Page 14 of Seized by the Alien Space Warrior (Alien Romance #8)

Chapter Fourteen

A va’s soft curves pressed against him changed from languid to tense and her eyes filled with confusion before anger burnt the lightness away. He knew his words would hurt her, just as he knew he’d lost the control he’d kept a tight lid on since he’d first laid eyes on her.

“Forced yourself? Weakness?” The disbelief in Ava’s voice cut deeper than any blade.

He made himself push away from her tempting body and sit on the edge of the pallet. His flesh cooled, at once seeking her body heat. She shoved her shirt over her delectable breasts, the skin still red and swollen from his mouth. His finger twitched, the urge to beg her forgiveness and take her in his arms overwhelming. Instead, he reigned in the familiar tight control he’d relied on as a warrior of the Mercy Division. If he had done that before he’d given into temptation, he never would have had to hurt her like this.

He should never have shared such intimacy with her. Not while knowing that it could never go anywhere. He should have been strong enough to battle his desire, but instead he’d fallen prey to it. The mate-bond connection was just too strong. It had been strong at that first glance. But that didn’t make sense . There could be no mate-bond because he’d already had a mate and he’d failed her. There was only one mate-bond in a lifetime, but mate or not, he wasn’t about to drag Ava into his life for him to fail another.

He’d already failed her. More than once . Guilt was acid in his gut.

This was for the best. Even if he had to tell himself that for the rest of his life, because that was how long he would regret letting Ava go for. He would have to remember her silky skin, her breathy panting, her sweet taste long after he took her to the Sanctuary to begin the rest of her life.

Her life without him with her own kind.

As it should be.

“There can never be anything between us, Ava. I am a Mercenary Warrior,” he said.

Ava withdrew from him and he hated every movement that took her away from him. He could reach out and touch her if he so wanted, but the distance between them was much more than physical reach. It had to be this way. He closed his eyes, repeating the mantra to himself.

“And I’m just a job,” she said.

His eyes snapped open at her derisive tone. “You’re never just a job, Ava.”

“No ‘my Ava’ now?” She straightened her clothes. Her hands shook as they fluttered over her shirt, as though she didn’t know what to do with them now they weren’t clutching him.

He curled his fingers into fists, willing himself to remain still. “What we shared was amazing. I would take you in my arms again this moment.”

“You’re not making any sense, Aekon,” Ava said.

He owed her an explanation. Not just for his weakness, that was unacceptable, but she needed to understand he wasn’t rejecting her . Not at all. It was the pull of this fake mate-bond he had to reject. If he hadn’t already had Onda as his one true bond-mate, then they wouldn’t be having this conversation. Their communication would entail less talking and more love making as he would be securing the mate-bond and joining them together forever, but he’d already done that once. It would never happen again, no matter whatever it was that was happening between them.

“I am Dhasu and we have one bond-mate for life.”

“Is that your species? Dhasu?” At his nod she continued. “And what does having one bond-mate have to do with me? As far as I can see, this isn’t a long term plan for me.”

His gaze flashed to her face, but her normally expressive features were locked tight. “You’re right. It has nothing to do with you, but death of my bond-mate should have meant the death of myself. My heart cannot be given to another. I cannot be the male you deserve, Ava. I cannot be there for you.”

Her arms fell from their defensive position across her chest. “I’m so sorry, Aekon. I had no idea.”

The last thing he needed was her understanding. He needed her anger. Her rejection.

“I only have room in my heart for revenge for her death. I ask for your forgiveness for my lack of control.”

“It’s okay to be human, Aekon,” Ava said.

“I am not human, Ava.”

She gasped as his nodes flashed red. He surged to his feet and paced the tent. His nodes had lain dormant for cycles and there was no reason for them to light again and broadcast to the entire world what he felt. The control he’d once had over them as a warrior was completely gone. What was worse, was that they flashed with the colour of bond-mates – gold. Why they did that, he had no idea. They’d been long dead and maybe being reawakened after so long had made them flawed. As long as Ava never found out what the colours meant, she would never know how wrong it was.

