by Celia Kyle
But sitting there in a booth at the Gold Win casino on Glimner, staring up at Lamira’s curvy form as she gyrates on the table, I’m completely at a loss.
Of course, we’re all giddy from the drink, but I know she took a tablet to prevent poor judgement and hangovers. Thus, this must all be her own idea, and she’s completely aware of what she’s doing.
Namely, making my pants very tight. It’s not just her sensual moves. It’s the smoldering eyes. Her dark gaze mesmerizes me and holds me captive as surely as a gravity well.
“Hey, buddy. Tell your girlfriend to get off the table or there’s gonna be trouble.” I snap my gaze to the side, prepared to angrily point out that at least three other tables have people dancing on them, when I realize the speaker is my old friend, Zarp. His shit-eating grin belies his earlier diatribe, just as his laid-back demeanor belies the dark blue security uniform he’s wearing.
“Zarp.”
“In the golden flesh.” He winks at me and then gestures toward Lamira, who’s now playfully dancing for Varia’s sake. The two of them are laughing so hard I’m afraid she’s going to fall off the table. “You’ve done well for yourself.”
“I don’t get your meaning.”
He chuckles and gestures for me to rise from my seat. “Yes, you do. If you’re not sharing a bunk, you will be soon enough. Come on, let’s chat somewhere private.”
I follow in his wake, first letting Solair know I’ll be back soon. Zarp is a middle-aged Kilgari, ostensibly married but he rarely sees his wife as far as I know. Which makes sense, knowing she has seventeen other husbands as well.
One of his horns got busted off during a nasty ship crash. I was there and broke my leg in two places. Zarp pretty much saved my life that day, dragging me out of the vessel before it could explode, but then again, I’ve saved his a few times as well.
“You look good in that monkey suit.”
Zarp laughs and leads me onto the posh, mirror-walled elevator. “Don’t lie. I look like a damn fool. But the pay is great, I set my own hours, and it’s the epitome of do-nothing jobs.”
“Sounds like it’s right up your alley, Zarp.” My smile fades. “Old friend, I’m afraid my need is dire…”
“I’ll share my predictions for this year’s Mega Bowl later.”
“No, I’m…”
“Grantian.” His jaw sets hard. “I said we’ll talk later.” His eyes ever so subtly glance up at the camera bulb affixed to the ceiling.
“Yeah, whatever.” I laugh to play it off. When the doors slide open on the fifteenth floor, he leads me down a soft carpeted hallway and into his office. Most of one wall of the cozy environs is covered in monitors while a large, expensive, and powerful console sits upon his desk.
“Nice digs, Zarp.”
“You know it.” He closes the door, and then flips a switch on his console. The running lights change from blue to red. “Okay, that should jam anybody trying to eavesdrop.”
“I don’t remember you being this paranoid in the Hael Hounds, Zarp. What makes you so certain someone is trying to listen in?”
He scoffs and spreads his hands widely.
“This is Glimner. Someone is always listening in. But not so long as I have my trusty jamming suite. Now, I assume you’re here because of something to do with the one hundred and seven new crew mates on the Ancestral Queen?”
My hand drifts toward my blaster, but Zarp quickly holds his hands up. “Stay your hand, old friend. I’m not trying to threaten you.”
“So, you say. But you took pains to drop that bombshell early on.”
Zarp sighs and rubs the stub where his left horn used to be. “I just wanted to make sure you knew where we stood. I’m no dope, Grantian. It behooves me in my job to keep an ear to what’s going on in the galaxy, and people on Kyvos have loose tongues.”
“Particularly when exposed to credits. I see. Actually, Zarp, I’m here to inquire if you know anything about a base on the moon, Consolation.”
“Consolation?” He covers his mouth with his hand and shakes his head. “I’d heard rumors of some outfit wanting to set up there, but I didn’t take them seriously. It’s been abandoned for ages.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” I shift in my seat and sigh. “I’m not accusing you of anything, but have you heard anything about a possible interest by the body merchant sect in acquiring human women?”
