Читать книгу The Virgins - Complete Boxed Set - Grace Goodwin - Страница 15

Maddox

Cassie was beside me, her spotted mare—she’d explained to me the differences between our animals—sure and steady next to my horse as we rode west toward the mountains, to the safety of my ship. We followed the same coordinates I took to find her, knowing the sooner she was inside the ship, I could use the defenses the technology offered to protect her. Neron couldn’t gain entry and no weapon he had, Earth or Everin, would harm the ship.

The need for Everin technology spurred me to ride faster, keeping one eye on the horizon and my ion blaster close at hand.

She showed me how to ride the animal at a quicker pace, but it was difficult, not easy. As I tried to remain in the saddle, I wondered what she would think of Everis, of our pale purple sky and ancient cities made of stacked stone, much like the pyramids here on Earth. My brother would be happy for me; his beautiful mate would, no doubt, take Cassie in her confidence and teach her everything she might need to know to be a fitting mate in our family, on our planet.

A fitting mate. Acceptable. Proper. As I’d never managed to be.

“So, tell me about your world, Maddox. Convince me you speak the truth.” Cassie stared at the mark on her palm as she spoke. Her demand both shocked and excited me. Perhaps her mind had simply needed some time to accept the truth.

“My planet is very like Earth. It’s called Everis. We have two smaller stars and a pale purple sky that turns a brilliant red when the first star drops below the horizon.”

“Stars? They are so far away.”

“Your sun is a star. So we have two smaller suns in our sky.”

“Two?” She sounded amazed by the concept. Knowing only Earth, perhaps she was.

She sighed and tucked a strand of long, pale hair behind her ear. “What about your family? Do you have a family?”

“My family is powerful, our seat on the country’s highest ruling council, the council of Seven, has been ours by election for hundreds of years. My brother serves now. My father has not been able since my sister’s murder.”

“Maddie?”

“Yes.”

“Did you love her?”

I stiffened in surprise at the odd question and my horse shimmied sideways under me. I calmed the animal, my apology by way of rubbing along his strong neck. “Of course. What kind of question is that?”

She shrugged, as if the matter was of no consequence, but I knew better.

“Cassie?”

She sighed, her gaze tracking a soaring bird as it rode the wind currents high above us. Seeing Cassie now, her hair flying in the wind, her cheeks kissed by the sun, she fit this rugged land with its uncomplicated ways and untamed airs. I tried to imagine her bowing her head to the Sevens or presenting our newborn babe for judgment, and I couldn’t force the images to align.

“Just wondering. Not all children are loved.” The wind seemed to whisper to her. The horse followed her lead as if they were of one mind. There was something wild in her blood, something I knew would be embraced by the elite society on Everis.

“She was my twin and we were inseparable. Neron was… infatuated with her. You see, not everyone has to be marked mates to be joined. Most bonds are by choice, not fate. But Neron’s father was caught breaking the law, offering illegal weapons to another member planet.”

“But that’s his father’s crime. What did he do?”

I had wondered that many times. What had Neron done to deserve what had happened? Nothing, really. His hatred was not that difficult to understand. “He was born in the wrong family. When his father lost his seat on the council of Seven, their family lost everything.”

“That’s not fair. And I thought you said he murdered Maddie. Why?”

“He did. After they lost everything, Maddie broke the betrothal. My father forbid the match, and she had grown to fear Neron and his family, and rightly so.”

Cassie shook her head. “So, she broke his heart and he killed her.”

That summed it up. “Yes.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Do these things not happen on Earth as well?” Were I simply a warrior, a hunter from one of the outer reaches like Jace and Flynn, I would not need concern myself with how she would feel in her new life. Their women were as savage as their men, their freedom complete. Only in the stone cities were the old ways followed.

Our society was strict and traditional, but women held much power, were cherished and protected above all else. And I’d seen the flare of desire in her eyes as I’d threatened to spank her, even more so when I’d held her in place and fucked her with my fingers. She would adjust well. We were an old race, an ancient race advanced enough to ensure none went hungry, none were homeless, our politics staid and our wars limited to the universal fight for survival against the Hive threat that raged in deep space.

