Razor's Traitorous Heart: The Alliance Book 2 (20 page)

He loved her! That was what the feelings
were that were driving him crazy. He had heard about it, even seen
it between his father and mother, and Hunter and Jesse. For a
minute he was stunned. He leaned forward and pressed a light kiss
to Kali’s slightly parted lips.

“I love you, Kali,” he whispered in wonder,
looking at her with a growing determination. “I will not let you
expose yourself to danger. I can’t. You are my life.” He picked up
her wrist and pressed another kiss to the inside of it, over the
dark markings claiming her as his. “I am Razor. I belong to Kali as
she belongs to me. Forever will I tie my life to hers. I will care
for, protect and give my seed only to her. She is my
Amate
.
She is my life.” His voice faded on the last word.

My life,
he thought as he turned to
look up at Cutter who was walking through the doorway.

“Thunder and Vice are heading over to
Badrick’s apartment,” Cutter informed him as he glanced at Kali.
“Jag just arrived with the
Star Raider
. He heard the message
and sent a team over to the Usoleum Starship. It has been
seized.”

“Good,” Razor commented, standing. “You will
remain on Earth to oversee the rebuilding and the withdrawal of the
troops. I must return to Rathon but there is another matter that
requires my attention before I do.”

Cutter nodded. “Chicago was the last major
city not under control. Except for some smaller bands of rebels in
remote locations, the transition should go smoother now that Parks
is in control.”

Razor nodded, looking down at Kali again.
“Yes,” was all he said. He had formed a compromise on their way to
Allen’s stronghold with Kali’s brother. He had offered to support
him in exchange for Kali. At first, Parks had resisted. It wasn’t
until Razor pulled Kali’s brother to the side and asked him how
many times she must almost die before he would agree that Razor had
a better chance of keeping her safe.

It was not a part of Razor’s personality to
negotiate or even care if Destin Parks agreed. As far as Razor was
concerned, Kali already belonged to him. But, there was some
instinct deep inside that told him he needed Parks
'
alliance if Kali was to come to accept him as her
Amate
.

While it was highly unusual, there were
cases where a female taken by a warrior later rejected him. In
their race, the women held the power over a male. If she rejected
him, his mark could be removed from her, but hers would forever tie
him to her. A warrior did not give his mark easily or to just any
woman. He knew instinctively when he found his
Amate
, not so
the female. She was not tied to the male as he was to her.

“Did you notify Patch I needed his
assistance?” Razor asked.

“Yes, he is waiting at the landing site,”
Cutter said, nodding toward Kali’s unconscious form. “What makes
them so different? They are so fragile yet they fight with a
fierceness that any warrior would be proud to stand beside in
battle.”

“I don’t know,” Razor admitted, glancing at
Cutter as they began their descent. “I don’t know.”

*.*.*

Fifteen minutes later, he was once again
laying Kali on the bed in the makeshift medical unit set up at the
National Guard Armory. He had to press his lips tightly together to
prevent the coarse words he wanted to unleash on Patch. The healer
was muttering under his breath about what a sorry piece of work
Razor was for not taking better care of his
Amate
. Cutter,
who had followed them in, didn’t bother hiding the chuckle that
escaped.

“Just heal her!” Razor barked out.

“Why? So you can let her get beaten up
again?” Patch retorted angrily as he pulled the medical tray
closer. “Maybe if I don’t, she can remain safe here in
medical.”

“Darling, that girl is going to find trouble
no matter where she is,” Chelsea said as she walked into the room.
“She’s got too much fire to be tied down.”

“Well, put the fire out,” Razor growled,
glaring at Chelsea as she slipped a blood-pressure cuff around
Kali’s arm. “What are you doing?”

Chelsea raised an ebony eyebrow at Razor and
pursed her lips together. She didn’t break eye contact until he
shifted from one foot to the other in agitation. Only then did she
refocus on the task at hand.

“I’m checking her vitals the old fashion
way,” she snorted. “I don’t like those odd things Doc Patch
uses.”

“I told you they didn’t know when not to
fight,” Cutter muttered to Razor under his breath.

