Chapter Nine
Time stopped as they landed on a private field. It must have been the Captain’s private airfield because shuttles were not allowed to land willy-nilly planet-side. Sarah took a deep breath as the baby started kicking madly, it seemed happy to be back in stable gravity.
“Sarah, this way please.” Audril was gesturing to a winding pathway that led to a house on the side of a mountain. The views from the home would be lovely.
With an eye to the steepness of the climb and another to her belly, she nodded to begin the arduous hike. She was absolutely sure that her lungs were going to pop out and kill her by the time they reached the summit. But she had been right. The view was lovely. “Well, that will keep you in shape.”
Kathak smiled at her and led her gently by the arm to a nearby bench on the outside of the massive deck. “We have a skimmer, but it is out for repairs right now. The grade on the other side requires it.”
“Well, that explains the hike.” A servant came rapidly to her with a beverage covered with condensation. It was similar to lemonade and it went down just as smoothly. The servant was Nyal and female, but her demeanour was that of a beta female. A subservient member of the community, but probably a first rate housekeeper. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” She bowed formally and then left, just as she entered the house she turned and winked.
“That is Ona. She runs the house, even when we are here. Her husband keeps the grounds for us and used to keep an eye on Athon when he was young.” Kathak winced as he mentioned his son’s name and she obviously reacted.
So this was where he had grown up. On the side of a mountain amidst wild beauty. No wonder he was such a strong fighter, she would battle, too, to return to a place like this. Unlike the plague worlds she frequented, this one was fresh, clean and alive. She gulped down the rest of the beverage and set the glass aside. “This is lovely and all, but why am I here?”
Audril took up a seat on her right, which left Kathak on her left. “We are here to offer you a home on Nyal. We want you to raise our grandchild here, where its father grew up.”
“Whoa. And for that you hauled me off of a job and across the galaxy?” She rubbed her belly protectively. The child was quiet now.
“We applied for a replacement for you and got permission for you to raise your child here as a child of the Alliance. It will also have citizenship with the Nyal Imperium so it will be well protected.”
Sarah blinked. “Dual citizenship? You don’t even know if Athon is the father.” She was just throwing it out there to see if Athon had mentioned her. It was pathetic, but she wanted a bit of proof that their time together had stuck in his mind as it had hers.
“You are joking. It was obvious to me the day you stood outside the tank that you two had a bond that went far beyond a one-night stand, or whatever you call it. It was not a mating of convenience, it was a true bonding.”Audril was looking irritated and Kathak looked shocked. “Ignore my mate. He is an idiot when it comes to women. I should know.” She rubbed her horns in agitation.
“Okay. That was a cheap shot. I am sorry. Yes, it is his child, but I don’t know how I would make a life for myself here. The Citadel contract will call for me to attend more worlds that require me.”
“Not for five years. We have bought you some time.” Kathak had gotten over his shock.
His skin was still flushed though, nothing like a woman who knows you inside and out to embarrass you in front of witnesses. She absorbed that and grunted as the baby gave her a solid boot to the ribs. “Does Athon know I am here?”
“No. We found out your condition while on assignment and diverted immediately. We have not been in communication with him since we last left.” Kathak was blushing even harder now.
Sarah pondered it a moment and then got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “You have been trying to get him to match with a Nyal woman?”
He muttered unintelligibly and almost ran into the house, leaving the women staring at his retreating back.
“Don’t worry. We have to approve any matches that Athon makes as his parents. He hasn’t requested our presence yet so there is still time. He will be here tomorrow for dinner. Perhaps we should get you situated.”
“Wait. So he doesn’t know I am here? And he is dating? And he doesn’t know I am pregnant? Geez. That is a lot to take in. I think his horns may blow off.” She rubbed gently at the scars left on her shoulder from his bites. She still wore his marks, but if he was interested in this next woman, she would surrender him for his own good. Eh, who was she kidding. He was in for the fight of his life.
Sarah’s stomach was so knotted that she could barely contemplate dinner, but she dressed formally in clothing provided by Audril and delivered by Ona. The maid had been efficient and didn’t even mind the head butt provided by the mystery bump when she bent forward to help straighten the hem on the formal robes.
She merely smiled, rubbed at her head and said, “It’s a strong one. Athon will be proud.”
“I am just glad that the horns will grow in later, if at all. If I hadn’t found out that tidbit, I may have freaked out.” She turned to look at her reflection swathed in layers of jewel coloured silks. From the waist up, she didn’t even look pregnant. She could pull this off.
