Vengeance Due--A Dystopian Rebel Romance

by Zoey Indiana

Dealing another hand, he flipped their cards over again. When it was Nova’s turn, she held her hand over two of the cards. Indecision flickered over her face, but Cay waited patiently. Eventually she played a card and Cay let a grin escape. That was the exact same card he would have played. Unable to outplay her this hand, he tossed in his hand. The second and third rounds went about the same. The fourth round got dicey, but she beat him.

  “Congrats, you won.”

  She gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You let me win.” Much to Cay’s delight, Nova’s hand lingered on his shoulder.

  “Actually, I didn’t, you’re a quick learner. This game is fifty-fifty skill and luck. I dealt you a better hand, and you played it well.”

  Cay looked into Nova’s eyes, and everything around him disappeared. Before he could stop himself, he cupped her cheek and kissed her. When she parted her lips, he pulled her closer as he tasted her. His cock grew hard as her hands ran over his chest.

  Needing to be closer to her, he cupped her ass and pulled her onto his lap. Her legs wrapped around him, making his cock twitch. Nibbling gently on her lip, his hands wandered under her shirt.

  A giggle broke their kiss, and she looked up at him, startled. “Apparently I’m ticklish.”

  “I’ll be more careful.” He cupped her breast through her bra, and she gasped. Rubbing a thumb over the hardening nipple, he leaned down and captured her lips again. Her hands drifted up his chest, over his shoulders, and then down his back. She was driving him insane, and he couldn’t hold back anymore... he needed her.

  Wrapping his arms around her, he carried her over to the bed. Sitting on the edge, he leaned back and let her take control. It would be her first time being with a real man and he didn’t want to rush her. He’d learned to be patient and didn’t want to intimidate or make her uncomfortable.

  Nova settled down on his hips and ran her hands over his chest and shoulders. Cay waited to see what she would do. After several minutes she got up.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this.” She shook her head as she backed up. “I don’t have a clue what to do.”

  Grabbing her hips, Cay pulled her until she was standing between his thighs and looked up at her. “Do you want to?”

  “Of course I want to, look at you!” Nova gestured to his chest. “You’re drop dead gorgeous. I’ve always believed I preferred men over women, but when men don’t exist…” She shrugged.

  “Let’s find out.” Nuzzling her breasts, his hands slid inside her shirt and urged her onto his lap. Unhooking her bra, he pulled her shirt up and licked her nipple. He relished the sound of Nova’s moans as he licked the other.

  With a disheartened sigh, Nova flipped over on her back. “I’m not any good at this.”

  “That’s not fair, how much practice have you had?” Cay propped himself up on one arm and stared down at her beautiful breasts before raising his gaze to her eyes.

  “You already know the answer to that question.”

  “Yeah, but I thought you could use a reminder.” He stood up and pulled his pants off and slid next to her on the bed.

  “Holy hell, that thing is huge! There’s no way it will fit.” Nova pulled back from him with her mouth gaping.

  Cay held back the laugh. “Thanks for the compliment, but trust me, it’ll fit.”

  “Absolutely not.” She pointed at his cock. “Your friend there will rip me in half.”

  This time he laughed loudly. “How can I assure you? It’ll fit, I’ll just have to make sure you’re ready. I promise if it hurts, or you want to stop, I will.”

  “Okay.” The bashful look on her face melted his heart.

  “Are you sure? There’s absolutely no pressure to do anything. We can go back to the table over there and play another round of Da’Temp.” The words came out easily enough, but he silently chanted that she’d say yes. There was nothing else in the world he wanted to do in this moment aside from worship her body.

  Her silence made time slow until he wondered how long they’d laid there staring at each other. “Okay, we can try it.”

  “Nova, you’re beyond beautiful. From the time I’ve been around you, I can tell you have a great personality and aren’t like the women at Gu’Kano Colony. The last thing I want to do is hurt you or make you uncomfortable.”

