Decadence: Darkstar Mercenaries Book 4

by Carven, Anna

  Sienna let out a soft, satisfied sigh. “You’re impossible,” she groaned.

  “You have put me in an impossible situation,” he said softly, his voice thrumming with tenderness and a hint of something darker. “Believe me, this is only a taste of what is yet to come.”

  And then the holo flickered and disappeared, leaving her breathless and completely stunned, even as the embers of desire smoldered inside her.

  Damn it, Ikriss. Devious man. Why did you have to go and do that, now?

  He might be suffering terribly with the Mating Fever, but Ikriss’s moves reminded her of a hunter slowly drawing in his prey.

  Now he had his hooks in her, but she still wasn’t satisfied.

  She wouldn’t be satisfied until she could have the real thing.

  Two whole fucking days.

  That’s how long she had to last, all the while praying that the Kordolians would be true to their word and contain the shitstorm on Earth, keeping her people safe.

  Praying that Ikriss’s machine heart would hold up well enough to keep him alive.

  It was out of her hands now. All of it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  To Sienna’s surprise, it wasn’t all that hard to convince Jaxis and Vyron to take her to the so-called food preparation room. In fact, their surly attitude had all but disappeared, replaced with quiet, military-like co-operativeness, which led her to wonder if a certain golden-eyed and slightly scary former Commander had influenced them in any way. They had a certain talent for making themselves silent and invisible to the point where she sometimes forgot they were in the room with her.

  Vyron had disappeared shortly after they’d gotten there, and she hadn’t even noticed until Jaxis came to stand right beside her, annoying her by scrutinizing every little thing she did.

  Eventually, he’d apparently grown bored and retreated to the shadows. Right now, he was leaning against the wall near the doorway, staring at her impassively as he did his best impression of an obsidian chameleon, his armored body blending in with the black door frame.

  She ignored him. The more the Kordolians shadowed her, the easier it was to pretend they weren’t there.

  Her hair still damp from her second shower, her body still thrumming from the memory of Ikriss’s mesmerizing stare, Sienna walked into a room that was surprisingly well lit, considering the Kordolian penchant for darkness. The slightly curved walls were painted a shade somewhere between white and pale blue that reminded her of cloudless skies on a blisteringly hot summer’s day.

  An endless array of kitchen-bots was set into the far wall, but there was also a manual cooker and an old-fashioned combi-oven.

  It was all so unexpected that she actually gasped, putting a hand against her chest in surprise as she took in the gleaming white simulated stone benchtops and the fully stocked pantry and the wall of glass doors across the other end of the room that protected at least five full-sized food preservation units—temperature and pressure-controlled chambers that kept food as fresh as the day it was harvested. Inside was an assortment of vegetables and leafy greens and fruit and fish and meat. Some of the fruit and veges were still growing; kept alive by hydroponics and artificial UV-light.

  How the hell did the Kordolians have all this on their dark, austere ship?

  It was essentially a very well designed, state-of-the-art Earth-style kitchen; the kind one might find in the homes of the insanely rich.

  “Hey, Jaxis,” she called, drawing a sharp look from the warrior. “What do you people like to eat?”

  “Meat,” the warrior said gruffly, after a slight pause.

  “Just meat? That’s it? I mean, you don’t eat vegetables, or carbs, or… chocolate?”

  “I do not know this chocolate that you speak of. We sustain ourselves with protein, fat, and minerals, in that order, and preferably raw, although cooked is acceptable. A small amount of plant material is digestible, but not necessary. Unlike you humans, we do not turn the task of obtaining sustenance into pointless indulgence.”

  Sienna squared up the surly warrior and chuckled softly as the memory of Ikriss’s decadent stare invaded every fiber of her being. her terrible need was still there, simmering just beneath the surface, and yet she was also filled with a strange kind of euphoria, as if she were on the verge of some mind-blowing revelation. “There’s no such thing as pointless indulgence,” she said quietly.

  “Huh.” Jaxis gave her a skeptical look. “Indisciplined nonsense.”

