by A. G. Wilde
She could hear him breathing now and she didn’t know what to do.
She was tied to a pole, weaponless and vulnerable.
The only defense she had, was her mind.
Think, Kerena, think!
“Keh-reh-nah…”
That voice.
Her name.
Only one person said her name like that.
Motherfucker.
“You.”
The dim light flickered on and Ajos moved so he was standing in front of her then, the dust settling enough that she could see better.
Ajos stooped, his chest heaving, his eyes roving over her.
He moved his arm toward her before his gaze landed on his outstretched hand.
His entire skin was covered in dark fluid.
He paused and dropped his hand instead.
“Did they touch you?” he asked. “Did they harm you?”
Kerena stared at him.
He looked absolutely…terrifying.
His eyes were wild, and his skin was drawn as if he hadn’t eaten in a while.
She didn’t know what to think.
“No. They didn’t touch me,” she managed to say.
“Did they harm you in any way?”
“No,” she answered, fear ebbing away to be replaced by anger. “Just…can you release me?”
His chest was still heaving but he moved behind her and soon her hands were free.
Kerena rubbed her wrists as she stood on shaky legs.
She could hardly believe what had just happened.
“Did they harm you, Keh-reh-nah?”
What the…?
Maybe he was more mentally unstable than she’d thought?
Maybe he was bipolar.
“I didn’t think you cared.” She spun on him, her eyes raking over his body.
He looked even worse than she’d first realized. “I don’t know how you knew I was here. I have to thank you for that,” she motioned around her, wincing as she saw one of the bodies. It lay crumpled in such a way, it didn’t look like something that was once alive.
Realization hit, and she stared at him.
He’d killed for her.
“You don’t have to thank me for anything. I should have been by your side.”
Kerena blinked. Her anger rising again. “I don’t understand you. First you disappear on me, then you appear and pretend as if I wasn’t there, now you’re back and pretending like nothing has changed between us.”
“Have things changed?”
Kerena threw her hands up and headed toward the door.
She couldn’t deal with this.
She needed space to think.
Strong arms lifted her before she could even cross the threshold, and she was suddenly over his shoulder.
“Put me down. You have no right.”
“I have all the right. You are mine.”
His words stunned her, but she still hammered her fist into his back.
“The hell I am.”
“You are. I know this now. I cannot run away from it. You are mine and you will always be mine, Keh-reh-nah.”
“You really have some nerve.” She had the view of his feet and realized he was walking. “Are you just going to leave them there? The dead guys? Shouldn’t we call someone?”
“V’Alen already knows. I contacted him just before I entered the room.”
“You killed them.”
“And they deserved it.”
She couldn’t argue with that. They were about to sell her off to the enemy.
Kerena released a breath.
“Put me down, damnit.”
“No.”
“Ugh!”
“Say that again later, when I’m inside you.”
That stunned her and made her speechless.
He really did have some nerve.
“You completely ignored me earlier. As if I didn’t exist. And now you’re coming with this. What am I to you? Huh! Just some booty call?! I realize I may have given you that impression, but a booty call I am not. I thought there was something between us. Something more. I don’t know how you came back from Choria so quickly but if you think—”
“Was that where you thought I went? I didn’t go to Choria G622.”
Confused, she realized he was setting her down and that around them was the busy street she’d walked through earlier.
Aliens still walked along it, more than a few of them now staring at the spectacle she and Ajos no doubt made.
“And I don’t want to call your booty. I want to eat it. I want to be in it.”
Kerena’s eyes widened.
“I want more, Keh-reh-nah. You are my mate. And I was a stupid Shum’ai to think I could live without you.”
Kerena’s eyes nictitated. Her mouth fell open as she looked at the male in front of her.
And she wasn’t the only one who seemed dumbstruck.
In her peripheral vision, she could see that aliens around them had definitely stopped to stare.
“What are you talking about?”
“Keh-reh-nah,” he said, taking her face in between his hands.
In the light of the streetlamps, a shadow fell across his face and he looked even wilder. “I was wrong.”
He wasn’t making any sense and even though he’d rescued her, she still felt a bit angry at him.
He’d left her after they’d spent the night together. Then he’d ignored her like she didn’t exist.
Next, he’d lied about it.
For a moment, she searched his gaze.
Had the fever gotten to his head?
“I want you,” he said, his throat working. “I need you. If you will be mine.”
That took her out of her trance and Kerena shook her head, frowning as she tried to step around him.
Ajos grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving.
“Ajos, you are making a scene.”
“I don’t care. Let them watch.”
She shot him a look. “You didn’t seem to care earlier either.”
Confusion passed across his features. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.” For a moment, she saw his confusion turn to fear in those wild eyes of his.
Shaking from his grasp, Kerena walked off. A crowd parted for her and she felt her cheeks warm.
