Rex started back. “The Assan brothers! Is that what interests you?”
“Why shouldn’t they interest? They’re fascinating. They must be the only people in the galaxy with those tattoos on their faces.”
He humphed. “All you ever think about is work. You have enough notes on the vegetation already. You can spend a few minutes alone with me before you take off somewhere on your biological meanderings.”
She paid no attention. “You have a job to do here, Rex. You should concentrate on that instead of on getting into my pants.”
He burst out laughing. “But getting into your pants is so much more interesting than anything else going on around here.”
Before she could protest, he rushed at her and knocked her off her feet. He pushed her down on the bed and covered her mouth with his lips. His bulk crushed her into the bed, and he screwed his hips between her legs.
Jasmine struggled to break free, but his warm presence confused her for a moment. She started to relax into that kiss. He took the hint and kneed one of her legs out of the way. He inched between her legs, and his lips prodded her mouth open to let his tongue slip inside.
A jet of excitement blasted through her. She wanted to let herself go, but his presumption annoyed her. She summoned the energy to shove him off and jump to her feet. “What are you doing? Get off me. Don’t mess with me like that again.”
He propped himself up on his elbow. “What’s the matter with you? Are we together or not?”
“We’re together on a mission on an alien planet. When are you going to understand that?”
“We might be, but we’re also a lot more than that. I shouldn’t have to wonder when you’re going to take the time to give me your attention.”
“I’ve given you too much of my attention already. I never should have brought you on this mission. You’ve undermined my authority too many times. I never should have come to this planet with someone I was personally involved with. Now go out there and do your job. That’s an order.”
He didn’t move. “I can talk to the Krataks anytime. I’m in no rush. We’re here for a year.”
“Not if General Duncan has her way. She could recall us at anytime.”
“Then I don’t have any job to do, do I?”
Jasmine stopped in the act of straightening up the already perfect room. She regarded him reclining on her bed. Of everyone on this team, maybe she could explain her misgivings to him. He, of all people, might just understand them. “Do you think something weird is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean General Duncan coming down here to pick us up after only a few days on the planet. Don’t you think there’s something odd about that?”
“I still don’t know what you mean.”
She waved her hand. “Aw, come on, Rex. You’re the Allies rep on this team. If anybody knows what the Allies are capable of, it’s you. Why would General Duncan abort our mission so fast?”
“She already explained that. They want to move ahead with diplomatic protocols.”
“I know that,” Jasmine snapped. “My question is why they want to move ahead with diplomatic protocols. They must have some reason to escalate their plans for this planet.”
Rex cocked his head. “So, what are you trying to say?”
Jasmine looked around the room. “Don’t you find it a little curious the Allies would throw our mission in the trash so fast in favor of serious diplomatic efforts? The only reason they would do that is if they didn’t really value our mission in the first place. They must have seen our mission as a preliminary overture. They wanted to get the Krataks to open the door so the Allies could stick their toe inside.”
Rex’s face cracked into a raw grin. “Did you just figure that out right now? Did you just now come to the fact that the Allies wanted to invade this planet all along? I thought you understood these things better than that.”
Jasmine stared at him. “Are you seriously telling me you knew about this all along?”
“Of course! Why do you think the Allies included a political representative on both teams? That’s what I’m here for, to make sure the Allies’ agenda gets carried out.”
Jasmine gasped. “How could you keep this from me? How could you make out with me and... everything else, when you knew all along our mission was just a charade?”
“It’s hardly a charade. I’m certain the Allies would find your research most useful when the time came to negotiate a settlement with these people.”
“Negotiate a settlement! Is that what you call coercing the Krataks to join the Alliance against their own interests?”
“Now you’re making things up, Jasmine. You know the Allies never coerced anybody into doing anything.”
“Don’t pull that jargon on me,” she shot back. “You know as well as I do the Allies never took no for an answer when they decided to include a planet in the Alliance. They won’t do it here, either. They want Kratak to join, and the Allies won’t quit until they do.”
“You don’t have to worry about the Allies coercing the Krataks to do anything. The Krataks are far too distracted by this stupid little war against the Ulasso. They’ll send their best fighters and their strongest people out there—wherever it is—and leave the Keep unprotected. The Allies will walk right in, and that will be that.”
Jasmine whirled away. She walked back and forth from one side of the room to the other, but she couldn’t get her mind to settle down. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. All this time, all these years, I gave my life to the Allies. I thought I was betraying my own people by even talking to you about it, and now I find out you already knew. You’re one of them. You’re one of the people who will conquer this planet.”
He sat up on the bed, but his grin only got wider. “I never thought you would figure it out. You’ve always been so concerned about doing the right thing. You never questioned before. Now I can respect you.”
She whirled around to confront him. “Respect me! Now you can respect me?”
“You’re not a mindless dupe anymore.”
“Is that what I was to you before?”
He put out his hand to her. “I still loved you. I never stopped loving you.”
