by Megan Hart
"Hell, yeah." She didn't sound afraid. She sounded gleeful. "I'm going to pound some vagrant ass."
Del admired her attitude, but wasn't quite sure about her aptitude. "You ever pounded someone's ass before?"
Linna tilted her head to catch his gaze. "Not exactly, no. But I'm willing to try."
The trio had drawn closer while they talked, but hadn't yet attacked. Del didn't know what they were waiting for. He cut his glance from side to side, searching for the possibility they had other friends lying in wait to pounce from behind. The servbot whistled, but waited for them.
"Linna, I know you're strong and fast, but if you don't know--"
"Shut up, Del." Linna's voice was calm. She raised her fists higher. "I meant it when I said I wouldn't let anyone hurt me again."
"And the part about killing you? I don't want that to happen."
"Don't worry," she said as the trio of shadows suddenly leaped forward. "It won't."
She didn't wait for them to come to her, and once again, Del admired her strength. She did the same leap, hands-over-feet, that she'd performed on the rooftop. It took her one revolution, landing on her feet again, to reach the first assailant, and her fist punched out and connected with the guy's head.
Del muttered a curse and waded in, holding back his punches until he could get close to the two other muggers. One, two, his fists shot out and connected with their black-clothed bodies. Their knives flashed. He ducked and wove.
After a minute, he forgot to worry about whether or not Linna needed help, because it was clear as plazglass that whatever she didn't have in training, she more than made up for in enthusiasm. She moved like a whirlwind, dropping low to kick and punch and leaping over her attackers' heads in jumps Del could only marvel at.
In less than a few minutes, the three who'd attacked them retreated with shouted threats and curses. Del's arm stung from a knife slash--a lucky hit--and he pressed his fingers against the blood.
The bot whistled at them again and shone its spotlight toward them. Linna laughed out loud, her hair tangled and her face smudged, but her smile brilliant.
"Go on, get out of here!" she shouted as the would-be thieves ran away into the night. She turned to Del, her expression growing serious. "You're hurt."
"Nah. It's nothing." He pressed harder to stop the flow of blood. "Just a scratch."
"Don't be silly." She came closer. In the light from the bot, the blood shone a garish red like paint. Linna hissed at the sight. "We should get that bandaged."
"Let's get to the hanger first. I'll be okay."
She clicked her tongue against her teeth. "You said it yourself. We don't know how much further it will be. Just let me bind it up."
He agreed, not willing to argue about it. The cut stung like a benizona, anyway, but though it bled a lot it was shallow and not serious. He'd need to clean it soon. He didn't doubt germs on the thug's knife could cause quite an infection.
Del watched Linna's nimble fingers tear a strip from the sleeve of her jumpsuit. She tied up the wound on his forearm, then lifted it to her mouth and put a gentle kiss there.
Their eyes met and locked. Her smile faltered and her tongue swiped across her lips. Her fingers tightened gently on his arm, then slid down to interlock with his.
"All better?" she said in a husky tone he recognized all too well.
Damn, he wanted to kiss her again. Del moved toward her, almost imperceptibly. Just as slightly, Linna moved back. Her fingers stroked his in a lingering caress before she pulled back.
"Let's go," she said.
Chapter 6
Linna had never been inside a spaceship hangar before. She stepped through the door after the servbot, Del close behind her. The hangar bustled with activity. Ships of all sizes and varieties lined the metal walls. Their crews came and went, shouting out orders, loading and unloading supplies. Boxes and cartons piled high in every free spot on the stained concrete floor.
"Which one do you think we're supposed to go to?" she asked Del.
The servbot rolled without pause through the crowd, skirted a towering stack of crates, and beeped at them to follow. They did. Linna half-expected to feel the weight of many gazes upon her, but the spacers in the hanger seemed to have adopted the Newcity motto of being busy attending their own business.
The ship the bot led them to was larger than most of the others and parked just outside the hangar's open doorway. Lots of the other ships looked like accidents waiting to fall out of the sky, but this one was clean and shining, seemingly in good repair. Linna let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding.
