Kyele's Passion: A World Beyond Book 4 (4 page)

With a shove, Kyele broke her hold on his arms and twisted away, tagging Joni behind the knee with his booted foot. Her leg buckled and she fell forward.

Instead of coming at her, he waited until she regained her balance, wiping his wrist across his mouth. The speckle of blood on his bottom lip caused her eyes to widen. She must have nicked him when she fell. He didn’t complain though merely arched a brow.

Incredible. Hair tumbling over his forehead and bare chest rising with each breath, Joni found herself struggling with concentration in the face of his undeniable sex appeal. Green eyes shone as he took her measure. Her nipples contracted tightly and Joni almost whimpered from the pleasure and pain of it but she forced herself to concentrate.

Getting close to Kyele was key. Then he couldn’t use his speed against her. Risking a pretty painful blow once her mid-section was exposed, Joni launched a spin kick designed to force him backward. His hand whipped out and wrapped around her ankle, but Joni followed through with the move. Her other leg landed a punishing kick to his neck which by design should have incapacitated him.

Kyele dropped her ankle in the nick of time, blocking the foot aimed for his face and twisted about to deliver a chop to her side that barely tapped her skin. Then his palm planted flat to her chest before she could blink. The blow should have knocked her across the room but he didn’t put any force behind the strike. Joni landed on her feet and bent over panting.

She needed a minute to recover but Kyele rushed her before she could react. His hands gripped her hips and tossed her to the mats. Hard. Breath rushed from her lungs all at once, and her eyes watered as she lay flat on her back. Pain radiated down her spine as she struggled to rise, both weapons in her hands. Kyele knocked one knife from her hold and it flew across the room. He snatched the other from her hand.

Cold steel pressed against her neck, while a large thigh pinned her to the mat. Unwilling to give up, Joni twisted and bucked beneath him. As Kyele leaned more of his weight into her, his green eyes darkened. He captured both of her hands in one of his and stretched her arms above her head, limiting her range of motion.

“What would you do now?”

Joni huffed and thrust her hips up. He exhaled, the breath soft against her cheek. Another thrust and he groaned. His shaft pulsed against her leg and soon desire replaced the frustration she’d been feeling. Her bones melted and Joni bit her bottom lip to muffle a needy moan.

“Now who’s the baddest?” he teased.

After a few more attempts to get free, Joni’s head fell back on the floor. She faced his gloating smirk, her words begrudging. “You win.”

Kyele’s weight shifted over her as he lowered his head. The ends of his hair tickled her ear when he whispered, “Never fight angry, Earthling.”

Before she could respond he flowed to his feet and extended a hand to help her up. Joni ignored it and pushed to her feet with a handspring the way Jaron had coached her. Kyele knuckled her chin, staring into her eyes. Joni waited, unsure what he wanted. Then he pressed the knife into her lax fingers. She reluctantly accepted.

“I will tell Torkel you are ready for Team Two to help train you.”

Without another word he strode from the room, leaving Joni somehow feeling bereft.

Chapter 5

Kyele focused his attention on Torkel in hopes of ignoring the pain throbbing between his thighs. He leaned his elbows on the table to hide the arousal, which had yet to subside from having Joni beneath him hours earlier. Her body had been soft and giving, similar to a female eager for a male’s touch. Red waves spilled about her head and onto the mat begging for his touch.

His Unit Leader rubbed the palm of one hand over the balled fist of the other. Anger filled the room from restrained violence. “During a raid by another Jutak unit, twenty women and men who were held captive burned in their cells after they were abandoned by the Marenians.”

A senseless loss of life.

Torkel directed them to the last note he’d made in the electronic file. “Rumors seem to indicate the prisoners lacked buyers and were of no value to the slave traders.”

For a reason. Torkel shared the images Jaron received from the other Jutak team after they hacked a salvaged communicator from the inferno. Each of the sex slaves bore disfiguring marks, limbs twisted and healed in grotesque angles. No one would have paid good credits for them.   

