Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) (4 page)

I must know, so I can move on.

She didn’t speak. Meredith rose on tiptoe and brought her lips to his. Jarem chanced wrapping his arms around her, and she didn’t protest.

Careful kissing led to more. In moments, they were crushed together, mouths meshing, parting to explore, and returning.

The bed beckoned, but Jarem thought better of it. Alice’s crib was in the sleeping area. It wasn’t going to be a bed for them.

He nibbled at her ear and whispered to her. “Can you be silent?” The last thing he wanted was to bring the guards with a scream or wake the baby before they’d finished.

Her negative response came out half eclipsed in a gasp.

Jarem considered their options and led her to the bathroom. He started the shower flowing to drown out their sounds. Since the consulate reclaimed and purified all their waste water and produced clean energy, it was a minor draw on the system and not a huge waste of resources.

He drew Meredith into a kiss, moaning at the feeling of her unbuttoning her shorts and pushing them away. The swivel of her hips against his cock fired a lust not unlike what he’d felt in his pre-prime settling period.

But now I am I man, and I know well enough how to please a woman.

Jarem lifted Meredith to the wide edge of the tub, urging her back onto her elbows. Her legs were spread, which worked well for what he intended.

He went to his knees and started to feast between her legs. Nothing encouraged a female to invite a male back faster than a male who was skilled at this form of pleasure, human or Sakk.

And I have been proven skilled.
In fact, he’d asked the wanton prisoners who’d handled his settling to teach him, as part of their service.
I always knew this would come in handy.

****

Pleasure knifed through Meredith, and she started to push further to sitting. Jarem pinned her in place with one hand without breaking stride. His tongue danced over her and inside her.

It was difficult to remind herself to keep quiet. For that matter, it was difficult to think at all. That established, she gave herself up to sensation and rode it to climax.

Jarem wasn’t finished yet. He rose to his feet between her thighs and started stripping off his clothing.

Meredith watched his body appear, hungry for more of him.
Hungry for that beautiful cock.
She peeled off her t-shirt and unhooked her bra, making a show of taking it off and dropping it to the floor.

Jarem’s expression was potent. He pushed her thighs wider and eased inside her, seemingly savoring every inch of her stretching around him.

Not that she
wasn’t
enjoying it. Meredith couldn’t imagine any heterosexual woman who
wouldn’t
enjoy what Jarem was doing. Still, there was something enchanting about Jarem’s expressions.

There was nothing rushed in their sex. Every motion was painstakingly planned. Or so it seemed to Meredith. She held to him, her head swimming.

“Come for me again,” he requested.

Meredith didn’t argue that she would. She couldn’t have stopped that from happening if she’d wanted to.
And I don’t.

In moments, she was coming, her back arched. Breathless little cries escaped her throat.

Jarem followed her over, his teeth clenched shut on whatever sounds he wanted to vent. His heat flooded her, causing Meredith to gasp in surprise.

Realization calmed her.
He’s Sakk. Between the difference in our biology and the Sakk medical advancements, there’s no reason to use a condom with him.
And why did she find that so appealing, when she’d never found it an intrusion with human men?

A smile softened Jarem’s face. “You enjoyed?”

Meredith groaned. “You know I did.”

“I suspected it,” he teased.

“What now?” Cuddling on the sofa with him sounded like the perfect way to drop off to sleep to her.

Something told her his look of deep consideration was feigned.

“I say we make use of this shower. Since it’s heated now.”

“I’ll wash your...whatever, if you wash mine.”

He lifted her with a wide grin, still impaled on his length.

Chapter Four

“You asked for me, Sa Beldon?”

The master general offered a warning look and waved the corporal working nearby away. In moments, they were alone in the office Beldon shared with his mate.

The hair feathers on the back of Jarem’s scalp rose in warning. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“Ms. Mallory’s guards raised...concerns.”

