Creations 2: Creation's Control (14 page)

Ryen said nothing.

“What?”

“Why won’t you look at me?”

Drekk made the mistake of turning his head towards his mate.

Ryen swore. “What the hell happened to your eyes?” He didn’t step back, as he should have. Instead he leaned
closer
. “You look just like—”

“Stay back.” Drekk had a sudden urge to bite Ryen hard. Excitement and hunger feeding one another, wanting appeasement.
Fuck.

“It’s okay, Drekk. I think I know what’s wrong with you.”

“Shit. I have to go.” Because the notion of bending Ryen over and fucking him until he couldn’t walk felt like the right thing to do. To bite him until he tasted blood, then mingle it with Ryen’s seed thrilled him past his controls.

The thermal image of Ryen faded, replaced by bands of carnal hunger that caused Ryen to stand out in the bland room. Colour flared, scent intensified and his arousal caused Drekk to double over. If Ryen took another step closer he’d hurt him oh so good.

He had to leave.

“I’ll call you when I can. Focus on tonight, it’s important.” Fangs pierced his gums. “Let Rafe know you need a ride home.” Drekk teleported away before he’d finished his sentence.

Not knowing where to go, he sent himself to the fringes of the Eron Forest, where the wild land met dangerous jungle. There, away from everyone, Drekk succumbed to his body’s demands. He tore off his clothes and screamed in anger and pain at his loss. Ryen was gone, and the loneliness ripped Drekk from reality.

Animal needs roared and without thinking about it, Drekk shapeshifted and bounded after prey. Blood, meat and bone. A feast to quell the gnawing hunger. After that, he would claim his mate the
right
way. He howled as he ran, scaring the wildlife into the shadows.

Ryen sat with Rafe and Erin, wondering what to do. He wanted to go after Drekk but had no idea where to look. The
drun
had taken off like a shot, fear and desire radiating from him in waves of extremes. Still caught in
wainu
, Ryen had felt his lover’s lingering emotions, the greatest of which had been terror for Ryen.

“Drekk’s going through a rough patch,” Rafe said. An understatement. “He’s had moments before, but nothing like this. I’m not sure what set him off.” But the look he gave Ryen suggested he knew more than he was saying.

“I don’t know where to look.” Pissed that Drekk had left, Ryen smashed his hand through Rafe’s table. “Oh shit. I’m sorry.” Ryen stood. “I should go.”

“No,” Rafe and Erin said at the same time.

Ryen rolled his eyes. “It’s okay. I’m not going to decimate the population of Tekar. I’m going back to Drekk’s.”
To my home
. He needed to work a few things out.

“I’ll take you,” Erin offered before Rafe could say anything. She kissed Rafe’s cheek.

“I’ll be back soon.”

In the rover, she mimicked Drekk’s voice and altered her forefinger’s print to access the drive feature of the vehicle.

“I could have done that,” Ryen said.

“So you lifted Drekk’s prints already?”

Damn. “No. Just his voice. How do you have it?”

“I stole his rover once. Funny story. So what’s going on with you and Drekk?” she asked as she manoeuvred the vehicle towards Drekk’s dwelling.

“I don’t know.”

“You had sex with him.”

“Yeah, I know. I was there.”

“A male,” Erin reiterated. “I thought you liked women.”

“I do.” And he did. Thoughts of Glaia, however, didn’t turn him on. Even a good-looking guy like Rafe did nothing for Ryen. He didn’t want anyone else but his lover, his master. “There’s just something about Drekk.”

“Yeah, I felt it too before I met Rafe. Drekk made me uncomfortable.”
He gets me uncomfortably hard
, Ryen wanted to say. Instead, he asked, “Are you happy, Erin?”

“More happy than I’ve ever been in my life.”

“Because of Rafe?”

“Because I’m free to love Rafe or whoever I want to love. I chose Rafe. Or rather, he chose me when we mated.”

“So you didn’t want him at first?”

“I desired him, yes. But I wasn’t sure about the rest. Love is such a foreign emotion for us. Trusting another...it doesn’t come easy. And Rafe’s Xema. I didn’t know about our own Xema heritage, not with so much other crap inside us. But when a Xema takes another Xema, it’s for keeps. I’ll never want another with Rafe around.” Ryen had a thought. “I’m Xema too, aren’t I?”

“Yeah. So’s Anin. That and a half dozen other aggressive species accounts for your bossiness.”

