by Anna Hackett
“There’s been another murder,” the man said.
Dayna straightened and she felt Rillian stiffen.
“Where?” Rillian demanded.
“A body was left in your office.”
“I’m on my way.” Rillian slid the communicator away. His gaze fell on her. “Dayna.”
His eyes were shuttered, completely unreadable. She swallowed, her belly still churning. She couldn’t quite work out what he was thinking. Was this where he told her that kiss had been a mistake?
She cleared her throat. “I’m feeling better now. We should get to the Dark Nebula.”
Chapter Six
Rillian stormed into his office.
One glance was all he needed to fully take in the long body draped over his desk.
The woman was wearing a blood-red catsuit made of a liquid fabric. Her dark, elaborate curls poured over his desk.
He cursed and then turned, kicking a chair and sent it skidding across his office floor.
“You knew her,” Dayna said quietly.
“Yes.”
She stepped closer and then she sucked in a breath. “God, it’s the singer. The performer from the casino.”
“Yes.” Feeling helpless rage, Rillian stepped forward and gently closed the woman’s eyes. “Her name was Illiana.”
“She was your lover.” Dayna’s voice had gone cool.
“Former.” They’d shared a few hot nights, but his interest had cooled quickly, much to Illiana’s dismay. She’d been ambitious.
She would have been horrified to hear that his kiss with Dayna Caplan was hotter than any of the nights he’d spent in Illiana’s bed. He reached out and gripped Dayna’s chin.
Her gaze met his.
“I haven’t been with a woman for several months now. And the last few weeks, only one woman has been in my veins.”
Emotion flickered in her eyes.
He released a breath, trying to keep a lid on his simmering desire. He let Dayna go. Now was not the time. Turning back to the desk, he shifted the mass of Illiana’s hair.
Dayna made a sound. “You shouldn’t mess with the scene until—”
He picked up the note written on heavy paper.
“What does it say?” she asked.
“Abandon your allies and take care of your own business. More bodies will follow.”
Anger ignited like a torch in Rillian. He turned to the window, staring out at the city below. You have made a very bad mistake. His hand curled, crumpling the note.
“How did they get in?” Dayna mused.
“We don’t know how they got in.” This came from Tannon, standing in the doorway like a sentinel. “Security feed shows the victim arriving, but she was alone. Then the security feed was jammed. It only took a minute.”
“Inside job?” Dayna’s gaze narrowed.
Tannon straightened, his mouth a flat line. “My security team’s been vetted, but we’re checking.”
“I only hire good people,” Rillian added.
Dayna looked at him. “You know people, Rillian. You know desperation. Even the best, most-loyal person can be forced down a path they don’t want to follow…if the incentive is right.” Her gaze dropped to the dead woman. “Someone knows what they’re doing.”
“Maybe.” Rillian blew out a breath, trying to find some measure of calm. If one of his own had betrayed him…
“My team is sending through the footage,” Tannon said.
Rillian waved to the wall of screens, and Tannon murmured into his communicator. While they waited, Dayna peppered Tannon with a few pointed questions about entries, exits, and Illiana’s location before the murder.
She knew what she was doing. Rillian watched her face come alive, and knew that this sort of work was in her blood. Something she’d clearly been missing. As his security head answered her questions, he saw the grudging respect grow on Tannon’s face. Dayna was smart. Efficient.
Such a clever mind.
Funny that Rillian desired that mind as much as her strong, sexy body.
“So she was in her dressing room?” Dayna said.
“Yes,” Tannon replied. “Watch.” His dark gaze met Rillian’s.
Seconds later, several screens flared to life. One showed Illiana in her dressing room, primping at the mirror. There was a knock at the door, and a delivery woman carried in an enormous bouquet of rare alien flowers.
“Someone had flowers delivered to her,” Tannon said, turning to Rillian. “From you.”
“They were not from me,” Rillian said.
“There was a note.” A female security member was on the far screen. “Asking her to meet you in your office.”
They watched Illiana’s progress as she walked through the casino, smiling at people who stopped to shower her in praise. She took one of the elevators and the screen changed, showing her nodding at a security guard before entering Rillian’s office.
The screen switched to the sole camera in his office. He saw Illiana do a sweep of the room, a private smile on her face.
Then the screen went blank.
His jaw clenched and he looked at the expensive timepiece on his wrist. Exactly a minute later, the screen blinked back to life, showing Illiana draped over his desk. Dead.
“She was poisoned,” Tannon said. “Report from the initial scans just came in.”
“How the drak did the killer get into my office?” Rillian’s tone was ice-cold, but his symbiont stirred, reacting to his anger. He hired the best, for drak’s sake.
Dayna stood, and circled the room, much as Illiana had. But instead of a pleased smile and a calculating look, Dayna’s face was set in lines of concentration.
She walked past the glass, and then turned and walked past it again. She swiveled, and did it a third time. It almost looked like she was pacing. Then she stopped and crouched.
She touched the glass with a long finger. “Here.”
He moved in beside her and saw the neatly mended hole in the glass.
“God,” she said. “Someone got into the tower from the outside.”
