The Breaking

by Imogen Keeper

  It was sweet. He clearly wanted to protect her. But unfortunately, he also blocked her view of Utto, which was intolerable. She’d learned long ago never to take her eyes off her mate. Her life was far easier if she saw him coming.

  She sidled a small step to see around Ajax’s broad shoulders. Several inches taller than Utto but leaner, the broad muscles of Ajax’s back rippled and flexed through the thin, black flight suit he wore. Leather straps held sheathed knives on his chest, crisscrossing the deep valley that ran down the center of his spine.

  And he smelled so good. It shouldn’t be legal to smell like him.

  She was about even with the bottom of his shoulder blade. It was frustrating to constantly be the smallest, scrawniest person in any room. If they got away, she’d ask Ajax to teach her how to fight. She could learn to aim a rezal or properly hold a knife.

  Knives. Just thinking about knives made her shake. She flexed her hands, sweaty and cold at the same time.

  Utto stood across the massive docking bay, all polished metal surfaces and dull concrete, with ships a rainbow of colors and shapes. Which one was Ajax’s?

  “Step away from her, Willo.” Utto’s voice echoed darkly. “The Guarda are going to arrest her.”

  That noise pounded in her ears, splitting across her skull.

  “For the murder of Rennie Upranimus.”

  Murder. The word resounded in her head. Rennie dropping to the floor with a thump. Blood spreading beneath his face, dripping through metal grates.

  She shook her head. Fast. Trying to shake away the images.

  She wouldn’t go with the Guarda. She wouldn’t. She didn’t belong here. She should be back home on Triannon, with her own people, where no one wanted to hurt or own her.

  “For what?” Ajax growled. “She didn’t hurt anyone. Look at her. She’s innocent.”

  The wailing in her ears intensified. Innocent? Was she innocent? Sweat dripped down her spine as she stared at the Guarda. Their gazes shifted to scrutinize her until her skin itched. One of them spoke into a comm.

  She and Ajax needed to leave. Now. While they still could.

  “Then step away because she’s my mate. It’s illegal to step between a man and his mate.”

  Ajax made a weird noise—halfway between a laugh and a snarl. It was a mean sound. Nasty. Chilling. Unlike anything she’d ever heard from him. “That’s where you’re wrong. Your rights were forfeit the second you raised a hand against her. It is illegal to use violence against your mate. You know it. You relinquished all claims on her.”

  Claims on her? As if she were a belt or a boot.

  Not anymore. Never again. The pounding noise receded, replaced with the same eerie calm she’d felt when Rennie’s grinning face had peeked at her from around the corner. She squeezed her palms, struggling to focus her scattered thoughts.

  Fury poured across the Bond from Utto, bucking in her chest.

  She should have known that he’d planned something. She’d just been so distracted by the feel of her body pressed against Ajax.

  The heat surprised her. He always seemed so cool.

  Well, not always. That one time he’d been anything but cool. Back then, she hadn’t known how to read a man. She’d seen arousal, maybe, but she hadn’t understood the rest. She’d thought he’d been indifferent. She understood now—she understood so much more now.

  He’d been as affected by her as she’d been by him. He’d been hot, and heavy, and if she shut her eyes really tight, she could remember the feel of his hand, cupping the damp skin of her sex until she thought she’d pass out from desperate need. It was so much better to think about that than to think about the waxy feel of Rennie’s hands on her, his rubbery lips on her neck, the sound of his panting breaths in her ear.

  Her stupid, stubborn mind wouldn’t give her a break.

  Ajax sent a weird, questioning look over his shoulder that said, Are you ok? Maybe she’d actually moaned aloud.

  She was losing her mind, having lurid fantasies in front of her mate… after Rennie. “I’m fine.”

  He lowered his brows but turned away.

  Utto scowled, shifting his weight, glancing over at the Guarda. They all eased forward a few steps.

  Ajax took a step closer, too. “You’re not getting anywhere near her. Not ever again.”

  “She needs to be locked up. Chiefs and the Admiral of R-2 can decide what happens to her.”

