Klingon Hearts 10 Exposed - In The Light of Evil Page 5

  Kyle's eyes narrowed. He would leave Melanie and his relationship alone for now, he was worried about his brother and sister-in-law.

  "What's wrong with K'Leena?"

  "Michael's birth was very traumatic for her. She refuses to discuss it with me. She refuses to discuss anything with me anymore. I can understand it. I am Lucas' mother. But she needs to talk to someone. Maybe Melanie can help."

  "How's Lucas doing?" Kyle knew his brother, when K'Leena was hurting, he was hurting.

  "About as well as you're imagining," she replied grimly.

  *****

  K'Leena was avoiding him. Ever since they'd arrived at the estate this morning, she'd been keeping to herself. He could feel the emotions churning inside her. Things were more than a little tense between them since she'd had that dream and remembered.

  Lucas clenched his fists as he watched her nurse the baby. There were tears in her eyes. Her face was pale and taut.

  God! He -hated- seeing her like this. So quiet and withdrawn.

  So...beaten.

  And it was all his fault. Having Michael was too much for her. He could see that now.

  "You okay?" he asked finally.

  K'Leena startled, so lost in thought she hadn't heard him come into the room.

  "Yeah, just thinking."

  Thinking. She couldn't -stop- thinking since that damn dream.

  And remembering.

  And wondering.

  "How long have you remembered, Lucas?" she asked quietly.

  He sighed and sat down on the couch across from her. "A while."

  Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "How long?" she insisted.

  "The dreams started right after the time jump," he admitted. "It took a couple of weeks to figure out what was happening."

  "Before the Breen captured me," she whispered, realizing her worst fears.

  Oh God! He was in love with -her-! The other K'Leena, the one he'd lost!

  "NO!" Lucas all but shouted.

  She flinched at the force of his anger.

  "Don't you EVER think that again!" he ground out, almost jumping from the couch in his agitation.

  "I love -you-, K'Leena! From the time we were teenagers. I didn't want to admit it for a while, but it was always there. I had decided to mate with you long before the time jump. If I hadn't been called back to Command the night of the reunion, K'Leena, I would have made you mine then. I was on my way back to your room when Mike showed up, that was the only thing that stopped me. It was why I was there for the time jump as well. I hadn't been able to get away. The mission was too sensitive, but I knew I had to be there for the jump. If my job hadn't gotten in the way again, we would have been married then and there, on the Enterprise. All our families were there and I wasn't going to let you get away again."

  His words should have reassured her. It should have been enough.

  It should have.

  Lowering her lashes, she gazed down on her son, who'd fallen asleep while nursing. K'Leena busied herself righting her pajama top and bringing Michael up to her shoulder to burp him.

  Lucas frowned darkly. "K'Leena," he begged. "Don't do this, please. Don't doubt my feelings for you."

  Turning her head to look out the window so he wouldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes, but the breath she took sounded suspiciously like a sob.

  "I don't, Lucas," she told him shakily, trying to convince herself as much as him.

  *****

  "Sherise Cupthland, huh?"

  "Go away, Kyle," grumbled Robbie.

  The youngest Riker brother smiled at the surly retort and sat down next to his old friend.

  "I heard she transferred over to the Dakota a couple of weeks ago. I do have to admit, it took you less time than I thought it would."

  Robbie raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he drawled.

  "Sure," Kyle grinned evilly. "The way she used to shoot you down at the academy I figured it would be at least a two months before she'd give you the time of day."

  "Considering all that, I have to wonder why you even thought I'd pursue her."

  "Are you kidding?" Kyle laughed. "The only woman who turned down the great Robert Paris? It wasn't a matter of 'if,' buddy. It was only a matter of 'when.'"

  Robbie frowned. "Is that what you think? This is just me soothing a bruised ego?"

  Kyle stopped chuckling at his friend's concerned question.

  "No, Robbie," he answered seriously. "I never thought that. I was just giving you a hard time. I can see how much she means to you."

  *****

  K'Leena wandered into the living room after settling Michael down for his nap. Her conversation with Lucas foremost in her mind. She sat down on the sofa and stared unseeingly down at the PADD she'd brought with her.

  Why couldn't she believe him? Why was she so unsure of him, now?

  Because he's keeping something from you, a little voice warned. He's closed part of his mind off to you, that's why.

  An old Klingon saying her grandmother was fond of came to mind. "Hov ghajbe'bogh ram rur pegh ghajbe'bogh jaj."

  A day without secrets is like a night without stars.

  Lucas was keeping secrets from her, she could feel it.

