A single image of a male she has never met fuels her fantasies and torments her dreams. Alexia has had a crush on Frek Nar Ortalon for six years and knows he will never return her feelings, but it doesn’t stop her from contacting him when his son’s life is threatened by the impending visit of the King of Alloria. One brief conversation with Frek and Alexia is thrust into a situation that threatens to drive her mad.
Frek has been waiting for six years to find out if he has a son, but the female who contacts him is not the mother of his child. One glimpse of Alexia and Frek believes she is the mate he has been waiting for. All he needs is one taste and he’ll know for sure. But mating isn’t the only thing he has to worry about when he arrives on Borakoy.
Frek and Alexia must choose to either fight their overwhelming attraction to each other or give in to a passion that might consume them. But forces are at work to keep them apart and danger comes from unexpected places. Will Frek be in time to save her or will Lexie be forced to endure the nightmare of her past again?
I stared down at my sister with my hands on my hips. She was being so freaking stubborn! Why wouldn’t she just listen?
I tried to persuade her again. “Lita, you need to contact him. If you don’t contact him, something awful is going to happen to Alek.”
“Lexie, you don’t understand. I can’t tell Frek. I just can’t.” She smoothed her hand over the swollen bump of her belly.
It was more than a bump—she was due in two weeks. This would make baby number three, and the second of her children to her husband, Jarrel. Alek, her first son was the product of her helping a male she’d met six years ago with his rut. She’d helped him, and he’d helped her. To complicate matters, Frek—Alek’s father—was the Crown Prince of Alloria, the heir to the throne.
Alita had agreed to contact Frek if she gave birth to a boy, as the child was now in line to be king of Alloria one day. Our father reached out to the King of Alloria and notified him of the birth, but there was never any return contact, until now.
Alek was almost six, and now the King of Alloria wanted to meet his grandson. I knew that if Frek wasn’t here for the meeting something terrible was going to happen. Alek’s life would be in danger. I’d seen it.
I blew out a frustrated breath and let my gaze skim over the opulent splendour of her sitting room. Done all in shades of blue with accents of gold and white, it reminded me of one of the guest suites in the palace. A large vase of flowers sat on a duchesse and perfumed the air with the scent of heeli blossoms. Alita and our mother both loved them, but I couldn’t stand the strong, excessively sweet scent.
I got down on my knees in front of her chair and gently placed my hands on her belly. “Please, Lita, if you don’t get in contact with Frek, Alek is going to die. The only way for him to survive is if Frek is here when his father arrives. The King is going to be here in just over two weeks, and you have no idea how far away Frek’s ship is.”
The baby in my sister’s belly kicked against my hand, and I felt a little thrill like I always did when I felt the movement of one of my nieces or nephews. Tears welled in Lita’s eyes and slid down her face.
“I can’t, Lexie. I promised Jarrel I wouldn’t ever contact him. He doesn’t know I had a boy.”
I stared at her, my mouth hanging open before I snapped it shut. “Why would you do that? Are you crazy? He’s in line to be king! Frek has a right to know you had a son. Oh God, I can’t believe you never told him!” I tried really hard to keep the anger and incredulity out of my voice.
“I know, I know!” She swiped at the tears running down her face. “Alek was only a few weeks old, and I think Jarrel was terrified Frek would come and take him away. I swear sometimes he loves Alek more than he loves me.”
My lips tipped up in a smile, but I was still furious with her. “Now I know you’re being silly,” I said. “Jarrel is besotted with you and you know it.”
She huffed out a wet throaty chuckle before her face crumpled and she cried out, “What am I going to do, Lexie?”
“You need to contact Frek and tell him. Alek’s life being in danger is more important than Jarrel worrying that Frek will take him,” I told her firmly.
Alita’s blue eyes shimmered with tears. She had our human mother’s eyes, just like my straight human brother, Arik, and Altair, another brother. I had my father’s eyes, a bright magenta with shots of black, but Alita and I both had Borakoy hair. Lita’s was cerise while mine was a darker pink my human mother had told me looked like raspberries.
The patter of little feet on the stone tiles reached us a few seconds before Alek burst into my sister’s sitting room. “Mama, Jarra drew all over the wall!”
I turned and watched my nephew run on skinny little legs over to us. He was the most beautiful child I had ever seen, a stunning combination of the four species that contributed to his genetics. He had my sister’s cerise hair with streaks of pastel rainbow we’d discovered came from the Hrenkie, and Frek’s bright gold eyes courtesy of his Allorian heritage. His skin was an exquisite shade of pale bronze that seemed to shimmer in the sun. But, it was his face, his bone structure that made him stunning. He looked like Frek—same nose, same lips, same cheekbones.
Every time I looked at my nephew, I was reminded of the male I’d had a crush on since I was fourteen, even though I’d never met him. Staring down at Alek, I realised I would do anything, whatever it took, to keep him safe. Even if it meant doing something my sister wouldn’t want me to do.
“Jarra drew on the wall? Well, we’d better tell Fronka, and he can get one of the girls to clean it up,” Alita said to Alek. She reached out a hand and stroked his shinning hair before turning back to me. “I can’t, Lexie. Even if Jarrel would let me, it’s been so long. How would I explain to Frek why I didn’t tell him?”
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