by Mina Carter
He wanted to. There was no doubt in his mind about that. Even if he had to give up his commission and stay aboard the ship as a civilian, he would. He wasn’t proud. He’d do anything to stay close to Lyssa. Provided she wanted him of course.
He groaned as he stripped off his fouled up combat uniform. He hadn’t managed to change since the transport shuttle picked them and their new ‘guest’ up from the surface. There had been an hour of debrief, as Lyssa went through what had gone wrong down on the surface, and yet another hour as they tried to get answers out of the stubbornly silent cyborg.
As JJ had suspected, as soon as the Leo class realized that there was an Empath aboard, he’d gone into info–blackout mode. A full on systems shut down that locked his implant memory cells down and isolated him from his combat team network. They wouldn’t be able to get anything useful out of him until they could isolate the unlock sequence that would unlock his system. A dynamic sequence code, it was usually generated by the supercomputer in the team, who at this moment could be anywhere in the galaxy.
Needing to make his call to Admiral Reilly, he’d left them to it. Truth be told, no matter how skilled the Arcadia’s hackers were, it would be quicker to track down the cyborg’s teammate and get the sequence that way.
Lyssa was still there as far as he knew. JJ turned on the shower and shucked his underwear at the same time. After last night and her decision to allow him access to her mind, JJ knew her better than she knew herself. She wouldn’t rest until she had the answers she needed. The fact that she’d lost people down on the surface in what should have been a routine mission would only add to her determination.
He stepped under the warm water and groaned in relief. Water assaulted his skin in a red–hot, needle sharp torrent. Reaching out, he twisted the controls and set it to muscle massage. He ached, literally ached from head to foot, and that was after just a couple of hours in the field. And Lyssa did this for a job? He needed a weeks’ vacation, a full body massage and a hot woman in his bed. Correction, he needed Lyssa in his bed.
Thoughts of red hair over golden skin filled his mind and JJ groaned again. Not in pain or relief this time, but in remembered pleasure. His blood heated and surged, filling his cock and bringing him to half–mast. What was it about the woman that just a thought of her could have him ready and eager within seconds?
He closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool tiled wall of the shower. Wrapping a fist around his cock, he accessed his memories. Pulling one off wasn’t as satisfying as Lyssa actually being here with him, but with some mental stimulation, it was the next best thing…
It had been a long, long day. Lyssa rubbed tiredly at the back of her neck and looked at the console screen on the desk in front of her. The green words on the screen stubbornly refused to resolve into words. She squinted and tried again, then wished she hadn’t.
Message from Admiral Reilly, D to Mj.General Ryland, L. Recall of Empath, Meyers J, to command. Convey Empath to location of choice for onward travel. Reilly out.
JJ was leaving? The air rushed out of her lungs as though she’d been hit by a small shuttle at faster–than–light speed. Stunned, she flopped back in her chair and just stared at the screen as the Fleet logo rotated slowly. He couldn’t leave. Not so soon. He’d only been on the Arcadia three weeks!
And for most of that you’ve ignored him, the snide little voice in her head reminded her. She wouldn’t blame him if he wanted off the ship at the next stop. She had to talk to him. Before he got the message from Reilly he was being released from his assignment on the Arcadia.
In one movement she was up and out of her chair. Need and panic filled her as she all but rebounded off the doorframe on her way through it. She rushed through the corridors of the ship at a near run. In the sections that were empty she did break into a trot. She had to get to JJ, had to convince him he couldn’t leave the ship. Couldn’t leave her.
It took her less than two minutes to reach his quarters. A couple of meters away she slowed and gulped air to calm her ragged breathing. She must have set a new company record for the hundred–meter dash there.
She waved her hand in front of the access pad at the side of the door without much hope that it would open and let her in. To do that he’d have had to add her name to his access codes. Normally no one did that unless they were in a committed relationship.They’d had sex twice. It wasn’t like they had anything nearing a basis for any sort of relationship. Tears threatened, pricking hot at the back of Lyssa’s throat. Telatians never cried, but here she was, nearly in floods of tears. The access panel bleeped, turned green and then the door slid open. Dizzy with relief, Lyssa stepped through before her luck ran out and it slid shut in her face.
The room was empty. Lyssa turned slowly, noting the clothing strewn across the floor. There was no evidence of packing. She’d noticed that one thing about him between the bed and the door this morning. He had more personal belongings than she did.
“JJ?” she called softly, padding toward the bedroom on silent feet. He hadn’t left already, had he? He couldn’t have. She hadn’t told him. Lyssa swallowed as she faced her own feelings. She hadn’t told him that she thought she loved him. Cocky, arrogant and so dominant it made her shiver just thinking about it, she’d finally met her match.
And she never wanted to let him go.
“JJ? Are you in here?” she asked as she reached the door to the bedroom. Nothing. The made bed looked back at her in silence. The splash of water from the bathroom was the only answer she got.
He was in the shower.
Taking a shuddering breath, she headed that way.
