Doryan

by Kate Rudolph

  “It can’t be.” He would have heard of it. Wouldn’t he? The Legion was too small for secrets to last long. Everyone talked… eventually. Then again, he’d been gone for more than two years. The Legion had fought mighty battles in his absence and defeated their oldest enemy. Maybe things had changed.

  “Oh, hey, Doryan, I didn’t realize you were here.” Manda walked in and smiled at him.

  Deke’s eyes widened and he took a deep breath before he stood and walked out of the room without a farewell to either of them. Manda watched him leave before returning her gaze to Doryan.

  “How is the investigation going? They’re not… this isn’t like a goodbye before execution, is it?” She crossed her arms and tried to stand tall.

  “Nothing like that,” Doryan assured her. “Amy called in a second investigator and she asked me to come here while they spoke.”

  “She makes you smile,” Manda said with a grin of her own. “I like that.”

  Was he smiling? It had been so long that Doryan forgot what it felt like to genuinely smile. Could Deke be right? Had Raze NaFeen and Kayde NaDetya really found mates? Could Amy really be his?

  Manda took Deke’s place on the couch. “Want to watch a movie?” she asked.

  Doryan sat beside her and let her choose as his mind spun, trying to make sense of everything. He needed to find those warriors, needed to speak to them and see if their experiences were anything like what he was going through. If there was the slightest chance that Amy could be his, he wanted to seize it.

  He could be whole again. He could have a mate.

  He just needed to figure out how.

  Chapter Eleven

  THE CLEARING BEHIND Captain NaPyrsee’s cabin was peaceful, and if it weren’t for the signs marking it as off limits it would have been impossible to tell that a murder had taken place there less than twenty-four hours before.

  Kyla had one of their more sophisticated scanners in hand and was taking a read of the scene to see if she could pick up anything that Amy had missed. Of course, it had been a day since everything had been cleared away and the scene wasn’t exactly pristine, but they were making do.

  “The scanner is picking up the blood here,” Kyla pointed to where they’d found NaPyrsee, “and it says it’s not human, so I’m assuming that’s our vic’s. It’s too old to tell if its a single source or not.” She stepped around where the body had been. “Did you see these footprints? Or are they from you tromping around yesterday?”

  “Footprints?” Kyla was on the far side of the clearing and Amy couldn’t remember anyone standing there.

  Kyla pointed her scanner towards them. “Looks like a single set of prints heading towards the woods. I’m guessing a boot, though we could be looking at some sort of hiking shoe. Scanner is saying it’s a size twelve, so most likely a man. But it could also be old.”

  “No it couldn’t.” Amy was careful as she walked over, looking for the prints Kyla had found. “It rained the day before I got here. The ground was all muddy. The print wouldn’t be this clear if it was more than a day old.” She stared into the mud as if it would give her answers, but all she saw was the ridges and dips of whatever boot had left the print.

  “Just because the print might have been left yesterday… or today… doesn’t mean the person did it,” Kyla warned.

  “I know that!” Amy might have been behaving inappropriately with a suspect, but it didn’t mean she’d forgotten everything else.

  “But did you happen to check everyone’s shoe size?”

  “Can’t say that was on the list of questions,” Amy admitted. “But I’ll definitely add it. And maybe it’s time to search cabins for muddy boots.”

  “And weapons?” her partner asked.

  “You have any idea what could mimic claws?” Amy had been trying to figure that out, when she wasn’t busy thinking about everything else.

  “Other than claws?” Kyla raised a brow. “This isn’t really helping with your boyfriend’s case.”

  Maybe she should have protested that Doryan wasn’t her boyfriend, but she had been caught with her top off and her hand down his pants. “Tessa couldn’t confirm whether or not the murder weapon was definitely claws. So I want to know if something else could make that wound.”

  “So you want something like those barbecue claws people use to shred meat? I think there may also be some ancient weapons that use a claw shape, but most people just use knives.” Kyla knew bladed weapons better than Amy, who preferred blasters, and Amy had been hoping she had a better idea.

  But… “Peter Marino loves to barbecue. And his wife was having an affair with the victim.”

  “That’s some motive, but if he has those claw things I can’t guarantee they’re actually sharp enough to do real damage.” Kyla moved on from scanning the boot prints to examining the rest of the area.

  Somewhere off in the woods there was a giant crack as branches snapped. Both Amy and Kyla looked over. “That didn’t sound like the wind,” said Amy.

  Kyla nodded and they were both off, chasing after something that might not exist. The woods around them were dark; night had fallen and they only had their small flashlights to see by. Amy tripped and stumbled her way down the path and by Kyla’s curses, she wasn’t doing much better. They didn’t get far into the woods before they both came to a halt. There was no one to be seen and the path branched off in four different directions, heading to different cabins in the settlement.

  “Did we just chase after a shadow?” Kyla asked. She was waving her light in every direction, but there was nothing to be seen.

  Amy pointed down the first path. “I think that leads to the main cabin and the NaMoren household, you could also use it to get to mine. That one goes to the NaZades’.” She had to close her eyes and call up a mental map to figure out the other two. “This one goes to Reikal’s place, and I think the other goes to the Marinos’.”

