Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(20)

All the words were wrong, but he couldn't find the right ones.

"I can't leave you alone," he said. "We have to find out what Worgen is planning. Until then, I need to protect you and stay in hiding. This is the one place the Brions would think twice before barging into."

Gritting his teeth, he added: "Especially since Worgen seems to think you will be his. He wouldn't let another man into your room."

Lana's eyes burned with defiance as she sat up, seeming to gain confidence from the fact he kept a distance between them. It was painful when all he wanted was to take her into his arms, hold her perfect, soft body there, and claim her.

"I am my own," Lana said coldly, but turned thoughtful then.

"But I think you are right," she added after a pause. "This is the best place for you to hide. The Brion patrols are all over the ship and there are simply too many people here. If anyone even squeaks about you..."

"You can stay," Lana finished, but her eyes were careful and worried. "But I don't want you anywhere near me."

Corden said nothing. All he wanted was for the sparkle to be back in her eyes, to see Lana smile at him like she had before. To taste her. The kiss they'd shared was a ghost in his mind now, torturing him with what could have been.

There was a small couch at the far end of the room. He pulled the spear free from the sheath on his back, noticing how it made Lana wince. Without a word, he rested it against the wall and sat on the seat, a guardian watching over her, as he should be.

"Sleep," he said. "I will stay right here."

Lana kept an eye on him as she obeyed, clearly exhausted, if still defiant. The general watched as his gesha climbed under the sheets, her beautiful body barely covered by the thin silk that served as the blanket. Her long curly hair fell in flawless disarray on the pillow as she tried to keep her eyes open. Corden sat motionless, content to simply be where Lana was until she fell asleep.

Only then did he allow himself to relax and consider what had happened. The dark days of the Brions were long past, but they made their ugly appearances here and there. In recent history, several prominent Brions had succumbed to the easy temptation of power. It was the very thing the Elders were fighting against, but it was a pretty hopeless cause. After all, how did one triumph against themselves?

Lana looked so peaceful in her sleep.

Corden had heard about the way Brion men abandoned everything to keep their geshas safe and finally he understood. He was prepared to do anything to keep Lana looking that way, as if nothing could ever hurt her.

He swore that nothing ever would.

Before, killing Worgen had been simply his latest task, but now it was personal. His gesha would never abandon the fleet and he'd never let anything happen to her. That meant he had to save them all.



***



After an hour, Lana's dreams became restless. She tossed and turned on the sheets, her face twisting in grimaces as she tried to escape whatever haunted her nightmares.#p#分页标题#e#

Corden watched with all the curiosity of a pondering mind. Brions didn't get nightmares. For them, sleeping was only about rest. If they dreamed at all, which they rarely did, the dreams were more like memories. But Terrans had dreams of a different kind, ones capable of scaring them to the core.

The general frowned. He wanted to protect Lana from all harm, including the ones in her dreams, even if they posed no real danger to her. He got up slowly, approaching the bed with caution. If Lana woke and saw him there, she'd never trust him again.

But keeping away proved more testing than he might have imagined. Lana had been struggling so hard she'd thrown the blanket on the floor and now lay with the tunic she'd been wearing pushed up. Corden refused to touch her, despite his fingers aching for contact with her soft skin, but he couldn't stop watching.

The delicious curve of her ass was enough to make his mouth water when he imagined what it would be like to push into her, to feel her tightness close in on his cock. No woman had ever turned him on like that, robbing him of common sense, of self-restraint. His very soul burned with the need to have her, to make her belong to him in earnest.

Not just her body, although he'd never wanted anyone as badly as he longed for Lana. Corden wanted her to himself, entirely. He'd have to trust fate to bring them together in the end. After all, no good things came without a fight.

He picked the blanket up from the floor and gently laid it back on top of her, taking one last look at her long uncovered legs before doing so.

