They were taking turns pacing today. That couldn’t be a good sign. Her beautiful eyes were troubled and he knew she worried about the other pods. About him. About their future. About what her parents would say if they woke up. The contraceptive request had been a surprise and one he’d have preferred she discussed with him first but it made sense. A baby would complicate things.
It would be so much easier if she could just stop worrying until some of their questions were answered. He caught her as she walked past him, pulling her to stand between his spread thighs. She leaned against him, resting her nose between the muscles of his chest, between the sheaths of his knives. Her heart slowed audibly at the contact with him and she sighed. He stroked his fingers through her hair, massaging, feeling her calm.
Kissing her forehead, he breathed her in. “I wouldn’t feel this way about anyone else. But fuck if I’m not seriously considering having Ajax freeze a few gallons of my serum for you though, just in case.”
Before she could respond, the admiral stepped into the corridor. He met flinty eyes over the top of her head. They nodded at one other.
Admiral Fior guided them into his private office, gesturing for them to sit before his massive ebony desk.
After a moment of pleasantries, Nissa got right to the point and for the second time that day, Tam was surprised by what she said.
“I’m requesting permission for Tam and I to personally travel to Triannon. Immediately. To find out what’s happened on my planet.”
The admiral rested his hands on his desk.
Nissa scooted forward in her seat. Through the bond, Tam could feel her gearing up for something. “I am asking as an official representative of the Trianni people.”
Why hadn’t she discussed this new tactic with him first?
Fior regarded them in silence for a long moment, face hard.
Nissa wrung her hands in her lap. “It affects us all.” She shifted and the black gown she wore moving sinuously over the grated metal floor that covered most of Base Command. “If Triannon is gone,” she paused for a moment, gathering her composure, “then there is nowhere for us to go, and I’d imagine most of the women in the pods may well decide to stay with the Argenti.”
She sent Tam what she probably intended to be a reassuring smile. “But if there’s a chance we could reclaim our planet, if the people there need help, I don’t think the choice is as simple.”
He wanted to argue that it was that simple, it was exactly that simple, but he kept his mouth shut.
“We need to know,” she said.
The admiral turned to stare at the full bulkhead HolCom of a view of space. The tiny blue sphere of Argentus spun a lazy arc along with the other four planets in the system circling their sun.
“We can go alone if we have to.” Her voice echoed across the small chamber. “In Tam’s ship. You don’t even have to officially authorize it.”
He glanced over to see if she’d finished.
She nodded at him tightly. He cleared his throat.
“Sir?”
The admiral met his gaze, looking dubious and irritable. “Yes?”
“I’d like to remind you about the agreement we made before Nissa gave her blood to be tested.”
A muscle twitched below Admiral Fior’s eye. Tam spoke a bit faster. “Nissa described the race who attacked her planet for me again last night.”
The admiral’s eyebrows furrowed, asking the question silently. “They were tall and muscular, like us. With pale skin, pure white, and long black hair.”
“So I have heard before. That is not proof it is the Vestige.”
“No, but she mentioned this time there is no white around their eyes. Their entire eye is black, or at least appears so.”
The admiral’s mouth grew hard.
“And one more thing.” Tam swallowed. This was his ace card. “She mentioned that the cliffs around Trian are made of quartz.”
When quartz was involved, it meant the Vestige. They worshipped the shit and used it for everything. If word leaked about quartz on Triannon, the chiefs would be forced to act.
The admiral pinched the bridge of his nose. “Are you threatening me?”
Tam shook his head. “Just reminding you of our agreement.”
“If this leaked...” He shook his head, taking a deep breath. “After your little media stunt, all of Argentus would demand retribution.”
Tam wasn’t sure what to say about that. “I’m protecting my mate’s interests.”
Fior was silent for a long moment. “You ought to spend as much time thinking about your fellow Tribesmen.”
“I think I do, sir.”
“You threaten me with a resurgence of war.”
