by Cynthia Sax
Kralj retreated and surged forward, retreated and surged forward, pounding into her mouth, his base smacking against her lips, his balls slapping her chin. She clutched his hips as he used her hard, expelling all of his darkness, all of his pain.
It was cathartic for her also, being utilized as a vessel, not as a sword, as a bringer of personal peace rather than a deliverer of death. She stroked his hips, his thighs. He parted his legs, bracing his booted feet apart and she caressed his taint, the sensitive skin between his ass and his balls.
The rumbling in his chest grew louder. The air circled faster, whipping his coat against her, against his legs, the pain escalating their arousal. Her male, her killer, her world for the moment, liked a bit of agony with his bliss, as she did.
She fluttered her tongue against his shaft. He ravished her with more intensity, savagely plunging in and out of her mouth. Her lips hummed. Her jaw ached.
Dita cupped his balls, rolled them in her fingers, and he lost control of his rhythm, his thrusting turning sporadic, his technique all over the place. His eyes blazed. His breathing harshened, his chest rising and falling as though he fought for every intake of air.
She did that—made this powerful male lose his grip on his restraint. That knowledge was as sexy as all space.
Someone had told her when beings died, moments of their lifespan flashed through their mind. Dita wanted this to be one of those moments, the image of Kralj looming above her, his scarred face twisted in passion, his cock in her mouth.
Kralj drove into her with an intensity bordering on madness. His balls had drawn up tight to his body. The muscles in his legs, his abs, flexed.
He was close. All he needed was a push.
Dita would give it to him. She waited until his base touched her lips and then she sucked. As her cheeks indented around his shaft, she squeezed his balls.
Kralj flung his head back and howled, the sound blasting upward. His shadow parted, displaying stars on a covering of black. Hot cum spurted from his tip, shot down her throat. That pure ecstasy hit her stomach.
Dita screamed, the sound muffled by the huge cock in her mouth. He had warned he’d rip her to parts and he had. She was shredded by a thought-stopping pleasure. Mindlessly, she sucked, swallowed, came, sucked, swallowed, came, clinging to Kralj, the center of the storm inside her and the vortex of the wind rushing around them.
He shuddered and shook yet didn’t collapse, standing tall in front of her. She drained every drop of cum from his cock, licked him clean, flicking her tongue over his tip, his shaft, his balls. He released his death grip on her hair and petted it, smoothing the wayward curls, his caresses unexpected, comforting.
“Did I harm you?” His voice was edged with a gratifying concern.
He cared about her, an assassin. No one else did. “My body covering protected my knees.”
“Did I harm you with my powers?” Kralj cupped her chin, lifting her gaze. “I had to transfer them to you.” He searched her eyes. “It was…too much.”
He had lost control with her. That pleased her.
“You didn’t harm me.” Dita rested one of her flushed cheeks against his right thigh. “I survived your monster.” She smiled. “Barely. That last bit was…” She paused, uncertain how to describe it. “Unexpected.” She quivered with delight.
“You haven’t seen all of my monster yet.” His fingers returned to her hair. “And that last bit, as you call it, was due to my nanohumanics.”
“Are they like a cyborg’s nanocybotics?” She had studied cyborgs during assassin training. The half-human, half-machine warriors were the Humanoid Alliance’s preferred weapons.
“They’re similar. They allow us to heal quickly. We don’t age.”
Healing quickly would be beneficial in her line of work. Aging was irrelevant. Assassins didn’t die of natural causes. “Who is us?”
“Modified humanoids, beings created by the Humanoid Alliance to fight their wars.” Kralj separated the strands of her hair with his fingers.
“They use cyborgs now.”
“They’re machines. The Humanoid Alliance believes they can control them.”
They couldn’t control him. Her heart warmed with admiration. He had escaped them. “The fizzing and popping inside me hasn’t stopped. Will I live forever now too?” she joked.
