Infiltration (Katieran Prime Series Book 11) (8 page)

Chapter 14

StrykER refused to leave Melody alone in the medic wing of the transport ship. He was furious that Melody had been injured and felt unreasonably jealous when he found that their rescuers were led by her previous lover, Commander AshOR.

“You need to report in at command center,” AshOR told him.

“I’m not leaving her alone while she is unconscious. She knows no one here and might awaken frightened.”

“I’ll stay with her,” a female voice said from behind AshOR.

“I don’t know who you are.” StrykER watched as AshOR opened his arms and the blonde-haired female went to him.

“My name is Ava Collins. I’m from Earth and I have experience with dealing with disasters and survivors.”

“She is also my mate,” AshOR warned him in case he said something offensive.

A part of his jealousy faded, knowing that the other male now had a mate of his own. He still didn’t like to leave Melody with strangers.

“I’ll be fine. Go.” Melody’s soft voice came from the small hospital bed she was on.

StrykER looked down at her. “Are you okay? I was worried when you hit your head.” He stroked hair back and gently touched the small bruise on her forehead.

“I’ll be fine. Go do your job.”

He didn’t like it, but he needed to let them know what he found. “I’ll return to check on you.”

She nodded his head. He turned to leave but stopped and surprised everyone there when he bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. Then he headed out of the medic wing.

*****

Melody watched StrykER leave with AshOR following behind him. She touched her lips. They still tingled from his brief kiss. She was shocked and confused. Why would he kiss her right there in front of everyone?

“Hi, I’m Ava Collins.”

She looked over at the pretty blonde woman who was still standing next to her bed. She had forgotten she was in the room. “I’m Melody Song—Abrams. My stage name is Song.”

“I’ve heard some of your music. You’re really good.”

“Thanks.” There was an awkward moment where neither woman knew what to say.

Ava pulled a chair up next to her and sat down in it. “Let’s clear the air here. You had something with AshOR once. Now he’s mated to me. Is there going to be a problem?”

She liked Ava. She got right down to the main issue. “Not at all. I’m happy AshOR found you. He’s a good male. We parted as friends and I only feel that for him.”

Ava smiled at her. “I’d have to hurt you if you thought to try to steal him from me or mean to hurt him. He’s mine and I’m a bit protective over him.”

“You have no worries about me. I’m not interested in him in that way.”

“Is that because your interest lies elsewhere?”

She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Ava lifted a brow. “StrykER was ready to tear AshOR apart if he touched you. Then he laid that kiss on you right in front of everyone, letting us know whom you belong to.”

She bit her bottom lip, not sure how to respond. “His people do call him the Boogie Man. To the Morins.”

“Why would they call him the Boogie Man?” Ava asked.

“He has made the captured Morins prisoners break down into tears during his interrogations.”

“Well, I met him briefly and he made me nervous too. Look, I know we just met and the circumstances that make us acquainted with each other are awkward. I want to be your friend if you’ll let me. I’ve worked with disasters on Earth and, although I’m not a therapist, I have helped a lot of people who were abused.”

It took a moment for her to understand the meaning behind Ava’s strange comments. “You think I was abused—sexually?”

“The medics examined you and there were signs of…”

“The Purists kidnapped me and didn’t treat me very well, but they didn’t have time to do anything else to me because StrykER got me out of there.”

“Then it was StrykER?”

She was embarrassed that her privacy had been broken. “Why would the medics tell everyone that?”

“They didn’t. AshOR overheard them and called for me to come speak with you. No one else knows.”

She winced as she sat up. “I wasn’t raped.”

“Don’t protect him. If he hurt you he needs to be punished for that.”

“It was consensual! I wanted to be with him. Okay?”

“Why?”

“Did you see him? He’s fucking gorgeous!”

“I’m sorry we misjudged what happened. Are the two of you mates now?”

She looked away. “We barely know each other. Not enough to make that commitment.”

“Is there something else going on? I’m asking because I care.”

“Why do you? You should be jealous and angry and demanding AshOR kick me off the ship.”

Ava just smiled at her kindly. “He would never do that and I would never ask it of him. He’s a good leader and feels responsible for you. When he heard about your abduction, it hit him hard that it could have been his fault, that maybe he’d hurt you somehow and that was why you wanted to go to Kiljor.”

“It wasn’t AshOR’s fault, or anyone else’s except for the Purists. I needed a change of scenery. No one could have predicted what would have happened.”

