Authors: Jenna McCormick
Abruptly, he rose and headed toward the shuttle
door. A blast of cold washed over her as he exited the craft, leaving her
alone.
Sage stroked Lily’s head and fought the urge to
go after him.
Stop poking the bear, little girl, if you don’t want your head
bitten off.
Her gaze flitted around the shuttle until it
snagged on the white of her wedding dress. Shame coursed through her. She was
supposed to be getting married, not gallivanting off in a tunneler and cavorting
with a Bred. She hadn’t given Dayen a passing thought while she was writing on
another man’s lap. Though the marriage contract didn’t specify that she was
supposed to be a virgin—good thing—she ‘d assumed that her affianced state
meant she was supposed to be faithful after she’d signed on the dotted line.
Somehow she doubted the Borg heir would appreciate her coming to him straight
from another man’s arms.
He might even punish her for her indiscretion.
What was it about Berrick that made her take foolish
chances?
And, more importantly, what could she do to
protect herself from doing it again?
Chapter Four
Dayen had never been so close to losing himself
to the beast. His thoughts swam in and out of focus as he prowled around the
tunneler, ignoring the biting wind that howled between the barren hills.
No moon or stars lit his tracks yet he made an exact
circle around the vehicle, once, twice, and again as he tried to walk off the
feelings that stirred within him without abandoning Sage completely.
Her nearness drove him to distraction. The scent
of her arousal was like a splinter in his mind, slowly driving him mad. His own
lust roared to respond to it and he’d almost given over to it entirely.
With his hands on her, he couldn’t hear her
thoughts so only the acrid tang of her fear clued him into the fact that
something had gone horribly wrong. And when he’d let her go, a wave of terror
had nearly drowned him.
Dayen wasn’t experienced enough to know if he’d
actually done anything to frighten her or if Sage had experienced some sort of
flashback. He’d gotten so lost in the new experience, touching without pain. It
was addictive. Even after her fear broke through his lust fogged brain, he was
reluctant to release his newfound source of pleasure. When he came back to
himself, she cowered on the floor like a wounded animal.
And selfish fuck that he was, he wanted to pull
her into his arms and lose himself in her touch so he didn’t have to experience
her fear firsthand. He’d abstained, denied himself he comforting silence of her
body, just for being so weak.
He prowled the other direction, still restless.
The beast demanded he kill that Born male, the one who’d dared to hurt her, to
violate what was Dayen’s to cherish. If there had been any doubt in his mind
before, the fact that touching her eased him made him all the more sure that
she was meant for him alone. And he would avenge his mate.
As soon as possible, preferably before their
marriage ceremony and his ruse was revealed to her. The thought of action
calmed him. He’d gleaned enough about Sage to know that though she was
altruistic and soft hearted, she would not hold the death of that vile Born
against him. She had wished the rapist dead, too, feared he’d return for her.
Peace of mind would be Dayen’s gift to her, an
apology for deceiving her. She would forgive him in time and then he could
enjoy more of her heated touches, her sweet kisses. All he had to do was
discover the man’s identity.
Dayen stopped midstride and turned to face the
shuttle. He’d never dug for specific information before. Didn’t know if he even
could work through the quagmire of thoughts and feelings without losing
himself. Did Sage even know who had hurt her?
He’d have to ask questions, convince her to
confide in him. How though? His life so far hadn’t prepared him for such a
task. Being close to others was painful, something to be avoided. But Sage was
different. He adored everything about his resilient little mate, but how could
he get her to reciprocate those feelings?
He sorted through the thoughts that he’d gleaned
before he left the ship. She’d been scared but that wasn’t all that had held
her back. She worried about being faithful to her intended. His lips twitched
at the irony even as his chest swelled with pride, both because she wanted to
be true to him and because he tempted her beyond her reason. If he simply told
her who he was he’d alleviate that concern immediately.
Somehow though, he thought honesty at this juncture
would do more harm than good. He didn’t want her to feel foolish or used.
