Damaged (Planet Alpha) (7 page)

“I am not those Xyrans,” Kyuk said, voice steady.

Reiyn had to speak. “A long time ago, centuries in the past, Xyrans were taught that self-control created the path on which an honorable life could be built.”

“That’s impossible,” she said, still holding onto Kyuk as if he were a life-raft. “Xyrans are either barbaric, or cold. There’s nothing in between.”

“No,” Kyuk said calmly. “Instinct can force us to lose control, that is true. But we are no more brutal than any other sentient race. Control over emotion is the key to control over our ability to change our skin. That control leads to honor.”

“Then what happened? Why do you enslave everyone you meet?” she cried, tears sliding down her cheeks.

Reiyn moved closer. “It is what happens when evil conquers the hearts of warriors.”

She tried to pull away from Kyuk, but he didn’t let her go. “It is what happens when warriors allow instinct to overwhelm rationality.”

“Is that what’s happening to me?” She yanked her hands away. “Instinct?”

“What do you want, Cori? What do you truly desire?” Kyuk asked her.

Reiyn stared at him in surprise. What did Kyuk know about Cori that he’d missed?

“I want to not be alone,” she whispered after a long, agonizing moment.

“You need not be,” Reiyn said, touching her wrist. The tenuous bond that had formed the first time he’d bitten her abruptly roared up like an inferno.

Kyuk groaned as the energy shot from Reiyn to him through their blood-kin oath. “Is that not what we all want?”

She didn’t respond, but her hair crackled around her head like a blonde halo. She’d never looked more beautiful.

“Can you feel it?” Reiyn asked, not sure which of them would answer him.

Cori nodded, suddenly collapsing into him. He staggered as her full weight hit his torso, but then Kyuk was there, steadying them both. “It is the bond,” he murmured.

“Accept us, and you will never be alone again,” Kyuk said, his hands going around Reiyn and Cori. “I, too, am tired of hiding in the shadows, grief and violence my constant companions. I want to live a free life, with you. I wish to share my blood.” He looked at Reiyn, bare emotion in his eyes.

Reiyn could not deny his blood-kin. He nodded, accepting Kyuk’s need.

As Cori watched, Kyuk leaned up and bit Reiyn in the neck.

Reiyn cried out as the energy
within them flared higher. He lost control of his skin, color-cycling from brown to blue to red before settling into flesh-normal when Kyuk released him. Kyuk’s skin cycled as the bond raced through him. Reiyn drew his knife and nicked his wrist, waiting until the blood beaded. Then he lifted it to Cori.

“Accept us,” he offered.

Cori stared at him, then bent to lick the blood away. When she closed her lips over his wrist, Reiyn shook. Power flashed through his bones. She lifted away slowly, mouth open and Reiyn’s blood on her lips. He handed her the knife, and she clenched her fist around it. She turned and brought it right up against Kyuk’s neck.

“My blood-kin has chosen you
, and you have chosen him. Where he goes, I gladly follow,” Kyuk said to Cori. “You are worthy. Accept me, or kill me.”

“I should kill you both,” she replied in a broken voice. “I was a slave for years.” Her eyes held tears, but they didn’t fall.

“This is not slavery. This is liberty,” Kyuk murmured.

Her hand trembled.

“I will never hurt you,” Reiyn said, knowing through their tenuous bond that she was deeply afraid.

“You lied to me.” She swallowed, trembling. “You lied. I let you inside me, took you into my body, and you lied with your skin.”

Shame twisted his gut, but he couldn’t regret what he’d done. He would do it again, because she was their true mate. He felt it in his bones. And she was just as damaged as they were.
She is a survivor. Our equal.

“Reiyn cannot lie to you anymore,” Kyuk grated out. “He was a slave, as was I. You are not alone.”

Her expression grew stormy. “You were never a slave. You’re a full-blooded Xyran. Was Reiyn a slave? Yeah, sure I’ll buy that. He’s half-human. He has the lash marks on his back to prove it.” She gestured to his shoulders. “But you?” The knife at Kyuk’s neck bit him just the tiniest bit. A drop of blood rolled down his skin. He didn’t flinch, not that Reiyn expected him to.

