The Siren's Call (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance) (FORCED TO SERVE) (32 page)

“Fine. Suit yourself, Zade. This is about as pleasant as my father ever gets, so don’t get your hopes up,” Gwen said flatly, turning her frustrated glare briefly to Cahir. “Mother said when I saw you to tell you she needs to speak with you in the next decade. Now I have done all the family duty that I intend to do for either of you for the next three years.”

“Happy Birthday, Shenu,” Cahir said, bowing his head to her. “You look lovely in Alicia’s earrings.”

“Yeah, sure…the only present I wanted today is too busy taking care of you to take care of me,” she said bitterly. “Thanks, Father. See you when I’m thirty-nine.”

She walked passed both males, not realizing the back seam had split to reveal her shapely backside to both sets of eyes that followed her to the door.

The click of it closing behind her was not nearly as loud as her yelling, “What are you staring at?” to whoever it was that ran into her in the hallway.

***

Cahir stared at the door, trying not to feel insulted that his only child had just walked away from him without a backward glance.

“She inherited her looks from her female birth parent. You may never meet Alicia. She and Shenu don’t get along very well,” Cahir said casually to the Siren staring after his child with a longing he sincerely hated to witness. “Quite a mesmerizing female, her mother. Has the same irreverent mouth as Shenu, too.”

Dorian narrowed his eyes at the male. “Continue to insult my mate and I’ll do worse than put you on the floor. This is my last warning.”

Cahir smiled. “I’m still her father.”

“Only for as long as you live,” Dorian said tightly, “which I promise won’t be long if you keep berating my
wife
. And perhaps if you treated your child more respectfully, your fears for her health and happiness would lessen.”

“Stay out of my head, Siren. I do not need your invasive counseling,” Cahir said, returning glare for glare. “That kind of intuitive nonsense makes a person weak.”

“My good inclinations are lessening with every passing moment. So it’s either counseling or an ‘ass kicking’ as Gwen likes to put it,” Dorian said with menace, drawing himself up to his full height. “Your choice.”

Cahir walked around the Siren, looking behind him and tilting his head up. “Well, at least you’re taller than she is. I guess that’s a concession. Very well, you may help me.”

Dorian breathed out heavily and motioned with a hand. “Let’s check with the bursar and see which quarters are available. We’ve had several new crew members join the Liberator lately. Rooms are getting a bit sparse.”

Cahir snorted. “I see your Captain Synar is just as loose with his ship as he was when Shenu accepted his contract. Pity—I had hoped the Norblade would be more in control of things by now.”

“Tell me—do you ever stop complaining and finding fault?” Dorian demanded as they headed down the hall.

Cahir looked at him in surprise. “I am just making casual conversation, Siren. Does it offend you to hear me be opinionated? You don’t seem that weak-willed to me.”

“No, of course not,” Dorian said lightly. “It just makes me want to put you into a trance sleep until the next supply ship arrives. I doubt anyone would look for you, not even your child, who is normally a very responsible commander.”

“Trance sleep? You think big thoughts,” Cahir said skeptically. “What do you think you are? A Khalsa warrior?”

Dorian smiled wickedly, glaring down at the male. He had to put his hands in his robe pockets to keep from showing him. “Yes. Actually I am Khalsa—and I’m going to help train Gwen to be one. So it might behoove you to start learning to be nice to her.”

“If such a thing were true—which I greatly doubt—Shenu would die before she made it through the training. Her Earth mother’s genes are very weak,” Cahir said, sneering.

Dorian snorted. “I’ve already extended her life some with our mating. It is up to the Creators how much more she will get. It is now my hope she outlives you just to prove you wrong.”

“Creators?” Cahir said. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those brainwashed spiritual crazies? I cannot believe my logical daughter chose someone like you. I take my parenting seriously and know I raised her better than that.”

“You are a thoroughly detestable male, Cahir. How someone like you helped produced an exquisite female like Gwen is a miracle beyond my comprehension, but I suddenly understand why Ania would invest herself so much in my mate. I now see Gwen is bereft of true family.”

