Alpha Warriors of The Cause - Tamara Rose Blodgett Page 0,1

never hold you responsible for his safety.” His eyes thaw. “You are female, Beth.

She jerks away, stomping off with crossed arms.

Female! Gah!

Merrick chases her down.

Beth doesn't even know where she's going—she just has to move, get out of here. Her vision blurs, then Merrick's whirls her around, fingers digging into her shoulders. Eyes that were gentle seconds ago are hard pewter discs. “Beth!” Merrick shakes her gently. “I love you.”

She hangs her head, trying to escape the intense revelation. “It's because I am your soul mate,” she whispers.

Merrick tips her chin up, his thumb feathering her jaw. “No. Deep down, I always knew. But I resisted. I tried to not be your partner, remember? I tried to let you defend yourself against all comers. You are Reflective, a warrior as much as myself.”

Beth's eyes search his. “Then why don't you trust me to be the keeper of my own safety?”

Merrick tugs her against him.

His heartbeat thuds against her cheek. “Because you are my female—you always were. When the timepiece slipped away, the gear of your position in my life fell into place as if I were an engine that wasn't running perfectly without you. I can no more choose another female than I could stop my next breath.”

Beth squeezes her eyes shut against the truth of his words. They are real.

Devastating.

Merrick deserves her honesty. He went beyond the call of mere Reflective partnering. “I do not feel as you do, Jeb.”

He strokes her hair. “I know. It will come.”

Beth retreats from the comfort of his arms and looks into his face.

Jeb Merrick stares back, his golden brows pinched together.

“All I ask is that you entrust your well being to me. I must—I have to protect you. Please allow me to.”

Beth opens her mouth to restate all that she understands to be true. Fifteen years of military training, her skills of blending in all sectors, her unparalleled jumping abilities—Hades, I’ve just focused a jump for over a hundred fellow Reflectives—that should be all the proof needed to show that she doesn't need protection.

But as Beth gazes up into Jeb's face, she knows she can't tell him those facts. Her training as a Reflective also made the significance of the soul mate bond absolutely clear: it is unbreakable. When a Reflective finds a mate, that person knows it with the deepest fiber of his or her being. It was not happenstance—but providence.

Beth nods. She won't swim upstream in this. “Yes.” Jeb would not take no for an answer; he's incapable. Leaving her to her own devices would go against his every instinct.

Jeb draws her to him, and she looks up as he looks down. He threads his long fingers into her undone hair. He grips the strands, tightening almost to the point of pain, and reverently kisses her forehead.

Hot kisses slide like satin over her face as Beth closes her eyes, accepting the intimacy, letting it move her.

With a quiet moan of consent, she winds her fingers around his thick neck, and Jeb lifts her against his body, kissing her closed eyes and her cheeks.

When he finds her mouth, she opens it to his gentle demand, and their tongues meet in a twining embrace of desperation and rightness.

Warmth bleeds from the kiss, shooting sparks of tingling need and uncertain desire through Beth's limbs. She hangs loosely in Jeb's embrace.

A throat clears and Beth gasps, completely disorientated in the moment.

She has never kissed anyone before.

No male from her world would have her.

Now this male will have no one else.

“Can't you two figure out more important things to do? God, chill out with the hump fest.” Jacky cocks a sandy eyebrow.

Beth blinks, sliding down the front of Jeb’s body, feeling his hardness, her face flushing like a coal from the fire.

Beth opens her mouth to rebuke him—and can't manage it. Instead of the nearly thirteen-cycle youth Beth remembers, Jacky looks like a young man. His appearance causes Beth's shame to burn more brightly than ever.

He caught us making out in the middle of a revolt.

However, Jeb glares at Jacky. “You have the worst timing of any creature in any sector.”

Jacky grins, stabbing a thumb at his chest. “Creature? Hmm…” He palms his chin and gives a slow nod. “I dig that.”

“How—” Beth chokes, feeling her face reignite. “How are you?” Beth sweeps a hand toward Jacky, who is now suddenly a Three teen on the verge of manhood.

Jacky preens, spinning in a languid circle. “You can say it.” He makes a show of blowing