And Cassie was young, young and innocent and so beautiful, looking at her caused both my heart and my cock to ache with want.

She took a long time answering my question, but I waited for her to organize her thoughts. I knew nothing of Earthen mating customs, of what my mate might expect from me. Did they not believe in love? In forever?

“Yes. People in love lose their minds all the time.” She sounded so sad, resigned, and I tried to remember that she’d just lost her dead husband’s father and been forced from her home. It was hard to balance the feelings of seeing her heartache with the joy that coursed through me every time I caught a glimpse of her, breathed in the sweet scent of roses and sunshine, remembered the soft feel of her skin under my hands and mouth. It was my job to take away her heartache as much as pleasure her body.

“And have you ever lost your mind for love? For your husband, perhaps?”

She’d been married, and still, I wanted her answer to be no. A deep, primal part of me wanted to be the only man she would ever love. I tried to convince myself that her presence beside me was the only thing that mattered, that I had time to win her over, but the aching organ in my chest refused to listen.

Her sad grin made me yearn to stop the horses and pull her into my lap, kiss the sadness from her eyes. “No. My marriage to Charles was… convenient. He was six years older than me and we were raised in the same house. When I turned eighteen, it just seemed… easy to marry him. We knew each other and we both wanted to help run the boarding house. While I felt comfort with him, it was never love. As for losing my mind for love? The only time was behind the chicken coop. With you.”

I was instantly hard from the memory of her wet pussy under my tongue, the taste of her desire on my lips as she’d whimpered and cried out before me, her hands in my hair, holding me closer. Tighter.

I wanted that again. Now. I’d rarely imagined finding my marked mate and when I’d dared hope of such an occurrence, I’d pictured her baring her body with eagerness, calling me to her with her eyes and her words, begging me to take her, to fuck her, to fill her and make her mine. Marked mates were instantly eager for each other, eager to seal the bond through mating sex—sexual fulfillment with the marks touching—and it happened quickly. Most marked mates bonded the very same day. They just knew.

The marks were the guide, the link, the bond.

Now I was forced to wonder just how many mated pairs were separated by distances too far to be overcome.

I knew that eons ago Everians had colonized far-off planets, but Earth was beyond the range of my expectations. As for Cassie, I was surely well beyond her expectations. She’d been married, but the man had died. From the surprise in her eyes as she’d responded to my touch, the man had not pleased her as he should. From her words just now, he’d not gained her heart either. But that was no surprise.

He wasn’t her marked mate. I was.

And so whatever she’d had with her husband had just been temporary until I found her. I was thankful to the dead man for protecting her.

Now… now it would be different. I would awaken not only her mark, but her every dark desire and fantasy. And I would fulfill them. Every. Single. One.

Being a widow left her vulnerable. I was surprised, since she did not know of her mark or her history, that she had yet to remarry. With her beauty, her fiery demeanor, her solid and caring work ethic, surely she’d had Earth men circling about her. Men more worthy of her attentions than those like the fucker who’d had his hand on her ass.

The mere thought of that arrogant bastard made me want to turn my animal around and go kill him, but that would make me no better than Neron. I was just not accustomed to women being treated so poorly, with such disregard and lack of respect. But this was Earth, a somewhat backwards and rustic place. They were not as advanced as Everis in so many ways. And that prompted me to return my thoughts to Cassie’s ignorance of her mark.

She was supposed to be mine, my preordained mate, the one and only woman in existence destined to belong to me. I’d pressed my hand to hers, sealed our marks and allowed the heat of our mating bond to flow freely between us. My cock had swelled to the point of bursting and my skin had felt as if it were on fire. I saw the heat and awareness in her eyes, but she refused to believe in it. She’d merely looked up into my eyes and calmly informed me that she would accompany me only until Neron was dead and that I was to keep my desires to myself.

I’d never imagined she would doubt my claim or refuse my touch. My body was primed and eager for her, ready to strip her bare and make her mine. But I would only bond with her if she agreed, if she wanted me as badly as I wanted her. No, I would only bond with her if she needed it as desperately as I did.

