Lost in Barbarian Space (20 page)

Colm stood. The box was dented out of shape, but the explosion had been safely contained.

Agent Brandall sat up. “Everyone okay?”

“Yes.”

“Okay here.”

“Hell of a save, Agent Brandall.”

That’s when Colm noticed her hands. They were burned, the skin red, raw, and peeling. Without thinking, he rushed to her side and grabbed her wrists. “You need medical assistance. I’ll get you to your ship.”

“I’m fine.” She pulled away from him, not looking up. “Galla, I need the medscope.”

The young security officer rushed over. As she handed over the slim metal wand, the woman winced. “Stars, Agent Brandall, that has to hurt. You made a real mess of your hands.”

Agent Brandall shot the agent a wry look. “I noticed, Agent Vasto. I am the one in pain.”

“Sorry.” The young woman clicked the device on and started waving it over Agent Brandall’s hands.

“I’ll do it.” Colm took the device. The officer looked startled for a second, then glanced at his face and backed away with a nod.

“Agent Vasto, this is your job not his,” Agent Brandall said sharply.

“Ah, I’m not going to argue with him. He’s bigger than me.” The young woman hurried away.

“We have medscopes now on Markaria. I can assure you, I know how to operate it.” Colm watched the skin on her hands begin to heal. He wasn’t sure why he felt such a savage need to ensure she was healed. But as the skin knitted together, the red dissipating, the tight feeling in his chest began to ease. She wasn’t badly injured, thankfully. As he waved the device over her second hand, he realized he liked looking after her.

He looked at the top of her golden head and realized she still wasn’t looking at him.

“Was I not a good escort on our mission to Ansar?”

Now she raised her head. “Who told you?”

He frowned. “I was not aware it was a secret. Kavon said we worked together, that’s all.”

She released a breath. “Yes. And no, you were an excellent escort. We worked well together.” She grabbed the medscope from him and switched it off. “All healed. Thank you. I need to check the other boxes for any other live explosives.”

Colm grabbed her hand. “I’ll see you at the feast.”

Her eyes closed briefly, then flickered open. The pale-green depths of them were unreadable. “I’m not attending.” She gave him a tight smile. “I’ve got too much work to do. But enjoy.” She took a step away, then hesitated. “Have a good life, warrior.”

Colm watched her walk away. He wondered at the strange, almost desolate feeling inside him. Maybe his nanami weren’t healed, after all?

But more than that, he wondered what it was that he’d detected in Agent Brandall’s voice?

The smell of something burning reached his nostrils.

He glanced around, wondering if it was coming from the containment box. He frowned. No. It was coming from the other direction.

He stepped closer, and spotted an orange glow in another box.

“There’s another explosive,” he bellowed. “Everyone down.”

People dived for cover. But in a split second, he realized Agent Brandall was right beside the box. Right in the line of fire.

Colm sprinted toward her, using every ounce of his nanami-enhanced speed. He saw her turn, her eyes widening. He scooped her up, and took three running steps before the explosive detonated.

The explosion lifted him off his feet. Colm curled his body around hers to shield it. He turned slightly, so he was the one that slammed into the hard ground, Honor on top of him.

Colm’s head slammed into the rocks. He blinked, trying to stay conscious. All he could think of was that it felt so right to have Honor Brandall pressed against him.

“Colm.” Her worried face appeared above his. She tapped his cheek. “Stay with me, warrior.”

He tried, but black splotches crossed his vision, and he lost consciousness.

***

Colm awoke. For a second, he thought he was back in the narrow bunk in the med bay, on the Institute ship.

Then he released a breath. He was in his own bed, and Kavon was sitting in a chair beside him.

“Kavon?”

Relief flashed over his friend’s face. “Finally. I thought you’d miss the feast. It’s starting soon. That hard head of yours has really taken some knocks lately.”

“I only remember the last one.” Colm expected to feel pain, but he felt nothing. In fact, he felt great. He remembered hitting his head after the explosion, and probed the back of his skull. There was no lump.

“Medscope,” Kavon said simply.

“Everyone’s okay?”

