by Anna Hackett
“Are you just going to stand there and stare?” she snapped.
“No.” But a part of Axton really didn’t mind being trapped with her.
“There must be a release somewhere.”
He stared at the walls. “Hopefully not on the outside.”
Chapter Three
Xenia barely resisted the urge to kick the wall.
She couldn’t find a way out. She’d tried to contact Xander using her systems, but whatever this prison was made from blocked her transmissions.
They were trapped.
“Someone will come looking for us,” Axton said.
He was sitting, back against the wall, the ion light illuminating his handsome face.
“I don’t like waiting,” she grumbled.
“I would never have guessed.”
She needed to get out of here. She hadn’t forgotten those heated moments, trapped together in the net. She’d touched him.
And he knew she could feel.
He gestured beside him. “There isn’t enough room to pace. Take a seat.”
She hesitated, but finally dropped down beside him. It wasn’t like she could keep much distance between them in this tiny metal box.
“At least we have air,” he said, far too cheerfully.
“We should conserve the ion light.”
He hesitated for a second then flicked it off. Darkness enveloped them.
Xenia let her head drop back against the wall. She set her systems running—again—looking for possible options for getting them out.
“Why would the Rahl construct this trap?” she wondered aloud.
“I’ve no idea. The Rahl struck me as the charge-in-and-kill type. Not strategic thinkers.”
She frowned. Axton’s voice had taken on a rough edge. “Most of the soldiers were just like that, all brute strength. But the leaders seemed to have increased intelligence engineered into them. Cran, who ran the Rahl operations in Haxx, was smart, cunning.”
“Well, this was a trap set for a CenSec. No one else could have jumped that high.”
Why would Cran have wanted to trap a CenSec? Xenia pulled out the Sync that had started all this. By some small miracle, she’d managed to hold onto it when the net had hit them.
She thumbed the power button and the Sync flared to life.
“Anything interesting?” Axton asked.
She swiped the screen. “It’s almost out of power.” An icon blinked at her. She touched it.
An image filled the screen.
“What the hell?” It was a mess of straight lines, boxes of different colors and the Rahl’s distinctive text that looked like claw marks. She glanced at Axton. “I can’t make any sense out of it.”
The glow of the screen threw the angles of his face into sharp relief. “It looks like a map.”
A map? She studied it again and saw he was right. “A map of what? And to where?”
They both straightened. “The Codex,” he said.
“I’ll start translating the Rahl text. See if that gives us more information.”
“We need to match this to locations here in Haxx and orient the map.”
But the more she looked at it, the more foreign it looked. “It’s just lines and boxes.”
Then the Sync died, leaving them in darkness.
“Fuck!” Axton slammed foot against the wall.
“Once we get out of here, we’ll charge it up. The translation should help us decode the map,” she said.
“I know.”
Silence fell again. Xenia swiped an arm across her face. Perspiration gathered on her forehead. It was starting to get a little warm. “The map could be a trap, as well.”
“Why? For what purpose?” Axton kicked the wall again. “I just want the Codex back. I want the damn planet back to normal.”
She didn’t need to scan him to know he was angry. She heard the fury and pain twisted in his voice.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
With her night vision, she saw him hunch his shoulders. Right. “The planet will recover. But it’ll take time.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Even if my sensors didn’t tell me something was wrong, I can hear it in your voice.”
He cursed under his breath. “I never pegged you for a talker.”
Xenia ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’m not. I’m just trying to be nice to you.”
He sighed. “No questions, okay?”
“Okay.” She wasn’t very good at giving comfort. But she wanted to do something to soothe the ragged pain in him. She just didn’t know how.
He lifted a hand, rubbing at his shoulder.
“Your shoulder’s bothering you?” she asked.
“Knocked it in the fall. It’s nothing.”
“You really do need to have something done about it.”
“The regen therapy is helping…slowly.”
She sucked in a deep breath and slid closer to him. “Lean forward, I’ll rub it for you.”
“It’s fine—”
“Axton, don’t let it get worse. I’ll massage it for you.”
He moved and she slid in behind him. She hesitated. Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best idea she’d had. She gingerly placed her fingers on his shoulder and started kneading.
“I like it when I don’t have to force you to use my name,” he said.
She stared at the back of his head and worked her fingers into the muscle.
His head dropped forward and he groaned.
She stilled. “That hurts?”
“Hell, no. It feels damn good.”
It’d be better without the fabric in the way. She waged an inner debate on how sensible that would be. He had an injury, that’s all that mattered. “Undo your shirt. The massage will be more effective without it.”
His muscles tensed under her fingers, then he undid the buttons and the white fabric fell off his muscled shoulder.
Xenia resumed the massage. She tried not to think about how warm his skin was, how firm the muscles were beneath her fingers and how good he smelled. A man shouldn’t smell as good as he did.
