by Anna Carven
“You are safe now,” he murmured, threading his fingers through her hair. His breathing was ragged, his voice hoarse.
Unexpectedly, Torin swayed on his feet, his eyes taking on a glazed look. “Ugh,” he groaned. The remaining segments of his exo-armor thinned out, the nanites flickering and disappearing into his skin.
His armor withdrew, and suddenly, he was completely naked.
Can’t hold the form.
Seph thought she understood, because Torin had tried to explain it to her once. When their energy stores were depleted—usually from sustaining repeated plasma blasts and repairing massive injuries—the tiny machines that made up his exo-armor would retreat into his body, seeking protein.
Did he even notice what had happened at this point? She wasn’t so sure.
His hand shot out, and he pressed against the table to steady himself. Seph stiffened. For Torin to display such pain in front of her…
He must be in agony right now!
It was the first time she’d ever seen him appear so vulnerable.
She took his face into her hands and drew him close. She kissed him on his cheek, then his lips, tasting blood and ash and sweetness. He was a little bit cold, and that worried her. As Seph reverently stroked his cheek, an idea formed in her mind.
It was so simple, so natural, so perfect.
As his breathing became ragged, his pupils narrowing to tiny points, Seph brought her fingers to his lips. Torin kissed her fingertips slowly, reverently, the silken touch of his lips sending a pleasant tingle down her spine.
A primal growl reverberated from deep within his throat. She’d heard that sound many times before, and she loved it, but this time there was a dark edge to his hunger, as if the slightest gesture or look or sensation could send him spiraling beyond the point of no return.
“Here.” She angled her hand so his lips were pressed against her wrist.
“What are you doing, Persephone?” He kissed her wrist slowly, his tongue probing against the stretchy fabric of her travel suit.
His lips might be cold, his tongue was definitely warm. Seph pulled off her gloves and pushed down her sleeve, baring her skin. Torin trailed kisses down her palm, her wrist, and the inner aspect of her arm.
“You’re depleted,” she murmured. “Exhausted. In agony.”
“You know me too well.”
“All because of me.”
His sharp fangs grazed her delicate skin. His tongue flickered over her wrist. “Every single part of you is beautiful.” His voice became hoarse with need. Torin was trembling all over now, and his eyes were distant, unfocused. “I did this to myself, for myself, because I only want you, and I am selfish. I would destroy worlds for you, Persephone.”
Now that was a scary but romantic thought.
Torin wobbled on his feet. His eyelids drooped, his soft and surprisingly long lashes fluttering.
“Take,” Seph urged, her concern for him overriding anything else.
“I would never hurt—”
“Take,” she insisted, her voice dropping to a whisper. Surrounded by dead bodies, on a pirate ship bound for a forsaken war planet, she embraced her truth. “I’m yours, Torin. This is all yours, and I’m not some delicate flower. I won’t break from some little scratch, and there’s no way I’m going to let you pass out right here in front of me. You’re the one who’s hurt. Take.” She applied pressure, causing his fangs to break her skin.
As sharp pain shot through her wrist, Torin moaned. The powerful sound grabbed Seph and dragged her down into the heady morass of his pain, his hunger, his desire.
Her near-invincible warrior was hurt, and she had the power to restore him.
She relished her pain as Torin gently sucked the life-giving fluid from her body, making soft, ragged sounds of satisfaction. How good it felt to give, to nurture her protector after he’d saved her life, time and time again.
Seph ran her free hand through his soft, silken hair, thinking of all the things she’d like to do for him when they returned to Earth.
Seph was a damn good cook, and she liked to cook, but only for a very select few. For Torin, she would conjure up the most delicious, mouth-watering, hand-cooked roasts. No processed bot-food for her Kordolian.
Seph had a mighty caring streak inside her, but over the years, it had been suppressed, pushed deeper down beneath the scar tissue. Adult skin, she called it. Being a bitch, others called it. In a world where sticking to your guns got you judged to within an inch of your life, she was scared to tap into that caring streak for fear she would be taken advantage of yet again.
But with Torin, that fear didn’t exist. Everything just felt so natural.
That’s how she could let him take her very own blood and not be afraid. He needed something, and she could give it to him.
It was the best feeling.
Despite his obvious hunger, Torin was gentle with her, tapping into her veins, avoiding the parts on either side of her wrist where the big arteries ran. How does he know to do that? He took only what he needed, kissing her between mouthfuls.
When he was done, he looked down at her with such tenderness in his gaze that Seph started to feel all warm and gooey inside.
To her intense relief, his face was almost completely healed now, and his cheeks had filled out a little, although he was still far from his normal state.
But he’d stopped swaying on his feet, and his eyes didn’t have that glazed look anymore. Pupils that had been narrowed and unfocused were now wide and dark, like the infinite Universe.
Taking her in.
Drinking her in.
She bathed in his adoration, warmth spreading through her as he caressed the side of her face with gentle claw-tipped fingers.
“I love you, Persephone.” He leaned in and kissed her, tasting of clear icy rivers and just a hint of spice.
There was not even a hint of her blood on his tongue, because his crazily enhanced, super-powered, hungry body would have absorbed everything of her.
