by Lili Zander
Silu doesn’t look concerned. “Her mates are with her,” she points out. “Besides, it’ll be a lot easier for us to convince them to move to Ashara if Sofia’s there to smooth the way.”
“I don’t think they’ll need much persuasion. They won’t risk the younglings.” I lean back in my chair. “I had a run-in with Senator Ulle yesterday. Sarfax was there too, bleating something about how our state of emergency was interfering with his vacation plans.”
Silu snorts derisively. “Typical.”
“I think Ulle was the one who dropped the shields.”
“You do?” My second-in-command sounds dubious. “Senator Ulle has threatened me to my face hundreds of times. She hates you. Wants you fired. She’s annoying and abrasive, and quite honestly, a terrible person. But lowering the shields against her own city? That’s treason. She doesn’t seem like the kind who would go that far.”
“Four days ago, I didn’t think any of them would have been capable of that. But here we are.”
“Mmm.” Silu’s manipulating some information on the screen projected in front of her. “I keep looking at this data over and over again. I just can’t figure out how someone managed to communicate with the Zorahn Navy without setting off flags.”
I massage my temples. “What if we don’t worry about that?” The glimmerings of an idea dance just out of reach. “What if we look at it a different way?”
“How?”
“We’ve been thinking that the contact with the Navy happened here in Ashara. What if it didn’t? What if it happened when someone was off-planet?”
Silu’s eyes widen.
“Track everyone’s off-planet trips,” I tell her. “Cross-reference it against entry logs into the Control Center. Don’t just look at the Senators. Look at their staff too. In fact, look at every single resident.”
Silu’s already on her feet, her feathers bristling with energy. “Getting right on it.”
I get lost in work. I’ve spent most of the last two days fixing the damage the Zorahn fighters caused, and it’s astonishing how much paperwork has piled up in my absence. Even though my biggest concern right now is the safety of the city, the other mundane tasks do not go away. Unfortunately.
My thoughts keep returning to Bryce. To last night. To her lips, parted with need.
She’s your mate, my dragon growls. Why do you push her away?
Two days ago, I thought I knew the answer.
Now?
In the last few days, Bryce has become more than an image on a screen. She’s become more than someone I found fascinating.
She’s become real. She’s become important to me. I don’t like hurting her feelings. I want to see her happy.
Then tell her that, idiot.
Suddenly, I just want to get out of here. I want to go to Bryce. Show her the secret lake in a nearby valley, where the water is warm and clear. Take her to the meadow where the ska berries grow, thick and juicy. Share with her the beauty of the Trion VI I know.
Acting purely on instinct, I get to my feet. I’m almost out of the door when my comm buzzes. “Commander Cax,” Silu says, her voice vibrating with excitement. “Could you come to the Control Center, please? I think I’ve found something.”
“What is it?”
“Not over an open line.”
Techmages. Paranoid about security, all of them.
So much for a swim in the lake this evening. “I’ll be right there.”
Locking my screen, I make my way to the tower that houses the Control Center. A couple of people stop me to make conversation. A Draekon waylays me to complain about the travel ban. “My reservations on Flotla cannot be moved,” she says, sounding furious. “We’ve been under the nose of the Zorahn Navy our entire life, and it hasn’t hampered our ability to travel. What’s different now?”
This time, someone got through.
I soothe her feelings with vague platitudes. She’s not placated. It takes more than fifteen minutes to extricate myself. Finally, I’m free. Somewhat surprised Silu hasn’t sent me sarcastic comments on how slowly I’m moving, I make my way to Control Center.
The lights are dimmed. The place, quieter than usual. Maybe I’ve arrived in the middle of a shift change?
Something feels wrong.
Unease prickles through me. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. I hold up my bracelet, and the door slides open.
For a minute, I don’t see Silu anywhere in the half-light.
Then I see the crumpled body on the floor, ivory white blood everywhere.
I’ve known Silu for twenty years, ever since the day she signed up to come to Ashara. She’d been young then. Ready to make a difference, ready for adventure.
