by Lynn Hagen
When Thoran twisted around and gazed at Eaton, he could see that the green of the man’s eyes was bleeding into amber and there was restrained fury in their depths. His canines were showing, long and lethal. Even his jaw was slightly protruded, showing everyone his wolf heritage.
“Why did you leave Nyk and Dax’s side?” Thoran’s features darkened even more before the green seeped back, his canines receded, and his jaw reformed. A tenderness Eaton had never witnessed before entered Thoran’s eyes. “You could have been hurt, or worse.”
Eaton clutched the parcels in his arms, taking a step back. “I just walked to the next stall. I swear.”
Thoran’s head snapped to Dax and Nyk. “Didn’t I fucking tell you to watch him?”
Dax bared his canines. “Don’t talk to me like that, Thoran. I’m not your bitch.”
“He’s safe,” Logan interjected. “We need to get out of here.”
Eaton wholeheartedly agreed. Not only did he want to evade the authorities, but he wanted to flee Thoran’s intense gaze.
Thoran grabbed Eaton’s upper arm and led him through the marketplace. He hailed a taxi, shoving Eaton inside before climbing in. Thoran left the others behind as he told the driver where to take them.
Eaton glanced out the window, watching as they drove through the city, heading for the docking bays. His mind couldn’t let go of the frightening way Thoran had looked as he tore into Trakin. Eaton had known who he was traveling with, but it hadn’t fully sunk in that he was amongst Breed Assassins until he saw them fight.
He began to wonder if being rescued by these men had been a good thing or if he’d gone from one bad situation to another.
* * * *
Thoran exited the shuttle and boarded the ship, even more frustrated than before he’d left. He’d been stupid enough to turn down every piece of ass thrown at him and he was dumb enough to feel guilty about the prospect of sleeping with anyone, knowing Eaton was in the city.
I am such a goddamn masochist.
He had not only denied himself Eaton, but the provocative men at the pleasure house who had offered themselves to Thoran. If he had just availed himself of their services then he wouldn’t be so wound up.
I need to be shot and put out of my misery.
There was no sane reason for Thoran to feel guilty. He and Eaton weren’t mated. Hell, they hadn’t even kissed. But what really set him off was the fact that he’d heard Trakin call Eaton a virgin. The man had said that he was going to sell Eaton.
Now Thoran felt lower than shit for the way he’d treated Eaton, thinking the man had been whored out. Gah, he was such an idiot.
Even if Eaton had been used back in Crossover, it hadn’t been his damn fault. Thoran had taken one look at Eaton in that sheer material and judged him on the spot.
Thoran didn’t like himself very much right now. He might not walk the right side of the law, but he had never thought himself a judgmental person.
After entering his office, Thoran poured himself a drink. He needed one. His self-loathing was reaching an all-new high.
The door slid open and Eaton entered, but stayed just inside the door. He held Thoran’s credit card up. “I forgot to give this to you. I didn’t spend much and I appreciate what you did for me.”
Thoran clutched the glass tighter in his hand as he gazed at the battle suit Eaton was wearing. It was dark blue, setting off his pale-blue eyes and raven-dark hair. He was downright stunning. The outfit fit like a glove, showing off his slim body and tempting Thoran in ways that were sure to drive him mad.
He was still horny as hell and Eaton standing there looking good enough to eat wasn’t helping. “You’re welcome.” But Thoran made no move to take the card. He didn’t trust himself to get close to Eaton. “Just leave it on the table.”
It bothered him that Eaton had bought so little. Thoran hadn’t given the man a limit. Part of him had been afraid that Eaton would rack up the credits. But the man had done the opposite.
Eaton dropped his gaze toward the floor and Thoran fought the growl at the submissive behavior.
“Thank you for being so nice to me.” Eaton turned and hurried from Thoran’s office after setting the card on the table.
Thoran slid down in his seat, placing the glass on the desk. Damn if he wasn’t tempted to go after Eaton, to taste those plump lips.
