Prime Selection (28 page)

These Terran women like their privacy.”

Huw glared at Wulf. The lift door opened onto the fitness room. Huw stalked out and then turned. “I want to go to the surface and bring Nadia home.”
And make her mine …

now.

“No. You have only one choice. Gloves or no gloves.” Wulf shoved Huw onto the mats. “If I let you go to the surface, you’d attack Bre and Aeron—and possibly alienate Nadia. You can’t confront her with all this pent-up anger and frustration.”

Wulf stood over him, with Iolyn blocking from the other side. “Think, Huw. Get past the emotions roiling in your body. You’ve fought and rejected the attraction, the connection with Nadia for weeks. You have built up all this tension. You need to cool down … release it … or you might hurt Nadia.”

“I would never hurt Nadia.” Huw struggled to his feet and shoved Iolyn out of the way. He turned to face Wulf.

“That’s not true. You’ve already hurt her emotionally and mentally. And now you’re in danger of hurting her physically, albeit unintentionally.” Wulf threw a punch, which Huw managed to deflect with his forearm.

Huw retaliated with a front kick to Wulf’s solar plexus. Wulf blocked the kick and Huw was forced to withdraw his foot before Wulf could knock him off-balance.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Wulf taunted. “Shoes off. No gloves. You missed your chance to choose. Iolyn and I plan to beat some sense into you. The side benefit—other than it will make us happy to teach you a lesson for being an idiot—will be that you’ll have let out some of your rage.”

“You aren’t keeping me from her.” Huw stripped off his uniform top and tore off his boots. As soon as his second boot hit the ground, he dove at Iolyn and took him to the ground, putting him into a submission hold. “She’s mine. I’ll apologize for my past behavior … and uh…” he let out a grunt as Iolyn’s elbow caught him in the jaw, “…then we can work on the physical part of our relationship.”

Wulf pulled Huw off Iolyn and punched him in the stomach and followed it up with an upper cut to the jaw. “Huw! You can’t just say ‘sorry’ and take her to bed.”

Rubbing his jaw, Huw snarled. “Try and stop me.” He used a jab and upper cut combo to drive Wulf away.

Emitting small growls, Wulf circled Huw. “Listen to me, you thickheaded ass. You need to woo her before having sex with her.”

Iolyn came at Huw from the side and punched him in the ribs. Huw aimed a front kick at Wulf’s crotch as he backhanded Huw across the chest. “Don’t tell me how to claim Nadia.”

“Try romantic dinners, walks on the beach in the simulation rooms … you need to calm down and be nice to counteract the rude, cowardly ass you’ve been.” Wulf hammered his advice home with an upper cut, just missing Huw’s chin and clipping him on the ear.

Huw growled and let out a roundhouse kick to Wulf’s head, circling into a front kick to Iolyn’s thigh.

He didn’t care what his brothers said. There would be time enough to woo Nadia after he’d made his claim on her. Everything in him that was primal male urged him to make love with her and put his scent on her. She wouldn’t be able to run from him then … and she’d thought of doing so. That one moment of connection with her on the planet’s surface, when she’d been frightened out of her mind, he’d “seen” Nadia … and understood her clear to her soul.

Everything she’d felt was there, an open book for him to see. She loved him, but didn’t trust him. He’d hurt her, abused her trust. He’d been a dumbass. But he would make it all better … he had to or he’d die inside if she left him.

Iolyn joined Wulf in a concerted attack and forced Huw to concentrate on putting his brothers’ asses on the mat. He had to get to Nadia. The wooing would start tonight … in his bed.

Nadia turned to Aeron. “I’ll go over the data I gathered and merge it with the reports from my team. I’ll shoot you a collated report later.”

Aeron smiled down at her and swept one of her errant curls behind her ear. “Come back with me to the
Leonidas
. We can work on our reports together over a meal and some wine.”

Suddenly Huw’s extreme rage pounded her shields and distracted her from Aeron’s words. She let down her shields and winced. He was fighting with his brothers.
Ow!
He’d just had his butt tossed to the floor. Her bottom and elbow throbbed in sympathy.