“No. You’re not human, are you?” Her gaze dropped before she roused.

She rubbed at her chest as though something hurt. The golden warmth within his chest lurched and dimmed. He frowned, watching her shift uncomfortably on the pallet. Was she feeling the connection? His withdrawal?

“Just keep your hands—and other appendages—to yourself in the future,” she whispered.

“Ava…” He reached for her before he could stop himself.

Ava stiffened. She put up her hand, palm out and he let his arm drop to his side.

“Just tell me what we’re doing here, Aekon. Why did they rescue us? Surely they expect payback for putting themselves in danger. I know they’re not human, but I think expecting something in return for doing something so dangerous is universal. Are you able to get your communication out to your friends and get us out of here and to this Sanctuary you’re so intent on offloading me onto?”

“It’s for your own good,” he said.

She didn’t understand how safe it was there. How cruel the ten Quadrants were. The states the human females had been in when they’d been rescued. For some, they would never recover. Not fully.

She stood from the pallet on shaky legs. She was still recovering. Still weak. It only highlighted the fact he’d taken advantage of her at her weakest. He was the most despicable of males.

“You don’t get to tell me what’s good for me or not, Aekon. No matter what we shared or how bad you think you feel about it,” Ava said, spiting fire with each word and his gut clenched tight in response. She was too much temptation. Too desirable. Too good for him. Why did everything about her call to him, even her justifiable anger? Drek , this was so wrong.

He shook his head, determined to think clearly despite her heady scent thickened with her recent release heavy in the air. His cock throbbed, aching for her hand. Her mouth. Her cunt.

Gods. He needed air. He fisted his hand, his claws pressing dangerously into his skin. He welcomed the sting. “I have spoken to Brenur about getting a comm out.”

“You don’t trust him,” Ava said, her voice flat.

He didn’t trust any of them. They were Ixod, the scourge of the ten Quadrants. The galaxy would be better off without the scum of their species in it, but he wasn’t going to say those things to her. She was scared enough without his thoughts.

“I can manage Brenur. Don’t worry about him.”

“I think I do need to be worried about him. I think I need to be worried about it all, Aekon. It’s not up to you to deal with everything. This abduction happened to me and it’s up to me to deal with it, whatever that may be,” Ava said.

She tilted her chin high and squared her shoulders. Now that she wasn’t driven by paralysing fear, her inner fire shone through. She knew how to look out for herself, it seemed. Admirable traits, if she was on Earth.

She sighed, deflating, “Aekon. You’re a good man—male. Soldier. Warrior. Ugh, whatever. But you can’t control everything. You can’t make people think your way and you can’t make them do things you deem okay for them do to. It’s obvious you’re dealing with something personal and I won’t pry, but I will ask that you include me in whatever happens. I…I hate being out of control and if I’m not included I’m going to lose it. And believe me, it won’t be a pretty sight.”

As good a front as she was putting on, she was cracking on the inside. He had to make her see his way. It was the only way he could protect her. He’d failed Onda and she was the last female he would ever fail again.

Ava would just have to do what he told her. Without question. He couldn’t have it any other way, mistaken bond-mate or no.

“You’re not on Earth. This is my universe, Ava. Not yours. You don’t know how things work or what other beings are capable of.”

“I think I have a very good idea of what other beings are capable of,” Ava said, her voice thick and dark.

She was right and he hated that she knew. Hated he hadn’t been there to save her from being sold like livestock. Hated he hadn’t been on her planet to stop her abduction, however illogical the thought was. Nothing he felt towards her was logical. Even the mate-bond that teased every cell in his body. That was the most impossible thing of all.

“I will speak with Brenur. I will send a comm. I will ensure that my brothers come to your aid and you will stay here. Where it’s safe,” Aekon said.

