“Yeah, well, Coleson’s going to die ugly,” Custer said, “and we’ve made evidence disappear before. This is just going to be a new version of an old trick.” He took her hand slowly, curling his fingers around hers. “Trust me.”
She wanted to, more than anything else, but now the fears were swirling in her head. Her mind wouldn’t calm down and her frustration at her lack of control only made everything worse.
“Hey, look at me a sec,” Custer said softly. Delphine hesitated, then obeyed. He opened his mouth to continue, but before he could the door to the bar burst opened.
Delphine whipped around, her hopes that it was just an aggressive local or a clumsy drunk evaporated as she took in the blasters at their hips. There were four of them, their eyes scanning the patrons before quickly locking onto Custer and Delphine. They definitely weren’t Mason’s, which was a relief, but that hardly meant they weren’t dangerous.
“Heard you been asking questions,” one said. Delphine turned and noticed the bartender was mysteriously absent. Around them, people not-so-subtlety tried to get out of the door.
“Might have been,” Custer said calmly, reaching for his blaster. “I don’t suppose you’re here to answer them.”
“Boy, you need to learn to mind your own business,” the man growled.
Custer’s face split into a wide, sharp grin. “Or else what?”
The other men, almost definitely mercs, took that as their cue to start shooting. Anyone who hadn’t gotten out yet rushed for the exit, several of them screaming and stumbling on their way out. Custer and Delphine both ducked out of the way and the bolt smashed through Custer’s glass, splashing glass and the remaining drink onto the counter. They dove apart, Custer drawing his blaster and firing at the man who’d shot. Three of the mercs went for Custer, the remaining man heading for Delphine. It made sense. As far as they knew, Delphine was just some unknown woman hanging off of their actual target. She almost felt bad for the poor bastard.
He sauntered towards her with a smirk. “Now, I won’t hurt you if I don’t have to, but—”
Delphine lashed out at him as soon as he was in range. She felt her nails harden and grow longer as she rushed forward, grabbing her would-be attacker around the middle and driving him into the wall several feet behind him. He grunted on impact and Delphine pulled back and struck him in the jaw, not letting him get his breath back. He crumpled but was still conscious, going to his knees and waving his hands woozily as he tried to stand. Delphine let him flail for a moment, then kicked him in the head.
Behind her, there was a strange ripping sound followed by a shout. She spun around to come to Custer’s aid and stopped short.
He’d apparently decided that taking on three mercenaries in his human form was too much work because there, in the middle of a dingy bar on Saltos, was a huge, honey-colored bear swiping angrily at three very unhappy men. He caught one in the jaw with his massive paw and he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, blood splashing across the floor. The other two got smart and quickly got out of his range, one in front of him and one directly behind him. Custer turned to keep them both in his line of sight, but they had the advantage on maneuverability. He thrashed, roaring and swinging his paws in wide arcs, and then charged forward when he failed to connect. The merc in front of him ended up pinned with his blaster sideways in Custer’s muzzle, keeping him from biting down. The second man took the opportunity to aim at the back of Custer’s skull.
Delphine realized abruptly that this was her chance. She knew, one way or the other, Mason Corporation would see her dead. It was inevitable. But this was an opportunity to get away from the Breakwater crew, or better yet, catch them unawares while they didn’t think of her as a threat. She could tell them that Custer was delayed somehow and, before they realized what was happening, finish her job. She would still die, but she could do so erasing the stain on her impeccable record. She could prove that one good thing—one functional, successful thing—came out of her cluster.
The thought didn’t have time to fully form before she moved forward. She didn’t want to be functional, she thought as she barreled into the mercenary, her bracelet seeming to radiate warmth that spread up her arm and gathered in her chest. She wanted to be happy and, if that was out of her reach, then she at least wanted to prove that for the last small bit of her life, she had been someone who helped her friends.
The struggle was short. He hadn’t noticed her until it was too late, and she had her claws dug into his shoulder and ribs before he could move. He grunted in pain and tried to buck her off, but she was stronger. She slammed her forehead into his and he recoiled, dazed. Taking advantage of his surprise, she slammed an elbow into his jaw. Unlike his comrade, he didn’t take the hit well and his eyes fluttered shut immediately. Standing, Delphine turned to see that Custer had managed to get the better of his attacker.
He made several low noises that Delphine, as a person who did not regularly associate with bears, had no way of interpreting. She raised an eyebrow and waited. Custer got the hint and shifted back. It was a jarring thing to see, but surprisingly not as jarring as having a naked Custer standing in front of her. The bar, suddenly, was very hot.
