Hunting Julian

Asia couldn’t believe she startled. Even more, she couldn’t believe he’d come into the house and room so quietly. She turned to look at him with surprise. “I didn’t even hear the door.”

  “That is because you left it open. I think I need to explain to you the importance of securing every door behind you.”

  “Because every man in town is going to be driven mad with lust for me and will be banging the door down?” she asked snarkily.

  Asia could tell by the harsh bunching of his shoulder and chest muscles that it had been a very poor joke. She winced when he exhaled a bullish huff through his nose as he worked to control his spiking temper. It was such a keen reaction that she could have sworn she felt the presence of it prickling over her skin.

  “I’m sorry. It was a bad joke,” she said quickly. “Tell me why I need to shut the doors. I will do it, but I would like to know the reasons why instead of being expected to simply obey your commands.”

  He nodded at that, submitting to her point. “Because twice a day, at sunrise and at sunset, the okriti are on the move. They are vicious and powerful predators sized just a bit bigger than I am. They are clever and resourceful, for all they are animals, and those who are caught outside or with unsecured doors end up slaughtered and dragged off for the local okriti herd’s dinner. When you came out and fell into the net before, it was barely past sunrise and the safety time was not begun. That was why you saw no women out. They are no match for the okriti and so are restricted indoors at these times. Our males are no match for them either, individually. This is why I was with my friends.” He narrowed serious eyes on her. “The okriti are only one of those dangers I mentioned. It is because they roam the lands in heavily populated herds that it became necessary to build our castles literally in the sky. They dislike heights. They also have a poor sense of balance.”

  “No rails,” she said softly. “That’s why you have no ropes or rails. You want them to fall if they come. And,” she lit up with understanding, “that’s why the nets break away! The beasts would struggle mindlessly and make them snap, keeping them from climbing back into the village.”

  “Very good,” he remarked as he leaned against the wall. He looked down at the tacky pool of blood between them. “Just the same,” he said softly, “every now and then one of the okriti will get lucky and someone suffers for it. Blood is shed and the screams…”

  There was much more to his dark tone than just the information he was imparting to her. She could see the thoughts churning in his head as he mapped his gaze over the crime scene. Asia crossed her arms beneath her breasts and gave herself a tight little hug. There was nothing else she could say or do to help convince him she didn’t do what she had been accused of, so she didn’t bother to repeat herself.

  “I have someone coming to help clean all of this up,” he said after a minute. “I wanted to show you something before—”

  “Who is she?” Asia heard herself interrupt him sharply and suddenly. The urge to know was terrible and insistent. “Who is Ariel to you? Why was she here? Does she live here? With you? Is she your lover or…or your wife?” She hadn’t really believed that last possibility until it rushed past her lips. Despite her earlier logic about his honor, doubt began to infect her like a plague. Was Ariel the one who rightfully belonged here? Was she being cast aside because of some arcane belief or practice? Her mind raced with questions as she tried not to think the worst of him. It was the least she could do when she was hoping that he wouldn’t think the worst of her.

  “She is not my wife,” he said carefully, the hard look he flicked over at her telling her very clearly what he thought of such a dishonorable supposition being attributed to him. “Nor was she ever my lover. She did live here. She has been my Companion for sixteen years. A Companion is assigned to a Gatherer to care for his home and belongings while he is away from this plane so he doesn’t have to worry about such trivialities and can focus on what he is supposed to do. It is a job, a chosen profession just like any other. One with a great deal of ceremony and regulation to it.” He paused a long moment. “She has believed herself to be in love with me for quite some time, despite my attempts to discourage her. I think she might like the tragedy of it. The unrequited love of a working girl who serves the king. Perhaps, though, in her mind, the fairy tale ends differently than it did when I came home carrying the beautiful woman who is my kindra, signaling the end of her life with me. She was to be retired after today. It is a respectable way to live for a girl like her.”

  “A girl like her?” she echoed. “But she is a native female. I thought you said you treasured your native women more than anything.”

  “We do. Ariel is no exception. She could have chosen any number of mates, or even to have a child which she would have been free to raise here, but she denied herself to those who called for her, as she had the right to do, and kept herself to herself.”

  “You mean she pined for you. She played the role of your wife and convinced herself you would come around if only she remained patient enough and loyal enough.”

  “I suppose she did,” he said grimly. “I have been away time and again, and my time at home was spent in conference with the other ruling houses or the Ampliphi. I knew she was a bit dependent, but I never suspected it had gone this far. Had I truly comprehended that, I never would have left you alone with her. I never would have exposed you to such danger.”

  Asia moved carefully toward him, her carriage still a little stiff and wary as she skirted the evidence of Ariel’s madness.

  “Are you saying you believe me? You believe I had nothing to do with her injuries?”

  “You were merely a catalyst, Asia. No, I do not believe you stabbed an innocent girl in the back and then proceeded to pitch yourself off the walkway.”

  “What makes you believe that?” she persisted.