He couldn’t help grinning. “I’m no more bossy than Drekk.”
My part-Ebrellion lover.

And isn’t that a kick?
Bad enough to be a Creation the System feared. The Ebrellions were even worse, technologically advanced warriors the System had little defence against. No wonder Ryen hadn’t been able to stop himself from falling in love.

Yeah. That’s why you want Drekk. Because he’s a shapeshifting, teleporting alien who fucks you
into a stupor. That’s it.

“What aren’t you saying?” Erin asked doggedly. “You love Drekk, don’t you? I can see it on your face when you look at him.”

“So you’re an expert on love?”

“Why can’t you admit you love him?”

“Why can’t he?” Ryen retorted. “I know I’m a hothead, but I’m learning to settle down and think before ripping a guy’s head off.” Erin snorted. “Drekk makes me feel something other than pain and duty. I’m not sure he feels the same. That
wainu
is one thing. I’d hoped he felt something more, especially the way he looks at me sometimes... What?”

“Did you say
wainu
?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. That’s a Xema love thing for sure.” Erin laughed as they pulled up to Drekk’s house.

Ryen didn’t want to talk about this with his sister, but he wanted so badly to understand Drekk he’d do anything he could to learn more. “What do you mean?” Erin turned to face him. “
Wainu
is that blissful plane you share with that special person after sharing sex. But it only occurs between a Xema and his or her potential mate.” Drekk had mentioned the same. Hell, he and Drekk had shared
wainu
a number of times. “So does it let you feel what the other person feels? Do you share a deep connection as if you’re one person?”

Erin narrowed her eyes. “You do after you’ve been mated.” Ryen stilled. “Mated how?”

“In the regular way I suppose.” Erin flushed. “Anin is much better than I am at talking about sex. Okay.” She took a deep breath. “When a Xema male mates, he has to achieve climax in his lover’s body. Three times he’ll mark his mate. Then you feel this intense connection, even when the
wainu’s
not there.”

“Son of a bitch.” Ryen was stunned. Drekk had marked him, mated with him, and he hadn’t known. For a moment he saw red. Lies, deceit, hidden agendas... Then he recalled Drekk’s passion, the well of love Ryen felt from the male every time they fucked before holding each other afterwards.

“Ryen?”

“The mating. It can’t be faked, can it? Does the bond lead to emotional ties, or just physical ones?”

“I don’t know. Rafe might. But what I do know is that Drekk had a special interest in you from the very first. He wouldn’t let me see you until he thought it was best
for you.
And according to Rafe, his best buddy is falling for some
drun
who probably won’t appreciate what he’s got.”

Ryen tried to absorb it all. He tamped his exhilaration at thoughts of being tied to Drekk. The male had lied to him, after all. Then again, Drekk wasn’t himself, not since he’d encountered the Ebrellions.

“Thanks, Erin,” Ryen said. “I’ll think about what you’ve said.” She kissed him on the forehead and patted his cheek. “Go easy on Drekk. He’s having a hard time. Don’t tell Rafe, but I overheard most of their conversation while the cook was boring you. Drekk’s got something bottled up inside him that he’s afraid to let go. I think his feelings for you are getting in the way of his control and he’s frightened of hurting you. Then again, I could be mistaken. Maybe it’s all just about sex,” she teased.

Ryen muttered under his breath about nosey females, though he couldn’t fault her for telling him what she had. He understood so much more now. Thanks to Drekk, he’d filled that lonely void inside him with love, a connection to another.
His mate
. He left the rover and waved good-bye to his sister.

He grinned stupidly, then lost the smile worrying about what Drekk was doing at this moment. Entering the dwelling, he stopped abruptly at the sight that met his eyes.

Four men stood in the centre of the room while another two suddenly caged him on either side. They blinked, inner lids closing
sideways
before the outer ones did, and he noted the reptilian pupils.
Ebrellions.
Reacting on instinct, Ryen sent the two next to him into the wall. He drew his pistol on three of the remaining aliens charging him, but it was the fourth Ryen kept his eyes on. That was the same fucking alien who’d come back with Drekk and the female days ago.

“Wait,” the fourth Ebrellion, likely their leader, commanded, and the others froze. “We mean no harm,” he rasped, his hands held high. “I would like to converse with the other one,” he said to Ryen.
Drekk.