"Doesn't look too bad," Del said from her side. "That's a DPF-1024. Nice cruiser. Looks like it's been adapted for cargo more than a pleasure craft. And it'll have deep space capability, which means it can take us almost anyplace in the universe."
"You know a lot about ships," Linna said.
Del laughed and shook his head. "Transportation is kind of a hobby of mine."
He was making a joke and Linna laughed, but it made her realize there was still a wealth she didn't know about him. What had he been before becoming a hovertaxi driver? She watched him stride toward the ship, the limp from his injured ankle barely noticeable unless you knew to look for it. Watching him was no hardship on the eyes that was for sure.
Looking at the way his taut, firm ass filled out the back of his trousers made her cheeks heat. The curves of his back and shoulders were clearly outlined in the thin material of his dirty white shirt, but she didn't need to see beneath it to remember the way his skin rippled with muscle when he moved. She shook herself. Horny bitch. Enough. There was no use in torturing herself.
He'd stepped up to one of the crew members, not a small man, but Del still towered over him. The crewman said something Linna didn't catch. Del pointed at the ship. He smiled, and the expression took her breath away.
Stop it! she chastised herself. This was useless. Getting herself all hot and bothered when there could be nothing to it, in the end, but hurt feelings. She was smarter than that.
Tell that to my clit, she thought with a shake of her head. That part of her body seemed determined not to forget about they way Del tasted, the way he felt pressed against her, the scent of him. She might be able to tell her mind to think whatever she wanted to, but her body seemed set on telling her to fuck herself. Or fuck Del, which sounded much better.
She gave herself a firm mental shake. They were going to get off this planet and head for God-of-Choice only knew where. From then on, it would be up to her to decide where she went and what she was going to do when she got there. She'd better start thinking more about that and less about Del's ass and abs and thighs and....
"God-of-Choice!" she muttered as Del, still talking to the crew member, turned to point toward her. She strode toward them, telling herself to get control.
She forced her tone light. "All set?"
"You got to talk to the captain," said the man in Universal. It took Linna's ears a few seconds to adjust from Newcity English to the new language.
Now she was closer, Linna could see he had a third eye in the middle of his forehead. It winked at her. She kept her face neutral, not having any idea about the man's species and not sure if he was flirting or threatening.
"Where is he?" Del asked, also in Universal.
The man laughed. All three of his eyes rolled alarmingly. "Let me get the captain for you."
He turned and climbed the silver ladder into the belly of the ship. As his feet disappeared, Linna turned to Del. He scruffed the top of his head, where the hair had begun to grow again in dark spikes. It'll be rough, like his cheeks where the beard stubble is showing, she thought, then gave another mental curse.
She couldn't stop looking at him like he was a meal and she was starving. Well, she was starving. Linna chuckled out loud.
Del gave her an amused look. "What?"
She pressed a hand to her rumbling belly. "I'm so hungry I could eat a bowl of Thandlussian jel
ly."
Del grimaced. "Ack."
A pair of boots, shiny and black, with the tallest, sharpest heels Linna had ever seen, appeared on the top rung of the ladder. The boots, that turned out to be thigh-high, were followed by a pair of long, slim legs, a trim but curvy waist, and a set of breasts a Passion Model Pleasurebot would envy. Topping off the package was a face with full, crimson lips, sparkling green eyes and features so perfectly aligned they looked like they could have come straight out of a catalog. The woman's hair was ebony and swirling, thick and shining, all the way to the under curve of her perfectly shaped ass.
Instant, hot jealousy flooded Linna, cranked up another notch when the woman's green eyes latched onto the sight of Del.
"Well, well, well," she purred, her Universal thick with an accent Linna didn't recognize.
She moved toward them like a piece of well-oiled machinery. Her heels made sharp clicks on the concrete. Her hips swung from side to side as she undulated, and she tossed the mass of her hair over her shoulder with a smile that would've dropped any red-blooded man to his knees in a heartbeat.
