Stolen: Warriors of Hir, Book 3 (14 page)

Thirteen

Ke’lar went still. “What?” He drew back to regard her, his brilliant eyes wide. “What did you say?”

“I have a little girl, Emma, back on Earth.” Her tears overflowed. “She’s three. Well, three and a half actually.”

“You—” He shook his head as if he sought to clear it, as if his ears were buzzing. “You have a child?”

“That’s why I ran away from Ar’ar. That’s why your father has to get me to Earth, why I can’t stay with you. I have to get back to my baby. My baby needs me.”

“She is the one you love,” he breathed. “This is the source of your guilt? Not—not—”

“No, it’s not another man.” She wiped at her face with the back of her hand. “And mommy guilt comes with the job. But being on the other side of the galaxy without even a cell phone, raises it to a whole new level.”

“A child—a daughter . . .” He searched her eyes. “By the Goddess, little one, why did you not tell me?”

“Are you kidding? I couldn’t tell anyone! Females are so rare here, any daughter, even a fully human adopted one, would give Ar’ar—
and
the Betari—so much status that he could never just let her be! As my mate Hir law gives Ar’ar a legal claim as her guardian. What if he found her, forced her to live with the Betari too, kept her imprisoned in their enclosure—”

“Ar’ar should never have brought you to Hir! Should never have captured you at all. No female with offspring is to be taken. If you already have a child then . . .” His gaze snapped to hers, his eyes wild. “Your child—Emma—Where is she? Is she—?”

Summer shook her head. “She’s safe. She wasn’t with me when Ar’ar kidnapped me. She’s with her father.”

His lips tightened. “Your human mate.”

“
Ex
-mate—and thank you very much, State of Virginia.” Summer bit her lip. “But Emma is only visiting him for two weeks. And nine of those fourteen days are already gone. He’s bringing her for Christmas but if Dean brings her back to Brittle Bridge and I’m not there—if people find the house empty, they’re going to think that—” She shook her head. “Oh, hell, I don’t know
what
they’ll think! That I’m dead, that I’ve starting doing drugs—I don’t know! But what I
do
know is that if I’m not there Dean’ll call Social Services and dump Emma with them. He’ll tell them I’m nowhere to be found, that I’ve run off, that I’m an unfit mother—”

His brow furrowed. “But . . . surely if you were to return after the Choosing Day—”

“With no memory of where I was for a month?” she cried. “They won’t let me go back to Earth unless they wipe my memory of Hir, of everything from the moment I stepped out of the house! I won’t have an explanation of where I’ve been, why no one has seen me, why I didn’t even take my cell. I haven’t even called Dean to find out how Emma is and that’s—look, that’s just not like me. I still have the rest of this moon cycle before the Day of Choosing comes and I can’t wait that long. Unless your father intervenes and helps me get home I’ll get back two weeks after Dean is going to drop Emma off.”

“And he—Dean—will search for you?”

She gave a short bitter laugh. “Actually, first he’ll search for my wallet and relieve me of any cash I have, then he’ll call Social Services and tell them I ran off.” Summer shook her head, not bothering to check her tears. “Don’t you understand? The courts could take Emma away from me. It might be years before I get her back—or never.”

“I will go,” Ke’lar promised swiftly. “I will go to Earth and find your child. I will bring her to you. I will appeal to the Council myself, apprise them of the urgency—”

“Ke’lar!” she cried. “You’re an almost seven-foot-tall alien! You can’t go running around the southeastern part the United States, hoping to find one little girl—even if your government allowed it—and we both know they aren’t going to let you go.” Summer passed her hand over her eyes. “Look, it comes down to this—if I’m not there when Dean comes back he’ll probably hand her over to the state. I have four days left to get back to Earth.”

His frown deepened. “Surely he would not surrender his child?  He would care for her, protect her—”

“Yeah, you don’t know my ex. He was a lousy husband but he’s been an even worse father. He wasn’t even there when she was born and since then he’s hardly seen Emma at all. The only thing he seems to make time for is to bitch every month about sending support for her—not that it adds up to much. I even had my attorney draw up papers for him to waive his rights just so if anything happened to me Emma wouldn’t wind up being raised by someone who’d treat her like a burden. Well—” She ran her hands through her hair. “At least until she was old enough to be treated like a
servant
. The only reason he’s got Emma now is ’cause his mother begged me to send her. He’s got visitation but he never uses it so I couldn’t really object. And God love her, Dean’s momma is a real good woman with a jerk for a son. All Dean is really doing is picking Emma up and driving her back to mooch off his mom for two weeks, while Emma sees her grandmother.”

“He is not fit to be a father,” Ke’lar snarled. “He does not deserve all he has been given.”

Summer sighed. “You sure won’t get any argument from me.”

“I wish you had told me.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I wish you had trusted me.”

“I
am
trusting you, Ke’lar, with the most precious thing in my life—I’m trusting you with my baby girl.” She caught her hands in his. “You have to help me. You have to convince your father to send me home.”