  “Because you said so and I believe you,” he said with a simple shrug. “I think I would know if you were trying to deceive me. Also, listening to you threaten her reminded me of how dangerous and clever you really are. You would never do something so ham-handedly and without cause. Everything I have seen of you has been centered around not just your survival instincts, but your unflagging sense of justice. Your pursuit of your sister, your vengeance against me when you thought I had harmed her, and your profession as a bounty hunter. You even teach others how to protect and defend themselves. The world you come from may have jaded and embittered you, zini, but you never stopped fighting it.”

  Asia didn’t respond or argue with him about that. She did have to remind herself, however, that his uncanny perceptions of her character were aided by his extraordinary and unusual talents. When normal people saw her, all they saw was the hard-ass. The bitch. The stern sensei who guided and did not coddle. They rarely saw beyond that to see what Julian could see. It felt exposing and she felt vulnerable for it, but in a way it was a strange comfort to have someone other than Kenya starting to see beneath her surfaces. At the same time, she wasn’t all that certain she wanted it to be him. He made her feel so strangely. Everything seemed so volatile when she got close to him, as she was doing now. The only real comfort was that it was just as disruptive to him as it was to her. Still, as far as comfort went, it was a poor one.

  She had almost instantly regretted going for his throat on the walkway earlier. Somehow she had instinctively known the words flying past her lips were the best ones to wound him deeply and leave him debilitated. Seeking vulnerabilities was, after all, one of her greatest natural skills. However, she had not stopped to consider how it would affect everyone in the colony, in spite of the fact that he had already warned her what his temper could do. She had even felt a smug satisfaction when she had felt that first rumble of resulting vibration. It had only lasted a second before she’d realized just how insane it was to provoke him, but she had felt it just the same. Then his accusation of selfishness on her part had rung back at her, even before his friends had dropped in to snap her back into line.

&nbs
p; A kiss had seemed the least she could do to make it right, but he had surprised her when, even through such loss of control, he had refused to settle for an illusion. Again, that unflagging sense of honor within him had reared up, making him refuse any halfhearted attempts to placate him.

  But it hadn’t been an illusion. Something very wild happened to her when he touched her or kissed her and, it seemed, the more she learned about him, the more she reacted to him. If he was feeling similar impulses, Asia was beginning to appreciate the difficulty he must be having keeping himself focused and in control. She was also beginning to appreciate his mental fortitude and the importance his people played in how he controlled his actions.

  “Do you at least empathize with how all of this feels for me?” she asked abruptly. “You keep asking me to have compassion for your situation, the feelings of those around you, and the unfortunates being affected by this blight your world is suffering, but is it really that selfish of me to want you to show just a little understanding that, sometimes, some people just don’t take to change very well? I’m…” She hesitated, but she realized by the way he was studying her that he would read her need and desires off her in other ways even if she didn’t speak her mind. “I’m used to being in meticulous control of my life, Julian. I am used to having the strength and knowledge it takes to navigate my world. You plunge me into chaos and then frown on me when I don’t adjust fast enough to suit you? It’s unfair. It’s cruel, actually, when on top of it you tell me, “Tough luck, you can’t go back.’ It doesn’t exactly promote warm and fuzzy feelings, you know?”

  Julian actually smiled wryly at that, his jewel green eyes steady on hers. “It is strange to hear myself accused of that kind of unfairness and impatience.” He shook his head slightly and lowered his gaze a moment. Asia had the keen sensation of understanding that it was a gesture of self-effacement, rather than negation of her claim. “Perhaps because I, much like yourself, have become something of an automaton in my life. Feelings and emotional outbursts require too much energy, so we get used to an affected calm and careful placidity that does nothing to excite us or vitalize our personalities.”

  “But I thought giving emotion away was giving energy to others,” she interrupted him.

  “Not all of it, Asia. It’s true, we recycle what we can, but it degrades so rapidly…and to expend it frivolously means we will starve ourselves. So we stay a steady course. This gives me the appearance of measured consideration, politeness, and endless patience. This is how I am seen. However, since your arrival…” He shrugged and, as she neared his reach, he immediately extended a hand to touch against her shoulder. It was a light caress, but the manner of its tracing and the intensity of his heated eyes made it resonate far deeper. “Perhaps it will help you to know that my life, too, is being changed dramatically because you are here. I will be dismissed from my duties as a Gatherer. I will never again be allowed to make passage between planes without express Ampliphi permission. It will be expected that my focus is to be solely on the colony and, more importantly, on you.”

  “Because I am such an important and rich source of energy? They expect you to keep me content like some kind of bird in a gilded cage so I don’t think about running away? After all, the only choice they have given me is to remain trapped in this world or to die if I try to escape it,” she said, unable to delete all of the sarcastic bitterness from her tone.

  “By my soul,” he whispered softly, “I curse the very idea of you seeing this in that way. But I don’t deny the truth for what it is…just as you should know it is not death that awaits you. You can return to your plane any time you please.” Asia knew there was a dreadful but coming even before he opened his mouth. “But the process to get there is almost a fate worse than death. You must believe me when I say you would never wish to take that path.”

  “Wonderful. Stay trapped here or meet this fate worse than death. Some choice. As if I ever had a choice.”

