by Lauren Dane
Andrei leaned forward and hit the hail button on the comm. “Get me Wilhelm Ellis and Daniel Haws. It’s urgent.”
“Do you believe me?” she asked him.
“I believe you have some very good points, and I believe you should be able to make them to people who’d have the ability to make the decision to send some teams to Parron. Or not. Either way, it needs to be brought up.”
Ellis got on first, clearly busy and agitated. He was short, and his instinct was to brush off what she’d said. Surprisingly, it was Daniel, who’d discounted her only minutes before, who’d picked up her points and had underlined them, getting Ellis’s attention.
“We need to discuss this. For now, status quo.” Ellis’s word was final. “Get out there today and find that fucking plant.” They both signed off, and Andrei stood.
“Julian, work with the lieutenant. I want those soldiers sitting around this installation doing something. Send out teams of three. Break it down quadrant by quadrant. Let’s search every fucking bit of this ’Verse until we find that plant. Piper, with me. Vincenz, stay back here and work on the device. You’ll be my liaison between the field work and the Center.”
He stalked out, Piper at his side.
“I’m not mad, you know.” Piper said this as they moved at a very quick clip to the hangar.
“Good. You won’t always get your way in this job. Sometimes you’ll have to follow orders you’re sure you’d have given better. Anyway, he listened to you. Daniel. He’s very influential with Ellis. If he thinks your idea has merit, he’ll find a way to open the door for some investigation. Until he can do that, we need to focus here.”
She nodded, not missing his this job comment and the base assumption that she’d be there permanently. “Don’t be mad at Julian.”
“He acted like an asshole. But he’s hurting, and you’re a newcomer. And you handled yourself just fine without my punching him in the face. It would have discounted your point if I had.”
“I don’t think he meant to act like an asshole.”
Andrei snorted, underlings scurrying out of the way as they strode in, heading straight for the most beautiful aircraft she’d ever seen. She skidded to a halt and gaped. “Wow.”
He turned, the hardness of his features melting away as he reached out to cup her cheek. “I thought you’d like it. It’s got all the best mapping tech in the camera system on the underbelly.”
All that ferocity within him, and he touched her with such exquisite gentleness, awe sometimes. She felt special every time he looked at her. Every time he showed her the Andrei most never saw.
Knowing he believed in her abilities enough to stand back and let her make her own arguments filled her with confidence.
With his predator’s grace, he hopped up into the cockpit and took the nav seat, leaving her to do her own checklist. Knowing that’s how she preferred it. He let her be. She smiled as she went about her ritual.
That he got it and respected that, deferred to it when he needed to, only made her love him more.
It was full dark by the time they came back for the last time and had quit for the day. Andrei had gone to the briefing room, but she’d begged off, needing to be alone.
She stood under the spray back in their room some hours later. Four sorties and nothing. Well, not entirely nothing, they’d discovered a small unit of Imperialist soldiers in a forested area within walking distance of a private portal. They’d called in the coordinates, and those soldiers were now being interrogated.
Another day of nothing only made her more convinced Parron was the key. Her gut was so very sure about it. Patience wasn’t her strong point; Andrei had the lead on that one. But she managed to take his words to heart, holding out hope that Daniel would be able to convince Ellis to at least send a team or two.
After she dried off and got dressed, she headed to the comm unit in their rooms and pinged home.
Taryn’s smiling face lightened her heart when he took the hail. “I was just thinking of you. Tell Andrei we send our thanks, by the way.”
She laughed. “For what? Taking me away so you can get some quiet?”
“For the credits. He paid all our outstanding bills. You didn’t know?”
She didn’t know whether to be angry or relieved. Her being gone would have stretched things tighter than she wanted. Which, she thought, brought her to the question of whether or not the situation at the compound was sustainable over time, and even if it was, if that was what she wanted for the rest of her life.
Eiriq could run cargo. She could give him the aircraft and the compound. Or Taryn and Kenner could take over, but she wasn’t sure they would if she didn’t come back.
“I didn’t. He didn’t say.”
“That’s how he is.” Taryn cocked his head, peering at the screen. “You all right? Do you want to come home?”
“I love him, Taryn. I want to be with him. Things are crazy and busy and I’m out of my element a lot, but he’s here, and every day I am more sure of what I feel.”
“Home is where he is.”
She nodded, smiling. “Yes, I suppose that’s the way of it.”
“Piper . . .” He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “You know it’s not a terrible crime to want a life with your man.” He’d always known her so well. She wished she could hug him just then, hug him and thank him for always knowing.
Kenner plopped into the chair next to Taryn. “What he’s trying to say is, this place is a dead end. We can run cargo until you and I are too old to outrun the polis, and we’ll still be stuck in a pile of dust in a compound filled with broken and aging tech. Your future is with Andrei. You know he’d do anything for you. Hells, look at how he’s taken care of all of us over the years. Choose yourself for a change.”
Taryn shrugged. “Right now you’re telling yourself that we need you and you couldn’t possibly leave Asphodel because how can we get along without you?”
