DarkRevenge (9 page)

What she saw in his face now wasn’t the triumph of man who
had gained capitulation of an enemy. His expression was filled with tenderness
and his touch was gentle. Her heart clenched. She could take his anger, his
revenge, even his hatred. But how could she fight this? And did she even want
to? The force of her release was over, but the emotions remained. The walls
that had taken her years to build were torn down and she was helpless. Tears
dotted her eyelashes and she moaned.

However she’d become mated to Tory Ingle, she could never
deny him now, never leave him. She didn’t want to think about what that meant.

Chapter Six

What the fuck had just happened?

When Tory had brought Alex to the exercise room, it had been
to prove a point. Given a choice, she would fuck him. But somehow, she’d
smashed through his defenses. He’d chosen her as his mate expecting little. Oh,
he’d intended to keep her satisfied in bed, but nothing else.

But when they were fighting hand to hand, he had lost
perspective. He hadn’t wanted to manipulate her, trick her, into fucking him.
He’d wanted her to give it to him.

There was no doubt she’d said the words. As he stared at her
wet lashes and mussed golden-brown hair, he realized he’d always wanted more
from her.

He jerked away from her and rubbed a hand over his face.
What the hell was he going to do now? Something had happened to him while he
was buried deep inside her. Up until this moment, he’d viewed her as a means to
an end, a way to change his own destiny.

Now, she was quickly becoming necessary—like breathing was
necessary. It scared the shit out of him.

She blinked and gazed at him, her eyes a bright gold and
filled with warmth. That satisfied, sleepy expression on her face terrified
him. It brought out strange feelings and thoughts he didn’t know how to handle.
Like the overwhelming desire to just run away with her to another system and
fuck the rest of the universe.

He jumped to his feet and turned his back on her. Somehow,
he had to rebuild his defenses, his protections, against this woman.

There was a silence in the room. It didn’t feel like a good
silence, but he couldn’t break it. He was afraid of the things he would say,
things he couldn’t take back. He shut down his thoughts and his feelings and
yanked on his clothes. The silence stretched as he picked up her discarded
uniform.

Still lying on the floor, her naked body tempted him with
the bruises, his mark darkening on her neck. Her hair was askew and her skin
still glowed from their lovemaking.

Lovemaking.

Just thinking that word made his mouth dry. He swallowed.
She watched him, a wary expression replacing the drowsy contentment of seconds
earlier.

He looked away and handed her the uniform. She took it and
dressed, silent. He cleared his throat. Shit, this was awkward.

“Alex—” he started and she cut him off.

“I’m not stupid. Don’t say it,” she said and her voice
sounded casual, unconcerned. He risked a glance at her face. Telltale lines
around her mouth and the dying light in her eyes gave away the hurt.

“I wasn’t—”

“I know the drill, Commander.” There was a bite in the last
word.

Suddenly, his chest tightened and a burning anger spit fire
into his stomach. He grasped her arm. “We aren’t going to follow any drill that
you know, Alexandra,” he snapped.

Her golden eyes blazed. “Aren’t we? I know when a man wants
to get dressed and run out the door.”

His lips twitched. “It’s happened before, has it?”

She glared at him. By the stars, he loved it when she looked
at him like she wanted to kill him. “Enough that I know the signs.”

“This time is very different, dear heart.” His anger had
disappeared. It didn’t matter that she got past his defenses. All that mattered
was that she was his mate. And to make that work, maybe he had to put aside his
idea of what he thought it would be like. Clearly, their mating wasn’t going to
follow any guidelines he understood.

“Oh? How?” she sneered.

He slowly pulled her closer into his arms. “Because you are
my mate. There won’t be any running away for either of us.”

She struggled, trying to get away from him. He leaned in and
captured her lips with his and she stopped fighting him. Her mouth was sweet,
addictive.

“Commander Ingle,” the intercom blared and he and Alex both
jumped. She started to slip away, but he held on and brushed her lips with his.
He smiled when her eyes widened, startled.

“I’m here, Dink. What’s up?”

“We’ve reached Ardasia. The Judge of Light is disembarking.”

