Rogue: Survivor’s Heart book 1: Planet Athion

by Cassidy, Debbie

  He sucked in a breath. “Do you want it?”

  My body was screaming yes, but my mind … My mind was a resounding no. This wasn’t what I wanted. Not from him. He wasn’t who I wanted. I released him and pulled my hand free.

  He stepped away, his gaze on my face as he adjusted himself.

  “At least now you look the part,” he said.

  The buzzer sounded, and he sauntered back to the bed and sat with his back to the wall.

  It took me a moment to gather myself, and then my hands moved to adjust my clothes.

  “Don’t,” he warned.

  I dropped my hands to my sides just as the grating opened and Marick’s face appeared. His gaze settled on me, raking over my disheveled state—my torn shirt and mussed hair and my swollen mouth and dazed eyes.

  His smile was smug, and then he walked away.

  Two bowls of gruel were pushed through the hatch, but my attention was caught by Xavier in the cell opposite. His eyes were shards of ice, and his lips were pressed in a thin, determined line. He radiated rage. Now wasn’t the time to explain the truth. Instead, I dropped my gaze, collected the bowls of gruel, and turned my back on him.

  We’d be unlocked soon enough, and then the real test would begin.

  * * *

  The doors opened a half hour later, and I’d barely stepped over the threshold when Marlon was on me. He swept me into his arms, and Xavier attacked. Vex dodged easily and came up with an uppercut that sent Xavier flying, but the Athion wasn’t done. He was back on his feet in a second and flying at Vex; this time his blow landed, and the Trad staggered back, a crazy glint in his eye.

  “Stop!” I struggled in Marlon’s arms.

  “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” Marlon said. “We’ll make him pay.”

  I looked up at him, but his gaze wasn’t on Vex, it was on something over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to see the two Trads that had hung off Jurak’s every word barreling down the corridor, murder in their eyes, and it was Killion in the lead.

  Vex shoved Xavier off and caught sight of the trio headed toward us. A shadow of doubt flitted across his face.

  There was no way that he’d be able to fight them all off. No way he’d survive this attack. Marick must have known this would happen? Did he hate me so much that he’d use Vex to get at me and risk House Ryzer losing its winning chip? He had to know the house master would be pissed. But there was no time to ponder his motivations. I had to do something.

  Sorry, Marlon. I stamped on his foot, using his momentary pain reaction to slip from his grasp and throw myself into Vex. The momentum took us back into my cell, and then I turned and blocked the doorway with my body.

  “Stop. Just stop.”

  Xavier came to a halt in front of me. “Rogue, what the fuck?”

  I clenched my jaw. “Leave him alone.” My gaze went to the intercom. Was it two-way? Could Marick hear us? Damn it.

  “Rogue …” There was warning in Vex’s tone.

  If Marick was listening, I was fucked, but if I didn’t speak up, my friends would tear Vex to shreds.

  “He didn’t hurt me.” The words spilled out. “We faked it to shut Marick up.”

  Xavier blinked slowly, and then the anger bled from his expression; his gaze flicked over my shoulder and narrowed.

  “Why?” he asked Vex.

  The others gathered behind him as if waiting for an answer.

  Vex’s chest brushed my back. “Because I don’t take what isn’t freely offered.”

  Xavier’s snort was derisive. “Then you must be the only exception to the rule when it comes to your people.”

  Vex raised a brow. “Is that why there are two Trad behind you ready to kick my face in for touching the human?”

  Xavier’s jaw clenched.

  “Rogue is part of our team,” Lazar said.

  “So, you haven’t tried to violate her?” Vex asked.

  Lazar averted his gaze.

  “Step closer,” Vex said. “Take a whiff of her and tell me you can control yourselves? Tell me there isn’t a jitter in your bones begging you to lunge and take her right here up against the wall?”

  Lazar’s jaw ticked, and he took several steps back.

  What was this? What was going on?

  Vex’s hands cupped my shoulders, and he leaned in so his breath was hot on the side of my face. Xavier growled low in his throat, and Marlon gripped the door frame, but neither made any other move, probably subconsciously sensing that the Trad wasn’t intending to hurt me.