“I am pulling Vee back. He’s been unable to get close to Lothar. Lately, it seems as if Nikol and Arlo are doing all of the reporting on Lothar’s behalf. The longer we leave Vee undercover, the greater the risk of his discovery.”

V’hor belonged on Team Three and had agreed months ago to go deep undercover in hopes of gaining knowledge on a means to bring down Lothar, a Marenian who led a big part of the criminal underworld.

“I think it’s a sound idea.”

Their attention turned toward the man who’d spoken. Rydak sat to the far right of Kyele at the table. The Team Three Leader steepled his fingers across his mid-section. His steely gray gaze unnerved those who thought to challenge him. “I have some concerns with V’hor and I don’t believe long-term exposure to the darker elements is in his best interest right now.”

Rydak’s gaze locked on Bane’s black eyes. The other member of Team Three shifted in his seat but didn’t speak.

“I agree.” Jaron tapped on his data pad, missing the byplay between the two men then looked up and stared at Torkel. “You never left Rydak under this long. One can only do so much before it’s hard to turn away from what is second to your nature.”

He spoke of V’hor’s origins as a Serpine exiled from his home world. The Serpines from what Kyele could gather lived under a matriarchal society and V’hor’s mother was a prominent figure who’d banished him years before he signed with the Jutaks. Nothing about Serpines inspired thoughts of anything but evil.

Torkel made notes on his own portable communicator. “It is done. He will know to return as soon as he gets the message. Anything else we should address, Jaron?”

The Team One leader shook his head.

“Kyele?” A smirk accompanied his name.

Kyele’s mouth twitched but he shook his head.

“Rydak, your team rolls out later to protect the group of doctors heading across the Vioxx zone. The vaccine they’re delivering must not fall into the wrong hands. Do you have any worries about the assignment?”

Rydak broke his stare from Bane. “We’re prepared.”

Torkel pushed away from the table and set his communicator down. “Be safe. Meeting over. Kyele, stay behind.”

Kyele jerked his head back toward Torkel. Everyone shuffled out until it was just the two of them left.

Torkel came to Kyele’s side of the table. “Be honest. How are things going? Is the team acclimating well?”

“Better than expected.” Kyele owed the friendship between them nothing less than the full truth. Torkel pushed for Kyele to have this role and he would not fail him. “How is your Chosen?”

A slow smile curled Torkel’s mouth. “I’m pleased and happy to have her in my life.”

Curiosity stirred. There had been a major security breach with Faye that had almost cost the Earth female her life. “Was it worth it?”

Torkel’s gaze sharpened as he leaned his hip against the table and folded his arms. “I believe so. She’s my heart and everything I’ve waited for.”

It’s what Kyele needed to hear. He was pleased for Torkel.

“What about you and Joni?” Torkel asked, his brown eyes knowing.

It hurt to force the words out. “There can be no Joni and I.”

Torkel’s brows lowered. “You know that isn’t the truth. The two of you in the same—”

“You know who my father is,” Kyele cut him off. “The deaths I caused make me a danger. Like father, like son.”

Torkel sat on the edge of the table, one knee bent. “Those were accidents. Nothing is on record against you, Kyele.”

That might be true, but Kyele was afraid to take the chance. People like him didn’t have good things happen without something going wrong. “It’s too great a risk. If I lost control…if I hurt her...”

He became ill at the thought.

“Nonsense!” Torkel slammed his palm on the table between them.

Kyele raised a brow at seeing his Unit Leader’s extreme reaction. “Why do you care, Torkel?”

“Because you and I…we deserve love like everyone else.” Torkel leaned close and lowered his voice. “I know what it’s like. I attended seven presentations and not one female selected me. Time after time, I risked it because I wanted a Chosen.”