He groaned again. “That is so good.”
That masculine sound wound through her. As she massaged, she felt some of the rigid tension leave his body. He was strong, let the entire planet lean on him, took their worries and concerns onto his shoulders.
They were broad shoulders, but who helped keep him upright when the load got too heavy? She’d thought he spent his days in a whirl of meetings and parties, but in the aftermath of the coup, she’d seen him striding amongst the ruined buildings in Haxx, visiting survivors in the medical centers and working tirelessly to put the pieces back together again.
Xenia was afraid that the more she uncovered of Axton, the more she’d like.
“They kept me in the dark,” he said quietly.
Her fingers stilled for a second, then she resumed her movements. She also knew they’d withheld food, beaten him, tortured him. “And they dislocated your shoulder.”
“So many times I lost count.”
He would have been able to use his enhancements to block the pain initially, but that much trauma would have eventually overridden the filters.
“They wanted me to release security codes so they could access personal records, Centaxian assets, government records. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Xander had received all the fanfare—much to his dismay—about being the hero who’d saved Centax. But here was a silent hero who was still suffering for what he perceived as his failure.
Without thinking, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the bare skin of his shoulder.
He went very still. “Xenia.”
“Shh.” His skin was so warm. She let her mouth travel along the firm muscles to the back of his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not really sure. I
’ve never done this before. I’ve never wanted to.” And she shouldn’t be doing it now. Playing with fire.
He spun and cupped her cheeks. “You are so gorgeous.”
She blinked, off balance. “Really?”
“Really.” Then he kissed her.
Oh, oh…his taste exploded inside her mouth. She’d never been kissed before, wasn’t entirely certain what to do. But his lips moved on hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth to touch hers. She followed his lead, tangled her tongue with his. He groaned.
Then Xenia stopped thinking. She grabbed his head and yanked him closer.
They may have lost some rhythm in the wild kiss, her teeth mashing against his lip, their noses bumping. But it was so, so good. Bright, hot desire careened through her and all she could think about was having more of him.
Axton groaned again and gripped her hips, moving her until her legs straddled his waist. The thick heat of his cock pressed against her and this time she moaned. She undulated against him, grinding her hips. Sensation sparked along her nerve endings.
She wanted to lick him, bite him, explore every single centimeter of his lean, hard body.
“Xenia…sweet mercy.” He tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her head back. His mouth was on her throat, his teeth scraping her skin.
Pure heat flashed through her, leaving her damp between her legs.
More, more, more. She gripped him harder, knocking them both over. They rolled across the floor, desperate for each other.
When they hit the wall, they broke apart, both of them panting.
Her gaze roamed his face. Seeing the desire—desire for her—stamped on his features made the air catch in her lungs. “We…shouldn’t do this.”
“We should.”
As she shook her head, she noticed a shadow on the wall behind him.
“Axton, look.” She scrambled off him and over to the wall.
The panel was dented from where they’d rolled into it. There looked like there was space behind it.
“Stand back,” he said.
She moved aside and he slammed a hard kick at the panel. It broke inward.
She crouched, felt him move up beside her. He flicked on his ion light and they peered into the dark space.
***
“It looks like a tunnel,” Xenia said.
Axton shrugged back into his shirt and tried to focus. But his cock was throbbing and his body was screaming at him to shove Xenia to the floor and strip her clothes off.
Escape first, Axton. Get out of here and then you can do that to her. On a nice, soft bed. “Yeah, it’s a tunnel. But where does it go?’
“Let’s find out.”
“And if it leads to a trash incinerator?”
She gave him a tiny smile. “Don’t worry, Prime. I’ll protect you.”
“No. I’m going first.”
“No, you’re not.” She shouldered in front of him. “I’m the CenSec.”
He sighed. He suspected she’d argue with him until he gave in. He swept out an arm. “Fine. After you.”
She put her feet through the hole first, her hand gripping the torn metal. “It’s not very big.”
Axton stepped in close behind her. He was letting her go first, but he was sure as hell staying right behind her.
Her firm bottom brushed against him and he rolled his eyes upward.
“Ready?” she asked.
If he got any more ready, he’d burst. “Yes.”
She pushed forward. He followed behind, their footsteps making a muted clang on the metal of the narrow tunnel.
They’d gone a few meters when the tunnel narrowed even further.
“We’ll have to crawl.” She crouched down.
Axton watched her firm, black-clad butt right in front of him. The Creator hated him. He was sure of it.
A loud thump echoed through the tunnel. They both paused.
He shone his ion light back behind them. A door had slid closed, blocking their way back.
Another thump ahead. They both turned. Farther down the passage, another metal door had blocked off the tunnel.
They were trapped again.
“This isn’t good,” Axton said.
Xenia’s eyes were narrowed. She was no doubt running scenarios.
