“What was that?” Sparx asked, loosening the hold a bit to hear what the other man was trying to say. “Was that an apology?”
“I didn’t know,” he gasped out between breaths. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were the warlord here.”
Sparx shook his head and tightened the hold he had on the warrior once again, figuring now was as good a time as any to teach the man a well-deserved lesson.
“That was the wrong response,” Colby informed the other Phaeton, who was simply watching things as they happened without trying to defend or assist his brethren in any way.
“What is the right response?” the other Phaeton asked, his voice nervous as he inched back towards the door of the vehicle.
“First,” Sparx said, dropping Trex to the ground where the other man huddled gasping for breath, “your apology should not have been to me but to the women you so carelessly put in danger. You were instructed to wait inside your shuttle until we had arrived for transport. Did you not think of why we told you that was needed? You are lucky that one injury is all you are being held responsible for.”
“The warlords would have surely called for your lives, if there had been more,” Colby added with a nod, his words obviously not helping to calm matters.
“She fell on her own,” Trex grumbled as he moved to his feet. Jerking off his helmet, he threw it to the ground like a child having a tantrum. “Even if you had been there, it would have happened. Like I said before, she’s big and awkward. The last few days that ugly bitch has actually been the one to cause injury within the group.”
Sparx ground his teeth together as Trex kept talking, obviously not knowing when enough was enough.
“—your planet is desperate enough to take whoever we bring. The dumb ones. The sick ones. The ugly ones. Even the fat ones who can’t walk without hurting themselves or someone else.”
“Oh no.”
Colby’s words didn’t even register as Sparx swung his fist at the target it front of him. Clocking the Phaeton directly in the jaw, the other man went down like a bag full of ore. He waited for a moment to see if Trex would get up, which he didn’t.
Not shocking.
Letting out a disappointed grunt, Sparx turned around to face the other Phaeton. “Am I going to have a problem with you as well?”
“No, sir,” he said immediately, shaking his head. “I was not aware of the additional protocol regarding our landing. I was only assigned to this mission yesterday, and that was only as pilot. Once I realized how bad it was outside the shuttle, I suggested moving back inside but was met with resistance from Trex.”
“Name?” Sparx asked, holding out his hand to shake.
“Bonner, sir.”
“Welcome to Djaromir,” Sparx said, before nodding down to the Phaeton still slumped by their feet. “He, however, is not welcome.”
“Understood.” Bonner raised the arm of his space suit and tapped on the small screen displayed there. “We have permission to depart, as soon as you’ve dismissed us.”
“What do you need for me to dismiss you?” He was more than ready to get them safely off his planet, now that their jobs were completed—hopefully, before they asked about the volunteers who were requested back on Phaeton One.
“A ride back to the shuttle?” Bonner asked, his voice and expression both hopeful. “I don’t think I can haul Trex all the way back on my own, and if I did, it would just delay our leaving—”
“Fine,” Sparx growled, already mentally done with their conversation. “Once we’ve seen to the women, I will have Colby take you back to your shuttle.”
Bonner let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Warlord Sparx.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Sparx muttered, moving around the Phaeton to begin helping the women out of the vehicle. “You haven’t seen his driving.”
Chapter Ten
“What’s going on?” Rue unbuckled her belt and leaned as close to the door as possible without falling out.
“What are they saying?” Jessie asked, trying to see out the narrow opening as well without being seen.
“Can we unbuckle yet?” Tabitha whined a second before releasing the latch with an exaggerated sigh of relief. “What’s wrong with your face?”
“My nose itches,” Lucy said, twitching it to see if it would help.
“Seriously?” Rue asked with a chuckle. “It looks like some big bad miner guy just flattened Trex and your nose itches?”
“Well, yeah,” Lucy said with a wiggle of the itchy nose in question. “Wait—did you say he just knocked out our escort?”
“Yup,” Rue said, squinting as she leaned even more. “I can’t hear what they’re saying now, but it looks tense. Real tense.”
“Oh my God, are we being kidnapped?” one of the volunteers cried from her seat close to the cockpit.
Lucy rolled her eyes, prepared to calm down the drama queen, when Rue’s snort broke through the mild hysteria that the woman’s question had sparked.
“Of course, we’re not getting kidnapped,” Rue drawled with an exaggerated eye roll. “We signed up for this, remember? Plus, if I heard him right, he deserved what he had coming.”
Lucy frowned, unsure what her friend meant by that last statement. Rue had the best view of them all, so she’d be the one to know what was happening outside between their Phaeton escorts and the Djaromir who were meeting them, but it still didn’t make sense.
“What’s going on?” she mouthed to Rue when her friend glanced back at her, but she didn’t get an answer.
“They’re coming,” Rue announced as she jerked back from the door and flopped into her seat as if she’d been sitting there the whole time.
Lucy licked her dry lips anxiously. Twitching her nose, she tried to ignore the tickle teasing her. Scanning the other seats, she checked out the other ladies in her group. Everyone—even Tabitha—seemed to be in the same tense state as they waited for someone to poke their head into the door.
