Taming a Raven Read online

  I’m sorry.

  “Stay safe!” he urged, a sickening, dark feeling stealing the warmth from him.

  Forgive me.

  “They’l come for you, rescue you and the others. Stay strong.”

  Tears fel and she sobbed before dropping to her knees. They pul ed at her, but she held fast to his battered and bloodied hand. Please, Gage, say you’ll forgive me. As you’ve made your deal, I made mine.

  “No!”

  I can’t stay in this place. I’m not afraid to die, just please—say you still love me.

  “No! You won’t die here!”

  It ends now, this eve. In a perfect time after having loved you once more.

  Objectivity became his because he could passively watch what happened next. The battle with the Theazian was stil fresh and the anger remained strong. The urges linked with desire lingered and both emotions merged in a surge of uncontrol ed strength which al owed him to pul the chains from the floor.

  Eden didn’t struggle as they pushed her from the cage. She turned toward the guard, tossed her head to remove the red tendrils of hair from her face before raising her chin, offering her throat. God, no! Fight, damn you!

  He attacked and tore hearts from the guards before bodies fel . He’d never been faster or more brutal and yet his wife lay motionless at the feet of his enemy. Grief, anger, desire and disbelief swirled until al of the Theazian bastards lay in puddles of stinking ooze.

  When at last he gathered Eden from the cold stone floor, he careful y pushed strands of hair from her face and neck. Her beautiful green eyes closed and reopened slowly. They no longer held fear. They looked beyond the bloodied cel at something pleasant, something she wanted. Thick crimson liquid bubbled from the slit in her throat. His hand covered the deep wound, attempting to staunch the flow. She wanted this.

  “How could you do such a thing?” he asked. Her body was stil warm and twitching. His arms shook in anguish and rage. “You didn’t raise a hand, you welcomed it.”

  Temperate, accepting and calm, he realized how badly he’d misjudged his wife. He believed her outward frailty and beauty encased a resourceful and strong woman. Too late, he knew everything within her was just as fragile as her smal body. He hadn’t been quick enough in her rescue or smart enough to look deeply and remedy her weakness. And his penance would be reliving those last moments more often than not in the wee hours. She’d taken his love, begged forgiveness and died with a clear conscience. He’d not been so privileged as to move beyond that fetid cel and eve of atrocities.

  At least not when he’d sleep.

  * * * * *

  He came awake with the sheets and blankets haphazardly bunched in clumps surrounding his perspiring body. Sorrow and pain clung like slime from a foul swamp. Positioned on his stomach, his hard cock was tangled in the soft folds of the blanket, swol en from the memory of touching the raven and harder stil from the dream of loving his wife.

  The excruciating desire would remain because even then he felt Eden against his chest and in his arms drawing her last breath. His mind wouldn’t al ow his body release. Not at night and not alone without the warm body of a wil ing female to take him past this place he seemed stuck in. Only the deepest sleep would grant an absent release of the seed burning to escape his cock. And it’d become natural for that mindless sleep to take hours to final y overwhelm him. If it came at al . He wondered about his sanity sometimes and how many more years he could endure the cycle of nightmare repeating eve after eve before unconsciousness would claim him.

  Release me, Eden. God, let me go.

  When his eyes closed, Reina’s image came to mind. Perhaps pondering the raven in a somnolent state would al ow him to drift off. Maybe if he focused on a live woman, the one who haunted him would leave for a spel .

  Reina of the Raven Clan. She’d known where her flight would lead in the quest to find the major. A single expression of fear surfaced when she realized he knew nothing of keeping her safe in hel . Yet she trusted him to figure it out and opened herself to the darkness and cold. At least a decade younger than him, she demonstrated power and determination. In al his musings, he couldn’t envision her bargaining for death no matter what the hardship.

  He appreciated her muscled body, her strength and lack of fear when forced to accompany him. Even the compliance col ar hadn’t scared or intimidated her. He smiled then, remembering her statement about scratching beneath it. She’d never been off world and went with him wil ingly. She knew little of men but hadn’t shrunk from his touch.