  “No.”

  The Guarda shifted awkwardly, stepping to stand between the two men.

  Her legs shook. Nausea sliced through her belly again. She wouldn’t make it thirty feet. They moved too fast.

  She crept closer to Ajax, until she could feel the heat of his body once more. Unlike when Utto and then Rennie had touched her, she only felt peace at the connection. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Utto. Not after all the times you hurt me. They can arrest me, but I’ll scream so loud everyone on the base will hear me. I’ll never go anywhere near you again. I’ll die first.”

  Utto’s face darkened, and her mouth went dry. She’d seen that look before. So many times.

  “You little liar. You belong to me.”

  There was a difference, she knew now, between wanting someone, Bonding with them, letting the chemicals take you away to a special place, and not really wanting someone and letting the chemicals override your body’s natural responses.

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t real. None of it.”

  Ajax stiffened. Then he pulled her closer to him, into the cage of his strong arms, wrapped her tight in hard warmth. What was he doing?

  Deliberately enraging Utto.

  He nuzzled against her ear, and her eyes locked on Utto’s furious face. Ajax smiled against her temple and pressed a kiss to her skin. She shivered.

  Utto’s blue hair gleamed against the metal walls of the docking bay. Ships sat in their docks, shining under the overhead lights.

  “How long has it been, Utto?” Ajax’s voice, silky with dark malice, sent heat pooling in her lower belly, his lips brushing over her skin. “How long since you smelled your mate? That’s how it works, you know? Pheromones are what Bond you to her.” A low-level hum sounded in the back of Ajax’s throat that did things to her insides. “She smells like flowers.” He trailed his nose down her temple, and she couldn’t help it—she purred and tilted her neck to the side, exposing it to him. “And woman.”

  Utto growled. The Guarda shifted.

  “Too long.” Ajax pressed a kiss to her temple. “I bet you need her so badly right now that you can’t eat. You can’t sleep. I bet she’s all you think about. Did you kill Rennie yourself? Did you get jealous?”

  Jealous? How did Ajax know Rennie had touched her? He closed his hands over her waist, and she pressed into him until her sex rode his thigh and her breasts rubbed against his chest.

  The Guarda shifted, raising their weapons slightly. Utto’s face contorted.

  “Do you know why that is, Utto?” Ajax stroked a path down her spine, fingers resting just above the flare of her hip, pulling her closer. A soft moan formed in the back of her throat. Unlike Rennie’s gropes, she wanted Ajax’s hands on her body. They belonged on her body. He didn’t make her feel sick; he made her feel safe. And alive.

  This wasn’t an Ajax she’d ever seen before. This was mean Ajax. Cruel Ajax. Terrifying Ajax. But since he wasn’t being mean to her, she didn’t fear him. She liked this Ajax. This Ajax made her feel safe.

  She curled into him. He clearly wanted to infuriate Utto. It shouldn’t have been so easy to help him. She’d spent months learning to avoid upsetting Utto, but now, she just gave in to nature and let her body respond to the primordial allure of Ajax’s touch. She breathed out a slow moan and rocked into him.

  Utto shook, rage storming across the Bond. The Guarda stared, leather boots creaking.

  It was taboo for a man to even touch another man’s mate, and here Ajax was doing far more than innocuously touching her. He was caressing her, seducin
g her right before the eyes of her mate. Her body shivered, but not with fear—with wanting Ajax. She traced her fingers down the corded muscles of his shoulders, across his back, pulling him closer, drawn by his scent.

  Ajax smiled again. “I shouldn’t have let you take her last time. I should have fought you tooth, nail, and bloody bone for her.” He slid his hand down her flank, cupping the round curve of her bottom, pressing her against the thick ridge of his erection. She panted. It was undeniable.

  Maybe he only said it to make Utto angry. And it did. His side of the Bond thrashed and vibrated dangerously, but something burgeoned within her, burning, low and deep, at the idea that Ajax wanted her badly enough to fight for her.

  She leaned closer to him, breathing him in. Not Utto’s disgusting, oily sweat. Not like Rennie. Not like blood. He smelled like spices and man.

