The Tracker's Quest: (Forced To Serve #6) (21 page)

Seta giggled and nodded. “Yes. I have to take him with me. He is my mate.”

“Okay. Be happy, Big Sister.”

“You too,” Seta said, rising to her feet.

Endara raced back to the stones, but halfway there she stopped and turned back to yell. “Thank you saving for my mother,” she said.

Throat clogged with emotion, Seta nodded. Her response must have been enough for the child because she dove to hug Ineid’s legs before turning her loose to start dancing again. Around her rocks bounced along the ground, impatiently waiting for Endara to tell them what to do.

Seta shook her head. “Endara really is a treasure.”

Garmon rested his arm around her shoulders as they walked away. “Yes. And so is her big sister.”

***

Kel paced to the boarding ramp, peering out into transition land where the desert became rock. He sighed, impatient to get back to the
Paladin
. “How late are they, Jor?”

His pilot lifted both of his slanted eyebrows. “Since the last time you asked, or altogether, Captain?

Kel growled. He hoped he never had to return to Ethos. Something about the planet viscerally disturbed him. He heard a vehicle in the distance and it seemed to be headed their way.

“Look sharp, Jor. We have visitors.”

Peering into the all terrain vehicle, he saw an Ethosian female dressed in part of a Peace Alliance uniform sitting in the back seat. She looked a bit like Lieutenant Trax, but he recalled her hair being much lighter. The driver of the vehicle was a male Ethosian, with yet another in the passenger compartment.

The vehicle lowered to the ground. The two males promptly got out, with the driver saluting him. “Hail, Captain Hornex. I am Garmon of Ker. Your weapons are not needed here.”

Kel slid his laser back into its holster while he watched the two males tugging Ji Warro from the back. The biggest of the two wrestled his tall friend over one of his broad shoulders.

“
Shades of Kellnor
. What have you done now, old friend?” Kel muttered as he swiped a hand over his face. “Does Lieutenant Warro still live?”

Free of Ji’s weight, Seta cleared the vehicle in one jump. She walked to greet their ride and bowed her head to the concerned male staring at Garmon with Ji slung over one shoulder.

“Greetings, Captain Hornex. Ji is mostly well, but it was necessary to sedate him. He is under the effects of the Siren’s call. He’s already killed one male—fortunately an evil one. But I couldn’t risk him killing another.”

“The Siren’s call?” Kel repeated, shocked.

Seta nodded. “Yes, sir. The mating cord between us is completed, but as I understand it a rather large amount of bonding is required to energetically secure the connection in a permanent manner. Circumstances prevented us from doing so while on Ethos. If you could quarantine us on the
Paladin
for the trip back to the
Guardian 13
, I feel sure we could complete the process while en route.”

Behind her Seta heard Garmon laughing. She turned to him. “What is amusing? Everything I spoke is a profound truth. This man is a captain and my mate’s best friend. Show some respect, Garmon of Ker.”

“Everything about you is amusing,” Garmon said, fighting his mouth twitch over Seta’s formality. “But your Siren is heavy. Can I put him somewhere?”

Kel shook off his shock. “Of course. Bring him aboard.”

Seta watched Garmon disappear inside the shuttle with Ji. She turned to say goodbye to Crill and found he was holding a package out to her. “What is this?”

Crill shrugged. “Knowing Zandala it is an obscene dancing costume. I’m sure your Siren will enjoy it.”

Seta hugged the gift to her chest and heard the jingle of bells. The sound made her smile. “Tell Zandala I said thank you.”

Crill bowed his head and walked back to climb into the driver’s seat. He’d lost the toss for driving before they left.

Clutching the musical package in her arms, Seta started up the ramp just as Garmon was walking back down it.

“No leaving yet. I insist on a goodbye hug,” Garmon declared.

Seta felt herself lifted from her toes right off the ramp. The package with the dress jingled merrily between them and made her laugh. When Garmon set her down again, he leaned down and kissed each cheek in turn.

“Don’t be a stranger,” he ordered.

Tweaking the tip of one of her ears, Garmon strode off. She watched him vault into the front passenger’s seat and be thrown when Crill zoomed off at full speed.

Shaking her head, Seta climbed the ramp and breathed a huge sigh a relief. She felt for Ji’s pulse, checked his crash restraints, and kissed his lips lightly before taking her own seat. After securing herself, she looked up to find Captain Hornex and his shuttle pilot peering at her in shock.

“We’re ready to go now. Thank you for the ride home,” she said.

“My pleasure,” Kel replied, shaking his head at the humming tracker’s caretaking of his friend. He supposed there were stranger mate pairs in the universe.

Chapter 21

“Please Ji—wake up. You’ve been asleep for too many hours. This is torturous. I need you to ease me,” Seta whispered, shaking her slumbering mate’s arm.

A guttural groan later, Ji rolled on top of her, already primed. “You’re insatiable,” he whispered. “I like that quality in a mate.”

Knowing he had not felt the passage of time as she had, Seta nodded as his lips caressed her ear. Her loud moan at the pleasure filled their secluded cabin.

“There is nothing more pleasant than this, but we need to meet Kel, Seta. He is an impatient sort and might leave us if we fail to show up.”

“Ji, we are already on the
Paladin
and headed home. We’ve been here a whole day,” Seta said.

Her mate froze on top of her and stared into her face.

“How did we get here?”

“Garmon and Crill helped me.”

Ji frowned. “You knocked me out?”

Seta sighed. “Yes. I couldn’t let you kill my new family, Ji. I think Garmon is developing a crush on Ineid. He would be good for her. Endara could have a fairly normal life if it works out.”

“You didn’t trust me to control myself. You knocked me out and did what you wanted with me,” Ji accused.

Seta snorted. “No. I have not done what I wanted with you. I have been waiting hours for you to revive enough to put out the fire raging throughout me. I think I’m feeling the effects of the Siren’s call. I want you inside me more than I want to breathe. The longing is painful.”

For a tenth of a nanosecond, he held on to his anger. “And if I refuse to quench the fire?” he asked.

Seta was appalled when her lip started to tremble. The idea he would refuse hurt as much emotionally as it did physically. Tears were close—curse the male.
Zorinda?
she called, but there was no answer. Apparently the demon was ignoring her needs too.

“If you do not do as I ask, then I will excuse myself to the cleansing area and do what I can to put out my mate’s fire. Then I think I will send a note home to your parents so you can be properly shamed.”

Chuckling at the threat he knew Seta would carry out without hesitation, Ji cupped her breasts in his hands and smiled when she moaned. “Will you plead and beg during appropriate moments? I crave your surrender as fiercely as you crave me.”

“A Siren. What was I thinking in mating a Siren? Yes. I will say whatever you want so long as you finish your task,” Seta declared.

“My
task
?” Ji repeated, laughing at her term for their lovemaking. “Making love with you will never, ever, in all our years together be merely a task. Who is this unromantic female beneath me who speaks of answering the Siren’s call as a
task
?”

“The female beneath you is your mate, Ji Warro of Rylen. And she needs you badly. Please don’t make me wait any longer,” Seta whispered, happy when Ji’s mouth finally covered hers.

# # #

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