eyes, seeing the virtual world dissolving around her. When she opened them again, she was sitting on the floor of Korum’s office, against the wall, still hugging her knees to her chest.
Bending down, he offered her his hand. Her fingers trembling, Mia placed her hand in his, allowing him to help her up. To her embarrassment, her legs were shaking, and she swayed slightly. Letting out a sigh, he caught her, swinging her up into his arms and carrying her out of the office.
“Where are you taking me?” asked Mia in confusion, disoriented after the recent reality shift. Oh God, surely he wasn’t thinking of having sex right now; she didn’t think she could bear that kind of intimacy after everything that happened.
“To the kitchen,” Korum replied, walking swiftly. Before she could ask him why, they were there, and he was setting her down on one of the chairs. Mia blinked up at him, too drained to attempt to understand his inexplicable behavior.
“When was the last time you had something to eat?” he asked, looking at her with a slight frown on his face.
“Um . . . last night.” Mia couldn’t fathom where he was going with this.
He nodded, as though she had confirmed something for him. “No wonder you’re so shaky,” he said reprovingly. “You didn’t eat breakfast, and your blood sugar is low.” Walking to the refrigerator, he filled a glass with some clear liquid and brought it to her. “Drink this, while I make you something to eat,” he ordered, ignoring the incredulous look on Mia’s face.
He wanted to feed her right now? Was he serious? Cautiously sniffing the glass, Mia discerned a faintly sweet coconut scent. What the hell, she decided, if he wanted her dead, she sincerely doubted he would use poison to kill her. Taking a sip, she realized that her nose hadn’t lied; Korum had indeed given her fresh coconut water to drink. It was exactly what her body was craving right now, a perfect blend of carbohydrates and electrolytes. The frozen numbness that had been encasing her like armor began to crack, and tears welled up in Mia’s eyes again. Why was he acting like this now, after everything that she had done to him?
Finishing her drink, she watched him move about the kitchen, making her an avocado-tomato sandwich. Now that the main adrenaline rush was over, she was starting to think again, her brain beginning to function at some fraction of its normal ability. The truth about their relationship had been revealed. This entire time she’d thought that she was spying on him for the benefit of all humanity, but he had really been using her to crush the Resistance once and for all. All those lives today had been lost because of her . . . No, she couldn’t focus on that now, or she would shatter into a million pieces.
She concentrated on the puzzle of Korum’s intentions instead. He wasn’t going to kill her, he’d said. But would he punish her in some other way? She couldn’t imagine that he would want her around after the way she had betrayed him. Their farce of a relationship was over. He had won: Earth would remain firmly under Krinar control. And Mia had outlived her usefulness. He didn’t need an unwitting double agent anymore—
“Here, eat this,” the object of her musings said, placing the sandwich in front of her and sitting down across the table. “And then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you,” Mia said politely and obediently bit into the sandwich. Her stomach growled, and she was suddenly starving, her lumberjack appetite making its appearance despite the trauma of this morning’s events. In less than a minute, she had devoured the sandwich and looked up, slightly embarrassed by her greediness. The smile on his face was a genuine one this time, and she remembered that he liked that about her—the healthy appetite she possessed despite her small size.
“So what now?” Mia repeated her earlier question, and Korum’s smile faded. He regarded her with an inscrutable gaze, and Mia shifted in her seat, growing increasingly nervous.
“So now,” Korum said quietly, “you will come with me while I help clean up this mess.”
Mia felt all blood drain from her face. “Come with you where?” Surely he couldn’t mean—
A small smile appeared on his lips. “To the same place you went while snooping this morning: Lenkarda, our settlement in Costa Rica.”
All of a sudden, there wasn’t enough air in the room for Mia to breathe properly, and the sandwich felt like a rock inside her stomach. What was he saying? He couldn’t still want her, not after everything . . .
“Why?” she managed to squeeze out, staring at him in horrified disbelief.
“Because, Mia, I want you with me, and I can’t stay in New York any longer,” he said calmly, with an unreadable expression on his face. “I’ve been away far too long. There are things that require my attention—not the least of which is what to do with the traitors.”