Caustic and funny, she’s become more than just my second-in-command. She’s become my friend.
I sink to my knees, sit on the floor. Ease her head onto my lap. There’s a hole in her chest. Someone shot her at point-blank range. Someone shot her and left her to die.
I don’t remember pressing the emergency button on my comm. I don’t remember anything but the way the blood seeps on the floor. In front of me is a chasm of loss, and there’s not a single thing I can do to save her.
She’s not going to make it. “You’re going to be okay,” I lie, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. “It’s not that bad. You’ll be up in no time.”
She smiles faintly, her eyes clouded with pain. She knows I’m lying, and I know she knows I’m lying, and none of that matters, because this is the end. Her voice comes out in a whisper, and I bend my head closer to hear. “Korum,” she breathes. “Should have taken your advice.”
“You still can.”
“No. Too late.” Her hand clutches mine, her claws grazing my palm. “Not for you.”
Where are the healers? Where in the name of Caeron is anyone who can help? Who can fix this?
“Who did this to you?” I will tear them apart, limb to limb.
She tries to speak, but she can’t. No words come out. Her breathing is choppy, labored. I’m losing her.
“Hang on, Silu,” I beg, my voice thick and strained, my eyes prickling with tears. “Please. Just hold on.”
But I’m asking for the impossible. The light dies out in her eyes, and the death rattle sounds in her chest.
Tomorrow, I will be angry. Cold with rage. Tomorrow, I will move with icy purpose, and I will find the person responsible for this, and I will make them pay for their crime.
But that’s tomorrow. Tonight, all I can do is drown in an ocean of loss.
17
Bryce
Hurux gets back an hour after the sun sets. “Hello,” I greet him stiffly. After last night, I don’t really want to talk to him. You’re going back to Earth my ass.
Of course, that’s when Hurux decides to be chatty. “Do you have a minute?”
It’s really not fair how attractive he is. It’s really not fair that the effects of his good looks haven’t worn off for me. It’s inexplicable, the pull I feel toward him.
“I guess,” I reply grudgingly.
“I lay awake last night, thinking of what you said.”
“Tragic,” I cut in caustically, unable to help myself. I’m still angry. “You weren’t able to sleep. How will you cope?”
He ignores my sarcasm. “This morning, I went to see Raiht’vi,” he continues.
“What?” I gape at him. “Why?”
“Because you were right last night. I was burying my head in the sand.” His lips curl up in a smile. “That’s a very strange expression. I had to look it up.”
“On Earth, there are these birds called ostriches…” I catch myself. “Never mind that. Back to your story. You went to see Raiht’vi.”
“I did. She confirmed everything you said.” He grimaces. “I thought that because the Draekons had given you food and shelter, that you might be blinding yourself to the truth of how savage they were.”
I gaze at Hurux with exasperation. “Last night, neither o
f you took advantage of me. If the Draekons are so savage, then they wouldn’t have stopped. Yet you both did.”
“I know. I had to hear it repeated over and over again to believe it.”
Hope stirs once again in my heart. “What are you telling me?”
“That if the humans don’t want to leave, I won’t be the one forcing them.” He looks at me, his expression open and vulnerable. “I have behaved deplorably toward you. Will you give me the chance to make amends?”
“Yes.” A smile breaks out on my face, and pure joy fills me. “Yes, of course. Let’s start over.” I hold out my hand to Hurux. “Hi, my name is Bryce.”
He takes my hand, but he doesn’t shake it. Duh, Bryce. Aliens probably don’t shake hands. Instead, he turns my hand over and presses his lips to the inside of my palm.
I thought that every bit of desire I felt for the two Draekons was extinguished last night. It turns out I was wrong. Because the instant Hurux touches me, it flares back to life, hot and ready and eager.
That’s when Cax walks in.
The moment I see him, I know something is badly wrong. His eyes are swollen. His shoulders are slumped. His face is set in lines of grief.
They went to get everyone in the Dsar Cliffs. Did something awful happen? Did the Zoraken capture my friends?
“What’s the matter?”
