
Loose Id, LLC www.loose-id.com
Copyright ©2011
First published in 2011
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The air of the Blue Comet blasted hot on her face when Carina Tao stepped through the door. She gave the bouncer one glance, but he didn't even flinch when she strode passed him. It was a reminder that she exuded her assassin status, the darkness within her somehow evident in her demeanor. Every animal, especially a man, would sense the danger she represented.
Why the hell was she here? The throb of the music vibrated through her body. She remembered why. Rina the assassin, her alter ego, slipped away. She edged the corners of the dance floor, the pulse of energy shooting through her, making it easier to drop her mask and be her true self.
Outside the Blue Comet, Rina played judge, jury, and executioner for the Blueshift Brotherhood. Time and again, she'd proven her loyalty, but the price was a foul taste in her mouth and a desire to forget the last forty-eight hours.
But she couldn't forget the screams of the two men those bastard priests had shoved through a magical portal to Stars knew where. And there hadn't been a damn thing she could do but watch. She'd tried to warn them, told them to run. But what good had that done except risked her cover?
Would she be able to wash the blood off her hands? Could she ever go home to Nylar and the life she'd left behind there? Sometimes, when she let the Rina persona drop away, it seemed possible. In places like this, a BDSM club, she longed for her people, her planet.
More and more she sought places like this where she could release her true self, the submissive who longed to be dominated by a Nyral male. But it was dangerous. So she settled for a shadow of that dominance, letting inexperienced and foolish Doms play with her, but they never touched her soul. Yet lately, the risk almost seemed worth the price.
Every job took another piece of her, another chunk of who she really was. Soon there wouldn't be anything left of the flirtatious girl who had grown up on Nylar. There would only be the assassin.
The lights in the club were dim so every face was in shadow. Her job---to execute the Teran Five Tacote CEO---was finished, but she was no closer to her covert goal than before. Each assassination brought her closer to the inner workings of the Blueshift Brotherhood but no nearer to the man behind the organization. Instead, she was given another task.
What she should do was leave, go to her next assignment. She was the proverbial moth to a flame, drawn to the black leather and studs that populated the dance floor. It was risky, thrilling, and stupid. She couldn't deny why she did it.
Because she longed to take a man's cock in her mouth by her own choice, not to bow to a perverted priest. Rina knelt before those men. She killed. She maimed. She humiliated. But Rina wasn't real. Not tonight. Carina, the shy little girl who had a taste for bad boys, had decided to take over tonight.
The music was a low throb beating against the walls of her resistance. She stepped onto the dance floor and joined the writhing bodies, trying to bury herself within them. The Brotherhood wouldn't see her. The rest of her cell had dispersed, per their plan, once the murder was done and the appropriate vid sent to the vid streamers.
There was just Carina. The submissive. The woman.
She rubbed against the other sweaty bodies, her senses filled with the musky scent of arousal. Her hands slid over her heated skin, lifting her skirt, exposing her skin to the hot lights that flickered from the ceiling. Her hair, tightly wound in her signature braids, felt constricted, plastered to her scalp.
A shower of cold water splashed down from above them, and she let it cascade over her clothes. She loved the way her silk blouse and loose skirt clung to her skin. A hand slid over the nape of her neck, then squeezed. It was a firm hand, one that sent a clear message.
Surrender.
Without a thought, Carina leaned into that hand, allowing her body to sag against a wall of flesh. Male. Strong. Big hands.
An arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer. The hand on her neck slid up and yanked away the ties that held her braids. His fingers plucked the braids apart, and her hair sprang loose, flowing over her sensitized skin. Then he gripped her neck again, the heavy curtain of her hair draped over his arm.
The rest of the dancers seemed to disappear, and Carina moved in sync with the man who held her. His cock pressed into her soft skin, making her glad she'd worn a silky skirt that provided little barrier between her flesh and his. Heat emanated from him to her and back again, a never-ending supply of warmth she desperately needed.
His hand crept from her waist to dip lower, running the length of her skirt to the hem and climbing back up beneath the material. She arched closer in time to the music. When his fingers deftly found her damp flesh, she moaned.
The pounding of her heart beat against her rib cage as his fingers flicked over her clit.
The hard, driving music ended, and a new beat, slower, more seductive, filled the air. She swiveled her hips in time to the pulsating sound, gyrating against his hand.
His other hand, wound in the loosened strands of her hair, tightened when moisture leaked from her pussy, and she gasped. God, it felt good. She dropped her head back onto his shoulder but kept her eyes closed, focusing on the feel of his touch, not what he looked like. He bent his head and pressed against her neck. She lifted her arms behind her to pull him closer and encourage a rougher touch.
His fingers on her pussy became insistent, and she met them with the strong thrust of her hips until he dipped inside her slick channel. She groaned, her needy body open to this experience, this anonymous person.
The male curse made her shiver, and she gasped when he tore his fingers away to grip her arm. Without much effort, he dragged her toward one of the corridors off the main floor that led to the private dungeons.
She didn't resist. Didn't want to resist. She needed this.
The man's back was broad and muscular. His hair was longer than a military cut, and his ass was a work of art. She still hadn't seen his face when he reached one of the rooms. He slid a card into the keylock, and the door opened.
When he turned around, her mouth almost dropped open.
Xandros.
It was as if her teenage fantasies had come to life. At sixteen, Carina had flirted with and adored Xandros, a smooth-talking, risk-taking bad boy.
Now, he was a dangerous dominant she'd just tempted on a public dance floor. Her pulse skittered. He couldn't recognize her. She'd had short, spiky hair as a young girl and certainly hadn't been fit and muscular as she was now.
Smart. She had to stay smart.
She cleared her throat. "Wait," she said as he tried to drag her into the room.
"I got the clear impression you weren't interested in waiting," he said roughly.
She ignored that and opened the keypad to the door. Two rewirings and some deft programming knocked out the vid cameras and the audio. There would be no record of this encounter.
When she finally faced the man, he stared at her with a hot blue gaze. "You could have asked."
She tipped her chin. "I take care of my own security."
Fast as lightning, he forced her through the door and cuffed her hands behind her back. "I take care of security, machinka."
Machinka? Why the hell would he call her that? A little mouselike creature on Nylar didn't inspire sexual arousal. Yes, she was small, compact, even petite to some people, but the name implied immaturity. "Not for me, you don't."
His hand clenched around her nape and pressed her to her knees. "Tonight, I'm everything to you."
How did he know the pressure of his hand, the gravel in his voice, and the touch of his fingers around her neck would melt her insides like a supernova? Because he was a Nyral dominant and she was a submissive who needed to submit. She bit her lip to control the whimper in her throat.
"Nothing will happen tonight unless I will it." He drove her to her knees.
"Let me go. I want a safe word, damn it," she snarled.
"Tsk tsk." With sudden violence, he ripped the thin silk blouse she wore and tossed it in the corner. Her blood heated, fear only intensifying her arousal. Damn him. His smile only made her pulse pound harder. "You turned off the cameras and the audio. No one will know whether you consent to this or not."
Right. So that's what he'd become.
Her instincts must have been clouded by hormones. Worse, part of her hungered for the violence of his intent, his possession. Fast and efficient, she broke his hold and bounded to her feet. If he thought she was helpless because he'd cuffed her hands, he was sadly mistaken.
Wary, she faced him. He hadn't moved, his hands up in the air. "I didn't say I would continue without your consent."
"A true dominant wouldn't need to imply it," she snapped. She glanced toward the door and tried to plan her escape even as her body betrayed her, moisture pooling in her underwear.
"I only pointed something out to you that you seem to have forgotten in your haste to feel safe. You put your trust in me that far. Why not all the way?"
"And ripping my clothes?"
He cocked his head to the side. "Are you going to say you didn't like it?"
She opened her mouth, then shut it. He nodded. "Shall I slide my fingers over your cunt to see if you liked it?"
Her nostrils flared, and she started to struggle with the cuffs. He was an experienced dom, one who played the game fully to its conclusion. This was no casual fuck, and she couldn't allow anything more.
His eyes narrowed. "Answer me, sub."
Her gaze jerked to his. "No. Yes. Leave me alone."
He stalked her, circling the room, never closer, but crowding her nonetheless. "You need this."
"You don't know me." She yanked on the cuffs, and they bit into her skin, which only added to her need.
God, he was fast. One second he was mocking her, an arm's length away from her body; the next instant, he tackled her to the floor.
They hit the bare surface hard, and the breath whooshed out of her lungs. She still hadn't caught her breath when he trussed her up like a damn chicken. Her feet were restrained, bound together with electrocuffs. An adjustable chain stretched from her ankle restraints to the handcuffs. He tightened the length until she couldn't move without toppling over.
He panted for breath from the exertion and yanked her up from the floor to her knees. She had to arch her back to stay upright. Tears gathered at the strain, but she held the position. Her pussy throbbed, and moisture trickled down her leg.
He didn't speak, but he took off her bra and used a knife to remove her skirt. All her strength had to be used to remain on her knees, the chain pulled taut between her ankles and her wrists. His hands were hot on her skin, traveling, learning every curve, every crease. Her breasts jutted out, and she gasped when he took one nipple into his warm mouth. She almost whimpered in protest when he stopped.
He stood in front of her and spoke. "I want your eyes on me, machinka. You will call me Master. I don't want you quiet. You'll beg me for what you need, and you'll do it loudly."
"No, please," she whispered.
He lifted his hand, and she flinched. When his fingers tangled in her hair and tipped her head to force her to meet his gaze, his face was somber. "Yes. The more you whisper, the worse your punishment."
Punishment? She was a Blueshift Brotherhood assassin. What could he do? She pursed her lips and glared at him.
He nodded sharply. "Punishment it is."
When he stepped away, she almost protested but caught herself in time. Then he retrieved a strange device from a wall cupboard. It was long, like a dildo, but had a programming pad on the end of it. He pressed some buttons and then slid it slowly inside her pussy. She shuddered, almost losing her balance. The man's hand braced her so she would stay upright.
The dildo began to thrust inside her automatically. Slow and steady, it didn't penetrate deeply, and she longed to grab it to make it fuck her hard. Close, so close. Then he approached her with the first clip. Her eyes widened and jerked to his face. He stroked one of her nipples and then slid his fingers up to the sensitive skin on her arm.
She gasped when he pinched her flesh and clipped it. Pain ripped through her, but he wasn't done yet. Another clip. And another. He cupped her tits and sucked a nipple into his mouth. Heat curled in her belly, and then electricity shot through her as he clipped the skin of her belly even as he nibbled her breast.
When she lost count of the clips, she lost her ability to remain quiet. For so long, she'd had to keep her words contained, deep inside her, written on her heart. The needs she had, the dreams that had shattered, the lies she told were all kept hidden, unspoken. Now, this man was driving her voice to the surface and demanded truth.
The slow torture of the dildo, the shooting pain from the clips, and his mouth everywhere drove her insane. "Please," she managed, though her voice cracked.
His mouth was by her ear. "Louder."
"Please," she said in a shout.
His finger rolled her nipples, and she arched closer to his hands. The demand in his eyes held hers captive. "Please what, machinka?"
She snarled at him and lunged. She would have toppled over, but he gripped her arm. "Goddamn you," she shouted. "Fuck me. Make me come."
"No."
Tears streamed down her cheeks. The sizzle of pain from her pinched flesh and the wild yearning in her pussy flooded her senses. Her silent tears only emphasized what she already knew: she was broken, damaged goods. A killer who had rejected everything she believed for one thing---revenge. What would be left of her after her job was finished? Nothing. Nothing at all.
With a jerk, she tried to break his hold, to curl up in a ball of misery on the floor. All she'd wanted was a good fuck. Instead, she'd found a man who dominated her, understood her needs better than she understood them herself.
He gripped her chin. "You know what we both need."
She hiccuped and then nodded. "Master," she whispered.
He pinched her nipple hard, and she gasped in pleasure-pain. "Louder," he insisted.
"Master," she screamed.
"I am your master," he said, and his hand reached down and manipulated the buttons on the dildo. "You will not come until I order you to. Do you understand?"
She swallowed. "Yes," she said through a tight throat.
The dildo began to thrust deep, touching her very soul. Her orgasm gathered, rolling everything in front of it away. She desperately tried to stop the wave of pleasure, jerking the restraints to rub them roughly against her skin. "I can't, Master," she wailed.
"God, you're beautiful. Stunning. If you could only see what I see," he said, his tone rough.
She gasped and twisted to stop the onslaught of her release. "Help me," she cried.
"Yes," he hissed and removed one of the clips. The throb of pain shoring up her resistance for only a second before it beat at her door again. Again, he unclipped another one of the clips, and the blood rushed back to the bruised skin. Marks were all over her skin, and she used the sting to keep her orgasm at bay. But soon the rush of adrenaline only added to her intense pleasure.
"Master, I can't---" Her voice broke, and she shattered like glass.
The orgasm blew through her, ripping away carefully placed shields, leaving her wide open. Every nerve in her body twitched and stretched, and every muscle clenched. She couldn't control the keening cry that poured from her mouth. She convulsed and squeezed the dildo hard.
She was still shuddering with the force of her release when he opened the restraints, and she was crushed against him for a soul-shattering kiss. His tongue devoured her mouth as the dildo still thrust inside her pussy. Helplessly, she arched against him, her bruised body desperate for his.
He laid her down on something soft, like a mattress, and removed the dildo. His mouth dipped down to taste her, own her, drive her even higher than any mechanical device ever could. Words tumbled from her lips. "Oh God, your mouth. So good. Please. Master. I want---I want---"
When he lifted his head, his volcanic gaze burned into hers. "What do you want?"
"Your cock. In me. Please, Master." She didn't whisper her need. She said it. Out loud.
With an animalistic growl, he covered her body with his and plunged inside her. She wrapped her legs around him, driving him deeper, urging him to be rougher. He lifted her legs and opened her wider to his invasion. He stared at her, demanding, without words, to keep her eyes open.
Her hands free, she touched him. She cupped his face and wound her fingers in his hair. "Master, come inside me. Set me free," she said.
It was erotic to watch him let go, to come for her. His neck muscles corded, and his face clenched, and it was all she could do to hang on, not to come.
But then it happened. She dropped off the edge, before she even realized what had happened. Burning pain, a ripping sensation combined with overwhelming pleasure that stunned her.
Her arm was on fire, licks of burning heat etching her skin and shriveling her nerves. The pain added to her pleasure, increasing it, extending it. She screamed a long ear-ringing wail.
Oh shit.
Burning. Pain. Her arm.
"Fuck," he shouted and jerked his cock out of her, his cum spilling over her belly, her breasts, her neck, and splattering her face. One of his hands pumped his cock to spread more of his seed all over her. The smell was intoxicating, and she arched toward him.
Her arm still throbbed, and she glanced at it. Red lines were burned into her skin, a recognizable shape beginning to brand her. The bastard had almost marked her. Part of her reveled in the fact he wanted to possess her so much. But the fear was far more prevalent. Had he succeeded, the consequences, for her at least, could have been unimaginable. Yet, deep down, she wanted that mark desperately. She shut her brain off and ran on instinct. She needed to get away. Now.
Still dizzy from the force of their sexual collision, she managed to slip out from under him and stumble to the door.
"Wait," he said, and he lunged for her, grabbing her ankle. She sprawled on the floor and managed to roll away from his hands.
He froze. "You're a Nyral female?" His gaze was riveted on her arm.
A combination of anger and fear spurred her to jump to her feet and then kick her leg out in a vicious swipe as she went. She nailed him in the gonads.
He crumpled to the floor, and she scrambled to open the door. Briefly she glanced back, afraid she might have hurt him. His breath hitched, and he glared at her. "You'll pay for that," he growled and stumbled to his feet.
But then, she sprinted out the door, naked, cum stuck to her skin, frightened, with the mark of a herwalk, a bird of prey and a known enemy of the little machinka, burned faintly on her forearm.
Let your guard down for one minute, Xandros thought, and you'll get a foot to the dick every time.
Gingerly, he stepped toward the door and peered into the hallway after the small fleeting figure. He rubbed the red skin on the inside of his thigh. He'd never worried about marking a woman before. But something about this one obviously created an answering need in him.
Talk about inconvenient.
He knew the myths about Nyral mate marks. Hadn't he been raised on that garbage? Marks were a genetic anomaly, created when a man spurted his seed into a woman. There was nothing mystical about that. Oh, he'd heard the stories. He'd been fed the bullshit that mate marks tied two people together for eternity, that the connection transcended even death. Blah, blah, blah. Xandros was a practical man. His culture may have put some mystical meaning onto a simple physical phenomenon, but he wasn't going to fall for it. Still, it was odd to see the mark on his skin.
"What happened?" His second in command, Norton Ferris, appeared in the hallway. "Was that your naked chick I just saw sprinting across the club?"
"Yeah." Xandros straightened his back and tried not to wince as he picked up his hastily discarded clothes. The dull throb changed to a sharp pain when he pulled his pants over his gonads, and he hissed a quick breath. Damn her. Xandros was well aware of the scrutiny of his subordinate.
"Want me to acquire her for you?" Ferris's brown eyes shone in the dim light of the club's corridor.
Hell yes, he wanted her. The minute he'd spotted the woman on the dance floor, he'd ached to possess her. Not just fuck her, own her. The second his hand had touched her neck, the minute she'd leaned against him, he'd been lost. Her surrender had spurred him, created heat that nothing, not even a kick to his balls, could cool.
But he didn't have time to chase down a mysterious woman who quenched his ravenous sexual appetite. Information had come to his attention, and he had to decide if he was going to use it or not. The whereabouts of Shaun Fenway was always big news these days.
His past had certainly come back to haunt him lately. He and Shaun had been friends as children but not close. Not like Xandros had been close to Leo Eyler. Yet on Nylar, Shaun and Leo had never met.
Now the two men seemed to be inseparable: one consort to Princess Sera Placido and the other some kind of bodyguard to the royal couple.
Xandros had often been criticized by his crew for being loyal to those from his past. The facts couldn't be argued. There weren't too many men from his childhood who remembered him. The ones who did were usually trustworthy.
He wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and then rolled his shoulders. Shaun had contacted him a few days ago. A lot of old contacts looked him up when they wanted something done covertly or needed illegal connections. But Shaun had the same connections Xandros did, so what the man wanted was a tantalizing mystery. Xandros had the choice to meet with him or turn him over to the Brotherhood. Shaun knew that. Of course, the fact that his old friend had been a Blueshift Brotherhood assassin turned good guy in a white hat riding with the almighty Leo Eyler was fascinating, and Xandros wanted to know the details.
It was this curiosity, this need to know, that drove him to peddling information the way a smuggler might peddle spaceship parts. For some reason, knowing made Xandros feel safe. He ignored that thought and focused on his second in command. "Our appointment is here?" Xandros hadn't told Ferris who he was meeting.
"He's waiting in one of the lounge rooms." Ferris glanced around the dungeon, and Xandros noted the way Ferris's lip curled. The man clearly found the sexual escapades of his captain disgusting. Xandros narrowed his eyes. It wasn't the first time he'd seen this. There was always a risk choosing men who weren't from his planet, who didn't understand his culture. In the long run, they just didn't accept him. Time for a new right-hand man.
"Right. How long have you been on the Ariana, Ferris?" He slipped past his second, and Ferris fell in step with him.
"Three years."
Xandros nodded briefly. That was long enough. Ferris had been a good man in a fight, but lately he'd been shying away from the dirtier aspects of the job. They were halfway down the hallway when Xandros asked, "What's her name?"
Ferris stopped dead, his stringy muscles tense, and his pointed chin shot up. "What?"
Xandros sighed. "I'm not stupid, Ferris. You've been less eager to put your life on the line, a little more nervous about some of our murkier jobs. That usually means a woman."
"Captain---"
"I'll give you a good severance package, Ferris, don't worry." It would be easy to get rid of the man. Money was great leverage.
"I always thought---" Ferris swallowed nervously.
Xandros snorted. "Spit it out, Norton." The man's first name was hardly ever used, and he had the totally inappropriate thought that it would sound weird if a woman screamed it in the throes of an orgasm.
"I wouldn't think you'd want me to leave. With what I know."
Xandros stared at the man, noting he sweat and shook. The sneaky shit. Xandros grinned. "I've never had a problem."
Ferris's eyes narrowed. "No? No one blabbed?"
The grin fell away, and Xandros studied the man. "Not and lived."
When Ferris cleared his throat and gazed at his shoes, Xandros proceeded to the lounge room. He shook his head. He'd thought Ferris would have more of a backbone. Love. It fucked a man all up.
At the door, he left Ferris outside the meeting room and strode inside.
Shaun Fenway had changed quite a bit. His hazel eyes had always seemed on the verge of laughter when he'd been young. Now they were watchful. Bitter. Old. He was tall and muscular, in good shape. There was a sculpted look to his arms and legs that told Xandros the man was used to taking care of himself.
"Well?" Xandros crossed his arms.
Shaun didn't stand. The only movement he made was to raise his eyebrows. "What? No foreplay?"
Xandros threw his head back and laughed. The man hadn't changed all that much. After all, the core of a man remained no matter what chaos ensued around him. He plopped down in a chair and leaned back. "Old friend, I'm here. That's foreplay enough for some."
The other man's smile was razor thin. "Perhaps. But I don't succumb that easily."
"I've heard rumors to the contrary."
The speed that Shaun possessed stunned Xandros. The man was over the table and at his throat before Xandros knew what happened. He froze and put his hands up. Shit. The guy wasn't even out of breath. The blade he wielded was a Nyral pyver, a ceremonial knife carried by royal guards.
His gaze held Xandros's, and the cold metal pressed again skin. "I'm not here about rumors."
"Why are you here?" Xandros asked coldly.
"There are two men missing, and I need to find them." The blade never moved.
"Why would I know where they are?"
"You know everything about the Brotherhood. You trade information with them." Something dangerous had crept into Shaun's tone. Fascinating. There was so much venom in Shaun's voice when he mentioned the Brotherhood. Xandros understood that kind of hatred very well. For some reason, it made him feel some kind of kinship with Shaun, a connection he couldn't ignore.
Xandros tightened his lips. "I stay the hell out of their way. You should know why."
"I want you to find my friends. You're the best in the business." Shaun twisted the blade over Xandros's skin like a caress. "And no matter what the rest of the world thinks, you're a man of your word." He slid away from Xandros and then shoved the knife back in a hidden holster in his arm. "I trust you."
"I won't do this unless you tell me everything." Xandros rubbed his neck and wondered how close to dying he'd really just come.
Shaun nodded. "The two men are...colleagues."
"From the Brotherhood."
"Yes. And like me they were forced to do the Brotherhood's bidding. Aron Kirkland had a mother held hostage, and Finn Black had a mate." Shaun's jaw muscles flexed.
"Had?" Xandros prompted him.
"The Brotherhood murdered them and captured Aron and Finn. I haven't seen either of them since."
"Why?"
"Because I joined Leo Eyler. Because my actions made all Nyral males suspect."
"How do you know the Brotherhood didn't kill them?" Xandros stared at his old friend. Shaun's fists were clenched, and his gaze slid away. Guilt.
"The Brotherhood wants what it has always wanted." Shaun tightened his lips. "The death of Princess Sera Placido." He let out a short breath. "How familiar are you with the Star Prophecy?"
Xandros snorted. "You mean that magic woo-hoo Princess Sera Placido is pedaling? Not a damn thing. Why?"
Shaun's face was set in stone. "She's not pedaling anything," he said in a hard tone. "There's a prophecy---"
Xandros held up his hand. "Spare me. I don't believe in that shit. The Stars don't determine a man's fate. We do."
The snort Shaun responded with set Xandros's teeth on edge. The man certainly didn't seem like some religious fanatic. "Look. The Star Prophecy is the Brotherhood's bread and butter. You don't find it at all interesting that several of the predictions in it have come true?"
In truth, Xandros wasn't comfortable with anything he couldn't explain. It was easier to scoff at it. "Oh?" He managed to sound bored.
"The prophecy predicted a dark brotherhood that would permeate all systems and all planets. It predicted that a mate of a Nyral man named Eyler would have immense power and begin a religion." Shaun ticked them off on his fingers one by one. "It predicted the return of the Placidians to their abandoned home planet."
Xandros's stomach tightened. "And the Brotherhood has claimed that they hold the key to these prophecies. You say one thing. They say something different." He shrugged. "So what?"
"So the rest of the prophecy could refer to Aron and Finn. Three Nyral males who serve the Eyler family may mean them."
With a slash of his hand, Xandros tried to dismiss the prophecies. "It's too obscure, too vague. You're muddying up something very simple. You want Father Pestori dead because he killed your sister."
The flash in Shaun's eyes was the only warning Xandros got before the man's knifepoint was again aimed at his throat. "Nothing about this is simple, Xandros. And mention Mira again, I'll kill you."
This Xandros could understand. "Kill me all you want. You're giving yourself an excuse to take revenge." He cocked his head to the side. "Or is it the good father? Maybe you'd rather take it out on his daughter."
The knife blurred as Shaun tossed it. Xandros dodged, and the knife clanged when it hit the metal wall and fell. They stared at each other. Xandros raised an eyebrow. "Why am I really looking for these men?"
Shaun rose, and Xandros tensed. Was the man going to really try and kill him? But he only walked across the room, bent down, and picked up his knife. "They're an integral part of the Star Prophecy." His face had no expression as he took his seat and met Xandros's stare.
Xandros shook his head. "Bullshit."
For a moment, Shaun was silent. Then, he sighed. "It doesn't matter what you believe. It's what the Brotherhood believes. And they believe that Queen Sera Placido must die to gain power over all the systems. They believe Aron and Finn are part of the prophecy."
Typical mumbo jumbo bullshit. It sounded like the Brotherhood. "Again, why not just kill them?"
Shaun's gaze slid away. "I don't know. But I do know the Brotherhood is trying to blackmail Leo and Sera, and they're using these two men to do it." The way he wouldn't meet Xandros's stare was suspect. Xandros was pretty sure the reasons given weren't all there was to this.
Xandros glared at him. "What you hide from me could get people killed, Fenway."
It was right there, ready to be revealed, but Shaun shut it down, and Xandros could tell he wasn't saying everything. "They're using these two men to force Princess Sera out into the open. Leo will do anything to protect her."
"And you'll do anything to protect them both."
Shaun's head shot up, and he met Xandros's gaze. "Yes. Anything."
Shit. He meant it. Whatever Xandros asked for, Shaun would do it. For them. Xandros tapped his fingers on the table. "You know I'm usually quite eccentric when it comes to payment."
"I remember," Shaun said with a smile.
Yes, he'd remember. Xandros had always been willing to do things for a kiss or more. Male or female, he wasn't particular as long as they did one thing: submitted to him in that moment.
"I reserve the right to follow my own rules, not your princess's."
"Naturally," Shaun agreed.
There was much more to this, and Xandros wanted to know what was behind it all. Part of his need to know was wrapped up in Leo Eyler. His old friend was up to something. Xandros had a few good reasons to keep tabs on Leo.
"Okay. I'll find them." He glanced at Shaun who had visibly relaxed. "I'll name my price when I bring the information." Slowly, he allowed his gaze to peruse the man. Even across the length of the table, Xandros could feel the heat increase between them. Shaun's face flushed with color, and he tensed, but there was no rejection of the silent threat. He'd said anything, and he meant it.
Xandros stood up and bolted across the table, catching the other man by surprise. He gripped the back of Shaun's neck and restrained the arm with the holster with his other hand. Then he bent down and took possession of the man's mouth, punishing him, demanding his submission.
Shaun didn't fight him. Xandros felt Shaun's cock like an iron bar against his thigh. They were Nyral males, and Shaun was no submissive which only made Xandros harder. When he broke the kiss, Shaun was breathing heavily, his eyes half-closed.
"That was a down payment." Xandros released him. "Be prepared to pay up when I come back."
The only response from Shaun was a crooked smile that almost made Xandros groan out loud.
When Xandros wanted to drink, the last thing he needed was a crowd surrounding him like in this place. It was the only bar on Muerte, a planet aptly named death for everything here was dead boring. He lifted his glass and glanced around the bar. It felt good to be on his own again, without a crew, responsible only to himself. Being a space acquisitions expert---or pirate, as some small-minded folk would call him---was enough adrenaline for anyone, but he missed the days as a lone tracker.
The liquor was warm, burning his throat as he tossed it back. He hadn't always been a mercenary. Ugly memories skirted the edges of his mind, and he shoved them away impatiently. Focus. He needed to focus.
Maybe it was the sexual encounter with that Nyral female that had started him thinking about his life on his home planet before he'd become an "acquisitions expert." He remembered how he'd tried to fit in by desperately trying to be "normal." It was all an act and didn't work anyway, all because of his last name. No amount of success in school, none of the misguided bids for popularity blotted out the fact that his father was Anton Ivanovich. He'd tried to join the military but was rejected because of his father. When he'd been turned down by the military, he'd signed on as a tracker for Teran Five and changed his last name.
Like a stack of dominoes, he saw how that had herded him down a dark and dangerous path. Yet in the midst of the horror that had followed him as a tracker, he'd held on to an ideal that had a human face. He shook his head. He didn't think about those times too much. But all of it led him to this bar, this moment.
It could be another dead end. There'd been several in the weeks since Shaun had contacted him. But the trail led to the same person every time. Aron Kirkland and Finn Black had talked to one person just before they were taken, before they disappeared. A female assassin named Rina.
The woman was like smoke, coming and going, leaving no trace of her presence. Descriptions of her were wildly varied. Some said she was blonde. Some said she had jet-black hair. Some noted her braids twisted in a particular fashion. Some said her hair was a long curtain. He couldn't get a straight answer out of anyone.
One thing was certain: she was fucking dangerous. In her wake were murders, suicides, and destroyed lives. It was like she was the bringer of death to everyone she had contact with. He'd noted she didn't waste time killing for no reason. All her victims had victims of their own.
Her calling card was only the absence of ego in her assassinations. Most Brotherhood assassins were caught because they grew greedy for attention, overconfident in their abilities. Rina never let down for a second.
But Xandros was good at what he did, and he had discovered she would be in this bar tonight. Her team would meet and receive orders. The other nine were here, in the corner, an isolated group no one approached. They exuded their profession.
Xandros was convinced Rina wouldn't be so heavy-handed.
The doors opened, and a couple came in. The man headed for the bar. The woman, a slender brunette with perky curls, slid into one of the booths. When the man raised his hand for the bartender, Xandros said, "Your wife has a beautiful appau fur coat."
The man blinked and stared at him. "My wife?" He glanced around. "I'm not married."
"My mistake," Xandros murmured and zeroed in on the brunette. Now there was a great disguise. A heart-shaped face framed by sweet brown curls, and most of her body hidden by a white animal fur coat. Unique.
When her gaze met his, dark brown fawn's eyes stared back at him. The same eyes that had glazed over in pleasure when he took her at the club. Beneath that damn coat, he bet she had a burn, the beginnings of a mark he'd never intended to brand her with. Just as he had one on the inside of his thigh. A herwalk, a predator bird. Well, well, well. The great Rina was his little machinka.