Stark words. Kyele remembered the humiliation, the shame, each time Torkel walked the sands and left alone. No female had wanted to take a chance on a male who never denied he was of Marenian birth. He was an elite soldier despite the criminal actions of many from his lineage, but it meant nothing in their eyes until Faye came along.

“I took a chance on you, Kyele. The medics, the governing council, no one thought you should be on the teams. It wasn’t because you didn’t pass all of the Jutak training.” Torkel exhaled and straightened. “Fuck, you are better than half of the Jutaks who completed training during your cycle at the Academy.”

The conversation straddled too close to things Kyele didn’t want to remember. He fingered the handle of his knife, running his thumb carefully along the sharp edge without breaking the skin.

“Do you know why I picked you?” Torkel asked when Kyele remained silent.

Kyele shifted his grip and twirled the knife through his fingers, trying for indifference. “You already stated I was better than the others.”

“And yet none of the Unit Leaders would have you.”

Kyele flinched. The Jutak Commander had explained all of it to him after he completed his training. “I know I owe you, Torkel.”

Torkel shook his dark head with a rough exhalation. “You do
not
owe me, Kyele. I know what it’s like for people to judge you by what they see. I’ve never regretted having you on the teams. You easily had the skills to be a Team Leader on the first day here but you clearly weren’t ready to be responsible for anyone else. Ever wonder why I decided now to make you Team Leader.”

“Not really,” Kyele lied, causing Torkel to snort out a laugh.

“Joni.”

Kyele swallowed.

“She’s the first person I’ve seen you care for and I knew you were ready for the responsibility of taking care of others.” Torkel stared at him.

Kyele didn’t want to listen any more. “I need to go.”

Torkel grabbed his arm before he could move. His brown eyes narrowed. “I might be Marenian but I’m also Enotian. I deserved to have a chance at love. And you do too.”

The twirling knife skidded to the table. Torkel held Kyele’s gaze and let his arm drop. “You’re Enotian where it counts. You want a Chosen, a female who will accept you no matter the blood that runs in your veins. With Joni, you could have that.”

Kyele stood and grabbed his knife, unwilling to linger on the words that echoed his deepest desires.

Chapter 6

Joni relaxed back, elbows propped behind her on the ground. The guys were all away on missions, and the warm day was perfect for an Earth style picnic outside the facility. Purple skies above lent a hazy lavender glow to the afternoon.

Lissi, displaying one of her rare moments of mischief, tackled Sylvie and tickled her. “Take it back, you wretched female.”

“Alright,” Sylvie shrieked, tossing madly about on the grass. “I won’t lust for Rydak’s gloves. I promise.”

Lissi straddled Sylvie and paused in her tickling efforts. “Can I trust her, Faye?”

From her cross-legged seat on a blanket playing with Aya and Boid, Faye barely glanced up. “Don’t ask me, I still lust after his gloved hands.”

Lissi yelled and jumped to her feet. “None of you Earth females can keep your eyes to yourself. They’re just gloves.”

Sylvie sat up with a snort, dusting off dirt and leaves. “Right.”

“I don’t lust for his gloved hands,” Joni said, fingering the gold chain of her grandmother’s necklace about her throat.

Lissi fixed the wild tangle of her blonde hair and smiled at Joni. “Thank you. I always think of you as the rational one.”

Joni added, “But he’s hot. You’d have to be blind not to notice that man’s looks and none of us are blind. The ever present gloves just add to the mystery.”

Lissi groaned and plopped down on the blanket beside Faye. She ruffled Boid’s hair and smiled at his younger sister Aya’s triumph in beating Faye in a card game. “My Chosen
is
hot as you say.”

They all laughed. Truthfully none of them would think of crossing that sort of line. Faye and Sylvie loved their Chosens, men who’d sacrificed and proved time and again their love for the women at their side.

