by D T Dyllin
“Problem?” I whirled around, my mouth falling open. He was pushing on thin air—thin air that seemed to have a shape and mass. Realization dawned. The forest had been smashed by a spacecraft, and the spacecraft was still there. “It’s cloaked. Back away slowly. Hopefully none of their sensors picked up on us yet.”
My head spun, panic mixing with my dizziness. Bile rose in my throat. Is this one of our enemies hiding in plain sight? If they spotted us, everything we’d gone through could be for nothing.
Pressure released with a whoosh, the sound of a door being opened, and a signal of the possible end. I sucked in a ragged breath, wondering what my best option for survival would be. I could run, but with the open land laid out in front of us, there was nowhere to go. Or I could stand and fight, but with no weapons I didn’t have much of a chance if there was deadly intent on part of the unknown species. Mikla must have come to the same conclusion because he whimpered, dropping his face behind his case, and squeezing his eyes shut.
Kade, on the other hand, was a bit more prepared for a fight. “Get behind me,” he ordered, brandishing two laser guns.
“Which one of you was putting your fingerprints on my ship?”
I froze, disbelieving my ears. “Jane?” I squeaked. I had to be having an auditory hallucination.
Stepping out into our line of sight, my captain, donning an all leather Steampunk pants ensemble, grinned at me. “Of course it’s me. Did you think we’d forget about you? When news of the attack on Xianfrey reached us, we got here as soon as we could, which was about ten minutes ago.” She laughed. “I can’t believe you just showed up out here like this.”
Relief washed over me, black spots dancing in front of my eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see you.”
“LaLa!” I heard Kade yell as I fell into a pit of blackness.
My eyes slitted open, bright light blinding me. Throwing my arm over my face, I groaned. “Who decided shining a sun directly into my eyes was a good idea?”
“How are you feeling?” Tamzea’s soft voice penetrated my ire.
Jolting up, I swept my gaze over the familiar surroundings of the infirmary in the medical wing on The Pittsburgh. On the cot beside me, was my sleeping brother, the small case, his prized possession, clutched against his chest. Kade had his large frame curled into a chair at the foot of my cot, his chin on his chest as drool dribbled out of the corners of his mouth.
Turning my attention to Tamzea, I grimaced. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”
The healer’s steady lavender gaze regarded me with compassion as she tucked her lavender hair behind her ears. “You and your brother were suffering from dehydration. You were a bit worse for the wear, your internal energies all out of whack. And …” She raised her eyebrows, glancing at Kade. “And your man, he was fine, except for the near panic attack he had over your fainting spell.”
Groaning again, I rubbed my temples. “He’s not … I mean, I don’t know what he is exactly. I like him.” More than like. Why was it so difficult to admit I loved him? I knew I did, had already come to that conclusion, and yet the words were lodged in my throat, shame burning my insides.
Tamzea leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “He’s hot. You could definitely do a lot worse. But he has the strangest energy fields. When I tried to examine him, I wasn’t able to pinpoint what would be normal, which has never happened to me before. Even with Jane and Ash I’m able to get a decent read.”
“He’s a Talsen who’s been spliced with dragon DNA. And it wasn’t done at birth. Maybe that could explain the anomalies?”
“Maybe,” she drawled, eyeing his sleeping form. “There’s something else off about him, though. It’s as if he’s in turmoil.” She shook her head. “But I’m not sure. I want Eron to look at him with me, he might pick up on something I wasn’t able to.”
I tilted my head, studying Tamzea. Something about her had changed since the last time I’d seen her. She’d always been a bit happy-go-lucky, since she was a Mazatimz healer and it was simply in her nature to be that way. It was her life’s purpose to heal any way she could, even if that meant spreading a positive attitude throughout the ship. But now, it was like an inner light had been switched on, causing her to glow brighter than she ever had before. Jane had told me about the positive change in Eron, the other half of her Metza pair, and that Tamzea had healed him, bonding them together again. That had to be the reason for the change in her.
