Chapter 6
Not long after Cat had left, Talon started to feel calmer. Calm enough, at least, to wonder what the hell was going on with him. These horrible mood swings needed to stop as soon as possible, before his life derailed completely. To achieve that, he needed to get out of here right away.
He would not leave without Cat though. She was his companion, whether she wanted it to be true or not. If necessary, he would throw her over his shoulder, get on the nearest ship and flee Earth’s poisonous atmosphere once and for all. He didn’t enjoy the thought of himself, Talon Delkhari, fleeing from anything, but if he wanted to have a happy life with Cat, then he had no choice. He would do anything to have a chance at that life.
He heard a soft knock and Cat entered the room. He was more than surprised. He had secretly counted on her holing up in her favorite corner by the romance novels, until he came to her and asked for forgiveness. Even better. She looked worried, and even a little contrite, but one thing in particular gave him hope: she was alone. The damned Sethari was nowhere in sight. Could it be that she had taken his words to heart, and had picked him over Shazuul?
The looked at each other for a minute. It felt like an eternity. Then they took a step, and another, and finally she practically flew into his arms. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered. The fabric of his shirt became wet, and her voice sounded strangled. He couldn’t see her face, since she was buried in his chest, so he gently raised her face to his.
“It was unbearable without you,” she whispered haltingly. She was telling the truth. The bond between them told him as much. Words were not necessary between them, he thought, and admitted to himself that he was immensely relieved to feel her. Without her, he was incomplete. She stretched a little until her lips met his. The sweetness of her kiss took his breath away, and now that nothing was standing between them anymore, Talon wondered how he could ever have considered leaving her. Had he really forced her to choose between him and Shazuul. That had been really dumb, he thought, and completely unnecessary. Deep inside, he knew that he and Cat belonged together. Something that had been a hard and icy lump in his chest, melted under the tenderness of her touch, and he started to feel a little more like himself. Talon pulled Cat closer to him and it felt like their bodies had been waiting for this one moment to explode. He threw his arms around her, and at the same time, she put her arms around his neck. It was, he thought in astonishment, like perfect choreography in which there was no hesitation, just trust that the partner was ready to take up the motion and to continue it. His heart raced, but not because he was heading into battle, and the predator inside him purred, growled, and sighed with lust.
Cat pressed herself against him. Her fingers slid down, pulling at his shirt. Impatiently, he pulled it over his head and enjoyed watching Cat’s eyes roam over his naked chest. As if she had been hypnotized, she stretched out her hand and ran her fingertips over his muscles. Then she stepped back, her eyes sparkling, and undressed painfully slowly under his burning gaze. He was tempted to help her, but it was lustful torture to watch her undress.
Within seconds, she was standing naked in front of him. It was a sight that filled him with awe and thanksgiving for his fickle fate. Had he really ever considered delivering her into Ferthoris’ hands? He pushed any thoughts about his king quickly to the side. Cat sank to the floor. She didn’t even seem to notice how cold the scratched hardwood floor was, or maybe she didn’t care. The tips of her breasts were hard and so stiff that they were practically begging him to take them in his mouth. He did just that, after removing his annoying pants. She strained her breasts to him provocatively, but it was the look in her eyes, so trusting and yet filled with a certain wildness, that went deeper than anything else, and made his predator growl. He swore to himself that he would never let anyone hurt Cat. He would rather die.
As gently as his lion would permit, he entered her. She spread her legs and took him in without hesitation. She closed her eyes, and at first he thought he might be hurting her, but then she arched her back, taking him even further in, and he relented. He saw her lids flutter, and her mouth twist in helpless, complete surrender.
Cat loved him. He was sure of that now. The relief, and the absence of dark doubts, made him moan softly, until he finally let himself fall completely.
Later, much later, they had risen and gone to Cat’s favorite spot. They hadn’t done much more than put on their shirts and had snuggled under the blankets. Cat was lying relaxed in his arms. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was regular, but he could tell from the movement under her sweet, almost see-through lids that she wasn’t sleeping. “Let’s really get out of here,” he said into the relaxed silence.
Cat smiled without opening her eyes. “Immediately, if it were up to me, but there is something I need to tell you.” She sat up. Her bare shoulders were much too small, almost bony. Talon thought the light brown speckles on them were adorable. He sat up and lowered his mouth to a gathering of these little dots that looked like an unknown solar system. In this moment, it seemed to him that every single one of these dots were a promise of their happy future together.
“The Krak, right?” Talon had known that this sober moment would come and listened without stopping what he was doing.
“So, you promised them that you,” he stopped and corrected himself quickly, “that we will lure Ferthoris to Earth, so they can take their revenge on him.”
“I would call that an accurate summary.” Her tone contradicted her flippant words. “You have to understand,” she began, but Talon covered her mouth with a new kiss. He just couldn’t get enough of her, and of the taste of her on his lips.
