Despite her earlier vow to continue on to the jump station, Susa wavered for a split-second. She thought about the peacefulness of her house and gardens on Cejuru Prime—her haven and safe place during the last fifteen standard years. But that would be back-tracking and—cowardly. She’d begun this trip with the idea of moving forward and exploring the potential of her new life to its fullest, to find her place in the galaxy outside of the Cejuru system.
Susa couldn’t countenance going home until she discovered what it was like to live outside of the social constrictions that had bound her for most of her adult life.
Taking a deep breath, she blew it out. “I’m going to visit my cousin. How long will we be on Tooh 2 this time? I waited two weeks for Vanni’s freighter. Are we going to have to wait that long again?”
The frustration flowing off Damon indicated he wasn’t happy with her decision. But then he didn’t have to be, did he? He was here at Borac’s behest, and Susa bet her cousin, if asked, would support her.
And Damon knew that. His response proved it.
“We’ll take the first passenger ship available,” Damon said. “Several leave weekly from the Tooh 2 orbiting space dock with a planned stop at my station.”
Passenger ship? “But Lia and the others said the passenger ships aren’t safe for me.”
Dobrek answered before Damon did. “Whoever warned you was correct. I wouldn’t let any single female I cared about to travel on any of those particular cruise lines.”
“Traveling alone?” Damon snorted. “No, you wouldn’t have been safe. The ships coming to Jump Station Charybdis are all sex cruises where men usually outnumber the women three-to-one. Those particular passenger ships cruise the outer galactic rim stations and planets where the sexual mores tend to be more, let us call it, liberal. Single women, especially gorgeous ones like you, are considered fair game. But I’ll be with you, and I dare anyone to make a move on you while you’re on my arm.”
Warmth and yes, she’d admitted, happiness swamped her senses. Damon would fight to protect her. Her inner primordial female preened.
Get your head on straight. He’s not your lover. He’s Borac’s business partner.
And he was probably still in love with his adopted little sister.
“Then we should be fine. I don’t want men hitting on me. I promise to follow your lead on the passenger ship,” Susa assured him. “My cousin has spoken highly of you. And Bria has mentioned you’re her favorite big brother.”
Damon winced at her last words, and she bit her lip in remorse. She’d caused him pain. Yes, he was definitely not over losing Bria to Iolyn.
“I’m glad we got that cleared up,” Damon muttered as he led her into the corridor. “Borac would gut me if anything happened to you.”
“Does he know I was kidnapped?” Susa asked.
“Not yet. I didn’t want him to worry,” Damon said. “Wulf Caradoc might’ve contacted him, but I doubt it. Caradoc knew Dobrek and I were on your trail almost immediately.”
A warm sense of security chased away the last of her fears. Even if she and Geep hadn’t managed to kill Sleko, they still would’ve been rescued because of good men like Wulf, Damon, and Dobrek.
“It might be a good idea to contact Borac before Vanni’s freighter gets in,” Susa suggested in a soft voice. “I wouldn’t want him to worry about either of us.”
“We can do that once we’re away from here.” Damon looked down at her. “You will trust me to protect you, Susa.”
“I already do.” She smiled serenely. But while she’d listen to him in all things dealing with her security and safety, she wouldn’t allow him to ride roughshod over her life choices every single nanosecond.
What was the old Prime saying? “Give an alpha-male a par sec, he’ll take a light year.” Susa was in charge of her life now, and she planned on living it to the fullest.
Chapter 10
24 standard hours later, Tooh 2 resort
Damon leaned against the pool-side bar and scowled at his recalcitrant charge as she blithely sun-bathed on the pool deck. Susa had totally ignored his order from earlier that morning—specifically, the order to “stay in the room.” An order meant for her protection.
Not that she’d accepted she was in danger. Her rationale? Because Nagli Goldai wasn’t on Tooh 2, she was safe.
Damon had countered her reasoning—just because Goldai wasn’t currently on-planet didn’t mean the Umbraxi ruler’s hired minions couldn’t grab her.
