Norlanian Brides Volume One Read online

  * * *

  After showering, Sloan was surprised to see a beautiful pale blue outfit on the counter. The top and slacks were made of soft fabric and fit her perfectly. The tank was embroidered with small flowers along the neckline and as she looked at herself in the mirror for the first time, she realized she was wearing mating jewelry. The stone was pale blue and hung on a delicate chain.

  Dread filled her. Mating jewelry meant that Warrick had made an official request to mate her. She stared at the stone, wondering if he had typed their DNA into it. She didn’t remember seeing a bracelet on his wrist, but had to admit that when she had been cleaning the blood from under his nose, she hadn’t been looking at his wrists. She’d been too busy trying not to ogle his bare upper body and the muscled skin that just begged to be kissed and touched.

  Growling internally, she stalked out of the bathing room, through the bedroom, and into the outer room, where a kitchen and living space were combined into one room. Warrick turned from the counter holding two plates of food.

  He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “You bought jewelry! Tell me that you didn’t add our blood to it, Warrick.”

  His brows rose. Silently, he carried the plates to a small table and set them down. It didn’t escape her notice that her favorite glori flowers were in a vase in the center of the table, but she chose to ignore the way her heart melted a little at the sight.

  “Answer me,” she demanded.

  He stepped behind one chair and pulled it out. “Sit down, quello, before you combust with righteous indignation.”

  He used a nickname that she hadn’t heard since she was young. Quello meant “center of my heart.” She grunted in annoyance and sat with a huff. He had the nerve to chuckle as he pushed her chair in. He cupped her chin and tilted her head until she was looking up at him. “Yes, it’s real mating jewelry, and yes it’s been typed with our DNA. You know that the jewelry can’t be removed, so you’re stuck with me.”

  She moved her head out of his hand and stared down at her lap. She actually knew that the jewelry could be removed with tools and some know-how. Paoli had removed Kate’s necklace, and, in a fitting move, had melted it and turned it into a brooch to be sold to start their life together.

  Warrick sat down across the table and picked up his eating utensils. She glanced at the plate and her heart stopped for a moment. All her favorite things were on the plate. Guiu with esot frio, baked glarkin, and melean, a nearly impossible fruit to acquire because the plant produced fruit only once every three years. She’d been lucky enough to have it as a youngster and had considered herself fortunate to try it once.

  She tried hard not to let the meal soften her resolve. Picking up her utensil, she sank it into the baked glarkin and lifted it to her lips. The tender, chopped root vegetable was possibly the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten. Before she could make a fool of herself by moaning in appreciation or gobbling the remainder up, she looked up at Warrick and saw him smiling.

  “How did you know what I like? Did you ask Eden?” A horrifying thought crossed her mind and she gasped. “Oh! He’ll wonder where I am! And Pilar, I was supposed to meet her, she’ll be worried.”

  Warrick rapped his knuckles on the table. “Don’t worry, Eden and Pilar both know that you’re perfectly safe with me.”

  Blush heated her cheeks. “You told them what you were going to do?”

  “Sayjan did after you passed out from the drug.” He cleared his throat. “As for how I knew what you liked, I didn’t have to ask anyone, because I’ve watched you for years.”

  She grimaced. “That’s incredibly creepy.”

  Laughing, he shook his head. “I guess so. You watched me, too, though, I saw it. Sometimes I’d catch you staring when I was in the medical center.”

  She didn’t bother denying it. He would know she was lying and she had spent a good bit of time scoping him out whenever she could. Apparently she wasn’t as covert as she thought.

  “I remember in school that you came into class one day and shared that you’d eaten melean. The instructor didn’t believe you at first, but you were so insistent and so happy to have done something that only a few ever got to do, that eventually she believed you.”

  “I forgot about sharing it at school.”

  “And the guiu with esot frio is something that I saw you purchase from the market on the ship when we were returning from Earth. I’m glad you like the baked glarkin, but it’s actually my favorite dish, which is why it’s on the plate.”

  She had to chuckle at his self-deprecation. “I don’t know those kinds of things about you.”

  “I’m an open book, Sloan. I want you to trust in my feelings for you. No matter how long it takes, I’m not going anywhere and I’m planning to make you my wife, permanently.”

  Her heart clenched so hard that she had to put her utensil down. Hope. That’s what she felt right then, a hope so beautiful that she couldn’t trust it.

  Warrick moved to her and slipped his arms around her. He drew her close and whispered, “Just give me time to prove my feelings, Sloan. I promise I’ll never hurt you.”

  Stars, she wanted to believe him, and a part of her was beginning to.

  * * *

  The following morning, Sloan woke to the scent of frying hen eggs. She’d slept in the only bedroom in the wooing chamber alone. Warrick had slept on the sofa in the main room. It had surprised her that he hadn’t even asked to just sleep with her, especially after spending the entire day talking, but she had a feeling it was because he wasn’t trying to push her into anything physical. He’d brought his family’s digi-albums and shared images from his childhood. She had always liked him and considered him a friend, but she hadn’t known the things that had happened between his father and mother. She wondered if the reason Warrick didn’t seem to care about having children was because he’d watched his father put his mother aside and choose a new bride solely based on fertility. She’d shared how her parents had sold Eden into sexual slavery in the Bordelayz when he was sixteen, and how she’d fought for years to get him free from bondage. She hadn’t talked to her parents since Eden had tried to kill himself and she’d paid for his soul-walk trip, where he found his soulmate, Ashleigh.