Two men stood, materializing from the corner of the bar, and Xandros's attention shifted to them. Shit! Teran Five goons. They were easy to recognize. Black suits? Check. Ridiculous sunglasses? Check. Nondescript features intended to be forgotten? Check. If they were this far out, then they were members of the Teran Interstellar Force, Teran Five's little project to police the universe. Swiftly, he tossed the remains of his drink on a large burly Graote sitting at the table in front of him.
Graotes weren't fluent in Universal. They usually just charged. This one was no different. After flicking fluid from his huge, flat nose, the Graote turned its ugly bug eyes on him. Xandros, of course, pointed to the man next to him and the big, bad brute ran the poor man into the bar.
Fights broke out, and in the melee, Xandros broke a bottle over the head of a Teran Five asshole before he managed to make his way to Rina. "Better come with me, machinka."
She ducked a flying table and took his hand. The remaining Teran Five goon shoved patrons aside trying to reach them, but Xandros yanked her out the door and into the alley before he had a chance. His new prisoner tried to break free, but he wasn't going to allow that. "No, no. None of that. And you won't be kicking me in the balls again either."
He dragged her into the alley away from the door and studied his captive. Her perky curls were in disarray, and the coat clearly impeded her ability to escape. He smiled and jerked her into his arms. In the darkness, he couldn't see the expression on her face, but he felt the pounding of her heart. It gave him fierce satisfaction that she was rattled, that her pulse pounded at his touch.
"Did you wash my cum off right away? I'd like to think you left it there, the smell of me permeating your senses." He loved the way her pulse leaped. Yes, she had waited to wash it off.
They weren't going to get far with those TIF bastards on their tail. He stopped, flattening against the outside wall, and watched. She was still, waiting, watching, as he did. The two men blundered down the alley, and Xandros attacked.
The black suit, the smug sunglasses, the perfect tie all enraged him, as they always did. Whenever he dealt with men like this, his detachment went out the window. The reasons were hidden in the dark recesses of his mind, but the results were satisfactory. The first man went down fast, and Xandros used the shockstick every one of these assholes carried. He jammed it into the man's belly and watched him twitch without feeling any mercy.
Rina had dispatched the other one without too much trouble. Her hand gripped his arm, and he yanked the shockstick away. The man was still breathing. Unfortunately.
She started to slip away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.
"Let me go, you fool," she whispered fiercely. "My team---"
"Your team disappeared as soon as those Teran Five spooks stood up. You saw them. Wake up, Rina. You're mine now." The streak of possessiveness shocked him a bit. After all, she was a deadly assassin, probably wanted on a dozen or more planets. Not exactly the kind of girl he could take home to mother. If he had a mother. He glanced down at the two men on the ground.
Sounds echoed in the alleyway, and Xandros strained to hear. No. No one was after them yet. He hustled her through the alley and down two more, putting distance between them and the incapacitated men.
Silently, she struggled against his hold, but he was implacable. They reached a dark side street beside a busy factory, the muted sound of loud machinery vibrating from inside the building. Another reason to dislike this planet. The industrial businesses ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fouling the air and poisoning its workers. The noise covered any sounds of his struggle with Rina, though, so he was thankful. He should have cuffed her, demanded information from her. But when he turned to face her, he was struck by the soft curves of her face, the hot blast of her breath, and the scent of her arousal.
He really couldn't help it when he slammed her against the wall of the factory and took possession of her sweet, deadly lips.
Stars, she couldn't do this. Her team, regardless of what Xandros believed, would find and kill him. She had to get him away from this planet, from her. But his mouth felt so good, and the bruises he'd leave on her upper arms were badges of honor she wanted to bear.
Lost for a moment, she let herself indulge, deepening the kiss, softening against him. Hadn't she always been this way for him?
In that dark alley, when he tore his lips from hers, she sensed a battle within him. Hell, she remembered that battle. She'd seen it before. When she was sixteen...
"How do you know whether I'm a virgin or not?" Carina raised her eyebrows at the handsome man on her porch. He'd caught her sneaking back into her sister's house, and he had threatened to blow her quiet entrance.
Being typically male though, he'd been easy to distract from his goal with a few flutters of Carina's lashes. But when she slipped closer to him, he had the nerve to say he didn't mess with virgins. The bastard.
"Honey, it's written all over you," he said. He had long, dark hair that splayed over his shoulders, and his blue eyes were clear, focused. Carina had thought her brother-in-law, Leo, was big, but Xandros was bigger. And meaner. "You're playing with dynamite, little girl. I think you need a lesson."
She sidled closer, inhaling his male scent, reveling in the tension in his muscles. "I'd love to learn whatever you want to teach me."
No one had affected her the way he did. His swagger, his grin, his huge hands combined to charm her and overwhelm her. Desire was a new thing, an experience she didn't want to pass up.
His gaze fired with lust. For a moment, she thought she had him in the palm of her hand. But then, he gripped her arm and yanked her toward the picnic bench on the porch. In the darkness, he dropped her over his knees and walloped her ass. Fire of a different kind scorched her skin. Tears squeezed from her eyes, ruining her makeup. She stayed quiet, so only the sound of his hand striking her flesh cracked the silence.
After two whacks, a throb worked its way over her butt, and a burning need began to scream between her legs. She shifted, trying to find relief. On the tenth strike, she came, an embarrassing wetness she hoped and prayed he couldn't feel or smell.
He shoved her back on her feet and stood up to loom over her. "That's what little girls get when they're naughty."
His expression said it all. He saw her as a child, a little sixteen-year-old brat without a brain. Heat flooded her cheeks, and she tightened her lips. "I hope you enjoyed yourself." Her sneer didn't even faze him.
He grinned. "I did." The smile dropped away, and his large fingers lifted her chin. "Don't throw yourself at trash like me, Carina Tao. I'm not worth it."
Then he melted into the night...
With his harsh breath blowing against her forehead, she wondered if he still thought of himself as trash. Could he be any worse than a professional killer?
That thought reminded her that to protect his sorry ass, she had to get away from him. But when her knee came up to incapacitate him, he was ready for her this time. He pinned her leg with his, and his body draped across her torso. "Tsk tsk. I told you. None of that. I'll have to punish you."
She shivered, remembering his punishments. For a moment, he backed away, giving her an opening, and she took it. She turned to sprint, heedless of direction. Xandros gripped her coat, a stupid choice for a disguise since he used the collar to yank her back toward him. All she managed to do was free her arms from the coat before he caught her now bare arm with his implacable grip.
He started to drag her into the darkness, unaffected by any of her efforts to free herself. Where the hell was he taking her?
"Let me go."
"Afraid I'll kiss you again?" He didn't slow down, but his hand tightened on her arm.
Panic drove her insane, and she lashed out, all her training rising to assist her. But he countered every move. Though she forced him to release her arm, he trapped her against the building. His hands gripped her wrists, and he pressed his body against hers, his breath hot on her cheeks.
"Fuck you." She struggled to free herself and only succeeded in arousing her body. She'd heard rumors that the mate mark, even incomplete, changed a person's chemistry. It led the two Nyrals to want each other desperately. Proximity made it worse. She had to get away from him.
He pinned her wrists with one large fist as his other hand ripped away her wig. "Oh, I intend to."
Stunned, she froze and stared into his face. Did he mean that? So cold, so impersonal? He'd just insert tab A into slot B and call it fucking? "I didn't think rape was in your line."
His lips thinned, and his eyes narrowed. "You want me. You wanted me before I partially marked you." He pressed his lips against the red marks on her inner arm. She longed for her coat, discarded in the alley, to protect her from his erotic touch. His voice was low and gritty. "Completely unintentional but not regretted."
"Get. Off. Me." She heaved and tensed, trying to free herself.
He pressed his lips to her ear and said in a sexy whisper, "Let me give you what you've always wanted."
Tears gathered in her eyes, and she was terrified they'd fall. When he bent his head to slide his tongue along the burned flesh of her arm, she shuddered. Her nipples hardened, and she gritted her teeth, trying to resist the intense pleasure of his mouth on that mark. His hips pressed into hers, his cock hard against her clit.
Suddenly she knew exactly what she wanted, what she'd wanted since she was sixteen. This might be the only time she'd be able to have Xandros. It would never happen again, and she was probably going to be killed. Why not give into the temptation she'd felt the first time he'd touched her on Shanie's porch?
Deliberately, she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, pressing her hips against his. His head jerked up, and he met her gaze. For a breathless moment, they were both still. A dull throb of the machinery's repetitive sounds vibrated the wall.
Xandros didn't rush, even though he had her permission. His hands still gripped her wrists, and he nudged her head aside so he could bite her neck with an erotic sting. She whimpered and trembled, wondering if she could remain still beneath his touch.
Slowly, he released her wrists, but when she started to move, he put them back over her head. His stern gaze told her to leave them there without his restraint. With firm insistence, he pressed down on her thighs, a silent order that she followed, instantly lowering her legs until her toes touched the concrete. She shuddered as their bodies met chest to chest and their breaths mingled. For a full minute, he stared into her face, both of them still.
He ripped open his pants and undid hers, sliding them down her thighs, slowly, inexorably. His hands cupped her ass and squeezed her flesh so hard she knew there'd be marks there. When he lifted her legs, guiding them back around his waist, she had a moment of anxiety, but then his lips pounded hers, and she was lost in sensation. His tongue plundered her mouth, demanding, seeking.
With one twist, he thrust his cock deep inside her, her back scraping the wall from the force. He growled against her lips, his frantic movements revealing how much he wanted her. She couldn't help it. Her hands twined in his hair, pressing him closer, reveling in his desire.
The consequences were huge, but she didn't stop. She sought some sense of connection, something she hoped for, longed for in those lonely nights she'd spent numb and aching. With desperate hands, she reached for it, wanting something more than life had given her thus far.
When she orgasmed, she shattered, the overwhelming thought only of him, his touch, his body. The consequences didn't even register, didn't matter. There, in that dark alley, she gave something she'd resisted ever since her sister's murder and the beginning of her undercover work in the Brotherhood.
Her heart.
Did it matter that Xandros was a shady pilot with a past? Did it matter that he was marking her for his own reasons, none of which had a fucking thing to do with feelings? No. All that mattered was her pulse pounded for a different reason than fear. All that mattered was that, for a moment at least, she belonged to someone.
She angled her hips, taking him deeper, savoring him, needing him. He swore, a vicious sound of frustration and gripped her hair to yank her head back. He kissed her, not the cool, calculated dominance he'd begun with, but with a wild, feral intensity that sent her senses spinning.
His tongue thrust inside her mouth as his cock slid back and forth inside her slick channel. The sound he made when he came was muffled by her mouth. The burning that followed was painful, excruciating. Just as she thought it would rob her of her pleasure, Xandros shifted his hips, and she tumbled over the edge. Her second climax rippled along her nerves, chasing the pain away.
Heat, need, lust. She tasted them all. When she blinked her eyes open and raised her arm, she didn't know if she felt regret or not. Too late for it anyway. Reality crashed over her head. Marked. She should be appalled, terrified, something. Instead, the knots in her belly uncoiled, and a feeling of relief swamped her. Now she belonged to Xandros. Part of her rejoiced that she had connected to him in this deeply intimate way. The conflicting fear had very little power in this moment.
Instead, she noted the details of her mark, the way the wings of the herwalk seemed poised for flight, its eyes mysterious and dangerous, the noble tilt of its head. It was beautiful.
Xandros stared at her forearm, a satisfied gleam on his shadowed features. "Mine," he whispered and ran his thumb along the fresh scar on her arm.
He'd marked her. Made her his. Yet, everything she knew about him contradicted his action. It seemed...reckless. "Why?" she asked.
Xandros didn't want to answer her question any more than he wanted to pull away from her body and leave her alone. He didn't believe in the mark. It was just hormones, something in a Nyral's anatomy. There was no destiny or fate involved. He fucked her and marked her to trace her. Nothing more. The fact that he'd wanted her the minute he'd walked into that damn club was incidental. There was no ultimate universal plan.
And that's how he answered her question. "Because now I can find you when I want you."
She moved so fast he didn't have time to stop her. When she spun away, her demeanor was in disarray, her natural hair mussed from the wig, and her jaw clenched. "I should have known."
He stepped toward her and handed her clothes to her. She took them cautiously, ready to lash out. Her gaze never left his while she yanked her clothes on.
"Why did you let me mark you?" She could have stopped him. There had been that moment, the split second that he'd been vulnerable, when he'd released her arms. She could have killed him and ended his sexual hold over her. But she hadn't. Maybe she didn't believe in the mystical shit about mate marks either.
"What the hell do you want?" she asked fiercely.
"Information." He kept still, knowing she was most dangerous trapped and marked, her only options to attack him or run. The smell of her was still clinging to his dick, and he had difficulty focusing. She was his. And he wanted to prove it. He shook his head. That was foolish thinking. She was just another woman, another cunt. Nothing special.
Even his cock, on the verge of arousal again, knew that was a lie.
Her nostrils flared. "I don't talk."
"You just fuck," he taunted her.
Her gaze held his steadily. "Yes."
"Bullshit," he snapped. "You're marked now, machinka. There's no escape from that."
She whirled and bounded over the alley fence in an impressive show of acrobatics that made Xandros gasp. A smile lifted his lips. She could run, but she couldn't hide.
"Sightseeing?" A voice sounded directly behind him, and he jerked around, caught off guard.
Shaun Fenway stood in the alley, his features hidden in the muted light of the dark street globes. Xandros glared at the man. "Spying on me?"
"Actually no." He glanced at the alley fence. "I was following the same leads you were, I imagine."
Xandros tensed. The man was lying. What the fuck was going on? Rina was an assassin, and Shaun had also been one of the Brotherhood's killers. Had Shaun come to meet her? A sharp stab of jealously surprised him, and he suppressed it. It would be stupid to get mixed up with either of these people. They were dangerous.
"Convenient." He didn't relax but stared at Shaun. The man was in a loose fighting stance, looking as if he had all the time in the world, but Xandros knew he was ready for an attack.
"How is fucking Rina going to find Aron and Finn?" Shaun circled Xandros.
"Jealous?" Xandros crouched down, prepared for anything.
"Rina was never my type," Shaun replied while he studied Xandros.
"I meant jealous of Rina. Would you prefer to be fucked rather than the one fucking?" He grinned, hoping to piss his opponent off enough to drive him to make an error. "I've heard rumors of how you were reinstated into Nyral society."
Shaun froze and confirmed some of those rumors. Actually, Xandros had obsessed about the rumors. He'd heard Leo Eyler had fucked Shaun and branded him. Xandros shouldn't have cared. He'd been ostracized by Nylar for five years. But it had eaten at him, pissing him off. Perhaps it was because he'd loved dominating men in the past. A man's submission was never easy or given cheaply.
Perhaps that was Xandros's attraction to Rina. Her surrender had not been an easy thing either. But it wouldn't do to get distracted since Shaun had drawn a knife, launching toward Xandros in a lithe, quick jump.
When Shaun attacked him, Xandros grabbed him, holding the man's forearms in a tight grip, keeping the knife he'd drawn at a distance. Xandros met Shaun's gaze, his face thrust closer to the other man's. Slowly, inevitably, he pushed Shaun back. The growl that emanated from the Shaun's throat only spurred Xandros to brush his lips over the retreating man's mouth.
The wall stopped Shaun's backward progress, and the man struggled to free himself. His hazel eyes were bright and hot. Xandros slid his hand down Shaun's arm to his hand. "Drop the knife."
"No." Shaun tensed and tried to throw Xandros off him.
"Yes." Xandros squeezed the man's wrist, attempting to force the knife from Shaun's hand. Stars, the man was stubborn. He held on, his face grimaced from the effort. Finally the knife clattered to the street, and Xandros slammed Shaun's hands over his head, then pressed against him. Even though he'd just had Rina, his cock was more than ready to take Shaun's ass.
Xandros leaned in and kissed Shaun. It was a demand, a quest for something to wipe away the feeling that he'd lost control. Until now, he'd viewed sex as a commodity to be bought and sold. It had to be. Somehow, fucking Rina had loosened something within him, something he had thought was dead and gone. It reminded him of old desires, like the one to go back to his home planet, settle down, and be at peace. He needed to obliterate it by fucking Shaun.
The kiss with Shaun changed. Suddenly the other man was the aggressor. Xandros could have pulled back, ended it, but Shaun's mouth demanded his participation, and he gave it. They switched places, and Shaun slammed Xandros against the wall. Still Xandros had a death grip on Shaun even as his mouth was plundered by the man.
Abruptly Xandros yanked his mouth away and stared at Shaun. "The rumors were wrong."
One of Shaun's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"
Xandros grinned. "Yeah. They said you took it up the ass from Leo Eyler. You don't seem the type to bend over for anyone."
A strange expression flickered in Shaun's hazel eyes. "Ever met Leo?"
"When I was younger."
Shaun extricated himself from Xandros's hold as if he'd been there by his own choice. "Let's just say Leo is...unique."
"How do you know her?" He changed the subject, hoping to catch Shaun off guard.
The other man blinked. "Who?"
Xandros shook his head. "Don't fuck with me, Fenway."
"I thought that's what you were offering," Shaun quipped.
"Who is she?"
Shaun shrugged. "Rina the assassin." He bent down and picked up his knife.
"Damn it, Shaun," Xandros said through gritted teeth. Why was he being so cagey about this woman? "Was she your lover?" And why the fuck did Xandros care? She was just an assignment, a job. Wasn't she?
Shaun shook his head. "Love had nothing to do with us."
Xandros narrowed his eyes. "What the fuck does that mean?"
"It means she isn't who she seems to be," Shaun answered, his gaze intent on Xandros.
"You were here to see her."
"No. I was here to see you." Shaun glanced down the alley. "Watching the two of you was a bonus," he said with a smile.
"Fuck you," Xandros snapped.
"Perhaps," Shaun said. "If you're a good boy."
Xandros growled and tensed. Shaun's eyes glittered in the dark street globes, and Xandros would have attacked him, but he decided he'd rather get paid. Plus, he wasn't sure what the man wanted, but he was pretty sure Shaun would fuck him to distract him. "What did you want to see me for?"
"The Brotherhood contacted the princess." Shaun started to walk toward the street. "She wants to see you."
"She's here?" Why the hell would Princess Sera Placido come to this forsaken planet?
"There's a group of Placidian descendents on Muerte. She visits this planet once a year." Shaun slipped out of the alley, and Xandros followed.
"You let her come here?" Xandros shook his head. "There's a Brotherhood cell here. She isn't safe here."
"She isn't safe anywhere."
Xandros kept moving, his gut churning. There had to be a connection between the arrival of Rina and her team and the princess's visit. Shaun Fenway wasn't stupid. He'd probably thought the same thing.
Conflicted, Xandros kept pace with Shaun. Going to meet the princess meant he'd probably run into Leo Eyler. This was the confrontation he both dreaded and anticipated. After all, he had a bone to pick with his old friend, the newly made general. But he was reluctant to get more involved than he had already become. Even as he negotiated the busy streets, keeping Shaun in sight, he wasn't sure if he was looking for answers or just looking for vengeance.
The hotel where the princess stayed was the most lavish place in Muerte's capital city. The lobby was all marble, white and gray. The stone was one of Muerte's most abundant exports, and the hotel showcased it perfectly. The human colony had never become a major shipping stop because the politics on the planet were in constant flux.
He hadn't realized Placidians were here. The refugees from the odd planet had invaded many other cultures, but they didn't assimilate. With the princess back on the home planet, he thought the Placidians would flock back to Placido. Some had, of course, but many, like this population, hadn't come back. He wondered if it was because there were rumors that the princess had strange powers.
Shaun led him to a huge suite on the ground floor. They passed at least eight guards. All of them looked like Nyral military.
When Shaun approached the door of the suite, one of the guards nodded and knocked on it briskly. Xandros heard a low, husky "Come in," and the door opened.
His first impression of Princess Sera Placido was that she was blindingly beautiful. She was dressed entirely in white, and her flawless skin and red hair seemed to light the whole room. Still, Xandros was aware of the tall, blond man beside her, his gaze cold and unfriendly. It wouldn't do to stare at the princess with her marked mate beside her.
"Xandros Jasper, I'd like you to meet the Princess Sera Ellysa Placido and her consort, General Leo Eyler." Shaun bowed as he introduced Xandros to the infamous couple.
When Xandros focused on Leo, he gritted his teeth. The man had changed somewhat since Xandros had seen him three years earlier. The scar was still there, but Leo had let his hair grow out and wore a casual flight suit rather than the severe black Primarian uniform. It made him seem less intimidating.
Something in Leo's acknowledgement of Shaun caught Xandros's attention. There was electricity between the general and the other man.
Xandros pressed his lips to the princess's hand and shot a side long glance at Leo. The man watched him like a hawk. When he straightened, Xandros grinned. "General, eh? Last I heard, you were a disgraced corporal."
"It's been a long time, Xandros." Leo didn't smile back. "How's the smuggling business?"
"Booming. How's the consort business?"
"Complicated," Leo said calmly. "Things have changed."
Xandros narrowed his gaze on Leo's face, trying to read it, and got nothing. "Oh?"
"We were friends once," Leo said.
"That was a long time ago. Before I was a mercenary and before you fucked me over with the Primarians." Xandros hadn't forgotten.
Princess Sera put a hand on Leo's arm and seemed to send him a silent message. Leo stepped back, and the woman walked closer to Xandros. Even though she was sex incarnate with her perfect skin, her brilliant hair, and her killer curves, Xandros wasn't attracted to her. Not the way he was obsessed with Rina.
The princess came to a stop directly in front of him and stared up into his face. "Since Shaun asked for your help, we made a few inquiries."
Xandros glared at Shaun, and he shrugged. What Xandros had thought was a personal favor to the man turned out to be something else. Princess Sera smiled. "Shaun wanted to protect me, but I found out he'd gone to you."
"Oh?" Xandros wondered if she spied on her bodyguard. Well, why not? She probably should be paranoid.
She lifted her hand, and he noted a remote in it. When she pressed a button, a screen on the right side of the room lit up.
Xandros saw the image of him dancing with Rina. Stars, she was sexy, so beautiful. He stared at the vid. In the heat of the moment, he'd missed the tightening of Rina's features when his hand reached down to stroke her sweet pussy. Sweat broke out on his palms, and he licked his lips.
For a split second, he was lost in that moment, in the sensations Rina had dragged out of him in that encounter. But he was being shown this vid by Princess Sera Placido. He had to stay in the now. "And what? You don't like that I fucked a Brotherhood Assassin?"
Out of nowhere, Leo sprang on him and slammed him against the wall. The violence of the man's hands was nothing compared to the death Xandros saw in the man's gaze. "You fucking bastard. I'm going to kill you."
Leo was military and had served undercover with Primarian soldiers. But he hadn't been trained in dirty tricks the way Xandros had. In two seconds flat, Xandros had jammed his fingers in a spot just above the man's dick, and Leo recoiled.
But when Xandros moved in to follow up, Shaun stepped forward and chopped down on Xandros's arm, numbing it. Then Shaun slammed Xandros back against the wall. Where the princess had left Xandros sexually cold, Shaun's touch made Xandros as hard as a fucking rock. Damn him.
A muscle moved in Shaun's cheek, and his gaze dropped to Xandros's mouth. "You fool. You just had to do it, didn't you?"
"I don't know what's wrong with him, but there's no way in hell I'm going to be manhandled by anyone." He leveled a serious look at Shaun. "Even you."
"You'd love me to manhandle you," Shaun whispered.
"Not like this, Fenway. Get your damn hands off me, or I'll drop you to your knees." Confident in his abilities, Xandros didn't raise his voice or flinch when Shaun squeezed his throat.
Shaun sighed. "Why did you bait him?"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, but I'm dead serious. Get your hands off me." Xandros flexed the fingers of his working arm, his right arm still numb.
Shaun dropped his arms and glared at Xandros. "Why do you have to pick now to do your typical fucking anything with a hole?"
Xandros glared back and snapped, "I needed information so I marked her---"
"What?" Leo roared and charged again, but this time, Xandros was ready and crouched in readiness. "I'm going to strip your hide."
"Leo, stop it," the princess said sharply. Her gaze narrowed on Xandros's face. "You marked her to track her? What kind of a monster are you?"
He frowned and shrugged. "She's a Brotherhood assassin and adept at disappearing. I needed an advantage."
The princess blinked. "An advantage." Leo growled, and she reached up to stroke her mate's face, her sleeve falling away to reveal an elaborate dragon mark. "She'll be marked for life, always tied to you." Princess Sera shook her head.
Xandros snorted. "The mark means nothing." Even as he said it, he didn't believe it. It meant that Rina belonged to him. The supreme satisfaction he felt at that thought was odd.
"It means the Brotherhood will kill her when they see it," Shaun said angrily. "You just put a bull's-eye on her back."
"She'll be fine," Xandros said. The last thing he wanted to do is explain that he had no intention of letting her disappear on him.
"You had no right," Leo shouted.
"That's enough," Xandros snapped. "My relationship with Rina is none of your fucking business. As long as I find your Nyral males, what do you care?"
Shaun's eyes widened, and he searched Xandros's face. "You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" An uneasy sensation began to slide into Xandros's belly.
"Rina is Leo's sister-in-law." Shaun's words created a sensation of falling for Xandros. "She was Shanie Tao's little sister."
When Carina fled from that alley, she couldn't get away from her thoughts. Why had she let him mark her? It was a death sentence. The Brotherhood would know, and she would be killed...if she was lucky.
Damn him. How had he gotten under her skin? She couldn't explain it. Granted, four years undercover doing Brotherhood dirty work had begun to take its toll, but she usually had better sense.
These back alleys, these black streets were her home, her safe refuge. Why had she risked it all for Xandros Jasper? The man didn't give a shit about her. He'd marked her to track her movements easier.
The appearance of Teran Five black ops hadn't surprised her. The Brotherhood had pushed its luck, and now the TIF had begun a campaign to take them down. Rina was infamous, her killings spectacular feats of theater. They all required meticulous planning, and this meeting on Muerte had been no different.
Plan B was in place. Carina found a vidphone. She dialed the required number and waited for an answer.
"What do you require?" a voice asked.
"Team location and a nontrac handheld." She glanced down the side street, her senses alert, her gut churning. It was unusually quiet. There were no people, no movement at all. Even at this time of night, there should be someone.
"Maintain your position, Assassin Rina," the voice instructed.
Her instincts screamed that something was wrong. Had she had visual clues from the person on the other end of the vid call, she might have seen something, but the screen was deliberately blank.
The attack, when it came, was quick and decisive. She got two blows in before she was overcome.
By her own team.
Xandros fell to his knees, pain ripping through him. A red haze dropped over his vision, and he clenched his fists. The anguished cry torn from his throat was completely out of his control. What the hell?
Rage. Need. Kill. His mind shut down every thought except one. Rina. Someone...touched her?
"Look at his eyes," Leo said, his voice far away. "Xandros? Can you hear me?"
Xandros jerked his gaze to the man, his anger needing a place to land, a fist to sink somewhere.
"It's the rage," the princess said softly. "I've never seen it across this much distance, this soon," she said. "Usually, the marked mate has to be in the same room in close proximity."
"Something's wrong," Leo said sharply. "Xandros? Where is she?"
It couldn't be. He'd always thought the Nyral rage was a myth, a fairy tale. Romantic but completely false. Yet, he couldn't deny that he had an intense need to rush after Rina, find her, protect her, and kill the ones who touched her.
Danger! Danger! Danger!
He sensed her peril, the smell of death. "I have to find her. She's---" Pain struck him, fresh and new. They were hurting her. Why? What could he do?
He didn't wait. Frantically, he sprinted to the door of the hotel room. Blocking his way was Shaun. "Get out of my way," he shouted.
"No. It's a trap. You'll be---"
Xandros attacked. His mind focused on Rina's pain, her confusion. Everything else was fuzzy. Then something odd happened. For a brief moment, his head cleared.
In the grip of the rage, he had lashed out at Shaun, but the man countered his moves and gripped his neck. Shaun jerked him closer. Xandros forced Shaun against the door, his fingers tight around the man's wrist.
Shaun's held Xandros close, taking all the emotion that rolled through them both. Energy poured from Xandros, and Shaun seemed to absorb it. Cerebrally, Xandros knew the rage was a surge of adrenaline, a force of energy, some holdover from Nylar's ancient history when protecting one's mate was a matter of life or death. But subconsciously, he needed to find his marked mate.
The red curtain over his vision seemed to clear slightly. He sensed Carina was no longer conscious.
Calmer, he leaned his forehead against Shaun's. "I have to go after her."
"I know that," Shaun answered.
"I'm not sure I understand what's going on here," Leo said behind them.
When Xandros released Shaun and turned to face Leo, he wasn't sure he could explain it either. So much had happened that he hadn't planned. The mark wasn't supposed to mean anything. It just meant he'd fucked her. The rage had been a joke men told to keep women from cheating on them. To find out that he'd been so wrong for so long was difficult to face, much less put into words.
Princess Sera's forehead wrinkled with worry. "Shaun?"
"He needed me. That's all," Shaun said. "The rage is a surge of adrenaline, and I defused it." When Xandros turned his head and stared at Shaun, the man met his gaze steadily. "Xandros and I understand each other, I think."
Did they? How many men had Xandros fucked? He could count them on one hand, and none of them had been Nyral males. They'd been submissives, and Xandros dominated them. The fucking was just part of it.
This? This was different. What was their connection? "You've fucked her."
Shaun's gaze slid away. "We used each other."
Xandros should have been angry or jealous...something. Instead, he accepted Shaun's role in Carina's past. It still didn't explain why Shaun posed no threat to Xandros's primitive rage response. He had some connection to all this, some part to play that Xandros didn't understand. "Why didn't you mark her?"
Shaun glared at him. "Because to mark her would expose what she was. The Brotherhood has no idea she's a Nyral female." He clenched his fists. "And judging by your rage, I'd say they've discovered it."
Fuck. He tried to shoulder past Shaun to leave, to find her, to save her. Once again, Shaun stopped him. "We have to work together to save her."
Xandros tightened his lips and met the man's intense stare. "I might kill you."
"You won't kill me," Shaun said steadily.
"Shaun," the princess said quietly, "are you in love with this man?"
"No. He isn't for me, Princess. He belongs to her." Gently, Shaun brushed back a stray strand of hair from Xandros's forehead. Then, he turned to look at Leo and the princess. "But this is what I'm meant to do."
Leo shook his head. "This isn't about you, Shaun."
"I left them, Leo," he said calmly. "I walked away, never looked back. Aron and Finn were in the same boat I was in before you saved me. I could have rescued them, brought them home the way you did."
Xandros heard the pain, the guilt in Shaun's voice, and he couldn't stand it. Xandros had never given a rat's ass about another man's guilt, another man's burden, but it ate at his gut that Shaun would blame himself for something out of his control. It had been a long time since he'd had a friend, someone he truly cared about. It was odd that Shaun had come back into his life and filled that role.