“What about what happened with you and StrykER.”

“I was scared of him at first, but even through that I was attracted to him. We had to hide out on some asteroid and power the ship down so that the Purists’ warships wouldn’t find us. One thing led to another.”

“Was it only comfort sex then?”

Melody thought about it. Was it for comfort? Actually, what she had with AshOR that one night had been more for comfort. What she shared with StrykER had been so much more. She shook her head. “It was more than just comfort for me.”

“And now?” Ava prompted her to continue to talk.

“He doesn’t want me anymore.” Melody felt a pain in her heart.

Ava patted her hand. “Both of you need some time. Something horrible happened and you found something unexpected. Time will sort it all out.”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to know right now. I can tell you this—that male is definitely interested in you.”

She looked up with hopeful eyes. “Why do you think that?”

“He threatened to shoot AshOR if he touched you and then he kissed you in front of everyone. That pretty much stakes his claim.”

She sighed. “I wish I could read his mind. One minute we’re having the most incredible sex I’ve ever had, and then he’s telling me that we’re strangers. Now he’s kissed me like he’s marked his territory. I’m so confused.”

Ava winked at her. “That’s a man for you. It doesn’t matter whether he’s human, Katieran, Kiljorn, or Colonial. They all make no sense. I can assure you, he’s probably just as confused about you as you are about him. These males in this culture, in particular, don’t know how to handle human females.”

Melody giggled. “He sure knew how to
handle
me earlier.”

Both women laughed and the tension eased. Melody started to feel sleepy.

“The medics gave you a low-dose sedative but your adrenaline was keeping you from relaxing. You should sleep for the next few hours.”

“I don’t want—sleep.” She couldn’t keep her eyelids open.

“Rest, Melody Song. I’ll stay here until your mate returns.”

She wanted to deny StrykER was her mate but couldn’t form the words. Maybe a little nap would be okay.

*****

StrykER paced the command center. Commander TylOR and Commander AshOR were both watching him with impatience.

“Your female is fine in the medic wing. You need to finish this report before you return to her.”

He didn’t deny that she was his. StrykER would never be able to deny it again. When AshOR showed up on the shuttle and demanded he hand Melody over to him, something inside him took over. Some kind of protective instinct that he had previously only heard about, but had never experienced. It took several more warriors to make AshOR move back long enough for StrykER to calm down.

The male had the audacity to follow him to medic wing and then proceeded to grill him about what had happened to her. He didn’t answer until the medics asked what all had been done to the female. He had told them her name and that she was not some random female. She was to be treated with the utmost care.

“Specialist StrykER, give your report.” Commander TylOR sat down at the table.

He sat down along with AshOR. “I witnessed several rallies that OrIN gave to convince people to follow him.”

“Did anyone attend that you recognized?”

“No one of high-ranking status. There were so many just simple, regular people. No one really stood out.”

“You got the message about the female.”

“I did. OrIN pulled me to watch as they brought her in. She was shook up and bruised. Her clothes except for the undergarments had been removed.”

“Was she sexually assaulted?” AshOR asked.

“Not from what I could tell and she would have told me. I didn’t have a choice. I had to get her out of there. OrIN was going to torture information out of her and when he didn’t find anything, he planned to have his medics do experiments on her.”

AshOR growled with anger. “What kind of experiments?”

“There was talk of opening her up to see how she differed from our people and there was talk of—mutation.”

Commander TylOR slammed his fist against the table. “They would dare hurt a female this way? It goes against everything that we believe. It’s breaking our laws!”

“OrIN doesn't see it that way. He thinks he is doing the will of the Goddess and saving the Katieran people from the insidious Earth females. He plans to overthrow the ruling primes and become the leader of all three nations.”

“He is insane.” AshOR shook his head in disbelief.

“He also has an infatuation with Prima AriELa. I would warn Prime Leader RendEL that he needs to increase security around her.”

“How did you manage to get free? I thought they kept you from traveling the passages and learning how to leave on your own.” AshOR asked.

“I had help. Commander MarIK, OrIN’s second-in-command male, gave me the information I needed and he took down the security system.”

“Can you trust him?” TylOR raised his eyebrow.

“At the time, I had no choice but to trust him if I was to save Melody.”

“I’ll contact the leaders and let them know to up their personal security.” TylOR took out his digital tablet.

“Wait, there’s more. On our way out, we discovered their armory. It’s full of the stockpile of weapons we supplied them with, but they also had warships.”

