MINE! [New World Book 8] (6 page)

A Tonan female could be as cold as a male; Huck had only been with cold Tonan females who didn’t want to mate and didn’t want a child. Huck knew his mother was like him, or part of him, his father had been like the renegade Tonans, evil. When Huck was born he had a baby shield. It wasn’t from his biological father. His mother thought his father would mate her, he lied. She found herself pregnant and alone and in danger from warriors. A pregnant female carried a scent so intoxicating they were hard to resist. It was why in their history a shield formed, to save the females. The act was self-preservation or the race would die out. Nature at its best.

Terrified, Huck’s mother went to the strongest and oldest warrior she knew to ask for protection. The warrior not only protected her, he mated her. To their surprise because his must was so high he was able to give Huck the baby shield he needed. A shield the warrior would have given his own son.

The relationship Huck had with his shield was stranger than most. Huck should have been born evil, but without a shield, he would’ve died. When his shield first materialized into the grey protection he sported, both Huck and the shield mind warred. At any time Huck could denounce the shield and become vulnerable. The shield was meant to be created with love. The shield was meant for another.

There were times Huck hated his shield. If the shield were a gift from his true father, neither Huck nor the shield would care what Huck did. As it were, his strange shield tempered him. Huck warred with a vengeance, he was a Tonan warrior after all, but outright evil cruelty was hard to stomach when berated by emotions from his shield. The shield made him feel emotions he otherwise wouldn’t have, it was why he was receptive to a mate. Perhaps that, his age and the need to keep living. Except his female possessed way more emotion than Huck expected or experienced.

The Tonan who raised him always watched him closely. His mother loved him and her mate. Neither was openly expressive toward one another in public, but Huck sensed the strange emotion. She knew Huck battled his emotions. His mother considered no open expression of too much love was easier on Huck because of who his biological father was. Both his parents assumed the emotions would be too confusing. No one could have known Tonans would kill females.

For eight hundred years, he tried to follow in his stepfather’s footsteps. When all females died on his planet and others close by, his mother and stepfather died. Huck’s bio father came to him and told him he was a warrior to be proud of. Huck killed him; his shield didn’t bat an eye, so to speak.

Too many years of fury manifested. Huck’s shield took care of him, but in the moments it took Huck to kill the warrior, Huck realized his shield had its own anger issues. The shield was meant for another, Huck should have been born to listen and cohabitate unconditionally with the shield. They were stuck with each other; they survived because of each other. Instead of being angry, Huck killed his father; the other Tonans laughed thinking he did it because he was as evil as his father. Huck killed him because he had lied to his mother and didn’t care if Huck died.

He hadn’t thought about either his father or his mother in hundreds of years. When Becky enraged him, he grabbed her. His shield controlled his grip and settled his heartbeat. It also made him feel what she felt. For an instant Becky was afraid.
Your mate should never fear you.
Instantly, his shield sent a message to his secretions telling him what she needed. By calming her, he calmed.

As she lay there, Huck realized if he mated her there might be a problem. The urge to war and kill every day was elusive with her in his care for such a short time. A warrior warred. Right at that very moment, he didn’t want to war. The idea startled and confused him. His shield mentally pushed him closer to the female. If he killed her, there would be no Cobra; there would be no hive or home. If he mated her, would he lose who and what he was or should be? Who was it that needed a mate? Him or the shield? Both?

Becky rolled toward the edge of the mattress and in a mere moment he stopped her from falling off the bed. It didn’t take much to settle her back to the middle. The other human men mentioned she had nightmares. With his hand hovering over her midriff he took a breath. Lowering his hand, his fingers caressed the flat of her belly. She was dreaming. Huck knew if they were mated, he could go to her in her dreams. What he could do was calm her.

Droplets of moisture dripped from his hand to roll down his finger. A small bead of sweat dotted her skin then slipped into her. She moaned and visibly relaxed. A red angry mark he hadn’t noticed on her arm caught his attention. More secretions seeped into her dulling the redness. If they were mated he could fix her, not just ease her suffering. Huck rose and went to the next room where he replicated a warm blanket. When he returned, he draped the blanket over her, tucking it around to keep her from rolling. When he left the room, he went to stand at the console. His thoughts were conflicted.

