by Mina Carter
But before she could do anything stupid like actually try to hide, the emperor’s gaze slid sideways to her. In her scarlet Latharian silks it was impossible to miss her, just as it was impossible to miss the fact she was not merely a visitor aboard but that she lived here now.
“Your Highness, may I present my mate, Amanda,” Fenriis said simply, sliding his arm around her waist as she took a step forward to be at his side. “Amanda, this is His Imperial Highness, Daaynal K’Saan, Warrior Emperor of all Lathar.”
“Errr… a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.”
Amanda smiled up at the bigger man as he walked toward them, trying to suppress the shiver that rolled up her spine as she tried a curtsy. She managed it. Just. Okay, maybe there was the smallest of wobbles.
She gave a small smile of apology. ”I do apologize. I’ve never met an alien emperor, so I’m not really sure what I should do or call you.”
It felt like all eyes in the room were on her. Waiting for her to make a mistake and gravely offend the emperor. She racked her brains, trying to think of anything she’d been told or overheard about the correct way to meet and greet the emperor.
Daaynal smiled and offered his hand, lifting Amanda’s to his lips to kiss the back of her knuckles.
“Given we are related, Lady K’Vass, you can call me whatever you wish.”
She gave a start as he bowed low over her hand, her eyes wide as she met Fenriis’ gaze. He looked as surprised as she felt, which made her feel both better and worse. Then her mouth got in on the action before her brain could intervene.
“Sorry… related?”
She looked toward Fenriis, who shook his head. He’d said he was related to the emperor’s nephews but not that he was directly related to Daaynal himself.
The emperor rose to his full height and opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off by an annoyed female voice from somewhere further back in the room.
“Right, I know you lot see enemies in every frigging shadow, but if someone doesn’t let me through to get to my mother RIGHT NOW there will be fucking blood spilled. I can promise you that!”
Amanda gasped, the emperor forgotten as the warriors behind him parted to reveal a familiar figure.
“Jess? Jess!”
Amanda half ran, half stumbled the last few feet to reach her daughter, wrapping her up tightly in her arms as tears cascaded down her cheeks. Even though Jess was fully grown, she’d always be Amanda’s baby, and she’d felt her loss and that of her sister, Lizzie, keenly.
Eyes closed, she buried her face into the curve of Jess’ shoulder, unable to believe she was actually here. But she wasn’t letting go. Just the feel of her baby in her arms, the familiar smell of her hair… it soothed something in Amanda’s soul. In that moment she swore she’d never be parted from her children again.
“Mom… Mom, can’t breathe!”
Laughing and crying at the same time, Amanda eased up on her grip, letting go a little to look at her daughter. She looked well, healthy.
“Your hair grew. You lost weight,” Amanda commented, words tumbling out of her mouth one over the other. “Have they been okay to you? They’ve not hurt you?”
That had been her fear when she’d been told Jess had been taken. That she’d be tortured or worse.
“It did. I have, and they’ve been more than okay.” Jess smiled, looking behind her.
Her gaze connected with the tall scarred warrior and she nodded. He turned away for a moment, and when he turned around, his arms were filled with a bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.
Amanda’s heart all but stalled and she gasped, her hands covering her mouth as a small, pudgy arm escaped the blanket to grab at the warrior’s hair as it flowed over his shoulders.
“Mom,” Jess said gently, “I’d like you to meet my mate, my husband, Laarn. And this is Miisan…” she said, peeling back the edges of the blanket to reveal the prettiest baby girl Amanda had ever see. The baby, who had been tugging on Laarn’s hair, stopped and looked Amanda directly in the eye. Then she shoved both arms out in demand.
Nanat…
Amanda gasped at the word in her mind, automatically reaching out for the baby. Laarn settled her into Amanda’s confident embrace easily and she smiled down at the little girl.
“She’s your—”
Amanda cut her off. “Granddaughter. She’s my granddaughter. At least I assume ‘Nanat’ means Nana?”
“It does indeed.” Laarn chuckled. “Seems our daughter let the cat out of the bag already.”
“She’s beautiful…” Awe filled Amanda as she settled her grandbaby in her arms, smiling up as Fenriis joined them. “I hope you don’t mind being a granddad already?”