He gripped Shaun's shoulder and held it. Shaun glanced at him but talked to Leo. "Instead, I hid. I was afraid of what people would say, how they would judge me because I let you dominate me."
"No one knows about that," Leo insisted.
"They do," Shaun said firmly. "It was inevitable." He shifted beneath Xandros's touch. "Xandros is like me. He is exiled from our people, and the only way back is unacceptable to him. Just as it was to me."
Xandros stared at him. "I chose this path, Shaun. You didn't."
Shaun's hazel eyes were bright. "How many times did you petition the council to let you come back?"
Twenty-eight times. The number popped into Xandros's mind. He'd tried to come back, go straight. He'd longed for home, for his people. But the stigma of being Anton Ivanovitch's son would never be gone. "So what? I chose to walk away. No one blackmailed me."
"Didn't they?" Shaun stared at him. "Your father's betrayal was well-known. Didn't most people assume you were just as guilty even though you were four when he sold those secrets to the Primarians?"
"My father paid his debt."
Shaun nodded. "Sure he did. He did his time with the Mistresses. They broke him until he was a good little submissive."
"Shut the fuck up, Shaun."
"And everyone taunted you, judged you as his son. Your mother was dead, and your father was broken. What choice did you have, Xandros Jasper?" Shaun's voice was relentless.
"We don't have time for this," Xandros snapped.
"Listen to me." Shaun gripped his arm. "You have no idea what you're walking into. I do. The Brotherhood knows all about you. Everything. Your father. Your mother's death. Your life on the edge of crime. They'll use it to fuck with you."
"I'm going to find her." Xandros tried to yank his arm away, but Shaun kept hold of him.
"Not like this. Not without a plan."
It pissed Xandros off that the man was right. He knew better than to go into any negotiation without a plan. He shook Shaun's hand off his arm and ran a hand through his hair. Damn it. The sensation of pain and fear he'd felt from her, from whatever happened, it had ripped him apart. Apparently, all that bullshit about being marked was true. He should have been scared shitless by that thought, but for some reason, he wasn't. He was determined to find her and keep her with him. "Okay. Not without a plan."
"If we're lucky, they don't know who marked her," Leo stated.
Shaun shook his head. "They have the same vid streams we do. They saw Xandros at the club."
"They're counting on him to go after her." The princess frowned. "Why?"
"The prophecy," Shaun said firmly.
"Someone want to fill me in?" Xandros said impatiently.
"Sit down, Captain." It was the first sign of respect from Leo. Xandros sat in one of the overstuffed chairs in the hotel room. Leo sat on the couch, and the princess sat on the floor at his feet. Shaun sat across from them.
"The first Star Prophecy was written by a Dormrelian named Sindar. Have you ever heard of Dormrela?" Leo asked him.
Xandros froze. "I've heard of it."
Leo lifted his lips in a small smile. "Sindar recorded a prophecy handed down for generations on his planet. The prophecy stated that a Nyral male named Eyler would mate with a woman and create a new power, a new religion. He pinpointed the decade when this mating would occur." He took a deep breath and shot a glance at the princess. Xandros noted her mouth had tightened. Clearly, she didn't like the conversation. Xandros wondered if it had anything to do with the rumored death of her mother or the attempts on her life. Leo continued. "The Brotherhood has studied the prophecies. When I was mated to Shanie---"
"They assumed she was the one Sindar referred to in the prophecy. And that's why Shanie died," Xandros said. It made sense. From what Xandros had gathered, the Brotherhood wanted the princess dead because she was Leo's mate, not because she was the leader of some outcast population. It had something to do with the creation of a religion or some other mystical bullshit. Xandros sighed. "What does this have to do with me or Carina or the men you have me looking for?"
Leo ran a hand over his face, and Princess Sera touched his knee. "After Father Pestori revealed the prophecy, Sera and I tracked it down." He gazed at Xandros. "Not only does Sindar name me in his prophecy, he names Carina. His prediction is that my mate is the beginning and Carina is the messenger. He states that she will be recognized by the mark of a bird on her arm. I tried to warn her, but she's determined to get revenge for Shanie's death." His nostrils flared. "Shanie was Carina's only blood family. But it's clear that the Brotherhood intended to corrupt Carina from the start."
"Shit." He rose to his feet. "Why are we sitting here? We have to find her, save her."
"Sit down, Xandros," Leo snapped out the order, and Xandros sat. "They won't kill her."
Xandros glared at the other man. "How do you know that?"
"Because the prophecy has a warning. To kill Carina would hasten the very destruction of their organization. It states that the one who owns the messenger's soul will rule the Stars." Leo stared at Xandros. "They want to own her soul, Captain."
"Over my dead body."
"That may be the idea," the princess said. "Think, Xandros. If they kill you, her marked mate, she'll be destroyed, isolated, vulnerable. We must have a plan."
"Shaun?" Leo turned an inquiring glance on the other man.
"I say the same thing I said about Aron and Finn. Pelios."
Pelios. Fuck. That planet was barren and miserable. The surface was too hot to survive on. But the Blueshift Brotherhood used that planet, burrowed deep and created a maze of caverns. Near the surface, they placed weferies, creatures that could stand temperatures of up to two hundred degrees. They guarded the only two entrances to the tunnels leading to miles of corridors.
Food was dropped into these holes, and prisoners had to fight the weferies for it. It was survival of the fittest. Every two or three months, the Brotherhood would replace their guardians since the prisoners killed the animals eventually.
No one knew how prisoners were transported to Pelios. It was a one-way trip. If the Brotherhood took Carina there, getting her back would be impossible.
Anyone involved with the Brotherhood knew the risks. The threat of Pelios was always part of the bargaining process, and Xandros had made it his business to find out what he was threatened with before he made any deals. So far, he'd managed to keep on the Brotherhood's good side, but if they'd sent his mate to Pelios---
"We have to stop them." He rose again to his feet.
"I think I know how they're transporting them." Princess Sera stood up. She glanced at Leo. "Remember the Star Blessing?"
Leo nodded. "You transported all those artifacts on Teran Three back to Placido."
"It's only one of many such spells." She tightened her lips. "I think the leader of the Blueshift Brotherhood is very familiar with Placido."
"And has your power?" Leo shook his head. "How is that possible?"
Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. "You do."
Leo frowned. "True. So you think it's someone who understands the power, who can use it the way I can?"
"I don't think he's from Placido." She stared at the three men. "I think he's from Nylar."
Shock rippled along Xandros's nerves. A Nyral? It couldn't be. There'd been traitors, including his father, but could the leader of the Brotherhood be from Nylar? He could scoff at it, but after all that had happened, he wasn't sure he knew anything anymore.
Leo didn't look surprised. He looked grim. "We'd better come up with that plan quickly."
A drip hit her in the face. Splash. Splash. She blinked and tried to adjust her vision to the darkness around her. Confusion made her dizzy. Her mouth was dry and sticky. What the hell had happened? Where the hell was she?
And who was she?
Gingerly, she moved, tried to get her feet under her. Nausea swamped her, and her throat burned. The metal walls beneath her fingers were cold and unyielding. Somehow she knew she was on a ship. Maybe it was the thrumming vibration that sounded in the background. All the basics were there in her mind: like she was in danger, like she was naked and shouldn't be.
Memories were just out of reach, and her head hurt. Stop trying. Escape was her only thought. It never occurred to her to bang on the walls or scream for help. It was very clear that she had to use cunning and silence to get off this vessel.
The lights in the small space fluttered and flared, now illuminating her prison. Bruises dotted her legs and thighs. On her left arm was a burn that still throbbed. It was like an unhealed brand, angry and red. She stared at the shape of it. The burn was the shape of an animal. A herwalk. The majestic bird was native to her home planet of...
Shit! She couldn't remember.
Inside the four metal walls, condensation had built up. The drops of liquid on her face had been water from the ceiling. The room was bare, no furniture, no control panels. The lights were recessed and bolted into the ceiling, as if the cell was made to contain whatever---or whoever---was in it. Something was definitely wrong.
Vid streamers were stationed at the right of the solid, unyielding door. Naked, helpless, weaponless, she faced a daunting task. Get away and find...who?
The door beeped, an alarm shattering the silence. When it slid open, she held herself ready. Whoever it was, she was willing to kill to get away from them.
A shrouded figure stepped into the room. Brown woven material more suited to Old Earth than today's priests covered her visitor from head to toe. His hands were clasped in front of him, and an irritating hum came from the dark recesses of his cowl.
Then the humming stopped, and the figure said, "You are well?"
For a moment, she wanted to laugh. Well? Sure. She couldn't remember who the hell she was, where she was, or how she'd gotten there, but she was relatively intact. Probably a normal person would have asked if this stranger knew the answers to her questions, but instinctively she knew she wasn't normal.
Just as she knew this hooded man was her enemy.
He kept the cowl around his face but removed a handheld from the depths of the robe. "Your reprogramming will begin now," he said calmly.
"I don't wish to be 'reprogrammed,' priest," she snapped. She should have kept her mouth shut. But the words slipped out before she could stop them.
His head lifted sharply. "Your hostility is misplaced. I am your friend."
She snorted. "Right. Would some clothes be asking too much, friend?"
The man was definitely agitated. His fingers flew over his handheld's keypad. "You should be a blank slate," he muttered. "I need to take a reading. Stand up."
She obeyed him but feigned dizziness, only partially faking it, and stumbled toward him. When he was forced to take her weight, she lashed out, her precision strike hitting his carotid artery. He gasped, a pathetic choking sound.
Without hesitation, she finished him, her small hands crushing the life from him. When he was dead, she searched the heavy folds of his robe and found a laser gun. Fast and furious, she stripped the man of his garb, then pulled it over her head.
What kind of a woman could kill a man and put on his clothes? And what kind of monster could use the laser gun to cut out the man's eyeball so she could pass the eye spectrum?
The desperate kind.
The man's eye was slippery and bloody in her fingers, but she used it to open the door to her cell. Alarms blared all over the ship, and she crept through the corridor quickly.
Though she couldn't remember her own name or where she was from, she knew she was on a Class J freighter and that the lifepods were on the port side. Once she oriented herself, she made a circuitous route toward those pods.
Two men tried to stop her. They died. She sprinted, lifting up the hem of the robe with one hand and firing the laser gun with the other. Noise filled her head, but she didn't stop, didn't think.
Four men guarded the pods. Her back to the wall of the corridor that led to the docking bay, she contemplated her options. She glanced on the wall opposite her and saw an emergency chem canister used to put out fires.
How she knew to cut a hole in the canister and light it, she didn't know or care. It worked, creating a huge blast of gas that burned the men's eyes and caused confusion. That was all she needed.
Quickly and efficiently, she dispatched them, leaving their bloody corpses on the bay floor.
Just as she was entering one of the pods, a voice boomed throughout the ship.
"Kill her!" the voice screamed. "She cannot live."
The voice, familiar and frightening, froze her for a second. Then she catapulted into the pod and activated the release. Her fingers flew over the controls, instinct and memory joined for a moment. The pod exploded from the bay, and she careened through space.
A planet was just in front of her, but she didn't even consider landing there. She aimed for the opposite direction. Laser fire lit up the sky on either side of her.
She smiled grimly. Hitting a pod was rather like hitting a leder coin tossed in the air. Difficult to lock onto and difficult to shoot down. Still, it was a harrowing flight, and she fought to control the pod.
She found a gate. Manmade wormholes that helped men travel in an instant, bypassing light years of black space. The mother ship loomed behind her, but she sped toward the gate heedless of the strain on her systems.
She entered the gate going too fast, too hard. The force of her entry sent the pod spinning through the corridor. She was going to die.
If she bounced off the edge of the gate's tunnel, she'd be tossed into black space. A glimmer of hope existed. Even as the pod twisted and spun, she noted coordinates on a gate exit within a few clicks of her present trajectory. She flung her weight against the controls, trying to get the thrusters to take her that extra distance.
The pod flew out of the exit at tremendous speed and suddenly spun around furiously like a top. She hit her head, then her nose. Blood streamed down her face, and she desperately tried to gain control, but it was no use.
A planet loomed in her viewscreen, and she accepted the fact that her pod was going to plummet into its atmosphere and disintegrate.
Consciousness faded, the blow to her head making her dizzy. She fought it, unwilling to die with her eyes closed. But it was too much.
As she drifted into oblivion, one name was on her lips. "Xandros."
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Xandros flew the shuttle, burning the engines, straining the shields in the atmosphere of Nariad, an odd planet devoid of an established outpost. But here, he'd used his bond to Carina to follow her.
When he'd seen the ship she was on, he'd almost panicked. He'd only been on the Destiny once, and it wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat. Father Pestori was a nutcase with sycophants and Primarian assholes surrounding him.
He'd known the minute she was awake. He'd sensed her cold determination to escape and the danger she'd risked to do it. Every second counted, so he'd hacked into the Destiny's systems, disrupting their sensors and making Carina difficult to pinpoint on their own ship. When her lifepod shot out from the port side of the ship, he screamed after her.
She'd hit the gate too fast and too hard, and when he'd exited the gate, he watched, horrified, as she careened toward Nariad. There was only one thing to do. He flew the shuttle directly under the lifepod and matched its speed. Then, straining, he started to pull the two connected vessels up to avoid a crash on the surface.
He wasn't going to make it. Electricity sparked, and he lost navigation. The shuttle shuddered like it was going to shatter into a million pieces. Somehow Xandros held on, keeping the shuttle and the pod on track.
They hit the ground hard, and Xandros jerked in his seat, his body flung against the straps. He threw up his arms as the nose of the shuttle slammed into the dirt. Metal and plastic shards rained on him, and the shuttle's outer hull creaked ominously.
Finally, the forward motion stopped, and the scream of grinding metal faded. All Xandros could hear was his harsh breathing. Gingerly, he removed his safety straps and crawled out of his seat. It took several kicks, but he got the door opened, and dropped onto the ground.
This hadn't been part of the plan. Shaun had stayed on the ship with Leo and Princess Sera in case Xandros screwed up and needed a rescue. Well, it looked like he was going to need one.
The lifepod had slid off the roof of the shuttle and shot several hundred yards through the trees. Xandros picked his way through the thick vegetation to the lifepod. Vaguely, he became aware he was growling, a low dangerous sound that vibrated through the woods.
Metal was no barrier between Xandros and his marked mate. He ripped it away and started to lift Carina out of the pod. Remnants of a robe were still burning, and he had to tear the cloth off her, praying she wasn't burned beneath it. Finally, he was able to pull her from the smoldering ship. His heart wrenched at her nakedness, her fragility. Her hair had been viciously hacked off. There were needle marks all over her body. He was stunned that the Brotherhood had been able to do such damage in such a short time.
He almost physically stumbled under the weight of the guilt. He had believed she was safe for the time being, since the prophecy stated the Brotherhood had to own her soul to rule the universe. What had they done to her?
She didn't move as he carried her to a clearing beside the shuttle and stared at the wreckage. His com was out. No calling Shaun or Leo. The question became who would find them first: the Brotherhood or his friends.
Finally, Carina stirred in his arms, and he shifted her so she would be more comfortable. Her eyes opened, and he experienced such relief he thought he'd cry from it. It's just the hormones. The mark makes it seem like something more than it is.
"Who the hell are you?" Her voice was hoarse.
He stared at her, and his stomach plummeted. Mind wiped. Why hadn't they thought of that one? Having all her memories, her personality, everything, removed was the one way to own her soul, wasn't it? It wasn't a common tool, but the Brotherhood had been known to use it to control the disobedient and to punish detractors. He closed his eyes and groaned. "Shit."
"Normally, I'd make some crack about someone named 'Shit,' but I'd rather know what the fuck you think you're doing touching me." Now her tone was sharp and dangerous.
Gently, he slid her out of his lap and against the tree. "Seeing is believing." He rose and dropped his pants.
"Is this foreplay, because---" Her gaze focused on the herwalk branded on his inner thigh, one wing unfurled around his cock. Her hand automatically covered the matching mark on her right arm. "Who are you?" she whispered.
He pulled up his pants and knelt down, not touching her. "My name is Xandros. I am your marked mate."
Her forehead wrinkled, and she blinked. "What does that mean?" Her gaze narrowed. "It's a trick."
He shook his head. "The Blueshift Brotherhood mind wiped you."
"Priests," she said, her nostrils flared and her mouth compressed in disgust. Her fingers shook when she lifted them to rub her temples. "And that's why I can't remember things."
"That's why." He scanned the forest. The nearest settlement---if you could call it that---was only a mile away, but the information he had on the population was sketchy at best.
"There's a blanket in the lifepod," Carina said interrupting his thoughts.
He immediately fetched the blanket from the pod and wrapped her in it. Just that slight touch made his mark burn and need shoot through him. One thought dominated his brain.
He'd almost lost her.
It shouldn't have mattered. He'd marked her to track her, to keep tabs on her whereabouts. He'd believed that a mate mark was...just a mark. But the almost overwhelming need to possess her had driven him further than he'd ever thought he'd go and overridden common sense and his usually strong sense of self-preservation.
All the myths Xandros had been told about the mate mark were true. The rage existed; he'd felt it. Proximity increased the need. He could sense her; somehow he was connected to this enigmatic woman. It meant the other myths were true too. Like the one that stated marks were made when a male desired to dominate a woman in the deepest way. Just fucking wouldn't create the bond.
And that meant he'd had strong feelings for her even when he hadn't known her.
It scared the living shit out of him.
Carina stared at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
He pressed his lips together. She didn't have a clue. "Do you remember what mate marks mean?"
"No." She licked her lips and blinked. "What do they mean?"
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll wait until you remember."
Xandros still knelt beside her, his hands on the folds of the blanket he'd wrapped around her. When he started to pull away, her hand shot out and gripped his. "What if I never remember? Please."
Her plea almost wrecked him. He stood and yanked her to her feet. "Let's go."
He dropped her hands and strode through the trees in the general direction the shuttle's nav had shown the settlement to be. Move. They had to keep on the move.
"Where are we going?" She was breathless, and he couldn't wait for her to catch up. He wasn't sure what he'd do if they stopped.
"There's a settlement this way. We'll try and find a com to call my friends." He pulled her behind him ruthlessly.
"Just a minute," she said in a harsh tone and tried to yank her hand away. "I don't know who the hell you are. I don't know what this mark means. And I don't like being dragged around."
He stopped, turned to face her, and she bumped into his chest. His whole body went on sexual alert, his mark hot and burning. The trembling that rippled through her when his hands gripped her shoulders only made it worse. He gritted his teeth. "You want to know who I am?" He dug his fingers into her flesh. "I am your only hope of survival."
Her gaze narrowed. "Bullshit."
"You're saying I should have let your pod burn up in the atmosphere?" Infuriated, he resisted the urge to shake her.
"No, of course not---"
"Good. Then let's try and get off this hellhole so we can get your memories back." He turned his back and gripped her hand. The best thing for both of them was to get off this backward planet and try to undo the mind wipe.
He'd seen mind-wiped victims before. Carina certainly didn't act like them. Those poor souls barely remembered the basics. But she remembered her training, the underlying foundation of her personality. Those things didn't survive a mind wipe. Either they hadn't finished it or...what?
The good thing was that she'd have a better chance of regaining her memory than most. Usually the prognosis was pretty grim. It meant a visit to Teran Five. Xandros didn't like that at all.
Rudimentary hovels dotted the landscape and animals grazed in the center. People were hard at work milking, milling, or cooking at every residence. There were no stalls on the street or businesses. These were clearly people who relied one another for survival, not commerce.
He and Carina were spotted immediately, and every member of the village stopped what they were doing to stare. Almost every gaze focused on Carina's mark on her arm. Xandros didn't like the way they looked at her.
He walked in slowly, not forcefully but cautiously. Finally a woman stepped out from one of the huts and came closer to him. She was tall and thin with reddish blonde hair and deep green eyes. The shape and color of her eyes gave her away immediately. Ardasian. Mind readers.
Ardasians had been around the galaxy a lot longer than most. Xandros steered clear of them when he could. As a mercenary, he'd had to put up with Ardasian intermediaries. A few times, he'd been able to deceive them. But not often and not for long.
The woman smiled. "Long enough, Xandros Jasper. Long enough that your name has reached my ears. Even here." She reached out a hand to Carina first. "Atlana Dresell."
Carina glanced at the woman's hand and then her gaze narrowed on her face. After a moment, she took Atlana's hand and touched it briefly. She shot a glance at him, and he realized she didn't know her name.
He stepped in smoothly and extended a hand to the other woman. "This is Carina."
Atlana stared at Carina. "Interesting."
Xandros dropped his hand. Damn it. All he wanted was a com. This was getting complicated and the Brotherhood was probably going to find them soon.
The rest of the village had gathered around Carina and himself in a circle, and one of them spoke to Atlana. She glanced at the speaker and then nodded. Then she took a deep breath. "I study the Nariadians, the natives of this planet, and their origins. Their language is complex and quite fascinating." Her green eyes glittered. "The meaning of their legends aren't clear, but there's one that concerns you specifically."
Xandros's blood ran cold. Nothing good ever came from a legend or a prophecy. "Oh?" He slid his arm around Carina, ready to protect her if needed.
"They say," Atlana began, her gaze locked with his, "that a woman will come to this planet bonded, marked with a bird. She and her marked mate will save the universe from a hidden evil."
Xandros said nothing. He didn't want anything to do with prophecies or legends. It was bad enough to have Leo Eyler quoting some ancient alien prophecy that involved his new mate, but now some out-of-the-way planet had a legend.
It was enough to make anyone paranoid.
"Then perhaps you would help us notify our friends." He glanced at the faces in the circle and then met Atlana's disconcerting stare.
"They require proof," Atlana said bluntly.
"Proof," he repeated. Proof of what? That they were going to save the fucking universe? Right. Sure. He'd get right on that.
"Proof of your bond." Atlana's gaze slid over the mark on Carina's arm. "Marks can be faked."
Shit. Xandros knew where this was headed. He glared at Atlana. "No."
The woman raised her eyebrows. "They will not help you unless you show them."
Xandros gritted his teeth. "You know why I won't."
"Your actions don't fit your reputation," Atlana said drily. "The great Xandros Jasper I've heard stories of would have done much and had no regrets."
"Would someone like to fill me in?" Carina asked in a tight voice.
Without breaking eye contact with the Ardasian, he answered her. "The bond is created by sex." He waited a moment for that to sink in and then said, "They want proof of our bond."
"I see."
Xandros glanced at her, and her pasty white complexion concerned him. He turned his attention to the people standing in a circle around them. "I'm not sure why they need this. They don't know you can't remember."
One of the villagers spoke to Atlana, and she nodded. "They've agreed to a compromise."
"I'm listening." He tried to remain calm.
"Any foreplay would create the fire, would it not?"
Considering just touching Carina caused his mark to burn and throb, foreplay would most definitely work. "Yes."
"A kiss, then." Atlana glanced at Carina. "To show the bond."
"Do they require that I drop my pants?" he asked bitterly.
Atlana leveled a steady gaze in his direction. "Of course."
He sighed. He wasn't an exhibitionist, and public exposure didn't get him hot and bothered. But this was their chance to prove they were bonded. He yanked his pants open and dropped them.
"I am not doing this," Carina whispered fiercely. "I don't remember you. I don't know you."
He ignored the stab of pain in his gut her words caused and faced his infuriated marked mate. "You will." He stepped closer to her, not touching, not grabbing. "You will obey me. Do you know why?"
She gazed at him, her eyes dilated, her breath short. "No."
"Because it makes your stomach tighten when I give you an order. Because your pulse pounds when I put my hands on you. Because you long for your Master to claim what your body already knows you've surrendered."
He leaned in, his mouth close to hers. "Because the mark on your arm is on fire right now, and I haven't even touched you."
She closed her eyes and whimpered. "No," she whispered, but every cell of her body reached out to him, submitted to him.
Xandros forgot the Nariadians. He forgot Atlana. He forgot everything except the woman in front of him. He wanted her on her knees, his cock in her mouth. He wanted his collar around her neck, a sign of his possession.
But most of all, he wanted to kiss her.
If the man didn't close the space between them, Carina was going to take matters into her own hands. But something held her back. He was right. When he gave her orders, when he spoke in that low, demanding tone, her whole being responded. She wanted to drop to her knees, to bow her head. It was instinctive, impulsive.
And when he said the word "Master," she had such an intense longing that she almost moaned from the force of it. Waiting, needing, dying for his touch. This man she didn't know. This man with a matching mark who had saved her life.
"Please," she begged him. "Touch me."
A low growl rumbled in his throat, and he jerked her in his arms. The mark flared hotter, sending needles of pain along her nerves. But pleasure and pain were blurred for Carina, and she wanted it all.
He plundered her mouth like a marauder, taking and taking until she had no breath, no will, nothing but pleasure. He gripped her shoulders, and when she raised her hands to touch him, he shifted until he restrained her arms behind her back. The blanket dropped away, and she gasped as her naked skin rubbed against the rough fabric of his shirt.
At his mercy, she wondered if she'd done this before, surrendered body and soul to this stranger. Yet the flavor of him, the feel of him, was right.
Suddenly, he broke the kiss and stepped back, removing all contact with her. She felt bereft and cold. She kept her gaze downcast, instinctively knowing this was what she was supposed to do.
"Look at me," he said in a low tone.
She glanced up and cringed at the grim expression on his face. His lips tightened, and he held up her arm. Her mark glowed fiery red. His was blazing as well. His cock was iron hard, and she resisted the urge to capture the length in her hand. What the hell was wrong with her? She didn't know him, and yet she wanted him.
He held her gaze and said in a whisper, "It's the hormones. I will not take advantage of this."
She tried to understand what he meant. "You were right. About what I felt."
He groaned and closed his eyes. Gently, he picked the blanket up and draped it over her shoulders, covering her. "It's all instinct. Believe me, machinka. It's just lust." He glared at the crowd. "Proof enough?"
Atlana bowed her head. "More than enough."
Xandros pulled up his pants. "Perhaps we could find somewhere less public to talk."
The woman nodded and waved her hand to a small cottage. "Certainly."
It was beginning to sink in. Xandros had dominated her, knowing she was a submissive. The words were there and the meaning of them, but Carina didn't know how she knew them. He'd proven their bond and didn't need to kiss her. But she'd begged him, and he'd "obliged." Bitterly, she accepted that she'd created the very scenario she'd been afraid of in the first place.
Yet she couldn't help feeling he'd manipulated her. The frustration of not remembering and the humiliation of her capitulation to a man who was essentially a stranger to her combined to put sneer in her tone. "I hope you enjoyed yourself," she said.
Something skirted at the edge of her consciousness. She'd said those words before. To him.
Everything began to spin, and she tried to hold on to the moment. When had she said those words? How had she known this man? But the memories flitted away, leaving her frustrated and angry. And dizzy.
"Let it go, Carina. Don't try and remember." His voice came from far away.
She realized he'd taken her in his arms and was carrying her. Her instinct screamed to fight him, get away from him, but she was too weak. Another part of her wanted to snuggle closer to him, wind her arms around him like a vine so there was no space between them.
This was insane.
She took a deep breath and kept her eyes closed. When she opened them, Xandros had carried her into a small hut. He dropped her to her feet near a cushioned chair and waited until she was seated. Then he stepped away abruptly, backpedaling from any contact with her as if she were contaminated.
She wished he hadn't removed his touch. The feeling of safety left with him. Even though part of her resented his claim on her, she didn't want him to go too far away. He didn't even look at her, his focus on the green-eyed woman. A jumble of memories slammed into her. Like she knew he was furious, even though his body seemed relaxed. It had something to do with the tilt of his head, the set of his mouth. How did she know that?
She couldn't escape the reality. She knew this man, had known him. The marks showed they'd had some kind of sexual encounter. It was frustrating to run into a wall about herself, her childhood, her life. Her head pounded, and she rubbed her temples.
The green-eyed woman handed her a flight suit with a strange insignia. Carina struggled into the thing, still dizzy.
Xandros's voice was calm. "I assume you have a com."
Atlana nodded. "I do." She revealed a hidden compartment in the floor of the hut.
Xandros knelt and reached for the dials. But before he touched them, he froze. "You're an Ardasian. You can read thoughts." He glanced up at Atlana. "Can you help her?"
Atlana's green eyes softened. "No. I can't. It takes specialized equipment to reverse a mind wipe. Would you give up your chance for escape to regain her memories?"
His gaze slid back to the dials. "To give her back to herself? Yes."
Carina stared at him. From the things he'd said earlier, she knew the priests would kill him, but she'd probably live if they were captured. But he was willing to risk it. To give her back her memories, her life.
Atlana shot Carina an inquiring look. "Perhaps she doesn't want to remember."
Xandros's head snapped up. "She would want to remember." His blue eyes swerved to narrow in on her. "It probably frustrates her not to remember, not to know."
Slowly, she nodded. "You're sure about that?"
His attention was back on the com. "I know."
Carina waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. He flicked buttons, and a voice came over the com.
"Where the hell are you?" A male voice, harsh and low, filled the hut.
Xandros smiled. "Did you miss me, Fenway?"
"Yes. But right now, I'm pissed at you." There was something intimate, almost sexual in the way the two men spoke to each other. Carina's gaze narrowed on Xandros's face. He claimed to be her mate, yet she sensed something between him and this mystery man Fenway.
"You don't have time to be pissed at me. We're on Nariad. The Brotherhood will find us any minute."
"Right. You know what I need you to do, Xandros," the voice said in an authoritative tone that made Carina shiver.
Xandros's lips tightened. "Shaun---"
"Do it, you stubborn bastard!" The man sounded worried, not angry. Carina raised her eyebrows.
Her mate sighed. "All right. If you get here fast enough, I won't have to."
"Don't risk it."
The com clicked off, and Xandros straightened. Carina studied him. "What does he want you to do?"
He sighed and took out a small capsule from a small pocket in his pants. He popped it in his mouth. "It's a tracking device." His lips twisted. "I don't like tracking devices."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is it permanent?"
He shook his head. "It only works for forty-eight hours, but it may give Shaun time to find me if the Brotherhood finds us."
"Do you think they will?"
A huge explosion rocked the hut, and all three of them were thrown to the floor. Xandros rolled over to where she'd fallen from the chair. He put his hand over her mouth. "I think they have."
Xandros glanced back at Atlana who'd picked herself up off the floor. "They'll kill you. You sense it, don't you?" The Brotherhood's hatred of the Ardasians was well-known.
Atlana's nostrils flared. "Yes."
"I'll cover for you. Get out of here."
For a moment, those eerie green eyes held his. Then she crept toward the back of the house. Xandros rose, using his bulk to fill the front door. Carina tried to yank him back into the house.
What he saw shocked him. The Brotherhood had sent four priests, not Primarian soldiers. That was a mistake. The villagers surrounded the four men who seemed to have no idea they were outnumbered. Perhaps they thought the small community wouldn't help the escaping couple.
