Thorn's Bondmate (Zarronian Warriors Book 2) (19 page)

Thorn sent her an aggravated frown. "We'll see."

Daria looked from one to the other. Lia might be petite but she carried a big stick. She caught Thorn looking at her and was tempted to lean over to him and say 'hah' right to his aggravating face. Instead, she reached for her wine glass. As soon as she lifted it, he moved his hand to her thigh and squeezed it. Daria gasped and dropped the glass. It shattered, splattering wine over the table and her food tray. Jumping up, she turned to Thorn and without thought she slapped him.

The room became deathly silent. Thorn shoved his chair back and rose to his feet, towering over her. She stared at him, daring him to hit her back in front of his family. Her eyes fell to his cheek where her handprint stood out on his face before she looked at his eyes again. They blazed with rage.

"Go to your bed chamber, Daria. Now!" he growled, making her jump.

"Son? Ca-"

"Stay out of this, Father," Thorn warned him, his voice harsh.

"No. If you want to speak to me you can do it in the den," Daria said, stubbornly. She had a lot she wanted to say to him as well.

Thorn nodded. He took her arm and hauled her out of the room, down the hall, and into the den, slamming the door behind them. Daria put one of the high-backed chairs between them.

"Scared?" he asked her, eyeing the chair she stood behind.

"No. I just don't want you near me," she said with as much bravado in her voice as she could muster. "Why did you make me spill my wine?"

"Pregnant females shouldn't drink wine."

"You don't believe the baby is yours so why do you care?"

"I'd do the same thing for any female who didn't know better." Thorn walked toward her. "Sit down. We're going to talk."

"I'll stand."

"Fine." He sat down in one of the high-backed chairs facing her.

Daria turned, looked at him for a moment and sat down across from him. "I'm listening."

"Has my Father told you about their plan?"

"Yes." She crossed her legs.

Thorn's eyes dropped to them and he watched as Daria smoothed the gown over her knees. "I have several things to tell you before I place my bands on you."

"Okay, but I think I've already figured out most of it."

"Really?" A dark brow flicked up. "Tell me what you think you know."

She smiled. "First, I think Zarronians have an illness of some kind that causes a mating fever. The blue mist is a symptom of it. Having sex relieves the fever and cools your body. I think you also use ZL3 to treat it. I don't know why you need the females from Earth though." She hesitated then decided in for a penny in for a pound. "Are the females on the fourth floor from Earth? Are they sex slaves?" Thorn's expression of astonishment was priceless and made her wish she had a camera.

"The females on the fourth floor are from many different planets and have chosen to be pleasure givers. On Zarronia they are respected by the warriors."

"Then why do you need the females from Earth?"

"Our females were killed by the Wrothians over forty annuals ago. A warrior begins experiencing the mating fever around the age of twenty-one. If he doesn't find a compatible female by age thirty-two he dies of the fever. When our females were killed many warriors were unable to find mates and died. Eventually we discovered that the Wrothian females were compatible and my father's generation bonded with them."

"So your mother is Wrothian?"

Thorn nodded. "The Wrothians used a virus to kill our females but it changed the warriors too. Zarronians have always only reproduced one time. We used to have twins but always a male and a female. Now we only have twin sons."

"Which means you now have more warriors and no females for them?"

"Yes. We searched the universe and eventually we found Earth. Many of your females are compatible and we are able to bond with them."

"What happens when you bond with a female?" She had a feeling she was about to find out something she didn't want to know.

"When a warrior has sex with a compatible female he shares his fever with her. This cools his fever and saves his life."

"You shared your fever with me the first night we met?"

"Yes."

"That's why I get so hot and then so cold. Then after you make love—I mean have sex with me I feel better?"

"Yes. You carry my fever now but the bonding isn't complete until I put my bands on you."

"What does that have to do with it? They're just ornamental right? Like jewelry?"

"No. They're a living entity and they carry my DNA. When I put them on you the first time they take a sample of your DNA and then divide. I leave the narrower band on you and replace the larger one on my arm. Doing this completes the bond and only I can remove the bands from you and even then only one at a time."

"What's the difference between having the bands on my ankles or my arms?"

"Ankle bands are used for law breakers."

She glared at him. "You made it look like I was a lawbreaker."

"You were and still are as far as I'm concerned. You should have presented yourself to me instead of using my sons to help you hide."

"I wasn't willing to take the chance of telling the wrong person."

"So you used my sons. They claimed you and you used them. How do you justify that?"

Shame for involving Dane and Dev in this mess filled her. "I'm sorry. I care very much for Dane and Dev and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt them."

"They cried when they found out you'd been arrested."

Knowing that made tears fill her eyes and flow down her face. She wiped them away. "I have no excuse or way to justify that."

"No, you don't. You don't know what it means for a warrior, even a
little warrior
, to claim a female. They don't understand it completely at their age but it's not something that's done lightly."

"If it's so serious then how'd you accidentally claim me?"

"I haven't claimed you."

"I don’t understand. You've given me your fever and now you're giving me your armbands. What more is there to do?"

"The claiming happens when a warrior wants the female he chooses for his bondmate. I didn't choose you so I haven't claimed you."

"Does that mean we're not really stuck with each other?"

"No, I'm stuck with you."

"That goes both ways. I'm stuck with you too."

"Be happy we're not executing you for spying. Now come here."

"Why?"

"So, I can put the bands on you."

"You don't have to sound so annoyed, Commander. This isn't my idea." She stood and moved toward him. Thorn rose, grasped her left hand then squeezed the band on his arm and slid it over their clasped hands and onto her upper arm. After a few seconds it separated and he slid the wider part back onto his arm. He did the same thing to her right arm then stepped back away from her.

Daria smoothed her finger over the red stones and platinum symbols on the golden band. "What do the symbols mean?"