“How’s the bidding going?” He noticed Alex tensed.

“Teran One has bid sixty-one million leders.”

Well, well, well. It looked like King Darius had been able
to outbid his competitors. “And Teran Four?”

“They say they can raise the funds.”

“They’re lying,” Tory announced and took Alex’s hand as he
headed for the door. “Get Bud on it. Announce the bidding is closed and don’t
inform anyone of who has the winning number.”

“You’re going to let Darius have the box?” Alex shook her
head. “I don’t understand. This is all about money?”

Tory glared at her. “Are you trying to piss me off?” He
input his code and the door slid open. “No, it isn’t.”

He refused to say more until they were back in his quarters.
Though he’d handpicked his crew, he knew these men had debts to pay and bank
accounts to fill. As long as they believed this whole thing was about their
Commander getting his
Saria
and the box was a commodity, Alex was safe.

When they reached his quarters, he closed the door and put
his hands on her shoulders. “No one can ever have what’s in that box, Alex. Not
ever.”

She squirmed under his hands, her face flushed and angry.
“It’s Teran One property. Let them have their toy back.”

He shook her. “It’s not a toy. It’s the Old Earth plague.”

The color dropped from her face. “No,” she breathed out.

There was nothing he could do. He had to tell her
everything. “Yes. You were supposed to die. That Stet explosive you wanted to
put on the box? It wasn’t an explosive. It was a delivery system.”

Alex’s lower lip trembled and his heart ached for her. “I
don’t understand.”

“Your ‘secret’ mission was to deliver the box to a General
Costas, the man in charge of the Teran Five forces, right?” He waited for her
nod. “You were supposed to meet him at certain coordinates near where I
intercepted you. But, dear heart, he never left Teran Five.”

“What?” The one word was faint, weak.

“You were supposed to do just what you did. Try to
self-destruct. The Stet explosives were set to deliver the biological virus to
the two nearest planets.”

“Teran Three and Four.”

“Yes. My men don’t know what’s in that fucking thing and I
don’t want them to.”

Her face, white and chalky, turned up to his. “You have to
destroy it. You have to send it into the sun.” She stopped abruptly. “There’s
more.”

His stomach churned. There was a lot more. Right in the
middle stood his mate, a pawn in an ugly game of not just civil war but
planetary destruction. “My sources on Teran One don’t think this is the only
batch of the plague.”

She shuddered. “We’re bait.”

He nodded. “If it hadn’t been for Jezar—”

“Who’s Jezar?”

“You’ll meet everyone in a few minutes. Go shower.” He
shoved her toward his bathroom.

“How did you know I wanted one?”

He snorted. “You’re a woman, aren’t you?”

Her lips twitched and her face relaxed into a smile. The
sight shot straight through his chest and loosened the knots there. “I most
definitely am a woman.” She strode through the door and turned back for a
parting shot. “Find me something to wear, though, would you?”

“Absolutely.”

She disappeared and he flicked on the intercom. “Jezar? Can
you ask Tesia if she has any extra clothes?”

“She is on her way.”

Tory snorted. “You need to stay out of my head, old friend.”

“Your thoughts were…interesting.”

He shook his head. The Ardasian had no idea. “Will you let
the Judge of Light know we will join him shortly?”

“He wishes to meet with your
Saria
alone before he
leaves.”

Now, why would he want that? Odd. “I’m sure that will be
fine,” he said knowing Jezar would sense his disquiet anyway.

Several minutes later, his door signal buzzed. Tory opened
the door and his only female crewmember stood there glaring at him. Her red
hair, cut short, certainly fit her feisty personality. He was lucky to have
her, though. She was one of the few crewmen he trusted unconditionally. She was
born on Teran Two, but she was nothing like those pacifist people. Lucky for
him, she had rebelled against the agrarian lifestyle there and caught the first
transport off planet. She wasn’t military trained, so jobs were hard to come
by, but Tory paid her well. She was invaluable.

She handed him a stack of clothes. “Is it true?” she
demanded. Tesia was one of the few crewmen who cut him absolutely no slack at
all.

“Is what true?”