I could practically hear Thorn’s laughter already. That arrogant ass had women falling all over him on Everis, and yet he gave none of them his heart. Like me, he came from a powerful family. And like me, he was not the firstborn and would not inherit title or position on the Sevens. Yet he had a gift with women. Never did he have trouble with a female, claimed he was too good with his cock and left them no breath with which to argue.

The idea of fucking Cassie into submission was tempting indeed, as I had no idea how to convince her I spoke the truth, to convince her to believe me. My only option was to take her to the ship and allow her to see it with her own eyes. I could share her dreams, fuck her to mindless orgasm again and again, but that wouldn’t make her truly believe.

A dream was easily ignored or attributed to fantasy. But a cold, hard ship with sonar cannons and antigravity engines would be much more difficult to refuse.

Cassie continued to surprise me, and for that I was well pleased. She’d saddled her horse and had the mare ready before I’d managed to settle the blanket on my nervous animal’s back. At which point she’d promptly shoved me out of the way and accomplished the task herself in less than half the time I would have required. The horses both followed her docilely out of the barn, like trained pets, not large beasts. She’d filled her saddlebag with a few belongings, added the rifle that had been above the kitchen door, then mounted her mare and looked down upon me like a queen sitting a throne. Even now, I watched her movements, attempting to match the smooth glide of her body in the saddle. And my Cassie did not bounce or slide out of her saddle as I did. She seemed to flow with the horse, as if they were connected, one body.

Apparently, she liked the damn animal more than she liked me.

The thought was irrational and childlike, but it was my heart talking, not my head. She was mine. Mine. And she was not supposed to reject me, or require me to prove my worth. Divine destiny had taken the decision from both of us. I’d never imagined dealing with a female who had no idea what the mark meant, or where I was from. I also never anticipated having to keep her alive and trying to woo her simultaneously. If she’d known of the match, then she would have come willingly.

Instead I’d envisioned myself meeting her on Everis, her mark calling to mine as I carried her to the nearest quiet place, lifted her skirts, fucked her hard and fast, catching her cries of pleasure with my kiss. And then?

I’d not thought past the fucking, my cock eager to block all other thoughts from my mind. Perhaps that was my problem on Earth, as well. My cock had led me to Cassie, and danger had followed.

I was not good at coaxing or cajoling and I worried because I’d been forced to use fear—valid fear—to sway her to accompany me. A threat to her life was the only thing that had worked. But then, I’d only known her for one day, and I’d had my mouth on her pussy and my fingers inside her wet heat. Given a few more days, I would have seduced her fully, won her over and carried her off with her full permission.

Thanks to Neron, I didn’t have time to court her or seduce her properly. Another crime he would pay for.

We’d ridden an hour, and I allowed her to keep her thoughts. Surely she had questions for me, but I would wait for her to ask them in her own time. But I had some of my own.

“What of your father?”

She turned in her saddle at my question. Her face was in shadow; the wide-brimmed hat she’d donned for the ride protected her from the bright sun. It was warm and intense, sweat slicking my skin. It was different than Everis where the heat and light came from a great distance; our largest star an old one that shed a constant, gentle warmth on the planet. Our second star was nearer, small but bright. Its wild energies and unpredictable flares caused many of our storms. “My father?”

I nodded. “You spoke of your mother, that she died. What of your father?”

My horse snorted once, swished his tail.

“I never knew my father. He abandoned my mother once she told him about me. My mother would never say much about him, other than he was young and handsome and the son of a wealthy family.”

“Your mother was not wealthy?”

Cassie shook her head. “No. She was their maid. As soon as he discovered she was pregnant, he paid for a train ticket and got rid of us both.”

I ached for the pain I heard in Cassie’s voice, and for the foolish man who’d thrown away such treasures. “And your mother died when you were four?”

“Yes. Pneumonia, the doctor said. But all I remember is she was sad all the time. For years I believed she died of a broken heart.”

“That explains why you don’t know about your mark.”

“You call it a mark.” She sighed and lifted her hand, palm up to inspect the telltale swirls on her skin that marked her as mine. “My entire life, I’ve believed it a simple birthmark. The other day, it began to tingle and feel warm. It became hot, then when you arrived at the boarding house, almost unbearable.”

“Yes, mine as well.”

She smiled then and shook her head, disbelieving. “You must explain this to me then.”