  “You don’t know a thing about my world.” She gave him an acid-dipped smile. “Don’t talk to me about discipline.”

  Before Sienna had opened the Whisk and Pin, she’d worked in the brutal, exacting world of haute cuisine.

  She knew discipline.

  Sienna raised an eyebrow at Jaxis and quickly orientated herself, finding a set of sharp knives. From the preservers, she selected a good sized fish—a vibrant red Alaskan sockeye salmon that was as fresh as the day it had been caught. Its iridescent skin shimmered under the bright lights.

  She didn’t even question how and why the heck these aliens even had such a fish, which would have been impossibly expensive back on Earth; out of reach for mere mortals.

  Secretly, she suspected they could get anything they wanted in the Universe—and probably get away with anything, too. They were more powerful than all the criminal syndicates and private militias and governments combined.

  And here she was, pilfering their luxurious space-kitchen in a vain attempt to stop going insane.

  Damn it, Ikriss.

  The High Commander was going to ruin her.

  He probably already had.

  Why wouldn’t her heart stop racing?

  Sienna orientated herself in the kitchen, obsessively checking all of the auto-drawers. The extensive array of equipment and utensils put even her chef’s kitchen in the Whisk and Pin to shame.

  She selected a couple of suitable knives and got to work scaling and gutting the fish, working quickly, her hands settling into a comfortable rhythm as she carried out a simple task she’d done a thousand times before.

  She’d spied some lemons and olive oil and dill earlier; all the ingredients she needed to make a fresh salmon crudo.

  Simple. Easy.

  It would be just perfect.

  No matter how advanced technology on Earth became, nothing could gut and fillet a fish as well as trained human hands.

  And no machine or AI could season and marinate and flavor food quite like a human.

  Sienna filleted the fish and put the scraps aside—she would use the bones for stock and fry the skin until it was golden and crispy. Then she placed the beautiful red fillets in a cryo-bot and set the machine to a freeze-thaw cycle to kill potential pathogens. As soon as the machine beeped, she took them out and sliced them thinly, ensuring each morsel was equal in width and size. She squeezed the lemons and mixed the juice with peppery extra virgin olive oil. She arranged the fish slices on two pristine white plates, drizzling the lemony olive-oil over the top and garnishing with flakes of sea salt and fresh dill.

  As she cleaned her hands, she beckoned Jaxis. “Try some.”

  The warrior shook his head. “I do not eat while on duty,” he said stiffly.

  But his nostrils betrayed him, flaring ever so slightly.

  “I’m sending one of these plates to your boss. He needs to eat. It’ll help with his recovery. This is just a wild guess, but I get the feeling he’s the type that will work himself to the bone and not take rest and proper food until someone that gives a shit literally forces him to eat and sleep. You need to test it to make sure it’s suitable. You wouldn’t want Ikriss to find out that I’d prepared all this only to have it blocked by you, would you? And you wouldn’t take your commander substandard food, would you?”

  Jaxis stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. He muttered something in his native tongue and shook his head. “Very well,” he agreed as he peeled himself off the wall. As he moved forward, Sien
na couldn’t help but notice the many blades adorning his armored body.

  She was feeding crudo to lethal warriors. Who would have thought?

  Undeterred, she slid a perfect, juicy sliver of salmon onto a fork and held it out. “Go on. I promise it won’t kill you, unless Kordolians are allergic to lemons.”

  Jaxis eyed the fish with suspicion and took an experimental sniff. Frowning, he took the fork and popped the morsel in his mouth.

  Sienna watched him closely.

  For a moment, he went very still.

  Then his eyes widened ever-so-slightly.

  “It is acceptable,” he growled. “It is…”

  Again, there was that slight widening of the eyes.

  Sienna had seen that expression a thousand times before, on humans.

  She knew what it meant.

  Inwardly, she smirked. Got you.

  “So take some to the boss. Quickly, before it sits too long. You have to eat it while it’s super fresh.”