“Eron, huh? I’m glad to hear that you have your other half back, just like you’d hoped.” Tamzea, and Eron, had been taken by Telvin when they were barely adults. They’d been separated and tortured, and Tamzea had escaped alone, made to think Eron was dead. That’s when she found her way onto The Pittsburgh where she made a new life for herself as the ship’s medic/healer. Fast forward about a decade when she found out that there was a possibility that Eron still lived, and had been held captive on Telvin the entire time. I glanced at my brother. Note to self: Don’t mention to Tamzea that Mikla is the reason Telvin existed to begin with.
Tamzea’s eyes shuttered for a moment, pain twisting her features before it disappeared, and a smile stretched her lips up. “I can’t wait for you to meet the new and improved Eron.” She stood, waving a hand towards Kade. “You want me to wake him up? I tugged a bit on his energy to force him to sleep. He was driving me crazy with his pacing.”
“No, he needs the rest. Let him wake up on his own time.”
“Zula.” Masha’s small voice came from near the door. Her all black eyes regarded me with fondness. “I’m glad you’re back.” With that she disappeared from view.
Tamzea shook her head, laughing. “Her and Dar have been like ghosts on this ship ever since Telvin. I think they’re afraid of being separated again, so they’ve decided to permanently attach at the groin.”
I sighed. “Remember when it was just me, you, Jane, and Masha on The Pittsburgh? Things were much simpler then.”
Before Jane had taken the job of tracking down Ash as a bounty, our lives had been simple. Jane would take bounties, and we would serve as her backup. Me as her second in command and strategist, Tamzea as the one to piece her back together when she was injured, and Masha as the one to keep The Pittsburgh in the air and running even against the toughest of odds. And then we’d been introduced to the duplicity of the UGFS by Ash, who subsequently mated Jane. From there things had gone a bit crazy, and we’d picked up a few extra crewmembers of the male persuasion.
“What about Nina? No one’s mentioned her, aside from how she brought her now actually deceased husband to Jane to be tortured. Is she still on the ship?”
Tamzea fiddled with the contents of one of her storage lockers. “She’s here somewhere. If Masha and Dar are ghosts, Nina is existing in an alternate dimension.”
Throwing my legs over the side of the cot, I stood on shaky knees. “I need to talk to Jane. All of you in fact. I’ve found out some important information about the Denards, and there’s also the matter of figuring out who attacked Xianfrey. We need to—” I swayed, catching myself on the cot.
“It can wait a few hours.” Tamzea forced me back onto the cot. “I healed you, but your body still needs some rest to fully recuperate.”
“No. There’s no time. Where are we anyhow? How did we get off Xianfrey unnoticed?”
Tamzea frowned. “We didn’t. We’re still where you found us. Apparently getting in unnoticed wasn’t the difficult part. There’s some kind of electronic field surrounding Xianfrey that lets ships in, but not out.”
“That would explain Baby, Kade’s ship.” I hadn’t had time to consider why we’d went down, but now I knew.
“So there’s nothing for you to do right now. Not until we get out of here.”
“Not true.” I sat up again. “I’m going to need to figure out how to break past the—”
“Dar and Masha are working on it. Gartian and Guaviva, remember? They will figure it out. They just need a bit of time.”
>
“Three brains are better than one. I can help them get to the solution faster. I’m fine, I swear.”
“I guess I’m just going to have to force you to rest then.” Tamzea’s arms weaved through the air, her expression serious.
“No! Don’t you dare.” My eyes closed, my lids suddenly weighing too much to keep open. My arms flopped to my sides, a sinking feeling taking over my entire body. I fought the sensation, chanting, Mind over body. Mind over body. Mind over body … over and over in my head, until I was swept into oblivion.
I awoke in an instant, fully energized. Rolling to the side, I smashed my nose into Kade’s chin. “Ow. You’re too big to be on this cot with me.” He clutched me to his chest, soft snores escaping his full lips, as if he was disagreeing even in his sleep. When I wriggled down in an attempt to extricate myself, his grip only tightened.
I huffed out an exasperated breath, flicking him in the neck with my finger. “Wake up, Kade. There are things to be done.”
