The Stubborn Lord (20 page)

“What if he lost her like he lost me?” Kendall whispered. Tears slid down her face.

“Try to breathe. You are borrowing trouble that may not have happened.” He held her upright and pulled her to his chest. “Focus on my voice. Focus on breathing. We will get you to your sister. I promise we will get you to your sister no matter the cost or resources. Whatever has happened, we will find her.”

Kendall looked at his mouth, heard his voice but didn’t fully process his words of comfort. He lifted her into his arms as she cried and shook. He must have sensed her confusion because he kept repeating himself, promising to help her no matter what it took.

* * *

Alek stared down at his wife’s unmoving body. She’d been so worked up he’d been forced to take her to a medical unit to calm her. It prescribed a sedative, one he felt guilty for giving her considering how long she’d been forced into stasis. He didn’t want to, but really he had no idea how to help her. She kept asking him questions, impossible questions, about her sister. He could still see the red marks on her arms where her fingers had begun to scrape at her own skin in her panic.

Considering she’d just discovered she’d lost a few years of her life, he couldn’t blame her for her state. Anger built inside him—anger toward her father, a man who did not deserve Kendall’s love. For a man raised with family pride and loyalty, the conclusion was a hard one to admit to. Still, despite her father’s lack of worth, Kendall loved the man and Alek had to respect that. His wife’s capacity for caring was amazing. That the gods had blessed him with such a woman even more so.

Unwilling to leave her alone in case she awoke, he sat down on the bed next to her and watched her as she slept. His family needed him. With the possible threat of alien invasion coupled with the rumors that had been going around about the Var growing overbold, his family needed him at home more than ever. But how could he leave his wife? How could he leave her to deal with her father alone? He had no clue as to what had happened to her sister.

Alek desperately wished he had answers for her. He wished the problem was before them—visual, fanged and deadly, there to fight. He would tear apart a thousand beasts with his bare hands to protect her. But how did he fight the unknown? How did he protect her from feeling? From pain? From heartache?

He pressed his hand hard against his chest. Even in sleep her heart ached. He felt it. The emotional pain made it hard for him to breathe. How could anyone do this to such a perfect woman?

Alek balled his hands into fists. He wanted to grab hold of her father and thrash him until he changed his ways and apologized for his sins against his children. If Alek was ever to be blessed with children, he would die rather than hurt them. That was how fathers should be.

“I promise I will do all that is in my power to help you,” Alek whispered. He stroked her hair away from her face, watching as the red tips skated over her cheek.

She didn’t answer, not that he expected her to. Alek did the only thing he could. He sat in silence for many hours, refusing to leave her side, as he watched over her lest she wake up and need him.

* * *

Kendall moaned, holding her head. Her movements were sluggish as she tried to concentrate through the fog of her thoughts. Part of her wanted to stay asleep. It would have been easy to just let go and fall back into darkness.

“How are you?” Alek asked, the question pulling her into consciousness.

“Drained,” she mumbled. “Or drugged.”

“I apologize. I didn’t know how else to help you. After all you have been through, I didn’t want to force you to sleep, but…” He paused. “I didn’t leave your side. You were safe. I give you my word. Nothing happened to you.”

She felt his worry and lifted a weak hand to brush against his arm. He sounded as if he’d been practicing his words. “No.”

“No?”

Kendall coughed lightly. She closed her eyes and bumped the back of her hand against him in an effort to comfort him. “No, don’t apologize. You have been nothing but kind to me.”

Warm fingers slid over her wrist, holding her hand against his skin. Her mind drifted and she wasn’t sure how much time passed before she opened her eyes again. He still held her arm. His fingers stroked her wrist. Kendall arched her back, stretching as she suppressed a yawn.

“The fueling dock is close.”

Kendall blinked, pulling her hand from his grasp as she pushed up on the bed. She suppressed another yawn. “How do you know?”

“The captain made an announcement.”

She hadn’t heard anything.

“You were sleeping.” Alek touched her face. “What can I get for you? Food? Drink? Change of clothes?”