Tam shook his head again. “We don’t know what we will find there. All I’m asking for is a stealth mission. Just reconnaissance. Quick and dirty. In and out.”
When the admiral finally spoke, his voice was low. “Chart your mission. Depart in two days. I’ll take care of the chiefs.”
Tam hid his surprise. He and Nissa rose to leave.
When they reached the hatch, the admiral spoke again. “If you speak to that asshole Childers, or even so much as sneeze in his direction, I will have you thrown in the brig. I would now, if it weren’t for your mother.”
Tam’s belly clenched. He nodded. “Understood, sir.”
Fior focused on his digi-screen, effectively dismissing them.
Tam nearly laughed. If he’d known it would be that simple he’d have brought Nissa here days ago. Weeks ago.
Problem solved. Mission to Triannon a go.
He took Nissa’s hand and guided them back toward their chamber. He stayed silent throughout the trip. She cast nervous glances in his direction, but he decided to let her wonder. The gods knew she had kept him in the dark lately. The veins and tendons stood out on his forearm where he’d rolled up the sleeves of his flight-suit. His grip was firm around the pole he grasped to keep them upright as the train car jostled on the tracks.
He held her closely, tucked under one arm, securely between his thighs, every cell in his body alive, as always, at her proximity. He needed her touch. The other warriors on the train nodded at them politely when they exited at their stop. He held her elbow, moving quickly.
“You’re angry,” she said and he ignored her.
She hissed with displeasure when he propelled her through their hatch. Eyes narrowed, fists clenched, she rounded on him. “You’re being unreasonable.”
Tam narrowed his eyes back at her and took a step toward her, unbuckling the straps that held his knives in place. He carefully hung them on the bulkhead hooks beside the hatch. She backed up. He undid his thigh sheaths, keeping his eyes glued to hers, and hung them on the hooks along with his rezal blaster.
“You can’t just manhandle me into doing what you want,” she said as she continued her retreat.
He dropped the shoulder straps and unclipped his nustal. Its sheath clattered lightly when it touched the bulkhead. He smiled, cocking his head to the side. “I can.” He closed in on her and whipped his shirt over his head. “I’m bigger.” When her gaze dropped to the ridged muscles of his stomach, she licked her lips. He didn’t bother to hide a smirk.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“All you’ve done today is talk.” He continued his steady pursuit. “No more talking.”
When her thighs hit the back of the sofa, her eyes widened. “You did that on purpose.”
He smiled again, slow and deadly.
He closed his hands around the skirt of her dress, pulling it over her head as she sputtered. He tossed it across the room and spun her around.
“Tam,” she protested trying to face him again.
He fisted his hand in her hair and pressed her down over the sofa’s back, forcing her ass high in the air.
“This isn’t...” She broke off with an inelegant grunt when, in a single fluid motion, he released his swollen cock from his pants and shoved it home, entering h
er dripping pussy in a single violent thrust.
With a groan of surrender, she arched her back, pressing that luscious ass against him. Her hair curled over the sofa, veiling her face, shining like flames. The thick girth of his cock disappeared inside her. He marveled that he fit.
Reaching around, he traced a circle around her wet clit and was rewarded by the little sounds she made in the back of her throat when she was close. He pounded into her harder and when she came, the muscles of her pussy shuddered, sucking him deeper.
He lost track of how many times he came inside her, how many times she gasped and squealed and shuddered her own orgasms, but a river of their cum dripped down her thighs.
She panted, draped limply over the sofa. “I’m not sure I can take any more.”
“You can.” He traced a hand down the sinuous dip of her spine and through the cheeks of her ass right down to the perfect little puckered opening. He gathered some of the slippery fluid from her thighs and used it to lubricate a finger.
She tensed as his finger pressed into the tight channel.
“You’ll take everything I give you.”
