She’d threatened his mate.
She must die.
Kres crouched among the leaves. Spreading his feet, he centred himself and steadied his balance, ready to spring and take her down. The soldiers might shoot him after, but he’d take out the danger to his mate first.
He silently slid the knife out of his boot, careful to keep his movements slow and quiet. Peering through the foliage, he watched her approach.
“Come out, King-Mate. As soon as my people at the castle take care of your mate, the pair of you can reunite in the afterlife. Maybe then he can keep better track of you.”
Kres blocked out her words. He wasn’t going to let her trick him into revealing his location. A bug buzzed past his ear. Kres didn’t move, nor did he twitch when something bit him on the neck.
A few more steps.
She was directly beneath the trunk of the tree where he hid. Taking a slow breath, he bunched his muscles, ready to leap. A series of blasts sounded through the forest. The woman’s body flung back, ricocheted off the tree, then lay still.
One of the soldiers peered over at the woman. “Who shot her?”
“I did.” A blond soldier walked up, approaching the body.
“I don’t think so.” A dark-haired soldier marched over. “See that mark through her heart. That’s mine.” He sounded ridiculously proud.
“Not so,” the blond argued. “See that shot in her forehead. That killed her. I win.”
“Hmm.” The man who’d told Kres to run looked down at the body. The others deferred to him as the leader. “We’ll have to have the coroner examine the body. That will determine the winner.”
Kres stilled.
They’re having a contest about who killed her
?
“What about the king-mate?” one of the soldiers asked.
“We have to find him. If we return without him, we’d best plan on living in the prison yards,” the leader said.
The blond spoke up. “What if he isn’t worthy? We should have a plan. I’ve never even met the king.”
Kres had heard enough. Dangling from his perch, he dropped down behind the blond. Wrapping his right arm around the soldier’s neck, he used his left hand to hold the knife blade close to the man’s eyes.
“Don’t even think about harming my mate,” he warned. With a backwards snap of his foot, he knocked out the soldier trying to sneak up on him. The man fell to the ground with a thump. “I wouldn’t do that,” he warned as he locked eyes with the leader, who stared back with a cautious expression.
“No need to kill him, King-Mate. He’s just talking like soldiers do. He wasn’t going to harm the king. Were you, Friln?”
Kres lifted the knife a fraction to let the blond speak.
“No, sir, I wouldn’t harm your mate.”
Kres heard the truth in the other man’s voice. “I’m not inclined to like you people very much,” he said in a hard tone.
“I thought you said he was a gentle soul,” another soldier said to the leader. “He doesn’t look so gentle to me.”
“I’m Nelrin, the captain of the guard. The man you have under your knife is my mate Friln. I’d prefer if you didn’t kill him.”
“Did you really get a message that the king is alive?” Kres asked.
Nelrin gave him a surprised look. “Yes. I heard it myself.” His voice turned coaxing. “Come with us and we’ll take you to him.”
“Give me one of your weapons.”
The leader held out his weapon towards Kres, handle first. Kres released Friln, shoving him towards Nelrin. He snatched the weapon when the leader grabbed at his mate.
Kres dropped the knife back into his boot and flipped the weapon to point at the soldiers. He carefully examined each of them before he lowered the blaster.
“If any of you plan on hurting my mate, think again. Now get me to the king.”
Without another glance at the soldiers, Kres turned around and headed back to the shuttle.
He’d almost reached the shuttle when the world started to spin. His skin burned, itched, burned again.
With a gasp he dropped the gun.
As the light started to dim, he heard one of the soldiers curse. “Shit, he’s been bit. He’s going into shock. We’ve got to get him back to the palace.”
Everything went black.
* * * *
“I heard from the palace. Your mate is having an allergic reaction to a Syphin sting.”
Vohne shook his head. “Poor thing. Did they give him an inoculation?”
“Yeah, he’s fine now, but apparently he’s ready to hand you your balls on a platter,” Bleine said with a grin.
