by Anna Hackett
He broke into a clearing, and his steps slowed.
Lara was stuck in a large web spread between two trees. She twisted wildly, the near-translucent substance holding her tight.
Caze stopped, his lips quirking. He watched her struggle, and in the back of his mind, he wondered what in the name of Eschar had made the web. There were no spiders large enough on Tholla to create this. Nothing native, at least. It looked almost like a Kantos creation. He glanced at the sky. But there was no way there could be Kantos here, so deep in Eon territory. No Kantos had ever been this close to the Eon homeworlds.
Lara spotted him and cursed.
Still, this Terran had made it here undetected. He walked closer. “What are you going to do now, Terran?”
“Screw you.”
“Your struggles are winding you up tighter.”
She stilled. “What the hell is this?”
Caze frowned, studying the substance. “I don’t know.” He felt a trickle of unease.
“Cut me free,” she demanded.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would I do that?”
She cursed again.
He reached out, gripping her hip with one hand. She froze, her eyes narrowing on him.
He curled his fingers around her, going for her belt and where he’d seen her stash the gem. But the feel of her scattered his thoughts. She was firm but round at the same time, and so intriguing.
She sucked in a breath and he met her gaze.
Then he clenched his fingers on her belt. The pouch there was empty. He skimmed his hands down her sides, bending down on one knee to pat down her legs.
She made a choked noise.
He glanced up at her, looking up her long body. She had strong, toned legs, and as he skimmed his hands back up, she twisted. He knew that if she hadn’t been stuck, she would have kicked him.
Caze straightened. That was when he noticed the bulge in the top of her suit, between the curves of her breasts.
He found the fastening at her neck, and started to lower it. Her blue eyes spat fire.
“You wouldn’t have caught me if it wasn’t for this damn web. You got lucky.”
“I would have caught you.”
“No way.”
Her suit parted, and Caze hissed out a breath, his body going rock solid. He stared at her bare breasts. She wasn’t wearing any sort of support beneath her suit. His body responded instantly, his cock hardening.
Cren. No. He ruthlessly controlled his reaction. Or tried to. He forced his gaze off her curves and onto the red jewel nestled between her breasts.
He reached in and his fingers brushed the side of her breast. They both groaned.
He looked into her beautiful, blue eyes.
“Don’t get too excited warrior. I like sex and it’s been a while. Despite you being a pain in my ass, you’re big and strong.” Her gaze dropped, sliding down his body. “I like big and strong, so it’s nothing personal.”
Under her bold gaze, Caze felt another surge of fierce desire. His cock was throbbing hard.
“Nothing personal,” he repeated. “Your body is…different compared to Eon women.”
He plucked the gem out and quickly did her suit back up.
Suddenly, there was the roar of sound overhead and a rush of downdraft. It set his hair dancing around his face.
Caze looked up.
Right at two Kantos swarm ships hovering above them.
“Oh, hell,” Lara bit out.
Caze growled.
Chapter Three
Lara recognized the ships. Kantos.
Shit. Hell. Fuck.
“How can there be Kantos ships here?” she said. “Wouldn’t your Eon ships have blown them out of the sky?”
“I assume, like you, they’ve been experimenting with increased stealth capabilities,” Caze said darkly.
Several figures leaped out of the swarm ships, diving down towards the trees. Streamlined wings flared out from their backs to slow their dive.
A Kantos kill squad.
Beside her, a flash of silver lit the dimness, and she turned her head. Caze’s giant-ass sword glowed in the shadows.
He cut the web, freeing her legs. Her feet hit the ground, and with another slash, her arms were free.
There was another roar overhead, and when she looked up, she saw two Eon ships arrive, their lights spearing through the night.
The Kantos ships looked like insects, and the Eon ships couldn’t be more different. They were black, sleek, and streamlined, glowing with blue lights. Instantly, the swarm ships fled, and the Eon ships gave chase. Laser fire lit up the night sky.
But Lara was well aware that the Kantos soldiers were already on the ground.
Lara reached for her hips and drew her twin blasters. “How many?”
“Six.” Caze lifted his sword, scanning the trees. “Five soldiers and a bug.”
“That’s all?” She looked at the trees. “I’m insulted.”
The warrior shot her an unreadable glance. At that moment, two Kantos soldiers slunk out of the trees.
Their bodies were covered with a hard, brown shell. They walked on four long, jointed legs, and held two razor-sharp arms up in front of their strong torsos. Their shoulders were covered in armored plates, and four small, glowing, yellow eyes dominated their ugly faces, right above a small mouth filled with sharp teeth.
Clicking filled the air, and she knew they were communicating. Her hands tightened on her blasters.
“Bet I can kill more than you, warrior.”
Caze shot her an incredulous look. “Woman, I’m a trained Eon warrior.”
She ran her tongue over her teeth. “So?”
Lara raced across the clearing, firing her blasters at the Kantos.
Lasers weren’t effective weapons to use on aliens with a hard shell covering their body…unless you knew where their weak spots were.
She skidded to the ground, firing up at their bellies.
The clicking went wild and green blood splattered the ground.