“Well so would I,” Ryen snarled and clenched a fist. He braced for the next attack, realising that Drekk hadn’t fallen into enemy hands if said enemy was looking for him.

“You’re not like the others in this star system.” The leader cocked his head, as if in thought. “Yet you’re not like us, either.”

“But my friend is, right?”

“Correct.” The Ebrellion nodded. “I hadn’t meant to leave him so soon after finding him, but I had to return to my ship. Rebel scum needed tending.” The alien smiled, showcasing sharp white teeth. “Your
friend
,” he paused. “I scent him on you. Mated, yet not?”

“That seems to be the running question.” Ryen was having the oddest conversation with a creature he’d never thought to meet. For all the Ebrellion’s differences, he appeared very human. A large, muscular male. Short dark hair, normal Mardu clothing. Only his eyes and teeth looked alien.

“There is something. I can sense a psychic bond. Yet he has not performed the Rite.” The male frowned. “This is dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s nearing his Time. I sensed it when I saw him the other day. He’s nearing his Time and has only partially mated. Without taking from you what he needs, he’ll turn...not right.” The male said something Ryen didn’t understand.

“What the hell does he need? How can I give him what he wants? Does he even know what to do? Because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know he’s Ebrellion.”

“As I suspected.” The leader spoke to his companions and one by one they departed. “I am Tarn. We will find the male and you will fix him.” Ryen was no one’s fool. “You want me to believe you want to help a guy who took down a dozen or more of your own kind.”

“He helped me take care of the rebels I was sent to dispatch. He’s a powerful male. And he’s of my brother’s line.”

Ryen blinked, not having expected that. “What?”

“It’s in his eyes. I saw it for a brief moment when our gazes collided. You’re not Ebrellion, so you can’t understand, but it’s something I know. Come here, Ryen.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Your male called for you several times in the warehouse. I followed his trace back here to you through the void. I carried him here. He wasn’t able to move once the
threll
toxin worked into his system.”

Ryen wanted badly to help Drekk, but he didn’t trust this Tarn as far as he could throw him.

“Every moment you tarry you put your mate in jeopardy.”

“Fine. But you try fucking me over and I’ll break your neck. You don’t want to know what I’ll do to you if you harm Drekk.”

“Drekk, hmm? An Ebrellion name.” Tarn smiled, and his teeth looked normal, like that of a human once more.

“Whatever.” Ryen stepped closer to Tarn and tucked his pistol back into its holster. If the Ebrellion made a wrong move he’d use brute force to take him down. Not as effective, but more satisfying. “Now what?”

“Think of your mate. I will take us there.” Tarn grabbed his arm just as Ryen reached for the pistol at his back, holding onto it.

Ryen concentrated on Drekk. On his ready smile when he teased Ryen, of his clear grey eyes that saw so much. His firm lips and the rough scar that only accentuated his danger.

Dark black hair over swarthy skin. A rugged frame and large hands with long fingers that could cause pleasure or pain. What struck Ryen most about his memories was the love they engendered. Every time he though of Drekk, he warmed with the need to just spend time around his lover. To hear him laugh or growl with passion.

“Enough,” Tarn muttered and dropped him into a dark wooded area. Ryen sensed another presence just as something wild leaped at Tarn. This
threll
was three times the size of a normal
threll
with an anger that stunned Ryen. He made a move to shoot the thing with his pistol when Tarn threw himself in Ryen’s sights.

“No. This is Drekk,” Tarn said as the giant
threll
threw him to the ground. The thing swiped two of his six claws over Tarn’s belly and snarled. The thin hide Tarn wore over his shirt like a vest deflected the venomous attack.

Stunned, Ryen called out Drekk’s name. The creature snarled once more, then ceased its attack on Tarn and jumped in Ryen’s direction.

“Do not move. Let him scent you,” Tarn said quietly.

Ryen released a torrent of pheromone.

“That’s very good,” Tarn said in a choked voice. “No wonder Drekk claimed you.” The
threll
snapped at Tarn but didn’t attack. Instead it focused on Ryen. Slowly, the
threll
began to shrink and change shape, until only Drekk remained on his hands and knees, his hair askew, his features still alien until they too evened out. Only his eyes remained like Tarn’s. Green and yellow with a slitted pupil.

“My brother’s line,” Tarn said proudly, sadly. “Drekk, you must finish claiming your mate in order to become whole.”

“Become whole?” Drekk rasped, his eyes glowing with anger and shame.