Bay's Mercenary [Unearthly World Book 1] (8 page)

“I can’t go
there,” Bay wailed. Panic-stricken, she shot to her feet and dropped down in
front of him. “The
Castians
and
Tonans
are warring. The
Tonans
are cruel, evil beings. I was
too afraid to go near a
Castian
.
Me
and another woman hid from both species. The
Tonans
killed her; the
Tonans
kill any female over
childbearing years. Your planet is different, but I feel safe here with you.
You haven’t been cruel, you haven’t beaten me. Please don’t send me away. I
love helping
Draven
with his homework. Believe it or
not, I know how to wash my hands and I can cook. I know how to be helpful.”

Zane ran a hand
over his face. “Bay—I must tell you something. Having a female in the house has
been hard on me, a male who has reached his cycle. It’s why
Draven
thought I was acting weird. When I thought you were a pet, I could control
myself; but talking to you, knowing how intelligent you are, and that you are
not a pet is wreaking havoc with my hormones. You have no idea how appealing a
tiny helpless female is to a male who is used to seeing to his own needs and
urges. There is no possible way you could fight me off; it could mean death and
leaving
Draven
devastated if I were to keep you here.”

Bay slumped on the
floor. He was warning her. But she couldn’t go back to
Ulsy
;
another
Tonan
might get her. She knew how evil the
warriors could be. She would never live if she wandered off into the
Zargonnii
jungle alone. This was Zane’s home; it wasn’t
fair to him, but what could she do? Zane was so big to begin with, but his
battle mode was massive. How could she have sex with him like that?

Zane scooped her
up under her arms and set her beside him. “I don’t know what to do, Bay. I
can’t just toss you out; you would die. If I give you to another, you would
face the same problem; you can’t go back to being a pet. My cycle has been
triggered by having you here. I’m afraid it could remain triggered; before
long, we would need to do something.”

“How much time do
I have?”

“Not a lot.”

“Enough
to get to know you better?”

“Yes and perhaps
no. It would be best for you to get to know me, but it would be best for me to
stay away from you as long as possible. So you need to make a choice. Get to
know me—fast. Or be prepared for me later.”

“I know some of
who you are, and I find it hurtful you would force me.”

Zane cupped her
chin in his hand. “I won’t force you; I would die.”

Bay was shocked.
“What? Why”

“A
Zargonnii
cycle is triggered when the females come near. It
doesn’t mean a male doesn’t need release at other times. The last cycle was
hard for me to control; I don’t think I can control this one. You speak of our
females being primitive; when it comes to mating, so are
Zargonnii
males. The females are getting closer. I can smell them coming, but they won’t
be here in time for me to mate with one. If you won’t have me, my need for
release will drive me to insanity, I’ll be forced to fight for release, and the
only thing I could take on would be a creature called a
cyron
.
It would kill me.

“If that happens,
Draven
will lose his father; and you will find yourself in
the hands of another
Zargonnii
male who might not
risk his life to spare you.”

Chapter 6

Zane watched Bay
as she helped
Draven
with his homework. Bay was aware
he was standing there, Zane could tell. She had become increasingly aware over
the week as he strove to show her—
him
.
No more late night spying on her while she slept on the furniture, in the main
room. He battled two emotions; Zane was so grateful she wasn’t a pet. When he
first felt his cycle begin, right after Bay had arrived, he was confused; and
when he felt himself harden when Bay was around, he was mortified. He also
damned his brother for bringing her here.
Blu
wouldn’t hit his cycle for a few more years and was immune to Bay. But Zane was
wondering about Finn.
Blu
had mentioned Finn was
interested, almost adamant about keeping Bay. Was the doctor having the same
problem? He would be unable to ask until the ship returned; Zane had learned
just that morning the warriors had left to enter into battle with the creatures
who called themselves Cyborgs.

Zargonnii
warriors were hired
mercenaries, if the price was right, or the trade was rich, they would battle
anything—except
Castians
. They stayed out of the war
between the
Tonans
and
Castians
.
Zane was wondering how the
Castian
warriors were
faring since finding females after four hundred years. Their own females had
been poisoned, a tragedy, but
Castians
weren’t
interested in
Zargonnii
females. The
Castians
had to know of humans’ existence if Bay came from
a planet they occupied. Zane had never heard of Earth before Bay showed up.

Bay had her arm
wrapped around
Draven’s
shoulder; he was smiling
until she tickled him.
Draven
laughed and Bay
spontaneously kissed his forehead. Zane supposed he should have been angry at
them both for keeping Bay’s secret, but he wasn’t. Bay didn’t know it, but
during the nights Zane had crept from his room just to study her features. At
first he had been curious—a female pet was unheard of and a tiny female was
even more intriguing. Her skin was so soft and her hair was like nothing he had
ever felt before. Just watching her tiny features made him fill with power—and
also feel protective. As a warrior, Zane could sense his opponent’s strengths.
Bay was basically void of any physical power; emotionally, she was charged.

It wasn’t until
the third night of sneaking a peek at Bay while she slept that he grew aroused.
The idea was so overwhelmingly startling Zane was certain he was on the brink
of insanity. How could he have feelings like
that
for a pet? Finding out she was intelligent, as well as
arousing, was a revelation; his body must have seen what he couldn’t. Zane
should have known a pet wouldn’t bring on his cycle. At first, when he had
scented the female
Zargonnii
in the air he was almost
positive that was what set him off, now he knew it was Bay—and the feelings
were growing.