Kyuk shook his head. “I was every bit a slave as well. My father died when I was a child. I had no status. I fought—” He broke off, closing his eyes for a moment. “I fought endlessly, for food, for shelter, for a position of power.”

“You were a ship’s captain,” Cori said cuttingly.

He grimaced. “I nearly lost my life a hundred times. How is that any different
from what you have survived?”

Reiyn watched her closely. The energy
inside them hadn’t subsided at all, and the more emotional she became, the more the power flared. When she dropped the knife and leaned closer to Kyuk, all three of them moaned as pleasure spiked.

“You are mine, both of you. No other will ever have you again,” she muttered, licking the blood her knife had drawn from Kyuk’s skin.

“No other has ever had us anyway,” Kyuk murmured into her ear.

Reiyn didn’t know how she knew to taste the blood, and didn’t much care. He and Kyuk both moved simultaneously, biting her on either side of her neck. She screamed
, and Reiyn felt her climax explode through him. Kyuk growled, legs tightening, and then he orgasmed too, bringing Reiyn with him in a white-hot burst of energy. It crackled through them like a laser cutting into his psyche, and he climaxed again. Dimly, he felt Kyuk and Cori’s pleasure frying along his nerves, and then another orgasm swept the three of them away.

****

A short time later, Cori shoved herself away from them, trying to figure out what the hell she’d just done. Pleasure still buzzed through her, thick and sweet. She stared up at the ceiling of her sleeping quarters and realized that she could sense Kyuk and Reiyn on the edges of her mind. It wasn’t as if she could read their thoughts; rather, it felt like she was connected to them in some way. She felt more alert. Awake. She shook her head.
No, this is crazy. I will never have what Sky does. It can’t be this easy. Nothing ever is. I’ve only just met them, right?

“Do not be afraid,” Kyuk said, rolling to put his hand on her forearm.

She didn’t flinch. She didn’t have to. She’d sensed he was coming. At least she knew he would never hurt her, for all his Xyran fierceness. If he had meant to harm her, he would have already done so. No, it was the emotional stuff that had her panicking. “What have we done?” she said, stupid tears sliding from her eyes. She impatiently brushed them away.

“We have bonded,” he replied, matter-of-factly, as if what they’d just done wasn’t crazy.

“This is crazy,” she murmured.
You always wanted bondmates,
she told herself.
And you chose them, fully cognizant of the results. Stop being ridiculous.
But she couldn’t help what she felt. Her fear would be her undoing.

“I do not regret it,” Kyuk said, after a pause. “I have been alone my whole life. Reiyn chose well.”

Cori shoved herself to her knees. “Reiyn did not choose me,” she said angrily, jabbing a finger at him where he lay slumped against her mattress. “We met purely by chance.”

Reiyn looked at her, his newly-exposed black eyes implacably Xyran. “I sensed your strength, even during our first meeting.”

“You sensed enough in our first meeting to know that you wanted me as a bondmate?” she asked, her voice cracking. She didn’t even know why she was arguing so much. She didn’t want to be alone, not if she was sincerely honest with herself. She was tired of fighting to survive alone. No, not completely alone. She had Sky, but she wanted her own family again. She thought of the photo of her parents and brother.
That’s all I really have left of a family,
she thought bitterly.
A worn-out picture, as damaged as I am.

“Be at peace, Cori,” Kyuk said. He rubbed his thumb over her wrist.

The sound of her name on his lips sent shivers of heat through her.

“We would never have done this if you had not truly been our destiny,” he murmured.

“How can you talk of destiny?” she asked him, thinking of Reiyn’s back. No one deserved that, destiny or not. “I don’t even know who you are.” She glanced at Reiyn. “Either of you.”

“I was born a slave. My mother found a way for us to escape. Before we left, I swore blood-oath to Kyuk. He was my only friend as a child.” Reiyn had propped himself on his elbows. “My mother died soon after we reached Earth, and I grew to adulthood with one vow: I would do whatever I could to free those still in captivity.”

Cori bit her lip. “And that’s all of who you are?”

He inclined his head. “Nothing else matters.”

He has a point. I don’t usually tell people that I was a slave. Being captured by the Xyrans doesn’t define who I am. Sky taught me that,
Cori thought. She put her hand over Kyuk’s stopping his fingers. It was harder to think with him touching her. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted.

