Warrior's Devotion (Warriors of Vor Book 2) (5 page)

“You were
afraid when he shifted forms?”

“Well, yeah.
That and when he flew after her, and bit her, and—”

“I
understand,” Dracor said quickly, cutting her off. “It’s one of the reasons I
took the elixir, so we could spend this time together without you worrying
about me losing control and claiming you before you understood.”

She stared out
at the water, then shifted her gaze to him. She needed to look at him to see
the truth. “I’m your mate?”

“Yes. You
are,” he said softly. “Do you understand what a mating is?”

She told him
the basics of the conversation she’d had with the others in the great hall
earlier. “It’s difficult for us humans to understand since we don’t have mates
back on our world. We have marriage, but that’s not like what Braec and Tex
described your mating as.”

“You had
marriage with a male on your world?”

Abby could
hear the tight strain in Dracor’s voice, and knew he didn’t like thinking about
her with someone else. In the past, when Charlie got jealous, she got a sick
feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it made her angry. She wasn’t mad at
Dracor, though. In fact, she felt a little secret thrill at the notion that he
wanted her to himself.

“I had a bad
marriage. He lied about who he really was. Actually, he lied about everything
and then he tried to kill me.”

Dracor let out
a vicious growl. “Tell me.”

Sitting on the
beautiful, albeit strange, beach, she did as he asked. She told him about her
life, about her relationship with Charlie, and what happened the night she was
taken from Earth. He was silent during the telling, and he let go of her hand
when she told him about Charlie hitting her for the first time. She knew by the
way he fisted his hands until they turned white that he’d let her go so he
wouldn’t hurt her.

When she
finished, he cupped her chin in his hand gently. “I will never strike you. I
would cut my own hand off before I could ever do that.”

She placed her
own hand on his wrist. “I…it’s not that I’m worried you’d do that, but—”

“No, little
one. You don’t understand. I could never hurt you. Mating is something
difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t seen it before, but it is sacred. When
I claim you, it will bind our souls together, and that bond will only grow
stronger throughout the years. From the second I met you, you became the most
important person in my life, above even my brother, the king.”

She blinked in
surprise. “But you’re his captain. It’s your job to—”

“To love you
and make you happy, and above all, to keep you safe.”

“Dracor, you
just met me.”

He took her
hand, lifting it to place it over his heart. “Do you feel this? It beats for
you now. You might not have the emotional bond with me that I have with you
yet, but it will form once I bite you and claim you.”

Abby was
having a difficult time accepting that something that profound could change
with one bite, but she was a stranger in a strange land, and nothing that had
happened in the past few days made any sense to her. Still, she wasn’t sure she
was ready to mate with this man, no matter how good looking she thought he was
or how much she liked what he was saying to her.

She felt her
heart ache a little as sadness clouded his eyes. He let go of her hand, and
turned his head away. “I know I’m not a desirable male, but I swear I’ll try to
make you happy here with me.”

That gave her
pause. “What make you say you aren’t desirable?”

“You are
smaller than most of our females, and they all think I am too big and don’t
want anything to do with me—”

“Are you
kidding me?” When he turned to look at her, she could see his confusion. He’d
basically laid his soul bare to her, the least she could do was be honest. “You
might be a little strange to me, since this is a whole new world, but on Earth,
bigger is better.”

His eyebrows
winged up. “Truly?”

She could feel
the blush heating her cheeks. “Umm…yeah. It’s good that you’re big. I meant
tall. I don’t know if you’re big…there. Not that I’m…oh, fuck my life.” She
buried her face in her hands, wanting to sink into a hole and die.

Dracor let out
a laugh so loud the booming sound made her jolt. Abby squeaked in surprise as he
lifted her and settled her in his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a gentle
yet secure embrace so she couldn’t move. “You are a delight to me, mate. Calm.
Just let me hold you.”

Abby felt
silly sitting in his lap, but acquiesced. Since he was on that drug, there
wasn’t any cause for alarm that he would push to get physical. Still, she would
feel a whole lot better if she steered clear of topics that involved his body
parts…or hers.

“Tell me more
about your world,” she said in a rush.

Dracor did as
she asked, content to hold her as he talked more about his planet and his life.
If she wanted to ignore the physical attraction between them for now, so be it.
The bond between them had already formed, and he could wait for the rest.

For now.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was long
past dawn by the time Abby finally left Dracor to get some sleep.

They had spent
most of the day at the beach together, and after the sun had begun to set, they
had traveled back to the fortress where they’d eaten a meal. In the great hall,
they had sat away from the others where they had continued to tell each other
about their pasts.

The connection
between them had been forged, and neither Abby nor Dracor had been in any hurry
to leave the other.

During the
night, the other humans and Vor had gone to bed, leaving Abby and Dracor in the
great hall. At Dracor’s insistence, they’d moved from one of the tables over to
two comfortable chairs near the large stone fireplace. The only one who
remained in the room with them was Braec. When Abby had asked why he was
sitting there, bored out of his mind, Dracor told her it was for her own
safety.

