Page 9 of Champion (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #6)

It was simply to further the ruse—at least that’s what I told myself. I pressed closer, angling my head and letting the tip of my tongue play over the seam of his lips.

Charick pulled away, his golden eyes settling on my face with a gaze so intense it was like looking into twin suns. Something inside him shifted. I felt it, like a throb in the air that made me feel all hot and primal.

With a sound that was part groan, part growl, Charick’s powerful arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off the ground as his lips crashed onto mine. His tongue was hot and slick as it eagerly explored my mouth, and his taste reminded me of cinnamon and hot chocolate.

My mind, at least the part of it that still pretended the kiss was a ruse, spouted all kinds of warnings. But my body, my traitorous, lusty, hormone-riddled body, wasn’t listening. It had been ages since I’d been kissed. Especially a kiss that set my body to flame like this one.

I linked my hands around his neck, pressing closer, feeling the hard pebbles of my nipples press against the rock-hard solidness of his chest, and something hot, hard, and incredibly large spring to life against my thighs.

Have mercy!

“Willa,” Charick groaned as he broke the kiss, his golden eyes sweeping over my face.

The way he said my name was an expression of desire and longing, but it also held a question. Charick was giving me a moment. A moment to decide whether I wanted to keep pretending the attraction between us didn’t exist. A moment to pull away and keep up my safe, prudish pretense.

Fuck that.

I wound my arms tighter around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine. There was nothing but Charick. How his hot, hard body felt against mine as he plundered my mouth like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Then nothing.

I staggered at the loss of Charick’s body pressing against mine, his sudden absence registering with a blast of chilled night air.

I blinked, trying to regain my bearings.

Charick stood a few feet away, his large hand spanning the neck of an Aljani guard and holding the man at least a foot off the ground.

“Why do you follow us?” The dangerous timbre of Charick’s voice made even my skin prickle. Suddenly my hide and pounce plan seemed like the lesser of two evils.

The guard’s mouth opened and closed like a fish trying to breathe out of water. His pale blue eyes darted from Charick to me and back, but in that moment of shared gaze, I sensed he meant us no harm.

“Charick, put him down.” I placed my hand on his arm, feeling the muscles ripple as he slowly dropped the guard to his feet.

I glanced at him, giving a soft smile, my blood heating when his lips returned the gesture.

My mind immediately returned to the memory of his mouth on mine, his body pressed against me… .

Seriously?

I needed to get hold of myself.

Clearing my throat, I tore my eyes from Charick, focusing on the guard who touched his neck with trembling pale hands as he tried to gather himself. “You’ve been following us, haven’t you?” I knew he had, but it seemed as good a tact to take as any.

“Yes.” The Ajani’s voice creaked, and he cleared his throat. “I needed to make sure you were completely alone.”

I shared a curious glance with Charick. “Why? Did you want to talk to us?”

The guard gave a jerky nod, pale blue eyes darting about nervously.

“My name is Willa, and this is Charick,” I told him… using a tactic to build rapport. I’d trained in interrogation techniques with Naval Intelligence. While that part of my life was long gone, it was strange how the training remained, like muscle memory in my brain.

“My name is Malakal,” he said after a few heartbeats, eyes darting about the darkened landscape.

Charick gave a soft grunt and tapped his ear. “We are alone. Your nearest comrades are outside the gladiator quarters. No one will overhear us.”

I tried not to look as impressed as I felt. Exactly how good was Charick’s hearing? I already knew, to my embarrassment, that his sense of smell was excellent.

The guard’s gaze darted to me, running from head to toe. “You are human?”

“I am.” I nodded, bristling. If this was one of those instances where he wanted me to fuck the information out of him, somebody was getting punched… hard. Of course, I’d probably have to fight Charick for the honor.

“I have met a human before.” His voice ended with a deep sigh, sadness washing over his features like a wave. “On the Lernax Centauri space station. Her name was Lana.”

“Is she okay?” I asked, even though I already had the answer from his desolate expression and slumped shoulders.

“I do not know, but I doubt it.” Malakal shook his head slowly, eyes focused on the dirt at his feet as though he felt ashamed to meet my gaze.

“Nansar bought her from a merchant and set me as her guard. Lana was beautiful and sweet, and I felt….” His voice trailed off as he lifted trembling fingers to rub the base of his pearlescent horns.

“An Aljani’s horns tingle when he meets his fated mate. ”

I cast a glance at Charick, who met my gaze, giving only the slightest lift of his chin in response. Of course, he believed in all the fated mate shit.

“I wanted to rescue her.” Malakal continued a deep tremble to the tenor of his voice.

“I wanted to help her escape to Tau Ceti, but before I could make a plan, Nansar gifted her to Ambassador Yaard.” A single tear, glistening like a diamond in the moonlight, trailed down his cheek.

