Authors: Cynthia Sax
He smells my need.
Gale pressed her thighs together
in a futile attempt to disguise her arousal. “We’re not rutting.”
“We will.” Murad chuckled. “Soon. Have patience, little
bounty hunter.” He hummed a happy tune as he bent over and fastened the tool to
a joint.
Gale opened her mouth to tell him what she thought of that
plan, and the engine whirled to life. “You fixed it.” The overhead lights
turned on and she blinked, the brightness blinding. A blast of recycled air hit
her face, the oxygen levels returning to normal.
“It isn’t fixed.” Murad gripped the fastening tool in his big
right hand, swirling his thumb in small sensuous circles over the handle,
gliding his skin across the silver metal, polishing it to a sheen.
“This is merely a patch,” he explained, spinning the
fastening tool in his hand as though it were a dagger, the light reflecting off
its handle. “Giving us enough energy to power the ship’s fundamental systems.
You’re not going anywhere yet.” He placed the fastening tool back in his pack.
Gale gazed at the faded brown leather bag, wishing to add
the small device to her collection.
Because I might need it in the future.
She clasped her gun with both her hands, fighting the urge to grab the
fastening tool.
I only take random things from beings I care for and I don’t
care for Murad so I must need it.
“That cable is older than one of our moons and has to be
swapped out,” Murad rumbled, he seemed unaware of her inner turmoil. “Do you
have a spare?”
“No.” Gale dropped her gaze and studied the barrel of her
gun, the spare cable having been sold to pay for the bounty-hunter school’s
rations. “And I don’t have the replicator credits to create one,” she admitted,
swallowing her shame.
“You have all of this stuff.” Murad glanced around them,
extending his arms. “Yet you have no spare cables and no replicator credits?”
Gale stared up at him, alarmed by the Warlord’s sudden
anger, hearing the accusation in his voice, his tone similar to those her
substitute parents had used. She didn’t bother to reply, to defend herself, as
none of her responses had ever changed her parents’ minds. It didn’t matter
what she’d said, they’d all returned her to the home for unwanted offspring.
Murad’s face darkened even more. “If you had broken down in
a hostile sector, where I couldn’t rescue you, what would you have done?”
I would have died and nobody would have cared.
Gale
lifted her chin, facing him as she’d faced all of her accusers, erecting her
pride as a shield in front of her. “I would have managed…alone, as I have
always done.” She waved her gun at him, striving to regain her confidence and
her power. “You’re not my rescuer and you’re not my keeper.”
“I am now.” Murad approached, large and powerful and very
angry. “Clearly you need a keeper.” He raised his hand.
Threat.
Acting on instinct, an instinct that had
saved her life in the past, Gale pressed the trigger. A blue beam surged from
her gun, striking Murad in the chest. He shook, his muscles vibrating, his
teeth chattering and he dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Gale,” he roared, clenching his fists.
“You should be unconscious.” She examined her gun, looking
for defects. It appeared to be in working order, the barrel warm. “Why isn’t
the stun setting functioning properly?”
“Do
not
stun me again.” Murad staggered to his feet.
“Or I’ll…”
“Or you’ll…what?” Gale backed away from him, maintaining the
distance between them. “Hit me?”
Not again. Never again.
She aimed her
gun at his reddened chest.
“No!” Murad barked, appalled that Gale, the female he was
meant to spend his lifetime with, would think him capable of such an action.
The moment he’d seen her, smelled her, he’d known she was his
gerel
, his
light in the darkness, and he craved her as he craved air.
She doesn’t crave me. She fears me.
Murad took a
deep, calming breath, held it for three long heartbeats and exhaled. “I don’t
hit females or offspring.” He met his suspicious female’s blue-eyed gaze,
willing her to believe him. “And I’d never harm you,
gerel
.” His voice
softened with a tenderness he’d never before felt toward another being. “You’re
mine to protect, to cherish. I—”
“My lord.” Sartaq’s voice originated from the communicator
strapped to Murad’s waist. “An enemy ship has entered the sector and is headed
toward us at full speed, their shields up,” his first in command informed him.
An enemy ship…that clone-lover Tolui seeks to harm my
gerel
.