She rolled back to her feet, aiming for the four beady eyes of the closest Kantos. He screeched and stumbled, crashing to the ground. One down. The other soldier shifted, holding his arms up to shield his face. But he was leaking green blood.
She grabbed several throwing stars off her belt. She’d sharpened them herself, and their edges could slice through a Kantos carapace. She tossed them in quick succession.
The first star hit the soldier in his narrow mouth, and the second followed. The alien made a choking sound, staggered, and hit a tree.
Two down. Lara strode forward, firing her blasters at the soldiers to ensure they were both dead.
She turned, checking the charge on her blasters. “That’s two for me, warrior.”
He stood there, just staring at her. He looked at the two Kantos bodies, then back at her again. The air charged with something, his mood pulsing off him.
But the warrior wasn’t angry.
Aw, hell. Lara felt an answering tug of desire. She’d never had a man watch her fight and kill and get turned on by it.
She hadn’t lied when she’d told him that she liked a hot, strong, and sexy male in her bed. She liked to ride a lover hard, but finding a man who liked everything about her: her strength, abilities, and take-charge attitude, was pretty damn rare.
Despite his icy façade, Caze was one fine male specimen.
But he was also an Eon warrior. The man sent to hunt her down.
All of a sudden, more Kantos burst into the clearing. Clicking filled the air and Lara tensed.
This time, it was Caze who charged.
Wow, the man could move. She watched him power into the aliens like a tornado.
For a moment, Lara was shocked. All she could do was watch him.
God. He was raw power. His sword moved so fast it was a blur of silver. He was like a dark storm making landfall and hitting hard.
One Kantos reared back, missing two legs. The remaining two K
antos attacked Caze together, their sharp arms swinging like swords.
Caze ducked and weaved, moving like a boxer. Then he turned and ran his sword through one of the soldier’s guts.
The other Kantos slammed his arm down on Caze’s back. He barely reacted, his armor clearly absorbing most of the blow. He spun, his gaze zeroing in on the last soldier.
The Kantos circled him, eyes glowing. And that’s when Lara spotted the Kantos bug creeping up behind Caze.
Cowards. No way.
Lara strode toward the ant-like bug, which stood about waist-high. It was black, with two long antennae waving back and forth on top of its head, and green poison dripping from its pincers. She reached up over her shoulder and pulled her sword from the spine sheath running along the center of her back.
Her sword wasn’t fancy. It was solid, made from the strongest metal alloy on Earth, and perfectly balanced for her.
She attacked.
With a vicious screech, the bug swiveled. It skittered to the side, dodging her swings.
Come on, Mr. Creepy-Crawly. She kept rushing the bug, driving it away from Caze.
Then she ran, leaped into the air, and somersaulted. She landed on the bug’s back. It screeched and she bent her knees to keep her balance. She swung her sword.
Two of the creature’s legs sliced off. It tilted like it was drunk and she leaped off. Turning mid-air, she slashed with her sword.
Two more legs were gone and its wild shriek made her wince.
It dragged its body across the ground in a desperate attempt to flee. Lara calmly advanced and raised her sword. With a hard swing, she decapitated the alien.
Green blood gushed and she jumped back. She turned in time to see Caze land a powerful blow to the last Kantos soldier. The alien collapsed in a pile.
She met the warrior’s silver-black gaze.
“Three kills each,” she said.
“More are coming.”
There were always more Kantos. That was what made them so dangerous. They swarmed in, and used their greater numbers to annihilate other races.
Exactly what they had planned for Earth.
Through the trees, Lara heard more clicking.
She stepped up beside Caze, and they stood shoulder to shoulder as more Kantos emerged.
The woman could fight.
It seemed humans had adapted and learned to use their strengths to battle the Kantos. Maybe there wase more to Terrans than Caze had guessed.
Give us the gem.
The deep, raspy voice echoed in Caze’s head. He eyed the Kantos elite, the leader of this group of fighters. He was a little taller, his shell a little paler, than the others. He could also speak telepathically in the heads of other species.
“Screw you, Creepy,” Lara shouted.
As more Kantos soldiers came at them, Caze watched her swing her deadly sword. It was a simple design, but made of some reinforced metal. It had clearly been designed just for her.
Caze ensured he stayed out of her way as she spun the wicked weapon. But when she dodged back from the soldiers, he moved in. His helian pulsed, and he slashed with his sword, taking down a soldier.
He and Lara fell into a rhythm, cutting down several Kantos in a row.
“I’ve got one more than you now,” she yelled.
Caze shook his head as she ran at the remaining aliens.
She pressed a boot to a stump of a rotted-out tree and leaped into the air. She landed on the back of a soldier, driving her sword deep and working it through the hard shell.
You will die here. We will take the gems.
Caze ignored the rasping mental voice. There was no way he was letting the Kantos take anything.
“Blah, blah,” Lara said. “I’m evil and I’m going to destroy the world.” With a quick flash of her sword, she sliced the head off the Kantos elite. “I’m really ahead of you now, warrior.”
She leaped away from the body.
Caze scowled. He’d never met a woman like her. He straightened, rushing at the remaining soldiers.