Sylvie, her best friend, had Arak. The half-shifter cuddled next to his mate any time they ended up in a room together. Joni thought it cute, though she wouldn’t want a guy in her breathing space constantly. Faye, Joni considered the bravest. Her Chosen was Marenian by birth. Initially Joni kept a wary eye on Torkel Alonson, but he proved to be as honorable as he appeared. He had to be since he led the Jutak warriors, a team of elite soldiers. Military alien men with abilities a person could only imagine.

Joni bet there was more the men didn’t share. Specifically those on Team Three or as Sylvie commonly referred to them, the ‘scary as hell guys’. Joni agreed. Aside from Lissi’s Chosen, Rydak, she made it a point to avoid Team Three. The rest of the men from Team One and Team Two made all of them feel more than welcome on a world where Earthlings were the aliens.

Enotia. If Joni had to end up on a planet not of her choosing, she couldn’t have picked a better world than the one inhabited by the peace-loving Enotians. Sometimes it creeped her out that the majority of the populace was blond with blue eyes. But their openness made up for it.

“What are you over there thinking about so deeply?” Faye asked, as she reached into a basket and pulled out a container of what looked like dessert.

Food on Enotia was different, but Joni hadn’t eaten anything not delicious. Especially since Sylvie often brought food from her Chosen’s family restaurant. Arak’s father should have his hands bronzed for the things he whipped up in the kitchen and sent over.

“Maybe she’s thinking of Kyele. The guys have been gone for a week now,” Sylvie chimed in with a knowing smirk.

Flushing, Joni threw a wadded up napkin at her. “You’re the one missing your man.”

“I am, too,” Faye admitted, brown eyes dancing.

“Me, too.” Lissi grinned. “I like when Rydak comes home after being away. His adrenaline needs an outlet.”

“Boooo, hiss,” Joni teased, not at all upset at their happiness.

After her experience with slavers, it felt good to relax and joke, though Joni didn’t completely lower her guard while they picnicked outside the Jutak facility. The building offered the highest level of security for the men who lived here. Torkel had gone so far as to add more sensors and cameras after repeated attempts in the past to kidnap Faye. The man was crazy protective over her. Joni didn’t know their full story but if Faye hinted at wanting something the Jutak leader made it happen.

Like finding Faye’s friend Lindsey. Torkel used every resource and then some to make sure the Earth woman held hostage with Faye was eventually found. Joni bet he’d crossed a few lines and butted heads on that one, but it worked in the end and Lindsey’s husbands happened to be powerful men in the political side on their world. Now the Jutaks had another source of funding for their specialized program.

Lissi snagged a piece of fruit and stretched out on her side. Today’s picnic was for Lissi, who often admitted her fascination with Earth culture.

Joni believed it had more to do with the young Enotian not having many friends. Growing up with a Marenian brother, a father in the top secret military portion of the government and then Chosen to a soldier on an elite task force didn’t lend itself to easy friendships. Not exactly things a girl could share with anyone.

“Kyele will make sure to stop in and see her. He always does when she’s here,” Sylvie commented as she rolled to her back to stare at the sky.

Kyele. Jutak warrior. No, more than that Joni corrected. He was the man who’d rescued her and her feelings had developed beyond gratitude. Still if there could be anything between them as Sylvie implied, Kyele wasn’t helping. When possible the walking green-eyed temptation kept his distance from her. After the sparring match, she noticed his increased efforts. Joni wasn’t stupid. Kyele had the potential to rip her heart out if she risked opening herself up.

When all of the men and women got together, his gaze always sought hers. He watched her with an intensity hard to ignore. And everyday it was getting more and more difficult to do so. But. And that was the biggest dilemma. He seemed reluctant to pursue the attraction they shared. Plus, everything about Kyele began with
too
.

Too handsome. Too intriguing. Too much.

“Nothing’s going on between Kyele and me.” All three women stared. Joni sat up and returned their look evenly. “Sure he’s nice to look at.”
Understatement.

Sylvie snorted.

