by Marie Harte
Then again, Rafe wasn’t too pleased with the position he’d been placed in either. “It was your idea to use Gren, not mine. I was happy playing an anonymous information broker on Mardu.” He grimaced, wishing again he’d refused to become part of Sernal’s team. He loved his brother, but honestly, the man thought too much of rules and regulations.
“My patience is wearing.”
“Fine. You want to know why Gren took her? He wants her, plain and simple. She was the one who knocked me out, per his orders. And she wasn’t herself, if you know what I mean.” At Sernal’s blank look, he sighed. “She was enthralled.”
“You mean to tell me Gren’s controlling my peacemaker?” Sernal glowered, his rage an intimidating and impressive sight, one Rafe could have done without. “That son of a—”
“But to his credit, I think Gren is onto something.” He ignored his brother’s cursing and waited for him to regain his temper. “You said it yesterday. Rorn has an appetite when it comes to women, and it’s obvious he’s hungry for Temis. Imagine how intense his search will now be looking for Gren and Temis, which gives us more time to build a case against him.”
Sernal remained silent.
“I’m not Gren’s biggest fan, by any stretch,” Rafe continued, remembering the large man’s attack. “But he’s unable to harm Temis and you know it.”
“Not without severe repercussions.”
“I thought he couldn’t harm a woman, ever. Theshan skills don’t work that way.”
Sernal shook his head. “They’re not supposed to work that way, but occasionally a Thesha strays. Of course, for Gren to harm Temis, he’d do at least twice as much damage to himself.” He swore. “Dammit. I’m just aggravated the bastard never does anything the easy way. I know Gren won’t hurt Temis. He’s male. No doubt he’ll want to fuck the hell out of her.” Sernal grimaced. “That’s all we need. Another complication.”
“I don’t know. Temis seemed like she could use a little relaxation, and it’s unheard of for a woman to complain after being visited by one of his kind.” Rafe grinned at his brother’s exasperation.
“I’m so glad you’re amused.” Sernal huffed. “But I’m beginning to think Gren’s plan might have some merit. By taking Temis hostage and escaping unaided, he’s taken the suspicion off of us. And with Temis at his side, an irresistible lure Rorn will follow, he should have no trouble locating the missing women. Our last report put them somewhere in the fifth quadrant. But as soon as we track our intel, they move. Fuck me.”
Sernal sounded tired, so Rafe tried to buoy his spirits. “Look at it this way. At least Temis is no longer your immediate problem. She’ll be safer with Gren than she’d be here near Rorn. And you never know. Gren always manages to annoy the hell out of me when we work together. Who knows what Temis is really feeling right now?”
* * * *
Temis woke with a stretch and yawn, feeling more rested than she had in months. Her body felt as if she’d exercised hard, sore in places yet limber enough to engage in anything at the moment.
Turning her head, she gazed at Gren’s profile and her heartbeat accelerated.
He slept peacefully, his lashes dark and thick against his weathered face. Even in sleep he looked hard, a warrior one second from waking into full readiness. His strength awed her, his control impressed her, and his lovemaking overpowered her.
She blushed furiously, recalling the pleasure he’d given her. That he’d touched her so intimately, been so gracious fulfilling her desire didn’t quite fit with the savage mercenary of legend.
He’d been truly angry on the shuttle when she’d accused him, perhaps unfairly, she admitted now, of criminal activity. But he’d scared her, somehow seeing beneath the defensive shield she’d worked so hard to build. A warrior’s mindset had earned her way into the peacemaker corps, not womanly softness.
Only Gren had come so close to her woman’s heart. Gren, a mercenary, supposed criminal. A man she didn’t dare trust, and a man she was beginning to like a lot.
Her previous limited experience with the opposite sex had left her ill-prepared for a man like him. She still couldn’t believe how bold she’d been. She stared at his chiselled lips, at his straight nose and uncompromising jaw line. She, Temis Freya, a virgin, had brought Gren to climax with her mouth, not once but twice.
