The Unexpected Bonding Vow

by Michelle Howard

  Her leg was another issue ignored in the household. Everyone pretended they didn’t remember the fateful day her father flung her into the kitchen wall. The awkward fall had done severe damage to her leg. Per her father’s orders, she’d been left on the floor overnight.

  To learn a lesson.

  The only lesson Saedra learned was that her father would kill her without concern and no one would stop him. He’d summoned a basic medic to see to her several days later after she continued to complain of the pain. A medic whose presence on this backward moon station told her all she needed to know about the quality of his skills.

  Razan had been quite unrepentant about not completing his medical trials after his instructors had complained about his numerous errors and risky behavior on the surgery table.

  As a result of his inexperience and disregard, Saedra’s bone hadn’t been treated correctly and the leg healed wrong. She limped when too much strain was put on the limb or the muscles spasmed. Which didn’t happen often but when it did, the pain was fierce. Like now.

  “Where to next?” Garik asked, gaze studying her upright posture and lingering on her legs which were thankfully covered by her skirts now.

  She pulled the cloak back up over her hair and tipped her head to the road before him. “Further down. A hover-cycle for us to use. We wouldn’t be able to escape on foot otherwise.”

  His eyes shifted behind her to the hidden hole and the property beyond. “You’ve planned this for a while.”

  Since the answer was obvious, she didn’t respond, just grabbed for his shirt sleeve and pulled him forward. Fear at having gotten this far was a living breathing beast inside of her. “We should go.”

  Over the next ten minutes, they kept a steady pace down the gravel path at the side of the road that ran parallel to the edge of her father’s property. Any moment, Saedra expected her father or his guards to jump out and attack. Calming her overloud breathing was a lost cause. It didn’t help that she could still hear the krels and knew they wouldn’t quit the hunt unless given the command to do so. Those vicious hounds were relentless and never quit tracking prey when they had the scent unless the huntsman could call them off. Even then, it wasn’t a guarantee to work.

  Right when Saedra was about to give up on spotting their transport, she spotted the dun covered mound off to the side of the road. Relief wooshed through her. It was exactly where the message had said it would be. “Here. Right here.”

  She let Garik’s hand go and headed for what she hoped was their ride. It had been difficult getting the name of someone who could purchase it then do the arrangements all under a false name. Paying the credits in advance had made her leery, but she’d done it. In her haste, her trembling fingers slipped on the heavy covering hiding the hover-cycle.

  “Let me help.”

  Garik was at her side in an instant. Together they pulled back the tarp, revealing a sleek high-end, black hover-cycle. Saedra’s shoulders sagged and her balance wobbled. Garik shot her a look and she waved his concern away. He had no idea how worried she’d been that her contact had cheated her.

  As Garik propped the bike up on its midi-stand, Saedra had a belated thought. One that could derail everything. “Do you ride?”

  The corners of his mouth twitched and it was so at odds with his stern, beaten appearance that Saedra’s breath caught. His face in all its austere lines would be beautiful if he let the smile fully form. Dimly she recalled his laughter in the cell. It was a shame it had been too dark to see.

  “What were your plans if I didn’t?”

  Once more she was unsure if he was teasing her. Going on a limb and hoping it was humor she noted, Saedra quipped, “We would be pushing this together.”

  His gray eyes brightened and she waited. To her dismay, no smile was forthcoming. It really was too bad she’d missed it earlier. Saedra sighed and continued. “I don’t ride. It’s why I only purchased one cycle instead of two.”

  “You’re in luck.”

  Instead of starting the cycle, he squatted at the back of the machine and ran a hand over the horizontal pipes protruding from above the retractable rear wheel. His fingers glided over every inch. He moved along the body of the machine, continuing his touch and seek mission.

  Further behind them, a howl split the night with its eerie tones. Saedra wrapped her arms about her torso and cupped her elbows. “What are you doing?”

  Didn’t he realize their lead dwindled with each passing second?

  “I don’t ride anything I haven’t checked over myself.”