“Hmmmffff …” He threw a leg over mine, further pinning me.
Despite my ire at being trapped by the giant sleeping Talsen, being pressed to his front, where a certain part of his anatomy was very much awake, caused warmth to bloom in my middle. As if sensing my subtle change in mood, Kade thrust his pelvis against me.
I stifled a moan. “Kade, I said to wake up.” No matter how much my body craved a repeat performance of what we’d done on Xianfrey, it wasn’t the time or place. Plus, I was pretty sure my brother was still sleeping on the next cot over, not to mention any of the crew could simply waltz in at any time.
Warm golden eyes peered sleepily down at me, a lazy smile curling up his full lips. “This is my kind of wake-up call.”
“I don’t know what you think is happening, but I was trying to get up when I became trapped by you and your—” He thrust his pelvis against me again, effectively causing me to lose my train of thought. Shoving at his chest, I cleared my throat. “We don’t have time for this now.”
“I disagree. We almost died … multiple times. We need to make the time for this now, in case there won’t be time later.”
I blinked. What he said made complete sense. It was logical. Who knew what tomorrow, let alone the next couple of hours would bring? Things were uncertain with our precarious situation. What if there is no later? What if I never get the chance to feel his arms around me again? His lips pressed to mine? His muscled ass flexing under my hands as he—
Crushing my lips to his, I kissed him desperately as I rolled on top of him. Grinding my hips down, I didn’t need to ask if he was on board with my plan, his sizeable erection the only confirmation I needed.
“Wait,” I said, peering down at him as he slid his hands under my shirt. “Wait. Wait. Wait. Not here. Need to get to my living quarters.”
Suddenly we were on my bed instead of the cot, the familiar glow of my phosphorous lights illuminating Kade’s brilliant white teeth as he grinned. “I really need to figure out how I do that.”
My nostrils flared, and I smacked at his chest. “You couldn’t poof us to the forest so we didn’t have to walk all that way? And let me remind you that our little trek caused me to become dehydrated and I passed out.” I glared at him, sputtering, “But at the prospect of sex, boom, here we are, sifting through space to get to my bed?”
He shrugged, his golden eyes glinting. “What can I say? I may be a Talsen spliced with dragon DNA, but I’m all man.”
“All idiot is more like it.”
He chuckled. “Your idiot now.” He yanked me down, burying his face in my neck. “And you’re mine.” His teeth tore into my flesh, and I yelped, my arms flailing as I tried to get away.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Cupping my neck, I pressed down, blood oozing between my fingers.
“I-I don’t know why I did that. I was overcome with possessiveness and then my mind blanked.” He tugged my arm down. “Shit. I’m sorry. I broke the skin.”
“I’m well aware,” I mumbled.
Sitting up, he leaned forward, his hot breath on my wound, causing goose bumps to rise in quick succession. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, but …” His tongue snaked out, laving the blood away with his tongue. His fingers dug into my back as he rocked against me. “I’m sorry, but I need you. I need to be inside of you right now.”
My mind and body warred, something I was getting used to when Kade was around. Logic dictated that we stop what we were doing so I could talk to my brother about Kade’s odd behavior. I was positive it had to do with the dragon part of him needing to claim me, just like we’d been warned would happen. But my body was fully on board with surrendering to Kade’s lusty will.
Mind over body. Mind over body? Logic was still fully on the side of not wasting any time since there might not be a later. So …
Fuck it.
Tearing at Kade’s clothes, I reveled in the sight of his sculpted form. Each individual muscle was carved out perfectly underneath his dark, smooth skin. Raking my nails along his naked flesh, I arched back when his hands covered my bare breasts. When did he get my clothes off? Glancing to my right, I saw them in a torn pile next to his.
My attention snapped back to Kade when he thrust upward, fully sheathing himself inside of me. “Tell me you’re mine, LaLa. Tell me every part of you is mine.”
“Yes. I’m yours. I’m all yours.” Rocking back and forth, before pushing up onto my knees, I scraped my nails behind me on his thighs. “But you’re mine, too.”