“I’m not surprised.” Vohne smiled. “He’s tough.” He wasn’t worried. Syphin bites were brutal, but they’d long ago created a shot that easily reversed the symptoms.
“Not so tough a little bug can’t take him down,” Bleine taunted.
Sweat beaded his brother’s forehead. Ignoring Bleine’s teasing, Vohne looked more carefully at his sibling. “Are you feeling all right? You look pale.”
“No. My soldiers did their job. I offered them a reward if they disposed of Jallryne. When we land, find out who killed her. The killer is your new captain of the guard. I had to make sure your right-hand man was loyal, and Jallryne had to die to discover where their loyalties lie.”
A sick churning spun Vohne’s stomach. Rushing over, he grabbed his brother’s arm and lowered him back to his chair. “You can survive this. She was a bad match,” he urged.
“No. My time is over. I only lived to see you return to your throne. It isn’t my fate to live any longer. I outlived my first mate and now my second. It’s time for me to fade into the stars.”
“I can’t let you leave me, brother,” Vohne growled.
Bleine gave a thready laugh. “Some things even you can’t control, brother. Watch your back. Jallryne had accomplices.”
Vohne ran to the intercom. “Medic!” he shouted into the speaker. “I need a medic with a cryogenic processor.”
“Immediately, Your Highness,” a tinny voice responded.
“What are you doing?” Bleine asked. His brother’s skin turned an unnatural greyish tint before Vohne’s eyes.
“I’m going to freeze you until I can find you a new mate.”
Bleine laughed, a bare whisper of a sound. “You’re insane.”
“Maybe, but I can’t lose you. Not now. You’re all the family I have left.” He couldn’t lose his brother right after they’d been reunited. He just couldn’t.
“You have your mate,” Bleine reminded him, his voice barely above a whisper.
Vohne nodded. “I know but he’s not blood. I can’t lose you, Bleine. All the others are long gone. We are the last of our line.”
“You have to have children. I left you a list at the castle.”
“A list of what?”
“Of appropriate king bearers. Choose one and get her pregnant. There are several half-Thresls who would do nicely,” Bleine said.
Vohne laughed, even as he felt tears forming in his eyes. “If I got some girl pregnant, I wouldn’t have to worry about being the last of my line. My mate would fillet me.”
“I didn’t say touch the girl. There are many other ways. Besides, you will want a child or your mate’s also,” Bleine commented as if he thought it weird Vohne hadn’t thought of that himself.
Vohne imagined a little girl with Kres’ beautiful eyes and felt his heart melt. Bleine coughed, a deep hacking sound as if he were spitting out his soul. Vohne rushed to his brother’s side and helped him to the floor, just as the doors swung open and a medical team marched inside.
“I want him frozen. We’ll keep him in storage until we can find him a replacement,” he commanded.
“Vohne, don’t do this. Let me go,” Bleine insisted. “It’s my time.”
“No!” He turned his attention to the medic. “Do what I said.”
“But, Your Highness, if he doesn’t want to be frozen…” the man unwisely protested.
“I am the king. Do as I say.” He turned back to his brother. “Bleine, don’t fight me on this. I will seek you out a new mate with the help of the advisors. Surely we can find one person to be yours.”
Bleine stared at him for so long Vohne thought he would have to fight his dying brother. Finally, Bleine nodded.
“Do it,” he commanded the medics who quickly rushed to comply.
Vohne stood up, stepping aside as the medical team placed his brother in the metal cylinder. A small clear window allowed him to watch the freezing gas fill the chamber. Bleine’s gaze linked with his until his brother blinked no more, his frozen eyes focusing on nothing.
“Goodbye, brother,” Vohne whispered. A sense of incredible loss filled him. He hadn’t even made it back to his kingdom and already he had a long to-do list. Oust the people who plotted against him, reunite with his mate, find his brother a mate of his own, and try to avoid Kres’ knife when he discovered Vohne was looking for a surrogate to bear his children.