  Saedra drew in a sharp breath. It had never crossed her mind to question the condition of the vehicle. “Do you think it’s been tampered with?”

  He made some indecipherable noise under his breath, causing Saedra to bite her lip and hold back any further questions.

  Once his check was complete—at least she assumed so—he stood and slid one long leg over the seat, treating Saedra to the sight of his pants tightening over a quite nice butt and the stretch of firm thighs. Her pulse picked up as he straddled the cycle and leaned forward, hands gripping the horizontal guiding bar.

  Celestial Father and Mother have mercy on her licentious thoughts. Never before had she ever experienced such a surge of lust for a man.

  He looked back over his shoulder at her and arched a brow. “Coming, petti coinçin?”

  Unsure of what he called her, Saedra dropped her arms but couldn’t force herself to move. She really hadn’t thought this through. The idea of getting on a hover-cycle was bringing to mind all the dangerous ways one could die. The sleek ride could easily hit an excess of 200 kms if the rider was competent enough to handle it at that speed.

  ***

  Garik wasn’t sure the scared rabische would get on with him. Her eyes were so wide the whites dominated their brown depths. He had to admit he was surprised at her planning so far. The hidden hover-cycle was a smart choice versus something larger that could easily be spotted by Lord Maurin’s guards.

  Plus, it was one of the fancier models with silent propulsion and a mini defense weapons array. Enough firepower to ward off would-be thieves but not hold off a full-on attack. The 3XL-elite was something he would have selected for several reasons, not the least of which was the speed. Speed was something they very much needed in their current situation.

  The sounds of snarls and growls drew closer. Garik cursed. His rescuer stood frozen in the middle of the road. If she didn’t put a move on it, they would lose the slight lead they’d managed to get from her clever plan. And there was no doubt this was a well thought out plan, from the stolen keys, to the tunnel beneath the barrier on the property and now this cycle.

  “Saedra,” Garik hissed.

  She jerked but didn’t move. His hands clenched on the steering rod handles. Instincts honed as a homeless kid left on the streets to survive told him to leave her. Training under the Assassins Guild told him to leave her. Fuck, being an assazi urged him to leave her. Garik had always counted on himself and no one else.

  Yet his heritage as a Gerelin held him back. Garik had crossed many lines in the years since finishing the classes at the Guild. Leaving his bonded mate, it seemed, was the one cultural taboo he couldn’t abandon.

  “Sesi, we have to leave now,” he murmured, making eye contact and holding her gaze with his own. He gentled his tone because he’d picked up how sensitive she was to the subtle nuances. “Otherwise, this was all for naught, yeah?”

  Her brows drew together, but miracle of miracles, she darting toward him with the odd limping gait that still pissed him off. She came to him on the right side and he released the rod with that hand to nudge her waist.

  With a speed he wasn’t expecting, she clasped his hand between both of hers. Truthfully, Garik could have avoided it if he wanted. He was an assassin after all and fast or not, she wasn’t faster than him.

  The problem was that her touch wasn’t something he wanted to avoid. Damned if he knew why. It wasn’t the bond causing thi
s anomaly. This reaction had started in his cell with the first brush of her fingers against his face. Maybe she’d possessed him and poisoned his mind against resisting her.

  “I...I don’t know how. I’ve never ridden.”

  Garik’s chest tightened at the shy look she cast his way with a lowering of her lashes. “It’s easy. Only rule since you’re on the back is to hold on and don’t let go.”

  His voice was unintentionally gruff. She was bringing out a lot of old emotions in him. Emotions he hadn’t experienced since his parents’ death. Even before their loss, Garik had found it hard to connect with others, yet this wisp of a woman was tugging at his dark places and innermost demons. Emotions meant risk and risk meant danger.

  “Ha! That sounds easy.” She smiled and moved to the back of the hover-cycle, placing one hand on his shoulder, then hesitated once more.

  Damnation! Garik shoved his now free hand through his hair. They didn’t have time for this. Whatever was on her mind needed to be pushed far back for later. “Get on now, sesi.”

