by Tana Stone
When he’d been inside her, he’d felt like they were one. Nothing had felt more right to him than when she’d surrendered to him completely. Now he wondered if her cries of pleasure had been real.
“Vox.” Her voice startled him.
He focused on her, and her intense gaze.
“I can’t lose you,” she said. “Please let me try to save you.”
His throat constricted. She was right. This was the only chance he had to avoid being taken back to the Kronock, and it would keep her safe. Even if it was a trick to get him back to the Drexians to stand trial for treason, he didn’t care. Despite everything, he had to keep her safe. That hadn’t changed for him.
He looked deep into her dark eyes. How he felt for her hadn’t changed, either. He couldn’t unwind his heart from hers now even if he wanted to, which he didn’t. She was his—always. Which meant he was also hers. He knew he’d never regret their moments of passion or how she was now embedded in his heart or what his feelings for her were about to make him do.
He took her hands and rubbed his thumbs softly across the backs of her hands. They didn’t have much time before the other ship reached them, so he needed to go with his gut. “If you think you can remove it, Shreya, I will trust you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Vox lay on the hard platform in the ship’s small medical treatment room, his gaze fixed on the dark ceiling. He could hear Shreya moving around, pulling things from the cabinets as she searched for supplies. She’d declared the medical setup basic but workable, which did not increase his confidence.
“This is more like a repair than a surgery,” she said as she bustled around him. “And I always liked tinkering with things as a child.”
He did not like the idea of her tinkering with the implant embedded in his head, but he also knew he didn’t have a better option. “Why did you not decide to become a doctor?”
“Something minor.” She cleared her throat. “I sometimes get a little lightheaded at the sight of blood.”
He bolted upright. “Minor? You might faint during the surgery?”
She pushed him back down with one palm on his chest. “It’s been a long time since I fainted. I’m sure I’ve outgrown that phase.”
“I think the escape pod might be a better option for me.”
“Floating alone in space waiting to be picked up by the Kronock is better?” she asked, inspecting a handheld device from one of the alien med kits. Shreya pressed a button and a green beam shot out, scorching the corner of the countertop. She yelped and put it down.
“I may have better odds out there.”
She gave him a side-eye look. “I told you. I’m not going to leave you to be tortured or turned back into one of them. Not if I can save you.”
He clasped her wrist. “What if I am beyond saving?”
“But you’re not.” She smiled down at him, tracing a finger down the side of his face. “You’ve shown me the good in you.”
“You really think I can return to life as a Drexian?” He heard the desperation in his own voice.
She nodded. “Of course. You’re going to love the Boat.”
He pulled her hand to his mouth, kissing her open palm. “And I can stay with you?”
Pink tinged her cheeks. “If you want, although I don’t live on the fancy side with the holographic suites.”
“I don’t need fancy if I have you.” He inhaled the scent of her skin and felt the trill of her pulse as he held her wrist.
Vox was acutely aware of the risk he was taking and wondered if this would be the last time he touched her. So much could go wrong. The chances of her being able to successfully and safely disable a sophisticated piece of cybernetic tech were slim, even as smart as she was. And if she did manage to remove it or render it inoperable, the Kronock might still track them down before they reached Drexian space. If that happened, he would have to surrender Shreya to them, or die trying to fight them off.
He sat up again, swinging his legs over the side and nestling her between them.
“What are you doing? I’m supposed to be prepping you for surgery.”
“Soon.” He pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin and inhaling deeply, memorizing the sweet smell of her hair. He ran his hands down her back until he reached the curve of her ass, his cock stirring.
Vox needed to imprint everything about her in his brain, but what he really needed was to claim her again. Once was not enough. He needed to convince himself she was really his, feel her body respond to his and banish the doubts swirling in his mind. Heat coiled in his belly as he remembered the feel of her tight heat sheathing him.
“Vox?” She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held her in place with his legs. “This is really not making things go faster.”
“You prefer it fast?” He slid his hands along the layers of fabric covering her legs, pulling the dress up until it was balled into his fists at her waist.
She slapped at him playfully. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
He lifted her in the air so she had to bend her knees to straddle his lap. Her pupils flared when he rested her on his hard cock.
“You’re a very bad patient, you know that?” she said, her words soft and her hands gripping his shoulders.
“That is okay. I think you might like bad.”
Shreya made a small sound of outrage. “If you’re accusing me of liking bad boys, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“No?” He unfastened his own pants, shoving them down and freeing his cock. “I thought you liked me.”
She glanced at the hard length of him jutting up, and her tongue wet her bottom lip. “I do like you, but you aren’t bad.”
“But I’ve done bad things.” He slowly lifted the dress completely over her head, tossing it on the floor. Vox cupped her breasts and thumbed her nipples. “I abducted you and tied you up and forced you to let me touch you.”
A shiver went through her. “I like the way you touch me.”
He could see that as the flesh around her nipples pebbled.
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And if you really are a bad boy, then you’re my bad boy.”
Vox felt a surge of possession. He was hers, and she was his. No one could take her from him. He wouldn’t let them. “You do not still want to escape from me?”
