Vareen & Mica (The Alliance Book 2) (2 page)

“You can’t keep me here.” Vareen paced the small area allotted in the
security holding cell. Since it was supposed to be a deterrent, not
comfortable, the area was quite small.

“I’ve claimed you,” the hulking male said softly. “Judging by your
resistance, this holding cell is a good idea.”

Vareen glared at the stubborn ox of a male and resumed her silence. She had
only herself to blame. All of her troubles could be traced back to that day in
class when she’d confronted the gossiping girls. If she’d just left well enough
alone she wouldn’t have befriended Cali, used
The Reliant
to escape with her to the Buffer Zone, found a stasis
pod floating in space, found additional stasis pods, and finally ended up over
the shoulder of the brute holding her captive.

She had heard one of the others in the medical unit calling him Mica. He
was a friend of Drake’s, who if she wasn’t mistaken, had wrangled his way into
her best friend’s heart. How was Cali taking the events of the last few hours?

She didn’t know because Mica refused to release her.

“Why did you take me out of the medical unit? Drake arrived and everything
would’ve been explained.”

“I claimed you as mine,” the dark-haired behemoth
stated
again as if this was obvious. “I don’t require Drake to
explain. Reason dictates that our pods were located and we’re on another
spacecraft.”

Vareen sat on the small bed built into one wall. “That’s true. We found
Drake’s pod first. I used the strange metallic signature of his stasis pod to
locate yours. You and the other three were caught in the orbit of a distant
moon of Titus. If not for me, you’d still be floating in space. Maybe I
should’ve left you there.” It wasn’t a very nice or logical thing to say but
Vareen felt justified in saying it.

When the computer chimed alerting everyone that there was a message
coming, Vareen held her breath.

“This is the captain.” That was Cali. She sounded a bit tense, but that
was to be expected. It’s not every day that you find four hulking males in
stasis pods and have them attack your guard when they wake up. Vareen hadn’t
ever witnessed a sight like the three men flashing around the room. Mica had
stayed with her, leaving Cali and Nellia in the medical unit. Not that Nellia
had been awake. Upon seeing the men flashing past her, she’d collapsed out cold
on the floor.

Listening to Cali talk Vareen would like to know what Drake had told her
friend to keep her calm. She could use some of that information herself.

“There was an emergency in the medical unit, but it has been seen to and
everything is under control. Please continue to follow your normal routine.
Thank you. Clear.” Finished with relaying the information to the
crew,
the intercom went silent.

Keeping the details short and to the point would help when dealing with
the rest of the crew. They would’ve seen or heard about the commotion and it
was smart to keep them on task. As far as she knew, the only damage done to the
ship was in the medical unit when Drake had
torn
through the walls.

“There you see.” Vareen shifted on the bed. “You can let me go and we can
find the others.”

“Why would you wish to see the others?” Mica’s dark brows beetled in
question. “Do you prefer one of them for your mate? Perhaps Dak or maybe Arik?”

Vareen felt a small thrill at the idea of intimacy with the man scowling
at her. The moment Cali had opened the stasis pod in the docking bay and she’d
seen Mica inside, something strange had happened. It wasn’t simply the fact
that he was exceptionally handsome, rugged, and oozed masculine appeal. It was
as if she was magnetically drawn to him. If he was looking for a lover, she
might be interested. It was the fact that he kept using words like claimed and
mate that threw her off. She wasn’t looking for anything long term.

To hide her reaction Vareen snorted, “I don’t know who you’re talking
about, and even if I did, I don’t prefer any of you as a mate. I just want
answers.”

When his friends had woken and attacked the guards in the medical unit,
Vareen didn’t feel fear. When Cali had drawn a weapon on him and threatened to
shoot him she had been afraid, but only for his safety. That
is what bugged
her. Why be worried
about
his welfare? She didn’t even know him.

Now here she was, locked in a security cell with no idea what was going
on outside this room. It wasn’t a feeling she was comfortable with.

“I propose a give and take. You ask me a question and I’ll answer. Then I
get to ask you one. If the other person doesn’t answer, a concession will be
awarded. Do we have a deal?” Mica’s big brown eyes assessed her from top to
bottom. Vareen had caught him doing that a few times and the resulting thrill she
experienced washed over her again.

That a virile male like Mica found her attractive was flattering. At her
height,
there were few men on Cestori that were
taller than she was. Finding a male that she didn’t intimidate with either her
size or intellect was hard. She had a feeling that Mica wasn’t daunted by her.
At around six foot
six,
he towered over
her. He was heavily muscled and had to weigh twice as much as her. His black
hair was short, almost to the point of a
shorn
look. There were faint scars on his face. One along the left cheek, another
across his forehead, and a smaller one on his chin. Nothing that detracted from
his good looks, in her opinion the marks added to his appeal. Along with the
scruff of beard he hadn’t shaved off, she realized the man was entirely too
dangerous to her libido.

“Okay. I’ll start.” Vareen waved a hand at him. “Who are you?”

 
“I am Mica Jataci. My clan is
responsible for meting out justice where I come from. You may call me Mica. Now
my question. Who are you?”

