“Please,” Malic groaned when Cassic’s tongue came out to lick him. Cassic looked up at him, grinning before he took him to the root. Damn, his mate’s mouth was beautiful. The suction was tight, and he was so hot.
Malic had his hand fisted in Cassic’s hair before he knew what he was doing. He fucked his mouth, pushing deep even as moans of pleasure fled his lips.
Cassic placed one hand on Malic’s ass and the other on his balls as he tried to suck his soul through his cock. It didn’t take long before Malic came in a deep guttural sound. His knees buckled, and he was on the floor with Cassic pulling him into his arms. He kissed him deeply, tasting his spend on his mate’s lips.
After seven years in the cryo-pods, he thought they would never get back to this place where they would feel free to love each other.
“That was…”
“It was what you deserve and more,” Cassic whispered.
Malic stiffened. His mate, the one person he loved more than life, was beginning to say things that made him wary.
“I get the feeling that you're keeping something from me.” Malic stood up before he picked Cassic up. Cassic wasn’t small. He was almost as tall as Malic and had a good bit of muscle along with his soft center. That’s why Malic worked out. He wanted to be able to carry his male whenever he was in the mood.
He flipped the covers back before setting him on the bed and stripping him. “I’m waiting.” He crawled onto the bed next to Cassic.
Cassic threw his arm over his face before letting out a soft sigh. “I need you to listen to what I have to say before getting upset.”
“That’s never a good way to start a conversation.”
“Just listen. Promise?”
“I promise.”
He snuggled up to Malic like it might be the last time. “Before we left Hasian, I heard some rumors. I didn’t give them much thought because there was no way to validate them. When we ended up here, I started to check into them.”
Malic gave a deep grunt like he was trying to keep from changing into their half state.
“They say there is a planet that has a master on it with the ability to separate mates.” Cassic held his breath, but Malic didn’t say anything. “I thought if we could find this place, this planet, then you could be free.”
“I see.” Malic stood, leaving Cassic in bed.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to take a Soni,” he turned and moved towards the door.
“Don’t you have anything to say? Can’t you see what this will do for us?”
“Tell me Cassic,” he turned around his voice so low that Cassic had to strain to hear it. “Tell me what it will do for us.”
“You’ll be free. You’ll live past my expiration date.” He gasped, his words coming out with a slight stutter. His hands wiped at his eyes. Bits of half-formed crystal fell pinging as they hit the floor. “I had no right to take away your freedom, to put you in this type of predicament. I want you to live, to celebrate me after I’m gone. I love you, Malic. How could I want you to die?”
“You’re a damn fool,” Malic screamed at him, allowing the pressure building up in his chest to explode. “But you’re my damn fool.” He took Cassic and shook him before drawing him into his arms. He stopped to make sure that he hadn’t hurt him. When he knew he was fine, he dropped a kiss on his lips before backing away. His male made him have to be careful at times, but being careful was worth it to be with him.
“Explain something to me; you’re the healer, I’m just the male who plays with the computer. When I’m working on a computer, it can be a one-dimensional computer or an AI as advanced as Sassy; I have to get the code right. If I don’t, it won’t talk to me; I can try to make a connection all day, but if I’m using the wrong code, that’s not going to happen.”
“What does that have to do with us?”
“I’m getting there. You and I met and agreed that we wanted to be in this relationship. We didn’t agree because that’s what the elders wanted. True?”
“True. I felt pulled towards you the moment we met. My heart almost stopped when you smiled at me.”
“Then the code comes together, and the computer is talking to you. It’s just your everyday computer. It kind of reminds me of the couples on Hasian. The code came together, and they are enjoying their lives, but every so often more happens.”
“More?”
“Think Sassy; she’s more than code. You don’t just make an AI. It takes a special spark. Sometimes on Hasian, a relationship has that spark. It comes alive like ours. Tell me what happens when your mystery person separates our bond?”
“You live.”
“Is that so? Let me tell you what I see happening. You die immediately. I die slowly. Even if he can separate the bond I have with you here.” Malic took Cassic’s hand, placing it over his heart. “He’ll never be able to separate the bond I have with you here.” He took that same hand and placed it along the side of his head.
“Without you, I will die. Given a choice, I’d rather die bonded to you than alone and sad.”
Cassic moved to him until they stood toe to toe. “I want you to have a better life, but I don’t want to give you up. I feel selfish.”
“Then we are both selfish; I won’t give you up Cassic if we go down, we go down together.”
“We need our mate.”
“Do you think we have a third?” Cassic wrapped his arms around Malic, allowing his head to rest on his mate’s chest.
“I do, I don’t know if we’re ready for her.” Thoughts of Payton plagued him. She made him want to bolt out the room.
“I asked Sassy if our mate might have been on Earth.” Malic’s breath caught as he waited for the answers. “She assured me she wasn’t. She said something about long-range scanners allowed her to analyze the population for Biometrics that matched ours, and no one on earth was a match.”
Malic’s shoulders slumped when he heard. “We can’t give up. Our mate is somewhere in the universe waiting for us.”