Where to begin? I allowed my horse to take the lead as we moved into rocky terrain near the base of the mountains. We left the rolling hills of the prairie behind and began navigating switchbacks and narrow trails as I led us to where our ship was hidden. The tall grass disappeared, replaced by scraggly bushes and dark pine trees with sharp, pointed spikes for leaves. They were similar to plant life on Everis in many ways. In fact, Earth was very similar, from the smell of the dirt to the puffy white clouds that floated in the skies. But in this, we were very different from humans.

“All Everians are born with the mark, but for most, it remains dormant. While finding a marked mate isn’t unheard of, it is not common. One in a hundred are not so lucky.”

“But your mark is not dormant?” She rubbed her palm up and down her thigh as if it bothered her.

“No. Not since I got here. Not since I found you.”

“But I’m not from your world. I’m not like you.”

“Yes, Cassie, you are. Many thousands of years ago, my people set out to colonize the galaxy. Some of them must have found Earth and settled here.”

“So, what are you saying, Mr. Maddox? That not only are you from another planet, but that I am as well? That’s absurd.”

“It’s the truth.”

“And so what? I’m supposed to fall madly in love with you?”

Divine give me patience. Where was she going with this? “Yes. We are fated to be together.”

“And how, exactly, is that supposed to work out? I take you to bed, Mr. Maddox, and you ride off into the sunset, get on your fancy spaceship and go back to this Everis?”

“No, Cassie. I would never leave without you.”

“Oh, so now I’m supposed to go to another planet with you?”

“Yes. You will accompany me to Everis where you will be introduced into Everian society as a member of my family, an elite.”

She scoffed. “I can’t believe this. I was actually starting to believe you.”

“You will be a high-ranking member of our society, Cassie. And I will be there to teach you everything you need to know, to protect you.” Anger rolled through me at her stubborn denial of the truth.

“I’m an orphan from Philadelphia. Elite? I don’t think so.” She shook her head as she led her horse down the edge of a steep ravine. I had no extra energy to argue with her as my own horse followed.

The horse was skittish, more so than I. He’d handled the previous variations in the land easily, but this drop into this portion of the dry riverbed was steeper than the others, at least ten feet from the grassy flatland into the sandy bottom. With one foot working down the side, the horse stopped, probably questioning his safety, then retreated, then with a surprising burst of speed, all but jumped down the sharp embankment, forcing me from my seat.

I flew through the air and landed hard, my shoulder first, but my side came in contact with a rock, a rather large one by the painful jab of it into my ribs, before I rolled once, twice onto my back.

I lay there staring up the brilliant blue sky, stunned as I tried to catch my breath. My side was on fire and it was agony to breathe. The ground was remarkably soft considering how hard I’d landed. Turning my head, I glanced at the fucking rock that had definitely broken my ribs.

“Maddox!”

Cassie’s voice was shrill and I heard the pounding of her animal’s hooves as she sped toward me. I saw sand kick up and then the hem of her dress before she dropped to her knees beside me, tossing her long hair over her shoulder.

“What happened?” She was breathing as frantically as I was. Her pale gaze roved over me, her hands hovering, shaking.

I didn’t have the breath to explain the obvious.

“Where… where are you hurt?”

“Side. Ribs,” I breathed.

“Can I… can I look?”

I tipped my chin and gritted my teeth.

Fumbling, she undid the buttons of my shirt, spread it open, then gasped when she looked at my torso. “The rock, it’s broken your ribs. The bruise is already forming.” She bit her lip as panic filled her wide eyes. “I can see the break clearly. Oh God.”

She looked up, looked around as if someone were magically going to appear. She had no communication device, no way to summon help. I did, but I didn’t need Thorn or Jace or Flynn to come. It would take hours, days even, depending on where they were hunting. I just needed the ReGen wand.

“I can bind it, but I won’t be able to help you stand, let alone get you on the back of a horse. I can go back to town for help, but—”

“Cassie,” I gritted out.

Her eyes whipped to mine.

“My bag. ReGen wand.”

“What?” she replied.

“Get the ReGen wand from my bag.”

She pushed up off her knees, but still squatted beside me. “I… I don’t know what that is.”