“They flew,” Rillian said grimly.
“All of this to get you to back off?” she said.
He gave her a single nod, heat spiking through his anger. “The Thraxians are running scared. They aren’t thinking rationally anymore.” His mouth flattened. “They miscalculated.”
Rillian watched as Dayna studied the glass again, before she turned and crouched beside the body.
His anger was like a growing sandstorm. He hadn’t lost control of his symbiont for years. Control was vital to him and his symbiont was far too dangerous. His hands curled into fists. He had to keep his control.
If not, he’d be the most dangerous, unstoppable predator that Kor Magna had ever seen.
His gaze fell on Dayna. He found himself fascinated by the look on her face. He had no trouble remembering the feel of her, the taste of her.
Rillian’s anger receded. He took some deep breaths.
He wanted her taste in his mouth again. He wanted to taste more of her. He wanted to sink his teeth into her and devour her.
No. Turning, he stared out the window and ground his teeth together.
She was fighting her symbiont every step of the way. She still had a way to go before she was even close to accepting her new reality. Dayna Caplan was stubborn and strong. Fiercely intelligent, and not easy at all.
As he turned back to the murdered woman on his desk, it was the image of Dayna burned into his brain…and the knowledge that it wasn’t just the murders stroking his symbiont to lose control.
It was his reaction to Dayna.
Maybe Tannon was right. Maybe Dayna was the greatest risk of all.
An hour later, Rillian’s security team had finished their analysis of the scene and removed Illiana’s body. A cleaning crew had just finished, and his office looked pristine, as usual.
He didn’t feel so calm.
He moved over to the drinks cabinet on the far wall, and pulled out a bottl
e of Dark Fire whiskey. He poured the glittering black liquid into a glass just as Dayna entered.
She looked miserable.
He held the glass out to Dayna. “You look like you could use this.”
“No, thanks.” She shook her head, returning her gaze to the painting on the wall. “I just got off a call with Mia.”
He lifted the glass and knocked the drink back in a quick move. Dark Fire couldn’t be tolerated by many species, and he enjoyed the fiery burn. “She was upset.”
“Yes. For me. She apologized to me.” Dayna shook her head.
“But you wanted her to yell and cry? To help you beat yourself up a bit more?”
Dayna shot him a glare.
“You have good friends, Dayna, and they care about you. That’s a rare thing.”
She nodded, her gaze still on the painting. “It’s striking.”
He stared at the bright splashes of color on black. “I like striking things.” His gaze moved over her. “I like the bold, the unusual.”
She turned, her face considering. “The Thraxians aren’t so discerning.” A faint shiver was the only giveaway about how the Thraxians affected her. “They’re bold and in-your-face. They’re not subtle or sneaky.”
He lowered his glass, following her train of thought. “Cunning, sneaky murders aren’t the way they operate.”
She nodded. “That’s right. These murders feel…more personal.”
Rillian scowled. “It has to be the Thraxians. My team has found Thraxian biomatter on the notes.”
“Then they’ve recruited someone else, someone who knows you, to help with this.”
No one knew Rillian. He preferred it that way. He blew out a breath, pouring one last shot of whiskey. His anger was too close to the surface, his control too shaky. The symbiont running along his spine throbbed, amplifying his emotions.
He needed to work it off before he got too close to losing his control. That was the one thing he would never allow.
“I’m going to work out in my gym.” He’d dial up the hardest program on his holo-sparring system.
Dayna watched him steadily, like she could see right into his head. “I’m sorry, Rillian. About Illiana.”
“A waste of a life and her talent.”
“Is that all she was to you?”
“We enjoyed each other, briefly. That was it.” He swirled the last of his drink.
“Because you don’t let people too close.”
He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “My life is exactly how I like it.”
“Glossy, opulent, and distant.”
He tilted his head, setting the glass down and stepping closer to her. “I like it under my control.”
“You can’t control everything. You keep people at arm’s length. I wonder why?”
His body brushed hers. “You’re not at arm’s length.”
She blinked, as though suddenly realizing that she’d been cornered by a predator. “Rillian—”
He backed her against the wall, cupping her jaw. “Don’t analyze me, Dayna.”
She lifted her chin. “So you’re allowed to see all my weaknesses, but I don’t get a glimpse of yours?”
A voice in his head told him that he should back away, but something about her drew him. For once in his life, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing.
“Back off.” She shoved against his chest.
“No. I don’t think so.” The turbulent feelings inside him swelled, and Rillian did the one thing he never did—he stopped thinking. He lowered his head until his mouth was a whisper from hers.
She stilled, her gaze dropping to his lips. “What do you want from me?”
He hadn’t worked it out yet. But he reached for her. He needed to touch her.
Rillian slammed his mouth down on hers, absorbing the taste of her. The scent of her hit him, and he slid a hand under her shirt, feeling her unbelievably smooth skin.
She moaned into his mouth, kissing him back. Her tongue tangled with his.
Desire exploded inside Rillian—hot and strong. His cock was hard as a rock, pushing against his trousers. The strength of his need almost brought him to his knees.