“Do you really want to find her?”
Malic shivered. What kind of question was that? Of course, he wanted to find her, except maybe not. Why would he want a female with swinging breast and sticky moisture between her legs? He assumed it was sticky he’d never seen between a female’s legs. His stomach cramped, and he placed his hand over his mouth; he didn’t want to lose his dinner.
“What do they look like down there?”
“I don’t know. I can’t find any mention of it in the ship’s recordings. I think Sassy is keeping it away from me, and I wasn’t going to ask the captain or Julze permission to look between their mate’s legs.”
“That was smart thinking. Let’s go, soni, then I have something to keep you busy.”
“Busy?” Cassic pulled out of his arms and started dragging him toward the soni.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I almost lost you today.” Cassic’s amber eyes glowed in his face. “I’ve never been happier to lose a confrontation with you.”
Chapter Six
Stop, I want to get off. Payton threw her walking stick across the room, then had to limp to get it. She was done, this was it. She was dead to her parents, to the world, then she should be dead.
“All hands on deck.” Sassy’s voice came out, startling her.
“What’s happening?”
“Don’t worry about it. You stay here and plan how to make Cassic saving your life a thing of the past.”
Sassy was gone, and Payton was looking around the medbay, wondering what happened. When the ship shook from being fired on, she fell to the floor. Her bird flew to her shoulder, trying to give her comfort.
“Am I wrong? Do you have a name? How am I supposed to live in this new world? It would be easier for everyone if I weren’t here.” She stretched out her hand until it came in contact with her walking stick. “I even need this to help me walk.” She held it up and shook it before letting a giggle came out. She f
elt like she was in some dramatic movie, maybe even a Disney pic.
She pulled herself off the floor, and then braced herself to deal with the next blast.
Cassic ran in, stopping as he looked at her. “I’m glad you’re here. There’s going to be wounded. I can use all the help I can get.”
“What?” Was he crazy? He expected her to help people who were hurt and bloody? People like her when she was hurt and bloody, and he came to her rescue. “I never helped anyone before.”
She felt a bit of shame, but it was the truth, and it felt good, to be honest. How long had she spent playing a role that wasn’t who she was but who she was supposed to be? There was no time for that kind of thinking.
“What can I do?”
Cassic gave the orders that had her checking on supplies as the ship still buckled with being hit.
“Grab something and hold tight, we’re moving.” Sassy’s voice came over the intercom.
She grabbed onto the chair that Neveah had moved the first time she came into the medbay. She sat and found there was some type of suction that kept her still even when the ship rolled. When things went silent and still, she finally stood.
“Take this.” Cassic pressed a small device into her hands. “This will tell you if the patient needs surgery or just patching up.” He went over the different settings and what she should look for as they waited to see what would happen next.
She studied the device while Cassic went to prepare the operating room.
“Every available hand to the breach hull. I want those passengers off that ship now.” Captain Rale’s voice came across the intercom.
Payton couldn’t see what was happening, but she could almost feel everyone running to do what he said. She still hadn’t met him or the Second-in-Command. That might be a good thing; listening to his voice was enough for her to know he didn’t suffer fools.
“Cassic.”
“You’re going to do fine. You can help me identify anything you think is serious and take care of small things like washing and wrapping wounds that don’t need a healer.”
She nodded as the door to medbay opened. Several Hasians were helping people into the room. Behind them came some on cots. Payton grabbed her walking stick and started pointing out where to put people while Cassic started examining those that couldn’t walk on their own. There wasn’t much time to examine the people she was helping, but she noted that their skin was onyx with pink eyes that turned red from pain. They all seemed to have neon-colored hair.
“Let me take a look at your leg.” She had no idea what she was doing, but the little device that Cassic pressed into her hands gave her a bit of confidence. It knew what it was doing.
“I don’t need any help,” the male spit out.
“That’s not what this says.” She held up her medical device before she tried to get a better look at his leg.
He knocked her down. “I said I don’t need any help.” He jumped off the bed, reaching down to place his clawed hands around her neck.
“Who asked for your help? We were doing fine without any of you.” He held her firm while looking around the room. “I want the kid.”
Payton rolled her eyes around the room, scared to move her neck. The kid in question was roughly a teenaged girl.
“Why?” She was the only one in the medbay besides the patients. Cassic was in surgery, and he had two medical drones that were also in surgeries that he was overseeing. There was no way he could help.
“Why? Don’t you recognize the next leader to the planet Casill.”
“Don’t do this.” The young girl said as she came closer. “Let her go, and you can have me. I’ve already lost the throne; I’m not worth anything.”
“You’re in no position to bargain. I will kill you and everyone on this vessel.”
Payton was about to get what she thought she deserved, and it wouldn’t be by her hand. Except. Except now that death was coming to call, she had a bucket list of things she wanted to do. Surviving was on top of it.
“Don’t come any closer,” she called out to the teen. Every one of the patients and the teen looked at her like she was crazy. Yeah, this wasn’t one of her finest moments. All she knew was she wasn’t willing to gain her life so someone else could die.
