Parallel Heat (3 page)

‘‘I want you to make love to me, yes. But that’s not all.’’ She hesitated, sitting up on top of him until she gazed down at him seriously. ‘‘I want you to come to our camp. I want you on our side. Jared will never take you back—you do know that, don’t you?’’

He felt something turn over in his chest, and for a moment thought he might be sick. She had put voice to the words that he hadn’t yet allowed to fully form in his mind. Damn her.

She did know—everything about tonight; he was certain of it now. That he’d kissed his queen, and then afterward Jared—his protected and king—had banished him from camp forever. Did their enemies have the compound bugged How else could they have known what transpired in the king’s chambers, in private?

‘‘Raedus is the true king,’’ she continued, softly stroking his hair away from his forehead. ‘‘Jared is only the leader of a tiny little rebellion; it’s not his destiny to rule anymore. Someone with your’’—she paused, brushing her fingertips over his lips to emphasize her point—‘‘exceptional talents belongs with a real king, Marco.’’

Suddenly, she captured his hand in her own—so quickly he couldn’t stop her—and a small beam of light emitted from the palm of her hand, falling upon his wrist. Immediately his royal seal appeared in the air between them, the one true proof that he was part of the most elite circle of royal protectors. He was among the last of the Madjin protectors, one of a dying breed.

‘‘This is who you are, Marco,’’ she said, gesturing at the undulating royal emblem where it swirled in the darkness between them. ‘‘Jared never respected it, never appreciated it. But Raedus will—he needs you. Our alliance needs you,’’ she whispered and began trailing hot kisses across his forehead, along the edges of his painful cut. Her kisses ended on his eyebrow. ‘‘And I need you. Badly.’’

He closed his eyes as he felt her stinging kisses along his forehead. They seemed to electrify his pain, intensify it. He tried to pull away from her, and she raised her head slightly, meeting his gaze. Those blue depths were so bleak, but somehow shot full of passion, just like the ocean at Mareshtakes could be—shining, tempting, and treacherous.

She touched his forehead once again. ‘‘Why would you want this scar?’’ Her voice was surprisingly gentle and sympathetic.

He steadied her face within his open palms, studying her thoughtfully; when he did finally answer, his voice was an electrified hush: ‘‘Because it’s who I am now, Thea.’’

In the near darkness, she smiled faintly. ‘‘Good,’’ she breathed, tracing her finger along his eyebrow. ‘‘So you know then.’’

He could only nod. He wanted inside of her . . . now. No more toying with it.
Mine,
he thought.
She can be mine . . .

She can never be yours,
the voice disagreed,
but now she owns you—all of you, from your body to the depths of your soul, they all do. For eternity.

And the worst part was . . . he no longer cared.

Chapter One

 
The entire camp smelled of sex—the musky, unmistakable scent of mating. The aroma perfumed the air, wafted throughout the main cabin and even outside onto the deck where Thea Haven stood. And as if that wasn’t annoying enough to an unattached, unmated Refarian female, Thea knew exactly who was having said sex: the one man she’d loved for her entire life. The one man she’d waited for, even when other available males within their rebel faction had come forward, suggesting a coupling with her. The one man she’d always been told she would one day marry—her cousin, the exiled king of Refaria.

Thea blew out a heavy sigh, fighting back the tears that welled in her eyes anew; Jared wasn’t just having sex with any other woman. No, he was completing his mating rites with his new wife. His human wife. And the scent of that mating burned Thea’s nostrils like hot sulfur. Gods above, sometimes she absolutely hated being an intuitive.

Perhaps if she took a snowmobile over to Base Ten, she could get some reprieve from all the swirling hormones and heat at work here in the main compound. Besides, if she took up residence in the barracks at the base, that would decrease the likelihood of bumping into the newly joined couple on a regular basis. At least for a while. Seeing Jared’s mating glow had been like a slap in the face, and she could only imagine what she’d glimpse now that their rites had been completed. As of tonight, Jared and Kelsey were forever lifemated, bonded, and married. Completely soulbound, and there was no going back from that.

Thea stepped back inside the main cabin, ignoring the soldiers whose faces turned curiously in her direction. She knew the gossip that was flying about their rebel forces; that the commander had finally taken a wife, after so many years, and that it wasn’t Thea Haven, the council’s formal choice. She also detected some of the less kind gossip about her: That if she’d been the sort of woman who could capture a mate, then perhaps the king would have claimed her as such, not gone wandering among the aliens on this godsforsaken planet to find his bride.

