Assassin (8 page)

Now, just when he hoped he’d finally buried the cursed creature deep enough in his black soul, his body had succumbed to the horribly seductive bestial call and the change had begun. Twice! Twice in as many days! It was only through sheer willpower he’d managed to escape the situation both times before it was too late. Before the beast consumed him—body, soul and mind.

A bleak smile crossed his face. “Escaped” wasn’t exactly the right word.
The Reaper
was headed straight for Pellaxion Four, hurtling him back into the company of Psy Lyso. And Jaienna Ti was currently somewhere on his ship; fiery emerald eyes smoldering, sinful body waiting for his touch.

His cock gave a hungry spasm and he bared his teeth in a silent snarl. Even the memory of his deceitful wife’s hideous demise hadn’t wiped away his consuming lust for the Raavelian. Who ever she was, she affected him in ways he couldn’t allow. Ever. With the dangerous risk of unleashing the beast too real, Jaienna was off-limits.

His gut twisted again, with much more force this time. “Fuck,” he muttered, gazing blankly at the passing stars.

“What’s going on, partner?”

Zeric looked over his shoulder as Jak entered the cockpit. The shell-shocked expression was starting to fade from the Yrathian’s scarred face. Finally. Whatever Jaienna had done to his partner to escape the brig, had left him dazed, confused and strangely reticent. Almost as if he couldn’t bring himself to talk or think about it. Zeric frowned. Despite the aching hard-on and haunted memories it caused he’d studied the security-vid more than once since Jak had let Jaienna walk free from the brig and he still couldn’t work out how she’d done it. One moment they were fucking each other like there was no tomorrow, the next, Jak was handing over his weapons and walking out of the room. Melodramatic love was one of Jak’s governing characteristics, but Zeric knew it never interfered with his work. Ever. Even if Jak wouldn’t—couldn’t?—explain what had happened in the brig, Zeric knew he hadn’t let Jaienna go of his own free will.

He would have to confront her again. There was no way she was getting off his ship without an explanation. He wanted to know who she was, and what she was after.

His cock throbbed at the thought, and he scowled.
Jezu, Arctos, get your mind out of your fucking pants
!

Turning back to the control deck, he made some minor adjustments. Jak’s diminished mental state or no, he didn’t want his partner seeing him sitting here with a raging hard-on. “We’ve passed through the Acheron Cluster,” he said, flicking on
The Reaper’s
long-range sensor alert. “Hopefully we won’t encounter any Cluster-Fuck barges.”

Jak snorted. “The slavers will try and avoid a Boundary Guardian vessel like they would the Xolotlan clap. The slim chance of trade is far out-weighed by the likelihood of being shut down. You’ve been aboard one of those barges. They’re not exactly the cleanliest sex-dens around.” Clear grey eyes slid to Zeric. “Besides, it seems to me neither of us need resort to a Cluster-Fuck whore to shoot our load.”

Zeric clenched his jaw. “Drop it, Jak.” His voice was low and flat. “We’ve both let our cocks do too much thinking for us lately.”

An uncharacteristic blush colored Jak’s cheeks, the intricate initiation scars of his race stark white bolts of lightning against his red skin. “What’s your plan once we hit Pellaxion Space? Guardians aren’t exactly welcome this far from the Boundary.”

“There’s a sex-den on the dark side. The
Lay Over
. I’m familiar with the owner. She’ll let us translocate into one of her rooms.”

Jak raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Pellaxion’s don’t do anything for free. What’s the price?”

Zeric didn’t answer. Ilya Ge’gan knew more about him than any living soul—including the curse threaded through his blood. Her hands wiped Leyna’s blood from his body. Her ears listened to his howls of pain, remorse and fury. Yes, she knew his secrets. And he knew hers. There would be no price.

“So, once down there,” Jak went on, dropping into the flight seat beside Zeric, “we track down Crortek and what? Give him a stern talking to?”

Zeric shook his head. “No. We’re shutting him down. Completely. Not just the Bliss trade. Everything.”

A malicious grin pulled at Jak’s mouth and he leant back in his seat, crossing his ankles on the control deck. “Clean out. My favorite part of the job.”

“Don’t be too eager. We’ve been ordered to bring Crortek in. Alive.”

Jak’s grin disappeared immediately. “Why can’t the lab do a
corpus-interro
?”

“The Intel-Patrol Corp has pulled rank. Something about a rogue agent with a vendetta. They need to know what Crortek knows. Or doesn’t. Whoever this rogue agent is, the Corp’s pretty pissed they’ve gone. If we don’t bring in Crortek the Intel-Patrol Corp are sending an agent to do so which would fuck up our whole case against him. Which would piss me off.” For a still moment Zeric stared out the view screen at the stars streaking past. He’d resisted the urge to ask about Jaienna ever since Jak entered the cockpit, but the ache in his chest and loins wouldn’t let up. Wouldn’t let him forget she was still aboard his ship. “Where is Jaienna?” he finally asked, unable to pretend indifference any longer.

Jak gave him a knowing look. “I’ve left her in the Sprinter’s hanger.”

Zeric continued to look out at the stars. Unless Jaienna had been trained in Guardian tech she was stuck there until one of them released the security lock.

