Free Silver Tongued Devils by Dawn Montgomery Page B

command
confused her.
    Fighting? She wasn’t giving up. Not
yet. Pain fogged her mind and she let it sweep her away.
     
    ***
     
    Raesa came to in a large bed. Above her
was a tall ceiling that didn’t match the Crimson Star. With panic
she tried to sit up but a body wrapped around her.
    “Where are you going?” Brom’s voice
calmed her and she dropped back against him.
    “Did we win?”
    He kissed the back of her neck and she
shivered. It took a moment to realize she was naked…and so was
he.
    “The traitor’s dead.” The bitterness in
his voice made her heart ache. She turned in his arms and saw the
bandage across his cheek.
    “What happened?”
    Brom shrugged and glanced away. She
vaguely remembered his roar before she passed out.
    “Where are we?”
    “On a supply carrier. I’ll let Na’varr
explain everything. He’ll know you woke up.”
    “How?”
    “Through this.” He caressed a black
band around his throat. It looked similar to the Isis collar she
wore.
    “How long was I out?”
    Brom’s arms tightened around her, but
he moved slowly as though she’d break. “Too long. Losing you would
be the end of me.”
    A world of agony entered his voice and
she kissed his cheek.
    “I’m right here. Nothing will ever keep
me from you.” She put all of her heart in that statement, hoping
her feelings would make it to him.
    He trembled in her arms. It humbled
Raesa that a man so strong would feel so deeply about someone like
her. She loved him.
    “I liked you in stripes.” His smile was
too light. It didn’t match the pain in his expression or the bags
under his eyes.
    She brushed her fingers against her
face. Were they fading already? “I’ll wear them for you as often as
you like.”
    Brom took her hand in his and pressed
his forehead against hers.
    This close she could make out green
flecks in his golden eyes. “No matter how many times I look at
them, your eyes are stunning.”
    Brom blinked back tears and she
realized, at that moment, how close to death she’d actually come.
Seeing him like this tore her heart to shreds.
    “Hey, I’m okay.” She cupped his cheek.
“Can I kiss you now?”
    “There are only trace amounts of the
aphrodisiac in your body.” Na’varr’s voice drew her attention, but
Brom kept her perfectly still.
    She glanced back at her tiger. A shy
smile touched her lips. “Then we can kiss?”
    “Try and stop me.” He took her lips
with gentle teasing licks and caresses.
    The ache in her heart soothed. She
arched up and pain sliced along her rib cage. With a hiss she
dropped back to the mattress and Brom immediately let her
go.
    “What did I do?”
    “Nothing.” She put a hand to her
ribcage and eyed Na’varr. “Bruised or broken?”
    “Bruised. He almost had you. Had Brom
been a second too slow, that would have been the end of
it.”
    She remembered the solid knee to her
side. The desk. “He shot at me, didn’t he?”
    “Brom hit him and the shot went wild.
Like I said…” Na’varr touched her cheek. “You were
lucky.”
    “Who was he?”
    “A jack-of-all trades. He was used in
all sections on board, so he had access to most areas. We don’t
know who he worked for or if there are any others on my
ship.”
    “He said he found me on Sakura.” Her
father’s murderer.
    Brom held her close, instantly soothing
her helpless rage.
    “What happened to him?” She wanted him
gone. Forever.
    “He’s dead.” Na’varr was
matter-of-fact.
    Brom growled in his throat and she
kissed his nose. The troubled sound ended immediately.
    “You protected me.” She wrapped her
non-wounded arm around him.
    “I love you. Of course I’d protect
you.” Brom stared at her. Her mouth opened in shock.
    “You love me too.” He didn’t
ask.
    She grinned. “Well, of course I love
you.”
    Brom jerked his chin toward Na’varr.
“You love him too and he loves you as well.”
     
    “What the hell is this?” Na’varr threw
his hands up.
    “Na’varr paced beside your