6. Athena
Athena
The Vandar did not release my gaze as he held me. “What is your condition?”
My mind whirred as I considered what I wanted from him. There wasn’t time to ask him how he knew who I was or why he was only offering to save me. It hadn’t only been me who’d saved Kolt and Skye, but I’d been around enough men to suspect what he wanted.
Not that I doubted I was in danger or that it would be potentially deadly to remain in a war zone.
The continual booming outside the theatre and the faint shrieking told me that the battle was real.
I also didn’t doubt he’d been sent by Kolt.
That didn’t mean I trusted this Vandar. Especially since I now knew he was one of their warlords. I’d heard plenty about them.
“You want to save me?” I asked, letting my body sink into his in a way that I knew would affect him.
His only response was a guttural, strangled sound.
“I’ll go with you, but I’m not going alone.” I flicked my gaze back toward the rest of the troupe. “You have to save all of us.”
His brow wrinkled. “You want your entire troupe to escape on my warbird?”
I glanced at the group that was still shaking fingers and yelling at the armed Vandar. “Just the ones who are here. I don’t know where the rest are or how to locate them, but all my friends here go, or I don’t go.”
I wasn’t sure why he was intent to me going with him, and there was a good chance that he’d find my demand more trouble than I was worth.
If he refused, then I would have sentenced all of us and myself to a very unpleasant future.
I held my breath, praying that I hadn’t overplayed my hand.
I was usually good at pressing my luck and knowing just how far to take something, but I’d never made a deal with a Vandar warlord before.
“If I agree to save everyone, then you consent to be my war bride.”
I bristled, disliking the sound of it instantly. “War bride? What’s that?”
He loosened his grip and lowered my feet so they touched the floor again. Then he took a step until I was backed into a wall. He pinned me with his body while he ran one hand down my side and his tail curled around my ankles, making it impossible for me to move.
“It’s simply a deal to ensure mutual cooperation,” he purred as he gazed down at me. “You will stay with me on my warbird. In exchange, I will provide protection and safety for you and your friends.”
“Stay with you?” I echoed his words, but they sounded hollow when I said them.
He tilted his head. “As my guest.”
My pulse fluttered, and my brain screamed at me to run. I knew better than to make deals with the devil, and the predatory glint in the Vandar’s eyes told me that he was no one to be trifled with. I couldn’t act or charm my way around this. “War bride sounds like more than a house guest situation.”
He hummed and the sound sent a tremor of unwanted pleasure down my spine. “Then why don’t we consider it a trial? Nothing will be required of you that you do not wish.”
“I’ll be a trial war bride?” My voice trembled. “For how long?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Until we can find safe harbor for your friends. Then, if you choose not to remain with me, I will release you.”
That wasn’t so bad. I just had to hang out with a massive, terrifying alien warlord in his giant spaceship until he found a safe place for us to live. Then I could leave and never see him again.
“And I don’t have to…do things with you…or for you?” I said, dropping my voice even though it would have been impossible for my friends to hear me over their unwavering protests.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Not unless you want to.” He bent lower, and his lips buzzed my ear. “Or unless you wish me to do things to you.”
I tried to pull away, even though my head was already flat against the wall. I shook my head. “No. I won’t want that.”
Even as I said the words, they felt like a lie. Being so close to him made my palms sweaty and my skin heat, and the idea of him doing anything to me made my knees watery. I was no innocent, and his closeness was already sending traitorous thoughts skittering through my brain.
His chuckle was deep and velvety and hummed across my skin. “As you wish.” Then he pulled away and met my gaze, his suddenly somber. “Do we have a deal?”
My mind was muddled from his furtive whispers, but I think I remembered what he’d proposed. “I come with you in exchange for you saving all of us.”
He nodded, lifting one hand to brush a lock of hair from my face. “You stay with me as my war bride on a trial basis.”
“Until you find a safe place to leave us.”
“Until then,” he confirmed.
“Then the trial is over,” I said, fully sure that it would be as simple as that. It was just a matter of running out the clock.
“If you wish it to be,” he said. “If you do not opt to be my mate and war bride.”
I couldn’t imagine any scenario in which I’d choose to be the mate of a Vandar warlord.
I was an actress. The stage was my life.
I would never give that up to ride around in a scary spaceship with an even scarier warlord.
The guy clearly thought he would be able to charm or scare me into changing my mind, but I knew in the depths of my soul that would never happen.
I allowed myself a breath as I thought back to all the men before him who’d believed they could charm me into yielding more than I wished to give. They’d all failed.
He’s just like the rest. I can do this.
“You have a deal,” I said before I could talk myself out of it.
A smile stretched across his face, and his tail unwound from my ankles. “Then let’s get you and your friends off Gollun Prime and onto your new home.”
He lingered for a beat, feathering the tip of one finger along the side of my face with surprising gentleness. Then he whirled abruptly and raised a fist in the air, which silenced everyone.
“Athena has made a deal to save all of you,” he said to my friends before sliding his attention to his crew. “Everyone here will be escorted safely off the planet and to the warbird.”
Hal gaped at the warlord then at me. “We’re leaving?”
“The Zagrath are sending more ships and more soldiers,” I said, even as a blast shook the walls of the theatre. “If we don’t leave with the Vandar, we might not survive.”
Vallia gasped, and Lettie wrapped an arm around her, winking at the nearest Vandar. “You don’t have to ask me twice. Lead the way, hot stuff.”
The Vandar who’d rushed into the theatre waved my friends forward and the other raiders fell in formation around them. I lingered behind, turning to the warlord once everyone was a few steps ahead. “When you said stay with you, what do mean exactly?”
“You wish to change the deal after it has been made?”
I shook my head, flinching as another blast sent dust sifting from overhead. “I’m just curious where I’ll be staying as your guest.”
“As a war bride, you will be staying in my quarters and in my furs, Athena.”
I opened my mouth, but no argument came out. I definitely should have clarified the terms before saying yes. Then a loud blast shook the floors and sent fragments of the ceiling raining down, as the warlord scooped me into his arms and started to run.