No, he tasted like he’d been made anew.
Pure.
Just Torin.
Time stopped. She lost herself in his kiss, and all the horrors surrounding them faded into insignificance.
Finally, he broke away, leaving Seph with the most delicious afterglow. If just a kiss from him could feel that damn good, then…
Later, girl. You’re getting ahead of yourself.
Torin’s soft cursing broke her out of her semi-trance. He grabbed her wrist, the one he’d bitten, and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I don’t have magical healing saliva like those mythical creatures from your Earth stories,” he said, his voice infused with gentle irony. Sounding more like his old self. “What are they called again? Va… vamp…”
“Vampires.”
“I overheard a passing comment where someone on Earth compared us to such beings.” He snorted, sounding a little offended. “We are nothing of the sort.”
“No, you definitely aren’t,” she murmured. You’re far more dangerous. Seph relaxed as Torin grabbed one of the pieces of red fabric that had bound her to the table and wrapped it around her wrist, tying it with just the right amount of pressure.
In the far corner, the one-eyed Bartharran captain was beginning to stir. The nak nak had gathered around him, and they sniffed him and tapped him with their paws. Seph looked around, taking in the bodies and the destruction.
“We have a long way to go yet, don’t we?” A stream of frantic thoughts ran through her mind. “What about Parrus, and Kvorae, and the intruders, and Relahek, and—”
Torin put a finger to her lips. “Shh,” he said softly. “All will be well. The Veronians went into hiding. They are cunning and resourceful. I’m sure they would have survived. The Plutharans have retreated from this vessel. I drove them off. That is why you see me like this. I ate a…” he shook his head, reconsidering his words. “I healed myself, but then they attacked again, and there was no time…” He gestured down to his naked,
slowly filling out, slowly healing body. “As for the filthy noble, I could not give a shit. I suspect he is the reason the Plutharans attacked in the first place.” Crimson eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I think he called them in to retrieve him. If he’s still alive, we will hunt him down and find him eventually, and he will be made to pay.” He laughed. “I have screwed up my mission beyond all hope, and for you, I would do it over and over again. Don’t worry about a thing, Seph. First, let’s get home.”
“Home,” she whispered, the word sounding so fucking good as it dropped from her lips. “Home is with you.”
“Yes,” he agreed, stroking the nest of chaos that was her hair. “Yes it is.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Torin sat on the curved dome of the outpost’s roof, staring up at the Bartharran night sky. Unlike the star-sprinkled darkness that blanketed Earth, the night on Bartharra was tinged with red.
Finally, they’d reached the War Planet. After the Plutharan raiders exited the Skalreg Va, Torin had ordered the now one-eyed Captain Ludo to land on Bartharra, as far away from the conflict zones as possible. The two Veronians, who Torin had found in hiding in a passenger’s abandoned quarters, came with them, of course.
Thinking Torin was mad, and wanting to be rid of them as soon as possible, Ludo had punched through the atmosphere, landed in a wide, flat salt pan in the middle of nowhere—the landmark Torin had pointed out from the skies—and promptly blasted off again. They had watched the ungainly Skalreg Va struggle to take off, and when it was finally airborne, it flew away lopsided, due to all the damage it had sustained. As far as Torin knew, Ludo was taking the thing to the Rakthari Coast for repairs and refuelling, but he didn’t really care what the Bartharran did after that.
After trying to kill his mate, the pirate was lucky to escape with his life, and Torin had only spared the Bartharran because Seph had asked him to.
His mate never failed to surprise him.
As for Relahek Alerak, Torin had found no trace of the bastard. That confirmed his suspicions. The noble must have called the Plutharans to rescue him.
How? When? It didn’t matter. They would hunt him down and torture him to within a shred of his life. Idiot nobles with big fortunes to squander always left a trail. They would find him eventually.
Torin closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the heavens, inhaling the warm air, which smelled of sand and dust and salt. How good it felt to be on solid ground again, even if this place was hot and dusty and devoid of vegetation.
At first, Seph had been apprehensive about being dropped in the middle of nowhere, but her fear was quelled when Torin found the Kordolian outpost at the edge of the massive salt pan.
After he’d dusted all the sand away from the entrance, the door had opened automatically, recognizing his bio-sig. Inside, there were supplies, weapons, sleeping quarters, and most importantly, a communication pod.
He’d immediately put out a distress call to Silence. Unlike the Bartharrans’ crude technology, a Kordolian comm-pod could send a signal across galaxies.
And now he waited and watched the sky.
A series of heavy booms reached his ears, coming from far, far away, a distant reminder that this was a planet consumed by war.
A war prolonged by his actions.
But really, the tensions had already been there. The various Bartharran tribes were always at each other’s throats, and it had been that way for countless generations. The Kordolians had simply provided the spark, turning the kindling into a raging inferno.
That didn’t mean it was right, though. As Torin thought about his long, blood-soaked relationship with this planet and its people, it occurred to him that the Bartharrans probably just wanted to live in peace like any other species.
Like humans.
Like Kordolians.