“Where in Kitana did they get warships from?” AshOR demanded.

“That’s something that should be top priority to find out. Every ship needs to be accounted for.”

AshOR rubbed his bald head and looked at his older brother TylOR. “If they managed to get warships we didn’t know about, they could have a transport ship as well. Maybe several of them.”

“Go to your female. I’ll contact the leaders and let them know what’s going on.” TylOR dismissed him.

“Wait one second, StrykER.” AshOR moved fast to block him from the doorway.

“Move out of my way.” StrykER had to squeeze his hands into fists to keep from hitting the other male.

“Not until you tell me what is going on between you and Melody.”

“She is mine,” StrykER growled out, pushing AshOR’s shoulder.

“She’s yours until you walk away.”

“You have no room to talk. You used her, then moved on to mate another female.”

“Melody and I were there for each other for comfort. She had no love for me and I had no love for her. We parted as friends. As her friend, I want to make sure she had a male in her life she can count on.”

StrykER didn’t like hearing him talk about his time with Melody. He wasn’t about to discuss his relationship with her with him. “That is between me and Melody.” He shoved past the male and stepped out into the corridor.

He took a deep breath then released it slowly, calming himself. He didn’t want to go back to Melody in a fit of rage. He needed to get control. They had a lot to discuss and he had to make things up to her after he had hurt her.

Chapter 15

StrykER found the female Ava sitting at Melody’s bedside. He glanced at Melody, who was sleeping peacefully. “How is she?”

“She finally relaxed enough to let the sedatives kick in. Her vitals are strong and the medics said she will heal in the next few hours from the bruises.”

He went to the other side of her bed and picked up her hand gently. “Thank you for staying with her.”

“It was my pleasure. I think she and I will be good friends.”

He looked at the blond female in surprise. “You would befriend her, even though she slept with AshOR?”

Ava shrugged. “That’s in the past. I have nothing to worry about since AshOR’s mine and Melody is interested in you.”

“She said that? That she was interested in me?”

“Yeah, but she’s confused since you told her you two were strangers and gave her the brush off.”

“What is a ‘brush off’?”

AshOR’s voice came from the doorway. “It means you fucked her then tried to pretend it didn’t mean anything.”

Ava stood up and went to her mate. She wrapped her arms around his waist. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. “Ready to go get something to eat?”

Ava smiled at him. “Yes, but can we take it back to our quarters? I missed you.”

AshOR growled before kissing her again deeply. StrykER turned his attention back to the female sleeping in the bed. He didn’t hear them leave. At least now he knew what he had done to hurt her. He would see to it that he made up for it.

*****

Melody felt extremely groggy but grateful that nothing was hurting her. She was actually feeling much better physically. She opened her eyes and froze her movements as she caught sight of StrykER sitting uncomfortably in a nearby chair, asleep. Noticing for the first time the bags under his eyes, she wondered how long it had been since he had gotten any sleep.

Whether or not they had a future together, she owed StrykER her life. She never would have made it out of there without him. She watched his eyes slowly open. Then, when he caught sight of her looking at him, he sat straight up.

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about staying buckled.”

He took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb back and forth against her skin. “It was my fault for hurting your feelings and making you feel like we were strangers.”

Melody turned on her side to look at him better. She hadn’t expected him to start with an apology. “I understand it. We literally met twenty-four hours before that, and during half the time we were together, you were pretending to interrogate me. I messed up the reason why you went undercover and probably caused a major setback for you. You're busy, and starting something with a woman, any woman, right now complicates things in a way you don’t need.”

Wow, sleeping had really helped her to be able to think things through more clearly. She could understand part of his reaction but not all of it. His silent treatment still hurt.

“You amaze me with your understanding. However, I have to admit to you, I was feeling things that I hadn’t expected. It threw me off. I’m always in control of my emotions. I use the emotions of others against them in my work. I’ve never felt strong feelings for any female before and then suddenly you were there and I had no defense against you.”

She could appreciate his honesty. She preferred that to having him lie to her or ignore her. She wanted to ask him what feeling he had for her, but the door to the medic wing opened and the lead medic entered.

“We have good news, Miss Song. Your vitals are stable and you are almost completely healed. You can move from the medic wing to new quarters.”

“Wow, that’s fast. Guess I need to find me a new place to stay until we reach Kiljor.”

“You may stay with me,” StrykER told her, releasing her hand and sitting back in his seat.

