Her Cold-Blooded Mercenary

by Lea Linnett

  “I wish we could go with you.”

  Cara shook her head, smiling. “Of course you do.”

  “It’s so boring here!” Taz groaned, flopping back on the bed and wincing. Her head was still tender from the concussion, which was frustrating when the rest of her felt mostly fine. Thankfully, her ankle had only been sprained, and while it still hurt to walk on sometimes, it was rapidly healing.

  Cara looked down her nose at her. “Ari told you to rest,” she said. “Besides, you’ll have plenty to… occupy yourself with, while you’re here.”

  Taz frowned, but her sister avoided her eye, focusing instead on her task as she stuffed her clothes and belongings into her pack. “Cara…”

  “It’s fine,” she said. “I won’t say I understand it, but… if you’re happy, then I can live with it.”

  “Thank you, Cara.”

  Her sister shrugged. “I still don’t like leaving you here with him.”

  “Hasn’t he proven himself enough?” Taz muttered. “He took a set of claws to the chest for me, after all.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And you’re going to be working with a levekk, too. In Sek Vorek.”

  “Yes, but Deeno and Ari will be there. And Niro barely counts as levekk.”

  Taz sat up, her eyes wide. “Barely counts? He’s the size of a house!”

  Cara rolled her eyes and stuffed a jacket into her bag with gusto.

  “You won’t be needing that,” Taz added, making Cara’s eyes narrow.

  “Yes, I will. Even in the summer, the desert nights can be cold, and the safehouse is outside the climate-control dome. And I could be there until winter, for all we know.”

  Taz smiled. “But you’ll have big ’ol Niro to snuggle up with, won’t you?” Her sister’s jaw dropped, her cheeks flaming, and she couldn’t help but laugh. Cara being flustered was a rare sight.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Nothing.” Taz fought for composure, toying with a loose thread on the blanket beneath her. “It’s just… You shoulda heard him talk about you that day, when he caught me in the warehouse.”

  Cara went still, her brown eyes widening.

  “‘You wouldn’t have a hope without Cara calling the shots!’ ‘Cara would never have let you come in here alone!’” Taz grinned up at her. “Seemed like you made a pretty big impression on him.”

  “I don’t…” Her sister looked away. “You’ve been spending too much time with that levekk.”

  “What? Because I think Niro would be good to you?”

  “No. Because you’re becoming almost as annoying as him,” Cara said, fighting back a smile.

  “He has a name, you know.”

  “Fine. Kamanek.”

  “Better.”

  They were quiet for a moment, the frivolous mood souring, and then Cara muttered, “I thought you didn’t trust Niro, anyway.”

  “I trust you to be able to handle him,” Taz said. “And I trust Kamanek, too. I know deep down that he’ll be okay here, with the Lodestars.”

  They exchanged a long look, and then Cara sighed. “Like I said, I won’t tell you how to live your life. I know you can handle yourself. And I’ve been wrong about them before…” she admitted, the corner of her lip tugging upwards.

  Taz’s heart swelled. That was as much of a blessing as she could hope for, coming from someone like her sister.

  They sat in silence for a while as Cara sorted through her belongings, but Taz couldn’t help the question from creeping to her lips. Her sister was leaving the next morning; this might be her only chance to ask.

  “Cara…” she began, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

  “What?”

  “I… wanted to ask about Siikas,” she said, cautiously meeting her sister’s eye.

  Cara stilled, her lips thinning, but nodded. “Go on.”

  “Why did you leave him to the enforcers? Was it the same reason you let Ellie and the others go in the Senekkar?” She didn’t know why it mattered so much to her. Siikas’ arrest had been broadcast across multiple channels, and inside sources had reported that his chances of refuting the evidence against him were slim at best. But somehow, leaving him to rot in prison still didn’t seem like enough.

  Cara shook her head. “It wasn’t that. Siikas…” She blew out a shaky breath. “When I walked up to him, I looked him right in the eye. And even with all those memories running through my mind, even with all the fear and hatred plain on my face, he… didn’t recognize me.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. And in that moment, I realized that this weight I’d been carrying for so long, this huge event in my life… it was nothing to him. I think you ripping up his face had more of an impact on him than anything he did to me,” she added, shrugging.

  “Cara…”

  “No, it’s… it’s okay.” She breathed out a sigh, and when she looked at Taz, her eyes were clear. “I’ll never forget what he tried to do to me. I’ll never forget the fear and the anger, but… I know now that killing him wouldn’t have helped me get over those things. It would have been like killing a stranger, if he didn’t know why. So, let him rot in prison, I say.” She smiled ruefully. “That will affect him far more than I ever could.”

  Taz frowned, staring down at her hands, hands that were all too ready to kill him, maim him, even torture him. Was it that much better than what she’d had done to the kerfaan?