Zarp sighs and then nods. “Yes, I have. Especially in the far-flung outposts. Rumor has it that it’s a shadow cabinet of the IHC who are actually behind the purchases. Let that sink in.”
“But the IHC forbids all forms of slavery, other than indenture. Even the Coalition forbids it.”
“Except on Gur.”
“The Ataxians keep the mayhem and chaos on Gur so it doesn’t spread to the rest of their galactic empire. You’re obfuscating the issue, Zarp. How do you even know the IHC is behind the slave trade uptick?”
“Look, Grantian. I didn’t say I knew. I said it was rumored. Apparently, they’re using dummy corporations to do the actual buying to keep their noses clean. That’s all I know.”
Shooting him a grin, I rise from my seat and we bash our fists together in the Hael Hounds greeting. “Thank you, old friend.”
“Anytime for a fellow Hound.”
We stand there for a moment staring at each other before breaking into one of the Hael Hounds mantras, shouting in our best parade voices.
“Hael Hounds,
Walking tall,
Knocking Down,
Every wall,
Can’t hack it?
Pack it!”
Then we club each other on the shoulders, and I take my leave. When I reach the door, he calls out to me one more time. “Grantian.”
“Yes?”
“Take my advice. Don’t go to Consolation. Messing with the IHC, either officially or otherwise, never ends well.”
“Thank you.” What’s left unsaid, though understood by both of us, is that I’m going to Consolation come hell or high water.
My thoughts dwell upon the news Zarp delivered as I ride the elevator car back to the lobby level. I suppose I look quite grim because everyone in the car gives me a wide berth.
I just can’t believe that the Interstellar Human Confederation would be behind all of this. When it comes to sapient species, I’ve never considered humanity to be one of the worst. Definitely not the best, but certainly not the worst.
I think back to all I’ve learned about humans during my time with the Hael Hounds.
As the premier mercenary group, headquartered on the planet Hael in the League of Non-Aligned Races, we were required to know about other species we could potentially come across in combat.
Humanity had come to the stars within the last four centuries, after they had regrouped from their third world war. They were incredibly short lived, and this caused them to breed faster than most other races in the galaxy.
Of all the races that had had a planetary conflict in their past, the humans had recovered from theirs several orders of magnitude faster than anyone. They had transformed their home world, Earth, into a commercial and technological hub and utopia by embracing the alien races and cultures and incorporating the best into their own.
Upon perfecting the technology for superluminal speeds, humanity had begun colonizing planets around their systems. These worlds formed the Interstellar Human Confederation—and in three centuries had formed as an economic and military power that was now taken seriously by the major powers in this quadrant of the galaxy. Many humans had emigrated away from the IHC and settled in worlds that have joined the League as well. A large contingent of humans had also created a separate political power, the Helios Combine.
Generally, humans were not a group of sapient species that brought about a lot of negative emotions.
But for their government to be trafficking in its own citizens?
I’d believe this about the Helios Combine and their Nobility, which had its origins in humans who had splintered wi
th the IHC. But for the government of 140 billion humans in the galaxy to be trying to sell its own citizens just makes no sense to me.
When I come back down to the bar, Lamira spots me from her vantage on the table and waves enthusiastically. “Woo hoo. Who ordered the stud with a side of beefcake?”
Varia covers her face with her hands while Solair laughs so hard his eyes tear up.
I approach the table, and she puts her arms akimbo and stares down at me with mock sternness. “Where have you been? I missed you.”
“My apologies, Lamira. I’ve met with my old associate and have learned some things of importance.”
“That’s great.” Lamira’s lovely face creases with a wide smile. “You’re so good to us. Thank you for being such a sweetheart.”
“Think nothing of it…” With her on the table, she has to bend slightly to do so, but she puts her hands on each side of my face. “Wha—what are you doing?”
“Thanking you properly.”
Then she mashes her lips onto mine. There’s no tongue, no frantic groping, and yet I feel as if a bolt of electricity has passed through my spine.