  “I cannot change how this all came about, Asia. You’ll never understand how much I regret that,” he said, running frustrated hands through his hair.

  “Or maybe I already do,” she noted with a gentle arching of her left brow. “If there is one thing I understand at the moment, it is regret.” She stepped even closer to him when his frown darkened fiercely. She reached out and touched his chest, for the first time taking a moment to appreciate the feel of the man beneath her fingers. She felt him startle at the voluntary intimacy of her touch, his eyes quickly darting to hers and rapidly shadowing with the need he was constantly struggling to keep in abeyance. Asia had noted the voluble emotions before but had simply balked at any understanding of what he wanted. Especially the realization that it was her he wanted.

  She was not known for her ability to be affectionate, passionate, or anything of that sort, but her strangely powerful responses to him made her act out of character as she caressed the expanse of muscles curving over his chest with attractive masculine strength. The slightly spicy and very delicious scent of him fell against her until she was tempted into drawing a deep breath full of it.

  “If you have a point to make, Asia, make it quickly,” he breathed into the sudden intimacy forming between their close bodies, “because my attention becomes fickle when you are standing this close to me. I lose control of where it focuses itself.”

  “Hmm. You mean you begin to prefer my body over my brain? You ignore the intelligence and fixate on the T and A?”

  He snorted out a laugh of wry denial. “I wish it were that simple. I wish physicality was all this was about, Asia. Then it would be a matter of physically sating myself on you and moving on, wouldn’t it? But that isn’t the case, and I assure you, I am no more prepared to lose control of myself to this than you are.”

  That made her go rigid and wary.

  “Lose control of myself?”

  He drew in a breath that was long and unsteady, but somehow he had never seemed stronger or more determined. His eyes were so green and so intensely fixated on her that a wicked shiver trotted down her spine. She was abruptly reminded of the way he had wiped the floor with her in just a few distinct moves in his apartment; the sleek confidence of his movements and the hard, measured strength he had used. Then she recalled how he had touched her with sharp intimacy, no hesitation and all male dominance as he had confronted the lies in her act. It made her understand it was indicative of how ruthless he could also be as a lover, yet she simply couldn’t grasp why she would suddenly realize that.

  “There is nothing to compare the matching of kindri and kindra, Asia. And I must warn you that the stronger the personalities of the mates, the stronger the volatility of the mating. When this happens between us, it will be an explosive event. It will always be that way. And, if you permit it, it will feed joy and pleasure into the entire colony. With you and I here, together, none in this village will ever starve again.” As soon as he finished the pronouncement, he inhaled her scent, his nostrils flaring with the intense action. Asia’s entire body seemed to clench all at once and her heart began to thrum a hard, harshly racing beat. He wasn’t even touching her. All he had done was breathe in! But it had been all about the way he had done it, those green eyes going so dark in response to his intake of her scent they were like some kind of mysterious underground pool.

  That was all it took. Just the look he was giving her and the base way he took her in with his senses had made her entire body seize up in response. She couldn’t deny it as it stunned her, shocking her because she had never felt anything like it before. Hell, not even remotely like it. She was almost surprised she even knew how to recognize it for what it was, recognize it as something she had once craved so very much back when she’d still had hope for herself and for others.

  Julian leaned in closer to her, lowering his head until his nose brushed her cheek and temple. “I consider myself a man of deep control and even deeper rationality, and when I tell you that I anticipate this with trepidation, I mean to say that I fear how
far it will push both of our limits. As I said, I cannot cause you any real harm, zini, but there is so much that can be done that can be made to hurt in wonderful ways…and I am beginning to realize you don’t have a single clue as to what I mean.”

  The remark was far too intimate for her and she jerked back away from him, crossing her arms over her breasts and grabbing hold of her shoulders.

  “I don’t—” she sputtered in an attempt at denial.

  Julian moved so fast she was pinned between his hard body and the near wall before she had even said the second word of her protest.

  “Oh, no,” he told her in a whisper against her ear that was quick and hot, just like the body pressing against her. “You’re no wilting virgin or shy miss, this I know. I’ve seen you strut your sexuality and know you are intimate with it. But here is the puzzle; I don’t think anyone else has been. Not truly. Maybe they’ve tried, maybe you had some experiences resembling pleasure, and no doubt you are always in command of your sexuality, indulging it here and there as needed, but you’ve never quite known the real truth of passion, have you? One human male after another fell very short of the mark, did they not? Tell me, Asia, how many men did you try before you finally gave up? And how long ago was that?”

  “I’m not answering that!” she gasped, trying to turn and wriggle free. “You don’t know anything!” He couldn’t possibly know all of that! She hadn’t even been thinking about any of it.

  “You don’t need to think of it or even project it. I am your mate, Asia, and I can smell the ways you have been used and disused. I can tell that the fools who tried to satisfy this richly honed and beautifully crafted body were inept and lacking the one thing you have needed more than anything.”

  “What’s that?” she heard herself asking, her whole body feeling like it was perched on tenterhooks. Did he really know the answer she’d never discovered?

  “They weren’t me,” he said with a low growl of claim before he bent to catch her mouth.