  She had a wary look on her face but didn’t pull away when he moved over her. He passionately kissed her, then trailed soft kisses along her jaw. Slowly he moved to her breasts, taking care to kiss every inch of her on his way. As Nova breathed harder, he kissed a path down her body until he pulled her clothes off and spread her legs, almost moaning at the sight of her. Parting her lips, he gave her a long lick.

  “Stop!”

  “Stop?” His hormone filled brain took a few seconds to process what she was saying.

  “Well, not stop everything… just that.” Her cheeks were bright red as she covered herself.

  “You don’t like it?” Cay propped himself up on his elbows.

  “I did, but it can’t be very fun for you.”

  The laugh escaped him before he could stop it. “You’d be wrong. Just looking at you makes me so hard it hurts, but the taste of you is like ambrosia. I could eat you all day and never tire of it.”

  “I… uh.” Nova shook her head and laid back. “I can’t watch.”

  Chuckling, he sank between her thighs and sucked on her clit. Nova let out a squeak, but he licked and sucked at her until her moans became gasps. Moving back up to her breasts, he settled his hips between hers until his cock felt her warm and wet. Rocking his hips, he slid against her wetness.

  He looked into Nova’s eyes, and the wariness was gone. Giving her a kiss he’d never forget, he shifted his hips and slowly entered her.

  Nails dug into his shoulders and he stopped moving. “Are you okay?”

  “Umm, I think so.”

  He waited a few more seconds before he slid a bit deeper. Nova arched into him, almost driving him to lose control. Taking a deep breath, he counted down from ten and then took another breath before he continued. Reminding himself that he had to take it slow, he leaned down and captured her nipple again as he slid out. Her fingers dug into his lower back as he buried himself as deep as he could go.

  “I’m going crazy, please, I need more.” She begged as he pulled back until only the tip was teasing her.

  Music to his ears... releasing some of his control, he pulled her hips as he thrust deeper into her. Her head dropped back and her moans grew louder when he teased her nipples. Building up rhythm, her hands slid into his hair and pulled his mouth tight to a single nipple. He could worship her breasts all day long. Using his other hand, he plucked and squeezed her other nipple until her body quivered and her moans turned into small screams.

  Just before she plunged into an orgasm, he pulled out and flipped her over as Nova let out a breathless objection. Pulling her to her hands and knees, he slid his arms down her legs and separated them. Man, he loved this view of her dripping wet and swollen. His fingers flicked her clit while he licked her. So sweet, the taste of her made his cock throb. Taking a moment to suck her clit, her cries grew louder and her legs trembled.

  He took one last long lick, savoring the taste of her, and then he parted her lips and drove himself inside. Holding onto her hips, he didn’t hold back as his grunts mixed in with her screams.

  Something rattled on the table, threatening to ruin their bliss. He ignored it and made it his personal goal to make her feel so great she didn’t notice the handheld. Nova gasped and ground her hips into him. He leaned back and pulled her deeper while his fingers found her clit again. Ramping up, her body went rigid around his cock and she screamed. He tried to hold back, but she became so tight and pulsed around him that his body couldn’t hold his release back.

  Gently, he lay on his side and spooned her. Nuzzling her neck, he realized nothing in this world was better than holding her in this moment. Nothing.

  The rattling returned and caught Nova’s atte
ntion. “I have to get that.” She turned and crawled over him.

  Cay dropped his head in frustration. Looking into her eyes, he saw her concern and kissed the tip of her nose before letting go of her. Plopping onto his back, Nova raced to the table. He could lie to himself, but this would never work. Nova would always hold her position within the Resistance as the most important thing in her life. She had to go back to her bar, and he had to go back to his own life as a tool for breeding.

  “ARI has the perimeter to the outer-city on total lockdown. The rescue team can’t get through.” She dropped the handheld onto the table. “We’re alone.”

  9 Residential Pod Outer City: Nova

  The replicator dinged as a survival pack materialized. Pulling it out, she typed in several more items to replicate. She organized all the items into the pack and set it on the table. Next she replicated the most recent blaster that was programmed in, the Hydra5, and four of the weapons appeared. She set those on the table and returned to the replicator as it made cartridges for them.

