inbred abilities to heal faster than regular humans and the stamina for which the Sons of Amber were renowned. He set the alarm to wake him at sunrise. He wanted to be ready when the Regulus made orbit.
Angela woke a few hours later, disoriented at first until she felt the hard, male arms wrapped tightly around her waist.
Ezekiel.
She savored his name in her mind as his arms squeezed her gently. He slept on, but his strong hold never slackened. Even lost in the netherworld of dreams, he kept her close.
It had to mean something, but she feared she might be putting too much stock in his actions. She finally admitted to herself that she wanted this man from the stars with a passion unknown to her before. Since she’d found him under the burning midday suns, her life had changed in irreversible ways. Her heart had come alive and her body pulsated with yearnings she didn’t fully understand, but for which she somehow knew, he held the cure.
Yes, the cure for her woeful condition was him. His love, his passion, his commitment. She wanted it all. Especially his heart.
But there were so many obstacles, not the least of which was the role he had been designed and bred to perform. If she understood him correctly, he was some kind of intergalactic super stud, sent out among the remnants of humanity to service any and all females who wanted his sperm. In one way, the thought disgusted her, but in another more perverse part of her psyche, the thought was tantalizing. To think that she held him—this man whom so many women desired—and he was with her. Not normally given to vanity, the feeling of pride sat uncomfortably in her mind, as did the jealousy.
Angela felt like scratching the eyes out of any woman who’d been with him before. She wanted to mark him, to stake her claim and let all other females know that while they might bear his children, they would never have his heart. His heart was hers alone.
Or so she dreamed.
Her dreams spoke of love everlasting, but she had yet to discover whether these were prophetic dreams so common to many of her people, or just dreams of what her inner self wished could be. She prayed the dreams would come to pass. She prayed mightily that she could keep Zeke in her life—and in her bed—where she really thought he belonged.
Never before had she felt such a strong, deep, and instant connection in her soul for any other person, male or female.
She had known the moment she saw him, baking under the sun and close to death, that he was simply…hers. Just as she was his. They were fated to be together, their hearts and souls entwined. Now she just had to see if her thoughts and hopes could truly be reality or if they were just foolish dreams.
Then there was his duty as a Son of Amber to contend with. How could she claim the sole attentions of a male so important to the survival of the entire human species?
Was it fair of her to want to keep him for herself? Was it even possible? Only time would tell. The people who held authority over him were on their way. If he wanted to be with her, she figured it would be up to his superiors as to whether or not he would even be allowed to consider such a thing.
There was also the all-important question of whether he would want to stay with her.
Looking at the chrono by the bedside she realized there was still a couple of hours until dawn. She settled back down and closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift back to sleep.
It felt like only five minutes later when she was rudely awakened by a telepathic shout in her mind.
Chapter Five
Zeke roused instantly the moment the sensors triggered an alarm. It was a different sound than the chrono’s time alarm. No, this alarm meant that something had penetrated the range of his ship’s sensors.
The range was only slightly past orbit, so it was something close. A quick glance at the chrono told him it was still a bit too early for the Regulus to have arrived. His gut clenched. If it
Learning to Kill: Stories