“I said,” he told her, “we need to get back to the ship. We got our information, anyways, and I think the bar is out of service at the moment. Oh, wait a sec.”
He dashed behind the bar and grabbed a blue glass bottle, then headed towards the door.
“Okay, now let’s go,” he called over his shoulder.
“What are you forgetting?” she asked just before he stepped outside. Custer paused, then looked down.
“Huh,” he said. “Yeah, it would be really weird to get arrested for public indecency after the afternoon we’ve had. Also, Leo would kill me.”
“I think our options are you running to the ship naked, me trying to explain why I have a bear with a mechanical paw, or we steal one of the mercenary’s pants,” Delphine said calmly as she failed to pull her eyes away from the angles and planes of Custer’s body. She managed to pull her gaze up to an acceptable height right before he turned around.
“Stealing pants it is,” he said, walking towards where one of Delphine’s victims lay. She turned to give him a modicum of privacy as he divested the merc of his clothing.
The realization of what she had done swept over her but, to her surprise, she didn’t feel panic or fear. Instead, a warm, light feeling spread through her and a smile stole over her face. She had made her decision. This man was important to her, and she would keep him safe for as long as she could. Dying, it seemed, was a much less intimidating concept when she had something worth dying for.
“Alright, off we go,” Custer said, picking the bottle up and recovering his multitool from where he’d tossed it before shifting.
They walked back out into the cool air, people passing by on their way to anywhere. Either no one knew or no one cared about what had happened in the bar. The stroll back to the ship was quiet, Delphine still putting the pieces of her new life in order and Custer uncharacteristically silent. They stood closer together than normal, the heat of Custer’s body prickling along Delphine’s arm. She was a little surprised to notice that she was smiling.
“Have fun?” Annie smirked as they walked into the cargo bay.
“Actually, we got attacked by mercenaries,” Custer said happily. “But we got the information. Are the others back?”
“Hyde is, Zosha and Rick aren’t,” Annie said. “Who sent the mercenaries?”
“They weren’t Mason,” Delphine responded.
“The bartender who told me how to contact the Rabblerouser tipped them off that someone was snooping around,” Custer added. “They must have still had friends in the area from when they worked out of here. He didn’t seem like a ‘play both sides’ kind of man, so I’m honestly a little surprised.”
Annie snorted. “Go get cleaned up. Delphine, you can use the shower in Leo and my cabin.”
“Yea
h, don’t do that, we all know how much sex they have in there. Zosha and Rick seem the types to keep it to the bed and, on special occasions, the wall, so if you want to try theirs they probably won’t mind.”
Delphine nodded to Annie and followed Custer towards the crew’s rooms.
“Alright, this is Rick and Zosha’s room,” Custer said, pressing buttons on the pad next to the door. “Now, Rick thinks me, Hyde, and Dom don’t know the code, so I’d appreciate it if you let him think you broke in through nefarious means if he asks.”
“Will do,” Delphine said. She stepped inside, awkwardly avoiding the evidence of other people’s lives as she made her way to the bathroom. It was small and clean, with an unused towel hanging by the shower. Delphine sighed as she stripped off her sweaty clothing and stepped into the stall, activating the sonics. She grabbed one of the bottles of body wash and squeezed some into her palm, rubbing her hands together. The tingling feeling of the sonics and the sensation of the fruity-smelling soap she lathered over her body erasing the strain of the day was amazing. She massaged her shoulder, soothing the aches, and rolled her neck. If she had ever felt this peaceful before she couldn’t remember it. Hurtling towards her death was the most comfortable she’d ever been.
Her mind wandered as she soaped herself up and, unsurprisingly, it wandered right into Custer. She wondered what would happen if she kissed him, if she touched him. She’d had sex before, both on assignments and with other splices to scratch the itch, but it always felt impersonal. Sex with Custer, she was sure, would be nothing like that. If she was going to start getting things because she wanted them and not because they were necessary for survival, then this was the top of her list.
She imagined what his lips would feel like on hers, how his hands would feel against her skin. He wouldn’t be gentle, she decided, because he knew she didn’t need him to be. She wouldn’t be handled like glass. It would be fun and passionate instead. She ran her fingertips softly up and down her sides, leaving her skin sparking like livewire in their wake. Arousal pooled on her belly, her thoughts a cloudy haze of Custer’s body under the neon lights. She forced herself to finish showering and step out of the stall.
She toweled off and pulled her dirty clothes back on, grimacing and vowing to change as soon as she got to another set of clothes. The bracelet she carefully slid on with a smile, running her fingers over the designs. Unsure what to do with the towel, she folded it and laid it across the sink. Opening the door carefully, she peered out into the room but Rick and Zosha either weren’t back yet or hadn’t come back to their room. She padded out into the hallway and to the room she was pretty sure was Custer’s and knocked on the door.