  Pursing her lips, she hiked her skirts to her waist, flashing him a glimpse of startling white underwear and slim thighs as she slid behind him on the cycle. Her arms came around his waist as he’d instructed and she leaned forward, pressing the delicious mounds of her breasts against his back.

  Garik didn’t waste time and cranked the starter button on the rod with a twist of his wrist. The beast responded with a low purr, bringing a grim smile to Garik’s mouth. He shoved cycle into gear and they took off like a shot.

  Behind him, Saedra squealed and her hands pressed hard on the flat of his middle. Garik battled the urge to throw back his head and laugh as they took off down the road. He flicked the hover mode and they rose several inches from the paved street. Another burst of speed sent them zooming away.

  Chapter 7

  The hover-cycle had a preprogrammed location on the screen, mapping out a destination. Garik didn’t want to trust the directions but any energy boost he’d received from the adrenaline of their daring escape was fading fast. He refused to draw from his bond mate again. Saedra didn’t need to be any weaker after what he’d already taken.

  Against his better judgment, Garik followed the map, making turns as the navigation tool announced them in a sterile voice. When he was less than a minute away from arrival at his destination, the directions told him to turn right. The right didn’t exist. Or at least the road for it didn’t. However, there was a dirt path grooved from traffic.

  Garik slowed to a stop, engaged the wheels and lowered the cycle to the ground. He put one foot down for balance while keeping the other on the flat board pedal. Saedra propped her chin on his shoulder, lips almost caressing his ear. “What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?”

  His cock throbbed and lengthened in arousal. Without answering, Garik set his foot back on the flat board and turned down the beaten path. They flowed over the ground at reduced speed while he kept his senses alert for an ambush.

  The path ended at a small clearing and a shack that had seen better days. Insects chirped to one another from the disturbance. Garik powered the cycle down and eased his weight off. Saedra used his shoulder to brace and dismounted faster than she’d gotten on. When he noticed her balance tip, he reached out and caught her at the waist.

  She stumbled into him with an oomph. Their groins smashed together and her startled gasp made it obvious she felt his adrenaline-induced arousal. Not that there was anything he could do about it in his current state. His body was still battered and there was no guarantee on his performance.

  Ignoring the way her breasts slid against his chest as she stepped back, Garik belatedly answered her question. “I stopped because the programmed directions led to here.”

  “Oh.” Her mouth formed a perfect circle, drawing attention to her bottom lip, narrow for the most part but puffy at the center dip from where she’d bitten it earlier. Her shoulders stiffened and her chin jutted up. Was that a scar on her face? The night prevented a clear glance. “We can stash the cycle inside with us.”

  Garik glanced from the expensive hover-cycle to the shed-like structure. If they were discovered, there would be no place to hide in such a site. “What about the tracking mechanism on it?”

  Her smile was bright, proud. The annoying shift in his chest area occurred again. “Disabled. I requested that at the time of purchase.”

  Garik grunted and immediately went to his knees to access the panel on the underside of the ride to confirm her statement. Anyone would tell you what you wanted to hear and then do the complete opposite. He should know as he’d been a master at the game in trapping his targets.

  Garik removed the protective covering over the small pad and viewed the script and code running across the screen. He tapped a familiar icon and received a red error message. He exhaled. The tracking was indeed disabled. He stood and gave a nod at her nervous questioning glance.

  Once more, she offered a smile, appearing way too pleased for their circumstances. “Right. Well. Let’s get it inside so no one knows we’re here.”

  Considering the path they’d taken to get here, casual traffic wouldn’t see the structure, but overhead search fliers would be able to detect it.

  “Lead on.” Garik activated the starter and walked the hover-cycle with them to the front door.

  This time, she didn’t use a key chip or any other unlocking mechanism that he could note. Just twisted the knob and gave it a slight shove. The door opened wide with no squeak or telltale sound. Garik tensed, senses alert as he scanned the dim interior. Saedra walked ahead and tapped a lantern mounted on the wall. It lit, giving a harsh halogen glare to the simple space.