  “Don’t you know how it works?” Vex said. “Haven’t you guessed?”

  “What are you talking about?” Marlon snapped.

  Vex ignored him. “Were their eyes glazed when they attacked. Was it as if they didn’t hear you? As if you couldn’t reach them? Are there certain times in the day when they are less tame then others?”

  “Yes.” My gaze tracked to the two Trads hovering behind Xavier. Vex had their attention now.

  “It’s in the food, you fools. The drug to enhance aggression. To make us need to lash out, to fight. It also has the side effect of enhancing libido.”

  “The food?” Killion shook his head. “We all get the same food. It hasn’t affected me or Marlon. It hasn’t affected Rogue.”

  Vex released me and stepped back. “Eighty percent of the fighters here are Trad; the rest of you are incidental. You’re novelty pieces. You’re there for us to rip to shreds. Until three years ago, there were no Athion or human fighters here. The drug … The drug has been around forever.”

  It made sense. It all made sense. The way the Trads were more aggressive in the mornings and lesser so by the evening. The morning was gruel time. Jurak’s words came back to haunt me, his strange behavior when he’d come to see me, to remind me we were on the same team. He’d mentioned something about emotions and confusion. But what didn’t make sense was how Vex hadn’t been affected this morning after his meal, which I’d seen him finish.

  I turned to him now. “You just ate, and you didn’t lose your head.”

  He shrugged. “I guess I developed a tolerance for it, or maybe I’m just super controlled.”

  But me … Did it affect me? My libido was all over the place right now, but it wasn’t always like this. For me, it was a monthly thing, echoing the periods I no longer got.

  Lazar and his companion were murmuring urgently to each other, but it was Marlon who spoke.

  “How do you know this?”

  Vex sighed. “I’ve been here a long time, Athion. I have learned things. But right now, all that matters is making sure your house manager doesn’t figure out that I’m not using Rogue as a plaything. If he does, then he’ll find another way to break her.” Vex’s lip curled. “I guess a man isn’t easily parted from his testicles.”

  “You know about that?”

  “Everyone knows about that. It’s why Marick is so bitter. Who do you think suggested that House Zantar play for ownership of you?”

  “Marick, the bastard,” Killion said.

  “Indeed,” Vex said solemnly. “Marick is a frequent visitor to House Zantar. I do believe he plans to defect from Ryzer soon. He and your house master do not see eye to eye on a number of issues.”

  Marick had set it all up. He’d wanted me punished, and he had succeeded, but not in the way he’d imagined. Not by having me violated and cowed. No. He’d succeeded in breaking my heart by taking Anton from me. My fists clenched with the need to hurt someone, preferably the little weasel responsible for all of this.

  Marlon nodded slowly, absorbing all this information. “We fake it for Marick. We let him believe he’s won and—"

  “We escape,” Xavier said.

  Vex laughed. “I like your optimism.”

  Xavier’s smile was cut-glass serious. “I’m no optimist. I’m a realist.” His gaze dropped to mine. “I came here looking for something, and I found it, and now it’s time to get out.” He looked around at the others. “So, who wants to get off this
rock?”

  8

  “This is a joke, right?” Killion said. “There is no way off this rock.”

  I studied Xavier’s face, the sincerity in his eyes and the hard set to his mouth. “He’s not joking.”

  Xavier’s mouth quirked. “Let’s take this discussion to the training room.” He glanced up at the intercom. “Just in case someone does decide to listen in. We can mask our conversation with noise.”

  Five minutes later, we had the treadmill running, and the Trads were working the weights machine, producing clanks and clinks. I lay on the weights bench while Marlon pretended to spot me, and Killion did bicep curls to our left.

  Xavier, who had taken a seat on the bench to my right, slung a towel about his shoulders and began to speak low and urgent.