“You need not do anything,” Kyuk said, sitting up. “What does your spirit tell you?” He put a fist to his chest, then slowly moved it to hers, touching her lightly. “You already know the truth.”

Cori felt his touch as if he’d rung a bell inside her ribcage. She trembled. When Reiyn sat up and gathered her into his arms, she began to cry harder.

“Shh, you are safe. You will always be safe with us,” he whispered.

She’d had no idea he could be so tender. This male was a far cry from the unemotional man who’d fucked her up against her ship on Earth.

“Promise me you mean that,” she said tightly, gripping him as hard as she could.

“He does.” Kyuk answered for his blood-kin. “As do I. You have our oath.”

Cori knew she could ask for nothing more than that.
And it is way more than I ever expected.

Chapter Seven

Several days later, Kyuk watched as Cori leaned back in her chair on the bridge. After the bonding, they’d cleaned up and eaten more terrible food. Cori hadn’t let him or Reiyn touch her again yet, and he couldn’t fault her decision. She didn’t completely trust them, despite the blooding and the time they’d spent together, but it did not matter. He would give her time, as much as she needed. He understood. After what she’d been through as a child, giving someone else access to her deepest self would take courage and strength. All three of them were damaged in their own way, but she would soon understand that what they’d shared was irrevocable.

And I am also still adjusting to being alive.
He smiled inwardly at himself and turned back to the display. Soon after the bonding, Xyran raiders began to penetrate the edges of the asteroid field. They’d had to continue hiding, and the three of them took turns checking the sensors, not willing to leave it up to the ship to alert them to danger. Every time they thought it would be safe to leave the system, another Xyran ship had shown up on the edges of the system. Sometimes they’d stay for a few hours, sometimes a day or so. While the raiders combed the asteroid field for their location, Cori, Reiyn, and Kyuk had no choice but to remain hidden.

“It makes no sense,” Cori said, staring intently at the screen. “There’s another one. I thought they’d give up by now. After the first few days when no one showed up, I thought we were home free. What could possibly be so valuable about you that they’d go to such an expense of manpower?”

Kyuk sensed her exhaustion through their bond. “I have come to believe that they want the location of the gem mine on Sarton,” he said.

She swiveled in her chair to look at him. “There aren’t any mines on that moon.” She eyed him speculatively. “Just caves, domes, and a lot of dirt.”

Not for the first time he found himself admiring the woman who’d become his mate. The three days they’d spent together had only reinforced his desire for her, despite their lack of intimacy. Her wariness frustrated him, even as her intelligence won his admiration. They’d shared blood. Their spirits had mingled. He glanced at Reiyn and reined back his impatience.
You should not judge her, when you are also still wary.

“They do not know the mines are merely a cover,” Reiyn said to her, leaning back in his chair.

Kyuk nodded. “I have used that moon many times as a hidden meeting place. It is fairly easy for Xyran captives to make their way to it using stolen shuttles. From there, I and other pilots would pick them up with longer range starships.”

Cori sighed. “Well, we’re paying for it now.” She frowned, leaning forward. “And so, too, are the people who won’t be able to use it as an escape route anymore. How did the Xyrans find out about it?”

Interesting. She does not seem to consider me one of them any longer,
he thought, digesting her casual reference to his people while asking him about them. “I do not know. I can only speculate.”

“You must have been betrayed,” Reiyn offered. “One of your crew could have easily expressed distrust of your command to his tribal leader. Even if you were not smuggling slaves to freedom, the mere suspicion would have enhanced his standing.”

Kyuk considered what Reiyn said. “You are likely correct. I battled many warriors to become a starship captain. After I attained that rank, I battled even more. My status on Xyran has always been precarious.”

“Why is that?” Cori asked.

How to explain my dead father? The barbarity of our culture?
He clenched his fists, then deliberately relaxed them. It would not do for her to believe him uncontrolled. “Xyrans favor violence. There is little reliance on empathy or cooperation, and status is determined through fighting. Because my father died when I was a child, I had no protector. Even as a captain, my status was challenged. That is how it has been for untold centuries.” He sat up a little straighter. “And because I refused to take a sex slave, my personal power remained lower than that of other Xyrans.”

