Dark Runner: LodeStar 3.5

by Cathryn Cade

  Just when she’d convinced herself she could handle his expectations of his crew, her fears had widened another notch, to encompass the very real worry that she’d give in to the sensual temptation he cast like an aura. He radiated danger and sex—a combination that was her personal kryptonite. She couldn’t afford to make a fool of herself over another man who dealt in coercion.

  Those fears were all swept aside just now by the one that had, for two years, trapped her in an endless cycle of risky employment in space. The nightmare where she at last dared to set foot on a civilized planet, only to be accosted by IGSF or local cops who carted her off in restraints after her chip alerted them to her illegal presence.

  If that happened, she’d no longer have even the cold comfort of travel. She’d be dropped onto the prison planet, Deep Six, where prisoners tended to expire from violence or exposure. As a Serpentian, she hated being cold with a passion. Freezing to death was one of her worst nightmares.

  So of course, when the Zharrdul landed at the large and bustling space port in Sunspot City, Solaria, Tal Darkrunner announced, “I’m meeting a contact who may have some information for me. Place called the Black Hole.”

  Scala had been to the Black Hole in years past, with her Orion guard mates. Solaria was a small satellite planet that revolved in tune with Serpentia around their brilliant sun. It was used mainly as a jumping off spot for long space flights, and storage for risky fuels and freight bound for its much larger sister planet. There was no farming or settlements other than the ports and depots.

  The inhabitants were a tough, hardened lot living their lives as if there was no tomorrow, and their favorite watering hole reflected this lifestyle. She thought about warning Tal and the others to watch themselves, but on second thought, that was like warning a serpent to watch out for the local lizards’ sharp teeth. The serpent would be just fine.

  Leaning against the bulkhead beside the passage to the rear of the ship, she shrugged. “Okay. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  He shook his head. “You’re coming with us.”

  Scala blinked. He had a short memory. “Sorry, but no. I’m not.”

  “You are,” he said implacably.

  “Look, I get you don’t care if I get zapped by this damn chip,” she snapped, “But I sure as hells do. It quarking hurts, it’s loud as a screamer siren in my ears, and the local law can hear it too. How long you think it’ll take the cops to reach me?”

  He held up his hand, a small silvery obelisk dangling on a chain. “This is a scrambler. It’ll take care of the chip. You’ve got your pretty collar to hide the surgery scar, and this will just look like more jewelry.”

  “Yeah, that’s great. Try it on someone else.”

  “The scrambler will interrupt the signal,” Darkrunner repeated. “I know it works, it’s already been tested. You’re not the first chip in my employ, you know. ”

  That didn’t surprise her. She could only imagine what crimes some of the others had committed. She shook her head, crossing her arms across her midriff. “Not gonna chance it. Look, you go have a drink, check for intel. I’ll be here when you get back. Not like I have anywhere else to go.”

  The Mau tromped out of the cockpit and paused, giving her a look of disfavor. Or maybe that was just his usual expression, hard to tell on a Mau. “I’m out. Link me when you’re ready to take off.” He disappeared down the gangplank.

  Darkrunner prowled across the cabin to face Scala, bringing his aura of imminent peril with him. “You’re going if I say you are. Unless you’re ready for that consequence we talked about.”

  Scala rolled her eyes. “Right. You went to the trouble to hire me, and you’re threatening to toss me out here? It’d take me twenty minutes to find another post.”

  He reached out. She stiffened, but he merely traced one long forefinger down her arm, his gaze following his hand. She felt the heat of his touch through the thin knit of her favorite tee, dusky rose with sparkles of gold. Peekaboo lace filled a deep vee in the front and wide stripes down the sleeves. With the tee she wore her leathers and her favorite soft boots, the same bitter chocolate hue as her leathers, with gold studs swirling up the outsides.

  “But you’d be leaving with nothing, remember?” He looked up at her from under his brows, the shadow of a braid laying a stripe across his eyes. “I know how women are about their clothing. Be a shame if I had to cut this off of you...watch you scamper naked through the streets while the chip screams.”