He swallowed a lump of true fear. If Beldon felt he’d mistreated Meredith or Alice somehow, he could be stripped of his right to win a mate.
And my family will die off as a result.
That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

“As a result, I had the healers call her to the medical bay for tests. She thought they were tests on Alice, but they were tests on Ms. Mallory.”

“I have not mistreated them. I assure you, I have not.”

“You realize Ms. Mallory is not a Sakk female,” Beldon countered.

“Of course I realize that.” His heart ached. After the sex they’d had the night before, that was a painful reminder. Jarem couldn’t imagine a female he’d want as a mate more.
And I can’t have her.

“Then you realize she is not a wanton prisoner who has chosen prostitution as her punishment?” It was a challenge.

His stomach cramped at the blunt question. “I would never treat Meredith that way.”

“Would you not?”

“Never,” Jarem repeated, his blood boiling at the insinuation. “Meredith and I shared consensual passion. There are no rules or laws against it. A formidable number of the Sakk males on Earth are having sex with human women.”

“But this is a female under the protection of the consulate.”

“It was consensual,” he reminded Beldon. “Did anything the healers found indicate otherwise?”

The master didn’t answer that, which gave Jarem hope he could fight his way out of whatever sanctions Beldon was envisioning for him.

“What are your intentions toward Ms. Mallory?”

“What intentions can there be? She’s not Sakk-descended.” Every time he said it, Jarem raged at it. How could Sakkan be so cruel as to give Jarem the perfect woman and simultaneously make it a woman Jarem couldn’t hope to claim? “If you’ve read my file, you know my situation well enough. I must have a son. My family will die without one.”

“Are you’re comfortable with that?”

“What choice have I?” He bit back several curses in English and Sakk, and he knew his anguish came through in the question.

Beldon was silent for a few tense heartbeats. “I see.”

“Are you ordering me away from Meredith?”
Please, don’t.

“I see no reason to.”

Jarem nodded his thanks. “Is there anything else?”

“I believe your companionship is beneficial to Ms. Mallory and young Alice and your intentions meaningful. You may go.”

He offered a tip of his head and went back to his work, his mind rioting. The only thing that was clear to him was that he would be returning to Meredith at his earliest convenience.

****

Meredith didn’t question that the knock on the door was Jarem. After the night before, she didn’t question that he’d choose to stay, even though Alice wasn’t in the room for him to visit with.

She smiled at him across the open door. “Alice is spending the next two hours with Jalen. Would you like to come in?”

He tipped his head and made his way past her. “I would. Thank you.”

She closed the door and crossed the room to him. There was no play at conversation, no hesitation on either of their parts.

The kiss turned to more in the blink of an eye, and Jarem guided her toward the bed, clothes dropping away as they moved. By the time they flopped to the mattress together, only her shorts and underwear remained.

Meredith worked at the button and zipper, while Jarem palmed a breast, licking his lips.

She smiled up at him. “I swear Janice knows about us,” she informed him. The offer to give Meredith a few hours off at the time Jarem was returning from his daily shuttle run seemed to indicate either that or one heck of a coincidence.

His scowl made her heart stutter.

“What?”

“She does, but I would not be concerned about it.”

“Clearly, if she’s giving us time together.” Still, it felt like an intrusion of their privacy.
Does he feel the same? Was that what the scowl was for?

He hesitated, seemingly torn. “You do know I would give you all I have to offer, were that possible?”

The rising happiness hit the wall of reality. It was pillow talk. She’d heard her share of it. “I know.”

After a moment of stillness, Jarem started working her shorts and underwear down her legs. Meredith lifted her hips to help him.

She consoled herself with the truth. He was Sakk, and he was from a family that had no other sons. Jarem’s duty to his family would always take precedence over any other concern. It had to.

But I’ll have the memories.
They were excellent memories, and unless she somehow met and married a human man who was willing to accept her endless lockdown in the consulate, those were all she had hopes of.

Jarem raised his head, seemingly questioning her, and Meredith threw herself whole-heartedly into another kiss. If this was all she had—the time before Jarem found a mate, she wasn’t going to waste a moment of it.