For the briefest of moments, perhaps less than a nanosecond, I can feel the cosmic swirl of happenstance pulsing through me, around me, around everything. I can see the chain of events, which have led to this inevitable moment.
There’s an empty spot in my chest I never even noticed before, until now. I only know of it because Lamira curls up and snuggles into that empty spot, filling it now and forever.
That’s it. Lamira is my fated mate. As she pulls away from me, a devilish grin on her face, I notice Solair give me a knowing wink.
“Perhaps we’d best head back to the Queen before the debriefing.” Solair inserts his cred stick into the port at our table, paying our tab.
“Oh, there’s going to be debriefing all right,” Varia says into her drink, her gaze carefully avoiding both Lamira and me.
The ride back to the ship is pleasant because Lamira sits pressed up to my side with her arm snaked through mine. Her presence is overwhelming, and I ache to hold her bare skin to my own.
When we reach the cargo bay, Solair makes the unusual move of letting me know I can skip the debrief.
“Are you certain?”
“Oh, yes. You have some personal business to attend to. Our warriors are knowledgeable and well-trained. They can tell me of all that transpired.”
He leaves before I have a chance to express gratitude. When I turn around, I find Lamira standing there in front of me, pointedly swallowing the second half of her tablet.
“What are you doing?”
“Dry swallowing a pill. Ugh.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know how Varia does it all the time.”
“But why?”
Lamira traces circles on my forearm with her fingertips and grins up at me with half-lidded eyes.
“Just in case you take me back to your bunk. I want to remember everything.”
My eyes widen, and it’s all I can do to nod my assent.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lamira
I’m doing this.
I’m really doing this.
Grinning like a madwoman, one that’s already drunk her own weight in shots and exotic cocktails, I let Grantian take me by the hand. Standing tall, he leads me through a maze of cramped corridors, the lights flickering overhead adding a certain aura of mystery to the experience. My heart flutters inside my chest, my thoughts crash against each other like old Earth bumper cars on ice, and it feels like I’m walking on rarified air. Thank the Mother I couldn’t help myself back at the bar. The moment my lips touched his, I knew there’d be no stopping this.
I’ve never been the kind of girl to let herself be controlled by her urges, but with Grantian… it’s simply impossible to cease. All I needed was some liquid courage, apparently, and now that I have it, I feel unstoppable.
“I just need to check if there’s someone in the room,” Grantian tells me once we reach our destination. He lets go of my hand and reaches for the door, but I’m on him before he can open it. “What are you—?”
“I don’t know if I can wait,” I whisper, pushing my body against his. I’m breathing hard, my heart feels like a hand-grenade on the verge of exploding, and there’s an electric thunderstorm raging inside me. Laying one hand on his chest, I look up into his eyes. “You have no idea how much I want you.”
“Enlighten me then.”
Smiling, I do as I’m told.
Grabbing him by his shirt, I go up on tiptoes and crush my mouth against his. This time he’s taking charge and, placing both his hands on my hips, he pries my lips open with the tip of his tongue. We kiss in a frenzied way, almost as if we were terrified of letting go, and Grantian punches the panel beside him blindly. The door whooshes into its partition and we stumble into the dark bunk room, unable to keep our hands off each other.
“Fuck,” he mutters all of a sudden, pulling back from me. He looks over his shoulder at the bunk beds, tensing up, and only once he realizes we’re completely alone does he relax. “That’s what you do to me, Lamira. I forgot to knock.”
“There’s nothing like a bit of danger to spice things up,” I tell him, closing the distance between us once more. This time he meets me halfway, his mouth returning to mine, and then he pushes me back until he has me pinned against the wall. There’s no other way to describe what’s happening but to say I’m melting into his embrace.
“I like this side of you,” he whispers, placing his mouth against my ear. His lips move against my skin, and a shiver runs up my spine. Perhaps noticing how vulnerable I am, he rests his forehead on mine and looks straight into my eyes. For a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me again, but he remains perfectly still. “Are you sure about this, Lamira? You know about me, and about my past. I’m not one of the good guys, and I can’t change that.”
