He shook his head. “I have a brother and sister, as well as a half-brother who is full Selkee.”

  “Busy house.” I eyed the board then him. “Are any of them on this mission with you?”

  Another shake of the head.

  “Do you miss them?”

  Ronnan grunted. “My family is complicated, but I do miss them. Some more than others.”

  “Sounds like a normal family to me. Will you ever see them again, or is this a one-way trip?”

  He flicked his gaze to me after I moved a game piece. “Home is not far enough that we won’t go back. Those left behind await our victorious return.”

  I studied the board as he hovered his hand over one of the polished wood cylinders. “So, your mother taught you strategy and your father taught you how to be a warrior?”

  He moved one of his pieces and the board shifted once more, one piece landing on top of the other and being expelled from the board. He caught it before it rolled off the table.

  “My mother did not believe in my father’s plan for revenge. She believed it to be bad strategy.”

  I couldn’t tell from his voice if he’d sided with his mother or father, but since he was leading a horde of raiders into Vandar territory, I guess that was my answer.

  “What else did your mother believe?”

  Ronnan rolled the discarded game piece between two fingers. “She did not believe in such a thing as half-bloods. She despised when my father used that term. If he wanted to provoke her, that was always a sure way.”

  “Your own father called you a half-blood?” I wasn’t surprised his mother had been angry at this. My own skin prickled with heat at the thought of Ronnan’s father being so cruel to his own son.

  The Vandar met my eyes, but his were shuttered. “He respected the Selkee, but he believed in the purity of Vandar blood. Without a Vandar mate, there are no mating marks.”

  I remembered hearing something about Vandar mating marks, but I also knew I’d heard that the human mates had gotten them. “Your mother never got Vandar mating marks?”

  Ronnan dropped his gaze to the board, giving his head a curt shake. “None of the Selkee did. My mother said it was because the Selkee descended from magical beings that they could not be marked by another. My father believed it proved that his son needed a Vandar mate. Only with a Vandar female could I be sure to restore our blood line.”

  He lifted his head and locked his gaze on me. I allowed the words to sink in before blinking a few times.

  “Don’t worry about me.” I flapped my hands in front of me. “I told you I have no designs on becoming your queen or Raisa or whatever you call the wife of a Raas. You’re a lot of fun in bed, but that doesn’t change anything. I still need to get back to the resistance and my job, not to mention my friends.”

  Even as I said the words, regret twisted my gut. It was true that I wanted to return to my friends and my life, but Ronnan was more than just a bit of fun in bed. Even though we were complete opposites and came from different worlds, I’d felt a deeper connection to him than I had to anyone. Even Leo.

  I pushed aside that traitorous thought and reminded myself of the deal. I couldn’t fall for him—no matter what.

  “I am glad to hear that,” the Raas said. “And to know that I pleased you in bed.”

  My cheeks warmed as I returned my attention to the game, and I attempted to ignore his hot gaze on me. I spotted an opening on the board and moved my piece. The levels adjusted, and my piece was suddenly within striking distance of the top.

  Ronnan made a gruff noise in the back of his throat. “Are you sure you do not possess Selkee blood?”

  I took this to mean that I was winning, but before I could gloat properly, a beep sounded at the door to his quarters. Then the door swished open to reveal the warrior who’d escorted me through the ship, the one Ronnan called majak. He did not look pleased.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Four

  Ronnan

  “I apologize for interrupting, Raas.”

  I brushed off my majak’s apology as we strode through the ship. “You did not interrupt.”

  He glanced at me pointedly. I knew it was not lost on my most trusted advisor that I’d been in none of the gear I’d had when I’d left the command deck earlier. He’d waited for me to change back into my battle kilt and boots, handing me my battle axe as I’d joined him at the door.

  “Does the human know Zindar?” He asked as we leapt from one suspended platform to another, the steel rattling beneath our heavy boots.

  “I was teaching her.”

  Ayden grunted, but I could hear the questioning tone in the sound. “You still maintain that the prisoner is leverage, nothing more?”

  “Nothing more.” The words were bitter on my lips, but I didn’t allow myself to dwell on them as we took a wide metal staircase two tall steps at a time and entered the command deck.

  “Report,” I called as I took my position overlooking the dark consoles and the Vandar raiders standing at them. “Have we heard from the Valox?”

  Heels snapped together as my warriors saluted me.

  “Not yet, Raas.” My communications chief swiveled to face me, his expression tense. “No transmissions from Valox or Vandar.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded. I had not expected an instantaneous response, but the longer we went without communications, the greater the chance that there was a reason for the delay.

  “We have detected movements of various ships on long-range scanners,” my battle chief said, gripping the hilt of his battle axe as he joined me and Ayden on the platform.

  I inclined my head to acknowledge Kaiven as he clicked his heels together. “What type of movements?”

  “From what I can tell, they are assuming defensive positions around planets.”

  I growled. It was as I’d suspected. The Valox had warned others of our arrival, and the sector was bracing for a battle or attacks. I braced my legs wide and rested my hands on my hips. “It isn’t wise to keep the horde here while our opponents ready for an attack.”