  "K'Leena?" Sherise began hesitantly, not wanting to disturb the new mother, but needing to talk to her all the same.

  "Hmmm?" K'Leena glanced up from the PADD she was reading.

  Once again, she was taken aback by the vibrant beauty of her brother's mate. Robbie had chosen well. This woman would be his match in all things from the looks of it. She wasn't one to quietly sit by and let life happen to her. Sherise Cupthland controlled her own destiny.

  Or so she thought.

  K'Leena smiled. "Have a seat," she gestured to the chair across from her. "What's up?"

  Sherise took a deep breath. No sense in beating around the bush. It was not something that came naturally to her anyway. Straightforward to the point of bluntness was something she'd been accused of on more than one occasion.

  "What does 'tlqwlq' mean?" she asked baldly.

  Wide-eyed with surprise, K'Leena met her determined gaze.

  Sherise was disconcerted by the familiar blue eyes that stared back at her. Robbie and his sister were a lot alike.

  "It means 'of one heart,'" K'Leena replied neutrally after a moment of consideration.

  She was unsure of just how much to tell the woman her brother was sleeping with. Unsure of how much her brother wanted Sherise to know.

  "Does it have a special significance? Or is it just a Klingon endearment?"

  Kahless, now what? She was going to kill Robbie when she saw him next.

  "It can be used as an endearment," she evaded truthfully.

  Sherise was a smart woman. She saw through K'Leena like transparent aluminum.

  "But it's more than that, isn't it?"

  She sighed. "Yes, it is."

  "Out with it, K'Leena," Sherise demanded.

  "You really should ask Robbie this."

  "I'm asking you."

  K'Leena grimaced. Sorry, Robbie, I tried.

  "It comes from an ancient Klingon legend," she elaborated quietly.

  "When a couple is destined to be together their hearts will beat as one, their minds will think as one and their souls will feel as one. It is said when this happens," she paused, trying to keep her emotions under control.

  Swallowing hard, she fought the tears burning the back of her eyes.

  "It is said when this happens," K'Leena continued, her voice trembling slightly. "It means they are destined to be together for all eternity. According to the legend nothing can stop the beat of two joined Klingon Hearts, they are invincible as long as they are together."

  Sherise looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You sound like you actually believe that."

  "I do," K'Leena admitted, reaching up to unconsciously trace the almost invisible scar on her cheek with the tips of her fingers.

  "Really?!"

  "Have you met my parents, Sh
erise?"

  "No, not yet."

  "You'll believe it too, once you've met them. Not even the gods...," her voice caught. "Not even the gods...."

  "...can stop the beat of a Klingon Heart," Lucas came into the room, his gaze was intent on his wife.

  Sherise suddenly felt like they didn't even know she was in the room anymore.

  "Not even across time and space," K'Leena replied, her eyes locked with his.

  "Not in this life...," Lucas said.

  "Or in another," she finished for him, grasping his hand tightly.

  If you asked her, Sherise could not have told you what she'd just witnessed, but she did know it was something not of this world. Quietly she got up and left them alone.

  They didn't notice. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, they stopped existing in the same reality as the rest of them. There were tears in her eyes when Sherise walked out the patio doors to get some fresh air.

  Deep in thought, she strolled down to the beach.

  "Hey," Robbie broke into her reverie.

  "Hey," she acknowledged on a breathless sigh.

  "Are you all right?"

  "I'm not sure...," she frowned. "If I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?"

  "Always, Sherise."

  "What am I to you?"

  "I'm not sure I understand you."

  "What do I mean to you, Robbie? What am I to you?"

  Damn! What brought this on -now-? He didn't want to have this conversation yet. She wasn't ready.

  "Why are you asking this?"

  "Because I need to know."

  Now Robbie frowned. "Why?"

  "Because I think it's important."

  Crossing her arms in front of her, she patiently waited for an answer. He wasn't going to weasel his way out of this.

  "You're a lot of things to me," he admitted with a tender smile. "My co-worker, my friend, my lover...."

  "Your mate?"

  Blue eyes met grey. He couldn't lie to her, but the truth was going to make things difficult.

  He grimly contemplated his next statement. Kahless, she was stubborn. This was not something he'd wanted to deal with just yet. Why couldn't she have left well enough alone?

  "Robbie?" she prompted.

  "Yes," he affirmed with a nod. "My mate as well."

  "What -exactly- does that mean?" she demanded to know, tapping her foot in the sand, hands on her hips.

  Oh, hell!

