Claimed by the Warrior (13 page)

He turned to Cyn as they raced down the hallway. “I’m going to disable the program the moment we enter. Get her to safety. He’s mine.” There wasn’t much light on this floor because it was currently unused except for specific training programs.

But he didn’t need any guidance. He’d grown up here, knew every inch of this mountain’s interior by heart.

When they reached the door, he withdrew a pulse weapon with a shaking hand. He never shook, not in battle or training. But the thought of anything happening to Leilani had panic spiraling through him like a wild Lumineta lightning storm. He nodded once at Cyn and opened the door.

Ignoring the holographic setting, he moved along the interior wall, his hand appearing as if it skimmed over thick green leaves until he felt something cold and familiar. The palm unit lit up as he placed his hand on it. After a few quick taps the program shut down.

Color disappeared everywhere as the stark white room that spanned half a mile appeared. He whirled, immediately spotting Einar to his right. The male was a good fifty yards away.

Leilani was crouched down about twenty yards to the left of Einar. The bastard was too close to her. She blinked, held up a hand to cover her eyes as she adjusted to the change in lighting.

Con lifted his weapon and started firing as he raced at the male. Einar dove in Leilani’s direction, racing at her, knowing he’d force Con to stop if he got too close. The male was limping so Con aimed for his knee.

Crack, crack, crack. The pulse gun cracked through the air every time he fired it.

Einar cried out as he slammed to his knees.

It was set to stun, not kill, but it would still hurt like hell. Con’s legs ate up the distance between them, pure adrenaline pushing him forward faster than he’d ever moved before. He refused to lose Leilani, refused to let harm come to her. He would die first.

He clipped the male again, this time in the shoulder, sending Einar flying backward. He was vaguely aware of Cyn racing to Leilani. He could hear her calling out his own name, but he tuned everything out, including her.

Con couldn’t go to her yet. The threat needed to be eliminated. A red haze had descended across his vision as he body-slammed Einar, who was attempting to stand. That male wasn’t walking out of here.

He knew he wasn’t acting rational, that the threat could be put down easier than this, but he couldn’t stop the rage that had overtaken him.

Einar pumped a fist against Con’s ribcage as they tumbled to the ground. He barely felt it as he slammed a left hook across the male’s jaw. Didn’t feel anything as he jabbed him in the gut, the ribs, the face.

Over and over. He felt a bloodlust overtake him as he pounded at Einar’s face. This male had wanted to hurt Leilani, to take her from Con.

Strong arms wrapped around Con, tackling him to the ground and rolling him off his target.

“Con!” Cyn held him tight, his eyes wild as he kept him pinned down. “It’s done. You’re scaring her.”

Those words snapped him out of the dark fog of savagery that had overtaken him. Leilani stood a few feet away, her eyes wide as she stared at him. Fuck, he
had
scared her. “I’m fine,” he rasped to his brother.

Cyn paused before loosening his grip. When he did, Con stood, terrified he’d screwed things up for good. He didn’t glance at Einar, who he was certain was dead. He’d never lost control like that, had never even come close.

It pierced him that Leilani had seen him kill someone, that he literally had blood on his hands in front of her now. “Leilani—”

She jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck on a sob. “You came for me.”

Unable to do anything about the blood, he wrapped his arms around her and held tight. Of course he’d come for her. There was nowhere she could go that he wouldn’t follow. That realization slammed into him as if someone had actually struck him. They’d known each other less than two weeks but she’d changed his world without even trying. He would give up his role of leader for her. The thought should have terrified him, but it didn’t. He buried his face against her neck, inhaled her sweet,
arilod
scent. “I’m not letting you go after the moon cycle.”

She sniffled, her fingers gripping his shoulders tight. “Good because I’m not going anywhere,” she said as she pulled back. Her eyes were bright with tears as she looked at him.

“I would move to the mainland for you.”

She blinked once in surprise before her lips pulled up into a smile. “No. This is your home—my home now.”

No, he realized,
she
was his home, but he simply nodded and crushed his mouth to hers. The need to taste her, to claim her, to know she was real and safe was too much.

Though he hadn’t said the actual words yet, he loved this female more than he’d ever thought possible. He planned to show it to her every day.

Epilogue

One moon cycle later

Con jerked to a halt in the entryway to his and Leilani’s bedroom. It looked as if their entire closet had been dumped onto the bed. Or at least her half of the closet. “Leilani?”

She stepped out of the bathroom wearing only panties and the giant cerulean-colored jewel around her neck that he’d given her a week ago to commemorate their official mating. Part of him still couldn’t believe she’d said yes. She was everything to him and he loved seeing the physical statement around her neck. Everyone knew she was his but still, his most primitive side liked claiming her publicly. She held up two long-sleeved tunics, both a similar blue color. “Which one should I wear tonight?”

They looked almost the same but the slightly wild look in her dark eyes told him that would be the dumbest answer possible. He pointed to the one on the left. It was cut lower than the other and he liked to see the soft swell of her breasts as often as possible.

“That’s what I thought too.” Grinning, she tossed the other to the ground and disappeared back into the bathroom. The female was a whirlwind of activity sometimes.

His mate was so organized when it came to work, but she was occasionally messy at home. Usually when she was stressed. He’d thought it would annoy him, but seeing her stuff all over their room just made him smile. “Why are you stressing about what to wear?” She looked beautiful in anything so he did not understand this behavior.

