Assassin (11 page)

 “Hey!” he shouted, chasing after her and the dom. “That’s my whore!”

The Sheilite halted, turning shining yellow eyes on him. Jaienna kept her head down, face hidden by her wild mane of hair. “I am afraid you are mistaken,” the master spoke, words a low hiss. “The female has just been purchased by Master Crortek. I’m delivering her to him now.”

Lyso curled his lip. It was lunacy to attempt to talk to Jaienna while she was the property of Crortek and it would be suicide forcing the dom to hand her over, but he wanted to know how the fuck she ended up being sold on Pellaxion Four. He stared at her, hoping she would look up. But she didn’t. There was no indication she knew he was there. Not a tensing of muscles or catch of breath. His gaze travelled over her body, remembering the feel of her full breasts in his hands. He narrowed his eyes. Crortek may have bought her, but he—Lyso –had never given her up. She was his property by right and deal. He wasn’t leaving
The Pit
without her.

“I’m just on my way to see Crortek.” He addressed the dom, trying for a commanding glower. “I will take her.”

The Sheilite returned an icy stare. Lyso was one of Crortek’s personal guests and as such was to be treated with deference, but that didn’t stop the dom master’s silent distaste being evident. Lyso was tempted to shoot the ugly insektoyd’s head off there and then. “With respect, I must decline,” the Sheilite said. He turned and continued to walk through the club, Jaienna trailing at the end of her chain.

Lyso stood, fury, indignation and, shamefully, chagrin heating his face. His tail switched. He wasn’t used to being treated with such indifference. Crortek’s staff needed a few lessons on how to treat his guests. Downing the last of his Sniff he threw his empty glass on a nearby table. Perhaps it was time to let Crortek know he wasn’t just another of the Ornithion’s pathetic grunts. He was Psy Lyso! He fucking controlled Crortek’s home planet!

He set off for the crime lord’s private suites. He was taking back his whore. And Crortek wasn’t going to stop him.

* * *

Her neck ached.

So did her head.

The steady beat from the club’s band was like a monotonous thump against her skull, hammering away at her composure.

Following the Sheilite through the busy club with the constant tug on her collar was really beginning to piss her off. Jaienna struggled with the urge to loop the chain around the dom master’s neck and strangle him. It probably wouldn’t help her cover if she went killing those supposedly in a position of power over her. Not until she’d blown Hrung Crortek’s head away, that was.

Blinking lights flashed in her peripheral vision, turning the writhing crowd surrounding her into stark silhouettes of copulating bodies. A quick blowjob and a quick plant at the first slave market and she’d been on her way to Crortek’s personal buyer. Another suck and fondle later and here she was—weaponless and ready to kill,
The Sprinter
docked on the outskirts of the Pleasure District hidden by its decept-shields. All without Zeric Arctos in her head.

Yeah, right
.

She clenched her jaw. She’d refused to think about the man since leaving him chained to the wall in his quarters. She needed to be completely focused when she confronted Bhel’s murderer and all that thinking about Zeric achieved was guilt and confusion. Neither, conducive for revenge.

The one chance you’ve had to be happy, content, and you leave him chained naked to the wall like a wild beast
.

Jaienna ground her teeth.
Shut up
.

Raising her eyes, she took a quick glance through the tumble of hair falling over her forehead. The Sheilite had led her to a heavy, steel-reinforced door at the far side of the club. This deep into the building, the frenzied beat from the band was just a faint annoyance and there were no clients or staff to be seen or heard. Pressing her feet harder on the plush carpeted floor she felt for any vibrations that would indicate the presence of others apart from her and the dom master. Behind them, but a fair way back, was the lumbering tread of Lyso’s feet.

She cocked an eyebrow. He was coming after her.

She hadn’t planned on him being here; it was a complication she would need to factor into her plans. But then, thinking on her feet was one of her greatest weapons. In fact, depending on whose head she got into first, it might work to her advantage. A tiny smile curled her lips. It could save her a lot of time.

A high-pitched buzz followed by a soft hiss announced the opening of the door and she pulled in a slow breath, filling her lungs with air. Once she crossed the threshold, it would get nasty.

A cold voice came from inside, like rough crater ice. “Yes?”

A shiver raced up her spine. Crortek.

“I bring the slave Kzzer acquired from Beltair this evening.”

The Sheilite’s tone was respectful and fearful. Jaienna could hear the slight tremble in his words. She took a quick, silent sniff of the air. There were only the three of them. Lyso was still coming. She smirked—a little. If he didn’t hurry up he’d be shut out of the proceedings, and now that she knew he was here she’d be disappointed if he missed out on the fun.

“She’s been cleaned?” The grating voice asked, yet it sounded more like an order.

The Sheilite straightened. Jaienna could hear his body-plating clack together as he moved. “Yes.”

There was a brief pause and then Crortek said, “Enter.”

With a firm tug on her chain, the Sheilite led her through the doorway and into Hrung Crortek’s private suite.

The smile on Jaienna’s face turned cold.

She’d finally reached her target.

* * *

“Still no sign of the Stinger.” Jak shook his head, looking up at Zeric as he returned his PMFD to its belt clip. “You
were
right. She’s not what she says she is.”

