Assassin Mine

by Cynthia Sax

  “The android decoy,” Traz grumbled. “He’s shooting at the android decoy.”

  “Shit.” Her joy faded. “Is the android armed?”

  “Of course.” Her brother glared. “He’s programmed to protect Falyn.”

  Can Darius defeat an android? A hard sphere of fear formed in Sabria’s stomach. “Ship, where is Darius?” A technical drawing of the ship appeared on the viewscreen, Darius’ location circled. Her assassin blocked a dead-end corridor.

  “Give me one of your guns.” Sabria held out her hand. Traz hesitated. “You don’t need three guns. You only have two hands,” she snapped. He passed her the weapon. She ripped off the inside chamber control panel, attached circuits to the gun and programmed the ship to detonate the small bomb.

  “A distraction?” Her brother gazed over her shoulder.

  “A reason to let you go.” She frowned, the ship’s defense settings set to non-lethal and her full access to the system remaining intact, an oversight her careful assassin would never have accidentally made.

  “He trusts me.” Sabria rested her forehead against the cool wall, overwhelmed by Darius’ faith in her. “And he never planned to kill you, Traz.”

  “I plan to kill him,” Traz warned, sincerity ringing in his voice. “If he has hurt Falyn, he’s a dead Balazoid. You know what I did to the man who hurt you.”

  “I remember.” Sabria shivered, those bloody memories having fed her nightmares for years. “But this is Darius. He’s—”

  “We’re wasting valuable time,” her brother blurted. “I’m going after them.” He barreled down the corridor, his guns drawn. “Fuck you, Balazoid.” Traz dodged Darius’ defenses, his actions even wilder than normal, his thinking clearly affected by his love for the future-bender.

  “I’m sorry, Darius.” Sabria glanced at the empty bed. “But my promise means nothing if you’re dead.” She sprinted after her brother.

  “There will be no killing,” Sabria yelled. “Let me talk to him first.” She ran at full speed, determined to protect Darius, the assassin she couldn’t live without. The weapons stilled, their silence louder than any declaration of love.

  * * * * *

  A decoy. Darius herded the future-bender and her android into a dead-end corridor, trapping them. He shot at the android’s back, irate over his mistake, aware that, as he ran toward the future-bender, Sabria’s brother was attempting to rescue Sabria, his female, his breeder.

  Even if he frees her, she won’t leave our chambers. The android turned and shot, his movements laughably slow. Darius returned fire, the male a big, easy target. The android’s left arm dropped from his body, sparks flying from his shoulder, and the future-bender screamed.

  She promised to stay. Darius hid in an alcove, waiting. I trust her.

  He streaked across the corridor, moving closer to his target. The android rolled and shot, surging forward unprotected. Stupid machine. Darius shot the android’s hand off.

  “John, come back here,” the future-bender pleaded, caring for the machine as Sabria cared for her little bots. Darius swallowed a hard lump of envy.

  “I will protect you,” the android droned. He walked toward Darius, his hands severed, unable to defend himself.

  “You’ll be deactivated, android.” Darius stepped into the corridor and pointed his gun at the android. The machine resembled Sabria’s brother, his face scarred, his eyes mismatched. “You—”

  “Explosive device detected in main sleeping compartment,” Ship informed them calmly.

  Sabria. A chill spread over Darius’ chest. She’s gone. She must be. Her brother wouldn’t blow up the ship with her on board. He turned his body, shifting his gaze between the future-bender and the corridor behind him, the corridor leading to their chambers and to Sabria.

  The android rushed toward Darius, his head down, and Darius gritted his teeth, irritated at the distraction. “If that’s your choice.” He carefully aimed. With one blast of his gun, he severed the android’s head from his body and the artificial skull bounced on the floor.

  “No!” The future-bender sprinted forward.

  “Stop!” Darius adjusted his aim to the female, his thoughts remaining on Sabria. Did she leave me willingly? I trusted her. I trusted only her.

  The future-bender stopped, her shoes skidding noisily on the tile. “I’m not armed.” She raised her hands, her palms open and empty. “See, Mr…Mr…”

  “My enemies call me Dreck.” Never again will I share my real name, opening myself to this agony. “And I don’t have friends.” Fuck, this hurts. Darius pushed the pain away and approached the future-bender, his strides long and silent.

