Taken (Calliston Series - Book 1) (11 page)

A'ea and V'rea, the two sisters that Viktor had met when he first arrived, stepped forward in Tarn's wake. Even though they fussed over S'rea, Viktor wasn't ready to leave her alone.

"Do you know what she was doing here?" he asked V'rea.

She looked at him as if he were something unpleasant she had stepped in. "This is our mother's memorial," she said. "She always comes here."

"Oh," Viktor said, and gave the external signage another look. His reading of Lyrissian was nowhere near as good as his verbal. He turned back to V'rea, slightly alarmed. "I destroyed a few urns."

"There is no urn for our mother," she told him. "They left nothing."

That information only relieved some of his guilt. He pushed it aside, though, when he caught what A'ea was saying to S'rea.

"How dare you," A'ea hissed as she pushed her sister around. "How dare you do this to Ne'a, to me, to father. Why do you destroy this family? Why do you hurt Ne'a and her mate? After all that I did for you, after mother left us."

Viktor grabbed the woman by the elbow and shook her. "That's enough."

"How dare you!" she growled.

"How dare
you
," he said. "Where I come from, we call what he did attempted rape. He tortured her. He tortured your sister. Your own flesh and blood. So how dare you, lady!"

She gaped at him, outraged. "This is your fault, alien," she said.

"Alien, huh?" he said, and grinned. It wasn't one of his usual grins. This one was ugly, it was feral. "Well, you'll have to get used to us aliens. 'Cause either you're going to make peace with my people or the ones that butchered your mother."

He didn't wait for a response. Instead, he let her go and reached for S'rea. He was aware of A'ea babbling obscenities at him—some pretty colorful ones going by the attention they were now getting.

"Let's get you home," Viktor said softly to S'rea in Common. He put his arm around her and worried a little when she didn't try to beat the shit out of him. "Hopefully Harom will turn up soon so I don't get myself into even more trouble," he murmured.

* * *

S'rea glared at Harom, who guarded her door. She had spent the last twenty-four hours alone in her bedroom. Her father had come in once or twice last night and Harom had delivered her meals. Other than that, she had been alone with her thoughts. She knew it was for her own protection. Her father would be mending her reputation as well as the family's, finding a way to brush this aside so it would not affect the negotiations or Ne'a. That was what hurt S'rea the most: that her niece would be tarnished by her actions.

She sank down on her bed. Defeated. She gingerly touched her neck. They had removed the Orka device and it had been taken away. It had left vicious red welts on her skin. They would in time heal, but the rage she still felt inside consumed her. He should have died. He would have died if the U-man hadn't been there. If he had not been there, then she might not have had time to recover enough to fight Karo off.

That was something she had forgotten. The U-man. What would happen to him?

S'rea jumped to her feet, marched across the room, flung open the door and knocked Harom over. "I am sorry," she said before she ran from her father's house.

* * *

"This does not look good," Tarn admitted to Viktor. They sat at a large table, along with various other officials involved in the investigation into what had happened last night.

Viktor had to agree with him. Somehow this was being blamed on him, but he wasn't sure how. He knew why, that much was obvious. He was the enemy. Take him out and the negotiations would continue in favor of the Orka.

Viktor ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't shaved that morning and the stubble was evident on his face. He was not a smooth-skin like everyone else in the room. "What do you recommend?" he asked Tarn.

"Well, I only have one suggestion. But I do not think anyone involved will like it," Tarn said grimly.

"At this point I'm willing to try anything. What is it?" Viktor asked as the doors behind them burst open.

Everyone looked up at the intrusion. A few snorts of derision followed when the intruder turned out to be S'rea.

"Remove her," someone ordered.

S'rea shoved aside the Lyrissian who attempted to carry out the order. She strode forward and stopped in front of them. "He is my mate," she said.

"Who is?"

"He is," she said, and thrust her finger at Viktor. "The U-man is my mate."

"That was going to be my suggestion," Tarn said quietly.

