Hannah's Warrior: Cosmos' Gateway Book 2 (7 page)

Hannah set the tray down on the coffee table
in front of the couch ignoring the two men staring at her and
poured out three cups. She turned and handed one to Cosmos before
she handed two aspirins, a cup of coffee, and one of the bags of
ice wrapped in a dish towel to the huge man who was fingering the
bump on his head while he watched every move she made. Hannah
resisted rubbing her left hand on her thigh again as it tingled.
Since there was nowhere else to sit, she moved over to sit next to
him. After all, he couldn’t very well drink his coffee and hold two
ice packs to his head at the same time. She definitely wasn’t going
to touch where the third one needed to go though she did give it to
him, sort of.

“
Where is Tink?” Hannah asked briskly
looking at Cosmos. She ignored Borj’s wince as she dropped one ice
pack on his lap while she held another ice pack to the back of his
head. “When is she coming home?”

Borj adjusted the ice pack in his lap but
doubted it would cool the aching throb that filled his cock when
Hannah sat down next to him on the couch. The combination of her
scent and the way the robe rode up on her long legs would have made
sweat bead on his brow if not for the two ice packs, one of the
front and the other on the back, cooling it.

“She has recovered from her
injuries.” Borj said hoarsely as he felt Hannah’s fingers in his
short hair.
Gods,
he thought as a wave of desire washed over him,
does she not feel the same thing?

“
Thank, God!” Cosmos breathed out
relieved before he translated what Borj said for Hannah. He had
been terrified even with the advanced technology of the Prime they
wouldn’t be able to save her after seeing the extent of her
injuries.

“
If she is all right then why hasn’t
she come back?” Hannah growled out ignoring Borj when he jerked
away from her less than gentle probing.

“
She cannot come. She is breeding. The
healer and J’kar both fear for her and the children. They both feel
she will be happier if she has a family member with her during her
breeding cycle. My father and the council have agreed to let one
member be brought to her.” Borj said pulling the ice pack down from
his forehead. He looked Hannah in the eye so she would have little
doubt as to which family member he was referring to.

Cosmos spewed coffee out and
started choking when Borj said Tink was breeding. Hell, just a week
or so ago she was dying and now she was expecting a kid? Cosmos
frowned. Borj had said ‘children’ not child.

“
Breeding?” Hannah asked dazed when
Cosmos translated the last part. Her baby sister was pregnant?
Already? By some alien dude?

“
What the fuck do you mean by
breeding?” Hannah asked at the same time Cosmos choked out
“children?”

Borj grinned with pride. “She is expecting
what you call ‘twins.’ Our people have never heard of having more
than one child at a time. Tink called J’kar a ‘potent
son-of-a-bitch’. My father wishes, among other things, for all of
his sons to be this.” Borj said with a devilish gleam in his eye as
he stared at Hannah.

It was close to two o’clock in the morning
when Hannah finally told Cosmos she was done…finished…totally
fried. She couldn’t handle anything else unless she got some
serious sleep. While she didn’t understand a word coming out of
Borj’s mouth, she did understand the look in his eyes and the
language in his body. She had photographed enough animals mating in
the wild, not to mention having two very horny parents growing up,
to get the message loud and clear he wouldn’t mind sharing a bed
with her. Borj had not been happy when Cosmos let him know he would
not be joining Hannah upstairs.

Hannah laid in the dark waiting for her
overtired mind to finally calm down enough for sleep to overtake
her. She absently ran the fingers of her right hand over the palm
of her left. She had noticed when she was making the coffee earlier
in the kitchenette downstairs that a series of circles forming a
pattern had appeared in the center of her left palm. She didn’t
want to say anything in front of Borj about it. Unfortunately, she
never got a chance to be alone with Cosmos after their unexpected
visitor woke up. Hannah frowned as she remembered every time Cosmos
got too close to her Borj would start doing his growling thing
again. It was beginning to piss her off. He was acting like some
dog in a pissing contest or, she thought with a grin, that big-ass
lion she was photographing with the ladies.