Kavon nodded. “Fine. And the pink-haired nightmare was brought in to clean up the area. Hard to believe such a young…unique girl is an expert with explosives.”

Colm sank back against his pillows. “And Honor? She’s okay?”

Kavon stilled. “Honor is fine.”

Honor.
Honor.
His Honor. Colm frowned, a faint ache in his head.

Then, it was like his mind crashed open. He groaned and pressed a hand to his chest. As the memories flooded his brain, his nanami buzzed inside him.

“Honor,” he breathed. “My mate.”

Kavon leaned forward. “You remember?”

Colm leaped out of the bed and searched for his trousers. “Yes!” He needed to get to her. “You didn’t tell me.” He spun. “You were just going to let my mate leave?” He made a strangled, enraged sound.

“She made me promise not to.”

Colm froze. “She doesn’t want me.” Mating was always the female’s final decision.

Kavon snorted. “Hardly. She loves you so much she wanted you to be free to explore life, without the issue of the nanami sickness hanging over you.”

Colm reached over and grabbed a glass from his nightstand. He threw it, and it smashed against the brick wall. “How could she believe it wouldn’t include her?”

“She spoke with Aurina, Colm. I get the impression her previous…relationships have not made her believe a man could love her as she is.”

Colm made another angry sound.

Kavon stood. “Colm, a small group of the skyflyers is staying for the feast with the
Drake
. The rest leave in half an hour with the
Magellan
to return to charted space.”

Urgency filled Colm. Honor had said she wasn’t coming to the feast. She was
leaving
him. “I will be unavailable for a few days.”

Kavon sighed. “Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, but at least tell me where you will be, in case you need my aid.”

“On my land. In the Dashon Meadows.” He smiled. “I think Honor will like the wildflowers.”

Kavon smiled. “As does my mate. Good luck, my friend.” They gripped each other’s arms in a warrior’s clasp. “She’s a worthy woman. A worthy warrior.”

Once dressed, Colm raced through the house, and out to the hargon stables. It took the stable master a few moments to get his beast, but soon, Colm was riding at full speed through the gates of the estate.

In a distant field, he saw where the
Drake
was parked. It was ferrying the last of the goods up to the
Magellan
. As he got closer, he searched the Institute team members working beside the ship. His gut clenched. He couldn’t see her. Had she left already?

Then he spotted a flash of gold.

Honor
.

Colm kicked into his hargon, urging it for more speed and ignoring when it snorted steam from its nostrils. He rode hard, leaning forward over the beast.

At the last minute, Honor’s head snapped up. She saw him, her eyes widening.

Colm reached down and snatched her off her feet, pulling her up over the beast’s back. She struggled, cursing at him.

He smiled at his little warrior.

His mate.

He had her back. Now he just needed to convince her to stay.

***

Honor snapped awake.

She sat up and realized she was cocooned in a mound of pillows. She gazed around. She was inside some sort of circular tent. Above, the canvas roof flapped happily in the breeze.

She got to her feet and took a quick look around, but didn’t find anything to let her know where she was. Spotting the door, she pushed the fabric aside and stepped outside.

She gasped. All around her was a beautiful meadow filled with flowers. They were mostly shades of purple, but there were a few pinks and yellows dotted in between.

Where was she? And why the hell had Colm grabbed her like that? She walked into the field, letting her hand run across the tops of the knee-high blooms. She stopped and broke a purple one off the stem. It was interesting to look at, with spikes in the center and long purple petals.

She turned in a circle. There was nothing around. Only the large, round tent in a field of flowers that stretched as far as the eye could see. She put her hands on her hips. She remembered the thunder of hooves, then Colm grabbing her and dragging her onto his hargon beast.

They’d ridden for what felt like hours, Colm holding her down on his beast like she was a sack of supplies. He’d refused to talk, even though she’d peppered him with insults. Finally, exhausted from the last few days, she’d drifted off.

Had the medical procedure caused him to do this? What if there was something wrong with him and he needed help—

She heard a sound and turned.

Her gut clenched. Ahead, her barbarian was walking through the flowers toward her.