I can’t mate her. I can’t have a home. There is too much of my father in me and Cobra will see.

His shield didn’t agree. Huck hadn’t lied. He liked to kill; he was a warrior and killing was part of what every Tonan was, good or bad. The battle continued in his thoughts. His shield slammed over him and Huck was startled. A groan ripped from his throat. He knew the stubborn set of his shield. The shield claimed the female. Huck sensed it. There was no way he could kill her now.

“You fucking better know what you’re doing,” Huck snarled. “I don’t care if you came from the shield of a six-thousand-year-old warrior. It’s your fault I even need a home. And while I’m at it, fucking warn me with a blip or something before you crash your condescending tail on my ass. Tonans are supposed to lie.”

Growling Huck put the shuttle on auto pilot. He went to his shield generator and stepped inside. He needed to think, he needed to understand if his feelings were his, hers, or the shield’s. It didn’t take long before his heritage of evil and his fate of Tonan needs settled into a fine line. There was evil inside of him, there was compassion, there was hate and an urge to throw the female from the shuttle.

Huck envisioned Becky hovering between the shuttle door and the open space. A simple shove and his destiny would be delivered. He would have no choice but to return to the other rebel Tonan. He would die. A thought wandered into his mind, his shield protected him, and his shield controlled certain aspects. When confronted with terrified human females, Huck always allowed his shield to guide him. Huck mentally pushed Becky from the shuttle. He watched her flounder and die in space. The thought didn’t make his heart race, but he heard his shield give a tiny squeal.

If Huck gave in and killed Becky, his shield would be his alone, free of encumbrance. He could kill his conscience, make it turn off and abandon his thoughts. The shield of his stepfather couldn’t function with pure evil. He would maintain the shield, but the essence would be destroyed. After twelve hundred years it would be odd to control his shield. He would be alone with himself. The idea was disturbing.

“I won’t kill the female,” he said aloud.

If he did, Huck sensed he would kill the best part of his shield, the part that cared if he lived or died. His shield would protect him regardless, but it would do it for its own sake. It was no wonder his counterparts were cruel. Nothing cared for them, not even their shields. It was the first time in Huck’s life he realized what his stepfather gave to him. A gift meant for his true son. His stepfather was in must when he mated his mother because Huck wasn’t his, he gave him a part to make him a part of him.

He wasn’t in fact my stepfather but my half father.

“Huh, all this time and I never realized,” Huck muttered. “No wonder Castians are such fierce fighters. They want their shield to survive, not just to protect them. My shield loves me. Fuck. That is way too intense.”

If Huck hadn’t known better, he thought his shield chuckled.

For a moment, Becky panicked when she had a hard time moving. She was pinned in a bed. Her gaze fled around the room, and she took a deep breath. She was on the Tonan vessel in the room with the bed, alone. What her arms battled against was a comforter tucked into the mattress keeping her semi-immobile. She hadn’t gone to sleep with anything over her. Huck must have wrapped her in it after she fell asleep.

“Holy tuck, Huck.”

If he learned how to do this from his mother, he must have been a restless sleeper when he was young. The idea startled her.
His mother?
Well he must have had a mother at some point. Picturing him as a little boy while she commando attacked her restraints was strange. At one time that massive warrior had to have been a baby. When her feet finally hit the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. Trapped with her thoughts while trapped in a bed was unnerving. Now was not the time to think about her captor as anything but the enemy.

Becky peered into the other room and could make out Huck’s still form. She stepped around the chamber holding him. A warm glow surrounded the device. He was shielded and sitting comfortably on a rounded backed chair made of a strange substance, a cross between metal and hide. He appeared to be sleeping. It was hard to tell with the protruding bulbs where his eyes should sit. The black tattoo on his cheeks pulsated and glowed. The intricate markings appeared to be some type of ancient writing. Two perfectly white fangs nestled next to his lips near his chin and she shuddered.