  “I think you did the right thing,” she whispered, and felt Cara’s warm palm smooth over her shoulder. They exchanged a glance.

  “I do, too.”

  Taz watched Cara move through the room silently, putting some items in her bag and others in a box by Taz’s legs. Neither of them had many belongings, but there was still too much for Cara to take with her, for now. Taz had agreed to look after the rest, but as it disappeared into the box, the emptiness of the room made her quail.

  “I think that’s everything,” Cara said after a while, zipping her bag shut. She looked around. “It looks different in here without all your mess.”

  “My mess?” Taz patted the box. “You’ve got way more stuff than me. I’m going to have to move a whole pile of clothes aside to fit this thing in, you know.”

  They both laughed, and Taz noticed a sheen to Cara’s eyes. “Hey,” she said, fishing around in her boot. “There’s something I want to give you.”

  Cara’s eyes widened with realization. “Taz, no. You’ve had that—”

  “Since we met, I know.” She smiled, pulling her knife from her boot and holding it out. “It might come in handy for you, and if not, at least you can keep it to remember me by.”

  “You might be joining me in just a few months.”

  “And you can return it then.” She grinned. “It probably won’t do much against someone like Niro, seeing as he’s the size of a freakin’ bear, but maybe it’ll help you feel… safer.”

  Cara’s lips parted. “Taz…”

  “Hey, you did the whole overprotective thing for me, already. It’s my turn,” she joked.

  Her sister bit down on a smile, taking the knife from her. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  Cara’s wristlet beeped once, and Taz knew it was time to leave. Their big goodbye could wait until the morning. She rose with a groan, testing her ankle, and pulled Cara into a hug.

  “I’m gonna miss you,” she murmured, and felt Cara hug her tighter.

  “Me too. But we’ll see each other when you’re better.”

  Taz snorted. “If Mila ever lets me off probation.”

  “She will,” Cara said as she pulled away. “Just don’t cause any trouble. And try to take it easy. I know you won’t stay in bed like Ari told you to, but…”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, picking up the box full of Cara’s belongings. “See you in the morning.”

  She hefted the box, doing her best not to show the limp that still clung to her, and paused in the doorway.
It still felt strange to leave this room, even though she hadn’t slept here once since returning from Sek Vorek, and it was even stranger leaving it so bare. Once Cara left, their shared room would be reassigned to someone else. It felt like the end of an era.

  Taz heaved a breath and headed in the direction of her newer, much smaller quarters. A few weeks ago, she would have seen the converted storage room as a punishment, but now…

  She smiled to herself. She’d never realized things could change so quickly.

  Kamanek was already there when she shouldered open the door, lounging lazily on the bed that they now shared, and Taz’s heart quickened. He was naked except for the bandages still wrapped around his torso, the hard planes of his muscles shining in the dim light. He was already half-hard, and he looked at her like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

  “You know Mila’s gonna come in one day and see you like that,” she sniffed, dropping the box by the door. There wasn’t much space in the small room, but Taz was working on re-purposing some storage shelves to hold their things in her downtime.

  Kamanek flashed his teeth. “Let her see. I don’t mind who looks, as long as you’re the only one touching,” he purred, rising from the bed and approaching her.

  “You like making them uncomfortable, don’t you?” She rolled her eyes, but allowed him to pull her close. His clawed hand cupped her head, something he’d made a habit of recently. Taz didn’t mind it. Sometimes, her head felt heavy from the concussion, and it was nice to feel supported.

  “I’ll continue to make them uncomfortable for as long as they continue to glare at me whenever I walk through the base,” he said.

  “They’ll come around. Now, come here.”

  She pulled him in for a kiss that seared. She’d been busy helping Cara and Deeno prepare all day, and she’d craved his touch the entire time. Taz usually hated being kept still and stifled, but a part of her wanted to spend every hour of the day here in this room, as long as Kamanek’s arms could be wrapped around her.

  They snaked around her waist now, pulling her against his bare, scaled torso, and she felt his cock press against her stomach.

  “I could barely wait for you,” he murmured into the kiss, backing them towards the bed. “Even just the thought of you had me wanting.”

  She gasped, and his lips moved to her pulse, licking and sucking at the skin as if he could inhale her. “Since when have you been so needy?”

  “I always need you,” he said. “You’re my bodyguard, remember?”

  “What am I guarding you against? The cold?”

  “Yes. Mila won’t give me a heater no matter how much I beg, so you’ll have to do,” he teased, laughing against her neck.

  Taz shivered, clinging to him for purchase as the backs of her knees knocked into the bed. “And I what do I get out of it?”

  “You get to ride my cock however you want, whenever you want,” he whispered in her ear, right before he bit down on her neck and made her gasp.

  She drew his mouth back to hers, kissing him fiercely, and the push and pull of their hands on each other’s bodies was as much a battle as it always was. She wished he would throw her to the bed, but Kamanek remembered her injuries at the last second, as he always did. He laid her down gently on the well-worn sheets, kissing her jaw with a softness that was almost out of place alongside the fire that licked through them.

