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Her jaw twitched, then she looked up and directly into the camera. “If I recall correctly, Captain, you ordered me to stay in your bed. However, the last time I checked, warming your bed wasn’t one of my duties.”
No, it wasn’t. But warming her bed was one of his. Whatever was between them was too big for him to resist. Thishadto be the mate bond. The Starswouldpunish him by bonding him to a female who hated him and would never forgive him.
She tolerated him and seemed to secretly enjoy their bantering, but he could feel her guilt after every tender moment they shared. It was why he hadn’t hunted her down and dragged her back when he returned to an empty room the other day. He was giving her time to come to terms with the encounter before initiating another one.
But Ulrek was a selfish male; he wouldn’t have survived this long if he wasn’t. He wasn’t sure how long he could last before he stomped into the greenroom again, undoing all the trust he was trying to build by waiting for her to come to him.
Delaney was his. He’d told her as much in the throes of passion many times, and she accepted the statement just fine when she was out of her mind with lust. It was afterward, when she thought too hard about it, and who he was, that she fought their connection.
Ulrek had tried to make it easier on her by playing the villain and putting the blame on himself, but that hadn’t helped. Not the way he’d hoped anyway. If giving her space and time and redirecting her guilt wasn’t working, then he’d need to try another option.
He’d have to tell her she was his mate and force her to spend time alone with him, hopingthe mate bond did the rest. It was risky, though.It would give her all the power. She could ruin him simply by rejecting him, and she’d know it.
“Are you going to say something, or are you just going to sit there and stare at me?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Ulrek almost stomped over to the greenroom that very instant to teach his mouthy female a lesson but stopped himself.
“You can space the rest of the kima. I have a fresh one coming.”
Delaney looked disappointed for some reason. “Okay. I didn’t think they would survive anyway. Is that all?”
Come visit me in my quarters. Let me hold you again.
But he kept those thoughts to himself.
“We are setting a course to Vosthea in one galactic hour. So get everything out of the airlock by then.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Then she disconnected the call.
Chapter 23
Delaney
Delaney brought the mug to her mouth and inhaled the nutty aroma that flooded her nose. This was as close to a hazelnut latte as she was going to get this far from Earth. She took a sip and moaned appreciatively.
“Good, isn’t it?” Sarah asked before taking a sip of her own.
“Would it be blasphemy if I said it’s better than the stuff back on Earth?” Delaney put her mug down on the low table in front of her and lounged back on the giant floor cushion.
“Not at all. I agree.”
Sarah was a petite woman with soft brown eyes and a thick mane of dark silky hair. She wore a comfortable-looking but still elegant silky dress with subtle beading, and a light touch of makeup that accented her delicate features. She wasn’t what Delaney had expected the mate of the outer planet’s largest Euphora producer, not to mention owner of an entire planet, to look like.
Her sister Chrissy, Zharor’s mate, looked more the part. She had colorful koi fish tattooed all over one arm and wore an indecently short dress encrusted in jewels. Her heels were so high they could only be for sitting in—though she’d walked in them earlier when they’d been showing Delaney the compound—and her bejeweled headband looked ridiculously heavy. Delaney had no clue how she kept it on.
They were in Kean’s stronghold on Vosthea. The crew had visibly relaxed the moment they landed, and Ulrek had stepped out of the ship as himself. This place was a safe haven, but the rest of Vosthea was still dangerous for Ulrek and his crew.
Vosthea had started out as a hideout for criminals and other unsavory types. When Kean had taken over, he’d portioned out the planet and distributed each territory to leaders who’d pledged their allegiance to him. Though one could only trust crooks and outlaws so much.
Delaney appreciated Sarah and Chrissy’s offer to show her around the compound, especially since most of the crew had gone off to see friends and get personal errands done while they were here; technically, they were still on leave for two more days.
The compound was beautiful, a perfect blend of nature and technology. The whole thing was built around an inner courtyard, though the word didn’t do it justice. It was more like a park, with ponds, rivers, mazes of walkways, and wooded areas.
Delaney loved it. She wondered if they could bring a design like this to Reka 5.
They had returned to Kean’s residence after the tour to enjoy some local joulka, the Tallean equivalent of coffee. It was grown all over the galaxy, but the joulka here was quite different from the stuff at Reka 5, since every planet produced a unique strain. Kind of like coffee beans, except the differences were a lot more noticeable to the average drinker.
Delaney’s eyes landed once again on Chrissy’s shoes as the woman crossed her legs. They looked like a pair of glass slippers, a la Cinderella, except they were dark red and had formations of colorless, clear crystals growing out of them. They were fit for a villain in a fairytale.
