The Raqulian relaxed and took his seat again.
“Haylie had to excuse herself as well,” Kamran added. “There was a security matter down at the bazaar she needed to see to. I’m afraid you’re left with us.”
“Amy.” Sean finally turned around to face her. He looked tired, which was odd, considering he’d only been gone a little over an hour.
“Is everything okay?” She moved closer to him, trying not to give him any indication of her panic. “I was wondering where you’d gotten off to.”
With a quick look back to the others, Sean moved toward her with sure steps. With an arm around her waist, he led her to the nearest chair, gently pushing her down.
“We need to talk.” He squatted so his body rested by her knees. “There’s a problem.”
105
He knows.
Her stomach soured, forcing her to swallow down the sudden buildup of saliva in her mouth. Something must have shown on her face because in the next instant, his hands were rubbing up and down her thighs.
“Gaz was on the ship when your dad decided to pay you a visit. Something about you calling him and telling him to come down. It was a very slick chameleon program from what we can tell. He would have thought it was you on the vid. They grabbed him when he was heading back to his place. The only reason we know is because Gaz was watching on the vid to make sure he got out okay.”
“They haven’t hurt anyone else?” She knew what the answer would be, but it didn’t hurt to confirm matters.
“No, everyone else, the other ships, are all fine. But everyone down there knows what happened. They’re scared.”
Amy couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter from popping from her. “
They’re
scared?
It’s not their family who’d been taken by some psychopath, being held hostage to make them do something they don’t want to go near. They’ll probably end up killing him no matter what I do.”
Sean moved, pulled her hard against him and Amy sank into his warmth. Gods, she couldn’t do this anymore, be as strong as she needed to. She was tired, the constant worry about what Tyrell and his men would do next exhausting her.
“You knew?” he whispered after a while, tightening his hold around her.
“On my way back from med bay. One of his men grabbed me, told me if I didn’t cooperate they’d kill him.”
“Amy, baby, did they give you anything? Something we can use to track these fuckers down?” When she tried to move away, Sean tightened his hold on her. “No you don’t. You’re not in this alone.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t involve any of you. He’ll know.”
Sean pulled back, cupping her face, forcing her to look at him. “He won’t, not if we do this right.”
“I’m not going to risk my dad’s life.”
“I’m not asking you to. But you need to trust me.”
There was a quiet pleading in his gaze, something that told her fixing this was just as important to him as it was to her. The man she’d become attached to wanted to help her, wanted to fix everything dark and nasty in her world. This wasn’t the same Sean who sat brooding at the table earlier. This Sean was confident. This Sean could help her.
She moved her hand so her fingers laced over his. “Okay.”
That one word had him smiling. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead, before standing. “I know none of you are going to like the plan I managed to come up with. But after talking to Gaz, I think it’s our best shot.”
Davin crossed his arms and leveled his gaze at Sean. “You’re going to take the shipment and run it in the race.”
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Sean nodded.
“And you’re going to do it without a tracker on either the ship or the cargo. Right?”
Davin lifted an eyebrow.
“You’re smart for a Raqulian,” Sean goaded.
“Naw, just know what I’d do in your place.”
“I don’t like this.” Kamran moved around the table. “Anything could happen to you and there is still no guarantee you’ll get her father back. Without a tracker, there’s nothing we’ll be able to do to help.”
“Administrator,” Taber said, reaching out to place a hand on Kamran’s shoulder.
“In this particular instance, I have to agree with Sean. We need to step back, pull as far away as we can given these new circumstances. Any equipment we use will be easily detectable by Tyrell. All their lives will be in danger if we directly interfere.”
Amy stood by and watched as the friends came to the painful realization they couldn’t do anything to help her or Sean. They would be on their own.
“I know none of you like this, but believe me when I say the chances of getting my dad back are far higher if you let me do this on my own.”
“Not on your own,” Sean corrected. “Don’t think for a minute I’m about to let this bastard get away with what he’d done. By the time we’re done, he’s going to wish he’d picked a different profession.”
Amy smiled. “That’s something I can’t wait to see.”
“Kamran, we need your promise you won’t try to stop anything. If Tyrell gets any indication there is a problem or that Amy went to the authorities at all, her dad is dead.
We need to do this without backup.” Sean walked forward, his hand held out in front.
“Please.”