The memory made her wet, and she strove to contain her breathing. Sharing such intimacies with a man had never before occurred to her. Oh, she knew eventually she would marry and raise children, like her mother. But Temis had yet to meet a man she both respected and made her heart race, her blood pulse with desire.
Until Gren.
He stirred, and she placed her hand on his chest to calm him. At her touch he resumed his slumber, mumbling low under his breath in a language she’d never before heard spoken.
She petted him gently, stroking his impressive muscles as she wondered about him.
Gren was a mystery. No one knew of his origins, and most of what she’d read or been told about him came from rumour and pirate gossip. For a man who’d supposedly killed hundreds without blinking an eye, he’d treated her with an affection and care surprising for one so hard-hearted.
They’d burned together. He’d come in her mouth and she’d come in his. Yet he hadn’t entered her. She puzzled over his refusal to mate with her fully. Perhaps he worried about getting her with child? He shouldn’t have. She was only fertile in the summer months on Zeyr. But he would have no way of knowing that.
Thoughts of a child with Gren caused her womb to flutter, and she hurriedly turned from that line of thinking. Her hand froze on Gren’s chest, and he frowned in his sleep.
She resumed petting him and chastised herself. Just because Gren had given her pleasure she’d never before experienced did not mean emotion need be attached. So he’d been an extraordinary lover, so he’d brought her to peak time and time again unselfishly. That meant nothing.
She had given him ecstasy as well. In fact, she’d started it. Temis idly stroked Gren’s nipples, curious when the little buds hardened under her touch.
She glanced down his body and noted the bulge growing beneath his trousers. Then she realised she wore nothing at all and flushed.
Never before had any man seen her naked. She’d of course seen her share of nude bodies during her early days of training at home. Females, however, retained a certain amount of mystique on Zeyr.
She glanced again at Gren, a man with a mystique all his own. As she studied his powerful musculature, it hit her.
No scars or bruises marred his flesh save the scar on his left forearm. He’d recently suffered severe trauma at the hands of Rorn’s men, yet he wore no mark to record the event. She frowned. He’d looked perfectly fine to her in his cell, now that she thought about it. Then he’d done something to her, something that made her head swim trying to recall the exact memory.
She leaned up on an elbow to better study Gren. Temis knew her own mind, but she had no explanation for Gren’s impact on her senses. It had been like this since she’d first laid eyes on him.
He held some odd sway over her. One that interfered with memory? Odd holes in time, in the sequence between arriving on Lady Justice and leaving suddenly dawned on her. She recalled Gren ordering her to do something… To knock Rafe unconscious? To strap into the ship without argument, and all because Gren had ordered her to do so. What might that mean?
It took her a moment before the answer loomed. He had to be telepathic to control her mentally.
He must have wormed his way beneath the mental guards she’d been taught to use during her peacemaker training.
A telepath.
Her strange behaviour now made sense. Never would she desert her ship and leave without Lead Sernal’s permission. Nor would she hurt her partner trying to escape with a criminal. His nature as a telepath explained much.
But his apparent lack of injuries mystified her, and she resolved to get some answers once he woke. She surprised herself at
her willingness to let him rest when her mind demanded the truth. Gren’s lovemaking had definitely softened her, and though she loved what he’d done to her body, she didn’t like what he’d done to her mind.
After the tumult of events from Lady Justice to Mornio and after leaving behind her world of order and discipline only to discover the erotic side of herself, Temis should have been more on edge. The warrior within her clamoured to know the why’s and how’s of her adventure.
But her body refused to rise. The calm lethargy in the man beside her seemed to steal through her very pores, leaving her mind free to roam while her body rested.
And though thoughts of Gren confused and aggravated her, the emotional connection she felt with him soothed when it should have worried her.
His large palm suddenly covered her hand on his chest. He slept on, but a small smile lingered over his lips.
She could only imagine what dreams pleasured Gren’s sleep. Treasure? Battle? More likely, naked women, a lot of them, doing whatever he commanded.