  Reina was vastly different from other women. His hips stirred as he thought about her powerful legs gripping his thigh. She’d been most aggressive in seeking her climax. She’d begged him to come. The pul from her virgin mouth against his tongue made him groan as he remembered how good it felt.

  Oh, how he’d wanted to bare her breasts for a taste. The picture she made lying against the furs with her hard nipples thrusting the air was staggering!

  His body relaxed and his mind went further to envision more. To have her beneath him, open and wet, with her fingers squeezing his ass as he plunged deep would feel like heaven. Her breasts flattened between them, with nipples poking his chest as he fucked her, would be incredible. And the noises she’d make. Simply kissing had her moaning low. How would she sound with her mouth fil ed with tongue and her pussy stuffed with hard cock?

  He twitched and shifted. The muscles in his thighs and buttocks constricted, forcing his erection deeper into the bedding. He growled as he thought about Reina’s body, her mouth and those lovely breasts. And her scent! He could stil smel her. Perspiration dotted his brow as his tongue sought to moisten his lips. God, but he stil tasted her, could practical y feel her open, greedy mouth waiting to be stabbed.

  Violently his hips thrust, once, twice. His face turned into the pil ow and he bel owed a plea. “Let it happen. Let me come!” Images of the lady’s lips swirled in his mind. He recal ed the feel of her tongue running fervently against his. He summoned up the unusual color of her eyes darting about as she practical y inhaled information. The sound of her laughter fil ed his ears as he visualized the scars upon her back. She’d been beaten more than once. And yet she could laugh. She could smile. She’d not only survived past her points of torture, she truly lived as a whole being.

  “Oh fuck,” he yel ed before seed unexpectedly shot forth in a massive jet.

  He rol ed to his back, took cock to hand as waves of pleasure washed over him. A once-natural occurrence to al eviate his body’s tension seemed a miracle as thick seed shot onto his bel y. He fisted and pumped, strained and grunted as his fat erection gave up its cum. “Reina,” he whispered as a final surge spewed forth.

  He threw his arm over his tired eyes and slowed his breath. The muscles in his neck uncramped as did those in his lower back. His body felt heavy and tired as his senses dul ed in a natural manner. A release? A reprieve in the nightly torture?

  As his mind drifted, he focused on one last thought. He’d control ed both lust and anger since his rescue from the Theazian prison. Anger rode him but he’d become an expert at managing it. The hunger associated with desire, however, hadn’t been strong in many years. He’d need to be mindful of it.

  Apparently the lady roused powerful feelings he thought were long dead.

  Best he manage the raven with distance and a clear perspective. Her body would remain a cabin away, for he sought no affair with a woman so young. Besides, he didn’t have the temperament for the foolishness or humor that seemed prevalent in her. He’d grown beyond such frivolous things before becoming a private in the Governance. He was a Domineer ful -grown and men of his background, rank and age were far beyond such primitive amusements. He’d but felt sorry for her after her flight.

  Certain of his actions, reactions and digressions that eve, he pul ed a blanket over his tired body before slipping away. He thought no more of it.

  Chapter Five

  Those within the crowded mess hal stood at at
tention when Gage entered. He’d been fairly certain with the early hour he’d find Reina there.

  “Lieutenant,” Gage asked one young officer. “Have you seen the lady raven?”

  “Yes, Sir,” the lieutenant replied. “She left a short while back to accompany Private Pinski to the animal compound.” Gage turned and left. His mood was coarse after the unusual eve prior. He’d yet to give her consent to traipse as she would about his vessel. She should at least have the courtesy to ask permission. Al after, he’d stood complacently yestereve as she bothered his engineer. As for her image coming to him when he’d woken from the nightmare, he’d yet to decide exactly how he felt about her interference in his nightly torment.

  When Gage entered the secured area, the private jumped to attention, dropping raw meat and a knife. He looked pointedly at the blood spatter and hunk of animal on the floor as the private remained rigid.

  “At ease, Private.” She took leave to relax. “Private Pinski.”

