by Anna Carven
He cocked his head, seemingly confused. “You do not wish to seek recourse?”
The fear on Marie’s face drained Riana’s anger. She didn’t get a kick out of this sort of shit. Punishing her now would be too easy, too pointless. People like Marie lived and died by the code of the Underground. There was no honor down here, only competition. “It’s not necessary. Let’s just get me plugged in to the dataport so I can find the real bad guys.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Fatigue threatened to wash over Riana. She’d been sitting in the spatial chair for hours, sifting through endless streams of data. She’d cast her nets wide, searching for any information on Fortuna Tau, the superfreighter Hendrix II, Kordolians, and assassination contracts.
Of course, she didn’t do the searching herself. She’d set up a complicated network of datamining apps to do the work for her.
All she had to do was filter through the results.
But the VR headset was digging into her temples—it was one size too small—and the Neuro-cap was damp with her sweat.
She ran another string of code, reaching into virtual space with the help of her digital gloves.
Hardcore surfers didn’t look at monitors and datapads. The fastest way to manipulate code was to step right into virtual reality.
But now her damn eyes kept closing, shutting out the world of information that was right at her fingertips.
“You are tired.” Kail’s low voice made her jump. Of course, she couldn’t see him because she was hooked up to the VR monitor.
“Shit, don’t do that!” She’d never get used to his eerie, preternatural stealth.
“You should stop. Rest and take sustenance.” Large hands descended onto her shoulders, massaging them. Warmth coursed through her. His killer’s hands could be so tender.
“I can’t.” Information on the Darkweb could change or disappear in the blink of an eye. “I’ve got a lead on our would-be attackers.” Her net was tightening. “If I stop and rest now, I’ll lose the thread. Besides, we don’t have much time. Someone’s going to latch on to my unusual activity pattern sooner or later.” She opened a bunch of search results under Fortuna Tau.
Scarabus Enterprises. That name kept coming up. She didn’t like that. Scarabus was a huge corporate-political network with off-world stakeholders. She didn’t like it one bit.
“Shall I bring you something?”
“Uh…” Riana hands moved through the air as she manipulated the data. She stifled a yawn. What was Kail saying? “Hang on…” Something in the results was bothering her. “According to this, someone made contact with the Fortuna Tau shortly before it was destroyed.”
So the Station Boss had been receiving comms directly from Earth.
“Sent from Scarabus Enterprises’ corporate HQ,” she muttered in surprise. Someone was either very cocky or a little bit sloppy in covering their tracks.
She scanned the communication logs. There was another comm, sent shortly afterwards. This time, it had gone to the Hendrix II.
“Two strikes.”
All she needed was…
“Oh, shit.” An encrypted comm had been sent from Scarabus HQ to a lone mercenary ship called the Black Rhino, which had bene lurking in the vicinity of Fortuna Tau. “Arin said a group of mercenaries had been behind the explosion.”
“Yes.” Kail’s hands drifted up her neck. He caressed her scalp, the action sending electric shivers down her spine. “Kalan killed one of them on the mining station. The rest of them fell into the sea when their craft crashed through Earth’s atmosphere.” He was using the pad of his thumb to massage her skin in a gentle circular motion. Warmth exploded in Riana’s core, blasting away her tiredness. “Have you found their masters?”
“I… think so.” At least, she had proof that their orders had been sent from Scarabus’ HQ.
But why? Why would Human beings on Earth want to kill their own people?
Ha. Ask that to every man and woman in history who’d decided to start a war.
“My clever Human.” Kail actually sounded… proud of her. “My inner temanjin told me you were the one who would lead me to the truth. You will find the leader of this Scarabus for me, and I will go and pay him or her a personal visit.” He brought his fingers around to her temples, gently kneading her flesh. His touch was sensual heaven. “But first, we need to find the cursed vorcheks who want you dead. I promised you I would kill them all, didn’t I?”
“N-not quite.” Riana thought hard and fast. “Is that what you plan to do if I tell you who they are?”
“Yes.”
Oh, sweet Jupiter. What do I do now?
“Kill or be killed, Riana. You don’t have a choice.” His touch was soft, but his words were brutal. “Remember what they did to you. They will try again.”
Of course, his logic was infallible, but Riana was an idealist. She’d prefer a bloodless form of justice, if such a thing were possible.
She closed her eyes for a second, momentarily giving in to her exhaustion. How the hell was she supposed to find the shadowy figures who wanted her dead?
There was a contract out on her somewhere, but without the right connections, finding out who was behind it would be difficult.
Difficult, but not impossible.
Riana sighed. She really didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t have much of a choice. “We’ll bid for it.”
“What are you saying, my lovely Human?”
“They want me dead, but they’ll get me alive, and you’ll be the one to deliver me.” She suppressed the anxiety that rose up in her chest. “But first, we have to lure them in.” Riana unwrapped the soft red scarf around her neck. “Let’s make a film, Kail. An old-fashioned one, with a script and everything.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Do you undertand what you’re supposed to do?” Riana sat in the spatial chair, her face and hands free of any clutter. She’d put all the VR equipment aside. This next part was going to be… interesting.