The thought annoyed her, and she instinctively shied from the reasons why. Tired of such puzzling thoughts, she laid her head on his shoulder and curled into his warmth, dreamlessly accepting the comfort he unknowingly provided.
Chapter Seven
Heat centred in the core of her body, then spiralled outward. Rough palms caressed her breasts, and a warm mouth trailed their touch.
Temis squirmed, seeking the source of such pleasure.
“Yes, sura,” Gren murmured in a rough voice, alternating his mouth with stroking fingers. He paused at her navel and moved back to blanket her body with his, finding her lips with the practice of a skilled lover.
Thrusting his tongue deep inside her mouth, he mimicked the action with his fingers, sliding between her thighs into slick heat.
She arched into him, demanding his passion, reaching for any and every place to hold him, to cement them together. He groaned as she aggressively sought his tongue, and answered by thrusting a second finger inside her.
Temis wanted to devour him. He tasted of ambrosia, the sweetest spice in the system, and she wanted more. She could feel something within her reaching out to him, an inner self she had no control over.
Gren shuddered and deepened the kiss, his fingers quickening over her sensitive bud, thrusting faster and deeper towards her womb.
Temis was lost.
The waves of desire became too much. As she crested, the overpowering feelings exploded in an orgasm. Intermingled with her desire, she imagined Gren’s bliss, a strange sense of masculine satisfaction that beat in time with hers. It felt so real, so pure, and it fed her own rapture.
When her heart finally calmed, she opened her eyes. Gren stared down at her with an intensity that roused her to real wakefulness. His eyes looked jet black, no green in sight, and her pleasure faded under the sense something was wrong.
“Gren?”
He leaned into her, his body heat warming. Running a finger down her cheek, he murmured in a beautiful, exotic language that made her heart full.
“What does that mean?” she whispered.
He shook his head, and like that, his eyes resumed a normal green hue. Amazed, Temis studied him, riveted by the sudden glow that hugged his body.
In the span of a heartbeat the look in his eyes shuttered and he dimmed, if such a thing were possible. He leaned up off of her and rolled to his side.
“What just happened?”
“We experienced morning’s bliss.” Humour tinged his gravelly voice. “And my clothes are definitely in need of some washing.” A large wet spot marred his light-coloured trousers.
Temis blushed. She hadn’t imagined his groan of release. “That was, ah, wow.”
“Yes. It was.” His wide smile pleased her, but not enough to disregard the strange things she’d just seen. “I want to know how your eyes turned from green to black. You look better than all right, Gren. Are you sure you aren’t suffering any injuries from yesterday?”
He sat up casually, but his uncanny ability to mask his expressions seemed to have disappeared. She just knew he was hiding something.
“I’m fine.” He gave her a masculine smirk. “In fact, I’d say I’m more than fine, wouldn’t you?”
She didn’t have the heart to refute the truth.
“Come on, sura,” he teased and leant down for a brief kiss. “Isn’t that the best way to waken, in the arms of a master pleasurer?”
She chuckled and tugged at his trousers, amazed the familiar heat began to build after such intense lovemaking—sex—she corrected herself.
“I must admit that’s new to me.” She felt his elation and blinked in surprise. It must have been her imagination. Temis wasn’t an empath. Still, she swore she could sense the immense satisfaction flooding his system.
He left the bed and punched a few codes into the wall monitor near his door. “Jora activated the lav when we arrived. Ladies first?”
Temis shrugged, determined to get her answers sooner or later. Curiosity burned at her to discover his dark secrets. With that in mind, she strode confidently towards the lav, all the while aware of his burning gaze on her back.
* * * *
The minute she closed herself behind the lav door, Gren uttered a low groan and allowed himself the release of energy his body demanded. Like a star, the brilliance of his and Temis’ shared energy poured into the room, illuminating the dingy area better left in the dark.
Scarred wooden flooring, dented Mornian steel and the few mismatched pieces of furniture now visible in the morning light streaming through one shuttered window made the room seem seedy, not fitting for his first time in bed with Temis.