“I don’t—”
“Ssshhh.” He shoved his finger deeper. She squealed. Using his other hand, he stroked her clit again. “Come for me again, eyana. Come on my cock like a good girl.” He circled his hips and wiggled the finger in her ass. Leaning forward, he took her earlobe in his teeth and bit down gently, letting the hair on his jaw graze her neck.
She bucked beneath him.
Gods, he loved the sounds she made when she came and this orgasm wrenched out of her like a demon from hell as she twisted and clawed at the sofa, screaming.
He rode her until she stilled. He kept his finger deep in her ass, shushing and soothing her as she came down from the high. With his free hand, he scooped some of their cum and held it to her lips.
She sucked, cooing sleepily.
“You need me,” he said.
She didn’t answer, just sucked happily. He thrust his hips hard. “You need me,” he repeated. “You need my cock,” he said, slamming into her as if he could force her to accept it.
She made a noise halfway between acceptance and denial.
“Say it,” he demanded and thrust. “Tell me.”
“I need you, I need your cock,” she said in a keening wail that was part surrender, part accusation. “I need your cum.”
He pulled his fingers from her mouth and ass to palm her breasts. “Yes,” he said, thrusting so hard the sofa lurched over the gray carpet. “You do,” he groaned as the final pulsing jet of serum tore out of his balls. He threw his head back and shouted with the power of the release, his hips moving fiercely. “And I need you.”
He rested his head on the damp skin of her back, feeling the fine bones of her spine under his cheek, and wrapped both arms around her rib cage, squeezing her tight. She mewled when he pulled his cock out.
He felt like a bastard. He picked her up gently, with an arm under her knees, and she turned her face into his neck. She fell asleep the minute he laid her on their bed.
She looked so beautiful lying there with her legs spread wide. And so trusting, her mouth slightly open. Looking at her swollen pussy and the trail of cum seeping down her legs, he felt a stab of guilt. She was so small. He should be more gentle with her. He pulled the covers over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
He’d never get enough of her. Not in a million years. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He just prayed she never asked him to give her up.
SHE WAS STILL SLEEPING half an hour later when Tam left, freshly bathed to go plan the flight path for their trip to Triannon.
He worked with a group of warriors at mission control. Since there were no Tribe portals in that part of the galaxy, Vestige portals would have to be used. The flight would be tricky, and command decided that a group of ten should accompany them.
Feeling energized, Tam lingered at the gym an hour later. Sparring with a few of the warriors and lifting weights helped remove some of his residual anger. The calm, rational part of him understood Nissa’s questions. He knew she was frustrated by her dependence on him. She felt a loyalty and responsibility to her people that made her question her bond with a man outside her own people but her stubborn belief that their connection was nothing more than chemical in nature was something that made him crazy, something that tore at the threads of his sanity.
What he felt for her was real and powerful and it didn’t matter that the bond helped to tie them together, to intensify their feelings. His feelings were real all the same.
And she refused to see that, he knew it. She was awake. He could feel her, hot and pulsing on the edge of his awareness. She needed him. He frowned. It had been three hours. Despite their attempts to stretch the limits of their bond, the demands came every few hours like clockwork. They’d made it close to four but she’d been nauseated and sweaty by the end, which made him sick. What if something happened to him?
The thought that she might actually get sick and die without him scared the shit out of him. He walked with far more caution now. The old crap that used to bother him just bounced off. None of it mattered anymore.
She needed him but he wanted her to want him and that was the crux of their problem. Tam wasn’t sure she believed she’d ever want him, if she wasn’t forced to by their bond. At the end of the day, he wouldn’t blame her. He was big and rough and coarse, and she was delicate as stardust. She was royalty. He didn’t deserve her but he was determined to earn her.
Sweat poured into his eyes as he rounded out his fifth mile on a running machine. His comm buzzed from a tray. A message from Ajax. Eight more pods just arrived. Two are males.
