by Kayla Stonor
“What is your concern?” Axo asked.
Jalo slapped his hand down on the console displaying the Tetriarch’s image. “She be my concern. I be reviewing the palace circular. Unusual for Her Grace to be attending games. Now a invite to dinner? Yers may no return, and I dinna think Octiron bags the pull to extract yer. Fuck it. I’ll no be workin’ in Verdon again. They say Deryin’s a nice place to retire.”
Zeke backed into the console for a better angle on the pilot’s face.
“You think the Tetriarch knows who we are,” Ahnna stated, “about The Great Space Race.”
“I identified yers. Anyone thinkin’ to run an image match’ll suss you out. This challenge be worth a thousand points.” He slapped Zeke’s drone aside. “Git outta my face.”
“We just need to get inside the palace.” Ahnna sounded like she was begging Jalo to agree with her.
Jalo laughed and then wiped non-existent tears off with his sleeve. “Getting in ain’t yer problem. It be getting out! Ahnna, the Krakan Toll’s a useless bitch without that key—I want you to rescue this wee chick yer set yer heart to, but this challenge, tis too dangerous.”
Tierc’s unease deepened. Jalo wanted the Krakan Toll—had agreed to help them in return for Ahnna’s pendant—but the Krakan Toll was only a token incentive. He’d seen the Rafter pilot with the slaves. They trusted him. The man pretended to do good for the wrong reasons, gave him a cover of sorts with the slavers, but his heart was pure. This wasn’t Jalo picking holes in their plan. Concern fueled his warning. The old Rafter put their lives above ambition. “You don’t think Axo can port us out if things go bad?”
Jalo looked Tierc in the eye and shrugged. “Be sure, Octiron owns some fancy tech, but House Verdon security be one of the best.”
“I have identified weak points in the system’s protection,” Axo advised. “An EM disruptor aimed at one of these points,” several red spots lit up the display, “will provide a few seconds for extraction before backup shields activate.”
The deep crease in Jalo’s brow hadn’t lessened. He scratched his cheek, thoughtful. “The Tetriarch’s a conniving bitch. Dinna trust her.” He slapped hands on his knees and stood up. “Okays, I warned yers, tis yer choice. I be fixin’ that vibration in the engine coil.”
Ahnna moved to the door, closed it after him, and faced Tierc, hands on hips. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You want to abandon this challenge? I hope not. I busted my ass to get us that invite. Literally.”
He only half spoke in jest. Tierc looked down at his hands, the tiny furrow between Ahnna’s eyes, her genuine concern for his well-being—something he’d once thought never to see from Ahnna Sokovik—hard to bear. Affection, love, a deep abiding comradeship came at a price, a dark side, the onset of a paralyzing fear that something precious found could be forever lost.
Tierc jerked his head at Axo and the holographic AI blinked and then disappeared. Zeke vanished too although they both knew he continued to watch through his drone.
“Ahnna, to pull this off, I need you to be the woman I met. A ruthless, cunning operator focused solely on her mission.”
She shook her head. “You made me feel this way. You broke down my defenses!”
He stood, reached out and pulled her into his arms. Caressing her cheek, he gazed into those incredible silver-colored eyes of hers. The heat of her body transferred directly to his cock. “Call it pay back.”
Her lips twitched, her eyes sparkled. “You know, that monster down there was always your problem.”
“Only with you.” And who could blame him? Those gorgeous lips begged to be kissed and she smelt amazing, mind-bending, sanity-crushing, intoxicating. Loving Ahnna Sokovik was sexual torture. He wanted to be inside her, all the time.
As her lips met his, Tierc crushed her body against his, enjoying the exquisite pain of his aching cock against her belly. He grabbed her ass and increased the pressure, his tongue wrangling with hers, her kiss firing neurons all the way to his balls.
When she wrapped her leg around his thigh with a throaty murmur, Tierc flicked his eyes to the hovering drone. The flying vid drone backed off and flew a U-turn straight out the door.
Thank you, Zeke.
Urgency chasing away decorum, Tierc swung Ahnna onto the systems console. She gasped.
