A Forgotten Kitten (Sea-anan Saga Book 2) (24 page)

Mike’s lips pressed together in a smirk. “It wasn’t easy on anyone. But you haven’t changed, either.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, normally you were the obedient son. But when Areo was involved, well, that was a different story.”

Sev waited for him to explain.

“No one was able to convince you that the two of you were not to see each other. You were from two different worlds. It was forbidden love. Still, you never listened to anyone or anything except your heart. And it always led you back to Areo. Even when your father banned you from leaving Seacat grounds, thinking it would keep you from seeing her, you didn’t listen. You see, we half-bloods were not allowed to go anywhere near Seacat territory. Hell, we never left our home unless it was with an adult. To do so would mean having to face an angry mob.”

“You’re kidding me. A mob against a kitten?”

“A vicious angry mob at that.”

“I can’t believe my own race would behave so…kittenlike.”

“You’re too kind,” Mike jeered. “During those times, you snuck out of the castle and headed to our home.”

Sev considered what he said. “How old was I when I first started feeling this way about her?”

Mike smiled. “That’s the funny part. Areo and Mathew were just born. You and your father happened to be at our home that day on official business. You were two years old and delayed in speech, plus extremely shy, making it difficult for Oren to leave you with a nanny. My father and Uncle Rick brought Mathew and Areo out of my uncle’s bedroom to greet the rest of the family. My father carried Mathew. When he introduced the infant to you, you reached out and touched Mathew’s hand and smiled.”

Sev smiled.

“Then Uncle Rick went to you and said, ‘This is my daughter Areo.’ You stared at her funny at first. You gently touched Areo’s hair and cheek. Everyone wondered what was going through your head. The look on your face was one no one recognized. You then suddenly gave my uncle a dirty look and hissed at him. ‘My kitten!’ you yelled, then snarled at him.”

Sev’s head jerked back in surprise.

“You can’t imagine the reaction your first words and actions had on everyone. My uncle nearly dropped Areo. He was known to say that the mean look you gave him that day was the same evil eye you gave anyone who tried to get between the two of you.” Mike laughed. “It got worse after that. You never wanted to leave Areo’s side. Your father was enraged that the only way to appease you was to have the twins near you almost all the time. You spent more time in our house than you did at the castle. Haven’t you noticed that you speak differently than the rest of your felines?”

Sev laughed. “I’ve always wondered about that. I thought I picked it up from Jugar.”

Mike’s face beamed. These were the few happy moments of his childhood. Despite all the bad, he had never forgotten them.
“You and Jugar picked it up from Uncle Rick, my mother, and all the other Earthlings you came into contact with. Your father hated it. He tried to make you stop talking like us, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. You also had nasty temper tantrums when it was time for you to leave our house. And when days went by that your father didn’t allow you to visit our house to see Areo, you would protest.”

“Protest?”

“Stop eating.”

“You are making this up! How could that have possibly happened?”

Mike shrugged. “We’re still wondering about that ourselves. And believe it or not, you got worse as you grew older. The things that happened as we grew up were amazing, but funny. I’ll give you a quick synopsis. By the time you turned three, you were calling her your princess. By five, you announced that Areo was your soulmate and you were going to marry her. By ten, you and Areo had shared your first kiss. And when you turned eleven, you—”

Sev did not move. He did not have to. His nose had picked up Areo’s scent the moment she had entered the bridge. She stood on the other side of his seat. “My kitten.” He turned to her.

“I’d better get back to the controls,” mumbled Mike.

Areo’s heated stare followed Mike’s departing back while Sev ogled her. He had not seen her up close in seven and a half months and was starving for her beauty. “Princess.” Now he knew why calling her that felt so familiar.

“Forget everything he said to you. It was all a lie,” she curtly instructed.

“Why are you saying that?” Her response told him it was not.