Neither would help his cause of gaining her trust. Better to continue to be
Berrick.
With that thought in mind he strode for the
tunneler. The door opened before he reached it and Sage appeared with her
mongrel in tow.
She cast him a furtive glance and shrugged in
apology. “Lily had to go.” She gestured to where the mutt squatted.
“Oh,” he said, rather stupidly. “All right.”
“About before…” she hesitated and shivered in
the wind. She’d pulled up the hood of her thermal suit so that it covered her
head but still her hands were turning blue.
He wanted to reach for her hands again and warm
them with his own. Her body ran so much cooler than his, a measly 98.6 was
nothing compared to the harsh environment of topside. She was so fragile, he
wanted to cocoon her, maybe in his greenhouse. He knew plants made her happy.
Instead, Dayen yanked his own gloves out of his
pocket and handed them to her. She frowned from the gloves to him and then back
again. He cleared his throat and explained. “I never use them. I’m used to the
cold.”
He heard her think again that he was Bred,
because many of them had been genetically engineered to withstand the extreme
temperatures better than the Born. She took the gloves with a murmured, “Thank
you.”
“I’m sorry I lost control,” Dayen offered the
words he knew she yearned to hear. At least they were the truth, he was sorry,
mostly that they hadn’t been able to finish. With that thought in mind, he
said, “I know you are spoken for. I have no excuse for my actions other than I
have never had a woman before and you tempted me beyond reason.”
One glove fell from her hands. He bent and
picked it up, then took the dog’s leash so she could put it on. She didn’t move.
He frowned, listening for her thoughts but the only sound came from the wind.
His concern mounted. “Sage? Are you all right?”
****
The wind stung her eyes.
Blink, stupid
, Sage commanded herself.
Her eyelids worked, good thing, she was sure
they had frozen shut in the bitter cold. She couldn’t believe she was topside
once more, couldn’t believe that she was standing here freezing in the cold
with a man who claimed to desire her beyond reason when she was supposed to be
marrying another.
And had he just said…?
“You’ve never slept with a woman before?”
He tilted his head to the side, green gaze
assessing her. “No. Put that glove on.”
She did as he commanded and he took her gloved
hand in his naked one. The heat of him warmed her frozen flesh even more than
the fabric protecting her skin from the elements.
“But how—?” Sage cut off the rest of her
ultra-rude question, how is that even possible, before it got out. It was none
of her business why Berrick of the gorgeous green eyes and stellar bod was a—oh
holy mindfuck— virgin.
She swallowed and shivered in the chill. Strong
arms came around her. Was it wrong that she wanted to lean into him and soak up
his heat and scent and pretend she was someone else for just a little while? A
woman who was free of duty and panic and internal strife and simply enjoy being
with a man who wanted her too.
“We’d better get moving before you freeze to
death,” Berrick murmured.
His breath was hot on her ear. “Moving?” Her
voice sounded vague as the winds carried her words from her lips. “Where?”
“Right up there. There’s something you need to
see.” He pointed to the top of a hill. She nodded and picked up her dog. He
looked down at Lily, whose coat was inadequate for the weather. “Best leave
her in the tunneler. She’ll be safer out of the storm.
Berrick carried her dog back inside their
vehicle, poured Lily a small dish of water and sealed the door behind him.
With his big body blocking the wind, Sage
managed to stagger her way slowly up the hillside. Her feet sank into snow
almost up to her knees, but the thermally lined cloth kept her covered skin
toasty warm. Still she was ashamed to admit she was out of breath by the time
they crested the rise of the hill to see for miles beyond.
She blinked, squinted at the horizon where a
distant mountain appeared to be smoking. “What is that?”
“A volcano. Newly formed since the world stopped
turning. Inside it is hundreds of thousands of gallons of molten rock. It’s set
to blow any day now. When it does, it’ll release ash into the air and the lava
will spill out of the top of the mountain and into the valley below. Eventually
it will cool and solidify into igneous rocks. That liquid rock is called magma
and it’s what the mantel is comprised of it’s what lies beneath the crust.”