Linna didn't look at Del. She didn't want to see his face. Instead, she straightened her spine, ran a quick hand through her hair, and tried to pretend it didn't matter if her face was smudged and her clothes a wreck.
The woman didn't even glance at Linna. Her gaze didn't waver from Del as her eyes raked him from head to foot. She looked a few seconds longer at a place on his body much, much lower than his face before settling her gaze upward again. Her lush mouth curved into the most predatory smile Linna had ever seen, even considering the line of work she'd been in for the past three years.
"So you want a berth on my ship?" The woman tilted her head and wet her lips with a long, pointed tongue. "Can you pay for it?"
"We're willing to work for our passage," Del replied.
The woman, who, Linna realized with dismay, must be Captain Lunavoss, lifted one arched black brow. "I have a full crew already. What can you offer me in return for your passage?"
She flicked her gaze at Linna at last, and the look made Linna feel like she'd just been slapped. "I'm not sure I need another ship's doxy."
Linna stopped herself from slugging the woman. Del crossed his thick arms over his chest. Linna didn't imagine the gleam of interest in the captain's eyes.
"That's not an option," Del said.
Captain Lunavoss shrugged delicately. "I could use a galley dross, I guess."
"You'll take us both as galley drosses?" Del asked evenly.
Linna didn't trust herself to speak. The captain now focused her attention on Linna, swept her with the same green-eyed gaze, up and down. She didn't seem quite as impressed with Linna as she'd been with Del.
"I only need one."
"We both need passage. We both can work."
"Oh, I understand that," said the captain. "But I'm sure I can find some other tasks for you to perform. Something well worth your passage on my ship, and I'll let the cunna come, too. Just because I have a generous nature."
Linna tensed. "Maybe we can find another ship to take us, Del."
The captain's emerald gaze flickered. "Go ahead and try."
Del looked around the hangar at the hodge-podge of ships inside. "We could do that."
The captain licked her lips and waited for Del to speak again.
He looked at Linna. "But we might have to wait a while."
He didn't have to tell her what that would mean--they'd already bartered everything they had just for one night's stay and information on how to get Offworld. Linna looked again at Captain Lunavoss, still staring at Del with open assessment. Linna sighed mentally and gave herself a shake. She didn't own Del. She couldn't. But neither could the captain, she allowed herself to think with bitter glee.
"No. I can wash dishes." Linna stepped toward Lunavoss, who barely bothered to even glance her way. "We'll work hard. We want to get Offworld today."
Lunavoss flicked her emerald gaze over at Linna. "You ever been on a ship like this before?"
"No."
"Ever been Offworld at all?"
Linna shook her head. "No."
Lunavoss let out a hearty laugh and threw back her head, hands on her hips. "Oh, dearie, are you in for a treat."
Linna squared her shoulders. "I'm ready to go. I don't have much other choice."
Now the captain did swivel her head to rake her gaze over Linna, then stepped much closer to peer into her face. "On second thought, I probably could use another ship's doxy. You don't look too well-worn. You'll do."
"No!" Del cried before Linna could reply. He stepped between Linna and the captain. "She's not...she doesn't have to do that."
The captain cocked one perfectly shaped brow. "Are you sure? A galley dross gets passage for a berth and food only. If she serves as a doxy, I'll pay her a wage, too."
He shook his head. "No."
Linna took his arm. "Del, I don't have any money--" She had meant to say she'd been serving as a doxy of sorts for years. A few more weeks on a ship's cruiser couldn't be that bad. At the sight of his face, his eyes burning, she stopped and looked at Lunavoss. "He's right. Berth and food are fine."
"Whatever you like." The captain stared at both of them with narrowed eyes, then shrugged. She gestured at two men standing by the ladder to the ship. "Reddic. Tevick. Come here. Show our new crew mates to their berths, all right?"
She turned back to Del, a sultry smile playing on her lips. "We'll leave in a few hours. Do you have any sort of mechanical skill at all, or are those luscious muscles just for show?"
"I can repair engines on a craft like this." Del jerked his head toward the ship. "Do maintenance. Stuff like that."