“I am Vareen Nas. I am the science officer and second in command of the
ship you’re on.” Vareen answered without hesitation. “How did your friends
attack so many guards without injury?”

Mica’s laughter boomed out startling her. He moved to stand in front of
the barrier right in front of her, his legs braced apart, his hands on his
hips. Vareen couldn’t help but appreciate the flexing of his thigh’s in the
black pants. His black shirt was open at the neck and a few inches of tanned,
smooth skin peeked out. The stance was arrogant and Vareen smiled slightly.

“We could defeat many times over the kind of guards you have on this ship.
They aren’t a match for our abilities.” His boast made her smile. “What is the
name of this ship?”

“
The Reliant
,” Vareen quickly
asked her next question. “What are your abilities exactly?” She moved to mimic
his stance. She knew the barrier was active so she gave herself just enough
distance to keep from getting shocked. Her hair had come undone from the bun
she normally wore, and the top of her jumpsuit had opened a few inches. She
matched him in a
disheveled
appearance at
least.

His eyes were drawn to the slight swell of her cleavage and Vareen pulled
her arms back so the material opened even further. If she could distract him
enough he might not answer and then she could get a concession.

“We have the increased speed you saw, along with a heightened sense of
smell. Our strength is increased, and the ability to interpret a threat and
implement a tactic to defeat that threat. We call ourselves valkie warriors. Where
is your home world?” Mica stretched his arms over his head and she watched
fascinated by the show of muscles she got when his shirt gaped open. He was
mimicking her attempt at distraction and it was working.

What had he asked again? The name of her home world, hadn’t he heard it
before now? Maybe he was testing her to see if she was answering honestly.

“Cestori.” Vareen licked her suddenly dry lips and went with the truth.
“Where is yours?

His eyes flew to her mouth. “Titus.”

 
“Titus is inhabited by barbarians—”

“It is not.” Mica puffed up in anger at her words. “We obviously have
different abilities than your people, but we are far from barbaric.”

“I don’t know, attacking a roomful of people for no reason smacks of
barbarism to
me,
” Vareen argued.

“We woke to find ourselves surrounded by armed males with no memory of
why we were being held. It was instinct for us to defend ourselves and not one of
your puny male’s was killed.” A satisfied look came across his face. “You’ve
broken the rules of our give and take. I get a concession.”

“I didn’t,” Vareen protested.

“You did. I answered that I was from Titus. Before I could ask my
question, you accused my people of being barbarians.”

Vareen thought back and realized he was correct. She did owe him a
concession. With a small
thrill,
she
wondered what he was going to ask for.

Mica had never met someone so enthralling in his twenty-eight years as
the woman before him. She was one of the females he’d heard upon waking in
their medical unit.

“Now that the extra guards are here
do you think I should add more?” A woman had spoken.

There were guards? His fighting
instinct kicked in. He could feel the adrenaline running
through
his veins.

“Ten is plenty.” A different female
spoke this time. Her voice filled with relief.

So there were at least ten guards.

“I think even the large one would
have trouble with ten Cestori security guards,” the first female spoke again.

He could sense movement in the room
and knew it was time to act. The medical unit he was attached to started making
noises, along with others on either side of him. His friends must be here as
well. Jumping up he landed on the end of an exam bed. He took in the fact that
Dak, Tae, and Arik were also here with him. Where was Drake? They’d been on the
bridge of The Maxon together.

A golden blur swept past him.
Dak
was on the move. Then the red shirt of Tae
blurred past him and the blue one of Arik. He heard fighting coming from the
other room.
Still,
he remained where he
stood. There was something here in this room drawing him, calming him. What
could it be?

His gaze swept around. A small
brown-haired female had screamed and collapsed on the floor. That left a
platinum-haired, buxom figured, small female and …her.

“Computer transmit,” the blonde
yelled. “This is the Captain—”

The small one was the captain? He
almost laughed but wanted her to stop transmitting so he moved toward her. He
knew his eyes would be glowing an electric shade of blue and hoped this would
intimidate her. Growling menacingly, he reached for her.

“Leave her alone,” The taller,
black-haired hellcat jumped between him and the blonde.

“Vareen. Don’t—” the blonde had
stumbled and fallen. From her prone spot on the
ground,
she tried to intervene.

“I wouldn’t hurt the small female.”
Mica couldn’t help that his voice came out deep and rumbled around this small
room. Seeing his friends return through the doorway he asked, “Dak? Tae? Arik? Is
this area secured?”

 
“Yes, Mica. There were only ten guards.” Dak
found this amusing.

“How many dead Tae?”

“You even need to ask? No need to
be insulting.”

“I only got to watch.” Arik grumped
with laughter in his voice.

“How is it insulting?” the one
named Vareen snapped at him.

Mica had never seen eyes this
purple color before. They flashed with anger and an answering spark flared to
life
inside him.

“You’ve killed innocent guards.
They were only protecting us.” The black-haired beauty wanted to strike out at
him, he could sense it.