  “I agree, Raas.” Kaiven exchanged a glance with my majak. “I recommend moving us to another location.”

  “Move the rest of the horde,” I said. “Have them disperse and stay invisible. We will stay and wait for the Vandar.”

  My battle chief’s brow furrowed. “One ship to take on another Vandar horde?”

  “Our horde is fast,” I reminded him. “They will come join the fight when we need them.”

  Ayden nodded. “The other Vandar might not be expecting us to have broken our horde. We could surround them.”

  I stared out the wide glass that overlooked space. The blackness was peaceful and empty, but I knew the dangers the sector held—and all that was hidden.

  “You have your orders,” I told Kaiven.

  “It is done.” He tapped his heels again before striding back to his console.

  “Without our horde, we will not be able to confuse our enemy with our amoeba formation,” Ayden said in a low voice.

  “Our enemy invented the amoeba. It will not confuse them. Fighting our own kind means we will not have the same advantages.”

  “But we are not just like them,” my majak said. “We have lived apart from the Vandar.”

  I thought of what I’d told Sloane about the Selkee. “And we were trained by great strategists who valued brains over brawn.”

  Ayden stifled a laugh. “Unlike our fathers.”

  Our fathers had been as close as we were and had been so similar in their manner and mindset that Ayden and I had lived nearly identical childhoods and grown up side-by-side. We’d been trained together and often punished together. Even closer had been our mothers, sisters who’d raised us to be brothers in every way. I’d been closer to Ayden than I had been to my own brother, for many reasons, and it was Ayden who was by my side now and who I considered a true brother.

  Thinking of my Selkee mother brought my thoughts back to the Zindar board and the female waiting in my quarters to finish the game.

  “I trust you, brother.” I clamped a hand on my majak’s shoulder. “You have command. When the Valox or Vandar arrive, summon me.”

  He gaped at me as I left the command deck as quickly as I’d entered it. I’d spoken the truth. I did trust Ayden. He was as much the leader of the horde as I was, and the Kyrie Vandar were in good hands with him at the helm. In the meantime, I had a game to win.

  I thundered through the cavernous ship, pounding through suspected walkways that shook as I walked and jumping from platform to platform until I reached the guards flanking the door to my quarters. They tapped their heels as I passed between them and through the arched door that parted for me.

  Once inside, I stopped. I’d expected to see Sloane sitting at the table, wrapped in her sheet waiting for me or maybe back in bed. Instead, she was dressed in the flight suit we’d found her in and sitting across from a Vandar warrior on the other side of the Zindar board.

  She looked up when I entered, grinning at me. “That was fast.”

  The table was no longer empty save for the game. Domed plates and trays of food filled the center of the long surface, along with fresh carafes of wine.

  The Vandar sitting across from Sloane leapt to his feet and spun around. “Apologies, Raas. I did not mean to stay so long.”

  “It’s my fault,” Sloane said. “He delivered food—I’m not sure if it’s lunch or dinner, since I have no concept of time in here—and I asked him to give me some pointers on the game.”

  The Vandar lowered his head, his tail drooping. “I did not want to refuse her request.” He glanced at me, his expression tortured.

  I understood immediately that the raider didn’t know if this female was a prisoner or a guest or perhaps something more. She was staying in my quarters, after all.

  I flipped a hand to dismiss his concerns. “It is fine. The female needs all the help she can get when it comes to Zindar.”

  Sloane gasped in mock outrage, which pleased me.

  “I’ll have you know that Taron here told me I was close to winning when you left.”

  I fought the urge to laugh as Taron shifted from one foot to the other. “Did he?”

  The Vandar moved to the door, giving Sloane a quick glance. “Good luck, human.” He clicked his heels in another salute to me. “Raas.”

  Once the door had slid shut on him, I turned back to Sloane.

  “I’m ready for a rematch.”

  I glanced at the game board and then at her. Even in her utilitarian flight suit that hid almost any trace of the curves I’d seen on full display when she’d been in my bed, the female made my heart pound. I would have preferred to rip her flight suit off her and drag her to my bed instead of playing Zindar, but I took the chair across from her.

  “Since you have the advantage of a lesson in Zindar strategy, maybe you’d be willing to make a wager on our game?”

  Her eyebrows popped up. “What kind of a wager?”

  “If I win, you join me in the pools. But this time you do as I wish.”

  She bit her bottom lip. “And if I win?”

  I doubted she would defeat me in only her second game, even with tips from another Vandar, but I tilted my head. “What do you wish?”

  “A tour of the ship,” she said, leaning back and grinning. “You show me around your warbird—all of it.”

  She wanted me to allow her to see all of a Vandar warbird? One of the reasons we didn’t take prisoners was to prevent foreign eyes from glimpsing how our birds were laid out and how they worked. Now a human prisoner wished to get a personal tour from the Raas? I almost scoffed out loud.

  Then thoughts of claiming her in the warm waters of the bathing pool flooded my mind. I would agree to just about anything to hasten that reality. “It seems we have another deal.”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Five

  Ronnan

  “You are sure you wish to move there?” I eyed the female’s delicate fingers lingering on the game piece.