Shit.
This was bound to spread across the base soon.
Not only that, but the fact she knew she wasn’t safe, anyone watching could be her enemy.
That made her wrap her arms around herself.
Heavy footsteps sounded behind her and she knew by the gasps and mumbling that Ajos was following her.
As soon as she was out of earshot of the crowd, she spun and Ajos stopped just short of bumping into her.
There was a worried look on his face as if his world was ending and he didn’t quite understand why.
“You know, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. You really do have some nerve.”
Ajos blinked at her, his chest heaving with heavy breaths as he took her in.
She studied him.
“How did you return from Choria G622 so quickly?”
Again, he appeared confused. “I didn’t go to Choria G622, Keh-reh-nah.” His golden eyes moved over her face.
Why was he lying?
“I saw you,” she pressed.
Still, confusion played over his face before it slowly melted away. “You saw Akur.”
“A-who?”
“My brother.”
Kerena blinked at him as he glanced around them.
“This is not the place to speak.” He moved so fast, she was in his arms before she could even open her mouth. “Come, I have something to show you.”
30
In silence, he took her through streets she’d not yet walked on and past buildings she hadn’t yet seen.
She was pretty sure he wasn’t taking her back to his place or even back to the med bay.
Yet, all she could do was look up
at him as he carried her.
As the shadows played across his face, she couldn’t help but think he was beautiful.
He was a handsome guy…and it annoyed her.
She should be angry with him right now. Instead, she was silenced, confused, and a bit anxious. She still hadn’t faced the effect being captured had had on her.
Every now and then, he looked down and caught her staring, and she was sure she saw his mouth twist in what could be a smile.
That’s when it dawned on her.
She didn’t think she’d ever seen him smile before.
“Ajos.” She called his name and he looked down at her, the gold in his eyes seeming to churn as his pupils adjusted when he looked at her face. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home,” was all he said, and Kerena glanced around them again.
Maybe the aliens that had kidnapped her had carried her to a section of the base that she didn’t know because everything still looked unfamiliar.
“This doesn’t look like the way home.”
His chest moved then, and she was sure he chuckled.
“It will be.”
He came to stop in front of a building before he pressed a button and a part of a huge column opened up.
Ajos stepped inside and white light lit up the space.
He pressed something else and suddenly they were being lifted.
Kerena held her breath as she stretched her neck to look around.
“This is…”
“A lift. It is taking us home.”
The elevator opened and Ajos took a few steps down to a door where he scanned his hand.
The door opened and he stepped inside. It was pitch black within, but he walked as if he knew where he was going.
After a few steps, he set her on her feet then let her go.
Looking around, she couldn’t make out a thing in the darkness.
But then the lights came on and her breath hitched in her throat.
It was a living room and she only knew because of the way the furniture was set up. She’d have surely missed that fact otherwise, because the entire space was filled with flowers, vines, bushes, and shrubs.
It was like a living jungle within a room.
Kerena’s eyes widened as she took one step forward, her mouth falling open.
“Where are we?”
“Home.” Ajos’ voice came from behind her and she turned to look up at him. “Your home…and mine.”
Kerena blinked. “I don’t understand.”
Worry passed over his face again and Ajos took a breath.
Kerena’s eyes moved over him.
In the light, he looked even worse than she’d thought before and she was beginning to realize those dark marks splattered all over him was the blood of the two aliens that had kidnapped her.
“Ajos—”
“You’re mine,” he began. “I know that now. I knew it before…but I tried to ignore it.”
“You ignored me,” she said.
“That was Akur, my twin brother.”
Kerena’s eyes widened. “You said you had a brother. You didn’t say he was your twin.” She searched his face for any sign of deceit. “Identical?”
“Unfortunately.” Ajos sighed. “I’m pretty sure it pains him that he has the same image as the damned.”
Kerena frowned. “What does that mean?”
Ajos reached forward and took her hand. “Come, I’ll tell you while we wash.”
He led her to another room that was obviously a bedroom judging from the bed nestled within the “forest.” He led her from there to another room—the bathroom.
Kerena gasped.
Above, it looked like she was looking up into the open sky. She could see the stars through the roof.
“How…” she whispered.
“Do you like it?” Ajos’ eyes moved over her face as if her answer mattered to him, and Kerena was momentarily at a loss for words.
“This is like a dream home…”
He smiled then, a full-on smile that made her breath catch in her throat.
Somewhere behind the vines, he activated something, and water began literally raining down from the sky.
“Keh-reh-nah,” he said. “I have to tell you something.”
With the “rain” falling down on them, soaking them both, she could almost feel the atmosphere around them change.
