Authors: Monette Michaels
Prime Obsession (10 page)
* * * *
“Mel, what’s going on?” Nowicki said through gritted teeth. “Captain Caradoc looks at you as if he wants to eat you for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and his night-time snack. He almost cut me in two with a glare when I held you up so you wouldn’t fall flat on your face.”
“I’ll explain later,” she hissed under her breath. “Let’s get this wound up. Garth can take charge of the prisoners and escorting the
Galanti
to Tooh 2. We need to get me out of here and back to Tooh 10.”
“What we need to do is get you to the
Leonidas
and onto a regen bed. You’re a mess, Mel.” Nowicki growled. “Is there gonna be a problem getting you off this ship?”
“Maybe.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I’m tired. I hurt. I can’t explain it all now. And we don’t need the resulting diplomatic incident if the Prime try to keep me on the
Galanti
. We need to sneak out.”
“Shit, Mel. Caradoc is heading this way.” He rubbed his mouth, whispering through his fingers. “Can you faint on cue?”
“Yeah, but Wulf will just sweep me into his arms again. And whatever you do, don’t call me Mel in front of him. It would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull.” Nowicki’s face reddened with anger. “Why in the fuck was he carrying—?” Cutting off his question, she lifted a finger and pointed it at him. “Just stop. I’ve had it up to my neck with alpha-male chest-thumping.” She let out a huff, keeping an eye on Wulf’s progress across the now overly crowded engine room. “I needed to be carried when he did it, so do not go there. Men! You all try to protect me—and I resent it.”
“Mel, I never … he can’t keep—”
“Oh, yeah, you do—and he could. If he wants to keep me here, every man on his crew will back him. You just don’t understand what you’re dealing with here.”
“And you do?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Except Wulf doesn’t know I know.”
“Know what?”
“I’m Prime,” she hissed.
Nowicki’s jaw dropped open.
“See, I said it was complicated. Just follow my lead.” She pulled his arm and spoke loudly. “Nowicki, let’s go check with J’ar on that computer problem you had on your approach.”
Wulf stopped a few feet from them. “A problem,
lubha
?” Mel smiled at him and waved one hand airily. “One of the transports had a small computer glitch in its approach schematics. Ensign J’ar needs my input. I designed the system.”
“Really?” Wulf looked impressed. “Can one of my computer specialists assist in any way? I really think you should be lying down in my medical unit on a regen bed. You are very pale,
gemate lubha
.”
“I’m fine right now, Wulf.” What a lie. She wanted to lie down so badly she’d kiss an Erian’s slitty mouth to achieve it. “I’ll check into the medical unit for a diagnostic scan after we fix the problem.”
“Just in case, I’ll send Iolyn down. He has some experience with guidance systems.
I’d go myself, but Maren and I need to interrogate the traitors. We want to find out how extensive their rebel faction is.”
“Sounds like a good idea. You surely don’t need a civil war on your hands,” Mel agreed. “We’ll meet your brother down there.”
She turned and walked away. She didn’t have to turn around to know he watched her. She could feel his possessive gaze burn down every inch of her back. Unfortunately, her traitorous body shuddered in achy anticipation of his touch. Her mind told her this was biology—the imprinting the traitors told her about—but her body wept at leaving him.
Dammit, she needed distance—and time—to assess what was happening to her.
Nowicki moved at her side. “Now what? And what’s that about a civil war on the Prime planet? And what the fuck is a
gemate lubha
?” Holding onto her second-in-command’s arm for support, she turned him in the direction of the door. “Forget the civil war. Forget what he called me. We need to move.
Now.”
She would not panic. And, she sure as hell would not turn back to look at him one last time. She also built all the mental walls she could so that Wulf would not pick up on her thoughts or emotions. Prolow and Ullyn had said battle-mates could read minds during times of stress. She wasn’t sure if that was true, but she’d sensed what Wulf would do before he did it near the end of the Ullyn confrontation. She wouldn’t take the chance he could read her decision to escape now. God knew, she was stressed as hell.
