Soren's Bondmate (11 page)

"Excellent." Soren pointed to the top of the cliff. "Can they get up there and throw krystal down at us?"

"No," Berit said.

"Their white krystal won't penetrate our shelter," Skye said.

Soren smiled and hugged her. "You and Raina should be halfway between the center and the ends. What do you think, Berit," Soren asked.

"Good plan. Let's do it," Berit said.

Skye smiled and called on the elements. A long natural looking bulge appeared on the cliff with an opening at one end.

Berit waved toward the warriors and one-by-one they climbed up to the shelter and entered it. When five had gone up Jerret helped Raina carry the babies up and five more warriors followed them.

"You're next," Berit said, pointing to Soren.

Soren took Skye's hand and led her to the base of the cliff. He lifted her over his head, waited until she had her feet and hands on handholds then released her. She had climbed up several meters before he followed her. Once inside he held her in his arms until the others joined them. He looked down the line and saw Berit take his position midway between his men. He kissed Skye and sent her on her way. "Be good."

She smiled back at him as she moved through the warriors and joined Berit.

Berit nodded at him. "We don't attack until they're all in the clearing."

The warriors nodded their understanding then waited with shards of white krystal in their hands.

Soren linked his mind with Skye's and held out his hands and two shards of dark krystal appeared. The warriors next to him moved another few centimeters away from him. He grinned at them.

"Don't worry. I learned how to use this the previous cycle." Their alarmed expressions made him chuckle before he looked at Skye. "How do you feel, little heart?"

"Strong."

Soren nodded. "You said only an enchantress can heal a wound made by dark krystal."

"Yes."

"I want you to be ready to provide me with a lot of it. When they bunch up I'll throw it into the center of each group. It will shatter and pieces of it will hit all of them and dig into their exposed skin. Right?"

"Yes," Skye said.

"I want you to keep your mind linked with mine at all times." He sent her a hard stare. "If we're both injured you heal yourself first, then me. Do you understand?"

"Soren, don't make me give you a promise I can't keep."

"If you die then we both die." He motioned toward the warriors around them. "Obey me."

Skye shoved her way through the warriors between them and threw herself into his arms. "Hold me just for a micro-unit longer."

He wrapped her in his arms and held her. His cloak fell around them hiding her while he placed a line of kisses over her cheek to her neck. "We'll survive this battle and every battle to come but I could never survive losing you, little heart." He whispered then kissed her, completing the bond between them. He held her for several micro-units longer then patted her bottom and set her on her feet. "Go."

Skye smiled then backed away, keeping her eyes locked on his until she twisted around and hurried back to her position.

The warriors around her chuckled then sent Soren small grins of camaraderie. He acknowledged them with a nod then turned to face the clearing.

Seeing it was still clear he looked around him. It felt strange to stand in plain sight inside a krystal tunnel attached to the side of a cliff. He looked down and for a moment felt disoriented. It looked as if his booted feet hung in thin air with nothing beneath them. He shuffled them, felt the solidness of the krystal beneath him, and grinned. He was an explorer but also a military strategist. The battles he could plan using krystal flashed through his mind so rapidly he couldn't keep track of all of them.

# # #

A few micro-units later the first enemy warrior crept through the shadows at the base of a boulder, surveyed the area with some kind of device then signaled to someone behind him.

A group of warriors joined him and waited. A moment later Soren saw why. Several more scouts appeared at the base of boulders located around the far edge of the clearing. They took the time to examine the area around them then signaled their warriors to join them. As one they began advancing across the clearing. The unlucky ones were in the center where there was no cover to protect them.

"Skye, what about the opening to the cave?" Soren asked.

"I closed it off," she replied.

Soren saw Berit say something to her, she nodded and looked at him then held her hands up in plain sight. "In five nano-seconds we begin."

Soren counted in his head. When he reached five a part of the wall in front of him disappeared and he threw the krystal at a group at the far edge of the clearing. It landed in the middle, shattered and most of the men fell to the ground. Several tried to run back to the boulders.