“I will never forget her screams when they took her aboard the Kerzak ship.”

Charick reached out and laid a hand on Malakal’s shoulder. His golden eyes found mine, his expression dark and worried. Then I remembered. Kerzak were a species that had developed a taste for human flesh.

Fuck! I swallowed back a wave of nausea.

Malakal gathered himself, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin.

“I vowed revenge on Nansar. I stayed in his service, watching and waiting for an opportunity.” Pale blue eyes flickered over first me and then Charick, assessing.

“But now I see that perhaps helping others might grant the best revenge.”

Charick dropped his hand from Malakal’s shoulder and crossed his arms over his chest, which swelled and flexed the muscles in his biceps. My skin tingled at the memory of those arms wrapped tightly around me.

Shit! Focus Willa!

“What do you know of Nansar’s plans for the Duke’s birthday celebration?” Golden eyes flickered from Malakal to me in the span of a heartbeat. “We believe he plans to use Willa in some way.”

“He does.” Malakal’s glance found me, holding an expression that made me shiver. “Nansar plans to use the human female to kill Duke Ako.”

“What?” I blurted, stunned by the absurdity. “His plan is for me to kill the Duke?”

“Yes.” Malakal nodded.

“Well, his plan is fucked because I’m not killing anybody,” I announced, adopting a posture of extreme obstinance. “Not going to happen. No way. Isn’t Duke Ako his father? Why would he want to kill him?”

Malakal regarded my stubbornness with a shrug. “The Duke has long argued for Earth to become a protectorate colony of the Alliance.”

“What does that mean?” Based on my knowledge of history, protectorate countries didn’t fare too well.

“It means Earth would be under the Alliance’s protection, and as such, it would be illegal to enslave and or harm its citizens,” Charick said, his golden eyes soft. I felt the faint trail of his knuckles over my upper arm, as if to indicate it would be a good thing.

“Nansar and Ambassador Yaard want to rape the planet of its people and resources.” Malakal issued a growl at the end of his words.

“If a human kills Duke Ako, what better way to turn the Alliance from wanting to protect Earth? Nansar has spent years planting rumors of the Duke’s cruelty toward humans to make an assassination believable.

It is untrue. Duke Ako is a good, kind ruler. Nansar is the troubled one.”

“A troubled one who makes shit plans.” I huffed. “No way will I kill the Duke.”

Malakal regarded me with something that might have been sadness. “He will make you comply. Even now, word of your mating travels the pit. If Nansar learns of it….” His eyes flickered to Charick, growing even sadder. “He will not hesitate to hurt your mate to make you comply.”

Charick growled, squaring his shoulders. “I would never let Nansar use Willa like that.”

Foreboding skittled along my skin at his words. I believed Charick, and it worried me. A large hand covered my shoulder, and my body warmed from the comfort. Charick watched me curiously, and his touch held the faintest tremble like he expected me to move away. I didn’t.

“Thank you for the warning,” I said to Malakal, forcing a smile.

The guard nodded, his gaze dancing between Charick and me, lips pressed into a tight line.

“Is there something else?” I guessed.

A deep breath escaped Malakal in a rush. “Only rumors whispered in the shadows. Nothing yet of truth.”

“What is it?” Charick demanded, taking a step closer to Malakal.

The guard didn’t appear intimated by Charick, but by what he relayed next. He motioned us closer until the three of us were nearly touching.

Malakal cleared his throat softly, and when he spoke, it was barely a whisper. “It is said that when Nansar stopped on planet Ulit, he met with an agent of a Zarpazian named Vrases.“

Charick sucked in a harsh breath and stilled. As for Malakal, he seemed jittery, and his eyes darted about the landscape as though expecting discovery at any moment.

“Thank you, Malakal.” I tentatively touched the pale skin of Aljani’s forearm. He felt warm, though nowhere near as warm as Charick.

“Stay as close to the Duke as you can,” Charick insisted. “If you learn anything else….”

“Of course,” Malakal said with a curt nod of his head.

His pale eyes ran over Charick and me once again, this time with such longing and sadness it made my heart stutter.

He hadn’t said it. He didn’t need to. The way his trembling fingers touched his horns was enough.

Whatever passed between him and Lana, he thought of her as his mate.

And lost her. The pain he felt was palpable.

Would Charick be like that if I never reciprocated his feelings? Why did the thought of him hurting bother me so much? We’d only shared one kiss. A hell of a kiss, but still.... I pushed my romantic ponderings aside and gave the Aljani one last grateful smile.

With a nod, Malakal disappeared into the shadows. I turned to glance at Charick, standing so strong and tall, golden eyes narrowed against the din and full lips pressed into a tight line.

I might not know him well, but I knew enough to recognize that what the guard said worried Charick.

A lot.