The open
vulnerability sitting only feet away was a magnet.
Imagine,
a female who was smaller than him, when he was always the smallest of the
warriors. And she wasn’t just
smaller,
she was tiny,
helpless and so damned cute.
A cute female?
Females
were majestic. It boggled the mind just to be watching her and she was in his
home, dependent on him—his protection. There were beasts beyond the walls the
likes of which she had never seen. The females of their species fought these
creatures, keeping them away from the males as much as possible. Zane supposed
it was why their females stayed primitive—it was their way of protecting their
male offspring the only way they knew how. Maybe that was why they always
seemed so enraged.

Bay was laughing
and ruffed up his son’s hair the way he loved.
Draven
wasn’t used to getting affection from a female in an ongoing manner.
Draven’s
mother was only able to show as much love as
possible for her son in the first month of his life—something for him to hold
onto. Zane supposed it was why the males would seek out a female during their
cycle, they would search for that love, but it wasn’t there.

Before long,
Draven’s
papers were packed away and like always, since she
had arrived, Bay sat on the edge of his bed while Zane told a story. This
night, Zane chose to tell a spooky tale of the monsters that were beyond the
wall. From Bay’s look, he knew she was well aware the story was for her
benefit—and safety. The creatures of Zane’s world were primal killers. Zane’s
people had been introduced to weapons from other worlds but none surpassed a
Zargonnii
male’s strength, and to even attempt to compare
the weapons to a female
Zargonnii
was laughable.

Draven’s
eyes drooped and he fell
asleep. Zane could see the worry in Bay’s eyes when they both rose to leave the
room; Bay had chosen to spend as much time with Zane as she could,
knowing
his cycle would further advance. Bay had opted to
know the male within, and grow used to the male without. She took his hand and
together they walked into the main room. She was headed for the furniture she referred
to as a couch, but Zane led her farther down the hall to his room. With
hesitance, she walked past the threshold; Zane closed the door. Both Zane and
Bay knew she was out of time—they were both out of time.

* * * *

Bay glanced around
the large room; an entire wall was made up of multicolored buttons and knobs.
There was a huge flat surface that looked like a computer screen; the monitors
were off. A humming emanated from the technology and Bay understood that with a
simple switch it would fire to life. Zane was watching her. She had a deeper
understanding of his intelligence. For the past few days, Bay had spent as much
time with him as possible. For her, there was no other option. She couldn’t
leave this planet, and she couldn’t let Zane go insane with desire—both she and
Draven
needed him.

There was no sense
of feeling resigned; Bay had grown to like Zane. Instead of his features being
scary and different, she realized there was safety in his powerful looks. If
she dissected him piece by piece, she would find no fault—not even his fur.
Surprisingly, her fingers itched to run through the white mass. He had been
kind towards her, showing her
Draven
did indeed get
his sweet and affectionate nature from his father.

“What would your
females do to me if I went with them?” Bay asked.

“I honestly don’t
know if they would hurt you, but I do know you would be treated as a pet.
You’re too small to be a warrior and so would be considered useless. You
wouldn’t last long if you couldn’t entertain them. If they chose not to protect
you, you’d never last at all.”

Bay glanced around
the room, it was almost as big as the main area; there were no windows. The
ceiling wasn’t as high—perhaps fifteen feet and domed. Zane went and sat on a
massive rectangular bed. Bay was hesitant but approached slowly.

“Are your males so
different from us?” Zane asked.

“Yes and no. Our
men are hairier than women; they can grow beards and mustaches and don’t mind.
Most women mind—I mean they don’t want hair on their own faces. You don’t have
a hairy face, just the one long eyebrow that goes to your shoulders which are
hairy, not in an unpleasant way; I’m
kinda
getting
used to it. Our people normally never have red eyes, and they don’t glow like
yours can and they certainly can’t start fires with a look. A human man’s lips
are like mine, we only go blue if we can’t breathe or are cold. And your skin
is so hard—like really hard. Not many men are as big and broad as you. And none
are in possession of your phenomenal power.”

“Do you really
find me that big?”

For some reason,
he looked pleased. “Well you don’t need to look so thrilled about it.”

“I was looked past
by five females when my first cycle hit, I thought no one would take me before
an older female took pity on me.”

“Took pity?”

“Yes, females like
larger males, the fight is more intense, more exciting for them. The others
thought I wouldn’t be worth the effort, or the sport. I think the female was surprised
and pleased; I’m stronger than I look.”

Stronger than he looks?
“Well let’s get something straight—I’m not in here for a brawl.”

“A
brawl?”

“I don’t want our
foreplay to be a fist fight.”

“I’m guessing if I
were to hit you, the foreplay would be over before it began.”

Bay sat beside
him. He was like nothing she had ever seen before, and yet, she had grown used
to him. What scared her most was his way of having sex—at least the only way he
knew. His way was to grow huge and battle until dominated; Bay didn’t have a
snowball’s chance in Hell of dominating this powerhouse.

“If I don’t
dominate you and we don’t battle, will you get an erection?” Bay asked.

“You look so
hopeful the answer will be no—but I already have one.”

Bay’s gaze fled to
the outline of his cock under his pants—it was massive; yep, he had one all
right. “Has a warrior male ever dominated a female of your species?”

“Yes, there have
been rumors of young females choosing a well-seasoned warrior their first time,
and it was their downfall.”