by Layla Nash
He liked her laugh, though he hadn’t heard enough of it. He wanted more. He wanted her laugh for himself; he wanted to see her joy saved just for him. Wyzak didn’t even mind when Faros brought another bottle of liquor and poured glasses for himself and Violet, then handed the bottle to Wyzak for him to do the same.
Gemma sighed and rubbed her temples, looking suddenly tired. “Either way, he’s gone. He wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, and there were certainly things I would have changed. But he was a friend when I needed one.”
“Then we thank him for his contribution,” Violet said, lifting her glass to salute the deceased.
Wyzak grudgingly did the same when Gemma followed suit. She still looked adrift, a little lost. He wanted to get her somewhere safe so they could talk through the ridiculous plan that she still seemed determined to carry out. He needed to convince her to stay on the Sraibur with him, or at least meet him somewhere so he could go where she wanted to be.
“We’ll be in range of a star in half a standard day,” Violet said. She checked a panel on the table and brought up a model of the programmed flight path for the Sraibur, rotating the display so that Gemma could see it easily. “While we remain on course to reach Proxima.”
Gemma nodded, drumming her fingers on the table, and when she didn’t speak, Violet leaned forward. “If that is still the plan.”
She straightened and tried to look resolute. “Of course. Why would we change the plan?”
“Because it is a bad idea,” Wyzak said under his breath. He absently touched her shoulder, trailing his fingers down her back. “A terrible plan. There is no need to do it.”
“So you want to be chased by bounty hunters the rest of your life?” Faros said.
“We will deal with the Tyboli eventually,” Wyzak said. He absently took a remaining piece of spiced meat from Gemma’s plate, since his own was empty and she didn’t seem inclined to finish the small mountain he’d served her. “There is no reason it must be now.”
“This is the best opportunity to put bounty hunters off your scent,” Gemma said. “The longer those bounties are out there, the more people will learn about them. The more people who know, the more who will be willing to roll the dice and take a chance to get the payout. The Tyboli might even raise the payment after enough time, if they think it will entice more bounty hunters to go after you. It’s better to deal with it now, before the bounties become legend.”
“Legend?” Violet arched a dark eyebrow. “Don’t say that, or this one,” and she jerked her chin in Faros’s direction, “will get too excited. We don’t want any legends around here.”
“What are you talking about?” Faros managed to look indignant and bored at the same time. “I’m already a legend.”
Wyzak didn’t quite bite back his snort in time, and the captain gave him a dark look from across the table. “Perhaps I’m becoming too well known for my kindness and generosity toward my crew. Maybe I need to work them harder.”
That time, it was Gemma who laughed. She didn’t even bother trying to hide it, either, which warmed Wyzak’s hearts. The Earther picked up her glass and saluted the captain with it. “Hear, hear.”
“She’s funnier than she thinks,” Faros said under his breath, then shoved his chair back from the table. “And since I can’t seem to get any work out of my first officer since you showed up, Earther, I’m off to deal with the rest of my ship. I look forward to having your partner—and soon, you—off of it.”
Wyzak didn’t like the captain’s tone when he spoke to Gemma, but clenched his jaw against his irritation. Even Violet rolled her eyes as she watched her mate stride out of the room, and the lawyer ordered some kind of dessert off the table before she turned her attention back to the floating depiction of their route for the next standard day or so.
Violet’s forehead wrinkled as she studied the space around Proxima, particularly the congested trade routes that drew close to the spaceport. “We’ll be nearby and can hide in the noise and traffic of the shipping lanes.”
“There’s no need,” Gemma said. “You’re free to go once I signal that I’m on Proxima.”
“Faros wants confirmation that you’ve spread the story and it seems to be taking hold,” Violet said smoothly.
Wyzak’s eyes narrowed. He doubted that Faros wanted anything of the sort. The pirate captain was more focused on where they would get the next opportunity to “tax” a passing ship, not on whether a community of bounty hunters believed the Tyboli double-crossed Gemma. Violet caught his eye and gave him a warning look, so Wyzak sat back to listen as the Earthers spoke.