"Throw at the far edge," Soren yelled. "Don't let them retreat." He threw two more shards. They hit the ground and exploded sending small dark shards at the males trying to run away. They fell and the ones behind them turned back to the battle and began throwing krystal at the shelter on the cliff.

Shards hit above and below them. Their cloaks protected them from the few that entered the shelter, hit the back wall and shattered and fell to the ground.

Soren threw shard after shard until his gloves were coated with blood from the many nicks on his fingers. He ripped the gloves off and dropped them. "Skye," he thought, holding up his hands. "Gloves."

Skye began to move in his direction.

"No, stay there. I need gloves and krystal now."

She waved her hands then hurried to one of the warriors who'd been wounded.

Soren watched her drop to her knees beside the wounded warrior and place her hands on his neck before he returned to the battle. Shard after shard appeared in his hands as the fight wore on. The intensity and war cries of the enemy increased when they realized how dire their situation was but Soren's group gave no mercy.

Finally after a unit of battle the last enemy fell.

Soren looked to his left and saw Raina sitting on the floor, rocking one of her babies. To his right Skye healed another warrior.

Berit caught his eye, nodded then turned away. The warrior next to him, patted his shoulder so hard Soren slid forward a few centimeters. He grunted and turned to face the warrior.

"Pelyn," the huge warrior said.

Soren looked him over and nodded. "Soren." He took Pelyn's forearm in a warrior's greeting. He released him then looked at the battlefield. "Where are the conjurers? I didn't see them."

Pelyn snorted. "They would have kept them back, behind the boulders."

"Is there any way we can reach them?" Soren asked.

Pelyn looked thoughtful. "I don't know but I'm willing to go with you to find out."

"Skye, can you sense the conjurers still?" Soren thought.

"Yes, but just barely. I think they're moving away," she answered.

"My mate says they're still near." Soren sent a message to Skye to make the shelter wider and open the end. She did and he pushed passed the other warriors and began climbing down.

Pelyn and two large warriors followed. When they reached the ground Pelyn introduced them. "These are my brothers, Kelyn and Delyn. We're related to Skye. We fight with you from now on."

"Won't that upset Berit, or Jerret?" Soren asked.

"No, you're a dark krystal warrior." He indicated himself and his brothers. "We are strong. We fight with the strongest warrior. Always."

Soren grinned. "I'll make sure I remain the strongest." He led the way toward the cave. "Skye," he thought, "let me into the cave."

The opening appeared and he hurried to the ship. They boarded and the door was closing when Skye slipped through it.

"Out." He pushed the door open and waited for her to exit.

"No. If they're injured they'll need a healer," she said.

Soren towered over her, glaring, in an attempt to intimidate her. She snorted, patted his chest and slipped by him. "Nice try but I'm still going."

Soren looked at the brothers. "You might want to rethink your decision."

They laughed and slapped him on the back as they passed him.

"Krystali females are hard to deal with but we have faith in you," Pelyn said.

Soren grinned then moved to the pilot's seat, fired up the engines, flew out of the cave then straight up the cliff face to the top. He leveled out and made a wide arc around the battlefield, getting ahead of the retreating warriors.

"As soon as we locate them we'll decide on a plan," Soren said. "Skye, can you still sense them?"

"Yes. They're close." She tapped his shoulder and handed him a communicator. "We all have communicators now."

"Good," Soren said.

"I've got them," Pelyn said. "Ten warriors and two females in a group with two warriors taking point about a hundred meters apart."

"Skye, can you create shelters around the females from here?" Soren asked.

"No, the technology blocks my powers. Even if I was on the ground I'd have to be close and they'd have to be out in the open so I could encase them in dark krystal."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, then said, "Never mind. We'll talk later." He turned to Pelyn. "Plot a route through the boulders to their location."

"Okay," Pelyn said. "Got it."

Soren acknowledged him and landed the ship on the top of a plateau. "Here's the plan. We let the two point warriors pass by us. We find the conjurers and Skye protects them. We kill the warriors and return to the ship with the conjurers. Any questions?"

