Sergey: Love Me Harder (17 page)

“You have acted like you‘re not that interested in biting me.”

His brown eyes expanded, the chocolate look of them heating up. “Mate, you expressed a need to be part of the process. I await your decision.”

“So if I said no, we‘d just go on like this?”

He resisted the urge to sigh. This is why the scientist made sure there were no females created. How would they have ever hoped to control them?

“If you were to decline, I‘d continue to wait, while endeavoring to change your mind.”

“Would I enjoy the endeavoring to change my mind?”

He licked his lips, touching the pointed fangs that were trying to drop. “Yes.”

“What if I told you I‘d already made up my mind? That I was assured of my decision? That there was nothing you could do that would change it?”

“It would depend on your decision.”

She smiled. “What are you making for dinner tonight? Remember, I’m used to eating what Dante makes, so I hope it’s good.”

“I told Aran we should stop him from coming around.” He gave her a smile, followed by a wink, making her heart skip a beat.

He walked back into the kitchen. She followed, sitting at the counter, watching as he pulled out meat and vegetables. He deftly chopped the vegetables and sliced the chicken. Taking out rice, he started the water.

“Stir fry?”

“I believe someone has a slight addiction to it.”

“I refuse to confirm that rumor, but I could eat some stir fry.”

She watched, amazed, as he worked in the kitchen. He obviously enjoyed cooking.

“Did you cook a lot on your original planet? ‘

“No. We spent most of our lives outside and ate whatever we could catch for the most part. Coming to your world was so different from what we knew. Being allowed to touch your softness without repercussions, I can’t explain the freedom.”

“The females on your planet truly didn’t crave the touch of the created? I know all I‘ve seen is you, and your brothers along with Dante and his brother Mick. But honestly, there was no way I‘d miss any of you alone or together. There might be a riot if all of you went to the mall together, women clawing at each other to get a closer look. The thought of a touch from one of you would turn them into a pack of hungry wolves.”

She laughed, enjoying her own joke. Seeing well educated and everyday working women drop their veneer of civilized modern women to fight for the right to mate with a male so primal made her want to tie him up and have her wicked way with him.

She got up and set the table. He filled two plates and joined her.

“So if the females on your planet wouldn’t allow you to touch them, how did you take care of your bodily urges?” Her cheeks warmed up. This was ridiculous. She would start tanning, even if she had to burn herself. The blushing had to stop.

“We didn’t. We had no bodily urges to take care of.”

She‘d just placed a forkful of stir fry in her mouth. She would‘ve choked on it at his words, but really it was too good.

“Want to run that past me again?”

“Not really. The scientists that created us were from a very old race. Your race has nothing on them in the age department. They’re also a very long lived race, which is why we believe the created have such long life spans. When they created us, they intended for us to win all of their future wars. To do this, we would need to live long and not worry about families. The long life was easy. The rest, not so much. They felt that making us less than males would cut down on what made us potentially great weapons. The prevailing thought is that something that is naturally occurring on our planet was used to inhibit any natural desires so that we never realized our body functioned in other ways.”

“Time out. If you didn’t know about making children, then why would you leave your planet for something you didn’t know existed?”

“We knew that males went home to females. Females made these males lives worth living. We knew that females were soft to the touch and that they provided offspring for the males. We knew enough to know something was missing. When we fought, it didn’t matter. But when the fighting stopped and there was nothing to do, we knew we needed more.”

“How many years did you fight?”

He shrugged. “Time didn’t matter on our home world. We simply fought. One battle led to another with few down days in between. I‘d say that we fought for over three hundred earth years. There were many more that fought much longer. Dante and his brothers would be one such group. They’re many centuries older than my brothers and I.”

“You spent most of your time outside?”

“Yes. Houses, cooked food, chairs and beds, these are luxuries not often provided for the created.”

“How did you come here and fit in? Why aren’t you crazy, wanting to kill everyone when they talk about how life sucks?”

“Our lives were good. We got to live outside and feel the warmth of the sun on our skin. We didn’t have to hide in fear that the ones attacking would kill us or our families. We were free, despite what the scientists thought. We fought because we enjoyed it. We fought because, much like your military, we wanted to protect our planet. We may have never left, had our planet not turned against us. If what we lived our lives for no longer had need of us, then what did we have left?”

She focused on finishing her meal. His stir fry had been on point. “You‘re a good cook.”

“Thank you.” Lorali got up to clean off the table.

“Lorali, would you like to go outside?”

“Yes.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

Dusk was settling over the land. Not quite dark enough to make her wish for a light, but not light enough to make her feel as easy as she did earlier. Sergey took her hand and led her to what looked like a private oasis.

There was a small S shaped pond not too far from the back of the house. It was fed by a small waterfall that had to be man-made. Surrounding it, there were hammocks and benches and places to lay down.

It had a beauty that the wildness of the construction only enhanced.

“Was this here when you purchased the house?”

He shook his head no. “We built it after we purchased the cabin. It was as close as we could get, at the time, to our ideal life.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“We‘re outside. The air is clean and the surroundings are safe. The temperature is perfect. There’s a pond that won‘t stagnate and soft places to sleep. Perfect.”

She worked to swallow. He‘d spent over three hundred years sleeping on the ground. No wonder they thought this was almost perfect.

“Do you prefer outside to inside still?”

“That’s not an easy answer. When I’m inside there is no need for an extreme modification of my skin. That’s nice, although it was never a problem to begin with. There are times when being inside fills me with a crushing weight. I need to be outside to see the sun, the sky, the darkness of night. There are other times when being on the inside provides a comfort that defies understanding.”

“I never had to be outside or sleep on the ground until I went into the military. Then, I quickly understood that being outside presents a majesty, a freedom that many people take for granted. Spending the night in a tent in the desert allowed me to glory in the feel of a carpeted floor or a soft bed in a way I never appreciated before.”

