The Tracker's Quest: (Forced To Serve #6) (17 page)

“What was the point of that pain?”

“I destroyed the last barrier between us. I’m tired of my destiny being determined by everyone but me. If I am to be a Siren’s mate, then I will bear it all. Now we are equals again—each bringing what we bring to this mating.”

Ji felt his energy building, felt his vibrations racing back to normal. They would not be at normal long. Having been held back by the implants, the Siren’s call was making itself known with a vengeance. He went to the door and slid a clothes chest across it. “Precaution. I don’t want to accidentally kill anyone who interrupts us tonight,” he said when Seta lifted an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to dance for you again? Maybe arouse you enough to do this?” Seta asked.

Ji’s laughter filled their quarters. He was fighting himself not to rip the clothes from her body and Seta thought he needed help getting it up. His gaze on her was blazing. He felt desire all the way to his toes.

“Take off your clothes before I destroy your incredible dress. Someone spent many hours sewing on all those jingles.”

Seta reached behind her and undid the fasteners holding it together. The entire thing landed in a kaleidoscope of sound at her feet. Under it she wore only her hygiene straps.

“I couldn’t bring myself to dance naked. You can rip these off. I will try not to flinch or be afraid. I know how you hate it when I do so.”

Ji walked slowly to her. He spoke in Siren. He made all the mating pledges he could remember with his mind full of showing his mate how he really felt. He would make more later. One day soon Seta would learn enough of his language to understand, and then he would pledge his compassion to her all over again.

He tugged Seta until she stepped free of the costume and ran a possessive hand down the front of her. “It cost me more than you will ever know to offer you your freedom this morning. I will never make the offer again. Accept this now.”

“I am fully aware of what I am accepting in this situation,” Seta declared. Ji’s smile was brilliant at the sound her haughty tone. She couldn’t seem to help herself. She chewed her lip, suddenly a little more worried about how this was going to go. “I regret the sharpness of my tone with you. I am. . .very nervous.”

“Me too. Let’s fix that,” Ji whispered, stepping in to repeat his pledges into the long-pointed ears he kissed while she shivered in his arms. “You are forbidden to ever alter your ears. I know you once harbored thoughts of it. Release the idea now. I love every micrometer of them.”

Seta snorted. “Ah. . .I wondered where the bossy male in you was hiding. You were being so nice, I thought he had died when you suffered your head injury.”

Ji narrowed his gaze and ran a hand down her front until he slid it between her legs. Seta hissed as he sent the first of the hundred vibrations he was building into her. “Let’s see if you’re still teasing me tomorrow morning. We may have to delay our departure for a second day. I’m not sure I can calm down enough after one night. I’ve been waiting a very, very long time to give you what I intend to tonight.”

“Are you trying to make me more nervous than I already am?” Seta demanded. She couldn’t think with his hand between her legs. After so small a taste of his pleasure, Ji had her squirming and he knew it. That’s what she got for mating the first male to ever pleasure her body. He knew her too well already.

“Not as well as I intend to know you after tonight,” Ji whispered. “And yes—I’m reading your thoughts. It’s a little side benefit from my mate so willingly answering the Siren’s call. Our bond is already starting to be formed. You must tell me if it becomes too much to bear. I have a very pleasurable cure.”

“I don’t feel any discomfort from our bond at the moment,” Seta declared.

“Good. Try not to fight what I’m about to do to you,” Ji demanded, his mouth sealing hers as he lifted her hips to his. He spun them until they landed on the bed together.

“Say you are mine,” he demanded.

Seta swallowed. “Must I concede in words as well as deeds?”

Ji ran a hand over her stomach and down between her legs again. They parted instantly. He went a tiny bit insane. “Give me some words, Seta. I need to hear how you feel. Express yourself with me. I am for you and you alone. This is a need I have that I’m asking you to meet. Please do not deny me tonight, even if you will never offer words again.”

Seta drew in a deep breath. “Your rejection hurt me this morning. I had become accustomed to your endless pursuit of me. When I saw you would actually let me go, I felt. . .I felt. . .more alone than I’ve ever felt. Worse than even when Rena died. I don’t know what to do with you, but I don’t want to live my life without you a part of it either. I remain very confused about what I want where you’re concerned.”