  Sloan showered and changed into another outfit. The navy tank and trousers were comfortable and feminine. She brushed her long, brown hair and looked in the mirror. She was tall and curvy, and if it weren’t for her body’s inability to bear children, she would have become Nalek’s wife. Warrick had said he had feelings for her. In the span of a day, he’d shown her more care than Nalek had in all the years they’d been together. He’d never learned what her favorite flower or food was, he’d never listened to her share the pain of watching her brother suffer. Although she had cared for Nalek, after he’d tossed her aside as if she had no value, she’d realized what she’d convinced herself was affection between them actually wasn’t. It wasn’t affection, and it certainly wasn’t love. Love was what she saw between Eden and Ashleigh, and Kate and Paoli. A powerful, burning desire to be with one person, to cherish them above all else, and to never let them go. Warrick talked about her in those terms, and she couldn’t stop a part of herself from wanting what he promised.

  She marched out of the bedroom and through the main room, ignoring Warrick and heading straight for the door. Although the wooing chamber was hewn out of stone, the door was made of metal. A keypad was over top of the handle. Taking a chance on the door being unlocked, she rattled it several times.

  “I know I’m not a brilliant doctor like you, quello, but I do know enough to lock the door,” Warrick said.

  She glanced over her shoulder, fighting down a smile because he said she was brilliant, and then turned back to the keypad. There was room for four numbers in the display, which meant she’d be standing there for a week if she tried every single combination. Closing her eyes, she thought back over potentially significant numbers and decided to enter her birthdate.


  “Whoa,” Warrick grabbed her hand as she was about to enter the last number. “Don’t.”

  She stared at his furious face and then started to laugh. “You used my birthdate? Wow, you really aren’t brilliant, but you sure are adorable when you’re mad.”

  His scowl softened into an amazing smile. “You think I’m adorable?”

  It was her turn to scowl. “That’s beside the point. You need to let me go, Warrick.”

  He pushed her gently against the wall. The stone was smooth and cool against her skin. She gasped as he crowded her, his fingers trailing up her arms and making her skin prickle.

  “It’s entirely the point, quello.”

  “Why do you call me that?” Her voice was breathy and no matter how she tried to sound normal, she couldn’t stop.

  “Because you are. The sweet, beautiful center of my heart.” His voice dropped and a shiver raced down her spine.

  She breathed his name and he lowered his head, brushing his lips over hers. She’d kissed males before, and even been intimate with them, but nothing had ever rocked her world the way that the press of Warrick’s lips against hers did. His tongue ran along the seam of her lips and she found herself eagerly opening her mouth to him. He groaned and his arms slipped around her and pulled her against the hard length of his body as he stroked his tongue into her mouth like he could discover every secret place inside. She let her fingers wander over the broad expanse of his chest, feeling the heat from his skin through the thin material of the tunic. She could feel his erection against her, and her body tingled in anticipation.

  His hands slid under the edge of her tunic and his fingers ghosted over her spine, her legs weakening as she thought of all the places his strong hands could touch. He nudged the tunic up her back and reality swept through her. Laying her palms flat on his chest, she pushed and he stepped back immediately, releasing her from the most passionate kiss she’d ever had.

  His eyes were so dark brown they were nearly black, and his chest heaved as he panted for breath.

  She blinked at him in surprise, leaning against the wall for support because her knees weren’t going to keep her upright much longer. “You stopped,” she said.

  His hands clenched into fists until his knuckles turned white and then he exhaled slowly. “You wanted me to. I’m not in the habit of forcing myself on females who aren’t interested in me.”

  “I am interested, Warrick,” she protested, not liking the look of rejection on his face.

  “But?”

  “You need to let me leave before we go too far. Choosing me for your mate isn’t going to end well for you. There’s too much at stake.”

  He shook his head slowly. “You really don’t get it, do you? I’ve already made my decision. There isn’t anyone else in the universe for me except you. If you reject me, then I’m going to be alone forever.” He shook his wrist at her. “I’m entirely serious about what’s going on here, Sloan. I know you want me, I know you care for me. What’s holding you back?”

  Tears pricked her eyes and she sighed and leaned her head against the wall, closing her eyes. “You’ll lose everything if you choose me. Males who stay with their infertile mates are thought less of. That you would purposely choose me, knowing that I can’t bear children of any sex, is absurd. Your status in the military, your standing among your friends and fellow soldiers, your parents’ standing in the community – all of that would disappear.”

  Warrick said nothing for long enough that Sloan opened her eyes to make sure he was still standing in front of her. He was frowning severely. He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and pulled her away from the door, leading her to the couch. He pointed silently to the couch and she sat, watching as he went back to the door. The sound of him changing the numeric keycode echoed in the chamber. She sighed.