As soon as the silk touched Lana's skin, she woke with a scream. The general caught her in his arms as she shot up from the bed, right into his embrace. She threw her hands around him, murmuring words he couldn't understand. All he knew was that she was clinging to him for dear life, holding onto him like a lifeline. Carefully, he pulled her closer to his body, hating the armor that didn't let him feel her heat against his. Lana winced at first, but let him as shivers ran through her.

"It was the Flora," Lana whispered breathlessly against his neck.

To listen to her was music to his ears, her sweet breath caressing his skin. Corden never wanted it to end, but the despair in her voice was not a price he was willing to pay for being able to be close to her.

"It was burning," she went on. "There were people, dead, everywhere... And I heard laughing somewhere. I think it was Worgen. I think he did it. He killed everyone. And you were dead too—"

She stopped, as if the thought of his death finally brought her back to reality. Lana seemed to realize where she was and what she was doing. The captain pulled back, but not out of his embrace, her fingers aimlessly stroking the ornamented edges of his armor.

"I promise you," Corden said, "none of that will happen. I will not permit it to."

Lana's eyes were doubtful at first, but hope won over.

"It looked so real, almost like a prophecy," she whispered then, her voice shaking a bit.

"There is no such thing," Corden said, with the tone he used to address his warriors. "We are not puppets in the hands of the gods, even Brions know that. We make our own fates."

A sad smile broke on Lana's face.

"You believe in the bindings," she said, but it wasn't an accusation.

"That's different," Corden said. "The bonds are signs, pulling us toward the person we'd otherwise spend our whole lives searching for. Fighting to stay alive and not allow monsters like Worgen to win, that's the destiny we make."

Lana nodded, her blue eyes wide, holding his gaze. She was slowly edging closer, still half-asleep, barely aware of what she was doing. It was instinct that drove her to him, Corden knew that. Her hand slid up the surface of his armor, all the way up to his neck. The general was mesmerized by her, the slightest movement seeming like it was a spell she was putting on him. He couldn't have looked away from her if he tried.

Lana took the braid he still had between her fingers.

"You cut off the other," she said, her beautiful voice dreamy, as though she was still sleeping.

"I did," Corden said, allowing himself to take her hand.

Lana's eyes snapped from the braid back to him. The light blues were threatening to drown Corden in their depths, but he kept talking.

"It was a long time ago," he said. "I started counting the days from two defeats. One I told you about, the one I lost now. But the other... do you know what grothan means?"

Lana nodded.

"Undefeated," she said. "One of your generals still carries that title."#p#分页标题#e#

"Yes," Corden allowed with a grin. "Diego is the reason I have this other braid. I lost my title to him in a spar a long time ago."

"They count?" Lana asked. "I thought only big battles and duels mattered."

"Everything counts," the general said. "But after I lost, I didn't become less of a man like the title suggests. How could that be? I dueled with one of the greatest fighters in the history of our people and I happened to lose. I assure you, I didn't make it easy for him. But I was no longer a grothan."

"So," he went on, caressing Lana's hand in his gently, enjoying the way she didn't wince at his touch anymore. "I took on a new mark of glory, one I bestowed upon myself. And I haven't had reason to cut it since."

"What does it mean, then?" Lana asked.

"It means that being grothan says a lot," Corden replied with a grin, "but not everything."

He leaned forward, catching Lana's sweet lips in a soft kiss, but didn't push further. When he pulled back, her eyes were still closed.

"It means I have no intention of letting Worgen win," he growled, speaking with a fervor he'd rarely felt before. "You, the fleet, Briolina, I will take everything from him and break him before I grant him the mercy of death."

Lana looked wide awake now, still not pulling away from his arms. The drowsy sleepiness that had been there before in her eyes was replaced with a reassured determination.

"Will you help me protect the Flora?" she asked.

"Yes. This is not the Brion way. We don't make enemies of people who have done nothing wrong."

"You are a general. That means your own flagship has to be somewhere nearby."

"The Claw is close, yes," Corden allowed.