Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) (21 page)

“Hmm,” Mikhel mused. Then he stood, clad only in long loose flowing trousers. His hair shone and his body glowed and yet he seemed somewhat restless. Nesham had the uneasy feeling that Mikhel needed female companionship. He was after all a Fenturi in his prime and now fully healed. Nesham’s thoughts turned to Carinna and he frowned.

“Problem?” Mikhel asked, studying Nesham. “You know Nesham, it’s funny but you seem much lighter of heart than you have been in many moons.”

“Maybe,” Nesham muttered. “You seem fully recovered,” he blurted. “Do you recall what happened to you in Dark World?”

Mikhel frowned. “It’s odd but I don’t recall our landing there. I remember Lord Demise taking me from my cell and—” he froze, his eyes darkening at some remembrance.

“Mikhel?” Nesham asked worriedly.

“Never mind,” Mikhel said harshly. “Nesham, I need to rest.” And so saying he turned his back on his brethren, shutting him out.

Nesham stared at him worriedly but left quietly, his thoughts to report this new situation to Jace. But when he entered the control room, he found Jace almost asleep in his chair. Castor shook his head and motioned him away.

“Let him rest, he needs it,” Castor said softly.

Koneru nodded and lifted Jace gently in his arms, his weight almost nothing to the gray skinned giant. Carefully Koneru brought him back to his room. He punched in a security code and entered to find Naria lying peacefully asleep in the middle of Jace’s large bed.

Recalling what Castor had mentioned earlier, of how both Jace and Naria seemed to suit one another, Koneru nodded slightly. He placed Jace on the bed and watched as the large man murmured something unintelligible and fitted himself naturally around Naria.

She sighed and snuggled closer to him and Koneru left the two to their rest. He sighed. Stars knew the moment they waked a cloud of Starfire would surely burst. Jace had questions he wanted answered. And when Jace got in
that
mood, nothing would stop him until he had his answers.

Carinna woke sometime later that night. She felt warm breath fluttering against her neck, a large hand spanning her tiny waist, the other wrapped… She swallowed nervously trying to disengage the other hand gently cupping her left breast.

But all she did was manage to waken the large male holding her. She knew without looking that Nesham held her, his scent and feel already familiar to her as if her own. He tightened his grip on her flesh, firming her under his hands until her nipple tensed with arousal.

As if sensing her body’s sudden awakening, Nesham took full advantage. He pressed his full lips against her bared neck. He must have lifted her hair from her as she slept for it laid spread against her pillow, fanned out from her head in dark waves of flame against white sheets.

Nesham murmured something as he licked her neck, wringing a soft moan from her lips. Carinna’s whole body lit with desire, her thoughts a tangle as Nesham’s lips made short work of her resistance. In truth she didn’t understand why she’d been fighting him for so long.

With gentle hands he turned her in his arms so that she lay flat against the bed. His lips found hers and she gasped at the exquisite heat he produced. She met his tongue as it thrust into her mouth and heard him groan in pleasure his response.

He moved his body over hers, covering her lightly though he kept a small distance between them. He didn’t break contact with her lips but his hands moved quickly over her body. Carinna didn’t realize he worked to remove her clothing, so focused was she on his mouth. And then his lips left hers only to lower onto her bared breast. She gasped as his tongue stroked her into waves of ecstasy, her eyes closed, not noticing that he too had divested himself of all clothing.

Then he lowered himself into her and all thought left Carinna but for the feel of Nesham.

“Nesham, oh yes,” she moaned as a familiar rhythm took over the both of them. But unlike her previous experience, this man gave her more pleasure than she could bear. Over and over again he plunged into her, his words hot and erotic, promises of passion and more.

And as they reached their peak together, Carinna thought she felt a brief burst of light fill her as love for this Fenturi warrior consumed her.

Mikhel frowned and stared up at his ceiling. He’d been feeling better and more alive than he had in a long time. His body felt refreshed, his mind surprisingly clean.

And seeing Nesham looking so much like he had before his brother’s death had made him feel better than good. Then Nesham had nudged his memories in a direction he’d rather not have gone.

As he lay in bed, he heard echoed in his mind the cries of passion and anger and lust in the demons that continued to assault him. In his visions he saw himself naked and exposed. The beauty of the act tarnished in the black-eyed emptiness of the voluptuous redheaded demons ravaging his poor body.

