Initiation (Xylon Warriors 1) (31 page)

A whimper reached his ears—Alexa’s, but then a similar sound also came from elsewhere. Leila. He cut his eyes to the corner. Erik was kissing Leila’s neck, right below her ear, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Leila’s gaze followed him, as he continued to eat Alexa. From the enraptured look on her face, she was enjoying the feeling of being touched. Good. He knew it had been too long for her.

Erik lifted his head and mouthed the word ‘careful’ to him, before his mouth once again lowered to Leila’s neck.

One last tongue-flick against Alexa’s clit, then he heeded Erik’s caution. Not wanting her to climax yet, he lowered her hips and wiped his mouth. Alexa’s flushed features revealed her level of arousal. She was ready. And so was he.

“Turn over.”

Alexa slowly turned onto her stomach, keeping eye contact with him as long as possible. He noticed, once she was on her stomach, that she turned her head toward Erik and Leila, instead of away.

He stood beside the bed and stripped. For safety reasons, he’d positioned himself so Erik could protect his back and he’d be able to see what was happening in the rest of the room. He reached down to unhook Alexa’s bra, and peeled it off her body.

Her blonde hair covered the back of her neck. He moved the strands aside and placed a soft kiss on the delicate skin there. Every inch of her was like a new taste sensation.

A low moan escaped her lips.

His tongue began a slow descent, starting at the top of her spine. Lower and lower, he trailed the length of her back to the top of her ass. He flicked his tongue a few times, then started back up her body again.

Alexa whimpered and rolled onto her side. He was about to protest, when her hand circled his hard cock and drew him to her mouth. The words he’d thought to speak stuck in his throat.

Her tongue swiped the head of his shaft, licking off a bead of moisture. He growled. Too much sensation. He’d never be able to hold out if she decided to draw him in completely.

He gently disengaged her and pushed her back onto her stomach. His hands grazed her body, moving lower. Then he climbed onto the bed to mount her. “On your knees.”

She rose up.

“No, just your knees. Not your hands. Keep your head down. Yeah, like that. Beautiful.”

“Beautiful,” Erik echoed in a low voice.

“Shh,” Leila immediately responded, sounding irritated.

Braden tried his best to ignore the corner. Good thing the room wasn’t wired for sound. He’d been kidding himself earlier when he’d spoken to Erik. He should have realized there was no way that he and Alexa could pretend Erik and Leila weren’t there.

His position behind Alexa fully exposed them to Erik’s and Leila’s view again. But there was nothing he could do about that.

It was time to make her his. He couldn’t wait any longer. Heart hammering, pulse pounding, he had to have her. With a low groan, he eased into her from behind. Pure, hot sin.

She made that sexy little sound he loved so much—half moan, half purr. And all his.

His fingers curled around her hips.

He pulled his cock almost completely out of her, then slowly buried himself deep. He clenched his teeth, controlling his body, not wanting the ecstasy to end.

“Faster,” she begged, her plea followed by a small whimper.

The needy sound in her voice made him crazy. He brushed the blonde hair from the back of her neck. So smooth. So beautiful. Soon she’d wear the mark of a mated breeder—his mark. All would know she belonged to him. He leaned over and licked the back of her neck, letting his tongue linger.

She shuddered and pushed against him. “I need…all of you.”

His heart expanded. With this woman, their joining was more than physical. She was his life, his soul. He pushed deep inside her, all the way in.

“Yes. Now. Start thrusting. Hurry.”

His cock throbbed painfully, and he groaned. The time had come. She wanted it, and so did he. The urge to fuck her was so strong that he couldn’t hold back any longer. Nor did he intend to, for she was right. They needed to hurry.

The air beside them shimmered. “Damn,” he muttered. A man in a full facemask materialized, hands on hips, and ready for battle.

“Stop the ceremony.”

She stiffened and tried to pull away to cover herself against the intruder.

He held her tightly around the waist and kept them intimately joined. Nothing was stopping him from making her his.

“I’ve come for the woman.”

Panic hit him, though he had expected this. He pushed her down to her stomach, covering her with his body. Protecting her.

The intruder tugged his pants open. “Pull out of her. I’m going to fix it so the bitch won’t ever be able to breed.”

