Engulf [New World Book 5] (7 page)

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I suppose since we’re mated I better get used to it.”

“Mated? What do you mean we’re mated?”

“In order to save your life I needed to mark you so my armor would recognize you as vital to my safety. It was the only way I could lower my shield. It was the only way to tuck you in here with me.”

“Well, how do we un-mate?”

“We don’t.”

To Abri his words sounded ominous.

“Ever?”

“Never.”

* * * *

Abri’s abrupt silence was all the indication Raiden needed to understand she was far from pleased about being his mate. Raiden’s armor controlled both of their organ functions and for the most part their emotions—becoming too emotional would lead to elevated heart levels. That meant Raiden couldn’t stimulate any secretions. He needed to feel her inside him for him to understand her.

A dim memory in Raiden’s scent emotion came to mind. Mating was more than the bite. He should have been lying over top of her with his organ thrusting and penetrating her. Well, he had been a little pressed for time. Raiden knew they were mated, but because the bond was formed without her knowledge and without the physical act of connecting—something was missing. He hadn’t exactly had her permission either.

Damn.

Raiden searched his scent memories and was relieved to find and feel he would not be shunned for forcing her—it was done to save her life. But there was no doubt in his mind his mating was going to be a very tricky situation. More importantly, why was half of his hearing gone? He could only hear out his right ear and Abri apparently only her left.

Raiden felt overwhelming relief when Cobra’s vessel appeared—alone. It didn’t take much for a long see-through suction tube to be deployed and Raiden and Abri were scooped from the darkness. Raiden had been trained in the art of landing after such an experience, but after floating for a while he stumbled when his clawed feet hit the soft interior vessel surface. The blasts had been extreme, his armor had been protecting them both, and he would need to regenerate his shield soon.

“Damn the bastards,” Cobra was howling before he reached Raiden. “I’m sorry about your female. The damned Tonans have altered their cloaking device again. The females’ losses are my fault. I take responsibility. I should have demanded they be brought to my ship. The little one, Tasha, has been asking for you, Raiden.”

Raiden dropped his armor and Abri slid to the ground much to the obvious surprise of Cobra and the others who had gathered around them. Abri was pressed tight to him. Raiden could now scent her distress. It was overwhelming without the aid of his shield to regulate her heartbeat and emotions. She was half-naked surrounded by massive Castian warriors. She had no idea there wasn’t a male there that would dare touch her.

“We have Cace,” came a triumphant yell.

Soon Cace was stumbling onto the tarmac. He dropped his armor and there was Sam pressed tight to him. Sam was muttering in a whimper.

“But how can we be mated? I don’t even know you.”

“You will get to know me,” Cace said in a soothing gesture.

Cace looked as helpless as Raiden felt. Cobra’s look was a cross between relief and annoyance. The mating hadn’t been a normal one—everyone scented it. It was a forced mating—for the right reasons. The scent memory was disturbing all of the warriors as they tried to deal with Raiden’s emotions and the absolute stink of Abri’s and Sam’s fear. It wasn’t natural and the look Cobra sent both Raiden and Cace, they understood they had best fix the situation—fast.

“Take your new mates to your quarters. Get them in the healing waters just in case there was something your armor missed,” Cobra said. “Then report to me.”

“Huh?” Raiden yelled, only getting half the sentence.

Cobra stopped dead in his tracks as he had been walking away, the words tossed back over a retreating shoulder. He moved closer to peer at Raiden. Cobra sniffed him and frowned. He then sniffed Abri who cringed. Doss came forward next. Neither man looked any too pleased. Cace cocked his head to the side and looked questioningly at his warrior mate.

“What happened?” Cobra demanded.

“I don’t know,” Raiden said, feeling just as perplexed. “I can only hear out of my right ear and now Abri can hear out of her left whereas before she couldn’t hear. We mated. Shouldn’t my armor have healed her?”

“You mated, but you didn’t join. And this is the first time we have encountered a deaf female. Hearing isn’t detrimental to your living,” Cobra said. “That’s why she has hearing in her left and you in your right—to equal it out.”

