Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (41 page)

The yearning in her voice bothered him. He didn’t like to lie unless necessary and even telling ‘white’ lies made him uncomfortable. “I’m considered a rogue agent and may have to stand trial for treason against the government. When I saved you from the emperor, I broke a magnitude of laws and breeched the contract I signed with the agency before going on my assignment. Regardless of the circumstances an agent encounters on a mission, we are to abide by the contractual agreement, and the law takes precedence and not our conscience. If my government decides to push matters, which I’m sure they will, because this involves the Federation Conglomerate. Which is a collection of eight planet rulers who complete our government, decide laws, enact rules, and put regulations in place to protect all the galaxies in their care? To date, they haven’t been known to be considerate of anything but their survival. My interference is considered sabotage, treaty infringement, and a mass of other offenses that could land me in confinement for one lifespan term.”

Alarmed, Allura sat up and studied him. “Why didn’t you tell me this before now?”

Noor casually lifted one shoulder. “It wasn’t important. I did what I needed to do. Keeping you safe and out of the mad emperor’s hands took priority over my needs and any legalities, sweetie.”

He could see a fresh wave of fear surfaced. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and it tore at his heart. She said. “We could go away…to Europe or somewhere farther where they can’t touch you and their ridiculous laws don’t matter.”

“I don’t run, baby. That is not an option.” Noor leaned against the flat rock and pillowed his arms behind his head. He said, “I might miss the birth of our child.”

Shockwaves rippled through Allura and he felt them as the magnitude of his statement took effect and reality dawned. She sat upright and stared at Noor, unblinking. The concern, evident in her eyes and painfully clear, left him feeling contrite. He didn’t apologize, though. Allura deserved to know the truth.

“All this over a maniac that doesn’t deserve a second thought,” she said bitterly. He could hear the anger tinge her tone, making it sharp.

“I agree, but Emperor Agaci is a powerful man and has galaxy leaders scared. He’s managed to amass a great army, and with the threat, the powers-to-be are willing to offer sacrificial lambs to accommodate him. Emperor Agaci will not keep his end of the bargain, but the Federation Conglomerate foolishly is gambling that he will do as he promised.”

“So, we just sit back and allow him to destroy our lives?” she asked peevishly. A rosy tint rose in her cheeks as her anger escalated.

Noor spoke calmly, with mundane indifference. “My father is working on my defense, and he’s very persuasive. He will handle the courts should I come up on charges. I have put things into place to stop the emperor, but until I know if it pans out, things must proceed, which means you remain under the protection of my family until this situation is resolved.”

“What do you intend to do, besides possibly get yourself killed?” Her voice broke with emotion.

Noor imprisoned her head in his large hands and caressed her cheek soothingly with fingertips. “Look at me. Don’t worry about me. I’m not giving up that easy. I’m very good at what I do. Trust me.”

Allura turned fully in his arms and hugged him. She whispered, “Can you give me a little more than that? You believe what you promise is enough now that I know the gravity of your situation…our circumstances…our child.”

“Emperor Agaci has a secret he doesn’t want revealed. Something that could make the guardians of Oridus and its people turn against him like rabid dogs after a fresh meat. No.” Noor looked at Allura and saw her unspoken question. “I don’t want to tell you what that is because it could put you in further jeopardy should anything happen to me.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked distressed. Alarmed.

Noor tapped her nose affectionately. “Don’t. This is what I have to do.”

“No, it’s what you want to do.” Her voice raised an octave.

Noor found himself at a loss for words. He hesitated before saying, “If anything happens to me, my family will take care of you and our child.” Allura started to speak. He pressed his fingers gently to her lips. “Damn it, this is not how I wanted to explain matters…it’s an extremely complicated situation I need you to trust me to handle.”

“I trust you. I don’t like it one bit, though.” Allura said kindly. “Make love to me. Help me to forget if only for the minute.”

“The baby—”

“You want me to get my six-shooter?” she teased.

