Intentional Abduction (14 page)

Unfortunately, the passion eventually faded, and he let her slide down his body, and they both tensed up, awaiting their next confrontation, a battle he grew weary of.

149

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais

“Can we call a truce?” he asked.

Tilting her head back, her green gaze settled on his.

“What would the terms entail?”

“No trying to kill each other.”

“Or punishing,” she interjected.

“Aah, but you enjoyed the spanking,” he teased.

“Am I allowed to spank you back?” she rejoined.

His brows pulled together. “No. That wouldn’t be right. I am a warrior.”

“As am I, so treat me like you expect me to treat you.”

“Fine. During the truce we will share a bed.” He wanted her cradled in his arms when he slept so when he woke, he could do so with his cock buried inside her. What a way to start his day.

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“It’s easy. You take one side, I take the other, and you close your eyes.”

“Jerk.”

“Princess.” He smirked at her moue of annoyance.

“While we are together, you will pleasure no other.”

“That goes for you too. Touch another female and I’ll choke you with her breast.”

What a little savage, but he enjoyed it. “I think that about covers it.”

150

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais

“Except for the length of time,” she added. “Once I get pregnant, I will be leaving.”

“Of course,” he graciously agreed. He’d already decided to reactivate his birth control, so as long as his seed hadn’t already taken root, he’d have Aylia at his mercy for a long time.

Hopeful y long enough for her to realize she doesn’t want to
leave me…ever.

151

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais
Chapter Fourteen

After they decided on the truce, life for the next few galactic cycles settled into a pleasurable routine, which Aylia enjoyed entirely too much. And it wasn’t just because of the pleasure Jaro gave her during sex—although it was spectacular. They became companions in ways that didn’t involve getting naked. To keep fit, they sparred with various weapons, sometimes against each other, at other times against the cousins. It delighted her to see the admiration in his eyes when she managed to catch him with a solid blow, or take his bumbling family down. It heated her through and through to watch his muscles ripple as his body flowed in a deadly dance that displayed his agility and strength.

Conversation flowed between them, at first in bits and spurts as they got to know each other, then more smoothly as they grew comfortable with one another. Boasts of previous battles tended to get them riled up as they recounted their prowess, which, in turn, usually led to wild sex wherever they found themselves, to Brax and Xarn’s eye-rolling entertainment. They didn’t bother leaving the ship for entertainment, except on one occasion to buy her clothes.

The fight to get them off planet after Jaro hacked a biped in half for touching her hair proved exhilarating and led to a 152

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais frantic bout of lovemaking even as enemy ships pursued them, firing.

What a glorious time. So, of course, it had to end and in a way Aylia never expected. She’d left Jaro sleeping, running a finger down his muscled back, never tiring of touching him, as she exited the room. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, probably because of the energy they’d expended in his bed—and on the floor. The male knew some interesting techniques.

Ordering a meal, Aylia frowned at what the computer spat out on the recyclable plate. She stared with incomprehension at her serving of food that didn’t resemble her usual fare, not with all those fruits, and lack of meat.

“Computer, what is this slop?”

“According to my database, a female who is breeding requires things with more vitamins and minerals to ensure a healthy child.”

Child? For a moment, excitement bubbled up in her.

Jaro’s seed has taken root in me.
Then her spirits sank.
If I’m
breeding, then it’s time to go home, time to leave Jaro.
The realization made her want to cry.

Where did the regret come from? She’d achieved what she’d set out to accomplish. A dynasty would be borne of their joining, a strong girl child who would hopefully have a lot of her father’s traits
. A father I can’t bear to leave.

153

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais It stunned her to realize how much she cared for Jaro dare she even say love him, an emotion she’d never felt for anyone outside the tribe. She certainly never expected to feel it for someone of the opposite sex. Such a thing was unheard of in the Zonian society. But oh, how she wanted to stay in his arms forever, foregoing her tribe and their traditions.

Reality set in. He’d never said their situation was permanent, and he knew the details of her quest. Once he discovered she’d achieved it, he would send her on her way.

After all, he’d never once claimed to want her for more than copulation.

According to rumor, and stories from his cousins, Jaro had no intention of settling down, ever.
But he seems to
care for me. Perhaps if I asked him, he would…what? Tel me he loves
me and beg me to stay?
A warrior of his reputation didn’t plead, and her pride wouldn’t allow her to stoop to begging, or to come across as weak. Better to end things cleanly.

It figured Jaro would catch her as she attempted to leave stealthily like a coward, unable to face him and see the dismissal in his eyes.

“Where are you going, Aylia?”

Standing in the doorway that led off ship into the crowded spaceport they’d just landed in, she turned to face him with a heavy heart. “It is time for me to return to my world.”

154

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais Incomprehension clouded his gaze, then understanding flashed across it. “You’re pregnant with my baby?”

He said it like a question, which irritated her. “Yes, your baby. Whose else would it be? Now stand aside. We both knew this would happen. It is, after all, why I abducted you.” A part of her prayed he’d throw her over his shoulder and march her back to his chamber and the manacles.

“I see.” A shuttered look dropped over his face as he stepped back and swept a hand at the opening leading to the docking tunnel. “Don’t let me keep you then. Give me a call if you ever need another stud.”

His cold words hit her like a blow and she flinched.

“That’s not how it works.”

“Of course not. Only intentional abductions count, not mutual need or like. How could I forget?”

“I’m Zonian. I don’t have a choice,” she said, her voice low and her throat tight.

“You could if you embraced your human side instead of a practice by an alien race.”

“A race that took me in and gave me a home,” she retorted.

“Yes, such a great home. What about if it’s a boy?

Have you thought about that? You know our young cannot 155

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais survive without a mother to nurture them. What do you think will happen if you birth a male?”