Ten minutes later, the doors slid back open and Thoran was expecting to see Eaton. But it was Kayden. “Get down to sickbay. We need to get that shackle off of Eaton, but he refuses to let us touch him.”
Thoran set the glass on the desk and stood, heading out the door. He could hear Eaton shouting from down the corridor. When he stepped inside sickbay, Thoran growled. Dax was holding a laser cutter in his hand while Eaton held a broken bottle, brandishing it like a weapon.
“You’re not using that on me!”
“What in the hell is going on?” Thoran demanded.
“He’s trying to cut my damn foot off!” Eaton shouted as he narrowed his eyes at Dax. “There’s no way he’s using that on me.”
“I told him I could get it off without leaving one mark on him.” Dax sounded frustrated. His eyes were filled with irritation. “Just get on the damn bed and let me get it off of you. There’s a tracking chip in there. We don’t need anyone else finding us.”
“You either let him take it off or we put you on a shuttle and shoot your ass out of here,” Kayden said. “I won’t risk this crew.”
Thoran moved over to Eaton, throwing his hands up when Eaton spun, waving the broken bottle at him.
“Put it down,” Thoran commanded.
Eaton’s resolve wavered and the bottle dipped a little.
“Dax isn’t going to hurt you, Eaton,” Thoran said. “Because he knows I’ll use that laser to remove his balls if he does.”
Dax rolled his eyes.
When Eaton still didn’t lower the bottle, Thoran simultaneously grabbed the broken piece of glass and pulled Eaton off of his feet.
“Put me down!”
Thoran tossed the bottle on a tray close by and then laid Eaton on the bed. He grabbed the man’s upper arms, gazing into his pale-blue eyes. “Stop acting like this.”
“Would you be so trusting if someone you hardly knew came at you with a laser?” Eaton’s breath was ragged, his pupils dilated. Thoran could see the sheer terror in them. Something must have happened to make Eaton so horrified of lasers.
“No,” Thoran admitted. “I wouldn’t.”
Eaton tried to get up, but Thoran held him firmly. While he was trying to talk Eaton into lying still, Dax was already fast at work cutting through the shackle. Eaton hadn’t even noticed.
“Then why are you trying to trap me on this bed?” Eaton’s tone rose higher, almost breaking. “I think I should decide how I get this thing off.”
Thoran kept Eaton’s attention away from what Dax was doing. “And how would you remove it, petit chat?
Eaton narrowed his eyes at Thoran. “Not with something that could cut through my foot and sever it.”
While Eaton glared at Thoran, Dax set the laser aside. He nodded toward the shackle before he and Kayden stepped from the room, leaving Thoran and Eaton alone. Thoran’s body was getting hard as he held Eaton down. The man’s scent permeated his lungs and Thoran’s wolf was howling for Thoran to fuck the man.
“You should be very careful who you wave a weapon at,” Thoran said in a gruff whisper as he lowered his head slightly, their lips almost touching. “Don’t forget who you are onboard this ship with.”
“I–I just don’t want to lose my foot. I don’t like people forcing me to do things I don’t want to do.”
Duly noted.
“No one on this ship will force you to do anything.” Thoran lowered his head just a little more, feathering his lips over Eaton’s, sucking in the small pants of breath the man was giving. But he pulled back, stopping himself from taking what he so desperately wanted.
Not only was Eaton an unskilled l
over, but Thoran was still beating himself up for the way he’d treated Eaton. He smiled and pointed to the shackle that lay in two pieces. “See? There was nothing to worry about.”
Eaton glanced down at his ankle as his brows furrowed. “But I didn’t feel a thing.”
Thoran grabbed the hunk of metal and walked over to an airlock, shoving it inside before deploying it into space. “That’s because you’re dealing with professionals.”
Eaton laughed and Thoran melted.
“I’ll have to remember that.” He hopped off the bed and drew close to Thoran.
They both stood there staring at each other. Thoran’s heart pounded hard in his chest as Eaton gazed up at him so innocently. He curled his fingers in, stopping himself from reaching out and pulling Eaton into his arms.
“Thanks…again.” Eaton reached up and rubbed his hand down Thoran’s arm before he turned and walked out.