“Now who’s being insulting?” Cahir demanded.

Dorian heard the bursar heave a weary sigh as they came in, their arguing undoubtedly echoing off the metal hallway walls and preceding them. “Is the room by Ambassador Onin still available?”

The bursar on duty nodded once.

“Please code it for Cahir Jet,” Dorian ordered softly.

“That’s Lieutenant Cahir Jet,” Cahir corrected, seeing the bursar looking him up in the com unit.

“Indeed?” Dorian asked, his tone skeptical. “I never would have guessed you worthy of such a title.”

“I thought you were trying to impress me,” Cahir protested, giving in to the urge to laugh at the Siren’s open insults.

“Why bother? I see there is no need,” Dorian said logically. “As usual, my mate was right. You aren’t going to be nice enough to talk to, so I see no reason to explain my devotion to your daughter. Nor do I care what you think of me, knowing what little regard you have for her. Therefore I consider our conversation over. I’ll see you to your room, then see to the needs my mate.”

“Well, I’m glad we’re being honest at least,” Cahir said. “You’re just not the kind of male my child needs. Perhaps when you tire of her, she will do better next time.”

“
Tire of her?
” Dorian said in total shock, his tone causing the bursar to tense when the Thelorian male was too insensitive to realize the edge he walked. “Your daughter is my life, Cahir Jet. I’m going back to our quarters and consummate our union as many times as she will let me. Then I’m going to repeat that process for the rest of our lives. It is I who will be at her side when she takes her last breath. Nothing you do will ever change that, and I will not hesitate to kill you if you try to come between us. Do you understand what I am saying to you? Gwen Jet is mine to care for now. She is no longer your concern.”

Cahir laughed. “You have a lot of nerve accusing me of wrongdoing. Does my daughter know what a controlling bastard you are beneath all those soft, smooth words?”

Dorian looked at Gwen’s father with contempt. “Actually—yes. It’s one of Gwen’s favorite things about me because it gives her something to conquer when she pleases. We are well suited since I respect and admire her power.”

Cahir snorted. “I wonder if you ever hear yourself and how ridiculous you sound.”

Dorian lifted an eyebrow as the bursar looked at him with wide eyes, swallowing hard. He didn’t need to read the young male’s energy to know how much he was sincerely hoping not to have to deal with a dead body before his shift was over.

“It’s all right, Ensign. This loathsome male is Commander Jet’s father. I can’t really kill him without her permission. I just want to get him into a room before someone else does.”

“Aye, Lieutenant,” the bursar said, bowing his head. “Glad to help with that.”

Dorian sighed at the sympathy and led the still complaining male out of the bursar’s area and straight to his room for the evening.

Chapter 21

When Dorian finally walked into his quarters, it was to see Gwen wearing one of his meditation robes. She had fastened it closed with the belt Sarinnea had given her. He had an immediate sense of coming home, of being with the right person. How was it, he wondered, that the least feminine female he’d ever known brought him such a sense of contentment?

“I don’t think the dress can be fixed, Zade. Sorry about ruining it early,” Gwen said, frowning. “I was planning to make you crazy enough to rip it off me.”

Dorian smiled. “You certainly looked beautiful in the dress.”

Gwen nodded. “Thank you. Sarinnea and Ania talked the head bursar into making it.”

He walked to where she stood in the middle of the room. “My apologies for leaving you. I had hoped to put your father at ease about us. I failed miserably. Your sire is one of the most contemptible males I have ever met,” Dorian said bluntly.

“You’re just full of profound truths today, aren’t you? I’m starting to believe all your mental faculties really are working again,” Gwen said, looking away from his gaze. “I’m sorry my father said those things and that you had to hear them. He does care for me—just has an odd, annoying way of expressing his caring. I completely understand why my mother couldn’t stay in a relationship with him.”