  “I will have it sent to the Commander. In the meantime, if I happen to drop dead, you will end up like that fish.”

  Was that a Kordolian attempt at a… joke? “How sweet,” she said.

  “And… that other serving… it is for yourself, then?”

  “All yours.” Sienna gestured magnanimously at the second plate of crudo. “I don’t want any. I’m in a hot chips and gravy kind of mood. That’s just a starter, by the way. There’s more where that came from if you behave yourself.”

  “It is slightly better than a protein bar,” Jaxis admitted grudgingly as he stole another mouthful of raw fish. “And your knife skills are almost decent.” When he looked at her next, his red gaze was cold and clear and more than a little menacing. “He was, and is, and always will be our Commander, human. I owe him my life three times over, and I would lay it down for him a thousand times again. I can see that you have all the makings of a worthy mate, but humans can be fickle. Do not make that mistake with our Enkaladu, Sienna of Earth. Do not disappoint him.” His protectiveness hit her like a sudden storm, and Sienna realized that she still had a lot to learn about these strange, fierce creatures.

  Where the hell did that come from?

  “I would never do that, Jaxis,” she said slowly; carefully. “I owe him my life too, and he and I… we’ve already gone beyond the point of no return.”

  The burly warrior stared at her for a moment, and his death-glare made her skin crawl all over. After what felt like an eternity, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, giving her a sharp nod of approval. His eyes flicked across to his partly eaten plate of salmon, and he seized another morsel of fish with his fork.

  “What is an… Enkaladu?” Sienna asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Jaxis had uttered the word with a certain reverence.

  “It means protector," the Kordolian replied between mouthfuls.

  Protector? Huh. That sounds about right.

  But before Sienna could dig any more information out of him, the doors unraveled, revealing a hovering black drone-platform-thing with a clear domed lid.

  “Transport is here,” Jaxis announced. “I will send this… this…”

  “Red sockeye salmon crudo,” she filled in.

  “Yes. I will send this crudo to the boss. He will appreciate its significance.” The warrior inclined his head, his eyes narrowing. “But this is merely a morsel compared to what we would usually eat.”

  “Believe me, I’m only just getting started.”

  Jaxis uttered a command and the dome-lid of the hovering platform slid open. “Put your dish there.”

  Wordlessly, Sienna placed the second plate of crudo on the transport, admiring the vibrant simplicity of her creation.

  Jaxis uttered another command and the damn thing closed its lid and silently floated away, disappearing through the doors and into the darkness beyond.

  Taken aback, Sienna took a moment to ground herself, looking around at the wide array of ingredients and tools.

  “Seriously though, this place is amazing.”

  “It was created for the exclusive use of the mates,” Jaxis said proudly. “Our females are given nothing but the best.”

  “Only the best will do, huh?” God, it all seemed so over-the-top, but also thrilling and intriguing. She could totally imagine these intense, larger-than-life aliens going overboard with the pampering.

  This was so different from what she’d expected Kordolians to be like.

  As Sienna eyed off a basket of potatoes—rare real ground-grown ones, with the rich red dirt still caked on them—Jaxis silently and swiftly laid down his fork on the plate and moved to the entrance.

  A second later, the doors opened.

  How had he known?

  The warrior stood to attention, his hands dropping close to his weapons. But he quickly relaxed as soon as he caught sight of the newcomers—two humans and one Kordolian.

  “Took you long enough,” Jaxis grumbled. Sienna thought she could detect a tiny hint of relief in his voice. “This one thinks she can manipulate us with alien food.”

  “But she is human, what did you expect? Their most effective weapons aren’t the combat kind.” An amber-eyed Kordolian walked toward them. He wore an easy smile, yet he moved with the feline grace of a predator. He wore a simple flowing black robe-thing that was belted at the waist, over loose black trousers and supple black boots. Perhaps this was what passed for casual attire in the Kordolian world. No weapons were visible on his body, but he still managed to look supremely dangerous.

  He reminded her a little of the General, and a little of Ikriss. If Kordolians had different tribes and ethnicities, then Ikriss and this guy would be from the same background.