  Warm, wet heat flooded between her legs. Ajax’s nostrils flared. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he looked down at her. “Get ready to run,” he whispered.

  She smiled up at him—great big and wide and the first genuine smile she’d felt in months, and for just a moment, there was nothing in the world but her and Ajax. She felt like herself again.

  Utto let loose a bestial roar, his fury ripping across her chest like a blade. In a smooth, even motion, he pulled his rezal.

  “Rezal!” one of the Guarda shouted, moving faster than she could blink. They had Utto on the ground, hands behind his back, rezal confiscated. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  “Go,” Ajax said, and he didn’t have to say it again. “The ship five down on the left!”

  She took off running past sleek white ships and dark black ones to a small silver one. The Guarda shouted behind them. She didn’t look.

  She just ran as fast as she could. Ajax was faster. His legs were so much longer. He scooped her and ran so fast everything blurred.

  Seconds later, he dropped her inside the hatch of his ship. “In the co-pilot’s seat. Go.”

  She scurried to take a seat at the front of the ship. Her hands shook on the straps. Behind her, the Guarda shouted. She glanced back.

  One of them stayed with Utto. He thrashed, his shoulders rotating, face red with indignation. The Guarda pulled their rezals.

  Ajax punched a button, and the hatch slid shut.

  He ran, threw himself in the seat, and glanced over at her buckled straps. He put the ship in motion with one hand, working his straps with the other.

  The ship moved away from Romeo-Two, and she didn’t care where he took her. He could take her straight to hell for all she cared, so long as Utto wasn’t there.

  8

  So worth it.

  What the fuck did I just do?

  He’d just resisted arrest. That’s what he’d done. While making an illegal departure from R-2, with another man’s mate, a woman suspected of murder.

  He was in breach of a few dozen Tribe laws that he could name off the top of his head. There were probably a few hundred more that a solicitor could, and would, include when the time came for him to stand trial.

  He’d spent his whole life following the rules, checking the right boxes, taking orders, fixing people. And now… he was a criminal. An outlaw.

  To make it worse, the man whose wife he’d stolen was the nephew of a senator, and worse than that, the man she was suspected of murdering was the son of that senator. That family was one of the wealthiest in Argentus. There were only about fifteen people in the universe with more power than the murdered man’s father, and half of them belonged to the enemy of Argentus. The Vestige.

  He’d end up in jail, for sure. Probably Insuractius Colony, where he’d shrivel up and die young of lung corrosion from working the mines. His father would be so ashamed. His brother would be sad. His friend Tam would probably come visit him. Maybe once.

  And Feola—she’d end up right back with Utto if they weren’t careful.

  He glanced at her. Vibrant hair curled around her shoulders, wild and careless. She bit her full lower lip, and he felt that bite like a punch in the muscles right above his groin. Those yellow-green eyes were bright, reflecting the low lights of the ship’s controls.

  It was all worth it. Best thing he’d ever done. But what the hell was he supposed to do now?

  They’d been cruising at maximum speed for a couple of hours. He’d turned off the ship’s trackers, but he was fairly sure that the techies back at R-2 would be able to reactivate it using radio waves or something. It was only a matter of time before the Guarda came after them.

  Hopefully they were too far away by now to be temporarily untraceable.

  He closed his eyes for a moment. Where the hell could they go?

  He needed to talk to someone who knew something about breaking laws. He had never broken a law in his life. He had no clue what he was doing or how to keep Feola safe.

  They needed a plan. He was good at plans.

  Using his digi, he looked up the coordinates for the nearest sat-portal and entered those. From there, he’d be able to jump into another system and contact Tam.

  Tam could contact Reyback, who was the shiftiest guy he’d ever heard of. If anyone would know how two fugitives could hide from the Tribe’s Guarda, it was him.

  It would take another two hours to get to the sat-portal. “You doing okay?”

  She nodded blankly.

  “Feola?”