  The memory snapped back of his hands all over her body, hot kisses trailing her chest. Nova wanted to go back to bed and start round two, but she had to focus on something other than Cay. Now was the time to prepare for traveling through the perimeter for the inner-city. Despite the dangers to herself, she needed to make sure she delivered Cay safely to the nearest Resistance stronghold.

  “Have you ever used a cartridge blaster?”

  Cay opened his eyes, and Nova felt the heat creep into her cheeks. He was lying on the bed resting before they planned to leave, but memories of him tasting her earlier sprang into her mind again. He’d made her feel wonderful and felt bad she’d made him stop when the message came in. She wanted to crawl across the bed and finish what he started earlier, but they didn’t have time. It would be dark soon and that would be the best time to travel.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Then you learn today.”

  Cay slid off the bed and walked over to the table. She brought all the cartridges and set them down. Using the button on the side, she swung the cylinder out and loaded five ARI-seeking stun cartridges into two of the Hydra5s.

  “When you see someone in a red uniform, point in their general direction and press this button.” Nova pointed to a button near the cylinder. “These stun cartridges have charges that will seek out ARI soldiers.”

  “How does it know who is and isn’t ARI?”

  “ARI soldiers have track chips that use a unique frequency and that draws the charges.” She set both of the blasters down near him. “I’ll have similar charges but not quite.”

  Nova loaded the remaining cartridges into her own blasters and slipped them into a holster that wrapped around her shoulders under her jacket. She replicated a large holster for him and set it on the table in front of him. He tried to put it on, but when she checked up on him, it was twisted. Hiding her smile, she helped him remove it and put it on correctly.

  “This is incredibly tight across my shoulders.”

  “That’s because it’s designed for a large woman.”

  Cay took it off and dropped it on the table. “I’ll go without.” He grabbed one and put it in his pants pocket. “It’s not ideal, but we have to work with what we have.” Slipping the second one into the waistband of his pants, he walked over to the replicator and pressed a few buttons. After a few minutes, he sighed and returned to the table. “I can’t find any shirt designs that will fit me.”

  Nova went over to the replicator and looked. Even the sizes for a large woman would be tight for him. She grabbed the housing pod tab and opened the programming feature for the replicator. If she could tweak the code for one of the larger shirts, then it might work. Cay was lucky his pants had survived the earlier attack. Even with this loophole, she didn’t think it would be possible to make pants large enough for him. After a few more adjustments, she hit send and the replicator hummed as a shirt appeared.

  “Try that, it’s the best I can do with this replicator.”

  Cay slipped the shirt on and moved around. “Just a tad too small, but it should work.” Relief surged through her; he’d finally covered his muscles. The shirt was tight enough it didn’t hide much, but it made him a little less distracting.

  “Okay, let’s go. It’s dark enough to leave.”

  Once outside, she turned the cloaking system back on, then it was a long walk to the inner-city perimeter. When they were a few meters away, a red haze appeared in her peripheral vision. Spotting several ARI soldiers, she was concerned their numbers were much higher than normal. Keeping their distance from the patrol, Nova and Cay hid until it passed. Following the perimeter wall, they found a break then a place to observe it from.

  “If we can slip through without revealing ourselves, it will give us more time to get away.”

  Cay nodded and pulled his blaster from his waistband. They counted five minutes between the patrols as they passed by. Taking into account they would be in line of sight for most of that time, they only had two minutes. It would be close, if not impossible.

  Nova used universal ARI hand gestures indicating Cay to hold their position. She signaled to move when Cay grabbed her shoulder.

  “You can wave your hands around all you want, but it won’t make me understand it.”

  Shit, she’d forgotten that he had no tactical training at all. “Right, sorry.” Sometimes she forgot there was a different way to live life.

