“Yes, but—”
“I have spent the last week pondering your case.” Not a sound did any of the agents make. “There are not many of us left, and I did not wish to destroy another of us. But you know the punishment for your crime, do you not?”
Blanching, Marleon backed into the wall. “My lord, they ambushed us. They meant to torture us.”
Talon gripped his shoulder, keeping him from bolting.
“There is no excuse great enough for what you did, for you have endangered all of us. What if they had been disease carriers?”
“I . . . I . . . didn’t think. I’m sorry. So sorry.”
“No. You will die. As is our law. I have waited long enough to render your sentence. Know that I hate to do this, but it is necessary. Were I to be lenient, others would think such actions acceptable.” Without another word, Breean walked straight into Marleon’s body, melding them into one being. He could have eased into the man so there would be no pain, but didn’t. He allowed his subject to feel every ounce of his possession.
Marleon screamed.
In control of the man’s every movement, every breath, Breean forced his organs to shut down one by one. Marleon jerked and spasmed, still screaming, still begging, until finally growing quiet and collapsing to the ground.
Dead. Just like that. Quick, but not easy.
This would weigh Breean down for months to come.
He exited with only a thought, once more standing in front of Talon, the body at his feet. “He knew better,” Breean said with disgust. Disgust for himself as much as for the dead soldier. But as leader, it was up to him to mete out justice. He had not lied; if he’d shown Marleon mercy, others would not have thought twice about spilling blood during the next battle.
“He knew,” Talon agreed. “You did what you had to do.”
Would Aleaha think so, or view this as more proof of his black nature? “Burn him.” As was their custom. They’d only buried the AIR agents because that’s what they knew earthlings preferred. Handling the dead was abhorrent to them, but they’d done it to show their respect.
Talon nodded. “Everyone has disposed of their clothing and most are in the pools, even as we speak.”
“Good.” His gaze swung over his shoulder, zeroing in on Aleaha’s door. Switching to Rakan, he said, “The two men she slapped in the forest, do you know which ones they are?” It was past time Breean spoke to them. Now that he was done readying this place, traveling back and forth between it and the other home, he had the time.
Again Talon nodded.
“Bring them to my office within the hour.”
After bathing and changing into clean clothes, his tainted ones burning with the others’, Breean left his room and sat at the desk, outlining the best defense against the Schön. He’d only seen a handful of the vile race before they’d disappeared and all but the queen had been male.
She had been . . . strange. Dainty, deceptively innocent, with a lilting voice he and the others had found themselves obeying without question. Her followers had managed to capture him and the others, and they’d been forced to watch as she seduced one after another. But Breean and those with him now, she’d sent away with a disgusted snarl. He’d never understood why. He would have welcomed her into his bed—and not just because he’d been without sex for so long. Whatever she’d spoken, he had wanted to do.
He’d thought her powers over men similar to a Rakan male’s power over a Rakan female, his lust-scent like a drug. Only, they used their power for pleasure. She used hers to hurt. And hurt they had. Almost immediately the disease struck them, ravaging their bodies.
Once she’d mated with the men, they had then been given prisoners of their own. And once they’d mated with someone previously uninfected, the grayish tint had left their skin. Their hollowed cheeks had rounded out.
He’d wondered, why hadn’t they worsened, weakened as the women had done? Why hadn’t they become cannibals? Why had they gotten better?
The only answer he’d been able to come up with was that sex healed them. Would the women have remained strong if they, in turn, had had sex with their men rather than eating them?
If not, would those that were infected heal the moment the queen was killed?
Perhaps he could capture and destroy the queen, as AIR had done to her brethren. Locked up, she would not be able to have sex—if he could do something about that magical voice of hers. Wouldn’t be very productive if she ordered him to release her and he obeyed. This way, he could learn if she weakened without sex. And if so, he could leave her in there to rot to death, all without having to spill a single drop of blood.