Ona led her through the cavernous house and to the formal dining room. She was seated and talking with Audril and Kathak about trade formalities between Nyal space and the Alliance when a skimmer sounded outside and the main door opened a minute later. Sarah felt cold. This was it.
As the footsteps came closer, she fought the urge to bolt. Kathak put his hand on hers and held her in place. The warmth seeped from his skin to hers and calmed her.
When Athon came into the formal dining room, her heart leapt in her chest and then sank as she noted the Nyal woman curled around his arm. She was too late.
* * * *
He was stunned. She was here, the woman who haunted his dreams and the only one he could imagine in his bed, was sitting with his parents. In his home. One hundred and thirteen feet from his bedroom. Before he knew what he was doing, he started forward only to be brought up short.
“Athon? Do you know her?”
Miya was cute, sweet and the perfect Nyal woman. A daughter-in-law that any parents would welcome. She was a little clingy, but he could simply request off-world assignments.
“Yes. Yes, I do know her. Her name is Sarah Anders and she is my mate.” The words came out of his mouth in a rush and he watched Sarah for her reaction. Relief was what he read in her eyes, and then a strange sort of anger.
Chapter Ten
Sarah couldn’t help herself, she was on her feet and walking toward him, her belly leading the way. She flared her hands as she approached her lover. “If you are telling me that you brought this woman here to introduce to your family and are now discarding her because I am here --”
She didn’t get to finish. He embraced her, fiery hands and all. His mouth covered hers. She sighed and let her hands go out. The taste of him was heaven and she smiled as her passenger started kicking like mad.
That
got his attention.
“You are pregnant?”
“No. It is just one heck of a parasite. Of course I am pregnant. Twit.” She smiled at the Nyal woman who was watching them wide-eyed. “Hello. I am Sarah.” She held out her hands for formal greeting.
The woman must have been raised in a formal household because she greeted her in reflex. “Hello, I am Miya.”
“Pleased to meet you.” She left Athon and took the other woman’s arm, escorting her to the table. “It is so rare to meet a woman of your genteel upbringing in such circumstances.”
“Why thank you.” Miya gave a timid smile and Audril looked really confused.
They had a strange and terribly polite dinner. Sarah dropped the bomb over the sorbet. “So, Miya. What would a nice pure-blood Nyal be doing in a mongrel community like this?”
Audril looked amused, Kathak looked offended and Athon looked at Sarah like the sun was rising behind her.
“Well, I wouldn’t normally have considered someone of Officer Kellan’s background, but my father said it would help his company with exports. He said that Captain Lennick had connections that we would have access to.” Miya blushed and then looked over at Athon. “Not that you aren’t very attractive in your own right. But my family wouldn’t have let you near me otherwise.”
Chuckling ruefully, Athon put his glass of water down. He had kept to water, matching Sarah glass for glass. “I was a little surprised when your father approached me, but I was so miserable that I was willing to overlook the coincidence.”
“You are not mad?”
“No. Vaen will take you home.” Athon’s attention was firmly on Sarah.
“But that is most inappropriate.”
“So is admitting that you were after me for my money. Let’s just call the last few weeks a wash and go our separate ways. Vaen can bring his mate if that will be more appropriate for you.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Sarah blinked as Miya rose to her feet. That was that. She was leaving with no bitterness, crankiness or burning Athon’s balls off. She was much more lady-like than Sarah would have been in the same situation.
Kathak smiled and escorted the young woman to the skimmer pad. He seemed pleased with how the evening had played out.
“So I guess I will leave you two, or three to get reacquainted.” Audril nodded to them both, kissed her son on his cheek and patted Sarah’s belly.
Finally, they were alone. “So, Athon. I suppose you have been busy looking for the perfect woman.” She leaned her head on her hand and batted her eyelashes at him.
“No. I already know where to find the perfect woman, it was just a matter of getting her to come to me.”
His voice was deep and husky, stroking parts of her that she had forgotten all about. “Well, technically, your mother dragged me here.”
“Yes. How did she manage to find you?” He was up and pacing, getting closer with each pass.
“I had to send an update to the Alliance when I was rescued and when my medical status changed. Audril received a copy and came to get me.” She smiled wanly. “Your father was less than impressed with me.”
“He will adjust. It was from his example that I craved a strong mate.”
He was so close now she could smell him. His horns gleamed in the light and his eyes were glowing red. He had never looked better to her. “Really? Because I think Miya could have kicked my butt.” It was a lie and a little prod at him. She had a wince of regret that was buried under a burst of adrenaline when he lunged to catch her and sweep her into his arms. She squeaked in surprise. The world spun around her, but by the time she had her bearings, they were down a hall and entering what had to be his rooms. Incidentally, they were also her rooms.
