The Siren's Call (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE) (35 page)

“Good,” Synar said, moving his head to place a kiss on her shoulder. “Now I wish to practice.”

“Practice?” Ania repeated, confused. “Practice what?”

Synar smiled, carefully lowering his body to align with hers, nudging her legs apart in the process. “I wish to practice making a child. That way, when you are ready, I will know exactly what to do.”

Ania laughed softly at his attempt to lift her mood.

“Never once have I felt the slightest hesitation under your hands,” she declared. “You may take a while to make decisions, but once made, you have a single-minded focus, Liam. That seems to especially apply to bonding with me.”

“Because it is a profound truth. It pleases me greatly that you understand me so well,” Synar said, gratified to feel Ania’s laughter beneath him.

“Am I too heavy? Am I hurting you?” he asked. “You are still not completely healed.”

“No. And no. Thank you for addressing my concerns. We can practice making a child now,” Ania said, running hands over his back as he kissed a path across her breasts.

“Thank you, but I wish to practice something else first,” Synar said, moving down her to kiss her laughing belly.

“What now, Liam?” Ania queried, hearing the amusement in her own tone.

It was followed by a moan when her mate buried his face in her lap.

Chapter 23

Gwen reached a hand down to one of the crumpled heaps on the floor and pulled a swearing Boca to her feet. “You still holding up?”

“Yes, just getting frustrated. Tell me again what I am doing wrong,” Boca demanded.

Gwen bent to the small, determined female, illustrated the moves with hand-holds and pushes, teaching her the technique of breaking away from a larger captor, or even more than one. Boca’s size was always going to be used against her. Gwen’s training strategy was to boost her self-defense by raising her confidence. And she wanted that accomplished before teaching the aggressive Sumerian female some new ways to attack.

Glancing at the growing crowd of onlookers lining the bench by the door, Gwen watched Zade giving her thoughtful glances, Ania studying Boca’s fighting, and Malachi sitting with arms crossed. The demon wasn’t any happier about Boca’s return to Lotharius than Chiang was. Malachi just wasn’t saying it.

But none of them were the ones going, and the decision to send Boca was on her and Synar. Gwen looked at the frustrated warrior waiting for her permission to resume.

“Are you ready to try again?”

“Yes,” Boca said firmly, bowing her head to the three ensigns waiting for the attack signal, all looking like they were immensely enjoying knocking her down. She looked at Gwen and nodded, lifting her chin as she took her stance.

“Attack her,” Gwen called to the ensigns, stepping clear of the mat.

The three large males circled Boca again, spreading out until she was surrounded. Then they moved in. For the next several minutes, there was nothing but grunts, yells, and kicks as bodies went flying across the mat.

On the bench, Dorian turned to Ania. “Boca fights fiercely.”

“Yes, but she only uses anger to fuel her efforts,” Ania observed.

Dorian shrugged. “She has a lot of anger left unprocessed from the rest of her life. It will be a while before she loses it all.”

“I will be teaching her to attack. Know I will also be sending her to you. She needs to meditate to gain control of her emotional states. Are you up to scheduling a session every day?” Ania asked.

Dorian shrugged again. “I will make time for her. My head still hurts, but only when I start to think of my time on Terris Rein. So long as I stay in the present, I seem to be fine.”

“How are things between you and Gwen?” Ania asked. “She’s got the energy of two today.”

Memories of their private time together softened Dorian’s gaze and brought a smile. His mate had kissed him awake this morning, then hummed with pleasure in his arms. “I gave Gwen some of my life.”

Ania’s eyebrows rose until they could not go any higher. “You did what? Why? That’s a very serious step to take for a Siren, even with the most treasured of mates.”

“It is in the hands of the Creators, but I too noticed that she is more vibrant today than ever,” Dorian said with a smile. “Even with what I have done, I know I will live many years without her, but I have made sure I will have many years with her. Did you know that she intends to bear my children?”