“Good.” He upped the power-feed to the hyperflight engine. “Leave her there. Until we finish on Pellaxion Four the hanger’s off limits.”

Jak began to argue, all trace of the fugue gone from his face, but at Zeric’s sharp look he sat back. “What about food?”

“I’m sure she can survive twenty-four clicks with a hungry stomach. We both know she’s not the victimized slave we first thought. Something tells me there’s nothing even close to ‘victim’ about her.”

Jak snorted, the sound low and decidedly dirty. Zeric knew from his expression he was remembering their wild fucking in the brig. A fact proved when he abruptly stood and left, the bulging tent in his trousers saying it all.

Zeric guessed he was headed for the hydro-pods. A humorless grin stretched Zeric’s mouth. An icy shower
might
ease the pain of a ravenous hard-on, but it wouldn’t destroy the want, the longing.

What will
?

Nothing.

Except sating it. Fulfilling it.

And that wasn’t going to happen.

He leant forward and jacked up the power to the hyperflight engines some more, his body craving something he knew he just couldn’t have.

Fuck
.

* * *

Melting back into the shadows of one of
The Reaper’s
dim passageways, Jaienna flattened herself against a wall, watching Jak stride deeper into the ship. She gnawed on her bottom lip. What should she do—take charge of the ship through fire-power, follow Jak, or step into the cockpit where Zeric sat, alone?

A warm flutter low in her belly told her what her
body
thought she should do.

She stood still and silent, trying to ignore the insistent coaxing of her sex as she considered her next move. It was a sure bet both Zeric and Jak thought she was still imprisoned; neither would expect her to know how to override the locking mechanism, especially from the hanger’s basic security panel. Which meant she had the upper hand. For now.

So how did she best use it?

Go in there, impale yourself on that fantastic cock of his and fuck his brains out
.
Plant the suggestion and get the hell off this
—

A soft hiss interrupted the thought. She slid around the corner and pressed herself against the wall, holding her breath as a scowling Zeric stormed down the corridor.

Well, it looked like the decision had been made for. The cockpit was empty.

Jaienna pulled in a slow, deep breath.

A clean, musky scent filled her nose and lungs—
his
scent. Her pussy clamped shut, grasping for a throbbing cock that wasn’t there. A cock that had only hours ago taken her to the very brink of sexual insanity. She swallowed, her mouth as dry as her sex was wet. A tingling, squirming sensation wormed its way to the juncture of her thighs, an undeniable reminder of just how much Zeric affected her. This was not part of her plan.

Plan? What plan? You only have one plan. To find the bastard who killed Bhel. Fucking a Terran for sheer pleasure is not part of that plan.

She shot a quick sideways glance toward the cockpit door. In two seconds she could be in there; three, and
The Reaper
was hers.

On silent feet she turned, moving swiftly down the corridor. After Zeric.

A pulse hammered in her throat and her heart skipped a beat. Gods, she was an idiot, but it wasn’t the
ship
she wanted.

A few steps later she stopped, looking around the empty passageway, a confused frown creasing her brow. Where was he?

Motionless, she strained to hear his footsteps sounding on the floor. Nothing.

Frowning, she tilted her head to the side. He couldn’t have got
that
far ahead. Could he?

“Looking for me?”

The low words were hot in her ear.

Shit
!

She spun, but before his breath cooled on her flesh, Zeric’s fingers curled around her upper arms and he shoved her to the wall. His hard body rammed against hers, pinning her. Glowing golden eyes bored into her, delving into her soul. Heat flooded through her stomach and into her pussy. She could feel his erection, long, steely and insistent, pushing against her hipbone. “No escape this time, Jaienna,” he said, mouth so close to hers she could feel his words on her lips, taste his breath on her tongue. “I want answers.”

She stared into those hypnotic golden irises. “And I want you.”

At her blunt declaration, a flame ignited in his eyes. Hunger and passion burned in their depths, and something more elemental—need. But even deeper, almost hidden by naked desire, was apprehension. Fear. Zeric wanted her, and it scared the shit out of him.

The realization should have made her happy. She was trained to zero in on weaknesses, but instead of the cold glee of certain victory, uncertainty wrapped itself around her heart. Turned her into statue. The last time she’d felt anything for a man apart from contemptuous disgust or superficial sexual gratification that man had torn out her heart and left her aching inside.

She couldn’t go there again. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

And yet, here she was, standing in Zeric’s hold when she could have been sitting in the cockpit.

That
scared the shit out of
her
.

She looked at him, unsure of her actions for the first time in her brutal life. What should she do?

His lips provided the answer. They brushed over hers, gently, almost hesitantly. Jaienna’s breath caught in her throat and her pulse leapt into frenzied life, beating against her neck like a trapped Raavelian moth. With feather-light caresses, Zeric’s tongue touched her lips, her teeth, finally dipping into her mouth to claim it as his own. She gave it willingly, ignoring the tiny voice in her head telling her to stop, get away,
now
. She’d used sex as a weapon for longer than she could remember; first to protect Bhel from the lecherous Controllers of Raavelia Beta’s mining factions where they spent their terrible parentless childhood, then to escape the brutality of the Raavelia Alpha slave camps, and finally, as part of her job as an Intel-Patrol agent. Sex meant little to her except a means to an end.