The gossip burned her ears and broke her heart because Jared’s soldiers would never speak ill of their king and commander. He was beloved and followed, never questioned, and he held the unerring loyalty and respect of every last soldier in his ranks. So there could only be one person to blame for such a disastrous interbreeding mistake as had occurred between Jared and Kelsey. And that one person was none other than herself, Thea Haven, the king’s cousin and once-intended bride. Her shoulders alone bore the blame, and she felt the weight of that unspoken accusation in every gaze that turned upon her as she strode through the cabin toward her quarters, even from all her own subordinate officers. Her rank in the Refarian army no longer mattered, however, for as of today she had been unofficially reclassed and reassigned.

Quite simply, she was now the woman who had failed to win the king’s heart.

 
‘‘You can’t stay over there on a permanent basis.’’ Scott Dillon scowled at her. Thea was central intelligence advisor over Jared’s entire army, and Scott was military commander, Jared’s second in command.

‘‘Look, it’s just for a while.’’ She pitched her uniform, other casual clothes, and some underwear into her bag. Scott watched the belongings accumulate, never commenting on the intimate articles. She continued: ‘‘I can’t deal with being around the two of them, not yet. Seeing them all the time, breakfast, lunch, dinner . . . it’s too much.’’

‘‘You can’t deal with it?’’ Scott’s tone was sharp, corrective. He was her superior officer in every way, and his arch reply underscored that fact. ‘‘They are your king and queen and you serve them. I suggest you remember that fact.’’

She sank onto the side of her small bed, and the tears she’d been fighting all day finally flowed freely. ‘‘Scott, please. I know my place. No one can accuse me otherwise.’’ She wiped at the tears. ‘‘It’s just . . .’’

Scott dropped onto his haunches, his large, dark eyes becoming even with hers, his momentary irritation quickly replaced by compassion. Scott was, in many ways, like a brother to her. They’d fought side by side for a long time now, from the time Thea entered the military at the age of sixteen, and they’d been outposted together here on Earth for the past six years. ‘‘Go on,’’ he encouraged with a nod. ‘‘What were you going to say?’’

‘‘He was going to be my husband, not hers,’’ she blurted, the tears starting in earnest. ‘‘From the time I was an infant we were always promised to one another. Always. Scott, you of all people know how it was supposed to be.’’

‘‘That was before the war escalated, Thea,’’ he reminded her gently. ‘‘Everything changed after that . . . for all of us.’’

Oh, and it had changed all right. Jared’s parents had been murdered when he was still only a boy, placing him on the throne at barely ten years of age. He had been exiled at seventeen; become a fierce rebel leader by eighteen. Somewhere in all that fighting and bloodshed and loss, they’d all lost their innocence too, but more than that, they’d lost who they were truly meant to be.

‘‘So we blame yet one more thing on this war!’’ She brushed at the tears angrily.

‘‘It isn’t blame, Thea.’’ Scott shook his head, gazing hard into her eyes. ‘‘It’s the facts.’’

She rubbed her eyes. ‘‘Jared deserves to be happy. I told him so. I
want
him to be happy! But he’s forsaken his throne in marrying that, that . . .’’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘‘Th-that
human
!’’

‘‘A human who is now our queen,’’ he rebuked gently.

‘‘So you’ve already pointed out.’’

‘‘And Jared’s throne, well, I don’t think the old ways should apply while he’s in exile,’’ he continued.

She threw up her hands in anger. ‘‘All the more reason that he should have married me and not her!’’

‘‘But he didn’t, Thea,’’ Scott pressed carefully. ‘‘He chose Kelsey Wells, who is now his bonded lifemate and wife. And she is, therefore, your queen. Your queen, Thea . . . think about that. You’ve got to stay here, in the main compound, and work past these emotions.’’

Thea leapt to her feet and spun from him, pacing the length of her small quarters in agitation. ‘‘Have you not heard the rumors?’’ she blurted, feeling angry and hurt that Scott wasn’t more on her side.

‘‘The rumors will settle in time,’’ he answered simply. So he, too, had caught the gossip that she’d sensed buzzing all about them like agitated bees.