“You can die.” His body stiffened and she regretted her words. “As you’ll find out if you enter the Refuge.”
“I won’t have to enter the Refuge if you banish the clones.” But she knew he wouldn’t. He had his rules and would follow them. They were at a stalemate once more.
“This was a mistake.” Kralj stepped back, dragging her along the stone.
“The mistake is already made.” Dita didn’t release him. “Give us a few more moments. My monster has been solitary for a long time.”
His jaw jutted. She thought he’d refuse her request.
Much to her surprise, Kralj released a ragged breath and stopped moving. “My monster has been solitary since the planet rotation I was engineered.”
Since the planet rotation he was engineered. He’d been conceived in a laboratory, had never known a family, a mother, a father, had never experienced love, companionship.
“It must have been a lifespan of loneliness for you.” It was a loneliness she had shared.
“Many human lifespans.” His hands burrowed into her hair. He seemed fascinated with that part of her. “The nanohumanics will fade in time. You won’t have that curse.”
She wouldn’t have that curse, as he called it, because she planned to enter the Refuge and kill her targets. Kralj would then end her life. She explored his legs with her fingers, examining the swell of his calves, the straight line of his shins, the dips in his knees.
“Don’t make me kill you, little one.” His voice was whisper soft. “Spare me that pain.”
She wished she could do that. “I told the survivors I’d avenge their loved ones, ensure the clones wouldn’t return to end their lifespans too. You have your rules, your Refuge, the beings here.” She envied him that. “All I have is my ability to kill and my word. I won’t break it.”
Kralj sighed. “Then don’t return until another rest cycle has passed.” He drew her to her booted feet, looked into her eyes. “Give me that much.”
He had seen her climb the wall. Being an intelligent male, he would block that method of entry.
“Spend that rest cycle with me and I’ll wait.” She wanted some compensation for the increased difficulty. “There are other targets outside these walls.” Although she hadn’t vowed to kill those targets, they were evil and needed their lives ended. “We can hunt one of them.”
Dita hadn’t hunted with another being since she’d completed training. She’d like to share that experience with him.
“I don’t leave the Refuge.” He denied her that opportunity.
“Ever?” She gazed at him, shocked.
“If I leave, it puts every resident at risk.” His lips flattened. “The only thing that keeps the peace inside the Refuge is the knowledge that I monitor every being’s thoughts. I know what they will do before they do it and have the power to stop them.”
“You’re trapped.” As she was, by responsibility, but at least she could venture where she pleased on Carinae E, the planet the assassins’ guild had assigned to her.
“I have vows to uphold.”
He’d promised the residents safety. Dita didn’t argue with him. She understood honor, valued it in herself, in others, in him. “Then allow me inside your walls. You choose the target. We’ll hunt there.”
His lips twisted. “You’ll kill the clones.”
“I won’t kill them this rest cycle or the next, if we hunt together.” She could wait that long to fulfill her vow. “I give you my word.”
Kralj lifted his eyebrows.
“Don’t question my word, handsome.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Not unless you want a dagger in your gut.”
&nbs
p; “You move too slowly to hurt me and I wasn’t questioning your word.” He pulled her against his body, not allowing any distance between them. “I was questioning your restraint.”
“I have plenty of restraint.” She wiggled, brushing her mons over his semi hard cock. “We’ll have fun, Kralj. Agree to this. You won’t regret it.”
“I already regret it.” He shook his head. “But I agree to it.”
She hadn’t expected her stubborn, rule-driven male to say yes. It took her a moment to absorb that he had capitulated to her demands.
“Yes!” Happiness, pure and fierce, surged through her. She jumped upward. He caught her. She wrapped her legs around his waist. “This will be fantastic.” She kissed him hard.
Chapter Five
A planet rotation had passed, the sun had set, and Dita hadn’t yet returned to the Refuge. Kralj refused to lurk by the gates like some lovelorn youngster. That role was reserved for Hulagu, his unwanted protégé, the boy having found his gerel, his fated mate, the lucky bastard.