  “I could be your first.” The future-bender smiled at him.

  He felt nothing, only Sabria’s smile could warm his soul. “I think not.” Darius circled her. The future-bender didn’t move. Her dress was immaculate, her shoes brand new, her pale skin marked with love bites. Sabria’s brother cares for this prisoner.

  “Yes. You, I’ll trade for something more valuable.” Darius lifted a lock of the future-bender’s hair. The strand didn’t curl around his fingers as Sabria’s tendrils did. It didn’t embrace him, accept him, see him for more than the killer he was.

  First, I’ll use her to free Sabria. Then I will trade her to the Balazoids. “You’ll be the key to unlocking our freedom.”

  “Our?” The future-bender reached out, placed her hand on his arm and closed her eyes. Darius ignored her, her cool touch not interesting him. “Sabria,” she gasped.

  “Do not touch me!” Darius bellowed, flinging her hand off him, irate at hearing his beloved breeder’s name on the future-bender’s lips.

  “Do not touch her,” a low, deep voice roared. Traz, Sabria’s brother, blocked the end of the corridor, his guns drawn.

  It was Sabria who held Darius’ attention. She was free and unfettered, standing at her brother’s side willingly. Why? Darius met her gaze, the agony of her betrayal deeper than any wound.

  “Dreck didn’t harm me,” the future-bender shared.

  “Yet.” Darius wrapped his arm around the female’s neck and dragged her back against him, her curves slight and unappealing. He pressed the muzzle of his gun against the future-bender’s forehead, his gaze never leaving Sabria’s.

  “If you kill me like this, she’ll never love you.” The future-bender spoke to him quietly as though he was a child to be appeased.

  She couldn’t appease him. Only Sabria could bring him happiness and she had made her choice. “Balazoids don’t care about love.” Darius resorted to his training, burying his dream, a dream Sabria had crafted for him. They have families, breeders they love and protect and offspring of their own, and they’re happy… “And she’s leaving with him.”

  “I’m not leaving with him.” Sabria stepped forward. “I’m staying with you. I have the code and we’ll disarm the bomb together. I give you my word.”

  Why would she choose me, a Dreck, over her brother? Darius doused his rising hopes with the cold shower of reality. “And I’m to trust you?”

  “Yes, you’re to trust me.” Sabria walked toward him, her body armor creaking, her gaze fixed on him, and Darius’ heart pounded, his breath quickening. “Only me.”

  “But you have to let them leave unharmed.” Sabria placed her hand on his arm and a jolt of energy shot across his shoulders. She’s choosing me, me. He lowered his gun, his body relaxing. “Let her go, Darius.”

  He released the future-bender, listening to his heart and the raging feelings inside him. “Go.” Darius shoved the female toward Sabria’s brother. The future-bender stumbled. “Quickly, before I change my mind.”

  “Come, Falyn,” Traz growled. The future-bender scooped up the android’s detached head and ran. The couple disappeared around the bend, leaving him with Sabria, his future.

  “Thank you.” Sabria stared at Darius, her brown eyes wide.

  He cupped her beautiful face, needing to touch her, to confirm that she was real, that
she was with him. “You promised to stay in our chambers,” he admonished gruffly.

  Pink streaked across her golden cheeks. “I promised to stay and I have stayed with you.” Her lips parted, her breasts rising and falling, her curves clearly outlined in the skintight armor, and Darius’ cock hardened, lust mixing with his gratitude and relief. “My brother loves Falyn and he would have killed you. I couldn’t allow that to happen.”

  Darius’ breath hitched at the concern in her voice, concern for him. “Because you vowed to protect me.”

  “Because I love you,” Sabria whispered.

  Darius froze. “What?” he croaked, his voice hoarse with raw emotion. He searched her face for any indication she joked.

  “Because I love you,” Sabria repeated slowly, her moving lips matching her heart-stopping message.

  “You love me.” Darius pulled her to him, crushing her face against his chest, holding her tightly, his female, his breeder, his heart and soul and reason for being. “Me, Darius, a Dreck, a Balazoid, an assassin.”