“Decontaminator,” she said. “It might help clear my head.”

“Of course.” Though his expression was shielded, she knew he worried for her and was sorry for drugging her. She felt him inside her.

“It’s all right, Alek.” She touched him as he touched her, stroking his cheek. “Feel inside me. I’m all right now. I was under a panic force I couldn’t control. Everything rushed in on me. You helped me. I’m not mad. I could never be mad at you. If anything, I’m a little embarrassed by it.”

“I have thought about our situation. I can’t leave you, Kendall. If you must be here, then I will remain with you.”

“But your family? Your home? You have responsibilities.”

“My home is with you. You are my wife. I will miss my family, my people, the ceffyls, but you are my wife. Don’t ask me to leave you behind. I will give up everything I have just to be near you.” His hand shook, the only outward sign of the sacrifice he was making. “My planet is nothing if you are not on it. I thought I could find a way to get you to come back with me, but how can I ask you to leave your sister, your home, for mine? I see, I
feel
, how deeply you care for your life here. How could I expect you to leave it for me when I was not willing to leave mine for you? It was not fair to expect you to live on one planet when clearly in the stars is where you belong. I see your face when you look out into space. Until the panic about your sister overtook you, you were relaxed on this ship like you have never been on world. You don’t look at the walls like something is going to jump through them and attack.”

“You would give everything up for me?” Kendall didn’t need to ask the question. She felt his answer. His gaze shifted, swirling in brilliant gold, showing her the depths of his soul.

“Everything I am has been yours since that first moment I saw you standing beside the fallen tree, blindly reaching out to me in the darkness.” He turned his face into her hand, letting his lips brush over skin. “I will learn to live in space. I cannot learn to live without you.”

A tear slid over her cheek onto his hand. She knew what this offer cost him. She saw his love of his homeland. She felt the bond he shared with his brothers. She saw the respect his people had for him and the devotion he had to his people. It was in his honorable actions, in his stubborn pride, hidden in the hand-drawn parchments on his table. Kendall thought of those drawings. The great care he’d taken to depict nature proved how much a part of him the wilderness of Qurilixen was.

“I cannot ask you to make that sacrifice.” She pulled his hand from her face and dropped her hand from his. “I know what these words are costing you.”

Kendall felt the hot tears streaking down her face. She was a fool. How could she think to leave him? Alek offered her love, unconditional love, and she’d planned to throw it all away for a man who’d lost her at a game of cards, or chips, or dice, or whatever failed hot streak was happening at the time. Why? Because a sense of loyalty told her to respect her father no matter what? Since she could remember she’d been taking care of everything—the fueling dock, Margot, customers, her father.

“I’m so confused. I don’t know how to feel.”

“You don’t know how to feel about me staying?” His entire body stiffened.

“My father. I can’t hate him,” she whispered. “I want to, but I can’t. His gambling brought us together and that is something…” Kendall gave a short laugh. “Perhaps it was the will of your gods. If that is true, and you can’t fight fate, then how can I hate him for his hand in my fate? Yet everything I know tells me that people make their own fates and my father wronged me.”

“The gods give us options. They do not force our hand. Your father was not helpless in his decisions, but you can handle how you react. You can forgive him. You can be honorable even when others are not.”

Kendall smiled. “You have such a good heart. I don’t think you know just how rare of a quality that is in the universe. I can’t take you away from your family. Living in the stars can be so cold. I want Margot to experience life on world, the warmth and love that you have is… It’s amazing. I don’t know what’s happened to her since I’ve been gone these past years, but I want my sister to know something better than the fueling docks. I want something better than the fueling docks. I want a life with you and Margot on Qurilixen. I admit my sacrifice will be less than what you were willing to give up for me. I want to invite my father to come and hope that he will heal of his addiction in a stable home with good influences. If he agrees, I will do my best to keep him in line and I apologize in advance for the trouble he will cause, but if he refuses I will take Margot and leave him behind. If he refuses, I can no longer be my father’s keeper.”