She’d had a
feeling that Dracor had asked Braec to stay for some specific reason, as if
he’d been waiting for something to happen, but she hadn’t known what. Even
though it was a matter of hours, Abby felt as if she’d known Dracor for so much
longer than that. So, by the end of the night, she’d felt as if she could tell
him anything.

Perhaps that
was what he’d meant about the bond mates had together. Even if he hadn’t
actually bit her yet, there was still some sort of link between them, something
that went deeper than just simple attraction.

Abby started
having a difficult time keeping her eyes open by the time the sun had begun to
rise, but she hadn’t wanted the night to end. Dracor had been the one to
finally call it a night, and she’d liked the way he’d held her hand as he’d
walked her to her room. He’d bowed to her after wishing her pleasant dreams,
and on impulse, she’d pulled him down and pressed her lips to his cheek in
return.

Sleep had come
as soon as she’d laid down on her bed, but the moment her eyes opened again,
she was anxious to see him again. It had caught her off guard to realize that
she’d slept long into the afternoon, and by the time she arrived down in the
great hall, most of the castle inhabitants had already finished the midday
meal.

Abby saw the
redheaded human sitting at the head table with a Vor male she’d never seen
before, and was about to back out of the room when the woman saw her and smiled
in greeting.

“Ah, there she
is! Come join us, Abby.”

She walked
toward the table and was slightly taken aback as the Vor glared at her. Since
that first day she’d woken up in the cell, all of the Vor males she’d come in
contact with had been extremely polite and kind to her. Seeing such a hostile
look coming from what had to be Dracor’s brother, the king, made her want to
bolt from the room.

There was a
loud
thunk
that came from under the table, and the male Vor turned to
stare incredulously at the redhead. “Did you just kick me, mate?”

“Yes, yes I
did.” She beamed a smile at Abby. “Please, sit with us.”

“Ah…maybe I
should just…go.”

Jordan waved a
hand toward her mate. “Don’t mind him. He’s just being difficult. I’m Jordan,
and this is Kadan. It’s a good thing you came down before they cleared all this
food away. I swear, it’s like they were trying to feed an army.”

“You need to
eat more,” Kadan said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You’ve been using a lot
of energy these last few days and need to refuel. Especially since you’re
eating for two now.”

“Don’t remind
me of that. I still need time to…never mind.”

Abby stared at
her with wide eyes. “You’re pregnant?”

With a sigh,
Jordan nodded. “It’s all part of the heat.”

“I thought the
heat was part of the pull between mates,” Abby said, confused.

Jordan frowned
at that. “Damn it, we’re going to have to teach a class about this shit for any
humans that are brought here.”

Kadan sighed.
“Language, mate.”

“Don’t start
that shit with me again,” Jordan bit back. “These women deserve to know what’s
going to happen before some asshole bites them and puts them into a mating heat
that makes them raging nymphomaniacs.”

The knife Abby
had been using to cut some meat fell from her numb fingers so it clattered onto
her plate. “Wh-what?”

Kadan let out
a warning growl, but Jordan ignored him. “You know that this big guy flew me
from the coliseum, right? Well, since that day we’ve been in our room fucking
like—”

“Jordan!”
Kadan shouted. “You will not use that language in front of our people.”

“Five days,
Kadan. You’ve known me for five days. You don’t get to tell me how to speak.
And I know I’m only supposed to argue with you when we’re alone, but this is
different,” she added when she noticed he was getting angry.

“But we aren’t
alone. How exactly is this different?”

“Abby is your brother’s
mate, so that makes her like our sister-in-law.”

“I don’t even
know what that means,” Kadan growled.

“It makes her
family,” Jordan snapped. “But even if she wasn’t, I’m not going to change how I
speak or think, even for you. You said you love me the way I am, or was that
code for you’ll love me when you can mold me into what you want me to be?”

Kadan opened
his mouth to roar at his stubborn mate, but he closed it again when he saw the
tears shining in her eyes. He could deal with her fiery temper, but not with
her pain. Never that. “I love you, Jordan. And you have reminded me that we
have much to learn about one another. I don’t want to change you. I do love you
just as you are and will try not to force you to conform to how the female Vor
behave.”

Jordan wiped
at her wet eyes with an angry swipe of her hand. “Damn, I’m usually not this
emotional.” She reached out her hand, and Kadan pulled her to him, lifting her
off her seat and settled her on his lap where she curled into him. “Sorry.”

“You have
nothing to be sorry about, my love,” Kadan crooned, then he let out a soft
purring noise that seemed to soothe her.

“You are
pregnant,” Abby reminded her softly.

Jordan sighed.
“Yeah, and now it’s making me a raging emotional bitch. Awesome.”

Abby was
confused by the exchange. She could tell that Kadan and Jordan had deep
feelings for one another, but their relationship was still new. Hearing about
mating heat was a shock, but Jordan didn’t seem to mind that she was having an
alien baby with her mate. Still, Abby wanted to talk to Dracor about everything
she’d heard.

No, she
needed
to talk to him…right now.

She stood up.
“Do you know where I can find Dracor?”

Kadan was back
to glaring at her. “You can’t see him.”

“What?” she
gasped.

