Claimed Page 5

  Liv stared with wide eyes. Geeze, they sure take themselves seriously. All this security to protect a few Nissan Minisports?

  “This is our ride.” Baird’s deep voice reminded her that she was supposed to be following him. She stepped out confidently enough toward the small, nondescript vehicle he was pointing to. The asphalt outside was hot and a lot harder than the bland grey carpet inside the HKR building, but she was a Florida girl and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d walked barefoot on hot concrete.

  Unfortunately she forgot about the shard of glass still embedded in her heel. She’d mostly stopped bleeding during the ceremony and had more important things than a minor injury on her mind anyway but one step was all it took to remind her. The minute her hurt foot connected with the hard black surface Liv yelped.

  “Ow! Son of a—” Before she could complete the expletive, Baird was there, staring at her with concern.

  “What happened? Are you hurt?” he demanded even as he scanned the area with those inhumanly golden eyes, obviously searching for a threat.

  “I’m fine. I just…” Liv gestured to her wounded foot with irritation. “I dropped my orange juice when those goons came to get me and I stepped on a shard of glass.”

  His face fell. “You were hurt all this time and I didn’t notice?”

  “I didn’t notice half the time myself,” Liv assured him. “I had, uh, other things on my mind.” Like finding out exactly what I was getting myself into with you. “I’ve stopped bleeding so I guess I forgot until I stepped on it out here.”

  “You’re bleeding?” He looked even more alarmed. Getting down on one knee he gestured her forward. “Let me see.”

  “No, honestly, it’s all right.” Liv felt both annoyed and shy. Why was he making such a big deal out of this? She’d seen people with foreign objects imbedded in their bodies every day of the week as a nursing student in the Tampa General ER. Didn’t they ever step on sharp things where he came from?

  “Olivia, come here.” His voice was a low growl—not menacing so much as stern. To her intense irritation, Liv found herself obeying him.

  “It’s just a piece of glass,” she protested even as she allowed him to settle her on his knee and lift her foot. “If you’ll just give me a first aid kit I can take care of it myself.”

  “No you won’t.” He examined the heel of her foot with care as though assessing a grave and dangerous injury. “Wait until we get up to the ship and let Sylvan look at it. He’s a medic.”

  “And I’m a nurse,” Liv protested, feeling even more irritated. “I can handle myself, thank you.”

  “Even a small injury like this can get infected and it’s hard to work on yourself.” The growl had come back to his voice again and his eyes flashed from dark amber to pale gold in a second. “You need a medic and that’s what you’ll get, Lilenta.”

  “My name is Olivia,” Liv stormed. “And I’d rather not go to a hospital, or whatever your version of a hospital is, and have everybody and their brother see me dressed like this!”

  “I know your name. You have no idea how many times I said it over and over to get through the night.” Baird’s hard expression softened. “Lilenta just means little one or dear one in my language.”

  Liv had no idea how to respond to his remark about saying her name to get through the night so she skipped over it. “I still don’t want anyone else seeing me until I get my clothes from home,” she protested.

  His eyes raked over her again and she realized this was the closest she’d been to him yet. Even when they’d kissed, there was some space between their bodies. But now she was sitting on his knee with her hands resting lightly on his broad shoulders for balance. She wanted to draw back but he had her in an awkward position with one large, warm hand encircling her ankle and the other cupped firmly at her waist.

  “Don’t worry about your outfit,” he murmured, nodding at the thin black nighty. “Sylvan is the warrior who witnessed our ceremony—he’s my half brother and he won’t touch you the wrong way.” His eyes blazed for a moment. “No one will.”

  Liv blew out a breath. “You’re not going to give up on this, are you?”

  “You’re my responsibility now. Mine to care for, to cherish, to protect.” He said the words simply as though it was the most normal thing in the world to have complete accountability for a woman he’d never met before that day. “If you’re hurting I can’t rest until I ease your pain. Understand, Olivia?”