No way. No one was going to stop him, or take her from him. He held her arms pinned to the mattress, so she couldn’t move, then surged into her, over and over, demonstrating his possession.

“This…woman…belongs…to…me!”

She squirmed beneath him, called out his name.

He ignored her. He had no choice. He had to Brand and Breed her, before it was too late.

“She doesn’t belong to you, Warrior. Not anymore. She is
my
whore now.”

Alexa tried to pull away. What was Braden doing? “Let me up!” They had to stop, delay the Branding, get the intruder out first. She’d been so close. If he’d only waited a moment longer, they could have completed the ceremony.

A disruptor beam shot across the room.

The masked man stumbled backward and hit the wall. He managed to keep to his feet and clamped a hand over the wound to his arm.

Erik stepped out from the corner. “You’re out-numbered, Laszlo. We know it’s you.” He held up a monitor. “Voice analysis confirmed.”

“Wait.” Alexa pushed back against Braden.

The masked man’s eyes widened. He reached for the weapon on his belt.

Erik fired again. The weapon disintegrated. “We don’t want to kill you. Give up before it comes to that.”

“You can’t defeat me.”

Alexa struggled beneath Braden’s body, trying to get more air into her lungs. He was crushing her. “Listen to me. It’s not—”

“Brand her, Braden,” Erik interrupted. “Now! In case he’s opened the entire security net, and teams of Egesa are on their way in.”

Erik fired once more, and the man crumpled to the floor.

The masked intruder quickly recovered and pushed himself to a sitting position, looking dazed.

Alexa gasped when Braden thrust into her. She felt her hair pulled back, away from her neck. If he thought she was going to orgasm while all this was going on, he was nuts! She’d never be able to complete the rite like this. Even though she’d promised earlier not to let anything stop them.

The air shimmered, and two more forms materialized. Kam and…Laszlo.

All movement in the room stopped.

The masked man swore, hit his transport-connector, and disappeared. Kam spared only a moment’s glance at the bed, then he too disappeared.

Laszlo’s gaze met hers. “I’m sorry it had to be this way, my dear.” His eyes narrowed to slits, and he raised his hand. Sweat broke out on his brow, and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. His gaze slid to Braden. “Brand her, while there’s time.”

Erotic images, to the extreme, flitted through Alexa’s mind. Dark fantasies she’d never revealed to anyone, not even Braden. Her body immediately spasmed. Braden tensed as he too climaxed, and his seed spilled into her.

She felt his mouth suction onto the back of her neck. Colors exploded inside her head. She screamed from the combination of pleasure/pain that wracked her body, then she collapsed beneath Braden’s weight, completely spent.

Epilogue

Silence hung heavily in the air. Only the Warriors’ breathing filled the awkward stillness of the room.

Laszlo was gone.

Braden shifted his weight off Alexa. His mind was a jumble. He traced the Brand on the back of her neck. The round mark, with his unique personal design, was almost transparent, but present. “Are you all right?” He stroked her back. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head, but didn’t speak. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. She was probably in shock.

Braden looked toward the corner by the door. “What happened?”

Erik held Leila close to his chest, stroking her hair. “Damned if I know,” he answered. “The monitor confirmed the masked man as Laszlo.”

“I don’t get this. Did you get a fix on the man with Kam?
That
was Laszlo. Or a look-a-like.”

“No. Sorry.”

“Shit, Erik!”

“Hey! I tried. The sequencer jammed, then he was gone before the reset took hold.”

“The man with Kam
was
Laszlo,” Alexa said, turning over and covering herself with a blanket.

Leila turned in Erik’s arms. “How do you know, Alexa?”

“He told me.”

Braden grabbed his underwear and slipped them on. “What do you mean?”

“Earlier today. While you were gone and before Leila came to help me prepare. Laszlo and Kam materialized into your room. They said I didn’t need to fear the Branding and told me what was going to happen tonight. They wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t back out.”

“Dammit! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Kam didn’t want me to say anything that might change the outcome. They said the Branding was the only way to keep me safe and to prove that Laszlo wasn’t a traitor. You and I are meant for each other, Laszlo said. A perfect match. He took away any last doubts I had.”