She drank him in. The impossibly broad shoulders, the hard chest, the ridged abdomen, and the long, solid legs. He was strength personified. Her gaze moved up and reached his rugged face. His eyes were on her. She saw a flare of gold within them.

She was unable to move. He was watching her with an intensity that made her chest tight. It was so damn unfair. He was
hers
and now he had no idea who she was. Honor fought back tears.

“Honor.”

The way he said it…her chest hitched. No. She didn’t dare hope. “Colm…”

He reached her and cupped her face.

The way he touched her, the way he looked at her… “You…remember?”

“Yes. Every single second.”

Her knees threatened to go out from under her. Emotion flooded her. “God, Colm—”

He pulled her close, his heat engulfing her. “I’m sorry, Honor. For not remembering right away.”

Honor felt a tear trickle down her cheek. “It’s not your fault.”

“I could never forget you.” His thumb traced her cheekbone. “Not my bondmate.”

“Colm.” A sob broke from her.

All of a sudden, he exploded into action. He scooped her up into his arms, and, holding her close to his chest, he strode towards the tent.

Honor’s throat was so clogged she couldn’t speak. He set her down inside the tent and she stood quietly as he stripped her uniform off her. A second later he was skimming his tight leather trousers off and then they were both naked.

Stars, he was so beautiful. She started shaking.

He dragged her down into the nest of pillows and kissed her.

The kiss was long and deep and slow. It was like he was trying to pull the taste of her inside him. Trying to mark every tiny bit of her. Trying to reach her soul.

His hands skimmed over her, and Honor let hers travel over the broad planes of him. He murmured to her, apologizing over and over.

Soon he moved, rolling her beneath him, and pulling one of her legs around his hips. When he slid inside her, she cried out from the beauty of it. He made love to her—slowly, reverently.

“You are mine, Honor. My woman, my bondmate, my heart.”

He brought her to orgasm twice before he finally held himself still, his body shaking as he spilled his release inside her.

They were quiet for a long while, stroking each other. Then he pulled away and got up.

Honor rose up on one elbow and watched him—all those fascinating flexes of muscle she’d never get tired of watching. He moved to a small box nearby, and pulled out what looked like a bottle of wine.

He poured two glasses of the dark, purple-red liquid and brought them back to her. He handed her a glass, his gaze on her. She felt there was some importance to the moment.

“To seal our mating, you drink this,” he said.

She stared at him. She wasn’t sure exactly what the future would hold for them, but she knew she needed this warrior in her life.

She’d lost him once, she didn’t plan on letting it happen again. She put her lips to the rim of the glass and took a long, deep sip of the sweet, spicy wine.

Colm made a satisfied growling sound, and drank from his own glass. Then he set it aside, and reached for hers. With the other hand he pushed her back against the pillows and tipped her glass over her chest. As the red wine spilled down over her breasts, she gasped.

Then her warrior leaned forward and lapped it off her skin. “You taste better than the wine.” He dragged one nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, and Honor cried out.

He kept licking, sucking, and teasing her. Honor felt her desire rising again.

“I haven’t had any mating jewelry made yet.” His fingers drifted up to her arm, stroking her bicep. “I want beautiful bands wrapped around here, to show that we are joined. To show you are mine. Kavon has a metal in his mine that glows deep red in the light. It is very hard, very tough, but bends in the right circumstances. Just like my little warrior.” His brown gaze met hers. “Our mating is not complete until you tell me you will be mine.”

For the first time, she detected the faintest hint of nerves in her warrior. “Yes, Colm, I’ll be your bondmate.”

Elation filled his face. Then he frowned. “I detect something is still troubling you?”

She sat up a little. “My job. I have another year on my contract with the Institute. And after that, if I come here, what would I do? I’m not made to sit around all day, Colm, being an artist, or taking care of babies.”

At the word babies, his eyes flared gold. His hand stroked over her breasts and down to her belly. “You’ll be a wonderful mother to our children.”

Just the thought of it ignited a deep kernel of want inside her.

“But I understand, my little warrior. We will have children when you are ready. I will talk to Kavon, but with so many outside visitors wanting to come to Markaria, having someone in security who understands them and the risks they might pose, would be invaluable.”