Torkel's Chosen (10 page)

The man was
Torkel’s complete opposite. Blond where Torkel was dark. His gray eyes stood
out among a race of predominantly blue-eyed people as Torkel’s brown gaze
highlighted his own differences. He searched deep to see if he was jealous but
nothing twitched. Perhaps if he had not had one of her blowjobs this morning where
Faye expressed her desire for him so completely, he would have felt different.

“What do you think,
Torkel?” Rydak’s eyes glinted with humor. He’d noticed Faye’s attention as well.

Torkel slid his
arms under Faye and pulled her on his lap. He didn’t care what the possessive
gesture said. “I think it’s a good plan. I’ll contact the commander for
approval.”

“Good.” Rydak rose
to his feet, bringing Lissi with him. “I’m going to take my family to my
quarters and rest.”

Lissa flushed and
gathered the children. Torkel pretended not to know what the two would be doing
their first night together. There were certain things he didn’t want to think
about when it came to his sister and his team leader.

Faye looped her
arms around his neck as soon as they were alone and nipped at his ear. “Want to
be introduced to morning sex?”

Torkel grinned and
inched his hand down, lifting her skirt along the way. In no time he had her
legs bared and continued on. Faye jumped when the tips of his fingers grazed
her thigh. Need roughened his voice. “I believe I know this morning sex.”

“Goody.” Her
breathless answer egged him on.

Down, down his
fingers went until they reached their goal and parted her moist folds. “Very
good,” he murmured.

Chapter 14

Over the next few
days Faye and Torkel developed a pattern of sorts. They made love, ate in the
privacy of their quarters or joined his men. Sometimes she’d watch the training
sessions which displayed Torkel’s sweaty muscles but that turned her on more
often than not. The only dark spot in her new life came the day the silver
communicator given to her by the stranger at the marketplace buzzed.

Torkel had left to
meet with all three teams as they prepared to raid a slave auction based on the
information Rydak gave them. His commander had approved the action and Torkel
would lead with Team One and Rydak with Team Three. Team Two was assigned to
the building and Faye along with Lissi and the kids. Torkel’s sister had
decided she didn’t want to be parted from Rydak so soon again.

“Faye Reid, how is
your Chosen?”

There was no image
on the communicator as the stranger had it set to audio only. Nevertheless Faye
flinched at the casual question. “He’s fine.”

“I’m pleased to
hear that. Your union is going well I take it?”

Her heart jumped
like a rabbit across a field during a hunt. “What do you want?”

“It’s simple, my
sweet Faye.”

Her stomach rolled
and tensioned tightened her hand ob the communicator.

“When is your
Chosen leaving?”

“Why?” She
snapped. “Why do you need to know?”

He laughed. “Call
me concerned. Now unless you want me to have an interesting conversation with
Torkel about the twenty thousand in your account you’ll answer the question.”

Faye bowed her head
and pressed her palm to her belly as nausea rolled through her. “Tonight.”

“Excellent and is
he bringing one or two teams?”

“Two,” she
whispered.

“Thank you, Faye.”
His response was sickeningly sweet. “We’ll get along just fine.”

He ended the call
and Faye raced to the cleansing unit to be sick.

Torkel found her
curled there in a ball on the floor hours later. “Faye, is something wrong?”

His hands roamed
over her body, checking for injury. “Faye, talk to me.”

She tried but only
a cry came out as tears welled in her eyes.

He picked her up
and carried her to their bedroom where he sat with her cradled on his lap. His
hands ran down her back as he rocked. Faye cried harder.

“Please tell me.
You’re my Chosen. I need to care for you.”

She sniffed and
forced back her pain. She couldn’t tell him. “I’ll miss you, that’s all.”

His chest relaxed
behind her. “It’s alright, Faye. I’ll be back in three days.”

She scrubbed her
face and tried to smile. “I’m fine now. I love you, Torkel.”

He leaned back and
smiled down at her. “I love you, Chosen.” He kissed her lips and set her on her
feet.

And so Faye’s
nightmare began. The mysterious stranger had a sixth sense about Torkel’s
missions. He called constantly to question her. Faye’s fingers trembled
whenever she answered the mini-communicator. Her anxiety rose each time Torkel
went on a mission and she never fully relaxed until he returned home to her.

The one time she
broke, she’d yelled into the communicator. “I don’t care any more. Do you hear
me? I’m telling Torkel everything.” Tears burned but she forced them back. “I
won’t let you continue to blackmail me like this.”

He’d laughed.
Laughed as if her words meant nothing. “How about I call him now, Faye Reid?
What do you think your precious Jutak warrior would say if he knew what you’d
done? Torkel the unwanted had to be bought because no female would have him.”