  “Yes, General?”

  “I’m told our guest accompanied you here.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Where is she?” he asked, his voice overly control ed.

  “The next room, Sir. With the felines.”

  Anger mounted because Reina had no business anywhere near the beasts. They’d been loaded for transport as a gift from the president to a distant planet in need of kil ers to decrease the herds of darines consuming much-needed crops. There hadn’t been time to offload them when the major went missing.

  “Where?” Gage glared at Pinski. He couldn’t help the irritation.

  “S-Sir, she’s b-b-beyond the d-door,” she stuttered. Her arm trembled as a finger pointed. He walked to the door and when it didn’t open with his retinal scan, he felt heat crawl up his neck. “G-General, a moment, please.”

  Keys on the control panel clicked before the door opened. He stepped into the large holding area and found Reina close to a cage. “Lady!” She stood and spun, placing her hands behind her back against the huge pen. Roars of displeasure assaulted him from the twelve massive, five-hundred-pound cats behind bars in separate cages. Anger turned to dread with how close she stood to the untamed, jet-black predators. Observably, her lack of fear ran paral el with outright stupidity.

  “You’l come slowly toward me, Lady, without a sudden move. Do you understand?”

  “In a moment, General.” She shifted forward and back roughly as if something had moved her from behind.

  “Now!”

  The look she gave offered some sort of indecision or mischief. Her misbegotten sense of humor had no place in the current situation. Her life depended on it.

  “Right now!”

  Her eyes opened wide in response to his order and her expression changed. She final y understood his fury and he expected her to respond to it appropriately. Instead, she looked guilty for a moment before bringing her hands forward. Covered in blood, she stood there dumbly as if she had something to say. Without thought, he walked toward her.

  A hand came up. “No, General, they won’t like you near. I’l come to you.”

  She turned to the beast, stuck her hands through the cage and a long, pink tongue lapped at the blood. She cooed praises to the cat. “Your manners are impeccable, sir. Thank you for al owing me to feed you.”

  With her hands clean, she pul ed them from the cage. The cat’s huge paw came out from between the bars to thump against the back of her shoulder.

  She stumbled into the cage and laughed softly. “Oh, you’re very welcome, you handsome man.” Cautiously, slowly, Gage went to the emergency station and pul ed down the laser gun. He leveled it at the massive head and jaws of the cat. The powerful male unsheathed its claws against her spine as its jaws released. His finger tensed on the trigger before—the huge kil er began cleaning her al over.

  “That’s rather much,” she said, scratching his tongue before sinking her fingers into the fur of his jowls. “I must go now, so release.” She shrugged her shoulders as if she could shake off his paw. “Release me, sir. The general’s waiting.” Claws disappeared and her back straightened. When she faced him again, she froze. Another form of defiance? No, her look conveyed alarm.

  Perhaps she’d been snagged from behind and couldn’t move.

  “Sir? General?”

  “Lady, can you come forward?”

  “May I?”

  “What?”

  “May I come forward?”

  Rounded amber eyes stared at the weapon and he realized she thought it targeted her. “Come to me.” She did and when she’d passed the last cage, he stowed the pistol. She first walked to the shower enclosure and hit the button on the wal . Steam surrounded her as she rubbed her hands together. Total y unnecessary, the action served as a reminder where she came from, having previously sanitized herself with water. She made haste to join him then, which was too little, too late as far as he was concerned. Words escaped him as he took hold of her arm and they left the animals. As he hurried her by, she said quietly to Pinski, “Sorry. Thank you.” The private did wel to stand at attention and not utter a sound. He found his tolerance for much of anything at the moment quite absent. Those they walked by in the corridors stood rigidly, saluting him. It general y wasn’t so if he traveled a hal way, his subordinates stopping to merely stand at attention.

  Apparently his facial expression required something extra that morn. He’d get Reina to his cabin soonest. His aggressive steps relayed annoyance.

  When she’d lag a half step, he’d bring her up quickly to keep pace until final y, his chamber door opened.

