by J. L. Oiler
"I'll tell you what, Barak." She stood and took the bags from his clansman, and shot him a grin that stole his breath. "You help me take these assholes out, and we will do a whole lot more than talk."
Chapter Seven
The vibration of the engine, and her thighs tight against Barak's as he pulled the Hog up to the front of the building, had Kat more than a bit aroused. Her nipples pressed so tight against the material of her top, they ached. She moaned, somewhat disappointed when he turned into a parking space just beneath the three neon X's, and turned off the motor. If they had the time, she would have convinced him to relieve the desire that was leaving her hot and wet.
"I can sense your arousal, my precious Zi. Do you have need of me?" he asked, standing, and taking her into his arms. She allowed him to pull her body tight to him.
"I do need you, love, but now is not the time," Kat said, standing on her tiptoes to brush her lips across his. "Right now, we need to go inside and take a look around."
"When this is done, I will see to all your needs then, my sweet little Kat." He breathed the promise against her lips before releasing her and heading for the door.
Once inside the seedy strip joint, Kat and Barak made their way to a corner table and sat down. They were certain to position themselves so they could easily watch who came and left the place and still be able to observe the other patrons. Being the middle of the week, the place was empty, so they shouldn't have much trouble searching for their quarry.
"Why do these woman dance about for these men who are not their mate?" Barak asked low after a scarcely clad server set down their drinks and moved on to the next occupied table.
"Money," Kat said, taking a sip of the obviously watered down drink while keeping her eyes trained on the door.
"And they do not see this as degrading and fear not obtaining a mate?" he questioned while he watched the dancer on the stage perform.
"Don't be judgmental," she bit out at him, the edge in her tone showing her obvious offence at his suggestion. "They do what they need to survive. Some of these girls have kids to feed, so if some idiot is willing to fork out his paycheck to see her shake her ass, then so be it. What makes you think a woman needs a man in her life? I might like rolling in the sack with you, and maybe even just sitting around talking, but I don't need a man to define me."
"Forgive me, I did not mean to offend you." He sounded hurt, and she felt like an ass for getting so mad at him for something he obviously did not understand. However, it was better that he understood now before they took their relationship any further.
"It's all right," she said, spying both Tie and Randolph entering the building. "It looks like the party is about to begin."
"Are you certain they will not know you?" Barak asked.
"Oh, honey, they'll never see me coming," Kat said with a smile. She flipped her new black bob-cut hair, and adjusted her vinyl halter. Kat had every intention of displaying an eyeful of cleavage.
Sauntering across the room, Kat paused three tables down from where the two men sat. She was counting on the assistance of the two women — a tall, thin blonde, and a midsized brunette, who were currently attempting to get the table's occupants to purchase lap dances. Of course, Ben Franklin was a sure persuader. "I have a proposition that will net you each an easy hundred and take only a few minutes. Are you interested?" Kat had barely finished when both women eagerly nodded and stuck out their hands.
****
Barak and Kat sat in the silence of the dark storage closet, waiting for the arrival of their guest in the small private room that sat across the hall. Kat had been certain to instruct the woman on which room to draw them to, and then on what excuse to use so they could escape safely before anything happened. She did not want to be responsible for an innocent being injured in the crossfire.
The sounds of giggles and heavy footsteps signaled the arrival of their guest. Barak had held her 9mm until they had taken refuge here, and now, fingering the cool metal, her finger twitched in anticipation. She needed retribution, not only for herself, but also for her ruthlessly killed colleagues. These men had defiled the oath that bound them as a trusted team, and it was time for payback.
Once they heard the door close, then the two quick raps that signaled the girl's departure, Kat and Barak moved across the hall and took up positions on each side of the door. One strong kick from Barak sent the door crashing open, and allowed her to move into the room and fire off two shots before either man even made it out of their chairs. The first shot caught Tie in the throat, and he stared at her wide-eyed with blood pouring around the hands that griped his throat, the last glimmers of life filtering through his eyes. The second shot was a clean kill, striking Randolph in the center of the forehead, and Kat could not help but feel a bit disappointed that he had died so quickly.
"Time to go, your police friends will be on their way," Barak told her, placing his hand on the small of her back and giving her a gentle nudge toward the door and their escape.
"And then there was one," Katrina said with a slow smile while climbing on the bike behind Barak. They tore out of the parking lot and into the night.
Chapter Eight
When they arrived back at the suite, Kat wasted little time rinsing the temporary color from her hair. She was glad to see the swirls of blackened water carry her devious persona into the drain. One of her former team remained to bring to justice, and she planned to call in a favor from an old friend to track him down. Sara Childers had been her best friend all through high school, and probably the closest she came to having one in her adult life. However, both of their careers kept them busy, but they managed to slip away for dinner and a girls' night out at least once a month. If Kat could trust anyone in the city, it would be Sara. Of course, that would wait until she took care of some more personal needs.
Wrapping the towel around her hair, she then made her way out of the bathroom and into the sitting room where Barak and his companions sat. The conversation instantly went silent, letting Kat know it had been about her. "Am I interrupting?" she asked, laying her hand against Barak's shoulder and watching as every male in the room looked in any direction but directly at her.