“JJ, it’s me.” She marshaled her courage and pushed at the closed door. It opened a crack and billowed steam from the shower through the small opening. “Can I come in?”
A deep, masculine groan answered her. What was he doing? Was he in pain? She pushed the door open further and stopped, stunned.
“Oh.” Her lips dropped open and she stared, wide eyed, at the sight on display in front of her.
JJ was leaning against the wall of the shower, totally naked. Water cascaded down his hard, toned body and for a moment she was lost in admiration of the naked form of the man she wanted to take as mate. Only for a moment though. He moved and groaned again, his head thrown back and his eyes closed as he pumped his cock with one large hand.
An illicit thrill shot through Lyssa as she stepped further into the room and closed the door behind her with a small snick. She couldn’t take her eyes off his hand. The wide, swollen head of his cock appeared and disappeared as he pumped in a fast rhythm. His thighs were braced to support him and his free hand splayed over the wall for balance.
Lyssa licked her lips and leaned back against the door to enjoy the show. He was delicious. Simply delicious.
Another moan tumbled from his lips as he moved and cupped his balls with his free hand. A finger on the other swept over the head of his cock and he moaned again.
“Lyssa…”
“Yes, love?”
JJ’s eyes shot open and his head jerked up as his hand stilled on his cock. The musk of sex and need filled the room, swirling around them both. She had to give it to him. Despite being surprised, he didn’t squeal or try to cover up in embarrassment.
“Lyssa?” His voice was full of curiosity and a little surprise. Almost as though he wasn’t sure she was really there.
“Yes, love…This conversation is getting a little circular, don’t you think?” she asked, tilting her head with a wicked smile on her lips. “Why don’t you carry on with what you were doing and we can talk later?”
The surprise drained out of his eyes to be replaced by a blistering heat that rivaled the sands where she’d been born. He leaned back against the tiles and started to stroke his cock again. Lyssa shivered as images of the two of them together filled her mind. Image after image. Wicked and sexy acts that made her cheeks burn and stole her breath. Wait… She paused at the last image. She’d never done t
hat in her life. He was in her head again!
“JJ!”
“What? Don’t you want to try it?” He grinned, his expression unrepentant.
He dropped his hand from his cock and beckoned. She stepped forward, trying not to betray her eagerness, to the edge of the shower. Close but not so close she got wet from the spray of the shower.
“Is that even possible?”
“Oh more than possible.” His whisper was a wicked promise. “I want you, Lyssa. In that and every other way. I want to take you to bed and take you until you scream my name.”
Her body and heart sang at his words. He wanted her. Then she sobered up. Wanting and fucking weren’t the same as love. It wasn’t the same as a quick affair whilst she waited for him to get bored and leave her for someone younger. Because he would. She’d seen how these things went. Older female officer took a younger lover with an eye on his career and—
“I’ll resign.”
“What?”
Now he had all her attention. An impressive feat considering he was still stroking that magnificent cock in lazy strokes. His eyes were hooded and filled with darkness as he pleasured himself right in front of her but with his attention focused on her.
“What do you mean, you’ll resign?”
Deliberately she kept her attention away from what was happening below his waistline and looked into his face instead. A bead of water trailed from the tight, wet curls on the top of his head and down. She followed its progress down his neck and over the toned muscles of his chest.
“Exactly what I said. If you’re worried I only want you for what you can do for my career, then I’ll resign.”
Wonder filled her. Her voice was entirely too breathy and girlish as she replied, but she ignored it, “You’d do that? For me? Why?”
“Uh–huh.” He nodded, sending yet more water drops on their journey down his gorgeous body. “Because I think you’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”
Stepping forward suddenly, he pulled her into his arms. Feeling water soaking through her uniform, she squeaked and tried to struggle free. His grip was like iron and her struggles lasted a nano–second before his lips claimed hers in a soft kiss that made her heart ache.
“Beautiful inside and out, you’re the woman I want to spent the rest of my life with. It might be shorter than yours, but I promise you won’t regret a second of it.”
“I’m wet,” she complained, her lips a mere hairsbreadth from his. Her mind appeared to have gone AWOL, leaving her lips issuing words on automatic.
“Oh I intend to make sure of it, Kitten.” His promise was a whisper against her lips as he pulled her under the full spray of the shower and started to divest her of her uniform. “Or do I have to prove it before you’ll ask me to stay aboard?”
The warmth in Lyssa’s heart was eclipsed by the heat in her loins as he stripped her combat shirt and dropped the sodden cloth on the floor behind her. Her bra went the same way a moment later, leaving her breasts open to his hands and lips.
She drove her hands into the tight curls of his hair and held him to her as he sucked a nipple into the warmth of his mouth and suckled. Love and desire wrapped around her heart as she smiled and closed her eyes.
“Oh I think you need to prove it to me again…and again…and again…”
* * *
The End
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They’d caught him. Lock, stock and fucking barrel.