  “Try it,” she advised through her teeth, so furious she was shaking. Damn him. How dare he threaten her with humiliation? When this was over, she was going to take him down. “Look, Serpentia is my native planet, Darkrunner. Solaria’s a God-forsaken sand pit, yeah, but it’s part of my home. Do you not get I would give almost anything to have the right to walk down that gangplank with you, go and have a friendly drink, maybe do some dancing?”

  Only they weren’t her friends, not him and not the pair waiting by the open hatch. Trix looked bored, Darry was watching her and Darkrunner avidly, like a man watching a cage match and wondering when the real action would begin

  Unfortunately, her emotions cost her. While she glowered longingly, Tal once again moved swiftly. She found herself pinned against the wall, his forearm across her throat, his face close to hers.

  She brought up her knee hard, but he’d twisted his hips defensively, so her knee struck the outside of his hard thigh instead of his vulnerable genitals.

  His arm was braced so he could break her larynx with one move, so she grasped his arm, but didn’t try anything more.

  He bared his teeth without humor. “Don’t ever challenge me in front of anyone again, Snake Eyes,” he whispered, so quietly only she could hear. “My people or others. Because I’m always going to win.”

  The pressure of his arm hurt her throat. Just like the damn collar the IBI had shoved on her. She fought for breath, but stubborn pride kept her from begging him for mercy, any more than she had the uniforms. She met his gaze defiantly, until her lungs screamed for air and black spots floated before her eyes.

  He waited another heartbeat before lowering his arm and stepping away. “You’d better change then,” he said. “And we’ll go.”

  Scala sucked in a deep, ragged breath, and then froze as she felt a draft of air on her bare skin. She looked down and gasped. Her tee gaped open, baring her breasts and torso.

  She grasped one edge of the garment, so enraged she could hardly speak. “You slimy, slithering sand toad. You cut my shirt!” With that sneaky palm blade of his.

  “I like it better this way,” Darry commented from the hatch. Trix laughed.

  Her gaze locked with Darkrunner’s, Scala yanked the shirt off, and faced him, shoulders back. “This what you wanted to see?”

  His gaze never leaving hers, he shrugged as if completely disinterested in her nudity. “Go and change. Unless you want to come as you are. I don’t suppose anyone will mind.”

  For one blazing moment, she contemplated doing just that. She could show him it took more than this to humiliate a Serpentian warrior. Hells, she’d been naked with enough beings to fill whatever spacetrash bar he wanted to visit, anyway.

  But she needed to keep her eyes on the prize, remember what she was doing here. Her freedom was worth more than any momentary irritation. That’s all he was, just a sand burr on her ass. Nothing more.

  Holding his gaze defiantly, she threw the remains of her shirt at him. The soft fabric struck him in the chest and slithered down. He caught it reflexively, an odd look in his eyes, almost like respect. She was clearly seeing things.

  “You owe me a new shirt, ganger. That was my favorite.”

  Then she turned away. Sneering at Darry, who was staring at her breasts, and Trix, who was frowning, Scala sauntered down the passageway as if she’d triumphed in the situation, not Darkrunner and his thugs.

  As she pulled her gold tank from her duffel and tugged it on, she noted with vague surprise that her
hands were trembling. Overload of adrenaline, that was all.

  As she walked back out, Trix and Darry were gone. Darkrunner waited for her by the hatch. Without a word, he held out the pendant. She slipped it over her head. Darkrunner watched as the pendant slid down to rest between her breasts, and the ghost of a smile passed through his eyes.

  She didn’t look down. So her nipples were taut under the tight knit, so what? Didn’t mean anything.

  “After you,” she said, gesturing with scathing courtesy at the gangplank. With a smirk, he strolled down ahead of her.

  As she followed him, Scala listed all the ways she could toss him off on his head. She’d get even with him for tossing her off here, and for ruining her shirt—maybe not now, but later. And it would be worth every moment she had to wait. She had so many ideas, it was hard to choose her favorite.

  Trix and Darry were waiting for them astride one of two gleaming hovercycles. Scala waited stoically as Darkrunner mounted the other. It just figured she had to ride with him.