Susa’d told him he was overreacting and changed the subject.
Damon had left their suite to arrange their passage on the next available passenger ship. He’d assumed she’d stay put. An error on his part.
The stubborn-as-a-mule woman had left the safety of their suite and headed straight for the resort’s pool—the original site of all her previous troubles.
Taking a bracing drink of his beer, Damon scanned the pool area which was crowded with two men for every one woman. He wasn’t the only male keeping an eye on Susa.
Being a healthy heterosexual male, Damon couldn’t blame her male admirers. Susa’s assets were fully on display since her bathing suit consisted of a minuscule strip of shiny red fabric across her full breasts and an equally tiny thong which left her ass cheeks bare. On any other woman, he had no problem with the suit. On Susa, it should be declared illegal.
A man would have to be dead, playing for the other team, or asexual not to single out Susa.
Damon was used to being surrounded by gorgeous women—and had thought he’d built up an immunity to them. But Susa was in a class by herself and impossible to ignore. She was a stunningly beautiful woman with her long, glossy black hair, green-flecked gold eyes, and light bronze skin covering a statuesque body.
Plus, she possessed something extra—an indefinable energy which pulled a man to look and desire her. Like the Sirens from early Terran myths, her mere presence lured men into her orbit, unconsciously sending them signals that they, too, might have her on their arms at dinner or under them in bed.
Hell, Damon had been in a state of semi-arousal ever since he’d rescued her from the Dornians. But Susa was off-limits. She’d been placed under his care by his friend and business partner. Even without that prohibitive factor, a temporary sexual relationship was the only thing he had to offer any woman. His heart had closed up shop after losing Bria. After years as a sex surrogate, Susa was a woman who deserved a man who was heart-whole.
Damon picked up the other beer he’d ordered, along with a glass of the juice the bartender said Susa was drinking, and headed her way. The lecture he planned to give her would be in a calm, but stern, voice. They’d remain pool side long enough to make it clear to everyone present that Susa was with him. Then he’d escort her disobedient, sweet little ass back to their suite.
As he approached her chaise, he realized why the ogling males, and a few females, hadn’t already approached her. Geep, as she’d named the Ragbag she’d adopted, was perched between her calves, flashing his teeth, showing his eyes, and growling.
Damon chuckled. Okay, she had a fierce bodyguard, but still—“Here,” he held the glass of juice in front of her face, “you’ll get dehydrated quickly out here. There’s less than twenty percent humidity and the sun is at its apex this time of the day.”
Susa aimed her sunglass-covered eyes at him. Her welcoming smile turned into a frown and she sighed. Guess his expression wasn’t as blank as he’d meant it to be.
“Thanks.” She took the glass and placed it on the side table. “Um, Damon … I know you told me not to leave the suite.”
Damon couldn’t wait to hear how she rationalized disobeying a direct order concerning her safety. He pulled over an empty lounge chair and straddled it, facing her, elbows on his knees, and his beer cradled in his hands.
She slid her sunglasses down her nose and looked over the top of them. “But I’m not a child. I have a brain. I also have Geep with me. And, as you can see, no one wants to
approach me if they have to go through him. Also, there have been no fewer than three Alliance Military guards watching over me since I arrived pool side. When I go to the ladies’ room, two of them follow and guard the door. I asked, and they’re here on direct orders from Wulf. So, you see, I’m better guarded than Premier Caradoc.”
Susa shoved her glasses back up her elegant little nose, then turned away and gave Geep a loving stroke across the head. The little fucker purred like a lap cat.
Damon reviewed her reasoning and—“Fuck that.”
His body vibrated as he thought of all that could’ve gone wrong. Geep and the guards could’ve been killed and one luscious Prime female snatched in mere seconds.
He set his beer on the side table, then placed a finger under her chin and turned her head back to face him. “You promised to obey me, to trust my ability to protect you. If you don’t follow my orders, I can’t do my job.”