Jordan sat up
straighter on Kadan’s lap. “Umm…Kadan was going to take me on a tour of the
Metropolis today. Why don’t you come with us?”

“I want to see
Dracor,” Abby said through gritted teeth.

“No.”

That made Abby
glare back at Kadan. “Why not?”

“I am king. I
don’t need a reason.”

“Oh, yes you
do.” Abby was far too angry all of a sudden to hold her tongue. “Dracor told me
that your highest law is no one can come between mates. Was he telling me the
truth?”

“My brother
does not lie. No Vor with honor lies.”

“Then I demand
to see my mate,” Abby said with a growl of her own.

“It will be
torture for him if you get anywhere near him now.”

That had the
blood draining from her face. “What does that mean?” She turned to Jordan.
“What does he mean?”

Jordan looked
at her mate’s livid face, then back to Abby’s pale one. She’d been there a few
hours ago when Braec had informed Kadan of what his brother had done. It had
hurt her to watch her mate roar as if in agony, and when she’d discovered why
he was so worried, she had been as well. But it was Abby’s right to know what
had been done on her behalf, and it would be up to her to decide how to handle
the situation.

“He’s
suffering from the after-effects of the drug he took.”

“Jordan—”

“She deserves
to know,” Jordan told Kadan as she reached up to stroke his cheek.

Kadan was
silent for a moment, then he huffed out a breath. “My brother took an elixir
that would give him time with you, but he is now suffering as his senses
return. Pleasure, pain, every sensation is heightened tenfold. So are his other
senses…including smell. If he scents you now, it will drive him mad with need.
That is why you cannot go near him.”

Abby braced a
hand on the tabletop to hold herself up. Dracor had never told her what the
drug would do after the dulling effects had ended. It all made sense now. That
was why he had Braec stay with them last night in the hall. He had been there
in case Dracor’s senses had returned before he could get away from her safely.

Making a quick
decision, Abby said, “Take me to my mate.”

“He will claim
you,” Kadan snarled. “Don’t you understand? He won’t be able to stop it from
happening, and if you don’t let him? If he remains chained to the wall with you
just out of reach, it will be a torture so great he may never recover from it.”

“Then let him
claim me,” Abby growled back at him, surprising him into silence.

“You’re
brave,” Jordan said.

“I’m not,”
Abby argued. “He’s my mate. He did this for me, and I won’t let him suffer
because of it.”

Kadan and
Jordan shared a look, then he nodded at her with a new respect in his strange
eyes. “We will escort you to his room, then.”

They were
silent as they walked up the stairs and down one of the long, stone corridors.
Abby felt the cold sweat of nerves trickle down her spine, but she kept
walking.

I can do this.

At least, she
hoped she could.

“You should
have your healers create a diluted version of the
bizori
,” Abby told
Kadan without looking at him. “I needed some time with Dracor before…before he
claimed me, but I never wanted this. I never wanted him to suffer.”

“That is a
good idea,” he said, his voice kind now. “I will get our healers to work on
that immediately, as it will make things easier for any Vor with human mates.
Dracor…he is my brother, and I may have overreacted slightly to all of this. No
one takes the elixir willingly, knowing what it will do to them. I am…concerned
for him.”

Abby
understood it was his version of an apology, and she accepted it by smiling at
him faintly. He was a king, after all. “He’s a good man.”

“Yes, he is a
good male.”

She made an
absentminded note not to use ‘man’ to describe a Vor male again, then her mind
went blank as they came to a stop in front of two large doors.

“He is in
there, chained to the wall.”

“Will he know
who I am? I mean, will he still be him or—”

“He’s in his
demon form, but his mind is still sound. He will know who you are, but his
feelings and emotions will be out of control.” He pulled out small, square
magnetic key and ran it along the center seam where the two doors met to unlock
them. “I’ll come in with you and—”

 “No.” When he
frowned, she cleared her throat and said, “This is for me to do, but I
appreciate the offer.”

Before Abby’s
shaking hand touched the door, Jordan gripped her shoulder lightly, stopping
her. “The bite hurts, but only for a second. Once he does it, you’re going to
be scared and your body is going to feel hot. He’ll change back then. Just go
with the flow and don’t fight it. You won’t have to worry about wanting him. In
fact, you’ll want him more than you want to breathe. It will all seem crazy at
first, but he’ll take care of you over the next few days and see you through
this. Good luck.”

Abby nodded to
her before taking a deep breath. Then she pushed the door and walked inside,
closing the door at her back. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she
peered into the dark room. The curtains had been pulled, leaving only a small
sliver of light from between two of the panels that shown down on a huge bed
covered with an iridescent bronze fabric.

She heard a
loud growl from across the room, and her gaze flew toward it.

Her breath
caught as she saw a huge demon held to the wall by thick black cuffs on his
arms, legs and across his torso. His wings were pinned between his body and the
wall, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see them fluttering
in agitation as he struggled against the bonds.

“Mate! Mine!”

The growl was
low and angry, but Abby made herself walk across the room. She had to remind herself
that the giant demon was Dracor…her mate and the male she’d come to save.
Still, he was a pretty fucking intimidating sight and it was hard to keep
moving closer to him.