He met her startled look with a grin and once again she couldn’t resist smiling back. This time Kievan growled and Dragar’s grin broadened; however, he didn’t say anything but simply led the way to a comfortable seating area. The two men sat on the couch and Kievan took an armchair. She knelt at his feet, leaning a little closer to his legs than was absolutely correct, and looked up to find both men staring at her. She raised her chin and stared back.
“Is my slave distracting you?” Kievan asked and his voice was deadly. Jakkar scowled but Dragar was still studying the two of them.
“Give us your information,” Jakkar demanded.
“You remember that Prince Ustrod wanted to buy you?” Kievan asked Dragar. The sound of the Prince’s name made Cam shiver and she pressed tighter against Kievan’s legs. His hand immediately went to her head, stroking her hair soothingly, and she relaxed again. She looked back up to see Dragar still watching her, a dawning expression of amazement on his face before his attention turned to Kievan.
Kneeling quietly at Kievan’s feet, she only half listened as he explained the prince’s fixation on the Sardorans. Her attention drifted to the paintings filling the walls and the warm sun flooding through the windows. Jakkar and Dragar started asking questions but she was getting sleepy. Her head rested against Kievan’s knee and her body started to slide down. Without interrupting what he was saying, Kievan reached down and picked her up, settling her in his lap. Used to being in his arms, she simply turned her head into his neck and snuggled closer. Suddenly conscious that the room had turned silent, she raised her head and found both men staring at her again.
“What?” she demanded, forgetting protocol. She looked up at Kievan, “Why do they keep staring at me?”
“We seem to have abandoned our roles, sweetness,” he said.
“Oh.” She flushed. “I’m sorry, Master.”
“You’re not his slave,” Dragar said suddenly.
She straightened and faced him defiantly. “Yes, I am.”
“Really?” He arched a brow and studied her. “Turn around.”
She looked at Kievan. His lips quirked but he turned her gently in his lap so that the two men could see her back.
“You marked her?” Jakkar asked, voice unbelieving.
Kievan shrugged, the merest hint of a flush hitting his cheeks. “She is my mate. It seemed like the thing to do.”
She watched as the three men stared at each other. Then Dragar erupted in a roar of laughter. He turned to Jakkar. “I think the time for privacy is over. They will never forgive us.”
“Who won’t forgive you?” she asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough, little female,” Jakkar said, his lips twisting. He got up and went to a communication panel.
“Dragar,” said Kievan quietly. “I want a favor.”
“You know I owe you one.”
“I want a claiming ceremony.”
A shiver ran up Cam’s spine. She held her breath as the two men looked at each other.
“The full traditional ceremony?”
Kievan growled and Dragar smirked at him. “It’s a little different from that side, isn’t it?”
“I should not have done it,” Kievan admitted.
“No,” Dragar agreed. “But I can’t regret the end result. And my little one is quite...adaptive.” He gave a wicked and remarkably attractive smile, before leaning forward and inhaling. “But with regard to your request. It is quite clear that the mating bond is there. She already has your mark, your scent.” His eyes flicked to the gold bracelets. “And mating cuffs, although somewhat unusual ones. It doesn’t appear to be necessary.”
“I still want the ceremony. I know that I will never be allowed to return to Sardor but I want to know that it could be recorded.”
Tears flooded Cam’s eyes as Dragar nodded. “Then you shall have it. But I warn you, I don’t think you’ll have much say in planning it.” He grinned again. “And since all of the records are being transferred here, I will make sure that it is included in the records.”
“Really?” she whispered to Kievan.
“Yes, sweetness. You may be my slave but you are also my mate and I want everyone to know.”
She burst into tears but it was hard to keep crying when Kievan was kissing her so she eventually stopped and gave in to the wonder of his mouth on hers. About the time his hand was on her breast and her hips were pushing insistently at his erection, she remembered that they were not alone. She lifted her head and saw that the cabin was empty.
“Where did they go?”
“I think they decided to give us a little privacy.”
“Mmm. In that case…” She wiggled a little harder. He laughed but raised his head, tilting it to one side.
“I think our privacy is over,” he said and stood, drawing her up beside him. The door opened and Dragar entered, accompanied by a strikingly pretty human woman. She was smaller than Cam and slender, with creamy skin and long white gold hair, and she looked impossibly tiny next to Dragar’s massive bulk. Cam stared at her and suddenly remembered Kievan’s story. This was the human he had wanted. Her body stiffened but his hand tightened on her waist and he tucked her under his arm.
The woman watched them curiously and smiled when she met Cam’s eyes. She had a beautiful smile and Cam bit back a wave of jealousy.
“I’m Beth,” she said softly. “Dragar is my mate.”
“I’m Cam.”
Beth’s eyes went to Kievan and she smiled again. Cam gritted her teeth and Kievan pulled her closer.
“I’m glad you found your mate, Kievan,” Beth said. Then she looked at Cam and her eyes softened. “And you too, Cam. You have both been alone for too long.”