“Yes.”
“Where’s Marie?”
“She isn’t going anywhere.” His eyes turned frosty. “She will not bother us.”
“You haven’t… done anything bad to her, have you?”
“No. You need to have a little more faith in me, my clever Human.”
“Just making sure.” Riana’s heartbeat accelerated as Kail approached. Her red scarf was in his hands. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just know your way of doing things is… different.”
“As is yours.” As he stood before her, he placed a finger under her chin, tilting her face upwards. His eyes glittered dangerously in the dim light. “Deception is not my usual style.”
“In this case, it’s part of the plan. Don’t worry. I can play the part. Can you?”
“I do not like it,” he said gruffly, “but I will do it. For you.”
“Thank you, my love.” Riana smiled, leaning back in her chair as Kail stroked the side of her face with his bare fingers.
“You are lovely, even like this.”
“What are you talking about? I look terrible.” Riana had splashed water all over her face, smearing the mascara around her eyes and smudging her red lipstick so it appeared as if she’d been crying. The dark circles around her eyes suggested she might have been beaten. She’d removed the tinted lenses that had changed the pattern of her irises so she could easily be identified. “But that’s the whole point.”
“In truth, I would never tolerate such a thing.”
“But this is just make-believe. Bait to draw out the rats.”
“Rats?”
“Vermin.”
“Ah.” Kail dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t say another word. He just looked at her with intense, burning eyes. Riana lifted her arms and Kail gently undressed her, pulling off her unbuttoned coat. Her torn silk blouse was underneath; she’d knotted it at the front so it covered her breasts, lea
ving her stomach bare. Riana shivered as the cold air hit her skin, raising gooseflesh and turning her nipples into hard points.
Kail’s hands were trembling. Slowly, tenderly, he placed his thumb on her chin. “Open.”
She opened her mouth.
He slipped the red scarf between her lips, tying it behind her head. “Is this too tight?”
Perfect. She shook her head. Unable to speak, she communicated with her eyes.
“Stand up.”
Riana rose to her feet. Kail spun her gently and tied her wrists together with a length of cord he’d procured from somewhere.
Firm. Not too loose, not too tight. Just right.
Kail leaned in and lifted her effortlessly out of the chair. Riana laughed softly to herself as arousal spread through her body. Here she was, bound and helpless in the arms of a bad-ass alien warrior. If he wanted to, he could take advantage of her in a hundred-and-one ways.
But Kail wouldn’t do that. Her stoic alien was actually quite honorable, in a weird, Kordolian kind-of way. She was yet to fully understand it, but she knew he would never hurt her.
He might dispatch his enemies with terrifying ruthlessness, but he would never hurt her.
He lay her on the cold, hard floor with exquisite care, a frown crossing his stern, Human-but-not-Human features. She couldn’t wait for him to lose the disguise and become her fearsome, scarred Kordolian again.
The chill from the floor spread through her bones, and for a moment Riana was tempted to close her eyes and succumb to the weariness that tugged at her.
She looked up at Kail and saw only tenderness in his eyes. A holocorder—unceremoniously borrowed from Marie—was in his left hand, its red recording light flashing slowly.
He pressed a button, just like Riana had showed him, and the light turned green, indicating that it was recording.
“I have your target,” he said, following the script she’d given him. His Universal was accentless and his voice was emotionless.
Perfect. He was the perfect captor.
“I will not stage an accidental death as you have requested, because I require payment first. She will be delivered to you like this.” He focused the holocorder on Riana, zooming in on her face.
Riana played her part, straining against her bonds as she moaned in protest. She stared up at the camera, feigning terror.
“Her monitoring chip has been removed, therefore my price has doubled. Two billion credits stored on two separate untraceable credit chips. I will be at the East Tunnel underneath the Old Shard hoverail station.Twelve hundred hours, midday. Those are my terms. If you do not show, I have other interested parties I can sell her to.” He’d memorized her script perfectly, word-for-word. Riana had only had to tell him once.
Secretly, she was impressed.
Kail switched off the holocorder. “I do not like that expression on your face, even when it is feigned.” His low, rumbling voice was laced with cold anger. He set the holocorder aside and knelt beside her. “Come here.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the chair, where he untied her bonds. He brought the scarf to her face and wiped the smeared makeup from her cheeks.
He knelt before her, running his hands up her bare stomach. His fingers reached the knot between her breasts. Riana squirmed with pent-up arousal. “Not now, Kail. We have work to do.”
“You are always trying to deny me. What better time and place is there?”
“What if someone comes?”
“I would hear them long before they appeared.”
She was weak against him, especially when he put his head between her legs and inhaled deeply. He kissed her sex, his lips warm and moist through the thin, stretchy fabric of her leggings.
“You’re impossible,” she gasped.
Kail’s hands were already on the band of her leggings. He tugged them down, pulling them over the curve of her hips. “I am not yet satisfied. My appetite for you is endless.” He ran his hands up her bare thighs. “When you sit in that chair and command data like a powerful vizak, you remind me of a goddess. Did you know that?”
