Chapter Six
Connor would’ve liked to have been able to convince himself that accepting the challenge was ultimately about their right to the piece of land they’d claimed and the need to establish fighting prowess and a willingness to defend their claim.
He knew that that was part of it, but, just as certainly, that wasn’t all of it. It wasn’t even the biggest part of it.
In fact he’d already accepted the challenge before it occurred to him that it could have a very large impact on their situation--positive or negative.
That occurred to him forcefully as he stripped his shirt off and ordered everyone back.
He almost thought he would have preferred blades to hand to hand.
Which just went to show he’d lost his fucking mind--because that was a lose-lose situation if there ever was one.
The fight was a piss poor political move if it came to that.
But then again, he was no politician, he thought grimly, and he wanted to kick the fucking asshole’s ass.
* * * *
Ryne was furious enough he had little of his wits with him when he paced off the ground they had chosen for their contest, searching for an opening, studying the ground beneath his feet for any trip hazards.
As furious as his opponent clearly was, he still had his wits about him as far as Ryne could see. To his surprise, he didn’t instantly launch an attack. He searched him for weaknesses.
He had few.
The bastard’s were obvious.
He did not have the reach that Ryne had or the height and he was broader.
Perhaps slower?
Not by much, Ryne saw the first time he swung his fist and connected with his jaw before he could do more than whip his head aside to roll with the punch.
It was as well he did.
He thought the bastard might have taken him to the ground if he’d landed that blow solidly.
He did not just appear to be solidly built. He was.
All in all, though, they were very closely matched.
It fucking pissed him off.
And obviously Connor, as well.
They waltzed until both of them were having trouble staying on their feet and swinging punches.
Finally, Connor stopped to rest.
Ryne decided that was as good a time as any to catch his breath.
“Enough!” Roque growled striding into the circle and taking up a stance between the two fighters. “You fools have proven nothing except that you are fools. De woman will decide. You no can decide for her--neider of you.”
Ryne relaxed, dragging in a reviving breath. “I speak wid Belle,” he said stubbornly. “She say no come back … I no will.”
As distressed as she already was about the fight, an avalanche of embarrassment washed over Belle as Connor summoned her with a look.
He couldn’t actually expect her to … spurn the man right in front of the entire damned colony, she thought with a mixture of discomfort, and anger because of that!
Obviously, he could and he did.
And Belle just didn’t think she could.
She moved closer to him, though, hopeful they could minimize the embarrassment for her, for both of them, by speaking quietly.
She’d no sooner looked up at him unhappily, though, than he caught her, dragged her against his length, and caged her lips beneath his.
Belle felt like she’d been hit by a lightning bolt.
Nothing crossed her mind from that moment but the feel of his hard mouth on hers, his taste and scent, and the texture of his tongue as he explored the sensitive cavern of her mouth. As hungry and possessive as his exploration was, it was woefully brief to her mind.
Because it felt just amazing and she just wasn’t done experiencing it.
Mindlessly, she followed when he broke the connection.
He planted his nose beside hers, huffing for breath. “Want Belle be my woman,” he said huskily. “You no want, I go.”
Well fuck! She had to answer now? In front of every damned body?
Not that she hadn’t been indulging in fantasies since she’d first met him!
And he’d sure as hell outdone all of them!
She swallowed convulsively a couple of times. “I … uh …. I don’t … know.”
Ryne was horrendously disappointed.
But she hadn’t said go, hadn’t flat out refused.
She had responded.
She’d kissed him back.
She just hadn’t made up her mind … yet, he told himself.
No doubt lingered in his own mind. She had heated his blood so fast, he was dizzy with the rapid ascent.
Reluctantly, he eased his hold on her when Connor crowded the two of them, curling a hand around Belle’s upper arm possessively.
They had a glaring match, but they both knew they couldn’t wrestle over Belle with her standing between then--not without the risk of hurting her.
Slowly, Ryne loosened his hold on Belle.
When he did Connor snatched her to him and coiled around her. Grasping a fist full of hair at her nape, he tugged her head back and planted his mouth over Belle’s.
Belle felt her knees buckle at the shock wave that went through her at that heated connection, as his--Connor’s essence flooded her with delirium.
She’d waited her whole life, it seemed, for that first kiss--ever hopeful that he would see her as a desirable woman, that he would kiss her.
And yet, she wasn’t actually aware of registering anything at all until he broke the kiss.
She blinked at him, glanced at Ryne and then, when Connor let go, staggered off drunkenly at the best speed she could manage.
She had to plow her way through the audience surrounding them, gawking at them.
The bitch that had confronted her about Connor kicked her as she went through, tried to trip her up, and Belle did stumble. She caught herself, though, and she was so wrapped up in shock she didn’t even realize for a while afterward that it had been a deliberate retaliation for the kiss.
There was very little privacy to be had, but she ducked into the ‘singles’ hab she was sharing with a half a dozen other single females and, thankfully, they were outside.
Working.
She had the space to herself.
Someone would come to find her before very long, she was certain, but she needed just a few minutes to collect herself.
She couldn’t.
She was so rattled by both kisses her brains were unable to capture a solitary thought and process it. Her mind kept flitting from one to the other, back and forth, like a bee that couldn’t make up its mind where it wanted to light.