"He was defending his female," S'rea continued. "He was defending me."

"And he caused critical injuries to Karo?" the short one asked. He cast a dubious glance at Viktor.

"No. I did," she said.

Outrage rippled around the table at that admission.

"Where does it say that a female cannot help her mate defend herself?" she demanded. "Where?"

No one seemed to have a definitive answer for this question, so it was put aside for more important ones.

"When did you mate?"

Viktor sat there quietly, intent on letting S'rea answer the questions. After all, she seemed to be the one who had worked it all out. He didn't want to ruin her plans.

"On the U-man ship, Callisto," she said without missing a beat. "He made an agreeable offer and I accepted."

Viktor raised an eyebrow at that. She had neglected to mention that he had never technically made an offer and that she had then injured him.

"Did you know about this?" they demanded of Tarn.

Tarn shook his head and looked as bewildered as the rest of them. He was not a fool. If he appeared to have known, then he would be accused of orchestrating it all to win favor at the negotiations.

"Do you have anything to say about it?" the chairperson at the head of the table asked.

"Just one thing," Tarn said, and sat up. He looked first to his daughter and then to Viktor before he said, "Prove it."

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Prove that you have mated," said Tarn.

"How?" Viktor asked.

Tarn shrugged. "How do you think?"

"I'm not doing that in front of you," Viktor growled.

"Then my daughter lies," Tarn said calmly. "She has no mate. The U-man should be punished. They both should be."

"You would sentence your own daughter to death?" the chairperson asked in disbelief.

Death?
Viktor was reeling. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from Tarn. He also couldn't believe that a society would condemn people to death for defending themselves from rape.

Viktor's chair scraped the floor as he pushed it back. The room fell silent and watched. Viktor slowly got to his feet and approached S'rea. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but hoped it would avoid at least one death.

S'rea held herself ramrod straight. The tension in her muscles told him she was resisting the urge to punch him in the face. When she didn't give in to that, he reached for her veil and lifted it from her head and shoulders. Removing it revealed the ugly marks on her neck. He heard a few murmurs from those assembled and knew they saw it as well.

Viktor gently placed his hands on S'rea's forearms and stared into her black eyes. His left eyebrow rose slightly, as if asking her permission. She closed her eyes and nodded.

"You people are fucked up," he told them in Common before he leaned over and sank his teeth into her neck, just below where the band had been. Well, he tried to. The ridges that protected the side of her neck got in the way and he thought he had chipped a tooth.

What he really wanted to do was kiss her, so he changed tact and kissed the ridge. He slowly made his way up her neck, eliciting a gasp when he brushed her injury. "Sorry," he murmured, but resumed his course. He followed her ridges to where they ended at her jaw, then her chin. He finished by brushing his lips lightly across hers.

When he finally pulled back, he couldn't help but smile at what he saw. S'rea's eyes were still closed, but her lips were pursed as if waiting for more. He couldn't deny her, and kissed her again.

"Excuse us," Viktor suddenly said to the Lyrissians. Before anyone could stop him, he had S'rea slung over his shoulder and was heading for the door she had burst through earlier. "Don't wait up," he yelled back to Tarn.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" S'rea demanded. She was again seated as far away from him as she could in the ground vehicle.

"I thought your bedroom would make it look more authentic," he said, looking rather pleased with himself.

"My bedroom?"

"Yes, isn't that where you mate?" he asked.

"I do not mate anywhere," she told him. "Others mate wherever the male feels the need to."

A few weeks ago he might have thought she was exaggerating, but after witnessing Karo's attempt to take her in a memorial, he knew it was as bad as she said it was.

"We don't have to," he said. "I would never ever force myself on a woman who didn't want to."

S'rea stared at him as if she could read the truth in his mind. "I believe you, U-man. However, they will want proof."

"And how would they know?" he asked.

"There will be a physical examination," she said. "They will look for evidence that mating took place. Specifically for your semen in my vaginal passage."

Viktor slumped back against the seat. "I hadn't expected that," he said. "I'll think of something."