But with their leader killed, the soldiers lost their cohesiveness. Working with Lara, Caze easily tore through the last of the Kantos.
Caze lowered his sword and pulled in a breath. He watched her clean green blood off her sword.
She glanced his way. “We’re not a bad team, warrior.”
“My name is Caze, Terran.”
“And mine is Lara.” Then she smiled. “I still killed one more than you.” She paused and frowned. “They were after the gem.”
Yes. And Caze wanted to know why.
But for now, his gaze was on the woman warrior staring at him, her chest rising and falling, drawing his attention to her full breasts. They were cupped by her spacesuit, but he knew exactly what they looked like.
He let his gaze drift over her. Everything about her enticed him.
She took a step closer, her own bold gaze sliding down his body. She lifted her head and their gazes clashed.
“You want to kiss me,” she said.
So direct. He wasn’t used to it. “I want to strip you naked, pin you to a tree, and thrust my cock inside you.”
She jolted and her lips parted. “I think that’s the most I’ve heard you say in one sentence.”
They strode toward each other, closing the gap between them. Desire thrummed through Caze’s blood, and he felt it in the air around them.
Some part of his brain shouted that she was his prey, his mission, but he ignored it. She pressed a hand to his chest and he retracted his armor.
“That is so cool,” she breathed, watching the black scales flow off his body.
Her hand pressed against his black shirt, her fingers kneading his skin.
Caze breathed in her scent—healthy sweat and that familiar floral. It wasn’t what he expected on such a seasoned fighter. Did she rub lotion on her skin? Or was it a special perfume she dabbed in sensitive places?
Under the practical spacesuit, he knew she was pure woman.
He lowered his head and heard her blow out a breath.
“You feel too damn good,” she murmured.
“You smell good.”
“This is crazy. You’ve been hunting me. We’ve been fighting each other.”
“Yes.”
His lips touched hers and he nipped at her. The taste of her hit him. Then, with a moan, she rose up, and wrapped an arm around his neck.
Caze cupped the back of her head and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue inside her mouth. By Eschar, she tasted so good.
Her tongue met his, stroke for stroke. She tasted good, smelled good, and need exploded in his gut.
He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer. She rubbed that gorgeous, strong body against him.
Then he felt a sting at his neck. He jerked.
What the Cren? He pulled back and he saw regret in her eyes.
“Sorry, warrior. That was a hell of a kiss, and I’m sorry to end it.”
Caze’s legs turned to water and he dropped. Lara supported him down until his knees touched the dirt.
Cren. She’d fooled him and injected him with some sort of sedative. He could feel the drug working through his system. His helian moved to neutralize it, but for the moment, he couldn’t move.
His father would be furious that he’d let anyone best him, especially a Terran female.
Lara plucked the gem of Eschar from his pocket.
“I am truly sorry,” she said. “But there is too much at stake.”
“Lara—” His tongue felt thick, making it hard to talk.
She closed her eyes for a second, then she opened them. She rubbed her thumb over his lips, then bent her head and kissed him.
Caze couldn’t move his arms. All he could do was growl in frustration.
“Sorry, babe.” She rose, cast one last glance at him, then jogged into the trees.
He lost sight of her, and managed to throw his head back and roar.
Chapter Four
Lara
snuck back into the town. It was risky, but she needed to mask her scent trail and this was what Caze would least expect of her. Plus, it was now the most direct route back to her ship.
There were warriors everywhere, all wearing symbiont armor.
She blew out a breath. She knew they weren’t looking for her, they were searching for the Kantos, but the last thing she needed to do was draw any attention to herself.
Sticking to the shadows, she moved along a wall. Some colorful fabric hangings had been pinned up for the festival, and she quickly snatched one down. She whipped it over her head, covering her dark hair and obscuring her face.
She hurried through the streets. The gem was nestled once more in her suit. It felt like it was burning against her skin.
She licked her lips. And tasted Caze.
Her belly tightened. Hell. She’d kissed the warrior. She’d liked it. She’d practically climbed his big body. His big, hard body.
Focus, Lara, or you’ll get your ass caught.
Soon, she came out on the other side of the town without incident. Her stealth ship was hidden up in the hills nearby. Overhead, two bright moons filled the night sky, as well as the orb of the planet Ath.
Trying not to move too quickly, she ducked across the final street and into a grassy field. She moved up a hill and into the trees. By moonlight, she found a small stream and followed it. After a while, she was far enough from the town that she flipped on the flashlight attached to the shoulder of her suit.
There. She spotted the large tree with sprawling branches where she’d left her ship.
She hit a control on her belt and there was a shimmer in the night. The holographic camouflage dropped.
The stealth ship was tiny. It only fit two people, and was made purely for speed and secrecy. She pressed her palm to the door lock and it slid open. She climbed into the tight confines.
She quickly opened a reinforced panel on one side wall. Inside, was a sturdy, black case. She flipped open the lid and her chest tightened. The two gems she’d stolen were nestled in black foam. The seafoam-colored gem of Ston and the bright-blue gem of Alqin. Pulling out the red gem of Eschar, she settled it into the remaining space.