  “Okay, so I didn’t come here by accident. I was sent here to investigate reports of human and Athion trafficking. A few months ago, we received an anonymous tip that human females and Athions were being held captive on a Trad mining asteroid and used in fighting pits. Now, there are several asteroids under Trad control, so it took us time to pinpoint which ones may be actively running fighting pits. We got a tip about Vesper a few weeks ago, and my team and I made the run. I volunteered to get myself captured so I could scope the place out, gather intel, and get any prisoners out, but this … This setup is bigger than we anticipated. There’s no way I can get all the Athions and humans out, and to be honest, if not for a tiny glitch in my plan, I’d have left yesterday.”

  “What do you mean?” Marlon asked.

  He tapped a spot under his ear. “I have a tracker and com under my ear. It links to the main ship and allows my team to extract me via a teleport feature. But with all the miles of rock between us, and the machines above us, there’s no signal. I can’t contact them.”

  “So, you’re stuck here.” I shook my head. “So how the hell do you intend to get us out?”

  He grinned. “Work leave. You heard what Marick said. They’ll be allowing us out to work in the mining sectors, and when they do, we’ll make a break for it.”

  Killion made a sound of exasperation. “Did you not hear the part about drones and guards?”

  “Not to mention the fact we have no schematic of this place,” Marlon added. “We could be going around in circles.”

  Xavier leaned forward. “That’s where you’re wrong. We used deep core scans to map out the upper floors of this place from orbit. And once I get in contact with my crew, they can guide us out.”

  “Us?” I canted my head. “You can teleport us all out?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I can.”

  I didn’t know enough about the technology to argue with him, but something in my gut squirmed a warning.

  “Look,” he forged on. “We can do this if we work together.” He met my gaze. “Rogue, you’re an anomaly. You and the other women who were brought here have been altered by the fertility drug the Trads were using, and there could be answers in your blood. A way to subvert their plan maybe? I don’t know. But I sense that you’re important, and as the last surviving human female on this asteroid, you’re more valuable than you realize.”

  He wanted my blood. He wanted answers. He wanted a weapon. My heart sank even though logically everything he was saying made sense. I guess a part of me had thought he’d liked me for me. Damn, where had the girly notion come from? This wasn’t about my feelings, this was about a way to stick it to the Trads that had reaped my home planet. If there was something in my blood that could help the Athions and the humans thwart the Trads, an anti-fertility solution that might just affect the Trads, then we had to give it a try.

  “What if we don’t all get to do the work leave together?” Killion asked the question that was preying on all our minds.

  I looked Xavier straight in the eyes. “Then he leaves with whomever he can save, and he sends reinforcements to get us out, right?”

  Xavier smiled with his eyes. “Right.”

  We had a plan, a weak one, but a plan nonetheless. And for the first time since being brought here, the possibility of seeing the sky again was real and filled me with sweet hope.

  Thank you, Anton.

  Thank you for saving my life.

  * * *

  The water lapped at my skin, soothing the aches and pains. Just five minutes more and I’d dress and leave before the guys turned up.

  We worked out all day, sparring with renewed vigor. Vex had spent the majority of his time with the Trads, helping them to process the revelation that their food was drugged. There was no escaping it, though, not unless they refused to eat, but knowing what they were consuming meant they could work at controlling its effects even more. Vex had managed it somehow, and maybe he could give them some tips.

  I’d worked out harder than ever before, using Marlon and Killion as punching bags, perfectly aware that I’d be thrown into a cell with Vex soon enough, and needing to tire my body out enough to keep my libido in check. And, now, I was having an early soak to avoid the sight of tight asses and washboard abs. Urgh, when would this cycle end?

  I closed my eyes. Tomorrow maybe? Maybe tomorrow Marick would put us into rotation in the mines, and we’d have a chance to escape. Maybe tomorrow we’d be off this rock.

  “Mind if I join you?”

  Xavier didn’t wait for a reply before slipping into the water beside me.

  My body tensed at the proximity. “You know I came here early to be alone, right?”

  “Yes, but I needed to speak with you.”

  I opened my eyes. “Go on.”

  His indigo face was beaded with water, his lashes wet, and his pupils dilated as he looked at me. “You’re going to be alone with the Trad again tonight.”