Another clang and the sounds of gears grinding echoed around them. Along with a faint vibration beneath them.
Damn it. This was going from bad to colossally terrible.
The two doors blocking the tunnel at each end started moving.
Toward Axton and Xenia.
“Shit. Xenia, ideas?”
“Get out of here.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” She tried kicking the side wall of the tunnel and Axton followed suit.
The metal didn’t budge.
The doors slid closer.
Her kicks became more frenzied. “Come on!”
They both kept at it, but nothing gave way. The moving doors were only meters away now.
“Xenia, swivel. Put your back against mine and your legs against the door. Use all your strength to hold them back.”
She moved and soon they were pressed back to back. The door slid closer and Axton braced his feet against it. He fired up his cyborg systems and put every single bit of his enhanced strength against the steel.
Metal groaned. Whatever powered the doors was fighting against them.
Xenia let out a small grunt. “We won’t be able to hold this forever.”
No. They wouldn’t. “Damn it!” His shout echoed in the tight space. “I am not going to die here. There are things I haven’t done.”
“Me, too.”
Axton drew in a breath. His thigh muscles were starting to burn from the strain. “I want to see Centax restored. Centaxians happy and content again. And damn it, I wanted to get you naked. See you laid out in my bed and show you all the fun, dirty things sex can involve.”
Her breath hitched. “I…I think I would have liked that.”
He closed his eyes. “I wanted to taste every inch of you, learn what turns you on, watch your face when you come on my fingers, my mouth, my cock.”
“Axton.” Her voice was shaky.
He pushed as hard as he could against the metal closing in. “Looking at you makes my breath catch, my gut clench. Like there’s the possibility for something truly special.”
The door inched forward, forcing him to bend his knees.
He heard Xenia strain against the door on her side, but knew she was losing the battle, too.
The doors were coming closer to killing them and then there’d be no possibility of anything.
He moved one hand and gripped Xenia’s. Her fingers squeezed around his.
The unforgiving metal edged closer.
Chapter Four
Axton’s knees were getting close to his chest. He let out an enraged roar. He had to just sit here and let Xenia die from some Rahl-engineered booby trap. He was so fucking sick of being a failure.
He tightened his grip on her hand and with his other, he made a fist and slammed it into the floor.
The floor gave way.
They both dropped like metal to a magnet and into some sort of chute.
He pulled Xenia closer and wrapped his arms around her. They slid downward, moving faster and faster.
Then they shot out the end.
He got the impression of darkness and empty space.
They hit the ground with a hard thump.
Axton landed on the bottom, with Xenia on top of him. The impact forced all the air from his lungs and sent a sharp pain shooting through his shoulder. He groaned.
“Are you okay?” She scrambled upright until she was straddling him. She started patting him down, his face, neck, shoulders.
He groaned again. “I’ll be fine.”
Then it hit him. They were alive. Alive.
He sat up, cupped her cheeks and kissed her.
She went rigid for a second. Then she threw her arms around
him and kissed him back.
There was no hesitation this time. It was a wild kiss. Hot. Abandoned. A celebration of the fact they were still breathing.
She tasted so damned good. A taste that could quickly become a dangerous addiction.
He needed her. He needed that tight, strong body beneath him. She whimpered against his mouth, her tongue stroking his.
But he wanted her safe first.
He tore his mouth from hers. “We need to get out of here.”
She nodded. “I think we’re in some sort of storage area beneath the warehouse.”
It was old. There was stonework that was clearly done centuries before. And a lot of dust. It had obviously fallen out of use years ago.
They both stood and studied the space. Xenia tightened her ponytail which had come loose during their fall and his gaze snagged on the glorious red strands.
He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and rubbing the red silk between his fingers. He wanted to see it spread across his sheets, or better yet, his skin. “Let’s get out here, baby.”
She stilled. “Baby?”
“It’s an endearment. You’re supposed to like it.”
She tilted her head, considering. “I do like it. No one’s ever called me anything but my name before.”
He gripped her hand. “Didn’t your parents have pet names for you?”
Her head lowered. “I didn’t have parents.”
“What?”
“I was abandoned. Security raised me.”
Abandoned. No family at all. Centaxians prided themselves on the achievements of their offspring. Who had been there to show Xenia she was valued? Loved?
“Well, I’ll call you all kinds of pet names. Baby, gorgeous, beautiful—” again he couldn’t stop himself and he nipped at lips “—and I’ll do it while I’m sliding my cock inside you.”
She shivered.
“Come on.” He turned. “Let’s find a way out.”
They started searching the darkness. Axton wished for his now-lost ion light.
“Look.” Xenia strode toward one wall.
Dim lights clicked on, illuminating jagged blades of all sizes lining the wall. Rahl weapons.
“They were storing stuff down here,” he said.