  “Don’t forget woman-hating asshole,” she muttered against his leather jacket, her slender arms wrapped around him, her mons pressed against his hard cock. “With the personality of an Ungarian fur burrower.”

  “And the intelligence of a Mox-X addict.” Darius chuckled, the response feeling natural and right. “Is that the male you love?”

  “Apparently.” She tilted her head back and grinned up at him, her cheeks moist, her eyes tinged with red. “He’s also not good at saying ‘I love you’ back.”

  Darius brushed his lips over her nose. “But he’s very good at showing it.”

  “Explosive device detected in main sleeping compartment,” Ship reminded them, interrupting the tender moment.

  “He unfortunately can’t show it right now.” Sabria sighed, her body sliding along Darius’. “Not unless he wants a mess in his sleeping chambers.” She stepped away from him.

  “A bomb is more than a mess.” Darius threaded his fingers through hers, his heart light.

  “It’s a gun bomb.” Sabria swung their linked arms back and forth as they strode toward their sleeping chambers, the silly action filling Darius’ soul with joy.

  “Have you built one of those before?” she asked as though she genuinely cared about the answer.

  She does care about the answer. Darius gazed down at her. Because she cares about me. She loves me. “I built them when I was a child.” He paused. She didn’t fill in the silence. She wants me to talk. He took a deep breath. I can do this. “Once, a friend of mine, another Dreck, talked me into infiltrating our trainer’s chambers.” He leaned closer to her as he relayed a story he’d never told anyone else.

  Epilogue

  “Stay still, Chip,” Sabria instructed the floor bot. While Darius spent his days, navigating their ship through No Man’s-Land, searching for other Drecks, she had claimed a corner of their sleeping chambers as her workspace and was overhauling their legion of bots, giving each machine their own distinct personality.

  Chip whirred and clicked, his lights flashing, as she repaired his shell, the metal dented from the previous night’s bot races.

  “We’ll be docking in two hours,” Darius announced as he strode through the doors. He stripped his leather jacket off and tossed it over a chair, revealing his pale muscular chest.

  “Sleep, Chip.” The little bot froze in place. “Traz and Falyn are expecting us.” Sabria followed Darius to their bed. “They asked how long we’re staying this time.” She swallowed her envy over the permanent home her brother and his mate had made on the primitive planet. “I told them I didn’t know.”

  “You shouldn’t lie to them, female.” Darius clucked his tongue, shedding his boots and pants quickly, his ass cheeks clenching. “You’re the only one who does know.” He flung himself onto the bed, twisting his body in midair to land on his back.

  He’s a finely honed weapon. Sabria unfastened her flight suit and pulled the loose garment down. And he’s all mine. “How would I know?” She frowned, stepping out of the flight suit, leaving the fabric pooled on the tiled floor.

  “It is inefficient to search the sectors for an abode when your brother has already located a perfectly acceptable planet.” Darius folded his arms behind his head, his red eyes gleaming and his cock erect. “But I have researched your customs and the female is responsible for such decisions, so…” He shrugged.

  “What!” Sabria yelled, her body vibrating with excitement.

  “If I dared to make the decision, I would be called…what is that phrase? Oh yes, a woman-hating asshole.” Darius grinned, appearing not at all distressed over the label.

  “You’d live on the same planet as my brother?” She tapped the soles of Darius’ feet and he obligingly spread his legs. “But what about your search?” She crawled onto the bed, kneeling before his rigid cock.

  “What search?” His white eyelashes fluttered as she wrapped her hands around his shaft. “The search for a place where we’re accepted, where Drecks are equals and there are no wars or killing? Where we have families, breeders we love and protect and offspring of our own, and we’re happy, so happy the Balazoids don’t want any other Drecks to know about us?” Darius repeated what she’d once told him. “That search?”

  “Yes.” She stroked him, savoring the combination of soft skin over hard arousal, and he grew even larger in her palms, a dab of pre-cum forming on his tip. “I want that place for you, Darius.”

  “You’ve already given me that place.” He groaned, his face contorting with need, and Sabria glowed, relishing the power she had over her dominant male. “Except for the offspring part, and soon we’ll have that too.”