  When he’d finished, he walked back to her and sat on the small table across from her. “Why are you so worried about what I’ll lose? Don’t you think you’re worth all of that? Do you think I care about any of those things?”

  She opened her mouth to answer but he held up his hand. “No, I’m not finished. First of all, I don’t talk to my father, so I couldn’t care less about what he thinks, but my mother and my aunt know and they support me. I petitioned the military governing board for the time off to woo you. I signed a document stating that I give up my right to go on a soul-walk because I’ve declared you to be my soulmate. You’re it for me, Sloan. I am taking this seriously, because you’re the only thing worth having in my life.”

  She was too stunned to say anything for several moments. “I can’t believe you did all that.”

  “Believe it, quello. There isn’t any going back for me; but even if there was, I would still choose you. If we walk out of here after fifteen dins without being mated, I will follow you around and beg you to be mine until you give in, no matter how long it takes.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at the image in her mind of him trailing after her like a hupi. Not that she really wanted to see him beg, but the idea was amusing.

  She felt like she had to try once more. “Don’t you want to have children? I can’t even give you male children.”

  “Your value to me isn’t in your ability to have young. If we could have young, that would be great, but we can’t and that’s fine with me. I can think of a million ways for us to occupy ourselves without children running around.” He wiggled his brows and she smiled.

  “You say that now, when we’re away from our people and it’s just the two of us. But you’d regret me later, and Warrick…I couldn’t bear that. I’d rather never have you, than have you for a moment and lose you.”

  He stared at her silently and then moved to the couch. He slipped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. He touched her face, his fingers tracing the edge of her jaw with a feather-light touch.

  “You’re not going to lose me. Stars, Sloan! Do you think I would go to all this trouble and then just set you aside? You. Are. It. For. Me.”

  “Warrick,” she whispered thickly.

  “There isn’t room in my heart for anyone else, because you’ve been there for such a long time. I missed out on claiming you years ago, but I’m not making that same mistake. I love you, Sloan.”

  Everything inside her went still at his words. She could feel the emotion in the three simplest but most powerful words in existence. He said nothing more, gazing down at her with his heart bared. If she were altruistic, she’d tell him that she would never love him and to take her home immediately, but she couldn’t force herself to say those lies. In truth, she’d always cared for him, always been attracted to his strength and honorable ways. Although she’d spent the better part of her life expecting to never have love returned to her, she couldn’t walk away now. The part of her that had worried moments earlier about losing him had evaporated when she recognized the truth of his emotion. Her heart swelled and tears filled her eyes.

  “I love you, too, Warrick.”

  A smile spread across his face. “I swear on my life, Sloan, that I will never give you up. I’ll be the best mate and I’ll spend my entire life trying to make you happy. Swear to be mine.”

  “I’m yours, Warrick, if you’ll be mine, too.”

  “I was yours years ago, quello, I was just too stupid to act on my feelings.”

  He brushed his thumb across her cheek and caught a tear that had slipped down. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips across hers in a sweet kiss.

  “My sweet soulmate,” he whispered against her lips.

  She threaded her arms around his neck and her fingers slipped through the soft, short, dark blue hair at the nape of his neck. He groaned softly and pressed his lips to hers fully. She didn’t know what would happen when they went home, but she felt secure in the knowledge that he really did love her and was willing to bet everything on her. She could do no less, and that meant taking that leap of faith and trusting that he would catch her.

  She really believed he would.r />
  Chapter 6

  Warrick pulled Sloan into his arms and stood, cradling her curves against his chest. She laid her head against his shoulder with a sigh as he carried her into the bedroom. He felt like he could fly. She loved him! He finally had what he’d wanted for so many years – his soulmate in his arms.

  He set her on the bed and went to his knees before her. Resting his hands on her knees he looked into her eyes, the beautiful brown color swirling with passion. “If you don’t want to make love now, we can wait.” His cock protested, but he willed himself to appear calm. He didn’t want to rush her.

  Her head tilted slightly. “I’ve never made love before. I mean, I have had sex, but never like this.”

  He smiled. “I know what you mean. I’ve never made love before either. It’s good that we’re each other’s firsts.”

  “I wish there hadn’t ever been anyone else,” she said, wistfully.

  “Me, too.”

  “I don’t want to wait.”

  He wanted to shout in happiness, but he managed to keep a lid on the wild emotions that were coursing through him. He’d save the shouting for later. He slid his fingers down the back of her legs and pulled off her shoes. He caressed her bare feet and she giggled, which made him grin like an idiot. He straightened, pressing his fists into the bed on either side of her thighs, and kissed her. She moaned softly, her hands tugging on the back of his tunic. He eased away from the kiss and pulled his tunic over his head, tossing it behind him. Moving his hands to her waist, he lifted the material of her top and she helped him pull it away.

  She was bare underneath and he let his eyes roam her voluptuous curves. She seemed to be holding her breath and he looked up at her to see she was chewing her bottom lip. Was she worried about what he’d think of her body?