Prime Obsession(29)

 “Wulf, no!” Melina’s eyes slitted open as she weakly touch his hand, staying his action. “It’s Nowicki and Huw. We’re safe now. I’m really tired. I’m going to sleep now.

 Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Wulf’s eyes teared up, realizing his woman had stayed conscious enough to protect him. Nuzzling some strands of her hair aside, he placed a light kiss on her forehead and murmured, “Melina, you are a gift from the One. I am humbled he chose you as my mate.”

A faint amused and very feminine snort sounded in his head. “Tell me that the next time I don’t stay where you put me.”

He laughed.

“What do you have to laugh about, Caradoc?” Nowicki’s harsh angry tones sobered Wulf quickly. Melina’s former first officer still had the large chip on his shoulder over losing a chance at Melina. Tough.

Wulf sent him a slitted glare. “My mate said something funny.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” The good captain had a perplexed look on his face.

Huw shouted with laughter. “So, it is true? Battle-mates can really communicate telepathically?”

Wulf nodded and moved past the two men, into the sunlight and thin fresh air of the high plateau.

Huw handed Wulf a breathing unit and placed one on Melina. Melina’s relieved sigh whispered through their link. The rich air lessened her discomfort. But he was still placing her in a regen bed and having the doctor on the Galanti check her out. She’d been through a lot the past few days and was a mass of bruises, laser burns and bumps.

“What’s he talking about, Caradoc? Melina isn’t telepathic,” Nowicki said, pulling his thoughts away from his mate’s health.

“But she is.” Wulf glanced at his brother. Huw’s eyes were alight with excitement and joy for his good fortune. It would have been so easy for his brothers to resent him for finding his gemate, but they hadn’t. “Most Prime have empathic abilities and can read emotions from most other species. We use those abilities to help in battle and even business negotiations.”

“Yeah, I knew that,” Nowicki admitted, “and Mel always had hunches. She read a battlefield better than anybody. But talking to you with her mind, come on, Caradoc.

That’s fantasy.”

“It’s not. Melina is a battle-mate.”



“You said that before, back on Tooh 10. Just what the fuck is that?” Nowicki asked, skepticism coloring his every word.

Huw let out an exasperated sigh, telling Wulf his brother was just about fed up with the Terran male’s attitude. “A battle-mate is one of the rare gemates who can telepathically connect with her gemat during times of strong emotions. All gemat-gemate couples have some empathy and heightened connections to their mates, but battle-mates go beyond that. In battle, the couple is connected symbiotically. It is said that battle-mates like Melina also have more heightened awareness in all of their senses.”

“It’s true, Huw,” said Wulf. “Melina could sense Antareans approaching even in her semi-conscious state. She warned me well in advance so that I could defend us.” Huw’s mouth dropped open in shocked awe. “You are truly blessed, brother.”

“I hope that you will some day find the happiness I have.” Both knew it would take another miracle for Huw and Iolyn to find their imprinted mates in the vastness of the universe. He still couldn’t believe he’d found Melina.

The two men paced him as he hurried to his star cruiser. “I’m taking Melina to the Galanti so the doctor can check her over and put her in the regen bed. Then I will return to help you in rooting out the remaining Antareans. We will also need to recover the bodies of Melina’s Terran parents and the other scientists. I have promised Melina her parents will be entombed on Cejuru Prime in the Caradoc family tomb.” Huw nodded. “I’m sure father and mother will approve. Melina wouldn’t be alive if the Terran couple had not taken care of her.”

“Hold just one damn minute.” Nowicki reached for Melina. “I can take her back to her ship, the Leonidas. I still have yet to hear from her that she wants to be with you.” Wulf’s growl started low in his diaphragm. Huw backed up, his hand over his laser pistol, ready to defend Melina and him.

The atmosphere was so rife with strong emotions—his rage, Huw’s concern and shock, and the apayebo Terran’s jealous hatred—that Melina roused from her unconscious state. Her emerald-colored eyes were dull with pain and exhaustion as her weary gaze swept the scene. Wulf could feel her assessing the other two’s emotions and touching his mind to determine where the threat was.