Thoran stood there as he watched the man go, his fingers grazing over the spot where Eaton had touched him. His skin tingled. A deep yearning settled inside of him to have Eaton touch him again.
His resolve to leave Eaton alone was nothing more than a fragile shell now. Soon it would shatter and Thoran knew there was nothing he could do to stop the inevitable.
Chapter Five
“Heads up, ladies.”
Kayden’s voice rang out over the ship’s intercom system. Thoran frowned at the soothing tone. It wasn’t like Kayden to talk so softly. It was like the man was wooing everyone.
But then his pitch changed, becoming hard, becoming the Kayden Thoran knew.
“The Feds are hailing us.”
Thoran cursed as he hurried from the sickbay and raced up to the bridge. He’d gotten rid of Eaton’s chip too late. That rat bastard Trakin must have called the Feds on them.
Kayden was barking at Logan to raise the shields when Thoran entered the bridge. On the large viewscreen that covered the front of their ship, Thoran could see the sleek black ship with the Empire’s insignia embossed on the side. The sensors on the bridge said there was a large tractor beam on the Venture and Thoran could hear the mechanical beep coming from the console to his right.
They were trying to use a tractor beam to latch onto the Venture.
Thoran pressed the palms of his hands on the console as he gazed at their enemy. This wasn’t just any Empire ship. They had sent their elite.
But after a lifetime of training, the Empire was going to have to do better than this. They may not know why the Empire was after them but there was no way in hell Thoran was going to be captured.
“Do we answer the hail?” Dax asked.
Kayden stood in the middle of the bridge, his hands tucked behind his back as he gazed at the viewscreen. “No, we do not.”
“Then I think we need to buckle in,” Nyk said, “because it’s going to take some fancy maneuvering to get away from them.”
Logan laughed as if he were enjoying this. “I love putting my skills to the test.”
Nyk was right. Although the Breed Assassins had been trained their entire lives, so had some of the Feds. They weren’t a threat to be taken lightly.
The Empire had one of the most grueling and in-depth training programs in the galaxy. The men aboard the elite ship were not going to give up easily.
Thoran took a seat next to Logan as Kayden sat in the captain’s chair. This was about to be intense. Thoran wondered if he should warn Eaton to strap in. But before he could do anything, the Empire ship fired a warning blast across the bow.
Thoran lurched forward, his stomach slamming into the console. He cursed as he glared at the offending ship.
“I guess it’s party time,” Logan muttered beside him. “Time for the dance to begin.”
The bridge doors slid open as Eaton ran inside. “What the hell was that?”
Thoran pointed to a seat on the left side of the bridge. “Buckle your damn self in.”
Eaton did as he was told before Thoran turned back around. No one was technically in charge. The Breed Assassins had been trained together but Draven had never assigned a unit leader.
He didn’t have to.
Kayden was born for the job. Hell, the man excelled at it. There wasn’t one situation that Thoran could think of that Kayden couldn’t get them out of.
Eaton clasped his hands in his lap. “Are we about to die?”
Nyk chuckled. “Ye of little faith.”
Thoran shook his head. “Not today.”
“And not at the hands of these men,” Kayden announced with a feral grin.
Thoran had run into a few Feds over the years and, in his opinion, they were all arrogant bastards. They let their position and title go to their heads. Although they were supposed to uphold the law, more than half were less than honest.
They were thugs with a badge. Most hid what they did behind pusillanimous labels such as Empire or democracy. But not all Feds were lowlifes. Some truly believed in what they did.
Thoran had a feeling they were dealing with thugs who were trying to make a name for themselves by capturing the Breed Assassins.
“How bad was that hit?” Kayden asked Dax.
“Low-yield particle cannons,” Dax answered. “Nothing more. I don’t think they want us dead.”
“Not when the pay for bringing the Breed Assassins in alive is too damn good to pass up,” Thoran said. “But if they think we’re easy pickings, they have another thing coming.”
“I don’t believe this,” Nyk said.