Gemma, at least, didn’t look convinced. “There’s no way to know for certain.”
“We’ve discussed this many times,” Wyzak said. “There’s no use in going over it again.” He ignored Violet’s dark look and focused on Gemma. She was who he cared about. He needed her to stay. It didn’t matter what Violet thought or said. “It has been a long day, and tomorrow will be full of things to do and worry about. You should rest.”
She drank more of the liquor and studied the glass and the dessert that arrived for Violet. “What if I can’t sleep? Maybe it’s better to stay up.”
He had his own ideas on staying up all night, and for those, he needed to get her back to his quarters.
Unfortunately, Violet offered to share her dessert and then took her sweet time eating it, instead drawling about her time in the Alliance Fleet and the misadventures she and the rest of the Galaxos crew had gotten up to before Faros kidnapped her. And Gemma perked right up, fascinated by the other woman’s stories.
Wyzak wanted to tear his hair out. He gripped the edge of the table with increasing tension until the damn metal almost bent in his hands; the creaking caught Gemma’s attention and she gave him a sideways look. “What’s the matter with you?”
“He’s mad because I’m distracting you,” Violet said. She got to her feet, taking the last bit of the dessert with her, and winked at Gemma on her way out the door. “So I’ll go distract Faros from tormenting the rest of the crew. Good luck, Gemma.”
“Good luck?” Gemma asked, but Violet had already disappeared into the corridor. She turned her attention to Wyzak, her eyes narrowed. “What did she mean?”
“She has been around Faros too long,” Wyzak muttered. “She’s started causing as much trouble as he does. She meant nothing by it except to make you wonder whether I have something planned.”
Gemma’s eyebrows rose and she watched him for a long time before turning in her chair to face him. Wyzak held his breath as her head tilted and her fingers rested against his arm. “Well? Do you have something planned?”
Stars and suns save him, he had more planned for them than he could possibly say in a the next year. “Perhaps. But you will not find out by sitting in this room.”
She apparently enjoyed a challenge; he filed that knowledge away for later. Gemma popped to her feet, finished the rest of her drink, and headed for the door. “Then let’s go. Don’t keep me waiting, big guy.”
He swallowed a groan and barely managed to not grab her ass as she sauntered by. The Earther would be the death of him, he could already sense it. He would do anything and everything she said. All she had to do was speak.
Chapter 29
Gemma
Gemma’s heart pounded against her ribs as she practically propositioned Wyzak and then fled the room. She hadn’t had nearly enough of that awful Xaravian liquor to justify taunting Faros and then waving her ass in Wyzak’s face, so she didn’t have any excuses for her behavior. Sometimes it just felt good to be a little bad, a little abrupt. It wasn’t like the Xaravians were always the epitome of grace and manners.
He didn’t wait before following her, and his presence close behind her in the corridor made the reptile part of her brain want to run—having a massive predator stalking her steps should have sent her fleeing for the nearest hidey-hole. Instead, the feeling sparked heat all through her and made her wish they were both
naked somewhere dark and close and heated.
Gemma gulped for air and slowed her steps, since she still wasn’t entirely sure where she was going. Her steps brought her back to her quarters, with its broken door and mangled control panels. A little bit of sanity returned, along with embarrassment at having damaged the high-tech ship. “I wish I knew how to repair this.”
“It will give the engineer and the ensigns something to do,” Wyzak said. His hand drifted along her side and settled on her hip, pulling her back against him until her ass pressed against his thighs. “But perhaps you should not sleep here tonight. It is not safe.”
“Well, safety is my top priority,” Gemma said. She almost snort-laughed as she said it, since it had been a running joke with Milo that Gemma never paid much attention to safety until it was too late. She felt bad, thinking of Milo only periodically, especially with his funeral set for the next morning. Her chest still ached when she thought of her old partner, but the rest of her... She wanted to feel something good again. To feel alive. She’d survived, after all. It was time to celebrate the living and move on.
