Stoan

Chapter One-1

Chapter One

STOAN NATAKANDEY HAD been dreading this meeting since he watched Ty and his denya walk away. But it was inevitable. A man didn’t betray his mistress without consequences. He’d been summoned to her fortress and had no excuse to refuse the invitation. Not if he wished to continue living.

Commander Nina sat behind her desk. Few guests ever saw this space, and few of her retainers were invited here. This was where she did her work: planning her conquests, managing her territory, delegating her responsibilities. Stoan had sat on the bench opposite the desk exactly once, four years ago, when she hired him to do the jobs she couldn’t trust her normal operatives with.

She looked up from the computer pad she was working on when he took his seat. Her expression was grim and he knew this wouldn’t go well.

Then Nina did something unexpected.

She held up an old-fashioned metal key and placed it in front of him. “This was retrieved by your friend Tyral NaRaxos. One of General Droscus’s guard carried it.”

Stoan grabbed the key and studied it. It was brass and fit in the center of his palm, the teeth jagged and uniform. A twisting design in the metal made it look decorative rather than useful. But no one used metal keys anymore. “What is this?”

“I need you to find out. And I have someone I’d like you to meet. She’ll be assisting.” Nina looked up as someone entered the room behind him.

The hair on the back of Stoan’s neck stood up and his claws ached to spring out. His gut clenched, and he knew with absolute certainty that if he turned around his life would change forever. As if being controlled by puppet strings, his head turned, and he caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a human woman’s curvy figure.

Recognition tore through him, the universe realigning. Stoan’s mind revolted and his stomach churned. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not here, not now, not her. And even if his body recognized her as his denya, there was only one thought in his mind.

No!

This could not happen. Stoan wanted to shoot up from his chair and retreat until the memory of this woman, her very scent, was burned from his memory. The human was of average height, her blonde hair hanging in unstyled locks down over her shoulders. She wore no cosmetics, though her lips were a natural, biteable red. Her eyes shone a blue as bright as the oceans of his home planet of Beothea. But there was a dark bruise along the ridge of her cheekbone, a black eye nearly healed.

Stoan’s hand curled into a fist and his claws pricked the inside of his skin. Someone had hurt his denya. His heart pounded for blood.

No, not his.

He had set his path, he’d made his choice. This woman, this human, could never be his.

She raised her chin by the tiniest fraction and their eyes met. If Stoan hadn’t been sitting he would have staggered back. It was a punch to his gut, a knife burying itself deep inside his intestines and scrambling the life out of him. And on the heels of that pain, of that betrayal, desire surged. He came to life, his c**k ready and his blood pounding, bidding him to take her, to claim her, to make her his.

No.

He was a civilized man, not a beast controlled by the ancient urges of his dying race. He clung to the thought as he forced himself to nod once and turn back to Nina.

Nina scrutinized him, her thick brows drawn together. She glanced back at the woman for a moment and then back to him. But if she saw anything in his response, in their interaction or lack thereof, she said nothing about it.

“This is Reina Draven,” said Nina, pointing to the space on the bench next to Stoan for the human to sit. “I believe you’ve met?”

They hadn’t. This connection would have bloomed then if they had. But her name pinged his memory. She was the friend of Dorsey Kwan, the human woman who had taken a Detyen to mate. The woman who had saved them all just by existing.

He had a message to give Reina, but not now. Not when Nina sat less than two meters away.

“No, ma’am,” said the human, her voice low and husky. It shot straight to his core and Stoan had already lifted his hand from its resting place on his knee, trying to reach for her before he realized what he was doing. He pulled back and leaned as far away as he could without giving insult.

The distance did nothing.

Nina raised her eyebrow at Reina’s denial, but she nodded towards him. “Stoan is an agent of mine. I require the assistance of both of you for a sensitive project.”

Stoan straightened. He didn’t trust Nina, and she spoke with a careful tone that let him know she planned to send them into this mission, whatever it was, woefully unprepared with sky-high expectations.

“What do you want?” Reina asked.

Stoan heard sorrow and exhaustion. His need to comfort dueled with his need to claim, both instincts at war with the deeper one buried in his heart and soul. He kept himself rigidly still, suppressing the thrumming need within. He could not help her, he could not save her.

Nina steepled her fingers and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. “You’re going to help me take something that Droscus cares about. Just as he took something from you.”

***