“I’m sure that AshOR can find me somewhere—”

“No! You will stay with me.”

The medic backed up slowly and headed toward the door, but neither of them paid him any attention.

“Maybe I don’t want to stay with you.”

StrykER moved so swiftly she didn’t have time to do anything. He leaned down, lifted her out of the bed, and walked toward the door.

“What are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

“To my quarters. Arguing is not good for your recovery.”

She snorted. “You are so bad, StrykER.”

“Bad? Do you fear me?” He stopped in the corridor and looked at her in worry.

She couldn’t let him think that. He had the balls enough to apologize and tell her the truth. “You would never hurt me. I know that. I meant bad as in you do naughty things without apology.”

“Naughty.” His voice rumbled.

Her pussy clenched.
Holy crap.
He was so sexy. The way he was looking at her made her want to rip his clothes off and ride him like a pony. She could tell he was thinking something similar about her.

“You will stay with me in my quarters, no arguments.”

“Okay.” She would agree to anything at that moment.

He continued walking down the corridor and she felt awkward. They were being stared at. Warriors moved to the side as they passed, and watched them with longing on their faces. The stares made her feel uncomfortable. She laid her head on his shoulder and hid her face from people passing by. She inhaled his scent and sighed in pleasure. Whatever cologne he was wearing was amazing.

StrykER stopped in front of a door and slid it open, then entered the small quarters. It was just big enough to fit a single bed, a chair, and a small side table. It was a typical warrior’s quarters. She knew he was like that; he was someone who thought of himself as just another warrior. He took his position seriously but didn’t take advantage of it or abuse it. She liked that about him.

He laid her down on his bed. “Do you need anything?”

“I’m kind of hungry.”

“What was I thinking? I should have taken you to the meal room or had food ordered to be delivered to the medic wing.”

She reached out to take his hand and squeezed it. “It’s okay. Can you have it delivered here?”

“Yes, I’ll contact the liaison assigned to help you.”

“I don’t need a liaison.”

“He’s also your security detail to escort you around the ship.”

“How long will it take to get to Kiljor?”

“A day maybe. Commander TylOR wants to locate the mining colony first.”

Melody shivered with dread. She didn’t want to stay anywhere near these Purists. They were crazy with their views.

“What would you like to eat?”

“A salad is fine.”

StrykER snorted. “That is not enough food. You are too thin and need to eat more for your strength.”

She smiled. “Are you calling me skinny?”

“Yeah. You are tiny.”

“I’m healthy, but I guess I could put on a few pounds. I’ve never really paid attention. I wish I had more meat on by backside.”

“You are perfect just the way you are.”

“Except for being tiny?” She was fighting the smile that was creeping into the expression on her face.

“Are you laughing at me?” He sounded shocked. She probably was the only person that had ever dared to do that.

“Maybe a little.” She gave him a smile and winked.

He smiled while shaking his head. “You’re the naughty one.”

She laughed full out. “You have no idea.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. He tapped his comm link. “Lieutenant MayER, I need you to go to the meal room and get a tray of food for Miss Song.”

“Wait, you’re not going to eat with me?” Melody asked. When was the last time he ate? She already saw how tired he was.

“Make that two trays. Two proteins at least and something with calcium fortification. Bring them to my quarters. Thank you.” He ended his communications. “It should take about twenty minutes. I’m going to take a quick shower.”

“A shower?” Man, that sounded so good.

“Would you like to go first?”

She shook her head. “No, I can go after you.”

“I won’t be long.” He grabbed a fresh uniform and headed to the bathing room.

She watched him leave and appreciated the way his pants were stretched tight against his fine ass. A part of her wished he had asked her to join him. It would be hard to say no to him, especially now that she knew what he was like in bed.

Melody laid her head against the pillow, feeling like someone had knocked her over the head. She was addicted to StrykER. It was bad; she craved his touch, his voice, and the taste of him. She found herself wanting to submit to him. She did believe he would not hurt her physically or sexually. Trust was a hard thing for her to give but somehow he got her to trust him in a short amount of time.

He was right that they barely knew each other, at least the details of each other’s lives. She didn’t even know if he had any family. He might have a girlfriend somewhere. He was a man of honor so she didn’t think he would be with her if he were with someone else. Was she willing to put herself out there again only to have him turn her away a second time? She knew he couldn’t promise her anything. She had to go to Kiljor and he had a job to finish. There was probably no future for them, but she wanted to take what she could while she could. He was worth the risk of a broken heart.