“Because it was,” she bit out. Areo eyeballed her cousin. {How dare you try to reopen his mind on our past together. You had no right!}

{He asked me. What was I supposed to say, no?}

{Yes!}

{He’s my king, Areo. I can’t just say no to him or lie when I feel like it.}

{He is not your king!} Areo shouted at him with her mind.

{He is your husband, which makes him our new king.}

{No, it doesn’t!}

{For as long as you’re our queen, Sev will be our king. Or have you forgotten you bear his soulscar? Technically, whether you like it or not, that makes him our king and new leader.}

Sev observed his wife and Mike exchanging glowers. “What are the two of you talking about?”

Areo looked at him. “I haven’t said a thing.”

Sev released a terrible growl. He leapt from his seat and snatched a hold of Areo’s arm. “Mike, you have the bridge.” He hauled his wife outside. Spinning her about, he scolded her. “You are never to lie to me again. Understand? This is the last time I will allow it!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You were speaking to Mike telepathically.” At her shocked expression, Sev admitted, “Yes, I know you were born with that little talent. Amongst the other skills you inherited, thanks to your parents being from different worlds. But that’s not why I brought you out here. I do not appreciate being lied to, especially in front of my warriors.”

Areo blinked.
“Your
warriors? And since when are my brand of Seacats your warriors?”

“Since you became their queen. And since this!” Sev grabbed Areo’s bottom and pulled her hard against him. Seizing her lips, he plundered her moist cavern until she melted against him.

“Release me,” she whispered against his lips.

Sev heard her words lacked conviction; therefore, he held on to her. “We’ll be arriving at Sea Base Five in three hours. We already know what awaits us. What we don’t know is how our union would be accepted.”

“We are not married. I told you that already. We shared one night together. That doesn’t make us man and—”

Sev squeezed her derriere hard, making Areo cry out in pain. “No, but this does. I won’t allow you to forget it. I love you, Princess.” He grasped her jaw. “I love you.” He heatedly kissed her.

Sev felt Areo pushing at his chest, so he released her.

“I am not your wife,” she threw at him. “I have never sworn before a priest a life of fidelity to you or to any man, for that matter.”

Sev eyed her closely. His anger rose with each word that left her red lips.

“I’m human, remember?” Areo said. “That’s the only form of marriage I know. A priest and a wedding ring on my finger. Until then, I’m as free as a bird to go where I choose, when I choose, and with whomever I choose.”

“Tread carefully, my kitten. I will not allow you to betray me. You are
my
permanent mate,
my
soulmate. That means I am your
only
mate.”

“If that’s what you want to believe, then go ahead. I can’t stop you. But heed my words,
Oren’s son.
I am not an Oceanan. I’m not subject to your laws, only to Earth’s laws.” Areo shrugged a slender shoulder. “If you had taken Serena like I told you to, then you wouldn’t be having this conversation with your”—she made the gesture of quotation marks—“wife.”

OK. Two could play at this game,
thought Sev, struggling with his temper. “Is that what you really want, Areo? For me to take Serena to my bed? For me to mate with her like I mated with you?”

That silenced her.

“To make love to Serena several times each night?” He stepped closer. “For me to place my erection deep inside her tight, sleek virgin’s heat? To enter her again and again, until she cries out my name in ecstasy?”

Areo’s expression crumbled.

“Do you want me to make her beg for me to take her fast and hard like a wildcat?” Sev loomed over her. “Do you want me to make her cry out my name as she reaches orgasm and pours her juices over my arousal?”

Tears glistened in Areo’s soulful eyes.

“Do you really want me to place my matrimonial scar on her unmarked thigh while I call out
her name
and pour my seed inside her receptive, orgasmic body, signifying that I am
eternally, solely hers?”

Areo stormed off.

Sev watched her go. “That will never happen, my kitten. That will never happen.” He reentered the bridge.

Three hours later, Arnold entered the bridge. He spotted Sev dressed in Sea Ranger clothes, standing in front of the window.