“Ahhh…Tolui must wish to help with the repairs,” Murad joked, concealing his
bone-deep fear under a cocky grin, humor being his time-tested method of
managing his unruly emotions. “We’re returning to the ship.”
Gale narrowed her eyes. “
We
are not returning to your
ship.” She waved that blasted gun of hers and edged closer to his console. “I’m
not leaving my home.” She turned her face away from him. “It’s all I have.”
It’s all she has.
Murad rubbed his hands over his
face, that last whispered sentence unraveling his plans. “Sartaq, transfer a
card of replicator credits to us, disengage and draw their fire away from us.
We’ll rendezvous on Chamele 3.”
“Very good, my lord.” Excitement sharpened his best
warrior’s voice, Sartaq hungry for battle.
“Zeta’s last transmission was from Chamele 2,” Gale
grumbled, standing near his utility pack, her lush lips curled into an adorable
pout, blonde curls framing her round face.
“Our planet is closer and I’m not taking any more chances
with you.” Murad allowed his gaze to linger on her pink-clad curves, her large,
glorious breasts pushed upward by her tight body armor, her form soft and her
spirit strong.
A fitting lady for a Warlord.
His cock pressed against
his leather leg coverings. “Where is your replicator?”
Gale darted a glance at the doorway and then gazed up at
him, her diminutive height making Murad feel even larger, stronger, more manly.
“If you try anything, I’ll shoot you,” she warned.
“I won’t,” Murad assured her, not questioning she’d do it.
She
sees me as dangerous.
His chest warmed with pride, as many other beings had
been fooled by his laughter and his smiles, not seeing the savage warrior
within him. “You can trust me, Gale.”
“Trust you?” Gale grazed the trigger of her gun with one
polished fingernail, and Murad mentally braced, expecting his skittish female
to stun him again. He’d gladly suffer that pain to earn her trust.
She didn’t stun him. Silence stretched. He waited, achingly
aware that her ship was dead in space and Tolui’s stolen warship was too close
to them for comfort.
“I suppose I’ll have to trust you,” Gale finally announced
and Murad breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though he had passed some
important test.
“Through the doors and to your right.” She followed him down
the narrow corridor, the scent of willing female teasing Murad’s nostrils.
“After I collect my next bounty, I’ll reimburse the credits.”
“There’s no need.” He glanced at the drawings covering every
passing panel, Gale’s ship resembling a
shuvuu
’s nest, padded with
hoarded treasure. “Consider it a gift.”
A mating gift.
Murad moved
faster, thrilled to have finally found the female he was destined to love and
determined to protect her.
“A gift,” Gale whispered, the huskiness in her voice
arousing him even more. “Sharp right.” They entered an alcove, a
yellow-and-pink replicator positioned on a cluttered counter.
“Wait.” She hurried by him, her ample hips swaying. “Don’t
touch anything.” Gale holstered her gun and moved a collection of neatly
stacked cracked ration containers to the side, clearing space around the
device. “Now you may use the replicator.” She stepped aside.
Murad deliberately brushed against his little female as he
stalked toward the replicator, savoring the brief connection. Gale jumped backward,
her eyes flashing with a bewildering mixture of desire and fear. She reached
for her adorably feminine gun.
“Stunning me again will delay your ship’s repairs.” He
tapped the product number into the replicator, his movements deliberately slow
and nonthreatening. “We don’t have time for additional delays. The enemy is
close,” Murad reasoned as the replicator hummed. “You promised to trust me,
gerel
.”
Doesn’t she know I’m the harmless, never serious brother?
“I trust you to fix my ship.” Gale crossed her arms under
her armor-clad breasts defensively, her gun clasped in her right hand. “I don’t
trust you with my person.”
“You don’t trust me
now
with your delectable person.”
Murad extracted the cable from the replicator and snapped it tight, testing its
durability. “You will soon.”
“Will I?” Gale’s cheeks flushed pink. “I doubt that. You
don’t know anything about me.” She stomped back to the bridge, her curves
jiggling enticingly, her boot heels ringing on the wire-mesh floor.