Lyon seethed in silence as the security officers buzzed around his maximum-security cell like flies around a honeypot. He was furious, more with himself than anyone else. He should have known General Ryland, über-marine legend, wasn’t going to be that easy to catch.
For heaven’s sake, he’d read the goddamn file on the woman. The one clearly marked “Do not fuck with”. He might as well have just looked at the pictures. He’d been too arrogant and assured of his own abilities.
As soon as he’d seen her among the Arcadia marines, he’d recognized her. She was dangerous, inventive and unpredictable. He’d known that. What he hadn’t known, and was now kicking himself for, was that she’d have an Empath virtually joined at the hip.
“To the back of the cell,” the guard ordered. The hard look in his eyes warned Lyon not to try anything. His team had killed some of this man’s crewmates and, from the looks of it, the guy was itching for payback. Lyon would prefer to avoid being the mechanism for that payback. Cyborg he might be, but even he could feel pain.
Rolling to his feet, he stood, and smothered a smile as the female guard at the back gasped. Yeah, he was big. Over six foot and broad across the shoulders, just the same as any other Leo class out there. It wasn’t fate. It wasn’t hours spent in the gym honing his physique. He’d been designed to be big. He was the biological equivalent of a tank.
A right lot of good that had done him when he’d tracked Ryland. He’d been so focused on getting the general in his clutches and finally getting a shot at persuading someone high up in the Fleet that he and his kind weren’t the monsters they were made out to be that he’d all but ignored the guy with her.
Big mistake.
All it had taken was for Ryland to distract him by flitting almost close enough to catch. While his attention was on her, the Empath had sneaked up behind him. Lyon couldn’t figure out how he’d done it. Anyone else he’d have detected. Something would have tipped him off. The slight scuffle of a boot in the undergrowth or a caught breath would have caught his hypersensitive senses. Not this time.
He replayed that chronology of his capture over and over in his memory to try to figure it out. There was nothing. It was as though the guy hadn’t even been there until he’d placed his hand on the back of Lyon’s neck and tumbled him into darkness.
Note to self, avoid Empaths in future. That, or break their fucking necks before they get close.
He moved to the back of the cell. He’d been through the drill before, so he moved before they gave the order, standing facing the wall with his hands behind his back.
“Being a good little machine today, are we?” the guard behind him sneered as he clipped the heavy manacles over Lyon’s wrist. He activated the magnetic locks. Instantly, Lyon felt the energy drain.
The Fleet had created him and his kind. They knew how to contain them. At least, they thought they did. What they didn’t know was how extensively Lyon’s base systems had been hacked and modified. Something he intended to stop them discovering at all costs, even if he had to set the tri-sappherium crystals that powered his cybernetics and combat chassis to overload. The resulting blast would take out not only him, but also the ship and possibly most of the system as well.
Gritting his teeth, he ignored the pain as they hauled him backward out of the cell.
“That won’t do you any good. Once they get you on the Valkyrie, they’ll slice and dice you. See what makes you tick.”
“The Valkyrie?”
He couldn’t help the query. It slipped from between his lips before he could stop himself. Even as he spoke, he ran a query through his onboard computer. What portion of his memory banks he could access at the moment. As soon as he’d realized there was an Empath near, he’d locked his memory banks down.
There it was, the CFS Valkyrie. A Delean-class vessel assigned to exploration and general backup for the colonies and planets in this sector. Lyon swore under his breath. He’d assumed that they would transport him back to the Terran sector on the Arcadia. That was the eventuality his team had been briefed for in case the snatch and grab went wrong and they had to recover any of the team.
Great, just bloody grea
t. Unless he did something, his team would tail the Arcadia across the sector. Only to find their prize was on a ship heading the other way.
The guard behind him checked the mag-cuffs and he was ushered out of the cell. Despite the fact he was restrained, the guards kept a healthy distance from him. Lyon didn’t blame them. The hardware he was packing under his skin meant he could hospitalize someone just by falling on them.
He sighed as the little group started down the corridor toward the airlock and the ship he was being transferred to. They stayed far enough out of range that he couldn’t even try a grab and strangle maneuver. Someone would have a rifle in his guts before he could blink. But he didn’t need to disable anyone to get a message to his team that he was being transferred. All he needed was an open comms port and a half second to get a data burst through it. Then he was home free…
“Late, late. I’m going to be late. Damn it.”
Samara bustled down the hall. She was late for her shift. Again. The third time this week, on a day they were transferring a new prisoner in. Commander Jenkins, the senior nurse, was going to be pissed with her. Again.
She researched her speech in her head as she hurried. Her slender fingers fought with the frog fastening on her collar, trying to get the damn thing done up. It had always hated her, but today it was being more awkward than normal. Just like her alarm clock, which had decided to wake her up an hour later than normal. Why, she had no earthly clue. It seemed everything aboard this damn ship had it in for her.
She hissed with relief as the fastener snapped closed. Which only prompted the single bar of her rank, second-class crewman, to jump from her collar in a lemming leap for the floor.
