Feral Flaw Read online

  One of his black eyebrows arched. But he harbored enough intelligence not to say anything about my sexist crack.

  Do this. Do that. Spread 'em and make a hole. The audacity. Men and their universal behavior. I marched past him.

  The last bit of moisture squished in the sole of my boot.

  Even if the only way to clean out the fighter was to fill my boot, Goro could have offered some sort of help. Maybe he's just been a commander too long. Joy for me. I married him forever. At least I was spared the honor-and-obey bit Father crammed down women's throats back home. What a mistake the way my self-medicating chewed at him. Or I was wrong about him from day one. Was he just an ass? Now, he's a barbarian ass. My barbarian ass. No sense sitting around pondering things impossible to understand. I might as well stretch my legs. I strode off toward the peaceful rolling waves.

  Maybe we're going back to The Cause for another reason? Nothing ever came of Voldon's rumored child. Yet. Will I be convicted as a traitor?

  Only the wind plowed down to the black sands of the beach with me. The waves yapped at my feet. Unlike my mate.

  Fine. I just need a break from him. From this madness. Some time to clear my head. I headed north along the waterline's meandering bits and the blobs of a debris trail. The forest paralleled the jewel-toned ocean in an almost cozy friendship. One of camaraderie. Not nitpicking. I sighed.

  Oh, to have a mate who wanted some sort of friendship. What's worse, I'm bound to him with blood-lust shackles. How can I be ticked off when I'll always need sex to appease the were-assassin demands of my new life? Being a misfit psychic on Earth is starting to feel far more gratifying than life married to a were-beast commander who wants nothing more than my blood and a good hump. Surely he mated with me just to beat Voldon. Nothing else about his actions means otherwise.

  Sunlight began to burn my shoulders.

  Now even the sun is pissed at me. I veered into the row of tall gray slashed with white tree trunks. Into shadows.

  Cool shade held back the sun's vicious assault.

  Good because I need a break. Just some time to walk off this self-defeating crap. She walked farther and farther, deeper into the bobbing branches and leaves of the forest.

  My foot slipped.

  The ground gave way beneath me.

  "Oh shit," I shouted.

  Darkness and rays of penetrating sunlight rushed past me.

  My butt landed on curving ground.

  Leaf litter and dirt showered down around me.

  "Hello, Darla. You fell in a hole, moron," I snarled and thrust up a palm to block the shower of earthen bits still working their way down to dust my limbs.

  Sunlight peered through the dust cloud, almost mocking the woman who seemed to try to hide from it where it hovered way back up the hole.

  How am I going to get out of here?

  * * * *

  Sunset threatened to snuff Goro's natural lighting while he waited for his mate to return. Where was she? Meeting with Voldon? Had Darla departed on the other side of the island? Maybe Voldon picked her up. Or something even more realistic happened. Sex. Sex spies had sex...

  Anger raged through my veins, coursing through my limbs to try to pound through the very limits of my body.

  Probably emotions heightened from blood lust.

  Losing control wouldn't solve anything. I clenched my fingers and closed my eyes blocking the reddening orange light heralding day's end.

  Darla probably just got lost. A telekinetic person could hurl things. That had nothing to do with her sense of direction. And they'd seen no sign of approaching spacecraft. So her absence had to have nothing to do with Voldon, rendezvous or escape.

  She was simply lost.

  Stupid earthling. Like there's a safe place to wander anywhere in the universe during the Blood Wars. I should have been more collected in my reaction to her actions though. Gentler. Maybe she wouldn't have wandered off mindlessly seeking sanctuary elsewhere. Expecially if she were innocent in this fiasco I'd created.

  There's a bright side to the situation. A night alone in a foreign wilderness could teach her to rely upon me. At least, temptation wouldn't hover tonight. Besides, a spy could take care of herself.

  * * * *

  Sunlight shut off quickly when the rays turned orange inside the cave, but something else was there with Darla. Something glittering and brilliantly white, she thought. Something around the corner from where I landed in my grand fall. So fearing the approach of imminent darkness with nightfall would be a waste of precious time. Besides, I had a few knives for protection. And the incredible treasure.

