Bondmate (2 page)

“
Byn
, ease your hold,” he ordered the younger man in a low
voice. “She’s fearful.”

“She’ll
run.”
Byn
tightened his arms in direct counterpoint.
She looked impossibly small enclosed within the big man’s grasp, emitting a
soft gasp that made his nerves twitch. Mateen fought an unexpected and powerful
urge to touch her as well, pull her against his body.

Mateen
glanced around them. It seemed they were in a junction between several
buildings, and hanks of fabric enclosed the space. No one would be able to
observe them in the next moments. It was vital they confirm she was who they
sought and not draw any attention to themselves.

“She
won’t run. Will you?”
This last he addressed to the young
woman, catching her gaze with his own to gauge her temper.
With a quick
shake of her head she agreed, still pushing against
Bynton’s
immobile chest as he slowly loosened his hold on her. With a stumble she
regained her footing, and Mateen couldn’t stop his automatic grasp to support
her. She drew back with a pant.

“We
don’t mean to hurt you,” Bynton said even as he reached for her again. She
glanced between them and shook her head. Mateen wanted her to talk, needed to
hear her voice.

“What’s
your name?” he asked, the polite and simple request seeming very out of place
in this dirty little alleyway.

“No,”
she whispered.

“Hello,
No.” Bynton smiled at her and took a step her way. She drew in a breath and
backed up, her worn boots clattering into a pile of empty resin food
containers. “We’d like to talk with you.”

No
swallowed and licked her lips once. Mateen watched the movement of her tongue,
and a strange heat flickered along his skin. His efforts at detachment and
devotion to strategy faded away, and it was all he could do not to ask her to
lick her plump flesh again. It was there. He felt it like a blast of sonic
waves vibrating through every neuron.
Connection
.
She looked at him, and her features tightened.
With a sudden movement she whirled and dashed past a curtain of hanging
trousers.

“Blast
it!” Instinct ruled, and both he and
Byn
thundered
after her. Weaving around obstacles, they were soon upon her, and this time
Mateen
was close enough to capture her, whirling her slight
form up in his arms with little effort. The unique sensation of such a slender
body writhing against his distracted him for a moment.
Byn’s
sudden movement ahead alerted him, and he looked up to see they’d emerged into
another gathering place, this one filled with what seemed to be several dozen
human refugees all staring at the three newcomers.

“Help!”
No shrieked,
and increased her efforts to break free from his grasp. Completely illogically,
he wished he wasn’t wearing armor. In fact he wished he wasn’t wearing anything
and this woman was also naked and squirming against him. His staff thickened at
the thought. He growled and shook his head to clear it. This was no time to
indulge in his burgeoning libido.

“Put
her down!” an anonymous voice shouted from the assemblage, and a low murmur of
agreement rumbled their way. Several males shouldered their way forward. This
might be a wretched last stand for these humans, but they were willing to fight
to protect one of their own.

“Bynton,
evade and escape.”

His
bondmate acknowledged the order with a slight nod of his head as Mateen
replayed the route they’d followed. It would take several minutes of hard
running to reach the breach in the fence, but the woman didn’t weigh much, so
it could be done, as long as no weapons came into play. With a quick flex of
his arms, he secured No over his shoulder and ducked back down the alley,
balancing the possibility they might be cut off, with the certainty he knew the
route.

He
didn’t have to check that
Byn
was following, secure
that the younger man was easily providing coverage as they ran. He pushed past
the hanging clothes, heedless of what damage he might be doing. The woman
continued to struggle, kicking her legs so hard against him he had to clasp his
free arm around them. He knew his jarring pace had to be driving the breath
from her body, but there was no other way to transport someone so
uncooperative.

Without
pausing, he continued to run, soon emerging into the area they’d just left,
still crowded with people. Now he had to slow. There were simply too many
obstacles to race at his full stride. The woman noticed a new audience and
gasped for help as she slapped at his back. He heard
Byn
try to reassure her, but she screamed loudly, her whole body stiffening. This situation
was deteriorating.

The
crowd of desperate people drew closer, and Mateen knew without looking that
others would be filing in behind them. The woman coughed and turned in his
grasp, nearly twisting her way loose, and he clamped his hand firmly across her
backside. She froze, and he tried not to notice all the soft, curving flesh
under his fingers.

Suddenly
there was a shout from the crowd, this time more authoritative, and people
shuffled back to reveal two people in body armor, stun weapons at the ready.
Camp security.
Mateen
had factored
in their arrival, but only for a worst case scenario. They could try to talk
their way out if it, but he’d lost patience with the whole enterprise.

“Bynton,
if you would?” He tilted his head toward the authorities, and with a cold grin,
the younger man strode forward and struck without warning. A few hits and kicks
later, both officials were rolling in the mud and moaning, Bynton was clearly suppressing
his instinct to finish them off, and the crowd drew back, caution overcoming
any urge to assist the young woman still quiet on his shoulder. He allowed
himself a slight caress of her buttocks, enjoying the way his fingers slid
along the crease between them and the resulting shocked intake of air from his
reluctant passenger.

“Don’t
deter us any longer,”
Byn
shouted out, his voice
thick with bloodlust. A multitude of feet shuffled away, and
Mateen
and
Byn
strode through the
outskirts of the camp, coming to the rent they’d made in the solid fence within
a few minutes. Once they were safely on the other side,
Byn
bolted it closed with some solder locks and then gestured toward the woman.

“I’ll
carry her now, so we can make good time.”

