Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) (8 page)

They’d barely settled when one of the men approached Holly. “Would you like a drink, Ms. Harrison?”

She smiled widely, flirting with him already. “I’d love one, thank you.”

He moved his attention to Hayley. “And you, Ms. Harrison?”

“All of you really should call us Holly and Hayley. Two Ms. Harrisons is going to get confusing, don’t you think?”

He seemed stunned by the idea. “As you wish.” There was a moment of silence. “Would you care for a drink...Hayley?”

“Please.”

“Alcoholic or non?”

Keeping a clear head sounded more appealing than steeling her nerves. “Non-alcoholic, please.”

“Alcoholic,” Holly chimed in. “It is a party, I guess.”

The Sakk man withdrew, leaving them momentarily alone. Heads tilted toward him as he made his way to the refreshment table.

He’s passing the news that we want to be addressed by our first names.
Considering Sakk mores, it had to be a monumental change for them.

The first of the men approached and whispered with the guards—armed with swords and positioned around Hayley and Holly—before he stepped past them. He bowed deeply to Hayley and Holly. “I am Lariam of Tracia. May I sit and meet with you, Hayley and Holly?”

Holly waved him closer, and he took the seat to her side. Hayley’s heart ached at that move. Already, the men were showing a preference for her sister. Some things never changed.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. “Perhaps I should tell you about myself,” Lariam offered. “I understand your interests are very different, and what may appeal to one may not appeal to the other.”

Holly smiled in a way that told Hayley she was plotting something. Before Hayley could warn Lariam, Holly started speaking.

“That is an excellent idea, but there is something you should tell the others. It’s very important.”

Hayley felt a sick headache coming on, but she waited to see what Holly was up to.

His brows furrowed. “Of course. Anything that will make you at ease,” he vowed.

Holly leaned toward him, showing an indecent amount of cleavage. “There is a...family tradition.”

Family tradition?
What
family tradition?

The Sakk were eating up every word. Even the guards were paying keen attention to Holly’s caution.

“The older sister marries...mates first. So, impressing Hayley is what you should be focusing on. I won’t choose someone until she has, and I’ll be choosing someone from the same area she does.”

Hayley snapped. “That’s not—”

“No complaints,” Holly cut off her rebuttal that there was no such tradition. “You may only be two years older than I am, but you are older.”

There was no arguing that part of what she said.
But what does she intend to accomplish?

Lariam offered a slight nod. “I understand. Thank you for that information.” He hesitated and then moved to Hayley’s side.

Before he could open his mouth to speak to her, the male with the drinks reappeared. Hayley grabbed the closest glass and took a gulp of it. The burn moving down her throat and chest caused her to gasp in surprise.

“Um...that was your sister’s drink,” he apologized.

“I know.” Hayley took another drink of it and handed it off to Holly.

Holly looked pleased with herself.

No surprise. I am going to kill her later.

****

“Would you like to dance, Hayley?” Jamil, the newest of her suitors, asked.

After an hour sitting on her backside, getting up sounded appealing, and the Sakk music that was playing in the background was perfect for a slow dance. “Yes. I would. Thank you.”

He offered his hand, and Hayley took it, sliding to her feet. The Sakk parted to give them room to dance. A few of the males shot Jamil dirty looks, but none of them made a move toward him.

Hayley settled her hands on his broad shoulders, and his wrapped loosely around her waist. They started to sway together, and Hayley took advantage of his proximity to consider him.

Jamil was tall and dark-haired.

Or did they call it feathered?
The Sakk didn’t properly have hair, since the hair-like curls on their head were long, fluffy feathers, soft as down.

He liked many of the same things she did. Overall, Jamil wasn’t a poor choice, if she was going to choose a man.

That thought short-circuited at the feeling of one of his hands massaging her shoulder. His fingers were following the line of scar tissue, which meant he was trying to confirm the rumors and stories about her clipped wings.

That was hurtful, but what was disconcerting was the arousal pooling low in her abdomen at his touch.

