Mate Dance (11 page)

our escape."

"How do you plan on doing that? Kaemon is going

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to have the spaceports watched."

The woman was certifiable. She'd hit him in the

back of the head and now she planned on taking him to a

spaceport. Sadly, she seemed to think she was doing it for

Raven's own good.

Ms. Starny bit her lip. "I don't know. I thought

you'd come up with a plan. You're so handsome and smart.

Not like that stupid prince. I couldn't believe that poison

didn't kill him. First his daughter escaped the killing

because the bastards were too queasy to shoot a little girl,

and then the poison I lined the pot with didn't work." She

gave Raven an apologetic smile. "Sorry if it made you sick.

I didn't think you'd drink it since everyone knows you don't

take breakfast."

"Why were you trying to kill Trisha?"

"She's an abomination," Ms. Starny said, as if that

explained everything. "Her grandmother sent a letter. I

found it before the king received the mail. She was going to

let the king buy his granddaughter. She couldn't afford to

take care of her any more. I couldn't let that happen. She

might breed and bring more of those creatures into the

world. I thought Kaemon was safe. Who thought he'd ever

sleep with a woman? If he did it once, he could do it again.

He has to die. King Avin is too old to breed, and he's a

good king, even if he is one of them. I decided to let him

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live but kill the others. It was a good plan." She nodded as

if Raven should agree with her.

"Um, yeah, good plan." As his eyes adjusted to the

light, he saw that she held a phaser in her hand. He

recognized it as one of the few models that actually had a

kill level. Most were used as a deterrent and would only

stun.

He hoped his lover found him soon. He didn't know

what he could do to keep the psychotic woman's interest

much longer.

A loud roar had them turning towards the stairs.

"He's coming," Ms. Starny said. The hand gripping

the pistol started to shake. Raven hoped she didn't shoot

him as he climbed to his feet.

The ground trembled beneath his shoes. Something

big and heavy was coming down the stairs.

Ms. Starny screamed as the door slammed off of its

hinges and shot across the room. An enormous reptilian

head shoved through the doorway. The smell of sulfur

filled the room.

She raised her weapon to fire. Raven didn't know

what it would do to a dragon but he couldn't take the

chance. Despite his pounding headache, he rushed over and

grabbed her from behind. Wrapping one arm around her

throat, he slammed her hand against the wall until she

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released her weapon.

"You'll be sorry when you're a slave to your dragon

mate!" she screamed.

With a low growl, the dragon plodded closer. The

beast narrowed its gaze as he stared at the woman.

"Kaemon, don't kill her."

The dragon screamed and let out a stream of flame,

scorching the ceiling with his fire.

Distracted by the creature, he was unprepared for

Ms. Starny to slam back her head into his face. The crunch

of bones echoed in the vast room.

Raven screamed, the pain of his face combined with

his blistering headache overwhelmed him. Clutching his

head, he fell to his knees.

The dragon let out another scream.

Raven felt a searing heat fill the room. Ms. Starny

let out an anguished howl that would haunt his dreams for

many nights to come.

Eventually, the woman stopped that horrible noise,

and the heat receded. Tears of pain and sorrow dripped

down his cheeks, but he still didn't look.

Blood poured over his fingers and he was almost

positive she had broken his nose.

"My poor mate." Kaemon's voice had Raven

blinking to focus.

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His lover stood before him, stark naked.

"Why are you naked?" His voice sounded muddled

through his smashed nose.

"Because when I shift, my clothes get shredded."

"You didn't have to kill her." The horror of the

charred corpse beside him had him shaking.

Kaemon pulled a resistant Raven into his arms.

"There is nothing to fear from me, no matter what form I'm

in. But know this, I will do anything to protect my mate."

Raven looked over to the pile of ash that was Ms.

Starny. "Why didn't I burn when you flamed her? I could

feel the heat, but it didn't burn."

"Because, my love, you are my mate. You will

always be immune to my fire."

Raven looked at the ashes again. "I can live with

that."

"Good. Let's go and get me some clothes. It's chilly

down here."

Laughing, Raven let his lover take him upstairs and

back to their room.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

The awards ceremony had been fun, and

surprisingly he and Evan had won the prestigious prize.

Unfortunately, Kaemon had to go out of town on a business

trip and missed the entire thing.

Because of his late night out, Raven was still in his

robe drinking coffee in the early afternoon. Kaemon

stomped into the room, looking as if a thundercloud had

followed him home. With little regard to the delicacy of the

device, he tossed his widescreen media reader onto the

table.

"Do you have an explanation for this!" he roared.

Raven took another sip. "Good afternoon, darling.

How was your trip?"

The prince leaned over and pierced his lover with a

vicious glare. "It was going fine until I read the morning

gossip reports and found a picture of my lover on the front

page."

"Tsk, tsk. You should never read gossip. You, of all

people, should know better."

Kaemon's eyes turned pure gold.

"You have such pretty eyes." Raven sighed, lifting

up and placing a soft kiss on the prince's cheek.

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"Don't think to distract me with your sweetness,"

Kaemon grumbled, but Raven could already feel the anger

in the room ratcheting down to a more moderate level.

"Just look at the picture."