"The colors indicate that you're from Kadia, this province. The red stone is my family's symbol. Sit down, Daria."

"No. I'm going back to the dining room. In case you haven't noticed I didn't finish eating." She turned and stepped away, heading for the door.

"If you take one more step, I'll beat your bottom so hard you won't sit for a month."

She spun around. "You just try it and I'll make you very sorry, Commander."

"Sit down. I haven't finished speaking to you."

"Well, I'm done speaking to you." Daria walked towards the door.

"Do you want to know why you really won't be allowed to return to Earth?"

She jerked to a stop. Turning, she returned to the chair and sat down.

He laughed. "I thought you wouldn't be able to walk away from this." She mumbled a curse and he frowned. "No more of that. Zarronian females don't curse."

"Then it’s a good thing I'm not Zarronian."

"You are now." He pointed to the bands on her arms.

"I already know. You don't want the people of Earth to know about your mating fever and your need for compatible females. Right?"

"You're very clever."

"I was good at my job which reminds me. When I was at the transfer station on Earth I saw some females being escorted away and put on a shuttle. Were they rejected because they weren't compatible?"

"No, by the time the females get to that step in the process we know they're compatible but those females were rejected because of undesirable qualities."

"Like what?"

"If a female was found to be leaving her own children behind she would be rejected. Others were rejected if they lied during processing."

"How would you know if they lied?"

Thorn smiled. "We have our ways. We'll talk about it another time."

"Okay, but I have another question. You said you only reproduce one time but when you orgasm you ejaculate."

"We only impregnate a female once. All other ejaculate is semen without sperm."

"And you always have sons."

"Yes, we always have sons."

"Then maybe I'm not pregnant and it's just your fever making me sick." Daria struggled to make sense of everything. "So if your mate—."

"Bondmate," Thorn corrected her. "We bond with a mate and that makes you a bondmate."

"So, if you're bondmate dies you can bond again?"

"It's complicated and depends on a lot of factors." Thorn frowned. "That's another long story but we're bonded because your DNA is a match for my mating level." Before she could ask about that he said, "I'll have one of our doctors explain that to you."

"But if you can bond more than once then isn't it possible you could reproduce more than once?"

"No. That has never happened. If you're pregnant the baby is not mine."

Upset with his response she rose from the chair. "I think I'll go finish dinner now."

"Daria?"

"Yes?" she asked, as she rounded the chair.

"You understand that the bonding is for life?"

"Yes, so what are we going to do about that?"

"We'll live in separate homes and see each other as needed."

"You mean we'll have sex when the fever gets out of control?"

"Yes."

"But that's almost every cycle."

"In some cases when a couple is separated by distance the fever decreases and they can control it with ZL3 and meditation."

"So that's why you challenged me? You were trying to teach me to control the fever?"

"Yes, but you failed."

"Maybe you just suck at being a teacher."

Thorn frowned. "What does that mean? Suck?"

"It means you're no good at it…really no good."

He grinned. "We both know that's not true. You just can't resist me."

Daria glared at him still unable to take in all he was telling her. "Will being away from each other work for us, Commander?"

"I'm not sure."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"According to our scientists it won't work at our level of mating but we can try it."

"It better work because I'm not going to bed with you again. Ever." Daria moved to the door.

"Yes, you will. When your fever builds you'll welcome me with open arms."

"Do me a favor, Commander," she said as she opened the door, "Hold your breath until that happens." Before he could say anything she was out the door and running up the stairs.

Thorn went back to the dining room, sat down and resumed eating his dinner.

Dev sat forward, glared at him and asked, "Did you kill Daria?"

Thorn hid his grin, then answered, seriously, "No, Dev. I didn't even hurt her."

Dev smiled then leaned over and whispered to Dane.

Dane nodded, then asked if they could be excused. Thorn gave his permission even though he knew they were going to her. He watched as they left the room, side by side, a perfectly matched pair. Just like him and Soren.

"Where's Daria," Eirik asked.

"She went to her bed chamber."

"What did you say to her?" Valan asked.

"Now, Father, you know a warrior never discusses his bondmate with another warrior," Thorn said, enjoying the look of consternation on his father's face.

"She isn't really your bondmate," Valan said.

"She is as long as she wears my bands and as long as she wears them I'm in charge of her and you'll stay out of it."

"Very well. If that's the way you want it," Valan said.

"That's the way I want it."

# # #

The night was hot and moonless, the house dark and quiet, when Thorn snuck into Daria's room. As carefully as possible, he lowered himself onto the bed beside her. She lay curled on her side, one hand lying on the pillow, the other curled beneath her cheek.

He eased her onto her back. Gently, he clasped her hands in his, until they were palm to palm, their fingers interwoven. Straddling her, he drew her hands over her head then leaned down and nibbled on her lips. When he felt her sleepy response, he tightened his grip on her hands, anticipating the moment she'd wake up. He deepened the kiss when she opened to him and gently explored her mouth while a blue mist formed around them.

Daria opened her eyes and smiled. "I knew you couldn't stay away."

"Only doing my duty as your bondmate," he said, then kissed her.

Her screech of outrage was muffled by his mouth.

Thorn lifted his mouth from hers and watched her intently to see what she would do.

"Don't put yourself out, Commander. I'm fine." She ran her hand over his back. "It feels like you're the one losing control of the fever."

"It's better if we don't let the fever grow out of control before we come together. Waiting will only increase our need for each other."

She lowered her eyes. Just being with him and talking about it increased her need for him. It also increased the appearance of the blue mist. She waved her hand and watched as the mist swirled around it. "Does this ever go away?"

"No, but others won't see it as long as we share sex frequently." He rolled away from her. "I've told my father about your baby. He's probably told my mother by now."

"Well, aren't you just a chatty Cathy!"