  “So that would be one guy with claws and another guy with motive?” Kyla suggested. “Let’s split up, see if anyone’s home at either cabin. I’ll take the Marinos. You take the alien guy. I’d like to get eyes on our adulteress.”

  “Are you sure we should split up?” It was dark and there was a murderer on the loose. She didn’t want to send her friend and partner into danger.

  “This isn’t a horror show,” Kyla said. “There’s no reason to believe someone is indiscriminately murdering people at the settlement. We’ll meet back at your place in an hour. And if I’m not there you can send a search party.” She didn’t wait for Amy to agree before heading off down the path.

  Amy wanted to curse, and she almost followed after Kyla. But in the end she agreed. Captain NaPyrsee had been murdered for a reason. And both she and Kyla would keep their guards up.

  It would be fine.

  But she walked with extra caution to Reikal’s cabin. She didn’t see anyone else on the short journey and his light was shining through a window when she got there. Even though it was getting late, she knocked on the door.

  He answered quickly with a puzzled look on his face. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “You weren’t just out in the woods, were you?” she responded, taking a good look at him. He was wearing pajamas and no shoes. If she had to guess, he’d been getting ready for bed, not coming in from a hike.

  “Not for a few hours,” he responded. “I did my rounds just before sundown. Why?”

  “I thought I heard someone out there,” Amy admitted, “and your path was closest. Did you see anyone come this way?”

  Reikal shook his head. “Sorry, I haven’t.”

  Before he could shut the door Amy held up a hand. “One last question. What’s your shoe size?”

  He looked confused, but answered. “It’s a fifteen, in human shoes anyway.”

  “Thanks.” Amy backed away and headed for her cabin. She was relieved to find Kyla already waiting. “He was home,” she told her partner. “Didn’t go out for a walk and his shoes are too big.”r />
  Kyla nodded. “No one answered at the Marino cabin, but I swear I saw someone moving around inside.”

  “We’ll try and talk to them again in the morning.” They were close to getting answers, Amy could feel it.

  They went inside the cabin and Kyla scooped up her bag and headed for Amy’s room. “You’re not staying here,” burst out of Amy.

  Kyla looked over, eyebrows raised. “You didn’t just make me travel half the damn country to make me sleep outside, did you? Because we both know I don’t camp.”

  “It’s not half the country,” Amy had to protest. And she had to scramble for a reason for Kyla not to stay with her. It made sense. If there was no Doryan she wouldn’t be protesting. But Amy wanted time alone with her alien warrior. God, she was being dumb.

  “Really?” Kyla asked. “You’re kicking me out over him?”

  “There’s a cabin right next door.” Amy pointed out the window. “We’re even connected to it through that cool bridge. I’m sure you can stay there.” Amy picked up her comm to get Tessa to unlock the cabin and saw a message waiting. “See,” she held up the device, “they’ve already got it set up for you.”

  Kyla stared at her for several seconds, judgment dripping off so thick Amy could practically taste it. A knock at the front door prevented her from saying anything else.

  When they answered, Doryan was standing next to a woman with shockingly red hair. Vita. Brax’s mate. “I’m delivering him to you since we’re all about to go to sleep. Easiest job I ever pulled.”

  Job? But Vita was already taking off before Amy could ask.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Kyla said as she passed Doryan to head to the cabin next door.

  Amy hoped she did too.

  DORYAN AND AMY STOOD in the entryway to her cabin for several long seconds. He’d been thinking about what Deke had told him about Raze and Kayde for what felt like hours. Soulless warriors who found their mates. Who regained their emotions.

  Could he be one of them?

  The recognition of the denya bond hadn’t faded at all, and it pulsed inside of him as he looked at Amy. It would probably be wise to keep his distance until he knew more.

  But he wasn’t going to do that. He wanted to stride forward and devour her, imprint her taste on him until there was nothing but her in his mind. It was a kind of desire he’d never known existed, before or after losing his soul, and it existed solely for her.

  “You look at me like…” Amy let out a breath and trailed off, shaking her head. She turned away and Doryan followed after, placing his hand on her wrist and making her pause. He didn’t grab for her, but she stopped all the same.

  It still hurt to touch her, but he embraced the pain. “Like what?”

  She stared at him and opened her mouth but closed it again, as if that would hold her words back. Finally she said, “When you look at me like that I want to kiss you again.”

  He hadn’t been deaf to what Kyla was saying, but he couldn’t care about it. Not when he knew exactly what Amy was to him. “What’s stopping you?”

  Nothing.

  She surged forward and Doryan swooped her up in his arms, letting her take the lead as she pulled his head down to capture his lips. He groaned against her and the feel of her pressed against his body was enough for his cock to wake up. It thickened in his pants, a different kind of pain from what his mind forced on him.

  He needed friction. Needed more.

  Nothing could make him stop kissing her.

  He hefted Amy up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging closely to him and pressing kisses against his mouth and down his jaw, marking him bit by bit as hers.

  He was.