  He powered the cycle up, and then raised an ebony brow at her. She stepped lightly astride behind him, then gave a hiss as the seat compressed, pushing her against his back.

  “There’s not enough room,” she complained, flattening her hands on his back and shoving. He didn’t budge.

  “It’s cozy,” he said. “You can put your arms round me if you like.”

  “How about around your neck? I could shove on your larynx a while.”

  “Another time, Snake Eyes. Hang on,” he said, and the cycle lifted off, turned sharply and zipped through the huge spaceport. Scala grabbed the edge of the seat behind her. She’d be seven times damned before she’d cling to him the way Trix was to Darry, arms wrapped around his waist, chin on his shoulder.

  Still, Scala was unable to suppress a thrill of excitement as the craft zipped out of the bay and into the heat of a Solarian summer evening. It had been so long since she’d been on her home planets.

  The sky shone with muted golden light, shading to deep red on the western horizon. The mountains ranged jagged against the sky to the east, and the desert stretched out in waves of golden sand to the north, providing a frame for Serpentia, which loomed like a great golden disc on the horizon. A sandstorm raged on Serpentia, an ominous brown blotting out all in its path. Her native home was beautiful in an austere way, but harsh and deadly for the unwary.

  Now that she was away from the Z’s air-conditioning, she was glad to be wearing the brief tank, so she could feel the heat of the air on her skin. Darkrunner had to be baking in his leather duster—at least she hoped he was. At least he didn’t stink of sweat like many humans on Serpentia. The heat only intensified his spicy, male scent.

  They cruised along the wide, dusty street through the space port, past hangers, warehouses and craft repair shops interspersed with bars, restaurants and shops selling everything from clothing to souvenirs.

  She smiled to herself at the familiar toys in one window. Maybe she’d buy a lifelike viperbot and slip it into his bunk. Be fun to watch him laser the hells out of his own bed.

  * * *

  Tal landed in a paid lot on the roof of the huge bar called The Black Hole. The holomarquee featured extremely well-endowed strippers tossing their brief garments into the depths of a black hole swirling behind them. Music and the muffled beat of drums reverberated through the hot air, mingling with the hushed rumble of a transport overhead and the higher whine of a cruiser taking off.

  As the hovercycle settled onto the landing pad, he looked over his shoulder at his passenger. He’d enjoyed having her plastered against his back. Slim and strong though she was, the Serp was soft in the right places. Her breasts were small, but they were high and round, with long stiff nipples that made his mouth water. He could feel the heat of her lower body through his duster. Sitting in the vee of her thighs was giving him a hard-on.

  Thus far, she was the highlight of this journey. She had a temper as hot as the heat baking through his leathers. Much as Tal wanted to fuck her, it was just as much fun to piss her off and watch those slanted, thickly lashed eyes of hers go molten gold with fury. If he decided to seduce her, he might have to actually apologize for some of his taunting, verbal and physical. It was either that or restrain those lethal arms and legs of hers, because while she’d love to wrap them around his neck, he’d prefer them around him a bit lower down.

  Anyway, she was only a passing fancy. He was here for another woman. One who might resemble this one physically, but in other ways she was different as night from day. Kiri was a lady, with fire and spirit, but with a gentle sweetness which fascinated him. Now that Logan Stark was gone—straight to the seventh hell, Tal hoped—she needed a man to look out for her.

  In return she’d make a home for him, a place of refuge from the harshness of his world. Warm and inviting, like her tiny apartment and even her little coffee shop at the space port had been. She was one of those females who had the mysterious ability to class up any space she inhabited.

  He couldn’t wait to see what Kiri could do with his money and her class. Probably turn the Flash into a classy club like his competition, Le Tigre. She could have free rein ... although not in his office. And not aboard the Z. He liked bling, and a man had a right to keep some spaces his own.

  Once he proved to her he’d only been keeping her safe when he kidnapped her, Kiri would give him another chance to prove he was the man for her. Of course that would mean no more entertaining himself with women like the one on his hovercycle. That would be disappointing, but no doubt worth it.

