Buying some time to think of a response he’d believe, I removed my transport beacon from the lab coat and finally stood, placing them both in a charging port inside the toolkit on the kitchen counter. “That’s not my area, Detective.”
The truth was, we didn’t share. Not this. Not with the humans. Not even with our own military most of the time. The Intelligence Core was nothing but spies and assassins. As one of them, I wasn’t supposed to be here. Earth was off limits. My investigation was top secret. Yet here I was, chasing rumors, based on myths, born of ghosts.
“How long have you been tracking those assholes?” His voice was clearer. Calmer. Less delirious.
“Three years.” Three and a half, but who was counting? Commander Helion contacted me via a secure comm link three days after I watched my brother’s execution on a live broadcast. I’d tried to go see my brother when he was locked up. They’d toldme he was too volatile, too far gone with mating fever to have visitors. I didn’t push. I believed their lies.
A mistake I had regretted every day since.
“Three years on one case? You a glutton for punishment?” He lifted his arm off the ground, moved it around, testing his shoulder. The ReGen wand beeped a warning as he sat up.
The burning fire-water called tears gathered in my eyes and I blinked them into submission. I swore I would never cry again. I’d cried enough. “They killed someone I loved.”
The half-grin disappeared from his lips. “I’m sorry. I know how that feels.”
Did he? Did he truly know what it was like to have one’s entire life, one’s family, destroyed by such evil? I’d lost one brother to the Scions and another to first, mating fever, then the executioner’s table. I had nothing left to live for but vengeance.
Mate!My beast reminded me. Now we had Ethan. We wouldn’t be alone any longer.
He hates aliens. He won’t claim us.I argued with her, tried to keep hope from becoming a living, breathing thing inside me. Insideher.
Guess my silence cued Ethan to change the subject. He sat up and rotated his arm around at the shoulder joint. Forward. Backward. Winced, but achieved full rotation. “Thank you. This is incredible.”
“Stop that.” I dropped down next to him again and picked up the ReGen wand, held it over the back of his shoulder. “Give it a few more minutes. You’re not completely healed yet.”
He glanced down at the wand and poked his fingers through the huge gap I’d torn in his shirt, pressed the new, soft, pink skin that covered the entry wound. “Holy shit.” He reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off over his head. Bare chest and shoulders filled my vision. Muscular. Warm male. He hada small amount of hair scattered over his wide chest. Strong shoulders.
Strong enough.My beast blasted me with the image of me naked, back to the wall, Ethan’s body wedged between our legs, cock thrusting deep as he claimed us. Filled us with his scent and his seed. Made us his.
Shut. Up.We can’t keep him. He’s human.
Mine.
There was no reasoning with her, and I suddenly had an acute, and very sympathetic understanding of the literal hell our Warlords must suffer when their beasts drove them mad with mating fever. Incessant demands. Urges. Desire. Need. I could also understand how easy it would be to direct that pent up frustration to violence. Rage.
No wonder males of honor requested execution if they could not find their mates.
Distressing thought when my beast was fighting me for control of my limbs. My fingers twitched with the need to touch. Unable to stop her, I placed my free hand on his back, just below the wound in his shoulder, convinced myself he needed assistance.
He stilled, his gaze darkening as his lips hovered so close I could almost taste them. “What happened to Doctor Pearson? I assume that wasn’t my imagination and he’s gone?”
The reminder of the doctor’s death should have cooled my ardor. Nope. My beast literally did not care about anything but the warm whisper of air Ethan’s question fanned over my face. Our face.Her face.“He was shot with an ion blaster on its most powerful setting. Without protective armor, the energy blast atomizes the target instantly.”
“Jesus.”
“I am sorry for the loss of your friend.” Apparently, Ethan was a religious man. I bowed my head to honor his beliefs. “Do you need to pray?”
“What?” He shook his head. “No. You going to try to convince me you’re religious?”
Had to be careful here. “No.” Once upon a time, I’d believed in the gods. These days, if I ever met one of them, I’d strangle them with my bare hands.
He snorted. “Yeah, well, hard to swallow the love and light bullshit in our line of work.” He reached out and turned my head to face him with gentle fingertips. “And I don’t believe in turning the other cheek.”
The movement of his thumb over my bottom lip was driving me to distraction. His eyes seemed hypnotized by the movement as well. “So, you’re a spook.”
Spooks were scary, right? Like ghosts?
“Boo.” Dumbest thing I’d ever said to a sexy, irresistible, incredible alien male part of me wanted to keep forever. My beast didn’t care that he was a human. Did. Not. Care. She simplywanted.