The look she gave him said she was anything but assured.

"Do you have turkey basters?" he asked hopefully.

* * *

Viktor locked S'rea's bedroom door and hesitated before joining her on the bed. "You do not have to do this," he told her again. "I can take the blame."

"Then we will both die," she said. "We have no choice. Please get this over with quickly."

"No," he said.

"No?" she repeated.

"You heard me. I will not get this over with quickly. If we're doing this, we're doing it the U-man way. The right way."

S'rea visibly tensed. Either way was alien to her.

If they were going to do this, he needed her to relax, not panic. "Let's talk first," he said.

"Talk?"

"Yes. I want to get to know you," he said, and smiled. "Tell me about your parents. How did they meet?"

S'rea frowned, but did as he asked. She licked her lips, and his gaze zeroed in on the action. "My mother's father held the position my father now holds," she said. "My mother used to tell me this story when I was young. That my father joined her father's staff and he would visit regularly. He was much older than my mother. She was still a child. My father was the only one who would even acknowledge her. Mother decided that she would mate with him when it was her time. Her father told her that my father was waiting until he had enough status to approach a female that he wanted, and that her father admired him for that. It made my mother jealous, but it bought her time. She was several years away from being first fertile.

"One day when my father visited, she ignored him. It was her first fertile month. The way she tells the story, it drove him wild, and she made him chase her across the city. She said it was to make him feel as if he had earned the honor when she allowed him to catch her."

"What does your father think?" Viktor asked.

S'rea startled, as if she had forgotten he was there. She had been lost in the memory. "I do not know. I have never asked."

"Maybe you should," he said. Viktor had his suspicions about what Tarn would say. Even if the Lyrissians had no translation for the word
love
, it sounded like S'rea's parents knew what it meant.

"Maybe I will," she said as if she were seriously considering the idea. "How did
your
parents meet?"

Viktor's smile faded. "Don't know," he said. "I can guess, though. He was either on leave from Space Corps or some drunk man passing through."

"I do not understand," she said.

"My mother was what we call a prostitute. Will mate with anyone who has enough money. She never told me who my father was and I doubt she knew either."

"We do not have those here," she said.

"Probably a good thing," he said, and plastered on a fake smile. "She died when I was young and I got passed around her family until an uncle took me in and raised me. He was the only one willing to take me."

"Why would your family not raise you?" she asked.

"I was wild. No schooling. No discipline and I didn't like wearing clothes," he recounted. "No one wants a child like that when they're trying to entertain guests."

"I imagine not," she said.
 

"I guess my uncle saw some potential, even if I did scare a few ambassadors and their wives," he said, and chuckled. "He was patient and I ended up following in his footsteps."

"He is a peacetalker also?" she asked.

"He was."

S'rea placed her hand over his and said, "I am sorry."

Viktor looked up. "Don't be. He's at peace now."

They stared into each other's eyes, as they had before he had kissed her earlier. The moment seemed to stretch out forever, but Viktor did not push her. She had to want this. He had meant what he said: he would never force anyone to do what they did not want to.

"When you put your lips on me," S'rea said quietly, "was that the kissing?"

He nodded. "What did you think?"

She licked her lips as she considered her answer. and he could only stare. "I did not mind."

"Do you want to do it again?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, but held her hand up, "but only for scientific purposes."

"Of course," he said, and grinned. "In the interests of science."

* * *

S'rea was a scientist. Even though she had never mated, she knew what drove the male to procreate and the female to submit to him. The biology. The act. In short, every detail there was to know about the subject. She also knew that for U-mans it was essentially the same. The male impregnated the female of the species. What she didn't know or understand was why they bothered with overly complicated, superfluous actions, like kissing.

What she had told Viktor was true. In part, she was doing this to satisfy her scientific curiosity. Another part of her wanted to again feel the warmth she had experienced when he had kissed her. It was a new experience, and not one she could put down to his higher body temperature, because they had barely touched.