by Lee Savino
“Okay.” He doesn’t look particularly worried by the prospect of spending a few more hours on Frez, and so I’m not going to sweat it. I take a half-step toward him. “You burned the scientists back there.”
His face goes cold. “They tortured you,” he says flatly.
“And they tortured and killed the serench. You’re mad about that too, right?”
He tilts his head to one side and surveys me. “Would it make you feel better if I said yes?”
I don’t know. I keep silent.
He reaches out and catches a strand of my hair. “Alice,” he says softly. “I respect you too much to lie to you. Here’s the truth. The Zorahn scientists tortured you. I was never going to let them live.”
I want to kiss him. My need is so great it feels like pain. I stand on tiptoe. He bends his head toward me and brushes his lips over mine. “Your friend needs help,” he murmurs.
Damn it. I forgot about Tanya.
Kadir’s right. Tanya does need help. She’s standing just inside the galley, exactly where I left her. She hasn’t moved an inch. Hasn’t explored the small spaceship or shown any interest in what’s going to happen next.
She’d climbed on the dragon’s back, and I’d hoped that it meant that she was back. Fully functioning again, ready to engage with the rest of the galaxy.
I was being naïve. Trauma doesn’t work that way.
Less than a week ago, a hot water bath had gone a long way in making me feel human again. There’s no bath on the Bikana, but the shower works great. Tanya hasn’t had a chance to wash for seven months. It’s not a silver bullet, but it’ll help. And that’s all I can ask for.
Tending to Tanya takes most of the afternoon. She flinches every time she sees Kadir, so he stays away from the cabin, and spends all day in the cockpit.
I get it. Scary alien dragon dude who breathes fire. That’s got to be nerve-wracking, I know. But come on. I fight not to be irritated every time she shies back from him as if he’s a serial killer. Kadir saved your ass, I want to snap. Without him, we’d be dead right now. I don’t expect her to run out and hug him—if she tries that, I’ll have to scratch her eyes out—but she could at least be civil.
At one point in the evening, Kadir tells me he’s going out. “The ship won’t open to anyone except me,” he says. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
He wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t safe. “Okay.”
He’s true to his word. He’s back exactly an hour later, by which time Tanya is fast asleep in my bunk. There’s a satisfied expression on his face as he enters the galley. I put down my mug of tea. “Where’d you go?”
He sits down across from me. “Do you want the truth or a lie?”
I tilt my head to one side. “Who did you kill, Kadir?”
“The other two Cotari.”
Suhas and Bad Breath. “You did? Because you promised the serench you would?” Or because of me?
An icy mask slides over his face. “They left a defenseless woman outside at night,” he says, his voice merciless. “Even worse, they bound your hands and feet so you couldn’t move. They didn’t give you water. They didn’t feed you. Had I not found you, the motopo packs would have devoured you.” He reaches across the table for my mug and takes an experimental sip of my tea. “Not bad.”
I roll my eyes and get up to make him his own cup. He smiles at me in thanks when I set it down in front of him. “So you decided they needed to die?”
“What is the meaning of civilization?”
I reclaim my own tea from his side of the table. “I don’t know. Don’t go breaking random people’s necks?”
“No. There’s an unwritten code of conduct. You treat people the way you’d want them to treat you. The three Cotari traders left you to die. They were going to offer your sentient friend as a sex slave to the Great One. People like that are the garbage of the galaxy, Alice. They don’t deserve mercy. They don’t deserve kindness.”
“What did you do?”
His teeth bare into a grim smile. “I tied them up,” he says. “Hands and feet, the way they tied you up. And I left them there.”
“The crocodile things…”
“The uakari will get a good meal.”
I stare at him, my mouth open. “Kadir…” What do I say next?
“I’m never going to be sorry about protecting you, Alice.” There’s no give in his voice. “I’m never going to be sorry about making the people that hurt you pay. If you don’t like it…”
He waited until the soldiers started firing at him before he breathed fire on them. The truth is, as long as I’ve been with Kadir, he’s never killed someone who didn’t deserve it.
