Alien General's Baby (Brion Brides 7)(18)

Considering Braen still didn't know if he could actually kill the monster, the answer was obvious. He would come up with a plan, but thinking ahead wasn't in Chali nature.

It said a lot about the traders, to have Brions think they were reckless.

Braen gave Kerven a hard look.

"Most warriors your age think the only courage comes from wielding a blade," he said. "You chose to speak the truth, knowing I might kill you for it."

Kerven said nothing, waiting for his judgment. Braen had already made up his mind.

"The woman that came aboard," he said. "Go to her. Make sure she has everything she needs and bring her to the bridge."

A shadow of relief washed over Kerven. To his credit Braen only read that from the slightest change of the valor squares.

As the young warrior turned to go, Braen added: "Take your time. I don't want her to see me talking to the traders."

Before leaving, Kerven asked one more question.

"What will you say, General?" Kerven asked.

"I will accept their gracious offer," Braen answered, turning away before calling back: "The woman is my gesha. Lay a finger on her, say one wrong word, and you will see where bravery truly gets you. I see a bright future ahead for you, Kerven. Make sure it isn't the surface of a star where I'll most certainly drop you if Naima has one bad word to say about you."

The warrior's stunned silence was as audible as the truth he'd spoken before. Walking away, Braen thought whether he'd been too harsh with the man, though he quickly decided he was not. The holoprojection of a cyborg waiting for him on the bridge quickly banished that musing in exchange for barely restrained fury.

"General Braen," the half-woman said, her voice as nauseatingly sweet as it was fake. "I hear you're after the most valuable thing in the galaxy. Oh, and the Fearless, too. I would love to offer the assistance of the Fleet."

Of course you would.





10





Naima





She had fucked up. She had fucked up so badly.

After Braen was gone, Naima stood silently where he'd left her for a long, agonizing moment. Her world was being torn apart by forces far beyond her command and Naima honestly felt like a leaf in the wind.

That's not me, she told herself firmly. No matter what, I'm no one's plaything. I have been an observer for too long. I think I need to take some control back.

There was only one problem with that, the reason why her insides were twisting themselves into knots. Naima dearly wished she was on some vast, empty field with not a soul to hear for miles. There was a scream in her, wanting to be let out. A sad, hurt, disappointed and raging howl.

Everything was slipping away from her. In the course of just a few weeks, Naima had her life flipped upside down by a fucking rock, an unseen monster and a self-appointed husband. She had been tortured and scared and taken away without having any say.

Out of all of that, Braen was the one thing Naima didn't mind so much. In fact, her heart fluttered like crazy every time she saw the gorgeous general, but there was so much between that made any notion of building a future ridiculous.

Talk about a culture shock, she thought bitterly.

Out of all the forces that were playing around with her life, Braen was the only one she had any hope of controlling. And yet, at the same time, she knew there was no controlling a Brion general.

Naima sat on the edge of the bed, the sheets still mussed up from the night she’d shared with the general. Looking at them made her nauseous just as much as it made her endorphin levels want to go through the roof.

She knew it was all a charade, though. She couldn’t possibly have a future with this infuriating, always right about everything kind of man who probably didn’t know what ‘no’ meant when he really wanted something.

Not that she thought he’d ever hurt her. That wasn’t it. At least not physically.

I shouldn’t have done that, she thought, plopping back on the sheets.

Her nostrils were immediately assaulted by the scent of Braen. She inhaled it hungrily before she noticed what she was doing.

“You stupid girl,” she said to herself out loud, shaking her head.

All her life, she’d been wary about love and men and relationships in general. It hadn’t been something she’d strived to do, rather something that came oh so naturally to her. It was no wonder. She’d had to learn from the best.#p#分页标题#e#

Her parents had never been… happy, was perhaps the word to use. Her mother, a sweet, sensitive woman, had had the misfortune of falling for a man who always considered science and rationality above all else. While he’d been an awesome father for a curious little girl to have, the older Naima got, the more clearly she understood that while her father was a great scientist, he was a lousy husband.

The fact that Naima thought herself the spitting image of her father didn’t help with fostering healthy relationships. All her childhood, she’d been witness to what George Jones’ emotional neglect did to her mother, how it withered the lively soul that she was until there was nothing really left. A flower couldn’t blossom if there was no sunlight, and Margaret Jones’ sunlight was definitely her husband.

For Naima, her sunlight was science and curiosity and reason, just like it had been for her father. The last thing she wanted was to do to someone what he had done to her mother. With a ‘normal’ relationship, it was easier to avoid – just get out when it starts getting too serious. That way, she could take control of the situation, make sure that she didn’t leave anyone worse off than she found them.

But what do you do with a Brion who will consider no logic and no reason in matters of the heart? To say yes even once is to hurt him… Perhaps hurt him more in a short span of time than a lifetime of neglect could do to another person…

And she’d said yes to Braen. If only once.

The scream came, so silent there was barely any sound at all. Naima curled up, her fingernails digging painfully into the palms of her hands as the physical pain helped to sweep away the pain inside.

She allowed that moment of weakness to herself and then got up, wiping her eyes and forcing all intruding emotion away.

"I will not be a tool for anyone," Naima told herself quietly. "Finding the stone didn't put me in danger, it gave me a chance to help. Seeing the Fearless did put me in danger, but I can strike back and lead Braen right to it. I will do that and then it’ll be over. Everything will be okay."

Saying it out loud helped, but Naima felt her heart breaking. She only had to hope that she wouldn’t break Braen’s in the process. She didn't mistake her affection for Braen for love, not even after a misguided, amazing night together.

Naima just wished there would have been a chance for them to actually get to know each other without the stakes being so high, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. Their lives were completely insane. Maybe in another life, he could have been the right man. But not in this one. He only dealt in absolutes and she could not give him that.

It was hard, though. Braen had, simply put, knocked her socks off.

Naima's spinning mind came to the conclusion that if she'd actually been wearing socks the night before, Braen would have definitely made them fly off her feet.

The general was the most handsome man she'd ever seen, but it wasn't just the looks that got her attention. Naima had spent her entire short and mostly uneventful lovelife with Terran men – some were more temperamental than others, some were wild cards, but they ultimately existed in the realm of reason.

She got a wholly new vibe from Braen. The general was sharp-edged and true like his blade, incapable of lying because he didn't need to. Naima hated the fact that the unbreakable bond had come between what could have been a great… stress relief? For the both of them, during these trying times. Belittling what she felt for the man as something that was simple ‘fun’ felt a whole lot easier than dealing with the reality.

The general thought the bond was a bridge to gap whatever differences were between them, but to Naima it was an unclimbable wall.

Braen had so completely taken over her thoughts that Naima barely noticed when the door started beeping quietly. She rushed to it, seeing a young Brion warrior waiting on the other side from a small screen on the wall.

Next to about a dozen buttons and small levers, as much as she could make out in the nigh darkness of her quarters.

Damn Brions and their hate of light. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about being so fucking hot they can't stand seeing their own reflections, but right now I'd really like to see something. A friendly face, my own hands...

"Just a second!" Naima called, wondering if the man heard her.

Well, this is what I get for fantasizing about gorgeous warlords and not focusing on important issues like how the hell am I supposed to get out of my room.

After trying to stare down the buttons for a few moments yielded no results, Naima decided to just go for one and hope for the best.#p#分页标题#e#

"If you hear me," she called to the warrior, "I'm going to push random switches now and none of them better be a trapdoor!"

The man on the screen was starting to look kind of nervous, but Naima concluded he didn't actually hear her from the fact he didn't react to her call.