“He’s backed off. I told him I had my uncle on my ship.”
“I don’t think so, and you’d be a fool to believe it. I don’t want you around him.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” And maybe sleeping with the Regulator had been an unconscious need to punish a dead man, or a man she had thought dead. But after spending time with Seth, the only one feeling punished was her. She still wanted the Regulator, was tired of living the life she lived, and Brodie was back to drag her deeper into it.
He leaned closer, fire in his eyes. “You’re going to be my wife. Nothing’s changed.”
“Everything’s changed, Brodie. I thought you’d moved on, after Vesha.” She bit her lip to muffle a sob that threatened to make its way to the surface, and lowered her gaze, not daring to look into his eyes. He wouldn’t see her cry. Those tears dried up a long time ago. “Ten years. You’ve been gone ten years, and you expected me to wait? The engagement canceled out long ago. You didn’t keep your end of it.”
“We’re engaged.”
She shook her head. “No, we’re not.”
“Lie all you want, Duchess.” He slid his hands into her hair and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with all the heat and passion he possessed. She could have been kissing a corpse, for all the emotion she felt. There was nothing left of the small flame that had once burned for him. She pressed her palms to his chest, trying to force him away. Brodie tightened his grip and softened the kiss until she went slack and her hands dropped. He released her and pulled back to look in her eyes. “I’ve changed, but one thing hasn’t. I will always love you, and I’m not letting you go.”
“Brodie, don’t do this to me.” Pain stabbed her guts. She couldn’t do this again. She couldn’t wait, staring out into the stars, wondering if the man she loved was alive or dead, finally settling on dead, only to have him return and act as if he’d never been gone.
“Make no mistake, Ava. You belong to me, and I’ll kill any man that touches what’s mine. Don’t go near him again.” He reached out and stroked his fingers down her cheek. “Not if you want him to live.” Brodie strode out the door, leaving her a quivering mess.
***
Seth continued down the street in a dark mood. His anger begged for someone foolish to attack and give him a reason to excise the woman who’d stolen a piece of him. Try as hard as he might, he couldn’t. She occupied his every thought. Something had happened between them, something unexplainable.
He needed to go back to his ship, leave the planet, and get away from her. But the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He needed to protect her, hold her, possess her, and nothing else would do.
He glanced back, considering returning to the club and dragging Ava out by force. He wanted to save her, take her away from the dark world she’d become mired in. She had a good heart. Seth had seen it when she’d interacted with the street child, and in the risk she’d taken to save her uncle. No matter how tough a façade she dressed in, Ava was compassionate and cared about humanity.
Not like her fiancé, who stunk of the rot of corruption. Seth pressed his com. “This is Legatus Reynolds. Pick me up at the docks, I’ve just thought of something.” Follow her fiancé, and he’d find the group responsible for supplying the Rebels with explosive materials and funding the Nexian Revolution. Seth was certain of it. He couldn’t touch them on the planet, not unless he found them in possession of the quadradium or some other illegal goods. Until they slipped up, he had nothing he could take to the local authorities to gain their cooperation.
His gut told him Brodie planned to use her to haul illegal goods, and he intended to stop it before it happened.
***
Seth walked onto the flight deck. All heads turned toward him. A few bore smirks that quickly faded as he glared. Three days he’d followed the fucker and nothing. The man had to know he’d been tracked, and Seth’s current plan to catch him doing something illegal wasn’t working. Hence the reason he’d come back to his ship early.
“Legatus on deck,” the first mate yelled out. Everyone snapped to attention. “You’re back early, sir. Didn’t get tied up?”
“Stow it, Captain Wilson.” His tone should tell his first officer he really didn’t want to hear it, even if they were good friends and joked at times. Seth knew he’d never live down one of his crew finding him cuffed to the bed, and it was better to be a good sport about it than to be a prick, but this wasn’t the time for it. He surveyed the area. They could give him crap later.
Right now, he needed someone to follow Brodie, someone who would blend in on the planet, and as he scanned the deck, his gaze landed on First Lieutenant Emery. If any woman could and should wear a uniform, it was the New Xieran-born Navigation officer. Competent, intelligent, a hell of a shot with a laser and unmatched in hand-to-hand combat, Emery was the perfect woman for the job.
And the biggest qualification wasn’t what she could do, but what she was. Sex walking. Many a man suffered sleepless nights and raw palms because of the woman. She wouldn’t appear out of place on the planet, or its streets, because she belonged here.
“Lieutenant Emery, may I speak with you for a moment?”
“Yes, sir.” She moved from her station and strode toward him. A brand on the side of her face indicated she’d once worked to help the poor and hungry, a temple woman, a New Xieran missionary. He’d never asked why she would leave peace behind to take up war, and she’d never offered an explanation. Not his business, but what was his business was her expertise, and of all his officers, she’d be the least identifiable.
“Walk with me.” He started out the door with her on his left. “What do you know about the bad neighborhood in this city?”