“Granddad?” Jess’ voice was surprised as both she and Laarn looked at Fenriis. “You and… Who are you? Did you kidnap my mother?” she demanded, her expression fierce as she rounded on Fenriis.
“No! No…” He held his hands out in surrender and then gave a rueful little smile. “Okay, well maybe a little. But in my defense, her home had been attacked and your litaan already kidnapped. She wanted to come and find you.”
But Jess wasn’t placated. “Oh, so you thought you’d use that to get her to accept your claim, did you?” She fairly bristled with indignation and cut her gaze back to Amanda. “Mom, if he made you accept him we can get that fixed. He can’t do—”
“Actually, he can,” Laarn interrupted, nodding toward Fenriis.
Fenriis had taken his wrist bracers off, tucking them into his belt. Around his wrists were new marks that looked like tattoos but weren’t, winding around his wrists as ivy would around a column of stone.
“Mating marks,” Daaynal breathed and then broke into wide smiles. “It would seem we are doubly blessed then! The return of an honored nanat to the family and a union blessed with mating marks! This calls for a celebration!”
“Ordinarily I would agree,” Laarn said dryly. “But we have a situation here with the humans that requires our attention…”
“Ahh, yes!” Daaynal didn’t seem fazed at being corrected, a broad smile on his face. When he was smiling he was more like a big puppy and hardly seemed scary at all. “We will arrange a feast when we return to Lathar Prime. A week of feasting!”
“I would beg a favor before that, Your Highness,” Fenriis broke in. “If it would not be too much, I would ask that Amanda and I return to Arakaas for our cloaking.”
“Of course! Of course!” Daaynal said immediately, looking between the two. Something shifted in his expression. “In fact, why don’t you take your bride there now? With your wargroup and mine, we more than have this situation under control.”
“What’s a cloaking?” she whispered to Jess softly, not sure what Fenriis was asking for.
“It’s a…erm…”
Laarn came to Jess’ rescue, reaching forward to chuck his daughter under the chin. “It’s the desert bonding ceremony… Like a wedding ceremony… Their customs are far older and simpler than the rest of us. The happy couple head out into the desert where the male claims his female under the sun and stars covered only by the warrior's cloak.”
“Ohhh…” Fenriis had mentioned that before.
The baby in her arms wriggled, reaching for Laarn, so she handed Miisan over and looked up to find Fenriis watching her. Dark heat and love swirled in his eyes and her breathing caught.
He held out his hand to her.
“What do you say, mate? Join me, body and soul, under the sun and the stars so the gods know you are mine forever?”
A smile on her lips, she took a step forward and placed her hand in his larger one, looking up at him as he pulled her into the protective lea of his bigger, hard body. “As long as they also see that you are mine as well.”
His lips quirked and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her lips.
“I don’t think they dare not lest they attract the wrath of my fierce little Terran lady.”
Epilogue
How had he gotten so
lucky?
Fenriis squinted into the fierce sunlight as he pulled his kervasi to a halt by a small oasis. Sheltered on all sides from the fierce desert winds by high dunes, it had been a secret kept by his family for generations. The place all the males of his family had brought their females for the cloaking… until there were no more females.
But now he had the honor of bringing his female, his Amanda here.
“This is it?” she asked, looking up at him from under her hood. Like him she was wrapped in the voluminous white robes of a desert nomad, and he’d made sure she kept the hood up. Her skin was pale and delicate. It would burn easily in the harsh sun. The last thing he wanted was his delicate little female hurt. Not even a little burn.
“It is indeed,” he said, reaching up to help her off the mount’s back.
She was as light as a feather as he lifted her and he gave her a look of concern, but her skin was a healthy pink and the cough she’d had when he’d first met her was totally gone now. Isan and then Laarn had given her a clear bill of health, the tumors that had been killing her totally gone.
“I’m fine,” she promised, catching his look, and he grinned, sliding her down the front of his body. She caught her breath as she registered the heavy proof of his arousal pressing against her belly. Her eyes darkened, the look in them sultry, and his cock jerked.
“So… is that a blade in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?” she teased, biting her lip, and his gaze riveted to her mouth. Gods, she was so sexy. All he could think about was tumbling her down to the sands and…
He suited action to words, scooping her up in his arms to carry her across to the sands near the edge of the oasis. Without a pause, he knelt with her still in his arms, rolling as he lay on his back to ensure no part of her body touched the hot sands. Not even a foot.