"They have concerns that they will not be able to find their Zi mate before our time here is done," he told her. Taking her hand in his, he brought it to his lips. "And that if they were to know our true form, they would not accept them." The look in his eyes said he shared this concern, and Kat knew there was only one real way to alleviate the insecurity in the room. She just hoped she was able to handle the truth.
"Well, let me see your complete form, not just the horns. Show me your true form and let me be the judge of what is and is not acceptable." She kept her voice calm and confident, though her heart was pounding so hard it echoed in her ears.
"You are certain?" he asked. His companions all looked at her hopefully.
"I wouldn't have asked otherwise," Kat told them before taking a seat and propped her feet up on the dark ottoman.
Barak stood and nodded his head at the men who had gathered close. It was like watching one of those old B movies as the images of each male began to shift and change. Their bodies became more bulky, which was jaw dropping, considering their human size was already large. The color of their skin morphed until they all glistened with a sort of bluish hue.
Looking up at Barak, Kat swallowed the huge lump that formed in her throat. His hair hung along his shoulders in a thick blue-black fall as the twin horns she had glimpsed before now pushed out, their color contrasted. His sheer size made her feel dwarfed. He stared at her in complete silence, his eyes the only window to the storm of nervous emotion swimming beneath the surface.
Standing, she moved forward to run her hand along the edge of his jaw that jutted out sharper than before. His skin was cool to the touch, the texture like soft leather. "You are breathtakingly gorgeous," she said, smiling and looking around at the group of awe-inspiring beings now standing before her. Instantly her w
ords met with a loud, all-inclusive sigh and laughter, each male moving in to hug her to him in relief. When finally she found herself once again in Barak's embrace, she snuggled into him, breathing deep the sweet erotic scent that made heat pool in her cunt. "You did promise to see to my needs earlier," she reminded him while she ran her nails along the top of his shoulder.
"How will you have me?" he asked, lifting her against him and carried her toward their room. She knew what he meant: Would she make love to him as the Zironet he truly was, or in the guise of a man like before?
"I want the real you," she told him, wrapping her legs around his waist and rubbed herself against the bulge of his pants. This position was becoming a habit.
Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a silvery shackle-like bracelet and latched it around her narrow wrist. "I want you on all fours in front of me," he growled, sitting her on the mattress before he turned to shut the door. By the time the door had closed and the lock clicked into place, Kat had shed her top and was sliding the soft running pants into a puddle at her feet.
Turning her back to him, she climbed across the bed and looked over her shoulder so she could watch him undress. He was even larger in this form. He moved toward her, his throbbing cock in his hand, and yet again she worried her lower lip.
"Do not fear me, my Zi. I promise that any pain will only be momentary. You were made for me and your body will fit to my own," Barak told her in a throaty voice that revealed his fragile hold on his own need. He pushed her thighs wide to open her body to him more fully. Sucking in a deep breath, Kat threw her head back as he licked the moist folds of her hot pussy. She spread her legs further apart for him while he lapped at the edges of her tremulous cunt lips, coaxing her release with slow, calculated perfection.
****
Using his fingers, he held her open and thrust his tongue deep into her hole, feeling her muscles contract around him. His mouth receded to give its full attention to Kat's rigid clit. He rolled and tugged it while fucking two fingers in and out of her. The motion of both increased. Kat began to moan out her coming orgasm, drawing her further and further over the edge. She screamed, cream flooding across his hands and mouth.
Giving her body no time to recover from her first release, Barak slid forward and pressed the head of his cock tight against her wet opening. Kat cried out in an odd mixture of pain and pleasure. He moved inside her, feeding himself inch by throbbing inch deep into her cunt. Once he had himself buried completely, he leaned forward and pulled her upper body against his own.
Certain she was accustomed to his size, he began slowly moving in and out of her, drawing out and pushing a bit further each time. Fucking her from behind, Barak reached around to stroke her trembling clit in time to his pace.
****
Another scream filled the air and it took a moment for Kat to realize it was her own. Her body clenched and milked him while the strength and speed of his thrusts increased. With his fingers biting into her flesh, he pushed her forward so her head rested against the mattress and her lower body, speared with his cock, was in the air. With what sounded more like a roar than a yell, he grabbed Kat's hips and slammed one last time into her hot depths, spilling his seed deep inside her.
As they lay in a heap of heavy breathing, sweaty arms, and legs, Kat smiled and stroked her fingers across his cerulean skin. "I think I've died and gone to a heaven of blue angels," she said with a yawn. Cuddling against his chest, she closed her eyes and slept. She could make the calls she needed in the morning. For now she wanted to lay wrapped in Barak's arms and stay safe from the world.
Chapter Nine
"Fort Todd Holt Military Base. How may I help you?" the male voice asked through the phone line. Kat sat with her legs drawn up in the chair, holding the cheap throwaway cell phone to her ear. Barak and all the males except the youngest —Herron, she thought his name was— had left earlier to visit some voodoo witch deeper in the city. Evidently, they planned to try to bargain with her for more time. Barak told her the spell giving them their glamour was set to expire in two days, which would put serious glitches in his plans to find mates for the other males who had accompanied him to this plane.