They would toss it into the wilderness as they did the Zonian males, however, in her case, the child would die. Aylia didn’t even want to contemplate that happening and her hand drifted down to rest on her stomach.

“And what would you have me do?” she yelled.
Ask
me to stay.
For all his acting injured and angry, he had yet to request she remain—with him. She could have sworn pain flashed in his eyes. But still, he didn’t say the words she needed to hear.

“I don’t need you to do anything. Just leave. Get out.

It’s what you planned all along. It’s for the best. I was tiring of you anyway.” His lips tight and his eyes blazing, Jaro turned on his heel and strode away, the tight lines of his back more foreboding than any enemy she’d ever faced. She found herself stretching a hand out to him, silently pleading. He never turned his head.

With her heart cracking, and on leaden feet, she left his ship, left the male who made her wish her traditions were different. A male who made her wish she had the courage to beg to stay, to tell him. .she loved him. There was no doubting her feelings anymore. Despite her upbringing, she loved Jaro, she could just never have him.
Because he doesn’t
want me.

156

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais Pride kept her feet moving even as tears clouded her vision. Her senses dulled by a pain more stabbing than all her bodily wounds combined, she didn’t notice she had company until a body fell heavily at her feet, its four eyes glazed with death. Looking up, she caught Brax’s quizzical gaze.

“Are you okay?”

She shrugged, unable to speak for fear of embarrassing herself.

Xarn appeared beside his brother, and he frowned at her. “We’re here to make sure you get safely home. It looks like we arrived just in time.”

The implication she couldn’t take care of herself blunted some of her anguish and she welcomed the heat of anger.

“I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone,” she muttered bitterly. Just like Jaro didn’t need her.

“Sure you don’t,” Brax said in a placating tone. “Just pretend we’re not here then.”

“Or you could just leave.”

“Can’t. Jaro’s orders.”

Did he order his cousins to follow me as guards because he cares
or because he wants to make sure I don’t come back crying for him to
keep me?
Much as she wanted to believe the former, she couldn’t help latching onto the latter because the warrior she’d come to know would never have let her walk if he truly 157

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais felt something for her. The Jaro she loved would have tied her to a bed until she swore she’d never leave.

To her shame, she wished he would change his mind and return to steal her, and even once she reached home, that longing didn’t change. Instead, it grew.

*****

Once Aylia left him, taking his heart with her, Jaro went to the only place he could think of— after drinking himself senseless didn’t work—where he might find peace without anyone trying to kill him. Given his current state, his possibility of surviving an attack was slim to none.

Arriving on his brother’s doorstep, Tren took one look at him and snorted. “What happened to you?”

“A female, what else? Damned creatures.”

“I thought you learned your lesson after Shinja?” Jaro shot him a glare. “I did, but it seems your affection for your human mate is contagious. Trust me, I am not happy about the situation.”

Tren ushered him into his main living area and seated him before pouring them a drink. “So what happened? You found her with another male? Another female?”

“No. Aylia was faithful.”

“She fainted when she discovered who you were?” 158

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais

“No, she chose me to father her child because of my prowess,” Jaro boasted.
She could also keep up with me as a
sparring partner better than most. Drove me insane, and pleased me like
no other.

Tren tossed his head and laughed. “You? A father?

No, seriously.”

“I am being serious. She is a human, but was adopted by the Zonians as a child. They sent her on a mating quest and she selected me. Once my seed took root, she left.”
And
ripped my heart in half, damn her.

“Congratulations on avoiding the trap. Not all males are so lucky. Most females, especially breeding ones, stick around so they can drive you insane.”

“I heard that,” hollered Megan, his brother’s mate, from another room.

“I never said I didn’t enjoy it,” Tren yelled back.

Leaning forward, he grinned. “I’m going to pay for that later.”

For some reason, that seemed to make Tren happy.

Jaro hated his brother even more.

Pouring them each another shot of liquor, his brother perused Jaro when he said nothing.

“You miss the female, don’t you?”

159

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais

“No,” Jaro lied. At his brother’s arched brow, he sighed. “I shouldn’t, but I do. But she left me,” he exclaimed, jumping up. “She got what she wanted and went home.”

“Did you tell her how you felt before she did?” Megan asked, walking into the room, make that waddled. Her rounded belly projected in front of her like some freakish aberration. Jaro couldn’t take his eyes from it.
Is this how Aylia
wil look when my child begins to grow?
His expected repugnance didn’t surface. Instead, a strange longing to see it filled him, especially when he saw how his brother gently rubbed the mound, his face softening with affection and pride.

Back to Megan’s question, though. “No. If she cared for me, she would have stayed.”

“Come here,” Megan ordered imperiously, hands on her hips.

Curious, Jaro approached.

“Crouch down.”

Bending his knees, he rocked to the side when she slapped him upside of the head.

“Hey,” he exclaimed, stumbling back. “What did you do that for?”

“Idiot! Why on earth would she have stayed? You fucked her. She got preggers. You didn’t say you wanted her or the baby, so she left. What else did you expect her to do?

I’ve read about these Zonian broads. They’ve got their pride, 160

Intentional Abduction – Eve Langlais and even if she is human at the core, you can’t expect her to just throw everything away for a man who can’t say three little words.”

“And I’ve got my pride too. I wasn’t going to beg her when she made it clear she wanted to go.”

“Pride. It was almost my downfall with Megan too,” Tren interjected as he pulled his mate onto his lap.

“Thankfully, she kicked some sense into me.”

“Doesn’t matter what the cause, it’s too late now.

She’s gone,” Jaro replied morosely, his stomach a ball of tight misery.

“Wuss. I didn’t think you were the type to give up so easily. Tren, being a true alpha male, never did, and I was a right bitch to him at times.”