The administrator paused and Amy couldn’t help but wonder what exactly the history was between the two of them. Sean didn’t back down, his hand held firmly out between them, his gaze not wavering. She wasn’t sure what it was Kamran saw in his look, but after a time he smiled and firmly clasped Sean’s hand in his.
“Promise you’ll be careful. Use the emergency frequency if you need to. Only I and Taber will have access to the message.”
“I will. But don’t count on hearing from us until after the race.” Sean nodded to the rest of the men, before walked to Amy, sliding his arm around her waist. “We better move if we’re going to pull this off.”
“Thank you for your help,” she said to the others as they left.
Sean didn’t say anything else to her until they reached the lift leading to the hangar.
Once they were underway, he hit the emergency stop and pressed her back against the wall.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered against her neck. “I tried to get him back.”
She slid her hand into his hair and pulled the strands firmly in her grip. “Not your fault. There’s nothing anyone could have done. If anyone is to blame it’s me. I should 107
have warned him.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have. It was the next step. The logical next move of an insane man. I could have gotten him off the planet or at least gotten him on the
Drake
. But I did nothing.”
“Amy, listen to me.” Sean placed a kiss on the spot just below her ear. “Your father will be fine. We’ll get him back, stop Tyrell and win the race. Everything is going to work out.”
As much as she wanted to believe him, Amy was far too practical. “I’ll be happy just to get my dad back unharmed.”
They stayed there a moment longer, Sean inhaling deeply against her skin, her fingers twisting the material of his shirt into a ball. On some unspoken cue, they both pulled back, releasing each other from their grip.
“I promise, I’ll make this better,” Sean whispered one final time before pressing the button and activating the lift once more.
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Sean frantically ran every possible scenario of what they were about to walk into through his head as he sat waiting for Amy to upload the information from the data pad. Both Gaz and Ryan were hovering in the back of the room, flat out refusing to leave.
“This is just as much my fault as anyone’s,” Gaz argued. “I should have walked him back to his room. I should have known you hadn’t sent the message.”
“There was no way you could have anticipated what would happen,” Amy fired back. “None of us really could have guessed Tyrell’s actions. All we can do now is play his little game until we can set things right.”
He knew this would turn out to be far harsher than any of them intended. In the hour he’d been working with Gaz to try to find Amy’s dad, the younger man had filled in him on exactly what type of person the drug runner was. Murder and torture were pastimes, amusements to keep him happy. Dust was his lifeblood. He’d only started to reach out to this sector of the galaxy, which was the only reason why Sean hadn’t heard of him before now. It had pissed him off knowing Amy had been dealing with this shit on her own since her arrival. Why the hell hadn’t she come to him, especially when she knew he could have done something?
Amy’s fingers shook as she pressed the data chip into the computer. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and running his hand across her shoulders, trying to rub some of the tension away. Without looking, Amy leaned back into his touch and reached up to capture his hand in hers. It was something at least.
“Here we go,” she said softly.
Sean wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t the display flashing to reveal the image of a man tied to a chair in a cell. His face was bloody and swollen, a large gash obvious above his left eye. Two large men moved in and began to beat on him. Amy jerked with every punch, the muscles of her shoulder tensed into a rocklike state.
“Oh shit,” Gaz muttered.
“Amy?” Sean squeezed her fingers as he watched the color drain from her face.
She shook her head, pulling her hand out of his grasp to fall into her lap. Sean knew she was trying to pull away, hide her feelings from him. It’s what he would have done in her place, feeling the insane need to stay strong and self-reliant. He wouldn’t let her feel isolated. He draped his arm around her neck and prayed she could take some comfort in his presence.
The image finally—
thankfully
—faded away, only to be replaced with a starmap and a series of coordinates. He swallowed hard and released her, shifting his position to get 109
a better look at the screen.
“I know this,” he said, pointing to the first rendezvous marker. “This is the farside asteroid belt. He probably has a ship hidden in the rock field.”
Gaz moved in close, crowding Sean as he hit several keys on the computer panel.
“It will take us a bit of work to get the shielding reinforced. We’ll have a lot of rock to repel if we are going to last any amount of time in there. Even still, it’s going to be a big strain on the engines.”
“I don’t think we’ll be there long anyway.” Sean hit a few more buttons to reveal the next waypoint on the map. “It looks like it will be a snatch and grab maneuver as we are coming out of the fifth turn for the race. We’ll be less than an hour in when we have to slip out and hit the rendezvous mark. The shitty thing is this will take us out of the running for the race.”