  How does he know? Sabria paused to stare at Darius, trying to read his lust-filled expression. Did Ship tell him? She frowned. I instructed that damn system not to.

  “Don’t stop.” Darius pushed into her hands. “Your touch feels so good.” Sabria transferred her irritation to Darius’ cock, intensifying her grip, pumping him, giving him the firm hands he needed.

  “Your pussy would feel even better.” Darius shifted, reaching for her. “Mount me, female.” He lifted her easily.

  Sabria positioned him at her entrance and moaned as he lowered her, his shaft stretching her, filling her. “Much better.” She sank down on him, the connection tightening between them, physically, mentally and spiritually.

  “This is the place.” Darius smiled up at her, the skin at the corner of his eyes feathering, the fine lines revealing his genuine happiness. “If anyone, Dreck, Balazoid or human, knew how hot and wet your pussy was, they’d kill to take my place.”

  “No killing.” Sabria rocked on him, the slow, shallow slide stoking her desire. Her hair swayed against her ass, the tendrils teasing her skin. “Only releasing.”

  “Fucking.” Darius thrust upward, driving deeper into her, and she gasped, the pleasure unexpected and exquisite. “Releasing is controlled, and with you, I have no control.”

  He rammed his cock up her pussy again and again, shaking her body, his grip on her hips securing her to him. Sabria clasped her breasts, squeezing and pinching her nipples, the sharp pain edging her arousal, the visual stimulation exciting Darius, his movements growing even more frantic.

  He drove upward, relentlessly taking her, fucking her hard and fast, utilizing his Balazoid speed and strength to subdue her and employing his human empathy to bring her fulfillment, offering Sabria the best of both sexual worlds.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She called out encouragement, riding him, her passionate assassin, as he showed her once again how he felt, his naked body open to her, his expression touchingly vulnerable.

  “Yes.” Darius slid one of his thumbs over the curve of her hip and found her clit, the coarse contact sending tremors over Sabria’s form. Shit. She whimpered. He pressed down and her whimper stretched into a wail of unabashed need. As he pistoned in and out of her, the friction increased, her clit rubbing against his thumb, her ass slap
ping on his thighs.

  “Darius…start…counting.” Sabria panted, air pushed from her lungs with each thrust, her chest constricted by emotion, by the passion wrapping around them tighter and tighter, binding them together forever.

  “One.” Darius grunted as he drove his hips upward, pushing her closer to the edge of satisfaction. The bed shook, metal scraping against tile.

  “Two.” He pulled her down on him as he rose, rocking her body, his strength daunting, intimidating and sexy. Sabria clutched his shoulders, her thighs trembling uncontrollably.

  “Three.” Darius tapped her clit as he surged upward, jetting hot cum into her throbbing pussy. Sabria raised her head and screamed his name, arching her back and flinging her arms behind her, diving fearlessly into a spinning black abyss, knowing he would save her.

  Large hands gripped her hips, long fingers folding over her ass, securing her. Darius shuddered under her, his release prolonging hers. She shook, the tremors slowly reducing, her world returning to normal, to Darius. He lay still, his face resembling the whitest, purest rock.

  Sabria leaned over him, her hair creating a curtain around their faces, and she licked the droplets of perspiration forming on his pale skin, tasting the salt of his exertion.

  His lips curled upward into one of his rare smiles. “You make me happy, female.” His voice lowered to a rumble. “And I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “I’m glad.” She returned his smile, her head light. “I want you to have everything I promised you.” She placed his palm on her gently rounded stomach. “And soon, as you already know, you will have everything.”

  Darius’ crimson eyes widened, his shock too acute to be feigned. “What are you saying?” He splayed trembling fingers over her skin.

  Sabria frowned, confused by his reaction. “You said we’d have offspring soon.”

  “Soon, someday in the future soon.” Darius sat up and his cock slipped from her pussy. “Not today soon.” He rolled her onto her back and he touched her stomach gingerly, examining her thoroughly, his expression deadly serious. “Today soon,” he repeated, his voice soft and wistful. “You’re sure?”