“What are you talking about?” I furrow my brow. “I know you were a mercenary, and I know you’ve probably done a lot of things you’ve tried to forget but can’t. If that’s what’s worrying you, Grantian… know that I don’t care. I really don’t. I want you.”
“It’s not too late to—”
“Shut up,” the words slip out from between my lips before I can stop them. Lowering my voice into a whisper, I let the world fade into nothingness as I stare into his eyes. “The time for talking is over.”
He doesn’t say a word, and that’s because he doesn’t need to. The fire burning in his eyes, one born out of lust and crazed desire, tells me everything I need to know. He picks me up, and I throw my arms over his shoulders and lace my legs around his waist. Carrying me toward the bed, he puts me down on the mattress, lowering his body over mine.
I close my eyes as we continue to kiss, a scorching heat incinerating my rationality as he grows hard between my thighs. Despite the fact there are still barriers of clothing between us, I can feel him stiffening, the throb of his flesh against my inner thighs unleashing sweet hell inside my mind.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me,” he whispers against my lips, one of his hands trailing down my body. Turning his wrist, he flattens the palm of his hand between my legs, and I instinctively push my hips into the pressure. I moan softly as I feel the press of his fingers against my wetness, my eyes rolling as pleasure spreads its wings inside of me. That’s when Grantian changes gears.
Using both his hands, he tears at my clothes with urgent movements, pushing the fabric away from my skin until I’m down to my panties. He kneels between my legs, his eyes widening as he takes in my half-naked figure, and his lips part slightly with amazement.
“You’re stunning,” he whispers, slowly reaching for my bra. He pushes the cups down, freeing my hard nipples, and I do the rest by unclasping it. “You’re beautiful, Lamira,” he continues, softly cupping both my naked breasts with his hands.
I let out a moan as my nipples brush his calloused skin and then close my eyes as he leans into me. Using the
tip of his tongue, he laps up the rising curve of my left breast and then sucks my nipple into his mouth. He whips at it with his tongue, driving me completely insane, and that’s when he returns one of his hands between my legs.
I sway my hips from side to side, unable to restrain myself, almost too desperate to have him pressing down on that sweet hidden spot. It doesn’t take long before he decides to give me exactly what I need. Hooking his fingers on the elastic band, he pulls it against my outer thigh with one savage movement. I hear the sound of the fabric tearing and, just a fraction of a second later, the cool air in the room caresses all of my nakedness.
“Oh, sweet Mother,” I breathe as Grantian’s lips abandon my nipple. He starts tracing a downward path with his mouth, laying gentle but maddening kisses over my skin, and I react by taking my hands to his horns. Holding them tightly, I let instinct take the over and push him down, eager to feel his kisses where I need them most.
He takes his time getting there, gently nibbling at the skin on my inner thighs, and by then I’m already wondering if women can die of dehydration when they’re as wet as I am. Sounds silly when you put it like that, but I’ve never been in such a state before. Every single cell in my body is screaming out for him, lustful desperation covering me like a warm blanket.
“Please,” I moan, pushing his head down once more. “I can’t wait.”
Looking up at me, he offers me a wicked grin.
Then he moves in for the kill.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grantian
She’s delicious. There really isn’t any other way to describe her.
Lying on the mattress, right between her legs, I place my hands behind her knees. I pull her toward me as I trace the contour of her inner lips, using my tongue to savor her, and then I inevitably make my way toward her clit. Carefully, I wrap my lips around it and push down with the tip of my tongue.
“That feels so good,” I hear Lamira say, her hands holding my horns so tightly you’d think she wants to rip them off my skull. As I twirl my tongue around her pleasure bud, she forces my head down with all of her strength, and I have no choice but to give her what she wants. Putting all gentleness aside, I whip her clit at a merciless pace, and that’s enough to draw a string of quivering moans out of her. Her sweet voice fills the entire room, the sound of it bouncing off the walls and returning to me like a symphony. It just adds to my relentlessness.