“Why?” Nowicki looked over his shoulder. “What’s the hurry? It will take him a while to interrogate the prisoners.”
“Because those two traitors will be happy to inform Wulf that they revealed to me that I am a Prime female.” They made it out of the engine room. “If Wulf knows, he’ll know I’m escaping him. He won’t like it.”
No need to tell Nowicki about the mind-body connection—he would freak and go all alpha on her again. She could not—refused—to deal with any more alpha-ness today.
They took the lift to the docking bay where their transports were located. “Switch your ear-com to alternating sequence Code EEGT. I had J’ar go over to it when you liberated the engine room. He’s waiting for us on our transport. A’tem is on the
Leonidas
and has our squadron ready to go to jump. We’ll be the last of our teams off this ship.” Nowicki smiled wickedly. “You had this planned from the minute we opened that engine room door, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It will take the
Galanti
at least twelve standard hours to get back on line. Plus, Garth will run interference.”
“I like the way you think, boss.” Nowicki signaled J’ar on his ear-com. “As for you being Prime, are you sure?” At her brusque nod, he asked, “What are you planning?”
“I’m taking leave and going home to Obam IV. I owe it to the people who raised me to find out the truth from them.”
“He’ll follow, won’t he?” Nowicki frowned. “That word ‘
gemate’
is very close to our ‘mate’.”
Yes, it was
.
Mel allowed a small sigh to escape her lips. It was too late to reverse her genetic reaction to Wulf. It had been too late when she first heard his voice back at jump station Andromeda 2. Hearing it in the tunnel just reinforced it—and inhaling his scent, being in his arms, cemented the bond.
And she’d admit that she was attracted.
She liked the way her battle senses heightened because of him, the way he made her even stronger. She liked the way his strong arms felt around her. She loved his scent, all male musk, cinnamon, vanilla, and something spicy that was all Wulf. She wanted to lick him all over and see what he tasted like. She liked it when his jaw clenched and his carotid pulsed as he battled not to yell at her. Heck, she even liked it when he growled at her in that bossy, commanding tone. And most of all, she liked the fact he made her hot, achy and wet. She’d even wondered what the act of sex would be like with their heightened senses.
Hell, she was more than attracted; leaving now was like losing a piece of her body and mind.
But she was
not
a subservient Prime female, one to be hidden away and protected.
She was a warrior—the battle-mate of Prime legend—and that was how he had to see her.
Accept her.
Since the attraction went both ways, she’d made the decision in the engine room that he had to woo her. She was not a gift to be dropped in his lap. He had to earn her.
“Yes,” she sighed, finally answering Nowicki’s concerned look and question. “I expect he’ll follow, but he’ll be meeting me on my turf. He’ll have to deal with me—the me who was not raised to be some Prime’s breeding machine.”
Chapter Six
One standard week later
Galactic Alliance Military Command on Tooh 10
“Wulf, sit,” ordered his father, Cejuru Prime Premier Ilar Banan Caradoc. “You are wearing a hole in the rug.”
Wulf turned and glared at his father. “I can’t sit. Melina is gone. And these military bureaucrats are hiding her whereabouts.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I read her medical report. She required three units of blood and three standard days on a regen bed.
I need to see that she is healed. I need to touch her. I … I—” What he wanted was to tear apart the military base at Tooh 10 until he either found Melina or forced someone to tell him where she was. The not knowing how she fared threatened his much vaunted Prime control. He’d never felt this out of control in his thirty standard years.
His father stood and approached. He laid a calming hand on Wulf’s shoulder. “I understand, son. Your mother and I couldn’t be apart for even an hour after the imprinting was awakened early in our courtship. Melina has to be suffering also. We will demand that they reveal where she is. They don’t understand the dynamics of the biological coupling.”
Wulf nodded. He was glad to have his parent’s support. On his own, he hadn’t made much headway in locating Melina.