“You gave up part of your hearing for me?” Abri’s look was stunned.

“Well, it wasn’t intentional.” Raiden snapped in irritation and was immediately contrite. If she hadn’t been without a shirt she would have pulled away from him. He had hurt her. Abri’s face buried into his chest to hide from him. His scent emotion began to secrete small amounts of fluid into Abri, trying to bond and soothe, but Raiden couldn’t stand the scent emanating from the other warriors. Frustrated, Raiden pulled her tighter against him and called up his armor. All secretions stopped flowing. Hopefully the healing water would finish the process and heal their hearing.

At a fast pace, Raiden climbed the interior of the vessel. The walls were much like the forest floor they had left—sponge-like. It was to accommodate their claws and talons, allowing them swift motion to either ascend or descend. Before long, Raiden was on the tenth level. He stepped onto the platform and lowered his shield. Abri took one look down, seemed to swoon, and Raiden captured her to his chest.

Great, she’s afraid of heights.

“I don’t feel very well,” Abri muttered.

“I won’t let you fall.”

“There’s no way for me to get down on my own.”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

Perhaps it was a good thing she was trapped; Raiden scented her intent to bolt. Raiden led her to a huge door, waved his hand across the panel and the door slid open. Inside, the ceilings were high. Raiden dragged her behind him as she turned and twisted to look at everything. When they reached the healing pool, Raiden knew there was no way around what was about to happen. He picked Abri up and jumped in. She was howling as she submerged.

Abri spluttered as the water attacked her clothing and whipped her hair around. She gasped in a few huge mouthfuls of air when she broke the surface. Bubbles circled her making the water pitch with the motion. She was soon bare. Her hands flailed as though not knowing what to try and cover first. Raiden was unconcerned; he had been told human females were shy about their bodies until they bonded with their mate. And though curious as to what a naked female looked like, Raiden had other concerns foremost in his thoughts.

Raiden kept a firm grip on Abri’s arm, but dunked himself up and down over and over. It wasn’t working. He still couldn’t hear out of his left ear. Maybe healing waters wouldn’t work on Castians—then again, none of them had ever needed healing. He could scent Abri’s distress, but his own was building. The healing water wasn’t helping her to hear either. What the hell was he going to do? Raiden was four hundred years old, a warrior. He needed to hear—out of both ears.

Damn it, what kind of warrior can’t hear properly? What kind of warrior mate will I be to Cace?

Raiden finally noticed Abri had stopped struggling. She was looking at him in a sad, odd way, and he realized he was scowling while tugging on his ear—willing his hearing to return.

“Do you wish you hadn’t saved me?” she asked next to his right ear. It was apparent she wanted to make certain he heard her. “Are you wishing I was dead instead? Are we stuck together?”

That certainly put things into perspective. With his bite he had given Abri immortality. They were indeed stuck together. “No, I’m not sorry I saved you. I was just surprised. You have been deaf since when?”

“A year. It happened when the shuttle crash landed. There was an explosion.”

“So you weren’t born this way. Well, it’s new to me. Didn’t you feel a bit confused when you couldn’t hear?”

“I suppose. You aren’t being very nice to me.” She looked so alone.

“Did you treat your friends any different?”

“I didn’t know any of them. Now I’m all alone again, and I can hear most of what you say—and I can see most of what you feel. You’re angry with me. But it wasn’t my fault. You never asked. Now you say we’re mated. How can I be mated to a man who hates me?”

Raiden felt stunned. He far from hated her. He was just so surprised and confused and—images of when his parents died flooded his mind. He had called to his brother and Loy had come. Again, when he had called, Doss had come. Abri was calling to him—he heard it inside. He was so busy feeling sorry for himself, for what he couldn’t hear on the outside, he hadn’t wanted to listen to what was going on inside his body.

“We need to get out of this water. We need to join properly.”

Raiden lifted Abri from the water and carried her to the adjacent room. He set her on his bed and covered her with a warm blanket that molded to her. She seemed a bit surprised and he remembered humans didn’t have chipped blankets. It was strange to Raiden, why have something useful if the item wasn’t programmed on what its exact purpose was? He went to a console and waved his hand. Another blanket appeared and after wrapping himself in it, Raiden went to sit beside Abri.