  “Hop off, Snake Eyes,” he ordered.

  When his passenger didn’t move, he looked over his shoulder. She was staring at the dusty surface below the cycle as if it was a deadly pit. Her throat worked as she swallowed. Then she rubbed her palms on her thighs. Hells, the fiery warrior was scared. She needed to be snapped out of it, fast.

  “I dare you,” he taunted.

  She glared at him, her sexy eyes going molten. “Fine,” she hissed. “When they arrest me, I’m telling them who you are. You won’t like Serpentian jail.”

  He merely grinned at her, until she swung her leg up before her and over the cycle, thunking the back of his head in the process. Damn, there went his neck again.

  “Sorry,” she said with sugary sweetness, and slid from the cycle.

  He stepped off behind her, tilting his head to crack his neck joints back into place. “Funny, I don’t hear any alarms, do you?” he asked. “Guess you’re not as important as you thought.”

  “Ha, ha.” She’d landed crouched, scanning the area, arms out as if ready for battle. Now she straightened and hustled away from him as if he’d burned her.

  Darry and Trix landed beside them.

  “The scrambler’s working.” Trix sounded disappointed.

  Good thing she didn’t have control of it, or it probably wouldn’t be. Trix was attractive if you liked the gamine type, and she sucked cock like a courtesan, but the Serpentian was prettier and Trix knew it.

  Hells, Scala Raj was more than pretty, she was a stunner with those heavy-lidded, tilted, bedroom eyes of her, and that sultry, pouty mouth. And her body was killer in more ways than one. The way her round ass rolled when she walked was probably illegal in some places.

  “Yeah, Trix, why don’t you make an announcement about the scrambler to the whole port, in case they have surveillance up here?” Darry muttered, cutting a look around the parking area. He gave Scala a wink. “You’ll be fine.”

  She smiled at him and Tal groaned inwardly. Darry was a fool for pussy. If Trix found him in the Serp’s bunk without her okay, there’d be hell to pay aboard the Z, and then Tal would have to follow through on his threat and dump his newest hire.

  “As long as you behave yourself,” Tal added, curving his hand around Scala’s slender nape and giving a warning squeeze.

  “With your standards, that leaves me plenty of ways to entertain myself,” she retorted. “Hells, I can murd
er a few citizens and steal a cruiser for laughs.”

  “Only if I tell you to kill them,” he said amiably. “You’re my serpent—for now.”

  They stepped into the elevator.

  “It’s so hard to properly insult a man who feeds off the bottom of society,” she mused aloud. “If I accuse you of being honest, or kind, would that do it?”

  Darry chuckled, though it ended in a grunt as Trix elbowed him.

  “I hear a lot of ships’ crew hang out at the Black Hole,” Trix said. “Probably you’ll see some of your old mates from the Orion. Won’t that be fun?”

  “Not as much fun as watching you fend off the Gorglons who hang out there,” Scala replied. “They love redheads.”

  Darry rolled his eyes at Tal over Trix’s head. Tal sighed inwardly. This was why he only kept around one female at a time, he remembered now.

  The Black Hole was big, deafeningly loud and dangerously rowdy. This was only to be expected here in Sunspot City, one of the toughest space-ports in the galaxy. Tonight the bar was full of raucous spaceport and dock workers, off-duty spaceship crew and space vagrants.

  A band sent music crashing over the crowd, along with streamers of color and light. The strippers gyrated on tiny hoverstages over the crowd. Tal saw males and females from several planets in various stages of nudity. He eyed a lithe, lovely auburn-haired Serpentian with appreciation but winced at the nude Mau female on the next stage. He did not need to see that.

  Dalg was easy to spot, standing at the nearby bar, a huge mug in his hand, transfixed by the charms of the Mau stripper. Great, they’d need to link him three times to get him back to the ship—or leave without him.

  The doors were thrown open to catch any breezes that might stray in off the Solarian desert. Despite the huge fans turning overhead, the smell of alcohol, fried food and sweat pervaded the air. It was a hot night on Solaria, and this crowd had been drinking and probably drugging enough that both tempers and lusts were running even hotter.