Tesia jabbed a finger in his chest and he stumbled back into
the room. “That you forced this woman into a
Saria
contract.” Her
sparkling blue eyes blazed. “You know how I feel about that. It’s barbaric how
Teran One treats their woman like commodities, like baby machines. I can’t
believe—”

The door to his bathroom whooshed open and Alex stepped out.
She was wrapped in a towel that barely covered her curves. Her hair, still wet
from her shower, curled around her shoulders. Droplets of water slid along her
skin, still pinkish from the heat. Pink, like her ass had been when he spanked
her in the exercise room, like the flush that covered her skin when she came
under him. Stars, she was so beautiful. He wondered if he was ever going to
have a rational reaction to that.

“Are those for me?” Alex put out her hand and Tory held his
breath wondering if the towel was going to slip, wondering if he could brush
her hand while he passed her the pile of clothes.

For a moment, he marveled that she really belonged to him,
had mated with him. He’d always been a loner, a distrustful man. Jezar had
taught him to be less prickly, but Alex was a reminder of what was lost and
gained when he’d played a lone hand.

Right now she was looking at him expectantly, as if she’d
asked him a question. Oh wait, she had. “Yes, Tesia brought them for you.” He
handed her the clothes and inhaled the fresh scent of soap.

Alex’s face flushed a bright pink and she lowered her glance
as she took the clothes. She smiled at Tesia. “Thank you.” And she disappeared
back into the bathroom. He stared at the door. He had to buy her clothes.
Ardasia had some nice boutiques in its capital city. The city was pretty, too.
Maybe he should take Alex planetside and she could relax a little.

God, he’d lost his mind. Here he was dealing with the Old
Earth plague and he was distracted by thinking about shopping.

“Did you hear me?” Tesia’s voice broke into his thoughts.

He blinked and met her gaze. She didn’t seem pissed anymore.
What had she been mad about again? “What did you say?”

Tesia snorted. “Never mind. I was going to lecture you on
the horrors of a loveless mating, but I can see that’s not your problem.”

Now, she had his full attention. “What?”

She chuckled and left the room. “Better hurry if you’re
going to see the Judge of Light off,” she said over her shoulder.

After Tesia left, he tried to work, studying the manifests
for several of the military vessels leaving Teran Four. But focusing was
impossible.

Focus, that’s what he needed to do. So much depended on it.
If there was more of the virus out there, the whole Teran system was in danger.
Maybe even Ardasia. The plague had decimated Old Earth. Even now, the planet
was still quarantined. If there were human survivors, no one in the Teran
system knew about it.

After half the Earth population had fallen to the plague, a
desperate gamble had created the Teran planets. Terraforming, still new and
barely tested, made Teran One and Teran Two. The next three planets followed
over the two years. All five planets were created to save humanity. The hope
had been at least one of the planets would thrive, even if the others fell
victim to the same fate Earth had.

Instead, all five had survived. And now someone wanted to
change that.

“I’m ready.” Alex appeared at the bathroom door.

Tesia had given Alex one of her black uniforms. He’d never
really noticed them on Tesia, but on Alex? Wow. The woman made the uniform look
like lingerie. He shook his head to clear it.

He definitely had to get her more clothes. Preferably a
shapeless sack. It was probably the only way he’d keep his damn hands off her.

Chapter Seven

The expression on Tory’s face made Alex’s nerves jump and
sizzle. He made her feel feminine and sexy. Desirable. Considering their
circumstances, it was odd that he did. For a moment she wondered if they were
going to make it out of his quarters.

Everything she thought she knew about the
Saria
seemed
incorrect. She’d always viewed it as a price to pay, a forced enslavement of
one to save many. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Tory had allowed her to choose. And
she’d chosen him.

She had to be honest with herself. The Tory Ingle she knew
wouldn’t have exacted revenge on her innocent sister. Even to preserve his
bloodline. It seemed she had a choice here—to continue to fight him and this
mating, or to work with him.

But she didn’t know what, or who, to believe anymore.

“Would you like to see the capital city of Ardasia?” he
asked her.

She swallowed. “I would like that very much.”