“Such enthusiasm. That is the spirit.” Nahemah patted her own thighs once before she stood, put a hand on LaMia’s shoulder and gently squeezed. “You owe him much, Mia. Do not squander the second chance this young man has engendered for you.”
“I will not, Grandmother,” LaMia promised.
* * * *
He jumped to his feet to meet her as she closed the door. “Is she awake? Can I go in now?”
Nahemah put a hand on his shoulder in that soothing way that, after less than a day, he had already become accustomed to. He wondered, vaguely, if she were casting some spell on him with the touch as he had such a feeling of well-being and tranquility.
“Patience, young one.”
“Yes, Nahemah.”
She gave him a stern look. “Mateo, what did I tell you to call me?”
“Um, Grandmother,” he mumbled and averted his eyes, still uncomfortable with the term even though she had welcomed him into her family with open arms and had insisted he address her so familiarly.
Christ, the woman was royalty, the Highest of Emsharra!
“I am also a grandmother and great grandmother. And since you are like a brother to Alex, and practically bond mated to my grandchild, that makes you my grandchild also.”
The key word in all that being ‘practically.’ He didn’t know how things worked in Emsharra and whether or not they believed in shotgun weddings. Not that he needed to be forced into anything with LaMia. Question was did she still want him as her mate and slave now that she had been welcomed back home and offered a position in the Harvesting Program? Or would she see him as a constant reminder of a past she wanted to forget and reject him?
Nahemah squeezed his shoulder. “Have faith, child.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
She patted his shoulder and pushed him towards the door. “Now go in and see your
shimsa
. You two have much to dis—”
“What does that mean?
Shimsa?
” he asked and watched Nahemah’s face flush with color.
His heartbeat sped right before she answered.
“It is a Sebitu term of endearment. It means ‘sweetheart.’”
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“Oh, okay…”
Nahemah grinned and raised an inquiring brow. “Is there something else?”
“And, uh…
mishva
?”
“Why that one means ‘my love’ in Inanna.” Nahemah smiled. “Is there some reason for the vocabulary lesson at this time?”
Mateo shrugged, tried to seem nonchalant but knew he was failing miserably. Nahemah was much older and more skilled at reading minds than LaMia was, and LaMia read him like a big-faced digital watch.
Right now it took every ounce of restraint in him to keep her from knowing that his heart was soaring from happiness and relief.
“Go to her.” Nahemah gave his shoulder another friendly squeeze then turned on her heels, walked down the long, plush-carpeted hallway and left him alone.
Mateo took a deep breath before opening the door and entering the bedroom.
He was immediately struck by the lavishness of the blue and gold accessories, and the head- and footboard of the bed along with most of the room’s wooden furnishings all elaborately engraved with the Enlil royal emblem of a calligraphic “E.”
Even had he not seen LaMia sitting up in the sumptuous elevated king-sized bed surrounded by what seemed a hundred plump, blue-and-gold goose-down pillows, he would have known this was her bedroom. It had ‘vain royalty’ written all over it, not to mention the spicy-sweet cinnamon scent that wafted to and enveloped his senses as he stood on the threshold of her room.
“Well, it is about time you came in to see me, slave.”
“I was unavoidably detained.”
“Come here to me.”
Mateo’s steps were light with confidence and euphoria as he quickly made his way across the room to her bedside.
“Kneel slave,” she murmured and Mateo knelt on one knee as he took one of her hands in both of his. “Did I say you could take such liberty and touch me?”
“I beg pardon, Mistress. I was so taken with your presence, I couldn’t help myself,” he said, loving the game and not releasing her hand.
He could tell that LaMia loved the game too when she leered and turned her hand in his to slowly stroke his knuckles with her thumb.
Mateo’s breath hitched in his chest at the simple contact.
