Page 8 of Sevan
Chapter Four
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Christian said sternly.
Lorelei let out a small laugh. “Like I had a choice. You saw the diagnostics screen. They’ve cracked their fuel tank and are running at eighty percent life support. The ship’s climate control is damaged as well. They would never have made it to the next repair station without assistance, regardless how many ships I sent up to escort them.”
“They aren’t pets. You can’t keep them.” Christian touched her shoulder.
Christian was known for his jealous streak, and that was just one of the reasons why she’d refused to marry him, even though law ruled the marriage had to take place. It wasn’t as though he was a bad man; he was just not the man for her. There was a time he’d acknowledged that as well, but those days were fading fast, being replaced by endless sexual banter and tiring tries at bedding her. The Christian she’d known and loved made rare appearances. Today, he seemed to be in hiding.
“Are you coming down to meet our guests or are you planning to stand there sulking all day?” Lorelei asked, annoyed at having to deal with another one of Christian’s temper tantrums.
Giving her a hard look, he put his weapon on. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to meet the man you practically drooled over, my dear.”
“I did not drool over anyone. And even if I did, what business is it of yours?” She had little desire to go into the fact that when she’d looked into the outsider’s eyes, she’d been unable to breathe.
Never in her wildest dreams had she thought the man she craved nightly was real. The only thing that worried her was that Sevan hadn’t done much of anything when she’d looked at him. In her dreams, he’d declared his love for her, claimed her as his own, given her pleasure like no other man had and made her feel as though the two of them were all that existed in the universe. Perhaps the outsider just looked like Sevan, or maybe her mind was simply playing tricks on her.
That was more than likely the case.
Her chest tightened. Every bit of her body ached to be touched by Sevan, to know the pleasures his body could bring her in the waking hours and to see what she could offer him in return. She wanted him to be real, wanted the man docking his ship to be her Sevan. But the odds were not in favor of such a thing. And even if he was the man she’d been dreaming of, that didn’t mean he’d dreamt of her as well. Her power was fickle at times. It may have connected to a real person after all—but that didn’t mean the connection went both ways.
Christian held the door ajar for her and let out a wicked laugh. “Perm…permission granted,” he mocked. “Please, Lorelei. I can smell your arousal for him. Do me a favor and try not to fuck the outsiders before they leave today. I would not want to have to raise another man’s baby. That does seem to run in your family. Your grandfather was a better man than I. He raised your father knowing he was not his, and knowing that he held the blood of the others in him. He was a shifter, not a pure magic like our kind.”
She spun in the hallway to glare at him and he reached out fast, catching her wrist. His olive eyes lit with a fury she’d only seen reserved for battle. Christian was beyond jealous—and that made him deadly. Before he’d been used as a pawn by the others, he’d had a good hold on his temper. He’d been a gentle man. A man who would never raise his hand to a woman. So much had changed with him since the incident.
“Let go of me.”
Leaning down, he put his lips next to hers. “Give me what I want and I will.” A low growl trickled from his throat and he didn’t sound like himself. “I was chosen to be your mate after Samson gave in to the others’ pull. Honor what our elders have deemed to be law. Give in and all will be well.”
“I am not going to marry you, and how dare you bring him into this, Christian. Your brother didn’t give in. No more than you did,” she snapped.
“Marriage is not a word our people use. Stop trying to be more like your very inhuman ancestors. You want me. I can smell it. You might as well rub your cream all over my face. You reek of desire.”
“Who said it was you I’m wet for?” she asked. It was foolish to push him when he was in one of his moods, but the words had just fallen out.
He tightened his grip on her wrist and she cried out. Christian’s eyes widened as he came back to his senses. “Lorelei. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for…”
More and more, Christian was falling prey to the darkness. Losing him wasn’t an option. Though marriage wasn’t on her mind, it didn’t mean she had no love for him. On the contrary, she loved Christian, and always would, but as a friend, not a lover.
Lorelei backed away from him, and he made another move to reach for her. She shook her head. Visions of the nightmare they’d suffered through only seven months before came flooding back to her. They’d lost so much and in the end had overcome it all. None of the memories were pleasant and the thought of reliving them terrified her.
Christian grabbed hold of her gently and brought her body close to his. “Let’s get you to the infirmary. I can harness the power I need to heal you there. The idea of leaving the slightest mar on you sickens me, Lorelei. I’m so sorry that I lost control, again.”
Lorelei heard his words, but they made little sense to her. Her mind was still planted back in time, seven months ago, when they’d been sent out to try to negotiate peace with the others, only to find it was a trap. The others had used Christian against her. They’d manipulated him and forced him to do things that no man would ever knowingly do to the woman he loved.
He had no memory of it, nor could he be faulted. But he’d come out the other side of the event a changed man. A man with temper issues. A man who lived in fear of being used by the others, again, against the women he cared about.
Her brain told her that they were safe within the compound walls and that no evil could befall them, but her body reacted with fear.
She dropped to the ground and spun her leg around, sweeping Christian’s feet out from under him. Thankfully, Lorelei had the element of surprise on her side, or she would never have been able to budge Christian. His six-foot-five-inch frame crashed to the floor.
She sprang to her feet and took off running in the other direction—her original destination all but forgotten as fear held her in its grip. It was easy to feel the shift in the air around her, signaling that Christian was moving at the same speed. For a large man, he was fast and agile.
Powerful.
“Lorelei, no!” Christian tackled her to the ground and held her tight, pinning her with such force that she could barely breathe. Her body shook and the realization hit that he could hurt her again.
From the moment the others had touched his mind, all those months ago, he’d been forced to fight back the demon within. Her current fear was warranted as her own power sensed the others near, reaching out mystically, tapping into the side of Christian they had controlled once before.
She realized then her panic had been with good reason. On some level, she’d more than likely picked up on the master vampire who was the head of the others as he used his powers of dark persuasion on Christian from afar. Stegian, the vampire they all lived in fear of, could control the minds of men with relative ease once he’d broken them mentally to some degree. And once he’d held their mind for any length of time, he could do so again if they were not always vigilant. It made the others extremely dangerous. They could not only kill, they could force men who were not a part of them to kill for them as well.
Christian now reeked of Stegian’s power. The taint. The hatred. The evil. None of the smells that were normally associated with Christian. No. The Christian she’d grown up with was kind, caring and protective.
“Christian, no! Fight him. Don’t let him win again.” Her voice sounded weak, even to her.