Before she’d finished her sentence,
Mica stepped up until he was pressed against her. To his
delight,
she didn’t back away. Instead, the
little fireball stood her ground and glared up at him. Mica wanted to laugh. At
his most easygoing he was intimidating, when trying to get others to back down,
it had always worked. Here was one small female standing up to him. It was
unheard of.

“I like this
one,
” he announced, and then bent his head to
breathe deeply at Vareen’s neck. Her scent filled his lungs and imprinted on
every cell in his body. He couldn’t get enough.

Out of the corner of his
eye,
he saw her friend draw her weapon up. The
weapon would be useless. He snatched Vareen as if weightless and tossed her over
his shoulder.

“Let me go,” she yelled.

Mica put a hand against her back to
keep her from falling in her struggles against his shoulder.

The small blonde jumped up and
pointed her weapon at him.

“Cali, No. Don’t shoot,” Vareen begged
her friend.

His friends
simply
growled low in their throats at the weapon but didn’t move.

 
“Let my friend go or I will kill you.”

Mica had to hand it to her. She was
almost as brave as her friend. If not for the shaking in her hands, he almost
believed she’d do it.

Another flash entered the room and Mica
tensed.

“Leave this one.”

So Drake had survived as well. This
was a good day.

His friend’s stance over the small
blonde told all of them that this was someone special to him. Mica didn’t stick
around to find out the details. He took Vareen and sequestered her in a holding
cell. He didn’t want her to be able to get away from him, and this was the only
place he could think of that was secure.

Now she owed him a concession. Reaching over he pushed the button that
would take the barrier down. Vareen didn’t move away. He liked her bold nature
already.

“I can think of only one thing I want.” Mica could feel the valkie
sensation trying to take hold again. Only this time it wasn’t a fighting
instinct, but a mating one.

“What would that be?”

Did she do that on purpose? Licking her lips to drive him crazy? Her
mouth was so lush and pink. With every swipe of her tongue, Mica wanted to
possess her. Taking her upper arms in his hands, he pulled her against him. She
was tall enough that her breasts pressed into his chest, but still short enough
that she had to look up to see into his eyes.

“You know what I want Var. I won’t lie to you.” He noticed her eyes
widened and the brilliant purple darkened with what he hoped was passion. “I
must taste you or I’ll go mad.”

Bending his head, he gave her time to turn away. She didn’t pull back.
Instead,
she tilted her head and when his lips
were the barest breath from hers, closed her eyes. Mica didn’t wait any longer.
He brushed his lips against hers. The petal softness of her mouth made him
groan. The special smell that was Vareen swamped his senses again. He would
never walk in the gardens on Titus thinking them sweet now that he knew her
scent.

When she put her hands against his chest, Mica let her arms go and
wrapped her more tightly against him. His fingers wound into the hair at her
lower back fingering the soft curls. His lower body strained to get closer, so
he moved his hands to cup her bottom.
 

At her soft gasp of surprise, he broke their kiss. Her
eyelids
fluttered open and he was encouraged by
the passion burning in her eyes. Opening his mouth slightly on hers, he flicked
his tongue against her full bottom lip. She answered by opening her mouth more
fully on his and her tongue swiped out to clash with his. His hard arousal was
pressing into her stomach and the kiss turned carnal.

Mica forced himself to break away. He only wanted a small taste of her.
This wasn’t the place for lovemaking and if he wasn’t careful he’d have her on
the small bed, naked at this rate.

“Sweet Var,” he put a small distance between them to cool his ardor. “Do
you have a mate? Someone special to you waiting for you on Cestori?” If she
did, he needed to know who to kill.

“No. There isn’t anyone.” Vareen’s composure was slow to return, and he
was pleased by his ability to make her forget herself. “What about you Mica, do
you have someone on Titus?”

“No,” he was never so happy as when he could honestly say that. “I’m not
mated. Can you tell me what you were doing in the Buffer Zone before you found
us?”

“It’s not my place to tell you the full story.” It was the first
prevarication he’d gotten from her. “I think that Cali, she’s the captain and a
good friend, will tell Drake and then you’ll know as well.”

Mica liked that she was honest. He had heard them talking and knew that
Cali was the captain. That Vareen was telling him the truth made him admire her
even more.

She stepped back away from him and Mica wanted to follow her.

“What about you,” Vareen asked. “What were you doing in the Buffer Zone?”

It was his turn to play with words. “I can’t tell you the full story
until I’ve spoken with Drake and the others.” He stepped back from her a bit
further and reestablished the electronic barrier to keep her in the security
cell. “I’m sorry Var. I don’t want to lock you in, but I’m afraid you’ll lock
me out if given a chance.” When she went to argue he continued, “Not that I’m
worried about physically being detained, I don’t see you doing that. I fear
that you would build invisible barriers between us. Find reasons to avoid me,
and block my attempts to see you.” Taking a deep breath to clear his mind he went
to leave. “I need to speak with Drake and then I’ll return. I’ll bring us
something to eat. You must be hungry by now.”

He strode quickly from the room. The sooner he talked with the others,
the sooner he could return to her.