Hunter's Claim: The Alliance Book 1 (7 page)

“Take them,” she ordered hoarsely. “Take
them with you.”

Hunter frowned in confusion as he looked
around at the dead bodies. He did not understand what she meant. He
turned when she stepped further away from him. His eyes narrowed as
she bent and picked up a knife that was lying on the ground next to
one of the males.

“Jesse,” he said. “What are you doing?”

Jesse ignored him as she pulled her boot out
from under the body of another male. She stumbled sideways as she
tried to put it on. It took her two tries before she was
successful. She glanced around the ground until her eyes narrowed
on her father’s hunting knife that had fallen from the boot when it
was ripped off. She reached for it and turned as Saber and Dagger
approached. Each male held one of her sisters in his arms.

“Take them with you,” Jesse said in a cold,
emotionless voice. “You promised to take care of them. You promised
to protect them. I am keeping you to your word. Protect them with
your life. Do… not… let… anything happen to them,” she said
slowly.

“Jesse, what are you doing?” Hunter asked,
stepping toward her.

Jesse straightened her shoulders and looked
first into Jordan’s eyes before turning her dark brown eyes to
Hunter. She felt dead inside. She knew she could no longer protect
and care for her sisters. She had not done a very good job of it.
She was making too many mistakes. Mistakes that would get them
killed. At least if they were under the protection of the aliens
they stood a better chance of surviving with them than with her. It
was time to admit defeat before she got them all killed.

“Take them,” she whispered, looking at
Taylor’s battered body one last time before she turned away. “I’m
done with having a family.”

“Jesse!” Jordan’s distressed cry echoed
through the air.

Jesse ignored it. She closed her mind and
body off to everything. The last bit of hope in humanity had been
killed inside her. She could only hope the alien world would be a
better, safer place for her sisters.

Hunter release
d
a
curse under his breath. Jesse was walking away from them all. Her
head held high and her back stiff. He could see the spots on the
back of the tunic where fresh blood stained it from additional
cuts. He glanced at Dagger and Saber before he nodded his head.

“Get them to the transport,” he ordered. “I
will meet you there.”

“She won’t come willingly,” Saber commented
in a dark voice filled with anger as he held Taylor’s body gently
against his own.

Hunter’s mouth tightened in determination.
He expected nothing less from the human female. She had been
stubborn and completely unpredictable since the moment she risked
her own life to save his.

“I would expect nothing less from her,” he
muttered before he started after her.

“Hunter,” a soft feminine voice called out
from behind him.

He turned to glance at Jordan who gazed back
at him with sad eyes filled with tears. Her hand shook violently as
she pushed her hair back from her face. His face softened when he
saw her lips tremble as she tried to speak.

“Yes,” he said.

“She is hurting,” Jordan whispered. “She has
tried to protect and care for us since our mom died and our dad was
killed. Please, try to understand. She has never really let anyone
take care of her.”

Hunter frowned before he gave a sharp nod.
His eyes swept the area narrowing on the dark alley between two
buildings. Already, Jesse was trying to disappear again. This time
would be the last. He would tie her down if he had to. It was time
she understood that he was going to take care of her and protect
her from now on. She belonged to him.

*.*.*

Jesse stumbled over the fallen concrete that
blocked part of the alley. She ignored the sting of new cuts to the
palms of her hands. It didn’t matter anymore. She was looking for
trouble. She wanted it to find her. She wanted the pain to end. She
wanted to scream as the image of Taylor’s limp body burned in her
mind.

Guilt threatened to choke her as she fell,
skinning her knees. She pushed herself up, forcing herself to
continue moving. She stopped when she reached the next street. She
looked up and down it trying to decide which way to go. It didn’t
really matter. She was no longer searching for a way to get to the
cabin her parents had owned. She didn’t plan on living through the
night.

Turning in a circle, she finally sank down
to the ground. She sat staring down at the hunting knife in her
bruised and bleeding hands. Soft rain fell around her, soaking her
hair and clothes. Her breath fogged as she panted as pain swept
through her body. It wasn’t the pain from her physical wounds that
pulled the choking sobs from her. It was the pain in her heart.