They obviously didn't know much about this planet. They certainly weren't aware of the legend on Nariad that had forced Xandros to prove his mated status.
"Surrender the messenger, Xandros Jasper."
He shoved Carina back into the dark recesses of the hut. "She's my bounty. The price on Rina's head exceeds anything the Brotherhood has offered me."
A laser pistol appeared in the priest's hand from inside the voluminous folds of his robe. "I offer you a chance to live."
Xandros snorted. "Once you have your assassin back, I'll be dead anyway." He shook his head. "No, my friend. Go back to the good father and tell him I plan to get my money's worth from this bounty."
One of the priests edged around the back of the hut, and Xandros sent a quick warning glance to Carina. As if he'd spoken words, she nodded and kept her gaze on the back door. For a moment, he reveled in that connection, that ability to communicate, and then he focused on the weapon-wielding priest. "Come back when you have a better offer." Hopefully, they'd be long gone.
Suddenly, things shifted. The priest that had sneaked in the back grabbed Carina. His mate could defend herself, but Xandros couldn't control the rage. A red haze dropped over his eyes, and he attacked.
In a blur, he dispatched the threat and flung the unconscious form at the leader of the invaders. The priests only had time to see their danger, but not enough time to react, before Xandros was among them. The two who flanked the leader didn't have a chance to draw a weapon before Xandros took one down from a downward chop to his throat and the other was doubled over from a blow to his gonads. The leader picked himself up off the ground where he'd fallen when his brethren had slammed into him. He aimed the laser pistol and had Xandros in his sites.
One of the villagers kicked his arm, and the leader howled. Then Xandros picked the man up, seeing the priest through a red film. "Go back to your boss and tell him to go fuck himself."
The priest choked and sputtered. "You're her marked mate."
"Very good, asshole." Xandros shook the priest like a rag doll, the rage still bubbling in his veins. "I'll kill anyone who touches her. Understand?"
Xandros threw the man across the street, and the villagers moved out of the way, letting the man roll several feet. He lay there, stunned, for a few minutes. Then he slowly rose to his feet and glared at the group of villagers. "The Brotherhood will decimate you," he spat.
"Make sure you come back with your Primarian monkeys, priest," Xandros taunted. "You'll all die."
The man's dead eyes focused on Carina standing behind Xandros. "'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,'" he said in a low, vicious tone.
Xandros started after the man, but he scrambled backward and sprinted out of the village.
It was time to get these people to safety. "Atlana?" he called.
She appeared as if she'd been standing there the entire time. Xandros nodded to the two dead priests and the unconscious one. "I've brought trouble to these people. The Brotherhood will bring Primarian soldiers. You know what that means."
Atlana's green eyes focused on the only priest still living. "I have a contingency plan. I'll take care of this."
"You have a hiding place, then?" Xandros scanned the forest and wondered where the hell they could hide.
The Ardasian nodded. "I've prepared for the day the Brotherhood discovered the Nariadians." She spoke to the village in their tongue. Immediately they rushed, packing and gathering their things to leave. No panic, no questions. It was amazing.
"I'm sorry, Atlana." He knew the Primarians would burn everything, destroying whatever history these people had.
"You'd be surprised how resilient the Nariadians are, Xandros Jasper." Her gaze held his. "You are not what I thought you'd be."
"Why is that?" he said as he collected weapons from the dead bodies.
"What we heard of you wasn't complimentary."
"I'm sure it wasn't." He glanced at Carina who stared at him. "There was a time I would have collected the bounty on Rina in a heartbeat."
"Before she was your marked mate." Atlana's glance slid over Carina's mark. "But you believe it was fated."
He froze and blinked. "What?"
"I see it in your mind," the woman said calmly. "She has always been your ideal. That's why you searched for her four years ago."
He glared at the Ardasian. "That's ridiculous."
Carina gripped his arm. "You looked for me?"
"You were Shanie's little sister," he said. "You disappeared after Shanie was murdered." He shook Carina's hand off his arm, unwilling to make more of the moment than it was. "I failed, didn't I?" he said bitterly. "I searched for you, but I didn't find you. Instead, I found I liked the money better than the frustrating search for a sixteen-year-old brat who didn't want to be found." What the hell was wrong with him? He noted she winced and recoiled. Why was he lashing out at her? She didn't even remember any of it anyway. They were his choices, his path, his fuckup. It wasn't her fault.
"Perhaps you should have turned me over to the priests." Her dead tone made his blood run cold.
He faced her and took a deep breath. "No. I'm sorry, machinka." He ran an agitated hand through his hair. "I made my choices, and they weren't good ones."
"And then there was your father." Atlana put in.
Xandros glared at her. "She doesn't remember any of it. Why bring it up?"
"Tell me," Carina demanded.
He closed his eyes. Bleakly, he realized there was a sick part of him that didn't want her to remember, to be reminded of all the reasons he was such a bad choice for her. "My father betrayed Nyral military secrets to the Primarians. Thousands died because of his greed, his desire for power." And I'm no different.
"You are different," Atlana insisted.
"No. For gain, I stole, I located people, and then didn't care what happened after that. I killed men because they threatened my security." He shook his head. "I know what I am, Ardasian. I'm the trash of the universe."
"Don't say that," Carina said sharply. Her face was white, and she was trembling like she had when she'd remembered something.
Xandros caught her just as she started to crumble. "Carina," he said softly.
She gazed at him for a moment. "You spanked me," she said incredulously and then passed out.
When Carina finally came to, her head hurt, and her vision was fuzzy. Something was definitely wrong with her. Even though she had no clear memories, she knew it was strange for her to faint. She glanced up and found Xandros's grim face above her. And they were moving. He had carried her unconscious body while they escaped the doomed village.
"I can walk." She shifted in his arms, but he tightened his hold.
"Not yet." He glanced down at her and then focused ahead. "Listen to me, Carina. You were mind wiped. They essentially lasered out your memories. Even with the most modern equipment, it's never been fully reversed. Never." His lips tightened. "But you're remembering things they wiped away. You haven't had any treatments, nothing, and you're remembering." He shook his head. "I don't know what that means, but it isn't normal. So I want you to rest. You passed out. I know you, and you're not a fainter. But you did, and that can't be good."
"You're worried about me."
"Hell yes, I am," he burst out. A muscle in his jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. "You don't deserve to be stuck with me through this, but that's the way it is."
"Xandros." How could he not know? Even though she'd forgotten everything else---her home planet, her family, her life---part of her still remembered him.
"I should have left you alone, never marked you. All I've done is fucked it up worse." He sighed. "The best thing I can do is make sure you don't get killed."
She stiffened. He regretted marking her. Why not? Her slightly hazy memory implied he'd viewed her as a child, a brat. And his previous statements had only reinforced it. She ducked her head and wouldn't look at him. "Put me down."
"Shut up, Carina. The Brotherhood has called in the Primarians, and they're not going to give up until I'm dead and you're their puppet. I can't let that happen."
"I'm sorry I'm such an inconvenience. I'm sure your friend Shaun would have done much better with all this shit."
"My friend Shaun is why all this shit happened in the first place," he snapped. "And I'm going to fuck him to within an inch of his life as payment for it."
"And what do I get out of this deal?" she said in a harsh voice. "Who do I get to punish for being used like this?" She ignored the way he winced as if she'd kicked him.
"When this is all over, Carina Tao, if we're still alive, I promise you can have your pound of flesh in whatever form you want."
"Done. I'll hold you to that."
For a moment, a glimmer of smile lifted his lips. "I can't imagine what a natural submissive would want to do to exact revenge."
"I have an excellent imagination," she answered.
"I have no doubt of that," he said drily.
They both remained silent for a long time as Xandros hauled her down a forest trail. Atlana and the other villagers were ahead of them. They reached the base of a huge mountain just as darkness was setting in.
Black clouds gathered, and Atlana urged them to hurry. Xandros finally dropped her to her feet. "You'll have to climb this trail on your own, machinka. I have a little job to do."
He disappeared back from the way they came, and Carina stared after him. Atlana touched her arm. "He's going to cover our trail, mislead the Primarians. Hurry."
"No. I can help him." She started to follow, but Atlana gripped her arm and held her still.
"He's good at this, Carina."
Carina glared at the Ardasian. "How do you know?"
Her smile was sad. "I know many things about Xandros Jasper. You need to come with me."
Reluctantly, Carina followed the villagers through twisted trails and a deep canyon that marked the space between two peaks in the huge mountain range. Then they dipped down, canopied by huge evergreens, and trudged in the darkness illuminated only by three lanterns. The villagers used a long rope to keep them all together in the dark.
Even with the rope, Carina found the going difficult. And she wondered how Xandros would be able to find them. But the conversation earlier had implied he was some kind of a tracker, so maybe he'd be all right.
Atlana led them to deep recesses in the mountains that held several caves and tunnels. Quickly, she dispersed them into different caves. "Be careful exploring the caverns. They were created to hide us, but we can be lost just as easily as our enemies."
They headed for a dwelling next to a rushing river that roared down from the mountains above. Its spray wet the entrance. Just as Atlana and Carina entered the last cave, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled as the sky opened up. Rain poured down in slanted sheets. Carina helped start a fire within the cave with the wood piled against one of the back stone walls.
All around on the stone surfaces drawings decorated the black rock. Vivid depictions of people, animals, strange happenings involving light and power filled the spaces on either side. Familiar markings made her stomach ache. "What do these say?" she asked.
Atlana's green gaze met hers in the firelight. "Are you sure you want to know?"
Did she? A strange sensation swept over her as she stared at one of the pictures. She'd seen it before. She was sure she had. "Yes, I want to know."
"Thousands of years ago, when this planet was populated only by animals and plants, a man crash-landed here. With him was what the Nariadians call the First People." Atlana poked the fire. "He drew these pictures." Carina gazed at the drawings as Atlana explained. "He was a seer, a man who had seen the future, and he wrote it here." The crackle of the fire was the only sound for a moment. "I came here to study these pictures. They are part of the Star Prophecy, a series of writings from Dormrela, a distant planet several million light years from here." She shook her head. "Somehow, the prophecy ends up here."
"I don't understand." The Star Prophecy? The name sounded familiar.
"The Blueshift Brotherhood studied the Star Prophecy. But the Dormrelian version they have is incomplete. It is said that the writer of the prophecies left Dormrela to seek answers, to find the future. He ended up here. The Nariadians have been the keeper of these prophecies ever since." She stared at the walls. "The Ardasians discovered their existence by accident when one of our seers saw your coming."
"Me?" Carina squeaked. "Why me?"
Those green eyes were like lasers boring into Carina's soul. Atlana remained quiet for a moment. And then, she said, "Because you are the messenger. You and your mate destroy the hold the Brotherhood has over many people. Though you will not deliver the death blow to the Blueshift Brotherhood, you will be responsible for the one who does."
"Cryptic bullshit," Carina snapped.
"No. Look." Atlana pointed to a particular drawing. "See the mark on this figure?"
"It's a winged figure. It could be anything." But Carina knew what it depicted. A herwalk, identical to the mark on her arm.
"Perhaps. But I don't believe in coincidence. You don't remember, but the circumstances around your meetings with Xandros are suspect. Fate has stepped in."
"What do you mean?" Her head started to hurt, sharp pain ripping through her temples.
"You know the words. 'The Mate shall create a New Covenant. The Messenger shall become the bringer of death, and lead The Enforcer, to those who defile the name of God.'"
Something ugly, something dangerous lurked beneath the surface of Carina's mind, and it dragged at her, pulling her down into darkness. She fought it, rejected it. But she'd heard the words before.
Her head felt like it was going to explode into a million pieces.
"I don't remember. I don't know if I want to remember," Carina said fiercely. "I don't want to be manipulated by any prophecy. It's all bullshit."
"You may be right," Atlana said calmly. "But you are the fulcrum, the heralding of a new age. Through you, and the bond you create, a message will be given. With that message, another will destroy the evil behind the Brotherhood. The destroyer will create the bond that will ensnare the one who attempts to wrest power from the very center of the universe." Atlana pointed to another picture. It too seemed familiar, just on the edge of Carina's memory.
Something violent stirred beneath Carina's skin, something dangerous and hot. She resisted the urge to draw a knife and press it against this woman's throat. They were just words, but they carried weight, and Carina wanted to reject them. "Listen to me, Ardasian. The bond I have is a joke. Xandros marked me for no other reason except to track my ass." How did she know that? Memories were just within reach.
The cave whirled and spun. Atlana was beside her to catch her as all strength left Carina's muscles. Her head pounded.
Atlana stroked her head. "Take deep breaths. The Brotherhood tried to obliterate your memories, but you are not a simple Nyral submissive. You are much more."
It hurt to breathe.
Tears sprang to Carina's eyes. So much death. So much anger. And for what? To be alone again. Her breath came in gasps, jagged bits of memories floating in and out of her consciousness. When she tried to grasp them, they were like shards of glass cutting into her mind. Pain was ripping through her.
"What the fuck are you doing to her?"
Xandros's infuriated voice filled the cave, and lightning flashed behind him. Quite dramatic, Carina thought drily.
"She's had a memory." Atlana remained calm, stroking Carina's hair rhythmically.
"She shouldn't be remembering anything," Xandros snapped.
Atlana stared at him. "No, she shouldn't. But she is. We have to help her break the hold the mind wipe has over her."
"Let her alone, Ardasian. It hurts her to remember."
"You know what's at stake." The woman met Xandros's glare steadily.
"She's mine, and I'll decide what's best for us."
Carina shot to her feet, ignoring the pain, ignoring the dizziness. "Stop it, both of you," she shouted. "I'm not a bone to be fought over. I'm not some helpless female who needs a protector."
"You're not yourself," Xandros snapped.
"So what?" she responded. "I'll make my own decisions."
Xandros glared at her, rain water dripping from his face and hair. "Go ahead then. Decide. What the hell are we going to do? Succumb to some fucking prophecy and save the universe or try and live?"
"It's that simple?" she asked and glared back. "Either we let the universe go fuck itself or we die?" She slashed her hand down, rejected both options. "That's bullshit. You're as bad as she is." She jerked her head at Atlana. "I've seen what happens when the prophecy is 'followed.' I watched them slice my sister into a million pieces," she choked out the words, the memory fresh as if it just happened and made her dizzy. "So you can take your prophecy and shove it. But I'm not going to just run away and live some mythical bullshit life either."
"You're remembering." He narrowed his eyes. "You need to stop it. It's not good for you."
"You don't know what's best for me." Her head was spinning, but she tipped her chin. " I decide that."
"Right then. So stand and fight?" he asked furiously.
"Damn straight."
"Fine. Then figure out how we're going to defend this cave, because those soldiers are probably going to find us."
"What's the matter? Forgot how to cover our trail?" Fear rippled through her. The only way she could keep the terror at bay was to lash out at Xandros.
"No. But it doesn't matter how good I am," he said. "They've got an Ardasian with them."
"No," whispered Atlana. "It can't be."
"Trust me," Xandros said bitterly. "It can and it is. I managed to cover our tracks and create a false trail. But I caught sight of the Primarian soldiers, and the Ardasian is unmistakable."
Atlana's gaze narrowed. "Because he has green eyes?"
Xandros clenched his fists. "Because he used his hands on the ground to sense our direction. What other race can do that?" He focused on Carina. "The seer is bringing them straight here. They'll be here by tomorrow night. They've got over a thousand Primarian soldiers with them."
Atlana rose to her feet and picked up her small pack. "I must go."
"What?" Carina blurted out.
The woman stepped closer to her and gently squeezed her arm. "This is mine to deal with, Carina Tao. The Ardasians live to preserve life, not seek to destroy it. If one of my kind is working for the Primarians and the Blueshift Brotherhood, I must eliminate him." Her smile was weak. "Or die trying." She headed for the entrance of the cave and stopped briefly beside Xandros. She stared at the ground. "If I don't return, pirate, would you help the Nariadians? They depend on me."
"I will." Xandros gripped Atlana's arm when she started to move forward. He held her startled gaze. "Don't get caught, Ardasian. I'll have to come after you."
A quick grin was there, then gone, and she slipped out of the cave. There was a moment of silence, the wind and rain howling outside, the fire crackling inside.
Xandros stared at Carina, and she couldn't hold his gaze, the anger blown out of her. "Xandros?" She didn't even know what she was asking, what she needed. She was afraid. Not of dying, which was a fact of life, but of failing. He was her anchor regardless of her words.
"What is it, machinka?" he asked softly.
She started to shake uncontrollably, and he crossed the space between them in two quick strides. He wrapped her in his arms. Funny. He'd been in the rain and was soaked to the skin, but all the heat came from him.
He laid her down beside the fire and kept her close to him until the worst of the shaking was over. She buried her face in his chest, her fists clutching his shirt. He stroked her back and a gentle crooning sound came from him, soothing and low. With his body draped over her, she felt safe. Part of her knew that wasn't normal for her.
Unexpectedly, her mark flared to life, burning, throbbing. "I need you, Xandros. I don't want to, but I do."
He groaned. "I don't want to hurt you."
"It burns," she whispered. The heat from his body increased, and she slid her hand to his inner thigh where his matching mark lay beneath his pants. She squeezed the flesh and got a fierce satisfaction from the swift intake of his breath.
"Carina," he said like a caress.
She tipped her head up and stared at him in the firelight. His harsh features and the long scar along his neck stood out even in shadows. She wanted him, had always wanted him. Memory or no memory, she desired his touch.
Her right hand still clamped on his hip, she arched to urge him closer. Slowly, she slid her hand along his rib cage, his collarbone to his neck. He dipped his head down and touched her lips with his. It was a precious moment filled with tenderness and care though fire lay just beneath the surface.
"My little machinka, you presume much." He teased her mouth with his tongue and resisted the pressure of her fingers on his neck. "I think you need to be reminded who is in charge."
She stared into his face. "I presume too much?" she asked, a need to tease him rising to the surface. "How do I know I truly belong to you?"
All the teasing stopped. She noted intensity in his gaze. "You are mine, Carina Tao. Now and forever, memory or no memory. I will remind you that you are my marked mate, my machinka. If I have to beat you to remind you."
A tightness in her chest loosened, and she sighed. "Yes. Remind me."
He waited. She blinked, and then she begged him. "Please, Xandros. Please remind me."
The growl he let loose vibrated through her, and she moaned, surrendering everything. Take me, she thought. Take it all.
He jerked both her hands behind her back and held them there with one of his hands. His other hand unbuttoned the flight suit and slid it down her shoulders and legs. She panted, needing his touch to steady her, to complete her.
He let go of her hands long enough to toss her flight suit away. He didn't speak again until he'd removed his. He tipped her head to meet her gaze. "Keep your hands behind your back, Carina," he ordered, and she shuddered. When she complied, he cupped her ass, his fingers digging into her flesh.
His mouth closed over her nipple, and she jumped, fire coursing through her veins. He teased her with his tongue, and she whimpered, wanting to press his head closer to her. His teeth scraped her nipple, and then he worked on the other one until she was damp with need.
Instinctively, she tried to wrap her legs around him, but his hand rose and slapped her butt. The connection of his hand to her flesh echoed in the cave. "No. You don't move. You don't talk." He loomed over her, his face intense. "I want you to remain still for me. Obey me. Show me how much you want to give to me."
She bit her lip and obeyed. Her belly relaxed, and she experienced a sense of euphoria she didn't understand. Helpless, immobile, and silent, she bubbled with a rare joy she was sure she'd never experienced before.
"That's it," he crooned. His mouth slid over her body, branding her with his hot breath. He sucked on the side of her neck, marking her in a different way. He traveled downward, dipping his tongue into her belly button. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and she shook with desire. She wanted to scream, to cry out her need, but she let her body do it instead.
"You have no idea how beautiful you are," he murmured as he touched his lips to her skin. "Every tremble, every tense muscle shows me how much you want me, how much you want to give me." He glanced up from the crease of her thigh. "Your obedience is beautiful. I want to see my cock fill your mouth, dildos in your ass and your pussy." His eyes glittered in the firelight. "I want you in so many ways that there may never be enough time."
Her teeth clamped down on her lips to stop the whimper of agreement from escaping. She swallowed and reveled in the way his gaze focused on her throat. Then he shifted his stare to her pussy. Helplessly, she felt wetness gather there as his face showed he liked what he saw.
It took every ounce of her strength of will to remain still, not to shift restlessly, to thrust her hips toward his mouth. He controlled this moment. That alone made more fluid flow from her pussy.
When his hot mouth descended on her clit, she had to tighten every muscle to stop the scream that rose in her throat. Her orgasm ripped through her, burning everything in its path. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and she fought to stay still, tears streaming down her face. Her climax went on and on, blanking all her thoughts, his tongue the only thing she could focus on.
He lifted his head and watched her for a moment. When he grinned, she gasped, and he dived down again. This time, he sucked her clit into his mouth and used the scrape of his teeth to drive her higher.
Again she fought hard to remain still and quiet to the point that it was painful. Pleasure and pain blurred, and blood oozed from the place where she bit her lip. Her release was hard, sharp, and long. Her hands flung out, and she gripped the cave floor, her nails scratching against the rock.
Xandros rose and hovered over her. "Tsk tsk. I'll have to punish you for moving."
He stroked her cheek, and she closed her eyes. Stars, she needed him so badly. She opened her eyes and gazed into his face. All she wanted was his cock inside her, filling her, making her his. But she couldn't beg him with anything except her eyes.
Her arm burned, the mark bright red and glowing. His radiated red light too, but she couldn't read his expression.
"Later. I'll punish you later," he said hoarsely. "Right now, I want the bite of your nails in my back and those legs wrapped around me, pulling me deeper inside you."
"Yes, yes, yes," she screamed as he drove inside her. She obeyed, her fingernails raking his back, and her legs entwined around him.
He went crazy and pummeled her over and over. He angled his penetration, and she stopped thinking at all. The scream ripped from her vocal cords reverberated off the cave walls, and he answered it with his own shout of release.
The hot stream of his cum inside her set off explosions she didn't think she'd survive. The mark on her arm seemed to be on fire.
Her brain spun, and suddenly, the cave disappeared.
"Don't waste yourself on trash like me."
"Because now I can find you when I want you."
"You've found out too much, assassin. The identity of our leader must be removed."
Tears coursed down her cheeks, and she sobbed. "No. Stars, no." Memories slammed into her. Her parents' death. Her sister's murder. Her actions for the Brotherhood. Xandros.
She lifted her hands and shoved him off her. "You bastard. You fucking asshole."
He rolled away from her and gazed at her, a jaded, resigned expression she didn't want to see. She wanted the desire back. She wanted to forget. He'd been wrong. She didn't want to remember.
"Why the hell did you come after me?" Her voice was hoarse from the screams of her pleasure and only added to her bitter anger.
His body language was wary, protective. "You're my marked mate."
She snorted. "I'm a Brotherhood assassin and worth a lot of fucking bounty money."
"You've got your memories back." He rose and picked up his clothes. "How?"
"How the hell should I know? They're back. I remember that you marked me to track me. I remember everything about that," she spat.
It hurt. She couldn't deny it. All her life she'd wanted him. Even though his father had been broken by the Mistresses. Even though she'd been a brat and he'd been a mercenary. She'd never existed for him.
But he'd said he looked for her. And failed to find her. Her memories showed her why. She'd done a damn good job of eliminating her Carina Tao identity. She tightened her lips and asked the question she did and did not want the answer to. "Why didn't you come? When Shanie died? Why didn't you come for me?" Only Leo had been there. Leo and a hundred acquaintances she didn't give a shit about. But Leo's friend and hers, he'd been absent.
He didn't meet her gaze. "Funny. Leo didn't ask."
"Answer me, you fucking asshole," she shouted.
"I was in a Teran Five prison."
Shock tore through her. "What?" She knew what some of those places were like. How could he have survived?
A humorless smile twisted his lips. "While Shanie was being murdered, I was being tortured and raped once a day. I'd been arrested by the Teran Interstellar Force."
"I don't understand." She was so confused.
"It's simple," he said viciously. "Someone on the TIF knew about the Prophecy, someone who wants the Brotherhood to come out on top. They made sure the Brotherhood killed Shanie and made you an assassin. They wanted you all fucked-up and no one to turn to, Carina."
For years, Xandros had managed to keep the memories of those early days shoved deep beneath the surface. They rose up now. He'd been tracking for the TIF, turning in interstellar criminals and collecting the bounty money. After Nyral society rejected him, he didn't have a whole lot of career options.
But the TIF turned on him, accusing him of being a traitor as his father had been. Since Nylar had banished him for being his father's son, Teran Five spooks had a field day with him.
In a holding cell for six months, he'd never been charged, never knew what secrets he was supposed to have revealed. He was tortured but never knew what information he was supposed to give.
The rapes were...difficult. Xandros had shoved his male dominance into a mental box, protecting it from the humiliation the spooks wanted to put him through. Once, one of them went too far and cut his neck too near his carotid. For some reason, they revived him.
Then they released him. No reason was ever given to him for his incarceration. No one told him a fucking thing. The first thing he did was catch a freighter to Nylar, to Leo, Shanie, and the little brat.
In prison, when things were bad, he thought about Carina and what she represented to him. A natural submissive with a spark of fire who challenged him. He hung on to that, and when he was released, he went back to try and go straight.
Instead, he found Shanie dead, both Leo and Shanie's little sister gone. Rumors flew they'd gone off together to console each other. Xandros had sought evidence of where the brat had gone but found nothing. He spent the next year trying, and succeeding, to forget her. She was inextricably bound with his horrific incarceration.
Leo he found two years later. By that time, Xandros was a mercenary, a pirate, the scourge of the galaxy. He exorcised his demons through boarding and shaking down Teran Five transports and taking great pleasure in torturing and killing Teran Five spooks who were assigned to the ships.
Dead was how he'd felt. Occasionally, he'd visit a club and try to find that elusive something Shanie's little sister had had even at the young age of sixteen.
Then he'd found Rina when all hope had been burned out of him, when all innocence had been left on the floor of a Teran Five prison. He'd marked her knowing---or suspecting---she was a deadly assassin only to discover she was the long-lost brat he'd searched for all those years. The little brat who had saved his sanity in that dark hell that had been his prison.
He shook his head. Marked mates. Fuck. The last thing he needed was someone sharing the hellhole that was his brain. He certainly didn't need someone who thought they had claim to him---he'd had enough of that in prison.
While he was musing, he hadn't kept an eye on the very angry woman in front of him. She struck out at him. Her hand connected to his neck, and he felt dizzy. His instinct screamed to defend himself.
All the awful things she thought about him were true. He deserved to get his ass kicked by her. The next blow hit him in the mouth and drew blood from his lip. He licked away the blood but stayed still.
She pounded her fist into his belly, and he doubled over. Still he didn't do anything. For a moment, it was like those times the Teran Five goons had beaten him, then fucked him. Pain was something he could deal with, but this emotional shit wasn't.
"Fight back, damn you," she snarled.
He took a deep, painful breath and let it out. "No. If you want to beat me, go ahead."
"Stars burn you!"
When he lifted his gaze, she'd turned her back on him. "I failed you. I get it. It's my fault. My fault you're an assassin. My fault you carry around a boatload of guilt. Go ahead. Kick my ass."
She turned around, and he was stunned to see tears pouring down her face. "You fool. You bastard. I loved you. All you had to do was tell me---"
"I didn't know you were still alive, Carina. I accepted that you were dead, and with you gone, there was no chance for me to find anyone to love."
She froze and then blinked. "That doesn't make sense. You...you treated me like a brat. You spanked me and ignored me. And then, when I needed you most---" She stopped and pressed her lips together.
"You're damn right I spanked you. And I about died when you came from it." He curled his hands into fists to keep them off her, just as he had then. "But you were sixteen and I was twenty-two." He shrugged. "You were too young, too innocent. I was already on the Council's bad side. What could I offer you?"
"You knew?" she asked, her eyes wide.
"That you had an orgasm from my spanking?" His throat was tight from the memory. "Yeah. I knew. You don't know what it cost me to walk away. It was one of my nobler actions and look what it got us."
"Leo didn't tell you I was still alive?" She looked at him incredulously.
"Leo didn't tell me shit," he snapped. "By the time we met up again, he was undercover with the Primarians and working for the TIF. There was no way I was telling him anything, and he wasn't going to reveal much to me."
She ran a hand through her hair. While she was lost in thought, he studied her, hoping to keep the image in his brain. He didn't believe he'd get out of this one alive. Not if he was going to get her out. Shaun would have to rescue her, and Xandros would have to distract their pursuers. He hated that he'd leave her marked, but he hadn't intended to hurt Carina Tao.
Her dark brown hair was ragged from the vicious hack job the Brotherhood had done. Her face was more angled, a far cry from the sweet, chubby cheeks she'd had as a teenager. Her eyes were a dark brown, and her fingers were long and slender. She had curves that were ruthlessly disciplined into a lean fighting machine. He longed to see those curves rounded by a child, carrying on the tradition of the Nyral people. He wanted a girl with the same fire and the same intense expression.
All those things were pipe dreams, fantasies blown away by the reality of the Primarians.
Bad enough to face a squad of those persistent assholes, but with an Ardasian seer, it was impossible. The seer would read any action they might take, any defense they might mount. The only way to win was to run, and right now, there was nowhere to run. Shaun wouldn't get to them before the Primarians. To save her, he had to lead them off, fool the Ardasian as he'd fooled others of his kind in the past.
Quietly, he picked up her clothes and handed them to her. They dressed without speaking. Then, she wrapped her arms around herself and spoke.
"Xandros," she said in a low voice. "I need my weapons. I can take the Ardasian."
"No." In two strides, he was beside her, taking her in his arms. "Shaun is on his way. And we'll escape."
Her gaze met his. She knew. He didn't have to say it. Somehow she knew he wasn't going with her. He pressed her face to his chest and buried his nose in what was left of her hair. Stars, he loved her. The thought solidified, and he realized he had loved this woman all his life.
He might have declared his feelings at that moment, but a sound at the entrance made him freeze. Slowly, he retrieved his laser gun and crouched on the fringes of the firelight.
Atlana stumbled into the cave, blood streaming from her mouth, her green eyes glowing in the darkness. Xandros and Carina rushed forward and caught the Ardasian just as she started to collapse.
"The Primarians' seer is dead. I killed him." Her green eyes were brilliant and bright, power emanating from them.
"Atlana---" Carina started to speak, but Atlana gripped her hand and aimed her eerie gaze at her.
"Must show you." She glanced at Xandros. "Carry me. Waterfall. Cave."
He lifted the Ardasian woman into his arms. Xandros carried her to the falling water cascading down next to the cave. "Where, Atlana?'
"Through the water. Cave. Prophecy." Atlana coughed, and blood spattered from her mouth.
Xandros shouldered his way through the water and ignored the cold, wet sensation. He hoped there was something in this cave to help the Ardasian woman. But there was only darkness.
When Carina lit the lantern she'd brought with her, all he saw was more cave drawings. "What is this place?"
"Sindar's grave," Atlana said and coughed up more blood.
"There has to be a way to help you," Carina insisted.