“I doubt we’ll be the only ones there.” Amy’s voice was raw when she spoke.
Sitting forward, she raked her fingers through her hair, tucking it behind her ears.
“Once people know we are running for Tyrell, others holdouts will fall in line. It’s one of the reasons I tried to fight this as long as I could.”
Even though he knew it was the case, Sean hated that Amy’s blackmail would have such a large impact on others. “Hey,” he said softly.
She turned, hesitating for just a moment before leaning in and pressing her forehead to his. “This fucker is going to ruin everything I ever wanted.”
“I know. We’ll fix it.”
She snorted softly. “Every time we give in to men like Tyrell, it opens the door for others to do the same thing, use the same tactics. No one’s family will be safe.”
They’d continue to dance around this repeatedly, taking and placing blame until they were all racked with guilt. Sean pressed a kiss to her lips without thinking and instantly felt the surge of want hit him. Cock swelling and chest clenching tight, Sean fought the urge to drag Amy back to her room and fuck their worries away. Pulling back was harder than it had ever been before, to the point where he thought something was seriously wrong.
“Hey now,” Gaz teased. “None of that. I don’t think my boy here has recovered from the last time your pheromones went wacky.”
Sean turned his head and glared, a jealous impulse nearly driving him to lash out and punch the other man. “Then why don’t you take your
boy
and disappear for a while.”
“Sean?” Ryan stepped forward, frowning. “You feeling okay? You’re not looking right.”
He tightened his grip on Amy, his fingertips pressing hard into her arms. “I mean it. The two of you need to leave. Now.”
Gaz stiffened. “Don’t get all fucking pissy and possessive on me. I’ve been around a hell of a lot longer than you.”
110
“Shit,” Amy muttered.
The three of them turned to look at Amy, a look of startled embarrassment. She slipped an arm around Sean’s neck, his panic subsiding slightly.
“It really is my pheromones. I’d been taking half doses of my inhibitor trying to extend the supply. I’m out…in more ways than one apparently. It must have passed completely out of my system by now.”
Ryan stood there looking confused, but Gaz’s eyes grew wide. He took a step away from Amy, not taking his gaze off Sean. “Ryan, time to leave.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain when we get somewhere…well, not here. We’ll have to lock the doors and turn off the high recycle function on the ventilation. Unless you’re up for a repeat performance of me trying to suck your brains out through your cock? In which case, we’ll leave them on. In fact…yeah, leave them on.”
Sean didn’t hear Ryan’s response as the door slid shut. The frustration he’d been feeling started to dissipate, but his annoying possessiveness still ran high. Amy began to coo in his ear, her hands rubbing a soothing pattern over his back and arms.
“I’m sorry,” she said, kissing the side of his neck. “I should have warned you, but I wasn’t expecting things to move so quickly.”
“Why?” he managed to croak out, his throat suddenly too tight to speak properly.
“I’m…emotionally weak right now which means my physical side can run a bit rampant. When that happens a female Shay’s mate picks up on the heightened feelings.
Seeing Dad…like that was a shock. I think I’m just a chemical storm right now, my body not knowing which way is up. Then you started touching me and you’re so warm…”
Explanations be damned! He couldn’t hold back anymore. His mouth sought out hers, his hands pulling her closer until there was no space left between them. Amy gasped, but didn’t move away. She leaned in and opened her mouth, letting him run his tongue across the tip of hers. Shit, she tasted like sex and lust—he wanted nothing more than to eat her up, devour the scents gathering on her skin.
No, no, fuck, stop!
Sean moaned and bit the side of her neck softly.
“This is wrong. Your father is hurt. I need to be helping him, helping you. Not wanting to fuck you against the wall.”
Amy gasped, her fingers tightening their hold on him. “I know. But if we don’t…Gods…do this now, it will only get worse.”
Heart pounding, Sean let go. If they were going to go there, he wanted it to be right.
“Bed,” he gasped out in between kisses. “I want to do this in a bed.”
“Against the wall?”
“Next time.”
“Not the floor?” She nipped at his bottom lip.
“No.”
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“Or the couch?”
“Hell, no.”
“Good. My back can only take so much.”