“Madam, since you put it that way.” Unable to resist her pouty demand to feel his cock inside her pussy, Noor made allowances and relented to Allura’s unabashed commands. He moved his body over her with lithe and grace and obliged his adoring wife by filling her to excess. Against the rage of desire licking at him, he tampered his lust to take her easy, slow, and with the gentlest care.

Afterward, Allura lounged lazily, sedated in the warmth of Noor’s arms. She held him closer then close. Her nose rubbing against the silken skin of his neck, shivered. “Must I repeat I don’t like this one bit?” She yawned, already drifting asleep.

“You just did and it’s dually noted.” He kissed the top of her head.

The heat of the passion that inflamed their bodies waned as they slept, and Noor eventually awoke, feeling the chilly air escalate to what he considered uncomfortable for Allura. The last thing he wanted was for her to catch an ailment because he had been careless. With the best intentions to lure her awake, he nuzzled her nose gently and nibbled the underside of her chin until she murmured something intangible. “We should go, sweetie.” He kissed her lips and became instantly aroused, and they began touching and stroking each other until the innocent petting turned heated. His mind said protest, his cock screamed differently, and when Allura slipped her fingers down his stomach and curled them around his erection, he was more than agreeable to stay a little longer.

He pulled the blanket around their bodies to add heat to keep Allura comfortable. Not that she felt cold, in contradiction, her body was hot and demanding as they made love tenderly. He moved unhurried and tender, taking her beautifully sweet even when the intensity of their mating built with urgency. Their passion escalated, heightened, and drove them quickly into completion where Allura’s soft cry of satisfaction mingled with his hoarse moan as the world around them faded to black and nothing existed but the moment.

“We should have left hours ago. Are you okay?” he asked walking them through the umbra toward the horse.

“I’m fine and happy as a lark.”

“Good.” Noor lifted her onto the horses back, and then mounted behind her. He wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and held her close against him as he motioned the horse to move.

Allura snuggled against him, so familiar, so where he felt she always belonged, and the sense of emotions and love swelled inside him and gripped his heart as the animal sauntered leisurely down the path and headed home.

They rode back into reality, the real world, and all its perils.

Chapter Thirty-nine

The night was serene and quiet. Too silent, and that’s what alerted Noor, along with the scent that reached his nostrils when a brisk gust of wind fluttered past him.

The horse’s ears pricked and so did his as a blur of something moved in his peripheral vision and hid in the dense foliage. He slowly eased his hand down to secure the shotgun when gunfire burst through the quiet, crackled, and ricocheted off a tree trunk, splitting the bark.

“Coward bastard!” Noor cursed, and pulled the rifle free. “Keep your head down!” He shoved Allura into the protection of his arms and shielded her body with his own.

Another shot rang out—whizzed by dangerously close—and grazed his shoulder.

He returned fire, aiming in the direction of where he spotted the figure, and pumped several rounds in that area. One bullet must have hit its mark. He heard a grunt, and then dead weight hit the ground with a thud.

Adrenaline raged in his veins as he waited and listened, expecting another attacker to start an assault, but all remained serene except for the faint odor of death and blood. The identifiably putrid smell filled his nose.

“Noor, you are bleeding,” Allura said, reaching to touch his ripped shirtsleeve coated with blood.

“It’s nothing—” His words locked in his throat, seeing the stain on the blanket, dark and spreading in a wide circle. “Shit.” Gently he peeled back the cover, searched Allura’s chest, and was relived no bullet holes were there until her hand fell away from her belly and he saw all the blood.

Allura stared up at him, her eyes wide with concern. “I’m not hit—the baby is coming. It’s too soon,” she whispered.

Noor caressed her cheek soothingly, smiling when he felt like crying. He put on a brave face and said, “You and the baby are going to be fine.” He prayed and spurned the horse into a gallop, knowing there was no time to waste.