She stepped into the doorway, wearing the tunic and panties now. No pants yet. He loved the sight of her like that, those lean legs bared just for him. “Tell me you didn’t forget about tonight. You were supposed to—”

“I’m kidding.” He loved to tease his sexy mate, something he’d never done with anyone before. His life had been rigid and all about work before her. She’d shown him a softer side of life, one he savored. “I picked up the bottles of
villana
and I have a surprise for you,” he said as he lifted the discarded top. He tossed it onto the bed to join the rest of the pile.

“Is it food?”

He stifled a smile and shook his head. “Better. Saroya, Brianna and their mates are coming tonight too.”

She blinked once before the most brilliant smile lit up her face. “Just when I think I can’t possibly love you even more, you do something incredibly unexpected. Thank you.”

The ground shifted beneath him the tiniest bit every time she told him she loved him. She’d confessed the first time two days after he’d saved her from Einar. He’d been waiting for the right moment but she’d beat him to it. The only positive thing to come out of that bastard Einar infiltrating the mountain sector was that they’d patched up a security hole. He still wasn’t certain what the male had wanted; probably just to cause as much destruction as he could. It didn’t matter now.

“I love you too.” He moved toward her, planning to show her just how much.

But she shook her head and waved some wand thing at him. She used it to do
something
to her eyebrows. Since she’d moved all her stuff into his room he’d discovered that females took up a lot of space. “I know that look. We
don’t
have time.” She disappeared into the bathroom once again.

This time he followed, his body already humming with the need to be inside her. “We have plenty of time.” She’d invited half a dozen females from their sector as well as their mates tonight to celebrate the unanimous change in the Ducereco law. They’d also started plans on her new project. Things were about to change for his people and he knew it was for the better.

Shaking her head, she turned away from him and faced the mirror. That would not deter him. If anything, the sight of her pert ass made him even harder. Her tunic only covered the top half, making him crazy as he moved up behind her.

He slid his hands up her hips and under her tunic until he grasped the thin scrap of material of her sheer panties and slid them down her legs.

She’d paused what she was doing and watched him in the mirror, her own hunger sparking as wild as his. He moved in close, pressing his erection against her back. Leaning down, he brushed her hair to one side and nuzzled her neck. He never got tired of her sweet scent or the perfect way she fit right up against him.

“Maybe we have
some
extra time,” she murmured, her eyes going heavy-lidded as they met his in the mirror.

“Are you sure? Because I can let you finish getting ready alone.” They both knew he was lying.

Turning in his arms, she linked her fingers behind his neck as she spread her legs wide for him. “Definitely.” Then she yanked him to her by his tunic, kissing him with a franticness he mirrored.

His mate was everything he’d never dared to imagine for himself. He was never letting her go.

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Claimed by the Warrior
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Excerpt from

Heated Mating

Futuristic Romance

by Savannah Stuart

Copyright © 2014 Savannah Stuart

As Linc stared at Saroya’s exposed back, he understood his dead brother’s love of the dark-haired beauty.

The funeral pyre burned before them and the entire clan. The firelight played off the sheer shift Saroya wore. Compared to what most of the females of the clan wore her clothing was more than acceptable but he hated that the material dipped low, exposing most of her back. The arch of her spine was delicate and beautiful. He wanted to trace his fingers up the length then follow with his tongue. Unlike the females of his people, Saroya and the handful of other women they’d rescued from the dying blue planet were smaller, more fragile. Not weak, they’d proven that much. Just different in some ways.

Ever since his brother Gage had returned from that fateful mission with Saroya and ten other foreign females in tow, Linc had cursed the Goddess that he’d busted his knee up the week before and Gage had met her first.

If he hadn’t hurt himself during training he’d have been on that mission. A mission his scholarly brother had only been on to collect data. And Linc would have seen Saroya first. She’d have been his and
only
his. It didn’t matter that his society consisted mainly of male-female-male joinings. And it didn’t matter that Gage and Saroya had tried to welcome him into their bed on more than one occasion. None of that shit mattered because he didn’t share.

He would not share her. With anyone. Not even his own brother. So he’d always declined their invitations. He couldn’t be sure but she seemed to think he preferred the opposite sex. That was fine with him. Let her have her assumptions.

A few wisps of her dark hair had come loose from the clip she’d secured it with. As he watched her, he noted a small tremble race through her. His people didn’t show much emotion but hers were very different as he’d learned over the past six moon cycles. Though he couldn’t see her face, he knew she was crying. Linc wanted to reach out and comfort her but he was a warrior. That wasn’t done.

When she shifted her weight forward, as if she were ready to throw herself off the cliff and onto the burning pile of her lover’s remains, he felt his entire fucking world shift. He nearly lost a century of his life.

Lightning fast, Linc lunged at her and wrapped his arm around her waist in a hard, tight grip. Even if she wanted to leave this life, this planet, he would not let her. Could not. He refused to live in a world where she didn’t exist.

She struggled against him, silently crying until he twisted her around to face him. Barely reaching his chin, she wouldn’t look at him as she beat his chest a couple times with her fists. Her words were incoherent and laced with grief. He was pretty sure she called him a heartless bastard too. He wasn’t sure why, but the words pierced him. Hard. That was his brother slowly turning to ash down there. He was hurting too, even if he couldn’t show it. And he hated himself for wanting his dead brother’s mate so badly.

Just as suddenly, she stopped fighting and molded against him. Her arms wrapped around him and she buried her face against his neck. Shame burned through him as the rest of the clans present tried not to stare at the spectacle they made. No one but Saroya and his brother knew that theirs had not been a true bonding. That only Gage and Saroya had been lovers. That he’d just been a roommate. Now surely everyone knew that she’d preferred his brother over him.