He jogged to Healing Bay, his shirt sticking to his sweaty chest. The pods sat in a row in a holding chamber off Healing Bay, being warmed slowly. Eight red spheres with pulsing lights exactly like the one in which he’d found Nissa. His stomach cramped at the memory. Walking along the windows, he looked at the Trianni in the contents. Nine were females, young and nude with floating red hair. Tam passed them by.
The last two pods held males. One was an older male, around the same age as Admiral Fior, the other younger. Still old enough to be Nissa’s father. The males were small and almost feminine-looking in comparison to Tribe warriors.
He chewed the inside of his cheek. The older one was Nissa’s father. Tam recognized him from her memories during their Bonding. The younger guy, however, was not the wise elder Nissa had mentioned as the other male in cryo.
His digi buzzed again. I need you again. Nissa, comming him from the digi he’d given her during their first few days on base.
Criamnon, her betrothed. She had deliberately not mentioned that this man too had been placed in a pod. What did that mean?
Ajax approached, moving with the silent ease of old friends to stand by his side. “One of the women from the first group is awake, up and about.” There was something in Ajax’s voice that Tam hadn’t heard before. “I think her name is Feola. She’ll probably go to sleep soon but you should bring Nissa to speak with her tomorrow. Talk to her. I think she’s scared.”
Tam nodded, his eyes never leaving Criamnon’s face. “And the others?”
“Still in the process of Bonding,” Ajax said wryly, hands spread wide. “It could be a few more days.”
Tam nodded again.
“Her father?” Ajax asked.
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“Left side. The other one is her betrothed.”
Ajax’s eyes widened at that. He tucked his hands in his pocket, rocked on his feet. “Not anymore.”
Tam nodded again. “Not anymore.”
Ajax grinned but Tam didn’t feel like smiling. He wished he could pack Nissa up and take her away somewhere safe, where they could be alone, with no father to forbid their bond and no people demanding her love. “Open that one last.”
Ajax nodded and after a moment he cleared his throat aw
kwardly. “You all right?” he asked.
Tam glanced over at him. Things had to be bad if Ajax was asking about his feelings. “What are you doing?”
Ajax shrugged, hands in his pockets. “Attempting to make sure your emotional health is sound.”
Tam did smile at that. He pulled on his ear, unaccustomed to confiding in anyone. “Nissa won’t admit it but she attempts daily to convince herself that the bond is entirely artificial.” He ran a hand along his neck. “Because then she’d be free to say it was never real in the first place.”
“Does she want to break it?” They stood facing the glowing red spheres rather than one another, Tam grateful for Ajax’s tact.
“Not consciously. But she is unaccustomed to disobeying her father. Even with him frozen, she can feel his disapproval. More, she bears a sense of service to her people that’s confusing as shit. She sees me and them as antithetical. Like being with me violates them somehow.”
“It is hard to go against one’s father. And one’s king. One’s upbringing.”
“It’s not just that. I think she wonders if anything she feels is real, if we’d even be together if it weren’t for the bond’s chemistry. She’s thinking about it.”
Ajax blew out a long, slow breath. “Will you stop her?”
Would he stop Nissa from breaking their Bond if she wanted to? His stomach clenched. “I don’t see how I can.”
“It would hurt like hell. For both of you,” Ajax said. “She would suffer. You would suffer.”
“Yeah.”
Silence fell, interrupted at intervals as officers moved through the space. Any excuse to come see the women in the pods. The Guarda had to be permitted access in order to keep everyone out but they weren’t immune to curiosity about the retrieved pods or the women they held. For a long while, both men were still, the pods across from them pulsing red at different intervals.
“I can’t keep her against her will,” Tam eventually admitted. There was nothing for Ajax to say to that. Tam was well aware his friend knew the realities of the situation. If Nissa really did break the bond, Tam would be humiliated, scorned. The other warriors would pity him, deride his inability to keep his bonded female, whisper about the man whose female did something no one had ever done to Tam’s knowledge. He would be the warrior whose female had chosen to suffer horrible pain to break their bond.
The Bonding Page 10