  She shifted her gaze to me, her expression wavering for a moment before a grin spilt her face. She lifted her hand and sat back. “Nice try, Vandar.”

  I cocked one eyebrow. Vandar? The minx was getting confident, no doubt helped along by her simperingly excellent gamesmanship. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she was a natural at Zindar. Maybe she was right about her flying skill helping her when it came to strategy, or maybe my fellow Kyrie Vandar’s tips had been more valuable than I’d anticipated. Had I ever played against Taron? I wasn’t sure but I’d have to be sure to challenge him to a match soon, if only to learn how he’d imparted so much knowledge of the game so quickly.

  Sloane propped her elbows on the table and leaned on her folded hands. “Your move, Raas.”

  Hearing her call me by my title sent an electric thrill through me, but I tempered my desire and focused on the board. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been playing, but the human had lasted longer than I’d imagined. What I’d assumed would be an easy win on my part had turned into a back-and-forth battle with all my attempts to defeat her deftly avoided.

  To become Raas, I’d had to overcome many hurdles and challenges, both from Vandar elders and from my fellow raiders. I’d grown accustomed to winning, although Sloane’s challenge was different from any other. Watching her try to beat me was thrilling. It was like she was resisting my ultimate domination, and I relished her struggle. I would still enjoy exerting myself over her more, though.

  I saw my opening on the board and moved, watching with satisfaction as the board shifted, elevating my pieces closer to the top. Before I could lean back and savor the moment, Sloane’s eyes widened, and she straightened in her seat.

  I swung my gaze back to the board. What had she seen that I’d missed?

  Then I saw it. The opening that would allow her to move within striking distance of the pinnacle position. Tvek. I’d been too distracted by thoughts of having my way with Sloane and now I might lose to her—and lose the prize of claiming her in the bathing pools.

  I could almost hear my father’s gruff voice warning me not to be distracted by things as unimportant as females. I pushed it aside. As much as I’d valued his military advice, I’d hated the way he’d talked about mates as if they were nothing. It had always felt like a betrayal of my mother and all the Selkee mates, and I’d despised him a little more every time he’d said it.

  But you still listened, a dark voice hissed from the recesses of my brain. As much as I’d hated him for his mercenary view on females and mates, I’d avoided Selkee females and any entanglement that might distract me from my mission—the mission I’d been given by my father.

  Until now. I looked up at Sloane as she gleefully moved her game piece. How had I allowed a female as unexpected and unassuming as this one to creep into my heart? She wasn’t even a trained pleasurer skilled in the art of seduction. Nevertheless, she now consumed my thoughts and had rattled my focus enough that I was on the verge of losing a game of Zindar to her.

  When her piece locked into place, the board moved once again. Instead of promoting her to the top spot, the panels overlapped so that our pieces were both eliminated. They fell to the table with a clatter.

  “Fuck me!” Sloane smacked her hand on the table before catching the pieces rolling toward the edge. “I had you!”

  I exhaled and allowed myself a grin. “Now we appear to have a stalemate. Neither of us can win.”

  She frowned. “That’s possible?”

  “Possible and not uncommon. Neither of us lose and neither of us win.”

  “So, a tie?” She bobbled her head. “I can live with that.”

  “I hope so, because that means we both win our wager and we both lose.”

  Her jaw fell open. “We don’t rematch?”

  As long as the game had taken, I had no patience for a rematch. Not when she might very well win and not have to pay up her end of the bargain.

  “No rematch until all scores from our first wager have been paid.” I stood and took her hand, pulling her from her chair.

  She spluttered as I led her toward the bathing chamber. “What about my tour of the ship?”

  “First things first,” I said as we passed through the arched doorway and into the dim, black-stone room lit by the blue star chart embedded in the ceiling.

  “Who made that rule?”

  I stopped in front of the sunken pool and pivoted her to face me. “Did you forget that I am Raas, and I make all the rules within my horde?”

  Her eyes were round as she shook her head. “I thought…”

  “That you could win your freedom from me?” I shook my head as I slid the zipper down the front of her flight suit. “Not so easily. It will take more than a game to convince me to let you go.”

  She didn’t break my gaze as I slid the fabric from her body, feathering my hands across her petal-soft skin to remove her undergarments. Then I unhooked my belt and battle kilt before kicking off my boots.

  I took her hand again to lead her into the steaming water. “Time to fulfill your end of the bargain.”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Six

  Sloane

  My pulse fluttered as he led me down the stairs into the water, but I kept my gaze locked onto his broad back. If I looked farther down, I would lose my nerve and try to run. It didn’t matter that I’d already been with the alien. Seeing how big he was made my nerves jangle and my pussy twinge. Would I even be able to stand after I left his captivity?

  A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat as I imagined having to be carried from the Vandar warbird because I’d fucked their warlord too much. That was not how I wanted to return to my fellow resistance fighters.

  And I did want to return to the Valox resistance, didn’t I?

  Part of me was enjoying the luxurious bath and sumptuous bed that being the Raas’ prisoner afforded me. Even the food was better than what I’d become used to on the Valox base.

 

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