Her narrowed gaze fixed on him, Susa inhaled and exhaled slowly, then did it again. The pulse point in her neck throbbed at a furious pace against her delicate skin.
Weirdly, his heart rate sped up to match hers.
Damon took a deep breath in an attempt to slow his stampeding pulse and dampen his anger. As he inhaled, her scent hit him—hard. A flowery sweet smell underlaid with a hint of spice and permeated with a unique female musk that made his dick harder than it already was.
He took in another breath. Big mistake. He groaned quietly as his loins throbbed in time with the oddly synchronized beating of their hearts.
All motion and noise seemed to fade into the background as if he and Susa were in their own little bubble. Their connectedness was overwhelming and unlike anything Damon had ever felt. Not even his feelings for Bria had impacted him this way. His love for his adoptive sister had been gentle, the kind of love about which poet’s wrote odes. His feelings for Susa were more territorial and nowhere near gentle.
The otherworldly stillness surrounding the two of them was disturbed by Geep. The Ragbag growled, low and ominously. His fur fluffed out, all curl gone. The little furball glared at Damon and cuddled closer to Susa in a protective manner. What had the creature sensed?
Whatever it was, Susa seemed to perceive it also. Her golden eyes widened and glowed with a hidden fire. She swallowed hard and then blinked. Slowly, she pulled away from his touch on her chin as if she were afraid he might attack at her slightest motion.
Damon feared she might not be wrong. His baser instincts roared at him to pounce, claim, and keep her.
Fuck … no … such actions could only lead to more heartache.
Damon called on every bit of strength he possessed and shook off whatever sorcery Susa wielded over him. He picked up his beer with a slightly shaky hand and took a hefty swallow.
But, try as he might, his gaze refused to leave her. Worse, he was hyper-attuned to the position and movement of every leering male in the pool area. His brain rehearsed exactly how he’d eliminate any horny bastard who made one wrong move toward Susa. Because until she was on his jump station and under her cousin’s care, Susa was his to protect.
But not to claim.
A slight twinge in a dark corner of his brain had him checking the area for danger. Rubbing a persistent itch on his chest just above his heart, he quartered his surroundings, but found nothing that should’ve shot his instincts to high alert.
Unsettled, he turned to look at Susa. Her head was bowed, almost submissively. Her generous mouth, narrowed. Her jaw was firm and a muscle worked as if she strained not to speak. Most telling was her body posture—she’d gone still and hunched over as if she were prey avoiding the notice of a predator. As if she were trying to avoid being hit.
Damon vibrated with anger at the dark story her body language conveyed. How often had she placated an angry, testosterone-ridden Caradoc in such a manner? How often had she held back an angry response? How many times had she been struck for acting independently?
A man in full rut could be cruel and uncaring of the woman sharing her body. He’d seen such abuse on his jump station. He and Borac punished abusive males harshly. Sexual abuse, be the woman a long-term or a one-hour sex partner, was unacceptable and not tolerated.
Just thinking of Susa being mistreated in the past—and of her being afraid of him—had Damon’s fingers tightening on his glass. Working to keep his voice soft, controlled, he said, “Susa—”
“I’m sorry you’re upset with me.” Susa spoke slowly in a mollifying tone. “I promised to obey you once we were on the passenger ship. However, since I’d been at this resort before and I know where it’s safe and where it isn’t—”
“Susa—” he began again, but stopped as her gaze met his.
Her submissive attitude had vanished as if it had never been. Irritation smoldered in her eyes, making them more gold, totally eliminating the green.
“Goldai didn’t kidnap me from the pool area. And you know why?” Her tone was sharper now. Insulted. Any fear she might’ve felt was now buried by an iron will.
Damn, she was magnificent, and this response was far more preferable than the momentary fear she’d shown him.
Fuck. Damon had approached this situation all wrong. He knew better. Bria used to take him to task for his overbearing machismo every time he tried such maneuvers with her.