Sighing, her trembling hand stroked Wulf’s jaw. “Back off, big guy. Nowicki doesn’t understand.” She struggled to sit up within his cradling hold.

“Stay still, little warrior,” he growled, his voice held a mixture of love, amusement, and concern. “You are hurt. Weak as a she-kitten.”

 “This she-kitten has claws.” Melina shot him a look filled with amusement. Turning her head toward the stubborn Terran, she said, “Royce, I go where Wulf takes me.” Soothing the throbbing muscle in Wulf’s jaw with a stroking finger, she smiled.

“Although I find I have a hard time staying put.”

Wulf laughed, throwing back his head. His joy at his mate’s sauciness filled him, chasing away his anger. He engulfed her stroking hand within his and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “We’ll work on that, eh?”

“Sure.” Melina attempted one last smile before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

“Melina? Lubha?” Wulf growled in a low continuous rumble as he hurried into his ship. This was not a healing, restful sleep. Her mind was filled with pain, exhaustion, grief, hunger, and images of bloody scenes from her recent battles. She needed the blissful, untroubled sleep a regen bed would provide in order to recover her strength.

Over his shoulder, he shouted. “Huw, take over for me. Find the rest of those apayebote. I’ll be back just as soon as I get Melina settled and am assured of her health.” Huw’s response, if any, was cut off by the closing of the hatch.

Wulf settled Melina into the co-pilot’s chair, buckling her in. His worried glance flicked toward her as he went through the procedures for a planet-takeoff. She was too still.

Touching her mind, he found no walls. She was not conscious enough to keep him out. That worried him deeply. Yet, her life signs were strong. She would be fine once she spent some time in a regen bed, he told himself.

“Galanti, this is Wulf. Have the doctor meet me in the shuttle dock with a regen bed.

My gemate is injured.” He didn’t want any delays in getting Melina the medical attention she so desperately needed.

“The doctor has been advised and will meet you, Captain,” Lt. Commander Dakkin, the ship’s chief communications officer replied. “Safe trip up, sir.”

“See you in a quarter hour.” Wulf took off, plotting the shortest intercept course for the Galanti.





Chapter Ten


Same day, on board the Galanti

Mel awoke with a suddenness that had her gasping for breath.

“Melina? Are you all right?” Iolyn’s concerned voice drew her attention to the side of what she realized was a portable regen bed. Wulf’s brother sat beside the medical unit, in a black leather chair with a data pad on his lap.

“I’m fine. Something woke me.” She lifted her head and swept the room. First impressions were of austere pale gray walls, subdued lighting, and a huge bed on a dais, covered with a black spread made of some subtly shiny fabric and canopied with black and silver-gray drapery. It wasn’t any place she’d ever been before. “Where am I?”

“Wulf’s quarters on the Galanti.” Iolyn placed the data pad on the floor, then stood and approached the regen bed. He fiddled with some dials, then raised the clear dome allowing her to sit up. “He didn’t want you in the medical unit. He wanted you to have complete quiet and privacy while you healed and rested.”

“He wants me in his bed, Iolyn,” she said drily. “This is the closest he could get to that goal until I was healed.”

Iolyn chuckled. “Yes, you’ve figured him out.” He tapped the com badge on his chest. “Let me call one of the doctors in to check on your progress.” She reached out and stilled his hand before he could tap it again and send a message.

“No. Don’t. Something is wrong. Something woke me from the deepest sleep a regen bed can generate, Iolyn. What does that tell you?”

A frown crossed his brow and he reached for his laser pistol. “That tells me that Wulf’s battle-mate senses danger.”

“Exactly.”

“Let me call for security.”

“No. We don’t know who we can trust.”

Iolyn emitted a low, grumbling growl. Unlike Wulf’s growls, the sound did nothing for her. “The crew is loyal to Wulf and all the Caradocs, hand-picked from the oldest family lines on Cejuru Prime. As of now you are one of us, you are safe here—or should be. But I can’t dispute your senses. You’ve been right too many times.”

“I know this is hard for you, but at this moment, I only trust you, Huw, Wulf, and Maren.”