“I’m trying to save you,” she said, taking his face in her hands. “So I can have more of this.”
She lowered her mouth to his, her lips gently caressing and the tip of her tongue teasing. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest as she leaned forward, but he was so distracted by the taste of her mouth and the hardness of her nipples grazing his skin that he was startled when he felt her notch the crown of his cock at her opening. She sank down hard, and he let out a loud moan, his eyes rolling back in his head.
She matched his moan with a breathy one of her own as she moved up and down. His hands fell to her hips, his fingers biting into her skin.
Shreya pulled away, her face still so close he could feel her breath. She locked eyes with him, her gaze burning as she moved slowly. He felt lost in her eyes and in her exquisite tightness. Vox tried to steady himself, but his heart raced as his cock strained for more.
“You want it harder, don’t you?” she asked. “You want to fuck me harder and faster.”
He grunted. “I will go as slow as you want me to, mate.”
She leaned close to his ear. “Tell me what you want, Vox.”
He looped a hand around her waist and lifted her, flipping her onto her back in a single, swift motion as he thrust his cock deeper in her. “I want to hear you scream.”
Her eyes were huge as she stared up at him, but her lips were curled into a smile. “Make me scream for you, Vox.”
He drove into her hard, feeling her hands grasping his back and scraping along his nodes. Her touch on his hard bumps sent jolts of pleasure coursing through him, his senses scrambled. The only thing mooring him to reality was the so
und of her cries as he thrust into her again and again.
Her jagged moans and hoarse screams urged him on, and when she began to convulse around him, her tight heat spasming around his cock and her body jerking, it was all he could do to hold on.
“Tell me you are mine, mate,” he said, driving into her. “No one else can fuck you. Tell me this is only for me.”
She arched her head back, panting as she hooked one leg around his waist.
“Shreya, answer me.” He thrust deeply. “Mine?”
“Yes, Vox,” she rasped. “Only yours.”
With that, he exploded, holding himself deep as he pulsed hot inside her. Her arms shook as she clung to his back, breathing as if she’d run a race. He sank down next to her on the platform and braced himself on one arm so he wouldn’t crush her.
She smiled up at him, her expression dazed, as the ship lurched to one side, and Cerise’s scream pierced the air.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shreya braced on hand against the curved walls of the ship’s central compartment as she and Vox ran toward the cockpit, and the ship lurched again. What was happening? It didn’t feel like they were being fired upon, but something clearly wasn’t right.
Her stomach roiled, partly from the jostling of the ship and partly from fear. If the Kronock had found them, it was all over. She would be taken to a lab, and Vox would be pumped full of more Kronock DNA, at least until it finally killed him.
Bursting into the cockpit, she scanned the view out the front of the ship, only vaguely aware that Cerise sat in the pilot’s chair. Her shoulders drooped when she saw the fleet of ships massed in front of them.
“Not Kronock,” Vox said from behind her, although he didn’t sound relieved.
“It’s the Drexians.” Shreya leaning against the back of a chair as she recognized the sleek black hulls of the ships. She glanced down at Cerise. “Is this why you screamed?”
“How was I supposed to know these were the good guys?” The alien flopped back in the seat. “One thrum we were flying, and the next thrum these ships materialized in front of us. Before I could do anything, they locked a tractor beam on us.”
That explained the lurching. Shreya patted the alien on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m just glad it isn’t the Kronock.”
The pilot’s console beeped and a purple light blinked. Cerise squinted at it. “I think it’s an incoming transmission.”
“Let’s hear it,” Shreya said, straightening the dress she’d thrown over her head, inside-out.
Cerise pressed the light, and a static filled the small space, followed by a familiar voice.
“This is Dakar of the Drexian Empire. Identify yourself.”
“It’s me,” Shreya yelled, hoping her voice was automatically transmitted and she didn’t need to hold down a button or something, since she couldn’t decipher the Kronock markings on the dark console. “Shreya.”
Dakar let out a heavy breath. “Thank the gods—”
“Shreya?” Ella’s voice cut him off. “Is that really you?”
Shreya put a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into tears. Not only had the Drexians come looking for her, her friend was with them. She shouldn’t be surprised Ella had managed to talk her way onto the rescue mission. It was exactly the type of friend Ella was—fiercely loyal and incredibly stubborn.
When she’d swallowed the urge to cry and taken a steadying breath, Shreya laughed. “Yes, it’s really me. I can’t believe you convinced the Drexians to take you on another bloody rescue mission.”
“Can’t you?” Dakar said, making Shreya laugh again.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Ella asked. “Just because the first one was a total disaster?”
“Something like that,” Shreya said. It was so good to hear her friend’s voice and fall back into their easy banter. “How did you all find me? I don’t have my tracker anymore.”
“We know,” another voice—deeper and more serious—came on the line. “Commander Dorn here. We suspected the hybrid would know to remove your tracker. Luckily, my brother still has contacts on Lymora III. He got a message that a Drexian cyborg has been spotted taking a human female to one of the famous pleasure houses.”