“N-no.” If she was a goddess, then he was a demon of the underworld, the Hades to her Persephone.
“That is what you look like to me. Now be quiet and let me worship you.”
A philosopher and a poet, she mused, tickled pink by his words. Her thoughts were stolen away by the sensation of his mouth on the moist lips of her pussy.
Oh, my.
Kail grazed her throbbing clit with his tongue.
Oh, sweet Jupiter.
Riana whimpered, threading her fingers through his hair and down his neck.
He flicked his tongue back and forth. She closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow breath as a great shudder racked her body.
He slid his long tongue along the length of her pussy, taking his time as her whimpers crescendoed, turning into full-throated moans.
Then he sucked the tender nub of her clit, and her world exploded. Although her eyes were closed, she saw a billion stars as Kail caressed her with his talented lips.
Her climax began from nowhere, a delicious tightness that started in her lower back and spread outwards, uncoiling through her lower body and racing up along her back like wildfire. She arched her back and ran her fingers over his hair as a scream of pleasure burst from her throat.
Almost there.
“Ohhh.” It was the most amazing thing she’d ever felt. The pressure was building, and Kail was controlling it, bringing her closer to release with every step.
He could hold her there all day long as far as she cared, as long as he gave her what she needed in the end.
She opened her eyes and dared to look down.
His eyes met hers.
The searing amber of his true gaze seemed to burn through his tinted lenses. He was devouring her with his eyes. She understood that look perfectly.
Only I can do this to you. Only I have this power over you.
Riana knew it from the depths of her soul. She gave in to him completely, without doubt, without question.
Kail circled her clit with his dangerous tongue and sent her over the edge. She howled in ecstasy, unable to control herself.
Right now, he was in complete command of her. With the aftershocks of the orgasm still rippling through her, he rose to his feet, and in a single, fluid motion, he had her flipped around with her hands gripping the back of the chair.
“I am never satisfied when it comes to you,” he growled. He had one hand on her ass and the other on her neck. “With time, you will understand what I mean.”
“With time?”
“Yes.” There was something resoundingly final about the way he said it.
“You mean you—”
Her words were stolen away as Kail entered her, his cock sliding between her moist folds as he pressed his body against hers. He was still clothed, but he’d lost the heavy black jacket.
He thrust inside her, fucking her with a savage kind of intensity, as if he’d suddenly been possessed by a wild spirit.
“Ahhh.” The afterglow of Riana’s orgasm melted into another mounting climax.
Kail’s large hands held her down, and his powerful body enveloped hers. He thrust inside her again and again, going deeper, harder, pressing his lips against her neck, her jaw, her ear.
He was insatiable.
Suddenly, his fingers were at her entrance, even as he fucked her from behind. He toyed with her clit, and Riana absently wondered how he had the presence of mind to do that when he was devouring her with such wild abandon.
His other hand moved over her one of her breasts, caressing her roughly as he continued to grind against her, overloading her senses.
“You belong to me now,” he whispered, his warm breath caressing her ear. “Clever little Human of mine.” His voice was hoarse.
Harder, he went. Faster. Until she was quivering all over, aching with the need to come. Kail brought his hand to her chin and tipped h
er head back, kissing the sweat-coated skin of her neck. She felt the touch of his lips, the caress of his tongue, the deadly-but-loving graze of his fangs.
The cold was a distant memory. Kail had engulfed her with his overwhelming presence.
“Kail,” she whimpered, unable to bear it anymore.
“What do you want, my goddess?”
“Release me,” she begged.
“You are too lovely. Perhaps I shall keep you like this just a little longer.”
“I dare you to try.” She could sense the tension in him. Such power, barely restrained. “Ohh, Kail. Just let me come.”
“You want this?”
“Yes!”
He buried his cock deep inside her, filling her to the hilt. As he did so, he rubbed her clit with the tip of his finger, whispering something in her ear.
It was a language she didn’t understand. It was powerful and ancient and it dragged her billions of light-years away, to a cold, distant planet where darkness ruled.
This time, her orgasm came from a deep, primal place, and as she found her release, Kail came with her, his deep voice breaking as he cried her name.
Then he held her close as Riana caught her breath. She closed her eyes and basked in his warmth, not quite believing she had this fierce, beautiful creature all to herself. “Are you s-satisfied now?” she whispered, still breathless.
“For now,” he murmured.
And then he stiffened, his arms tightening around her. “But now we have to move.”
“What’s going on?”
“Someone comes. Our task here is done. Time to leave.”
“I need to upload the holorecording.” She would post it to the virtual marketplace. If they were serious players—and anyone who could afford a billion credits was a serious player—there was no way they could miss it.
“Do it. And if you want to avoid bloodshed, be quick about it.” He gently withdrew his cock, leaving her raw and tingling. “From now on, you don’t leave my side, Riana of Earth.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Voices floated down the tunnel as they ran. This time, Kail insisted on staying behind her, guarding her closely. The local area militia—a group of unsanctioned vigilantes who protected the interests of the Darkweb surfers—were in hot pursuit.