"Good." The captain dismissed them both, but not before reaching out to stroke on long fingernail down Del's arm. "I'll see you on board."
Then she stalked away, hips swinging and ass shaking, turning every male head within view. Every one, but Del's. He kept his face straight forward, full lips thinned in concentration, brow furrowed. Linna touched his arm, and he seemed to relax a bit and gave her a smile.
"This is it," he said. "Are you ready?"
She wasn't, but she didn't want to tell him that. "As I'll ever be."
"Linna..."
She waited, but he didn't speak. "Yes, Del?"
He gave a shadowed gaze toward the two men waiting for them to follow. Linna's gaze followed Del's. Both men were tall, broad, muscled, with closely shaven heads. Dark eyes. Their arms were intricately and elaborately tattooed. Though neither of them carried themselves with Del's strong self-confidence and neither one was as attractive, Linna immediately noticed the resemblance.
"They're Xanderran, aren't they?" she asked quietly.
Del nodded, his big hands curved into loose fists at his sides. "Yeah. And they're bound to that bitch of a captain."
Del didn't say anything to his fellow Xanderrans, just followed them up the ladder into the bowels of Lunavoss's craft. He didn't have much to say. For one reason or another, they'd agreed to fuck that bitch, maybe even knowing she'd already bound others to her. He couldn't deny the woman's lush curves and sexy smile would be able to get a rise out of any man...but to be behsherit to her?
The first man pointed to a small, arched doorway. "She's in here. You'll be in the crew berth."
"We won't be together?" Linna sounded nervous, and Del put a comforting hand on her arm.
"She yours?" The second man jerked his chin toward Linna, then showed a gap-toothed grin. "Cap'n'll shit if she finds out you're already hooked up."
Linna's jaw tensed, but she flashed Del a look and didn't lose her temper. "We're not."
The first man nodded and pointed toward the narrow hall. "Then you'd better come with us. See what you're gonna be doing. Cap'n wants to lift off in a few hours and she gets real pissy when she doesn't get her own way."
That wasn't hard to believe. "I'll be along in a minute. This ship is set up like the MEH 3-27, right? Galley down
this hall to the left, crew berth all the way back?"
"Yeah. But don't be late," warned the first man. "Cap'n--"
"Gets pissy. I heard you the first time," Del said as evenly as he could. "I'll be there. I just want to make sure my friend gets settled."
At that, the two crew members burst into rude guffaws.
"Friend?" said the first one. His gaze raked over Linna in a way that made her step back. "Whatever, man. Just get your ass to the crew berth and get ready before Lunavoss gets back, or she'll have your head. And I don't mean the one on your shoulders."
They left him and Linna alone, and Del slid the metal panel door closed behind them. Linna's eyes were wide and staring. She looked like she was struggling not to cry.
Without thinking about it, Del took her in his arms. Her hair was soft on his face, her breasts full and warm on his chest. He tightened his embrace around her back and felt her shoulders heave as she tried not to sob.
After a moment, she pulled away to look at him. "I'm sorry. All of this is catching up with me, I guess. I've never been Offworld before. Not even on vacay. I'm...I'm a little nervous."
"If you really want to, we're out of here," he told her. "But, Linna, I saw the other ships in the hangar. None of them were big enough to need extra crew members. We could wait until something new docks, but that could be a long time. We can find work...maybe..."
She shook her head. "No. I'm just being stupid. And I didn't like the way she looked at you."
Her cheeks pinked at what she'd said. Del grinned. "I didn't much care for it myself."
"I don't understand how she can be bound to both those men."
"She's not bound to them," Del corrected. "They're behsherit to her. She fucked them both at some time or another, and so now they're hooked to her like a dog on a chain. They can't get it up for another woman. It doesn't matter if she has two or two dozen of them. She can go and do what she wants, while they're stuck with her forever, unless they never want to fuck again."
Linna seemed uncertain about what to say. "I can see that bothers you," she offered after a moment. "To be...bound."