Chapter Five

Five weeks later

“Meredith?” The knock on the door repeated.

She rushed to it, opening it to Janice.

Beldon’s wife smiled. “Would you be willing to come to the medical clinic with me?”

Meredith looked back toward the playpen, torn.

“I’ve already sent for Jarem. He will be here in a few minutes, and General Lea will watch over Alice until then.” She motioned to the hulking general who led her personal guard.

Meredith nodded, and Lea slid past her and into the room with Alice. As usual, the baby greeted any winged newcomer with happy shouts.

She let herself out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. Janice led the way, trailed by four Sakk warriors. Meredith fell into step beside her.

Halfway down the hall, Meredith finally spoke. “What is it?”

“We’ve found two more babies. Their mothers want to surrender them. A baby boy is being flown in from Pennsylvania tonight. The other—another girl—is being surrendered here.”

“Okay. So why do you need me?”

“I’ve been wracking my brains, trying to figure out what to do with you. No offense.”

“None taken. You’ve been more than fair so far.”

“We owe you a debt of thanks.” It sounded like an admission.

“I did what I knew was right,” Meredith dismissed her.

They made the turn toward the clinic. “Too many people didn’t.”

“I agree.”

Janice stopped to look at her. “We need someone with your qualifications.”

“You do?” Meredith wasn’t sure what she meant. She didn’t possess any special qualifications.

“Come with me.”

The baby in the middle of the clinic was no more than a few months over a year old. Her face was screwed up, tears reddened her cheeks, and wails echoed off the walls.

Janice leaned toward Meredith to impart an explanation. “Her mother didn’t even wait for the formal paperwork. The minute the tests came up positive, she handed the baby’s birth certificate to the healers and walked out the door. The screaming started within a minute and hasn’t stopped since. If we can’t figure out how to stop her, the healers are going to sedate her, but we’d rather not do that.”

Meredith gaped at her for a moment, trying to grasp at so unfeeling a monster. What kind of mothering had this child had up until now?

Not good.

She grasped the basket of toddler toys and made her way to the center of the room. The baby wailed louder.

“What’s her name?” Meredith shouted over the din.

“Samantha Grace Norton, but her mother called her Sammy,” the healer reported. “She is fourteen months of age.”

She nodded and started setting out toys. Offering them failed. Backing away from the basket failed as spectacularly. Any reach toward Sammy made her scream louder and flail her arms at the interloper.

Finally, Meredith looked up at Janice. “Has anyone tried feeding her?”

The doctor motioned to a tray.

Meredith took stock of it and shook her head. It was a rice and sautéed vegetable mix with an open cup of the fortified almond milk the healers preferred for use with Sakk children. “I need a plate of the cookies the cooks make for Alice and a
bottle
of milk.”

“But she’s more than a year old,” Janice started to argue.

She shot the representative a hard look. “Trust me. This child hasn’t eaten well. She’s had convenience foods and hasn’t been moved to a cup. A mother like that... She did whatever was easiest, most likely.”

The healer cleared his throat. “That would explain the condition of her teeth,” he confirmed. “We will have to do some reparative work on them over the next few weeks.” He tipped his head and went to the comm board to relay her request.

The tray showed up, and Meredith took it and placed it at her back. She lifted a cookie between herself and Sammy, and the child stopped screaming abruptly. Her lavender eyes were red-rimmed, and her white-blond hair was in complete disarray, matted and knotted, as if she’d pulled at it during the tantrum.

“That’s better,” Meredith crooned to her. “Come get the cookie, Sammy.”

The toddler pushed to her feet, took the four steps separating them, snatched the cookie, and retreated to the far end of the clinic with it.

Meredith noted her responses...and how thin she was. “What did her medical tests show?”

“She is underweight,” the healer reported. “By the human charts, she is no more than the fifteenth percentile in weight but nearly the ninetieth in height.”