AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Even when I’ve got nothing left to do but wait until we reach our destination, I go up to my personal craft on the deck and start cleaning and tuning it up from top to bottom. I might’ve prepared it for this mission mere days ago, but there’s nothing like having a ship in its best working order.
And my mate is likely not keen on seeing me.
I don’t know what to do with her.
I’m avoiding her very presence, even as my hormones are crying out for the sight and scent of her.
I know the best way to kill most species with my bare hands. I speak twenty-three languages aside from Kar’Kali. I’ve memorized countless enemy passcodes and detailed secrets provided to me verbally by intelligence agents.
And yet, I haven’t the faintest idea how I should calm the angry female that has every right to hate me. I should make her understand my choice. She might not forgive me, but she would know what’s at stake.
Funny how the great spirit forsakes me in all things except this.
I thought you tore family from my life for a reason. I thought you meant to tell me my path was death.Ashbringer. I destroy things, kill things, watch Azza ships explode in silence…
When I run out of excuses, I summon some bravery and make my way to her. I expect her to be ready to pounce, perhaps with a knife like Niko’s mate. He told me she jumped him in his own room and tied him up. I’m not sure how a human female could pull that off, but I prepare myself for it. If she’s not attacking me physically, she’ll surely start yelling at me again.
But when I take a deep breath and open the door, I find her curled up on the corner of my bed.
I let out a sigh. Curse me for being so relieved. I’m a rutting coward.
I take in the way she has balled herself up on the edge, as if the thought of using my blankets and pillows repulsed her. I crouch down and watch her for a moment. She’s passed out cold, drooling on her own forearm. Her hair, rutting beautiful in all its glory, falls over her like a silken rust-colored sheet.
“Kaye,” I whisper her name. “Did you still want to give me a ‘piece of your mind’?”
I smile as she grumbles incoherently.
I want more than a piece of this female. I want her everything. GreatKa, her beauty stuns me. The strange coloring appeals to me. I dare to touch a lock of hair and it feels just as soft as it looks. I immediately feel guilty. I’ve stolen many things, but I don’t want to steal from her. Not even this simple touch.
My looming figure must disturb her slumber because she finally jerks to attention.
“I’m sorry for waking you,” I say. She’s startled by my closeness but doesn’t move away. She pats her own face and checks her clothes. I frown at the unspoken suspicions she has towards me, but I don’t comment. After all, she’s well within her rights to assume I’m monstrous.
“It’s nighttime?” She glances at the Alliance standard clock.
“Yes, but I finally had some time, and you promised me you would yell at me later,” I say. “I didn’t realize you would fall asleep so angry.”
She pulls her knitted overcoat tighter to cover herself and purses her lips at me.
“Go ahead,” I urge her. “You promised to berate me.”
“You’re already sucking the fun out of it,” she says.
“Am I? Sorry, should I look more sheepish?”
“If you think what I have to say is some kind of joke, then there’s no point in talking. I won’t give you the satisfaction.”
“I’m not laughing,” I say. “And your unhappiness doesn’t satisfy me.”
“Is it normal in your culture to kidnap women and lock them in your room? Because apparently Niko did this to Raina too.”
“No. What’s normal in my culture isn’t possible. I would expect a Kar’Kali female to come to my side willingly— to experience the mating call with me.”
Her nose twitches slightly as she considers whether I’m being honest. She must decide I’m telling the truth because she asks me, “And what are you experiencing?”
I blink. I thought that would be obvious. She told me already that she knows Niko’s mate and has heard their story. She spent some time with a crew of Kar’Kali pirates. I would’ve thought she’d learned that the mating call is a powerful hormone spike that’s telling my body to fuck her senseless and fill her with children.
I decide not to be crude about it.