He took her hand and led her to a low bench. It was wide and covered in a material that made it soft. They sat and watched the waterfall and stared at the stars that were beginning to twinkle in the darkening sky.

“Will you tell me your answer?”

She didn’t act coy or try to draw him out. There was no doubt what he was asking about. She did take a minute to center her thoughts.

“My life was good when I was little. My mom and dad took good care of me. They called me princess. I thought it would be like that forever. I planned to grow up and marry my Prince Charming and have the prettiest wedding ever. My mom would look at wedding magazines with me. We would look for the prettiest gown and then I‘d tell her how my day would go and what my prince would be like. In my world, all kids had parents like mine. When I was ten, my mom got sick, really sick. My dad stayed home with her while I went to school. She got worse and he had to take her to the hospital. They were almost there when a car came out of nowhere and hit them head on. They were dead before the ambulance got there. Ever heard of a foster home? Some are good, some are bad.”

The silence between them stretched on. Sergey reached out and held her hands. She finally looked at him. He never said he was sorry or tried to make her feel better, he just held her hand.

“A foster home is where they put children who have no parents or relatives to take them in. Children go to one for lots of reasons, but mine was because my parents were no longer alive. There are some really good ones. I found a place or two like that. Then there are some really bad ones. I found more places like that. Guess I drew the short straw. I was in and out of them for eight long years. I stopped looking at bridal magazines and gowns. I stopped believing in happy endings and Prince Charming. Then I turned eighteen. The world changed again, but I held on. I went to college and even graduated. I got an ok job after graduation. I think I was dead and didn’t realize it.”

She shrugged, what did it really matter?

“You joined the military.”

The military. Come see the world. They offered hope for tomorrow, something she‘d given up on. Her dad had been in the military. Maybe joining would help.

“I worked for six months after college. Then I met this guy who said he loved me. All we needed was money to get married. I ran into a recruiter one day. It was strange, but it felt like it was meant to be. Before I knew it, I was in the army and on my way to boot camp. My guy said he‘d wait forever for me. I thought everything was falling into place.”

She stood up and walked over to the pond. She slid her boots and socks off and sat on the edge, allowing her feet to dangle in the water.

“Do you want to know the worst part of my story?”

“Yes.” Sergey stood and removed his boots and socks before walking over and taking a seat next to her.

“I still remember opening the door to the house I was helping to pay for. I was so excited about being home. Soon I‘d be married. Then I‘d have a child, one I‘d never leave. Then it all fell apart. I sat on that plane headed back to that god awful desert with one question plaguing me. The more I avoided it, the louder it got. If you loved him so much, why are you so relieved to be free from him? Ever torture yourself by repeating the same question over while refusing to acknowledge the answer? I did. I refused to admit for longer than I care to remember that I never loved him. He was an escape. That’s when I knew love wasn’t for me.”

Sergey pulled his feet out of the water and laid back on the grass. Reaching out a hand, he pulled her over to him. Lorali laid next to him and looked at the sky, watching the stars that were beginning to shine brighter in the night sky.

“One of the things I learned when I came to this planet was that the stars were easier to see the further away you were from the city. Sometimes the things we take for granted obscure the view and keep us from seeing the truth. When did you realized your truth was a lie?”

“When you were shot.” Turning she looked into Sergey‘s eyes. “I thought you were dying and I knew if there was no you, then I was useless. I didn’t need a year to think about it, or even a day. It was the first thing I‘d been sure of since I was ten. I love you. You live in my heart. I hear your voice in my head steadying me when I’m shaky. I imagine forever with you and smile. I wanted to say yes before that night, but fear is a strong motive to wait one more day to be sure. I’m tired of waiting. Yes.”

She rolled over onto him, pillowing her head on his chest. She smiled at the small shivers she felt as he caressed her arms.

“Tell me about our wedding.”

“I thought you guys mated not got married.”

“Why can’t we do both?”

She leaned down and kissed him, the soft pressure of her tongue making him open his mouth. She sucked on his tongue, loving it in that sweet gentle way he‘d taught her.

“I want a princess ball gown. My mom and I always loved them. It would flow on my body like I was Cinderella. The shoes would be light blue. I never wanted white shoes. Weird I know. My mom always said it was ok. She hated white shoes too. One day she said she‘d worn blue shoes to her wedding. I loved it and that’s when the blue shoe wedding tradition was born. You‘d wear a black tux with a blue tie to match my shoes. Sorry, I never spent a long time thinking about what the groom would wear.”

“All you need is a dress and a tux?”

“No and yes. Really, all you need is a license. Those are easy to get. After that, anything else is because you want it, not because you need it.”

“Sounds like you need a dress.”

“If the guy I loved was poor and we didn’t have the money I‘d marry him without the dress.”

“What else would you marry without?”

“The ring. The male goes out and buys the female a diamond ring. It says I love and want to be with you forever. Heck of a lot for a piece of jewelry to say. Then he gets down on one knee and proposes. To propose is to ask if the female will marry you. When she says yes, the male puts the ring on her finger.”

“What happened to the ring you had?”

“I never got one. He said it would come later.”

“It seems to me that a ring is important. Shall we go inside? ‘

She smiled at him. “Yes.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

They walked through the house in silence. Hand in hand, they checked the doors and windows. They walked into the security room. Lorali was sure every house they bought had one of them. They set the alarms and moved to the second floor. It was so mundane, she thought, but there was a comfort in a routine.

The upstairs was similar to what she‘d come to expect in the homes of the brothers. The master bedroom was at the top of the stairs. It had a sitting room. Who had those in cabins? And an ensuite attached to the bedroom. She had a hard time believing any of the brothers or even Rena and Dee had picked out this wallpaper.