  “All right.” Liv felt like she was setting a dangerous precedent letting him have his way but there didn’t seem to be anything else she could do. “As long as I don’t have to see anyone else besides, uh, Sylvan until I have decent clothes on,” she added quickly when he smiled.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t want other males looking at you in that little bit of nothing either,” he murmured. “Now let’s go.”

  Before she could protest, Baird swung her up into his arms and rose in one smooth motion, as though she didn’t weigh a thing.

  “Hey, I can walk you know!” She wanted to struggle in his arms but the ground was suddenly a long way down and she had no desire to fall on her ass on the tarmac.

  “No you can’t. You’re injured.” He strode easily along, heading for the small car he’d said was their ride. Liv wondered how he was going to fit his huge frame into its tiny interior and also how he planned to drive it out. The enclosed parking lot didn’t have any entrance or exit that she could see. Then he let out a low, guttural growl that might have been a word in another language and suddenly the outside of the car began to shimmer.

  Liv blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus on what was happening. The car was changing right in front of her, becoming larger and more roomy as well as streamlined. When it was finished, something that looked like a sleek silver rocket turned on its side was in front of them.

  “Password protected,” Baird explained as a door popped open and he deposited her gently inside. “A necessity since the humans are always trying to get their hot little hands on our technology.”

  “I’m a human,” she reminded him pointedly. “And would it kill you to share some of that technology with us?”

  Baird looked surprised. “We’ve given you cures for most of your diseases. You don’t need the secret of interstellar flight.”

  “Why not? Did it occur to you we might like to reach for the stars too?” Liv didn’t know what she was getting upset about. Maybe it was just a reason to fight and work off some of the tension she’d built up being so close to him.

  “You can’t, not right now anyway,” Baird growled. “The Scourge is still up there, Olivia. You may have missed it down on your peaceful little planet but there’s a war goin’ on right over your head.”

  “And you’re taking me up into it?” Liv felt a sudden surge of panic. No one knew exactly what it was the Scourge did to their victims but it was supposed to be pretty nasty.

  Baird sighed heavily as he buckled himself in beside her. “Didn’t I pledge to you to protect you with my life? You really think I’d put you in danger like that?”

  “Well what was I supposed to think?” she flared, reaching for her own straps and buckles—all of which were hopelessly too big, as though they’d been made to fit someone twice her size.

  “Think whatever you want but understand that I would never risk your life. The Kindred ship is safe.” He frowned at her. “Now come here—you’re in Sylvan’s seat and he’ll be out in a minute.”

  “What?” she looked at him in disbelief as he patted his lap. “I can’t possibly…”

  “There are only two seats, one for you and me and one for Sylvan.” He frowned at her.

  “I’ll scrunch down in the back.” Liv got up and began to hop her way to the back of the ship but Baird stopped her by taking her upper arm and pulling her into his lap.

  “You’re my bride and you’ll sit with me.” Muscular arms enclosed her, safer than any seat belt, and he drew her close until she could feel the
warm, hard planes of his chest through the thin lace of her baby doll nighty.

  “Let me go!” She twisted in his arms but he only held her tighter, pulling her down hard so that she could feel the rigid lump of his shaft growing under her ass.

  “Struggle as much as you want, you’re not goin’ anywhere,” he growled in her ear.

  Liv was ready to spit she was so mad. “You…you big alien pervert,” she hissed. “You just want me sitting on your lap so you can rub your…so you can rub against me.”

  “You mean like this?” He pressed up slowly, his pelvis working under hers until she could feel the ridge of his shaft rubbing against the crotch of her black lace panties blatantly. Suddenly she was wet. Wet and hot and ready and it scared her to death.

  She bit back a moan as he pressed against her. “Yes, like that,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t tremble too much. God, how could he make her body react even when she didn’t want it to? Was it some kind of Kindred trick? “You’re…you’re hard as a rock and you just want to rub up against me.” Bastard!