On Earth, I might have had a different reaction. Or maybe I wouldn’t have. I don’t know. It’s impossible to tell, because I’m not on Earth, and I’m not the same person I was seven months ago. I’ve walked through fire, and I’ve come out the other side, and if that’s made me more bloodthirsty, then so be it. The scientists got what they deserved. The Cotari traders too. I won’t be a hypocrite and pretend to mourn them.
“I like it a lot.” I move to his side of the table and straddle him, settling on his lap. His cock is erect, a hard bar of steel. I want to feel him inside me. I want his weight pressing down on me. I want to watch the need on his face as he falls apart.
Except we’re not alone. There’s Tanya to think about. “So,” I murmur. “About the sleeping arrangements.”
“Your friend is terrified of me.” His voice is matter of fact. “My presence traumatizes her. I’ll bunk in the cockpit tonight.”
This is the part that Olivia missed. She was too busy painting Kadir as an out-of-control killer. She has no idea who he really is. “I’m sorry.” I nibble his lip, my hands wrapped around him, my boobs brushing against his chest. “How can I make it up to you?”
He rests his hands on my waist. He deepens the kiss, his tongue snaking into my mouth and claiming me as his own. All thought disappears as I kiss him back, grinding down on his cock. A rush of pleasure fills me, and I sink into the sensation, yielding to his touch. My fingers grip his hair, pulling him closer. The room swims around me, and every nerve ending sparks to life. “I want you,” I pant into his mouth. “Please…”
I rub myself on him, shameless, almost feverish with need, and he hisses, his face clenched with desire. Do something, Kadir. Tear off my clothes. Order me naked. Anything. “I could bend over this table,” I whisper. “You wanted me to bend over in the swamp, but this is better, don’t you think?”
He growls in his throat and squeezes my breasts.
Oh God, yes. “Or should I go down on my knees?” I flutter my eyelashes at him. It’s so addictive, this feeling. I’m the object of Kadir’s desire. In this moment, all he wants is me. Nobody’s ever looked at me the way he’s looking at me right now, and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it. Of him.
“You’re really big.” My voice is innocent. “It’ll be a challenge taking your length.” Anticipation coils through me. “I love challenges. What do you think, Kadir? Should I bend over the table so you can fuck me from behind, or should I get on my knees and suck your cock?”
“Decide quickly,” he growls. “Or I’m going to decide for you.”
My insides tighten. “Ooh. Bossy.” I wink at him. “Maybe you’re not in charge.”
He raises a brow. “Oh?”
Grinning, I lean in and plant a kiss on his smirking mouth. Smug, sexy alien. His chest rumbles under me as I rub my taut nipples against him. His big hand grasps the nape of my neck, holding me in place as his tongue plunders the depths of my mouth.
“Ah, ah.” I slip away and plant kisses down his neck and in the center of his chest before undoing his pants. When his cock springs out, I lose my nerve a little. How is that thing going to fit in my mouth? It’s so big. I mean, seriously? That thing was inside me last night?
You loved every minute of it.
Kadir strokes the nape of my neck. “Is eve
rything all right, Alice?”
“Just strategizing.” I lick my lips. I can do this. Before I can plunge down and choke myself on his erection, Kadir moves. He frees his erection, and lies on the floor, tugging me down with him. He pulls my pants down my hips, and he maneuvers me so that my hips are straddling his face.
“Oh,” I whisper, momentarily surprised by the air on my bare ass. His lips brush my pussy, and I jump. “Oh!”
“Shhhh,” he cautions.
Oh, right. Tanya is sleeping. For a second, I feel guilty about jumping into sexy shenanigans with Kadir when my traumatized friend sleeps nearby. But then Kadir licks my slit and I forget everything.
His hands tug me down until I’m sitting right on his face. I resist, worried about whether he can breathe or not, but his grip is insistent, and, in the end, I let my weight rest on him. He’s got all sorts of super-powers—maybe breathing underwater is one of them. It’s certainly wet enough down there for someone to drown.
