The Pearl Heartstone (4 page)

“I see you are indeed your normal self.” Kalem turned toward the

door. “Permit me to wish you a long life with your hellion of a bride.”

There was something about the way Kalem called the woman

hellion that sent a chill down Jorel’s spine. What had that female been up to now? No doubt creating havoc. And that was something the kingdom couldn’t handle right now.

It took him an hour to make it to the lower chambers to see his bride. Why she had not been put close to his room, he didn’t know. If there wasn’t a good reason for this insult, heads would roll.

“Let me go, you fucking cat bastards!” Her voice bellowed down the hall and up the stairs.

Okay. That was a good enough reason. No way would his father listen to even a few moments of her screams. Right now, only her guards were being screamed at.

As he approached the cell, he could hear her stalking across the stone floors. A jolt of pain shot through his shoulder as he reached for the doorknob. Even with their newly purchased tissue replicators, his wounds still were not totally healed. That damn female had a lot to answer for. The whispers that were no doubt spreading through the palace would be painting him as less than a man. How could his own mate have brought 26

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him down? He growled low as he opened the door.

She stopped and looked up at him. Her lips curled up. “Get the fuck out.”

“Is that any way to talk to your mate?” he asked, smiling at her.

“I don’t know what planet you’re from, buddy, but I don’t have a

mate. I don’t need a mate. I don’t want a mate.” She spit the words out at him. “What I want is to go home.”

“Good thing you don’t have a say in the matter.”
Hellion bride
was beginning to look like a compliment.

“Says who?” she screamed.

“Says me. My family is the law here. You belong to me now.” He

couldn’t help but enjoy the shocked look on her face. It almost made up for bullet number one.

“Oh, buddy,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t belong to anyone.”

“I’m not your buddy, I am your mate. Your master. You’d better get used to the idea.”

“Fuck you.” She continued her pacing across the room, but her gaze never dropped his. “This is kidnapping. Isn’t there some kind of universal law? This can’t be legal.”

“Yes, we are under galactic law, which prohibits starting wars. Or the kidnapping of the ruling family. All things the Traveler would have taken into account when searching for my mate. Just like White Tiger’s mate, you will grow accustomed to our world.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Not likely.” Her muscles tensed for a second before she leaped at him.

He ducked her outstretched arms as she flew through the air. Her

reflexes were fast, almost as fast as the women of his race were, maybe faster than most. If he hadn’t been watching her, waiting for her to make a move, she would have definitely knocked him down then raced out the door.

“See now, that wasn’t nice,” he said, advancing on her.

“Kidnapping me wasn’t nice either.” She didn’t move back.

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“Look, I suggest you make the best of this situation.”

The scent of her tickled his nose. He didn’t remember it being this enticing before. A low purr rumbled in his throat as he pushed her further into the cell then turned around and locked them both inside.

“Give me the key.”

“No. You will have to earn my trust to come and go as you please.

Until then, you will be at my side always.” Which would no doubt be torture for them both. He crushed his body against hers. His cock rose as she struggled against him. Her hips brushed back and forth against his growing erection. Pressure built in his groin. “You will calm down, or I won’t be responsible.”

“What are you going to do? Hit me?” She pushed against him then

pulled away, trying to wrangle out of his hold. “Well, guess what? I don’t give a damn. If you think I’m going to sit here like a good hostage, you’re dumber than you look.”

Jorel didn’t miss the insult, but with only a thin grip on his control, he had to let it pass. With each nudge against her soft body, he came closer to the edge that would ensnare them both.

“You have no idea what you are playing with.”

“Oh, please,” she said as her gaze caught his.

A flash of white distracted him. His heartstone. She was involved with the damned Traveler. She’d been torturing him. Killing him slowly.

Too bad for her that he’d had enough sense to catch her and bring her here. He grabbed the top of her shirt and gave it a hard tug to get his necklace back. The chain on the necklace held firm, but the fabric of the shirt ripped.

“Get off me.” She struggled harder, fighting with more strength than before.

“That’s mine. Why did that damn witch give it to you?”

“Let go of my shirt.” Ally twisted her arm from his grasp. She pulled back and delivered a hard slap to his face, but he still hung on. “Let go, you pervert.”

He brought his hand down on the necklace, but before he could curl his fingers around the chain to snap it from her neck, a burning heat 28

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burst from the stone. He snatched his hand back and dropped his hold on her.

“Get it off. Get it off.” Ally clawed at the jewel.

The smell of burning flesh flowed through the room, stinging his eyes. She convulsed as if her body resisted it. Her fingernails caught the edge of the stone and got singed in the process.

“Help me.” She looked at him for the first time with real fear in her eyes.

A look of total surrender played out on her face. He was unsure of what he could do. The only thing he knew was that she was suffering and she needed him to stop it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She looked close to passing out. A fine sheen on sweat coated her body. Her legs couldn’t hold her up any longer. He guided her spasming body to the bed.

“Help me.” Her voice was hoarse. Barely a whisper.

Once he had her sitting, he grabbed the sides of her shirt and pulled. The fabric held firm for a moment then split right down the center.

The chain that had held his heartstone dropped to the floor, empty. In the center of her chest, a noticeable heart was burned in the center of her perfectly smooth brown skin. Unless he wanted to cut open her skin and start digging, he was pretty sure they were stuck with each other. He looked up at her face and was surprised to find her still conscious. Only just.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” The accusation in her eyes mirrored her tone.