"I am done. My part is over. Here with Sindar, I will die. The seer caused me to bleed internally." She managed a tremulous smile. "It took me too much time to access his mind."
"What are we doing here?" Carina asked. "Let me get help."
"No. I'm too far gone. It's fitting." Atlana coughed again. Xandros set her down gently on the cave floor, and he and Carina knelt beside her.
With surprising strength, the woman reached out her hands and gripped them both. "Listen. The writings say that the bond you have is the second step to the Brotherhood's destruction. Leo Eyler's mating to the princess is first. Now your mating to Xandros. Both of you hold the key." Her voice was insistent, desperate. "You will bring forth the enforcer." She raised her arm and pointed. "The enforcer will kill the Brotherhood's leader."
Xandros stared at the writings. The picture Atlana indicated showed the Brotherhood as a three-headed snake. "And who is the enforcer?" he asked. Part of him already knew who she was going to say.
"His family name is Fenway." Atlana coughed, and her hand fell away from his arm. "Through him, the Brotherhood is destroyed."
"Atlana---" He held her upright as she started to collapse.
Her gaze held his. "She is more than a Nyral submissive. Her blood holds power. That's why the Brotherhood could not completely mind wipe her. That's why she regained her memories." Atlana's voice faded. "I've gained you time, but not much." She smiled at Carina. "You are assassin and queen both. You are the messenger, sustained by your bond to him." Her eyes closed, and she relaxed in Xandros's arms. "I go to be with my people."
The life bled out of her. Xandros gently stroked the hair away from her face. How old had she been? Thirty? Forty? It was difficult to tell. He laid her down on the cave floor and glanced at Carina.
Tears glinted in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. "What now?"
"Now I'll lead the Primarians away from this valley," he said firmly. "I promised Atlana I would take care of the Nariadians." He rose and checked his laser gun. It was charged and ready. Then he started for the waterfall.
Carina was right behind him. He stopped and glared at her. "You're staying."
"I'm going." She held his hostile stare. "When I didn't remember who I was, I was a burden. Now I can help you."
"Against a thousand Primarians?" He gripped her shoulders and shook her. "You're not even fully recovered from what they did to you. If they capture you, all this is for nothing. Atlana died for nothing. Wait for Shaun."
"I'm going," she said through pursed lips.
"You do exactly what I tell you to." He didn't wait for her answer.
When they stepped out of the water, several Nariadians stood on the rocks surrounding them. Their faces were filled with grief, with questions. They seemed to know Atlana was dead, even though he didn't tell them. He couldn't even speak their language.
One of the men came forward and touched Carina. Xandros's rage rose to the surface, and he leaped forward. Two of the Nariadians gripped him, and for some reason, their restraint held him. The Nariadian with his hand on Carina spoke five words, and her mark flared bright white. Her eyes clouded over with a milky film. Xandros stared at her. Carina raised her arms, her hands facing each other. Light formed between them, and Xandros felt the power surge through him.
Words poured from Carina's mouth, words he didn't understand, yet he sensed their force. Wind rose and whipped the trees into a frenzy. Lightning cracked across the sky, and thunder exploded. Electricity streaked down the valley floor, and fires erupted everywhere. The light moved like an immoveable bolt of fire, incinerating all that impeded it.
In the valley below, men screamed in agony, and shouts of warning were cut short. A swath of destruction burned across a huge section down in the darkness. Xandros saw Primarian soldiers illuminated by the bolt of hot light that cut through everything, and then they were incinerated, their ashes scattering, their weapons useless.
Carina's feet rose from the rocks, and she levitated, her jagged hair whipping and blowing in the wind. More fire ripped through the forest below, and the sound of laser rifles reverberated off the rock walls. A number of soldiers streamed out of the trees and rushed toward them.
Light exploded from Carina's hands and swept across the valley, burning everything. The smell of burning flesh rose in the air. Xandros stared as twenty or thirty burning bodies ran helter-skelter back through the trees trying to escape the fire Carina created. Trees exploded. The swarm of men were now lumps of cooked meat.
As suddenly as it had begun, the fire winked out, and Carina dropped to the ground.
Xandros lifted her head and checked her pulse. Passed out. He gazed down at the now barren valley. Thousands of Primarian soldiers were smoldering globs of burned flesh. Every piece of vegetation was destroyed. The very ground was scorched.
He blinked and stared at the Nariadian. The man nodded. "For Atlana." The Nariadians turned and retreated back into their caves.
Xandros buried his face in Carina's neck. He didn't know whether to feel relief or fear when Shaun landed his shuttle on the newly barren ground.
What the fuck happened? Carina opened her eyes slowly. A med facility. That was good. But she remembered the death, the fire, the burning. The destruction had been incredible. She'd seen it before she'd collapsed. What had that alien done to her? He'd spoken the words, and she'd known them, said them, let the fire rise within her.
And what did that make her? Some kind of paranormal freak.
Xandros was in a chair at the foot of the bed, his head resting on his arms. She stared at him. He was her marked mate, and she didn't know what the fuck that meant.
That power. She didn't know what it was or what it was for. Her memories shouldn't have returned either. A mind wipe was permanent; the only known treatment was to submit to a brain scan on Teran Five. Yet she'd regained her memories without any help at all. Well, after some intense sex with Xandros Jasper.
She wondered what it all meant.
The med door opened, and a beautiful woman strode in. She wore a white flight suit and had auburn hair that shone in the artificial lights. When she pulled up a chair and sat beside Carina, her expression was serious. "How are you feeling?"
"I don't know," Carina answered truthfully. "I've been kidnapped, mind wiped, found out I was part of some mystical prophecy bullshit, and some alien asshole said a few words which made me burn a few thousand soldiers to a crisp. How should I feel?"
The other woman's lips twitched. "If you have your memories, then you know who I am."
Carina glanced away. She knew. "Princess Sera Ellysa Placido, last heir to the Placidian throne."
The woman stood up, her back straight. "Yes. And apparently your target."
Carina shifted, uncomfortable under the woman's perceptive gaze. "I have a job to do."
The princess nodded. "Destroy the Brotherhood. My death wouldn't have mattered to you."
"I wasn't planning on actually killing you."
Princess Sera lifted her lips in a small, tight smile. "Not unless you had to." The woman glanced down at Xandros's sleeping form. He hadn't even woken up. "He loves you, you know," she said casually.
"Right," Carina said bitterly. "I'm his newest acquisition, nothing more, Princess."
The princess cocked her head to the side. "We had to pry you from his arms."
Carina shrugged, even though her heart warmed at the thought. "I'm an expensive acquisition."
Princess Sera shook her head. "Pity."
"What is?" Carina asked reluctantly.
The other woman stared at Xandros's bent head. "He went into the Nyral rage when the Brotherhood took you. At that distance, it's rare. I've never seen the kind of connection between marked mates."
What could Carina say to that? She stared at the ceiling. "Yay me?"
The princess snorted, a very unladylike sound. "Yeah. It's not all it's cracked up to be, is it?" She stroked Carina's cheek. "Leo has talked about you so often. I feel as if I know you."
Carina glared at the woman. "You don't."
"Oh?" The princess raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Pissed that we interfered in your death wish, are you?"
"Yes," she hissed under her breath. "What are you going to do now? Find me some nice dom to settle down with? One who won't mind that I've assassinated hundreds of people?"
"You already found one," she said with a significant glance at Xandros. "Funny. The prophecies are so vague."
"What do you mean?"
"There were three..." The princess seemed to drift into thought, and then she shook her head sharply. "If you have your memories, then you know where Finn and Aron were taken."
Stars, she wished she could forget. They'd opened a portal, some magic transporter that had scared the shit out of her. "I'm not sure, but the priests did some kind of magic, and a doorway appeared."
"Do you remember the words they said?" the other woman asked quickly.
Carina rubbed her temples. She didn't want to remember, but the memory was sharp and clear...
Her knees were cold from the metal floor where she knelt. Dim light illuminated very little, except Challah Pestori, the priest's daughter, also kneeling, to her right. The rest was hidden in shadow.
"You should learn from this assassin, my daughter," Father Pestori said from the darkness. "Even after she has served the Brotherhood by killing her target, she does not question me when I demand she take a soldier's cock in her mouth."
Bile rose in Carina's throat. The only thing that kept her still, kept her deadly knife sheathed, was the hope that she would have her revenge, that she would have the blood of the real leader of the Blueshift Brotherhood.
She shot a glance at Challah and noted the woman's face was pale. Her back was crisscrossed with new whip marks. A punishment, no doubt, for trying to protect one of her father's victims.
Her attention was caught by four Primarians that marched into view. They dragged two men into the light.
Aron and Finn. Damn it. She'd tried to warn them, told them to run.
Her fault. She'd revealed Shaun Fenway's intentions to Leo Eyler, knowing it would lead to the assassin's death or capture. She also knew the Brotherhood would turn on the other two Nyral males.
"But first, let's take out the garbage," the priest intoned. He spoke words in a strange language, and she trembled. What was he doing?
The four priests chanted, their words resonating inside her. The urge to speak was so strong, her throat hurt. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she tried to blink them away.
Challah whimpered. "Father, please." The pathetic sound was full of pain and fear.
"You must learn, my daughter, that you are not the only one I can use."
The chants flowed through Carina like electricity, and something elemental passed through her body to Pestori's fingers on her neck. He spoke again, his lined face hard and cold.
Noise like she'd never heard before roared in the little room. Bright light blinded her. Challah screamed, "No, Father, don't."
An eerie, creepy smile lifted Pestori's face, and he pointed his left hand toward the altar. Swirls of bright gold, silver, and purple appeared out of nowhere and formed a doorway.
Before Carina understood, the four priests dragged Aron and Finn to the swirls and threw them toward the brilliantly colored opening. The men screamed, a horrific sound that ripped through Carina like a laser-pistol shot.
They were sucked into the void, the swirls swallowing them like ripe fruit; and then they were gone with only sparkles and glitter left behind.
Carina thought she might scream in horror. Gone. They were gone. For a moment, her mind blanked, unable to process what she'd seen. She'd done that. She'd been the conduit, the live wire to make it happen.
Her fault.
Father Pestori dropped his fingers from her neck. "Not many have seen the fist beneath the robe, Rina Assassin. You are privileged..."
"Carina," the princess said softly, breaking into Carina's memory.
She blinked for a moment. "The words?" She remembered. Her voice cracked as she repeated the words, stumbling over their pronunciation.
She stared at the princess and watched color drain from her face. Abruptly, the other woman sat down as if her legs couldn't hold her up anymore. "I was right. Holy comet."
"Fill me in?"
"It's a version of the Star Blessing, a Placidian chant. It transports objects, but I've never heard of it being used for people." Princess Sera ran a trembling hand over her mouth. "I thought the man in charge of the Brotherhood might have a background in Placidian magic, but transporting people?"
"I thought Placidian royalty were the only ones with that kind of power." Carina was uncomfortably aware that she'd accessed some strange power, a killing magic that had disintegrated over a thousand men.
"I thought so too until Leo showed me I was wrong," the princess said wryly. She licked her lips and took a deep breath. "It seems that the Nyral population is connected to Placidians somehow. That's why many Nyral Doms and submissives have come to Placido to resettle."
"On that planet---" Carina couldn't get the words out. Fire. Ashes. Death.
Princess Sera nodded. "I saw." She shuddered. "I know that crushing power too. It isn't pleasant."
"For a moment," Carina said slowly, "I wanted them all dead, and I enjoyed it." She stared at the princess helplessly. "I've been an assassin and never felt a moment's exhilaration at the kill. But this time---" She pursed her lips which had started to tremble. "This time, I loved it. Even as a part of my mind was horrified, a huge part of me was...gleeful." There. She'd said it out loud, got it out of her like a poison.
Surprisingly, Princess Sera nodded immediately in agreement. "I know. It's terrifying, isn't it? I never knew how bloodthirsty I was until I smashed an enemy into the ground on Placido." She touched Carina's hand. "It's natural and understandable. You weren't even in control of it."
"No. That man, that Nariadian, he---" What had he done? "He spoke some words and I...I..." She couldn't even put it into words.
"You were a conduit for something tremendous and dark." Princess Sera stared off into space. "It's like life and death in the same moment."
"Yes." Carina sat straight up. "Like a brilliant light that was black as night."
"It's power, Carina. It's not good or bad. It just is." Sera focused on her. "Nyral submissives are uniquely qualified to understand this. Joined with the right force, you can resonate it, amplify it."
"I don't understand."
"In a scene, have you ever noticed that, though the dom has the power, you can increase the power in the room?" She smiled and shot Xandros a glance. "Not that Xandros needs anything, but a good scene requires two, not one." Then she grinned. "Or three. Or four."
"And every addition adds...more." Carina had seen the dynamic. It wasn't just doubled or tripled but grew exponentially as power passed between more people in sync.
"That's how Placidian power operates. It needs a certain kind of person, the kind who can balance power." The princess glanced at the door. "Leo understands the balance. And he has control over it."
"Did you?" Somehow Carina found the power devouring.
"To some extent," Princess Sera said. "But I didn't allow the power to pass through me, to release it." She lifted her hands and curled them into fists. "I tried to grasp it tightly. By doing that, it slipped through my fingers." Her smile was gentle, and her fingers spread wide open. "How many doms have you seen do the same thing? And when they do, we don't give them our true submission. The exchange is a fraud."
Carina nodded slowly. That was true. Most scenes she had with doms were a pale shadow, a bad imitation of the true dominance she needed. Until Xandros. Her gaze finally focused on Xandros, still sound asleep at the end of the bed.
His dark hair was mussed, and his face was turned toward her as he rested his head in his arms. Black circles surrounded his eyes, and the stubble on his cheeks emphasized the hollow dips. He looked tired and worried.
"How long have I been here?" Carina kept her gaze on Xandros.
"Three days." The princess started to say something more, but a device on her wrist beeped. She pressed a button. "Are we there already?"
Leo's voice came through the device. "No. Another six hours. Shaun wants to see her. Is she awake?"
"She is. Send him in." Princess Sera glanced at Xandros and frowned, lines appearing around her mouth. "Someday I hope you can explain this man's relationship to Shaun."
Shaun. Carina had forgotten he was part of this. "Hell, Princess, I can't even explain my relationship to Xandros."
A faint smile erased the frown. "Complicated. That seems to be a running theme with Nyral males." She took a deep breath. "Well, try and rest. I'll see you later."
"Where are we going?" Carina had a bad feeling she already knew.
"Pelios. That's where we find the rest of the prophecy." The princess swept out of the room.
Alone with her thoughts, Carina tried to piece her memories back together. Some were cloudy and blurry, but most of them were still intact. Frankly, Carina was too tired to give a shit about anything, even killing the head of the Brotherhood.
The door opened, and Shaun approached her side. He shot a quick glance at Xandros and tightened his lips. When his gaze met hers, memories flooded her. So many times she'd sought solace in his arms, always keeping her distance when they'd fucked, never revealing her true self.
"I've missed you," he said calmly. His hazel eyes were almost molten gold, and she couldn't stop the regret that washed over her.
"I'm not the one who left."
He stared steadily until her gaze slid away. Then he said, "No? You and I both know you told Leo that I was Brotherhood. I know you were conveniently unavailable when we attacked Placido."
"She wasn't my target." A lame excuse, and she knew it.
"Not yet. But you were part of the team to take her out. Instead, you tipped off Leo, and they escaped." He leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head. "You were the reason Leo Eyler branded me as his."
True. When the Brotherhood had ordered Shaun and his team to kill Princess Sera Placido, she'd had to act. It wasn't hard to guess the princess would use her membership at one of the pleasure clubs on Sethos Five and that her new bodyguard, Leo Eyler, wouldn't leave her side.
The princess was a valuable target, and Carina realized if Shaun was...eliminated, she'd be chosen to do the job. All it took was a moment to tell Leo that Shaun was Brotherhood. She'd stood by, knowing Shaun's sister, Mira, would pay the price for failure. But she also had faith that Leo would save the Nyral male. The fact that Carina would get one step closer to her ultimate goal of revenge hadn't played into her decision.
Had it?
Which side of her had made the choice to reveal Shaun's identity to Leo? The Nyral avenger bent on destroying the Brotherhood? Or the manipulative assassin who saw an opportunity to further her cause?
The truth was elusive, but one thing was clear. It had been risky, but had seemed worth it. Until Mira had died over an open com.
She blinked. "I had no choice."
"And when you fucked me? Did you have a choice then?" His voice was low.
Carina tried to turn her head away, but Shaun gripped her chin to hold her in place. Tears threatened, and she swallowed them down. "I---" Her lips trembled. "Yes, I had a choice. But I wanted you desperately."
"Why, Carina?" he whispered and leaned down, his lips a breath away from hers.
"You were home to me," she whispered. "Why didn't you mark me?"
His hot breath was like fire. "You didn't belong to me. Even then. I don't know how I knew it, but I knew."
Her eyes widened. "How could you know?" Hell, she hadn't even known.
His gaze was bleak and empty. "I know the look. You gave yourself to him a long time ago." His head jerked toward Xandros. "I didn't know his name, but I knew you belonged to someone else."
"Then why go along with it?"
"I couldn't have what I wanted. What makes you think I didn't need to feel close to home?"
That wasn't it. Carina stared at Shaun, studying his hard features. Who did he want that he couldn't have? Their existence with the Brotherhood was punctuated by desperate sex amid life-threatening terror. Tender feelings weren't possible. But one woman had Shaun's attention, even though the focus seemed mired in hatred. Perhaps his hostility hid a deeper need. The truth dawned on her. "Challah."
Father Pestori's daughter. No one knew if she was a victim or willing participant. Carina had seen the scars, the wounds the girl bore from her father's doting care. Carina had witnessed Father Pestori's brutal parental admonishment, actions that left the fragile Challah with broken bones and flayed skin. Once, the religious fanatic had to be dragged off his daughter as he beat her for tears shed over a dead man. She seemed to be caught in the Brotherhood's web. Yet Challah had stood by as many were killed in the Brotherhood's version of discipline. Including Shaun's sister.
Shaun reared back. "She has nothing to do with it. Her father is a monster, and she's just as bad."
"But Shaun, she---"
"Don't speak of her." He straightened up completely. "She was there when all of them were murdered. Mira and the others."
Carina was stunned at Shaun's passion. But maybe he hadn't noticed that the woman he condemned was as trapped as he'd been. "Challah isn't---"
"Be silent," Shaun roared.
"Perhaps yelling at her isn't the answer, my friend." Xandros was awake and tense. Carina noted Xandros flexed his hand.
Shaun glared at the man. "You don't understand."
The red glint in Xandros's gaze made Carina nervous. His voice was deceptively mild. "So explain it to me."
"Challah Pestori stood by while her father murdered my sister." Shaun's tone was harsh, but Carina thought she heard something else bleeding from him.
"She isn't allowed to leave. You have to see that---"
Shaun slashed his hand down, cutting her off. "She made her choice. She chose them."
"And you wanted her desperately," she snapped. "But she didn't choose you. Did you make her an offer?"
Shaun glared at her. "She never knew me."
"So?" Carina had carried her secret need in her heart, even though she never thought she'd see Xandros again. Why would Shaun be any different?
"So you don't know what you're talking about." Shaun's nostrils flared.
"I know you called out her name when you fucked me."
He froze, his gaze focused on her face. "I'm not discussing this."
Carina studied him carefully. Hatred and love seemed to swirl in Shaun's hazel eyes at the mention of Challah Pestori. The woman had confused others, including Carina. The daughter of the most ruthless member of the Brotherhood also worked to obstruct her father. But she also helped to trap members of the Brotherhood, whether she was aware of her participation or not.
An enigma that appealed to and repelled Shaun.
"At some point, Shaun, you're going to have to face the fact that she---"
Suddenly, Shaun loomed over her and snarled, "What part of I'm not discussing this don't you get?"
A low growl vibrated from Xandros. "Back away, Fenway."
Shaun blinked and then flung himself away from her bed. He stomped out the door, leaving Xandros and Carina staring after him.
"Well, that was interesting." Xandros glanced at her. "What the hell was it all about?"
"I'm not completely sure," she said slowly. "Challah is both her father's weapon and his victim. I think Shaun has to keep her in the weapon category so he can do the one thing he's intended to do since he was reinstated with the Nyral military."
"Take out the Brotherhood?"
"No. Kill Challah Pestori." She met Xandros's surprised gaze. "Challah was there when Mira was killed. In his mind, Challah is as guilty as her father."
Xandros frowned. "But why? Unless she actually killed his sister."
"Because she stood by and did nothing. Because Shaun lied, stole, and killed to keep his sister alive, and it was all for nothing." Carina pressed her lips together, emotions too close to the surface. Her throat closed up, and her jaw clenched. It couldn't all have been for nothing. Could it?
"They blackmailed him. It wasn't his fault."
She held his gaze. "And what about me, Xandros? No one blackmailed me."
In a heartbeat, he was beside her, his hands cupping her face. "No? They took your family, your life, your hopes, and your dreams. They held you captive just as much as they held Shaun."
She stared at his familiar face and wondered how she would ever deserve him. "All I wanted was the death of that man, the one who gives the orders, the one who killed my sister because of that stupid prophecy," she said hoarsely. "And all of it was a mistake. The princess was the one who should have died. Instead, they killed Shanie."
There had been so many nights and so many moments she'd dismissed how pointless it all had been. Shanie was dead, but the Brotherhood soon realized it hadn't stopped the prophecy. The time Carina had spent honing her skills seemed wasted. It wouldn't bring Shanie back, a thought that she'd been determined to ignore. Her chest hurt, and she clenched her hands into impotent fists. Pointless. Wasn't it all pointless? All that blood for nothing, for revenge. A sob escaped, and the tears spilled over onto her cheeks.
Xandros wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth. "Oh my little machinka, I'm so sorry."
It felt good to cry, to get it out. For the first time in four years, Carina cleansed her soul of the pain and sacrifice and allowed her emotions to rule her heart. "Every time those priests made me blow a Primarian or when they made me drink the blood of some poor smuck they'd murdered, I kept thinking of Shanie and how I'd make it all right, balance the scales." She leaned her head back. "But I don't think it will happen. I'm damaged goods, permanently scarred. I don't deserve to---"
Xandros shut her up with his mouth on hers. He plundered, demanded, and dominated her until she relaxed in his arms. Tears still leaked from her eyes, but she lost herself for a moment in the heat of his kiss. He desired her, broken pieces and all.
The mark on her arm flared to life, no longer a painful burning, but a throbbing need that swept through her like a wildfire.
It burned everything before it---her past, her fear, her doubts---all disappeared as passion flamed between them. She arched closer, needing him, desperate for him.
He tore his mouth from hers with a curse. "I can't now. You're not well enough. But when you're healed, Carina Tao, I'm going to make love to you until you forget any man you've ever had."
"I've never had a man like you," she said immediately.
He groaned. "Don't say things like that. You're killing me."
"I'm a Brotherhood assassin," she quipped. "That's my job."
He held her away from him and held her gaze. "You were a Brotherhood assassin."
"What am I now?" she asked in a small voice.
The slow smile that lifted his lips made her heart pound. "Mine."
While Carina healed, Xandros practiced. There was no way he wasn't going to be ready for whatever awaited them. He would protect her at any cost.
The practice room on the Placidian Cosmos was extensive, and Xandros worked every minute he was awake. He pushed himself to the limit.
So many thoughts in his head demanded answers he didn't have. How the hell was he going to rescue Aron and Finn? Even with Shaun and Leo, it seemed an insurmountable task. His feelings for Carina were still murky. He loved her, had always loved her. But she wasn't Shanie Tao's bratty little sister anymore. And she wasn't Rina, the famous Brotherhood assassin. She was someone entirely different with weird powers that could burn up thousands of human bodies.
The unfinished business with Shaun Fenway had driven Xandros to the practice floor more than Carina. Both he and Carina had unwritten pages to write with Shaun, and Xandros wasn't even sure how to start a sentence. Consequently, he avoided everyone except Carina.
He flicked on his sword program and swiped a few arcs in the air with his blade. The new laser blade he'd acquired on the last run to Everos was perfect for the nasty fight he knew was coming. The priests would see to it that blood was spilled.
The program engaged, and Xandros began the parry-feint steps that had kept him alive all these years. Even with his body fully committed, his brain continued to buzz with possibilities.
Thrust, parry. Why hadn't the Brotherhood killed the two men? And why were Princess Sera and Leo so intent on getting them back? Feint, parry, thrust, strike.
The program picked up speed, and Xandros spared no more thought for the questions plaguing him. Carina's strange new power. Shaun's attraction. The royal couple's odd behavior. They all faded as he avoided the hologram's sword.
After all, this was what he knew. Fighting. Blood. Death. Fighting...and negotiation. "Program halt."
That's what he could do. Negotiate. A glimmer of a plan began to form.
The doors opened, and Leo appeared. Blond, scarred, and dominant as hell, Leo Eyler had been Xandros's friend years ago. One of the few Nyral dominants who didn't hold Xandros's family name against him.
Yet, when they met again two years later, the friend he'd known was gone, and a cold-eyed stranger had betrayed him to the Primarians in a heartbeat.
His hands tightened on the sword pommel as Leo walked through the door and into the practice room. "Come to practice?"
Leo shook his head. "I came to talk."
Xandros turned away abruptly. "What's there to talk about? You want to save your princess, and I want to keep Carina alive. Simple. All we need is a plan---"
"I tried to contact you when my cover was blown," Leo interrupted.
Xandros froze. He did not want to discuss this. But Leo seemed to have something to say. He tightened his lips and turned back to face this man who had once meant so much to him.
Leo inhaled slowly and moved closer. He stepped cautiously, his gaze wary. "You have questions."
"Sure," Xandros said flippantly. "A million of them."
"I'm talking about the Fallorian."
Bitter dregs soured Xandros's stomach. The Fallorian. It was just another betrayal, another moment he'd survived and didn't know why. "What's there to know? You were working undercover and turned me over to your Primarian goons. All part of the act, I imagine."
Leo looked away. "Partly."
What the fuck did that mean? Xandros pressed his lips together and stayed silent. Either the man was going to explain himself or he wasn't. The man was a dominant and probably didn't feel he had to justify what he did to Xandros.
"I was pissed at you," Leo said. The man stared at the wall behind Xandros. "After Shanie died---" His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "All those people I thought were friends were gone. Conner was there but---"
"But he was all military. He didn't understand the urge to fuck someone---anyone---up." Xandros would have understood. They both knew he should have been there. "I would have been there if I could have, Leo."
"I didn't know that then." A muscle in Leo's jaw flexed. "I fucked you over without blinking because I had needed you desperately and you were nowhere to be found." His nostrils flared. "I watched when they beat the shit out of you."
"When did you find out?" Xandros was afraid to ask the question. He thought he knew.
Xandros didn't want to talk about this. Leo's gaze finally met his. "When that Primarian was about to fuck you up the ass."
The violence of that moment flooded back in Xandros's memory. By the time the asshole had dropped his pants, Xandros had been almost unconscious.
"So I have you to thank that the gorilla didn't do it?" he said in a strained voice.
"I stopped him, but I don't deserve your gratitude." Leo took a deep breath. "When that Primarian bastard said he had heard from the Teran Five goons that you liked it, I couldn't let him do it. I found out you'd been taken, held without charge, and your file was classified."
"Wow. I didn't know I rated classified," Xandros said bitterly.
Leo stepped closer. "You've read the file."
Xandros sheathed his sword that he'd been unconsciously gripping as if he faced an enemy. "No, I never read it. I didn't have to." His chest hurt, and taking a deep breath was almost impossible. "I found out from one of the spooks I tortured. The TIF was ordered to break me, fuck me up, and let me go. The order came from high up. I was referred to as 'interference.' The guy said there was some project your precious TIF had in the works and I was an obstacle to their objective." He gave a short laugh that had nothing to do with humor. "I had no idea what project they were talking about." He shook his head. "I played right into their hands."
"Oh?" Leo frowned. "How do you figure?"
Xandros glared at him. "I let it fuck me up, didn't I? I stopped trying to go home. I gave up looking for you and Carina, believed the rumors that you'd cut out and left me." His chest ached. "I went right over the edge, selling to the highest bidder, taking any bounty that had the highest price. I didn't give a shit who paid me."
Leo reached out and put a hand on Xandros's shoulder. "You survived."
"And I'm still lost." Xandros stepped away from Leo's touch. "You didn't kill me. I guess I'm grateful."
The silence that filled the room was oppressive. Leo remained quiet for a full two minutes. Finally, he said, "Do you want to go home, Xandros?"
"Yes, damn it. I want my life back." He turned his back, his emotions rolling through him like a tidal wave. The things he wanted were impossible. A home, his future, a life. He'd sold those things, tossed them away, buried them under his broken dreams and overwhelming hurt. He pretended he didn't care, just as he'd pretended it didn't matter that his father was a broken traitor. But he did care. He loved Nylar deeply and wanted his citizenship back.
"Then let me help you," Leo said softly.
Xandros couldn't believe what he was hearing. He whirled around and stared at Leo. "Why the hell would you help me?"
"Because you were--- are---my friend."
Xandros's throat closed, and he stared at this man who had been the closest thing to a brother he'd ever had. "Leo, I'm damaged goods." He stopped. Carina had said those very words, and Xandros had rejected them. Could he find some semblance of redemption?
His stomach rolled. He knew what it would take to be reinstated into Nyral society. Submission. He couldn't do it. Not after what the TIF had done to him. They'd demanded his submission, and he wouldn't give it. He'd almost died rather than give them the satisfaction of breaking him.
Leo took another step until he was so close Xandros could smell him, feel heat rolling off his skin. "I owe you the chance to come back."
Xandros blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I can vouch for you at the council, but you know what you have to do." Leo's voice was calm, almost soothing.
"I can't," Xandros said hoarsely. "I can't do it." He stumbled backward, his feet tripping faster than his brain.
Leo hadn't moved.
The door opened, and Xandros panicked. He drew his sword, ready to slice anyone who came in. For an instant, he was back there, in that prison. He could even smell the damp walls, the molding stone caverns where they threw him after they'd fucked him until he bled. There was no way he would ever kneel in front of another man. Ever.
"What the fuck is going on?" Shaun's voice vibrated with anger.
"I made Xandros an offer," Leo said quietly. "I still make that offer."
Xandros couldn't breathe, couldn't move. The drumbeat of his choices thrummed in tune to his heart. Get fucked and go home or run and be alone. That was the choice.
Behind Shaun, Carina and Princess Sera had entered the practice room. He swallowed. It all came back. Eyes watching. Men laughing. The constant humiliation.
They seemed far away when Carina spoke. "Xandros?" The concern in her gaze helped ground him, but he was sliding into the past, into insanity.
"It's a panic attack," the princess said. Her voice seemed miles away. "Carina, you'll have to help him."
Slowly, Carina approached him. She placed her hand on his. He gripped the sword pommel even harder. "Xandros?" She stepped closer. "I'm here, Xandros. I'm here."