“Don’t forget that I was there,” he said with a raw voice. It seemed just like yesterday to Talon. Had the moment when he had cut the helpless Krak woman’s throat marked the beginning of his rebellion? The point when he had stopped being unconditionally loyal to Ferthoris in his thoughts and actions?
“Does that mean that you aren’t angry at me?” Her voice trembled slightly.
“Cat,” he said, saying her name purposefully, “my Cat. The Earth awakens the worst in me, but if I am angry, it definitely isn’t at you. How could I be angry at the wind that blows a kernel of sand into my eye, or at the sun when it burns my skin? You can never think that. If it is necessary for us to lure the king to Earth, so the Krak can have their revenge on him,” he swallowed, “then that is how it has to be.”
Her eyes showed so much of what she was feeling. He would have been happy to just lose himself in them for the rest of his days. “Do you have any ideas for how we can make that happen?” she asked. Something darted through her eyes. It was a feeling he couldn’t exactly put his finger on. It had disappeared so quickly that Talon thought he must have been mistaken.
“I don’t think it will be difficult to lure him here,” Talon remarked. “If I know Ferthoris at all, he will leave as soon as he hears about us. One of his brown-nosing minions will surely report that the woman he won in a poker game prefers his warlord to him. That will not sit well with him.”
“So, you think he will come here on his own?” Cat frowned. “Then all we will need to do is set a trap for him, and make sure that he falls into it.” She thought hard, shaking her head. Her hair had come loose during their lovemaking. It fell onto her naked shoulders and offered an appealing contrast to her light skin.
“He will determine the time of his arrival,” Talon said. “We can’t do anything about that.”
Her eyes glowed when she understood. “But we can determine the spot. I think, we should go into the city. It will be harder for him to detect us there. I know the city well.”
“We shouldn’t make it too easy for him,” Talon agreed. “He cannot suspect in the least that we want to be found, and we need to figure out how to isolate him from his bodyguards.”
“The only problem I can see are the Krak. Do you think they would come into the city with us?” Cat bit her lower lip. “They obviously need water, and that is hard to come by in the city. No, we will have to deliver the king to their doorstep like a package. Is that too complicated?” She laid her head to the side, almost as if she were listening for a voice that he couldn’t hear.
“I don’t think so,” Talon responded. He shrugged. “They want him, so they will have him. They let us go, so we owe them something, and we will pay our debts.”
“Have you ever dealt with them before?” Cat asked curiously. “I don’t know - I think they are creepy. When they kidnapped me, I was held in a kind of living chamber. It felt like a huge, pulsing heart or other organ. That can’t be, can it?
Talon felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. This was worse than he had expected. “That isn’t good,” he began and wondered how he could explain to Cat where she had really been. He had her undivided attention, and she forced him to continue with her look. “You were in one of their breeding caves.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s gross, but I didn’t see anything that pointed at procreation. No eggs, no larvae or anything that would have to do with however they raise their offspring.”
“Cat, this is serious. Really serious.” Talon got up. “When the Krak breed, they make a cave where they raise their offspring for years on end. Do you understand? They have settled on Earth to start a colony here.” Talon drew his hand over his forehead and tried to make sense of it all. Ferthoris, Cat, he himself – what did the Krak want? What was their real goal?
“That isn’t good,” Cat agreed and then asked the question that wouldn't leave him alone, either. “Does that mean that we aren’t bound to keep our promise and can just get out of here?” She shook her head, as if she were trying to rid her head of something unwanted, an image or maybe the memory of what the breeding cave had been like.
“I would go anywhere with you, you know that, right?”
“I hear a big but,” she said. The smile on her lips did not make it to her eyes.
“You should never break a promise you make to the Krak. They have a way of finding anyone who owes them anything, as you can tell by their plot against my king.” He took a deep breath. “In any case, I don’t like the idea of us sneaking off and getting out of here. That goes against everything that is important to me. It is enough that I am breaking my allegiance to my king.”
“I understand,” Cat said. She had also risen and was getting dressed. She looked like she didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Her strong side won, even if just by a hair, and she smiled at him. “You and I really don’t have it easy,” she said and giggled. “I used to think that my life was complicated. Since I met you, the level of complexity has shot through the roof.”
“I can only return the compliment,” Talon grinned. It was strange to be so happy in a hopeless moment like this one. It wasn’t pretend happiness, either. It was more than fatalism. It was the feeling of meeting fate head on, with the woman of his life at his side, and punching fate with his fist. To challenge it.
With Cat at his side, he was undefeatable.
At that moment, he realized that this feeling was a mistake. Fate did not take kindly to being made fun of. It would rear its ugly head and get to work on destroying their lives.