Before Cam could react, footsteps sounded on the porch and another human woman entered, dragging Jakkar behind her. This woman was also smaller than Cam but her body was ripe and lush, richly curved. She had shoulder length golden brown hair, golden brown eyes, and skin tanned gold. Jakkar was a step behind her, carrying a baby who obviously resulted from both human and Sardoran parents. Cam’s mouth opened and she tilted her head up to look at Kievan, eyes narrowed.
“Honey, is there something you forgot to tell me?”
Both women burst out laughing.
“What he forgot to tell you is that humans and Sardorans cross breed quite successfully. Maybe a little too successfully,” the golden woman said ruefully, and her hand dropped to her stomach. Jakkar frowned and her hand immediately went to his cheek with a soft smile. “I’m just teasing.” She turned back to Cam. “I’m Anna by the way. And Beth is pregnant, too.”
Cam’s mouth dropped open again. Before she could speak, Kievan covered it with a gentle hand. “We’ll discuss this later, sweetness.” She tried to speak again but he kept his hand in place. “When we’re alone,” he added. “In great detail.”
She shivered at the promise in his words. Liquid bronze swirled in his eyes and his thumb stroked her lower lip. Her body responded instantly, her nipples aching in their rings and a tremor running through her lower belly.
“Yes, Master,” she whispered, and he kissed her, short and hard, before lifting his head and smiling at her. She smiled back and turned to find the others staring at them. Dragar looked amused, Beth thoughtful. Anna had a soft smile on her face and Jakkar’s face relaxed for the first time since they had come down the ramp.
Anna and Beth started to prepare a meal and Cam knew that she should offer to help. Instead, she stayed close to Kievan. She felt more comfortable with him, but more than that, she thought that he needed her. He talked with the other men, his posture relaxed, but she could see the reserve behind his casual facade. She suspected that his conflicted feelings about his Sardoran heritage would never let him be fully comfortable with them.
When they sat down to eat, she started to kneel at his feet once more but he shook his head and patted the seat next to him. Over the meal, the other men told their mates about the prince’s plot.
&
nbsp; “But I don’t understand,” Anna said. “You say the stones are valuable but surely there are other planets with valuable resources. Why was it so important to keep Trillium a secret?”
“It’s not really a natural resource if you have to kill animals to obtain it,” Kievan responded. “He seemed to think that would be an issue with the new Emperor.”
“Kill?” Beth whispered, her face turning sheet white.
“Yes. There’s some type of native animal—he called it a Trillite—and he said it took their blood to make the stones.”
Beth swayed and would have fallen if Dragar hadn’t caught her. “Little one, wake up.” His voice was frantic as he stroked her unresponsive face.
“I’ll get some water.” Anna jumped up but Beth’s eyes fluttered open.
“Dragar, do you realize?” Her voice trembled and he pulled her closer before looking grimly at the others.
“We suspect that the animals on Trillium are sentient. No one has noticed because they communicate through movement and pattern rather than verbally.”
Everyone looked sickened as his words sank in.
“That’s why he wanted you dead,” Kievan said grimly. “In case you realized.”
“We have to go to the Emperor,” Jakkar said.
Kievan stroked his chin. “Prince Rastrath may be our best bet.”
“You will communicate with him?” Dragar asked. “I have been pushing for an investigation but it’s slow going.”
“I will.”
“Do you trust him?”
“I think I do. He plays the fool quite well but I’ve always suspected there was more to him than he let anyone see.”
“Reminds me of someone else,” Jakkar said drily.
Before Kievan could respond, the baby cried and the party dissolved. Anna and Jakkar went to take care of the baby. Dragar took a still pale and shaken Beth to the back of the house and Kievan and Cam ended up on the porch. He sat down in one of the rocking chairs and pulled her onto his lap. Dusk had fallen while they were inside and she snuggled against him as they looked out at the quiet night.
“This could almost be Earth,” she said, then laughed as she took in the double moon and the silver sparkle of the vines. “Well, not quite.”
“Do you miss it?”
Stroking his arm absently, she stared absently at the forest. “In some ways I do, just like I suspect you will always miss Sardor.”
“Since it reminds you of Earth, would you prefer to stay here? You would have other humans for company. And I suspect they would let me stay now that I have killed the man responsible for the destruction of our home planet.” His tone was sardonic but she could hear the pleasure underlying it. And yet, she remembered the distance she had sensed earlier between Kievan and the other men.
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t want to abandon Sigrast,” he admitted finally. “J’Ssett will try but he doesn’t have the strength to hold it indefinitely.” He lifted her chin and studied her face. “But I want you to be happy.”
Sudden tears filled her eyes. “I’ll be happy as long as we’re together. I’ve been adrift since my mother died but I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel as if I’m part of something again. Now it’s you and me against the world.”
“Always,” he promised, and kissed her. She lifted her arms around his neck, the bracelets warm against her skin, and knew she had found her place in the galaxy.
Epilogue
2 months later
Cam pushed the box of receipts to one side of her desk and sighed. Despite the miracles of technology that surrounded them, many of the shopkeepers still used some version of paper to track their sales and it was part of her job to go through them.
“Tired, sweetness?”
