Page 3 of Protected By the Convicts
Defending the engineer felt right even though the memories of that night wouldn’t stay buried in the back of her mind where she’d shoved them, multiple times now.
“You’re not remembering correctly, Hannah. You’ve said as much yourself, that the memories from the past few days are fuzzy.”
Many of her short-term memories were jumbled, such as what she’d learned at the port. There had been something she wanted to tell Vaughn before this entire drug-induced sex binge had started, but now that memory eluded her. Something about the paddadou, which didn’t make sense. The simple green sour fruit, a low-profit item, filled out empty space on outgoing ships transporting zurlite.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” she said. Talking about the drugs, about Ren, would only make her jittery and Ky’Li mad. She needed to confront Ren, to hear his side.
Hannah stared at the oversized bed. She hadn’t slept with Ky’Li in weeks. His large frame stood behind her. Would he vacate the room and give the bed to her or stay with her? She prayed for the latter. She missed him; she missed all of them.
The door clicked shut. Ky’Li remained behind her. The knot in her stomach unwound.
“Thank you, Ky,” she whispered.
A hand smoothed down her arm, raising goosebumps over her flesh. She sank back against his hard chest, taking in his scent and the simple but reassuring feel of all that solid muscle behind her.
“We can get past this,” she said.
“There is nothing to get past,” he said as he eased the hair away from her neck and kissed that spot beneath her ear, along her jaw.
“The overdose was no one’s fault,” she said, practically melting into him as his mouth followed the curve of her jaw, sprinkling slight but spine-tingling kisses. “Though I. . .” Thought slowed as his hand slid under the towel to her hip. “I think Sersie blames himself.”
“He does. Vaughn has tried talking to him. Sersie is stubborn.”
“Only Sersie?”
“Yes. I’m a soldier. I know how to adapt.”
He did, but not when it came to her. “You’re the one refusing to accept that we are a family.”
He wasn’t the only one, but he would be the hardest to convince. This unit needed to be more than five people merely living together. They needed to bond as a family.
“You and I are family, Hannah. It is the others here that are not family. Toeitherof us.”
“The four of you are all I have on Narkos, Ky’Li. You’re all I’ll ever have. We’re caged in behind an electrified fence. I can’t leave this house without an escort for my own protection, and when I’m at work, I wear a necklace with a spray to fend off an attacker. Narkos is not a world where I’ll ever have the chance to make friends, to go out casually shopping or strolling, to simply lay outside, close my eyes, and enjoy the sun warm my face without worrying who will attack me next.”
His hands stopped caressing her shoulder. “I’ve done as you asked, Hannah. I’ve accepted them as my unit, but don’t ask me to see them as family. I can’t.”
“But you’ll try, Ky’Li?” she asked, hopeful. She needed to have hope right now, especially since Ren would be leaving any day. Ren. . .
Ky’Li’s hand circled forward, to where he’d knotted the towel at her front. Deft fingers untied the knot and slowly peeled the towel away, building a tension in her. Her nipples stiffened as the cold air stuck. The idea of Ky’Li’s hands working their way down her body to her folds made her squirm for his touch.
“Does this mean you forgive me?” she asked, too afraid to turn, to see the expression on his face.
Gray eyes locked onto her as if he planned to devour her. That look alone sent a need through her. The hard set of his jaw didn’t move as he peeled his black t-shirt off, exposing rippling muscles across his chest, arms, and abdomen. She held her breath, taking in the beauty that was Ky’Li. She reached out and traced his chest muscles with the pads of three fingers. Soft warm skin over hardness everywhere.
Ky’Li’s expression remained unyielding, despite the desire in his eyes. Only her actions stood between them; she’d mated the other men. “I’m sor—”
He held two fingers to her mouth. “You made a promise to me.”
“I never promised I’d be exclusive.”
“No, you were quite clear about that,” he said, the disappointment in his voice unmistakable. “You promised that when we entered this room, together, it would be only us. No talk about the others. Right now, sha’vi—”
“Sha-vi?” she repeated, as she held back the tears. “I’m still your sha’vi?” Her voice shook, along with the rest of her.
Ky’Li’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you think otherwise? Because another man took you against your will?”
“Ren did not—” She stopped talking. Ky’Li was right. This was not the time to discuss Ren or any of the other men. “You haven’t called me sha’vi in a while. I thought. . .” She shrugged her shoulders.