  A shiver of apprehension chilled me. “Thanks for the reminder.”

  He pressed his lips together. “I believe his intentions are honorable, and I believe that he may have found a way to resist the effects of the drug in the food. But he hasn’t had to share a room with a female human before …”

  “You’re worried that he’ll crack.”

  Xavier’s throat bobbed. “Rogue, you have no idea how good you smell. You have no idea …” He broke off and cleared his throat.

  Had he shifted closer? His arm brushed mine. Yep, he had.

  “It’s worse when you train,” he continued. “The whole room was saturated with your pheromones. I’ve heard of a phenomenon like this. My father told me about it.”

  His face was close now, his breath on my cheek, and my pulse sped up. “Tell me.”

  “My father came from a small tribe in the southern forests of Athion. He was raised there before he moved to the city. He told me that the women of his tribe would go through a period called the Needing. During that time, they would be extremely fertile, and their libidos would be through the roof. They’d retreat to their homes with their life partners and mate furiously.” His gaze dropped to my lips. “The younger, unmated females would be confined and given calming herbs to soothe the Needing. My father explained that the Needing wasn’t something that could be ignored, that it could become painful if left … untreated.”

  The blood was thrumming through my veins in response to his proximity. “You’re saying that all I need to do to make this feeling go away is fuck?” My voice was a hoarse rasp.

  He moved to stand in front of me, his arms braced on the wall either side of me. He leaned in to press his forehead to mine. “I can help if you let me.”

  My body was humming, my core throbbing with a sweet ache that bordered on pain. All the training, all the exertion had done nothing but push this feeling to the periphery, and now it was back, flooding me.

  I wanted to tear my gaze from his face but was locked in place by an incomprehensible force. “I’m not from your tribe.”

  He dipped his head, and his lips brushed my cheek. “No. You’re not.”

  “There is no point to this feeling. I can’t even have kids.”

  His hands slid down my waist.
“Let my touch ease it.” He was skimming my skin with his fingers, moving across my hip and down.

  Oh, God. Oh, damn it.

  His lips hovered at the corner of my mouth. “May I?”

  One word, that was all I needed to say. His hand traced circles on my pubic bone, and my pelvis angled up in response.

  “Rogue?”

  Oh, God. I needed this, I needed to be unwound. “Yes.”

  His fingers slid into me, and a raw cry broke from my lips. There was no messing around, no foreplay. He fucked me with his fingers, using the pad of his thumb to work my clit. His hands were big, his fingers lean, long and deft, mimicking the carnal act perfectly. He pushed me back against the lip of the pool, angling my hips so he could find my G-spot. The orgasm that had been hovering on the sidelines, desperate for release the last few days, ripped through me, and then his mouth claimed mine, silencing me, swallowing my cries as I rode the wave, bucking and jerking against his hand, completely lost to the sensations.

  His fingers slid out of me, but then his hands were on my breasts, kneading them, pulling on my nipples, and desire was washing over me again, rising again. He kissed me with teeth and tongue, and I devoured him as if his mouth were a peach. His shoulders were taut beneath my biting fingers, skin like velvet. I needed more, wanted more, and his hardness was pressed against my core, ready to replace his fingers.

  “Fucking hell!” Marlon’s voice shattered the haze of pleasure, and I tore my mouth from Xavier’s.

  I looked up at Marlon, wreathed in steam.

  “Shit.” My cheeks were hot, partly with embarrassment and partly from the flush of the orgasm Xavier had just given me.

  “What the fuck, Xavier? Are you trying to drive us all fucking crazy?” Marlon demanded.

  “No, I was trying to give Rogue some relief.” Xavier’s tone was calm and matter of fact, totally at odds with the rapid rise and fall of his chest and the dark flush to his indigo cheeks.

  “Yeah, well, now we all have fucking hard-ons that need seeing to. This place is saturated with sexual pheromones.” Marlon was breathing heavily. “It was manageable before you jerked her off, but now it’s impossible. Get her to her room, and make sure she stays there.”