“But,” Joni emphasized, holding up a hand. “I’m not looking for a man. It may have been a few months since the escape but sometimes I feel like it was yesterday.”

Although Kyele helped with that, too. He showed up at her place when she least expected. Once he appeared in the middle of her living area while she sat curled on a sofa reading. Those enigmatic green eyes studied her as if assuring himself of her safety.

“You tempt me beyond compare.” He’d confessed in true confusion.

Joni didn’t know what to say to that but she made sure to lock her doors and windows afterwards.

That didn’t stop him. Kyele was a freaky devil with an aptitude for sneaking. Joni couldn’t put her finger on how he managed it. The swirling mist thing he’d done when they’d sparred probably helped. She’d considered complaining to Arak to get his friend to back off.

Except there were times when she
wanted
him there. He helped with the dark dreams Joni suffered. Whenever she struggled with her reoccurring demons caught in the deep web of sleep, Kyele would appear and lay in bed beside her. Staring. Touching her hair.

She would be forever grateful for his midnight visits, though neither of them ever mentioned it. The vivid images of the past haunting Joni’s sleep fell to the wayside as if magically banished by Kyele’s presence in her bedroom. His arrival always disrupted the one nightmare she couldn’t fight by herself. The one that focused on her final sale to a research lab. A sale that almost broke her completely.

At the time Joni had thought being sold as a sex slave was the worst that could happen. Dr. Kirkem, the brilliant scientist at the labs, changed her mind. He did what none of Joni’s other owners could.

He gained her trust.

After being returned when her first owner, an elderly man interested in gardening, died, Joni locked every emotion tight. Her next three sales didn’t go well due to her refusal to submit to the sexual advances of her owners. When she arrived at the labs, Joni had expected more of the same. Instead the soft spoken doctor paid for Joni to be his special project.

He asked her to be his assistant. As always she planned her escape from the ebony skinned scientist with excruciating detail. This time if she failed, she would die trying.

But Dr. Kirkem talked to her. Nicely. Calmly. He didn’t tear at her clothes or finger her roughly like the others. Always wearing a charming smile, he fed her and gave her clean clothes, never once making any sexual overtures. He promised to help her. She just needed to help him. During those days Joni’s battered spirit wanted to believe in what he offered. She’d been desperate for a kind word. Desperate for hope.

The moment she acquiesced became the moment of her downfall. Kirkem got off on the psychological aspects of torture. He threw her in a different cell and the experiments began. Horrible, painful experiments.

He threatened.

He taunted.

He laughed.

Then waited until she recovered from the mental breakdowns to repeat the process all over again with increased frequency.

And all the while Joni plotted. Plotted to escape and one day pay him back for the ultimate betrayal.

For making her trust him.

The good doctor had recorded her during his scientific experiments and played the vids for Joni to watch as he bragged about his plans to kill her if she ever managed to escape. But Joni did escape when he released her restraints for another torture session.

Only she’d been caught by the horned bastards again. Marenians. She hated them with a passion. Then the Jutaks rescued her and the green-eyed soldier with the scarred face saved her in more ways than one.

He saved her from reliving the conclusion to the vicious nightmares which left Joni screaming—sometimes until her voice went hoarse. Now she woke from her terror filled dreams to Kyele threading strands of her red hair around his fingers the same way he did when he played with his knives. Her sleep dazed brain could just make out his whispered, “I’ve got you, little Earthling. I’ve got you.”

Joni shook away her thoughts with a toss of her hair. No way she’d tell Sylvie or anyone else the truth about all she’d suffered. “Like I said, he’s got appeal but I’m sticking to self-gratification for right now.”

Their gazes grew serious. Sylvie scooted closer, an arm curving about Joni’s shoulder. “We support whatever you decide. We’re goofing around about Kyele because it’s clear he likes what he sees in you.”

Clinging to humor like a shield, Joni gestured toward the skintight green dress that stopped at her mid-thigh and showed off her ample cleavage. “What’s not to like?”