as she realized the reason for his deep breath had nothing to do with tormenting her with his hard body.
When he had lifted his head to shout, both halves of his face were bathed in moonlight, giving her an up close view of the angry red scar that ran from his temple to the right side of his mouth. It gave him a rakish, dangerous air, and her fingers itched to trace the puckered red line and sample its texture.
He dropped his chin, and his warm breath feathered against her face. “Are you all right?”
“Prince Ryan!”
She jumped again as the new male voice startled her out of her reverie. Shit! I’m under a Klatch prince?
Panic and mortification flowed over her, quickly followed by a large dose of protective anger. Since when did she let her guard down in such an unknown situation?
Kiera braced her legs, and in a quick maneuver her father taught her, she reversed their positions.
He struggled against her move, and when she put all her weight on her right knee to catch her balance, instead of blacktop, her knee met flesh. Hard.
“Urgh!” The prince curled up, his body instinctively protecting itself as he clutched his crotch.
Heat seared her cheeks as she realized she’d landed all her weight on his groin.
Damn it. He shouldn’t have moved!
Kiera pushed to her feet and fled into the night.
Ryan de Klatch, the Tenth Prince of Klatch, rolled onto his side as he concentrated on sucking air into his lungs to cool the throbbing pain in his balls. The smell of burnt oil, tar and exhaust filled his senses, and he coughed—then winced as the spasms reached his aching groin.
Footsteps pounded closer until Gavin, the captain of the Klatch royal guard, filled his vision. “Prince Ryan, are you hurt?”
Ryan swallowed hard. “Only my pride.” And possibly my ability to add to the Klatch bloodline .
Gavin’s serious expression never changed. “My apologies for being late, my lord. There were a dozen more Cunts around the side of the building we had to neutralize. The other guards are keeping the perimeter clear.”
“Good thing you have confidence in my ability to defend myself.” Ryan rolled onto his back and sat up. Nausea roiled inside his stomach, and he widened his thighs to give his tender balls some room to recover.
“If I thought you couldn’t, I would’ve brought more men and not let you out of our sight. I figured you could hold your own against one old man, a few guards and a tiny wisp of a woman—until you tackled her, that is.” The guard stood and held out a hand to help Ryan up. “My lord,” Gavin added as an obvious sarcastic afterthought.
Ryan shook his head and laughed. He accepted the hand and stood, adjusting his jeans so they wouldn’t pinch his injured manhood. “Bastard,” he said with affection. Gavin had taught Ryan much of what he knew about fighting and spell casting—at least those portions that weren’t considered acceptable for a royal prince to learn. The rest he had learned from a royal tutor. Over the years, Ryan had forged a close bond with the guard, which he still appreciated today.
There had been many times over the course of his life that those “not acceptable for a prince” skills had kept him alive or unharmed.
Except for that once .
He traced his fingers over the bottom edge of his scar where it met the side of his mouth as he shoved the painful memories away.
He glanced back at Gavin and smiled, bringing himself back to the present. “If you were so sure I could handle it, why did you aim an energy beam at her?”
Gavin’s lavender eyes narrowed. “None of my guards sent that beam. Are you sure it was a Klatch beam?”
“Very sure. It was pink and came from your direction.” Unease tightened Ryan’s stomach. Perhaps there were even more Klatch traitors they hadn’t discovered when the Seer was found. If so, he had to settle things with the Healer quickly. The sooner the Triangle was instituted, the better.
“I’ll get to the bottom of it, my prince; you have my word.”
Of that, Ryan had no doubt. Gavin was an excellent captain of the guard and had held that position for the past forty years—although thanks to the regenerative powers of their home planet of Tador, the man still looked to be a very fit midthirties.
Ryan nodded in response and then grinned as he thought about the little blond ball of fire who had nearly emasculated him. “If that ‘wisp’ of a woman is the Healer, I’m in for a long, bumpy ride.” In his mind’s eye, he replayed the scene, enjoying both the passion in her eyes when she’d defended herself from the guards and the sensual wonder in those same blue orbs when he lay on top of her with their gazes locked.
Gavin grunted. “I think perhaps before we return to Tador, we should stop by the store and buy you an athletic supporter with a sturdy cup.”
“I don’t intend to give her another chance to rack me, but thanks.” Ryan brushed blacktop debris off his shirt and jeans.
“You did notice she’s part Cunt?” The guard’s voice was sharp as his gaze swept the parking lot, never landing on Ryan. “Or did that escape your notice while you were pressing against her softer parts?”
Surprise had Ryan turning to look at the guard. He had assumed she was human, and since she used no magic to defend herself, he hadn’t bothered to expand his senses to check.
The guard chuckled. “I didn’t think you’d noticed. You always have been a sucker for a pair of nice eyes and a shapely…form…my lord.”
Gavin had fought in Tador’s planetary civil war against the Cunts and still held some resentment—like most Klatch. After all, hundreds of Klatch died, unaware, the day Sela and the Cunt Council decided to try to overthrow the throne.
Ryan bit back a sigh. He and his generation had fought and even killed a few Cunt warriors over the years, as well. However, those were all in self-defense, as far as he knew. He wasn’t naive enough to think most Klatch would be content to wait until their lives were threatened to kill their old enemies.
As it was, he had a few Cunt resentments of his own. His fingers traced the roughened scar that ran from his temple to the right side of his mouth. Painful memories threatened to flood back, and he shoved them aside again. Lately, those memories had ridden much closer to the surface than was comfortable.
Grappling with the little Cunt spitfire definitely hadn’t helped.
If the Seer was right, and this blond beauty was the Healer for the Triangle, then he had much bigger problems than dealing with the past. The entire planet was in for an uphill battle. “Did you also notice she didn’t attack me and that the other Cunts didn’t seem too friendly toward her?” He thought back over their brief conversation. “She said the Cunt Council now thought she was a traitor.”
“Doesn’t mean we know where her loyalties lie,” Gavin said matter-of-factly, although he didn’t sound like he believed his own words, which surprised Ryan. “She’s the doctor who treats both Cunts and Klatch with no questions asked. Her mother
