Colonel Seeders' Mail Order Bride, Hank

12 Hank & Hawk

Hank:

Hank heard the sobbing. He'd caused that. His inability to trust a woman, his own mate, had made him say thing he probably should have worded differently.

For years he only needed to worry about Hawk. He could not afford to worry about a woman that would probably leave them the first chance she got. He could have told her that she was his mate, but it would have pushed her away sooner.

He would marry her the right way, change her and mate with her so that she would never be able to leave them. He would know where she went, find her and bring her home. He would watch her ever second of every day if she ended up pregnant.

No. He would have to take precautions so that it never happened. He could never go through that again. No other woman would harm a child of his. He had Hawk. She would take care of him as they agreed and when he no longer needed her, he could send her back to Sebastian.

He clenched his teeth against the growl that tried to rumble free of his chest. Why did that though disturb him so much. He'd not mated her yet.

No. He could not mate with her. She already consumed his thoughts. He would never be able to send her back to Sebastian. The man deceived him. He tricked him into taking the woman and knew he would not be able to send her back.

He could always keep her around. She had a soft body and those delicious orbs on her chest. If he fed her more, she would fill out in all the right places and he would be able to take her as he pleased. She belonged to him. He had a right to mate with her if he married her.

Hawk's hand slammed against the glass and then his voice filled his thoughts. "You will not use my mother as an object. If you won't respect her, I will take her away from here and you will never see her again!"

Hank looked towards the window as the dome slid open. His face heated up as he realised what he had been thinking. And Hawk heard his thoughts.

Disgusted with himself, he stomped to his room and threw himself onto the bed.

His mind would not turn away from the beautiful woman in Hawk's room. Every fibre in his body craved her touch, her smell, her taste. So he wrapped his hand around himself, thought about diving deep into her slippery heat, and took care of his throbbing need.

***

Hawk:

Between his father's thoughts and his own need to protect his new mother, he could not get back to sleep. She'd been crying for a while, but it went quiet and he wanted to make sure she rested.

As silently as he could, he walked into his room. She still lay staring up at his ceiling which he'd decorated as the galaxy she had been born in. The planet right above her would be the one she came from. A planet almost destroyed by a sonic wave from a Clostruvic vessel, but the humans did not know that. His gift could be seen as a curse at times, especially when he heard information not meant for his tiny ears.

His new mother pulled the blanket aside, so he slipped under and snuggled closer to her warm body.

"How are you feeling?" Her voice still had a touch of hoarseness from her earlier tears.

"Much better. In fact, my leg didn't feel like it would snap off when I walked here. I think the bed did something to it. Fixed it a little, maybe made it stronger." He hoped the good news would bring her out of her depressed state.

"That's good. Hopefully in time it will make your hands stronger too. You should really practice opened and closing your fingers, then you won't need someone helping you all the time."

She seemed distant. The way she spoke made Hawk think she would be leaving soon. He couldn't let her leave. He needed her. His Dad needed her, even if he refused to see it himself. When he saw her picture, his heart swelled. Her kind eyes and friendly smile convinced him she would be the one. His true mother. A mother that would love him and not...

"My birth mother didn't leave," he said suddenly.

"I don't understand what you mean. If she didn't leave, where is she?"

"She killed herself. Dad doesn't know that I know. He's kept it from me to protect me, but I heard his thoughts when Uncle Sebastian sent him the form. She didn't want a baby and she didn't want to be changed. She tried to kill me before I was born, but I wasn't ready to die yet. She had me and died from her own poison. Dad found me a day later. Since then he refused to bring women near the house, he won't speak to them unless it's about work and he only did the form because I made him feel guilty for leaving me home alone all the time. Please don't tell him that I know."

He couldn't look at her so he lay staring up at the ceiling.

"I know things that I shouldn't know. It scares me sometimes. I have bad dreams about them. The people on your planet. I hear them screaming for help. I feel them drowning like my own lungs are filling with water. Before you got here, I heard your thoughts. I wanted to tell Dad so that he could hunt down the man and kill him, but it had already been done and you didn't want anyone to know about it. Your friend, Eddy, he wanted you safe and he asked Uncle Sebastian to help, but he couldn't interfere. That's why they took you away from there and brought you here. Also because Uncle Sebastian's father is being controlled by a vampire. I want to tell them that I know, but they need proof. No one will believe a small ten year old boy that's broken."

"Don't you ever say that again!" He gasped at the anger in her voice. "You are not broken. You may be different, but that does not make you broken. Am I broken? I'm different too, so I must be broken as well."

"No. You are not broken. My hands... They are not like yours. I can't use them-"

"Did you hold a fork by yourself?" He nodded, bitting his lip. "Can you open your hands?"

He raised them to his eyes and moved his fingers away from his palms. "Just a little."

"And in time you will learn to use them to your best ability. Your abilities are not like mine or your father's, so that makes you different. You can walk and talk. You are not broken! Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. I won't say that again. It's hard to remember when people always think of me as broken."

"People can be so god-damned cruel!"

The door burst open seconds after she shouted. His father stood staring at the two of them and then stormed out saying, "Get dressed. We'll be leaving soon," over his shoulder.

Before she could leave, Hawk held out his hand to stop her. "He likes you. A lot. He just doesn't know how to show it and he's not sure that he can trust you. If you prove to him that you won't leave, maybe he can finally let go of his fears."

Her jumbled thoughts confused him, but then he heard another voice in her head. Her eyes rolled back and she dropped to her knees.