Somehow, they managed to get to their feet. He couldn’t let go of her, the burning need to keep her close, make her
his
, stronger than anything else. He would have gladly killed anyone who tried to stop him. Shit, he almost wanted to kill himself for not moving fast enough.
“Fuck, this is so wrong. The timing’s bad. But I need you. Naked,” he muttered, latching on to her shoulder with his mouth. He pinched her nipple until it was a hard tip. The material of her shirt grew damp from his saliva. “Now.”
“Not…yet. Need to get to the room.”
“Why?”
“You promised me a bed. Remember?”
“The wall’s looking good again.”
“Bed!”
A quick look around revealed they’d only managed to make it as far as the corridor.
He wasn’t sure where Gaz and Ryan were, but the thought of them being near her, the idea they’d try to interfere and take Amy as their own sent a wave of rage through him.
Alone—he needed to get her alone. Yanking himself far enough away from Amy to allow them to move, Sean managed to keep a hand on her lower back as he guided her to their destination. His fingers teased the skin just below her beltline, and he grinned at her small gasp of shocked pleasure when he fingered the cleft of her ass.
“The things I want to do to you.”
“
Bed
, Sean. I’m not doing this in the hall.”
“Then hurry the
fuck
up.”
The door to Amy’s quarters hissed open and they immediately fell inside. Amy spun him around and pushed him to the mattress as she gripped the bottom of his shirt.
“Off. Naked.” She nipped at his collarbone. “Thirty seconds.”
“Yes, Captain.”
He let her help pull his shirt off while he went to work on the opening of his pants.
He was surprised to see his hands shaking, causing him to fumble with the buttons. It didn’t help matters when Amy bent down and dragged her tongue across one of his nipples before latching on hard. He moaned loudly, hands stilling in the progress.
“Hurry up,” she whispered, licking the nub taut.
“Can’t if you keep that up.”
“Scared you might go off too soon?”
“I haven’t come in my pants since I was a kid. Don’t plan on doing it now.”
Amy chuckled, deep and soft in the throat. “Sounds like a challenge for another time.”
112
“Yes, later. But for now…”
He popped the last button, giving his straining cock room to move. Amy’s hand was there, squeezing and teasing, her fingertip dragging softly around the tip before she dragged a nail down the length of his shaft. He couldn’t breathe, his blood buzzing through his body from arousal and the effects of her pheromones. The scent of citrus permeated the small room, seeped into his very being, making him realize the extent to which he wanted this woman.
Sean dropped to his knees, immediately missing the heat of Amy’s touch. He pressed his face to her stomach, lapping at her dark skin, circling her bellybutton with his tongue. Her pants were only held by her belt and the smallest of clasps. With surer fingers than before, he pulled them open, allowing him to lick the soft skin just above her panties.
“So strong, but so delicate.” He tugged at the pants and panties, letting them fall to the floor, pooling over her boots.
Running his hands down along the back of her thighs, Sean nosed the front of her panties, inhaling deep. The tip of his nose brushed over her clit, causing Amy to gasp and clutch at his head with her hands. Sean ignored her, shifting down until he could lift one, then the other of her feet to strip her boot and pant leg off.
With Amy now clothed only in her shirt, Sean stood and ran his hands up the front of her legs as he went. When he got to his feet, he let his fingers capture the hem of her shirt and slowly stripped it from her chest and arms. He tossed it aside, going to work on the remainder of her clothing until she stood before him bare.
Amy was panting, her harsh breathing filled the room. Her pupils were wide and her lips were red from both their kisses and her own teeth. There was a wild look to her that had his heart beating even faster in anticipation of what was to come.
She raked her nails down across his chest, over his nipples, making him buck his hips forward. She chuckled, moving her fingers to carve a light path out over his sides.
“Enough teasing,” he practically growled, lifting her up and setting her down hard on the mattress. She didn’t seem to mind, breaking out into a fit of giggles.
“Your pants are still on.” She reached up and twisted one of her black curls around her finger.
“I can fix that.”
Slowly, he pulled the fabric wide, exposing his erection. Before he released his pants, he managed to toe his boots off, kicking them to the side. After that, it was only a few moments before he lay beside her. The heat from her body seeped into his, supercharging his libido. He couldn’t think, his only focus was Amy—her smell, feel, the way her body moved under his. With his cock trapped between their stomachs, sweat combined with the friction of their thrusts nearly pushed him over the edge.