He wanted to possess her. Push her down and simply mount her, slide his cock inside her so they’d be joined.
Shock rippled through him. He never felt like this. It had to be his symbiont. That had to be it.
He yanked back from her. The room was quiet, except for their ragged breathing.
“That was…ill-advised,” he managed.
“Probably.” She stepped closer and went up on her toes. She wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him again.
With a growl, he wrapped an arm around her, walking her across the room. Take. Claim. Mate.
He didn’t have time for foreplay or exploration. Right now, all he needed was to be lodged inside her. For Rillian, sex was usually a hot, elegant dance. But this…this was something entirely different.
He pushed her against the desk, lifting her up, his hands sliding up to cup her breasts. She arched into his caress, one of her legs wrapping around his hips.
“Yes.” Her voice was a husky whisper.
He wanted her. Right here. On his desk.
At the same moment, they both froze. Drak. On the desk where a dead woman had been left as a warning.
They pulled apart.
Dayna stood, touching her lips. “God, you scramble my brain.”
Drak. Drak. Rillian’s control was a precarious thing. A very male, very primitive part of him just wanted to drag her down onto the floor and pound inside her.
It had been many years since he’d felt so out of control. He’d fought to make his life exactly as he wanted it, where his control was absolute. So no one would ever take advantage of him again.
This woman was dangerous. Especially when he was in a dangerous mood.
“I have to go,” he said.
Surprise flashed on her face. “Oh.” She tucked a strand of her glossy, brown hair behind her ear.
His gaze dropped to her lips. They were swollen from his kisses, and the sight of that made his cock pulse.
“Rillian?”
Drak it all. Rillian turned, strode out, and pretended that he wasn’t escaping.
Chapter Seven
Dayna paused in the doorway of the gym, watching Rillian sparring against what looked like an entire gang of fighters.
The faint flicker in the men made her realize that they were some sort of solid holograms.
Rillian shifted and dodged with a fluid grace that made her mouth go dry. He was shirtless, wearing a soft pair of black workout trousers. His muscles flexed, and he landed hard blows, spun, and kicked out powerfully. His holographic opponents blinked out as he struck them. He swiveled, bringing his fists up to hit again.
The man was gorgeous.
It was one thing to have an attractive package, it was another to know how to use it.
Dayna let herself admit the full extent of her attraction. The times she and Rillian had kissed, she’d felt…alive.
For the first time in a very long time, she’d thought nothing of aliens, pain, captivity, and nightmares. She’d felt like a woman and she’d felt like something in her life finally made sense.
He wasn’t as bulky as the gladiators. His chest was lean with delineated muscles, and his abdomen was tight and ridged. She pulled in an unsteady breath. He’d have no trouble swinging a sword, if he wanted to.
She watched him spin, then leap high, delivering a powerful front kick. He took down another opponent, but a second slipped in from the side and landed a blow to Rillian’s lower back.
He stumbled and let out a hiss. She realized then that the program delivered some sort of pain response when a hit connected.
Rillian made a sound and took the fighter down with a hard chop. He paused, heaving in air, and turned.
That’s when she got a clear view of his muscled back…and the symbiont lying along his spine. She let out a sharp gasp.
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God. It looked like an alien creature that had burrowed into his skin. It glowed a bright silver-blue.
She felt an answering throb in the stone on her chest. They both had these alien lifeforms that were now a part of them.
Suddenly, he turned, his gaze on her. “I’m not in a good mood.”
Dayna toed off her shoes and moved onto the mat. “I don’t mind. You don’t have to be glossy, suave Rillian for me all the time.”
He frowned at her, lowering into a stretch. She moved over to study the fancy fight-simulation controls on the console beside the mat. “How do you make a hologram solid?”
“Ultrasonic technology that creates touchable force fields.” He stretched his arm, his biceps flexing. “The program projects sound waves that create a sensation of touch.”
“I’d love to test it out.” She’d been using the gym a lot the last few weeks, but had no idea about the holographic simulation. It had been far too long since she’d flexed her martial arts skills.
He shot her an unreadable look, then moved to touch the controls.
Around her, lights whirled, and several brutish-looking aliens appeared. They were covered in scales, with sharp claws, and each towered over her by at least a foot. She moved into a fighting stance and raised her arms. The first alien attacked and she leaped forward to meet him.
As she ducked, kicked, and hit, Dayna felt her muscles warm-up. She dodged and landed several good blows. One of her opponents blinked out. She smiled. Take that, asshole. Working across the mat, completely absorbed in the fight, she took out another target.
The last fighter rushed at her. She blocked, but he got a punch in and she felt an electric shock vibrate through her. She gritted her teeth. Ouch. Motivated, she swung her leg, landing a hard kick to the alien’s gut. He staggered, and she slammed an elbow into his face. His image dissolved.
She straightened, grinning. A light sheen of sweat covered her skin.
“Ready for more?” Rillian asked.
“Bring it.”
A large mob of different aliens blinked into existence. Rillian strode out to the center of the mat and stood beside her.
As the fighters rushed at them, Dayna and Rillian exploded into action.