Page 16 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
“I’ll be taking my leave after the dance, and before the ceremony.”
I brushed past him, and he grabbed my shoulder, making me stiffen. He gave me a gentle squeeze, and he eyed me with relief.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
I gritted my teeth, and glared at him. “This was an agreement of circumstances, nothing more.”
He withdrew his hand, amusement not gone from his blue eyes. “Of course. I’ll be sure to let the shuttle know you’ll be departing shortly.”
He was nothing if not persistent in his efforts to remove me from his planet. I admired that about him, if things were different we would have got along well together. He’d be a great outlaw if he decided to leave his planet. Wits, and power. I still remembered the way his loh expanded into lethal weapons all up his arms and down his back. He’d be handy to have on a mission. Technically he was assisting me even on this one, giving me the excuse to leave early with no extra suspicion about why I was doing so. That meant I didn’t have to wait to steal the jewel. The sooner the better.
Though my insides struggled against that concept, the virus coursed through me making me feel ill at the prospect of leaving Luan. Damned mating toxins.
“I’m not the one you should be protecting her from.” I wasn’t sure why I wanted to help the guy after his dominance display, but I did. “If you let that krelin spray her with his own mating glands, he will steal her from your planet and she’d be part of the hive’s harem. Treaty or not, krelins will take what they’vemarked as theirs. First your jewels, then your females, and eventually your planet.”
I wasn’t saying it to threaten him or his clan, but they were being naive if they thought they could simply make a treaty with them and be protected. They should have already been searching for another planet to offer them protection, before the krelin decide to advance their plans for their currently slow absorption, takeover, of Estreldez. It was only a matter of time.
Somehow that became my business, and I even thought about how I could steal information from Necias to help protect Estreldez, help protect Luan.
“I know,” Loric replied. That nonchalance made me turn to face him, unable to hide my agitation. If he knows then why was he still here with me, and not barging into whatever one-on-one Luan was having with that insect warrior? If he wouldn’t do it then I felt compelled to intervene.
“You know?” My voice rose with ire. “You know, and yet you do nothing?”
Now it was his turn to glare at me, but he did not move to approach. He stayed firm and remained calm.
“That was probably why he was sent to participate. Almder saw Luan react to Trent, and a union between the planets would benefit us.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and he held a hand up as if to explain. “A union with me would also benefit Estreldez, and I have no intention of letting him take her back to Krelis. You should know it’s possible her mating loh were released because of his pheromones, and even still he would not be in control over who she chooses to mark as her mate.”
I blinked back my confusion. What was he trying to tell me? Lucky me, I didn’t have to ask him like a dumb ass. He answered for me, finally taking a step forward, more brazen since he knew my interest was piqued.
“She doesn’t need saving.” Loric walked past me, and hovered in the doorway for one last remark, “Where you’re from the females must be weak, but on Estreldez they can handle themselves.”
“It must be lonely for her, knowing at all times she must be strong all the time with no one to share that burden with.” I didn’t know why I said it, but I understood Luan a little more. That fierceness about her, that wall she had behind those cold silver eyes. She relied on no one. There was no one coming to save her, and I was reminded of myself.
She’d be okay, but even I used to wish as I grew up that someone would help free me from Necias, from Jax, from my handler Carmen. I could have escaped Carmen, like I did the last handler, but that was only temporary.
An illusion of freedom, before Carmen entered my life and told me killing her wouldn’t solve my problems.
It wouldn’t, I knew that. But, I smiled at how it might have been worth the extra debt to have a few months before they sent a few war cruisers after me.
I could survive on my own, just as Luan would without me, but it was exhausting fighting alone.
Images of Luan by my side, that determination in her eyes as we fixed up the ship to prepare it for an inevitable fight for freedom against the necia. Jumping through hyperspace to reach a new star outside of the Trillome System together.
Why had I inserted her into my future? Why did it feel like such a lighter experience to fight with her by my side? It was dangerous, and I may not live, and yet the image excited me.
Loric was already out the door, leaving me to myself in the library. Luan’s scent was still strong around me, I smiled down at my fingers that I had unconsciously pulled from my pocket to sniff her earlier arousal.
A warmth thrummed through my chest, and my cock grew hard again having not been satisfied from our last encounter. Fuck, that this woman’s toxic radiation was addling my mind.
But knowing that didn’t stop the possessive thought from entering my mind, she was mine.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Luan
MY LOH STILLglowed from the aftermath of those hot fingers exploring my body in the library. The bundle of nerves at my center were throbbing, making my thighs clench and shift as I walked towards the garden. Every brush of movement was sensitive, and I couldn’t shake the image of Vareo’s hooded eyes darkened with need, for me. No one has ever looked at me that way, and then he spoke of never letting me go.