“I see my mother guessed that you were the one for me.”
“I thought as much when I scented you on the pillows.” She leaned up to rest her head in the crook of his neck and nuzzled at his pulse point gently. “And in the closet and in the sheets. Oh, definitely the sheets.” His hands closed tightly on her waist and knees, crushing her to him as she scented him.
“You are killing me.”
“Naw, just a little light torture.” She was stifling a laugh as she bared her teeth to gnaw at his neck and shrieked as he launched her onto the bed without ceremony. She bounced lightly and froze as he leapt onto the bed and caged her with his limbs.
“You always need to make sure that your torture victim is confined, Sarah. Have I taught you nothing?”
His lips nipped lightly at hers. His fingers wove with hers and held her to the bed as he moved down across her body, worshipping each area in turn. The wrapped silk of her gown kept her skin from feeling his heat completely and she twisted against him.
“I want to feel you against me. We are both overdressed.” She smiled as Athon pulled back and gave her a long look, his burning red eyes trying to see all of her at once. “Okay, it was a wonderful idea, but Ona got me into this thing and I don’t know how to get out.” She flapped her sleeves as he released her.
Without a word, he flipped her to her belly and, with two sharp tugs, the silk that confined her slithered away. The baby protested the pressure and she raised her torso up on her arms. The remains of her gown fell away.
He turned her onto her back and she returned the smile that he was giving her. Finally, they were both naked and she groaned in relief as he moved to cover her.
She wanted,
needed
him to touch her. It had been far too long. The feel of his skin touching hers was driving her out of her mind. “I want you inside me.”
“You are not ready.”
“I don’t care.” She grabbed his horns and pulled his head down to hers. The kiss that she laid on him was as hot as she was, her tongue parting his lips and slipping past the fangs that had marked her to duel with his own.
The blunt head of his cock moved between her parted thighs to press against her, weeping with its own lubrication. The first thrust and retreat parted her and the second let him make his way within her with a slow and deliberate shift of his hips.
Oh. That was what she wanted and she told him so with the tilt of her hips and the wrapping of her thighs around his to hold him inside her. It had been uncomfortable at first, but her body had started to prepare for him the instant he came through the door with Miya.
“When are you going to let me move, Sarah?” He broke their kiss and looked down on her with a smile that made her laugh.
“When I am sure that you aren’t going anywhere. So just let me enjoy the moment for a few more seconds.” Tears came to her eyes. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”
Athon’s tears joined hers. “And I thought you just wanted me because I was the only option you had. I am very glad I was wrong.” Slowly, he began to move inside her, his belly pressing against the baby that they had made by this exact method.
They rocked together for what seemed like hours until Sarah’s body reached release with a wave of tremors and a heaving sigh. She shivered and twitched as Athon rapidly reached his own orgasm, each stroke of his engorged cock sending pulses of sensation through her over-stimulated body.
After his own quaking ceased, he moved to one side and curled her against him. “I missed you. Your temper, your tongue and your urge to put me in my place.”
“And I missed you, Athon. Your patience, your gentleness and your fantastic abs.” She chuckled as his expression went from tender to exasperated.
“Your abs are more than enough for us both. When will the baby arrive? I want to make sure that we are ready for it.” His hand moved down to stroke her and he smiled as the babe reacted to his touch.
“We have a few months before it makes its arrival. In the meantime, I have a question to ask you.”
“Please. What ever you want to know, ask.”
She couldn’t keep her smirk to herself. “If, after the baby arrives, I took on a few assignments, how would you feel about that?”
“Fine, as long as I came with you to keep your security up to par.”
“I am talking plague worlds here, Athon. That is where I work. I burn the dead. You would be at risk just being on the planet.”
“Wherever you go, I will come with you. We will just have to make sure that the airlocks are extra safe. Plus, I want our little one here to have brothers and sisters so I understand that you need to feel useful, but you will be my wife and my life first and foremost.”
She gave him a long and serious look. Scorching was her job, but since the new life had started to writhe around inside her, she had been overwhelmed with the idea of being a mom. Sarah knew that she would want to return to work, but life with this man at her side would keep her secure and on an even keel.
Across space, races, and more trials than she had imagined, she had found a family. Her beaming grin was the answer that Athon was looking for. Details would follow later. She was sure that they would butt heads now and then, but as long as their bodies followed, she would deal with it as it came.
For now, she was in love. In bed with the man she loved and their baby was kicking up a storm between them. Her smile turned a little sinister as she flamed on a hand and held it in front of his face. “Now, as for this habit you have of bringing women home to meet your mother…”