by Vi Keeland
“We’ll have eyes on everything from here,” said Bastower. “But the interplanetary council is counting on you six to bring this bastard down. Enough people have died at Hij’Rozhod’s hands and we don’t want Antonio Tervoss to be next.”
Dallas walked his team through every miniscule detail of the tavern for the hundredth time and every possible problem that had come to him in his nightmares night after night over the past week. He had studied this mission from every angle. After tonight, he had no doubt they’d be prepared to take down the asshole and keep him from killing any more planetary presidents.
When he finished, Dallas met the eyes of the six men gathered around the table. “There will be no screw ups this mission. We’re going in as a team and we’re coming out as a team. Our attention to detail tonight will guarantee our success tomorrow night.”
But as they donned their gear and headed through the portal to the street, Dallas’ gut was screaming loud and clear that he hadn’t quite planned for every contingency.
Lilly stood on the sidewalk, leaning through the passenger window of the luna cab. She flashed the Drikspa behind the controls a nice view of her cleavage and overpaid the fare by one hundred credits. It’s not as if she needed to, she’d touched the alien’s shoulder while giving him directions and pushed her energy output up a couple of notches while they were traveling. She had no doubt, the driver’s squirming had nothing to do with his satisfaction over her generous tip and everything to do with his raging hard-on. Lilly wanted to be sure if anyone asked the driver about her that he’d remember every detail of where he’d dropped her off. She almost felt bad for him as he readjusted himself again.
Strutting her way toward the stylish restaurant, Lilly watched the reflection of the vehicle in the large window as it pulled from the sidewalk. When it was completely out of sight, she turned back the way she’d come and walked the three blocks back to the tavern. She hadn’t expected to get waylaid from her job. Or was it more like just laid?
Her body warmed at the thought of Dallas. She could still smell him on her. Still feel the heat of his body pressed to hers. Still taste the sweetness of his mouth. But she shook off the memory. It wasn’t as if it were real. Nothing about her sexual relationships had been real for a very long time.
Lilly had been only sixteen the first time it had happened. The horny tingling of lust she’d felt when her first boyfriend had kissed her had warmed her from the heart out. She figured that’s how everyone felt with their first love. But the more passionate his kisses became, the hotter she’d burned. The boy’s tender touches evolved into a painful mauling as he’d lost control. Her protests had been loud enough to alert her mother, who’d managed to gracefully step in and send the boy home with his dignity still intact.
It had been another year before her mother had explained the gift her genetics had produced and another four years before Lilly had figured out how to control it. And up until six months ago, it had been a secret she’d kept close to her heart.
The heels of her boots clicked a staccato cadence along the brick sidewalk. With her emotions so high, the energy pulsed around her, attracting the attention of every male she passed. Lilly worked to get it under control, but it was difficult with the emotional memories swirling around her. The encounter with Dallas had unleashed the loneliness she fought so hard to control.
She’d spent her college years living the celibate life of a nun, allowing no man to touch her. But the isolation had been too much. When she’d entered the state police academy in Illinois, she’d allowed herself to date, but there had been nothing more than friendly banter. Her classmates believed she was a lesbian and that had allowed her to become one of the guys. It turned out to be a wonderful compromise.
By the time she was working her way up the ranks of the Chicago PD, she’d found comfort in fleeting vacation rendezvous that lasted only a few days. But her time off was infrequent and the time between human contact too long. In desperation, Lilly dared a liaison with a stranger in a nearby Chicago suburb. The evening had satisfied her need for human interaction and the man definitely had no complaints when she’d left him quite exhausted in the morning. By the time she’d earned her detective’s badge she had the one-night stand down to an art form.