“Why can’t we un-mate?” Abri asked.

“It’s not that simple. A Castian mates for life—literally. If you die so will I, and if I die so will you.”

“How is that possible?”

Raiden lifted his hand and cupped her chin. He hated her fear and her worry. This needed to end—now. She was his mate, he already loved her—he had no choice. It was an emotion he couldn’t control, it was in his blood. She was in his blood. Scent memories invaded him. A Castian only needed to catch a whiff of a scent, search his scent memories, and if ever a Castian had felt the same, smelled what he smelled, Raiden could feel those memories. Mating may be new to Raiden, but it was as old as time and his memories went back farther than he knew they could.

“This is why it’s possible.”

Raiden inhaled her scent. His hand grew damp to moisten her skin. She was fighting him internally with her emotions. His secretions became coaxing, cajoling, rolling on her warm skin until it breached a barrier. He was in. It had taken a moment of searching as his essence had been withheld from her for so long. Now he could feel them connect. He felt her startled response and then she settled. Raiden lowered her blanket and pulled her closer. His hands cupped her shoulder blades and pressed her upper body to his. Skin on skin with his mate was euphoric.

“I can feel you inside me.”

Though her words were whispered Raiden heard her very well. They were joining. He didn’t need to hear the words; he could feel them. A Castian warrior needed to be so in tune with his mate he could feel her across galaxies if need be. It was a matter of life and death. Abri was calmer now. It was easier to listen to her emotional needs. She was scared and confused. That she feared him made Raiden upset. His mate was never to fear him—it wasn’t right; the scent was wrong. His secretions kicked into overdrive.

“What’s happening to me?” she asked.

“This should have been our first mating. I’m sorry I mated you without your knowledge or permission, but I’m not sorry I saved your life.”

“You lost half your hearing.”

“And gained a mate. A Castian warrior would die to protect his mate, giving up half my hearing is nothing.”

“But I thought if you died I would too, isn’t dying for your mate redundant?”

“It is very hard to kill a warrior.”

“Yet I wounded you when we mated.”

“You humans have an expression—the glass half full or half empty.”

Abri seemed to ponder that. “For me it became half full—for you half empty.”

Raiden sighed. Not joining in the beginning was proving troublesome. He scented she no longer feared him. It wasn’t just his touch but his tone and his words. Raiden had never had sex before. Abri would be his first, but that didn’t mean he knew nothing. He had seen his brothers touch lips with their mates. Abri’s lips were so rosy and full he wanted to try. He wanted to taste them.

Chapter 5

When Raiden dipped his head to kiss Abri, she pulled back. She was sitting nude on his bed covered only in a warm white blanket. She was dry and yet the blanket wasn’t damp. Everything around her was so different. She had been told Earth as she knew it was gone. Where was home? Outside the rectangular window, Abri could see stars. The person before her was male—and yet monster. Under his soft flesh hid a hideous beast. Was she just supposed to forget that?

Raiden had declared them mated, but Abri wasn’t certain what exactly it meant. He had given up half of his hearing for her. Sounds she never thought to hear again were now possible because of him. She felt him inside her. She wasn’t sure what that meant either. He seemed to just expect her to know—Abri didn’t.

“Is mated the equivalent of being married?” she asked.

“No. It’s so much more.”

“How so?”

“We are one. No matter where you go in this universe, I will always find you. I can scent you, sense you, feel you. I cannot lie to you, and it’s best if you don’t lie to me. I can scent deception.”

“What did you do to me on your vessel?”

“I marked you as mine.”

When Abri looked at him filled with confusion he took her hand and led her to a mirror. He turned her slightly and lowered her blanket from her shoulder and she gasped. The tattoo he sported on his face when in his armor was shining brightly on her shoulder blade—an exact glowing green match. He had branded her? Abri glared at him.

“I’m not an animal!”

“I don’t understand.” Raiden had been standing there looking very pleased, his bubble burst right in front of her.

“Let me see your mark,” she demanded.