by Alix Nichols
The next breath he took was a low, guttural sound that sent her heart into a frenzied little jig.
Ah. Music to his ears.
“I’m going to fasten the thigh straps now,” he said.
“Un-huh,” she rasped, breathless.
This time he didn’t even try to pretend that what he was doing wasn’t a caress. Framing her right thigh with his hands, palms flat and fingers spread, he stroked her gently for five good minutes before he even clamped the two ends of the strap together. He held her some more after the buckle was done. When he switched to her left thigh, stroking and squeezing her firm flesh, he lifted his thumb and brushed it against her center.
A moan escaped her lips.
His eyes hooded. Sweet Goddess. He could feel her sultry wetness through the thin linen of her pants and undies. Her scent intensified. It was driving him mad.
“Linni,” he murmured against her ear.
She tipped her head toward him.
He rained hot kisses on her face and her mouth. His hands cupped her breasts, each fitting so perfectly into his palms as if it were tailor-made for it.
“I want you so much,” he grated between kisses. “Let me fly you to a hotel.”
She stiffened. “No.”
Shit, shit, shit. He shouldn’t have said that. He should’ve let their bodies do the talking. They had been managing just fine.
“I need to check out the auction venue,” she said.
The coarseness was gone from her voice, and her arousal subsided.
“Of course,” he said, closing the last buckle. “Off we go.”
She gave him the address.
The flight was quick and uneventful. He alighted behind a group of elm trees not far from the abandoned factory, taking care to hold Linni up and lower her gently once his feet were on the ground.
They found a good spot from where they could watch the entrance without being seen.
For the first hour, nothing happened. Keiron’s bionic senses didn’t pick up any signs of a Ra-human presence on the premises. He was beginning to ponder how to suggest to Linni it was time to pack up and leave when he heard something.
She searched his face. “What is it?”
“Stay down.” He concentrated, counting the voices and footsteps. “A large group coming this way. About thirty men.”
A few minutes later, a large group appeared at the end of the street, marching toward the factory. With the exception of two older men, the rest were boys in their late teens. The men wore normal haircuts while the youths had their skulls shaved and tattooed. They wore bizarre, uniform-like clothes with two letters emblazoned on their backs.
Keiron turned to Linni. “Can you make out the letters?”
“Too far.”
“An h and a y. Ideas?”
She shook her head.
The older men had to be cyborgs, judging by their size. The other sign that took another bionic to recognize was the slightly curved shape of their backs, which suggested retracted and neatly folded wings. Keiron noticed it when one of them turned around to yell at one of the boys whose commlet had beeped.
“I said no commlets! Give it to me!”
He grabbed the device from the teenager and smashed it to the ground. Then he and the other grown man stopped the group and searched all the boys’ pocket and backpacks. Three more commlets were destroyed in the same manner as the first.
The cyborgs had the latest model of plasma rifles on their belts—the kind that wasn’t supposed to be sold to civilians.
“We should get out of here,” he whispered to Linni. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Oh, come on! We can’t leave now. Besides, it’s a great spot. There’s no way they can see us.”
Keiron wasn’t so sure about that.
When the party reached the factory, the bionics unlocked the heavy door and ushered the youths in.
“Not what I expected,” Linni whispered to Keiron as the cyborgs stepped in.
One of them froze and peered in their direction.
Keiron reached for his blaster, only to remember he was traveling without it. A real vacation, the base medic had said.
Suddenly, the cyborgs were running toward them with their blasters out and leveled at Keiron and Linni’s heads. It was too late to make a run for it or fly away.
Jumping to his feet, Keiron raised his hands, palms toward the attackers. “I’m unarmed.”
He hoped to talk their way out of this.
The men slowed down and surveyed him. Then their expressions grew absent, as if they were—modified cyborgs. They were consulting the hive mind!
“We can’t tolerate intruders,” one of them barked, his gaze refocusing.
They took aim, and then, inexplicably, they turned toward each other and pressed the triggers. No blasts came out, but both fell to the ground, their bodies rigid and seemingly lifeless.
“They’re alive.” Linni stepped forward. “I made them switch to stun before shooting.”
Keiron released a slow, ragged breath. Then he scooped Linni up, unfolded his wings and took off, not bothering with the harness.
Chapter Nine
Standing as close to the sheer dome as the hotel’s security would let her, Linni admired the night view outside.
Upere’s second moon was uninteresting. Its smooth ice-covered surface offered no peaks, valleys, geysers, or craters to catch the eye. But it was the spectacle on Upere itself that made anyone’s trip to this remote part of Xereill worthwhile. It was the reason the dome and the Ice Moon Hotel had been built on this tide-locked celestial rock in the first place.
A gas giant, Upere delivered the most dramatic, most intense auroras in the galaxy.
Linni took a swig from her glass that the bartender had filled with choice Oiru brandy. A sight like this demanded a celebratory drink.