Ji sighed and put his head on her shoulder. “Garmon would be a better choice for you. I know this.”

“No, he wouldn’t. Because you are my choice—the only choice I can make. If not you in my bed, then I don’t want any male there. I am jealous of your time, your eyes, your concern. I don’t even want you to look at other females even in the smallest of ways. I want to meet. . .all your needs. . .even if I have to work at being poetic. You will have to give me time to fix what other males broke in me.”

Ji’s laughter shook her body.

“You think my bleeding heart is amusing?”

Ji raised his head and shook it. “No, Sweet Joy. I think it was very foolish of me to think I could have let anyone else have you. You are mine, even if you can never bring yourself to admit it.”

Seta nodded against the pillows. “I will work on admitting it. . .since it seems to mean so much to you.”

“I am a humbled Siren,” Ji complained, laughing at the irony. “I will spend the rest of my days warming your bed while waiting to hear you admit you belong to me.”

Seta reached up and drew his braid across his shoulder. She wrapped it around her wrist. “Now I will be the only female who gets to braid your hair. This fact pleases me in ways that shame me.”

“Agreed,” Ji said, trying not to laugh again. She was nearly as innocent tonight as she had been the first time he welcomed her to his bed.

“Then I will admit it. I belong to you. I belong to a Siren. And he is the last mate I will ever take.”

“I can see we’re going to agree about a great many things before this night is done,” Ji declared.

“Does answering the Siren’s call hurt?”

“I will be as gentle as I can be,” Ji whispered. “Surrender yourself into my care, Sweet Joy. I swear you will never regret it.”

Surprising Ji, Seta rolled on top of him, his braid still wrapped around her arm. She tugged only until he felt it. “I used to wonder if Boca ever did this with Chiang. I dreamed about it a thousand times with you. Perhaps it is symbolic of my wish to hang on to you, whatever it takes to do so.”

“Then you may do so, before I—take over. Consider it your first mating gift,” Ji declared hoarsely, gritting his teeth as she impaled herself on him. His bonding organ was throbbing with urgency, but he wanted Seta to want him back before he took her the way he longed to do.

He felt the tug on his braid with every bounce of her body and thought he might truly go mad. When she stopped, he opened his eyes, even knowing his torment was shining out of them.

“This feels—wrong,” Seta declared. “I rescind my request. Perhaps we can do this another time. Please take over now Ji. I wish to feel mated to you—truly. I think I am okay with it now. Thank you for talking to me first.”

Ji rolled her over but left his braid around her wrist. “I am for you, only for you. My house is yours. My wealth is yours. All I am and ever will be is for you, Seta Trax.”

Seta’s body lifted as the energy coming from Ji surged into her. Her moan was audible in the room. She felt like she was glowing.

“You are mine and I need to hear you say it,” Ji whispered.

His voice held that edgy, rough, impatient tone she always dreaded hearing. “My courage was used up with dancing for you. I don’t have the words,” Seta whispered back. “But I will let you speak your truth to me any way you need to and not respond with unkindness to your words or tone. This will be my mating gift to you, Ji Warro of Rylen. It is all I have to give.”

Ji hissed at her concession. He was starved for it. He wanted more. “Can you tell me I am your willing choice?”

“Yes. You are my choice,” Seta declared.

“Now tell me you are mine.”

Seta felt a shift inside and knew it was happening whether she said the words or not. She was his. Perhaps she had always been. It had taken a long journey to find herself beneath this particularly fine surging male. Unlike the others she had known, her pleasure was what he craved most. She told herself not to think of admitting it as a total surrender, but rather more like getting carried away in a passionate moment.

“I am yours, Ji Warro of Rylen. I am your mate. I am for you and you alone.”

Ji yelled as everything he’d held back from her surged between them all at once. He prayed he had not hurt her. He prayed she would not regret what he’d done in marking her as his.

Seta’s body lifted as she called out in pleasure, the vibrations between them extending until Ji felt faint. He could only imagine what Seta endured receiving the full force of his mating vibrations unchecked.

