The Demon Master's Wife (Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE) (28 page)

“I will check on you later, Commander. Good day, Lieutenant,” Boca said, fleeing.

Gwen slid from the table after Boca was gone. She walked around to test her legs with the sheet covering only her front.

Dorian smiled at the show from behind. “You have a very nice body, Gwen Jet. I especially like how rounded you are through the hips. So many females are not so endowed.”

“My normal reaction to statements about the width of my hips is to tell the speaker to kiss my ass or bite me, but if I did that with you, I think you might actually act on the suggestions,” she said. “I’ll have to ask Sarinnea how to swear at you in Rylen.”

Dorian smiled widely. “See? We are already reaching new levels of understanding with each other. Perhaps one day you will say that I am your friend as well as the best male you ever bonded with.”

“Eavesdropping, Zade?” Gwen asked with a grin. “I don’t remember saying your name during that conversation. And we haven’t really done enough for me to know if you’re the best.”

“Your voice does not lend itself well to whispering,” Dorian said with a smile. “And your referral to me was implied by the lack of embarrassment in saying what you did to Boca in my presence. You have my vow that I will be the best experience for you.”

“Indeed,” Gwen said smartly, mocking both his favorite word and his dry tone.

She gathered up her clothes from another table where they had been neatly folded for her.

“Thanks for last night and this morning,” Gwen said. “I’ll thank Chiang later—and apologize.”

“If the Greggor touches your shapely hips again, Boca will have another mate’s severed limb for her collection,” Dorian warned, giving Gwen’s body one more assessing glance. “He should be grateful my mating urge is gone or he might be dead right now.”

“Stop being so male. I can defend myself, Zade,” Gwen said, turning her back on him. “If I was willing to shoot you, taking out Chiang wouldn’t even get a second thought. Give me five minutes and I’ll relieve you from duty.”

“Take your time, Commander. I need to make some notes and close out the logs,” Dorian said calmly, fighting not to show his pleasure at her fierce statements. It was hard to believe a short time ago, he’d have chaffed at such harsh words.

Gwen nodded and walked into the bathroom to change. She waited until she got inside the room to smile.

Chapter 23

Synar woke to see Ania sitting in the chair at the desk again, head bent over the books in study.

“You were really tired,” Ania said, smiling. “Dorian came by to report, but you didn’t even roll over.”

Synar blinked, stretched and sat up. “My mind is much clearer after resting. Praise the creators.”

“Good—then we can talk,” Ania said. “I’ve come up with a plan. I just want you to hear me out before you start telling me how it won’t work.”

“Does this plan include bonding time before or after?” Synar asked, rising to walk to her.

“Both—now focus on my words,” Ania said dispassionately. “For the plan to work best, I need to have your energy present in me and easily readable.”

“I like it already,” Synar said, peering over her shoulder. “What’s the part I won’t like?”

Ania laid out her plan, staring into Synar’s eyes that grew wide in horror. She reminded herself that his reaction was the normal one and that her pleasure over her plan was not. She bit back her urge to accuse him of being afraid to deal with the situation.

“Is what you suggest even possible?” Synar asked, his voice tight with apprehension.

“With your brother’s permission—yes,” Ania said softly.

“Why would Conor ever agree to such a thing?” Synar asked in disbelief.

“Creatures who seek power over others can never have enough. The need for more is like a blood sickness, driving them to rash acts,” Ania said softly. “Malachi and his kind readily agreed to the demon conversion, sure they would find a way to surmount the contract with their own will. Their overconfidence was predictable and ultimately their downfall. Even you have said that Conor would probably do anything to get a chance to control Malachi.”

“Ania—my life force quivers to hear you speak so knowledgeably about such things,” Synar said, walking away from her. “What do you know of the lust for power?”

Ania turned from the books and faced her chair towards Synar, who was now looking for a change of clothes.

“As I tried to tell you before when you refused to hear me, Malachi and I have a lot in common,” Ania said flatly. “The creators saved me from his fate—and Conor’s. They educated me until I gave up the pursuit of power completely. Some creatures are redeemable, but it takes a lot of willingness. I was someone who ultimately proved willing to be changed.”

“You are the most enlightened and kind being I have ever met. I cannot even imagine you being like either of them,” Synar told her. “Why should I not just have Dorian use his Khalsa skills on Conor?”

Ania looked at her hands and then back at Synar, who was waiting. “Do you
want
the evil to extend to Dorian? No matter who kills Conor, you will still be losing another member of your family and have to live with his death. I would rather not kill Conor if we don’t have to take that level of action. Think of what I am suggesting as putting him in prison until he can start being reformed like your father wished.”

Synar dropped everything in his hands to stare at Ania in shock.

“You are advocating mercy, yet I am suddenly filled with an enormous sense of dread,” he said, his voice tight as he fought the clenching in his gut. “Why?”

Ania sighed. How could she explain to someone like Liam Synar what had taken her nine hundred years to learn for certain? Physical death only set a creature back on the wheel of life to be reborn to suffer again more quickly. Better to learn all you could while you breathed and hoped the creators of all granted you peace when you died.

“Dorian once told me there are all kinds of death. As I studied the demon training books, I came to realize just how true that really is,” Ania said quietly. “Perhaps only Conor’s spirit will be saved. For Conor Synar, corporeality might be the first price to be paid.”

Synar nodded, thinking about it as he dressed.

***

The pain was exquisite, but she stopped plucking at the three exposed wires in her thigh when the knock on the door sounded. Lowering her tunic over her legs, Issa Onin rose gracefully to answer the door, mildly surprised to see Peace Keeper Looren hovering on her threshold. She was even more surprised when the bold female walked uninvited into her assigned space.