Ella’s voice broke it. “Shreya, are you okay? Did that monster do anything to you? If he did, I’ll rip his—”
“I’m fine,” Shreya insisted, glancing back to see Vox listening in the corner, his face a mask devoid of emotion. “Vox didn’t hurt me. Actually, he saved me from the Kronock and the Xakden.”
“Xakden?” Dakar sounded startled. “He fought off a Xakden?”
“Two, actually,” Shreya said. “I’m glad you didn’t go all the way to Lymora III to look for me.”
“We were en route there, when our long range scanners picked up your vessel,” Dorn said. “It seemed unusual to have a Drexian, human, and Perogling in a Kronock ship.”
Shreya dropped her gaze to Cerise. “We were trying to get away from the Kronock and back to the Boat.”
“I’m assuming the hybrid is restrained or sedated,” Dakar said, more a statement than a question.
Shreya looked back at Vox, but he’d slipped out of the cockpit. “Actually, he’s not. He isn’t dangerous.”
“Shreya,” Ella said, her voice urgent. “He abducted you and took you to a planet that, from what I hear, is exactly where you want to take someone when you don’t want them to be found.”
Shreya recalled the straps on the bed and the apparatus hanging in the corner of the room. “At first, he was scary, but the more Drexian he became, the less dangerous he was.”
“What do you mean, ‘the more Drexian he became’?” Dorn asked.
“He hasn’t had his regular injections to stabilize his Kronock DNA, which means it’s weakening. He’s literally becoming his old Drexian self again. Of course, this also means he needs medical treatment right away.”
“We have your equipment and injections with us,” Dakar said. “In case we were able to capture him.”
She let out a breath. “Good. That will help a lot with the pains in his implant.”
“We’re going to tractor you into us and lock your ship beneath ours so we can come on board safely,” Dorn said. “You’re sure the hybrid won’t put up a fight?”
“I’m sure. He agreed to come back to the Boat with me.” She hesitated. “You have to promise not to treat him like a criminal. I told him he’d be able to return to life as a Drexian warrior.”
There was a long pause before Dorn came back on the line. “You should not have told him that.”
“Why not? None of this was his fault.” Her voice rose a few octaves. “He was taken captive and tortured, then he was brainwashed and mutilated. You can’t blame him for that.”
“Shreya,” Ella’s said. “He kidnapped you. Why are you defending him? Is he making you say these things? Does he have a blaster to your head?”
“Of course not. He would never hurt me.” Shreya’s frustration rose like bile in her throat. “He’s not dangerous. I promise.”
“Then I promise you we’ll treat him fairly,” Dakar said over murmuring in the background.
“Prepare to be boarded. Commander Dorn out.”
Cerise looked up at her with unblinking eyes, but Shreya couldn’t meet them. Her new friend looked as worried as she felt.
“I need to talk to Vox.” Shreya spun on her heel, heading out of the cockpit and running smack into him. She staggered back a few steps and he caught her by the arms. “Oh, I thought you were in the back.”
He shook his head, his eyes downcast. “I heard everything.”
She took his hands and squeezed them. “They don’t understand because they don’t know you yet. I promise you, everything will be fine once we explain it all.”
“They are right.” His voice sounded almost as toneless as when she’d first encountered him. “I did dishonorable things.”
“But you also did a lot of really honorable things, like saving Ceris
e and me from those awful Xakden, and getting Cerise away from Zylia.”
“They won’t let me have you.” It wasn’t a question.
She didn’t want to lie to him. “Probably not at first. You’re going to be busy with medical treatments to get you back to normal. I’m sure once that’s over, they’ll take what you want into consideration. The Drexians are pretty big on matching warriors with humans. The last warrior who was rescued from the Kronock was given a tribute bride right away.”
“I do not want a tribute bride.” He stroked the backs of her hands and pulled her closer to him. “I want you. Only you. Isn’t that what you want, too?”
“Yes, of course it is—”
The ship shuddered as something clamped on to it from above. Vox’s gaze instinctively went up, then back to her, as he tightened his grip on her hands. “I cannot survive without you.”
“I’m not going to leave you,” she said. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
He lifted her face to his and crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her desperately as the ships locked together, metal scraping loudly against metal. Desire stormed through her, as his hands tangled in her hair, pulling her deeper into the kiss.
“Promise me,” his words were short gasps when he released her. “Promise me you won’t let them take you from me.” His eyes raked over her face, taking in every bit of her as if he were seeing her for the last time. “Tell me you’re mine.”
“Vox, you know I am.”
He nodded, kissing her forehead, then her cheeks and finally giving her a final kiss on the lips accompanied by a small sigh.
The steel hatch above them groaned as the mechanism was wrenched open from the outside. Vox stepped away from her, getting into a warrior’s stance as Commander Dorn dropped down into a crouch, his blaster pointing squarely at Vox’s chest.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Vox’s finger tingled, aching to reach for his blaster, but the last thing he wanted was for Shreya to get hurt.