Mia shook her head, trying to get rid of the mental fog that seemed to be slowing her thinking. “B-but why do you want me with you?” she stammered. “You were just using me—”
“I was using you because you chose to betray me—don’t ever forget that, darling,” he said in a dangerously silky tone. “I’ve wanted you from the very beginning, and nothing you’ve done changes that fact. You’re mine, and you’ll remain with me for as long as I want you. Do you understand that?”
There was a dull roaring in her ears. “No,” she whispered, her words barely audible. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I won’t be a slave . . . I refuse, do you hear me?” Her voice had risen in volume with each sentence until she was almost yelling at him, the red mist of fury taking over her vision and getting rid of any remnants of caution.
“A slave?” he asked with a puzzled frown on his face. And then his forehead smoothed out as he apparently realized what she was talking about. “Ah, yes, I almost forgot that you’ve been laboring under a misconception this whole time. You’re referring to being my charl, aren’t you?”
“I will not be your charl!” Mia snarled, her hands clenching into fists under the table.
“You will be anything I wish you to be, my darling,” he said softly, a mocking smile curving his lips. “However, your friends in the Resistance have misinformed you—either inadvertently or on purpose—about the real meaning of charl.”
Her temper cooling slightly, Mia stared at him. “What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don’t keep humans in your Centers as your . . . pleasure slaves?” She spit out the last words with disgust.
He shook his head, with that same sardonic look on his face. “No, Mia. A charl is a human companion—a human mate, if you will. It’s a unique term that we use to describe a special bond between a human and a Krinar. Being a charl is a privilege, an honor—not whatever it is that you’ve been imagining.”
“A privilege to be with you against my will?” asked Mia bitterly. “To be forced to go where I don’t want to go—unable to see my family, my friends?”
“Don’t lie to me, Mia,” he said quietly. “Or to yourself. Being with me is hardly a chore for you. Do you think I don’t know why you’ve been crying this week? You need me . . . just as much as I need you. What we have together is rare and special—even though you’ve done your best to tear us apart. If I were young and foolish, I would let my hurt and anger get the best of me . . . and leave you, full of bitterness at your betrayal. But I’ve been around long enough to understand that when you find a good thing, you hold on to it; you don’t throw it away on a whim.”
“Really? You hold on to it even if the other person doesn’t want you?” said Mia sarcastically, infuriated by his arrogant assumption that he knew all about her feelings. Maybe she had fallen for him; maybe she’d even thought she loved him—but that was before she knew how he’d used her, before she witnessed the deaths of thousands of human soldiers as a result of what he’d done. He might be able to get over h
is hurt and anger, but Mia couldn’t be so magnanimous right now.
“Oh, you want me,” Korum said softly. “That much I know for a fact. Would you like me to prove it?”
And before she could come up with a retort, he was next to her, swinging her up into his arms and bringing her toward him for a deep kiss, his tongue pushing into the recesses of her mouth. Infuriated, Mia tried to remain impassive, to temper her response, but her body didn’t know, didn’t care that he was about to ruin her life. It only knew the pleasure of his touch, and Mia found herself melting against him, her hands clinging to his shoulders instead of pushing him away. A familiar wave of heat swept through her, and she felt a surge of moisture between her legs, her body eagerly preparing itself for his possession.
Still holding her in his arms, he walked somewhere, and Mia was too far gone to care where. They ended up in the living room, and he lowered her onto the couch, still kissing her with those deep, penetrating kisses that never failed to make her crazy. She heard the zipper of her jeans getting unfastened, and then he was tugging them off her legs along with her sneakers, leaving her lower body clad only in a pair of white lacy panties. His thumb found the sensitive nub between her legs, and he pressed on it through the underwear, circling it in a way that made her insides tighten, and Mia moaned helplessly, arching toward him, wanting more of the magic that she had only experienced in his arms.
He let go of her then, taking a step back to remove his own clothes, stripping off the T-shirt with one smooth motion and then swiftly taking off his jeans and underwear, leaving himself fully naked. Mia stared at him with unabashed lust, taking in the powerful muscles covered with that beautiful bronzed skin, the smattering of dark hair on his chest, and the hairy trail on his lower abdomen leading down to a large, fully aroused cock, with the heavy balls swinging underneath.
