Page 46 of Her Alien Prince
"I would be a fool to dismiss such dedication," he teased, and I could feel his interest grow as he grabbed my ass, pressing himself against me.
"Trent, I'm serious." I shoved at him.
"So am I." His hardened length rubbed against me, and I nearly came undone right there.
"Prove it," I said, nipping at his lower lip. I wasn't exactly sure what I was asking for, but he delivered nonetheless.
"I'll prove to you that I can find you anywhere, My Kansa. If that is what you want, we will leave now, and I can have Gho-ran take charge of undermining my mother's infestation before we must face the coming war."
Before I could object to dismissing the real threat that was Queen Kai, he was already flying through a hidden tunnel that led out the top of his rooms. As we launched up, my whole body seized, electricity coursing through my veins like fire. Trent wrapped his wings around us and landed hard on his back to protect me as we crashed into the roof of his chambers. I tried to move, but was stuck beneath his wings, and the soft look on Trent's face told me he was passed out. Adjusting within his arms, I could finally see a tall woman staring down her nose at us with a grim expression of disgust.
"I know you're awake, spawn of Leahme. You're lucky my son is quick to shield you, but not quite fast enough to have seen the traps. I've known about his little roof-top escape for some time now, but I couldn't let him screw up my plans for your Kloaph Rites. I wasn't expecting to catch both of you, but it saves me the trouble of figuring out where you were." She sneered at me before addressing someone out of eyesight from where I was stuck beneath Trent's wings, trapped inside of some electrified netting. "Put my son back on his ship, and make sure the navigation places him in front of one of King Sylve's spy ships from the recent survey report. As for our new queen, she needs to be prepared for her mating rites." She paused to glance back at me. "Please don't disappoint me like your mother. Queens don't survive long without the support of the hive, and I'd hate for them to turn on you."
A strange sound came from my throat that I wasn't used to, and Queen Kai narrowed her eyes at me. "Sounds like a personal problem," I muttered. She should be taking her own advice. If it was the hive I should have been scared of, then she should be more afraid than me.
"Your mother thought that as well. All the way up to the very day of her death," she threatened, and my whole-body chilled despite being held in Trent's warm, limp arms. I tried to tug at the connection between my heart and his, begging him to wake, but nothing stirred.
"Trent, please." I pressed my forehead to his, our kan touching, sending jolts of warmth through my limbs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Trent
PLEASE, MABEL'S BEAUTIFULvoice repeated in my mind like a mantra. The last thing I remembered was being shocked by a net that prevented me from taking her to Kai Mountain to complete our bond. I turned over, squeezing my arms tight to pull her back to me, but my arms were empty. Bolting up right, both my hearts sped up erratically in search for her, but that tug of our bond was weak. She was not in this room. Wherever this was, it was not with her.
I winced as I opened my eyes, my vision still fuzzy at the edges of my vision. My muscles flexed, still aching from the charge of being electrocuted. That was the only way anyone would have bested me in a duel, tricking me while distracted. Yet they kept me alive. That was their first mistake. Whoever took Mabel would not be so lucky when I caught up with them. The bond was incomplete, but not absent. I would find her.
Metal was beneath me, cold and uncomfortable.Fuck, I thought, this was not the hive. I was on a ship that would take me off-planet, if I wasn't already. How long was I out?
"Oh good, you're awake," a voice I recognized, but hadn't expected to hear for many cycles said before they revealed themselves. Gaven... "You know, I thought you'd do a better job at protecting Mabel, and I did debate, liberally, on whether I should help you, or simply be the one to swoop in myself."
"What a hero you are," I snapped, putting pressure on my head where it throbbed like someone had punched me when I was out.
"She loves you," he said with a wrinkle of his nose. "I saw the way she clung to you when they pried you both apart to throw you in here. I won't try to understand why, but if it's the last thing I do for her, I will make sure you return."
"You were there, and you did nothing!" I charged at him, unable to keep my temper down. He sidestepped and disappeared into the distorted metal of the ship's luggage compartment.
He tsked with his tongue. "You're still not ready, once you're recovered, we'll leave, but you should know as someone in your position that sometimes the most successful course of action is to wait and plan instead of rushing into an ambush. Then again, perhaps that isn’t something you do... since you're here."
The mockery in his tone set my nerves on edge and I spun around the room, clucking my tongue so my kan could search for him. There, I thought, and extended a hand to grab him by the throat. I couldn't see him, and he had the advantage of seeing me coming, so my hand wrapped around his wrist, protecting him. He smiled, his illusion gone, but not the sting of the heat sizzling the flesh from my fingers. I held firm, uncaring of the pain.
"You have a limited source of radiation away from your moons, Sky Bender, best you save it for something other than games," I warned. He lowered his wrist, and my grip went along with it. I gritted my teeth against the burns, but knew they were only temporary.
"We aren't in space," he assured. "I made sure the shuttle routed a course back into Krelis atmosphere. They assumed correctly that you would be passed out long enough that you would dock at the ship before you could do anything about turning around. I'm sure there would have been guards waiting for you upon your arrival, but they didn't account for me canceling the coordinates before we ever docked."
I released him.
"We're on Krelis..."
"Yes." He rubbed his wrist from how hard I had gripped him. I flexed my ki stinger in my forearm, as if I were simply examining my burned flesh, but making sure he was aware that stopping my hand from choking him would not have stopped me from stabbing through his throat if that was my intention. He grunted, as if he were clearing phlegm and then continued, "When you're ready we can grab Mabel, and get off this rock."
The last thing I saw when I shielded Mabel from the fall, was my mother's deadly eyes. "You'll take Mabel," I amended the plan. "I can't leave until I've settled a debt."
Gaven lifted a brow. "Finally going to nut up and lead your hive?"
"I have a queen to kill."
Regardless of who would lead the hive, it could be Gho-ran for all I cared since I knew Mabel was reluctant to carry such a burden, I couldn’t allow my mother to harm another krelin, let alone my kansa. The bond between us was weakened, I could barely feel the faintest of light that had curled around my hearts since meeting her.