Contrary to what his beast believed, Kralj had no fated mate. He stalked through the settlement, his entire being concealed in shadow. Storms raged inside him and around him.
Residents hurried out of his way.
Dita, that damn female, should be dead. His beast had never tasted a being and not killed him or her. Yet it refused to harm his tiny tormenter, sipping her blood rather than devouring her flesh.
Hunting with Dita would change that. He’d planned the rest cycle carefully. When the sun rose, there would be only one body to impale upon a stake—hers.
His world would then return to normal.
There would be no teasing, no tempting, no breaking of his rules. He wouldn’t need Dita to absorb his powers because he’d have them under control.
No one would touch him and he’d touch no one. The shadow around Kralj thickened. He’d be alone once more, the first, last, only of his kind.
That wasn’t what he wanted but that was what had to be.
He prowled around the Refuge, causing residents to flee, scurrying out of his path. They were all scared of him. As they should be.
Only one small reality-challenged brunette dared to cross him.
Kralj smelled her delicious scent and his mood lightened. “How did you enter the Refuge?” There had been no witnesses. Their thoughts would have warned him.
“Don’t worry.” She exited the darkness and skipped along beside him, a big smile on her beautiful face. “I didn’t mess up your pretty walls.” She tilted her head, gazing at him. “Did you do that for me?”
He had every crack in his walls sealed, including the structure-compromising one he had added when she’d wrapped her lips around his cock, taking him into her hot mouth.
Those repairs had been completed for her, to prevent the tiny assassin from climbing his walls. It hadn’t stopped her. “Stay by my side.”
He wanted to keep her in his sightlines at all times. Kralj told himself that precaution was for the safety of the residents. His beast had other reasons for wanting her close.
“Relax, handsome. The clones are safe from me this rest cycle.” She slid one of her hands over his right arm and his inner animal howled with happiness. “I keep my promises.”
Could he keep his promise to himself? She was as unique as he was, the only being he’d met whom he couldn’t control.
But he had to kill her.
Rules had to be followed. When they weren’t, when the monstrous side of him roamed free, unencumbered by any restraints, innocent beings died.
“Look at us.” She squeezed his arm. “We look almost normal, like a regular courting couple.”
“We’re not a couple.” And they were far from normal.
Mate, his beast rumbled.
Prey, he corrected. She had to be killed.
Oblivious to his dark thoughts, Dita hummed happily, extracted two daggers from her torso sheaths, spun them in her hands. The blades didn’t reflect any of the pathway’s lights.
“They’re specially crafted.” Her eyes glowed. “I can make some for you if you’d like.”
He’d like to have something of hers. He’d like that too much.
“I don’t need them.” Kralj had a collection of weapons. Some weapons had been given to him as gifts, tokens of gratitude for his protection. Some weapons he had crafted for himself. The Refuge was home to some of the best weapons designers in the universe.
“That’s true.” She nodded. “You don’t need them. Those fangs of yours can shred a being in mere moments.”
That would have appalled a normal female. She laughed, the sound like music dancing on the breeze.
He wanted her again, still, always.
“Tell me about our target.” Dita bounced on the balls of her feet, her excitement palpable. “Which one of your rules did he break?”
“Our prey is female and she hasn’t broken any rules yet.” He stopped at the corner the breeding females frequented, slipping into a dark alcove.
Sari half-heartedly gestured to passersby, flashing her breasts at them. This would be her last planet rotation in the Refuge. She planned to kill herself, to put an end to the guilt she was feeling, the nightmares she experienced about the female she had sent to her death.
Kralj would intervene before that task was undertaken and evict her. The thrill of the chase combined with the thwarted kill would frustrate his beast. Normally, he’d pair an eviction with another hunt. This rest cycle, that prey would be Dita.