  Stale air greeted them, musky and damp. The shed was sturdier and neater on the inside than the outside. The chill in the air brought back memories of the nights he’d recently spent curled on a cell floor.

  Garik shut down the hover-cycle and rolled it inside to lean on the wall beside the door to keep it from outside view. Although the tiny, single window would require someone being directly near it to see inside, Garik would hear an intruder approach far sooner.

  He strode to the center of the room and looked around. There wasn’t much to it. A pile of blankets was folded next to a portable mattress. Across the room was a lone counter with a faucet and recycling drain tray beneath it. There were half a dozen prepackaged squares he recognized as nutrient meals. Disgusting to the taste but bearable.

  In the far corner, it was hard to miss the retractable latrine station open and on display, the gleaming silver basin mounted next to the collapsible urinal for space saving purposes.

  “It’s not much.” Saedra spun around. “I needed a place Maurin wouldn’t think to search, away from the main parts of the city.”

  Garik didn’t spend a lot of time on Quantoon. The higher rating targets he was assigned would rarely thought this moon station a viable option for safety and discretion. It was hard to determine if this was a good option or not. “How certain are you that we won’t be discovered?”

  Her shoulders hunched and she raised her hand to tilt her palm side to side as she faced him. “It depends on how desperate he gets.”

  Garik huffed. “I’m sure he will put in extra effort for me, but what about you, sesi?”

  How valuable was she to Maurin and what lengths would he go to in order to retrieve her?

  “I don’t know.” A look he couldn’t read passed over her face. She grimaced and said, “Part of me hopes he considers me as unworthy as he’s always said but I also know he doesn’t like letting go of things he believes belong to him.”

  Garik’s entire body froze. He hadn’t thought of that when she’d appeared in his cell like an avenging presence from the gods. “Do you?”

  “Do I what?” Her steps tracked over the bare floorboards, displacing dust swirls, the limp in her right leg not as prevalent while she traversed the space then came to a stop and eyed the waste facilities. She flinched and if Garik wasn’t mista
ken, her cheeks took on a pink tinge.

  If either of them needed to relieve themselves, there would be no privacy beyond a simple head turn in the other direction.

  “Do you belong to Lord Maurin, leader of this forsaken moon station?” As soon as the question spilled from his mouth, Garik wanted to call it back for what it might reveal about his own growing feelings of possession.

  Saedra jerked around and faced him with her mouth agape. “No! Ugh no, never.”

  Her answer relieved him, but Garik blamed it on the bond. The nature of the mating would continue to pull him closer to her. Whether he did anything about it would be on him. Although the few times Garik lowered his guard enough for sex, it was detached and for release only. He didn’t do deep emotions.

  She was still staring in horror at the basin and latrine when a wave of exhaustion roiled through Garik. He placed his hand over the ache in his side he’d been trying to ignore and headed toward the mattress. If he didn’t rest, he was going to crash where he stood.

  He took a whiff of his odor and changed direction. First, he needed to alleviate his stench. He went to the faucet and dunked his head beneath the light flow. It was tepid but enough to give his hair and face a brisk wash. As for the rest of him, Garik did what he could with swipes and splashes of his hands over his torso, aware of Saedra’s relentless stare during the entire process.

  Who was he to argue if she wanted to watch?

  Too tired to do more, he stumbled his way back to the mattress. A black pedal protruded from the bottom of the flattened square. Garik tapped it with the tip of his foot. The low hiss as it inflated was the only sound in the room until a tone chimed, signaling the process was complete. To Garik, the fluffed large square looked like paradise. “We should rest.”

  “T-t-together?” she stuttered, breaking her silence.

  He faced her with a hard look. “Yes.”

  There was no way Garik would close his eyes and succumb to sleep while she was awake and wandering the room. His trust didn’t extend that far to anyone. In fact, so far, his every interaction with her was directly in contrast to how Garik interacted with others. Trust was a commodity he didn’t gamble with often. As evident by Dedrin’s actions.