“Wait, what are you talking about? Personal power?” Cori asked.

“Xyrans derive power through sex. That is why so many own multiple slaves and strive to capture more, if possible.” Kyuk couldn’t believe she didn’t know this. She had been a captive at one point.
And she has recently felt the energy surge from the bonding.

“I know that the more slaves you have, the higher your status, but what does that have to do with personal power?”

“Do you not feel the power within us?” Kyuk asked, raising his hand. “It is there, hovering just beyond the skin.” He closed his eyes. “Even with my eyes closed my I can feel you and Reiyn. My senses are sharper. My reflexes are faster.” He opened his eyes and color-cycled rapidly before settling back into flesh-normal. “My control is better.”

She was staring at his hands. “I don’t feel that different,” she finally said.

“You are not a Xyran,” Kyuk replied.

She pursed her lips. “How can you gain energy from me if I’m a human?”

He shook his head. “That is a mystery for the scientists.”

She didn’t look happy with that answer. “So, because you didn’t have any slaves, you weren’t as strong as the rest of them?”

Kyuk nodded.

“Okay, what about the older warriors? They guy who’d captured me when I was a kid was not young. How does that work if violence is the only way to gain status?” she asked. “Wouldn’t you die as you grew weaker? Older?”

“You are partly correct. There are no truly old Xyrans,” Reiyn murmured. “The one who’d captured you must have had many slaves and many warriors under his command to boost his failing physical attributes.”

“He was a tribal leader,” she said, in a low voice. She shuddered. “He was evil. I’m glad I’m a human. My planet may be dying, but at least we aren’t actively trying to decimate each other.”

Reiyn snorted. “There are many violent, unscrupulous humans. You know this.”

She shrugged. “True, but our women aren’t automatically born to be slaves.”

She was right. Kyuk inclined his head to her, and she rewarded him with a small smile before turning back to her display. As she worked, he couldn’t help but admire the graceful lines of her body. She wasn’t as muscular as Xyran females, but she was undeniably beautiful. He began to understand why so many of his people had begun to choose human women as sex slaves. It wasn’t just to torment the Alphans, who so desperately needed mates to cure their infertility woes. It was also because humans were alluring in their own way. Their women had not yet had the spark of independence stamped out of them. Xyran females were carefully controlled from birth through adulthood.

“As far as my sensors can tell, we’re completely hidden. The new bunch of Xyrans didn’t pick up our location,” Cori said, flicking her long blonde hair out of her face. She turned off the display and rolled her shoulders, wincing as the muscles worked. When she yawned, too, Kyuk realized she needed more rest. They’d been taking turns at the helm, but clearly she was not getting enough slumber.

“You can sleep, if you like,” he told her. “Reiyn and I will keep watch.” He glanced at his blood-kin.

Reiyn nodded. “Kyuk is correct. You have not slept in over twenty-four hours. You must be exhausted.”

“You’re keeping track of how much I sleep?” She made a face at them. “You haven’t slept, either, Reiyn.”

He lifted a shoulder. “I am Xyran. I do not require as much rest as a human.”

She frowned, and Kyuk knew Reiyn should not have mentioned his mixed blood. It bothered her, for some reason.

“You are half-human,” she predictably replied, giving Reiyn a disgruntled look.

He shrugged again. “It does not matter. I am who I am, and I am not nearly as tired as you are.”

She sighed irritably. “Fine.”

“Rest, Cori. We will keep the ship safe,” Kyuk said before she grew so angry she would not be able to settle herself. He knew her well enough after these past few days to understand how hard she pushed herself. She was strong, but she was also stubborn.

She transferred her irritation to him. “Okay, okay, I’m going. Don’t crash my ship.” She pointed a finger at him.

He lifted his arms. “The ship is a rock, floating in space. It will continue to be a rock, floating in space. You can spare a few more hours’ sleep without watching it drift.”

She nodded. “Right. Wake me if you have to,” she said, then headed for the sleeping quarters.

As she moved past him, Kyuk gently took her arm and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. “All will be well, Corazon.”