She slammed her shields back up. Damn, but she couldn’t face his anger, jealousy, or fears right now. Plus, she suspected Wulf and Iolyn were fighting with him to hammer home some truths.

Huw was the only person on the ship who hadn’t realized he was bonding with her.

“I’ll go back with you.” She smiled at Aeron. “It’ll be nice to spend some time on my old ship. I miss poker games with Royce. He’s such a horrible player.”

Aeron laughed. “Yes, it’s a good thing we only play for imaginary credits. Royce would end up paying us for the rest of his natural life.”

Nadia turned to Z’es. “I’ll go with Commander Ard’s team. Tell Captain Wulf or Captain Mel I plan to spend the night on the
Leonidas
. They’ll have Ard’s and my reports as soon as we get them done.”

She knew this would push Huw to confront her about their bond. She counted on it.

Either he’d declare himself, if his last mental communication had been true, or he’d continue to ignore her. She was tired of playing the game his way. So, she’d use his jealousy of Aeron to tip the balance her way. Mean? Yes, it was, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

And if he didn’t declare himself? She’d transfer to Blue Squadron.

“Bre, please put together the data our team gathered and shoot it to me on the
Leonidas
under Commander Ard’s code.” Nadia had a sneaking suspicion her tech knew what she was about. He had a slight smile on his lips and understanding poured off him in small, gentle waves.

“You’re in charge of the lab while I’m off ship,” Nadia said. Huw would get an earful from Bre if he went hunting for her in the lab.

Bre inclined his head in a traditional Prime salute. “It will be done, Commander Nadia.” He turned to Aeron and inclined his head. “Happy to work with you again, Commander. Take care of my commander, please. She had a fright.” He turned to organize their team.

Aeron helped Nadia from the
Galanti
ground transport. “Well, I’ve been told, haven’t I?” He stared at Bre and his brothers; the three had their heads together. “The Jods have become your protectors.”

“Bre feels he owes me his life. Though, after today, I’d say we’re even.” She looked back at the brothers. “Bre’s mother has adopted me into the family. I never had any siblings. It’s sort of nice.”

“Just as long as the brothers remember you’re their superior officer when on duty, I don’t see a problem.” Aeron kept a hand on her elbow as he guided her into the
Leonidas
’s ground transport for the trip back to the shuttles.

“They’re always respectful, helpful, and obedient.” Nadia pulled on her arm; his touch hurt more than ever. Aeron let go instantly. His gaze reflected concern. “You know why I accepted the invitation, don’t you?”

“Huw contacted you.” Aeron’s expression was blank, but his emotions were anything but smooth. The air around them crackled with the intensity of the feelings he deliberately suppressed. “I felt the force of his telepathy—it felt similar to the emotion overflow a Prime soldier feels at the height of
batel rabia
.”

“Aeron … if things had been different…” She turned to look up. “I…”

“Nadia, don’t say another word.” Aeron smiled sadly. “I know you’re connected to Huw in a way similar to Prime bonding. The telepathy alone tells me this. Plus the asshole has said things to me from time to time that led me to believe he was possessive of you.” He laughed at her gasp of shock. “I don’t mind being used to hide from him.

Besides, it will drive him crazy … and it might take some jealousy to get through his thick skull.”

“That’s what I concluded. This time his mental touch was … different … more open… ” Nadia trailed off.

She couldn’t say “needy,” “scared,” or “loving” out loud, because it felt like a betrayal of the connection she had with Huw. Why couldn’t Huw have been more like Aeron? Aeron would never have put any woman he was interested in through an emotional wringer.

“So, Aeron? Have you met anyone in Gold you’re attracted to? Need an introduction?” She arched an eyebrow.

He chuckled. “Not yet. But I haven’t met every female in Gold—and the one I wanted is taken.”

God, he meant her. Her stomach clenched with pain and regret that she couldn’t reciprocate this wonderful man’s feelings. The fact he was being so nice and letting her use him to hide behind made her feel lower than a snake.