So easy, he thought dryly, pinching the bridge of his nose. She kept guards around her at all times, and those guards could vanish and kill you before you had time to blink. But somehow, someway, there had to be a way to catch a warrior you couldn’t see. AIR had done it.
He could always steal AIR’s weapons, he supposed. Then they’d be even less inclined to trade with him, however. What to do, what to do. He sighed.
When he next glanced up, the two agents Aleaha had tried to awaken were stomping into the room, Talon behind them, keeping them docile by pressing their own pyre-guns into the bases of their necks.
He studied them. Both males were tall and muscled, one with the tanned skin the humans seemed to love so much, the other with pale, glittery skin. Breean preferred Aleaha’s, a white rose flushed with pink. Lovely. And irrelevant. Both men had dark hair, and both could be considered handsome, he supposed, hands fisting on his notes and crinkling the precious paper.
Were they the girl’s family? he wondered, jealousy easing. He did not want Aleaha seeking aid from a lover. A brother, however, was allowed.
Breean searched for similarities. One had eyes the color of an ocean. One had eyes the color of a sunset. They weren’t related to each other, and they weren’t related to Aleaha. Her eyes were piercing green, her features more aristocratic. Unless they could change their appearances as she did? But no. There was no mask under either man’s face. More than that, she wouldn’t have minded if they saw her true self.
Breean’s teeth ground together as he leaned back in his seat and scrubbed two fingers over his jaw.
“Are you human?” he asked them. Both pulsed with a strange sort of energy not inherent to the human race.
Blue Eyes nodded, features strained as if he were in deep concentration. “Yes. Now what’s your plan for the girl? You will tell me. You want to tell me.”
“No, I don’t.” Strangely, Breean felt a sudden urge to tell the agent anything and everything he wanted to know.
“Your plan,” Blue Eyes insisted. “You were just about to tell me.”
Yes, he thought, dazed. He wanted to tell, but he only allowed himself to say, “What is any man’s plan?”
“Indeed,” Glitter said with an appreciative laugh.
How odd. Amusement was not the reaction Breean would have expected.
Blue Eyes tensed to launch himself at Breean. Now, there was the reaction he’d expected. Fury. Talon cocked one of the guns and pushed the cool barrel into the agent’s skull, and the man froze.
“Will she remain alive?” Blue Eyes gritted out. “Tell me.”
That voice . . . nearly irresistible. Utterly powerful. He had to answer. And yet, as quickly as the feeling had hit him, it abandoned him. “Of course she will remain alive.” What was going on? Mind control? Some races exhibited such a power, but he hadn’t thought earthlings among their number. “I am not a monster.”
Glitter popped his jaw, all traces of humor suddenly gone. “Have you hurt her? Forced her?”
“Believe me, I have forced her to do nothing.”
Both men relaxed, but only slightly. “Let her stay with us,” Blue Eyes said in that persuasive voice. “In one of our cells.”
The thrum of jealousy returned but the urge to obey did not. Either the agent was not very good or Breean was building an immunity. “Are you related
to her?”
“Do you want us to be?” Glitter asked.
Breean ran his tongue over his teeth. “Is she your woman?” The question burst from him before he could stop it.
A pause, heavy, tight.
“What if she is?” Blue Eyes flashed an evil smile.
Breean could have entered the bastard’s body right then and punished him. Something, anything to hurt him. But he recalled the disgust on Aleaha’s face when she’d spoken of Marleon doing it—and his own disgust at the punishment he’d carried out only an hour earlier.
“Are. You. Her. Man? That is a simple question.”
“Hurt her, and I’ll fucking murder you while you sleep,” Glitter said without any inflection of anger. He would enjoy it, too. That much was obvious. “How’s that for an answer?”
“She’s innocent. She’s not like us. Let her go.”
The thought of releasing her without knowing the full depth of her passion was abhorrent to him, and he shook his head. “She stays,” he said, then arched a brow in curiosity. “Have you no care about my plans for you?”
“Not really.”
“Nope. Can’t say that I do.”
“Is this conversation over? Because I like the view from my cell better.”
Obviously, the irreverent men weren’t going to tell him what he wanted to know. He wasn’t going to beg, nor was he going to torture them. That would smack of desperation.
“No. This conversation is not over.” He did, however, switch topics. “We have a common enemy, it seems. The Schön.”
That got their attention. They straightened, glanced at each other, frowned.
“The Schön destroyed my home, my family. My planet. That is why we are here. We’d hoped for peace. We’d hoped to live among people who knew how to combat such an enemy. Yet we arrive only to learn that our enemy beat us here and they even plan to send their queen.”
No response.
“We have decided to stay and fight them. Fierce as they are, we could use your help.”
Again, no response.
Damn them, making him work for every scrap. “You could use our help. Unless, of course, you want to see your own planet destroyed, your women eyeing you like a tasty meal just before trying to gut you with their teeth.”
Nothing.
“I’ve seen their queen. I’ve dealt with her.”
Blue Eyes gulped.
Nearly imperceptible, but a show of interest. Finally.
“She came after the males had taken out our royal family and their guard. She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen, with a powerful voice very much like yours.” He motioned to Blue Eyes with a tilt of his chin. “She kept a harem. They all did. But they only slept with each of their victims once. After that, the ones who weren’t warriors were discarded out on the streets to fend for themselves, even as the disease began to consume them.”
“How did you survive?” Glitter asked. There was no hint of mockery in his tone. Not any longer.
Sweet progress. “We aren’t sure. None of us were chosen by the queen. Nearly all of us were bitten at some point as we were forced to fight our own people and loved ones, but we never sickened.”
Blue Eyes and Glitter shared another of those dark looks.
“I’m willing to aid AIR against them in exchange for our freedom to roam this planet.”
“To be honest, I don’t think anyone will trust you,” Blue Eyes said. No hesitation. Which meant, he didn’t have to think about it. He simply knew. “You came on the night the Schön were due. You killed several of our men.”
That damn Marleon.
“And, let’s face it, this could be a trap,” Glitter said.
Blue Eyes spread his arms, an I’m-here-to-help gesture. “Let us go, and we might, might, be able to convince our captain that your intentions are good.”
Rather than answer, he said to Talon, “Take them away.” He needed to think some more, weigh the pros and cons of each avenue. Then, in his own language, he added, “I want at least one spirit walker in town at all hours of the night. Everyone else is to take shifts. Guards are to be posted here, of course, enough for every exit, but others can head into town and find females.” How could he deny his men while he luxuriated in Aleaha? “Those who spirit-walk are to find out what they can about AIR and the Schön. They probably won’t hear anything, but it’s worth a try.”
Spirit walking. Propelling your conscious mind from your body, roaming without being seen or heard or sensed in any way. It was how he had learned so much about Earth before anyone had discovered his presence.
The only problem was, when your mind left your body, your body was completely vulnerable. If someone attacked, you couldn’t defend yourself. In fact, you wouldn’t know you were being attacked until it was too late. Until you were dead.
Not all Rakans possessed the ability, unfortunately. Both Breean and Talon did, along with five others.
“Consider it done,” Talon said with a nod.
“Those who are hunting sex know they are to hide their skin as best as they are able and be careful, I’m sure.”
“Of course, but I will remind them anyway.”
“Thank you.”
Neither agent said a word during the exchange or even as they were led from the room.
Alone again, Breean ran a hand down his face, trying to scrub away his questions, his dark emotions, even his desires. He wanted Aleaha here, wanted to discuss all of this with her. But if he had her brought here, they wouldn’t talk. She might deny it, but she wanted him. She’d stripped for him, after all. But the simple fact was, his desire for her was wild, fierce, while she seemed to have no trouble resisting him.
Perhaps he should join his men in New Chicago and find a woman to warm his bed. A woman who was meek and docile, who would delight in his every gesture. A woman who would fill the aching void that had grown each time one of his people had died. Once he’d had sex, he could do what he was supposed to do: plan.
But he could not work up a single shred of passion for anyone save Aleaha.
His body wanted her. Only she, with that dark hair, those piercing green eyes, that lean body, would do.
Just picturing her caused him to harden, to ready.
Damn this. He needed some relief so that he could better deal with her and his problems.
To prevent himself from changing his mind and going to her tonight, Breean pushed to his feet and stalked to his bedroom. When he was shut inside, he stripped and stepped into the waterfall he’d erected in place of the enzyme shower stall. Scowling, he slapped a hand against the cool tile to brace himself. With his other, he gripped his cock. He used the moisture beaded at the tip as lubricant and began slow, measured strokes.
He imagined Aleaha’s mouth in place of his hand, her hot tongue swirling, her teeth lightly scraping. His testicles drew up tight; his strokes quickened. She’d kiss those testicles, of course, making them feel better after her earlier mistreatment of them. Her hands would grip his ass, perhaps delving where none had been before, her nails scoring deep. She might suck one of his balls into her mouth, might then lick her way up the shaft before sucking the head again. Sucking until he was dry. Until he couldn’t take any more.
Breean’s entire body jerked in ecstasy. With a roar, he came, hot seed spurting from him. “Aleaha,” he shouted. Sweet, challenging Aleaha.
He stood there for a long while, panting, hand still circling his cock, Aleaha still in his mind. Jacking off, as the humans said, had helped, but it hadn’t alleviated his need completely. He still wanted her with a hunger that surprised him. Still couldn’t think of anything but being with her.
Damn this! he thought again. And damn her. He strode to the bed and fell onto the cold, empty sheets. He wished Aleaha were here. He yearned to hold her, to smell her delightful scent, feel her soft skin.
There had to be some way to win her. Some way to tear down her defenses against him. She wanted him; more than stripping a li
ttle while ago, the way she’d kissed him that first night was proof. She was just stubborn and probably scared.
What could he do? What could—
His eyes widened as an idea began to take root in his mind, growing. He grinned slowly. Oh, yes. He’d never done such a thing before, but he had fantasized. Now, he would experience.
Tomorrow, he would summon her. He would do that which he’d never allowed himself to do to another. And he would show her no mercy.
SIX
“Come with me.”
Ignoring the unfamiliar Rakan’s command, Aleaha remained seated at the far end of the cell. She wasn’t sure exactly how long she’d been inside it. At least eight hours. Probably twelve. Maybe an eternity. She’d heard the other “guests” clanging against their bars, heard the whisper of their conversations, but when she’d called out in Macy’s voice—where’s backup, these warriors hate the Schön as much as we do, tell me what you want me to do—no one had answered her.
“Come,” the warrior said again.
He wasn’t her warrior, Breean, so she didn’t feel any urge to comply. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Surely Breean hadn’t tired of her already. Surely he wasn’t palming her off on one of his men. Oh, God. What if he was? She hadn’t exactly been the nicest of captives.
Captives aren’t supposed to be nice, idiot. He’d seen her naked. Maybe he’d disliked what he’d seen. Oh, God, she thought again.
The warrior looked like him: golden skin, golden hair, big, lovely features better suited for a woman yet somehow completely masculine. But his golden eyes didn’t mesmerize her. He didn’t smell of honey and cinnamon, and she had no desire to try to seduce him to kindness. She had no idea how to deal with him, actually.
“Are those . . .” His eyes widened as he spotted the trail of blood she’d accidentally created along the floor.
“Diamonds?” she finished for him, pretending to misunderstand. “Fat stacks of cash?”
Panic consumed his expression when that gaze reached the blood dried on her wrists. He backed away, probably not even aware that he did so. These men hadn’t blinked at facing down the lethal members of AIR, but show them a little blood and they wanted to hide.
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