Asar stared down at the face of the sleeping male and considered his options. It was still early in the morning. He’d prayed in the temple, attempted to communicate with his elusive mother, and checked that Rain and her mother were still sleeping.
And now here he was, contemplating the interloper, the human who had dared to have sex with his woman…
“She’s not yours.”
Asar blinked down at the still form. “You are awake.”
“I heard you blundering down the hall about half an hour ago. What do you want?” Jay opened his strange blue eyes and stared right up at Asar without the slightest hint of fear and more than an edge of mockery.
“Be careful, human.” Eager to avoid the intimacy of telepathy, Asar spoke aloud. “Your life is currently in my keeping.”
“I thought you were just a lackey for your mother?”
“What does that mean?” Asar growled.
“She is the supreme power around here. You can’t do anything without her permission.”
“That is something of an exaggeration. In her absence, and without the presence of a female heir, I stand in her stead and can wield her authority.”
“Does that bother you?”
“What particular part?” Asar asked.
“That you can never rule by yourself.” Jay eased a hand behind his head on the pillow like he had all the time in the world to chat.
“Why should it?’ Asar frowned. “The Queen Goddess has ruled us for hundreds of generations. It is just how it is, and how it should be.”
“So as much as you’d like to kill me, you can’t do it.” Jay’s satisfied smile made Asar clench his jaw.
“When my mother returns, I will petition her for the right to battle you in single combat. Will that shut you up?”
“Why?” Jay sat up, and the covers fell away from his upper body, displaying the paleness of his skin. Asar noted that he might not have much bulk, but his muscles were well-defined.
“Because you have dishonored a woman of Neveks.”
“Bullshit. One, Rain was banished when she was eighteen, so she is no longer a ‘woman of Neveks,’ and, two, if anyone gets to fight for her honor it should be her. She’d be glad to take you on.” Jay looked Asar up and down. “And she’d probably beat you as well.”
Asar flexed his biceps. “I doubt that. And women do not fight in single combat.”
“Tell Rain that, and see what she says.”
“You would make your woman fight for you?” Asar jeered.
“Make her?” Jay had the gall to laugh. “I’d be the one holding her back.”
“You dishonor her with your words.”
“Yeah? Like you can talk about honor.” All the amusement died from Jay’s face. “The man who let her walk away from everything she knew and everybody she loved without even a whimper.”
“That is not true,” Asar snarled. “I was told that Rain had attacked my mother in the holy temple. She had witnesses!”
“And you chose to believe them because basically you’re a momma’s boy?” Jay shook his head. “Please.”
Asar grabbed Jay around the throat and hauled him to his feet. “I am no coward.”
“Rain thought you’d come after her, you fucker,” Jay said fiercely. “You let her down just because you were scared of your mother.”
With a roar, Asar drew back his fist and aimed it at the other man’s face, but Jay was too fast for him. Furious, Asar tried again, and this time managed to take his rival down onto the floor, pinning him to the ground. Within seconds, Jay somehow rolled away and was on his feet again.
Asar turned on him. “Now, who’s the coward? Do you always run away?”
“I don’t want to hurt you while I’m a guest in Neveks, so don’t try and provoke me.” Jay righted a stool and went to sit on the side of the bed.
“You are the one provoking me!” Asar roared. “You are the one who has dared to touch my female! You deserve to have every bone in your body broken in two for forcing yourself on her!”
“Forcing her?” Jay shot to his feet, his mouth a thin line, his eyes icy. “Hell, no. She was a willing participant in everything we did.”
“I doubt your word!” Asar shouted.
A flicker of movement drew Jay’s attention to the door behind Asar where Rain was now standing, hands on her hips, and her expression stormy.
“Ask her yourself.” Jay nodded at Rain who marched into the room and went straight up to Asar.
“He doesn’t need to ask me anything! I heard him!” She poked Asar in the chest. “For the record, I’m the one who came on to Jay, okay? So stick that in your pie hole and smoke it.”
“My pie hole?” Asar frowned. “What new insult is this?”
Jay fought an insane urge to laugh. “I think she means pipe, but I’m sure you understood what she was trying to say.”
Asar ignored him, his attention fixed on Rain who was wearing just a bra and panties with her long hair flowing over her shoulders. Lust stirred low in Jay’s gut. He wanted to grab her and take her down onto his bed and…
“Why would you choose to have…sex with a man like this?”
Asar sounded genuinely bewildered, and for a second Jay felt almost sorry for him.
“Who else would I be having sex with?” Rain demanded. “You?”