  The tunnel that dumped me in this hole was far too unstable to risk its collapse and my burial in climbing out the way I'd entered. So, I'd searched the cave and found the strange crystalline glow from a smooth rounded crystal.

  The beautiful gem was like one of those I'd seen many times in New Age jewelry. Smooth, rounded, a cabochon. But enormous, almost the size of a soccer ball. Nobody could slap that big baby on a chain and wear it as a pendant. One smooth hole, on the side right where the wall's black rock held it in place, although slick and a clean indentation, was definitely a defect in the object.

  Too bad. If only I could take it back to Goro. I tried to wrap my fingers around the rounded sides, hooked some fingertips inside the defect, and pulled.

  The black rock wall refused to release its treasure.

  Well, at least I'm not trapped in a dark hole. Oddly enough, it's crazy that I'm just lying here playing with a glowing rock instead of freaking out about being buried alive.

  A yawn tugged at my jaw.

  Maybe I'm too tired to care. I stretched my arms as high as I could with the unyielding need to yawn, leaned against the cave's hard rocky wall, and closed my eyes.

  Chapter Eleven

  Goro stared at the inside of his cockpit where he laid all night, waiting, seething over his mate's stupidity. She'd proven many times how her powers of telekinesis were strong enough to work in her defense. And she packed enough knives to open a shop. So safety wasn't the issue. Where had she gone? What were her motives? Was her display of ludicrous behavior all part of a greater plan?

  Voldon will not beat me with sexual espionage.

  Soon the hatch would slide open. I'll climb from this tomb to track Darla.

  Suddenly, the hatch slid open.

  The sky yawned with a yellow greeting.

  Deepening, promising to whiten and fade to blue.

  Time to go.

  Xquine males mastered tracking at an early age. The skill lead me along the salty beach where if she had walked, the waves thought it a grand jest to steal away her footprints. So I walked farther above the stretch of the tides, along the tree line. An hour of casual walking with my gaze fixed intensely on the ground led me to a sandy footprint between the lacing of roots from two tree trunks.

  Darla's boot impression.

  She hadn't seemed to care if she broke branches in the floor cover. Nor did she worry about hiding where she stepped. Darla didn't seem to be hiding anything. Maybe luring me… Just as suspected.

  She just kept going deeper into the forest. Until she discovered a hole.

  Grant it, the hole had fresh edges. There was this Earth phrase down the hatch that suited the situation. She must have fallen into a smaller hole. And then it crumpled inward, widening. Maybe this was Voldon's trap though. Care was due to keep ahead of the game. But Devros always promoted proactive behavior. Face your fear. And it's not like I no longer had my thoughts or made decisions. Bless Devros. I still had control over my being. "Are you in there, Darla?"

  Earthen bits jiggled loose around the opening.

  So much for a man's weight combined with gravity when leaning. I didn't want to bury her alive. And she would be irretrievable soon if she didn't get out of there. And where would I be without my mate's blood? "Darla!"

  "Goro?" the faint reply questioned. "I can't find a way out of here."

  Curse the star
s. "What possessed you to go in?"

  "The universe didn't bother to offer me an option."

  I almost laughed.

  "There's something down here you might want to see."

  Really?

  "Even if you don't, I want you to come help me get it out of here so I can take it with us. It's stuck."

  Women. Was this a premonition of my future? I'll be painting her toenails before long. "We need to get back to the pod fighters."

  "But it's the most enormous gemstone. All white and, I swear, calming. I want it. But I can't move it."

  Calming? Very few things in the universe could resonate happiness. What would be in a cavern on a volcanic island in the middle of nowhere of Quadrant Three? "Describe it."

  "It's large and smooth. A lovely crystal."

  Crystal? Crystals turned out to be bad news half the time.

  My gut began to sink.

  If it was a Xanthium treclus, she'd never part with it. Nor would she function as a were-mate. She'd cease to cooperate under the spell of her new addiction, entranced by the crystal. "How large, Darla?"

  "About the size of a soccer ball. Or so I think. It's embedded in hard rock."