“Axo, don’t let the ship take off. Do anything it shouldn’t.”
Ahnna giggled. “Sure, that will keep him busy.”
Tierc pulled out her vest top, pushed it up over her breasts, its supportive cups relieving him off the need to fight off a bra. He enjoyed the pair of rose-tipped buds encircled by pebbled areola, contracting under his gaze atop pert breasts that offered delights he dreamed of nightly. Ignoring the hard-on threatening to drop him to his knees, he licked the tip of her right nipple.
Ahnna moaned, arched her back. Her sweet taste and scent fed his lust but Tierc contented himself with enclosing that sweet dusky rose between his teeth. Biting gently, a slight pull incited a gasp and an uncontrolled buck as she tried to press her mons against his covered cock. Fingers clutched his biceps, pulled at his clothing.
“Uh huh, this is your punishment,” he rebuked, “for months of torment.” He coiled around that rock-hard nipple with his tongue, loving her, nipping her, teasing her to a state of primal agitation. When he transferred his intimate attention to her other breast, she cried out and clamped her thighs against him, crossing her ankles behind him, trying to position her sex against him. He nearly weakened, it took every ounce of strength, but he managed to remove his bodyweight off her entirely. Only his mouth on her breast and her hands on his arms connected them.
“No,” she protested.
Tierc lifted away and locked eyes on her. “Strip if you want me.”
Her lips parted in amused shock mixed with chagrin as he backed off, capturing her wrists and pressing them to her belly so her fingers could undo her belt. He stepped away before his resolve broke, driven by the thought of her naked on the Orion Nebula’s flight console. Rising to her feet, her smoky eyes darker than he’d seen them, Ahnna undid her belt. Grabbing the base of her vest clamped above her breasts, she drew the top over her head.
Tierc drew in a sharp breath. “You are so beautiful.”
Her teasing look sharpened to seduction. She bent fully over and unclipped her boots, easing her feet out. Her leather clad ass inclined towards him, tempting, making his fingers twitch.
“Want to help?” she invited, her thumbs hooked in her pants.
Tierc shook his head. “Enjoying the show too much.”
Her smile widened in delight. She wriggled her hips, pushing the tight leather slowly over her sweet tight ass and well-toned thighs before stepping out one side and then the other. Those two steps brought her close to Tierc’s chest. He shuddered, placed his hands around her waist and lifted her onto the console so the crease of her bare ass abutted the edge. Taking her hands, he laid them, wrists crossed above her head. She arched but left her arms as arranged, sighing when he trailed fingers down her underarm and then her sides. He gently kicked her feet apart, exposing her to his private viewing. Her chin lifted, and her eyes closed, a perfect picture of surrender. She was his to use.
Tierc soaked in her beauty, reveled in the sight of her soft naked flesh reposed against the hard metal tech. “Keep your eyes shut.”
A shiver ran from her head to her pointed toes. A gentle flush to her skin and the race of her beating heart signaled repressed excitement. The scent of her arousal filled the air. He inhaled deeply until sharp pain signaled his Qui ready to burst. He savored the stabbing sensation, a sharp-edged counterpoint to the aching rod seeking its escape. Unfastening his pants, he freed his erection, his swollen ball sac hot and sensitive to the touch, the cool air welcome relief.
He placed his palms either side of her and leaned over, careful not to touch, except for his cock brushing the inside of her thigh. She flinched, and he watched to see if she opened her eyes. She
did not, but her head turned from one side to the other, revealing her inner fight. He sniffed her neck, increased his own pheromonal output and watched her writhe before him.
“Tierc, please!” Her whole body jolted.
Eyes closed, he kissed her beating jugular. Touch, taste, scent and hearing conjoined until he felt one with her body, his Qui in touch with her soul. A new sense sharpened into focus, the strange sensation of an unfamiliar thought skating across his consciousness. He chased it, nudged its source and Ahnna smiled.
“It’s like you’re in my head.”
He dropped a kiss into her shoulder blade and she arched towards his lips. “Do you like me in your head?”