He groaned and sought a new place to go, a place full of peace and safety. He left the realities of this world and rejoined the Fentra forests. There he reveled in memories of his homeworld, of the dark green pools of water that had so entranced the Stalker cats. He recalled the lush vegetation and wise old trees that stood the testament of wars and unrest.

He remembered the birth of his twin nieces, Princesses Sasha and Lela. He smiled as his eyes drifted closed, seeing the innocence in the newborns. But the innocence faded as the dreams swept him away, back into the darkness of night, into the black pit of despair where his love and sensuality were turned into a never-ending session of torture and regret.

Naria shot up in bed as she heard another cry of pain. Jace stirred against her wearily, his body still taxed from the earlier battle with darkness. She heard the faint cry again before it silenced. Naria shook her head. She knew to whom that cry belonged—Mikhel. She supposed he had fully recovered in body, but in mind he would always be splintered unless she healed him. She thought that given time to recover, Jace would have been able to do so. But Naria’s familiarity with the pain Mikhel had suffered would make her healing easier.

She had seen many that had at first survived and eventually fallen under her half-sisters’ tortuous skills. Only the Incubus relished her sisters’ ‘delights,’ clearly enthralled as they themselves gave equal pain and pleasure to the women they seduced. Thoughts of seduction made her think of the man lying so calmly next to her.

She looked down at Jace, once again marveling at her deepening feeling for this man. His blond hair fascinated her and she wondered if had blond hair covering the rest of him. She blushed as she again wondered what he looked like naked. Having grown up amongst creatures free and taking in their own sexuality, she had never understood her aversion to the raw, physical coupling on her planet.

She couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of physical intimacy without a stronger connection. But she didn’t feel too badly, knowing that Carinna too had tried it and found it unsatisfactory.

Her thoughts turned back to Mikhel. That man had been assaulted, his inherent sensuality stripped from him. Having studied about the Fenturi, Naria knew that if she did not find some way to fix what her sisters had done, Mikhel would lose his mind. Already his cries proclaimed him getting closer.

“Jace,” she whispered and leaned over him, intending to wake him. “Jace, I need you to—”

“Hmm, I need you too,” he said in his sleep, a sexy grin on his firm lips. Before she could protest he pulled her down on top of him and brought her mouth down to his. Naria knew that he wasn’t truly awake, but even so his kiss devastated her.

He used all of his mouth to kiss, from the sensual pressure of his lips to the erotic touch of his tongue to the deepened slant of his mouth over hers. When he lifted his head to take a breath he pressed his body into hers by placing his hands over her buttocks, squeezing her to him, making her feel what he felt.

She closed her eyes tightly and reached for sanity.

Jace!” she said forcefully and watched him blink into wakefulness, his hands grasping firmly before letting her go in surprise.

“Naria?” he asked in surprise. He stared at her swollen lips and smiled, a killer smile that sank Naria’s hopes for getting her point across.

“Mikhel is in trouble,” she said quickly.

At her words Jace straightened and sat up, moving her off of him gently. He rubbed at his head and Naria knew he had not yet recovered sufficiently to help Mikhel, not after all the power he’d lent her.

“Jace, I heard him crying out earlier. And you can’t help him, not now. But I can. Trust me. I won’t hurt him,” she said quietly with conviction.

Jace stared at her as if wondering at her motives, then sighed and stood. He looked rumpled and half awake, his black eyes tinged with red. But the concerned look in his eyes shook Naria. He shook his head but then grabbed her, pulling her behind him as he released them both into the hallway.

Naria followed quietly, understanding that while he didn’t trust her, he would do whatever he needed to save his crew. And though she hadn’t earned his trust, had in fact almost caused harm to his crew with her actions denying the Dark Worlders earlier that day, she would do anything she could to make him believe in her. Jace’s opinion had come to matter very much to Naria and she couldn’t shake her tender feelings for the charismatic man.

They stopped at Mikhel’s door, the halls curiously empty.

“I heard him crying out it pain,” she tapped her head reading Jace’s question. “In here.”

