feet two inches but she had never been
intimidated by someone taller than her. Walter had shown her that
size didn’t matter if you wanted something. She bit her bottom lip
as she stared into his dark, almost black eyes. She had never seen
eyes that dark before and felt like she could drown in them. His
face was defined by sharp but handsome lines. She would have
thought his darker colors came from working outside in the sun if
not for the fact she had seen the dark coloring disappearing below
the waist of his low-hung black pants in the mornings. His eyes
were the color of midnight on a moonless night, a small sliver of
silver light shimmered in the center. His strong nose and full lips
called to her and made her frustrated with her own insecurities.
She wanted to give in to him. She had since the first moment she
gazed into his eyes on the Tearnat warship. It was only the
uncertainty of what was to become of her and her sister that held
her back. She had no doubt at all that River was never going to
return to Earth. The key difference between River and her and Jo
was that River had no other family to return to. Star closed her
eyes briefly at the wave of pain that swept through her at the
thought of how heartbroken her parents. The idea of losing one
daughter would be horrendous but to think that both of their
daughters were missing and presumed dead was beyond the realm of
sanity.
“What is it?” Jazin asked anxiously. “Are
you in pain? Should I call for the healer?”
Tears filled Star’s eyes and she cursed the
fact that she had always been a cry baby when she was upset. “No,
I’m not in pain. At least not a physical pain,” she whispered.
“Jazin, I miss my parents. I can’t help but think about what they
must be going through. The idea of losing one daughter is tragic
but to lose both of your children has to be unbearable for them. I
can’t imagine what they must be going through. They must know by
now that something happened to us. We’ve never gone this long
without calling them.”
Jazin looked down into the pain filled eyes
of his mate. His hand rose gently to touch her cheek. “Your sister
has said as much to Manota,” he sighed heavily. “She will not
commit to him until she can assure your parents that you are both
safe.”
Star jerked in surprise. Jo never mentioned
a word to her about her relationship with Manota or the fact that
she had been pressuring him to contact their parents in some way.
She was getting really tired of people keeping things from her.
Just because she was small and had been hurt that didn’t mean she
should be kept in the dark.
“What are you and your brother going to do?”
Star asked with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “I won’t let them
spend the rest of their lives grieving for us. You can’t expect
either Jo or I to do that. If your father thought….” her sharp
words faded as Jazin drew her closer to him with a groan of
need.
He loved it when she had that fire in her
eyes. He couldn’t resist her any longer. The last of his tightly
held control dissolved as he felt her body melt into his. He had
given her time on the warship to adjust to what had happened to her
and to come to terms with the loss of everything she knew but her
sister and friend. Once on Kassis, she had fought him harder than
any warrior he had ever encountered before when he had taken her to
his House. Her world did not accept the same levels of class
recognition as his did. She had stormed out of his House crying
when he had been greeted by the females who lived there. It was
considered a level of strength, power and wealth for a male to have
many women in his home. Star did not appreciate his status at all.
In fact, the hurt and rage in her eyes had burned through him
leaving him feeling anything but proud. When an assassin’s charge
almost took the life of his brother’s mate, he had learned that
human females did not share – ever. Star’s refusal to return to his
House had him
M. R. James, Darryl Jones