  That's a good-sized stone but not so large its energy is drawing me underground. Maybe I could force her up the hole without getting too close to the stone's addictive vibrations. "Are there any other markings?"

  "Just a defect on one side where the wall swallows it. A hole."

  If the crystal had been cracked, there may be a protected area in the cave to avoid the radiating spell. "I'm coming down." I poked a vine down the hole and began a descent.

  When I gained a foothold at the bottom of the tunnel, a dust cloud swirled like a smoke screen.

  Darla waved at the hazy particulates, coughing. "Nice vine. We can climb out of this pit now. Let's just get the gem and go."

  She appeared normal. Dirty. But in good health. Physically. Let's test the mental aspect. "I want you to climb up this vine while I bring the crystal." I shook the sturdy length of vegetation.

  "This way." She waved me into the shadows.

  Weak, very impressionable woman. She was entranced. "No."

  She whirled to face me.

  "You work your way up the vine. I don't want to risk you being buried alive another moment."

  Her mask melted into a warm smile. "Oh, how sweet."

  Sunlight danced in the tears pooling in her eyes. The reaction was priceless or staged like performed by an award-winning actress.

  "Oh, Goro." She pressed her palms together in a not-so-Darla fashion. "I knew you loved me."

  That love-sick reaction was not the way a Xanthium treclus affected a being. If she lured me into a trap, so be it. But what if she found a different type of powerful crystal? Just what had she discovered? "Show me this treasure."

  The luminescence didn't require Darla to lead me to the surface that looked like rounded ice. The crystal pulled me through the darkness like a beacon.

  What a serene glow. Calming as she had said. And so rejuvenating.

  Then I spotted the eye socket almost buried in the cave wall. "Holiest of suns, Devros, do you know what this is?"

  Darla's clueless mask looked genuine perched above her shrug. "I don't care what your sacred star thinks. I just want my crystal."

  Well, this was anything but a wedding gift. Call their visit to the planet Destiny. Or not. This was a crystal skull Voldon dreamed of possessing. Alone, the skull worked magic on those who possessed it. Or worked at their undoing. Destiny always observed through the skull's hollow eyes and paid a man his due through the skull's wicked grin. But how had the skull managed to become embedded in a subterranean volcanic chamber? My gaze slid to the awe on Darla's face.

  She just stared at the relic.

  Could the skull reveal her innocence? She certainly looked innocent enough.

  She smiled at me. "You look like you've found a lost key." Her words whispered with the hum of nature's song.

  Or the crystal was playing with my thoughts.

  "I feared you wouldn't come for me. That I was lost down here." She sighed and studied the skull. "At least I had this light."

  At least Destiny walked with her. I should have been paying attention.

  I hadn't illuminated anything. How could I have been so cruel? She was the woman I saved from Voldon for myself. I held her in my heart for years. A commander doesn't waste time choosing the right mate to have an enemy learn the woman's identity and plan to steal her by whatever means. No. This is Darla, my mate. And I never want to hear that loneliness in her voice again. I grabbed her, crushing her nose into my chest.

  She has to be as innocent as the crystal revealed. "Forgive my stupidity, Darla. I'm trying to keep us alive." Even if I've only been concerned about saving the only Xquine left to fight for justice.

  Her arms snaked around my chest.

  Warmth encircled me. Intoxicating beautiful addictive heat. The skull doesn't seem angry with me for my selfish need to survive now.

  "It's all right." She leaned her head back to meet my gaze. "I joined The Cause for better or for worse." She shot me a forced smile. "Being buried alive is part of the worse."

  Not to a man whose character operated solely on responsibility and honor. Could she even begin to understand the enormity of the weight of the universe? For a start, she had to grasp the reality of her were-assassin duties. "I was wrong to drive you away. But you have to keep an eye on the ground as much ahead of as behind you."

  Her gaze slid down to run along the cave's dirt floor.

  Avoidance is what got us into this dilemma. "Darla, it is obvious now that Destiny needs us to work together."

  She eyed me sideways. "We haven't been?"