Faye flinched and
fell to her knees. She couldn’t imagine the devastation if it ever got out that
she’d accepted payment to have Torkel as her Chosen. He was very sensitive
about his years of rejection. “Don’t.”

The tone on the communicator
became deeper. More menacing. “Even a Jutak can be hurt. My reach is long, Faye
Reid. Anytime, anyplace, I can hurt Torkel Alonson.”

Her heart
stuttered at the threat. An image of the man, the warrior she’d come to care
for injured and bleeding on a mission had bile rising in her throat.

“Maybe you need an
incentive not to force us to have this conversation again.”

“I’ll give the
money back. Please,” Faye begged. She’d do anything.

“I don’t want the
money back, Faye. Although I sympathize with the position you’re in. I’m not a
callous man despite what you must think but you need to learn a lesson. No one
threatens me. Maybe the next time I call, you’ll remember who’s in charge.”

He ended the
transmission before she could respond. The breath exploded from Faye’s lungs. The
man would never cease calling. “Forgive me, Torkel.”

She would do
anything to keep Torkel safe.

***

Torkel slammed the
door on his locker and kicked over a chair. “It doesn’t make sense. How is that
targot staying one step ahead of us?”

His men put away
their weapons. Frustration and weariness lined their faces. They’d gone on one
raid after another and every time the slaves were transported before they
reached them. They had one rumored sighting of Lothar but when Torkel and his
teams arrived, the Marenian scum engaged in a lengthy fire fight before they’d departed,
leaving behind empty cargo containers and filth stained cages that held human
waste. Lothar was nowhere to be found.

“It’s like he has
a sixth sense,” Arak snarled, his animal instincts on edge.

“We need to get
more intel,” Geile said as he sat on one of the benches in front of his locker,
back slumped. “Maybe have Rydak go back undercover?”

Torkel was already
shaking his head. He couldn’t do that to his sister. The last separation had
been hard on her. Rydak too, though his team lead never complained. As an
empath, Rydak needed to be around Lissi to balance the overload of emotions and
sensations he picked up from others. By some miracle of fate, her presence
soothed him.

Jaron closed his
locker and pinned Torkel with his stare. “Maybe we have a leak?”

Every man in the
locker room gave the Team One leader their attention as Jaron continued. “Think
about it. We had firm details of dates and times from Rydak. Nothing should
have made them suspicious. Now all of a sudden we can barely catch sight of the
bastards.”

Torkel shoved a
hand through his hair and switched out his blood stained uniform shirt for a
plain black tee to cover the white dressing on his side from a laser burn.
“That would mean we need to look closer at those involved in the details of our
missions.”

“Someone on the
Commander’s end, perhaps?”

Kyele’s question
was a reasonable one. Government officials had no true secrets in their
offices. Confidences could be sold with the shake of a hand over a meal. Jutak
warriors were under military protocol and thus, their records and any
information regarding their personal life, identities and assignments required
the highest security clearance for access but that didn’t mean leaks never
occurred. Certainly his identity was widely known.

“Possibly,” Torkel
sighed. He’d been gone for four days on this last raid. Failure tasted bitter
on his tongue. All he could think about at this point was getting to Faye and
erasing the disappointment for not capturing Lothar and losing the men and
women they’d planned to rescue.

“Get some rest,”
he ordered, dumping the rest of his gear. “We’ll talk more in the morning.”

Torkel bypassed
the elevator and took the stairs, hoping the physical exertion would dispel his
anxiety. The Marenians actions didn’t make sense. Most of the information from
Rydak should have been valid allowing them a small window of dates to catch
Lothar and lock him up for a long time. It wouldn’t stop the slave trade but eliminating
one of the major masterminds would have seriously slowed things down for them.
Now they were almost back to the beginning and starting from scratch.

Torkel entered his
quarters to find Faye curled on the sofa asleep. He closed the door behind him
and just leaned there taking in the sensations pouring through his mind, heart
and body. He was so in love with her he couldn’t see straight.

Her brown hair was
piled atop her head in a pony tail with pieces trailing around her face. Head
tilted to the side, she had a fist propped under her chin. With her knees bent
to her chest, he wondered how she slept so peacefully in such an uncomfortable
ball. Steps light, he neared the sofa and crouched down at her side.

A smile tugged at
his mouth when he recognized the black uniform shirt. She’d ditched wearing his
casual clothes and stuck with his uniforms. She usually picked the black and avoided
the red riot uniform or the more formal white. Torkel fingered one of the two
buttons she’d closed and slipped it from the hole. When he released the second
one, the fabric parted giving him an unobstructed view of her full breasts,
curved belly and a dark thatch of curls.

