Cruel Union (Brutal Universe #1)

41. Aurora

41

AURORA

“ W hew —we should be safe in here!” Slade’s little sister—who didn’t look that much younger than me—slammed the door closed and leaned against it with a relieved look on her face. “ Oh , and if you really have to go, the bathroom is through there,” she added, nodding through a second doorway.

“ Thanks , but I don’t,” I confessed. “ I just didn’t want to sit on that insane couch.”

Jessina laughed.

“ Oh my Goddess , I know—isn’t it bizarre? But that’s my stepmother. This room is actually one of the tamer ones in the house,” she added, motioning with one hand.

We were in the middle of an elaborately decorated powder room with mirrored walls and several golden sinks with birds’ wings for knobs and birds’ beaks for the faucets. Sitting in the middle of the floor was a bright pink piece of furniture that looked like a circular couch but with all the seats facing outward. Jessina went over and plopped down on it.

“ Let’s kill some time so we don’t have to go back right away,” she said and patted the seat next to her. “ Come on— I have to know the woman who finally captured my big brother’s cold heart.”

“ Well , I didn’t know that I’d captured it, to be honest,” I said, coming to sit beside her. “ I live on L’Crist . Or I did before Slade came for me.”

“ L’Crist —isn’t that one of the territories we protect?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. I couldn’t help thinking that she was beautiful but not pretty, if that makes sense.

Jessina had well defined features—a straight nose and a strong jaw—almost a female version of Slade’s , but more delicate. It was her smooth brown skin, unlike the grey tones of the rest of the family, and her big golden eyes, which made her striking. She was tall and slender, though somewhat curvy in the chest, and she had long, straight black hair that fell to her lower back in a silky waterfall.

“ Yes , we are one of your territories, I guess,” I said to answer her question.

Jessina snapped her fingers.

“ I know why I’ve heard of you! A couple of years ago Slade ordered that the ships patrolling your space should be doubled. He said he’d gotten word that a bunch of Skinners and Canaboids were headed in your direction and he didn’t want any of them getting anywhere near your little planet.”

“ A couple of years ago?” I asked.

“ Five years ago, actually,” Jessina said, nodding. “ I remember because it was on my birthday and he was giving the orders to Rive , his Second in Command .”

Her words gave me a jolt. Slade had claimed several times that he had loved me for years but I had assumed he was exaggerating. But even as far as five years back, he’d been planning for my protection—keeping me safe. I shuddered to think what might have happened to L’Crist if he hadn’t been watching over me so closely.

“ Five years,” I echoed, still trying to wrap my head around it.

“ Yeah , five years ago on my birthday.” Jessina sounded sad. “ Birthdays and Holidays are pretty much the only times I get to see my brother anymore. As soon as Lyrah moved in, he moved out.”

“ Yes , he told me,” I said. “ I , um, don’t think the two of them get along very well,” I added, trying to state things tactfully.

Jessina made a face.

“ Please ! That’s the understatement of the millennium. They hate each other. I really don’t understand why Daddy insisted on making Slade move back home—the two of them fight every minute they’re around each other. It’s going to be miserable. Don’t get me wrong though,” she added, looking at me earnestly. “ It’s not like I’m not happy to have Slade back— I am! I miss him so much .”

“ I’m sure he misses you too,” I said, smiling at her.

“ So is he being good to you? Is he keeping his vows?” she demanded, leaning forward eagerly.

“ He’s definitely doing that,” I said, nodding.

“ And are you madly in love with him? Back when we both went to school, all the girls were crazy for Slade .” She laughed. “ And you’re the lucky girl who finally caught him!”

“ Well , I didn’t catch him so much as he caught me,” I confessed.

“ What ?” Her eyes went wide. “ Tell me all about it! I have to know!”

