Abducted Read online

  “What you deserve right now is a good night’s sleep.” I yawned. “You wore me out, cowboy.”

  “You didn’t do so badly yourself.” He smiled at me and stroked a strand of hair out of my eyes. “Whatever happens, you’re mine now. Remember that, Zoe.”

  “Not likely to forget it—you made it pretty clear,” I remarked.

  “Good.” He kissed my forehead tenderly and then settled me more firmly against his big body. “I’m glad. Sleep now and we can talk more in the morning.”

  There was plenty to talk about, I realized. For instance, all this talk of belonging to each other was nice, but what did it really mean for the future? Had we made some kind of commitment here tonight?

  I remembered what Sellah had said about bonding and fated mates and all that. But that kind of talk was crazy, wasn’t it? You couldn’t just declare that you’d found the one person that was right for you in the whole universe and decide never to leave them again—could you? Or even if you could, she’d told me that half-breeds like Sarden couldn’t form a bond.

  What about the connection you felt? whispered a little voice in my head. I frowned sleepily as I remembered the strange feeling of putting down roots—almost like something in me had reached out and connected irrevocably to something in Sarden. Had he felt the same thing? Or was it just my imagination?

  Most probably the latter, I decided. I’d just had a really intense sexual experience—the most passionate of my life, if I was honest. It was natural to feel an intense connection to go with it.

  I wanted to think more about it but sleep was dragging at me. I’d had a busy couple of days and I really was completely exhausted. Telling myself I could worry about what was going on between Sarden and me tomorrow, I let myself drift off to sleep, lulled by his slow, even breathing and the warmth of his big body surrounding me protectively.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Sarden

  When I woke, Zoe was gone from the bed. But I could hear her in the fresher, humming softly to herself. I was halfway to going back to sleep when I heard the mister kick on and then a muffled curse followed by a burst of irritation. She was aggravated that the mister wasn’t strong enough to wash her hair because she still feared going into the Cleansing Pool by herself.

  I frowned, feeling more awake. How had I known that? How could I tell not only that she was irritated, but also know the source of her irritation?

  Without thinking about it, I reached out and concentrated on her…and soon I felt something else. She was trying to nerve herself up to go into the pool. She was telling herself that she could just jump in and out quickly—that it wouldn’t take long and she could her get hair and body clean at the same time. She could hold her breath and it didn’t matter if she couldn’t swim, she would get right back out again and she shouldn’t be a coward…

  I couldn’t stand it anymore. I got out of bed and went to her.

  “Zoe…” I put out a hand to her.

  “What? Where did you come from?” She was standing naked and shivering with her arms wrapped around herself as she hesitated in front of the door of the pool. I could feel how the tall tank full of purple liquid gave her a distressed, uneasy feeling that wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

  “I just woke up,” I said, but didn’t add that it was her thoughts that had woken me. Actually, though, it wasn’t really her thoughts I was getting—more just a sense of them and the emotions that accompanied them. But how was that possible?

  “Okay, well…” She shrugged, her arms crossed modestly over her bare breasts.

  I wished she wouldn’t hide herself from me—why was she still shy, after all we had shared the night before?

  “Because I’m not used to walking around in my birthday suit, all right?” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Wait…” She frowned. “Why did I say that? I felt like I was answering a question you asked but you…didn’t say anything.”

  I felt a thought stirring in me—a spark of hope I’d never dared to entertain before. But I pushed it ruthlessly down—surely it couldn’t be. Still…

  “Were you just thinking that you were going to duck into the Cleansing Pool for a minute and it didn’t matter that you couldn’t swim because you just need to be…”

  “Brave and try it anyway,” Zoe finished for me. A look of awe spread over her face. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. But…how did you know?”

  “I don’t know exactly,” I said, hedging a little because I wasn’t sure how she’d feel if what I thought had happened had actually happened.

  “Yes, you do—I can see it on your face. And I can feel it. God, this is so weird! Why can I feel your emotions?” she demanded.

  I knew then there was no sense trying to hide it.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “But I think we might be well…bonded.”

  “Bonded?” She frowned. “Sellah was talking about that last night. But she said that males without all one kind of DNA can’t, uh, bond.”

  “Hybrids, you mean,” I said. “Half-breeds. And she’s right—we’re not supposed to be able to.” I spread my hands. “But here we are. Maybe it’s because your own DNA is so pure, you’re able to bond with an impure male, like me.”

  “So…what does this mean?” she asked tentatively. “I know we were being all, uh, possessive of each other last night. Among other things…” She blushed, her creamy skin going becomingly pink. Gods, she was gorgeous. “But what does it actually mean if we are bonded? Practically speaking, I mean?”

  “Well…” I sighed and decided I might as well tell her everything. “We can’t be parted for one thing—or at least, we’re not going to want to be apart.”

  “That’s true.” She bit her lip. “I…I already don’t want to be apart from you and you’re only three feet away.”

  I crossed the distance between us with a single stride and put my arms around her. “Better?” I asked, pulling her soft body close to mine.

  “So much better.” She breathed deeply and nuzzled her cheek against my chest. “I feel like I was thirsty and you gave me a big cold glass of water to drink. Or I was starving and you gave me something to eat. But all you did was hug me.” She looked up at me. “Why is it like this?”

  “We formed a chemical bond last night,” I told her. “When we made love. Some like to think of it as a mystical spiritual connection but the root of it is biological—it happens with all the Twelve Peoples. Our bodies react to each other now—we’re connected. Intimately connected.”

  “So…if it’s chemical…is it like an addiction?” she asked. “Like, if I go too far from you, will I start having, uh withdrawal?”

  “You mean if you go back to Earth?” I asked quietly.

  Zoe bit her lip and looked away. She didn’t answer but she didn’t have to—I knew well enough she missed her home planet and her friends.

  I didn’t want to ask her to give her whole life up for me, but for me to go live with her would be extremely difficult. I looked different from the average Earthling, for one thing—so much different that Zoe had mistaken me for a mythological religious figure the first time she’d seen me. And the humans lived in ignorance—they didn’t know there was other life in the galaxy besides themselves. Of course, I could wear a smart-fabric mask and take saphor liquid with me, drinking it constantly everywhere I went, but that would be a very difficult way to live.

  “What are we going to do?” Zoe asked at last, looking up at me.

  “In the long run? I don’t know,” I admitted. “But for now, let’s get you clean.”

  Before she could protest, I lifted her and walked to the personal cleansing pool. Whatever was going on with our new bond, we would have to talk about it later. For now, I just wanted to enjoy being close to her as long as I could before she decided what she wanted to do…if she wanted to leave me and go back to Earth, despite our bond.

  No, growled the possessive part of