At the thought, his mouth drew tight, and he rubbed his eyes in frustration. These feelings he had concerning the stubborn woman were strange and more than a little disturbing.
Sharing Temis’ body, absorbing her woman’s power, had shaken him to the core. He’d resolved to keep his distance after last night’s incredible intimacy but woke to a burning desire that no other but Temis could satisfy. He absently rubbed at his well-used cock, now covered in his own damned cum.
Where the hell had his discipline gone? Growling in embarrassment, that he’d climaxed not once but twice while pleasuring her this morning, he whipped off his trousers and paced the room unencumbered by clothes. As he paced, he consciously burned off lovemaking’s residual glow and strove for some inner peace.
Temis Freya was trouble with a capital ‘T’. He’d known it from the first he’d seen her, and the impression had only grown stronger. Her energy lured him all too close, like a siren’s call, and now he felt truly hooked on her scent, her taste.
He stared down at his growing erection with dismay, aware the control he’d mastered and lived with for years seemed to have vanished at just the thought of the stubborn woman bathing in the lav.
With conscious effort he focused to ignore his desire and instead tried to formulate a plan for the mission. Yet even there he stumbled, because he knew what they had to do.
In his mind’s eye, Temis wore slave’s clothing, skimpy rags designed to showcase her body. Just the thought of her breasts straining the thin silk made him want to sink deep inside her and never let go.
He knew it had been a good idea to refrain from a true joining, but damn it all, his body wouldn’t quit the idea. The notion of fucking her ass and avoiding her woman’s power intrigued him. Even now he wanted her more than before, as if he hadn’t sampled her delights a few moments ago.
Scowling down at his troublesome cock, he cursed under his breath and decided to make the call he’d been avoiding.
He found the telecom unit he’d stowed on a previous trip and dialled the private number.
After several buzzing tones a husky male voice greeted him, reminding him the hour was most likely too early for anything but emergency communications.
“Mara’s Light. And this had better be good.”
Gren grinned at his friend’s
surliness. Lurin Vez, a rare fellow Thesha, had taken to bounty hunting as if he’d been doing it all his life. Of course, he had the best teacher. His wife Mara had the skills and determination to whip Lurin into shape.
“It’s me, Gren.” He tingled with Lurin’s surprise. All Thesha shared the ability to communicate telepathically, and in some cases, empathically.
Lurin cleared his throat. “Not that it’s not great to hear from you, but why call so early?” “Are you all right?”
“What’s the matter, Lurin? Mara keeping you up at night?”
A female chuckled in the background and he knew he’d caught Lurin in bed.
“You have no idea.” Lurin laughed. “Mara’s made me into a tougher, harder man thanks to all her training.”
Gren felt a wave of heat from his friend and knew he’d best get to the point before Lurin and Mara forgot about him.
“I can’t contact a friend of mine and I need you to get an untraced message to him.”
Lurin’s attention refocused. “Tell me.”’
Gren refused to mention Sernal out loud, just in case his message was intercepted en route. Thanks to the energy he’d recently received from Temis, he had the resources to span the large distance between him and Lurin.
“Over a dozen women have been abducted from Mardu thanks to some rogue peacemakers, so Sernal called on me for help.”
“Rogue peacemakers? Damn.”
“Yeah. I had the misfortune of stepping right into the middle of Sernal’s problem, screwing this undercover mission. I snatched one of his people and escaped peacemaker involvement. I just need you to tell him all is well, and to use you to contact him later with more information.”
“No problem,” Lurin answered without hesitation. “You want me to put some feelers out for the abducted women?”
“Quiet ones. I’m trying to keep my cover as clean as possible.”
“No worries. I’ll use Catam as a go-between.” Catam, a crewmember on board Mara’s Light, was Sernal’s brother. The damned peacemaker had three of them. Gren didn’t even want to think about that pain in the ass Gar. “About that contact you need to get through to?” Lurin reminded him aloud.