He nodded in understanding. “Naria, you are going to explain everything you do to him. In fact, I want you to show me what you’re doing. And don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m too tired to stop you,” he said firmly, grasping her chin in his hands as he stared into her eyes. “I’m not.”

Naria swallowed nervously, seeing a bit of the unused power shimmering in Jace’s being. That power had stood him equal to her father, something she shouldn’t make the mistake of forgetting, she thought.

They entered together and found Mikhel thrashing on the bed. Naria and Jace approached and Naria turned to Jace.

“Sit down there,” she said and watched as he pulled a chair towards the bed. “Jace, I know you’re tired. Trust me. I’ve healed before and often. I know what to do.”

He shook his head. “I won’t trust you until you finally relent and tell me the truth,” he said.

She sighed, unable to consider doing so. To have Jace look at her with disdain and horror… she just couldn’t do it. “Fine then. I’ll show you what I’m doing as I do it. But Jace, you cannot interfere, no matter what you see. And you have to promise not to try to wrestle with my mind, merely observe. If you interfere, you may lose not only Mikhel, but damage me and yourself in the process.”

Naria saw Jace turn that over in his mind. She didn’t know what had possessed her to recommend this healing process. Only Dark Worlders with strong mental gifts, namely Demon Lords and the like, could attempt such feats. Yet Naria knew Jace was no ordinary mortal. She had seen brief glimpses into his vast mind. She thought this might work, if only he would leave the healing to her and not intervene.

He finally nodded slowly. “Alright,” he agreed in a deep, husky voice. “I’ll do what you say. But if Mikhel comes to harm I’ll step in.”

“He won’t be harmed, Jace,” Naria sighed. “But you may not like what you see. In order to heal Mikhel, we’ll have to face his demons, literally,” she made a slight joke. But when his mouth refused to smile, she sighed again and began the slow process of linking them together.

-13-

Naria exhaled deeply once she felt Jace and she firmly connected. The feeling caused some discomfort in its unfamiliarity. His presence didn’t necessarily burden her, but it increased the intimacy between them.

Words unnecessary now, she sat next to Mikhel on the bed and touched his forehead with her hand, pressing down firmly. Together, she and Jace struggled past the barriers in Mikhel’s mind to the root of the fear and darkness crowding his injured mind.

Once past the last barrier, she heard Jace gasp as she took in a quick breath. Suddenly in the midst of Mikhel’s pain, the two could only tighten their defenses so as not to get caught up in it.

“Mikhel,” Naria said softly. “Come back to us,” she repeated over and over. “Come to Jace and start at the beginning. Leave the darkness and show us how to help you, show us what they did.”

Naria waited while Mikhel struggled to free himself from the terrors holding him back. When he finally broke free, Naria saw the healthy, large glowing man before he’d been brought to Dark World.

“How is it you are here?” he asked curiously, studying both Naria and Jace as they appeared to him. In Mikhel’s mind’s eye, both Naria and Jace appeared before him. All three stood in a light field with calming waters and green vegetation surrounding them.

“This is your safe place, isn’t it Mikhel?” Naria asked. The world around her looked quite beautiful, nothing like what lived in Dark World.

“Yes, it is,” he said. “And I don’t want to leave it.”

“You must,” she shook her head sadly, Jace mirroring the action. “We have to get you through this, Mikhel.”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Naria, a healer. Jace is with me here, in your mind. Together, he and I will take away the darkness, Mikhel. If you will let us.”

Then Jace spoke, something Naria had hoped he would not do. “Mikhel, trust me. We are doing everything we can to help you. But you must let us in to fix you. Dark World destroyed some part of you that Naria will help put back.”

Mikhel looked from Naria to Jace and she could feel the distrust burning in him. Yet when his gaze returned to Jace, she felt him ease. He nodded reluctantly.

“Fine. But what you will see will not be pretty. And,” he paused. “I don’t want anyone to know of this,” he said quietly, ashamed.

Naria touched his hand lightly, offering comfort. “It will be alright, Mikhel. You’ll see.”

Mikhel sighed and suddenly the picture around the changed. She and Jace stood with Mikhel watching as they returned to Dark World. Naria bit back her denial as she watched her father’s minions drag Jace out of the cell. Then the Thirst Demons repeatedly thrashed the other four remaining, Koneru and Castor taking most of the beatings.