Against the backdrop of a dark, starry sky was a purple and green aurora illuminating a huge area with shimmering lights. They formed ghostly pillars and glowing, billowing veils that pulsed with impossible colors and eerie beauty.
“It’s been twenty-four hours,” Keiron said from behind her. “Are you allowed to talk now?”
She turned around, smiling. “Yes.”
He smiled back. Dressed in relaxed slacks and a thin, untucked shirt with a tumbler in his hand, he looked sexier than ever.
She raised her glass. “To your health.”
“And to yours.”
They drank.
“Did you really spend the past twenty-four hours in prayer and meditation?” he asked. “No eating, drinking, or talking at all?”
“I drank some water,” she admitted. “Still low on liquid after the bleeding.”
“When I read your note after we got to the spaceship, I thought it was a joke.” Keiron’s expression was puzzled. “It said, ‘I can’t talk to anyone until this time tomorrow. Please leave me alone until then.’ ”
“I’m sorry if it sounded brusque,” she said. “I hadn’t meant it to be.”
He stepped closer. “Apology accepted. Now I need an explanation.”
“It’s just…” She drew a deep breath. “I compelled those cyborgs. Compulsion is an abominable, black hat power that I’d sworn I’d never use on anyone.”
“Even to save your life?”
She nodded.
“But you used it.”
Another nod. “That’s why I needed to be alone and immerse myself in the deepest meditative state I’m capable of. I needed to figure out if my violation could be forgiven.”
“By who?”
“By Aheya. By my mentor.” She spread her arms. “By myself.”
“So, what’s the verdict?”
“It’s yes.” She beamed at him. “That use of compulsion, under those circumstances, can be forgiven.”
“What does that mean, concretely?”
“It means I can carry on with my life and my projects at peace with myself.”
“Good for you.” H
e raised his tumbler again.
They drank.
He took another step toward her. “And how do you feel about the recklessness you’d displayed on Tastassi? Is it forgivable, too?”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I’d told you we’d better get out, you should’ve listened.” He shook his head. “You could’ve been dead now. Both of us could’ve been dead.”
“But we’re not.”
“They were hive cyborgs, Linni.” His face crinkled in concern. “I wonder if Governor Horbell is aware there are hive cyborgs on his planet, running a very strange youth organization.”
“If he isn’t, the Ittroise government will inform him.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Cyborgs are typically trained in blocking mind attacks. I don’t understand how you managed to get past their blocks.”
“Thanks to you.”
He raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“They were completely focused on you as a threat, and since you’re a cyborg, they knew you couldn’t launch a mind attack. They weren’t blocking.”
He smirked. “In other words, it was luck.”
“You could say that.”
“Then it only strengthens my point.”
“Which is?”
He took her hand. “I’ve seen this before. Rich-bloods rely too much on their gifts, and that gives them a fake sense of invincibility. Cyborgs have a word for it—gift-drunk.” He tightened his grip. “Linni, you must be more careful in the future.”
She lifted her gaze to his, hoping he could see in her eyes that she was being earnest. “I will. You’re right to remind me of my hubris and how it can be the ruin of me.”
Suddenly, his handsome face expanded into a big smile. “That sounded loftier than what I was trying to convey.”
She couldn’t help grinning back.
“So, what other gifts do you have?” he asked, his tone playful now.
Her lips quirked. “Was that a pickup line?”
“What? No. No! That’s not how I’d meant it.”
Linni knew that. But it was fun teasing him. Especially considering what she planned to do to him next. Correction—what she planned to do with him.
While she had prayed and meditated for the last twenty-four hours, her mind had wandered a few times… in the direction of Keiron. She’d convinced herself the Council of Seven would never hire someone her age to be the superintendent of the League of Realms. Her gifts, skills and track record might be impressive, but surely, they’d want someone at least a decade older. Someone more experienced.
A part of her was beginning to want them to pick someone older and more experienced so she could be with him.
“Do you like surprises?” she asked.
“Only good ones.”
She let go of his hand and set her glass down on the nearest table. “Then you might want to come to room 384 in about ten minutes.”
His eyes grew a shade darker. “I’ll be there.”
“I’m counting on it,” she said, heading toward the elevators.
Ten minutes later he knocked on her door.
She opened wearing a silk bathrobe. And nothing underneath.
He halted in the entryway, devouring her with his eyes.
She moved closer and breathed him in—an earthy, heady mix of woods, spice, and all things masculine.
“Kiss me,” she murmured.
He pushed her against the wall and did just that. She went wild instantly. In part, because she’d been aroused ever since she’d stepped into her room and changed into the robe. No, she’d been aroused even before she got here. But also, because Keiron gave her exactly the kind of kiss she craved—raw and hard, filled with an unspoken urgency and a promise of what he had in store for her.
As he kissed her, he slipped his hand into the cleavage of her flimsy robe and cupped one breast. He groaned, discovering it was bare. His touch was hot as he fondled and kneaded it, driving her crazy with lust.