* * * *

Noor clutched the glass so tightly it shattered when he heard Allura’s screams. He swore and damned Legend and their archaic rules. He wasn’t about to remain below stairs and nurse a stiff drink while Allura suffered upstairs. Forcibly, he wiped the shards of glass from his hands and stormed from the room to go to his wife.

When he entered the bedroom like an eye of a storm, a doctor was wiping the blood from his hands on a towel. Too damn much blood. He shifted his attention to the bed where Allura lay, ghostly white, sweating, and rigid in pain with Fawn sitting beside her holding her hand. They exchanged glances, and a brief, silent understanding passed between them before he walked over to the bed.

He bent over and wiped Allura’s forehead with a gentle stroke. “Hey, sweetie.”

“The baby is coming.” She gasped, clutched the hand he offered, and squeezed so tight his hand turned as pale as her white knuckles.

“I know. I know.” He cooed. “It shouldn’t be too long now,” he whispered. He kissed her cheek, ignoring how she felt hot to the touch, and then stepped to the summoned doctor, who came from the next town since Doc Cochran was out of the city. He couldn’t remember the man’s name. It was insignificant in the scheme of things. Allura had been suffering, for what he believed was too damned long. Not medically trained, he still had the sense to know the baby’s delivery should have happened hours ago. Even considering they weren’t on Magnus and Allura had to do things the old-fashioned way, the amount of time that had passed made him uncomfortable. “What’s taking so long?” he demanded, roughly.

Slender as a grasshopper and just as bony, the doctor looked down his nose and over the rim of his round, wire-rimmed spectacles. “These things take time. Most men prefer to wait below stairs with a hefty brandy,” he said in a condescending manner, looking Noor up and down.

Noor grabbed the man’s elbow and dragged him out of hearing distance. “I’m not like most men. Is there a problem?”

The doctor shrugged nonchalantly, and his indifferent mannerism escalated Noor’s agitation. “Is that a yes or no?” he breathed.

“Your wife is losing a lot of blood, and there seem to be complications. I’m doing the best I can under the conditions.”

Noor squeezed his arm until he cringed and the blood drained from the doctor’s face. “Not good enough. What exactly is wrong?”

“The child is breech. I tried to turn the body but wasn’t able to and…I’m afraid we must wait to see if the baby corrects itself. Sometimes they do.”

A sense of fear rippled through Noor. “And if the baby doesn’t adjust?”

“I will try using forceps to maneuver the body around, but I can’t make promises. If that doesn’t work, I’m afraid it’s in the hands of the lord almighty.”

Taking slow, deep breaths, he tried to calm the fear that had escalated to terror.

Allura screamed a high-pitched sound that echoed in the room and shot through Noor’s body, leaving him trembling.

Fawn jumped to her feet. She hurried over to Noor and the doctor. “My god, she’s losing so much blood. The bed covering is soaked.” She wringed her fingers and twisted her skirt into a knot between her fingers.

“She is going to be okay,” Noor said, and then hoped he didn’t become a liar.

The doctor went to the bed, but Noor made it there first. He dropped to his knees and held Allura close until the next contraction passed and she collapsed back against the bed panting, blowing, blowing, and pushing out air until he feared she might hyperventilate. “Baby, you need to slow your breathing. Real slow…easy, okay?” He patted her hand to offer assurance he didn’t feel, and then went to the doctor who stood at the end of the bed. The doctor examined Allura, stepped back, and began shaking his head. He looked at Noor as if Allura was already six feet in the ground. “She’s in the hands of god. The baby is stuck in the birth canal. There is nothing I can do.” The doctor removed his glasses and wiped the fogged lenses with a handkerchief. “We should pray,” he murmured, glanced pitifully at Allura. “For their souls.”

Fawn gasped when Noor grabbed the doctor by the pants, stalked to the door, and hefted him through it and sent the physician flying through the air. There were thumps, thuds, and a loud smack when he hit the landing below.

“She’s unconscious,” Fawn whispered, returning to Allura’s side. She covered her face in her hands and began to weep quietly.