“You fink!” She spun away from him. She couldn’t even look at him. “I never want to see you again.”
He jumped off the bed and headed for the door. “You’re going to see me again whether you want to or not. You better get used to it, because you and I are the only two on this team who know the truth. I almost wish Sheena was still here. She knew what was what.”
“You never should have kept this secret from me,” Jasmine cried. “How could you say you loved me with this between us?”
“Well, now it isn’t between us anymore. Now I can say I love you, and you have no reason to hold me at arm’s length.”
She rushed at him and shoved him toward the door. “Get out of here. You’re a snake. I’ve known it all along, and I’ve been too blind to see it until now. Get out and don’t come back.”
She flung the door open and pushed him into the passage. She slammed the door in his face and threw herself down on the bed.
4. Chapter 3
Jasmine closed her eyes against the light flooding down from the ceiling, but she couldn’t fall asleep. Too many nagging questions plagued her mind. What was she thinking, getting involved with Rex Masters in the first place? She never really respected him. She respected other officers in the Allied Command a lot more.
Now she knew for certain she could never let him touch her again. He lied to her face while he distracted her with bodily pleasures. She hated herself for ever wanting him. She was a lot madder at herself than at him.
His revelation infuriated her, but not as much as it should have. So many things made sense now. So many missions she undertook to so many other planets, and all of them ended with those planets joining the Allies. The more a population resisted, the more resources the Allies bent to persuade them. T
he Allies used all their economic might to force them to join. The Allies got so successful at convincing people to fall under their sway, they didn't even have to use their military anymore. No one could stand up to the Allies.
Now the Krataks would fall, too. Jasmine helped the Allies take over so many planets, and none of those conquests bothered her in the slightest. None of them bothered her because she didn't realize at the time what she was doing. All she did was study them. She recorded their biology, their geology, their vegetation and animal life. Then she went about her business and never gave it a second thought.
How could she walk out of this room, now that she knew what was going on? How could she face the Krataks again? She couldn't talk to them. She couldn't study them. She couldn't look them in the eye.
She was one of the conquerors. Her job entailed pulling the wool over these people's eyes until the Allies stormed in and took over. They would supplant the native population's autonomy and replace it with their own government. They would send in their own governors, and it all started with Jasmine herself.
She couldn't undo what she'd already done. She and her team were already on the planet. No wonder General Duncan didn't put up much resistance to the team remaining behind a little longer. They'd gotten their foothold here. The longer the team stayed on the surface, the more they solidified the Allies' presence.
There must be some way to mitigate the coming disaster, but Jasmine couldn't think of anything. Rex was right. As long as the Assans focused their hostility on the Ulasso, they couldn't combat the Allies at all.
If only there was some way to talk to Rocor, to get through to him. She had to turn him away from this misguided attack against his own people. So, the Ulasso were different. She couldn't believe they were as dangerous as the Assans made them out to be. They certainly weren’t as dangerous as the Allies.
Once she made up her mind, she marched right out of the room. She was too hungry to stay there anyway, and she wasn't getting any rest lying on that bed. She swung the door open and stopped. Rocor stood right outside her room. She looked up and down the passage, but no one else disturbed the place.
He nodded to her. "Are you coming down to the hall?"
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in the armory."
"I was. I came to see if you.... I mean, your people— to eat with us."
"Freya already invited us." Jasmine looked around again. "Where are the others? I thought they would already be down there."
"I haven't seen anybody, and I've been standing here waiting for a while."
Jasmine shook her head and shut the door. "Never mind. We can go alone and they can come afterwards."
He fell in at her side. "I trust the room is to your liking."
"It's very nice. Thank you. Your family has been very kind to welcome us here."
"I understand you want to look into our genealogical records and perhaps study us from a medical point of view. You'll want to examine us and maybe take samples."
Jasmine blushed at the thought. "I won't be. Maybe Dr. Simons will want to. I'm a biologist. I'll be studying the planets plant and animal life. I'll leave the intricacies to someone else."
He chuckled. "Good. I was worried."
Jasmine's head whipped around. "You? I doubt you were worried about anything."
"You're right. I wasn't. I was just making conversation."
"How are the preparations going for your attack?"
"Very well. We have all the weapons we need, so we'll be ready to fly as soon as our people get organized."
"How long will that take?"
He cocked his head. "Why do you ask?"
"Do you really think this attack is a good idea? Won't you be leaving the Keep open to dangers from somewhere else?"
"Like where?"
She hesitated to tell him too much. "I just wonder how you can attack the Ulasso when only one man came into your territory."
He growled under his breath. "One man is as good as an army with those people. If we don't squash them now, we'll have their whole army on our doorstep in a matter of days. The Ulasso are blood-thirsty and vicious."
"I find that hard to believe. Fawks was just helping us. I never met anybody more helpful and generous. His crossing into your territory could have been an accident."