She blinked at him, obviously surprised by his gesture and his use of her full name. Through the bond, he sensed their energy stir, and kissed her again. Hastily, she pulled away, and then ducked through the hatch.

She feels something for me, and for Reiyn, but before you do more, this doubt must be purged,
he told himself, thinking of his blood-kin. He’d hoped that his emotions would settle on their own. They hadn’t. He’d tried repressing them, but his efforts had failed.
Confrontation it is. I must face this before I sabotage everything I have gained.
He waited for the door at the end of the corridor to close before speaking. He swiveled in the co-pilot’s chair to face Reiyn, seated at the astrogator’s station. “So, did you never consider coming back to Xyran to find me?”

Reiyn froze, and Kyuk knew his question had caught his blood-kin off guard.

“I would have, had I been the one to escape.”

“We were children. And I assumed you had died.” Reiyn slid a finger over the display, powering down the rest of his navigation equations. Now they truly were just a rock in space. Except for life support and
a few dim lights and passive sensors, the ship was inert.

“I almost did,” Kyuk replied, trying to tamp down the anger coiled in his heart.
You made peace with this years ago,
he reminded himself.

Reiyn looked at him, his black eyes bright. “Every day I thought of you. And every night I prayed I would not dream of you. If I had ever once considered you had survived, I would have found my way back to Xyran.” He tipped his hands out, palms up. “You must know this.”

Kyuk clenched his fists. Intellectually, he believed everything Reiyn had just said, but his heart would not let go of its hesitancy. “I want to believe you.”

“After you took my blood into your body again, how can you not believe me?” Reiyn asked, standing up.

Kyuk resisted the urge to stand, too. He would
not
escalate this into a fight. Not with Reiyn. Instead he rubbed his face tiredly, an emotional gesture he hadn’t performed in front of another living being since he was a child. “I believe you.”

Reiyn was silent. “I feel your spirit against mine: sharp and bright and distrustful.” He stepped closer. “Our bond will not allow us to lie to each other. You have been feeling this since you woke from cryo-sleep.”

Kyuk looked away. Reiyn was strong and healthy and so very alive.
You must stop this,
he told himself. Reiyn had told the truth.

“Perhaps this will convince you,” Reiyn said, hands going to his trousers.

Kyuk stared. They hadn’t touched each other in days, not since they’d shared blood. Even so, arousal slid through him, hot and heavy, as he watched Reiyn unfasten his pants. His blood-kin peeled the leather open, then began to pick at the tape Kyuk had noticed days before. From Reiyn’s expression, the tape did not cover a wound as he’d assumed. When the edge finally gave way, the glimmer of diamonds had Kyuk sucking in a harsh breath.

“I did this in remembrance of you,” Reiyn said, rolling the tape into a ball and tossing it away. He ran a finger over the gems in his flesh. They sat upon his abdomen in exactly the same spot as Kyuk’s.

“My father could only afford cheap gems,” he breathed, hand going up to touch Rieyn’s skin. “I remember the day they put them in my skin. It hurt so very much.” His eyes met his bondmate’s. “That was the last time I ever screamed. You held my hand as I cried.”

Reiyn nodded. “I remember. Your father hit you, here.” He touched Kyuk’s forehead.

“You did this to yourself?” Kyuk pressed his palm to Reiyn’s flesh, feeling the cold diamonds prick at him, like tiny knives.

“I needed to always remember that I once had blood-kin. Even though I believed you dead, these reminded me that I would never be alone in the universe.” Reiyn’s voice broke on the last word. “I did not abandon you. If I had known—”

Kyuk stood up and grabbed him, pulling him in tight enough to bruise. “I believe you,” he interrupted, the tight ball in his gut finally loosening. “I believe you.” He kissed his blood-kin on the mouth. “And now we have Cori as part of us, too. She is strong and beautiful.” He paused, struggling to contain himself. His skin flickered through a dozen colors, a loss of control he hadn’t experienced since he was a child. “We will never be parted again.”

“I never knew why Xyrans embedded things into their flesh,” Cori murmured from behind them.

Kyuk twisted around. She stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a thin shift. It shimmered as she moved, flowing over the curves of her body as she walked towards them. He could just make out her nipples pebbling beneath the cloth.