“Your family is always welcome, my lady. If your father will not act the part he was meant by biological ties to play, then I will claim Margot and she will be treated as if she were born to us. All will accept her as a member of the noble family, just as you are family.”

Every nerve ending in her body reached for him. Kendall felt his love wash over her. Fear of what she might find still simmered in the depths of her being, but it was outshone by hope and anticipation. For the first time in her life the future didn’t look like an endless chore.

“You smell fine,” Alek said.

Kendall laughed at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks?”

“I don’t think you need to decontaminate. I think you should stay here.” Within seconds, she found herself on her back with her husband artfully over her. His thigh pressed up between her legs. He kissed her neck. “I love you, wife. Everything I have is yours.”

“I love you, but more than that I appreciate you.” She pulled his face to hers and kissed him slowly and passionately. The golden haze of a shift swirled in his eyes. They made love, not needing to speak. The connection between them grew so strong she felt what he wanted without him having to say a word, and she opened herself up fully to him. He entered her when her body was peaked and ready without having to test her depths first. She felt his heart beating and her own resetting it’s rhythm to match. When she breathed, she took his air into her lungs. The sensation was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

Her lids fell heavily over her eyes as pleasure rippled through her. They climaxed in perfect unison. Nothing stood between them. This is what she wanted. Soon, she would have Margot and her life would be perfect.

Chapter Fourteen

“I wonder what Margot looks like. She’s probably so pretty. Her mother was beautiful.” Kendall could hardly contain herself. Alek glanced down to where she gripped his arm, holding tight. They stood in the cockpit watching as the captain drove the ship to park away from the fueling queue. The ship didn’t need to purchase fuel. It was one thing Qurilixen had plenty of.

Alek kept his expression blank, not judging his wife’s home. The metal docking lot looked worn, with large dents in the once-smooth metal. The black scorch marks from laser blasts marred the outside surface. “Was there a battle here?”

“Drunken customer. We asked him to leave and he blasted a few shots in protest. We had to send a rescue team out after him a few days later because he’d forgotten to put his ship in the fueling queue when he landed.” She glanced up at him and he was lost in her eyes. “This is just as I remember it.”

He thought that she might change her mind and decide to stay. If she did, he would stay with her. He had not lied when he told her his life was with her—no matter where that was.

“Loading plank down.” The captain said before beginning the long process of powering down the ship. “Feel free to disembark.” He proceeded to give commands to his crew to secure the ship and perform safety checks.

“Come. I want to show it to you.” Kendall pulled on his arm, leading him to her home. The docking platform was loud and chaotic. Strange smells and even stranger sounds filled the metal space. The workers looked like they hadn’t bathed in days and they reeked of fuel. There was no nature, no freshness, and Alek had to concentrate not to breathe too deeply.

An alien with tentacles drifting like strange arms around his head was locking the ship to the deck when they moved to the main walkway. He gurgled noises at Kendall and she lifted her hands, slamming the back of one into the palm of the other. The creature gurgled louder. When a tentacle touched the lock, a suction sound popped over the large docking bay.

The markings along the exit door were universal signs for toilets, decontaminator laser baths, food and lodging. A thin, pale creature pulled a piece of metal from against the wall, causing a flurry of space bugs and rodents out of their hiding spot. Kendall gasped, jumping slightly.

“Who canceled the exterminator? That is not acceptable!” Her tone hardened. She pointed at a nearby worker. “Tell Hark to get the exterminator down here.”

The man looked at her, confused. “Hark?”

Kendall stiffened, as if catching herself. “Never mind.” Then, under her breath, she said, “I’ll do it myself.”

As they ventured out of the loading dock to the inner corridors, he watched as tension slowly came over his wife’s body. Her gait became longer and her stride more purposeful. She walked easily through the halls, clearly knowing her way through them.

Turning a corner, they met with an information desk. The woman behind it looked to be well at the end of a rougher youth. Tiny lines filtered out from her bored eyes. She glanced up with disinterest as Kendall approached the desk. “I’m seeking Haven. Where is he? Someone blocked the main hall to the offices.”