"You wouldn't say that if you knew anything about the Ulasso. How did you happen to meet him, anyway?"
"Our shuttle crashed on entry into the planet's atmosphere. He found us and helped us make our way to your Keep."
He stopped walking to study her. "Your shuttle crashed? Did you have some sort of mechanical malfunction? Was your shuttle incapable of coping with the atmosphere?"
"No. A dragon attacked us. It shot fire all over us and sent us spinning out of control. If our pilot Sheena hadn't been so skilled and quick-witted, we would all have fallen to our deaths."
His eyes sparkled. "A dragon attacked you! What color was it?"
"It was pure white, and huge. It covered half the sky."
He set off walking again. "I thought so."
She hurried after him. "What do you mean—you thought so? What did you think?"
He didn't stop walking. "Don't waste your breath telling me again how helpful and generous the Ulasso was to you. Don't tell me any more about him saving your lives—not after what you just told me."
"I don't understand you at all. What does that have to do with the Ulasso?"
"You just told me. He caused you to crash, and then he found you and saved your lives."
"He didn't cause the crash. He was nowhere near us."
"Of course, he did. He tried to kill you."
Jasmine stopped dead in her tracks while he strode on. "You're out of your mind."
He spun around to face her. "Am I? How do you think he found you so fast after you crashed? How could he know where you were?"
Jasmine threw up her hands. "You're making this up. You hate the Ulasso. You'll say anything to incite the Allies and everyone else against them."
"I don't have to incite anybody. Everybody knows the Ulasso deserve to die for what they've done."
Jasmine set off down the passage, back the way she came. He confounded her plans. She wanted to tell him about the Allies threatening the planet. Instead, they wound up bickering about this. "Forget it. You go have your meal. I'm not talking about this anymore."
How he wound up in front of her, she never could understand. He flew so fast the human eye couldn't follow him. One minute, he stood a dozen paces down the passage. The next, he appeared in front of her and blocked her path. "Stop, Jasmine."
She squared her shoulders at him. "Get out of my way. I don't know what kind of woman you're used to dealing with, but where I come from, men don't block a woman's way. Stand aside and let me pass."
"You won't get anything to eat down there. At least come to the hall and share a meal with us."
"I'll take care of myself later. I'm not going anywhere with you."
He arched one eyebrow. "With me?"
Jasmine looked away.
He didn't move. "Is it me you don't want to eat with? If that's the case, you can go to the hall by yourself. I'll leave you alone so I don't disturb you so much."
She refused to look at him. She only wanted him to go away, but she couldn't stop her heart racing. Why did he have to stand so close? Why did his presence have to excite her this way? She shouldn't give him the time of day. She should hold him at a professional distance, but she couldn't.
In spite of all her efforts to the contrary, she gravitated toward him. She wished she could study him at close range. She wanted to inspect his skin under a powerful magnifying glass. She wanted to taste him and understand him. She wanted to see this alien world from his point of view.
He stood still and waited. When she didn't respond or look at him, he took hold of her chin and turned her head to face him. His eyes burned her soul. The swirling pictures flowed and rippled under his skin. What was he thinking
about right now?
The moment her eyes met his, her resolve dwindled to nothing. She couldn't walk away from this. He glanced down at her mouth, and a sudden burst of sparkles shimmered away from his lips. They faded across his cheeks.
His voice rumbled down the passage. "I asked you a question."
She sucked her breath through her teeth. For some reason, him holding her by the chin didn't strike her as strange. "What?"
"I asked if you want to go to the hall alone. I asked if it was me you objected to."
"No!" she cried out. "I mean, no. I don't object to you."
"You object to something. Tell me what it is."
Her mind tumbled in confusion. "Nothing."
His eyes widened. "You don't object to anything?"
"I... I don't want to go to the hall alone. I... I don't want to go to the hall at all."
"Oh." He let go of her face. His hand fell to his side.
His touch left a burned place on her skin. She couldn't think of walking away now. "Are you going to the hall?"
"I told you I was."
She wanted to slink away and hide. What was wrong with her?
He started to turn away. Jasmine's heart ached—but why? Why should she care so much about him walking away? She didn't even know him. He was alien and horrifying and incomprehensible.
He glanced back over his shoulder. "Will I see you again later?"
As suddenly as she sank into the blackest despair, she exploded into joyous light. "Yes! Oh, yes! I'd like that very much."
He frowned. "You would?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm sorry. Nothing is making sense right now. I didn't mean to walk away from you over a silly misunderstanding about the Ulasso. You obviously understand them much better than I do."
He shrugged. "Don't talk about the Ulasso anymore."
She couldn't stop smiling. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. "I don't want to. We can talk about anything else."
He jerked his head sideways. "So...do you want to go to the hall?"
"I'd rather talk to you here."
His face brightened. The patterns swirled faster than ever. "Okay. What would you like to talk about?"
Rocor (Dragons of Kratak Book 5) Page 2