Chelsea’s chuckle echoed in the room as she
heard Cutter’s remark. She shook her head as she recorded the
results. These Trivator warriors were good at fighting, but
clueless about human women if they thought they would just let them
walk all over them.

“Honey, I’ve tangled with kids high on
drugs, dealt with bank robbers, raised three kids, all of them
girls, and not a one of them ever got the best of me,” Chelsea
commented. “You growl and snarl all you want. All it will get you
is my foot across your tight-looking ass.”

“Tight-looking ass?” Patch repeated, looking
at Chelsea in surprise before looking at Razor who scowled at him
in frustration. “Now that is an image that I never thought of
before.”

Chelsea’s infectious laughter pulled the
tension from the air. She shook her head. This is what she loved
about her new career. She met all kinds of people still; but now,
they usually weren’t trying to kill her.

“You know what you boys need?” She commented
as she took a warm, damp cloth and began cleaning the blood off of
Kali’s face.

“No, but I suspect you will inform us,”
Patch replied dryly as he ripped open the tear in Kali’s shirt
covering her wounded shoulder and applied cleanser to the cut.

“You’re right, I’m going to tell you,”
Chelsea said, looking specifically at Razor with a knowing eye.
“You need to go have a talk with my Thomas about women. Bless his
soul, after being in a house for over thirty years with us, he
knows a thing or two that might help save you a lot of headaches,
not to mention heartache.”

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Cutter
announced thinking of one female he was still looking for. “Does he
know everything about them?”

Chelsea just shook her head again and
muttered ‘stupid men’ under her breath. “He can tell you all you
need to know,” she promised.

Patch paused as he finished sealing the
wound on Kali’s shoulder. He glanced from Chelsea to Cutter to
Razor. A gleam of interest brightened his eyes.

“Don’t meet with him until after I’m done
taking care of the wounded. I want to hear what he has to say,”
Patch said, returning to the task at hand. “There is another
transport coming in with wounded, so it will be a couple of
hours.”

Razor stared at Thomas Cuddles in disbelief.
He rubbed his left ear as the man sat back in his seat and raised
his beer bottle up to take a deep swig from it. He shook his head.
No, his hearing was fine.

“Are you serious?” Patch asked in disbelief.
“That’s it? That is the answer to the women of Earth?”

“Yep,” Thomas replied, wiping his hand
across his mouth and grinning. “You follow those rules and you’ll
live a long and happy life.”

“You are not serious,” Cutter remarked with
a frown.

“Oh, I’m very serious,” Thomas said, nodding
his head. “I’ve been married to Chelsea for thirty-one years, four
months, and fourteen days. We’ve had three daughters, all of them
married now. Let me tell you, I gave their husbands the same
advice.”

“This is impossible!” Razor growled sitting
forward. “How can these things make her happy?”

“How can they not?” Thomas asked, pointing
his beer bottle at Razor. “You’ve got to accept her as she is and
not try to change her.”

“But she keeps trying to get herself
killed!” Razor retorted, setting his beer down on the table with a
thud and running his hands through his hair. “I can do the others.
I can kiss her and cuddle her and… wash the dishes. But…”

Thomas shook his head slowly back and forth.
“There is no ‘but’. You have to accept her. If you try to change
her, then she isn’t the woman for you. Let me explain,” he said,
leaning forward again. “When I met Chelsea I was studying
accounting at Washington U. She had just been recruited by the FBI.
I knew this was important to her even it if scared the hell out of
me. Over the years there were a few close calls. She was shot
twice. Once when our daughter Lettie was only a year old. I wanted
her to quit and we had a huge argument. I finally realized that she
wasn’t trying to prove how big and bad she could be. It was more
than that, it was who she was. She was born to help and to serve
others. It was because of that part of her that I fell in love with
her. She was an amazing agent, but she was also an amazing wife and
mother. When I finally accepted that, our relationship became
stronger than ever before and I fell more in love with her every
day because every day was a special one.”

“Why?” Patch asked curiously. “Why would
every day be a special one?”

Thomas sat back again and looked at Patch
before turning his gaze to Razor. He knew what the male was going
through. He felt a pang of sympathy for him. He had gone through
the same thing and Chelsea had shared her talks and insight about
Kali Parks with him.