He had not touched her, or been touched by her, in two days, hadn’t known just how much he’d missed her until this moment. He’d known he missed her a great deal, but currently the reality of her swamped his reason like a raging tornado and made him lightheaded. “I’ve missed you so much,” he fiercely whispered and squeezed her hand.
“And I have missed you.”
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“Does that mean you still want me as your slave?” he asked and watched her eyes immediately fill with tears. He reached out a hand to touch her cheek.
“That is a silly question. Of course I still want you as my slave…that is, if you still wish to be my slave?”
He chuckled at the shy wonder in her voice, all too smitten by the alien dominatrix who had stolen his heart and made him hers. “I wish it,” he murmured, stood and climbed into the bed beside her.
“Did I give you permission to take even more liberties, impudent slave?”
“No, but I’m willing to take the punishment later on for a taste of you now.” Mateo gingerly wrapped his arms around her, wary of her injury and surprised when she returned his embrace with breathtaking strength.
“When she fired on you, I thought I would not be in time. I thought I would lose you. I thought—”
“—you were dead.” He pulled away slightly to peer at her, imprinting each feature on his memory one by one so that they would always be with him, during every waking hour when he wasn’t with her, and during every hour that he slept. “You scared me.”
“For once,” she mumbled and he chuckled at her half-hearted pout. “Actually, I scared myself. I have never acted so impulsively so…selflessly before.”
“How did it feel?”
She grinned, leaned in to press her lips against his throat, nibbled and sucked his skin for several long moments before raising her mouth just enough to say, “It felt good.”
“As good as this…?” He slid one arm around her shoulders and the other hand between her legs, instantly found her clit with thumb and forefinger and went to work tormenting the swollen kernel of flesh before he drove two fingers into her hot and sopping cunt.
“No, never...” She gasped and held him tight as he worked his fingers inside her, alternately stroking and plunging until she was writhing from his manipulations
“Mateo!” She suddenly stiffened in his embrace, pulling him flush against her, and Mateo cursed the royal Emsharran garb that kept him from feeling her against him skin to skin.
As if reading his thoughts and to compensate for the deficiency, LaMia furiously licked his throat all over, like a chef preparing and tenderizing a piece of meat before she cooks it.
She sunk her teeth into him deeply and he shuddered against her right before she gushed her completion into his hand.
LaMia lay still in his arms for a long moment, lazily lapping at his throat and cleaning away any stray blood as she healed her bite.
He pulled away to stare at her, face fixed in a solemn mask of anxiety. “Am I still your
mishva
, Mia?”
She froze as if surprised he knew the term, then smiled and pulled him back into her arms to cradle her face against his neck again. “You will always be
mishva
, Mateo. Always…”
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Emsharra – Two Years Later
Mateo cradled his baby son against his chest as LaMia looked on from her sickbay bed and smiled.
“He is a beautiful child, is he not?”
“Even for a half-human?” Mateo teased.
“Even with me as his mother.”
Mateo came close and sat on the edge of the bed with her. “Julen is a lucky boy. As is his father.” He palmed his wife’s face and immediately saw her tears.
She had been overly sensitive and hormonal during her pregnancy and consequently more demanding with Mateo, as if to get back at him for knocking her up and temporarily taking her place in the Harvesting Program during her incapacity.
To date, he had been on several missions to scan and ascertain the suitability of potential recruits under the guidance of Alex and Genesis.
For the first time in his life, he had found a practical use for his empathy, was not only accepted into the ranks of the Harvesting Program, but respected by the Inanna and Sebitu because of his gifts.
Working on the Harvesting Program with Alex and Genesis and various other alliance squads from Emsharra and Gaiam was exciting and fulfilling, especially when he was able to use his empathy and newfound telepathy to comfort a frightened recruit that had been targeted for retrieval as he had once been. But no amount of respect, or recovery missions could compare to his joy at having a wife and now a son to come home to at the end of the day.
Mateo knew his wife, on the other hand, missed the thrill of the hunt and he was eager to give up his spot in the Program to become Mr. Mom to Julen just to see LaMia in her element again.