Sage nodded, her eyes still glued to the distant
peak. “And your readings told you that the mantel is cooling? What happens if
it solidifies?”
He shifted behind her as a harsh blast of wind
buffeted against him. “Then the planet will die. Without a source of heat no
life can thrive here.”
She turned to face him. “So, what can we do?”
Somber green eyes looked down on her. “I don’t
know.”
“How long do we have?”
“At the current rate of cooling, two generations
at most. You and I will be long gone but our children and their children will
suffer and die out.”
Despite the dire message, Sage paused at the way
he said our children. She knew what he meant, humanity in general, but it
sounded as if he was planning to procreate with her.
Focus Sage, dead planet, end of life as we know
it. Get your priorities in order!
“There must be a way to stop the cooling
process,” she said.
“It requires further study. It might be safest
to consider abandoning the planet all together but we need somewhere to go and
some way to get there.”
Sage looked back at the volcano as the enormity
of the situation came in for a landing. Two generations didn’t seem like much
time when confronted by total extinction.
Suddenly the irony hit her with the impact of a
crashing meteor. “So, it’s all pointless then?”
“What?”
“The treaty to unite the factions. The summit.
My great and noble sacrifice.” Hysterical tears leaked out of the sides of her
eyes and spilled down her cheeks and she looked away, unable to hold his gaze
while she lost her shit. “What’s the point if we’re all going to die in less
than a century?”
A warm palm cupped beneath her chin and lifted
her face until she had to look at him. “It will be all right,
mein Schatzi.
”
She sniffled and was about to ask what the odd
phrase meant when he stumbled into her with force enough to knock her to the
ground in a bone-jarring impact.
Snow stung her exposed cheeks as she
face-planted into the ground. She rolled immediately to her back to breathe and
see just what the hell had happened.
Her
eyes went wide in astonishment as she saw Berrick rolling in the snow with some
sort of creature. He kicked out and the thing went sailing over his head and
halfway down the hill, giving Berrick time to regain his footing. The monster
charged back toward them. She’d never seen its kind before with long shaggy
white fur, and teeth as big as her forearm jutting from a triangular shaped
head. Part wolf, part Siberian tiger maybe. Its pitiless black eyes were fixed
on its mark and it bellowed its fury at Berrick, who stood armed with nothing
more than his bare hands. Who was focused, not at the slavering beast, but on
her.
“Run for the tunneler!” he thundered.
He didn’t budge. Clearly, he meant to stand his
ground against the monster and cover her escape. “Come with me!” She urged.
He
growled
at her, his lip pulled up in a
snarl, green eyes glowing with an unholy light. “I said go!”
And then the creature was on him. It leapt,
twisting in midair and took him to the ground again.
Jaws snapped inches from Berrick’s face, but he
somehow managed to grip the creature’s snout and keep it from ripping out his
throat. The struggle went on and on and the beast broke free in a flurry of
snow then lunged back into the fray. She screamed, fearing that Berrick was
about to die, but the roar that came from the thrashing mass of limbs on the
ground drowned out her terrified cries. It was even more chilling than the
wind, a bone freezing sound that intensified as a spray of red arced from the
struggling pair.
The blood steamed as it hit the snow at her
feet.
Then something rose and faced her. She thought
it was the creature at first, that it was somehow standing on its powerful hind
legs and was seconds from charging her. Then she saw the glow of eerie green
and realized it was
Berrick
that stood before her. But not the way he
had been.
His nails had grown long and blackened to look
like claws. His arms and legs seemed longer too, almost as if he could run on
all four limbs, like the monster. His jaw jutted at an unnatural angle, almost
snoutlike in appearance. It had to, in order to accommodate the massive set of
teeth that dripped with the creature’s cooling blood.
“Sage,” the monster that
had been Berrick rasped her name with its gore covered mouth. A mouth she’d
kissed not even an hour earlier.
She
didn’t think, didn’t plan and didn’t pause to ask questions.
Sage put her head down and ran.