She began rocking back and forth as the sobs
racked her body. Ragged breaths tore from her as she tried to
breathe past the agony of losing Jordan and Taylor. She closed her
eyes and raised her face to the sky, letting the rain mix with her
tears.

“Why?!” She sobbed. “Oh God, why? I love
them so much. Why couldn’t I protect them? Daddy, why? Why?” She
cried out quietly as she fell over and curled up in a ball as the
pain overwhelmed her. “Why?”

*.*.*

Hunter stood in the shadows of the alley. He
had quickly caught up with Jesse. He had waited silently when she
had stopped in the center of the road. He started forward when she
sank down to the ground, concerned.

Now, her pain radiated out from her in waves
that scorched his soul. He had never heard such agony coming from
the soul of a living creature before. He could smell and taste her
pain in the air.

Unable to bear the terrible cries any
longer, he gently knelt next to her before scooping her body up in
his arms. His fear that she would resist melted when she turned
into his warmth and continued to cry. The violent shivers racking
her body worried him. He feared she would make herself sick.

“Hush, little one,” he murmured softly. “It
will be alright.”

“It’s all my fault,” she sobbed quietly.
“It’s all my fault. I should have protected them. It’s all my
fault.”

“Your sisters will be fine,” Hunter assured
her as he cradled her tightly in his arms. “Soon, you will see they
will be as good as new.”

“It’s all my fault,” Jesse continued to
repeat over and over.

Hunter looked up as the transport they were
using began to lower. A moment later, Dagger lowered the loading
platform. Hunter nodded to Dagger as he strode up the ramp. He held
Jesse tightly against him as he settled into one of the seats.
Jordan sat leaning her head against the storage cabinet with
Taylor’s head on her lap. Her fingers caressed her little sister
who was very pale but breathing steadily from the rise and fall of
her chest.

“Saber gave her a sedative,” Dagger said as
he moved to kneel next to Jesse. “I think it would be a good idea
to give Jesse one as well. I can smell the distress on her. She is
close to breaking.”

“Do it,” Hunter said, stroking Jesse’s hair
as she continued to cry silent tears and shake.

Dagger nodded and reached into the medical
kit they carried. He pressed a new cartridge into the injector and
held it against Jesse’s neck. She flinched slightly as he depressed
it. Within seconds, Hunter felt her body relax as the medicine
coursed through her system. He looked over at Jordan who was
staring at him with dazed eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered before looking
down at Taylor’s bruised but peaceful face. “Thank you,” she
whispered before her eyes widened in surprise when she felt the
cold metal of the injector against her neck.

“Now it is time for you to rest, little
fighter,” Dagger said as he pressed the injector. He glanced at
Hunter with a grim expression. “You have your work cut out for you,
my friend. I suggest keeping them sedated until you have them
safely aboard the
Star Raider
and are on your way back
home.”

Hunter gave Dagger a sharp-tooth grin that
held no humor. “That is exactly what I plan to do,” he said,
resting his head back against the wall. “I do not plan on giving
her a chance to ever escape me again,” he added quietly as he
shifted her in his arms so he could hold her even closer to his
body.

*.*.*

Jesse froze as she slowly came awake. She
blinked several times to clear the fuzziness in her brain.
Something was holding her down. The weight across her stomach felt
heavy but… good.

She turned her head toward the source and
her breathing accelerated in alarm. Hunter’s relaxed face was
facing her. She blinked several times wondering if she was
dreaming. She started to move away but the arm tightened around her
and a low growl rumbled from the man holding her.

She froze again when she realized that
heated golden yellow eyes were staring at her with an intensity
that cause
d
her to flush. She licked her
lips, unable to look away. She gasped as the arm around her pulled
her closer and his eyes followed the movement of her tongue.

“You,” she started to say.

“Yes, me,” he said in a husky voice.

She shook her head in confusion. “You…
aren’t supposed to touch me,” she whispered.