“Yes!” Asar thundered. “If you have stayed here instead of—”
“Running away?” Rain finished his sentence for him. “Your mother’s bodyguard didn’t even allow me to say goodbye to my own mother before they shoved me out the door!” She swung around and pointed at Jay. “I like having sex with him, and you know what? When he feels up to it, I’ll have sex with him again!”
“Really?” Jay asked.
Rain shot him an exasperated look. “Yes.”
Asar took a threatening step forward, and Rain blocked his path. “If you want to fight someone about this, then fight me.”
“I would never fight you,” Asar said hoarsely.
“Why not?” Rain asked.
“Because you are…too precious to me.”
Jay stared intently at Asar, his mind catching the sincerity of the big warrior’s words even as Rain rolled her eyes.
“Don’t treat me like a child. I am a trained soldier.”
“And yet I would still never hurt you,” Asar murmured, one hand coming to rest on Rain’s bare shoulder.
Jay tensed as the shock of that touch resonated through Rain and into him. What the hell was going on?
Asar’s gaze flew to Jay. “I can feel you both now.” He frowned. “This makes no sense.”
“Then perhaps you should keep your hands to yourself.” Rain shrugged off his touch. “Have you finished threatening Jay now? I need to get back to my mother.”
For the first time, Asar slowly smiled. “I have noticed that your Jay does not respond to threats well.”
“Good.” Rain glanced over at Jay. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes. Thanks for popping by.”
“You lie. Your energy levels are still pathetic.” She came over and bent to kiss his cheek, her long hair shielding her face. “I will not allow him to bully or hurt you.”
“Right back at you,” Jay murmured, furious at his own continuing weakness. “And, by the way, I think you could take him anytime you wanted.”
She snorted. “He’s twice my size and a renowned warrior, but I’d certainly go down trying.”
“Maybe we’ll have to double-team him.”
“It might come to that.” She sighed. “But—”
“You don’t want to hurt him, either,” Jay said. “He’s still connected to you, Rain. I can feel it.”
She nodded and slowly straightened up, not denying his words at all. “Try and rest, Jay. I will check in on you later.”
He wanted to hold onto her so badly that he had to grip the side of the bed with both hands to stop from reaching out to her as she left. He cursed softly as he lay back on pillows, his small store of energy depleted.
A shadow loomed over him, and he groaned.
“While are you still here? Didn’t you listen to what Rain said? She’ll be back to kick your ass if you start messing with me again.”
The big man crouched down on his haunches beside the bed and considered Jay.
“You are confusing my senses.”
“Apparently I do that a lot to people from your planet.”
Jay shivered as Asar reached forward and ran his fingers down the side of his exposed arm, stopping at his wrist before encircling it.
“Your mind is at war.” Jay blinked at the accuracy of Asar’s statement and tried not to show any emotion as his companion continued. “You already have scars from the first change, and now you are fighting another battle.” Asar frowned, and closed his eyes. “Yet I cannot see the way clearly for you—only that you are gradually becoming clearer to me.”
The rough pad of his thumb caressed the softer skin of Jay’s wrist. “Do you understand what I am telling you?”
“Not really.” Jay tried to shrug. The last thing he needed was for the Queen’s son to have full access to his innermost thoughts. Seeing as it was obvious where Asar’s loyalties lay, it could be a disaster. Or could he use the male’s obvious interest in him to gain access to the Goddess?
Jeez, he was such a cold, cold bastard sometimes…
Asar let out a long, slow breath. “I think I should leave you now.”
“Fine by me,” Jay replied.
“But I do not want to leave you,” Asar sounded as puzzled as Jay felt. “I want—” He shook his head, stumbled to his feet, and left, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Jay’s hand slid beneath the sheets to cup his thickening cock. Some part of him had wanted to throw back the covers and offer Asar something more useful to do with his mouth than just talking.
“Damn…” Jay whispered. Asar was right. He wouldn’t need to feign interest in the Neveks male. He was already interested. Things were really getting out of hand.
“There is something I wish to tell you, daughter.”
“What’s that?” Rain settled her mother back on her pillows and sat on the side of the bed. After her encounter with the two male idiots next door, she’d had to try very hard to find her calm center and help Alaya start her day. There was some weird dynamic emerging between herself and the two males that she was pretending to ignore—the very idea of it made her head spin.
“It is about your father.”
Rain tensed as her mother took her hand and tried to squeeze it with her sadly depleted strength.
“I wish I’d gotten to meet him,” Rain said softly.