“ Um …well, it was kind of a bargain…”

I wasn’t sure how much I ought to tell Slade’s sister. But she was so open and friendly that I felt at home with her right away. She was certainly an improvement on his nasty-nice stepmother who I already couldn’t stand. Lyrah’s backwards compliments cut to the quick—she seemed to know exactly how to hurt me while keeping that fake smile plastered on her too-perfect face.

Jessina couldn’t have been more different. She was funny and sharp and she made me laugh several times. She listened intently as I gave a slightly sanitized version of how Slade had gotten me to marry him and whisked me away to his penthouse.

“ Oh my Goddess of the Four Faces , I can’t believe it! I knew he must have pulled some kind of trick to get one of the Untainted to marry him!” she exclaimed. “ I know your sect of humans likes to keep their DNA pure.”

“ I don’t care so much about that,” I protested. “ But I was pretty upset that he manipulated me into marrying him.”

“ And now?” She raised her eyebrows. “ How do you feel?”

“ A lot different,” I confessed. “ I was kind of determined to stay his enemy at first but now…well, your brother has really grown on me.”

“ Of course he has! Admit it—you love him, don’t you? At least a little?”

I could feel my cheeks getting hot, but I couldn’t deny it.

“ I think I’m falling in love with him, yes,” I admitted in a low voice. “ He’s just…not at all what I expected. I thought he would be rough and cruel, but he isn’t—he’s the opposite. He’s been very patient with me,” I added, thinking of the slow progression of spreaders he had used on me to get me ready for his shaft. I wondered if he would be Breeding me tonight and my cheeks got even hotter.

“ Oh my Goddess of the Four Faces —look at you! You’re blushing!” Jessina exclaimed, laughing delightedly. “ You’re not just falling in love—you’re in love. Which makes sense— Slade’s a good guy. I mean, don’t get me wrong—he’s a cold-blooded killer. But he’s a good guy.”

“ He’s what?” I asked, my eyes going wide. The fact that his own sister would call him that was worrisome.

“ What I said— I once saw him kill someone, right in front of me.” Jessina shrugged, as though it was no big deal.

“ You …you did?” I asked faintly. That was much worse than just cutting someone’s fingers off—though of course, neither scenario was ideal.

“ Uh -huh.” Jessina nodded. “ But to be fair, it was a guy who had attacked me at a party. He got me in a back room and tried to…” She trailed off and went pale for a moment, her smooth brown skin looking almost ashy. “ Anyway , I screamed and thank She of the Four Faces , Slade heard me and came running.”

“ Were you all right?” I asked anxiously. “ I mean, the guy…he didn’t…”

“ No , Slade got to me in time— barely.” She shook her head, looking grateful. “ The guy had already managed to rip open my shirt and pull up my skirt. And he was on top of me with his dick out.” She swallowed and her eyes were haunted. “ It was really bad.”

“ And what did Slade do? I mean, how…how did he kill him?” I asked, curious despite myself. I was no longer horrified—as far as I was concerned, what Jessina was describing equaled a justified killing.

“ Oh , he let his Darkness out and bit the guy’s head off. Blood went spraying everywhere—including all over me,” Jessina said matter-of-factly. She shivered. “ Ugh , it was awful!”

“ It sounds really traumatic.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. “ I’m so sorry, Jessina .”

“ Thanks but it could have been way worse.” She shook herself and seemed to come back from the dark place the memory had taken her. “ I wish the females of our Clan had the Darkness too—if we did, I wouldn’t have had to scream for Slade to rescue me.”

“ So it’s only the males that have it?” I asked.

She nodded.

“ So unfair, right? It’s the male Brutes that get all the benefits of a genetic trade—we females don’t get anything but the looks. Speaking of which, you’re probably wondering why I look like this instead of like the rest of my family…”

She went on to explain that her mother had been half Yerbishian and that was where she got her gorgeous brown skin tones.

“ She was great, my mom,” she said longingly and I could hear the loss in her voice. “ It’s been ten years since she died and I still miss her every day.”