His fingers bit into my hips as he lifted me up and down on his length, my muscles quivering even though he was doing all the work. “Yeah, yeah. Of course I’m yours. I’ve always been yours.”
Convulsing around him, I screamed his name, never wanting him to stop—wanting to live in the perfect moment of pure bliss for the rest of my life. I belonged in it. No doubts about who I was, or who I should be. No internal struggle of forcing my emotions to submit to logic. Always logic. But here with Kade, I could be free. I could simply be.
Because he accepted every flawed piece of me, making me believe that I wasn’t as imperfect as I’d once believed. He loved me for me, and not who I pretended to be. It didn’t matter why, or how we’d gotten to this place. It only mattered that we were there, and I wanted to find a way to never leave.
I lost and found myself in that place, all at once. The space where Kade and I became one, and yet remained separate. It couldn’t be explained in words, not really, but that was okay, because it was a place of emotions, not logic.
“Again,” I murmured, sliding my hand down between Kade’s legs.
“Are you trying to kill me?” He thrust his cock against my palm with enthusiasm, despite his complaint.
“If anyone is trying to kill anyone, it’s you.” I rubbed along my neck with my free hand. He’d bitten me no less than four times, each mark sore and still oozing blood.
“Meeting in five minutes in the eating lounge,” Jane’s voice crackled over the intercom. “And I do mean everyone. It’s like all of you are in heat or something. It’s absolutely ridiculous. We have respons—” A high-pitched giggle stole her words, the connection snapping off.
“Like she’s one to talk with how often her and Ash go at it. When you were eavesdropping on our ship, did you pick up on the little fact that she had sex with him when she was supposed to be tracking him for a bounty?”
Kade nipped at my ear, chuckling. “I might have heard some kind of commotion about it. But when all I had was audio, sometimes it was hard figuring out exactly what was going on.”
Guess that explained why he hadn’t stopped me from being delivered to Telvin. I’d figured he simply hadn’t made it in time, but him not having enough information made more sense. “Well,” I said, reluctantly releasing his pulsating flesh, “guess we don’t have time for anything else right now.”
Growling, Kade slid me under him. “I can be fast.”
“Yes, because that’s what every female wants to hear.�
�� I shoved at him, rolling my eyes.
He stood, scooping up his clothes. “To be continued then.”
I watched him for a few moments, admiring his sculpted form, and how his muscles rippled deliciously with even the simplest of movements. “Although a lot can be accomplished in five minutes.”
Smirking, he picked up my torn clothes. “Good thing you have more.” He swaggered over to my closet, peering inside with curiosity. “Do you have anything with color?” He tossed me a black shirt and pants combo, much like the one I’d been wearing before.
“What’s the point? Colors get dirty easier, and this way I never have to decide what to wear. Besides,” I quirked an eyebrow, “I’ve never seen you in anything but leather.”
“You’ve only seen me in one outfit ever. But I get it,” he straightened his vest, “I wear leather for the same reason. Easy to clean, and easy to conceal weapons. I just thought maybe because you’re a female—”
I raised my hand up, palm out. “Don’t finish that sentence. I know you’re not about to say some sexist Talsen remark.” He may be spliced with dragon DNA, but he was raised by his Talsen father. The race was notorious for its ridiculous views about women.
Kade’s eyes danced with mirth. “Wouldn’t think of it.”
“Mmm hmm.” I bent to pull on my boots. “I think we need another shower.”
He sniffed at himself demonstratively. “I don’t smell. Do you think I smell?”
“You … we smell like sex.”
A grin broke out across his face. “Exactly. I don’t want to wash that off just yet.”
“I just think—”
“Stop thinking so much. Everyone on this ship knows what we were doing, no point in pretending otherwise.”
“We’re missing a few people in the eating lounge,” Jane’s voice snapped over the intercom. “And when I say a few, I mean all. Everyone get your asses up here now! Don’t make me come and find all of you!”
Smashing the button down, I shouted, “We’re on our way! Stop yelling at everyone!”