I tilted my chin and shifted, then hissed out the sharp stab of pain. “Metal object, black base with blue at the top. Fits in your hand.”

She nodded and went over to my horse, which had stopped to nibble at a clump of greenery. The reins fell to the ground over his head and he was perfectly content now that I was no longer on his back. I should be mad at the beast for tossing me, but it had been my fault. I had never ridden on an animal’s back before coming to Earth and the errant animal somehow knew that I was unskilled.

Cassie dug through my bag and easily found the ReGen wand. Besides some of the food she’d packed, I only had a few items of Earth clothing and a blanket. It was hard to be patient as I lay in the bright sun, waiting as she studied the healing tool.

“Cassie,” I groaned. It wasn’t getting any easier to breathe and I was ready to be free of pain.

Remembering me, she dashed to my side and held the ReGen wand before her like the unfamiliar object she must think it.

I took it from her, our fingers brushing, and shifted the black handle to my hand. I pushed the button and the healing energy of the ReGen coils at its tip burned a bright blue. Groaning with each shift of my body, I moved the wand back and forth over the injured area.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Healing.”

I could feel the bones reknitting and I groaned. It didn’t hurt worse than the stabbing pain of breathing with them broken, but it wasn’t pleasant either.

“I… I don’t understand. You need a doctor. Bedrest.”

“No,” I replied as the pain began to lessen. The ReGen wand would heal me in just a few minutes. Already I could take deeper breaths. “This is a minor wound.”

“Minor?” she countered. “It will take weeks for that to heal, if you don’t puncture a lung. I don’t know how to get you to shelter. There’s no food, no firewood. No water for that duration.”

“Cassie,” I said again, this time my voice didn’t hold the sharp bite of pain. “This is a healing wand. All I need to do is wave it over the injury and it will repair the damage.”

Even angling my head, I couldn’t see the injury well, but by the way her eyes widened, I had to imagine that the bruising she spoke of was quickly fading away.

“How… I… I don’t understand.”

I shifted then and there was no pain, only twinges of discomfort. As I spoke, I kept moving the wand back and forth, then up toward my shoulder. It wasn’t out of joint, but it ached nonetheless.

“It is a normal household item on Everis, on most planets in our universe. It heals minor wounds quickly and easily. For larger, more serious wounds, you need a full submersion pod.”

“A pod? You could have healed Mr. Anderson!”

She looked at me with accusation in her eyes and my hand stilled. “Oh, Cassie, no. We have a ReGen pod on the ship. It will heal major wounds, but it’s not portable. The wand is, but only heals minor wounds, not dire emergencies like what Neron did to your father-in-law. And he was already dead. While our technology does heal—” I held up the wand, “—it does not return life once it has left the body.”

Shoulders drooping, she eyed my injury. “Yet you are better?” she asked, doubtfully.

“Yes, a fall from a horse can be easily remedied. Not that we have horses on Everis, so this is a first for me.”

She sat there listening to me, wide-eyed and curious.

“It’s so small. How can it do all that? And if your people came to Earth, why don’t we have this here?”

“I don’t know what happened to the settlers, although you are their descendant, so some must have survived. Right now, Earth is considered a primitive civilization. Your people don’t know there is anything beyond the height a bird can soar through the air. There are no spaceships, no simple flying crafts yet. Your technology is far behind ours, thousands of years behind. No one would understand this.”

She laughed then, more out of stunned amazement than humor. “I don’t understand it. I barely understand the things you just said.” Her eyes lifted to mine and for the first time I did not see hostility or doubt, but wonder. “You must think me stupid.”

I moved then, pushing up on my elbow, then onto my hand so my eyes met hers. “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. Brave, resilient, loyal. Kind.”

She looked down at my chest, the first time she’d seen my body outside a shared dream. “You’re completely healed then?”

Pushing off my hand, I sat up, moved so I was up on my knees. Pulling my shirttails from my pants, I ran my hand over where my injury had been. There were no bruises, no marks on my skin, no tears to my muscle or breaks in my ribs beneath.

“Want to try it?” I held the wand to her.

She took it in her hands as if it were fragile. “What do I do?”

“Just wave it over an injury.”

She lifted it to my forehead and I frowned.