“What?” Kayden asked. He had a look of supreme disgust on his face, as if any more surprises were going to send him over the edge.
Nyk shook his head. “Ben Hur is sending a communication.”
Thoran’s brows furrowed. Ben Hur was not only the leader of the Marauders, but they’d recently found out that he was a relative. The man had been nothing but a thorn in their side for years, and then fate had made the man their uncle.
“What in the hell does he want?” Kayden snarled.
A wicked grin spread across Nyk’s face. “He said to sit tight. He’s almost here.”
Eaton’s face grew pale. “Ben Hur?”
“It’s a long story.” Thoran wasn’t about to go into details. The fewer people who knew about their familial ties, the better. Ben lived for battle and raiding activities. He also excelled at black market trades, and circulating rumors said he was starting to venture into the slave trade.
Thoran wanted no part of Ben Hur. The guy’s help would only indebt them to the man. But before leaving Sator, the Breed Assassins and Ben had agreed to work together to bring the Empire down.
Somehow Thoran had a feeling they’d made a deal with the devil himself.
“Ready weapons,” Kayden said to Dax and Nyk in sharp, clipped syllables. “Disable their engines and life support.”
“Fire!” Kayden commanded as he sat forward, resting one arm on his seat.
Dax fired their cannons in succession. The Venture was equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and the Feds’ ship was taking a heavy hit. Ben Hur’s ship, the Falcon, came out of hyperdrive and joined the fight. Ben Hur fired from the side as the Venture blasted the Feds from the front.
“Target is emitting a distress signal,” Dax reported.
“Cease fire,” Kayden commanded. “Tell Ben to do the same. I want to disable them, not blow them apart.”
“He’s not responding,” Dax said as the Falcon continued to fire on the Fed ship.
Kayden came out of his chair and hailed the Falcon. “Cease fire!”
“You do not win a war by playing nice,” Ben replied.
“This isn’t a war,” Kayden reminded the man.
“It will be,” Ben said before he cut the transmission.
“Get us out of here,” Kayden demanded. “I don’t want to be around when Ben commits murder.”
“Shouldn’t we help the Feds?” Eaton asked. “I mean, I know they are trying to capture us, but we can’t let Ben Hur kill them.”
<
br /> Bright lights filled the viewscreen, pieces of the Fed ship hurtled out into space as the explosion erupted. The fires grew to great heights before it was quickly snuffed out by lack of oxygen.
Ben had blown the ship to smithereens.
Everyone on the bridge grew silent, a common stunned expression on their faces.
“You know we’re going to be blamed for that,” Logan said, his voice cutting through the silence. “There’s no doubt the Feds sent a transmission to the Empire, telling them they were in battle with the Breed Assassins.”
“Get us out of here,” Kayden snapped.
“But what about Japori?” Thoran demanded as he came out of his seat. “I won’t abandon the hunt for Nyda.”
“We won’t,” Kayden answered. He glanced at every man on the bridge before turning back to Thoran. “We’ll just have to go through Sector Nine instead.”
Thoran’s jaw clenched. Sector Nine was the worst part of the galaxy. It was a trade route run by cutthroats who had no problem blowing apart any ship they deemed dangerous.
And the Breed Assassins were on the outlaws’ least favorite list.
* * * *
A few days later, as Eaton made his way to his quarters, he was still feeling shaken up over what Ben Hur had done. The one good thing that had come out of this was that he no longer had that shackle around his ankle. The skin was raw and irritated, but it would heal.
“How are you feeling?”
Eaton came to a stop at the sound of Thoran’s voice. His palms began to sweat as butterflies formed in his stomach. It was hard being around Thoran. The man made Eaton’s body come to life, his senses reel, and his thoughts scatter. The man was gorgeous, beautiful to look at. So much raw power emanated from him.
He was suddenly struck by why he was so drawn to Thoran. The man had rescued him, made him feel safe. Just being near him gave Eaton a measure of comfort he’d never had before.
“About what Ben Hur did?” Eaton turned to see Thoran leaning a shoulder against the wall, his eyes staring intently at Eaton.
“About everything.”