They had both--absolutely--imprinted on her--short circuited every nerve ending and her synapses.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t separate the two because she hadn’t felt it--both--soul deep. It was because it happened so close together it was hard to decide where either started or ended. She hadn’t had the chance to fall to earth after Ryne had kissed her to the point of idiocy.
And Connor’s kiss, in its own way, had been as stunning as the kiss from the alien.
Because she hadn’t expected to feel any of the things they made her feel.
Beyond threatened.
Actually not threatened. She’d thought she would feel that--not want to.
And really was convinced she ought to--first off because they were men and both of them seemed like scary dangerous men.
She’d thought so before she’d seen the fight.
But that took it to a whole other level than just thinking they were. That had been seriously unnerving.
She didn’t really feel like she’d regained much composure when the first roommate returned to the hab, but she decided not to hang around.
Unfortunately, she met up with psycho woman before she’d gotten very far.
“Slut! I told you to stay the fuck away from Connor,” she snarled.
Belle put on brakes, gaping at the woman in shocked disbelief--too stunned by the unexpected verbal assault to gather her wits. She drew a blank trying to make sense of the accusation.
Because it didn’t make any damned sense! “He … called me,” she managed to stammer after a moment.
“I didn’t hear him call you!”
“He gestured for me ….”
“I didn’t see that either. You just pushed yourself at him … them. Both of them. Because you’re a slut.”
Belle’s temper reared its stupid head.
Stupid, because, if she’d been thinking, she would’ve realized it wasn’t a good idea to ‘fight’ with psycho. “Can I help it if you’re blind and stupid?” she growled.
Whereupon psycho bitch unleashed the kracken, uttered a feral growl, and launched herself at Belle.
Who was stunned stupid all over again and couldn’t manage anything but gaping at her.
Fortunately, Connor returned from escorting their ‘guests’ out in time to catch the charge. “What the fuck, Marcy?” he growled when he’d hooked her with one arm, swung her around, and caught her arms to prevent her from trying to pulverize him with her windmill fists.
“I saw that bitch kiss you!” Marcy snarled.
Connor’s face turned red. “You want to fucking explain to me where the hell you got the idea that that was your business?” he snarled.
Belle was of the opinion that it was nine tenths anger and maybe one tenth discomfort.
It certainly sounded that way.
Because he didn’t so much as glance in her direction, even though she quietly slunk off to hide--mostly from her nemesis but also from Connor just in case the bitch blamed the incident on her and he believed her.
Well! She knew damned well the psycho was going to blame her! She’d already blamed her! What she wasn’t certain of was whether Connor would take her word for it because he was already pissed off with her.
And she was pretty sure he was.
Because she hadn’t even tried to fight Ryne off when he’d snatched her up and kissed the hell out of her.
He’d already lectured her about getting herself into trouble meeting up with Ryne in the woods. Not that he was crazy and thought she’d arranged something, but because she’d ignored the rules and it could have been bad.
Maybe he was angry with her because Ryne had come again and brought the others?
The woman with them was an Earth woman, she realized abruptly.
She’d been so completely focused on Ryne she hadn’t really paid any attention to any of the others.
Even when the white haired man had claimed her as his woman.
Actually said she belonged to both him and the one called Terran.
She might have dismissed that as a misunderstanding or misinterpretation except the woman was pregnant.
Well, she thought, she could still be wrong.
On the other hand they weren’t human--the guys--or from Earth. There could be a very reasonable explanation for that sort of relationship. She couldn’t imagine what that might be, but that still didn’t mean she was wrong.
And now that she thought about it, it seemed the white haired one called Roque had told Connor that Ryne and Torr wanted to speak to her family about courting her.
She thought she’d heard him say that, at any rate.
Everyone had been listening in, straining to hear, so no one had been talking, but she’d still been a good distance from them. She might have heard it wrong.
He had mentioned both Ryne and Torr, but she decided she wasn’t certain about the context of the discussion.
Possibly.
Or that occurred to her because it seemed like the others were a threesome?
Ryne was interested, she thought.
Everything inside of her fluttered at the thought.
In a good way?
Or a bad way?
She wasn’t sure.
It unnerved her.
There was no getting around that, but … . She couldn’t decide how she felt about it except she wasn’t appalled. She wasn’t scared or repulsed.
He appealed to her on a physical level and that by itself was almost alarming.
She couldn’t think of a single male in the human camp that she felt that kind of draw towards.
Well, except Connor and she was almost equally … unnerved by him as she was attracted.
And, actually, she realized the same could be said for Ryne.
She was … mesmerized by him.
She’d been too horrified when they’d begun to fight to absorb much--at least that she was aware of.
She hadn’t been able to tear her eyes from it, though, she thought uncomfortably.
Because the display of such raw power had been as mesmerizing as it was horrific.
It would never have occurred to her that Connor was so … beautiful half naked.
Of course, he looked amazing in his uniform, but ….
And it actually had occurred to her that Ryne was beautiful half naked because he had been when she’d first seen him and she was just … stunned.
And she thought probably the most amazing thing was the discovery that it didn’t seem obscene to see anything that beautiful half naked. Either of them. When she’d always thought nakedness was just appalling--hers and anyone else’s.
It was an unfortunate thought, because it resurrected old, painful memories she’d done her utmost to erase from her mind.
Thankfully, she was distracted by the tone indicating the dinner hour and she’d managed to work off enough of her residual nerves to consider joining everyone to eat.