When the person who leaned in turned out to be Bonner, there seemed to be a simultaneous sigh of disappointment from them all.
“Don’t move,” he told her specifically. “I will help you out once the others have cleared the space.”
Lucy frowned at the idea of having to wait until last, but she understood why. The interior was already cramped with the women and their puffy spacesuits. There was simply not enough space for him to climb in and then help her out.
For a brief second, she debated piggy-backing off on Rue but shook that thought out as quickly as it slipped in. She could see that disaster coming from a mile away before she’d even had a chance to suggest it out loud.
When Tabitha moved as if she were going to shoulder her way to the front to be out the door first, Rue moved to block her.
“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise, turning and hip-checking Tabitha at the same time. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
Lucy bit her lip to stop the smile that threatened.
“Luce? Are you sure I can’t help you down?” Rue stayed planted where she was blocking the exit with Tabitha fuming behind her. “It may take a hot minute, but we could totally shimmy you outta here, no problem.”
It was hella hard to do, but Lucy managed to maintain a serious face as she answered Rue. “You know…” She stretched out her leg a bit and gave her ankle a small wiggle, unable to help the wince that followed. “I think it’s best if I wait for Bonner. I don’t want to lean on you too much and have us both fall face first out the door.”
“Positive?” Rue asked again. The pleasure she was getting from messing with Tabitha was clear on her face. “I have no problem waiting to help you down.”
“Jesus Christ,” Tabitha snarled, stomping her boot. “Can you just move out of the way?!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rue said, turning and ramming her shoulder into Tabitha with the move in the cramped space. “I forgot you were there. Just a minute though, okay, sweetie? I
need to make sure my friend doesn’t need help.”
“Go on, Rue.” Lucy coughed, trying to hide the laughter that was busting to break free the redder Tabitha’s face got. “I’ll be out in a jiffy.”
“Gotcha.” Shooting her a pair of finger guns—or at least that’s what Lucy assumed she was trying to do, regardless of the oversized gloves on her hands—Rue winked and maneuvered out the door.
“Stupid cow,” Tabitha muttered somewhat under her breath as she stomped behind her.
Lucy sat there shaking her head. If that woman thought Rue was about to forgive and forget, she was delusional. Even though they were best friends and had more things than you could count in common, there was one large difference between Lucy and Rue. Where Lucy was forgiving and apologetic—even when she didn’t need to be—Rue held a grudge until death and prying any type of sorry from her mouth was a goddamned miracle. Considering all the shit that Tabitha had given not only Rue, but Lucy as well…there was no way that Rue was done tormenting the woman yet.
Especially when she seemed unable to learn her lesson.
She blew out a deep breath as the last of the volunteers climbed out. Now that it was her turn, she felt hot and cold all at once. A strange sensation, considering she knew the suit she was wearing was temperature controlled.
“This is it,” she said to herself, as she began to scoot forward in the seat to stand up.
Except she didn’t scoot like she expected.
“What the—” Lucy looked down to see her suit tangled with the buckle she’d had around her waist. Pawing at the strap with puffy glove-covered fingers did absolutely nothing to help the situation. “Cooperate, you fu—”
“Need help?”
Lucy froze at the question. Slowly tilting her head up, she stared at the new man braced half in, half out of the door.
Covered in furs, his hulking figure should have been threatening in the cramped cabin, yet all she felt was a spark of interest. His voice had been the first thing she’d noticed, but she’d be lying if she said the rest of him wasn’t just as attention grabbing.
A big, calloused hand reached out to help her with the strap. His large fingers smoothly unwinding the restraint until she was free of the tether.
“Ugh,” she gurgled, unable to form any coherent words as his bare hand captured her gloved one. Her breath caught at the action, every nerve in her body tingling in anticipation for whatever was going to happen next.
“Come on now.”
Those three words were her only warning before he moved. With one tug, she was propelled forward and over his shoulder.
“Ooof,” Lucy grunted, the air she’d previously had in her lungs leaving the moment her stomach made contact with his shoulder.
“Easiest way to get you out without banging you up any further,” he said, his hands clutching her thighs to hold her securely. “I’ll get you set down in just a moment.”
“If you want to set her down over there, I can check the ankle while you attend the rest of the volunteers.”
With the blood rushing to her head the longer she was over her mystery man’s shoulder, Lucy was prepared to protest when the body she was wrapped around grunted. In her position, she couldn’t see who the man holding her was talking to, just his legs. Whoever it was that was talking was big, but not as big as the giant carting her around as if she weighed nothing.
“I have a few questions for her myself,” he said with a pat to the back of her thighs, which she felt despite the heavy suit she wore. “Prepare the others for the trek to the city, while I wait to see if I’ll need to carry this one or not.”
“Excuse me,” she interrupted, unable to ignore the throbbing in her temples from being upside down for too long. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful and all, but can you flip me over now? I feel like my head is about to pop.”
He stopped walking and squeezed her thighs again.
“I’m going to lower you down the front of me,” he told her, even as he slid her off his shoulder slowly.