  Dare I admit my fear she was a sex spy to that suspicious stare of my mate? Darla wasn't the type to take the news lightly. Or I'm cowering from fear. Curse my weakness. I'm sitting here with Destiny staring me down through one crystal socket. The damned thing is surely grinning at me.

  She hovered there, watching me.

  Maybe she wouldn't be so angry under the skull's influence. It wasn't that I hadn't always wanted her. I did. But Voldon ripped a crevasse between us. A crevasse that still exists. One I widened with my fear of change. Until I can build a bridge across that crevasse, we're at a stalemate.

  Maybe this was my chance to set the bridge's supports. Confess. She had to understand. Hopefully she wouldn't attack me with a barrage of flying debris. But killing one's blood mate in an act of self-preservation was nothing more than suicide. Mates were a half of a person. Only complete when they had each other. There was no way out of this other than stating truth.

  "You were saying?" she asked.

  Time to face an even worse fear. "I apologize for my behavior. I haven't been very supportive."

  "It's funny you mention that." She reached for my stubbled cheek, ran the warmest palm across my jaw line, tenderly, only to roughly thrust her fingers into my hair like a mate who hungered to please me. "I could use a little support," she hissed.

  Those words dripped with blood lust.

  I went rock hard

  Her fingers clenched a fistful of my hair. She rubbed her lips against my neck and fluttered kisses over my jaw.

  How long could a man withstand such an assault of gooseflesh and jolting need? And who would want such a barrage to end? As long as we didn't exchange blood…

  Her mouth worked back up to my cheek and warm breath buffeted my skin. "But I'm not holding those days against you, husband. You can catch up on paybacks now." Her succulent lips were on me, coaxing mine open, lighting a fire that muted the skull's light. "Then we'll call it even."

  Who wouldn't wrestle with her in the most sacred of dances?

  My gut shafted like lightning into my throbbing loin. My knees buckled, pulling her down on top of my lap in a knot of hungry writhing arms.

  All that delicious skin of her soft breasts and velvety nipples found my face, begging
for a truce.

  The scent of the salty blood teased where it pulsed beneath her skin.

  My mouth watered.

  The blood lust.

  What did it matter if we spent the day in the skull's radiance? Destiny was watching. Encouraging me to meet fear head on. To risk giving myself to the woman I held in my heart one more time, showing my weakness, even if she hadn't proven she was my mate. And fear would always be waiting, demanding a confrontation when I finished with her. Blood lust wasn't the answer though. Time would demand our blood libation. And a little sex would make mask our symptoms until that fateful moment, making our wait easier as the clock ticked until she shape shifted.

  She threw her head back and presented the flesh of her neck.

  The finest of offerings.

  An involuntary growl burbled up from deep inside my chest. My inner beast accepting the gift. Cleavage looked equally delicious. I trailed the tip of my tongue along the v-neck of her leather shirt.

  "Goro," she groaned and squirmed beneath my tongue.

  Her long iron legs squeezed around me, pulling my hardness right where she wanted it. Our leather clothing flew into shadows, piece by cumbersome piece, as if drawn back by some metaphysical force to allow us to pleasure ourselves.

  Hot skin slid across hot skin.

  And there was nothing but Darla. Delicate beaded nipples gushing with life. Her hot breath promising tomorrows. Starving hands, grabbing, demanding. Skin, delectable skin. She moved so quickly that I almost forgot to hold my arousal in check and ruined our joining. Almost wasted precious seed.

  Deeper and deeper I felt I was sinking into darkness. Into a frenzied state.

  Not today. Not one drop of Xquine semen would be lost in a misstep. This woman would carry those precious endangered seeds. The legacy of an entire race. I whirled her onto her back, locked her knees into position, and thrust into her hot moist vise in one intoxicating stroke, trying to touch her soul.

  The soul promised by Destiny.

  The soul that would cradle the genetic remnants of a world destroyed by the greed perpetuated by a long line of insane beings. Under the peaceful gaze of Destiny, I had to be in the right. Dutiful. And what better charge than ravishing the woman I desired. Elbows locked, I paused, poised over the most beautiful altar of a woman, contemplating lighting her inner candle. Who wouldn't bow down in holy reverence and leave a token with such a goddess at my feet?