“Every planet, city has one of them. New Xiera Port is no different.” She shrugged. “As for what I know about this city’s slums, I guess it depends on what part of the ghetto you’re referring to. The Nexians own the south side of the port and are among the most dangerous to deal with. It’s best to stay out of their neighborhood. Then you have the—”
“No, it’s the Nexians I’m interested in, one in particular.” He stopped and turned toward her, frowning. Should he involve her in this, expose her to the dangerous Underground leader? “Have you heard of a Nexian Rebel named Brodie?”
Her eyes widened a fraction. “When you go all out, sir, you really go all out. I assume you’re referring to the Underground leader, Brodie Mark? He’s dead.”
He had to involve her. He needed to know what Brodie Mark was up to, what he wanted to drag Ava into. “He’s very much alive, and I’d like you to follow him.”
She reached up and touched the dip in her throat, swallowing hard. “If he’s alive, sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Even the New Xierans gave him space and respected his territory.”
“I suspect he’s engaged in illegal activities in this port. Not sure what. Could be weapons, drugs, or even slavery. Whatever he’s in the city for, I want to know. Yesterday.”
“Why the interest in the Rebels? That’s not Fleet jurisdiction. That district is protected by ambassadorial rights and the New Xieran government is anal about protecting those rights. Besides, the League doesn’t care what’s going on down here.” She pointed at the ceiling. “Only up there.”
“I think he’s smuggling whatever it is off-world.”
“I see.” From the look on her face, Seth knew he had her cooperation. There was one way to upset a New Xieran, and that was to make their world a criminal enterprise when they were all about peace and love. She nodded. “I’ll need backup close by. Very close by.”
“I’ll arrange it. Don’t let him out of your sight.”
***
Emery looked up as the Rebel leader dropped into a seat across from her and set a drink on the table, pushing it with his fingertips toward her. “You might need that.”
“Excuse me? I’m here with someone.”
He shook his head and leaned back in his seat, crossing h
is arms across his chest. “No, sweetheart, you’re not.”
“No, really….”
“Lieutenant Mariah Emery of the Special Tasks Fleet Regulators, what possessed you to follow me?” He cocked his head and pinned her with a dark gaze. “Or should I say who?”
“I….”
He jumped up from his seat, seized the edge of the hovering disc that served as a table, and flung it across the club where it slammed into a group of dancers. They turned around to say something, but immediately shut their mouths. He grabbed the arms of her chair and yanked her toward him, his nose an inch from hers. “Will not lie to me again.” He released her chair and gestured for another table and drink.
Brodie sat down and resumed the same pose, staring at her as two men replaced the table. “So, let’s try this again.”
“Yes, I am Lieutenant Emery.”
He nodded. “I know. I also know you’ve been following me for three weeks. I want full disclosure on everything you’ve reported to Legatus Seth Reynolds.” He rested his elbows on his knees. “Everything.”
“I can’t….”
“You’re New Xieran, your family lives here. Yes?”
She swallowed and nodded.
“Then you understand what I mean when I say I want to know everything.”
“Yes.”
“Good girl.” The Rebel leader sat back and crossed his arms again. “Start talking. If I’m satisfied with your answers, you’ll be free to go.”
“I can’t go back to Fleet after I give you this information. They’ll execute me for treason.”
He grinned. “Not to worry. I can help you get free of the Fleet.” His gaze stopped on the markings on her face. “You’re not really the soldiering type anyway, are you? Now talk—tell me what they know about why I’m here.”
***
Emery’s face filled the screen. Her fleet uniform was gone, her hair down around her shoulders. “Effective today, I resign my commission as a League Regulator.”
“You can’t do that. You have a contract to serve out.”
“Unless there’s a religious conflict. Consider this notification of that conflict.” The screen went black.
That sonofabitch seduced my officer. He’d refused to believe it until he’d spoken to her. Seth growled and threw his com across the room. For three weeks, things went smoothly but no evidence. Just as he thought they were getting somewhere, that she might catch him in a meeting with a smuggler, her backup reported she’d followed the Rebel leader into the club, only to come out hours later, wrapped around him like spray-on clothing.
Missionary indeed. The pair climbed into a shuttle and ditched the tail he’d set after them. Emery hadn’t answered her com and shortly after, her tracking device had been found inside an inactivated rubbish disintegrator.
Then, when he didn’t think he could get anymore pissed, a message had come across his com. And what would that religious conflict be? Seth frowned.
Ava couldn’t be aware of her fiancé picking up random women off the street, or she’d have dumped him long before. Frost didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would put up with it. And even if she was okay with it, Seth wasn’t. Brodie’s cheating was disrespectful to Ava, and he intended to show her she could do much better. As for his tech officer, she had a lot to answer for once he located her, if he located her. How had Brodie turned her against him? Could Brodie Mark really hold that kind of power?
“Find them!” Seth strode from the deck, exiting his ship. He stormed down the ramp, headed across the docks and toward Captain Frost’s ship. Brodie had given up his claim to Ava the moment he’d run off with Emery. For three fucking weeks, he’d respected the Rebel’s claim, had been the gentleman and conceded. But that was then, this was now. The bastard didn’t deserve her, and he intended to make sure she didn’t sink any deeper into Brodie’s world.