He paused beside him and said, “Welcome to Sea Base Five, Sire.”

Sev stood in awe of the enormous elliptical-shaped, gray-metal space station. The bright and colorful blinking lights hypnotized him. His sights traveled from left to right, then up and down, following the transverse and lengthwise movements of the elevators through glass-encased tunnels. He had never seen so many spaceships enter or leave one complex from different ends at the same time. If he had seen something more magnificent, he could not remember it.

“Wow. There were ten of these built?”

Arnold’s chest puffed with pride. “That’s right. Would you believe we got the idea from your father?”

Sev gave him a quizzical look.

“He had sent my father to a space station as a delegate to obtain a peace contract with a group of aligned worlds. Oren wanted Oceana to become part of their alliance. Later on, my father uncovered the Alliance’s plot to have the Seacats join, then to use them to protect the Alliance. Naturally, father told his adopted sister.” He met Sev’s gaze. “And she and the king destroyed the contract.”

“Adopted sister? I didn’t know Challen had another sister. Who was she?”

“The queen.”

“What? My mother?”

Arnold nodded.

“Why wasn’t I told this? How?”

“Aunt Karla’s parents died alongside my father’s. She was three at the time, and Aunt Nora was two months old. My father wasn’t going to turn his back on Karla, so he formally adopted her and raised both females, alone, with no money and no home. He was ten.”

“I see. Wow. I wish Jugar had told me, or in this case, had reminded me.”

“I’m sure he had his reasons for
never leaving your side.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. You’ll figure it out.”

Sev faced the window. He repeated Arnold’s words. It dawned on him that Challen must have made Jugar promise to keep an eye on him. The thought of something happening to his sister’s only son, his nephew, must have worried him to death.

Sev felt terrible.
How could my father do this to her clan,
my
family unit? It’s no wonder they’re so bitter.
He changed the topic before his emotions got the best of him. “I can’t imagine the manpower needed to run a station this size. Who’s in command here?” He heard the doors to the bridge slide open. He glanced behind him and saw Sea Ranger Superior Bill and Jugar.

“His name is Captain Jonathan Rider. He’s an Earthling. In fact, all our stations are commanded by Earthlings.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

The White Star steadily approached the elliptical space station. It easily slipped through a side opening and glided to one of the many docking ports, gently coming to a halt.

Bill interrupted by clearing his throat. “It’s time, Commander.”

“Thank you,” said Arnold with a slight bow of his head. He placed his hood over his head. “We’d better go.”

Sev’s lips thinned at the thought of what might happen once they left the safety of the ship. “Right.” He lifted his own hood. He was grateful Mike had given him a black sword for protection. His hand caressed the hilt at his side as he followed Arnold off the bridge.

They joined a group of imperial warriors about to leave for Sea Base Five. The group entered the Dock Twelve check-in area. At the opposite end of the room was a large electromagnetic wall of green energy. This energy grid was divided by small metallic doorways. Beside each doorway was a desk with several computers on it and a station guard sitting behind it.

Arnold’s group patiently waited their turn in one of the lines. From underneath their dark hoods, the Sea-anans noticed how dramatically things had changed. No one would have guessed that the station had ever been an orderly, smoothly operating one from the chaotic show of panicked aliens running amuck and yelling at officers. The disorganized state brought sadness to their hearts and hatred to their souls. It strengthened their conviction to put an end to Daehog’s carnage and restore an orderly peace.

It was now their turn at the counter. They were moved by the appearance of their fellow comrade behind the desk. Arnold saw the Ave wore his shoulder-length, sandy brown hair that was scattered with tan feathers pulled back in a neat ponytail, exposing his pointy ears. The tiny feathers on his lashes and brows drew attention to his light brown eyes. He wore no robe, so Arnold noticed his closed wings were hanging low. The man’s humanlike features were strong and angular. And he appeared as if he was about to fall on his face.