His Virgin Princess. Grace Goodwin
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ended up claimed by that Styx guy. And that would not have been good.”
“Our operations on Rogue 5 are highly secure. It is not good that we have had a breach of protocol. He took his mate with him? Bryn will be held accountable.”
“And I thought Von was a hard ass,” I mumbled. Was this guy for real? He was half dead and worried about protocol?
“I believe you said Von was a caveman.”
“Yeah, well, he’s a rules-following kind of guy, which makes him a hard ass…and a caveman.” I took a step away from him but my ankle buckled. I threw out my arms to steady myself, but Gage was there first. Before I could catch my breath, I was in his arms, being carried like a child. “Put me down.”
“You are injured. You will not walk until you are healed.”
“You’re ridiculous. Put me down. I walked miles and miles to get here, Your Majesty. I can manage just fine.”
“No. And I am not a majesty. I am a prince. A descendant of the original Seven.”
I sighed and gave into the inevitable, leaning my head back onto his shoulder and absorbing as much warmth as I could. “Whatever you say, caveman.”
“Soft ass.”
That one made me blink. “What did you just call me?”
“You break rules, not follow them. Therefore, you must be a soft ass.” His hand drifted down to my backside and started a massage that quickly made my eyes roll back into my head. God, if he ever got me naked, I was in trouble. Do anything he wanted, wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted kind of trouble. “Definitely soft.”
“That’s not a word.”
“It is now.” He continued his massage and I didn’t even try to hold back the contented sigh. He was safe, not dying—at least not at the moment—and my ankle did hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. But the main emotion making me limp was relief. I’d found him. We were together now. Everything else would work itself out. It had to.
“Use that comm to call Von, and get us out of here, please.”
“How far away are these Hunters?”
I managed a small shrug. “I don’t know. They’re at the Touchstone. But they’ve been pretty busy with the whole ‘three virginities’ thing since they found their mates. They’re past that part now, but they’re not stopping. They might not be…available right away.” I felt the heat climbing my cheeks as I tried to explain the obvious to Gage. He must have heard something in my voice, for his gaze was transfixed on my face and there was hunger in his eyes. Fascination.
Possession.
I’d seen that look on the other Hunters’ faces when they found their mates. And as much as it made me feel like a stupid, romantic, love-sick idiot, seeing it on Gage’s face made my heart race and my mind go blank with longing. I wanted him to look at me like that when he could actually do something about it.
He considered my words. I was patient, giving him time. I didn’t blame him. Someone wanted him dead. Based on his job, it could be many people. Too many. He didn’t want to end back up in a cave like this again.
“Fine. We’ll call your friends. Get their help as soon as they can tear themselves from their mates.”
There would be no tearing away. Lexi and especially Katie were not the stay-at-home type, but I didn’t say anything. He’d learn the truth when they got here. Assuming they came for us.
They had to come.
I used the comm and got Katie. No surprise that Bryn took over the call within seconds, demanding my location. I didn’t tell them about Gage. When Bryn assured me they were on their way, I disconnected. “I figure it’s safer if we don’t say your name over the comm until after they get here.”
He nodded, warmth filling his eyes as he studied me. “You are an interesting female, Danielle. I will trust your friends, but for now, we alert no one else.” He lifted his gaze from me to look out over the horizon, and I saw the Hunter within him for the first time. Hard. Cold. Relentless. “The ascension ceremony is in a few days. Until then, we will need to be careful.”
“And after?”
“After, I will scour this planet with Hunters loyal to me until the traitor is taken care of.”
3
Dani, Bryn’s home, Feris 5
I was in the biggest bath tub I’d ever seen. It could be classified as a hot tub on Earth, but it wasn’t quite as scalding. And this one was in the bathroom, not outside. It was actually in the floor. The water was warm, had some kind of scented oils that smelled like the outdoors and I had the best view.
Gage was in the shower, the thing they called the bathing tube on Everis, and soaping up his torso. He had zero inhibitions, not one ounce of modesty, for he knew I was watching him.
Von and Bryn had responded to our comms immediately. After Gage explained what had happened, they’d readily agreed he needed to remain in hiding. Whoever wanted him dead had to think they’d succeeded, at least for now. Until there was time to unravel who was involved.
Bryn offered his home as a place for us to recover and hide. Since he and Gage had never met, had zero connections other than having mates from Earth, Gage felt comfortable enough with the option. There weren’t many available. As a leader of the Seven, Gage had a very public life. I imagined him to be like a famous person on Earth, where everyone knew the moment he sneezed.
That was why we gave Bryn our coordinates and he showed up, Von, Lexi and Katie in tow, in a shuttle. That was the term he called it. Me? It was like a tiny space ship out of a Star Trek movie. Transporting across the galaxy from Earth was one thing; I hadn’t been conscious. This? I’d been awake and in awe. Sure, I’d just found my Marked Mate, saved him from a certain death, but I was in a space ship. Flying over Everis. It made me realize we definitely weren’t in Kansas anymore.
And when Bryn handed Gage a handheld metal rod that glowed blue and apparently healed injuries when waved back and forth over them, I was in technology overload. But when Gage crouched before me and waved the wand over my ankle and the pain lessened, then eased entirely, I was amazed. And annoyed. He’d been tortured and left for dead and he wanted to heal my ankle? The idiot! I’d convinced him I was fine—it would always swell and ache even after a space wand was waved over it—did he use it on himself. It was hard to tell his cuts and bruises were healed based on the blood and dirt covering him, but he perked up, the tense lines of his body and around his mouth eased.
And now that we were settled into Bryn’s house—his big, huge, amazingly large house—we were alone. Bryn had pointed to where Von and Lexi would stay and Von hoisted his mate over his shoulder and carried her off. I doubted I’d hear from them again, unless it was sounds of them fucking carrying down the long hallways.
Once we were alone in our suite of rooms—it wasn’t just one darn room, but three along with the bathroom with the huge bathtub—I became modest. We weren’t dream sharing. Gage wasn’t in danger. He was healed and whole and right in front of me.
By the look in his eyes, he’d wanted to touch me, kiss me, and a whole lot more. To pick up where we left off in the dream before my stupid ankle had woken me up. But there was no way I was letting him get near me until I showered. I was all for spontaneous, wild monkey sex, but I didn’t want to smell like a monkey when we finally got naked in real life. I didn’t want him to see me with greasy hair and stinky armpits for our first real kiss.
He’d turned on the water for the tub to let it fill while I cleaned myself in the shower first. Then I could relax in the deep water. I wasn’t going to argue with that,