“Stop it.” It was out before Hayley had a chance to reason why it bothered her. It was both an intrusion and an annoyance to her, and she wanted Jamil as far away from her as she could push him.

Before she lost her composure and did so, another male closed on them. “She told you to stop what you’re doing,” he warned.

Jamil released her, and Hayley started to ease away, the hair rising on the back of her neck in warning. Guards came from every direction, more than a few with their hands on the hilts of their weapons.

“And I did,” Jamil growled back, making an expansive movement with his arms.

Her next step back was misplaced. Hayley caught her heel in the hem of her dress and pitched backward. One set of male arms caught and lifted her, while guards rushed past her. Her ankle twisted with a sharp pain that drew a shout from her.

In the next heartbeat, all hell broke loose. Wings closed partway around her, blocking Hayley’s view of the commotion.

The man holding her started shouting orders. “Remove Holly. Place a guard on her quarters. Tell medical to expect us.” With that, he was in motion, sprinting away with Hayley in his arms. “Clear the room,” he shouted back.

Hayley held on to the edges of his
ullium
armor, her heart pounding. Every step sent little reminders of her injured ankle up her leg, and tears pooled in her eyes.

Doors parted. Shouts in Sakk followed them down the corridors. Finally, her rescuer lowered Hayley to a
bio bed
.

Her heart pounding and her breathing strangled, she looked up at the guard over her as he backed away to let the healers tend to her.

He was beautiful. In many ways, he reminded her of Holly. His eyes were a deep green and his hair a gold that was only a few shades away from the color of her sister’s hair. He was one of the smaller Sakk males she’d seen, but his wings were long and graceful. His appearance was at odds with his status as a soldier. If she were meeting him out of armor, Hayley would have guessed he was a poet or an artist.

****

Parrin stared at Hayley Harrison, his lungs deliciously full of her feminine scent. Whatever male she chose would be a lucky man, and with his town’s meeting day with her scheduled for nearly a week away, it was unlikely she would find no one to choose by then.

That a given...and she being
not
his woman, Parrin backed away from her, mourning the loss of her in his arms already. He stopped short at the end of her arm and glanced down at the hand still gripping his armor.

“Oh.” Her hand retreated, and her cheeks darkened in a demure blush, but her eyes remained locked with his.

The meek exclamation of sound matched the woman. She wasn’t a ‘party girl,’ as her younger sister was. Hayley was a gentle female. He’d lay wagers that her likes and dislikes were more refined than Holly’s were. Though Sakk males were at the whim of females, he couldn’t imagine any man wanting Holly instead of Hayley.

A tear stained her cheek, and Parrin ached to wipe it away for her.

She is not my woman.
That reminder burned; he backed away and offered her a soft cloth instead.

Her throat bobbed, and she thanked him in a low voice.

“Captain?” the master healer inquired.

Parrin turned to him, expecting rebuke. There was none forthcoming.

“I have secured the doors, as Sakkra requested. You are ordered to remain here until we are given the clearance to release the locks.”

He straightened, recognizing the order to remain as Hayley’s personal guard. “Understood.”
And it will give me time in Hayley’s company.

That was a scandalous thought, but as long as he didn’t voice it publicly, no one had to know he harbored it.

****

Treating her ankle didn’t take long. Even a break could be repaired in a matter of days, so a sprain was akin to putting a Band-Aid on a cut for the Sakk.

Not that they used Band-Aids, of course. Only the deepest of cuts required bandaging, and those were typically treated with pressure bandages.

That left Hayley with a lot of time and little to do but sit on the
bio bed
. They’d offered electronic amusement to her: television, Internet, movies, and eBooks, but who could relax and focus on them while there was still a lockdown?

“You’re sure Holly is okay?” she asked again.

The guard who’d saved her nodded. “She was never in danger, but having females around when the males are already hot-blooded is not a good combination.”

“Then why are we still on lockdown?”

The corner of his mouth curved up in a grim smile. “Sakkra is deciding on the punishment for the two males that started this. Until that is settled, the other males will be on edge.”