The Kordolian in him didn’t feel any innate sympathy or remorse for these golden-skinned barbarians, but the scholar in him—he who had read and studied and absorbed the histories of countless civilizations—knew that what he’d done was wrong. Torin had always thought that by training his mind, by educating himself, he could overcome his hard-wired instincts, but the events on the Skalreg Va had proven him oh-so wrong.
That was, and would forever be, his paradox.
“Does that make me a sociopath in human terms?” he’d asked her at one point, needing a dose of her womanly wisdom.
“No,” she’d replied without hesitation. “The fact that you’re even asking me that question means you definitely aren’t a sociopath. Don’t be silly, Torin.”
“Oh.” And once again, he’d been left to ponder the duality of his very own existence.
Ponder, but not worry. He didn’t need to change a thing. If his darkness meant he could protect Seph, he would embrace it, just as she had.
His attention was diverted by the soft sound of footsteps.
“Torin, what are you doing up there?” Seph emerged with her hair puffed around her head like an ephemeral crimson crown. She dragged her fingers through the tangled mess in an unsuccessful attempt to tame it as she walked toward him, her bare feet making gentle imprints in the sand.
“Couldn’t sleep,” he muttered. That was okay, though, because Kordolians seemed to need a lot less sleep than humans. “I thought I’d just come out and keep watch.” He rose to his feet and jumped off the sloping roof, landing in the dust beside her. A surprised gasp escaped her lips as Torin slid his hands around her waist. “Sometimes, I just like to watch the stars.” He kissed her on her head, burying his nose in her hair. No matter what she did, Seph always smelled good.
“I couldn’t sleep either. It’s been two weeks since we landed, and we haven’t heard anything. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“They will come.” Torin pulled her close, enjoying the contours of her body.
“I hope it’s soon, because I can’t live on those dreadful protein mix bars forever.” She made a face.
“They will come,” Torin repeated, not a single shred of doubt in his mind. The General never left any member of his team behind.
He stepped back, taking time to study her lovely face, appreciating the way the moonlight cast a gentle pink glow across her features.
Slowly, the anxiety melted from her.
“Do not worry, Persephone. We are safe here. There is food and water, and the outpost is impenetrable to all forms of attack.” Unable to help himself, he slid his hands over the soft curves of her ass. His erection was there again. Impossible female. She always did this to him. “They will come, but in the meantime, there are plenty of ways to pass the time.”
She raised her eyebrows archly. “You don’t say?”
“I do say.” With his arousal building, Torin spun her around, curled his arm around her waist, and led her inside. The facility was quiet, the Veronians fast asleep in another section. They passed dark rooms filled with weapons, supplies, and tech gear, until they reached the small sleeping chamber at the back. Torin had figured out how to set the machine-lighting to a soft blue glow all around the facility, allowing Seph to see in the darkness.
“I guess sometimes insomnia can have its benefits too,” she said dryly as he pulled her into the sleeping pod, his bare hands roaming all over her semi-naked body. In the dry, dusty heat of Bartharra, there was little need for clothing, and Seph wore only her bra and a long military-issue undertunic Torin had found in one of the storage compartments.
“That it can,” Torin murmured as he lay her down, bringing himself over her luscious body. He leaned in and kissed her fiercely, still not quite believing how lucky he was.
He had found his mate.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
In the dim, cocoon-like sleeping pod, Seph felt cozy and safe and warm. After encountering such terror in space, the remote Kordolian outpost in the Bartharran desert was a blessing, because here, it was peaceful. The petty irritations of Earth—the Federation, that asshole Markov, her disgraced academic record—seemed a billi
on light-years away.
Still, she missed her home planet, and she had no choice but to believe help was coming. Torin kept her nerves at bay by filling almost every waking minute of her life with himself.
That was perfectly fine with Seph. She stared up at him, not quite believing he was hers.
Restored to his full physical prime, he was a sight to behold. Glistening silver skin, the body of a fucking god, hair spun from the stars, and eyes of brilliant fire, he was truly etched from her deepest fantasies.
Wild. Dangerous. Hers.
Holy hell, Seph. What have you done?
No… he was the one who had fought tooth and nail to keep her.
“What is that look for?” he murmured, lowering himself until their bodies met. Torin was warm and hard and oh-so gentle. “Your eyes speak a thousand words, but I can’t decipher any of it.”
“Just admiring you,” she whispered, a cheeky smile curving her lips. “I can’t believe you’re all mine.”
“Oh?” Torin’s expression changed, becoming tender and adorable. His lips quirked, his eyebrows rose, and his forehead crinkled. Amusement sparkled in his eyes. “Is it really so hard to believe that I am obsessed with you? That I will guard you with my life and become insanely jealous should any other man so much as look at you? That there is no room for any other in my heart?”
Oh. Once again he stole her breath away, and because it was Torin saying all these monumental things, she knew he was for real.
I’m obsessed with you too, Torin Mardak. But she didn’t have time to speak her thoughts, because he was lifting the hem of her tunic, and what he saw made him smile.
Seph wasn’t wearing panties, because Torin had ruined her only pair. Torin dipped his head and kissed her there, right at the entrance to her pussy. “I’m getting better at this,” he said smugly, taking his time as he slid his tongue between her silken folds.