Though they weren’t aware of it, every male who slept with her did so without the knowledge that they had no control over their lust—but neither did she. Lilly had built walls around her heart and convinced herself it didn’t matter, she could live on one-night stands and quickies with strangers. But Dallas seemed to have shattered that pretense. For a moment she thought he hadn’t been under the influence of her seductive gift. When he’d turned from her, ignoring the desire caused by her energy flux, she actually believed she’d found someone who might be immune to the one part of her she couldn’t change. Unlike the pitch of her voice or the strawberry birthmark on her thigh, no chemistry or cosmetic surgery could remove this albatross from her neck.
She wasn’t sure why she gave a damn. Dallas was no different than every other man she’d encountered. He’d failed the second test in the street when she’d come on to him. He’d rushed her into the alley and fucked her to his own satisfaction. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed it. Dallas had actually held off his own gratification to satisfy her needs first. But her tiny bubble of hope that it had meant something to him burst as he’d counted out the credits he owed her and tucked her into the cab without a backward glance.
Lilly growled her frustration at the night, startling a Znedu couple enjoying a late-night stroll. Smiling, she moved on, angry at herself for letting the human contact get under her skin. She needed to get her head back in the game.
The second moon was visible through the blue haze of lights lining the street. Lilly wasn’t late, but if she didn’t hurry she wouldn’t be settled in place, looking the part of a woman on the prowl, when her mark arrived. If the horny informant she’d spoken to two days ago had given her the correct intel, and that was a big if in his lust-fogged state, then the alien she was hunting should have arrived from Reigis Alpha several hours ago and should be making his way to the tavern any time now. Lilly cut down a side street, saving herself only a couple of minutes.
Unlike the alley where Dallas had taken her, this narrow passage had no windowed stores. No other souls walked the muted shadows. Only the back-door stoops and heavy ductwork of businesses on the main street broke the monotony of the stone walls. Pulling the tiny fur coat tighter around her waist, Lilly quickened her steps. Years on the police force had taught her how to defend herself, but it wouldn’t do for a working woman to be seen turning down business. The whole lady-of-the-night getup worked for catching felons off guard, but she hadn’t meant for Dallas to think of her that way.
Sheesh, she needed to forget the man and focus on the job ahead of her.
“Well, look what’s tripped into my hold.” The gravelly clicks and pops translated in her ear as an Ickbata slithered from a shadowed doorway. Pulling up to his full height, he blocked her path and stared down at her.
She forgot how big they actually were. “Wisc thek, schont fral.” Good evening, sexy male. Another one of those sentences she could say in multiple languages. Silently, Lilly cursed. She’d had her mind wrapped around that damn human, not focused on her surroundings. A very dangerous thing for a human female. The energy sluicing off her was high, but she focused it in her hands and reached out to touch his bare chest. “I was just headed to the tavern.” The soft scales rippled beneath her palm. “Kal auct ral tsk, pa?” Buy me a drink, stranger?
“You look good enough for business.” He stepped closer, the thick scent of leather filling the heated air between them.
“Actually, it’s been a long day and I was hoping to relax a little before doing more business,” she said, hoping his translator would pick up her sultry whisper. The large nostrils at the end of his snout flared, scenting the air laced with her heady aroma. The temperature of his skin rose and Lilly focused the
current to her palm. Even in the muted light she could see his eyes widen and the skin below his abdomen swell. “A drink with a good-looking Ickbata would be the perfect ending.” Another push of energy and the soft scales of skin fluttered beneath her fingers.
The Ickbata, drunk on the endorphins coursing through his veins, compressed until she could look him in the eye. “We think you like us very much. Happy we make you.”
“Of course you will.” She wanted to laugh at his reference to his cocks as separate parts of himself. She hoped that was his ego talking and not an effect of the hormone overdose she was producing. But it couldn’t be helped. She didn’t have much time to mess with this alien. One more push of energy and the Ickbata stumbled back to the wall and slid down the bricks, his appendages falling limply at his sides.
“Tsk phleg ronk tsk tsk.” He slurred the words out of his mouth before his eyes rolled back in their sockets. His head fell to his shoulder, a crooked smile curling under his snout.
