If I called him master, I’d get hurt. I still didn’t completely understand what had happened between Isaak and his parents, and I didn’t think he was a criminal on Trion. But even so, not once had he said he wanted to stay.
No, he paced the house like a caged beast while I reveled in the cold stone walls under my hands, the soft desert breezes coming through the open windows. He’d told me about the time bend although it didn’t seem real, but the two days we’d been on Trion had been much longer for Ivy and Zenos. It had been weeks for them. Weeks to work the Cerberus angle, yet we’d had no word from them. I was just glad for the break, for a moment to just… be. I wandered the enclosed gardens, listened to birdsong I’d never heard before, touched flower petals so soft I scarce believed they could be real, and never wanted to leave. Yeah, I was weird and sappy, but there was peace in this house. Peace. Power. Safety. All the things I’d left Earth to find.
Hot sex with Isaak wasn’t going to be enough for me tho
ugh. I didn’t want to live in a tiny room in a spaceship. I was well aware that Isaak didn’t want to live here. I wasn’t an idiot. This thing between us was incredible, but it wasn’t going to last. I wanted to be settled. He wanted to roam. To search the galaxy for… I had no idea what.
I’d done the same thing. Volunteered because I was searching for something more. Something not found at home. I now believed I had it here on Trion with Isaak. Was it him I wanted or this place? The answer came easily. It wasn’t either or. It was both. I wanted to be here with him.
“Gara.” Isaak turned me in his arms until I faced him, my breasts crushed against the hard outline of his armor. The contrast made my pussy clench with heat.
“Yes?”
He blinked, startled. “No protest this time?”
I huffed out a little laugh. “No.” I didn’t have the heart, not when I knew this was like some kind of dream, and any moment Ivy and Zenos would call and force us both to wake up.
Two fingers under my chin, Isaak angled my head up until I gave in to his unspoken demand and looked him in the eye. “What are you thinking, Zara? I don’t like what I see in your eyes.”
I frowned and tipped my eyes away but not my head. He wouldn’t let me. “What do you see?”
His thumb caressed my cheek, and he lowered his forehead to mine. The air between us mingled, as if he was buried inside me, and we were one body. “Nothing. No fire. No defiance. Only emptiness. And pain.”
Surprised that he was so observant—the first man I’d ever met who had a clue and paid attention—I closed my eyes to hide the stark grief his words cued in my body. I shuddered, icy cold dread making its way from the base of my spine to my lips. I licked them. “I’m worried about Ivy and Zenos.”
It wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. I was worried for them, but it wasn’t the top of my list.
Isaak wrapped me in his arms and pulled me even closer, used one hand to cradle my head to his chest. “Zenos is a Forsian hybrid, gara. Ivy looks human, but she has enough Hive tech in her body to make her nearly his equal in both speed and strength. Perhaps even more dangerous, but don’t tell Zenos I said that. They are strong. I command you to cease your worrying.”
At last, I smiled. “Command me to stop worrying? Pretty confident with those commands, aren’t you? You should know a woman’s heart does not work that way.”
The comment made him freeze, his body becoming tense against mine. “And how does your heart work, gara?”
In his words, I heard something I’d never heard before… not from him. Vulnerability. Fear. I remained silent. I couldn’t give him an answer when I didn’t know myself. Didn’t understand.
“I would know you,” he said, his voice a husky whisper. No command, just honesty. “Know everything. Every hope and thought and dream. Every desire. Every need. I would know your heart, gara. If you would but allow it, I would make it mine.”
I stopped breathing just for a moment. My mouth even fell open in surprise. “Isaak.” I pushed at his chest, and he let me go. Stepping back, I looked up into his dark eyes and fought back the rising tide of hope that threatened to consume me. Hope, I had learned a long time ago, hurt more than almost any other emotion. Hope was a cruel bitch who never stayed. Like Isaak wouldn’t once we were done with Bertok. He’d transport back to his spaceship to roam the galaxy. Damned rebel.
“I don’t understand you,” I said, looking out the window. “You want to go back to space, don’t you? Back out there to hunt more Hive and sell more tech?”
“Yes. Of course,” he said immediately. No hesitation or doubt. “I cannot stay here. My family—”
A loud ding interrupted us, and we turned to face the wall. Isaak hurried forward, pressing a panel. Part of the wall, of the stone itself, seemed to change before my eyes, turned into a flat screen. Ivy and Zenos appeared on the flat surface.
“Isaak of Trion. Please respond.” Zenos’s deep, rich tone would have been intimidating, but his voice was monotone. Completely under control.
“Damn it, Isaak. Answer the fucking phone.” Ivy’s irritated blast made me smile because I doubted Isaak knew what a phone was. That was more like it.
Isaak looked to me, as if asking permission, and I realized he was attempting to protect my modesty. I was clothed, but it did nothing to hide my body. But I’d watched some Trion broadcasts since our arrival. My gown was sheer, beautiful, and not unlike what every other woman on the planet wore. Oddly, I felt at home in the soft gown, despite how much desert air made its way up my skirts, so to speak. I simply nodded and moved to stand in front of the screen. Isaak touched the panel again and moved to stand beside me, his hand on the small of my back like I was his.
More torture, now that I realized how badly I wanted exactly that. Isaak. Mine. Forever. My master. My mate.
Yes. Hope. Still a heartless bitch.
“Zenos, Ivy, we are here.”
“Thank God.” Ivy leaned down as if she were speaking to a very small screen, her cute nose scrunched up as she squinted at us. “Nice dress, Zara. Trion looks good on you.”