Aeron allowed her to enter the
Leonidas
ground transport first. “Royce is grumbling over one couple we suspect is bonding. They’re technicians in my lab. The woman is a Volusian. I can’t imagine what Royce would say if his Prime officers started bonding on a regular basis. At times, he has been very vulgar about the process, even though the couple is very circumspect in their wooing.”

“That’s Royce!” Nadia laughed. “You don’t mind if we eat with him, do you?”

“Not at all. He’ll want to hear our reports—and see the dead creature.” Even the stalwart Prime shuddered. “I can’t imagine what the women and children survivors went through.”

“I’m sorry there were no live survivors.” He might have had a mate among the dead.

She would never ask if he had a marking; that was too personal.

“As am I.” Aeron got into the driver’s seat of the transport and waited until his lead tech did a head count. “As am I.”

“What in Balcon’s balls do you mean Nadia went to the
Leonidas
with Ard?”

Sore and somewhat out of breath after his earlier exertions, Huw stood over the workstation of Bre Jod in the laboratory. His hands fisted at his sides. The emotional release he’d obtained through the fight with his brothers was quickly history. His skin crawled and his gut churned with the excess of emotions surging anew in him. He clenched his jaw and could barely restrain himself from strangling the messenger.

His primitive brain reminded him this man’s hands had been all over Nadia as he’d carried her out of the cave. Bre’s quick thinking and fast feet had saved her, but Huw’s higher-level brain was on hiatus for the moment.

“Just what I said, Commander.” Bre’s face displayed no emotion; his voice was calm. But Huw read animosity coming off the technician in waves.

Bre’s brothers and the other lab technicians observed the conversation from their workstations. One technician was on the ship-wide com and the security alert alarm began to blare in the background.

Huw read the emotional temperature of the lab as fearful and shocked. The lab personnel were wary of him as if he were a wild beast. Bre’s brothers feared for their brother’s life. And rightly so. A primitive, territorial part of him wanted to kill Bre for ever being near Nadia.

“Nadia! Help me! I’m losing control.”

“Commander Nadia ordered me to bring the team back to the ship and collate the data collected and send it to the
Leonidas
under Commander Ard’s code.” Bre continued in a tone of voice one might use with a crazy person. “That is what I have done.”

Huw took a step back to keep from strangling the man. He
was
acting crazy and would continue to be on a short fuse until he had Nadia in his arms where he could keep her safe … from all the men who desired her. He took several deep breaths and willed his rage to the back of his mind where it belonged.

He needed information. Had Nadia run from him? Was she scared of him?

“Why in the name of the One did she go over there?” Huw’s voice was low and raspy; he could barely keep back the growls wanting to be let loose. “Isn’t this lab good enough for her?” He gestured at the room.

With his hearing made more sensitive by his increasing rage, he heard one of the other Jods urging Security to hurry. The Jods had been trained in the same manner as he.

They recognized a Prime male on the verge of losing control. If Security arrived and saw him in his present state, he was in danger of being stunned.

A more rational part of his brain approved of the Jods’ actions; the primitive part of him wanted to silence them.

Huw would like to assure them he wouldn’t lose control, but he couldn’t. He was walking a thin line and could fall off it at any time. It was as if he were preparing for battle—he recognized
batel rabia
when he felt it.

Cas Jod coughed and drew Huw’s attention. “Commander Ard said something about dinner and wine and her spending the night, Commander.”

And off the line he fell.

Flames of rage swept over him and engulfed what little was left of his sanity.

Instincts as old as the Prime’s existence pressed him to fly over to the
Leonidas
, kill Ard, and bring Nadia home
.

“Nadia! Nadia!”

There was no answer. Her shields were solid, not even a crack. Yet, he sensed awareness. He sensed her pain. Was his anger affecting her?

“Nadia. I’m sorry … can’t control … come to me. Help me. Forgive me … I need
you.”

No answer.

And why should she? He’d been a stubborn and sometimes cruel fool over the past weeks. Had he lost her? He growled, a low, rough rumble that set beakers and flasks to rattling on the lab shelves. The sound of breaking glass as shelves tore from the walls echoed around the cavernous lab.