Star Kissed by Lizzy Ford Read Free Book Online Page A

grateful ?”
    “I would accept my circumstances and adapt.”
    She gave him a long look. His nearness, heat and strength were too distracting. Mandy rose, furious he had the nerve to be angry with her when she was the one forced into a new reality. She couldn’t imagine someone at his rank going to the other extreme, yet the confidence in his voice told her he at least thought he could.
    “Why did you save me?” she asked suddenly. She put distance between them, unsettled by her body’s response to him. “Why did you trade five ships for me? You’ve made it clear you didn’t want to.”
    Akkadi said nothing.
    “Akkadi, what do you want from me?” she demanded.
    “I want you to be under Urik’s protection, not mine yet, and never to be forced to rescue you again.” The anger in his voice was unmistakable this time.
    The words stung. He’d saved her yet still rejected her. Mandy pulled off the medallion he’d given her and threw it at him. He caught it.
    “I’ll take my chances on my own,” she said. “No one here wants anything to do with me, and no one will help me get home.” She strode past him, towards the door. “I didn’t ask to be brought here!”
    “Where are you going?” he demanded.
    “Into the hallway. Someone on this ship will want something to do with me. If not, I’ll walk into space.”
    The door was solid when she reached it, and she tried to walk through it twice before planting her hands against it. When she turned, Akkadi stood where she’d left him, watching her closely.
    “What my people will do to you is unconscionable,” he started, walking towards her with measured steps. “Even if you hate me for what I’ve done, I will not allow you to throw your life away. The races in our galaxy are suffering from a disease that only the blood of a purebred human can heal. When the Ishta tire of using you for your womb to breed new hybrids, they will keep you alive for hundreds of years, immobilized, draining every drop of your blood through a process I will call beyond painful. The type of excruciating pain you will be in will never end, so long as they can use our technology to keep your brain and your heart alive.” He entered her personal space and paused. “You will feel everything they do to you.”
    Her breath caught. She stepped back until the wall blocked her escape. Akkadi fell silent. Despite his size and nearness, she felt no threat from him. As in their first meeting, she noticed only how striking he was, how his warmth seemed to make the terrifying world more real while also making her feel safe in it.
    “Take this.” He lifted the medallion into the space between them. “I will do as I promised and protect you. This is how you remain hidden from others.”
    “I don’t want your protection. I want to go home!”
    “You can’t, if you don’t survive.” Amusement crossed his features. “Nakis rely on logic rather than emotion. You understand logic, don’t you?”
    She glared at him and snatched the medallion.
    “If my people were ever to know I protected you instead of turning you over to heal them …” He trailed off. “You have cost me a great deal already.”
    “Why haven’t you?” she asked. “Don’t you suffer from the same disease?”
    “My family has no genetic flaws. We never have. It is why my father is the ruler of our people and his children lead the empire. My eldest sister will inherit the empire upon his death. My family has no need to do to you what they will on the planet.”
    A chill went through her. She was lucky to have been found by the one alien that didn’t need to torture her. A small voice whispered that it had to be more than luck. Gonor, Urik and now Akkadi. All three had reason to facilitate her capture and a great deal to lose if word got out they helped her escape.
    “Don’t leave my quarters,” he directed. “I have to alert my family that you’re here.”
    He seemed to be waiting for something. She realized she