  She turned to him, eyes fever bright. “I’m free. I’ve never been so happy, Ay-shocks.” Her voice had the familiar sing-song quality to it. The last few months had carved away the youthful roundness, leaving an edgier, more worldly Feola.

  “Maybe one time before I felt this happy.” She smiled at him again, flashing white teeth sinking into that full, pink lip.

  He shifted uncomfortably, unsure what to make of that statement. “We’re going to a sat-portal now. From there, I’ll be able to talk to someone who can help us.”

  The happy smile faded. “Do you think we could be safe on Triannon?”

  Triannon was her home planet. She’d left in a panic when the Vestige had invaded her home and enslaved the population. She’d been in cryo when he’d found her. Sleeping like his own personal fairytale princess.

  “Maybe.” It was possible. Tam and his Bonded mate, Nissa, were part of the royal family there. It wasn’t a bad idea—but they’d need to let the situation cool down and figure out if there were extradition laws in place on Triannon.

  “Would you be happy there?”

  “As happy as anywhere. The Guarda couldn’t get us there, right? But Utto could. He will kill me if he finds me.” Wrinkles formed between her delicate brows. “You too, if he can.”

  He shook his head at that. “He can try.”

  “He’s not dumb.”

  “Even if he finds us, he won’t hurt you again. I won’t let him.”

  She cocked her head, eyes wide, clear, and framed by dark lashes, hiding a wealth of mysteries.

  “This time, I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

  A wry smile curled her lips, and for the life of him, he couldn’t have hazarded a guess at her thoughts.

  “Don’t be offended when I say this, Ay-shocks. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. And I will never be able to repay you.” She chewed her lips, wringing her dainty hands together. She straightened her shoulders, and her eyes hardened. “But—I’m past the time when I’d ever trust anyone to take care of me again.”

  What had he expected? That she’d open her arms and beg him to Bond with her instead?

  He swallowed hard. “Fair enough, Feola. Fair enough.”

  A few hours later, Ajax stared out at the glassy abandon through the viewscreen. They’d been steadily putting distance between themselves and R-2.

  It shouldn’t bother him. He was a grown man. He should be capable of rising above childish, irrational jealousies—but somehow the knowledge that Feola’s pillowcase contained myriad vials of Utto’s serum made him want to vomit, or throw the
sad sack of all her worldly belongings into the waste-ejector… or even just break something. Like the vials.

  He’d never been hasty, though, nor irrational.

  It wasn’t her fault that her body demanded a constant supply of her mate’s serum. Of course, they could break her dependency with a surrogate donor. He, for one, would be quite happy to do the job.

  Hell, if he was making wishes, he’d wish for a lot more than the humble role of serum donor.

  He glanced over at her. A couple hours into their flight, she’d changed into the deep-crimson dress of her people. He’d seen it before, back at S-6, before she’d Bonded with Utto. All the Trianni women had worn the now-notorious red dresses.

  The plunging neckline revealed the sides of her small, round breasts. He was powerless to look away. The red fabric clung tightly to her waist. It looked good on her. Damn good—like a return to herself, a rejection of Utto.

  “Feola, what happened back there? With Rennie?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Her response came immediately, and it sounded almost rehearsed, as though she’d been waiting for it. Her gaze slid away like liquid.

  “At some point, you really should.” He clenched his fingers against the frustration of wanting to help someone who didn’t want help. He healed people. He fixed them. That’s what he did. And this, her Bond to the bastard, the look in her eyes every time Rennie’s name came up… this wasn’t an easy fix.

  Her face closed off entirely. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Silence enveloped them. As far as he could figure, she’d been hiding for three days. She had stolen serum, but had she used it? She must have. Like a teenage boy rather than a grown man—or a healer for that matter, accustomed to the concept—he couldn’t stop his mind from returning to the idea of her addiction.

  He opened his mouth, thinking maybe he’d drop a clue about the idea of surrogate serum.

  She cut him off. “I don’t think we should go straight to Triannon. It’s too obvious. They’ll expect it.”

  “I agree. We’re on our way to a sat-portal, where I’ll be able to contact some people I think will help us.”