Braden’s heart thumped. The traitor wasn’t Laszlo. Otherwise, he would have snatched Alexa while in the room, before she was Branded. The thought of losing her made him ill. Though he’d taken precautions, he never should have left her alone, even for a short time.

Laszlo’s visit to Alexa could have been a set-up to fool them, he supposed. But if so, it would be a foolhardy one. And he couldn’t believe that Kam would betray them. He had to believe, did believe, that Laszlo was still on their side. Braden returned Alexa’s sweet smile, grateful for what Laszlo had done in taking away her lingering doubts.

“How could the monitor confirm the masked man as Laszlo, if it wasn’t him?” Leila asked. “And I recognized his eyes and voice when we were on the Marid ship. I swear I did.”

Alexa shook her head. “I don’t know. He said that he and Kam needed to handle things, and we were to stay out of it.”

“Yeah, right.” Erik snorted.

“We have to accept the fact that we don’t know enough right now to figure this thing out.” Braden looked across the room where Kam had been. “I have to believe that the man with Kam was Laszlo, like Alexa says. And I believe he’s still on our side. I believe they both are. Somehow, I think Laszlo put erotic images in my head, and I suspect Alexa’s too, so we could finish the Branding.”

“Yes,” Alexa agreed.

“How could he do that?” Erik asked, practically barking out the words.

“I don’t know.” Braden also realized that the vision he’d had of Alexa, back while in the graveyard, had come true right down to the last detail. Was Laszlo responsible for that, too?

“He does have the ability to project images,” Alexa explained, confirming Braden’s suspicions. “He told me. I had a vision of me and Braden in this room long before it happened.”

Braden’s gaze snapped to hers. “Me, too.”

“This is all too weird for me,” Erik replied, looking around the room as if still expecting an invasion. “Where’d he get powers like that?”

And how much had their own minds been manipulated? Braden couldn’t help but wonder. He wasn’t comfortable with this new turn of events. Laszlo had used the power for the good of Xylon, to pair him and Alexa as mates. But Laszlo could just as easily use it for evil, if the man decided to turn.

Leila stepped over to the bed, her face a study of concentration. “If the masked man wasn’t Laszlo, and was a Marid commander—Daegal or not, why didn’t the compound shut down when he breached security? Nothing happened. Nothing changed. That’s always been one of our advantages over The Dome. The ability to identify when someone from the other side penetrates our walls.”

Braden shook his head. “I don’t know. Erik and I think there’s a small hole in security somewhere that could allow one person at a time to get through undetected. Or maybe the masked man was a Warrior once. Maybe someone related to Laszlo that we don’t know about, who turned, and still has access to The Lair. That would account for the monitor readings and resemblance. Though our equipment is designed to be more sophisticated than that, so—”

“Fine. If all or any of that is true, then where the hell is Kam?” Erik asked. “He’s dick-deep in this. There’s something more going on here.”

“My brother is a good man!” Alexa protested. “I know he is. Don’t you dare imply otherwise.”

At that moment, Kam materialized inside the room.

Erik grabbed him by the front of the shirt. “What the hell is going on?”

“Let go of me.”

“Let go of him,” Alexa protested at the same time.

“Enough!” Braden ordered. They needed to stick together right now, not argue. “Kam, what’s going on? Let him go, Erik.”

Erik released him, and Kam stepped back out of reach. “Laszlo isn’t a traitor or double-agent. He hasn’t betrayed Xylon. He’s gone after the masked man. I need to follow.”

“No!” Alexa protested. “If you go, you might never come back.”

“What’s your role in all this?” Erik asked.

That’s exactly what Braden wanted to know, too.

“He needed help and confided in me. I found out that Daegal, like Laszlo, has the ability to project images. Both their powers are fading, so Daegal especially is desperate to find other ways to remain in control. He’s staying hidden from all but his most loyal followers now. And as long as he thinks he might be able to get valuable information out of our Warriors about Xylon, he’s hesitating to launch an all-out assault.”

“This is fucking unbelievable,” Erik mumbled.

“Braden,” Leila interrupted.

“What?”

“The masked man, it just registered with me what he said.”

“What are you talking about?”