“Mmmm…” She gasped as his lips nuzzled the under-curve of her breast and then moved down to kiss her side. “Wait! Is this culmination? Can you read my thoughts?”
He slowly traced erotic centers down her body, his mind synced with hers, experiencing her pleasure and letting her feel his. “Your feelings, your experience, me touching you.”
Her legs clamped against his thighs. He gently pressed them aside, focused on tasting every part of her. The perfume of her sex nearly broke him. His seed gathered at the tip of his cock. They were safe while he was not Qui, but free from Octiron, able to make a life of their own, the prospect of children might, one day, become a real possibility. For now, he rubbed his glans against her well-oiled entrance.
She shuddered; her legs clamped around his ass and pulled him closer so he nearly entered her completely. His control splintered. Withdrawing, Tierc pulled Ahnna to her feet so fast she hung limp in his arms. Spinning her around, he bent her over the console, nudged her feet apart and entered her from behind. She whimpered and he placed a hand up against her belly, supporting her weight so her nipples just grazed the cold metal surface.
She pushed back on him, palms flat on the console. Her reflection stared at him, her expression full of lust. Watching for her reaction, Tierc pinched a nipple, twisted and pulled. Her mouth opened and she moaned, pushed harder against him. Holding her tightly so she didn’t fall against the console edge, he partly withdrew and then plunged forward. She gasped a tiny hitch of air. Her head dropped, her hair fell forward, her whole body tensing and ready for the next thrust.
He fucked her, he loved her, he teased her with punishing thrusts, fighting the explosion building inside him. His hips acquired a fast piston-like motion and still she pressed against him for more, circling her hips, grinding around him every chance she got. Her cries and moans became increasingly desperate.
He wanted her desperate.
Tierc took them to the edge, their mind link enhancing their pleasure, each swell of promised orgasmic delight inciting a carnal response in the other. He experienced Ahnna’s flight of ecstasy take off and let go. His seed exploded from his body and she tensed around him with a keening cry, grinding. Her muscles convulsed around him, massaging his cock to greater heights.
“Don’t stop, don’t stop!”
Even when he was spent, she continued to contract around him. Waves of rolling pleasure filled his mind, dissipating into the distance before her muscles quivered and set off another smaller wave. He carried her weight fully now, Ahnna a neuron-firing puddle of exhaustion. He held out until the last gentle splash. Withdrawing, he scooped her up in his arms, stumbled slightly as his legs fought a moment of near-collapse, and then stood there, unable to move as her arms wound around his neck and her lips snuggled his shoulder.
“I love you,” she murmured, her arms slipping away.
Stunned, he studied the soft smile that formed in her sleep, and then his heart swelled with joy. She returned his feelings, his mate, the woman who had turned his life upside down and inside out, loved him. Whatever darkness lay in their past, the sadness, the conflict, none of it mattered. He only cared about their future now. They had the chance of a new life; they were a step away from freedom. Ahnna was his mission now.
The Great Space Race had brought her to him.
He could even see himself thanking Octiron for happiness beyond his wildest imagination.
In a far distant future…
Chapter Fourteen
T he journey from the spaceport to the palace took over three hours and the tension in Ahnna’s stomach twisted the higher they ascended.
The Tetriarch’s domain thrust into the stormy sky from Turis’ peak like some mocking phallic symbolism, the palace walls shooting out from balls of mountain rock. Glass clad spires marked the highest point on the planet Verdon. The palace had a spaceport that extended in a vast ring eastwards from Turis at an altitude of nineteen hundred feet, but Captain Anaisha Sur didn’t merit the luxury of an air approach.
Entering the final elevator, Ahnna stood as close to Tierc as she dared.
He shook his head at her and reluctantly she gave him more space, the butterflies in her stomach tripping to more gratifying regions. Tierc had been fighting his mating urge from the moment she cuffed his hands behind his back at the insistence of palace security and Tierc’s reaction intrigued her. He favored making love to her, a man who enjoyed control in the bedroom, but something about her and those cuffs turned him on. Maybe the sexually charged nature of their first meeting influenced him, or perhaps his constant awareness of the ShiftLok restraints, especially when he dealt with his attraction to her, affected his response. Either way, what turned Tierc on, made her hot.