When his panicked gaze met hers, his mind cleared. The blood-soaked floor of the cave disappeared; the grunts of the soldiers and the smell of filth faded. If he wanted a chance to clean the slate---with Leo, with Carina, with Nylar---he had to surrender to what Leo needed to do. He lowered the sword.
He sheathed his weapon and took Carina's hand. Still clinging to her, he met Leo's stare and slowly dropped to one knee. And then the other.
Carina gripped his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. "You don't have to do this," she said, her voice tight and high. "I don't care about the stupid Nyral council. There's only you and me. They don't matter."
He pressed her hands to his mouth. "But I need to do this for you, to feel like I have a chance to be with you." He buried his forehead in her torso, soaking up her warmth. "I want to be whole, Carina. I can't be if I'm afraid to allow Leo to dominate me."
"It's different for you," she insisted. "You were innocent. The council has no right to demand---"
He interrupted her. "I have to face this." His heart thundered in his chest. Since his incarceration, he'd never let a man fuck him. Never. He was the dominant. The idea of trusting another man like that seemed impossible. But to heal, he had to let Leo do it. He shuddered, and then Carina fell to her knees to kiss him.
"Then I'll face it with you."
He kissed her with every ounce of love he'd come to have for her. They weren't children anymore, their innocence stolen, but what they'd built was stronger than what had been destroyed. She clung to him, trembling in his arms.
Gently, he broke the kiss and brushed a stray hair away from her forehead. Then he tipped his head up to stare at Leo. "Do whatever you have to do," he said.
He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. On his knees, Xandros was a stone wall of flesh and need. His black hair just brushed his shoulders, sweat still beaded on his skin from his workout. He had removed his shirt and wore only a pair of soft workout pants. Carina's lips tingled from his kiss, and she longed to show him how she felt.
"You understand what this means?" Leo's expression was stern.
"I'll always be your submissive." He shot a glance at Carina. "But I'll always be your Dominant, machinka, never fear."
She allowed a secret smile. She brushed his lips with hers and rose to her feet. "Whatever it means, my love, I am yours."
Leo gripped the back of Xandros's neck. "I will be your Master, Xandros Jasper. And the council will take you back." With his hand on Xandros, he yanked the drawstring of his sweats. He dropped his pants and lifted his gaze. "But as well as satisfying the council, we will take care of some unfinished business." His stare focused on Shaun. "Get over here, Shaun."
Xandros's head snapped up and strained against Leo's hold. Grim determination tightened Leo's mouth. "I'm aware that Shaun has been less than honest with us."
Fascinated, Carina stared at a muscle in Shaun's jaw that jumped and clenched, the only evidence of a response. His wooden expression gave nothing away. "Leo---"
"Master Leo," Leo snapped.
Shaun's hazel eyes narrowed slightly. "I haven't lied to you."
One of Leo's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? Just when were you going to tell me that you and my sister-in-law had been lovers."
Carina glared at Leo. "I wouldn't call us lovers. We...used each other."
Xandros, still on his knees, gripped Carina's arm. "Let Leo handle this, machinka."
"Shaun," Leo said firmly. "You carry my brand. You're my responsibility. And yet, I can't do my job if you don't tell me what's going on." He waved his hand toward Carina and Xandros. "You've got unfinished business with them."
Them. Leo said them. She glanced down at Xandros, and he looked almost guilty. What was between these two men?
Shaun stepped forward and stopped at Leo's left, his gaze lowered, his hands clenched. "I made a pledge to you."
"What does that have to do with it?" Leo snapped, his eyes narrowed, and his body tensed. He was like the Primarian soldier he'd been forced to be all those years as he sought to end the Brotherhood's hold over them.
"Everything. Those men---" Shaun shot a glance at Xandros and pressed his lips closed.
Leo's features softened. "You're wondering too."
Shaun stiffened. "I'm not questioning you."
"But you want to know what the two men mean to Sera and I." Leo was insistent.
"They have some hold over you," Shaun blurted the words out, his gaze finally meeting Leo's. What Carina saw in Shaun's tortured face made her heart clench. The adoration the man had for Leo was intense and almost painful to watch.
"Only as part of the prophecy, Shaun," Leo said calmly.
Sera linked her arm through Shaun's. "We would not deceive you. We care about you, Shaun."
"But I thought---" Confusion swirled in his gaze, and his forehead wrinkled. "Why didn't you stop me from going after Xandros?"
The princess squeezed his arm. "Because we thought you were looking for Carina." She smiled at Carina. "We had no idea that fate would step in." Her gaze swerved to Shaun. "And we didn't know you would want Xandros."
Shaun sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. "Princess," he said with a sigh.
Her hand reached up and turned his face toward hers. "We want you to be free, Shaun. Even from us."
Shaun's features tightened, and he swallowed. "I don't want to be free."
"Why?" Leo asked. "Are you afraid?"
"Master---" Shaun tried to pull away, but Sera held him still, and Leo reached out with a free hand and gripped his neck.
"I didn't mark you to chain you to me. Just as I won't tie Xandros to me. But you will wear our mark, and as long as you do, we are connected." Leo's thumb slid over the curve of Shaun's throat. "But you are not my slave."
Shaun shot a glance at Xandros. "I felt...drawn to him. I knew who he was." His hazel eyes were dark when he stared at Carina. "She dreamed of him. Many nights, after she and I had fucked ourselves to exhaustion, trying to burn the memories of what we were out of our minds, she called out his name."
Carina's lips trembled. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. She'd never meant to hurt Shaun, to make him feel unimportant. Those nights in his arms had been her safe harbor, even though she believed he would betray her in heartbeat.
But in the end, she had betrayed him to Leo, causing the failure that ended in Mira's death. "It was my fault, Shaun. I didn't think, because I wanted it to be over. I wanted to get close enough to kill the leader."
"They weren't going to kill her, Rina," he said, his eyes closed in pain. "Rape her, yes. But they killed her because Challah armed her, gave my sister a knife. And Mira wouldn't let them rape her to manipulate me again." He pressed his hands against his eyes.
Carina started forward and found Xandros moving to comfort Shaun too. Together, they placed their hands on him. Leo's hand curled around Shaun's throat, and Princess Sera held his arm, her other hand curved in his hair.
The four of them surrounded him, comforted him, and dry sobs shook Shaun's large frame. Leo's mouth pressed against Shaun's mouth, and Sera's lips brushed his neck. Then Xandros placed his mouth on the opposite side of Shaun's neck, and Carina leaned in to kiss his shoulder.
Electricity sparked between them, a musky scent of arousal burning Carina's nose. Leo leaned back and stared at Shaun. "Together, we will mark Xandros."
Shaun's pupils were dilated. "You don't need me for that."
"Yes, I do. To free you both."
Shaun and Xandros stared at each other, and Carina almost gasped at the heat that flowed between them.
Leo's lopsided smile made Carina grin in return. "Think of this as a ceremony and I'm the director."
He stepped back and walked to the wall. When he pressed several buttons on a console by the door, a small compartment in the wall opened. He removed several items and Carina stared.
Leo produced a strap-on dildo, lube, and rope. He handed the strap-on to Princess Sera, and the woman's smile made Carina's heart pound in her throat. Leo held up the rope and stared at Shaun. "This is because I know you don't go down easy."
Shaun's gaze narrowed. "You're tying me up?"
"Yes."
Shaun crouched. "No."
The ensuing battle made Carina's pussy throb with need. Leo circled Shaun, much like Xandros had circled Carina that night in the club. She pressed closer to Xandros, those feelings coming back to her now.
Xandros slipped his hand along the outside of her flight suit and rubbed his fingers against her pussy. Her head dropped back, and she pressed her hand over his. A sharp slap against the back of her hand made her snatch her fingers away, and she jerked her eyes open. Xandros hissed and shook his hand.
The princess held a crop in her hand and glared at them. "Behave yourselves."
Leo had Shaun tied up and on his back, his pants thrown in the corner and his shirt shredded into strips. Leo had used two rings in the floor at the edge of the workout mat and knotted the ropes that held Shaun's wrists, his arms splayed out.
"Put on the strap-on, Sera." Leo sat on Shaun's lap, his fingers sliding lightly over the bound man's dick.
As Princess Sera cinched the belt and positioned the dildo, Leo's gaze met Carina's. "Carina, take your clothes off and lie down there."
She hesitated and bit her lip.
Xandros began to undo the zipper on her flight suit. "Do what he says, machinka."
She shrugged out of her clothes and thrilled at the way Xandros's breath caught and his cock stood proud against his pants. Her mark burned, and she cupped her hand over it to cool it, but it wouldn't subside. The fire was within.
When she lay down on the floor, she faced Leo, lined up with Shaun. Even then, she didn't know what Leo planned. Anticipation streaked through her veins.
"Xandros, strip and come here," Leo ordered.
Carina watched, her mouth suddenly dry as Xandros removed his clothes. Stars, the man was sexy. She licked her lips and took a deep breath. Her pussy pulsed with need, and she had to force herself to remain still.
As Xandros strode toward Leo, he kept his gaze on her, his stare leaving a trail of fire as he perused her from her head to her toes.
"Sera, my love, I want you fuck Carina," Leo said, his voice gritty and low. "I want her to come as many times as you can make her come. Don't stop until I order you to."
It wasn't like Xandros didn't know what was going to happen. Leo was going to fuck him up the ass. Hard. And then, he was going to brand Xandros's ass with that damn dragon. What he hadn't anticipated was Leo's dominance over everyone else in the room.
Clearly, Leo wanted his mate, Carina, and Shaun involved in the branding. Xandros wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Princess Sera sauntered toward Carina, her eyes half closed in a sensual perusal that made Xandros nervous and hard as a fucking rock. When she stepped closer to Leo, he gripped her shoulder with his hand.
"Wait."
Sera froze, and everyone else did too. Leo's lips rose in a smile. "Too many clothes, Princess." Leo glanced at Xandros. "Both of you need to take off your clothes."
Carina hadn't moved a muscle, her stare riveted on Princess Sera. Leo glanced at Carina and then tapped Xandros on the shoulder. "Your marked mate seems nervous. Go over there and get her engine started."
Xandros, naked and determined, did as he was told. This required trust, to expose himself this way. But he had told Leo the truth. He wanted to go home.
When he ran his hands up Carina's upper arms, her gaze jerked to his face. Panic, fear, and edginess all twisted her features. He realized he'd never seen these expressions on her face before. Rina, the assassin, would have complied. Carina, the submissive, wanted only him.
Both of them would be changed after this.
"Machinka, I want to do this for you." His hands traveled to her face and held her still. "We both have been adrift, separated from those who love us and those we love. I want to bring us home."
Trust shone in her dark brown eyes. "You are my home, Xandros," she whispered. "You always were."
Gently he kissed her cheeks. "Then come home."
He sensed her surrender, her wholehearted submission to him. His mouth covered hers, and he breathed in her sweetness. Their tongues dueled, and her hands crept around his neck to hold him close. His mark burned, the moment tinged with lust.
When it changed, he didn't know. Somehow, the kiss deepened, strengthened, and she sagged against him. His hands thrust in her short dark hair and yanked her head back to get closer, deeper.
A firm but gentle hand gripped several strands of his hair and tugged. Reluctantly, he softened the kiss, slowly backed away, reveling in the almost drowsy expression on Carina's face.
Princess Sera tugged again, pulling him back and moving in on his marked mate. Where Xandros left off, Sera picked it up. She threaded her fingers through Carina's short hair, yanking her head back. Then, the princess pressed her lips to Carina's, and a soft, muffled moan echoed from both women.
Watching the two women was almost more than Xandros could stand, but he didn't have time to enjoy it. Leo's hand gripped the back of his neck. "On your knees."
Xandros dropped down, his gaze still on the princess and Carina. Princess Sera had lowered Carina to the floor. Carina squirmed beneath the other woman's touch as the princess's mouth traveled down her body.
On his knees, facing Shaun, Xandros couldn't tear his gaze from Princess Sera and Carina. The woman licked Carina's pussy like it was the sweetest cream, and Xandros groaned out loud. Carina opened her eyes and stared at him.
He wanted to be down there. He wanted to make her come. Stars, he wanted her to come. Something must have shown in his face because Carina gasped and arched toward Princess Sera's wicked tongue. Every single cell of his body longed for her, focused on her. Carina heaved upward, and a small scream escaped. The princess hummed, a sexy sound of approval that sent Xandros into growling hunger.
"Pay attention, pirate," Leo whispered in his ear. "My mate is going to fuck your mate with that dildo while I fuck you in the ass and brand you as mine."
Xandros shuddered. He remembered Shaun's words back when all this started. Leo was unique. All those times a TIF agent tried to break him, Xandros had maintained his sense of dominance, his sense of self. The times he'd been beaten, captured, in danger, he'd maintained his core dom.
But something about Leo triggered a more receptive part of Xandros. It was as if an alpha wolf met the alpha. Every pack had one leader. Leo was that leader.
"But Shaun belongs to me too, Xandros Jasper. And while I fuck you, I want you to fuck him," Leo said and pressed down on Xandros's neck.
Shaun's hazel eyes were glazed over, almost feverish. His cock was erect and so hard it pulled away from his belly. Xandros stared at him and wondered if the man would resent it when he stuck his dick deep inside his ass.
He didn't have time to worry about that. Leo bent him over Shaun and pressed two fingers inside Xandros's tight hole. He hissed, the sensation burning around the rim. "Have you ever been fucked like this, Xandros?" Leo asked him.
"Yes," Xandros admitted through gritted teeth. "You know I have." This wasn't going to be easy.
Leo's whisper tickled Xandros's ear. "I guarantee, pirate, that you've never been fucked the way I'm going to fuck you."
Leo reached around and gripped Xandros's cock. The man had two fingers shoved inside his ass and his other hand wrapped around Xandros's dick. Lube slicked over his hard flesh. This was really going to happen. Leo's cock pressed against Xandros's butt cheek, and he shuddered. Visions of the Teran Five guards floated into his head. But this was so different. Leo's touch was firm but sensual, arousing Xandros rather than demanding.
As he stroked Xandros, Leo whispered in his ear. "Watch your mate. Watch Shaun. What you feel is real. It's the most important thing in the universe."
Xandros stared at Carina as the princess drove her to another climax, the ripples of it evident in every line of her face. He licked his lips and let the sensations wash over him. His mark was on fire, the heat radiating all over his body. Sweat gathered on his upper lip, and he tasted the musky flavor with his tongue.
Leo was right. All his life he'd cut himself off, disconnected from those around him. He'd been the consummate observer, always the perfect dom, but never satisfied. Now he was fully engaged, about to be buried inside Shaun, fucked by Leo, and spurred on by the two women to his right.
"Put your legs on Xandros's shoulders," Leo ordered Shaun.
Open and vulnerable, Shaun seemed uncertain, nervous. Xandros bent over him, his hands on either side of Shaun's head. He bent down and brushed the other man's lips with his. "I've been wanting to do this since I saw you."
Something relaxed in Shaun, and he held Xandros's gaze. "Why? To prove you're in charge?"
"No," Xandros answered. "Because you have been the first person I've felt...kinship to in a long time."
Shaun blinked. He hadn't known. Xandros gripped the man's cock in his hand and stroked him roughly. "No one else would understand why I would want to come home. You do."
With a sigh, Shaun nodded. "I do understand." He arched his back, and Xandros and increased the speed of his stroke. "Fuck me, damn it," Shaun said in a deep voice.
Xandros glanced back at Leo who nodded. Slowly, gently, he slid inside Shaun, the channel like a fist around his dick. "Stars! I don't know if I can be gentle."
"Don't be," Shaun said, his voice gritty. "I don't need gentle. I need---I need---"
With a growl, Xandros withdrew and plunged deeper inside Shaun's ass. He kept his hand on Shaun's cock and felt the way it hardened. Leo put his hands on Xandros's hips. "My turn," he murmured.
Xandros had thought he was ready, but Leo speared him, and pain ripped along his nerves. "Shit!"
In response, Xandros pounded Shaun. Leo controlled the thrusts, going fast and hard, driving Xandros into Shaun's anus with no mercy.
Leo grabbed a handful of Xandros's hair. "Watch her. Watch Carina."
Xandros stared and almost lost it. Carina was splayed wide, and Princess Sera had pinned her with the strap-on. He could see the sheen of her cum on the dildo when Princess Sera withdrew it from Carina's pussy. Buried deep inside Shaun, Xandros began to match Sera's rhythm, thrusting in time with her thrusts inside Carina.
Carina flung one hand out, the mark on her arm bright and glowing, and touched Shaun's restrained fist. Shaun's fingers curled around hers, and Xandros pressed his hand over their clasped hands. Connected, he felt every twitch, every convulsion as Carina exploded, her back arched, her mark a fiery light.
"Again, Sera," Leo demanded. "Make her come again."
Carina's head thrashed back and forth. "No more."
"Yes," Leo said. "All those years you've served their pleasure. Now we serve yours."
Sera quickened the pace, and Xandros felt Carina's fist clench. He stared down at Shaun. Their gazes clashed, and Xandros bent closer, deepening his penetration. When their lips collided, Carina's keening wail and the smell of her arousal sent Xandros's head spinning.
His dick tight in the fist of Shaun's ass, and his own ass full of Leo's cock, Xandros couldn't control his responses anymore. He tore his mouth from Shaun's and tossed his head back. Leo grabbed his hair and twisted his head around. When Leo's mouth claimed his, Xandros thrust inside Shaun faster, harder.
Leo broke their kiss and stared at him. "Come for me, Xandros. Come inside Shaun while your mate is coming for my princess."
He was barely finished speaking, and Xandros lost it. He exploded, setting off Shaun's orgasm that shot cum all over both of them. Then Leo gripped his hips and thrust one last time inside Xandros, his hot release sending heat throughout Xandros's body.
Leo's dragon mark flared as Xandros heard Princess Sera wail her own orgasm. The fire burned Xandros's skin, the smell something muskier and sweeter than the smell of burned flesh. Motherfucker, it hurt. The burning went deeper than a brand. It wound through his nerves, his heart, his soul.
He was owned.
It seemed like an eternity when Leo stepped away and wrapped his arms around Xandros. Tears came from nowhere. The brand fucking burned. It ravaged him, like all the beatings, all the loneliness, all the injustice was erased by cleansing fire. He gasped for air, unable to comprehend what it all meant.
When he finally glanced up, Shaun still lay on the floor in front of him. The dragon brand, slightly faded before their encounter, now seemed fresh and new. It was as if Leo had branded both of them.
Gently, Leo touched Shaun's burn. Shaun gasped and shivered beneath Leo's fingers as he released the ropes. "You needed this. You were starting to doubt."
"I don't belong to anyone," Shaun whispered.
Leo placed a hand on Shaun's chest. "You belong to me. To Xandros. To the princess." He pressed his other hand against Shaun's ass, and he hissed in pain. "Until you mark your mate, you belong to us."
"You are mated. He is mated to Carina. I am---" Shaun stopped and started to try and get up. Xandros's heart ached for him. He didn't need Leo to tell him to restrain Shaun. He kept Shaun's feet pinned down.
Leo placed his arm around Shaun's shoulder. "You are mine, Shaun Fenway."
For a moment, Xandros believed Shaun would continue to fight it. But then, his face twisted in pain, in grief. "I am only half a man, Leo. All that I've believed in has been destroyed, killed by the Brotherhood."
Leo stroked his hair, and Princess Sera appeared at his side, her hands soothing him. Leo spoke softly, gently, "Whatever you are, whatever you become, you are ours. We love you."
Xandros's throat closed, and he rose to his feet. He felt awkward, unwanted. Even his mate seemed to be inside this warm circle. And he wasn't. He started to shuffle toward his clothes, intent on escape.
"Where do you think you're going?" Leo's sharp voice made him freeze.
Princess Sera and Carina appeared in front of him, blocking his escape. The princess pointed toward Leo.
He slunk in front of Leo and Shaun, feeling out of place and stupid. He hadn't felt like that since he'd been very young, and it pissed him off. He was no submissive to hide in corners. Leo hadn't broken him. He raised his head and met Leo's stare.
The weight of Leo's gaze was difficult to hold, but Xandros did it. Leo smiled. "I'm not finished."
He and Shaun rose. Leo stepped behind him and traced the brand on Xandros's ass. "You belong to me. I am your Master." Leo placed his hands on Xandros's shoulders and turned him. His face was set in a determined expression. "You've proven yourself worthy, Xandros. Why were you running?"
"Because he wants to be loved," Princess Sera answered. "Because you love Shaun. You love me. You love Carina. But who loves the pirate?"
Xandros's nostrils flared. Damn it. She was right. He felt exposed, more than just naked. Love wasn't something he'd ever needed before, but he wanted it. How could he ask Carina to love him when he'd marked her the way he had? How could he ask anyone to love him?
Suddenly, the room was too close, too small. He tried to jerk away from Leo, but Shaun held his arms, and Leo gripped his shoulders. "Carina?"
His mate stepped closer, and Leo let go of Xandros's shoulders. Carina tipped her head up to face him. "I love the pirate," she said clearly.
His throat hurt, and he couldn't seem to form words. "Carina," he croaked.
She flung her arms around him, and Shaun let go of Xandros's arms so he could wrap them around her. At her touch, the flood of words came out, and he told her everything. How he had longed for her in the dark, dank prison. How he loved her. How no woman had ever lived up to her and never could. How he would spend his whole life caring for her.
Her tears soaked into his skin, and every dark thought floated away. He loved her. He needed her. He didn't need Leo's mark to make him whole. He needed her. "I was a fool, Carina."
She leaned back and stroked his cheek. "Thank you."
"For what, machinka?"
"You took that brand. Let Leo..." Her lips trembled. "For me."
He kissed her gently. "I'd take on the universe for you," he said.
"Good," Leo said, his voice suspiciously hoarse. "You may have to."
Hours had passed, and Carina still hadn't processed everything that had happened in that workout room. She glanced at Xandros's sleeping form. His dark hair was mussed from sleep, and his face was more relaxed than she'd ever seen it.
It all confused her. Though Leo had been directly behind Xandros, it was both her mate and Shaun who bore a dragon brand. And what Princess Sera had done to her still caused Carina's blood to zing. It wasn't just the sex or even the domination. Somehow, it had been connected to what Leo had done to Xandros. She couldn't explain it, even to herself, but she felt as branded as Xandros had been.
Leo and Sera had taken them in, more than family, bonded in a way Carina didn't understand. Perhaps it had to do with this messenger thing.
She rose from the bed and covered her naked body with a robe the princess had given her. A computer console on the table leaped to life under her fingers. It looked like Leo had considered that Carina might need access to information about the prophecy.
Sindar's words were written in the usual mystical manner, and most of it didn't make much sense. Leo had thoughtfully provided a vid of the prophet.
Still, it was startling to see a four-armed, four-eyed Dormrelian warrior on the screen, his dark green scales gleaming. He didn't wear priest's robes or religious icons. The only decoration on the warrior was a heavy gold necklace with three concentric circles interlaced. It seemed that Sindar had allowed himself to be interviewed.
"Sindar, you have claimed to have a vision of the future. Can you tell me where this power comes from?" The Dormrelian interviewer was offscreen, but her voice was laced with skepticism.
Sindar's smile exuded tolerance. "My mother is directly descended from the Paquels. They were a family of great power."
"Clearly. So your visions come from your genetics?" Again, the almost mocking tone had no effect on Sindar.
He leaned forward and stared intently at the interviewer. "I don't know why I see the future. I only know that someday it will be very important." Suddenly, his four eyes swerved to look directly into the cam. "I see the comet pass. I see the three that loom in the future, that must save the universe from a black shadow." He flicked a glance at the interviewer. "Even the Dormrela won't escape this darkness. It will take power and faith to defeat it."
The interviewer lost all pretense of objectivity. "How typically cryptic. You have many followers, but you give them no specifics."
Sindar focused on the woman behind the cam. "The future doesn't unfold in straight lines. But I will be as specific as I can." His blue eyes were focused and shining. "The bond of mating, the connection between these people who save us all in the future, it goes beyond family. It's as close as one can be with another being. Only the Ardasians, with their psychic bonds, could be closer. These people hold back the darkness, but they don't do it through violence, though they have to fight." His hand reached out and touched the interviewer offscreen. "It's their bond, marked by a dragon, a bird, and a knife, that will hold against one of the most diabolical beings ever created."
The interviewer was silent for a moment, and then she asked him, "What makes this being so evil?"
Sindar leaned back, a somber, dangerous expression on his face. "This being doesn't just degrade the people under his power. He works to unravel civilization on all worlds. And he will come close to gaining the power to do it." Again, he faced the cam. "The true innovation of the future will not be technological but organic, evolutionary." He used his hand to show a flow, like water. "The ability of any being to transform, to be a conduit for change, gives them tremendous power." When he smiled, Carina gasped. He was handsome, sexy. His gaze focused on the unseen interviewer. "Like a sexual submissive that bows to the will of her Master, yet holds the key to power in her hands, power is disguised by a perceived meekness."
"How will we know these beings who will save us?" The woman sounded less hostile but still doubtful.
"We won't even know we need rescuing," Sindar said with a grin. "But we will know them by their deeds. I name them, but the names are not uncommon. Many with the name Eyler, Tao, and Fenway will come and go." The smile dropped from his face, and he leaned forward, his stare fixed intently on the female interviewer. "Mark my words. The future is never set. I see a fulcrum, a point on which several possibilities rest. Only two possible outcomes remain. A universe where freedom reigns and a universe where only slavery exists." He shook his head. "The decisions made by the three players I've named are crucial."
"Sindar, why do you only see this future? This time?" the interviewer asked. "Why can't you see a solution to the problems we have now?"
Sindar's tender expression showed his feelings for the unseen woman. Damn! Carina thought. He loves her. She doubts the very purpose of his existence, but he loves her. Wow.
"Mya, our problems are not universe ending. Yes, we have difficulties---conflicts that we would all like to see resolved. But this is about the enslavement of billions of beings. I don't know why I was given this vision. I only know it was given to me. I can fight it. I can run away from it. But it will always be there."
"You could ignore it. Live a life that isn't about prophesying the future," the woman said, and Carina thought she sounded almost desperate.
Sindar shook his head. "I tried." His gaze was intense, burning. "Have you ever loved another being with an insatiable passion? A passion that was so frightening that you tried to run away from it, tried to ignore it?"
The interviewer didn't answer the question, but the silence was charged with feeling that Carina could sense even over the distance of time.
The man continued. "You couldn't run or ignore it. That's what this is, Mya. It's my love for the universe, for all the myriad of beings that inhabit it that makes me accept what I've been given."
"Even to your death? " The woman's voice was thick with emotion.
Sindar reached out and touched the woman offscreen as if he'd forgotten the cam, forgotten the interview. "Even to my death."
The screen faded, and Carina stared at the blankness for a moment. For some reason, she'd believed these prophecies had been about religion, about power. Sindar didn't seem to be some holy-rolling preacher.
None of it seemed connected to her.
"In the end, it did cost him," Xandros said. He stood behind her, and she hadn't even realized he'd gotten out of bed.
Carina glanced at him and then rose to her feet. "I won't do it," she said abruptly. "I won't play the prophecy game."
"Good," he snapped and gripped her arm. "Come with me. We'll find a hidey-hole in the universe and stay there. I'll worship you, you kneel at my feet, and we'll make our own religion."
The tension in her chest relaxed, and she broke into a giggle. She buried her face in his neck. "No. I know that's foolish."
His arms wrapped around her. "It isn't foolish." He stroked her hair. "You deserve to be happy, machinka."
She tipped her head back and stared at him. "Do I?" Her stomach rolled. "Why? I killed hundreds of people to gain one objective: to kill the head of the Brotherhood. Maybe happiness was never my destiny."
His hands cupped her face. "I want to make you happy, Carina. Let me do that."
It would be so easy. Just walk away from the prophecy, from the expectation that she would save the universe, from everything. But it wasn't who she was, and she and Xandros knew it. "I have to do this," she said. Hearing it out loud, she had a sense of purpose, of need. In her mind, the whole thing seemed impossible and frightening. But when she spoke the words, she realized this was what she had to do.
She had to rescue Finn and Aron and strike a blow to the heart of the hated Blueshift Brotherhood.
"Then I will do it with you," Xandros said simply. "We will do our part."
Tears blurred her vision, and she buried her face in his shoulder again. "This is mine to do, Xandros. Mine. You should---"
Xandros jerked her back to him and devoured her mouth, cutting off the words. When he lifted his head, Carina was breathless. "Don't even suggest it. This is yours to do, and you belong to me."
The mark on her arm throbbed with painful need. "Xandros," she moaned, her voice husky.
With clear intent, he backed her toward the bed. "You are mine, Carina. You have always been mine."
She put her hand out and stopped him. "Xandros, I love you. I have always loved you. Even when I was sixteen and foolish."
The fire that leaped in his gaze made her shudder. He stepped closer and crushed her hand between them. "And I love you, Carina. Without you, I'm empty. Fill me up, machinka."
When his mouth touched her, it was like coming home, like those rare moments when Carina's direction was clear. This man, this mark, this moment, were supposed to happen. She clung to him, reveling in his power over her and delighting in the power she had over him. He wanted her, loved her.
His touch burned over her skin, and he stripped her of her clothes and her sanity with his wicked hands. Yet every slide of his fingers, every stroke of his tongue was reverent, as if he was savoring her.
He pressed her into the mattress of the bed, looming over her like the destiny she'd wanted to deny. Stars! Carina had no idea that the crease under her arm or the gentle dip along her rib cage was an erogenous zone, but Xandros's mouth touched those places, and she trembled. He nipped and bit her flesh, arousing every nerve until she thought she'd scream.
When he finally bent down to sweep his tongue over her engorged clit, she was completely mindless, the mark on her arm glowing and burning. She arched off the bed as he rhythmically sucked on that sensitive bundle of nerves. He drove her higher, torturing her.
"Xandros, please. Let me come."
He lifted his head, his gaze dark and demanding, his features tight with need. "Then you know what to say. You know how to ask me."
Just his words drove her closer to the brink. He'd told her his position with her, that the mark that Leo gave him changed only his status on Nylar, not with her.
"Master, please," she said, her body shaking. "Master, let me come."
He studied her, two of his fingers sliding inside her pussy. Heat streaked through her, and she held on by a thread. But she wanted---no, needed---his permission.
"Whose pussy is this?" he demanded, his voice gritty and low.
"Yours. Yours," she said and thrashed beneath him. Stars! She wanted to bathe his fingers in her cum.
"Again, Carina. Whose pussy is this?" His gaze burned into hers.
"Yours, Master. Please," she whimpered.
He still didn't give her permission. He pulled his two fingers from her pussy, and they glistened with the evidence of her arousal. Those he thrust into the tight hole of her ass. She hissed from the pressure. His free hand was busy replacing those fingers, and he began to move inside her, filling her.
"You come for me. When my mouth touches your clit, I want you to come."
Anticipation almost killed her. She held her breath, her body filled with his touch, his voice, his command. When his teeth scored her clit, she exploded, her body twisting and thrusting into his waiting hands.