Hannah shivered as a sense of forewarning ran
through her that her life was about to change – big time – and she
wasn’t going to have a lot of say about it. Rolling over, she
punched the pillow and forced her mind to think of other things
than big, sexy aliens with beautiful silver eyes. Her fingers,
though, had a mind of their own as they continued to stroke the
circles softly.

Borj let out another soft groan as he turned
on the oversized couch. Sweat was beaded on his forehead and he was
in pain. This time, however, was for an entirely different reason.
He could feel each stroke of Hannah’s fingers as if she were
touching his overheated skin. He noticed the mating mark almost
immediately when he sat down. He had felt a strange tingling and
burning sensation and had almost been too nervous to look. He
remembered J’kar telling him of how it felt when Tink and he
touched for the first time…as if an electrical charge had burned
its way through his body. Borj bit back a painful chuckle as he
rolled over onto his back trying to find a place where the bump on
the back of his head wouldn’t cause discomfort. He, unfortunately,
had been unconscious during their first touch. Borj grinned as he
thought of how spirited his bond mate was before it dissolved to a
frown at how dangerous it could have been if it had been someone
else other than him in the warehouse.

He needed to return with Hannah to his world.
He needed to finish the mating rite ceremony. Borj felt the ache
deep inside as he fought the desire to claim his mate. The chemical
reaction between the two of them started the moment they touched.
When his body, even in his unconscious state, found the perfect
chemical balance with Hannah’s he was destined to claim her as his
own. His body hardened even more as a wave of sexual desire flowed
through him. Borj gritted his teeth and wondered how J’kar was ever
able to leave his bond mate’s side. He had thought Hannah beautiful
from just the image he had but seeing her, touching her skin, and
scenting her delicate fragrance was enough to drive him insane with
need.

Borj realized if he did not relieve some of
the pressure building inside him he would never be able to rest.
Sitting up, he bit back a moan as his cock protested its
confinement within the tight pants human male’s called jeans. The
‘zipper’ on it was biting into his flesh. He couldn’t help but feel
sorry for the males if this is what they had to suffer. Borj moved
quietly across the floor until he came to the room containing a
‘toilet’ and a sink. Cosmos referred to it as a ‘half-bath’. It was
small but it would meet Borj’s needs for the moment.

Softly closing the door, Borj touched the
switch to illuminate the room. Standing in front of the sink, he
lowered the zipper and unbuttoned the fastener holding his pants
on. Borj gritted his teeth and closed his eyes against his image
being reflected in the mirror. Instead, he brought up Hannah’s
beautiful face. He pictured her with her hair as it was earlier
flowing down her back. As he gripped his cock, he imagined it was
her soft hands wrapped around him. He smiled at the thought of
slowly removing the tiny black piece of cloth and watching as it
slid off her pale, creamy shoulders. He would run his tongue over
the curve of them, tasting each delectable inch as he worked his
way down to her full breasts. He knew she had nipples from the
information Tink related during her lesson on oral sex. He
remembered in the vidcom she talked about how sensitive a human
female’s breasts were and how a man sucking on them could cause her
to have an orgasm if he did it right.

Borj groaned louder as he pumped his cock
thinking about Hannah doing oral sex on him as Tink described. The
thought of her beautiful lips wrapped around him caused him to bite
back a loud groan as he came in the sink. Borj’s head fell forward
as hot stream after hot stream of his seed poured out. He leaned
his right palm against the sink while he let his left hand continue
to gently run up and down the length of his cock until it became so
sensitive it was painful to the touch. Taking a deep breath, he
opened his eyes and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His
dark silver eyes had twin flames of desire and determination
burning deep inside them. The next time he sought release it would
not be his hand that gave it to him, he swore darkly.