“Enjoy your wet dream, buddy.” Lilly patted him down, a habit borne from years on the police force. She wasn’t surprised to find the Treljon laser tucked into the waist of his trousers, but the Ba’alkin dagger strapped to his walking appendage caught her by surprise. Not street legal but definitely an effective weapon. She slipped the dagger up her sleeve and the laser in her other boot. “Thanks for the extra weapons, buddy. And remember to seek medical attention for an erection lasting longer than four hours.”
With one last touch to his snout, she made sure he was breathing before heading down the alley to the tavern. If all went well in the next few of hours, she’d take down Venair Grebetz just as easily and collect her reward for his bounty before the third moon set.
Chapter Three
Dallas hoped his posture gave the impression he was a man who just didn’t give a shit—exactly the opposite of how he felt. Leaning on the bar with one elbow, his boot hooked nonchalantly on the brass pole a foot off the floor, he worked to tamp down the slow crawl of nerves over his skin. He wasn’t sure what was making him edgy, but he’d learned a long time ago to trust his instincts. And his gut was definitely operating at yellow alert levels. Running his hand over the scruff of his chin, Dallas spoke quietly into the communications unit at his wrist. “Gamma Team, check.”
He downed his third shot of gall’s blood while one by one his men responded in his ear with the all-clear sign. Grebetz should be arriving shortly. With the two Drikspa in the surrounding alleys, the Xerick on the roof across the street, out of sight of the arriving Znedu, the Braugtot on the roof of the tavern and him and Thaegan inside, Dallas had no doubt they were ready. Routine. Yeah, that’s what he believed about all missions. Even the ones where people got killed.
He motioned to the bartender. “Another gall’s blood and Regeant’s ale and make them both double.” The Xerick nodded one of his heads while the other carried on a conversation with a Ka’al female two stools down. He didn’t even want to imagine how they’d manage that hookup.
“I think you might want to go easy on that stuff.” Thaegan stepped up next to Dallas, speaking low and keeping his eyes facing the mirror behind the bar. In the noise of the crowded tavern, they both knew no one heard. Thaegan signaled the bartender. It wouldn’t look good if he didn’t order something. “Whiskey neat.”
Dallas raised an eyebrow. “Do as I say not as I do?”
“You Earthlings make alcohol that wouldn’t get a Ka’al baby drunk.”
“And I could say the same for alien swill.” Though they both knew the alcohol content of the local brew had nothing to do with Dallas’ ability to drink anyone under the table.
The bartender dropped off their drinks.
“Here’s to bad guys getting justice and the good guys getting just ass.” They lifted their glasses, quoted team gamma’s motto and downed their respective drinks.
Thaegan motioned for another drink. “You know nothing’s going down tonight.”
“It’s a dry run.” Dallas took a long pull of the ale.
“We’re going to get a look at Grebetz. Run the team through their paces. Have a couple of drinks. Get laid. And do it all before the rest of the world wakes for their morning coffee.” Thaegan laughed, downed the second shot of whiskey and slapped Dallas on the back hard enough to make him cough. “Relax, you’ve got half of that crossed off your list already, my friend.” He melted back into the anonymity of the crowd.
But the Ka’al’s words hadn’t convinced either of them. Dallas felt Thaegan’s apprehension as surely as his partner sensed his. The last two years had tested their friendship far beyond normal bonds. Dallas expected he knew things about Thaegan even the alien’s ex-wife hadn’t known. Thaegan felt the restlessness as much as Dallas. It was no doubt why the Ka’al had stopped over. But it seemed neither of them could pinpoint the source of that apprehension.
He checked his watch. Another twenty minutes and Grebetz should be arriving. Another hour after that, if nothing unusual happened, he’d call it a night, head back to the hotel room and leave a couple of his men to tail the alien.
Dallas sipped his ale. It wouldn’t look right for a human to keep pounding down the Regent’s without showing the effects. It would surely call attention, and that was one thing he didn’t need tonight.