When his heart calmed, he felt one of Seta’s hands patting his cheek before sliding off his face. No doubt she was trying to reassure him she’d survived the cord being made. He looked for her other hand and found it still clutching his braid, her fingers twisting it around each digit until there was no way it could have been torn from her, even in all the thrashing they did.

The sight of Seta sleeping soundlessly beneath him had an effect he’d never dreamed of happening. For the first time in his entire Siren life, he laid his head on a female shoulder and wept with relief to have the privilege of being with her. He hoped his family never discovered how one damaged Ethosian had bound him to her just as strongly as his Siren claiming had bound her to him.

Chapter 17

Ji tried not to wake her too often but he couldn’t stop himself. Seta’s body opened to his no matter what he demanded. In the morning his physical urges were somewhat slaked, but his emotions were scraped raw. Beyond the first time, Seta had been nearly silent for their other exchanges. He dreaded waking up and meeting her gaze. He wasn’t sure he could handle what she thought of the real him.

Dread morphed instantly to panic when he found her gone from the bed. “Seta? Where are you?” he demanded.

She walked calmly out of the cleansing area covered in one of his shirts. It hung to her knees like a dress. He watched in amazement as she closed her eyes, called on Zorinda silently, and slid the clothes chest away from the door without any help from him.

“Are you thinking about running away from me this morning? If you value your new family here in the canton I wouldn’t advise it. I warned you there was no going back.”

Seta turned and glared. “Is this horrible jealousy what I have to tolerate for the next few days?”

Ji swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry. I woke up and you were—not beside me as I expected. I can’t seem to push the panic back enough to be polite.”

“Well, good morning to you too—grumpy mate,” Seta declared, her mouth twisting into a grin. “Food is on its way to us. And I ordered some aids from Lira to help you. I have to let it all in, don’t I? I assume you would rather I answer the door with at least some clothes on.”

“What kind of aids? I have no need of bonding aids.”

“Ji—really. Stop jumping to conclusions. I acted too rashly in getting Zorinda to destroy the implants. You’re in no condition to go out as you are and we can’t wait out until the Siren’s call runs its course. While last night was—exceedingly pleasant—we need you to be in a way different state of mind for what we have to do today. I asked Lira for some libido calming medicine. She is sending it with our breakfast. The food is being brought by a female, so cover yourself. I have no wish to kill anyone before I eat. I doubt Garmon would tolerate my killing one of his people anyway.”

Ji looked down at his body, already at attention. The very sight of her inflamed him this morning. “Will you come back to bed after the food arrives? I need you, Sweet Joy.”

“If I must,” Seta said, then smiled when she saw his eyes flash. “I am teasing. Of course I will come back to bed. Lira said it would take several hours for full effect and that it would only last for a day—or two at most.”

She looked longingly at the sheet he scrunched to hide his reaction. She was thinking of asking Ji to let her be on top this morning. A knock on the door had her slipping out of their quarters and then quietly back inside a few minutes later. She smiled as she set the food on a nearby table.

“The server thanked you for performing your claiming here. She said everyone in the canton was talking about feeling extraordinarily amorous last night.”

“It is the Siren’s call. The energy of it spans a great area. Bring me the blasted aid. I’m dying here.”

Seta walked across the room. While he took the tablet and drank the ale sent along with it, she rested her hand among the fabric folds near evidence of his desire for her. She studied his solemn gaze on hers.

“I promised to meet all your needs, Ji. I keep my promises,” Seta said, taking the glass from him and setting it aside. She fixed her mouth on his and pushed him backwards on the bed. “I am for you and you alone. I am your mate.”

“That rolls off your tongue awfully easily this morning,” Ji said happily, rolling her under him.

“I practiced saying it while I was in the cleansing cylinder—all alone and wishing for you to join me. I touched myself, but it just doesn’t feel as good as when you do it.”

Cloth ripping as his shirt was destroyed brought them both back to reality. Her eyes were wide. His gaze was contrite.

“I’m sorry,” he said, gripping the torn fabric edges in his fists. “I got too excited.”

“Glad I was wearing your shirt instead of mine,” Seta said. She smiled when he gripped the cloth tighter and moaned into her hair. “You better take me while you can. Lira is a pretty powerful healer.”