Chapter 5

Hannah woke late the next
day. She rolled over onto her back and sighed as she remembered her
last thoughts before she had fallen into the deepest, most restful
sleep she had ever had. Hannah flushed and moved restlessly against
the sheets as she remembered the very vivid dream she had before
exhaustion, and something else, claimed her. Sitting up in bed,
Hannah shook her head at how real dreams could be. She could have
sworn Borj touched her in ways she had never let a man near enough
to do. She let her hands move to her breasts surprised to find them
sensitive and tender to her touch.
Maybe
I’m getting ready to start,
she thought
vaguely.

Frowning, she pushed the covers back and
climbed out of the bed determined to dismiss the erotic dream for
what it was – a dream. She was not about to let any male, alien or
not, near enough to hurt her! Hannah knew it was irrational to be
afraid of being intimate with another person but it was her
irrationality. She learned to live with it a long time ago when she
would break out in sweats every time a guy would come near her. She
also knew deep down that was why she worked as far away from others
as possible. It was just safer not to care.

Pushing the bad thoughts out of her head, she
was almost to the door of the bathroom when she heard her name
called out. Turning, she smiled at Cosmos standing in the doorway
trying not to cuss as he straightened the flower vase that kept
falling over on the tray. Hannah leaned back watching as one of the
smartest men in the world fumbled with trying to carry a tray
without dropping it. She finally felt so sorry for him she couldn’t
help but walk over and pluck the flower – vase and all – off the
tray.

Cosmos gave Hannah a crooked grin. “Thanks! I
wanted to surprise you with brunch in bed. I also thought I might
be able to talk to you alone for a few minutes before Borj comes
storming in here.” Cosmos said following Hannah over to the bed
where he set the tray down with a sigh of relief.

Hannah laughed as she picked up a piece of
the buttered toast and took a bite. “Is he giving you problems this
morning?” She asked amused sipping at the coffee with a sigh.

Cosmos laughed as he rubbed the back of his
neck. “You could say that. But, I took care of it. I gave him a
stack of Playboy and Penthouse magazines, among others, to look at.
You should see his face. Something tells me they don't have those
on his planet.”

Hannah paused in the process of taking
another bite of the toast and raised an eyebrow. The warning bells
were starting again. “Okay, out with it. What is wrong?”

Cosmos looked at Hannah a moment before
sighing deeply. He really, really didn’t think she was going to
like what he had to say. Especially, if what Borj showed him and
told him was true. He halfway wondered if it would be safer to
stand but Hannah took that option out of the picture when she set
the toast down and grabbed his chin turning it towards her.

“
What is wrong?” Hannah repeated in her
no-nonsense voice.

“
Can I see your hands for a moment?”
Cosmos asked suddenly.

Hannah jerked back and rubbed both her palms
on her thighs. “Why?” She asked suspiciously.

Cosmos’ face darkened as he
realized everything Borj told him was true. The same thing that
happened to Tink was happening to Hannah.
It was all his damn fault for inventing that double-damn
gateway!
Cosmos thought in
dismay.

“
Let me see them.” Cosmos asked
quietly.

Hannah’s hands trembled as she slowly
extended them until they lay palm down in Cosmos’ huge ones. Cosmos
squeezed them briefly before turning them over so he could see her
palms. Sure enough, she had a series of intricate circles forming a
pattern in the center of her left palm. Cosmos knew that when he
scanned it, it would match perfectly with the one on Borj’s left
palm. They were bond mates.

“
I’m a what?” Hannah whispered in
disbelief.

Cosmos flushed when he realized he had spoken
aloud. “You are Borj’s bond mate. He said in his world when a male
and a female are compatible for reproducing they are bond mates.”
Cosmos ran his hand through his hair again before he frowned. “No,
that’s not exactly right. Let me try this again. All males and
females go through a mating rite’s ceremony to determine who they
will mate with. If the mating mark, the circles on your palm,
appear then the match is good and they can reproduce. If no mark
appears, they wait and do it again at the next ceremony unless they
happen to meet before which is rare as the females are not let out
of their ‘houses’ alone often as a way of protecting them from any
males who may have become more aggressive due to not having a mate.
Is this making any sense?” Cosmos asked looking at Hannah for the
first time since he saw the patterns on her palm.