One day, they would be free to experiment. At least, free to make love without fear of being watched. True freedom was an aspiration, a state of being Ahnna was no longer convinced applied in the Paragon galaxy, except for the favored descendants of the humans who migrated here, the grand families who had constructed the Central Alliance, like House Verdon, a self-styled empire encompassing hundreds of star systems.
Tierc glanced at her, his expression troubled, his colored eyes hiding the window to his true feelings. God, he looked sexy, his bound arms displaying his bare chest and thick abs to perfection. She wanted to press her lips against the corner of his mouth, to taste him, to kiss him so her nipples turned hard. She watched the bulge in his pants thicken and wet her lips.
Tierc growled, a low rumbling sound that had their guard escort raising their weapons.
“He’s fine,” Ahnna said quickly.
The elevator jolting to a gentle stop provided a welcome distraction. They walked another mile through increasingly luxurious corridors and halls. Polished wood floors turned to gleaming limestone. Gold decorated ornate pillars framed every double-height door. Windows appeared with balconies overlooking sky and distant verdant valleys of gold, the palace so high the view skipped the less salubrious metropolis surrounding Turis entirely. They approached a twenty-strong troop guarding ornate double doors that surely needed machinery to be opened.
An official stepped out from behind a pillar two meters in diameter.
Guards circled Tierc, forcing Ahnna back. She swung around to the man in black robes. “What are you doing? I came here in good faith!”
“Anaisha Sur, do not be concerned. All is well, but Terson proved himself a force in the arena. The Tetriarch’s security cannot be compromised. Her Grace sends you greetings. She wishes I inform you that she has reconsidered your proposal and wishes you to see the price House Verdon is willing to offer for your slave. If you would come this way…”
“Wait, Terson stays with me.”
“That is not possible. Your slave will remain in the guard’s custody until your return. You have the Tetriarch’s word he will not come to harm.”
Nausea swept through her, born from a sense of powerlessness. She was supposed to stay with Tierc. She carried the GSR comms-link hidden beneath her braided hair and the camera was once more pinned to her tunic. Without her, Zeke had no way of recording Tierc’s situation, and even Tierc’s Qui couldn’t break those cuffs. He would be entirely alone. Octiron Entertainment had little influence in the Verdon sector and the Central Alliance cared little about individual rights
so far out from Primaera, and they weren’t even citizens.
“Captain Sur?” the official murmured, indicating a door to his left.
Tierc’s nod almost convinced her, but Ahnna physically could not move.
“No.” She lifted her chin, her decision made. “Please inform the Tetriarch that I am no longer willing to trade.” The moment she spoke the words, guilt flooded her. She’d be abandoning Xecara. The Tetriarch had denied Xecara’s presence and she only had Octiron’s adamant insistence that the High Priestess was a prisoner in this palace. Crandal had forcefully rejected the Tetriarch’s assertion otherwise. The band squeezing her stomach tightened. “No,” she repeated. “We must leave, unless we are prisoners here?”
Shock widened the official’s eyes. “Of course not. If you wish to leave…” He frowned, worried puzzlement on his face. “Officer, please escort Captain Sur and her slave back to the city.”
Relief flooded her, but then Tierc dropped to his knee and bowed his head.
“Captain, I respect your concern for my welfare. It is unnecessary.”
No one spoke although curious eyes surveyed them both. Ahnna sensed interest, surprise at her slave’s audacity, but no one rebuked him. Apparently, he was her slave to discipline. Tierc wanted to continue their mission and the official’s readiness to let them leave disarmed her. This could be how business was conducted in House Verdon.
Still she hesitated. “How long will this take?”
“As much time as you require. No more than an hour. The Tetriarch expects you for evening repast.”
“I will be back within the hour,” she said to Tierc. She faced a guard with a more prestigious sash and leather hide instead of skin. She couldn’t see his eyes for his helmet. “He is not to be harmed.”
The guard snapped a sharp bow, grunted something that sounded like assent.