“He was a good man, but even he was unable to resist the Queen in the end.” Alaya sighed.
“What do you mean?” Rain asked.
Alaya leaned closer, her faded hair brushing against Rain’s cheek. “I loved him, but the Queen desired him and took him from me.”
“Why?”
Her mother shrugged. “Because she wanted him.”
“But that sucks,” Rain said.
“I agree.”
“I thought he died in a hunting accident just after you became pregnant?”
“That is what the Queen told everyone, but I know she lied.” Alaya drew a shallow breath. “A few weeks before the hunt, he sought me out and begged me to take him back, saying the Queen had bewitched him. We continued to see each other in secret.”
“I don’t understand,” Rain said slowly. “If you and he were formally bonded, how could she take him from you?”
“Because she can attempt to erase those bonds.” Alaya sighed. “In your father’s case, her power over him wasn’t strong enough to keep him besotted with her. She would never forgive him for that.”
“So you think she arranged for him to be killed rather than let him come back to you?” Rain whispered.
“She and I are of the same family. I was carrying his child, and she was jealous of the enduring bond between us.”
Rain sat back. “The more I hear about the Queen Goddess, the more I want to meet her and challenge her to a fight.”
“You would not prevail.”
“It would still be worth it.”
Rain considered Jay’s offer to fight alongside her. If he regained his strength, she might take him up on it. Any stranger who entered Neveks without the Queen’s express permission could be executed at will. If the Queen chose to mess with Jay, then neither of them would have anything to lose…
Gods, she wanted to go back into his room, climb into his bed, and just hold him. Had she done something to his very soul? Had their sexual encounter destroyed him? The desire to bond with him, to share his thoughts was almost unbearable.
“Have you seen Asar, daughter?”
“Yes. He hasn’t changed much.”
“The night you left, when the Queen Goddess claimed you had attempted to assassinate her, I found Asar here in the temple. He was praying at the altar, with tears streaming down his cheeks.” Alaya paused. “I have never seen him in this part of the temple since.”
Rain tried to picture Asar crying, and couldn’t. But there was no need for her mother to lie to her when her death was so close.
“Do you think he still cares for me?” Rain asked the question even though she dreaded the answer.
“Well, he has never sought out another mate, and, after you left, he made sure I was safe from his mother’s wrath here in the sanctuary of the inner temple.” Alaya smiled. “He was also the one who insisted you were informed of my condition.”
“Asar did that?” Rain was genuinely surprised. “That was…good of him.”
“If he still loves you, Rain, then perhaps, when I am gone, he will petition the Queen anew and ask to bond with you again.”
“That’s a lovely thought, Mother.”
“Do you no longer care for him, then?” Alaya hesitated. “I sense another presence in your mind. Have you perhaps met your other Neveks mate since you have returned?”
“Not quite.” Rain smiled at her mother, who needed all the hope in the universe right now. “But things are definitely looking up.”
“Message from the Queen Goddess for you, sir.”
“Thank you.” Asar nodded as he took the sealed envelope from the male courier. Why his mother couldn’t simply send him a telepathic thought he wasn’t sure, but sometimes she preferred this arcane way to communicate. She insisted it was more secure.
He opened the envelope and took out the single sheet of parchment.
Treat the human as a guest in our house. Do not allow him to leave and do not trust him.
Well, that was clear enough. He took the paper to the fireplace, tossed it into the fire, and watched it burn.
But why? Asar stared into the flickering flames as they curled around the blackening paper. Interlopers were usually removed from Neveks immediately. Did his mother know that Jay was connected to the Oracle’s family? Even if she did, would that sway her from carrying out a heavy punishment? She disliked the Oracle at Quoxor immensely and had always been jealous of her superior reach and power over the majority of the planet’s citizens.
In truth, Asar had begun to wonder whether her obsession with the Oracle had become unhealthy. When the Temple at Quoxor suffered an attack from the hostile planet of Etrusca, his mother had seemed disappointed that the Oracle and her daughter had survived. She had also refused to send help when a transport carrying Senator Ash had crashed nearby, insisting that the people of Neveks had no responsibility to assist an organization that oppressed them.
When the Queen Goddess returned, Asar would have to speak to her about many matters. Part of him was ashamed of his own compliance with her orders. Had she ruled for too long? Had her sense of fairness deserted her? But that was in the past. With Rain to fight for, and the intrusion of the human into the sacred Neveks Temple, things were changing. Perhaps it was past time to review the old way of doing things and finally hold his mother, goddess or not, accountable.