Immediately after the freeing of the
Galanti
from pirates, Maren had notified Wulf’s father and the Prime Council that Melina was a definite match, a battle-mate of legend—
and missing. His father had dropped everything to speed to the new Prime embassy on Tooh 2. With his arrival, the Galactic Alliance Council put pressure on its military to divulge Melina’s location.
The military finally agreed to provide the information. In a few minutes, Wulf would have his answer. His personal star cruiser was ready to depart once he had the coordinates.
The door to the meeting room opened. Maren entered, followed by Melina’s superior, Admiral Nelson, the leader of the Alliance military in the Mu Arae system, and Commander Nowicki, Melina’s first officer.
Wulf surged to his feet and crossed the room in a single bound. Taking Nowicki by the collar of his dress uniform, he lifted the man up, his feet dangling and kicking a foot or so off the floor.
“Where is she, you devil-blessed bastard?” Wulf shook him and tightened his hold until the Terran’s face turned blue. “You took her off my ship.”
“Put him down, son.”
Wulf’s father pried his fingers from Nowicki’s throat. The Terran dropped to the floor, gasping for breath.
“She doesn’t want to see you, Caradoc.” Nowicki managed to spit out between gasps for oxygen.
Wulf growled and started for the downed man. His deepest desire was to wipe the smirk off Nowicki’s face permanently.
His father held him back. “Let me handle this, son.”
Nowicki had struggled to his feet, his hand absently massaged his throat. Good, he had hurt the bastard.
“Commander,” Wulf’s father said, “By now, your Captain will be suffering, both physically and emotionally. Melina and Wulf can not be separated for any great length of time, not until after they fully consummate the
gemate
bond.” Nowicki glared at them. The man opened his mouth to say something when the Admiral cut him off. “Sit down, Commander Nowicki. Let Premier Caradoc explain about this bond.”
Wulf’s father inclined his head toward the Admiral. “The bond between my son and Melina was created over twenty-seven standard years ago during a mass evacuation of our planet. My son was three standard years old and Melina, the daughter of Ambassador Maren’s sister, was six standard months old. It was unusual to do so at their very young ages, but we felt it was needed. The process protects the Prime females from mating with males too close in blood-ties.”
The Admiral’s forehead creased as if he pondered what Wulf’s father had just conveyed. Nowicki just snarled, his whole demeanor one of repudiation of anything Wulf or his father had to impart.
Wulf stood up. “Father, they don’t understand. We’re wasting time. Melina could be in danger of harming herself; she doesn’t understand the bond. She could be in pain.” His hands fisted at his sides. He’d never felt so helpless in his life.
Concern flared in Nowicki’s eyes. The commander didn’t want Melina to hurt. That was the only thing that Wulf and he would ever agree on—Melina’s safety and health.
His father nodded. “Sit down, Wulf. Let me explain further.” Wulf dropped back into his chair. “In each generation there is one genetically optimal match for each Prime female. This does not preclude other potential matches, but biologically, over the centuries, we have found that the match that is optimal is best. The
gemat-gemate
markings only appear on optimal matches.”
“How does this matching occur?” the Admiral asked. “They were practically—and literally—in diapers.”
“Normally, we do wait until puberty, but … let’s just say the circumstances were exigent at the time of the exodus.” Wulf’s father sighed. “The match is more sensory than hormonal. There is a part of the Prime brain that processes all the sensory and extra-sensory emanations as each male is passed by an unmated female. If the match is genetically optimal, the female develops the
gemate
marking. The male develops a similar marking called a
gemat
. Melina was the optimal match to my son. Her symbol lay dormant until she met him on the
Galanti
.”
“But what does this bond have to do with Melina’s well-being?” demanded Nowicki, his fists bunched on the table in front of him.
Wulf, spacing his words deliberately for maximum effect, responded, “Melina and I have begun the first stage of Prime courtship—the linkage through hearing, scent, and touch. She needs to see, hear, touch and smell me to feel safe, calm—and to remain physically well.”