The Healer's Kiss: Book Four of the Forced To Serve Series (17 page)

His mouth closed over hers harshly, finding Boca equally compliant to the invasion of his tongue. Nothing could have bothered him more.

“Do not be submissive when I am upset. You must stop me from being an angry fool.”

“I cannot debate what you feel,” Boca admitted, closing her eyes. “Let us be of an accord about this, Chiang. I will not think badly of you for causing me pain. It is just what must be done. I trust you in this matter.”

“Boca—
Shades of Kellnor
. You probably shouldn’t trust me in anything right now,” Chiang said thoughtfully, sliding her hips off the table with his free hand. “My thoughts of you are not always honorable.”

He let the weight of her hips fall until he felt the heat of her covering proof of his great need. When she tightened her legs around his waist, pressing even closer, Chiang shifted his feet and braced himself to hold her for as long as it took for him to feel better.

“I want you, Boca Ador. Here in engineering. My room. Anywhere you’ll have me. If you said yes in this moment, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from joining with you. I swear by the Creators that I would show you so much pleasure that you would forget any pain you have suffered with other males.”

Boca shook against him, Chiang’s heartfelt declaration of wanting to pleasure her vibrating inside her too strongly for her to pretend their connection did not exist.

“Very well. I concede my body to you, Chiang of Greggor,” she said on an exhale of the breath she had been holding, enthralled by the waves of both compassion and longing rolling off him. This was a version of Chiang she couldn’t say no to any longer.

He laughed harshly as he lifted her away from the table and sat down where he was with his suddenly compliant warrior wrapped tightly around him. He wanted her, and raging fires of Helios, he would have Boca one day, but not because she felt sorry for him.

“That was my desperation to make amends for hurting you talking. I would not emotionally blackmail you into bonding with me. But I do need reassurance of your understanding that hurting you is painful for me,” he said tightly.

“I will do anything you desire to reassure you. You have seduced me into obeying your will,” Boca whispered, hiding her face in the curve of his shoulder.

“Sumerians can’t be seduced. Remember?” Chiang demanded, sliding his large hands between their tight bodies to cover her breasts.

Her throaty moan had him putting his forehead against hers again, and reminding himself that even though he could now make her desire him, the female in his lap did not really want to be with him. Being compelled was not the same as making a choice.

“Malachi says that Sumerian trait is just a mythical lie,” Boca said, pressing her breasts into large palms that welcomed them, surrounded them completely, and caressed them with care.

“For once, I hope the blasted demon is right,” Chiang replied, skimming her neck with his lips as he gently squeezed and kneaded her arching body, pleased with both of them over her growing arousal, which he could feel everywhere their bodies touched. She suddenly leaned hard into his hands and filled his ear with a mewling sound of need that caused a desperate sound to erupt from him.

Chiang watched Boca draw back from him in alarm, which left him no choice but to drop his hands from her. It was the worst of tortures to do so.

“Was I growling again?” Chiang asked flatly, his tone resigned to hearing her complain once more about the noises he made around her, most of which he wasn’t even aware of making.

“Growling? Yes—something like that,” Boca whispered, reminded of Malachi’s warning about Greggor mating sounds.

“Despite what just happened, I promise I will not take advantage of you if you agree to take your rest beside me this sleep cycle,” Chiang demanded softly, the request sounding more like a husky plea than an order. “I cannot be at peace when you are away.”

Boca sighed. Why hesitate to accept his offer whatever it brought? It was what she wanted too. “I must share with you that I am feeling vulnerable. It would help me to stay partially clothed. I—will you agree to this condition?”

“I agree that you may have clothing on half your body. I don’t care which half,” Chiang joked, bargaining mostly to tease her, which was why her short angry nod made him laugh. “Boca—my request was just a joke. Wear whatever makes you comfortable, so long as you’re willing to sleep in my arms.”

Boca reached behind him and grabbed a handful of his hair. “There is little humor in this need I have for you now. I will clothe only half if you agree to wear nothing at all. I enjoy your nudity. These are the terms of my concession to you.”

Visualizing which half his bargaining warrior would choose to keep covered from him was going to keep his mind distracted for the rest of the day, Chiang decided.