“Gamma one reporting.” The voice hummed low in his ear. “Heads-up, boys. It’s showtime. Gamma four reporting. The mark is coming in. Repeat. Mission is a go.” The alien on the roof across the street ran through the team’s check points. “Gamma three, do you have him?”
“Check.”
“Gamma two?”
“Ready,” Thaegan said from the corner where he’d settled in.
“Team leader?”
“Ready on your go.” Dallas spoke softly before turning. Leaning his back against the bar, his foot still propped up, and the stein of ale in his hand, Dallas looked like any red-blooded human male checking out the female patrons.
But he’d chosen this spot not for the view—though the sensual sway of the female Ickbata on the crowded dance floor certainly added to the scenery—but from his vantage point at the corner of the bar, he could just see through the revelers to the door. So when it opened, he nearly choked on the ale he was drinking.
That sure as hell wasn’t a Znedu sashaying through the door, looking to quench his thirst.
The inhabitants of Garalon Five certainly enjoyed their nightlife. The tavern had been busy before she’d left with Dallas, but the crowd appeared to have doubled in the time it had taken Lilly to screw the human, take a useless cab ride around the city streets and take down an Ickbata. And all before she did some major bounty hunting.
Lilly maneuvered through the crowd, pleased she slipped past the males with barely a glance. After the encounter with the alien in the alley, it had taken some real effort to bring the energy down to a manageable level. Of course an explosive orgasm or two would have completely dropped her levels, but Lilly had made two promises to herself when she’d discovered what genetics had given her. Never physically hurt anyone with her gift. And never—no matter how bad her nipples ached and her body thrummed—never satisfy herself in public.
Sex with someone else? Now that was another story.
It pissed her off that her gaze skimmed through the crowd in search of the man who’d left his stubble burns on her breasts, even more so when a mop of brown hair at the bar made her heart rate jump. But when she glanced back to the spot, there was nothing but a Ka’al female flirting with the bartender. Dallas wasn’t here. The man had gotten what he wanted and no doubt wasn’t mooning over her. She really needed to get her head in the game. The twenty-five hundred credits Dallas had given her wasn’t going to be enough to buy this month’s groceries. Her empty wallet depended on bringing in this bounty.
Taking down a criminal, she’d learned, required little brawn, plenty of brain and a whole lot of her body. But timing her approach was everything. From her visits to the tavern over the past few da
ys, she knew the best way to see everything was from the bar or the dance floor. Having no desire to fend off would-be clients happy to buy her a drink, Lilly chose the latter.
Filled with species and sexes of every variety, the dance floor offered both anonymity and a view of the front door. Lilly undulated her body, blending in with the crowd and smiling invitingly when bodies brushed against hers. She needed to look as if she belonged. With one eye on various wandering appendages and the other on the entrance, Lilly hoped the information she had about the Znedu was accurate.
Her fears were allayed when the door opened and the alien she wanted glided in. If he hadn’t been wearing his trademark satin robe, she wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to tell this male from every other Znedu in the tavern. Their muddy skin, elongated necks and triangular heads with their prominent black eyes made it difficult to tell them apart. But this one, she was sure, was the alien who would net her a tidy sum of credits.
Grebetz made his way to the bar, greeting several aliens along his circuitous route through the tables. With a little male backslapping, the groping of a waitress or two, and the obligatory pressing of flesh, he finally bellied up to the bar. He greeted the Xerick bartender like an old friend and turned, surveying the patrons as if they were his loyal subjects. A mark with an attitude. The cocky ones were always the easiest. This takedown would hardly seem like work.
By the time the bartender delivered the Znedu’s drink, a group of two or three aliens had gathered around him. Maybe they were bodyguards. Maybe they were thugs in training. Either way, Lilly wasn’t concerned. She wasn’t leaving the tavern without Grebetz. Separating him from a crowd was problematic, but not impossible.
The Znedu pointed to a dark corner over Lilly’s shoulder. Perfect. He was going to work his way right past her.