“He thinks I’m not good enough for you,” Dorian declared flatly, watching amusement dance in her eyes.

“Cahir never was a great judge of character,” Gwen said, reaching out to put a hand against the front of his robe. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. He just makes me mad. What was your father like?”

Dorian put his hand over hers where it rested against his chest. “My father has been dead for over four centuries now. Both Sarinnea and I tend to idealize our recall of him. Nothing I tell you would be a whole truth, but I remember him being loving for all our days. I took my first mate shortly after he returned to the Creators.”

Gwen let her hand drop from under his and stepped clear. “You were lucky then in both your parents. My mother doesn’t seem like a mother most of the time. I look like her but have many traits of my contemptible father. She can’t stand being around me any more than she could Cahir. You have a great mother, Zade. I like Sarinnea—very much.”

“She likes you too,” Dorian said, putting his hands in his robe pockets to keep them from pulling her back to him. “You now wear the jewels of her Rylen house. She never gave them to my other mates.”

“Jewels?” Gwen said in alarm, looking down and pulling the pendulum up to her. “You mean these are
real
jewels?”

“Well of course they’re real,” Dorian stated, looking at her strangely. “Did you think they were fake?”

“No—well, not exactly. I guess I thought they were just for adornment,” Gwen protested. “Am I going to have to keep this belt locked away?”

Dorian laughed, scoffing at the thought of such a worthy female not wearing the symbols of his family.

“Of course not,” he said. “Sarinnea wore that belt more than any other. You will wear it to let people know which family you belong to on Rylen. We’ll find someplace safe to store it when you’re in uniform.”

Gwen thought of her box and the lock in the trash. Ania was right—as usual. “I have a safe place to store it,” she answered, running a hand through her hair.

Dorian walked to her and put his arms around her. “Tell me about this week. Tell me about—our first time.”

Gwen’s forehead wrinkled. Then she realized Dorian’s gaze was very sincere. She couldn’t handle his regret.

“Well, you lasted about three seconds,” she teased.

Instead of her statement embarrassing him, he was just amused, so Dorian laughed and shook his head. “Now I need to ask the humiliating question. Did you get any pleasure from the experience?”

“The top of my head came off when I climaxed, and my spirit may have left my body,” Gwen answered dryly.

Snorting at her reassurance, Dorian pulled her into his arms for a hug. “Please do not be lying.”

Gwen laughed then and hugged him back. “I’m not, and your endurance improved radically by the fifth or sixth time. But our bonding was just all physical, all the time. That definitely has its place, but after a few days, I realized it wasn’t you. We share a complicated past, and that version of you didn’t know it. I started missing the real you, no matter how great the sex was.”

Sighing, Dorian put his head on her shoulder and turned his face into her neck. “Your smell intoxicates me. I need you more than you can imagine, and it’s a great gift to know you want me back so much.”

“Well, I’m trying really hard to be patient,” Gwen whispered. “I didn’t know we’d be getting another ‘first time’. Now I’m frustrated and feeling like you’re holding back.”

“I fear my reaction. How’s that for a truth? Are you wearing any clothes under that robe?” Dorian asked, running hands over her, feeling nothing but her under his robe.

“No. I took everything off because I didn’t want to slow you down,” Gwen teased.

Dorian shook against her, hugging her tighter. “I cannot match your honesty.”

“Don’t feel like you have to do anything. I just want—I just want what you always meant me to have with you,” Gwen said, lifting her lips to his.

Dorian felt the touch of her mouth on his, saw an image of what she wanted in her mind. He shook against her again, his hands gripping her as she broke the kiss. And his warrior mate, the fiercest female he had ever met outside Ania, lifted her chin and closed her eyes, waiting to be taken like a female who had never bonded before.

“Gwen, don’t give me too much control. I’ll take advantage of all you give me. It is my true nature. To utterly possess a female is a secret desire that I hide from all. Sirens have to work to keep their possessiveness in check. What I feel for you is already madness enough,” Dorian whispered.