“You’re the one who had my heartstone. If you had just handed it

over, none of this would have happened.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The necklace. That was mine. How did you get it?” His hands fell

from her chest, but he still hovered above her.

“I bought it.” She grabbed her shirt and held the ripped edges together with one hand. “There’s no way it could have been yours. I bought it from this old lady—”

“The fucking Traveler.”

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“Huh?” She looked up at him.

“You’ve been duped. That was no old lady. That’s was the galaxy’s

best matchmaker and, unless I am mistaken, we are now bound.”

“Look, I am not buying into this crazy game of yours. I want to go home, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll take me.”

The way she cut her eyes at him made Jorel jump out of her reach.

He didn’t imagine for a moment she’d feel an ounce of regret for kneeing or kicking him in his crotch. No, the look she gave him screamed how much she would enjoy delivering the blow.

“I’m sorry. If you had just handed me the heartstone that may have been possible, but it seems the heartstone is out of both of our reaches.”

“Get a surgeon. Cut it out.” Her eyes moved in frantic motions to

the left and right.

She was going to break. Neither of them could afford this show of

cowardice. He pulled back to send a stinging slap her way. Before his hand could connect with her face, she leapt to the other side of the bed.

“Do not hit me. Ever,” she said, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

“I was trying to get you to calm down.”

“I didn’t ask. I’m telling you. Don’t ever try to hit me.” She put a big emphasis on her words. He didn’t miss her interwoven threat. Nor did he miss how fast she’d moved. Faster than even him. There was something not quite normal about her. And he planned to find out what it was.

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“I don’t care what he says. I am not going to a royal dinner. I am not leaving this room. If he doesn’t understand, tell him to come down and I will say it to his face.” Ally had no desire to sit down with him or anyone else. What she wanted was to go home. Point blank. End of story.

He didn’t honestly think that moving her into his suite was going to endear her to him, did he?

The slip of a woman bowed to her and hurried out of the room.

Ally flopped back on the bed. She’d been through the room several times already, and there were no hidden passageways. No secret compartments.

No way out besides the door, which boasted two guards.

A tiny piece of her felt happy that they deemed her such a threat that they beefed up the guard. It didn’t even matter if she did escape. She had no idea of how to get back to that spot in the woods where he’d dragged her from the park.

Two loud thuds in the hallway knocked her from her puny pity party. What the hell was going on? She ran over to the door and peeked out. Both guards lay on the floor. Shit. Either somebody was trying to help her, or she was triple fucked. Either way, she wasn’t about to sit back and wait for whoever was coming to show up. She opened the door wide enough to slip out then craned her neck to look down both directions of the hallway. Empty.

Right or left. Not that it freaking mattered. Left. She’d try left. Ally raced down the corridor, sliding to a stop before she rounded the corner.

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She did another quick peek. Empty again. Everyone must be at that royal dinner. She ran down that hallway and right into Jorel as he rounded the corner.

She tried to backpedal away from him, but his hand snaked out and grabbed her before she could get away. Fire licked her shin when he touched her.

“Where the hell are your guards?” He marched her back to her room, and stepped over the slumped her guards. “What the hell did you do to them?”

“Nothing. They were like that when I opened the door.”

He eyed her suspiciously but didn’t say anything else about the guards.

“So where were you going in such a hurry? I was told you refused

to come to dinner.”

“I was leaving.”

“We’ve been through this. You can’t leave. You do, and we both die. That heartstone ties us together whether we like it or not.” From the slight upturn of his top lip, he didn’t like it any more than she did.

As soon as her gaze connected with his, her mouth went dry, and

she found it harder to breathe. Her nipples tightened, and she wanted to scream her disbelief. She couldn’t want him. Not in that way. She couldn’t be that crazy.

“Look. I have no clue why you’re doing this. I’m sure there are tons of women like you who would want to be stuck with you. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. I don’t need and don’t want to be tied to anyone.”

“I thought we could go the easy route. But it looks like you’re determined to do things the hard way.” The way he said
the hard way
left no doubt about which way he truly wanted things to go.

She’d played right into his hands and hadn’t even known it.

Moving around, she put the bed between them. “You knew I wouldn’t come down to dinner with your family. You planned it. Planned this. I wouldn’t be surprised if you took the guards out and were waiting for me to run into you.”

He laughed at her. A sound that was far too appealing. “Sorry to 32

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disappoint, but I was coming to tell you that if you don’t eat with me, you don’t eat.”

“Fine, I’ll starve.” She tried not to stare at his face, which meant her gaze was glued to his chest.

“It’s too late for that. Having this separate room was a privilege.

One you didn’t appreciate.”

“Meaning what? I’m going to sleep where the servants sleep?” As

she said those words, a whole different scenario played out in her head.

“No. You’ll be sleeping with me.”

Ally couldn’t think of a snappy comeback. His pronouncement completely floored her. Sure, he’d said they were tied, and he acted as if, eventually, they would have to sleep together. But she didn’t really think he would push her into it by taking away her choice.

“You can’t do that.”

He raised his eyebrows at her words. “Why not? My family is law

here. And by the law, you belong to me.” A smile played at his lips.

“I told you, Tigerboy, I don’t belong to anyone.” Before she realized it, she’d jumped at him. Her arms were outstretched, and her hands were poised to rake down his face and pull skin with them. She could’ve run faster, jumped harder, but her heart wasn’t fully in it.