A soft chuckle escaped him as his eyes lit
with amusement. He rolled until she was trapped under him. He kept
his weight up off of her but let her know that he was not about to
agree with her.

“I never said I would not touch you,” he
pointed out, bending his head to rub his nose along her cheek.
“Your skin is very smooth and soft.”

“I… what are you doing?” Jesse asked
confused.

She pushed her hands up between them and
spread her fingers across his chest intending to pushing him away.
She felt like she was caged under him. His hair fell forward like a
curtain on each side of her face. The soft strands brushed against
her cheeks, cocooning them.

“You knocked me out,” he said with a curve
to his lips. “I have never had a female do that to me before.”

Jesse stared up into his eyes for several
long seconds before she flicked her tongue out over her lips again.
She wasn’t sure what was going on. She frowned up at him trying to
remember how she had ended up in this position.

“Where am I?” She asked.

Hunter sighed and shifted until he was
sitting beside her. He swung his long legs over the side of the bed
and stretched, unconcerned that he wasn’t wearing any clothes and
he was giving her an amazing view of his tight ass. Her eyes
widened even larger when he turned and gave her an even more
impressive view of his front.

His lips curved when he saw her mouth drop
open and her eyes grew huge. His cock appreciated her attention. He
grew even larger and thicker the longer she stared. A shudder
coursed through his body when he saw her tongue caress her bottom
lip.

“If you continue staring at me like that,”
he warned in a husky voice filled with barely restrained desire. “I
cannot promise I will not take advantage of your attention.”

Jesse’s mouth snapped shut. She ran her eyes
slowly up his body until she finally blinked when she encountered
amused yellow eyes staring back at her. He was… magnificent. There
were no other words to describe him. She had seen a few nude guys
in the art appreciation class she took in college and the one
summer when some of the boys decided to go skinny dipping during
high school and she and some of her girlfriends stole their
clothes. But, none of the guys looked anything like this.

“You… never said where I was,” she finally
choked out in a strangled voice determined not to look above his
nose and below his mouth. That seemed like a safe place to keep her
eyes. “My sisters?” She asked in a husky voice.

“Are healed,” Hunter said kneeling by the
bed so that Jesse was forced to see the sincerity in his eyes.
“They need you, Jesse. They are worried about you.”

Her eyes filled and her bottom lip trembled.
“I let them down,” she said in a small voice. “I promised…”

Hunter laid his fingers on her lips. “As did
I. If there is blame for what happened, it lies on my
shoulders.”

Jesse frowned and shook her head. “How can
you say that?” She asked.

Hunter sighed again. His cock was rubbing
against the bed cloth and it was so sensitive he had to force
himself to count backwards. The feel of her soft lips against his
fingers was not helping. The warmth of her breath and the touch of
her tongue against his fingers were doing strange things to his
inside
s
that he had never felt before.

“I promised to protect you,” he reminded
her.

“With your life,” she added shyly. “But we
left you. You couldn’t protect us if we were the ones who
left.”

He leaned forward and rested his forehead
against hers with a chuckle. “Yes, I know you left. I figured that
out when I woke the next morning on the floor covered by a blanket.
How did you get one of our injectors?” He asked sitting back on his
heels again.

“Taylor lifted it while we were in medical,”
she said proudly. “She is so smart.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” he muttered.
“I need a cold shower,” he suddenly bit out, standing.

Jesse’s breath swished out of her as she
caught an up close and personal view of why he needed a cold
shower. Her face flared with color as she found herself at face
level with the evidence of his reason. Her gasp echoed in the small
room.

His laugh echoed in the room as he turned.
“You are on the warship
Star Raider
headed back to my home
world of Rathon,” he called out over his shoulder as he walked
through the door into the bathroom.

Jesse blew out the breath she had been
holding as she watched the sexiest ass she had ever seen walk
through the door and out of sight. Only when he had disappeared did
she fall back on the bed and lay staring blindly up at the ceiling.
She was in trouble. Major, catastrophic, out-of-this-world trouble
and it had nothing to do with being on a spaceship heading to an
alien world.