Ania’s guilty gaze went back to Gwen. Why was such a decision so clear to the young, volatile Earthling yet so appallingly complicated to her?

“Yes. I heard Gwen tell Sarinnea. Your mother fought bravely not to cry with joy,” Ania said softly.

“My mother was right about her, and so were you. If you wish to gloat, I will accept your chastisement. Despite her many faults, Gwen Jet truly is the perfect female for me,” Dorian leaned in to whisper. “That is why I have done all I can to keep her.”

“Dorian Zade mated to a warrior. I am glad to have lived to see this day,” Ania said with a laugh.

Everyone’s attention swung momentarily to the door when Chiang entered the training room. Gazes returned to the mat just in time to see two of the ensigns go flying.

Moments after, the third one lifted Boca’s small body and threw her across the full distance of the mat with as much force as he had in him. She skidded to a stop at Gwen’s feet and rolled over groaning.

Everyone on the bench stood in amazement when Chiang flew across the room in a blur of movement, lifting the ensign who threw Boca from the mat by the neck. Chiang carried the startled male a few steps causing everyone to draw in a sharp breath of concern for the younger male’s fate.

“Chiang! Release Ensign Karr immediately. That’s an order,” Gwen demanded loudly, hoping her voice was sharp enough to penetrate the Greggor’s anger.

Chiang continued to glare, continued to tighten his grip while the male struggled to breathe.

“He hurt her more than was necessary without cause,” he said quietly, his voice deadly in intent.

Boca climbed wearily to her feet, stumbling a bit as she walked to the struggling males. She pulled on Chiang’s arm insistently, trying to get him to ease his grip.

“Ensign Karr didn’t hurt me, Chiang. Put him down. I am in warrior training, learning to fight. He was supposed to attack me. I was supposed to defend myself,” Boca explained.

She swallowed the nervousness she felt in having to both confront and deal with Chiang’s anger so publicly. But instinct clearly informed her, as his potential mate, she was the only one that could. Nothing Gwen said was getting through the Greggor’s thick head.

Chiang looked down at the female whose touch ignited every protective instinct within him. The Greggor mating rage had all but taken him over. The shock of realizing that he wasn’t in complete control of himself made him immediately drop the ensign to the mat, watching without remorse as the young male coughed and gasped for air.

His gaze swept everyone then in shocked surprise. Chiang shook his head to clear it, trying to move the darkness away. He let loose a stream of Greggor swearing, turned, and stormed off the mat. The door to the training room slammed behind him, echoing loudly off the metal walls.

Boca stared at the space where the furious Greggor male had stood and sighed heavily, dropping her head to her chest.

“
Slaggika
,” she swore.

Gwen looked at the mostly uninjured male who was still rubbing his neck. “You need a medic, Ensign Karr?” she asked.

“No offense Commander, but I wouldn’t go to Medical right now if my life force was pouring out all over the mat,” Ensign Karr said on a laugh. “It’s obvious the doctor wants to hurt me, not help me.”

The other two ensigns that Boca had tossed laughed as well. But then Gwen saw that Boca wasn’t laughing at all. She was looking like Chiang had struck her.

“What’s the story with you? Everything okay?” Gwen demanded.

Boca shrugged. “Chiang will just have to figure out how to handle my training. He gave me his word he would do so.”

Gwen thought about the black rage that had she’d seen in Chiang’s energy and how instantly it had owned him. She doubted the shocked Greggor male was going to be able to control his urge to protect Boca without some serious help. Chiang seemed mostly still in denial of how far over the edge he was in his mating.

“Hey, Zade—I think we need a spiritual counselor. You back in business?” Gwen yelled, not looking over her shoulder at him.

Dorian had been attentively listening to Malachi, who had much to say about Chiang’s over-reaction.

“Oh, Dorian—I believe your perfect female is bellowing for you,” Ania informed him with a smile, laughing at the grin that he had to work hard to tame.