The hand around her neck squeezed tighter.
“What’s it matter to you if I kill the kid?”
When the hand eased up so she could move, she turned her head just enough to look into the eyes of a killer. The tiny bit of air she was dragging into her starved lungs left in a whoosh. She was looking into the face of a killer. No, much more. He looked like a suicide bomber. The type that would only be happy when he took everyone with him on his mad flight to hell.
“You don’t plan just to kill her. You want us all dead.” He threw her into the side of the medbed she had been sleeping on since she first arrived.
“Maybe I’ll kill the kid and leave the rest of you alone.”
Payton pulled herself off the floor, reaching for a small device lying on her bed. She palmed it before going for her walking stick. She knew this male, not by name or personal acquaintance, but she knew him. He was the dick that liked to pull the wings off flies before he killed them. He thought dropping cats into boiling water was fun. He waited for you after school to torture or rape you. He didn’t leave anything alive, the only difference was he wasn’t planning on being alive in the end, thus the suicide bomber.
He grinned at her with interest, not sexual; he looked at her like he was looking for the sweet spots to make her yell. She limped away, trying to come up with a plan to use her walking stick to hold him off. Her eyes went around the room, landing on the patients that were cowering against the walls. Where was Sassy when she needed her? If she were an all-knowing computer, then she should be sending help. All Payton had to do was keep him occupied until it got to her.
The male turned his attention to the teen, taking a step towards her as she stood in front of several younger children protecting them.
“You’re such a big strong male. I always liked those kinds. The kind that picked on children because they didn’t have the strength to take on anyone their size. Look at me. I’m strong.” The words were low and seductive as Payton teased him while calling his maleness into question.
He took a step towards her before she could get her walking stick in her hand, knocking her against the wall.
“Again,” she cooed. “I love being knocked around by a strong male.”
He came at her. This time her walking stick managed to trip him up. He staggered, slowing down while she crawled away.
“Time for you to die.” He ran towards her. The teen he was there to kill ran at him, hitting him just hard enough to knock him in the opposite direction.
The teen squared off with Payton, who had managed to stand. Payton was in front of him and the teen behind him. He smiled as they both began to advance on him. He went for Payton. The teen went for his legs, getting tangled in them.
When he fell, Payton took the syringe in her hand and stuck it into his arm, hitting the plunger. He threw off the teen and sat up laughing.
“What was that supposed to do? There is only one thing that can kill my kind.” He reached for her again when his eyes went wide. His body started to shake. A hand went to his throat, clutching it as he tried to breathe. His body began to shake as his bladder and rectum lost what they were holding. He was trying to speak, to accuse Payton of something, but no words made their way out. He collapsed, dying with his potential victims watching him.
“You did it,” the teen said in awe.
“We did it together.”
“What’s happening out here?” Cassic walked out.
“You missed Payton killing the Dequil,” Sassy told him.
Payton pulled herself up, swaying as she tried to lean on her walking stick for support.
“You killed a Dequil?” Cassic looked at her with a bit of fear as well as admiration.
“I kil
led that,” Payton pointed to the dead body. “I had help.” She smiled at the teen before she was falling.
Cassic moved, catching her in his arms.
“How did you do it?”
Payton laid her head against his chest, looking for the thump of his heart. It wasn’t where she expected it. When she found it, she pressed close, ignoring the shaking in her body.
“With that syringe,” she pointed to the one hanging from the killer’s bicep.
“What’s a syringe?” Cassic asked her.
“I don’t have time for that. I found it on my bed.” She pointed to the bed that was empty of everything except her bird. All eyes followed her, looking at the bed before turning back to her.
Cassic picked her up and sat on her on the edge of the bed before he examined her.
“You can look at me later; you have two more people that need surgery. Go.”
“Sassy, send a bot to clean that up and disinfect the room. Place the body in cold storage for me to examine later.” He walked over and took the syringe.
“Can you manage?”
“I got this,” Payton told him, shooing him away. “Payton’s clinic of minor bruises, lacerations, and other small items is now open.” She grinned like a maniac, even as she swayed softly.
Chapter Seven
Cassic snuggled into Malic’s side, laying his head against his mate’s chest. The confrontation in medbay and what it meant still had him trying to find firm ground. Malic was rocking him with a smooth, slow rhythm guaranteed to put him at ease.
“What happened today?”
“So much,” Cassic shivered, thinking about it. “I should be asking you what happened.”
“I asked first.” Malic ran his finger down Cassic’s back, making him shiver in pleasure.
“I wasn’t there for most of it, but Sassy made me watch the vid before I left. They brought in the Casillians. There were several adult males and females, but mostly children. I identified the three that needed surgery first and took them back while the human… no not the human, Payton, while Payton was trying to diagnose the others with the medi-scanner I gave her. This is where the vid picked up. There was a male she was trying to help. He threw her on the floor and demanded to kill a child, a teen. It turns out she should be the next ruler of Casill.”
Payton's Surprise (The Perfect Match Book 2) Page 4