With a put-upon sigh, Raven set down his cup and

picked up the reader. On the front of the entertainment

gossip page was a picture of him hugging Evan and lifting

him off his feet. A picture of two men hugging wasn't front

page news, but the look of pure adoration on Evan's face

chilled Raven to the bone. The headline read, "
Evan and

Raven back together?
"

"Shit, this will break Myles's heart." Evan's

boyfriend wouldn't understand that the news would print

anything to get headlines.

"Who cares about Myles' heart? What about mine?"

Raven looked up in surprise. "Nothing happened. I

was hugging him because he told me he and his lover had

just adopted a little boy."

Kaemon startled Raven by leaning over and sniffing

his neck. The tension in the prince evaporated. "You're

telling the truth."

Anger surged through Raven. Never had he felt as

furious as he did at that moment. Without thinking, he

jumped to his feet, pulled back his fist, and punched the

prince in the face.

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"Ow!" Kaemon said, grabbing his nose. "What the

hell did you do that for?"

"You don't think I know what you're doing? You

were seeing if you could smell another man on me. Thanks

for the trust."

Kaemon reached for him, but Raven moved away.

"Honey," Kaemon started.

"Don't you honey me!" Raven snarled. "You don't

trust me."

That hurt worse than anything else. He'd thought

they were building a relationship, but Kaemon obviously

thought he was a cheap piece of ass who would cheat on

him the first chance he got.

Straightening his back, Raven gathered his dignity

about him like a shroud and walked out of the room. He

needed to get back to reality. As much as Trisha wanted

him there, he wasn't really her father. Her father was the

asshole who'd just ripped out his heart. If they were truly

mates, Kaemon should've known Raven would never stray.

* * * *

Raven marched through the spaceport, hauling his

one bag on his back. Good thing he traveled light. He'd hate

to drag a trunk through the station. The line to get tickets

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was long. Raven didn't care. He wasn't in the palace

anymore, and that was all right. He'd left a note for Trisha

telling her he had to go. He hoped she wouldn't be too

upset.

Raven just couldn't take it anymore. Never in his

life had he ever cheated on anyone despite the many

temptations thrown his way. If he was in a relationship, he

stayed there and never even looked at another man while he

was with the current one.

When Kaemon doubted his word after seeing that

article in the paper, Raven knew they had no future,

whether they were mates or not. How could Kaemon doubt

him? Where along the way had he given the impression that

he would ever cheat on his lover?

"Next."

Raven went up to the window and told the clerk, "I

need a ticket to Dreenvi."

"Identification."

Raven tapped his identi-bracelet to the scanner.

It made a rude beep.

The clerk looked up with wide eyes. He looked at

Raven's information on his screen.

"Sir, could you please stand over there? Someone

will be by to get you in a minute."

"What? Why? I don't need anyone to come get me. I

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need to get on that ship."

The clerk blushed in embarrassment as he looked up

at Raven. "I'm sorry, sir, but the prince has put a hold on

your passport. You're not allowed to leave the planet

without royal permission, and as you're listed as the

prince's mate, I don't see him letting you leave any time

soon."

Sighing, Raven left the line and threw himself into

the nearest chair.

"Bastard."

He knew something like this would happen. There

was no way Kaemon was going to let him go so easily, and

did he really want to get away? As much as it had hurt to

discover the prince had little faith in him, it hurt more to be

separated from the man.

Tilting back his head, Raven blinked back tears.

He felt the attached seat beside him dip as someone

sat down.

"Don't cry, darling. I'm here for you now."

Kaemon's big hand patted Raven on the leg. "Come back to

the palace with me, and we can talk this out. I'm sorry I

didn't trust you."

"I'm sorry too," Raven said. He was tired. Tired of

fighting, tired of missing his lover. "Why did I miss you so

much? It's only been an hour."

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Kaemon's big hand stroked Raven's head. "Because

we're bonded and our souls belong together. There's

nowhere you will ever go that you won't miss the feeling of

me beside you. Even if you got on that ship, you'd return

because you'd miss me too much."

Raven laughed. "Are you sure I'd miss you?"

"I'm sure." Kaemon leaned forward and kissed

Raven. "Come back to me, and I promise, even if I see you

on the front pages with your hands down some guy's pants,

I'll believe your version of the story."

Kaemon looked so sincere that Raven had to believe

him. "Y-you really hurt me when you accused me of

cheating," he said, swallowing back his tears.

The prince wrapped an arm around Raven's

shoulders. "I will spend the rest of my life making it up to

you."

"What about my career?"

"I'd prefer if you kept your dancing to this planet,

but if you have already signed contracts with others, then

we will respect them. But, after that, please try to stay near

home."

"So you think you have everything under control,

do you?"

Kaemon looked at Raven with an assessing eye.

"Don't worry, my sweet, I will never think I have you under

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control," he said with a smile. "You are everything to me.

Will you give me another chance and be my mate for life?"

He pulled a small box from his pocket. "I saved this

to give to my mate. I always thought it would be under

more romantic conditions." He gave a rueful look around

the spaceport. "But I don't want there to be any

misunderstandings about us. You are my other half. My

sexier, kinder, sweeter other half, the one that makes my