I’m facing Kadir’s hard, erect cock. It juts up, ready for my mouth. It looks positively mouth-watering.
I make an attempt to reach it and take it into my mouth, but it’s too far. My thoughts are dissolving under the onslaught of pleasure from his mouth. He’s eating me out with hungry urgency, and it’s so good. My back arches, my mouth goes slack. My muscles clench with need, and my insides twist with hot, aching desire.
I can’t reach him. I end up riding his face, my own mouth lax. His cock bobs in front of me, leaking pre-cum. So close and yet so far. I’m drooling a little as the first surge of white-hot pleasure numbs my brain.
Kadir shifts under me. He tries to stick his tongue in my ass, the way he did last night, but I grunt and push back, planting my pussy firmly on his face. More of that, please.
He growls in his throat but gives up on my back hole. His grip tightens on my hips, a reminder that whatever I might think, I’m not really in charge. His tongue takes a deep swipe between my folds and curls over my clit.
Lust scrambles my brain. Another orgasm threatens to break over me.
And then it does.
I press my hand to my mouth to stifle my moans as I come again and again. After the tenth—or maybe the hundredth—orgasm, Kadir lets me roll off him. He wipes his face and sucks my juices off his fingers. I’m about to dive onto his dick—finally! —when a stunted sound comes from outside the galley.
Kadir stiffens. I hold my breath, but Tanya cries out again in her sleep.
An expression of resignation fills Kadir’s face. “You should go check on her.”
Damn. He’s right. I get dressed as he cleans up and tucks himself away. His cock presses against the front of his pants, making its presence known, and I can barely stop myself from reaching for him.
Instead, I close my eyes and hug him, careful not to brush against his cock. For a second, I soak in his strength, his warmth. “You’re right,” I say reluctantly. “She’s probably having a nightmare. I can relate.”
I make myself leave the room. It takes a lot of willpower. Damn it. We better get back to the rebellion, because if I don’t sleep with Kadir again soon, I’m going to lose my mind.
21
Kadir
The sun sets. The sky outside turns dark. The Swampland predators that hunt at night emerge from their lairs.
It’s finally time for our check-in. I tap my comm, connecting to the others. Three Draekons shimmer into existence in the cockpit.
Three, not four. Third is missing.
Alarm prickles the back of my neck. “Where’s Ruhan?” I demand.
Fifth shrugs his shoulders. “He’s probably running late,” he says. “Knowing him, he started taking an engine apart and lost track of time.”
That’s certainly possible. Ruhan’s deeply fascinated by technology, and his understanding of it is instinctive. Once, back in the old days, we’d been ordered to take down an Adrashian factory that manufactured droids with interfaces so advanced they almost seemed sentient. Ruhan had followed orders—the scientists didn’t leave us much choice—but after the mission, he’d gone back. I’d found him wandering in the wreckage, his expression distraught. After that, he’d shut down for four days.
I ping Ruhan’s comm, reminding him to check in. There’s no acknowledgment. “Let’s get started,” Sixth suggests. “We’ll fill him in when he gets here. Any more news about First?”
I shake my head. “First wasn’t my priority today. We found the other human, Tanya Sinclair. She’s safely on board the Bikana. The Cotari traders who took her have been neutralized, as have the three scientists that tortured the women. Unfortunately, there’s a security alert on the Bikana, so we’re stuck in Frez for the moment.”
“Until Ruhan joins us and hacks you a way out.” Fifth’s face breaks out in a broad smile. “You found both the humans. Excellent job, Kadir.”
“Thank you.” I’ve been Second so long that it feels strange to hear them call me by my chosen name. Strange, but welcome all the same. These men are my brothers. This is not a secret I want to keep from them.
Ruhan told us his name. Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth have chosen to stay silent. I can understand. Choosing a name for myself was an act of subversion. If the Supreme Mother had found out, she would have withheld the antidote to the rathr from me for months. It wasn’t the name; it was everything that went with it. The scientists wanted us to believe that they controlled everything about our lives. My secret defiance would not have been tolerated.