  “It’s your fault I’m hard,” he growled softly in her ear. “If you’d just sit still and stop twitching that soft little ass of yours all over my lap I wouldn’t be in this state.”

  Liv felt a blush of mortification rise to her cheeks. “Well I didn’t do it on purpose! I just wanted to ride in the back of the ship.” Or anywhere but on your lap, you Kindred bastard! Then she thought of what Kat had said. “You’re not even supposed to be allowed to touch me yet—not until the first week is up. The contract says so.”

  “You need to read the fine print, Lilenta. I’m not allowed to touch you in a sexual way and I’m not allowed to claim you. But you’re my bride and this is our holding week. According to the Kindred rules, I’m well within my rights to hold you and keep you safe.”

  “Right,” Liv spat. “And right now I feel about as safe as a lamb being held by a wolf. You can’t tell me this isn’t sexual, you bastard.”

  “It wouldn’t be if you’d stop struggling.” He sounded at the very end of his patience. “If you knew how long I’ve been waiting for you and how badly I want to claim you—”

  “Well you can forget about that because it’s never going to happen,” Liv snarled. “And if you think for one minute that you can get away with molesting me—”

  “All I can think about right now is how good you feel against me and how badly I want to be inside you.” His deep voice seemed to pierce her entire body. “If you’d just hold still and stop wigglin’ all over the damn place maybe we could both relax.”

  His hot breath on the back of her neck as he spoke sent a shiver down her spine. And the things he was saying…Liv bit her lip, glad she was facing away from him so he couldn’t see her face which had to be fire engine red. But just because she wasn’t looking at him didn’t mean she couldn’t feel him. And smell him—a spicy male musk that seemed to be his natural scent was invading all her senses at once, making it hard to think.

  “I’m never going to let you,” she whispered, holding herself stiff and still in his arms. “You might as well forget it and let me go right now.”

  The arms around her tightened like iron bands and his voice was a low, possessive growl. “Never. You’re mine, Olivia. The sooner you realize that the better.”

  Chapter Six

  The ride up to the Kindred ship was tense and silent. Sylvan drove since Baird had his hands full with his reluctant bride. She refused to answer anything he said even when the g-forces pressed her against him like a giant, crushing hand. Once they cleared the Earth’s atmosphere, he spoke softly in her ear, pointing out the various stars the Kindred had been to and telling her how long it took to get to the other trade planets using the space-gap propulsion his people had perfected thousands of years before. But no matter what he said, Olivia remained silent.

  Baird couldn’t understand why she was being so stubborn. Didn’t she feel the heat flare between them every time they touched? Didn’t she realize it was a by product of the bonding that would soon take place between them? Because he was determined to bond her to him. And no matter how much she protested and struggled, he knew Olivia wanted him as much as he wanted her—she just didn’t know it yet.

  But how can she not know, damn it? They’d been dream-sharing for the past six Earth months. He’d watched her go about her day to day activities in his visions of her, had seen how she stood up to those in authority and felt her compassion for her patients as she tended them. Watching her life was all that had kept him going while he was imprisoned in the dark hell hole of the Scourge Fathership. Absorbing her emotions had started the beginnings of his bond to her. He knew she’d experienced the same thing so how could she deny it—and him—now? Baird didn’t know but it looked like he was in for the long haul with his bride.

  He thought longingly of some of the other Earth brides he’d heard of. The human women weren’t cold like those of Tranquil Prime or dangerously fierce like those of Rageron. Often they submitted at once—some didn’t even wait a single night before giving themselves completely to the Kindred warriors that called them. But it seemed that Olivia wasn’t going to be that kind of woman. She would make him work for every inch of progress. Well, so be it. Baird had never been afraid of hard work and there was no way he was going to give her up. If she wanted a battle, she’d get one, he decided as he pulled the stubborn little human closer.