“Many moons ago, I was sent with some females from Tonvuhiri…traveling across the stars to our mother planet for the joining ceremony.” His throat moved as he swallowed and his eyes darted away from her to focus at nothing. “Everything seemed okay. Shum’ai females are…delicate…so they all rested in stasis pods for the long journey. Nama,” he said, “my sister, was with us.”
Kerena blinked, waiting for him to continue.
“She…died.”
He still wasn’t looking at her, but there was so much pain on his face that Kerena knew he was battling something deep within.
“I could not save her. She begged…and I could not.” Pain crossed over his eyes. “Losing a female…a sister…is a blow to any Shum’ai’s lineage. Females are gifts. They alone can carry on the family line by bearing young. And I…” Another breath shuddered through him. “I couldn’t save her. It would have been better if I had been the one to die.”
“How did she die?” Kerena whispered.
He finally looked at her then. “Her stasis pod failed.”
The similarity wasn’t lost on her.
When they’d first met, she’d been stuck in a stasis pod. She’d almost died in it.
“Is that…is that why you’ve been so nice to me.”
Through his pain, he smiled a little.
“A little—at first. And then…”
He paused and his throat moved again.
“And then what, Ajos?”
“I thought the gods were punishing me.” He moved toward her and pulled her to him. “I joined the Restitution as penance for what I allowed to happen to Nama. And then…you came along.” He touched her hair. “This beautiful creature that I’m drawn to. This beautiful creature that I’ve bonded with.”
He took a breath. “I want you, Keh-reh-nah. I need you.”
The pieces were slowly falling together. The house. The “forest” within the rooms. Everything he was saying…
Was he really saying what she thought he was?
“I thought…” she whispered, allowing herself to reach forward and touch him. Her fingers brushed over the skin of his cheek and Ajos closed his eyes to her touch, leaning toward her hand.
“You disappeared for three days…”
“I had to.” His golden eyes met hers again. “I begged the gods to show me a sign…”
“And you got that sign?” She searched his gaze.
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
He smiled a little then, but he didn’t answer.
Kerena released a breath. “This is a lot to digest.”
Ajos tilted her chin up so she was looking at him.
“Being without you felt like walking toward death itself.” He paused. “I think I know now. I am not being punished. You are a gift from the gods themselves.”
Uh, she wouldn’t exactly call herself that, but which girl wouldn’t take such a compliment?
As Ajos’ lips crashed against hers, Kerena allowed the tension she’d been holding within her to fade away, and she sagged against him a little.
“I want you, Keh-reh-nah,” he said. “I hope you want me too. Tell me you’ll give me a chance.” His breath was warm against her lips. “Tell me you’ll give us a chance.”
Kerena trembled. His words were powerful.
“I want you, Keh-reh-nah,” he repeated. “Do you want me?”
“More than anything,” she whispered—an admission, even to herself.
31
Ajos’ cock slipped inside her for the third, no, fourth, or maybe fifth time?
She’d lost count now
. He groaned as he pressed her pelvis into his so hard, her clit rubbed against him with each thrust.
Sweet ecstasy filled her as he kneaded her breast underneath his palm.
Her cheek was plastered against his chest, his fresh wintery scent wafting into her nose like a thick musk.
Ajos pummeled into her until she couldn’t take it anymore and as she screamed his name, her orgasm flooded through her like a warm unending wave. In the midst of the sweet ecstasy, she leaned into his neck and nipped him lightly.
Ajos groaned, slamming into her one last time and she felt his seed rise from his base to flood her channel.
The effect caused another immediate orgasm and even as her body stiffened then trembled, she wondered how she was able to keep them coming.
She felt limp, but so, so sated.
For a few moments, he held her there, his cock still buried deep inside her.
“I don’t think I will ever get enough of you,” he murmured.
“You better not.”
Ajos chuckled and slipped from inside her, brushing against her leg as he moved to lie beside her.
His chest heaved at the same rate hers was, and she couldn’t help but giggle when his eyes met hers.
Around them, the leaves of the foliage seemed to sway, affected by her happiness.
“I don’t get how you can still be hard.”
“It will go down.”
“But we had like, five rounds.”
He glanced at her. “Human males do more?” He began moving. “I can go again.”
Her eyes widened as she pressed against his chest, another fit of giggles moving through her. “Heck, no!”
Ajos chuckled and dropped his head on her chest, idly rubbing his nose against her nipple.
This was hardly believable. But it felt…right.
Planting a kiss on his head, she rubbed the protrusions he told her were called his nefre and he shuddered.
“Stop that…unless you want me to spin you over and mount you again.”
Kerena smiled.
“We should go.” Her smile slowly faded.
They’d been bad. Wholly ignoring the fact that he’d killed two beings, destroyed a building, and that they’d gone missing.
She doubted anyone knew where they were and she knew Alaina and maybe even Aker would be looking for her.
She had told them that she’d be going back to the med bay and she hadn’t turned up.