It was going to be a busy, busy time.
Chapter Seven
Vohne all but raced off the shuttle, his eyes scanning the landing area for his mate.
Ignoring the line of people eager to get a look at their king, Vohne moved through the crowd searching for Kres.
“I’m right here.”
Vohne turned around. Pain exploded across his nose. “Ow, you hit me.” He shook his head to get rid of the ringing in his ears.
“You shoved me into that damned pod, knowing you could die. Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Kres’ eyes glowed with rage.
Vohne blocked out the pain. Gripping his mate’s handsome face between his hands, he forced Kres to meet his eyes. “I love you too.”
Not giving Kres a chance to reply, he crushed his mate’s mouth with his lips. Kres’ unique flavour exploded across his tongue. Licking inside, he wallowed in the taste and scent of his man.
Mine.
To have his strong mate in his arms again soothed Vohne’s inner beast. Kres’ heart thrummed beneath his touch. “I’m sorry I sent you away, but I’d do it again if your life was threatened.”
His mate’s eyes narrowed. “I should’ve hit you harder.”
Vohne laughed. Wrapping his arms tight around his mate, he breathed in the scent of the one person in the universe who represented everything perfect in his life. Kres smelt like home.
“Your Highness?” Vohne looked up to see a large Thresl soldier standing behind Kres.
“Yes?”
“Your mate is still weak from the bite. He needs to rest,” the soldier scolded with a frown at Kres.
Vohne leant back to get a good look at Kres. His mate lifted an eyebrow at him. “I’m well enough to kick your butt.”
He kissed the tip of his mate’s nose. “I love it when you get feisty.”
“You might like it less with my boot up your ass.”
Vohne’s sharp hearing picked up the quickly stifled laughter of the soldier standing at attention behind Kres’ right shoulder.
“What’s your name, soldier?”
“I am Nelrin, captain of the guard, or at least until you assign someone else,” the soldier replied.
“My brother said the man who killed his mate would be my captain,” Vohne stated.
Nelrin nodded. “We are still investigating who killed her. Until then I will be happy to stand in place of your future captain. My mate is one of the contenders for the title.” He waved a beckoning hand towards the crowd, and a blond human joined the other man. Vohne could tell they were a matched pair.
“We will meet and discuss strategy in the morning. First I need to reconnect with my man,” Vohne growled. No one would get in the way of his bonding with Kres. At that moment, he needed his mate more than oxygen.
“I’d be honoured to show you to your rooms,” Nelrin courteously replied.
“I’d be happy for the escort.” He had difficulty concentrating on anyone other than Kres when they were together. Vohne took his mate’s arm, leading his mercurial lover along with him.
“I’m still mad at you,” Kres whispered.
“Good, we can have make-up sex.” Nothing would deter him. He had both his home and his mate in the same location—Kres would be lucky if they made it back to their room and Vohne didn’t take his lover on the floor in front of the entire palace.
Kres laughed. Vohne knew he needed to clear things up with his lover and find out what had happened after his mate had landed, but his body yearned for the man of his heart and he wouldn’t be denied.
He nodded politely to anyone he passed, dragging Kres along after him.
“Here you go, Your Highness.” Nelrin and his mate both bowed as the pair passed into the room.
Vohne slammed the door in the soldiers’ faces, ignoring the snickers from the other side. Juveniles.
Turning to his mate, he let out a growl. “Why are you still dressed?”
Kres rolled his eyes. “Because we’ve been here about five seconds, and I didn’t think you wanted me to strip in front of your soldiers.”
Vohne snarled at his mate. “They are our soldiers, and I don’t care what they see as long as they don’t touch.” He marched over to his mate and ripped Kres’ shirt in half. “You are mine, and I’ll challenge anyone who tries to take you from me.” Possessive before, now his feral nature pushed at him to claim his man. “There is one thing you should learn about Thresls, my love. Humans might form us, but make no mistake, you belong to my beast.”