She paused before her small closet mirror, staring at her reflection. Pale blue eyes stared back, eyes she’d once heard described as ‘‘holding no emotion.’’ Maybe all her fellow soldiers thought she was cold and without feeling. Maybe that’s why they could be so cruel in their gossip. ‘‘They’re all blaming me,’’ she whispered heavily.

‘‘Of course they are,’’ he said. ‘‘We always bear the brunt of his choices; the people love Jared too much to ever condemn him.’’

For a moment she gathered her thoughts. ‘‘I need to know, Scott. Do you genuinely support this royal union? Is that what you’re telling me?’’

Scott rose slowly to his feet and turned away, putting his strong back to her. He braced his hands on the door frame of her bathroom, clearly considering his answer. As Jared’s best friend, she knew he often found it difficult to take a disloyal stance, but he was also a bitterly truthful man. It was one of the things she trusted most in him.

‘‘I am not sure how I feel.’’ He sighed. ‘‘She is a good woman, a true ally to us and to our commander, and I believe they love one another very deeply. But . . .’’

‘‘Say it, Scott,’’ she urged, closing the distance between them.

‘‘But’’—he drew in a somber, heavy breath—‘‘I believe that Jared should have secured the succession. I believe he should have mated with you and produced an heir.’’

She couldn’t help feeling a smug sense of satisfaction. ‘‘Thank you.’’

He turned toward her again, his black eyebrows hitching upward. ‘‘But that does not mean I oppose their union now.’’

She nodded, dropping her gaze to the floor. ‘‘Of course not.’’

‘‘It is done. They are joined, and you will stay here, in this compound, and work things out with them.’’

‘‘Scott!’’ She’d been so sure he understood her pain.

‘‘I won’t back down on this point. You stay here and you smooth out the situation—with Jared and with Kelsey.’’

‘‘I don’t know that I can,’’ she admitted, feeling her throat constrict painfully.

‘‘Time has a way of healing many things, Lieutenant,’’ he promised her with a faint smile.

‘‘And time has healed your own heart?’’ she shot back, knowing all the secret, heavy pain that Scott bore on his shoulders.

His expression darkened, and for a moment he said nothing, then at last admitted, ‘‘I’m a lost cause; we all know it. You, on the other hand, will find a mate in time.’’

‘‘But no one who is like me, Scott. There’s only one other person on this planet who understands what I am—who is like me at all. And now he’s joined to another.’’

‘‘You may be surprised what the gods have in store for you yet.’’

No,
she thought,
I will die a virgin, without love, without a soulmate. And without my soul’s completion.

Scott must have read the hopeless expression on her face because after a moment he patted the front of his jacket pocket, his car keys jangling in answer. ‘‘You know what you need, Lieutenant?’’ he asked, his eyes gleaming mischievously. ‘‘Shore leave.’’

She gave a bitter snort. ‘‘This despicable planet
is
our shore leave.’’

‘‘I mean you need to go off-base. You should come to town with me and let your hair down a little.’’ Thea knew precisely how Lieutenant Dillon let his own hair down: By bedding as many human women as he could possibly take, night after night, week after week, year after year.

She shook her head. ‘‘That’s your escape, Scott,’’ she said. ‘‘Not mine.’’

His black eyebrows quirked upward. ‘‘Never know until you try it. These humans are . . . surprisingly enjoyable.’’

‘‘Quite obviously.’’ She frowned.

‘‘Come out with me, and let’s get your mind off things here. You’ll gain a little perspective,’’ he promised. ‘‘And this situation might not seem quite so hopeless if you do.’’

Thea stared down at her boots, taking in her military-issue slacks, her decidedly unappealing uniform that was the furthest thing from sexy. She had a few civilian outfits, but nothing stunning, not if she hoped to actually hook up with someone in a human bar. ‘‘I-I don’t know, Scott. It feels really strange to me.’’

‘‘Have you ever gone out in town?’’ he pressed. ‘‘Ever done more than a military maneuver or mission off base?’’

‘‘Never.’’

‘‘My point exactly. Perhaps getting to know these humans might help you understand Jared’s position a bit more.’’

‘‘You dislike humans as much as I do,’’ she scoffed. ‘‘You just like to sleep with them.’’

He flashed a dark grin. ‘‘They’re fabulous in bed, it’s true. And I have little respect for their species, but still’’—he hesitated, his expression growing strangely guarded—‘‘there’s something about them. Something worth understanding, at least. If for no other reason, because we love our king.’’