Kievan stood in the doorway, and her heart did its usual skip at the sight of his tall, elegant figure. Her body was already responding, nipples peaking beneath the thin cloth of her gown and a slow pulse of arousal beginning between her legs. He stalked toward her, his mask of cool mockery firmly in place, but he couldn’t hide the warmth in his eyes.
“No, Master,” she said, slipping out of her chair to kneel before him.
“You do have an assistant, you know.”
“And she’s having lunch with her mate. I’m fine, honey.” She rolled her shoulders surreptitiously, trying to release the tension from being hunched over her desk all morning.
Kievan had been placing a small box on the corner of the desk but he caught the movement anyway and frowned. “I only agreed to let you have this job on the condition that it did not place an undue burden on you.”
“And because I’m damn good at it.” She made no attempt to hide her eye roll. They had returned to find J’Ssett wounded and the station in chaos, with only a few remaining guards trying to preserve order. With the assistance of Dragar and a small team of Sardorans, Kievan had reconquered Sigrast in a short, bloody battle. Once he had firmly established his control with a series of brutal but justified beheadings, business as usual resumed and she had offered to make over some of his accounting. Within two weeks, she was doing it all.
“There is that,” he agreed. His fingers dug into her shoulders, massaging to relieve the stiffness, before sliding up to caress the nape of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. “But your most important job is to take care of me.”
“Do you have any complaints?” she teased.
“Never.” His hand cupped her cheek and she nestled into it before he pulled back and gestured at the erection already tenting his pants. “But I find I am in need of your services again. You may begin.”
“Perhaps you would be more comfortable on the couch?” she asked innocently, deliberately running her tongue along her lips. The inner office where she worked had been redecorated after the battle and included a large and comfortable sofa where they frequently played, but she knew it wasn’t what he wanted now.
His hand tightened in her hair, sending a delicious thrill straight to her clit.
“Now, pet.”
“Yes, Master.” Drawing it out as much as she dared, she reached forward to release his cock. The thin white pants he was wearing did nothing to conceal his rapidly growing arousal and she caressed him through the silky fabric as he jerked in her grasp.
“Cam,” he growled, tugging her hair.
Hiding her smile, she drew the fabric down to reveal his now fully erect cock. Mmm. She used one hand to cup the smooth heavy weight of his balls while her other grasped his shaft, but she didn’t take him into her mouth. Instead, she teased him with delicate little licks up and down his pulsing cock and over the glistening head.
“Do you want to be punished, pet?”
Her body swayed toward him and he laughed. “Very well. But first, you will pleasure me the way I desire. Hands behind your back. Eyes on me.”
She obeyed immediately and he put both hands in her hair, holding her in place as he slid all the way to the back of her throat in one long, firm thrust. Her eyes watered but she relaxed her throat the way he had taught her, gaze fixed firmly on him. Liquid bronze swirled in his eyes as he watched her while thrusting into her mouth in slow steady strokes. Keeping her eyes on him created a link between them as intimate and erotic as the physical connection between their bodies and she gave herself over to him, a vessel for his pleasure. Her nipples throbbed and her clit ached but she kept her hands twisted together behind her back, determined to obey him. His body tensed and the speed of his strokes increased until she heard him groan. A flood of hot liquid filled her mouth but he never stopped watching her. The hands in her hair turned gentle, petting her as she lapped up each delicious drop.
“Very good, little flower.” He drew her to her feet before kissing her with a deep passionate intensity that left her clinging to him when he lifted his head. “Now for your punishment.”
Another shiver went through her, delight mixed with a hint of trepidation. He was very good at creative punishments and while s
he always ultimately enjoyed each one, he loved to push her limits.
“Remove your gown.”
Kievan watched with appreciation as his mate’s hands went to the shoulder of her gown. Her fingers trembled slightly, as they should, but her smile was genuine. Her smile turned teasing as she pretended to struggle with the jeweled clasp that held the gown in place and he had to bite back a smile of his own. His sweetness liked to test him.
He raised a brow. “I have no objection to removing it myself, but I believe you would regret it.”
Big blue eyes widened in that delicious mixture of anticipation and caution that went straight to his cock. He reached down and stroked it absently, already eager for more and she licked her lips as she removed the clasp. The deep blue fabric fell away, leaving her naked and beautiful. Her hair was already in disarray from his hands disturbing her usual neat twist, but he wanted more.
“Release your hair.”
She raised her hands to remove the gold clip, the movement causing her luscious breasts to tremble, and released the tumbled waves of red gold.
“Keep your arms up.”
She froze, the portrait of a woman undressing for her lover, shy and sensual at the same time. Perfect.
Leaving her in the middle of the room, he followed her earlier suggestion and took a seat on the couch, leaning casually against the cushions. Standing naked before him when he wasn’t touching her was always difficult for her so he didn’t make her wait too long.
“Bring the box on the desk and come here, pet.”
Obediently, she retrieved the small box and climbed into his lap. “Open it.”
Eager fingers removed the wrapping but she raised her eyebrows when she saw the contents.
“What is it?”
“It’s a special type of butt plug. Does the color remind you of anything?”
Cam and the Conqueror: A SciFi Alien Romance (Alien Abduction Book 3) Page 19