He gazes at me, his brown eyes empty. “Silu was killed.”
“But she was just here.” I don’t understand. I talked to her a few hours ago. I’d given her tail several covert gazes, wondering what it would be like to have one of my own. She’d shown me around, taking special care to point out the plants that would make me sick to my stomach.
Without saying those exact words, she’d told me to give Cax a chance.
She can’t be dead. She just can’t be.
“What happened?” Hurux cuts in. “Is this connected to your shields?”
He nods. “Silu was chasing down a lead. She called me. Told me she found something. When I reached her…” His voice trails away. He just shakes his head. It takes him a full minute to be able to speak again. “The techs checked to see if they could find out what she discovered. Everything had been wiped.” He sounds weary, beaten down. “My soldiers are on alert. I should be there too. I just couldn’t...”
As a commander, Cax must make tough decisions every day. But Silu wasn’t just a soldier to him. She was his friend.
He’s hurting. Badly. I know I can’t take it away—God knows I know that from painful experience—but I ache to help. I ache to absorb some of the sadness that’s radiating from him.
I wrap my arms around his waist and pull him into a hug. I lift my eyes to his face. Lace my fingers in his. “What can I do?” I whisper. “What do you need?”
A second passes. And another. Finally, Cax answers. “You.”
That word hangs in the air.
There isn’t a turning point. There’s no moment where I go from ‘no’ to ‘yes.’ This isn’t a decision my mind makes.
My heart knows what to do.
Slowly I lead him to the couch and tug him down beside me. Hurux follows, keeping some distance. I settle myself in Cax’s lap and pat the couch beside us, inviting the big soldier close.
I don’t know what’s going to happen in the morning. I don’t care. For the moment, we’re together, and it feels right. All our differences and arguments fall away, and for a few short moments, we can just be.
Cax’s large hands rest on my hips, but they don’t move. I lean into him, stroking his thick hair, resting my cheek against his chest. “I’m sorry,” I murmur. The words seem so inadequate, but I know I need to say them anyway. “I’m so sorry.”
A sigh escapes his taut chest. He puts his hand on my chin and tilts my head up. I reach up and kiss the side of his mouth, soft and gentle. It feels so right that I do it again. Sliding my hands down his chest, I catch his wrists and place his hands on my breasts. “Is this what you need?”
Tightening his hold, he pulls me in closer. “Yes.”
I slide a hand between us, closing my fingers around his erection and rubbing it through his pants. “Me too,” I admit. “I’ve wanted it since I first saw you.” The admission releases the tightness in my chest. For the first time, I’m being honest with myself.
“We monitor the exiles,” Cax says. “I used to watch you. Wander all over the Lowlands, brave and fearless. I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”
My cheeks heat. “You used to watch me?” His confession should annoy me, but instead, it just turns me on. “Did you watch me in the shower?”
His lips turn up. “Nothing that exciting. We only monitor the common areas.” He strokes my cheek. “You fascinated me. Even before I met you, you filled my thoughts. And now, you’re here, and it feels like a dream I don’t want to wake from.”
Oh fuck, that’s hot. Warmth gushes between my legs. I lean in and reward his confession with a kiss, pressing my breasts against him. My nipples prickle. My entire body buzzes with pulsing energy, wild electricity that exists only when I’m near my mates. Every nerve ending in my body lights up, alive.
“You like to watch, huh.” Trembling a little, I turn and reposition myself on his lap, being sure to rub my bottom over his cock. I’m such a tease. A growl rumbles in Cax’s chest, a delicious vibration. His hands turn to steel, holding me close, but he doesn’t do more than keep me planted firmly on his lap. He’s letting me make all the moves.
Hurux sits on the edge of the couch, watching us. Watching me, his huge body tense and waiting. His fists are clenched as if he’s holding himself back from touching me.
Time to fix that.
I reach for him, sliding a hand around his neck and tugging him close. Before our lips touch, I turn back to Cax. “Watch this,” I breathe, and capture Hurux’s mouth.