She untied the belt that held her robe together. He pushed the lapels open, then drew away and stared. When their gazes met, the hunger in his eyes transformed the pull in her belly into an inferno. Her entire body burned for him.
Keiron wrapped his hands around her shoulders and tugged on the sides of the robe. It slid down her arms and pooled at her feet. He stroked her sides, her hips, her back.
Drawing her from the wall, he slid one hand down over her ass and caressed her. Then he pressed his entire length against her.
Enveloped in the heat of his skin and the warmth of his hands, Linni panted, shocked at the intensity of her response. She arched back, and he kissed her throat, his beard stubble grazing her sensitive skin.
Her fingers found their way to the hem of his shirt and pushed it up. “Let me see you.”
He tore it off in a wink.
Goddess, that chest was something to behold! There wasn’t a woman alive who could remain indifferent to all that sculpted muscle, velvety skin and broad, beautifully shaped expanse.
Linni opened her mouth, preparing to ask him to remove his pants when he picked her up and carried her to the bed, grunting, “I’ll explode if I don’t take you now.”
She laughed and pointed to her night table. “I bought sheaths.”
“Me, too.” He grinned. “They’re in my pocket.”
A heartbeat later, she was on her back, and he was nudging her legs wider apart. When he pulled the rubber sheath on, she strained her neck to catch a glimpse of his manhood, which she had felt large and thick against her. But his hands obstructed her view, and then he lowered himself atop her, and drove in.
She was so ready, that despite his size, he didn’t meet much resistance. The exquisite fullness made her moan. Bracing himself on his arms he thrust deeper. She raised her hips to meet his plunge.
He began to pound into her. Through the haze of her rapture and the prolonged, mind-blowing orgasm that drenched her a few minutes later, she realized he was stimulating her from the inside and outside.
Something bumped and rubbed against her bud with every thrust of Keiron’s loins, intensifying her pleasure.
But before she could see what it was, he pulled out and flipped her onto her tummy. And then he thrust into her again. She lifted her hips off the bed and gave him fuller access.
With his hand on her waist, he pulled her up and to him, and then spread her butt cheeks. The supplementary bumping and grinding she’d felt earlier, returned. Goddess! Was that the… tickler he’d mentioned once?
Turning her head, she gave him a questioning look over her shoulder.
“Do you like it?” He stopped moving. “I can retract it if you don’t.”
“No way. I’m loving it.”
His lips stretched into a toothy, satisfied smile, and he resumed the pounding. And then, as if he weren’t giving her enough, his hand slid over her hip to her front and cupped her.
She came so hard her whole body shook. Then she came again, and again, and again—a cascade of sensation that made her barely aware of where she was.
Moments passed. His shaft grew harder and thicker inside her. She felt it throb. He groaned his release and collapsed on her, kissing her hair, wrapping her in the relaxed warmth of his sweat-dampened body.
When he rolled off her, she forced her cottony body to move so she could study his tickler. “So that’s what it looks like.”
He gave her a half-lidded glance. “My dame has never had a cyborg lover.”
“No.”
“Mind you, not all bionic men have this enhancement.” His lips curved up. “It was introduced on Drecer when my parents were planning me, and since they wanted the best for me—and for my future life partner—they opted in.”
“Is it sensitive?”
She touched the knob. Its short stem was hard, but the tip was soft.
He shook his head. “Its sole purpose is to enhance my partner’s enjoyment.”
“That’s a very valid purpose,” she said ar
chly, stretching out next to him.
He pulled her into his arms and fixed his eyes on hers. “There’s no point hiding how I feel about this, Linni. I don’t want it to be a one-night stand—I want to see you again.”
She studied his open, handsome face.
His gaze grew dark. “Would you like to do this again?”
Oh, she’d love to, but she’d only know next week, after the interview. How could she give such a half-assed answer to a man who looked at her like this? Who’d given her the best sex in her thirty-five years of life? Whom she suspected she might want for the rest of it.
“If you think distance is an issue, it isn’t,” he said, “I have a private spacecraft with a hyperspace drive. I can be wherever you are on weekends and holidays, as often and as long as you’ll want me to.”
His honesty deserved honesty in return, no matter how strange it would sound.
“I can’t answer your question now.” She cradled his jaw. “Something crucial is happening next week. It might change my life dramatically… in a way that will make seeing you again impossible.”
He knit his brows, searching her face.
“The good news is that such an outcome is very unlikely. Which means my answer to your question will be ‘Yes, I’m so happy you asked.’ ”
She kissed his sexy mouth. “But I can’t say those words until next week.”
Chapter Ten
Everyone was gathered in the Assembly Hall—the most spacious and pompous auditorium on the League of Realms Space Station.
As head of the Enforcer Corps, Keiron sat in the first row among the most important ambassadors and senior staff. He wore his parade uniform, with all his medals and ribbons—some earned back home on Drecer and others with his current job—crowding his chest. Under normal circumstances, he avoided flaunting his “fruit salad,” but this was a special occasion. Besides, the head of protocol had specifically asked him to wear the whole shebang.