Wyzak grumbled and squeezed her waist, then steered her down the corridor to another destination she vaguely remembered. “Good. I would not want to be concerned about you, and I do not like sleeping on the floor.”
“Sleeping on the floor?” She glanced over her shoulder at him, trying to make the connection, and bit her lip at the stark hunger in his gaze as he watched her.
“If you insisted on sleeping there, with the door broken, I would guard your rest. The only way to do that would be to sleep across the threshold—the floor.” He said it so casually, so matter-of-factly, that it took Gemma a moment to realize he truly believed that he needed to “guard her rest,” whatever that meant.
She didn’t want to laugh but her disbelief escaped in a huff of air. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I do not jest about your safety and well-being,” he said. Wyzak paused outside his quarters, letting the door open, and frowned into the interior for a long moment. “So I offer you my quarters, my bed, so you can rest in comfort and safety.”
“You offer me your bed,” she said slowly. It was easily the weirdest proposition she’d ever received. He’d seemed hell-bent on getting her alone and naked when they were in the loading bay, before Faros and Violet arrived, and yet suddenly Wyzak turned into a courtly gentleman from the old movie pictures? “And in this comfort and safety... am I alone?”
He tensed, his scales flashing with swirls of blue and purple, and his fingers ghosted down her bare arm until chills prickled all over her. “If you would like to be.”
“And if I don’t?”
Her cheeks burned but she was done playing games. He’d made it clear he wanted her, and they’d had a great deal of fun earlier in the day. If Gemma was going to Proxima the next day and that was the end of their little dalliance, then so be it. She wanted to get something else out of it—another night with him.
A slow smile spread across Wyzak’s face as he turned her and gripped her waist. “Then I am at your service.”
Her knees wobbled and she had to lean back against the wall to stay upright. He had no idea how at her service he was going to be. She had a hard time breathing, but managed to tilt her head at the open door. “What are you waiting for?”
He groaned and picked her up, hauling her into the bedroom so fast her head spun, and started tearing at his clothes. Gemma bounced as she landed on the bed. She tugged at the waist of her pants and tried to kick her boots off at the same time. She’d hardly gotten started losing the clothes when Wyzak was on her once more, looming over her in the semi-darkness, and his knees dented the mattress between hers. He caught her hands and took over stripping off her shirt, taking his time and sending her pulse through the stratosphere.
Gemma moved restlessly, wanting fast and hard, and grumbled in irritation when he insisted on taking his time. He kissed her throat and shoulders. “If I am at your service, let me be at your service.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and worked her fingers into his hair. “Then shouldn’t you be doing what I tell you to do?”
He hesitated, and she wondered if that went against the Xaravian warrior code—if they were the kind of males who always needed to be in control. Not that she necessarily minded, but it was nice to know where the boundaries were. Just as she prepared to surrender once more, Wyzak dipped his head to leisurely suck on her nipples, then murmured, “As you like.”
Gemma groaned, her head tilting back, and saw stars as he kept up the slow and steady pressure. Her hips moved, seeking a connection, but Wyzak stayed out of reach. She managed to gasp, “On your back.”
He chuckled and took his damn time, moving to lie flat on the bed and dragging her on top of him. Gemma sat on his thighs and shook the stars out of her eyes. She needed to get control, of herself and the whole situation. She sat back and dragged her nails down his bare chest, watching the scales turn blue-purple with hints of silver. His silver eyes held a stark hunger that made her insides shiver, and she ground down against him in anticipation. Those massive hands flexed and his fingers bit into her ass to encourage more movement.
He was already hard and ready. She could have lifted up and he would have slid easily into her, deep and full, but... Gemma adjusted so she slid along his hard length in a smooth motion that sparked heat all the way through her. Wyzak growled deep in his chest, his hips lifting in a slow thrust that almost unseated her. Gemma chuckled, pleased that she was tormenting him a little, and rubbed against him once more. She found a steady motion that hit all the right places, and reached up to squeeze and caress her own breasts.