“My
legs are functional,”
Mateen
said as he slid his
burden to her feet. As soon as she touched the ground she tried to run, but
they were ready and trapped her easily between them. She pushed at them both
and screamed, her voice cracking with the effort. Her continued struggles were
only going to increase the stress hormones in her body, so he pulled the sleep
tab from a pocket on his thigh and pressed it to her neck, her only visible
pulse point. She shuddered, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed in an
awkward tumble right into
Byn’s
waiting arms.

“Are
you sure?”

Mateen
watched his companion. His own feelings towards this woman were mixed. There
had been that sudden bolt of recognition deep in his bones. She definitely
aroused him, but that might have been true for any appropriate female, so he
needed the reassurance from
Byn
. If he had doubts,
they’d leave her here, re-open the fence, and move on to the next camp to
continue their search.

“She’s
the one we seek. The one we’ve waited for.” The younger man’s quiet certainty
eased some of Mateen’s misgivings, and he followed
Byn
as he walked toward the tumble of scree concealing their hover. They’d
succeeded in the first part of their mission, but the more stressful and chancy
elements were yet to come.

Chapter Two

It
hurt. It all hurt and spun around, and Avanelle Rein decided to give up for a
while. Her sense of defeat didn’t last long. It never did, and she let herself
feel again, the catalog of pain longer than usual. Her empty stomach ached, her
feet, clad in worn-away boots, hurt, her hands burned from the harsh cleansers
she used, and her neck and back throbbed. At least she was warm, and the
novelty of that sensation woke her up a little. Low voices rumbled in her ears,
and she winced and blinked her eyes.

What—where?
In a terrifying
instant she knew she wasn’t in the settlement. It was too warm, quiet, and
clean-smelling to be the camp. Then the fogginess in her brain lifted, and she
remembered the big men in the dark capes chasing her, grabbing her. It had been
like a nightmare, but was obviously real.

Blinking
her eyes open, she saw a white expanse followed by black. The white was smooth
under her cheek: a sheet. A clean sheet, something she hadn’t seen in months.
The shadow was a darkened room beyond the large bed. A shape moved in the grey
gloom, and she drew back.

“We
aren’t going to hurt you.” That deep voice again, telling pretty lies.

“Too late,” she croaked, unable to
remain silent as good sense would dictate.

“Mat,
I told you we were too rough.”

The
light brightened, and she flinched as her eyes adjusted, jumping when she felt
hands at her clothing. Adrenaline flooded her body, and she struck back,
flailing at the assault even as she pushed with her feet to slide further away.
Strong hands gripped her wrists and thighs, and she was pressed down on the
soft surface. Two faces swam into focus, the big men, no longer enveloped in
meters of fabric. They were wearing sleek leather tunics and pants, black as
fear. Golden skin, golden eyes, square jaws and tight mouths, they resembled
each other closely. Dark hair fell around their shoulders, and when they moved
closer, she noticed glossy black curves among the strands.
Horns.
Devil horns growing from their skulls.

All
the gruesome tales flooded her mind, and she screamed. Their grip on her
eased,
and she kicked against the bed until she fell off the
side onto a carpeted floor. On hands and knees she struggled to escape, only to
be captured by hard hands. They were the alien demons, come to capture her and
eat her. Women had been disappearing from her community for years. Most had
blamed perverted killers, but there had been whispers of these golden men with
horns being in the area before some had vanished. She strained against their
hold, her exhaustion forgotten as the basic urge to survive gave her a final
burst of energy.

“Quiet.
Calm.”
The deep voice carried right into her brain,
and she twisted her head to look at the villain who’d spoken. It was the one
who hadn’t smiled, the one who’d stroked her buttocks like he was measuring her
for a roasting pan. Unaccountably, she stilled, the tension in her limbs easing
as she stared into his gleaming eyes.

“I
am Mateen of the Albin. I’m not going to harm you.”

Another
voice cut in, and she turned to see the other devil, a slight smile returning to
his mouth. He’d been the one who spoke before. “And I’m Bynton of the Albin.
I’m not going to hurt you either.”

She
didn’t believe them, but wherever they were touching her felt only warm and
solid, not painful. Big, solid chests hemmed her in; thick thighs pressed
against her legs. A few shallow breaths calmed her a bit more. If they were
going to eat her, she’d probably be in bloody chunks by now.

“What
do you want with me?”

The
men looked at each other and softened their hold on her enough that she could
move a bit.

“We
want to talk to you.” Mateen stared at her, his brows lowered.

“Learn
about you.” Bynton released his hold on her arm long enough to adjust the way
her cowl fit against her head. She swerved away from his touch, and he dropped
his hand.

“Didn’t have to grab me to do that.”
It was only
bravado talking at this point. She knew her legs were going to shake soon and
she’d fall. Too little to eat over the last few weeks, running and screaming,
terror, had all stolen away whatever she’d been holding in reserve.

“We
did. We needed privacy with you, and that wasn’t an option at the camp, was
it?” Mateen’s voice was low, his reasoning logical. No, there was no privacy in
the camp for anyone. She hadn’t had a moment of silence or peace since the
soldiers had forced the evacuation of her apartment block in
Puerta
Santigo
over a month ago,
not that she’d had much solitude there. A blanket sectioning off half a tiny
room hardly counted as a home. But she’d belonged there. Once she’d been
evacuated her life had turned to hunger, filth, and desperation.

“Privacy for what?
Are you going
to kill me?”

Mateen
narrowed his eyes, and she felt Bynton release her entirely as she asked her
question.

“Kill
you? Why would we—?”

“To eat me.
The devils like
to eat us, or so the stories go.”