Shanelle squeezed the general’s hand in farewell, then marched to her brother’s side and said before he could get his mouth open, “I don’t want to hear about it.”
“You will hear about it-but not here.” Dalden grabbed her wrist and turned toward Falon to gain his attention. “I am taking her to the ship now for an overdue talking-to,” he told Falon. “Do you follow when you are ready. Brock?”
Shanelle barely had time to notice that Falon didn’t particularly care for that idea before she found herself in the Control Room of an unfamiliar ship, and Brock’s deep voice was greeting her with “Welcome aboard, Shanelle.”
She ignored the computer just like she’d told him she’d do and asked her brother, “What kind of ship is this?”
“Don’t change the subject, Shani.”
So he was ready for battle, was he? “We didn’t start a subject to change, but if we had, I would tell you it’s none of your business. According to the Ba-Har-ani, he’s the only one who can reprimand me now.”
“Then merely take heed of a concerned relative who wants to save your backside undue stress. Don’t run from him again, Shani.”
She turned to glare at him, but anger wasn’t the way to deal with her brother. It either amused him or got his back up, neither of which was going to benefit her right now.
So she dropped her shoulders, hung her head, and managed to sound utterly miserable. “I’m afraid of him, Dal. Can’t you challenge him for me, just to get him to drop his suit? You’re bigger than he is.”
“He is more experienced, or weren’t you watching him during the competitions?”
He sounded amused. Farden hell. He knew she wasn’t a whiner, or even close to true tearfulness.
“You could at least try,” she grumbled.
“I wouldn’t even consider it, Shani. I can’t protect you anymore if he’s around, and certainly not from him when there isn’t the least sign of abuse on you.”
Her head shot up, amber eyes flaring. “There was! I was black-and-blue when he finished with me!”
“If you had stuck around as you should have, you would have learned that his loss of control merely proved to him that you were meant for him. It’s that loss of control that made him determined to have you.”
“Of all the ridiculous things I’ve ever heard! I should have known you’d take his side. Damn warriors always stick together!”
“And you are too stubborn for your own good,” he said with some heat of his own. “Were we home, I would place you in the kitchen myself to peel falaa for a month.”
She turned her back on him to say bitterly, “Thanks a lot, brother.”
He turned her around to shake his head at her and said reasonably, “You were wrong to leave, Shani, and well you know it.”
“I was desperate.”
“Without reason.”
That did it, releasing every bit of resentment in her. “Fat lot you know about it! Stars, I hope the female you finally want for yourself isn’t Sha-Ka’ani, and that she never gives you any peace!”
He drew in a sharp breath, his face flushing with angry color. “That is the most horrible thing you’ve ever said to me. Take it back, Shani.”
“I’m damned if I will. You’re dooming me to a life of misery. If you think I’ll ever forgive you for that, brother, think again.”
He started to retaliate further, but Falon beat him to it, his voice hard and uncompromising. “She will be punished for the pain she inflicts with her thoughtless words.”
They both turned to see that Falon had been Transferred to their location alone, probably at Brock’s discretion, possibly even at Brock’s instigation for the express purpose of breaking up their fight. Dalden was embarrassed to have been found arguing with his sister, however, and that calmed him down. Shanelle was too angry to care.
“Why not?” she replied sarcastically to Falon’s promise. “The more reasons the merrier.”
“No,” Dalden said quietly. “She’s due some punishing, but not for that.” And to his sister, “I’m sorry, Shani, but I’m going to trust in our father’s judgment. He felt this warrior was the right mate for you, and I have faith that Falon will prove it so.”
“Then do you give her to me in your father’s stead?” Falon asked.
“Yes.”
“Dalden!” Shanelle cried, realizing now that that was what Falon had been waiting for. Sure enough, Falon grabbed her hand and started to drag her out of the Control Room. “No, wait!”
He didn’t. He pulled her down one softly glowing corridor, then another that was wider, into a lift that zoomed down two floors, out of it, through a large Rec Room, more corridors, another lift. For nearly fifteen minutes she was yanked along, her heart hammering, her fears mounting, getting her hand squeezed every time she tried to get it back. Finally Falon stopped, but it was to lean back against a wall and close his eyes. Through her own anxieties, Shanelle actually felt a moment’s alarm for him.
It didn’t come out sounding like concern, however. “What’s wrong?” she demanded.
“Nothing.”
Nothing? She looked around, but there were no immediate doors to enter. And he didn’t look like nothing was wrong. He looked like he was in some kind of discomfort.
More softly, her concern apparent now, she said “Falon-?”
His eyes opened and his mouth twisted in self-disgust. “I am lost.”
Shanelle blinked at him. “Lost as in ‘don’t know where you are’?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
She stared at him blankly for a long moment before she said, “That’s kind of anticlimactic, isn’t it?”
That got her a scowl which prompted a smile from her, but a moment later she burst out laughing. She fell back against the wall herself, holding her middle, tears filling her eyes. When her amusement started to wind down, she made the mistake of glancing at Falon’s face, which showed his continued disgruntlement, and another round of laughter ensued.
She was gasping for breath when she felt his hand slip behind her neck to draw her over to lean against him. She didn’t try to resist. She didn’t know what it was about the laughter she got at his expense that made her feel at peace with Falon, but it did.
“Your brother was right,” he said by her ear. “You have not the proper respect for a warrior.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I have a great deal of respect for all of your abilities, Falon.” But then she rested her chin on his chest to grin up at him. “Just don’t draw me any maps I might need, okay?”
He smiled at her and Shanelle caught her breath, struck again by how incredibly gorgeous the man was. Danger signals went off in her head, but his hands were already on her waist, slowly sliding her up his long body. She tried to avoid his lips, she really did, and managed it for all of two seconds, but then she gave in to the inevitable. There just wasn’t going to be any escape this time anyway, so she might as well enjoy as much of Falon as she could before he got carried away-and his kissing was very enjoyable.
“Again is the place wrong,” he said with a groan against her lips.
“It’s just not your day, is it?”
“It will be,” he promised, and then asked, “Are you there, computer?”
“On this ship, naturally,” Brock replied, and he didn’t require clarification of what was needed. “Go back to the last lift, then up one floor and to the right. You should recognize the area by then.”
Shanelle gasped as she was lifted into Falon’s arms and he started moving at a swift pace. And now that he wasn’t kissing her, her anxieties returned.
She fought them this time. At least she tried. But she finally wrapped her arms around Falon’s neck and squeezed, whispering, “I’m still afraid.”
His arms tightened around her. “I know. I wish I could take your fear from you before we join, kerima, yet do I know it will be gone after.”
“Will you repeat your last offer and let me control the pace?”