And she wanted him unclothed—demanded his nudity in exchange. Did that mean she had plans?

He took several breaths before trusting himself to speak, and then he only managed one word.

“Deal.”

Planting one more hot kiss on his mouth, Boca scooted off Chiang’s lap and stood.

“
Slaggika
. I feel like I’ve drunk a cask of Rylen ale,” she said, making the mistake of looking at the male she had just climbed off of, and immediately wanting to throw herself on him again. No male should look so tempting.

“For some species, feeling strong lust produces a similar physical reaction to inebriation,” Chiang said, trying to be calm and logical, and not to tug her back down on him.

“I don’t like it—never have. Lust weakens a female’s legs, no matter the species,” Boca complained.

“Yes. It is a profound truth that males of every species are grateful for,” Chiang said, smiling up at her.

He smiled at her eye roll over his admission as she left, which had him wondering what other mannerisms she was going to end up picking up from Gwen.

Chiang hoped not many.

Boca’s tongue was already sharp enough without her adopting the habitual emotional outbursts of her trainer.

Chapter 11

Boca walked slowly around the mat panting, feeling very satisfied to see the ensigns rolling to their sides and tiredly climbing to their feet. Chiang’s impassioned pleas for her presence in his bed had put her in an exceptional fighting mood this afternoon.

Seeing Ensign Karr struggling to get up, she walked to him and stuck out a hand. He nodded and let her help, surprised when she tugged him easily to his feet.

“Are you taking enhancements?” he asked.

Boca shook her head. “No. Why?”

Karr shrugged. “You seem stronger.”

Boca lifted an eyebrow at the Norblade male and turned to Gwen, who she knew had heard the conversation despite the hand-held unit the commander was rapidly coding with information.

“Yes, I know why. No, you’re not ready to hear it yet,” Gwen said firmly, stopping her work to give Boca a smile. “It’s not fatal, so stop being in denial that it’s happening. It’s made you giddy and strong, an odd combination that seems to work well for you. I suggest you go with it.”

“Whatever it is, I assure you, it is temporary,” Boca declared firmly, her face growing hot with embarrassment as her commander held her gaze and gave her a look.

Gwen shook her head, staring at the Sumerian female’s happy condition.

“What kind of look is that?” Boca demanded. Then she had the crazy urge to laugh at her commander, so she did.

Instead of chastising the love drunk Sumerian, Gwen shifted her gaze away and shrugged. “Most things are temporary, and you only have this one existence to enjoy the things coming to you now,” she said sharply, her gaze going to the door when her Siren mate walked inside. “It’s only mid-afternoon, Zade. I don’t have time to play yet. Come back later.”

Dorian smiled at the longing in Gwen’s gaze that her sharp tongue rarely admitted without coercion. But he was learning more and more to not let her words block him from seeing the truth.

“I’m actually here to see another female, Sweet Joy. Sorry to disappoint you,” he teased.

Gwen snorted at the use of Zade’s pet name for her. “Who said I was disappointed? I’m not disappointed. I’m busy. Look, see? This is work I’m doing.”

“Yes. You look quite busy,” Dorian admitted with a chuckle.

When Gwen looked up from the unit again, it was to meet Boca’s amused gaze. “Something funny, Ensign Ador?”

“Nothing unusual,” Boca replied, smiling at Lieutenant Zade, who bowed his head to her. “Let me collect my shoes and I’m ready to go.”

She bowed her head to Gwen and then walked off the mat.

“Whatever you’re doing with Chiang, keep it up,” Gwen ordered with a grin, stifling a laugh at the swing of Boca’s hips. It was the closest she’d ever seen the female come to feeling good about herself.

“Your advice is appreciated, oh wise and wonderful Commander. But keeping things up has never been a challenge for me. I have the opposite problem with males,” Boca stated, heading to the bench.

Gwen’s forehead wrinkled as she played the words in her brain a couple of times before believing Boca had said them.

“Was that a sex joke out of Boca?” she asked Zade, thinking how much his wicked smile really suited him.

Then Gwen wanted to slap her head at her thoughts, especially since Zade’s arched eyebrows said he’d intercepted them again. Damn mating connection. He could pretty much take a walk through her brain whenever he wished.