  He shoved her through and she turned to face him before taking smal steps backward. The confusion on her part lasted only a few seconds before he set her straight. “When I issue an order, you’re to obey. Immediately! Without dal ying—or questioning—or finishing what you’d been doing.”

  “But, General…”

  Words stopped as he walked closer. Best she silence herself. His irritation became such that if further provoked, he wouldn’t be responsible for what would fol ow. “Have I made myself clear?” he asked through tightly clenched teeth.

  “Abundantly, Sir,” she said, looking down. “Perhaps if you explained…”

  He’d backed her against the wal , grabbed her upper arms and six inches separated her boots from the floor. She squeaked, “Yipe!” He held her there and tried to control the rage. It grew as he envisioned her soft woman’s body mauled and unmoving on the compound floor in a puddle of raven blood. “You little idiot,” he said, shaking her a bit to impress his point. “You might’ve been kil ed.” He could only be hurting her and eased her down to stand on her feet. He couldn’t seem to release her, however, and found himself taking another step closer. Her warmth drew him, her life stil flowing after such an act of complete stupidity.

  “I’m sorry for your anger and concern, Sir.” Her smal words accompanied her downcast gaze. Her demeanor somewhat lessened the emotion in him.

  He took his hands from her arms. “Unlace and remove your shirt.”

  “Pardon, General?”

  “I’m accustomed to issuing an order once. Have I not made myself clear?”

  Apparently he did because she hurried to exact his demand. The garment eventual y came to be held in her hands. He seized it and threw it aside.

  Grasping her shoulders, he spun her around. “Brace yourself against the wal .” She turned slightly as if to question him and he remedied that notion. “Do it now!”

  Reina’s head ached from al the loud words. She brought her palms to the wal and leaned forward. He gathered her hair and tossed it forward, away from her back. He was so angry!

  “That damn feline punctured your skin!”

  Natural y she’d felt when it happened. She’d bathed to remove any potential cause of infection. The urge to remind him of the sanitizing shower was resisted. After his kissing and touching the eve before, his current state of anger made her breakfast rol over. Fingertips prodded before h
e left to go elsewhere in his chamber.

  Now she’d done it. She took in a shaky breath and wished on the stars she knew exactly what she’d managed to do. He’d been opposed to the whip being used on her in the breeding chamber. She’d probably irritated him enough to use one himself. But she hadn’t done anything wrong! She’d gotten permission from the very nice Pinski to help feed the cats. With his presence behind her again, she decided that fact too should remain unvoiced. Poor Private Pinski. The look on her face!

  She hated the whip. The sting visited her back often enough to know it for certain. To tense up never helped but she couldn’t override her body’s anticipatory reaction. Her breath came in shal ow and fast as her forehead remained close to the wal . His arms were larger, longer and so much stronger than those who’d whipped her before. Would she be able to stand it? Would pain make her fal ? She’d only ever tasted the whip on her knees. I mustn’t cry. I won’t disgrace my clan with tears.

  “Hold stil , Lady, and I’l begin.”

  She held a breath and trembled as she waited for the whirling sound and then the pain. An unpleasant smel came to her, adding to her apprehension before cold touched a spot on her back. Unable to support herself, her breasts went to the wal as her limbs gave way. Coward! Perhaps she’d been too prepared this time.

  His arm came forward, reached around and braced her against his hip. He continued touching other areas on her back before his warm breath blew over the cold spots.

  Hauled up against his chest, she was held in place as his other arm gathered her legs. She felt strange being carried as one might tote a babe. He sat on his bed and made her comfortable in his lap before saying, “I’m sorry I hurt you, Reina. It’s done now, over.” Cuddled close, she liked it but couldn’t understand why he’d do it. “General?” she asked, her voice stil shaking a little.

  “Hush. Al ’s wel now, sweet one. Rest against me until the pain goes. It shouldn’t take long.” Sweet one. Such a name after she’d angered him. How lovely and endearing. She much preferred it to lady or raven. No one cal ed her by a pet name since—she couldn’t remember.