Dorian looked toward his mate, who had finally turned to face him. “Do you want me to go check on the doctor?”

Gwen nodded. “Yes. Be careful of his temper. There’s blackness all around him. I think you know what that means.”

“Blackness noted. Thank you for caring about my welfare, Commander,” Dorian said, bowing his head.

“It’s not that I care—I just saw Chiang’s dark energy and wasn’t sure you—oh hell. Kiss my ass, Zade,” Gwen called to his retreating back, trying not to grin at what was the equivalent of teasing from him. Even Chiang was no match for her mate. No male was.

“I will be happy to do so later,” Dorian returned loudly, uncaring of the irreverence he’d shown her in front of the crew.

He headed out the door, smiling at the laughter that followed him at his mate’s vicious, unrestrained swearing. He looked forward to apologizing to her later.

***

Sarinnea stopped outside the door of the conference room and let go of Jordon’s hand. “It is best I leave you to do this alone, Jordon. You do not need to have to explain keeping company with a Siren to your mate. It is of no consequence to the rest of your life. Memories of our time will be put behind you with all the other experiences of your captivity.”

Then unable to help herself, Sarinnea took Jordon’s face in her hands and murmured a prayer for his full healing. The vibrations of her passionate entreaty to the Creators lingered in the air after and made her smile.

When Sarinnea went to pull her hands away, Jordon stopped her, his grip firm and uncompromising. Then he leaned against both her palms, holding them in place.

“Why do I feel like stepping into that room is being disloyal to you?” Jordon declared. “I don’t care what kind of male that makes me. I wasn’t even whole when you came into my life. A Norblade female will not be able to accept me now. I am changed and there is no going back to who I was all those years ago.”

Sarinnea dropped her head, and then raised it again, determined not to be affected by his sad words. This is why she had woven forgetfulness into their bonding.

“What you feel is only the typical effects of a Siren bond—nothing more. I am unable to remove my energy from yours completely at the moment, but I promise you, Jordon, it will lessen over time and distance. Many males have passed through my life in the same manner as you. The pleasure we shared was only for your healing. You have done nothing worthy of shame, not with me, nor as a slave. Now go and visit with your mate. Celebrate your return. This is my wish for you—truly.”

Jordon let his grip fall away from her, firmed his jaw, and opened the door to the conference room. The first thing he saw was Captain Synar standing by a long table with many chairs. The second was the weeping female on the giant view screen who wept even more when she saw him.

Jordon turned back to look at Sarinnea one last time, but she had already disappeared.

***

“Did you get sent to lecture me on my bad behavior?” Chiang demanded, turning away from the curious gaze of the male who had sought him out. He bent his large body and easily lifted the top of the incubator off, setting it on a nearby table.

“Something like that. Need some help?” Dorian asked. He didn’t mean with lifting something heavy and figured the frustrated Greggor well knew it.

“No. I don’t need help. I need to be left alone until I can sort myself out,” Chiang returned, kneeling to be on the same level as the wiring he was removing. “I know what I did, and that I was wrong. Satisfied? Good. Now go away.”

Dorian grinned. “Commander Jet thinks you need some help handling your emotions. She sent me to counsel you,” he said flatly, not bothered by the swearing or the derisive snort from the still-angry Greggor.

“I just bet she did,” Chiang said sharply, not looking at the Siren male. “Do you always do what she says? I never did. I figured you’d be a little less intimidated by her.”

“If you want to insult me until I become angry enough to fight you, let’s just head to one of the training rooms and get your beating over with,” Dorian said flatly. “And yes—in most things and in most places on the Liberator I do what my mate—our commander—tells me to do, especially when she’s right. You’re in the throes of Greggor mating heat and it’s not aimed at my mate, so stop pretending it is just to piss me off. You wanted to kill Ensign Karr for hurting Boca Ador. Deal with your feelings on the matter.”