  He pressed her against the wall to hold her in place and leaned in close, keeping them together as he took control of the kiss, opening his mouth and tangling their tongues together. He cradled the back of her head with his hand, letting her silky hair fall around his fingers. She didn’t have it in one of those damned ties anymore and he wanted to see it fanned out around her head while they lay in bed together.

  He wanted.

  He needed.

  How had he gone so long without?

  He knew that answer already. He hadn’t met Amy. There was no one else on the planet, in the universe, who could pull him out of the darkness that his existence had become. But she beckoned him toward the light and he was powerless to do anything but follow.

  Her shirt bunched up against him and he wanted the thing off so bad that his claws slid out. Amy gasped as the tips of them pricked against her skin and Doryan tried to pull back, tried to let her down.

  How had he lost control like that? With his denya in his arms? He needed to stop this before it went too far.

  But she had one hand on his wrist and looked him straight in the eyes. “I trust you not to hurt me.” She pressed against his wrist and his claws retracted before they could do more than tease her skin. “I want to see them.”

  For this he had to let her down. She looked rumpled, her lips swollen from kisses and hair out of place. It only made him harder. He needed her in bed, or on the floor, or the couch, anywhere he could lay with her and take her.

  Amy sucked in a deep breath. “Your eyes,” she breathed out, reaching up to cradle his cheek.

  He leaned into the touch. He’d say it was impossible for his eyes to go red, but they’d done it around her already and she had no reason to lie. “I need you.” Now. Forever. This bond was a gift and he wouldn’t reject it.

  She laced their fingers together and tugged him toward the bedroom, flicking off the main cabin light, then closing the bedroom door and sealing them off from the rest of the world.

  She let go of his hand and changed her position, stroking her fingers along his palm. “Can I see them?” she asked.

  Doryan had never thought there was anything sensual about his claws before. They were just a part of him, same as his teeth and his toes. But Amy was breathing hard and looking at him with a glint in her eye. He’d do anything she asked of him, and so he slid his claws out once more and let her explore.

  She traced a finger over the thick length and pressed the tip. There were no nerves in his claws, he couldn’t feel anything, and yet his cock pulsed as if she had her fingers wrapped around it. Her kisses moved to his finger and she sucked one into her mouth. Doryan let out a gasp. Why did this feel so good? He knew his erogenous zones, and yet anywhere she touched him burned.

  He needed more.

  Did he have to beg?

  He would.

  “Need to see you.” It came out low and gravelly. Doryan almost didn’t recognize his own voice.

  Amy grinned up at him and for a moment he thought she would make a joke, but her gaze softened and she pulled off his finger with a final kiss and then had her top off in one smooth motion. The rest of her clothes quickly followed until she stood naked before him in the soft light of their—her—room.

  She reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled. “Your turn.” He worked with her until his torso was open to her touch and leaned into her as her fingers trailed over his muscles and around his clan markings, tracing the shapes that marked him as a Detyen. “I don’t know what it is about you, Doryan, but I can’t walk away.”

  Something distant tried to warn him to back off. A better man would have explained exactly what their connection was. But Amy looked at him with eyes full of fire and he couldn’t do anything but lean in and kiss her again. He let his claws slide out once more and traced along her back with the utmost care, letting her feel the danger that lived in his grip but never risking her.

  He’d die before he let anyone hurt her.

  She undid his pants and they slid down until he was able to step out of them and back her up towards the bed. He retracted his claws before they fell and caught her in case it was too much.

  “You’re going to spoil me for anyone else, aren’t you?” she asked, her face utterly serious.

  A wave of poss
ession surged through him, and this time Doryan knew his eyes went red. “No one but us.”

  Amy breathed deep and kissed his neck. “What are you, Doryan? What are you doing to me?”

  “Denya.” The truth tore out of him as he laid kisses against her. “Mate. Mine.”

  Amy stilled under him and Doryan almost forced himself to pull away, but then her fingers gripped him close and a smile bloomed on her lips. “Yes.”

  That was it. There was no going back from that, and Doryan didn’t want to. He wanted to worship his mate and claim her until there was no doubt that they belonged to one another. Emotions washed over him, almost too much for him to deal with, but as long as he was near Amy he felt anchored.

  He showed her what she meant to him with his lips and fingers, first letting his tongue circle one of her nipples until it stood at a sharp point and then moving to the other, working at them both until she moaned and writhed beneath him.

  His fingers trailed lower, finding the slick heat of her ready and waiting and toying with her with fingers until his mouth followed. She gasped and moaned as his tongue dipped inside of her and her fingers slid into his hair, holding him against her.

  “Not what I expected,” she gasped out. “Your tongue…”

  She didn’t finish the thought. Doryan knew Detyen biology differed in some ways from humans, with ridges on their tongues and cocks. He planned to show his mate exactly how good it could feel, and from the way she gasped as he tasted her, she loved it already.

  Good. Doryan could get drunk on her wet heat and he wanted to stay there for hours, driving her mad with pleasure and watching her fall apart over and over again. His own cock was crying out for release, but he called on all his training to ignore it. For once he was grateful for his years as a soulless warrior. He would have never lasted otherwise.