“You have a small cut here.”

I hadn’t even felt the injury before, but now that my ribs were healed, my forehead did sting a little and I could feel a wet trickle there.

I watched her as she moved the wand back and forth over my head, her eyes following the motions of her hand. Her skin was so pale, yet her cheeks were flushed from the heat and her worry. So similar to an Everian woman, but softer, her eyes rounded with curiosity. She leaned in close, closer than she’d ever been of her own volition and I tried to ignore the way her breasts rose when she lifted her hands to my forehead, or the scent of the damp skin of her neck just inches from my lips. I hungered for her, ached to taste her once more. I wanted her to drop the wand and bury her fingers in my hair, pull me close as I explored her body with my lips.

“Amazing,” she whispered. I knew the wound was healed entirely and I lifted my fingertips to the spot to prevent them traveling to her breasts. My head no longer hurt, but blood tinged my fingertips.

“Thank you, Cassie.” I caught her gaze and reached for her wrists, trapping her hands between us, a barrier I needed. I couldn’t take her yet, not here, not with Neron still out there. But, Divine torture, I wanted to take her mouth, lift her skirts and bury my cock in her wet heat.

I settled for talking. “I know that everything I shared is quite a bit for you to process, to understand and accept. I am telling you the truth, Cassie.”

She held the wand in her lap, lowered her head to look at it. “I’ve never seen an object hold light inside it before. Only a lamp, but that is fire. This blue light is cold. Unexplainable. This wand is unexplainable. You were hurt. I saw it. Saw your pain.” She pointed to my head. “The blood.”

I waited for her to continue.

“I… I believe you, Maddox. It’s a leap for me and it will take me time, but I believe you.”

I didn’t realize how much I wanted to hear those words, but the relief was palpable. It was as if my soul had been healed along with my ribs.

“You talk of leaving on a spaceship and going back to Everis, of taking me with you.”

I reached out and took her hand, touched my mark to hers. I felt the jolt of the connection to my very core.

“I will not leave you.” I was repeating it again and again, but it would not change. Ever.

“I am not asking you to, nor do I wish to begin the debate again. I am at a disadvantage. I know nothing of your world, or any other world for that matter. I know nothing of these healing wands or flying ships. Selby is all I know, all I truly remember.”

Guilt weighed my shoulders down and I lifted my hand to her cheek, needing to touch her. She was correct and it was difficult to remember that while she was from Earth, her own little world was only a small number of miles around. “I know, Cassie. This was a surprise for me as well. But I can’t be sorry. You’re beautiful, mate, and you’re mine. I won’t give you up. You can’t deny our bond. I know you feel it, too.”

“I am not denying you, Maddox. Or us.” She squeezed my hand and stroked my face. “But you have to give me time. A few days ago I didn’t know you existed. Didn’t know my birthmark was something else. Didn’t know about mates. Didn’t know such evil.”

She shuddered and the reminder of Neron had me pulling her into me, pressing her cheek to mine. I could feel her breasts against my chest; the silkiness of her hair teased my chin, was warm and soft beneath my hands.

Her lips grazed my earlobe as she whispered her confession. “But I’m scared. Scared of Neron, of going with you, and…”

“And?” Her voice had quivered on the final word and my instincts flared to life. The rest of that thought was of vital importance.

She remained quiet, but her heart rate had climbed; I could feel the frantic beat of her pulse beneath my palm where I’d lowered it to her neck.

Twisting her hair about my hand, I tilted her head back so she had to look at me. “And what, Cassie? What are you afraid of?”

“Myself.”

Her answer shocked me and before I could consider the myriad meanings a woman might give that one word, our gazes locked for scant seconds before she crushed her lips to mine, kissing me with reckless abandon, with complete surrender.

My cock hardened instantly and I crushed her to me for long minutes as I took what she offered, reveled in her taste, in the soft sounds she made in the back of her throat when I lowered my hands to cup her round ass.

As much as I wanted to take what she offered, I knew I could not. Not here. Not yet.

With a supreme act of will, I pulled back and settled my forehead against hers so I could share her air, her heat for a few more seconds.

“I want you, Cassie, but I can’t make you mine until we get to my ship. We’re not safe here.”