Murad followed his angry little female, smothering his
inappropriate smile, thrilled that she now trusted him enough to show him her
rigidly straight spine. “I know you’re very loyal to your friend, traveling
clear across the known universes to rescue her. I know—”
“We have failed you, my lord.” Sartaq’s voice sliced through
the space. An uncharacteristic panic colored his best warrior’s words, alarming
Murad. “The enemy has circumvented our blockade and is heading toward you.
We’re chasing him, but are unable to penetrate his shields.”
Son of a
Gechii
.
“We’re abandoning ship.”
Gale widened her eyes. “No.” She shook her head and raised
her gun, the lights reflecting off the barrel. “This is the only home I have.
I’m not—”
“You are.” Murad surged forward, wrested the gun easily from
her hand and tossed it away. He quickly stripped the remaining weapons off her
lush curves, his human mate, with her slower reflexes, unable to stop him.
“You can’t do this.” Gale glared at him, her fists resting
on her wide hips and her face pale, his female clearly afraid, yet remaining
adorably defiant.
“There’s no other choice.” Murad slung her over his right
shoulder, her weight pleasingly solid and her form full, perfect for rutting.
“You’re the only
gerel
I have.” He patted her ass, savoring the intriguing
combination of hard and soft, body armor and abundant female. “I vowed to
protect you and I will.” He rushed down the corridor, scanning the cluttered
space, searching for an escape pod.
“Put me down.” She wiggled, her movements exciting his
already excited body. “We have the cable. I can make the repairs.”
“Even if we could fix your ship in time, we still wouldn’t
be able to outrun a warship.” Murad slapped his right hand on a control panel,
its design similar to those on his own ship. The doors to the escape pod
creaked open, the mechanism in appalling disrepair. His female desperately
needed him and his technological skills, not that she’d ever admit to it.
The small emergency vessel was filled with shattered
weapons, torn chairs and broken devices, the objects stacked as high as his
small mate could reach. “More stuff.” He groaned. Balancing Gale on his
shoulder, he threw some of the items into the corridor, clearing enough space
for the two of them.
“These are my things. Don’t touch my things.” Gale thumped
Murad’s back with her fists, her love taps making no impact on him. “If you
break anything, I’ll shoot you, you big, big—”
“Sexy male?” He grinned, using humor once again to help him
deal with the terror-inspiring situation facing them. “Gorgeous Warlord?” He
smelled the tantalizing musk of her pussy, her scent comforting him, reassuring
him. “Strong—”
The ship shuddered and the floor tilted under his feet,
alarms sounding and lights flashing red. “It’s time to depart.” Murad closed
the doors and set Gale down, placing his body between his sputtering mate and
the exit, intentionally blocking her escape. “Strap yourself in.”
“This is my escape pod, my ship and my life,” Gale sputtered
as she complied with his order, yanking the straps over her shoulders, her
movements sharp and fast and angry. “I won’t stay in here with you.” Her chest
rose and fell rapidly, her breasts threatening to burst out of her body armor.
“I can’t.” Her fingers trembled.
“I won’t hurt you, Gale.” Murad tapped the coordinates of a
lowly populated base on Chamele 3 into the control panel. The escape pod
lurched backward, detaching from the main ship. Gale squeaked as a broken
replicator slammed against her.
“I’m coming.” Murad held on to the walls, struggling to keep
his balance as he navigated toward her, the escape pod falling quickly. The
items in the small space shifted, bumping against his calves and shins. Pain
jabbed up his legs.
He plunked his ass down beside Gale and pushed the
replicator away from her. “There, that’s better, isn’t it?” Murad didn’t strap
himself into the smooth white seat, choosing instead to wrap his arm around his
female’s shoulders, creating a defensive wall encircling her. He breathed
deeply, relishing her delectable scent, her softness, her body heat.
“What are you doing?” She frowned at him, her face
enchantingly pink. “I don’t want you touching me.”
Liar.
He grinned back at her, smelling her sexual
interest. The escape pod tilted and the replicator slid toward them. Murad
caught it and shoved it back. “I’m protecting you, my stubborn little female.
I—”
A blast of light and heat swept over them, pushing him into
Gale’s generous form. The small vessel rattled and the clutter jostled. Murad
safeguarded his small mate from harm, batting the items back, vigilantly
maintaining an object-free perimeter around her.