“How is your search?”
They fill me in on their progress. Fourth thinks he’s tracked his humans to a sector that lies in the Uncharted Reaches, skirting the southern edge of the Makpi Alliance. I wince as I pull up the location. “That’s pirate territory.”
He grins. “I do love a good challenge.”
I shake my head. Typical.
Fifth is making no headway in his search. Sixth thinks he might have a lead. “I need Third to make sense of it,” he says. “He’s better at this sort of stuff than me.”
Speaking of Third… Ruhan still hasn’t checked in. I’m not the only one getting worried. Sixth’s expression is troubled. “What’s bothering you?” I ask him.
“First,” he replies. “Who else?” He stares into the distance. “I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if you’d landed on Frez a few minutes earlier and walked in on the slaughter. Would he have stopped?”
Sixth barks out a laugh. “First, stop? He’d have killed Kadir.”
“He would have tried,” I growl. “He wouldn’t have succeeded. I can hold my own in a fight.”
“No,” Fifth says at once. “None of us can fight him alone. We avoid killing.” A shadow crosses his face. There it is again. The battle that he won’t let himself forget. It’s been a thousand years, but for him, it’s as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. “First doesn’t care about preserving life. It gives him the edge in a fight.” He fixes me with a long stare. “Promise me you won’t seek him out, Kadir. Not unless we’re together.”
I don’t like it, but there’s no denying that what Fifth says makes sense. “I promise not to jump headlong into danger. But if the situation warrants it, and I must face him, then I will. Stopping him is my responsibility.”
“It is our shared responsibility,” Sixth corrects. “I’m going to say it out loud. We all knew what First was capable of. We’ve seen it over and over again in battle, but we didn’t want to admit that one of our own could go so badly wrong. I’ll tell you what I thought. If battle rages could overwhelm First, it might happen to me. It was easier to pretend there wasn’t a problem.”
“Why would you run into First?” Fourth asks more practically.
“I’m taking the human women back to the rebellion headquarters. Rescuing the captive Draekons is a priority for Tarish. I’m sure he’ll have another mission for me. If First is also looking for them…” My voice trails off. “I will prevent further bloodshed.”
Sixth frowns. “Are
you joining the rebellion?”
“I’ve spent some time thinking about this. I have no love for the High Empire, but I don’t owe the rebellion anything. At first, I thought I could remain neutral in this war. But I was wrong. The human women were supposedly under the personal protection of Lenox himself, and the scientists abducted them anyway. They tortured Alice. The rot goes all the way to the top. I won’t sit by and do nothing.”
“They tortured Alice,” Fourth repeats my words. His lips twist in a grin. “I think I understand what’s going on here.”
Before our conversation turns into speculation about my relationship with Alice, I change the topic. “There’s still no sign of Ruhan.” I take a deep breath. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. Where was he headed, does anyone know?”
“Same place as me,” Fourth says. “The Uncharted Reaches. He sent me a message yesterday. Wanted me to plot him a route to Hotakir.”
The planet’s name doesn’t ring any bells. Then again, it’s a vast galaxy. “I’ll send word to the rebellion,” I say grimly. “They can check if there’s been any Blood Heart activity in that sector.”
“You think First set a trap for us?” Fifth demands. “This quickly?”
I desperately hope it isn’t a trap. “We can’t rule out the possibility.”
Sixth sucks in a breath. “My lead was near Hotakir,” he says. “I’ll make inquiries.”
Fourth turns to me. “You need to get out of Frez.”
Yes, I know. “Should I find another ship?”
He shakes his head at once. “Caeron, no. The Bikana is a work of art. No, I was going to suggest I pilot your ship remotely. They’ll fire at us, but the Bikana’s shields should hold until the first warp jump.”
“Now?”
“Might as well. The longer you stay there, the greater the danger is. You should strap in. It’ll be a rough take-off.” He gives me a sly smile. “Make sure Alice is secured. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”