They knew her so well. She sighed heavily, torn. “You’re my family. I don’t want a future without you in it.”
Kenner rolled his eyes. “We love you. We need you in our lives. But you don’t need to raise us. Taryn and I are adults. We are perfectly capable of life without you picking up after us. In fact, you know, who’s to say we won’t move to Ravena or wherever you end up? What I am saying is you can have your own life and still be a good sister. We aren’t going anywhere.”
“What about the others?”
“Piper, they’re not incapable of moving on and carving out a life for themselves. The foundation for everything is right here. The cisterns are done. We’re guarding the place far better. You and me and Kenner aren’t the reason the place works so well, though we’re part of it. But there are others who could step up and run the compound.”
“The point is, you’d be throwing away your life to only come back here out of obligation. You’d die bitter. And alone. Don’t do that. Don’t make me and Taryn watch you turn into that.”
She talked with them a while longer, feeling much better by the time she signed off. She couldn’t share any details about the job, but she could reconnect with them, which she realized she’d needed very much.
They were part of her home as well. Regardless of where she was in the world, she had part of her heart with her brothers, always. And suddenly, what she was choosing to do, both with Andrei on a personal level and on a professional level, took on a great deal more importance.
Andrei had fallen so deeply into the data he didn’t realize how much time had passed until her hand rested on his shoulder.
He looked up into her face and was struck, deeply so, by how essential she’d become. Perhaps always had been in some way. The sight of her, the familiar weight of her touch, her scent, all of it simply rolled through him, soothing and exciting all at the same time.
“How are you doing? Need some help?”
He closed the document and stood, stretching. “No. It’s all running together right now. How are you? Hu
ngry?”
“Better now that I’m looking at you.” She grinned. “I can definitely eat.”
He looked her over. Tired. He leaned down to brush a kiss over each one of her eyelids. “You need something hearty. Come on, there’s a mess hall here. Julian said it had good food.”
She took the arm he offered, snuggling into his side as they walked out into the courtyard. The sounds of machines, of conveyances and aircraft hummed through the air as they moved. Lights from the buildings gave them enough to see, along with the moons high above. One big and heavy, the other one smaller, brighter.
The mess hall wasn’t extremely full at that time of night. He caught sight of a newcomer and tipped his head in greeting.
“Who is that?” Piper asked, taking a tray.
He looked back to the woman in the corner. “That’s Odette. One of our operatives. She and her partner Ilse arrived a while back, while you and I were still out.” He ordered the special, taking a moment to put some of the energy drink he knew she needed on her tray.
She put her head on his shoulder for a moment. “Thank you for taking care of me. Now, what’s her story?”
“What do you mean?”
She made the sound very male dreads. That sort of derisive snorting hum of disapproval. Almost always concerning another woman. “Oh, that. No. After Marame, I made it a point to only see women who were not in the military corps.” He kissed the top of her head. “Until now.”
“You’re so smooth.”
“Keeps me alive.”
She laughed, and he couldn’t help but smile.
When he began to sit at a table off in the corner where they’d be alone, she shook her head, looking at him as if he’d done something terribly wrong.
“Andrei, really. She’s there all alone. You’re the boss, right? I mean, second-in-command under Daniel?” At his nod she rolled her eyes. “Then we definitely need to go over and sit with her. If she wants to be alone, she’ll say so.”
“She has a partner. They seem to be friends. It’s not like we’re all alone here and she has no one else. I want you to myself.”
The way he said it pleased her. “There’s time for that, too.” And she could make sure the heart-stopping, gorgeous Odette would understand Andrei was not on any menu but Piper’s.
When they reached the table, Odette had been gathering her things. “Hey there.” She smiled up as they sat.
“Odette, this is Piper Roundtree. Piper, this is Operative Odette Small. Piper is newly assigned to me.”
Piper found it endearing that he attempted to sound so businesslike but when he said her name, he softened, saying it like a lover. Well, for him anyway. Most would hear it and think he was introducing a coworker.
“Oh, we’ve heard all about it.” Odette laughed, but the sound was nothing more than good-natured, and Piper relaxed a little.
“How so?” Andrei seemed genuinely confused, and Piper met Odette’s gaze and they both rolled their eyes.
“Andrei, of course people talk about the gorgeous new operative who now serves as your partner. In more than one way.”
Piper snorted as she ate, feeling better with each bite.
“I can’t imagine why anyone would care. I only worked with Daniel before anyway, and he’s not in the field as much. Not like she took anyone’s spot.”
Odette tipped her head back and laughed. Piper shrugged, amused.
“But the point is she took everyone’s spot. The one all the ladies made up in their heads. No offense, Piper, but Andrei has been the object of desire within the ranks for years. Only once did he get involved with another one of us, and that wasn’t very long. So when you finally chose, everyone had to admit there’d never be a chance, no matter how slim.”
“None taken. I look at him every day. Hells, I’d be thinking the same thing.” She popped a piece of bread into her mouth and grinned. “But I get to see a lot more of him than most. He’s been mine since I was a girl.”