Zeric didn’t respond. He stood in the entryway of the
Lay Over
, staring out into the night. Deep angry cuts circled his wrists and he ran his hands over them, almost absentmindedly. Jaienna was somewhere close. He could
feel
her. Somewhere nearby and in a whole lot of trouble.

He wanted to go after her. He wanted to shake some sense into her deceiving soul. He wanted to throw her in the brig and shatter the lock.

He wanted to hold her.

A growl of self-disgust rolled in his chest.

Haven’t you learnt your lesson yet
?

He took a slow breath, smelling her sweet scent that still lingered on his flesh. His heart clenched and his cock twitched.

No. He hadn’t.

“So, let’s tally this up,” Jak continued, pulling his disrupter from its holster and checking the sights as he spoke. “She knows how to deactivate
The Reaper’s
security computer, she can pilot a Guardian Stinger, she knows how to activate its decept-shield, she gets past the Pellaxion planet defense system without detection
and
she manages to get you chained to the wall in your own quarters—naked, I might add.” He glanced up from his gun. “A particularly nice touch.”

“
And
she convinces you to let her go from the brig in the first place,” Zeric added, shooting Jak a dark look. “And you know damn well why I let her chain me to the wall.” He returned his stare to the dark promenade before him. “It was the easiest way to find out what she’s doing.”

“And she took the bait.” Jak was silent for a moment. “How’s the chest?”

Zeric raised his hand to an angry aching lesion just above his heart. The slight contact sent shards of hot pain through his torso, the wound left by Jak’s disrupter still agonizingly tender. After Jaienna had fled he’d ripped the chains right from the wall, his fury and grief so powerful. If he hadn’t been transformed at the time he’d be dead. “It’s okay.”

“You took me by surprise, partner. I know you’ve been having trouble controlling it lately, but next time you’re plan on going bestial give me a head’s up, will you?” Jak shook his head, a worried look on his face. “I almost didn’t change the setting on my gun.”

“I hadn’t planned on the... transformation. Besides, there wasn’t the time. I was flying by the seat of my pants.”

“By the skin of your ass, don’t you mean? Your pants were already off.”

Zeric ignored the comment. “As you said, she took the bait. That’s what matters.” Pulling out his own disrupter, he adjusted its setting to vaporize. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Jak studying him, that worried expression still pulling at his eyes and mouth. “What?”

“Is that really what matters?”

“Drop it, Jak,” he growled. “Now.” He re-holstered his gun, shutting out the pain in his chest and gut that had nothing to do with being shot by his partner. He’d known the moment the manacles were clamped around his wrists Jaienna would disappear, leaving him chained and unable to follow her. Knowing however, didn’t take away the hurt.

Their lovemaking had surpassed mere sex. The connection was beyond physical. While their bodies had been pressed together, slicked with sweat and joined as one, he’d existed for her. Their hearts had beat in perfect rhythm, their souls—both tortured and wounded—had become symbiotic. As his seed had filled her warm sex he’d almost believed he’d felt her in his head,
heard
her soft husky voice whispering words he couldn’t understand, like the gentle touch of mist on sleeping skin.

They had transcended to another plane of being. He’d felt it, and he knew she had too.

But she’d left him.

As he knew she would.

His heartache turned to fury and he’d been unable to control the beast lurking in his blood. Waiting.

“So, where to now?” Jak’s voice cut through his pain, jerking him back to Pellaxion Four. “Do we find Jaienna or go after Crortek?”

Zeric stepped away from the
Lay Over’s
door and out onto the promenade, his hand resting on the butt of his disrupter. “We’ve got a job to do, Jak. Thinking with our cocks is over.”

* * *

Crortek was evil. Jaienna could see that in just one hidden glance. He reeked of it. It radiated from him in thick waves. It leaked from his pores like swamp water.

Her hands itched with the thought of blowing his head off.

“Bring her closer, Ctix.”

The dom tugged on her chain and she stepped forward, feeling Crortek’s pupil-less eyes travel over her. Her flesh wanted to crawl. When he reached out and shoved his long, bony fingers straight over her mons and down to the folds of her pussy she had to clench her teeth together to stop screaming.

“Very nice,” he murmured, wiggling his fingers slowly, delving deeper into her sex. He ground one large knuckle against her clit, a cold chuckle bubbling up through his throat when she flinched. “Very nice. Kzzer must be congratulated on this purchase.” He curled his fingers into a hook inside her core and pulled her closer still. “Look at me, slave.”

Slowly, remembering her role—submissive and willing—she raised her head, meeting his pearlescent white stare with a steady gaze.

“Green eyes?” The fingers in her sex wiggled. “Your father was a holy man?”

“I never knew my father, master. My sister and I grew up on Raavelia Beta.”

Crortek’s spines flared and he withdrew his probing hand. “The mining camps? And you survived.” His thin lips puckered in increasing approval. “Such beauty from such brutality.” There was an almost undetectable move of his head as he addressed his dom master. “Have you tasted her yet, Ctix?”

“No. But both Kzzer and Baltair claim she gives the best blowjob they’ve ever experienced.” Ctix lifted her left arm, revealing a small brand the shape of a crescent moon just to the left of her breast. “She bears the mark of the Raavelia Alpha slave camps.”