Torkel closed his
eyes and sighed. Tension released its brutal hold as his shoulders loosened
from their rigid posture. The gods had truly blessed him. He opened his eyes
and came face to face with brown orbs watching him.

“Hey,” she
whispered in a sleep-roughened voice.

Torkel loved her
Earth slang. He didn’t always catch her meaning but this he understood because
she voiced it often. “Hey.”

She started to
straighten but he stopped her with a palm to her middle. Her eyes widened and a
wicked light entered her gaze as her pink tongue licked her lips. Torkel undid
the snaps on his pants, letting the material sag around his hips as he joined
her on the sofa. “I need you.”

She didn’t
hesitate and climbed onto his lap. Her hands went to his pants and Torkel
shifted until she had them at his thighs and pulled his heavy length free. She
ran her hand along his shaft as she hovered over him on her knees. He clasped
his arms around her middle and pulled her into his chest. “Fast and hard or
fast and hard?” he asked.

Faye threw back
her head and laughed. “Fast and hard.”

He loved that he
could make her laugh. “You own me, Faye,” he murmured as he lowered her weight
and watched her take him inch by inch. When she was seated to the hilt, she
began an up and down glide that stole the breath from him.

***

“You own me,
Faye.”

His words struck a
chord in her middle. Faye balanced her hands on Torkel’s shoulders. The rings
on his length bumped against her nerve endings as he stretched her. He gripped
her hips hard when she took all of him. For a moment, he kept his head down,
each deep breath dragging against her chest. When he lifted his head, their
eyes met and he slid in impossibly deeper. Then out. He did it again,
increasing the steady motion until Faye bounced on his lap. Heat flared and the
slow burn began in her core.

Her hands slid
down the front of his chest to caress the solid warmth beneath his shirt.
Torkel winced and she froze. “Torkel?”

“Nothing. Minor
laser burn. Dr. Maku took care of it.”

Dread uncurled
like an insidious beast from the pit of her stomach as the caller’s words came
back to haunt her. Trepidation nipped at her building desire.

Unaware of her
inner turmoil, Torkel lifted her fingers and kissed the tips. “I’m fine, Faye.
Promise.”

“I don’t like to
see you hurt,” she whispered as he let her hands slide through his.

Torkel’s lids
lowered as he cast her a languorous look. “You can check the wound later.”

Pushing her worry
aside, he leaned back against the sofa, causing her weight to shift forward until
their hips locked. Once more he picked up their previous rhythm and thrust up.
Faye arched back with a gasp.

“I love this. I
love watching you, Faye. Feeling. Each time I bring you pleasure I’m reminded
of how lucky I am you chose me.”

“Stop,” Faye cried
out in protest. She didn’t want to hear him say such things. Guilt over her
actions drove a wedge between her pleasure. Her heels dug into his side,
prodding him faster. Harder.

“I love you. Love
you,” he grunted as his strokes pounded harder. Giving her what she needed.

She’d never deny
him the words even as what she’d done ate at her soul. “I love you, Torkel.”

His hands slid
from her hips to her butt and squeezed. His thrusting motions slowed. Faye’s
breath caught, her muscles wound tight. Torkel’s finger parted her cheeks,
subtly massaging. He hesitated, making no secret of his desire. Their gazes
clashed.

“No?”

Faye’s lashes
lowered. She’d never done that with a partner.

“Faye?”

She faced him boldly
and nodded.

“My Chosen,” he
whispered and shifted his fingers.

The first touch
had her gasping. His hand held tight when she sought to leap from his lap. He
probed deeper and she melted with a soft cry. The single digit glided passed
her barrier as Torkel’s length continued to thrust and rock into her core. His
sharp intake of breath mirrored her moan.

Full. The
sensation of having Torkel take her in both places left Faye full and wanting. This
time her release crashed through her. It happened quickly and swept her under
the tide. Her lower muscles fisted his ringed shaft, prolonging the ecstasy.

“Again,” he
demanded, not letting the pleasure ease for either of them.

Torkel withdrew
his finger and adjusted his grip. Holding her waist, he rolled, placing her
beneath his weight. He braced on one forearm, his breath rasping. Torkel slowed
the in and out glide and leaned down near her ear. “Every time, Faye. Every
time I’m with you I feel good. Worthy.”

Faye cupped his
face. “Torkel.” She had no words for the depth of the emotion peering down at
her.

The second time
was sweet as their bodies made promises to one another. This was the
fulfillment of all Faye’s childhood wishes regarding love. What she’d always
dreamed. Torkel pulled her under his rising passion and the end when it came
for both of them left Faye drifting in a sexually drugged haze. Mine. All mine.
Those were the words she used to describe Torkel and she loved him with her
whole being.