  He should have expected this. She was not one to let things be. The status of their relationship was too ambiguous for her. She liked things in their proper place. He didn't fit into one of those nice neat little slots she had for the things in her life. He kept encroaching on those other aspects of her life and she didn't like it.

  He wasn't going to lie to her, however. Sherise wasn't going to like the truth, but she deserved to hear it.

  "It means you are the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing at night. It means I can't be in the same room with you and not be drawn to your side. It means my heart beats in time with yours and I can tell what you're thinking by just looking at you. It means my body belongs to you alone and yours belongs to me.... It means I love you more than life itself, Sherise. Not even death can break our bond. We are 'of one heart'...."

  "And not even the gods can stop the beat of a Klingon Heart," she finished for him, tears running unchecked down her face.

  He smiled sardonically. "I see you've been talking to my sister."

  "I never agreed to be your mate," she accused, dashing the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

  "Yes, you did," he told her coolly.

  "When?" she asked disdainfully.

  "When you gave yourself to me. The night you first took me into your body. That's when."

  She stared at him is shock. "You can't be serious!? I know for a fact I am not the first woman you've had," she sneered.

  "I am -completely- serious," he told her with deadly quiet. "You are the -only- woman I have given my heart to, Sherise. What came before you was meaningless."

  "This is ridiculous!" She threw her hands up in the air. "It was just sex!"

  Robbie's face became an unreadable mask. Hard. Cold. Intimidating.

  "Don't you -ever- dismiss what happened that night like that again!"

  He advanced, grabbing her by the arms to pull her against him.

  "Not only is it an insult to what we have, it is insult to -you- and I won't allow you to dishonor yourself like that."

  He was furious. She trembled slightly, not from fear, but from emotion.

  "I'm sorry, but I think you're making more out of our relationship than there really is." Why did it feel like her heart was tearing in two?

  He smiled suddenly and laughed out loud. Sherise blinked at the sudden change in mood. Damn the man! He never acted the way she expected him to. She was still in shock when he kissed her, his arms sliding around her to pull her close. By the time he drew back her head was spinning.

  "Twenty-five years, Sherise. You were a twenty-five-year-old virgin. What were you waiting for? The right time? The right place?"

  His voice dropped to a low growl, "The right man?"

  "It just never...."

  His lips traced the hard line of her jaw and her knees almost buckled. "Never what? Sherise?"

  "It never...." Her mind blanked in mid-thought. She couldn't think with his tongue laving the hollow of her throat.

  "What?" he breathed against her neck.

  "It...." His hand moved to her breast and she lost all conscious thought.

  "It never happened because it never felt right. Because it couldn't! Not without me!"

  "No," she gasped in denial, but she knew he was right.

  "-Yes-!" he asserted. "You were meant for me, Sherise...and I was meant for you."

  His lips met hers in a bruising kiss. She sobbed against his mouth because she was scared he was right...and that was more than she could handle.

  Robbie swept her up into his arms and carried her up to the guesthouse. He couldn't get her inside fast enough, pinning her up against the wall the minute they were in the house. He pulled her skirt up tore her underwear, not wanting to bother with undressing her. He only just released himself from his pants before lifting her onto him. She was hot and wet, and so ready for him. When her silken heat closed around him in a rush, his head fell back with a moan.

  "Tell me this isn't right!" he demanded huskily. "Tell me you don't feel it like I do!"

  Sherise shook her head violently. "It's just physical," she gasped.

  He was wrong. He -had- to be wrong.

  Robbie met her defiant gaze with a grim smile.

  "Then fight it, Sherise.... Fight me. Don't let me in. Don't even let me close," he warned her ominously.

  "You're wrong," she whispered when he lowered his head to take her mouth again.

  "You're -mine-!" he breathed against her lips, thrusting hard with his hips, touching places in her that he'd never reached before.

  *****

  Some time later Sherise made her way back to the main house to find K'Leena, Tessa and Melanie sitting around the kitchen table with their coffee cups. Michael was sleeping soundly on his mother's shoulder. She'd obviously just finished nursing him.

  Grabbing a mug of her own, she joined them.

  "What's is like, K'Leena?" Tessa was asking.

  "Nursing?"

  "Yeah, and being pregnant, having a baby...what's it like?"

  K'Leena considered her friend for a moment. "Mike been pushing you about this?"

  "No, actually, he hasn't. If you can believe that," she said with a grin. "I was just curious."

  "Uh huh."

  "Oh, all right! I've been thinking about it! There. Are you happy? Will you answer my question now?"

  K'Leena grinned broadly. "Mike hears you say that and it's all over but the crying, kiddo. It's just what he needs to get you to marry him."