What was her problem today anyway? It wasn’t like she hadn’t already jumped her mate once this morning. Boca must be oozing bonding vibes. They were contagious as hell on this damn tiny ship. Or maybe she and Zade were just easily affected.

“Yes. I believe it was an amusing bonding reference,” Dorian answered seriously, liking the humor lurking in his mate’s eyes. “What kind of training have you been doing with her?”

“Not the kind you’re thinking about, you horny Siren. Maybe she gets off on kicking ensign ass. You should have seen her an hour ago. She even had the cocky Ensign Karr sighing and wishing the training session was over,” Gwen said proudly.

“Warrior females can be a lot of trouble,” Dorian mused, studying his mate’s proud bearing. Then surprising both of them, he reached out and snagged Gwen’s shirt front with one hand, yanking her to him until she bounced against the front of him.

“Do you have any idea how damn appealing you are?” he demanded, keeping his voice low enough so that only his mate heard the whispered question.

When Gwen’s startled mouth flew open to curse him for his public display of ownership, Dorian dove inside, his tongue excitedly wrapping around hers, laughing through the invasion when he heard the thump of the hand-held coding unit hitting the mat as Gwen finally gave in to her feelings.

“Raging fires of Helios, it never lessens between us. I am a lucky male,” he declared hotly, setting his mate free and spinning on his heel before he was tempted to do more.

“You’ll pay for that man-handling stunt tonight, Zade. Lieutenant Trax has bridge duty again,” Gwen said loudly, picking up the hand-held, grateful to see it was still on the same screen. She would have been truly pissed if he’d caused her to lose her work.

“Thank the Creators. I need a good fight,” Dorian replied, listening to Gwen’s laughter behind him.

A grinning Sumerian waited for him at the door. “More amusement, Ensign Ador?”

“I am in a strangely elevated mood today,” Boca declared, yanking open the heavy training room door instead of letting him do it for her.

“Yes, and I find that quite impressive,” Dorian declared with a serene smile as they stepped into the hall. “I don’t think I was ever in a good mood for a single moment I wore a Xendrin collar.”

Gasping in shock, Boca’s hands flew to her neck. She had completely forgotten she had the blasted thing on.

Where was her mind?

With the Greggor and his eerie groaning—that’s where it was, she decided. She had been hearing him moaning in her head all day.

“
Slaggika
,” Boca exclaimed, dropping her hands to her sides.

“Indeed,” Dorian replied to her swearing, fighting his mouth twitching over Boca’s true shock. “I think we’re going to be successful in our meditation practice today. You might even manage to connect with the Creators.”

“Then I will ask them about their true intentions,” Boca declared.

Zade nodded as he held open the meditation room door. “Do so, but be prepared to hear their answer. They will make your destiny known if you seek to find it.”

“Are you not supposed to be reducing my fears of direct contact with them?” Boca asked. “Your words are not comforting.”

Unconcerned with privacy for once, she rapidly pulled off the medical tunic she had worn for fighting and stepped out of her loose pants. She was reaching for the now much shorter meditation robe, which hung on the peg beside the others when she heard the lieutenant swearing behind her.

“What?” she said, face flushing as she spun to her counselor. “It’s not like I haven’t undressed in front of you all week.” She fastened the robe quickly over her hygiene straps, ordering her fingers not to tremble over the Lieutenant’s reaction.

“Don’t be silly. This is not about your unclothed state…,” Dorian began, trying not to reveal the depth of his surprise over what was now on Boca’s shoulder. “Did Malachi draw your tracking mark?”

“Yes. Why? Oh wait—do not tell me about it. He said he sealed it with the Creators’ blessing and I am not to know what it is until sometime on Lotharius,” Boca explained, finding it hard to relax under the lieutenant’s frowning gaze.

Though pleasant most of the time, she always felt a less benevolent sort of male lurked just under the counselor’s surface. She dreaded the thought of ever being the one to bring his dark side out of hiding.

“Has Chiang seen the mark?” Dorian asked carefully, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself.

Boca shook her head. “No. Malachi advised me to wait on that as well.”

“Did the de…did Malachi say
why
you needed to wait?” Dorian demanded.