  She grabbed his wrist and pulled him with her the moment the next patrol passed. Her heart raced as they neared the opening. Nova ducked down to pass through the small hole in the fencing, then helped Cay to get through. The sound of metal tearing exploded in the silence of the night as Cay struggled through the small opening.

  Realizing he was stuck again, she pulled on him. Metal shrieked as he shot forward, and they both fell back onto the hard ground, knocking the air out of her. Struggling to catch her breath, she tried to push him off. When she pulled her hand back, something caught her eye... there was bright red blood on her hand. Cay crawled off of her and was inspecting the wound when Nova got to her feet.

  Alarms shredded through the silence of the night. Nova looked at the surrounding ground with panic until her eyes locked on something shiny under her foot. It was a pressure alarm, the opening in the barrier had been a trap.

  10 Inner City Perimeter: Cay

  Cay spun around, looking for the soldiers he could hear approaching. This was worse than bad, and Nova was standing still and staring at the ground.

  “Which way do we go?”

  Nova jumped, and her eyes were wide. “We need to stay on this side even though it’s more dangerous, it’s our only chance. They’ll reinforce the guards stationed here. If we go back, there won’t be another chance. Follow me!”

  Nova sprinted off towards the nearby buildings and Cay raced after her. They darted into the alleyways when shouting crept closer despite their speed. Nova darted to the left. When Cay made it around the corner, she was face down on the ground. Worry seized him as she remained motionless. Dropping to his knees, he carefully rolled her over, checking for injuries. Her eyelids fluttered and Cay gasped at what he saw. Instead of the purple eyes he’d become accustomed to, staring back at him were fiery red ones. Her eyes danced around while she clutched his shoulder.

  “I can’t see, something is wrong with my eyes.”

  “You can’t see at all?” Every second they weren’t moving, they were closer to capture. He needed to get them out of here, but didn’t know where to go. This was his fault. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t even be in this mess. He felt like a lost child following her around, waiting for someone else to tell him what to do.

  “Everything is a hazy shadow.” Her eyes darted to the right. “No, there’s a red light over there. Actually, there are a bunch.”

  Cay looked in the direction Nova was pointing but saw nothing. “How big are the lights? I don’t see them.”

  “Big, like h
uman-sized, and they’re moving this way.”

  He didn’t know what was happening, but an idea formed. “Which direction is void of those red lights?”

  Nova pointed in the direction they were facing. Without hesitating, he picked her up and sprinted forward. “Keep telling me where the lights are missing, it might give us a path out of here.”

  Cay carried Nova through the alleyways until she couldn’t see the red lights anymore. Refusing to let her walk, he kept walking until her eyes returned to purple.

  “Put me down.”

  “No, I don’t want you to fall again.” He bounced her in his arms but held her tight. “Besides, if you get injured, I don’t know where I’m going.”

  “I didn’t fall, and what makes you think I have any idea where we are?”

  Cay mis-stepped but caught himself. “You have a better chance than I do, this is the first time I’ve left Gu’Kano Colony.”

  Nova looked up at him and his stomach tightened at the emotion hidden behind that gaze, but he couldn’t place which one. A few more moments passed as he walked the alleyways in silence until Nova stiffened and looked around.

  “You know where we are, don’t you?”

  “This looks familiar, put me down so I can look around more.”

  “Ah, but I like you where you are.”

  When Nova met his gaze, he lost his breath. There was something about this woman that made him crazy, he wanted her… no, his soul needed her. She was the weapon to fight his loneliness and the perfect woman to help him find meaning to his life instead of being a breeder. He couldn’t breathe, knowing soon they would have to part ways.

  His heart shriveled at the thought of losing her. Maybe there was a way to have her? Nova’s lips met his, and he pulled her closer. Why couldn’t they get a moment of peace? Mentally screaming at himself, he built the strength to break the kiss.

  “Any other time, my beautiful badass Resistance leader. Right now we have to find somewhere safe, then we can return to that kiss.” He set her on her feet even though his body begged for her to return. His skin felt chilled without her warmth and his soul called for its other half.