“Because I never knew if it would be our
last,” Thomas replied in a quiet voice. “I made sure that I made
each day a special one. Most importantly, I made sure to let
Chelsea know how much I loved her.”

“How could you stand by while she placed her
life in danger over and over again?” Razor asked in a low voice.
“Why would she do that to you?”

“I could stand it because I finally accepted
that when it is our time to die then it really doesn’t matter if
you are an FBI agent or someone driving to work. Death doesn’t care
what your job is,” Thomas explained. “Yes, her job was dangerous,
but she was smart, well-trained and took precautions to reduce that
danger. I had to trust her, just as she learned to trust me that I
would take care of our girls. A relationship is about being a
partner. Not a part-time one, but a full-time, 24/7, 365 days a
year partner.”

“I will not leave Kali behind,” Razor said,
standing up. “She will be by my side.”

Thomas looked up at the huge warrior’s dark,
determined face and smiled. “As long as she is beside it and you
don’t expect her to walk behind you,” he remarked.

“Is that when, as Chelsea so eloquently told
us, she would ‘put her foot across our tight-looking ass’?” Patch
asked curiously.

Thomas’ deep chuckle shook his slightly
rounded frame. “Oh yeah. And let me tell you, it only takes once to
learn not to let her too far behind you,” he laughed. “You’ll do
fine. Just trust her.”

“Trust her, accept her, love her,” Razor
repeated with a short nod. “I will remember.”

Thomas sat back in his chair and watched
Razor as he left the mess hall. He shook his head. The man was
hard-headed. He was going to have to learn the hard way. He just
hoped he didn’t screw things up too bad or both he and Kali Parks
were in for a difficult journey.

“Do you think he will follow my advice?”
Thomas asked distractedly, sipping his beer.

Cutter glanced at Razor’s departing back.
“Yes,” Cutter replied, standing and stretching. “Yes, but it will
not be easy for him. He is used to giving orders and expecting them
to be followed.”

Patch sighed when his comlink pinged. He was
needed in medical. Setting his own beer to the side, he rose as
well. He turned and gave an apologetic smile to Thomas.

“Thank you for your insight,” Patch said.
“I’m afraid I must return to medical.”

“I’ve got to go as well. Jag is supposed to
have a report on his findings to me in ten minutes,” Cutter said
with regret. “Thank you for your wisdom, Thomas. I will think on it
as well.”

Thomas watched as the two Trivator warriors
hurried away. His eyes lit up with love and delight when the figure
of his beautiful wife appeared in the doorway. A huge smile curved
her lips when she saw him. He stood up and opened his arms for
her.

Maybe he should have told them a few more
pointers,
he thought as he gave Chelsea a long, deep kiss.

*.*.*

Razor stood outside the bathroom door in his
apartment. He discovered that Kali had woken shortly after he had
left medical. Chelsea had helped her back to his room as the
medical unit was filled with mostly wounded human males from the
fight at Allen’s former headquarters.

Colonel Baker had insisted that Kali be
moved for her own safety. He was thankful for that, but irritated
that he wasn’t immediately informed that she was awake. Now she was
refusing his request to open the door.

“It is dangerous for you to be alone,” he
growled. “You lost a lot of blood.”

“That happens when you get stabbed,” she
retorted.

“You were still recovering from the last
time you lost a lot of blood,” he reminded her. “Kali, open the
door.”

“I’m not talking to you,” she called
out.

“Yes, you are,” Razor replied, confused. “I
hear your voice.”

“Well, I’m not talking to you anymore,” she
argued back.

“But, you are still speaking,” Razor said in
frustration, clenching his fist and leaning against the door.
“Kali, I demand that you open this door.”

Silence greeted his demand. He banged on the
door in frustration. His brow creased in worry when there was still
no response. What if she had fallen unconscious again? What if she
had hit her head when she fainted? What if she was in the shower
and drowned? All kinds of horrible thoughts flowed through his
mind.

“Kali,” he called out, the edge of
desperation making it deeper and louder than before. “Kali? Answer
or I will break the door down!”