Taming Two Warriors (Kindred Tales)

“Just not that way.” Melinda shivered and got up to begin pacing again. “I wish I could just never see her again. I wish she wasn’t in my Sociology class!”

“She ought to be exposed for what she has done,” Liosh growled. “Setting an innocent female up to be attacked twice. What motivates someone like that?”

“I don’t know.” Melinda looked down at her feet. “She said that I ‘got on her nerves’ in high school because I was so ‘sweet and innocent.’”

“And so she decided to despoil that innocence.” Liosh shook his head. He would have to give this some thought. But for now, his first concern was healing Melinda, not punishing the female who had initiated the attacks on her.

It was clear that was going to take some time, though. All the time and effort he’d spent earning her trust didn’t matter now, because he was going to have to earn it again. And as for how close they had been to bonding…

We’re going to have to go back to the beginning there, too, Liosh told himself. He was certain that having that bastard Jason attack her all over again, as well as seeing Liosh himself go into Rage, would probably bring back her problem with penetration full force. Melinda might not want him anywhere near her—at least sexually—for a while, which was completely understandable. She would need some distance—some time to get over what had happened to her and what had almost happened again.

More than anything else, she would need his patience.

Liosh was well aware by now, after watching the human entertainment programs, how impatient most human males were when it came to meeting their own sexual desires. They often professed to be “willing to wait” but they actually seemed to have the attention span and tolerance for getting their own way that a young child had when waiting for a favorite toy. They pushed females into giving what they weren’t willing or ready to give yet—pushed them to open their bodies sexually just to satiate their own selfish desires.

I won’t do that to Melinda, Liosh promised himself. I don’t care if I have to wait weeks…months…or even years, I won’t push her to do anything she isn’t ready for. She will have plenty of time to heal.

That he promised and swore before the Goddess.

Just as he was finishing his silent vow, there was a knocking on the shuttle’s door.

“Oh!” Melinda jumped and put a hand to her heart, her blue eyes wide with fright. “Oh, Liosh—who could it be? Do you think the Varians have discovered I’m gone?”

“It doesn’t matter if they have, they’re not taking you back, Talli,” Liosh growled. Drawing his blaster, he went to the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s just us—let us in, Brother,” came Vorn’s deep voice from the other side of the metal panel.

Liosh felt the knot in his gut loosen. So his friend had been successful. He could tell already by the lighthearted sound of Vorn’s voice that he had gotten Jodi away and both of them were unharmed.

He threw open the shuttle door and the two of them tumbled in, bright-eyed and with flushed cheeks. They looked like they’d been exerting themselves in some way and the scent of recent sex hung about them in a cloud of pheromones. Also, Vorn was shirtless—which made sense once Liosh saw that the only thing Jodi was wearing was his crimson red uniform shirt.

“Jodi! I thought I’d never see you again!” Melinda rushed forward to enfold her older sister in a hug.

Jodi hugged her back, laughing.

“Well, here I am! And now we can all go back home to Earth. Or maybe to the Mother Ship—I think I’d like to take a little breather and maybe see Mom.”

“I want to see her too,” Melinda exclaimed.

“The Mother Ship it is, then,” Vorn said heartily. “I’ll lay in a course.”

“Wait!” Melinda exclaimed. “How did you get Jodi free? How did you rescue her from those awful Varians?”

“Well…” Jodi and Vorn exchanged a knowing look and Jodi’s cheeks got red. “Vorn and I were able to, er, generate enough energy to make the Varians happy,” she said carefully. “I mean, so they could fertilize their eggs, you know.”

Liosh thought dryly that he was sure those weren’t the only eggs which had been recently fertilized, but he was too much of a gentleman to say so. And Melinda was so innocent, she still looked at bit confused. After a moment, though, what her sister was saying seemed to dawn on her.

“Oh!” She put a hand to her mouth. “You mean you and Vorn…”

“I Claimed my bride,” Vorn said firmly.

“You did?” Melinda looked at Jodi. “So Vorn and you…”

“We’re bonded now.” Jodi grinned at her. “And it’s amazing. If I need to talk to Vorn, I can just think at him and he can hear me! And we each know exactly how the other feels and we’re just so in tune with each other.” She shook her head in awe. “I just never knew I could be this close to anyone. And to think I felt like I had to stay with James just because he pretended to love me. He was completely wrong for me—I see that now.”