Hayley wanted to argue that they didn’t deserve punishment for it, but she knew better. With the problems facing the Sakk race, the males would have to be on their best behavior or risk a war like the one they had millennia ago.

The silence was potent. Hayley decided to break it. “Thank you for saving me.”

“The males wouldn’t dared have harmed you,” he dismissed her.

It wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping for.

As if he realized that, the guard snuck a look her direction. “It was my honor and pleasure to do so.”

Her heart fluttered at the smoldering look. “So... What is your name?”

His brows went up in seeming surprise. “Parrin, Ms. Harrison.”

“I thought I asked all of you to call me Hayley?”
Am I flirting? Well, why shouldn’t I? He is drop-dead gorgeous.

A slight color flooded his cheeks, and he tipped his head. “It would be my pleasure, Hayley.”

“Would you talk to me?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he nodded. “What would you like to talk about?”

At a loss, she grasped at the first thing that came to mind. “Tell me about your town.”

Parrin’s eyes got a faraway look to them. “Sutrane is a lovely little town. A farming community. An artisan colony. We have live music and theatre, museums, and expansive markets with both food and cloth. Most people walk from place to place instead of taking transports. Children have ponds and fields to play in. Of course, we have a constabulary to make sure unattended children do not injure themselves.”

“Close to the mountains?” Hayley’s memory for every town on Sakk was weak, but she remembered that there were several farming communities near the western mountains.

His smile was warm and wistful. “Not far. Half a day’s walk or less than an hour by transport.”

She considered what to ask next. “Are you an artist or a farmer?”

“A little of both, I suppose. My family owns a small farm. Not one of the largest in our area. I enjoy the arts, so my free time is spent sculpting and painting.”

“You have brothers and sisters?”

“One of each. Both younger than I am. My brother Jerrol is only a few
yans
younger than I am. My sister was a late addition to the family. Abia will reach puberty in a little over a
yan
.”

Parrin’s eyes lit up when he talked about his family. Hayley realized this was what she’d missed meeting men in that circus their laws demanded.

And it’s worse on their world, where men still fight to choose mates.
Parrin was someone she could like, but how could you tell that when every move was regimented and watched by dozens of other hopeful suitors?

“Have I said something wrong, Hayley?” Parrin asked.

“No.” An idea occurred to her. “So your town is a small one. There aren’t many Sakk males from your town here on Earth then.”

“Four others, I believe.”

“Perfect.”

He hesitated before he answered. “Is it?”

“I believe it might be.”

Parrin seemed taken aback, but before he could ask her what she meant, the doors parted, and Sakkra entered the medical bay. The prince waved Parrin away, and the young guard left without more than a bow to his prince.

One of the healers rushed to bring a chair for Sakkra, and the prince settled into it. “My apologies for this deplorable scene, Hayley.”

“They were beating each other senseless. I thought that was only supposed to happen on your home world.”

Sakkra winced but didn’t reply.

“And now I hear you’re going to punish them. I have to admit, I’m not really comfortable with that, despite what they did to each other.”

“Precisely what I needed to speak to you about.”

That stole whatever would have emerged from her mouth next. Hayley stared at him.

“The reason the two males got into the fistfight is that Storel believes Jamil knocked you off your feet.”

“When I fell?” she inquired.

He nodded. “If it was a misunderstanding, the worst they receive will be a reprimand. If it—”

“A misunderstanding,” she assured him. “The heel of my shoe got caught in my hem. Jamil didn’t hit me.” Hayley sighed. “Maybe I should wear a shorter dress for the next meeting day.”

“You’re willing to continue then.” He seemed relieved to hear it.

The Sakk males were probably upset that I might choose not to.

But there were still issues to be resolved about that. “Which is what I wanted to talk to
you
about.”

He tensed slightly, and the healers went quiet, shooting nervous looks at each other.

“About?”

“I figure...if someone wants something to change, someone has to talk to the head honcho.”