his teeth and pushed on. She was right. They couldn’t stay here, no matter how much he might crave rest. He stayed behind her as she began hiking, forced his psychic and feral senses open, and remained alert for any danger.
3
Hours passed as they ghosted through the trees, dawn lightened the sky, and Farid’s clothes went from uncomfortably clammy to merely damp. His muscles throbbed, and the slight stagger to Bren’s stride told him she fared no better. The scent of water reached him long before the sound of a babbling brook. Thirst wrenched deep inside him, the hunger and fatigue he’d been pushing away suddenly demanding notice. “Let me see if the water is safe. Then we need to find food.”
Bren nodded. He heard her stomach gurgle loudly and she pressed her palm to her belly. “I like that plan.”
He noted the paleness of her face, the way stress pinched the skin around her mouth. She looked worn, battered. He wanted to take her in his arms and tell her he’d make everything right. He refused to let it shake him, this need to protect. It hadn’t been this strong since his family was still alive, but that meant little. It was mere possessiveness. It would pass once he tired of her. No lover had ever kept his interest long, and while fucking his One had been excellent, the novelty would surely wear off. It had to. He dismissed the concern from his mind.
Sighing, he stared into the rushing water for long moments before he settled on his haunches and dipped his fingers into the cool liquid. Scanning it with his senses, he found no living organisms. Bringing it to his nose, he smelled it for impurities, flicked his tongue out for an experimental taste. It was different from the water on Suen, but he found nothing wrong with it. “I believe it stems from the same source as the river. It should be safe to drink.”
“You’re sure?” Her voice had more than a hint of doubt in it. “We should probably boil it first.”
“You cannot bring yourself to trust me about whether or not the water is drinkable?” Irritation scraped over his nerves and he knew it shouldn’t. She’d spent months considering him her vilest enemy, only dropping her guard when his dreams melded with hers. It wasn’t as though he wanted her trust. Of course not. That would be irrational, and the rational side of him was what controlled the beast that always sought its mate. It was necessary to keep a tight grip on his animalistic nature, a constant struggle for his kind. He refused to fail, not the way Cilji had. Not the way his parents had.
“Fine, I’ll drink the water.” She knelt beside him, dipping her cupped palms into the brook. “If I end up sick and they overtake us because of it, I will find a way to get loose just to kick your ass. I didn’t go AWOL for nothing. I’m getting Emperor Kyber to agree to help before this is all over.”
He glanced at her. “I will do everything I can to help you convince him, Bren. I swear it.”
She blinked, a smile that was both shy and sweet crossing her face. He hadn’t even known she was capable of such an expression. “I…thank you. For coming, and for being willing to help.”
He liked that smile, liked that her gaze shone with something besides disdain and distrust, and hated that he liked any of it. He shouldn’t like her or want her to like him in return. He would use her for sex as she used him for his influence with the emperor. Nothing more. He arched an eyebrow, shoving any warmth he might feel for her to the deepest, darkest corner of his soul. “There, now, did you choke on those words before you got them out?”
A laugh bubbled out of her and she rolled her eyes at him, throwing her hands in the air. “You make it so hard to be civil with you.”
“So do you.” He shook his head when she stuck her tongue out at him. “Thus far, your entire planet has been an odd combination of fawningly welcoming and catastrophically vicious.”
“We’re a complicated bunch.” She smirked. “You don’t want to deal with us. Go away.”
He snorted and scooped up another handful of water to drink. “Yes, that’s going to solve your problems with Arthur now.”
“We wouldn’t have had these problems if you hadn’t shown up.” She sighed, and a wave of her powerless frustration billowed out from her like a cloud.
“I know.” He nodded, feeling some of that dissatisfaction himself. After all these months of futile negotiating, he understood her position very well.
A flicker of surprise crossed her expression. “You…know?”
“Of course. I am not stupid or unaware of the consequences of our arrival on your planet and people.” He leaned toward her, her delicate, feminine scent as heady to him as ever. He forced himself to consider the discussion at hand, not something that he’d had to do often as a diplomat. “You seem impervious to the damage you have caused to us though. Why is that, do you think? Is it truly that you think we brought it upon ourselves?”
“No. Yes. No.” Her slender, dark brows contracted, the inner conflict roiling out to touch him. “I don’t know.”
“A definitive answer. I like those.” He let a small smile tuck in one side of his mouth, wanting to soothe her, but not knowing how, and knowing that he shouldn’t care either way. What was so simple with other people in his profession was always complicated with his One. He didn’t like it.
She huffed out a breath and pushed to her feet. “Quit politicking me.”
“Quit oversimplifying the situation to make it suit you,” he retorted. He rose with her, towering over her. “There is no one who is entirely innocent here, but also no one who is entirely to blame. The nuances aren’t mere inconveniences; they are vital to understanding the true meaning of the problem.”
Which he’d been unsuccessful at discussing with any of the heads of state on Earth who would see him. America, especially, was stubborn in its need to have a clear right or wrong, winner or loser, black or white. It bespoke a young culture, not yet matured to a full grasp of their own place in the order of things.
“You can do all the detailed navel-gazing you want, but don’t miss the big picture…lives are at stake. Your people’s, my people’s. People have died and more are going to die unless we do something. You get to run off into space whenever Kyber finds his soul mate or whatever, but you leaving won’t solve the problem. Not anymore. Arthur will still be in power after you’re gone, and he’s not going to give up that power without a fight. And again—the big picture—that means innocent people will die.” She sighed, crossing her arms and drawing his gaze to her breasts. He could see the outline of her nipples through her shirt and his cock rose in eager response. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t…think you brought this on yourselves. It’s just that, as a soldier, it’s never a good thing to think too long or too hard about the damage you do to the enemy. You have to have some emotional distance from that or it’ll make you crazy. You don’t survive in the military long if you can’t make that separation between us and them.”
“You’ve survived as a warrior a long time, haven’t you?” He’d wager a great deal that she’d never had to struggle with this kind of gray area before, and he hated seeing the distress reflected in her expression.
“My entire adult life.” She nodded, eyes the color of the bluest ocean on Suen moving over his face. She looked so lost, nothing like the hardened soldier he knew her to be. He reached for her, wanting to protect her from this pain, but she flinched away. “Don’t. I can’t stand it when you touch me. It makes me want things I won’t do again. I’m not sure I can hold out if you put your hands on me.”
It shook him that she confessed such a thing to him, made herself vulnerable, and gave him information he could use against her. The beast within him grappled for control, willing to take whatever she offered. His muscles tightened as he fought his conflicting urges. The man wanted to run as fast as he could from the sweetness of her vulnerability because he liked it too much, and the more he learned of her, the more he liked her. Not good. Not good at all.
The man won the struggle and