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She couldn’t fool him. As fulfilling as their home life was, as exciting and unpredictable as their sex life, LaMia had spent more than a hundred years as a warrior and predator. Anything less than being in the middle of the action wouldn’t do for her, not even motherhood and being a wife.
He didn’t begrudge her, only wanted to see her happy.
“I am happy, Mateo.”
“But I know you miss it.”
She averted her eyes, tried to avert her thoughts, but he caught the
I never really had a
chance to get used to the Program before my pregnancy.
“Do you blame me?”
“How could I after you have given me such a gift?” She reached for Julen and Mateo relinquished his hold to put the baby in her arms.
“Still, as soon as you’re well enough, your place is waiting for you with one of the retrieval squads.” He stared at her and noticed the frown. “What is it?”
“Alex and Genesis only grudgingly accepted me into their ranks the few months that I served with the Program. Not that I blame them. They have every right to their enmity.”
“It’ll pass in time. Alex and Genesis are too intelligent and forgiving for it not to.”
“You are being optimistic.”
“No, just practical.” He shook his head. “Besides, with Julen’s cousin on the way as Genesis is expecting her own baby soon—”
“Genesis is expecting?”
Mateo hadn’t meant to let it slip, but LaMia was bound to find out sooner or later. Better sooner than later and before she heard it from someone else.
He nodded. “So you see, Genesis and Alex are bound to come around.”
“You sound like Grandmother.”
“Nahemah is a wise Inanna. You should listen to her.”
“I will listen to you.” She cupped his face as the baby slept between them.
“You know, even if they don’t come around, you still have me and Julen.”
“And that is all that I need.”
They sat silent for several moments, mentally swapping their hopes and ideas for their future and that of the Harvesting Program, mind-touch such a natural and integral part of their communication now, neither of them noticed when they were doing it.
Mateo was so wrapped up in his wife’s thoughts, he barely heard Alex when he came into the room and wouldn’t have noticed him before he reached the bedside had LaMia not poked him in the side.
“Don’t think you can fall down on the job just because you’re a new father.”
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Mateo bounded to his feet. “Is there a new recruit?”
“You know there’re always new recruits. But if you’re asking me if we have a specific human targeted, yes we do. So your presence is needed in the Great Above.”
Mateo nodded, and leaned in to give LaMia a kiss. When she thrust out her tongue to tangle with his and burrowed a hand in his hair, it took everything in him to break away not to get back in the bed to ravish her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him while he’s out,” Alex said.
“I know that you will.” LaMia grinned, uncharacteristically shy as she averted her glance again. Finally, she met Alex’s gaze and whispered “Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your baby.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, acting as if he wasn’t surprised she knew.
Mateo appreciated his reaction, especially when Alex came close to caress Julen’s hair then reached for LaMia’s hand and tenderly squeezed it.
“Genesis will be by shortly. She’s anxious to get in some practice and meet and dote on her husband’s new cousin.”
LaMia laughed and squeezed Alex’s hand back. “I look forward to it.”
“The rest of the retrieval squad is waiting. I’ll leave you two alone for a little while to say your farewells.” Alex slapped Mateo on the shoulder. “See you outside.”
Once they were alone again, Mateo peered at her. “Are you okay with—?”
“Genesis’s impending visit?”
Mateo nodded. “If you’re not comfortable…”
“Our meeting is overdue. There is much we need to discuss. There is much I need to apologize for.”
He leaned in again to give her a firm kiss on the lips, lingered several moments sampling her strength, reveling in her hard-won willpower before he pulled away to cup her face. “I’m so proud of you.”
“And I am proud of you.” She took his hand and twined her fingers with his. “Alex is waiting. You must go now.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“And your son and I will be waiting for you,
mishva
.”
PREDATOR’S SALVATION
Sisters of Emsharra, Book 2
THE END
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS