by King, Sara
“I dreamed about you, too,” Tatiana said.
Milar froze. “You did?”
“Yeah,” Tatiana said, feeling a tentative grin stretching her lips. “When I was in solitary, after they read me the charges. I had to sleep a lot, and it got…interesting. I think I popped your virgin cherry, oh, twenty or thirty times.”
He blinked at her a startled moment, then slowly grinned back. “Squid.”
“Brute.” Then, cocking her head up at him, she tentatively offered, “You saw us with kids?”
Immediately, his eyes flickered to the thing in her head and fiercely, he said, “Sure the hell did.”
“Then this isn’t going to kill me.”
“Not a chance.”
Tatiana cleared her throat. “Well, that’s…comforting. You dream about anything else?”
Milar’s eyes flickered back to her and he gave a nervous chuckle. Just don’t tell her about the crash.
“What crash?” Tatiana demanded.
Milar froze. “Did you just…” His eyes narrowed and he glanced at the thing in her forehead, then back at her face. He stuck a finger out and poked her in the chest. “There somethin’ you wanna tell me, squid?” He leaned closer, until they were eye-to-eye, his voice low and dangerous. “Like something important?”
“What crash?” Tatiana insisted.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re on a need-to-know basis.”
“Did I die?”
“No.”
“So I do crash.”
“Squid,” he warned.
“Tell me!” she cried, slapping his chest.
“No,” he snarled with startling vehemence. He grabbed her wrist and held it in a vice, dragging her face to meet his. “Some things are better left unsaid.”
After a minute or two of Tatiana glowering up at him, his eyes flickered nervously to the thing in her forehead. “All right. Tell me the truth, now. How much are you picking up?”
“All of it,” Tatiana said immediately.
His nervous look fell away and Milar grinned. “Oh really.”
“Yeah.” She stuck out her tongue. “Collie.”
She’s clueless. “So why aren’t you blushing? Hmm?”
Struck by the triumph in his face, Tatiana said, “Uh. What?”
“‘Cause I was just reminding myself what a naked coaler looks like under all that goo, and I’m pretty sure I’m hard as a rock.”
Tatiana felt her face heat. “Oh.”
His grin became predatory and he lowered his voice to a husky rumble. “So what was that you were saying about popping my cherry, coaler?”
Tatiana felt a little thrill under his intense stare. She swallowed, hard. “Uh, we are sitting in the smoking remnants of a massive aerial battle that may or may not be over—”
“I always got the idea that danger turned you on.”
She gaped at him, feeling herself heat in all the right places. “I was just molested by a five-year-old with a bone-saw,” Tatiana babbled. “‘Not in the mood’ doesn’t begin to describe—”
Milar muffled the rest of her retort with a kiss.
When he let her back up for air, Tatiana gasped and sputtered something about malfunctioning robots. With a rumbling growl, Milar pushed her backwards onto the blanket, pressing her into the ground and nibbling on her ear. “Scaalllllpels,” Tatiana moaned, melting into him.
Oh my God, that stuff tastes disgusting. Above her, Milar hawked and spat into the alien grass.
Tatiana narrowed her eyes and un-flexed her body, dropping her butt back to the blanket. “Did you have to do that?”
“Uh,” Milar said, reddening instantly. “I got a bug in my mouth.”
Immediately, Tatiana felt a wave of inner evil. “Oh? That’s it? Come on, then, gogogogo!” She grabbed his head and wrenched it back to her ear. “Right there, baby. Mmmm, oh yeah.”
Milar didn’t nibble on her ear. In fact, he lifted his head and gave her a narrow look. “Squid.”
“You know, it really turns me on to get licked. Yeah, I love that.”
He narrowed his golden-brown eyes at her. “Licked, huh?”
“Yeah,” Tatiana said. “Licked all over. You can start with my feet.” She pointed, for his clarification.
Milar didn’t look. He leaned down, very close, until their noses were touching. So how much can you hear, coaler? His amber eyes scanned hers with interest.
“Uuhhh,” Tatiana swallowed. “Wow. That was weird.”
Heard that, then?
“Umm. Yes?” she squeaked.
He lowered his weight on top of her and put his elbows to either side of her face, studying her. So can you send back? Or just receive?
“Uhhh,” Tatiana giggled nervously. “I’d actually rather not experiment on the oaf who weighs like six times as much as me and is pinning me to the dirt. I killed some people, I think, and you’re heavy.”
I can stay here all day, coaler.
She narrowed her eyes at him. Then, thinking as hard as she could, she thought, You knucker.
Milar winced and said, “Point taken.”
She raised a brow. “It worked, then?”
“I’d say,” he grimaced. “A little harder and I think I’d be drooling.” Then he slowly relaxed again and looked at her once more, his amber eyes glinting with mischief. You know, this could get fun.
Tatiana made a nervous laugh. “I told you I think I killed people, right?”
We could totally screw with Patty’s world.
“Yeah, let’s not tell anybody, okay?” Tatiana said.
We’d be awesome at poker.
“I don’t play poker,” Tatiana said. “They accuse me of cheating.”
Totally unstoppable at charades.
“I’m already unstoppable at charades.”
He gave her a long look, grinning. Twenty or thirty times, huh?
Tatiana felt her face heat. “Uuhhhm. Something like that.”
Care to demonstrate?
Oh, did she ever! To get this kind of hunk into bed was like, totally beyond any of her expectations. Considering the billions of little black check-marks she’d lodged under Too Cocky For Her Own Good, she had always been sure she was gonna end up with a warty, buck-toothed hillbilly with bad breath, just to get laid. But this… This was like, too good to be true. But she couldn’t tell him that, huh-uh. It would pop his already-pressurized ego like a ten-ton hydrogen balloon. If he didn’t simply catch fire and explode right on the spot, she’d never hear the end of it.
“Sorry,” Tatiana said, “like I was saying before, I was just assaulted by a demonic child—”
Milar began to grin at her evilly. “Hunk, huh?” he said.
Tatiana felt her mouth fall open, realizing that he must have heard part of her brainless, sex-starved inner monologue. “N-No,” she blurted.
But his grin only grew more devious. “You know,” Milar said, as she sputtered, “I could get used to that.” He bent down and kissed her again. Against her ear, he breathed, “You have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this, squid?”
“…this?” Tatiana managed, feeling her face heat. She could actually count the days since she’d been aching to get in his pants—hell, the hours. She’d been craving it ever since he’d stepped out of the alien jungle and his sexy beetle-green sunglasses had looked so cool in the firelight.
Milar lifted his head and gave her a thoughtful look. Now’s a good time to ask. “Tell me something, coaler,” he said, meeting her gaze. “And think about it long and hard before you answer. There’s no going back on this one.”
“I’ll pop your cherry for you,” Tatiana blurted. “I’ll be gentle, I swear.”
Milar grinned. “You’ve been gaping at me like a horny starlope ever since I stepped out of the woods by your fire, so I wasn’t real concerned about that, to be honest.”
Tatiana’s mouth fell open and she felt her face catch fire. “I never—”
“The question was actu
ally about us,” Milar interrupted.
“Us?” Tatiana squeaked.
“Us.” One of his deliciously big hands started idly roaming down her thigh. He gave her a long, pensive look. “Is there an ‘us,’ coaler?”
Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes! “I dunno, I kinda have to think about that one,” Tatiana said. “I’ve had a really crummy day and—”
But Milar’s infernal smile was growing with lazy confidence. “A really crummy day, huh?”
“Hellacious,” Tatiana babbled, unsettled by the confidence in his golden-hazel eyes. “I was slated for execution, pushed around by Nephyrs, manhandled by a robot, experimented on by a psychopathic child, shot at by soldiers from my own Pod…”
She trailed off when Milar just grinned at her.
Tatiana narrowed her eyes, bristling. “You heard me, didn’t you, you knucker?”
His infernal grin grew wider. “Just say it.”
“My mother told me it’s best to play hard-to-get,” Tatiana muttered stubbornly. She met his gaze. “Especially when you’re falling head-over-heels for the sexiest hunk you’ve ever seen.”