Lucy, trying to help in any way she could, wrapped her arms around his neck once they were face to face—err—face to helmet.
“Hi,” she breathed, her stomach tightening at the raw attraction that swept through her core in response to the look he gave her. With her feet dangling in the air, Lucy studied a face that was so handsome it was a little bit pretty.
With thick, dark hair and chiseled features, he cocked his brow and stared right back at her. Even his eyebrows looked perfect. It didn’t stop there either. Cheekbones to die for graced his too-pretty face, only enhanced by a thick beard that her fingers itched to stroke. He looked like he’d walked right off the cover of one of her favorite shifter novels. In fact, the more she stared, the more she began to see a resemblance between him and the werewolf she’d had a crush on from True Blood.
“Hello,” he said gruffly. The moisture from his breath fogged up the glass in front of her face and brought her attention to a set of full lips that tempted her way too much.
Dear fucking Lord.
“Hi,” Lucy chirped again. Her brain had turned to mush at the sound of his voice.
She was literally tongue-tied, unable to form complete sentences due to being held in the arms of the hottest male she’d ever had the pleasure of seeing with her own two eyeballs. Not that she had a chance to scope out men, other than the occasional girl’s night out with Rue. And that was generally done from a quiet table in the corner, not plastered up against the poor man while she panted in his face and squirmed all over him like a horny teenager.
Considering the lead he was rocking in his pants, he may not be against getting better acquainted.
Just as she was about to introduce herself and practice not falling all over herself, he began to lower her to the ground. Frowning at the missed opportunity, Lucy kept her hands firmly planted on the man holding her else he’d disappear in a puff of smoke—much like the chance she’d just let slip through her fingers.
Chapter Eleven
Sparx forced himself to stoop down with her hanging around his neck until she was able to stand on her good foot. He hadn’t really had a chance to get a good look at her, every inch of her body covered in the thick Phaeton suit they supplied to the volunteers, but what he’d been able to feel had been more than pleasant under his hands.
Rounded thighs, a cushioned ass, and curvy hips were unable to be hidden the way the suit hugged the slopes and valleys that made up the delectable package in front of him. It had only taken one touch of her hand, and he’d felt the need to hold on tight. To carry her and care for her. To feed her and then to fuck her into unconsciousness. He wanted to sate all the hungers her body had before tucking her away and keeping her safe.
Forever.
It had been startling how quickly the need had swept over his body, and yet he’d still not yet had the pleasure of touching her bare skin, only the thick protected fabric keeping her warm.
The longer he had her in his arms, the harder it seemed to let her go. Normally, he would have taken Colby up on his offer to see to the injured human. Colby had more training as a healer than he did, and as the warlord, Sparx should have seen to the larger group of volunteers. Not focus on one specific one.
But the idea of the other male helping her had rankled him. He didn’t want Colby or another touching her. He didn’t even want the other man looking at her or speaking to her. Sparx wanted to be the only one the female in his hold relied upon.
He wasn’t sure why the impulse was riding him hard. He just knew that it made him uncomfortable and he didn’t like it.
At all.
It made him feel…not like himself. Restless. Itchy. Like his skin was too small for his body.
“Steady?” he asked, avoiding her eyes as he waited to make sure she wouldn’t fall once her foot touched the ground.
“Yeah,” she breathed, keeping her palms flat against the furs covering his chest.
/> Stepping back but not letting go, he looked around to see how Colby was handling the others. One of them was pointing in his direction, stomping a boot every now and then as she obviously yelled something at his second in command.
“Oh, Rue,” the woman in his hold breathed, shaking her head inside the helmet attached to her suit. “Might as well help me hobble over there before she gets any more worked up.”
“Sorry?” he asked, offering her the support she needed to hop a step or two before growling deep in his chest. “Fuck it.”
He couldn’t stand to see her struggle, or even possibly hurt herself even more in an effort to keep his distance. It was physically impossible as the urge to protect and care for her was overwhelming. Scooping her back into his arms—this time carrying her against his chest—he winced when her helmet smacked him in the jaw.
“Oh shit. Sorry,” she yelped, leaning into him so she wouldn’t bobble any more than necessary as he walked them across the cavern to the others.
“My fault,” he said shortly, trying to distract himself from the bundle in his arms by going over the small tasks he knew were waiting for him in the city.
“I’m Lucy,” she said, introducing herself in such a soft voice that he could barely hear it over the blood rushing through his ears at her closeness.
“Sparx,” he bit out, gritting his teeth when she patted his pec with her gloved hand.
He’d been without female company for far too long if a touch so simple had the ability to make him harder than he could ever remember being.
“Sparx,” she repeated, his name never sounding sweeter than coming from her lips. “I like it.”
“You do?” he asked with a gulp, unsure why the idea of her simply liking his name made him want to puff up his chest. Slowing his steps toward the others, he tried to give them even just a few more seconds alone.
“Yeah,” she said before letting out a deep sigh. “Brace yourself.”
“What?” he asked with a frown before the woman who had been yelling at Colby was directly in front of him.
Miners of Djaromir: Sparx Page 6