And maybe a little of his motivation came from his need to have her to himself, something he’d ignored, regardless the multiple nights he’d tried to get her out of his head by jacking off, doing anything to not infringe on another man’s territory. He’d respected the asshole’s claim, kept his distance, even though every single cell in his body screamed for him to do otherwise. She’d been all he could think about.
Since he’d met her, he’d been drawn to her, and he knew he’d only needed a small excuse to sway his conscious. Whatever Brodie had done or said to convince his tech officer to leave the Fleet, had also given him the open door he’d wanted. No more backing off. No more standing down. Ava was his now.
Chapter Nine
Seth slammed his hand into the gel pad, releasing the lock to the hanger that housed Ava’s ship. The steel blast door slid open and Ava whipped around, her back to an engine compartment where she’d been working. A smudge of something black streaked across one cheek, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders. She wore a red thermal shirt, tan canvas pants, and black boots that stopped just above her knees, looking every bit the smuggler he’d fantasized about for days.
“What are you doing here, Captain Reynolds?”
There wasn’t a good answer for it. Plain and simple, he needed her, wanted her, and he’d be damned if he held back now. He strode up to her, grabbed her wrist, and tugged her into his arms.
Her fingers laced into his hair, and she tipped her face up to look him in the eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, my crew is on leave.” Her gaze traveled to the hanger doors. “You shouldn’t be here.”
He watched the way her lips formed the words but heard little of what she said. Need pounded through him and only one thing would relieve it. Gods, he wanted her. “No.” No, he shouldn’t be. No, he shouldn’t kiss her. No, he wasn’t thinking about duty tonight. He dipped his head and captured her mouth the way he’d wanted to for the last three weeks, backing her against the forward drive. He tore at her shirt and the buckle on her aviator’s pants, desperate to touch her bare flesh, be inside her. His hands grabbed her bottom, and he lifted her from her feet and pressed her against the side of her ship. She wrapped her legs around his waist. With a gasp, her mouth opened to him. He thrust his tongue in and savored her flavor, needing more, starved for her.
Ava was everything opposite to the law he upheld, all he stood against, but it didn’t have to be that way. It wasn’t too late. He ran his hands up her shirt, cupping the bare breasts underneath. The pads of his thumbs grazed her nipples, and she arched into him, growling low in her throat.
He pulled his mouth away. “I need you now.”
“Take me inside the Avira.” Heat blazed through her eyes. “Or take me here. I don’t care, as long as you take me.”
Seth swung her around and carried her up the ramp, hitting the lock for the latch with his elbow and opening the hatch. The moment they stepped through and the entrance sealed behind them, he set her on her feet, grabbed the bottom of her shirt and peeled it over her head. Her hands went to his belt as she walked backward, leading him toward her quarters. Seth followed, unable to resist the pull between them. Gods knew he’d tried, fought the attraction. He’d lost her once and wouldn’t let her go again, wouldn’t let anything stop him.
He was going to save her from this life. Never again would he back down. Fuck the Rebel leader and his claim. He didn’t deserve her, and Seth intended show her the many reasons why. Tonight he’d love her as she’d never been loved, taste her, take her over and over, and when they were both sated, he’d wrap her in his arms and hold her through the night. Before the morning arrived, it would be clear to whom she belonged. “I’m not sharing you with him.”
“You don’t have to.” She stepped up to him and kissed him again. The tip of her tongue danced with his, and her palm released the lock to her quarters. They both staggered in, drunk with lust. Hands stroked bared skin, lips tasted salty flesh, hips ground together in a primitive dance thousands of years old.
Seth cradled her head as h
e lowered her to her bunk. Tonight he wasn’t making excuses about why he shouldn’t be here. All he wanted to do was love her. He captured a nipple in his mouth and swirled his tongue around the tip. “Get these clothes off me.” Ava bucked up and threw her head back, crying out.
She didn’t need to ask twice. He tugged her boots off and tossed them to the floor. His fingers hooked the waistband of her pants, sliding them over her hips and down her legs. Once free, he tossed them next to her boots.
The clasp on his trousers came next. He dropped them and kicked them to the side before he sank onto the mattress, between her thighs. Her naval stared into his face. A nip on the belly made her whimper, another and her legs came up on his shoulders. He eyed her pussy, remembering the way she’d devoured him with her mouth. Shooting a wicked smile in her direction, he lowered his mouth and lapped her between the bejeweled folds.
“Oh, fuck,” she cried out.
Encouraged by the response, he licked again. And again. And again until she squirmed under him, whimpering, gasping, thrashing. The sweet taste of her coated his tongue, filled his senses, and brought him deeper into her forbidden world. He’d discovered nothing tasted better than a woman turned on—a woman wet for him.
He reached up, spread her lips and sucked her clit between his teeth. The tiny gemstones buzzed. Ava’s hips launched off the bed. He grabbed her around the waist and pressed her back to the mattress, sucking harder. When she moaned, he thrust a finger inside her, followed by a second, and then his tongue.
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