The muscled Xaravian under her hissed what sounded like words of encouragement, though she had no idea what he actually said, and tried to move her faster against him. Gemma stilled and lifted away from him, biting her lip at the effort to stop pleasuring herself, and tried to give him a warning look. “None of that, big guy. Not yet.”
Wyzak grumbled. “Move faster.”
“Not yet,” she breathed. Gemma waited until he settled, then eased down once more.
She lost herself in an easy rhythm, chasing that perfect feeling with each rock and push of her hips, and she gripped Wyzak’s sides tighter and tighter as tension coiled low in her stomach. Wyzak couldn’t keep his hands off her and squeezed her thighs, then slowly eased up on his elbows so her slow undulation brought her breasts within range of his mouth.
Gemma gasped at the first heated flick of his tongue across her nipple, and slid her hands into his hair to keep his mouth close as she moved. Watson and Crick, he was good. She moved faster, in short sharp bursts, as pleasure swirled up around her and almost consumed her. Wyzak grumbled and then his thumb pressed against her clit where she tried to grind down on his scales, and Gemma was lost. She froze on top of him but Wyzak kept moving his thumb, kept sucking her breast into his mouth with a suction that practically pulled the climax through her.
All of her fragmented as ecstasy swept through her. She remained frozen on top of him, head thrown back, as the waves crested and then slowed, her thighs trembling with exertion. Her hands were braced on his pecs, holding herself up, and he slowly released her breast so he could kiss the inside of her wrist. His hands moved up her hips to her back, then up to her shoulders, until he pressed her against his chest and she sprawled across him.
It took a long moment for her thoughts to come back to her. She listened to the beating of his twin hearts and felt the drumming where his cock still pressed hard and heavy against her stomach. Gemma closed her eyes and smiled, wanting to stretch and purr like a cat. At her service, indeed.
Chapter 30
Wyzak
Wyzak nearly lost control as Gemma moved over him in graceful movements that ground her heated core against his aching cock. He wanted to lift her hips and plunge into her, to stake his claim yet again, but when she whispered for him to wait, he found an unexpected source of patienc
e. He wanted to see his female well pleased.
Even though it nearly killed him to wait. He swallowed back his own needs and instead helped her move, encouraging her slow sliding against his body. He helped himself to her soft breasts, loving their weight and heft against his mouth, and gripped her thighs as she moaned and sighed and pressed against his lips to encourage him more. Wyzak had no trouble giving her more.
His spikes rattled on his shoulders as Gemma moved faster and harder against him in sharp jerks, then froze and arched her back. A low groan escaped as she touched herself and leaned back, lost in her own pleasure. Wyzak admired her form, her confidence, but couldn’t control a slow thrust as his need almost took over. He touched her right where her slit rested against him, encouraging more of the shivers racking her.
Gemma jerked against his touch and made a breathy “ooh” sound that nearly unleashed the barbarian inside him. Wyzak pulled her down against his chest so he could feel all of her against his scales, and growled in her ear. “Now I want more.”
“Me too,” she murmured, and kissed right near the base of a spike on his shoulder.
Wyzak jerked in response and nearly finished right there against her stomach, and barely managed to control the lust that tried to throw him into a frenzy. Gemma lifted her head, a dark eyebrow arched, and a mischievous smile changed her expression completely. “Oh, so you like that, hmm?”
And she did it again, a soft kiss and then a long, slow drag of her tongue down the length of the spike.
He couldn’t control himself. Wyzak grabbed her hips and flipped their positions, pinning her to the bed as his knee shoved her thighs apart. He snarled and grabbed her ass, tilting her hips to receive him, and Gemma moaned as she linked her arm around his neck and kept his mouth near her throat. Wyzak filled her in a rush, until his stomach met hers, and groaned at the warm depths of her channel.