She flicked her hair over her shoulder and her nostrils flared. “There’s so much wrong with that statement, I don’t know where to begin.”

She had to see he was doing this for her own good. “Female. You need to rest and recover.”

“Female?” Her voice rose into a high pitch. “I have a name. I’m not just a gender. I’m not sure that you have rescued women before, because you should know better than to speak to us just as a gender! Especially to women. Or if you have, I’m not sure how you’re still alive.”

She took a deep breath. “I appreciate the fact you’ve put your life in danger to save mine. I really do. I thank you for it from the bottom of my heart and I hope to repay you one day, but…I’m a big girl. I am my own sovereignty. My life is not up to you. It’s up to me. I’m not sure what happened to you in the past and I’m really sorry if something did, Aekon. I really am, but you have to realise I’m a different person. Hell, I’m not even a Dhasu! And you can’t treat me like one, if that’s the way Dhasu treat your females. Please, show me the dignity of treating me like an adult, not as an object you think you should protect because it makes you feel better.”

He didn’t see her as any of those things. She was so, so precious. Even if she didn’t see it now, it was his job to keep her safe and take her to the Sanctuary. It was his sacred duty as a Mercenary Warrior, but what kept him wordless were the things she’d said about him. The things she’d noticed about him. She was either a mind-reader, which he knew human females were not, or this strange bond-mate connection that should never be was already burrowing into her soul, forever joining them. He had to stop that at all costs. Even if she hated him from this day forward.

“No.”

Her jaw dropped and she blinked. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me. No.”

“But…you can’t do that to me. You have no right. You…”

He cut her off with a slash of his claws through the air, every word hurting as he forced them from his lips. “As a warrior of the Mercenary Division I am entitled to keep a female safe however I see fit. Desist with your complaints or I will be forced to tie you to the pallet until my brothers come.”

Her cheeks flushed a delicate pink. The same colour as they had when she’d climaxed in his arms, only this time there was frost in her eyes instead of the pretty glaze of satisfaction.

“You would never,” she spluttered.

“I would and I will,” he said.

The tent flaps parted and Kaico entered. “Oh good, you’re up…Am I missing something?”

“I was merely impressing the importance of Ava keeping herself comfortable for her injury,” Aekon said. He shifted, hoping the doctor didn’t see his still swollen shaft.

“I’m fine,” Ava huffed. Her gaze slid from Aekon to Kaico. “In fact, you couldn’t have come at a better time. I’d like to see Brenur, if that’s possible.”

“Ava, you will not,” Aekon ground out.

“Well, that is the reason I’m here—to check on you and to extend Brenur’s offer,” Kaico said. “Why did you remove your bandage?”

Neither he nor Ava answered his question, but then she beamed at Kaico while Aekon’s skin itched with the urge to bury his fist in Kaico’s face. “I’d love to. Err, but first. What is his offer?”

“I left a protein bar for you for when you first woke, but you will need to eat more than that. Brenur has prepared a meal which he would like you to join him for. Both of you,” Kaico said.

“Ava will eat here,” Aekon said.

Ava crossed the little tent and looped her free arm in Kaico’s, locking their elbows together. “I would love to come. The both of us would love to come. Shall we?”

She started for the tent flap, which Kaico led her through, casting a bewildered gaze to Aekon. The only sign of outward agitation on his female was the fiery glare she sent him as she stepped through the flaps and purposefully away from him.

She didn’t know it but she was walking right into the jaws of an adversary that did not have her best interests at heart. Not like Aekon did.

Brenur rescued them because of what Aekon could do for him and deep down, Aekon knew Brenur wouldn’t hesitate to use Ava against him. If Brenur found out just how much Ava meant to him, that Aekon would do whatever it took to keep her safe. Brenur would have the perfect leverage to use against them both. He had no choice but to follow Kaico and find out just what Brenur’s plans were for them.