“ I know how you feel. I lost my mom when I was sixteen,” I told her. “ Only my father never remarried.”

“ Lucky you.” She made a face. “ I’ll never know what Daddy sees in Lyrah or how she got her claws into him in the first place.”

“ Yes , Slade said pretty much the same thing,” I remarked.

“ You need to be careful of her while you’re here,” Jessina warned me. “ Lyrah might pretend to be all sugar and sunshine but she hates the fact that Slade is the heir instead of her own son.”

“ She does?” The news wasn’t really that surprising— Lyrah seemed like a jealous person.

“ Yes , she does.” Jessina nodded gravely. “ And she hates the fact that Slade has finally claimed his Fated Mate too.”

“ Why ? Because she doesn’t want to see him have any happiness?” I asked.

“ Well , I’m sure that’s part of it, but mainly she’s mad because if you get pregnant with a son then that’s another heir standing between her boy and the Chieftainship of the Clan ,” Jessina said. “ She won’t let on, but I’m sure she’s planning to move Hrake into the top slot somehow. Of course, my father won’t believe it.” She made a face. “ He won’t believe anything bad about her. Ugh — I’m so sick of living here with her!”

“ Can you leave and go out on your own like Slade did?” I asked. That would have been out of the question for me back on L’Crist , but things seemed to be more progressive here on Rigelis Nine .

But Jessina shook her head.

“ Unfortunately , no. By Clan Law , I can’t leave until my father approves my marriage and sets me free.”

“ Well , will he?” I asked.

“ That depends on if anyone has the nerve to ask to marry me.” She looked glum. “ Of course, I know who I want to ask me, but he’ll never do it. Even though I’m sure we’d find out we’re Fated Mates if we could only spend some time together.”

“ Really ?” I asked, intrigued. “ Who is it?”

Jessina leaned closer to me, her hands clutched together in her lap.

“ You have to swear on She of the Four Faces that you won’t tell Slade because he would be so upset.”

“ He would? Why ?” I asked. “ Doesn’t he like the guy?”

“ Oh no— Slade loves him. He’s one of his best friends. It’s? —”

But just at that moment, there was a loud knocking on the door.

“ Girls ? Whatever are you doing in there?” It was Lyrah’s voice, strident and irritating. “ I know it can’t take that long to finish with your lady functions.”

Jessina rolled her eyes at me expressively and got up with a sigh.

“ Coming , Lyrah !” she called, heading for the door.

“ That’s ‘ Mother ’ to you, young lady,” Lyrah snapped as Jessina opened the door. “ And what’s taking you so long? It’s almost time for dinner! You barely have time to freshen up and change.”

“ Sorry ,” I said humbly as we trooped out of the elaborately decorated powder room. “ I’m afraid my stomach was a bit upset.”

“ Hmmph .” Lyrah frowned suspiciously at me. “ Very well— I’ll take you to your suite so you can change for dinner.”

“ What about Slade ?” I asked. “ Is he already there?”

Lyrah gave me a simpering look.

“ Oh my dear, I’m afraid that your dear sweet hubby is talking business with his father in the study. You’ll probably see him at dinner but I wouldn’t expect to spend much time with him while you’re living here.”

“ What ? Why not?” The idea of not seeing Slade upset me—and not just because I was already feeling The Need again. Aside from Jessina , Slade was the only one I could trust in this whole huge house. Also , I realized, I missed him. I had only been gone from him for half an hour but it felt like ages since I’d seen him and breathed in his warm, spicy scent.

Lyrah opened her eyes wide.

“ Why , because my own dear hubby has been putting off a lot of important matters while Slade was away from home,” she said. “ So they have a lot of catching up to do, I’m afraid. Now come this way— I’ll show you your suite.”

I caught Jessina’s gaze and she rolled her eyes at me. But she only said,

“ Bye , I’ll see you later.”

I waved at her and followed Lyrah down the hallway.

What else could I do?