The long talons on his hands sparkled when he shifted and she froze. He remained quiet. For all she knew, he could be silently watching her while she watched him. The beating of her heart pounded into her ears. Even when he was not moving, she saw how deadly every inch of him was. No wonder humans on Earth were terrified of these aliens. Humans never stood a chance. The blips of the console attracted her attention and Becky shuffled over, watching Huck as she moved.

The night before he’d scared her and Becky was stunned. It had been a long time since she felt real fear. After her father’s death, she was certain the emotion was gone. Her worst nightmare had already come true, what was there left to be afraid of? The risk of always being at death’s door conditioned her to expect death. Over time a cavalier attitude developed. So what if she died? Everyone would die eventually. It wasn’t how she wanted to live.

The monitor above the console was littered with planets. A map she guessed, always rotating. Huck was taking her somewhere. She punched a few buttons but nothing changed. The control panel was locked. Of course it would be. She was trapped. For a moment she wondered how the men fared. Raymond in particular. He was a good man, sweet, kind. He didn’t deserve to die; she hoped Huck was wrong about the shuttle being on its last legs. The time they spent alone on Earth they’d laughed, cried a few wayward tears and stuck together. He was more man than the rest of the bunch.

“Damn,” she whispered.

“We need time to get to know one another. At least my shield says so.”

She spun to see Huck, without his shield watching her a few steps away.

“Why not simply tell Cobra you want to join with him?”

“It won’t work. It wouldn’t be deceptive, but a human female adds something to a warrior he needs.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never mated a human female before. I simply know it’s part of the deal. Maybe it has to do with deeper emotion.”

“Great,” she muttered under her breath.

Huck moved closer and placed his hands on her bare shoulders. Her skin tingled. The urge to pull away was met with resistance and instead, she moved into him.

“What the hell is that?” she asked. The sensation was curious, wanting to feel him yet fighting the urge.

“My shield is getting to know you. It has sensed we are good for each other.”

“Your shield? You say that like it’s a living entity.”

“It is.”

“That’s nuts.”

“Why? Because you don’t have one so it must be? My shield is from my stepfather. I have images I can call upon from my bio father and my stepfather.”

“How can your shield be from a stepfather? It comes out of you; at least it looks like it does.”

“My stepfather was very old, an incredibly powerful warrior. Humans grow infirm with age, a Tonan does not. He loved my mother, and his shield knew the best way to protect her was to give her a piece. The shield is a gift of love, there is no greater. He gave me a piece of him.”

Huck sounded amazed and humbled. This was a different side to him. “Where are we going?”

“A quiet place. I need to think. We’ll be safe.”

“We or you?”

Huck chuckled. “We. I’m safe because, well, I’m me. You’ll be safe because, well, again I’m me.”

“More stinky creatures to wow me?”

“Nope. Nothing to harm you.”

She peeked around him, but his tail didn’t grow. The scene on the monitor changed, and Becky stared at the planet; it was white and black in shadows. She frowned in concentration. Spooky. Ghostly. For a moment, Huck pulled her back further and more of her shoulders rested against his bare chest. Sensations of emotions swirled through her. Something told her there was more to the complexity of what he wanted from her.

“I won’t mate you.”

He stiffened then relaxed. “If we were on my planet, you would have no choice.”

“We’re not on your planet.”

“My planet is as lost to me as Earth is to you. Everything I know is disappearing. Cobra and his warriors and others live on a beautiful planet, I’ve seen images. But there is war. I’m selfish and arrogant, but I know I can help protect their way of life because it will be my way of life. I have to try.”

There was a hint of desperation in his tone. She wondered how long he’d been alone wandering the universe. For a moment, she understood his grief. Space was a large void to fill. Too many thoughts over too many miles. Darkness wasn’t the glamour of the final frontier when the endlessness was what was final and infinite.

“Maybe there is still time for you to find another female.” Her words were hushed but not cruel.