A clean-looking Custer opened the door, smirking.
“Hey. I filled Leo in on what we found out at the bar, and he’s trying to contact the captain of the Rabblerouser so he can try and work out a deal and, you know, make sure he doesn’t send more mercenaries after us. Now it’s just a waiting game.”
Delphine hummed in confirmation, stepping into the room. Custer was in a loose shirt and pants, his messy hair and bare feet oddly charming. The heat of her fantasies in the shower hadn’t left her and her body warmed in response to the sight of him.
“Do you have any idea on how to pass the time?” Delphine asked before she could think better of it.
Custer paused for a moment, surprise flitting across his face, before plastering a grin on his face.
“Why, Delphine,” he said, batting his eyelashes. “I’d almost say you’re coming on to me.”
“I am,” Delphine said. “You know I am. Are you interested?”
“That’s a very direct seduction technique,” Custer told her.
“Are you saying it’s not working?” she asked, her eyes sweeping over his body and taking in the pink tinge at the top of his ears and in his cheeks.
“I’m saying it’s a bad idea.”
“Why is it a bad idea?” she asked, taking a step closer.
“Lots of reasons,” Custer replied, swaying back but not moving. “Why do you think it’s a good one?”
“I like you,” she told him, looking into his liquid gold eyes. “And I want you.”
“Back at you,” he said, amused. “That said, you were our prisoner and also employed by the shadiest company I’ve ever come across until very recently. I don’t want you to be rushing into this.”
Of course she was rushing into this. She was running out of time.
She smiled at him. “I don’t see the point in waiting around. I know what I want, and it’s you. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go insane and try to murder you if you don’t want me back.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I don’t want you back,” he murmured, eyes running over her body.
“In that case, I’d very much like to get out of these clothes,” she told him primly. “Think you can be a gentleman and help?”
There was a brief flash of emotion in Custer’s eyes before a wolfish grin took over his face.
“Oh, I don’t plan to be a gentleman about it,” he said, voice low. He took a step forward and pressed his lips to Delphine’s.
This, she thought drunkenly, is worth dying for.
She pressed her tongue to the seam of his lips. His mouth opened with what sounded a bit like a laugh and a bit like a sigh and then it was all wet heat. Fisting her hands in his shirt, she pressed even closer to him.
“Mmm, get naked,” she sighed into his mouth. In another world, she would have hours to draw this out. In this one, the knowledge that at any moment this could all be ripped away pressed into her mind.
“Impatient, aren’t you?” Custer chuckled as he obeyed.
“I’m plenty patient,” Delphine informed him as she undid the buttons on her own shirt. “I’ve waited this long, haven’t I?”
“Fair enough,” he said, stalling as his eyes ran over her exposed skin. Her body felt like it was about to burst into flames, and all he was doing was looking at her.
“Keep going,” she told him. Custer quirked an eyebrow at her and then, with surprising efficiency, stripped off the rest of his clothing and stepped forward. He cupped her chin in his hands, tilting it up to kiss her again. She leaned into it, caught between wanting to get the rest of her clothes off and wanting to never stop kissing him. After a few moments, the desire to go further than a lip-lock won out.
“I can’t undress if you’re standing right there,” she told him. He took a step back. Delphine ignored the fact that everywhere he had touched now felt cold.
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” he said teasingly and walked to his bed, sprawling out on it. Delphine’s mouth went dry looking at him, the sharp jut of his hipbones, the defined muscle of his chest… she shook herself and went back to the task at hand.
She undressed as gracefully as she could, as aware as ever of his eyes on her. Looking down at her arm, she pondered over whether or not to leave the bracelet on. She decided it couldn’t hurt and walked over to the bed, begging her knees not to give out before she reached it. Once she was close enough, she ran her fingers down his chest and stomach, the way the muscles contracted under her touch sending sparks through her.
“My eyes are up here,” he joked breathlessly. Delphine smiled at him, looking up.
“I know,” she told him, slinging one leg over his body so she could straddle him. “The view’s better down here though.”
She leaned down to kiss him again. He wrapped one arm around her waist as best he could, the other coming up to cup the back of her skull. The kiss was filthy and intense. It was already the best sex Delphine had ever had, and they hadn’t even gotten to the main course yet.
“Do you have…” her voice trailed off, unsure how to ask without damaging the mood. Luckily, Custer knew exactly what she was asking.
Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4) Page 17