He jerked his hands free and slapped them on either side of her head. She was still quaking when he took possession, his cock driving deep inside her, touching every single nerve ending and sending her higher.
When he gripped her hips, she went wild, her climax rolling over her, flattening everything in its path. He shot his cum inside her, and she screamed. The orgasm burned through her, set her on fire, the mark of the herwalk bright red.
It went on and on as if it would never stop, as if this was the only thing that was real. The rest of the world didn't matter. Only this connection.
She had no sense of time, no idea how long it was before they came down from their explosive high.
Still buried inside her, Xandros fell asleep, and she followed soon after, connected to the man she loved in every way that mattered.
"Father Pestori has made his move."
Xandros and the others were gathered in the mess hall when Leo announced that time had run out. Instinctively, Xandros reached for Carina's hand and gripped it.
"He's announced to the universe that he will execute the two Nyral males publicly." Leo's face was hard, grim.
"What is it about these two men?" Xandros asked.
Leo glanced at Shaun who stared at the tabletop. "When we inducted Shaun back into Nyral society, essentially granting him forgiveness and trust, the Brotherhood reacted by killing the hostages that kept the Nyral males in line." Leo's nostrils flared. "The Brotherhood has kept the men alive to bargain with us."
"What do they want?" Carina asked sharply.
"Me," Princess Sera answered. "They have offered to trade me for the two men."
Carina's hand closed into a fist within Xandros's grip. "You aren't considering it, are you?" Her eyes widened when the princess's gaze slid away. "You have. Are you insane? Without you, the Brotherhood wins."
"Not necessarily," the princess said. "The prophecy only stated Leo and I would start a new religion. That part has been accomplished. Our established culture on Placido will continue no matter what happens to me."
Carina turned to Leo. "You are going along with that bullshit?"
The man shrugged. "No. But all we've done is negotiate."
"You can't negotiate with them," Carina snapped. "They're evil with only one purpose." She pointed her finger at the princess. "Her death."
"I know that," Leo said, but it was hard to see what the man really thought.
Princess Sera stepped closer to Carina. "What do you care? You would have killed me in a heartbeat if it meant getting your revenge."
Xandros glanced at his mate. She would have done anything to avenge her sister's death. Her sole purpose was to kill the head of the Brotherhood, and nothing would have stood in her way. If killing the princess got her closer to that goal, then Carina would have done it. Carina's gaze touched Leo's and then met the princess's weighty stare. "Yes, I would have. Everything I've done had one goal, one thought: to get me into the presence of the Great Father." Her lips pressed together, and Xandros longed to pull her into his arms. "But I watched that video Sindar made. I've seen the writings on the cave walls at Nariad. That Ardasian woman died to protect me." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I have to believe this is worth something, that all those people who have died are gone for a reason, not just my revenge."
Princess Sera's stare softened, and she closed her hand over one of Carina's fists while Xandros still held her other one. The princess reached up with her free hand to stroke Carina's cheek. "We have more in common than you think."
When Carina opened her eyes, Xandros was surprised to see tears swimming in their dark brown depths. "It calls me the messenger, and I don't even have a message," she said brokenly. "All I've known is revenge and death."
"And love," the princess said. "You love, Carina."
"That's no message to save the universe," Carina scoffed. She wiped the tears away with a jerky movement.
"On the contrary, it's the most important message you can share," the princess told her. "But I think your message will be given to you when the time is right." She turned her attention to Leo. "You have a plan? You always have a plan."
Leo grinned. "Yes, I've got a plan. We're going to give them what they want."
It wasn't a great plan.
Not according to Xandros, who didn't like the fact that his mate was going to be front and center. Also the fact that the plan seemed to hinge on some mystical woo-hoo bullshit he didn't understand.
The whole thing pissed him off. Leave it to the universe to fuck him again once he'd found the woman he loved. Wasn't it bad enough that he'd been through hell already? Sitting on the bridge of this ship headed to insanity, he wallowed in self-pity. If only his father hadn't been a traitor. If only he'd slogged it out on Nylar when everyone harassed him about his father's betrayal. If only he hadn't been caught and tortured by the TIF.
If only.
That was pointless. The facts were certain. All those things had happened, and he couldn't change them. And he wasn't sure if he would change them.
"Are you worried the plan will fail?" Princess Sera interrupted his thoughts.
Hell yes. "Leo is suggesting that the Brotherhood will sacrifice sense to kill you," he said bluntly. "If he's wrong, my mate pays the price."
He and the princess were alone on the bridge. Shaun had claimed he needed a nap, and Leo and Carina had disappeared to get something to eat. Xandros wasn't sure why it had felt planned, but this conversation hadn't occurred by accident.
"You believe he'd sacrifice Carina?" Princess Sera didn't seem angry or put out. Her beautiful face was serene, unlined.
"For you?" Xandros studied the princess. He was a man who loved good-looking women, but for some reason, Princess Sera left him cold. "I think he'd sacrifice anything for you."
He sat in the com chair, his leg flung over the side, but he sat up straight when the princess strode closer and straddled him. He jerked his head up, and his hands grabbed the armrests. What the fuck was she doing?
"And you wouldn't? Listen to me, pirate." She leaned closer, her lips near his ear, her hips aligned with his. "There's an extremely important fact you missed in that workout room." Her breath was warm, and he couldn't help his body's reaction to her. He tensed, prepared to throw her off him if she tried to press closer. "Leo would never sacrifice those he loves." She leaned back and met his stare. "And he loves all of us. We are bonded in ways we may never understand."
"But if it came down to you or---"
Her fingers touched his mouth, and his voice died. She stroked his lips, her nails sliding over his sensitive skin. "He wouldn't choose, pirate. He would rather die himself."
"His plan has flaws."
The princess backed away and shrugged. "Any plan would. Tell me, Xandros. Is it Leo you don't trust or yourself?"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Who would you sell out to save Carina? Would you allow billions to be enslaved to save her?"
Fuck. He wanted to say, No, of course not, but his throat closed. He'd suggested running away to Carina but knew she would refuse to run. But what if she'd said yes? Would he have turned his back on the universe to keep Carina?
"I don't know," he said, his voice hoarse.
Princess Sera's face softened. "Ah Xandros. You doubt. That's good."
He snorted. "You think? The idea that I might sell out billions for one woman is frightening."
The woman smiled. "I know the feeling." She pressed her hand on his shoulder. "I think, Xandros Jasper, when the time comes, you'll make the right choice."
"You know they're expecting us," Carina said. She'd waited until she and Leo were alone to speak the truth. Leo could plan all he wanted, but she knew the Brotherhood had anticipated every step she'd taken.
"Yes, I know." Leo warmed up two meat pockets. The smell filled the dining area. It reminded her of home, of Nylar, of her childhood. Leo had never been a good cook, and Shanie's time at her clothing store had kept her late. As a child, Carina had eaten whatever slop Leo had put in front of her, thrilled the military hero would spend time with her at all.
A smile lifted her lips. Had her hero worship ever been too much for him? "I wanted to be just like you when I was a kid."
A dark scowl twisted Leo's face as he stared at the laser heater. "I know it."
"Leo, I made the choice. Every step of the way, I chose. You didn't force me into anything." She could sense his guilt, his overdeveloped sense of responsibility.
Finally he met her gaze. "You were nineteen, Carina. Nineteen. And I didn't question it when the general wanted to put you undercover."
"You know why now." She held his stare. Yes, they knew. The Brotherhood had arranged it all. They wanted to own Carina's soul, so they murdered her sister, corrupted her brother-in-law, and made her a killer.
A shiver made her tremble. They fucking knew. Every damn step along the way, the Brotherhood had anticipated them, waited for them. Now was no different. Her fingers threaded through her shorn, jagged hair.
Leo touched her hair, a bleak expression pinching his eyes. "Why did they do this?"
"My team probably did it. I'm lucky to be alive," she said, then stood up abruptly. She turned her back. "It's common to shave the head of a traitor."
Carefully, Leo put his arm around her shoulders. When was the last time she'd let Leo comfort her? Years. He pulled her into his arms and held her closely. Confusing emotions lodged in her throat, and she resisted the urge to break away.
Leo pressed her head into his shoulder. "The universe has a reason for everything, but I'll be damned if I can figure this one out."
"Dominos," she said huskily.
He leaned back. "What?"
She glanced up at him. "If Shanie hadn't been killed, if we hadn't gone undercover, if all that hadn't happened, do you think we'd be here now? If all the horrible things hadn't happened, you wouldn't have ended up with Princess Sera. If Shanie hadn't died, Xandros wouldn't have acted on the love he has for me." She noted Leo didn't seem surprised by her assessment. "The universe only looks random. There's nothing random about it."
He squeezed her, then let her go. "How do you suggest we deal with the Brotherhood? If you're right, and they know what we plan, what should we do?"
"The last thing they'd expect."
"Which would be?" Leo placed a meat pocket in front of her.
"Your plan, but with modifications." The crust was hot, but Carina picked at it with her fingers to place small bites on her lips. Heat. That's what surrounded the surface of Pelios. Liquid molten lava ran over the surface of the prison planet.
What the priests wouldn't anticipate was that she would remember the words, the intonation that Father Pestori had spoken. Or perhaps they didn't realize she'd come into contact with the Nariadians.
"What modifications?" Leo had finished his meal and brushed crumbs off his uniform.
"While Xandros brings the princess to Father Pestori, Shaun and I are going to rescue those men." She held Leo's gaze. He wouldn't agree to this. He wouldn't understand.
Sure enough, he shook his head. "Too risky. The Brotherhood doesn't trust Xandros."
"Actually, he's the only one they'll trust." The Brotherhood had studied him, studied her. They would believe she had no memory, that Xandros would attempt to get out of their connection. If he bargained for his return to Nylar, the priests would buy it.
The question was whether the leader of the Brotherhood would buy it.
"They've seen the rage. They know he's more than just your marked mate." Leo wasn't convinced. And if he wasn't, the chance that Xandros would go along with the plan was pretty slim.
She leaned forward and stared at her brother-in-law. "They don't know anything about Nyral markings, Leo. Even I didn't know." She nodded when his gaze slid away. "You know what I mean. They think it's just some chemical thing, something genetic that can be cut away." She emphasized the word with the downward slash of her arm. "The rest of the world---hell, anyone who isn't marked like this---they think it's simple." Her mark flared to life when she extended her arm to show Leo the intricate mark, the bird's feathers, the dark predatory gaze of its eyes, the curve of its beak all carved into her skin like a tattoo. It was permanent, embedded deep inside her soul as much as it had been burned into her arm. "Look at this, Leo. I can't explain it, but I know he was meant for me. And I was meant to be here, in this moment."
Leo stared at the mark on her arm. With his finger, he traced the edge of the bird. "Shanie and I hoped that you would find a nice man, settle down, and have children." His mouth twisted, and she resisted the urge to jerk her arm away. Gently he stroked her arm. "We had dreams for you the way any parent would." He lifted his gaze and met hers. "But when Shanie was murdered, I didn't think about you at all. I sent you into hell and didn't think twice."
"Leo---" How could she explain it? For a moment, the words weren't there, but then, she remembered the moment she'd decided to go after the Brotherhood. "I never told you what happened that day, did I?"
He blinked, his scarred face suddenly seeming vulnerable. She covered his hand with hers. "You found me, remember? In the house, covered in blood."
Leo nodded slowly. "You didn't speak for days."
"They---" She swallowed. Of all the memories, she wanted to forget this one. "Shanie escaped them at first. You trained her well."
A muscle moved in Leo's jaw, and his lips tightened. "Not well enough."
"Enough for her to save me." She took a deep breath. "She was bleeding. Femoral." She tried to deliver the story in the way she reported her kills. Short and to the point. "She knew she was dying. But she thought---" Tears clogged her throat. Damn. Fucking memories. "She thought the assassins wanted us both. So she hid me under that fucking couch and made sure they followed her. She deliberately let them kill her. For me."
Her cheeks were wet, and Leo's warm fingers on her face made her flinch. But he cupped her face and held her blurry gaze. "Oh honey."
"And then, you came. You went into the rage and killed them all." She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I wanted to bathe in their blood, dance on their bones."
Slowly she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "I decided I would do whatever it took to find the man who ordered her death." She reached up and gripped his hands on her face. "So, you see, it didn't matter what you said or did, Leo. I would have gone after him."
"I should have---" he started, but she shook her head.
"All that time I didn't speak, I was planning. Your permission was...incidental." She'd always wanted to tell him, but there never seemed to be a time to say the words.
"So you became Rina, the assassin." He held her hands. "I know what being a Primarian made me. What did being an assassin make you?"
She stared at the tabletop. "Awful," she whispered. "So terrible that I hope Xandros never knows the things I've done."
"He won't care," Leo said calmly.
The hell he wouldn't. She trembled. "It wasn't just the kinky sexual favors I did or the people I murdered." She gritted her teeth. "I used Shaun. I used anyone and everyone. And not every time was for the 'greater good.' It was as if there was another me, another person in charge who felt nothing."
"Stars, Carina," Leo exclaimed. "You had to do it. Four years with those monsters would fuck anyone up. Trust him. He loves you."
She pounded her fist on the table. "And how long would that last when he found out that I know his father is innocent?"
"What?" Leo's hands tightened on hers in a death grip, and his gaze was on the door behind her.
Shit.
"Leo, can I have a minute with my mate?" Xandros's voice was quiet. Too quiet.
When Leo rose to his feet, Carina stared back down at the tabletop. Leo cleared his throat and then abruptly left the room.
Xandros took the chair Leo had vacated and clasped his hands in front of him on the table. She waited for him to blast her, yell at her for not telling him. Instead he waited a moment and then reached across the table to cup her hands in his. "Carina, I love you. Whatever you know about my father isn't going to change that."
"Don't say that. You don't know." She tugged on her hands, but he held them tighter.
"Machinka---"
She couldn't stand it. "No! You don't understand." It was difficult, but she made herself look at him. "The Brotherhood set your father up. They've been planning this for a long time. All of it. And I was part of it." Abruptly, she snapped to her feet, but Xandros kept a tight grip on her hand.
"Sit down," Xandros ordered.
She sat but didn't meet his stare. "I knew. Years ago, I knew. I was part of the cover-up to make sure everyone thought he was guilty."
His stillness made her heart ache. "How could you be a part of that, Carina? You weren't even born yet." He wouldn't let her hands go, but she didn't feel the warmth of his touch. Cold spread from the inside out.
"Because three years ago, the conspiracy that sent your father to the Mistresses began to fall apart." She bit her lip and met his gaze. "And I helped them cover it back up." She dropped her stare to her clenched fists cupped in his hands.
She never knew how quiet could be so loud. Her soul waited for his next words. Would he condemn her? Why wouldn't he? They were two people who lived in secrets, in the shadows of the universe, peddling lies to anyone who knew them.
But their connection to each other had transcended the lies, uncovered the truth that lay in their souls, and exposed their real selves. Now, she uncovered another layer, another lie, that she knew would hurt him.
"Carina," he said, his voice warm and vibrant. "Machinka, it doesn't matter what they made you do. It never will."
Tears blurred her vision when she snapped her gaze to his face. "I should have told you. I wanted to but---"
He tightened his fingers on hers. He nodded. "Listen to me. I was four when my father was sent to the Mistresses. I never knew him before he was...broken."
She winced. Broken. The horrific months of torture lay beneath that word. The Mistresses were a necessary tool, using psychology to manipulate and break criminals who grasped power, refused to follow the precepts of Nyral society. Though Carina didn't know exactly what they did, she'd seen the results. A male dominant was reduced to a groveling slave. It wasn't true submission, but subjugation, and the Mistresses were clear on the distinction.
The practice of this punishment had been questioned. But the Mistresses used compelling arguments. An innocent man could not be broken. That was their contention.
Xandros continued. "My mother died before he was released from the Mistresses, and she never said a word about what happened. When my father came home, I was contemptuous, believing a real man wouldn't have crawled." The self-disgust in his voice made his tone harsh. "He told me---" Xandros swallowed and wiped one hand over his face. "He told me that he hadn't been guilty of treason, but he'd deserved what he'd gotten." He cleared his throat and raised his gaze to hers. "And when he told me why, I wanted to forget every word he said."
She waited, but Xandros seemed to struggle for the words. It was her turn to fold his hands in hers. "But you didn't, did you?"
He shook his head and his nostrils flared. "He said he'd...been foolish, falling for a message that turned out to be a lie." Xandros closed his eyes, and Carina tightened her hold, trying to comfort him. "The Brotherhood tempted him with my mother's survival." A muscle jumped in his cheek. "How they knew my mother was going to die, I don't know. But they did. And somehow they convinced my father they knew."
Carina dreaded the next words. Not because she didn't want to hear them, but because she could see how much pain they caused Xandros. Their hands were intertwined, interconnected, so it would be difficult to pull away.
"She died when I was seven and he was in the Conclave. He was freed when I was fifteen." He seemed focused on the past, on that day. "I asked him why he did it, why he betrayed Nylar."
His short laugh was filled with anguish. "He was shocked I asked. It never occurred to him that I would think he was guilty." He shook his head. "My mother believed in his innocence until the day she died. I suppose he thought I would too."
"How did she die, Xandros?" Carina whispered.
"You know." He met her troubled gaze, his face pinched and worn. "She was killed in a random act that poisoned thousands. It never crossed my mind that the Brotherhood had done it until after the TIF released me."
Carina was confused, her mind spun. None of it made sense. "But I thought your father---" She stopped, the question lodged in her throat.
"That he did what the Brotherhood wanted?" Xandros shook his head. "No." He tightened his lips until they were bloodless and white. "He was supposed to murder me."
Stunned, Carina stared at him. "I don't understand."
"My father was supposed to get rid of me. The Brotherhood promised they could stop my mother's death. Hell, they got him to betray secrets in order to keep her alive. They convinced my father that it was either me or her. When he wouldn't play their game, he was set up, and my mother died." His voice was heavy with emotion. Such a burden to carry. "I'm the reason my mother is dead and my father killed himself." Xandros began to disentangle his hands. "So you see? There's nothing you can tell me that will change how I feel about you."
He yanked his hands away and stood up, turning his back on her. Slowly, she got to her feet and pressed her hand to his back. "Oh, my love. There's so much more to this."
His fists were clenched at his side, and he shook his head once sharply.
She pulled on his arm. "The Brotherhood deliberately took everything from you. From both of us. If they wanted us dead, they could have done it."
His head whipped around and she nodded. "So, why do it? That's the question." She had his attention. "To keep us broken, damaged." And it almost worked. "I've seen how they operate. They don't always want me to kill someone, though I've often left a person wishing they were dead."
He cupped her face with his hands. "I once thought that the marks were just a biological manifestation of sex. I thought the rage was a myth. Now, I can't imagine my life without you, my soul without yours." His eyes brimmed with tears. "There is no secret, no person, nothing that could change it."
"Xandros," she whispered his name, her heart filled to bursting.
His smile transformed his face from the tight, stretched features to relaxed. "How many times do you think we have to declare our undying love before we'll believe it?"
She snorted. "Probably a bunch more."
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Whatever it takes, machinka. You are mine. And however many times it takes to say it, prove it, declare it, I will."
She snuggled deeper into his arms. Whatever happened at Pelios, it couldn't rob her of these precious moments.
The plan was in place, complete with all the flaws that worried Xandros. The modifications he'd suggested were also implemented, but he still wasn't happy. Just the name "Pelios" screamed danger. He didn't like being apart from his mate while she paid a visit to a place like that.
Of course, walking onto the Brotherhood's ship wasn't safe either. Originally, Leo was going to wear a holomask and play the part of a bounty hunter. Xandros insisted on going as himself. Leo would still have the disguise and stay with Princess Sera in case it all went wrong, but Xandros was sure the Brotherhood would see right through the plan.
Carina and Shaun had the trickier deal. They all had no idea whether Carina's power would work or not, and their backup plan was sketchy.
All and all, nothing new, really.
Xandros always flew by the seat of his pants, confident in his ability to survive. Right now, Leo, Xandros, and the princess surrounded Carina and Shaun to see if one part of their plan would work or not.
Carina knelt in front of Shaun. Stars, she was beautiful when she was on her knees. She'd fixed the jagged cuts in her hair and now it fell long in the back and short and spiky in the front and sides. Her flight suit was black, her slim, small form filling out the material but leaving no doubt that she could kick ass when needed.
Shaun was also dressed in black. His hazel eyes were dark and hooded until he began to speak the words Carina had remembered from her last meeting with Father Pestori. Then his eyes glowed greenish gold, eerie and frightening.
The words were gibberish to Xandros, but power filled the room. The air shimmered. A small light grew larger, circling around, glowing like a florescent beam. Just as Carina had described, it shone purple and gold, such innocuous colors for something that struck fear inside him.
His mate mark burned, and he noted Carina's shone red, the power that ripped through her also tore through him. Her eyes snapped open, and he met her gaze. He hated that they had to be separated, but that was what they had planned.
Shaun and Carina stepped closer to the portal, joined hands, and then both of them glanced back at Xandros. The love in Carina's gaze riveted him, and an echo of that feeling shone in Shaun's stare too.
Then they were gone, swallowed up by the swirls. All that was left were flashes of light like gold glitter on an empty dance floor.
Leo put a hand on Xandros's shoulder. "Have faith in them. They'll be fine."
"I don't like being apart from her." He stared at the space where his mate had disappeared.
"Now that we know the Star Blessing works for us too, we'll have the advantage when they capture us." Princess Sera linked her arm through Xandros's.
"I hope this works." Xandros wasn't too confident about this. They were walking into the maw of danger and had very little to fall back on. Mystical powers didn't seem as reliable to Xandros as a laser rifle, but he had to go along with this.
"There are two things we have as an advantage," Leo said. "One, the Brotherhood believes they've mind wiped Carina, that she doesn't remember what happened. And two, your reputation."
"I would think that the declaration on Nariad would have given them a heads-up," Xandros said. He'd told the priest that he was allied with Carina and the mate mark, not just a mercenary.
Leo shook his head. "There were no transmissions from the planet after they landed. In fact, chatter on their lines of communication indicates that the Brotherhood has no idea what happened there." He grinned at Xandros. "By the time they figure it out, we'll have rescued those men on Pelios and captured Father Pestori."
Princess Sera glanced up at Leo. "It's time, I think."
Leo nodded. "I agree."
Princess Sera crossed to a small cabinet in the wall of the ship. "Sindar was amazing, Xandros. What he saw, he saw clearly."
Xandros didn't know what to think about the four-eyed mystic who'd spoken to his mate from the past. He didn't doubt the man had seen something, but the future? He wasn't sure about that.
But Princess Sera handed him a data disc and seemed to believe it was meant for him. He shrugged and shoved it into a vid player. The now familiar Dormrelian filled the screen.
The alien's smile was all-knowing. "Greetings, Birdman," he said. When he straightened, the smile was gone. "By now, you've sent your mate off into danger, into a fiery pit." His gaze was filled with compassion. "I know you doubt the prophecies. You should. Nothing is certain." The man leaned forward and peered from the screen. " I do not know your name or your planet, but I know you have the mark of a bird on the inside of your thigh, a mark that connects you to the messenger." Sindar glanced over his shoulder as if he didn't want someone to overhear him. "Listen to me, Birdman. The message she carries resides in you, in both of you. One cannot be without the other." His four eyes narrowed. "I know what you think you must do. But you are wrong. Your sacrifice is not the key to success against this evil. You must free the ones who destroy it. That is your part in this drama." He took a deep breath and stared at Xandros as if he could see him through the eons. "Do not throw your life away, Birdman. You have a long, beautiful life ahead of you."
How had the alien known? Xandros hadn't formed the concrete thought, but he hadn't expected to get out of this alive. To save the rest, he planned to sacrifice his life that the others, especially Carina, might live.
The princess's hand touched his arm. "All of us or none of us, Xandros Jasper."
Xandros stared at the blank screen. "What if we are all destroyed, Princess? Can you really say that you'd be able to live knowing your death might have ended this evil?"
The bleak expression on her face made his heart twist. She dropped her hand. "I live knowing it every day, pirate."
His guts churned. He hadn't meant it that way. "Princess---"
She held up her hand. "Leo taught me that it was better to fight, to go out in a blaze of glory, rather than go to my death meekly."
"I hadn't planned to go quietly."
Princess Sera glared at him. "No? You planned to throw yourself on the pyre of sacrifice to save us. It would destroy Carina." She stepped closer and thrust out her chin. "Tell me you want that for her, that heartbreaking loneliness."
He couldn't. He didn't. He wanted that beautiful life Sindar had talked about. He didn't want to die. For a moment, he blinked, his mouth open, his soul torn between the inevitability he thought he saw and the overwhelming love that filled his heart.
With a nod, Princess Sera stepped back. "That's better. We're not going to die, Xandros. We're going to win."
Xandros shut his mouth and shot a glance at Leo. He wasn't surprised to see a grin on the other man's face. And then, Leo fixed his gaze on Princess Sera, and the absolute adoration Xandros noted softened the man's face. That's what Xandros looked like when he stared at Carina.
For some inexplicable reason, it gave him hope.
Pelios. When Carina and Shaun had tumbled through the portal, they rolled into a rocky cave, filled with heat and the foul stench of weferies' shit. Carina leaped to her feet and plastered her back against the wall.
Sweat poured off her skin, and she noted Shaun hadn't moved from his position across from her. The cave was filled with noise. Men's voices, the whine of the weferies, and the constant pounding of metal on rock. Clearly the men here had no intention of staying if they could escape.
But Carina knew there was no escape for the prisoners here. If those crude tools broke through the rock, all the men would find was molten rock. The only way out was the Star Blessing.
It was part of their plan to use these prisoners, to tempt them to escape. Who wouldn't take the chance to gain freedom even if they were more likely to die? Would death out there be worse than life in here?
Silently, Carina and Shaun crept toward the men's voices. How many prisoners were here? There were no numbers, no records of the lost souls here. How long had the Brotherhood transported prisoners to Pelios?
Too long.
A group of practically naked men surrounded a weferi. The animal guarded a box, probably food dropped by the Brotherhood. Carina wanted to puke. Two prisoners went down as she and Shaun watched, and while the weferi tore the throat out of one, another man jammed a sharp rock into its belly. The creature screamed, and the other men attacked.
Two men lay on the ground, broken, blood pooling around their bodies. The man who had stabbed the weferi first stepped back as the crowd of men tore into the creature, eating its remains. Carina instantly recognized Aron Kirkland.
Cautiously, she approached him, her weapon drawn. They'd been in this hell for weeks. How much humanity had they kept?
When she touched his arm, he spun around and growled. The minute his gaze met hers, joy filled his face. "Rina! You're alive!"
"Aron." She was only able to say his name before emotion clogged her throat. His dark black hair was stringy and limp. He was still muscular and tall, but it was a rangy look rather than the bulked-up way he'd been before. His blue eyes were feverish, bright from adrenaline, not health.
She should have stopped it. She should have killed Father Pestori. But she'd been so intent on her revenge, on her crazy mission, she'd let the Brotherhood send two men she cared about here.
He grabbed her in a fierce hug. "I never thought I'd see you again."
"I'm sorry, Aron. I should have---"
Aron leaned back and stared at her. "What's this?" He studied her face. "Rina, you had a job to do. Why are you here? Is the Brotherhood destroyed?"
She shook her head. "Things have changed. My mission has changed."
At that moment, Aron noticed Shaun. His gaze was...intense. There was something there, something more than just colleagues who found each other. "Shaun," Aron whispered.
"Where's Finn?" Shaun's tone was quiet but clear even over the steady hum of human growls and whines that came from the diners on the weferi's carcass.
Aron shot a glance at the pile of human flesh grabbing and fighting over the animal meat. He picked up the box of food and walked toward one of the large arches that led to a corridor. "This way."
The cave twisted and turned. Weferies howled from other corridors, but Carina didn't see another one. They reached a large opening that led to an open area. A man stood at the entrance, his hand clenched around a stick with a stone arrow on the end.
Finn.
His blond hair was dark and dank. In the firelight emanating from the huge fire built in the open area, his once golden eyes were dull and lifeless. He'd been tall and thin, a warrior of speed and grace. Now he looked like a damn skeleton. In two months, this place had reduced him to skin and bones.
"Rina," he whispered. "Shaun," his voice grew stronger. He dropped his weapon with a clatter and bolted for them. "You're real. By the Stars, you're real."
Carina clasped Finn's face in her hands. "It's only been two months. How did this happen?"
Finn's gaze slid to the floor. Shaun shot a glance at Finn and then frowned at Aron. "What's going on here?"
"It's worse than the rumors believed," Aron told him. "The gases that permeate the caves are poisonous. Even when we can eat, we can't hold it down." His lips pressed together. "There's no one here. The only prisoners are the ones who have survived so far. The longest anyone has been here is six months. Everyone else is dead."
"Call them all. You have a way," Shaun snapped.
Aron nodded. "There was a signal here when I arrived. A way we all know to call when there's food."
"We're going to get you all out of here," Carina said. Stars! Dead. How many? Thousands? Millions? Sent here to die in the poisonous air.
Aron pulled out a box covered in some material Carina was sure was weferies skin. He pounded on it. Three short blows and waited. Five blows and three sharp short blows. He kept this up for twenty minutes before the first stragglers arrived.
Fewer than fifty men and no women were all that was left of the hundreds of thousands sent to Pelios. Carina stared at the gaunt, white faces of the survivors. She met Shaun's gaze. "We have to change our plan."
Shaun nodded sharply. "We discussed the possibility."
"What?" Who had discussed the possibility? How dare they not include her in the whole plan? "You and who, Shaun," she said in a low, tight voice.
Shaun didn't flinch but met her hostile stare. "Xandros was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to use the prisoners to fight."
Carina lost her mind. She whipped out her knife and attacked. Fear ripped through her. She knew, she just fucking knew what that noble idiot had planned. Sacrifice.
His.
The crowd around them grew agitated, but she kept the knife against Shaun's throat. "What have you done?"
Shaun didn't defend himself. He kept his hands out and his demeanor calm. "Xandros had heard more severe rumors about Pelios. He tried to tell you."
She pressed the knife closer, almost as if it had a mind of its own. She wanted to make him bleed, to cleanse the fear, to stop the pain that was threatening to destroy her. "Fuck you, Shaun. I trusted you. I ought to slit your fucking throat." Her heart pounded, and her head spun. The mark on her arm flared, fire licking along her skin.
"Do you want to hear the plan or not?" How the hell was the man so calm when she wasn't even sure if she wasn't going to slice him into pieces?
"Talk fast," she snapped.
The only evidence of Shaun's nerves was a swallow. "He believed you were the key, the one treasure the Brotherhood needed to destroy. He didn't think he had value." He closed his eyes when Carina increased the pressure, and blood trickled from a small cut. But he continued. "I disagreed. I got him to agree to let me get backup from elsewhere."
Carina blinked. Elsewhere? "Explain."