“Can I help you?” Issa asked sharply, tone dripping with a displeasure she didn’t have to fake.

“Yes you can, Ambassador,” Ania said firmly. “I want you to put me in direct contact with Conor Synar.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I assure you I am not amused by your comments. I don’t know anyone in the captain’s family,” she said.

“I didn’t say Conor was the captain’s kin,” Ania said, walking over to sit boldly on Issa Onin’s bed to intentionally irritate her further. “But it was to be my next statement. I confess I am curious. I have heard many stories that Conor looks just like his brother. Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Issa said coldly.

Ania laughed at her bravado. “Before you decide to lie to me again, you need to know I spend my nights with Liam Synar. I saw a very interesting message his very responsible communications officer needed to validate with the captain concerning me. Don’t worry though, I didn’t reveal you. I have other plans.”

Issa Onin walked to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sat. There was a good reason she had been chosen to be an ambassador. She was unflappable in the face of pressure—or torture—and even in the face of a demon-possessed female who could easily kill her.

“What other plans?” Issa asked, lifting her chin.

“In the larger one, I will have revenge against the male who condemned me to carry a demon for life. In the smaller one, I will have the help and cooperation of the male who was fully trained to be the demon’s master to achieve my escape,” Ania said softly. “I swear I will have all I want one way or the other. Either Conor can profit from my desires or not.”

“Conor will never agree to help you. He wants to kill you and put the demon in someone worthy,” Issa said gleefully, eyes lighting with the pleasure of the possibility.

“How little you know of it, Issa Onin. Conor cannot kill me, nor can anyone else. Malachi’s loyalty has shifted to protecting me at all costs now that the demon and I are fully merged. Even Liam cannot harm me, not that someone like him ever would,” Ania said quietly, letting herself sound as disappointed as possible. “If you don’t believe I speak the truth about my invincibility, feel free to try to kill me now. I will not fight back just so Malachi will be forced to do what is needed. Though I have to warn you the test will likely cost you your life. The demon is without mercy for those attacking his host.”

“You attempt to deceive me into believing you have such motives. It is well known on this ship that you are Liam Synar’s mate,” Issa accused.

“Check the records for Ania Looren and then
look
at me. The meek Pleiadian female Liam Synar mated is no more. I am the host body for his cursed demon,” Ania said harshly, lifting her hands and looking at her body. “I spent eight hundred years becoming enlightened, becoming free of the blood lust of my youthful first century. Now I have none of that left.”

“Am I to feel sorry for you?” Issa asked, knowing her eyes were smiling even when she could not.

“More like you should fear me, as should all creatures now. I cut off the hands of Fener Sel’s men without a qualm. I could hack you to pieces, Ambassador Onin, launch the pieces out into space with the garbage, and go to eat dinner afterwards without feeling a shred of guilt or losing my appetite. Liam
will
pay for what I have become, and I do not need you to accomplish that goal. You are merely expedient for the moment. Conor will eventually find us even without your help,” Ania insisted.

“What do you want me to do?” Issa asked resentfully, seeing Ania Looren’s eyes flash red with power as her irritation grew.

“Do not test my patience with an acid tongue. Put me into contact with Conor Synar. I will do the rest,” Ania said. “But I want a person-to-person visual. I will tell Liam you and I are contacting the Peace Alliance so we can use the private channel. I will spell the very attractive communications officer into assisting us. He’ll think he is dreaming.”

She stood to walk to the door. “When this is over, I’m going to bond with every male on this ship until my body forgets that I was ever mated to just one. Whatever your goals in life, Ambassador, I would pass on a permanent alignment.”

“Obviously you’ve never been with a male like Conor,” Issa said, trying to win Ania’s compassion by sharing. “He is unlike any other. If you enjoy pain and pleasure together, he is a master in bed. I have no doubt that Conor will prove a worthy master of the demon.”

Ania smiled, her eyes flashing with red as Malachi showed her some images. She was part disgusted and part intrigued that a female would submit herself to such things.

“Yes. I can see your memories of him. Are you really willing to share Conor with me?” Ania asked.

“What annoyance I feel would pass quickly. He is my chosen mate. We met the year I served on the planet of his exile. But Conor Synar does not own me nor I him,” Issa said firmly. “In truth, I’m sorry you rescued me before I got to enjoy my new Lotharian owner for a time. I was looking forward to resisting and seeing what he did to me. Of course, Conor would have killed the male later for daring to touch me, but that would have been enjoyable too.”

Ania snorted. “I like to be the one controlling the bonding acts, not the one being controlled. Perhaps it is the demon’s influence. Any Lotharian captor would have lost his hand the second time he shocked me.”

Issa shrugged. “Then you and Conor would probably not bond well. There could be only one submissive among the two of you, and Conor never submits.”

“Or maybe I would be the first female to conquer him,” Ania said softly. “Now
that
I find appealing. And it would be lovely for Liam to know I preferred his brother.”

Issa swallowed hard at the wickedness in Ania’s eyes. “If you’re into females, maybe we could . . .” She shrugged and smiled softly, not wanting the demon host’s wrath turned in her direction.

Ania smiled back broadly, disgusted with the concession, but also pleased it had been made.

“I will keep your offer in mind. Meet me in the bridge conference room in three hours. I will tell them it is a private report and only I am permitted to witness your discussion,” she said, walking out of the door and closing it behind her with an echoing click.

As she walked down the hall, Ania felt Malachi fluttering inside her in excitement. It had been a while since she’d been so physically aware of him.

I haven’t been this aroused in centuries,
Malachi sent.

Stop gloating. I feel like I need a body cleansing now,
Ania returned.