"I need to speak with Sergeant Childers in building MTF5 West Wing," she told the voice. While she waited Kat watched Herron look through an old issue of a cheap smut magazine, amused by his wide-eyed amazement.
"I am sorry, Miss, but she is currently off-base at a LUA," the voice informed her.
"Patch me to her cell. Access code Echo, William, Tango, one, three, five." She rattled the code off. She stifled a chuckle at her companion smelling the pages of the magazine.
"Straight away, stand by," the voice said before a series of pops and clicks sounded through the receiver.
"Kat, what the hell is going on?" Sara's voice yelled through the phone moments later.
"I can't explain right now, but I promise what you are hearing is not the truth," Kat told her friend, hating the fact she was dragging the woman into the mess. "I need your help."
"When and where?" Sara asked, making Kat grin widely. She could have guessed that her longtime friend would jump in headfirst if she asked. After giving Sara the address and agreeing to meet in about an hour, Kat hung up the phone.
Barak and the others had been gone a long time, and their extended absence was starting to make her a bit nervous. Playing a dozen scenarios through her head, she fingered the silver bracelet secured about her arm, rubbing the heart-shaped lock with her fingers. It was not as if she could tell who came and went this far up, but it did give her something to do.
"Shouldn't they have been back by now?" she asked Herron in a very irritated tone. She was not angry with them for being so long as much as she was with herself for worrying.
"The witch is not very accommodating to our kind. I am certain she will ask a very high price for additional magic to maintain our glamour," he responded, sitting the magazine down and joined her in looking out the window. "If they cannot reach an agreement, then we will be forced to return to our plane."
She figured as much, but allowed him to continue to muse over the idea. Better for him to prepare now should it happen. It also brought to mind another question. What would become of her relationship with Barak? She assumed he would stay here in her plane, but now, in retrospect, she thought she had perhaps misunderstood what he wanted from her.
"Unless you kill the witch and absorb her magic," he added with a sigh, as though he had not even realized he had spoken aloud.
"What do you mean? How can I absorb her magic? I am not a witch," Kat asked, confused.
"Magic lives inside her, but it is not part of her. It is like a separate being that must have a host to manifest. So if you kill her and offer yourself as the new host, you will absorb her magic," Herron told her, returning to the table and his magazine. "Of course, Lord Barak would never allow it, because then you could not cross to our plane."
"So witches can open portals between the planes, but not cross between them?" It was more of a calculation then a question, but still he nodded in confirmation.
The next hour passed slowly. Kat contemplated what she had learned from Herron, and all the things she needed to do to take care of her own redemption. The ping of the elevator caught her attention, and she waited nervously for the doors to open. When they finally slid apart, Kat gave her friend a thin grin in greeting.
"I take it you were hoping it was someone else?" Sara asked, stepping into the room still dressed in her military fatigues, her long red hair pulled into a tight bun atop her head. It did not escape Kat's notice that the woman still had at least one firearm strapped against her thigh. If she had to guess, she would bet there were at least four other weapons somewhere on the woman's body as well.
"I think we might need to go give my new friends some backup," Kat said, turning toward Herron, who was eyeing the new arrival with measured curiosity. "Can you take us to the others?" she asked him, ready for the argu
ment she was certain was coming.
"Barak would not like—"
Kat cut the male off with a glare. "Either you take me to him, or I leave here without you. I am certain someone knows where I can find a witch in this city."
"I have met a few bitches, but no witches. I'm sure we can dig up someone who has," Sara threw in for support.
Herron nodded in defeat and grumbled to himself about human women being too willful, and then made his way to the elevator alongside them. Kat knew the young male would most likely catch hell from Barak and the others for bringing them into the situation, but no more than if they arrived back at the penthouse to find her gone.
After climbing into the passenger seat of Sara's shiny blue sports car, they tore through the streets. Herron pointed out directions as they moved, and they had to make more than one U-turn because they had passed up a street or ally they needed to turn down. The trio continued through the city, moving further into the dark area known as the Projects.
Chapter Ten
"Serena! Let us the hell out of here, witch, or I swear I will rip you limb from limb!" Barak bellowed, shaking the thick metal bars of his prison cell. The intention of this trip had been to barter with the witch for more magic to hold their borrowed glamour. When they had arrived, the woman seemed far too eager to help them, but it was not until they were down in the dark, drab basement of the building that they realized it had been a trap.
Once the final member of his accompanying clan had cleared the last step, they were surrounded by Obsidian demons, and then forced into this magic-reinforced titanium cell. Staric, the Obsidian leader, stood outside their confinement, taunting them for their lack of success and promises to eradicate the remains of their clan. Now, as Barak stood in the dark prison, he could not think of anything other than Katrina; not even his failure to his clan could steer his mind from her. Had the Obsidian known about her? Was she in danger?