But still, when he hadn’t found Susa in their suite and had no idea where she was, he’d panicked and, at that point, adrenaline and testosterone had taken over.
He should’ve remained by the pool bar longer, finished a couple of beers, and calmed down before confronting her.
Damon was about to offer an apology and an explanation of his very real need to know her whereabouts when she cut him off by holding up her hand, three fingers raised.
“No answer?” she asked. “Okay, then, I’ll tell you why—because, one, there are cameras.”
One finger went down.
“Two, there are the resort security guards, and even better, for me—and me alone—military guards.”
Second finger went down.
The third finger pointed in his direction and was used in a stabbing motion to punctuate her final reason. “And three, there are too many witnesses. Goldai is a greedy apayebo, but he is not stupid. He’d want to get away with his crime—thus, the Dornians taking me on the P85 space dock with no one knowing who’d hired them.”
As Damon once again tried to speak, she cut him off with a slicing motion. “Give me some credit, cheko”—buddy—“while I might’ve lived a relatively sheltered life on Cejuru Prime, I’m not a mindless rock. You don’t see me walking nearly naked in the rougher parts of the resort town, asking for trouble, do you? No, you don’t. I’m here, in a secure area, unmolested.”
Damon took a sip of his beer. He couldn’t refute her logic. He was astonished at the two sides of Susa he’d witnessed. His beautiful charge might be leery of male power and strength, but she was no pushover and had teeth.
While he admired her spunk and courage in standing up to him, there was still the fucking fact she was under his care and hadn’t fucking left him a fucking note to tell him where she’d fucking gone.
And now he was mad all over again.
Damon forced himself to take a couple more sips of his beer before speaking when what he really wanted to do was snatch Susa up, toss her over his shoulder, take her back to their suite, and tie her to the bed so she couldn’t escape his protection again.
A bit wiser than when he’d first arrived at the pool area, he didn’t do any of those things. Mostly because he was certain such actions wouldn’t get him what he wanted from Susa in the long run, which was her cooperation during the long journey to the jump station. Also, Geep was growling again, his big purple eyes aimed at Damon in an unmistakable warning.
Had the little fucker read his mind?
Geep confirmed that notion by sending a replay of Damon’s most recent thoughts. Fuck. How had he not known that Ragbags were both sentient and telepathic?
>
The little furball uttered a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sneer.
Great, now Damon had to guard his thoughts about Susa from a furry pile of rags with teeth and an undying loyalty to her.
Susa petted an obviously upset Geep while keeping a wary eye on Damon.
A muscle in Damon’s jaw clenched and unclenched. A chaotic mix of emotions roiled off him, pounding against her empathic senses like waves on a rocky shore. There was more than anger there—there was also a lot of worry and frustration added into the explosive mix.
When initially confronted with his male outrage, Susa had donned the mask she’d developed over the years when dealing with larger, stronger males and waited to see what Damon would do. How he handled the violation of his orders and her vocal defense of her actions, especially when she disagreed with his edicts, would tell her a lot about his basic nature.
Since they’d be forced together for an extended period of time, she’d like to know now what she could expect. Was he a Tenar-Caradoc-type male or a Wulf-Caradoc-type?
“In the future,” Damon said, a husky growl in his tone, “if you have issues with an order I give for your safety, please weigh in at the time I give it. If you leave a place I have put you, please leave me a message telling me why you left, when you left, and where you’ll be. I promise I’ll attempt to seek your input about all actions and decisions concerning you. But there will be times when you’re in imminent danger, and I’ll expect my orders to be followed at such times to the letter. Is that a workable solution to the miscommunication we found ourselves in today?”
Thank the One. Damon was a Wulf-Caradoc-type male, overprotective but reasonable to a point. Tenar would’ve dragged her from the pool area and then beat submission into her.
“That’s a perfectly tenable solution,” Susa said. “I apologize for upsetting you. I admit I should’ve left a message or contacted you.”
Prime Target Page 11