  She made a sound of protest and wiggled in his lap at his proprietary gesture. Baird worked hard to stifle a groan. Gods, if only she knew what she was doing to him with every movement of her soft, round ass over his aching shaft! He could feel her heated wetness under the small scrap of fabric that covered her cleft, could smell her warm, feminine musk in the air every time she moved. Was she trying to drive him crazy? After so long in the Scourge ship, being tortured every day and dreaming about her every night, it would be a very short trip. All he could think about was how good it would feel to push her undergarments aside and slide into her heated depths, thrusting hard, filling her wet pussy with his cock and his newly awakened mating fist until he locked them together for a long, leisurely session of bonding-sex.

  At last when the feel of her in his arms was getting unbearable, Sylvan landed the small silver craft in the loading bay of the Kindred Mothership. Baird released her as the metal door slid to one side and she jumped out of his lap immediately, as though she couldn’t wait to get away from him. If he hadn’t been able to feel her dampness and smell her obvious arousal, he might have been worried that she didn’t want him the way he wanted her. But what his senses told him was irrefutable—Olivia was as hot and ready for him as he was for her. She just didn’t want to admit it.

  He was half afraid that she would try to run off at once. Since the ship was huge—almost a fourth the size of the Earth moon it orbited—it would be easy for her to get lost. He would be able to track her anywhere by her scent, of course—Beast Kindred excelled at that. But he would rather have her safely back in his quarters than have to chase her all over the damn ship.

  At first it seemed like running off was exactly what Olivia planned to do. But a few short steps on the hard, cold metal floor seemed to change her mind. Baird watched as her lovely features went pinched and white and she grabbed the silver side of the ship for support.

  “Olivia? Lilenta?” He tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice as he went to her but he couldn’t quite manage it. Every cell in his body was screaming that she was his to protect, to comfort and hold and shield from danger and pain. The look of obvious discomfort on her face made his stomach knot with tension.

  Olivia tried to wave him away. “I’m all right. It’s just the glass in my foot—I think it’s shifted. It, uh, really kind of hurts. A lot.”

  Baird didn’t need to hear any more. Paying no attention to her half formed protests he swung her up in his arms again and turned to Sylvan. “We need to get her to a med station. Now.”

  “There’s one a
t the far entrance. This way.” The big male nodded his blond, spiky head in the direction of the docking bay doors, motioning for Baird to follow him.

  “Wait a minute!” Olivia protested as they walked along swiftly, uniform boots echoing in the cavernous metal space that was filled with short-distance space-going craft similar to their own.

  Baird frowned at her. “I can’t wait. Not when you’re in pain.”

  She looked exasperated. “Look, I’m sorry if I overreacted. It’s just a little sliver of glass.”

  “Nothing that hurts you is little to me,” Baird told her shortly. When would she understand that her pain was his? A Kindred male couldn’t rest if his mate was in any kind of discomfort. He had to do everything in his power to ease her and bring her relief—the same way he would do everything in his power in the bedroom to pleasure her.

  “But you promised!” Olivia protested. “Promised that no one besides you and, uh, Sylvan would see me like this.” She gestured down at herself, her luscious curves barely covered by the gauzy black lace.

  “Don’t worry, no one will,” Sylvan said, looking back to address her. “We’re taking you in through the outer passageways, not the more populated center of the ship. From there you and Baird can travel directly to his suite.”

  “Suite, huh? Where are we anyway, the Kindred Hilton?” Olivia muttered seemingly to herself, but at least she stopped protesting and allowed Baird to carry her without struggling.

  They passed through the round, irising airlock door that protected the rest of the ship from too much oxygen loss and turned out into one of the long, plain metal corridors that were mainly used for transporting goods around the outer edge of the ship. Baird wished that his new bride would relax against him as he carried her, but she remained as cold and stiff as a piece of metal or wood in his arms. What would it take to thaw her icy demeanor?

  At last they came to an empty medic station and Sylvan nodded for Baird to sit her down on the plain metal table. But the moment he did, Olivia yelped as though she’d been stung. Baird was about to gather her back into his arms—he didn’t like not touching her anyway—when she waved him off.