“I’ll squash you!” she protested, wriggling against him, but he was ready for the movement, flicking the edge of his cloak over her with a practiced gesture. In the same breath, he flipped them over until he was braced over her, his cloak tenting overhead to protect them from the sun.
“I highly doubt that,” he said in a low voice, one made rougher with desire as she stretched out under him, her legs entwined with his. Her small foot stroked up the back of his calf and his cock jerked again as the movement settled him more comfortably in the cradle of her hips.
“You’re so small and light, like a deearin kit. All baby claws and adorable hissing, but you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Oh really?” She arched an eyebrow and slid her hand between them, cupping him boldly through his robes. Designed to be lightweight and imperious to the deadly rays of the sun, the fabric was silk-thin. So he felt every stroke of her talented fingers against his shaft.
“I thought we were here for this cloaking thing… but so far all I’m hearing is a load of talk.” She arched an eyebrow again as he groaned, holding on to his control by a hairsbreadth. “And I can think of better things to do in the heat with a sexy alien than talk.”
He growled, claiming her lips in a brief, hard kiss as he tore at her silks, parting them so he could touch her soft skin. “As long as I’m the only sexy alien you do more than talk with.”
“You are,” she promised, parting her legs and reaching beneath his robes to guide him to her. He sank into her with one hard thrust that had them both sighing with pleasure. “You are my one, my only, for now and forever.”
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Also by Mina Carter
Cyborg’s Price
He's one of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy... so why can't she keep her hands off him?
A junior nurse aboard the Combined Fleet Ship Valkyrie, Samara's days are usually filled with minor bumps and scraps and the occasional health or workspace check. But when a dangerous prisoner is transferred aboard, she finds herself on brig duty. Dealing with the big, lethal looking military grade cyborg should be terrifying, but one look into his green eyes and she can't think of anything other than what his big, hard body would look like under the grey ship suit...
She's small, soft and fragile... he should keep his hands to himself and forget her.
Captured and en route to a medical facility for dissection and study, cyborg Lyon expects nothing but pain and degradation from his captors. But Samara isn't like the others, treating his wounds with care and igniting a fire deep within. When she neglects to ensure his cuffs are locked tight, all hell breaks loose. A hot, sensual hell against the cell wall. When his team arrives, Lyon knows he should walk away...but he can't. His little human has gotten under his skin. He'll take her as payment for his suffering, keep her in his bed and pleasure them both for as long as it takes for him to lose interest.
However, the universe, and the Fleet, have other ideas. A tracker on board brings a horde of fleet ships down on their heads. Can Lyon and Samara survive betrayal, a fleet attack, or will their happily ever after disintegrate under fire?
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Hunted by the Dragon Duke
Sexy, royal and one of the ferocious black dragons… he’s way out of her league.
Orphaned and forced to live under the cruel eye of her stepmother, Saskia spends her days and most of her nights sewing gowns for rich dragonesses to wear to balls she will never see. When a chance encounter brings her into contact with the handsome Callan, Duke and cousin to the Queen, she thinks nothing of it. After all, what royal duke would want a woman with a broken, mad dragon?
But when the otherworldly intervenes, Saskia gets her chance to go to the ball, and dance with the man of her dreams…
Tiny, delicate and utterly beautiful… but where has he seen her before?
A royal duke by birth, and a black, Callan’s life has been dictated since the moment he was born. Ordered by his cousin, the queen, to pick a bride at the ball or she’ll pick for him, he’s between a rock and a hard place. Until he sees her. The tiny woman in the purple gown runs him a merry chase over the ballroom but one look and he’s determined. She will be his.
And she is, for the briefest of moments before his duty intervenes and he has to return a wayward youth to his father before he gets himself into a lifetime of trouble. When he returns his delicate princess is gone, leaving behind a single shoe…
Furious, Callan launches a hunt for his love…one that leads to a woman who is not who she pretends to be, a raid on a brothel and a fight with a troll. Can he persuade his delicate princess she’s not broken, but that she’s the perfect dragoness for him?
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About the Author
Mina Carter is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.
Connect with Mina online at:
mina-carter.com