I’m slick with desire. Hurux kisses me, teasing and sliding and sucking until I ache for more. I’m putting on a show for Cax, sitting on his lap and kissing another man, and it’s totally turning me on. Not just me. Underneath me, Cax’s cock grows impossibly hard. His hand moves under my shirt, and he strokes my back, his touch warm.
Hurux has control of the kiss now. His hand cups the back of my neck, holding me close. His fingers are gentle, but when I lean back, he growls a little, and his grip tightens. At his possessiveness, my nipples harden even more.
Last night was drinking and banter and flirting. Well, until it ended in disaster. Tonight is deeper, more intense.
Hurux trails kisses down the side of my mouth. I tilt my head back, and he kisses my neck, his lips fastening onto my pulse and sucking hard enough to leave a mark. I feel the pull in my breasts as if his mouth is on them, and a fresh surge of heat rushes through me.
“I need…” My voice trails off. I grab Hurux’s free hand and place it on my aching breasts, rubbing it back and forth over my nipples until he’s kneading them on his own. His mouth works down my neck, nibbling on my collarbone before focusing on the tops of my breasts.
Lips, hands. Stroking. Touching. Nibbling.
It’s too hot in here. My clothes are too tight. I’m about to suggest that we take a moment to get naked when Hurux’s big fingers slip into the collar of my shirt. A sharp tug and the fabric splits. Buttons fly everywhere.
Anticipation churns in me as Hurux tears my shirt open enough to reveal my bra. With a hungry purr, he lowers his head and continues to feast, licking and sucking on the exposed skin.
My hips rock. I squirm against Cax’s thick erection, giddy with desire.
Cax pulls me back in his lap, and with a sharp tug, makes me arch backward. He kisses the side of my neck, his lips hot and hungry. My bowed back has the added benefit of pushing my chest right into Hurux’s face. The Draekon makes the most of it, tugging my bra down under my breasts, freeing the aching mounds and sucking my nipples into his mouth. I’m rocking in earnest now, trying to rub my clit on Cax’s rigid thigh. Without taking his lips from my neck, he shifts m
e over, planting me right onto his leg. Right where I wanted. I hang onto Hurux and rock faster, rubbing against Cax. My toes curl.
“That’s it,” Cax murmurs in my ear. “Work against me. Take what you need.”
Digging my nails into Hurux’s shoulders, I angle my body just right. Every time I drag my hips forward, my clit catches on the ridge of Cax’s muscled thigh. One, two passes, and I’m close.
Hurux’s fingers find my nipples, tugging them gently. Pleasure builds, the intensity ratcheting up, and I explode. My body quakes between the two Draekons. My muscles spasm in relief, relieving the ache in my core. Pleasure floods through me.
Wow.
I let my head drop against Hurux. His touch turns soothing, tracing circles over my breasts. Cax’s arm slips around my waist, holding me close. He kisses my neck, and I sigh in pleasure and lean back against Cax’s chest.
“That was…” I try for an adjective. I can’t believe I came from rubbing myself on Cax’s leg. Well, that and Hurux’s talented mouth and fingers on my nipples. Damn, these guys are good. Or I really, really needed that orgasm. Probably both.
I twist to face Cax. “I was going to help you.” I emphasize the ‘you.’
He smiles at me. “You did, Bryce. That was incredible.” His hands stroke my thighs, sending a fresh wave of tingles through my body. “You are everything I ever wanted, and more.”
18
Cax
My mate is breathing hard, her cheeks flushed. I want to press my mouth to her pretty pink nipples. I want to hold her fast and suck on her neck, making her writhe and cry out. I want to drop between her legs and taste her sweetness.
Silu was right. I have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to claim the happiness offered to me. Fate has brought me a gift, and it’s up to me to claim it.
In my lap, Bryce stretches and heaves a happy sigh. Her breasts rise and fall above the torn scraps of her shirt. Satisfaction rolls off her, so thick and obvious I can scent it. My cock stiffens further, and my mouth waters. I want to grab her and lay her on the couch, rip off the rest of her clothing and take her.