He raised a brow at her. “Sweetie,” he said, “You’re wasting time.”
“Yes there’s an ‘us,’ you ape,” she muttered. “Why else would I have rescued you from the Nephyrs?”
He continued to peer at her from behind a single raised brow.
“Well, I mean, you might’ve helped,” she admitted. “A little.”
He let out a low rumble, almost a growl, and sank down to meet her lips with his. Tatiana let out a moan as his big fingers found the back of her head, then forgot all about her crummy day.
Chapter 46
Mind-Games
Magali watched the Nephyr sort gear on the other side of the hotel suite, the gun still in her lap. Seeing it was a Nephyr who was checking in, the hotel manager had put them in the biggest room they had, which gave Magali a full thirty-four feet to watch him from a distance. She hadn’t said anything to him in four hours.
The big Nephyr moved like a predator, same as Steele. And, Magali noted, not like a pretty predator, either. A deadly one. An evil one. One that played with its food.
He still wore the long-sleeved black shirt, so all she saw of his glittering skin was his hands and head. Still, she found that even that much her nerves on edge, seeing his skin catch the light in golden flickers. He’s one of them, she thought, watching the inhumanly-strong fingers pick through tool-bins and duffel bags. This has got to be a trick.
The Nephyr caught her watching him and gave her a shy grin.
Anna could fake a shy grin, Magali thought, watching him.
His grin faded into a look of concern, then he quickly smothered it and glanced away again. He brought out more tools from the ship’s medical kit, then found other items from within his own personal supplies. He set out everything onto a small blanket, then rolled it up and came back over to her with a drill and what looked like a surgeon’s soft-tissue spreader. Then he sat on the bed across from her chair, looking at her. He cleared his throat. “You, uh, haven’t said much.”
Magali glanced at the drill, then back at the Nephyr. His blue-green eyes looked nervous, she noted. Anna could fake that, too.
He cleared his throat again. “Uh, okay. Pretty soon, they’re gonna start wondering why I went to Silver City, instead of back to Factory 14, if they haven’t already. I kinda need you to do a little surgery, all right?”
When Magali didn’t respond, he cleared his throat uncomfortably and his eyes flickered to the side before they returned to her face. “Okay,” he said, picking up the supplies he had laid out. “I’ll go lay the stuff out and come back for you.” He started to stand.
Magali lifted the gun and pointed it at his face.
Seeing that, reluctantly, the Nephyr sat back down.
“How do I know,” Magali said, watching him down the barrel, “that this isn’t a trick?”
He gave an uneasy laugh. “I already gave you all the reasons I could think of.”
“My little sister is a sociopath,” Magali said.
His eyes flickered back to her with a slight frown. “That’s…not good?”
“She could fake all this stuff you’re doing right now,” Magali said. “And she would, too, if it would make it more fun for her later.”
The Nephyr looked nervously at the door. “Okay, I guess we can put it off a little longer.” He set the roll of tools aside and slid down to the floor, his back against the mattress. “Let’s talk about your sister.”
“Her name is Anna,” Magali said. “She got drafted for the Nephyrs.”
He winced. “Okay, yeah, I can see that.”
“She’s really smart,” Magali said, still holding the gun aimed at his face. “Smarter than me. And she’s evil.”
“Well,” the Nephyr said, his face giving a wry twist, “she’ll fit right in.”
Magali narrowed her eyes. “And you’re not?”
The Nephyr laughed. “Oh, well, I’d say there’s probably a little darkness in me, considering. But no. Not evil.”
“Prove it,” Magali said.
The man on the floor grimaced. “All right.” He sighed deeply. “Well, to be truthful, all I’d have to do to take that gun from you right now is turn my head so you can’t get a good shot. I mean, the eyes and mouth are really the only vulnerable part of a Nephyr’s body. Even the ears are sealed, and replaced with sensors.”
“I saw that, back on the ship,” Magali said. She didn’t lower the gun.
“Soooo,” the Nephyr said, “I could be a total dick and just walk over there and take it from you, but I’m not going to.”
“Or I could shoot you in the eye like I did your friends,” Magali said, “then take your stuff, sell it on the black market, and hire a ship to take me home.”