The three brothers shook their heads and Skye smiled.

"Kelyn, you're on point. I'll follow with Skye behind me and Pelyn behind her. Delyn, you've got our backs. Let's go."

They left the ship and Skye made them a way down to the ground. Once they'd descended Kelyn began leading them through the maze of boulders. After several micro-units he signaled them to take cover.

Skye produced a shelter around them and they waited. A few nano-units later a warrior appeared, paused for a moment, then crossed the clearing.

"We'll wait for the other one to pass," Soren said. "We'll have to watch for them on the way back."

"If they're unlucky we'll catch up to them," Kelyn said.

"I like the way you think." Soren wrapped his arms around Skye and pulled her back to rest against his chest. He pushed her braid aside and nibbled on the back of her neck. She shivered and he tightened his arms around her before he moved his mouth to her shoulder and nipped it. She shivered again and he linked his mind with hers.

"I need to be deep inside you while you beg me to let you come." He licked her ear lobe.

"Don't start something you can't finish," she thought.

"Oh, I'll finish later what I'm starting now. Fighting always makes me want to fuck."

"So that's what the stirred up feeling after a battle is." She wiggled in his arms then froze as an image of him with another female flashed through his mind.

As soon as he realized what he'd done Soren blocked his thoughts and tried to distract her by running his hands over her breasts. She shoved his hands away, spun around, slammed her hands against his chest and shoved. He held his ground, grabbed her waist and lifted her until their eyes were even.

"The past is over and has nothing to do with you or our future," he gritted out.

"Who is she? Is she why you don't love me? Are you going back to her?" She tried to peel his hands off her waist. "Let me go."

He dropped her to her feet, shoved his fingers into her hair and slammed his mouth down over hers, kissing her with passion. "You are my mate," he thought. "Mine."

Skye held back for a moment before she returned his kiss.

At first he was relieved that she let it go until he sensed her fear of losing him. He softened the kiss, picked her up and cradled her in his arms. "Little heart, don't ever fear that I'll leave you." He slowly ended the kiss then raised his head and looked into her beautiful teal eyes and smiled.

She stroked her hand down his cheek but before she could say anything Pelyn drew their attention to him.

"There goes the second scout."

Soren acknowledged him then hugged Skye and set her down behind him. "Let's go."

Skye dealt with the shelter and Kelyn moved out of sight, scouting for the enemies location and any guards they'd posted. Soren waited for several micro-units then followed him with Skye and the others behind him.

They walked for fifteen micro-units before Kelyn contacted them. "I have one guard in a group of boulders. You can get by him if you stay in the shadows to your right. I'm leaving a marker so you'll know when you reach him. I'm moving forward."

Soren acknowledged him and they continued toward the enemy's location. When they reached the marker Kelyn was the first to locate the guard and point him out. "I'll stay behind and take care of him then catch up to you."

Soren nodded and he, Skye and Delyn proceeded.

"I'm close to the area where we last saw them. I didn't find another guard. I'm going to wait in this location until Skye can locate the shelter."

"We're on our way." Soren signaled to the others to proceed. They moved forward until Pelyn signaled him and they slipped into the shadows around him.

Skye concentrated for several micro-units. "They're near but I need to move forward so I can see their shelter." She held up a hand to stop Soren when he began to veto the idea. "This is what I do."

"I'll go first," he said.

"No, I go first." Before he could stop her Skye shed her cloak, slid by him, dropped to her belly and disappeared around the edge of the boulder.

"Get your ass back here," Soren thought.

"I told you I'm a warrior," Skye shot back. "You're going to have to trust me."

"I'm going to beat your bottom."

"Stop distracting me." Skye almost smiled when Soren immediately shut up and began following her. She waited a moment, scanned the area around her then moved forward. At the end of the boulders she looked around the edge and after several micro-units she spotted the shelter. "It's the large boulder in the center of a group of three at the far edge of the clearing."