“Childhood sweethearts. That’s a nice story to tell your children someday, eh? Julian said you were perfect for him. I can see he was right. It’s nice to meet you, Piper. You’re going to fit in just fine. After we’ve taken care of this mess, we’ll be sure to invite you along when the female ops go out. There are only four of us, so we tend to be tight. Luckily, none of us are idiots, so it keeps the fighting down, even when there’s been alcohol.”
Andrei groaned and Piper just smiled. Once this was over, she planned to hoard him all to herself for a while. Just the two of them somewhere. Naked and sweaty. No interruptions. No work.
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Odette stood. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. I’m off to bed. The trip through the private portals kills me every time.”
Andrei leaned in to speak in her ear. “Hurry up and eat. I have plans for you, and you’ll need your energy.”
She turned her face into his chest, trying to hide her smile.
“I’m full.”
He narrowed his gaze and pushed her tray back to her. “No, you’re not. Eat, Piper. You need it. Not just for what I plan to do to you, but in general. Your body and mind are your best weapons. Don’t let them run down.”
Sure she looked like a ravening beast, she demolished the food he’d put on her tray and sat back, blinking. “Done. Now, please do filthy, unspeakable things to me.”
Fascinated, she watched his pupils swallow all the color of his eyes. His demeanor changed from protective to predatory in a shift she barely caught.
“I love a challenge.”
He hurried her back to their rooms. Her heartbeat quickened with each step, knowing he would have her any way he wanted once they were alone. Knowing she’d give him anything he wanted. Knowing she’d love it.
“Stop that,” he murmured. “I can feel your pussy getting wet from here. I know your heart is pounding. I know how much you want it.”
She swallowed hard, looking up into the masculine beauty of his face. The knowing passed between them. Hot. So hot she felt feverish, his eyes on her like a caress. No one could turn her inside out the way he did just with a look.
“Not now, unless you’re on fire or bleeding,” he snarled at a tech who hailed them. She tried not to laugh but did when he swung her up and into his arms, carrying her with those long, ground-eating strides.
“I feel as if you’re a pirate about to ravish me.” She’d meant it to be a tease, but it was more. When he snagged her attention and focus, he gave her the smallest lift at the left corner of his mouth.
That part of her descended from small, furry animals froze and then showed its belly in utter surrender. His snarl only thrilled her more when he pushed through the door to their rooms and slammed it behind him.
“On your knees,” he said as he lowered her to her feet with exquisite care.
Hoo.
She dropped to her knees as he’d asked. No. Ordered.
“You know how I like it.”
Swallowing hard, she reached and lowered his zipper, one snick at a time. The sound snagged her consciousness, drawing her deeper into his spell.
As if moving through warm honey, she reached into his pants and drew out his cock. Beautiful, like the rest of him. Feral. Just then so hard he’d have tapped his belly with it if it weren’t in her hand, angling for her to take a taste.
And she did. Dark. Spicy. Salty and utterly male. Breathing deep, she let herself fall into the spell. Licking over and around the head, she moved down little by little with each swipe of her tongue.
His taste filled her, need itched along her skin, she wanted to drown in him. His hands slid over her shoulders, the tips of his fingers brushing against her neck and then down her back to either side of her spine.
When he dug his fingertips into the muscle there, she groaned around the cock in her mouth, and he moaned in response.
Those massaging fingertips dug in deeper, urging her closer. She gave in, taking him deeper, needing more, needing to give him
all she had, all she was.
“Piper . . .”
The whispered sound of her name on his lips drove her mad with desire. To know she drove him to that sort of pleasure, that sort of desire and abandon, made her feel invincible. Beautiful and magical.
Andrei made that happen, made her feel as if no other woman in all of creation was for him. But her. Only her and always her.
To watch him better, she tipped her head back and looked up at him. Watching the way his eyes went hooded, the light in his eyes, the avarice in his gaze when he took her in, it swirled around her, snaring her in the power of their chemistry.
“Mmm, yes, look at me, Piper. Give your gaze to me. So fucking beautiful and all mine. Like a dream.”
When he did that dirty talking muttered snarl thing he did, she’d let him do anything to her, she’d do anything for him. There was something so intimate about it. And to add the flattery at the end?
A shiver went through her at that sort of power, at the power of what they were together.
She licked down the shaft, dipping to lick over his balls as her fingertips played against the sensitive spot right behind.
He tried to spread his legs, but they were still in his pants. He arched toward her, and she took him back into her mouth over and over, loving his taste and scent.
She was wet, her clit swollen and sensitive as she rolled her own hips to get some sensation.
“Enough,” he said softly, pulling her up to her feet. “Bed. Naked. On your back.” She got three shaky steps away, and then he added, “For now.”
She nearly stumbled but managed to cover it up. Or he let her pretend anyway.
With shaking hands, she pulled her clothing free of her body and got on the bed to wait. Her naked skin raised and pebbled from the cool air and anticipation. Even the air in the room seemed too much stimuli.