The Nephyr let out an explosive sigh and dropped his head. After a few moments, he looked back up at her sideways. “You realize what I’m asking you to do, right?”
“You’re asking me to let you get close enough to touch me.”
He winced. “Uh…yeah.”
“I don’t want you to touch me.”
He gave her a pained smile. “I know. But kinda necessary to get the thing out, ya know? Otherwise they’ll just make a satellite linkup and zap me…” When she just continued to watch him with a flat expression, he held up both hands, glittering palms facing her. “I swear I won’t move unless you tell me to. Hell, I’ll lie on my stomach and keep my hands behind my head the whole time.”
She just watched him.
“I’m running out of time,” he said quietly.
“Get me an EMP wand and I’ll think about it.”
The Nephyr froze. “Uh.” He swallowed, hard, and lowered his hands.
Flatly, Magali said, “You’re not gonna get me the wand.”
He glanced up at her, the away again, his face contorting in a grimace. He took a deep breath, then let it out between his teeth. After a long moment, he said, “Stay here a moment.” He unfolded and got smoothly back to his feet, and after giving her a quick, considering look, turned and strode from the room, shutting the door gently behind him. His footsteps hadn’t made a sound.
Like a predator, Magali thought, fighting a chill.
She considered following him out and going to get lost in the slums of Silver City, but she was pretty sure that a Nephyr could track via scent, and she wasn’t about to leave that kind of loose end to come back and bite her later. Wideman was right. Something had changed. She realized she’d rather kill this man than let him live.
About an hour later, the Nephyr returned and stepped back into the room, again without his footsteps so much as scuffing the carpet. He shut the door behind him again, then extracted a steel tube from the cargo pocket of his pants and held it up, again with a gesture of peace. “Here. They keep one passcoded on the ship, in case we have a robot that gets too close to a Shriek.” He came just close enough to put the tube on th
e floor near her feet, then backed off several paces.
Magali glanced down at the tube, then up at him. Reluctantly, she moved forward and took it off of the floor. Uncapping the tube, she was stunned to find an EMP wand inside. Then her eyes narrowed. A trick. Has to be a trick. She pulled it out and extended it, then switched it on.
The Nephyr’s eyes widened and he took a quick step back. Then, at her lifted eyebrow, he made a nervous chuckle and scratched at the back of his neck. “Uh, sorry. Just habit.”
Magali got to her feet and, still keeping the gun between them, went over to the entertainment system. She switched it on, and it immediately showed a huge dogfight over what looked like the Tear. Then she hit it with the wand.
The system went dead.
Magali stared at it for several minutes, unable to believe it. Behind her, the Nephyr waited in an uneasy silence.
Maybe he only gave it one charge, she thought. Maybe he knew I’d test it… Anna would do something like that, just so she could gloat about how stupid Magali was later. Still keeping a wary eye on the Nephyr, she went over to the little r-player he’d unpacked with his belongings, switched it on, and hit it with the wand. The player went dead. She turned on his personal computer, then zapped that, too. Then his massage assistant. Then his personal alarm clock. For a long moment, Magali just stared down at the lifeless pieces of metal and polymer spread out on the bed, then she looked up at the Nephyr.
He gave her a weak grin. “Satisfied?”
Magali looked down at the wand, then back up at him. Anna would’ve never given me a real wand, she thought, stunned. She likes to hold all the cards.
The Nephyr cleared his throat. “Still need convincing, huh?” He let out a long breath, giving her a wary look. “Okay. Don’t freak out.” Then, very slowly, the Nephyr began to ease forward. Immediately, Magali’s hand spasmed on the wand and she shoved it between them in warning.
“Easy!” the Nephyr cried, hesitating. Then, after watching her anxiously another moment, continued to ease forward until all Magali would’ve had to do was reach out and tap him on the chest, and he would’ve collapsed in a puddle of useless mechanics. Then he went still, less than an arm’s-distance away, waiting, watching her face, and not the wand. In the heart-pounding silence that followed, Magali heard peddlers out on the street, hawking their wares, and the constant low buzz of the refrigeration unit.