“I cannot live on Earth with you.” His gaze was raw. “And I cannot live without you. There must be another way.”

“She’s my baby.” Her vision blurred. “And goddamn it, choosing between you is killing me.”

“I thought”—his throat worked for a moment—“there was another male that you loved.”

“No,” she murmured, taking his face in her hands. She brushed her nose to his in a g’hir’s kiss. “There’s no one but you.”

His eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. “Summer . . .”

He tilted his head, bringing his mouth to hers, his tongue flicking against the sensitive spot at the corner of her mouth. The cinnamon-sweet taste of him was delicious; his soft purr sent heat racing between her legs. This time, though, it was she who unfastened his clothing, who knelt above him, allowing him to enjoy the sight as she removed her own clothes.

He cupped her buttocks, ready to lift her onto his hard cock, when she put her hands to his shoulders to stop him.

“Wait—” She offered a quick smile. “My turn.”

He was ready, eager to be inside her, but he yielded, letting her push him back to lie down upon the pallet. He was all muscle and warm skin, his penis jutting upward, a gleam of moisture at the tip.

“Put your arms up,” she said, her voice husky. “Over your head.”

“Why?” he rumbled, looking perplexed even as he complied.

Her fingers traced the sinew of his hips and his cock twitched in response, his eyes like blue fire.

“Because now,” she murmured, “I want to capture you.”

His mouth parted as she slid her hand around his shaft, feeling it grow more taut, the lubrication increasing as she stroked.

His glowing eyes widened as she bent to press her mouth against the tip of his shaft, groaning as she ran her tongue along the luscious sweet wetness there.

His rumble went deeper than she’d ever heard it when she took him into her mouth, her hand stroking the length. With the heat of his cock in her mouth and his purr vibrating her clit she groaned, wondering just how long she could do this before her own need grew out of control.

His muscles were quivering, his hungry rumble making her tremble with need. She pressed her tongue to the underside of his shaft and suddenly the sweet taste of his seed burst into her mouth, leaving his body quaking.

“I did not . . . know,” he gasped, “you could . . . do that.”

She laughed, licking his candy sweet taste from her lips as she straddled his hips. “Like it?”

“Yes,” he growled fiercely.

His cock was still hard, his rumbling deep, and she shivered as he traced the outline of her body with the tips of his fingers.

“Let me pleasure you the same way,” he murmured.

“I don’t know,” she teased, a little breathless. “Those fangs look awful sharp.”

“You have fangs too.” He half sat up and she gasped as the wet heat of his mouth closed around her nipple. “Dainty little human ones.”

It was a moment before she could think clearly enough to answer as he kissed his way to the other breast.

“Those are called ‘canines’ and they aren’t really—oh!” she breathed as his fingers brushed her clit, the moisture there making it easy for him to stroke her.

“I love to see you find your pleasure,” he rumbled. “I have never imagined anything so arousing.”

“Good,” she managed. “How about now?”

He lay back and clasped her by the hips. He lowered her slowly, till his cock filled her completely.

His hands rested on her thighs, his fingers stroking in rhythm as he rocked beneath her, his glowing eyes blue fire as he watched her. Suddenly her climax hit and his fingers tightened reflexively as he pulsed inside her.

She collapsed atop him, too spent for the moment even to roll off.

His arms encircled her, holding her. “There will never be another but you, my mate, my sweet Summer . . .”

Summer stirred and reached out, only to find the place beside her on the pallet empty.

She blinked, rubbing at her eyes. From the light filtering through the shelter she knew it was very early morning but she didn’t hear Ke’lar moving about outside.

It was very quiet.

Too quiet.

Her heart in her throat and trying to make as little noise as possible, Summer reached for her clothes and dressed swiftly. She hesitated for a moment, listening, at the shelter’s exit, then pushed it open and stepped outside.

The suns had not yet risen over the Zun Mountains; the air was cool and fog swirled through the valley, blanketing everything in an otherworldly mist.             

She was alone.

Her glance darted about the field, the mist-shrouded trees, but there was no sign of him.

“Ke’lar?” she whispered.

Summer wrapped her arms around herself at the answering silence.

Would he do that? Would he just go off and leave her in the middle of nowhere?

Like hell he would. Something’s wrong.

Not that it was much protection, really, but it was hard to take even those few tentative steps away from the shelter.

Summer raised her voice. “Ke’lar?”

She heard it then, male, g’hir for certain, off to her right in the same direction as the stream—a groan of one in great pain . . .

“Ke’lar!”

She ran that way, trying to watch her footing, cursing herself for leaving the blaster back at the shelter, considering and discarding the idea of going back for it.

He was slumped over but she couldn’t see him clearly. There was a shape there in the fog but like nothing familiar at all.

A few more stumbling steps and the sight came clear.

“Oh, no. Ke’lar—”

He was kneeling at the multari’s side, his hand gently stroking her nose. Beya’s long neck was stretched out along the ground, her legs tucked under her where she lay, her face peaceful, her glowing eyes closed forever . . .