She sheathed one of her daggers. “But our target will break a rule?” Dita pressed against his side, her eyes bright with curiosity.
He felt her warmth to his bones. “If I don’t stop her, she will.”
“You know that for certain?” She skimmed her knuckles over his thigh, a light, teasing caress. “She could change her mind.”
“She won’t.” Kralj could detect the difference between a passing thought and a set intention. “But I’ll wait and watch. I won’t take action until she does.”
“We’ll wait and watch.” Dita snuggled closer to him, her blade in her hand, the combination of soft female and deadly weapon arousing him. “We won’t take action until she does.”
Kralj fought against touching her and lost. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her to him.
“This is nice.” Dita’s sigh contained pure happiness, a happiness he also experienced. “Why do you view them as prey, not targets?”
He’d never been asked that question. No one dared to ask him much of anything. “I’m part beast, part monster.”
His little assassin knew of his beast side. She’d seen him kill, had witnessed how he’d ripped out a prey’s throat, feasted on his flesh.
Yet she had chosen to be with him, had negotiated for the privilege.
He stroked her side, savoring her closeness, her slight curves.
“I’m a monster also.” Her dark brown curls rubbed against his leather coat. “I refer to them as targets.”
She thought his beast was his monster. She didn’t understand they were different entities, his beast the less deadly of the two.
“You’re not part Beta Taurian Shadow Beast.” He doubted she’d heard of the creature. Few beings had.
“A Beta Taurian Shadow Beast, huh?” Dita gazed at him with more respect. “I’ve studied them.” She surprised him with that revelation. “That explains your fangs, your control of the darkness around you, your speed, strength, lust for blood. They’re savage creatures, some of the fiercest predators in the universe.” Only she would say that with approval. She was an unnatural female. “They’re not very clever, though. That’s their one weakness. You, however, have intelligence to spare.”
“My humanoid side compensates for the beast’s lack of intelligence.” He was the total killing package.
“Your brain is more than humanoid.”
“My brain is enhanced.” He accessed areas of it normal humanoids didn’t and the Humanoid Alliance h
ad amplified all of his brain activity.
That created problems. His predecessors, able to control their surroundings from inside their chambers, refused to leave them. They wouldn’t hunt the Humanoid Alliance appointed prey. Part beast, he didn’t have that issue. His savage side lived for the hunt.
“You’re more than humanoid.” Dita wiggled, brushing her ass against his already hard cock. “I’m less than human.” Her laughter held little humor. “We make a great team, you and I.”
“We’re not a team.” He had to kill her.
Action on the corner thankfully diverted Dita. Sari had attracted a customer, a small, slight human male. He wasn’t the being the breeding female was waiting for, the being with the gun she’d arranged to purchase, Sari’s thoughts told Kralj. But to not service him would draw Yorick’s attention and she wished to avoid her handler.
Sari led the male by the hand into the alleyway, easing his nervousness with overblown flattery. She didn’t stutter once.
Dita raised her eyebrows, silently asking if the breeding female was their prey.
Kralj nodded and followed the pair, his tread soundless, his face and body masked by the shadow he controlled. Dita wasn’t content to merely walk beside him. She crawled up walls, leapt across rooftops, silent and quick, her antics vastly entertaining his beast.
The little assassin was skilled, almost his match for stealth. Only her delectable scent gave her away, tickling his nostrils, coiling in his lungs.
The breeding female and her customer finally found a place meeting the shy male’s approval. Sari dropped to her knees, unfastening his ass coverings. The scent of face fucking filled the air.
Kralj’s gaze drifted upward. As Dita watched the couple, she glided her hands over her body, touching herself through her skin-tight garment.
Fuck. She was a temptress.
It would be a long rest cycle.
* * *
By the time, the Palavian weapons dealer contacted Sari, Kralj’s control was stretched to the breaking point. He silently trailed them, moving through the maze of darkened pathways, and he tried to ignore the female on the rooftop above him.