  “I can’t wait until this concussion is gone,” she groused when he settled over her, raking her nails down his sides and making him hiss. She was careful to avoid his bandages, and the half-healed wound underneath.

  “We’ll get there,” he whispered, ghosting his lips behind her ear. “And in the meantime, I get to treat you sweetly, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  She groaned in mock anger, but she couldn’t deny how it made her shiver when he kissed her collarbone, gently pushing her jacket off her shoulders. He undressed her slowly, slipping his hands beneath her bra and whispering his fingertips across her hardening nipples. She could have urged him on at anytime, but for now she wanted to linger, indulging in the soft press of his lips to her breasts and the treacle-slow drag of her trousers being pulled over her thighs.

  Her clothes tossed aside, he slid over her, his cock hard and warm against her folds. She spread her legs, hiking her good ankle over his hips and guiding him toward her. She wanted to feel him, to feel their connection shocking down through their bodies. She didn’t spare a thought for the rest of the Lodestar base bustling around them, or the ache in her skull. For a moment, she even forgot that Cara was leaving.

  The peace she’d felt for a few scant moments with Kamanek in Sek Vorek was something she was becoming more and more accustomed to, and she basked in it now. She’d been running, fighting, battling her entire life, but in the past week, she’d finally been allowed to really rest. With the changes going on around them, and Cara leaving, it almost felt like she was beginning a new chapter, and for once, she was excited for what it may bring instead of apprehensive.

  She rolled her hips needily, and he stared down at her with river-green eyes that were now almost completely engulfed by black. The emotion she saw there made her breath catch in her throat. She wasn’t sure anyone had looked at her like that, like she was their lifeline, before.

  They both gasped as he rocked forward, slipping inside her. She missed being rough, fighting him for control, but she was learning that this was nice, too. There was something thrilling, about melting together this way. About feeling like one single being instead of two warring forces.

  “I love you, Taz,” he whispered, burying the words in her hair as he buried his cock to the hilt. Maybe it was the concussion talking, but she felt the words through her entire being.

  She pulled him closer. “I love you, too.”

  They were interrupted by a knock at the door, short and sharp. Kamanek groaned. “You’re kidding me.”

  “It’s not Cara,” Taz said. “I just left her.”

  Another knock, louder this time, and Kamanek slid out of her. He turned to the door, his cock jutting proudly in front of him. “They want an eyeful? I’ll give them an eyeful…”

  Taz rocketed up, ignoring the marbles in her head as she climbed off the bed. “Kamanek, no! Let me—”

  “I’ve got this, Firecracker, don’t worry. They’ll be gone in just a second.”

  “Kamanek!” she snapped. She yanked the sheet from the bed, wrapping herself in it clumsily, and lunged for him.

  “Hey, now.” Kamanek grinned, taking her by the shoulders and trying to set her back on the bed. “Don’t hurt your ankle.”

  “I mean it,” she said. She pulled the trailing sheet up off the floor and pushed past him.

  He caught her, and they scuffled for a moment, Kamanek doing his best to avoid aggravating her injuries while Taz ignored them. She slipped from his grasp and jabbed the heel of her hand into his chest, making him flinch back.

  Taz lunged for the door, just making it before Kamanek could recover, and she blew a kiss over her shoulder before opening it a crack.

  Mila stood on the other side, and her brown eyes flew up and down Taz’s body, taking in the rumpled sheet and her bare feet and shoulders. She then glanced back at Kamanek, who was hovering behind her, and Taz hoped she’d managed to hide his nakedness from their leader. That was a sight she didn’t want to share with anyone else.

  “I’ve… come at a bad time,” Mila said.

  “No—”

  “Yes, you have,” Kamanek interrupted with a grin. “But I’ll forgive you this time, ma’am. Now, see you tomorrow.”

  He tried to close the door, but Taz jammed it. “What’s up, Mila?”

  The Lodestar leader looked between them, an amused expression on her face. “I expected you to be the angry one,” she remarked at Taz, and then continued, ignoring her splutter. “I wouldn’t usually bother you so late, but I just got some news I thought you’d be interested in.”

  “What is it?”

/>   Mila’s lips thinned, her brows tenting. “I wasn’t sure if I should bring it up, after everything, but…”

  “Is it Siikas?” Kamanek asked, placing a cool and reassuring hand between Taz’s shoulder-blades.

  “No,” she said with a sigh. “The broadcast channels are reporting news concerning one of the humans who were… ‘abducted’ from the Senekkar four months ago, when you and Cara were there…”

  Taz frowned, her heart pounding. “What are they saying?”

  “That they found them,” Mila said. “And that Kerfaan Celesk is bringing one of them back to Earth.”

  THE END

  Author's Note

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