Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4) by Tana Stone (ebook reader txt) 📗

held her for a moment before opening them and pulling back. I looked down at her as I walked her back, my grip on her strong enough so that her feet barely touched the floor. “Close your eyes.”

She gave me a sultry smile before obeying, allowing her eyes to flutter shut and her dark lashes to fan across her cheeks. “Are you taking me to bed?”

I moved quickly across the room and past the large bed, through the arched doorway and into the bathing chamber. When I reached the half-moon bathing pools, I straddled my feet on two of the stone ledges dividing the colored waters, suspending Alana over the orange pool. “There will be time for that later.”

Bubbles popped around her toes and a spicy scent rose up from the pools, causing her to open her eyes. Her mouth widened in surprise as she stared at me, realizing that I had not taken her to my bed. Instead, I was dangling her over an orange, bubbling pool.

Then I dropped her.

Chapter Fifteen

Alana

The shock of hitting the water was nothing compared to the shock that he’d tricked me. My head went briefly underwater, but my feet hit the stone bottom, and I straightened my legs as water streamed down my face.

“What?…You…!” I was too livid to form a coherent sentence, as I wiped my face and spit out water. “I thought we were…”

“Not yet.” The Raas stood next to the pool with his arms folded across his chest. He was not smiling, but the corner of his mouth did twitch.

“Is this supposed to be a joke?” I made my way to the edge of the pool.

“No.” He flicked his fingers toward me. “And I have not told you that you can get out yet.”

I fought the urge to jump out and strangle him. All in good time, I reminded myself. I still needed to convince him that I was a harmless female, which was getting harder to do with each misstep and outburst. If only he wasn’t so infuriating.

I glanced down at the vivid-orange hue of the pool. It wasn’t as hot as the red water sending up steam in the segment of the pool next to me, but it was bubbling and the scent wafting up was spicy and sensual.

The only perfumed water I’d ever experienced similar to this was on Grantilia, but the water had been clear, and the scent had been overwhelmingly floral. My memories of the cloying scent were unfortunately melded with thoughts of drowning the viscount to ensure the empire’s successful invasion and overthrow of the ruling family. I shook these images aside and focused on the arrogant Vandar standing over me.

“Is this part of the Vandar claiming ritual?” I asked, making sure to temper my voice. I didn’t want to sound as furious as I was.

Raas Bron walked to the doorway and tapped an inset panel I’d never noticed before because it was as smooth and black as the obsidian wall, the buttons also flush and flat. Soon, the bubbles popping along the surface increased, and the scent grew more intense.

“Claiming ritual?” He turned to face me, then gave a single sharp shake of his head. “Do you not enjoy bathing?”

He was up to something, but I had no idea what. Maybe he was a control freak and liked keeping me on my toes, or maybe he had a fetish about females being clean. Either way, I could play along. Soaking in a scented tub was far from the worst thing I’d had to do for my job.

I sank down so that my chin bobbed at the surface, the bubbles tickling my neck as they popped. “I do. Do all Vandar have bathing pools like this?”

“Only the Raas’.” He walked to the long counter and leaned against it, stretching his muscular legs out in front of him and crossing them at the ankles. “Some of the pools have different designs, but they all have four segments with the same kinds of infused waters in each.”

I glanced at the orange liquid I was soaking in. “Infused?”

“With various health benefits.” He tilted his head at me. “And other properties developed by our people using ancient techniques. The waters help us heal and recover from battle, and increase our strength.”

I scooped some water up in one hand and watched it drain through my fingers. “What does this water do?”

“It is used primarily for relaxing muscles.”

“Well, it’s working. “Although the water wasn’t hot, my muscles had already uncoiled, and my legs were like noodles.

His eyes swept over me. “Good. The longer you soak, the more will be loosened.”

I groped my way to the side and found a stone bench built in, and I gratefully sat. “The Vandar like to keep to the old ways, don’t they?”

“We do. Even though we now live in space—the raiders, at least—we retain as much from our decimated home world as possible.”

I let my neck fall back and my head loll on the stone ledge as my eyes fluttered shut. I’d never felt quite as relaxed in my life. It was as if all my worries had evaporated and every tendon in my body had been unwound.

“And what of your home world?” the Raas asked, his voice as soothing as a caress and as smooth as Carpithian silk.

“Faaral?” Faint memories of the planet I’d been born on danced up from the recesses of my mind. “I don’t remember much. I was so young when they took me.”

Somewhere in my brain, I remembered that I shouldn’t speak of this, but I couldn’t hold my tongue. It, too, had been freed from restraint.

There was a heavy silence, then the Raas asked, “When who took you?”

Telling the Raas the truth about my past felt completely natural. “The Zagrath, of course. They picked me out of all the children in my village. It was a great honor.”

“I’m sure it was.”

Memories of being wrenched away from my screaming parents made me flinch. Why was I telling this