"Xandros has never understood his own appeal," Shaun said and managed a small smile. "There were many of his past associates who were willing to come to his aid. Especially against the Brotherhood."
She backed away slowly, her pulse still pounding. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
Why hadn't Xandros told her? She tightened her lips and waited for Shaun's answer, oblivious to the crowd of starving men around them.
It was a moment before Shaun said a word. He seemed to hesitate, as if saying the wrong thing would get him killed. Carina narrowed her eyes. He was right about that. His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. "He isn't proud of the years he's spent as a mercenary, Rina. He isn't sure those men will come through in this crisis."
"And he knew I wouldn't go if there was any doubt." She was going to fucking kill him herself when she got hold of him.
"Right," Shaun confirmed. His golden eyes were bright and wary. The man knew Carina could take him out and not blink.
"What's the plan now?" she asked and turned her back on Shaun. The hurt of Xandros's lack of trust bit deep, and she didn't want Shaun to see it. Her mate hadn't trusted her, hadn't told her everything. He'd gone to his possible death with a lie on his lips. The bastard.
"Rina," Shaun said softly.
She clenched her fists at her side and ignored them all. Finn and Aron hadn't moved and stared at Shaun. The other men seemed to be waiting. Well, at least she could get these men out of this hellhole.
"Don't." She whirled around and glared at Shaun. "Just...tell me the plan so I can get this done and get as far away from all of you as possible."
She regretted the words as soon as they flew from her mouth. Finn's wince didn't help.
This wasn't just a little betrayal, a small lie she could dismiss because she knew Xandros loved her. This was more than that. He'd let her go, sent her into a dangerous mission, knowing he would sacrifice himself and leave her alone.
Shaun gripped her shoulders and gave her a bone-rattling shake. "He loves you. Beyond reason, beyond anything. Even beyond his self-defeating bullshit. So stop being a pain in the ass and focus on what's important."
The mission. The men dying in Pelios. She took a deep breath. "All right. Now what?"
Shaun dropped his hands and placed two fingers on her neck. "Now we get the fuck out of here."
And go where? Her stomach rolled. The original plan was to go to the mother ship, to overwhelm the Brotherhood forces with the prisoners. But she glanced around and realized the men were too weak to be any good.
So when Shaun chanted, she wondered where they were going. The now familiar power swept through her. For a moment, she wanted to wrest it away from Shaun and send them to the place where she knew her mate faced danger alone.
The temptation was almost too much.
But before she thought about it too long, the portal opened to the location Shaun had set. It shouldn't have surprised her it was a medical facility on Placido. Several medical personnel went to work immediately, as if they were expecting the arrival of the prisoners.
Conflicted, Carina couldn't even seem to help. Part of her wanted to rip Xandros's throat out for lying to her. Part of her wanted to rush to his side, to die with him if that was their fate. And part of her wanted to walk away, let it all fall to pieces.
She'd saved the two men who mattered in the prophecy. What did she matter now? What message could she carry now that her mate was probably dead and she was alone? Princess Sera was wrong. Love was not Carina Tao's message. Only death and loss were written in the stars for her.
Shaun checked on Finn and Aron one last time, then stepped in front of her. She hadn't moved since the portal had closed, and the men had poured through it to freedom. Frozen, numb, agonizingly helpless, Carina stood silently as everything around her moved.
"Are you ready?" Shaun was armed to the teeth, his laser rifle slung over his shoulder, flash grenades dangling from his belt, and power cartridges stocked on his straps. Behind him were at least fifty men of varying ages, all stocked to the hilt with weapons.
She blinked. "Ready?"
Shaun handed her a laser cannon rifle, power cartridges, and five flash grenades. "Let's go get them."
"I may shoot Xandros instead," she said in a low voice.
"As long as you take out some of the Brotherhood as well," Shaun said with a grin.
This time, Shaun didn't chant. Carina spoke the incantation, and the swirls appeared, shining light flickering against the cold gray walls. The portal opened, and Carina charged through.
When she emerged, the power still coursed along her veins. She almost lost her hold when she noted her mate pinned against the wall, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, his screams echoing in the chamber, and Leo and Princess Sera nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't like Xandros hadn't known it was going to be painful. He had only hoped that he wouldn't break down and beg for anything before he died. At least Leo and the princess had escaped.
As Carina had predicted, the Brotherhood knew they were coming, had planned for their arrival. Father Pestori had boasted that soon he would have the princess, the messenger, and the destroyer in his hands. They would all fall into his trap, he'd bragged.
But Xandros and Shaun had changed things up. Carina would live, and though her heart would hurt for a while when he was dead, she would be safe.
The minute they'd boarded the Messiah, Xandros sensed the danger, the hopelessness of his situation. There had been no negotiations, no offer of filthy lucre for the bad-boy pirate. Just a knock on the chin and strapped to a wall twister. Fucking assholes had perfected torture.
The princess had done some magic woo-hoo, and she and Leo were gone in a blink. Leo had tried to grab Xandros, but their hands had broken apart just as the portal they had stepped through opened. Father Pestori, enraged that the princess had escaped, had vented his spleen on Xandros. Damn, the wall twister was an effective tool. Computer-controlled knife slices and nerve inductors meant that the maximum amount of pain mixed with blood loss. It made him light-headed.
How long it had gone on, he didn't know. There was no rescue. Xandros knew the measure of the men Shaun had gone to great lengths to locate and impress into service. It wasn't that they weren't brave enough or strong enough. There just wasn't any profit in rescuing a former captain.
The pain had receded, and Xandros allowed himself to hang limply for a moment. He'd be defiant after he had a rest.
Suddenly, a new pain penetrated his dulled senses. His inner thigh was on fire. His mate mark throbbed and burned.
"What have you done?" a huge, loud voice asked.
He lifted his head, and the sight held him absolutely still. Once before, Xandros had seen the power take Carina. Now she used that power to strike out. The restraints on the wall twister didn't snap.
They disintegrated.
Pain stabbed his knees when he hit the floor. Free. He would die free. He collapsed, too weak to hold himself up.
Power whipped along the metal walls, scraping huge scratches along the gleaming surfaces. Men ran screaming. Streams of white sliced through them, cutting them to pieces. A loud keening sound reverberated off the walls, a sound of agony and pain, and it was coming from his mate.
Stars, she was beautiful.
Blood still poured from his wounds. He was dying. But he kept his head up, his gaze on her, love for her filling his soul. It was all worth it. To save her.
Words tumbled from her mouth, and fire swept through the large chamber and down the corridors. It was chaos and beauty and terrible wonder.
He watched and knew the minute Carina no longer had control. The power devoured her just as it devoured the men she killed.
He had to help her.
Xandros crawled, pain ripping along his nerves. At some point, he realized Shaun and a whole slew of men were behind her, pounding on some invisible barrier, shouting at her. But Xandros had to try and touch her. Every cell in his body ached, but he reached her feet. Blood dripped on her boots, and he reached his hand up to try and stand. Agonizing fire from all the wounds on his body almost dropped him back on the floor, but he braced his weight on Carina's belt and fought through it.
Face-to-face with her, he gripped the material of her shirt, and his breath caught in his throat. Her gaze was milky white, unseeing. Wind buffeted around them, threatening to blow him back on his knees. His hand trembled as he lifted it to her face, and blood stained her cheeks from his ravaged fingers.
"Carina," he whispered. For a moment, he thought his voice had been lost in the wind, lost in the devouring power that consumed her.
But suddenly, her hands clamped on his face, those eerie, unseeing eyes focused on him. The chant changed, and he sensed the bombardment of her magic slam into him. He had no resistance to its force. Like a tornado, it tore through him, weaving in and out, shredding, seeking.
He screamed, his head tipped back, the sound involuntary and high. She was going to kill him as she was killing the others.
Pain. Agony. Fear.
Then something inside him altered, and his wounds closed. Blood stopped oozing from his body. Slowly, every single mark except for the brand on the inside of his thigh disappeared.
It was as if the Brotherhood had never touched him.
Still, she didn't stop. Carina's words flowed all around him, and the incredible power filled the ship. The very structure of the massive machine creaked and groaned. She was going to rip it to shreds, just as she'd destroyed the men in it.
He didn't mind, but he wasn't about to die today. Without another thought, he gripped her hands still clasped to his face and put her arms around his neck. His mouth, hungry for the touch of hers, took possession, effectively stopping the words, halting the continuing destruction.
Yet the intensity of whatever possessed his mate did not recede. It tore through his body, using him as a conduit for...he wasn't sure what.
Carina clung to him, her lips as hungry as his. Passion exploded, and Xandros tried to get closer, closer. He wanted to be a part of her, joined. His mate mark burned, and his hands sought to touch every inch of this woman he loved. Vaguely, he became aware of loud noises, like the roar of an engine.
They were fused, connected in a way Xandros had never experienced, his soul connected to hers, his heart beating in time with hers. The noise around them stopped abruptly, and he lifted his head, finally taking a breath.
Silence surrounded them. There were stars, huge swirls of light and blackness, but nothing to stand on. It was as if they floated in space, alone, silent, free. Yet they weren't moving. Their feet were in the same position as they had been in the chamber on the Messiah.
The message must be downloaded.
A loud, deep voice echoed around them, reverberating in his ear. Carina remained quiet in his arms, her eyes still that milky white color. Her voice was normal, however, when she said, "I understand."
A band of light and stars flickered and shifted nearer to Carina. Xandros held her tightly, afraid of this strange invasion. When the stars passed in front of him and Carina opened her mouth, he didn't have a chance to stop them as they rushed into the body of his mate.
She jerked in his arms and clutched his biceps. Light streamed from her eyes, nose, and mouth. The words flowed from her, in her voice, but louder and stronger.
"Peace shall come to this galaxy, paid for in blood. The Brotherhood shall fail. Those who follow the light will live. Those who follow the Brothers of Darkness shall die. Pay heed to the Stars.
"Those who dishonor the Stars shall be devoured in their own fire.
"Placidians, accept the power given to you and your fellow humans on Nylar. Joined, you will be at peace. Alone, you are prey to those who seek your death.
"Four shall join, marked by the knife. The destruction of the Brotherhood by them is the key to mankind's survival.
"One shall give his arm.
"One shall give his life.
"One shall give his heart.
"One shall give her soul.
"The knife shall cut across the universe to lance the boil and kill the Blueshift Brotherhood. If they fail, the universe will fall. The stars cannot save those who will not listen. Heed and survive."
Carina collapsed, and Xandros instinctively caught her. When he hefted her into his arms, they were back in the chamber aboard the Messiah, and Shaun stood in front of him.
"Father Pestori escaped," Shaun said as Carina painfully opened her eyes. She was in a med bay, every muscle hurting, but alive. Blissfully alive. "But every Brotherhood priest on that ship is dead. When I saw we couldn't get through that barrier, I sent your men back through the portal before it closed. Carina and the two of us are the only survivors."
"What happened to all the boys you rounded up?" Xandros asked.
Shaun grinned. "The princess paid them, and they disappeared."
Xandros snorted. "Typical." But Carina could tell he'd been touched by their loyalty.
"Leo?" she croaked out. Immediately, Xandros's warm, familiar hands were on her face, and his worried expression made her heart clench.
"He's fine, machinka. He and Princess Sera are just outside."
At the sound of the endearment she thought she'd never hear again, tears gathered in her lashes. Stars, her throat hurt. "Where are we?" The last thing she remembered was the sight of Xandros bleeding, dying. She closed her eyes, the memory too close. She'd almost lost him.
"We're aboard the Seeker. Your message was broadcast across every network, every array, every vid stream. How did you do it?" Shaun asked.
"What message?" She had no idea what the fuck he was talking about.
Xandros left her side for a moment and turned on a vid by her bed. Carina stared, unsure how to handle the sight of herself on screen with light beaming from her and strange words coming from her mouth. Stars! What the hell happened?
"I think the princess may have an answer," Xandros answered her unspoken question.
But when he started to head for the door, she grabbed his arm. "Stay. Please."
Shaun gazed at her and shook his head.
She blinked as he extricated his arm from her grip. "What is it, Shaun?"
For a moment, whatever roiled inside him seemed about to break loose. But he shook his head again. "Nothing. I'll get the princess."
When Shaun left the room, she reached with her other hand to touch Xandros, to make sure he was real. She'd thought he was dead or close to it.
"I should kill you myself," she said even as her hands clutched at him.
Xandros crawled onto the gurney beside her even though there was barely enough room for her. "Later. Kill me later. Right now, I just want to feel you."
He enveloped her in his arms and pressed her face into his neck. She inhaled his scent and drank in his warmth. Never again. She wouldn't let him out of her sight.
Quietly, he stroked her back in slow movements, and she relaxed in his arms. With her guard down, she let herself feel the things that lay buried beneath her anger, and tears burst from her. She cried so hard, her whole body shook. The fear of losing him, the loss of control in the midst of the crisis; the whole fucking thing flattened her, and she let it take her.
Xandros didn't whisper that everything would be okay or tell her to stop crying. He didn't say anything. He held her gently, his hands continuing their soothing circles on her back. He didn't seem surprised or worried by her outburst.
Soon the storm passed, and she felt like a limp dishrag. But when Xandros kissed her forehead and then tipped her chin to kiss her lips, she didn't feel like one anymore. He made her feel special, beautiful, cherished. Who knew her pirate had a sensitive side?
"No one has seen me cry as much as you have," she murmured against his chest.
"Not just anyone has seen me get fucked up the ass," Xandros told her.
"I'm not a crier," she protested.
One side of his mouth lifted. "I'm not into getting fucked up the ass. So what? That's what love is, right? The good, the bad, the ugly, the weird is just part of who we are. And I love all of you." He brushed her lips with his and tightened his hold.
"I don't know what happened. I don't know if it will happen again," she said in a rush. "What if---"
He covered her mouth with his, and she forgot what they were talking about.
When he lifted his head, his gaze was fierce and bright. "We aren't going to worry about what might happen. We'll deal with right now."
She shifted and got a nice feel for what he wanted "right now." "How about we take care of your little problem right now?"
He leaned back and frowned. "What do you mean by 'little'?"
"Well, it's big enough, but I don't want to make a mountain out of a mouse turd." She pressed her lips together to keep from giggling.
She gasped when he smacked her ass with his hand. "Are you calling my dick a turd?"
"I see you've recovered," an amused female voice announced.
Xandros didn't move, and Carina glanced at the princess. "Yes." She couldn't help it. She grinned.
Leo, standing behind the princess, stared at Carina like he'd never seen her before. "What?" she said impatiently. What in the hell was Leo's problem?
He shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen a smile like that on your face."
To her frustration, Carina flushed. Xandros chuckled and stroked her hair. "I'll take that as a compliment."
She glared at Xandros and tried to pull away, but he held on tight. She sighed and relaxed. It felt better to let Xandros hold her, worth all the embarrassment she might feel. They still had a long way to go. He hadn't trusted her, hadn't told her everything.
But for now, she was too tired and too glad to be able to touch him to argue with him.
"Shaun says you don't remember anything." Princess Sera sat down in a chair next to them.
Carina turned, her back plastered against Xandros's chest, needing that solid reassurance that he was with her. She studied Leo's mate. After Shanie had died, Carina had been set adrift, lost in the weight of her grief. For Leo, it had been worse. Marked and mated, Leo and Shanie had seemed to Carina like the perfect happy couple.
But studying the princess and the way Leo glanced at the woman, the way his whole being seemed to focus on her, Carina wasn't sure her sister had been right for him. Of course, when she'd heard about Leo's fascination with Sera Placido, she'd had conflicted emotions. Fear that Leo might be put in danger because of the princess. Concern that the princess might hurt him since she'd seemed like a cavalier lover with no thought for the feelings of others. And anger that Leo would replace Shanie. Ever.
Princess Sera had been right. If Carina had thought the only way to take down the Brotherhood was the death of the Placidian princess, she'd have done it in a heartbeat. She closed her eyes, but the truth couldn't be shut out.
When she opened them again, the princess stared at Carina with compassion in her gaze and a soft twist of her mouth. "I think I mentioned we may have more in common than you think, Carina."
Carina licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. "I think so. It was...incredible. I was enraged to see Xandros's blood, to see him hurt and dying." The memory was sharp, and she groped for his hands to hold them tightly in hers. "I remember wishing I could do what I did on Nariad." She pressed her lips together. "And then, it happened. A rush of power and a glimpse of bright stars, and then nothing. I don't remember doing those things. Just like I didn't remember killing those soldiers on Nariad."
Princess Sera nodded. "I believe this is the same power that rules my planet. Xandros told us there was a moment when you both seemed to be in space."
The memory swamped her. Even though there was a huge gap in time, she vaguely remembered Xandros's touch, his mouth on hers, his love in every stroke. A huge band of stars cut a swath across the expanse of black space. She nodded. "I kind of remember it."
"You've been given a great gift," the princess said, and then she smiled. "Though it may not feel like it."
Carina closed her eyes. "It makes no sense to me at all. Why me? Why not a Placidian?"
"You heard the message," the princess pointed out. "The Placidians and the Nyrals are bound by destiny." She shrugged. "Perhaps they always have been. It's clear the power we thought was exclusively a Placido phenomenon is more widespread."
That thought disconcerted Carina. "You mean the power that is on Placido might be on Nylar?"
"I think it may be connected to the people, not the planet." The princess rose and touched Carina's cheek. "I think your part in this is over," she said gently. "You've sacrificed enough."
"What about that power? How do I know it won't spring up when I least expect it?"
"I don't know. The power rises and falls according to need." Princess Sera smiled. "I spent most of my life thinking of it as a burden. It will not fail you when you need it."
"What now?"
The princess's smile faded. "Now we strengthen what we have." Her expression grew sad, and her lips trembled. "Shaun has left us."
Every cell in Carina's body ached. Of course he had. Shaun wanted revenge, the death of Father Pestori. And the man had escaped. Then there was Challah Pestori. Shaun's conflicted feelings for the daughter of the monster who had killed his sister might be his downfall. "He's gone after Father Pestori."
"I couldn't stop him," Leo said.
Carina sighed. "No one could have stopped him." She glanced at Princess Sera. "I know. I was wrong about you."
The other woman raised her hand, an imperious gesture that made Leo smile. "Please. No apologies. I was never in any danger from you, Carina Tao. I believe if you truly wanted me dead, I'd be dead." She smiled. "Perhaps before you knew he was my mate, you could have killed me. But after Leo marked me? Part of you knew killing me would be killing Leo."
Carina tightened her grip on her silent mate. "When Xandros marked me, I realized---" To her embarrassment her voice broke. "I realized the connection between you and Leo went beyond sex, beyond anything." Her gaze met Sera's. "I couldn't take that away from him."
Sera nodded. "I know I'm not Shanie, but I hope you'll think of me as family, another sister if you wish."
"I already do," Carina admitted and smiled when Princess Sera Ellysa Placido widened her eyes in shock.
"Thank you," Sera said.
"We're heading back to Placido," Leo told them. "Meanwhile, I think Carina can rest in your quarters," he said to Xandros.
Rest? Not likely, Carina thought with a secret grin.
Surprisingly, once Xandros carried her to their shared room on the ship, he lay down beside her and stroked her hair. That was all. Just ran his hand through the uneven strands. She fell asleep feeling safer than she'd ever felt before.
She woke up some time later with her nose almost touching his. He was sound asleep, his features relaxed. There was a vulnerability in his face that made her heart clench. Stars, she loved him. He'd been willing to die for her, to sacrifice his life for a prophecy he didn't believe. He'd endured the torture of the Brotherhood to keep her safe, to fulfill her destiny, putting aside his own needs.
Throughout the whole mess, she'd fought her fate, angry that words spoken by a dead Dormrelian could decide her future. Yet her mate had never questioned it. Oh, he talked a good talk, but his actions spoke louder. In the long run, Xandros put the universe before himself and freedom above profit.
He hadn't lived up to his reckless reputation. Her bad boy was a hero and didn't even know it.
She considered how things had changed. At sixteen, she'd had a crush on him, his cavalier behavior a magnet to her more dangerous side. At nineteen, she'd longed for him to sweep in and stop the pain of grief and loss. And when he didn't, she'd hated him as much as she'd desired him.
Now she realized her mate was complex in ways she'd never known. She reached up and brushed a strand of his hair away from his face. He sighed in his sleep. The sound spurred her to wake him up.
She squirmed down until she reached her goal. Sometime during the night, he'd removed his pants and only wore briefs and a T-shirt. His underwear posed no problem. She pulled them down slowly and took his semihard cock into her mouth. That was all it took. She loved the way his cock instantly responded, filling her mouth with its length. He groaned, and he groped to find her head and thread his fingers through her hair.
His jerked his hips and thrust his length deeper down her throat. She slid her tongue over the smooth skin and sucked harder. With a low growl, he yanked her head away and hauled her up to his waiting lips.
He devoured her, divesting her of her clothes so fast she barely had time to breathe. He pinned her to the bed, his dick pressed against her thigh, his hands banded around her wrists. A dark, foreboding expression tightened the features on his face. "Sneaking up on me, Rina the assassin?" he quipped.
In a quick move, she flipped him onto his back. "You're not complaining, are you?" she murmured and rubbed her sensitive pussy over his thigh. "I haven't forgotten."
Xandros raised his eyebrows. "Forgotten?"
She squeezed his biceps with her fingers. "I said I'd make you pay, remember?"
His grin made her heart flip. "Ah, yes. And I wondered what a submissive would come up with."
She leaned down and whispered in his ear. "An assignment I had once possessed a ship like this. There were 'perks' included in its design. I wonder---" She reached for the small, almost hidden button on the headboard.
Xandros's smile faded. "What are you---"
Carina didn't give him time to finish. She pressed the buttons---the console blessedly the same as the one on that financier's ship---and before Xandros could say any more, his hands and feet were restrained.
He yanked on the cuffs. "What are you doing?" Even though he glared at her, his cock was harder, pressed against her thigh like a bar of iron.
"Exacting my revenge," she said smoothly. Carina was a natural submissive, but having the man she loved helpless to her torment was a thrill. Her heart pounded, knowing that she'd pay dearly for this.
When she dipped down and sucked his cock, he groaned and thrust into her mouth. She teased him, licked him, played with him. He strained toward her, his face tightened, and every muscle clenched.
She explored his body to her heart's content, her tongue seeking those places that made his cock jump. When she slid her mouth over one of his nipples, he gasped and flexed his hands. When she left a trail of heat along the seam of his hip, tracing the outline of the bird on his inner thigh, he groaned. But when she licked the rim of his ass, knowing she loved it when he did the same to her and wanting to explore his reaction, he jerked as if electricity was shot through him.
"Carina," he gasped and pulled on the restraints.
When she added her teeth, nipping and biting the firm flesh around his anus, he growled, a sound that sent energy straight to her pussy. Her nose was buried in his balls, and her tongue rimmed his tight hole.
A sound of agony tore from him, and she stopped her torture. Splayed out on the bed for her, never once telling her to stop which might have worked---he was her Master---but he allowed her this as her due.
She loomed over him and teased the surface of his chest with her nipples. Her gaze locked with his. He panted, short, hot breaths that warmed her face. Heat licked along her veins at the dangerous expression in his dark eyes. "Master," she murmured.
He held her gaze. Even restrained, he took charge, his dominance showing through. "Take me inside you, machinka. I want to feel your cunt like a fist around my dick."
She captured his cock inside her and slid down, the sensation so amazing, she immediately felt the rush of her orgasm start to wash over her.
"Stop!" Xandros's command made her freeze. She whimpered, realizing that Xandros could be trussed up like a pig and still make her do as he wished. He was her Master, her marked mate. She belonged to him.
"Please, Master," she begged. "Let me come."
His gaze coursed over her body hungrily. "Stars! I want to come all over you. I want to fill every single place in you. You're mine." His hips thrust upward, quickening while he spoke. She groaned, trying to hold back her pleasure. His voice, his words, made it difficult. "You feel so hot, so good. Do you want to come? Do you?"
She leaned back, impaled on his cock, her climax beating at her resistance. "Yes! Yes!" she screamed.
"Then release me and I'll let you come."
She fumbled for the buttons, her release imminent but his permission desperately needed. The minute the restraints dropped away, his hands were everywhere. He jerked her down, his mouth hot and demanding. He attacked her left nipple and sent electricity shooting through her nerves. His mouth demanded her response, and she gave it.
"Xandros," she cried out.
He tore his mouth away from her breast and threaded his fingers in her hair. "You know what to call me," he said, his voice gritty and hard.
"Master. Please, Master."
"Come all over me, machinka. Ride me and come. Make me come." The order was sharp and intense.
Frantic, she took him deeper, harder, and he clenched his fingers around her hips as he surged up to claim her. She bent down, changing the angle, and pressed her mouth to his. He tightened his hand still in her hair and thrust his tongue inside.
Her release washed over her like a tsunami, taking everything with it---her anger, her fear, her past---and crashing it against the wall of her need. Again, he drove her higher just as she began to come down from her first climax. His hands stoked the fire again, sending her spinning into another rolling convulsion.
She tore her mouth from his. "Please, Master. Come inside me. Please," she begged.
"I will, my little submissive. But I want to feel you come again and again." He flipped her onto her back and pinned her to the mattress.
Embedded deep within, he thrust once more, and she shattered, her pussy squeezing him. He growled, a low hum that made her insides shake. She almost cried with frustration as he slowed his pace. Her hips rose instinctively, wanting, demanding.
When his hand connected with her ass, she gasped. Hard and fast, he spanked her twice for every thrust of his dick. She squirmed and thrashed, her skin on fire, her pussy reaching for another pinnacle. The heat and pain of his strikes only sent her pulse higher, and she panted with desire.
"Come for me, again. Again."
She screamed, her muscles clenched, and her hands fisted. Her orgasm swept through her, every shred of her heart focused on him, on his connection with her. The smacks to her ass increased in speed and force, and she shuddered violently beneath him.
"Master," she shouted, and he responded by plunging deeper, harder, faster. She thought she couldn't have another orgasm, that her heart would explode in her chest if she did. But his frantic thrusts sent her reeling into another release, this one even stronger and sharper than the last. Her vision went black around the edges.
He spurted his seed, heat filling her, hot jets slamming into her sensitive walls. Her climax electrified her spine, her breasts, her skin, everything. Her keening cry combined with his hoarse shout, and she wondered if she could die from pleasure.
Tremors shuddered through her, the aftermath as intense as the actual orgasms. She couldn't stop shaking. Xandros didn't collapse on top of her but continued to thrust his spent cock inside her, pleasure suffusing his face as he rode out her remaining convulsions.
He stroked her with his hands, keeping her connected to him, refusing to break away from her. The mark on her arm burned, throbbing with a pain-pleasure that stripped away any pretense. He belonged to her, and she belonged to him. There was no escape from it.
He kissed her, a gentle brush of his lips over hers. "I love you, Carina Tao. You might make me pay for deceiving you, for sacrificing my life for yours, but I'd rather have your punishment for the rest of my life than be separated from you."
She clasped his face in her hands. "I am going to make you pay. I love you, Xandros Jasper. If you had died, what would have happened to me?"
He held her gaze. "I fully intended on giving up my life for you, but Sindar left another prediction, one that told me it would take both of us to deliver the message. So instead of fighting the Brotherhood, I let them take me, knowing you would come and we would face them together."
"Shaun expected you to be dead."
Xandros nodded. "He agreed to come back to make sure Princess Sera and Leo were safe." He nuzzled her neck. "But I lived. For you. Because of you. I owe you everything, machinka. So hate me, hit me, yell at me, but I'll never leave you. Never."
"Oh, the payment I have in mind is nothing violent," she said through a tight throat. "I'm tired of hating, Xandros. I want to be your submissive. The traditional way."
His eyes widened. "Really? Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I want it."
"Then, you'll have it." His lips pressed to hers. Then he whispered, "The ceremony, the blood, all of it. Yours."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, still intimately connected to him. The future was still uncertain, but she was going to stay with Xandros. Forever.
"You're sure you won't come back to Placido with us?" Leo slung a pack over his shoulder and gave them one last glance.
Xandros shook his head. "We always intended to disappear." He still had a hard time believing Carina had gone through with the collaring ceremony, that she belonged to him as his submissive, not just his marked mate.
"Too many people know I'm Rina the assassin," Carina said. "We can do more out there than settled on one planet."
Leo placed his hands on Carina's shoulders. "You'll come visit."
She grinned. "Absolutely. And you'll get visits from Teran Five spooks because of it. It's not just the Brotherhood that's corrupt and evil."
Xandros stared at his mate. Even though they'd talked about breaking the hold the Terran Interstellar Force had over the various systems, he hadn't thought she'd really commit to going after them. But he'd been fighting them ever since they'd released him. He wasn't going to stop now.
Besides, the message Carina unleashed was spread all over the galaxies. She and Xandros were going to be hunted by those foolish enough to believe they could be used. But they weren't going to be out in the open.
Sindar's Hope was a brand-new ship with several bells and whistles, courtesy of Leo. Princess Sera had been tied up in meetings all week, so they hadn't seen her. But she sent her well wishes to them through Leo, who had come to the ship to make adjustments.
As Leo ducked into the docked shuttle, he glanced back at them. "In a way, I envy you."
Carina shook her head. "Bullshit. You always wanted roots. Xandros and I? We just wanted each other. We'll see you soon. Never fear."
Leo left them, and Xandros caught Carina in his arms. "I hope you don't regret this."
"What? Leaving?" She frowned. "Did you want to stay?"
He shook his head. No. Their destiny had never been on Placido or Nylar. He'd been at home in space, and protecting Carina was his first thought. "No. I want to be with you."
"Where do you think Shaun is?" she asked.
"He's gone after Challah, so he could be anywhere." he answered immediately. "I'm not sure what his relationship is to Finn and Aron, but they went with him."
Carina raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Do you think there's more going on with them than just colleagues?"
"The prophecy said four." He held her gaze as the realization dawned on her. "Shaun was never going to fit in a conventional relationship."
"Like us."
He chuckled. "No, we're not conventional either."
"I don't think there are many marked mates out there who were marked so they could be tracked," she said drily.
He tightened his hold. "I marked you because you are my destiny. So I could be with you."
She smiled. "To protect me?"
He snorted. "You don't need me for that. You're dangerous yourself." He kissed her gently. "I like danger."
"So you marked me because you like danger?" Her eyes were bright and filled with warmth.
He cupped her face with his hands. "Whatever happens to you, happens to me, machinka. We will see it through together, whatever life throws our way."
"I plan to hold you to that promise." She surrendered to him, her eyes drifting closed, and he bent her over his arm.
There would be trouble. Shaun would need them. The princess's life was still in danger. But Xandros and Carina would see it through, side by side. For Xandros, the thought that he would never be alone again gave him a sense of contentment he'd never had before. He'd marked her to share her fate, to be connected to this woman who had wrecked his well-ordered facade.
For the first time in his life, he was home. Home in her arms, home wherever she breathed. The future wasn't set, but he knew who he faced it with, and that was all that mattered.
THE END
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