  They had similar sharp, elegant features and a certain restrained savageness that she was only beginning to appreciate.

  But where this guy was relaxed and fluid like water, Ikriss was intense and tightly controlled, and she always desperately wanted to know what her Commander was thinking behind the many barriers that he put up.

  The newcomer took a deep breath. “Smells good,” he said, his gaze honing in on the half-eaten plate of fresh fish. “Like sashimi with a touch of sour acid.”

  “You know sashimi?” Sienna asked wryly.

  “Rykal…” A woman reached his side, shaking her head. Her expression was half amused adoration and half exasperation. Sienna stared at the human in shock, forgetting her manners.

  If the woman noticed her stupor, she didn’t show it. “Sienna Adamo,” she said warmly, stepping around the preparation bench. She held out her hand. “I’m Arin.” Sienna took Arin’s long, callused fingers into hers. Whereas Sienna was pale from months of winter and weeks spent in captivity, Arin sported a golden tan. Tall and athletic, she wore a long-sleeved grey top and a pair of khaki utility pants over rugged hiking boots. She glanced at her companions. “This is Rykal, and this is Kai.” She nodded in the direction of the third newcomer, who hung back a little, taking in the scene with calculating dark eyes that seemed to miss nothing. His suit and crisp white shirt were impeccably tailored but not flashy.

  This guy reeked of serious cash.

  Sienna had worked in fine restaurants. She knew how to tell the difference between those who went to great effort to look rich, and those who were seriously wealthy.

  This guy was one of the latter, and somehow, he also managed to look dangerous.

  Her instincts tingled.

  Who the fuck were these people, and what the hell were they doing on an alien space station in the middle of lord knows where?

  She pulled her hand away and folded her arms, frowning at the trio. “Are you the PR team or something?”

  Arin laughed. Rykal shrugged and stole a piece of fish, his fangs flashing as he popped the morsel into his mouth. Jaxis looked annoyed. Kai cracked a hint of a smile.

  “Sorry, I should have explained. I’m here to give you the introduction. We would have sent someone way earlier, but they didn’t tell us you were back
here until Riana pressed Kail about it. Sometimes they just don’t think. Abbey—that’s Tarak’s mate—was livid. She’s a little tied up with a couple of things right now, but knowing her, she’ll be over to say hi as soon as she can.” Arin made a placating gesture with one hand and nudged Rykal good-naturedly with her other elbow as he took another piece of salmon.

  Well, at least someone was enjoying her cooking.

  From the way that they looked at each other, Arin and Rykal had to be lovers. As Sienna observed the look of satisfaction that flickered across Rykal’s face, she couldn’t help but wonder if her food had reached Ikriss yet.

  You guys only eat for sustenance, my ass.

  Suddenly, she was nervous, because she, who was usually so confident in her abilities, didn’t know how he would receive her efforts.

  Secretly, she desperately wanted him to like it. The thought of learning the intricacies of his palate and at the same time showing him how to enjoy food…

  Amongst other things.

  Stars, how she craved his closeness… his touch.

  The thought of being in his embrace made her giddy.

  But as with all good things, she would just have to wait.

  She gave Arin a quizzical look. “So… what is it exactly that you’re supposed to be giving me an introduction to?” she asked, switching to English, because the effort of speaking her best Universal while dealing with all these strangers was starting to melt her brain. “No offense, but the whole we’re just simple mercenaries story doesn’t really wash.”

  “Oh, they’re anything but simple,” Arin said lightly. “Don’t worry. There are no secrets here. I’ll explain it all. The Evil Empire, the rebellion, the experiments, the dark past, the reproduction problem, the cultural stuff, the sex… Even if I didn’t already have official permission, I’d tell you anyway.” Arin glanced slyly at Rykal, and even though she spoke English, he seemed to understand, because he sidled over and put a possessive arm around her waist.

  “Sex?” Sienna hissed, her legs turning to jelly.

  In the background, Kai let out a soft snort.