Flames of Arousal

by Kerce, Ruth D.

  The doors opened, and she froze. Briggs stood in the corridor, looking just as shocked as she did. Unfortunately, he recovered first.

  He rushed her, ramming her into the back wall of the lift.

  “Ugh!” She hit her head and saw stars.

  He grabbed her wrist and smashed her hand up against the wall, until she dropped the disruptor. He kicked it away, and the weapon skittered out into the corridor.

  Damn you, Briggs.

  As the doors of the lift slid closed, she kneed him in the crotch. Not a direct blow, but still he doubled over, and she heard the breath whoosh out of him. When she tried to skirt past him toward the control panel to reopen the doors, he grabbed her around the waist. They both toppled to the floor with a grunt.

  He tried to get her on her stomach, but she elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Ow. Calm down,” he told her.

  “Let go of me!” How had he gotten out of the Initiation Chambers? This man would be her downfall yet. He possessed more skills than she’d given him credit for.

  He grabbed her arms, pinned her on her back, and straddled her. His grip tightened painfully. “Truce. All right?”

  No way was she going to be taken down by an Earth man. Or agree to some truce, after he’d attacked her. “You’re hurting me,” she told him, softening her voice and adding a small pout for good measure.

  A frown crossed his face, and he loosened his grip. “Sorry.”

  Achieving the desired effect, she almost smiled. Once he eased his hold, she pulled one arm loose and reached for his crotch. She intended to inflict some major damage.

  Quick as a forest snake, he struck back, slapping her hand away. “Don’t try it.”

  “Ow! Fuck you, Briggs!”

  “Sounds good. Maybe later.” He once again held her securely. “Now, calm down. I don’t really want to hurt you. But you have to cooperate.” He glanced around the lift.

  What was he doing? Looking for the controls maybe. That’s what she would do in a strange environment. “Prove it. Get off me!” His grip felt like iron.

  He hesitated a moment, then stood, pulling her up with him.

  His move surprised her. She hadn’t actually expected him to comply. She decided to play this more carefully. In such a small space, his brute strength would be enough to overpower her defensive skills. She had to use her brain. Outthink him.

  When she didn’t fight and relaxed her body, he pushed her into the far corner.

  “Stay right there, and I won’t hurt you. This is Lift 6, right?”

  What the hell did that have to do with anything? She rubbed her arms, where he’d held her.

  “Is that right, Brianna?” he shouted.

  “Yes!” She fingered the emergency button on her vid-cell, hoping it worked. He kept saying he wouldn’t hurt her, but no way did she trust him. He’d rammed her up against the wall, after all. That had hurt her. Her head and hand still throbbed.

  Briggs took out a tool from his uniform. Brianna’s attention piqued. Why had he been allowed to keep that, damn it? Or had he found the tool in the Lair? She didn’t recognize it, but that didn’t prove it wasn’t Xylon-specific. He studied the controls on the wall. Keeping one eye on her, he unscrewed the service panel and opened it up. He reached inside and pulled out a transport-connector.

  Brianna’s heart pounded. Even from her position, she could see the device was functional. What was it doing in there? How was that connector working with the system down? And how did an Earth man know about its location?

  She glanced down at her own transport-connector and saw a green light. Torque couldn’t possibly have fixed the system yet. Her connector must be draining power from his, because of their proximity.

  Regardless of his file, doubts about him being from Earth struck her. He must be an Agent. A spy from Marid. That made more sense. And the transport-connector must be of Marid origin, not from Xylon, for the device to be working.

  The lift jerked, drawing their attention. Brianna glanced at the location display. The lift had started back up after Briggs got on. They’d risen almost to the Council Chambers. As she reached for her transport-connector to materialize out while the device was working, the lift jerked again, stopped, then plummeted downward, throwing both her and Briggs to the floor.

  * * * * *

  “We’ve got a lift in free fall on Level Eight,” Tara announced. “And all ventilation is shutting down throughout the Lair again.” She glanced at Torque. “I thought you recoded that system?”

  “I did. But just the primaries. They must be accessing through the secondary circuits. Damn Egesa. I’ll recode those, too.” He hoped the backup ventilation would kick on without any problems, like it had before. “Anyone in the lift?” he asked as he began recoding. The emergency system should stop the fall.

  “Checking. No vid-screen is installed. Sensors do detect body heat. Two people.

  But… Hmm.”

  He turned in his seat. “What?”

  “The system is registering one Xylon presence in the lift, but the other person has different genetics. I can’t get a stable reading.”

  “Egesa?”

  “No. More like—wait. I’m receiving an emergency vid-cell signal from that location.”

  He stood and walked over to her station. “Who is it? Identify the Warrior.”

  She typed in a few commands. “Shit! The database has either been frozen or knocked completely out. I can’t access to cross-check the ID numbers.”

  Torque leaned over to read her screen, resting his hand on the console beside her.

  “What’s going on? Why hasn’t the emergency backup system taken over and stopped the lift?”

  “Malfunctioning, like every other damn system!”

  “Override the system by hand. Stop the free fall.”

  “Can’t.”

  “Emergency materialization procedures. Get those people out of there.”

  “Remote codes aren’t working.”

  Damn it! At every turn, Daegal had their balls by the short hairs. The man was probably enjoying every second of Xylon’s downfall, too. “Let me in there. I’ll change the codes.”

  “It’ll take too much time, Torque.”

  He knew she was right. He just didn’t want to admit it. “Can the people survive when the lift hits?” He couldn’t accept losing anyone else.

  “No way. The lift is accelerating through the fall. The crash will be too severe from a Level Eight starting height.”

  Torque’s mind rushed for an idea. His gaze shifted, and he blinked. “Wait.” He tapped the monitor, then straightened. “What happened? The emergency signal went out. Another malfunction?”

  Tara checked her data panel. “The readings are offline. I think. No, wait. That’s not it. I can’t…” She switched screens. “The people…are gone.” She glanced up at him.

  “Must have been a system malfunction on reading body heat.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe the system is malfunctioning now. Reading body heat plus an emergency signal at the same time would be too much of a malfunction.” He shook his head, worried about not being able to trust their readings. That put them in a dangerous situation, all the way around. Not just with the lift.

  “The lift is definitely empty. No increased weight is showing. Transport-connectors aren’t working, so if anyone was in there, they couldn’t have gotten out. It had to be a malfunction. Ghost readings from an earlier occupant maybe. Rare, but not unheard of.

  The emergency signal might have been…I don’t know. Perhaps someone accidentally dropped their vid-cell down the shaft during the free fall and the device landed on the lift, activating the emergency signal temporarily until the device ran out of power.”

  Torque felt a tug of uneasiness. Tara’s speculation could be correct, but if so, what a long shot.

  “There it goes,” she announced, interrupting his thoughts. “Lift just hit bottom.

/>   Oh…” She cringed. “Totally destroyed.”

  “Get a crew on it to search the wreckage. I want to make certain no bodies are in there.” He had to know without a doubt. “Put another crew on the ventilation problem.

  I’m going to recode from here, but I want a tech to connect a feed, bypassing the old control channels, and then switch the system back on manually. It’ll function on an independent circuit that way, and be less vulnerable to computer sabotage. Get me a report on all current malfunctions. I need a priority listing.” He had to put a stop to this havoc. Now.

  “Right away,” Tara responded, turning to get the data.

  * * * * *

  Briggs and Brianna materialized into a totally white room. Brianna staggered a moment, before finding her balance. The brightness caused her to feel nauseous.

  Almost painful in its intensity, she covered her eyes until they adjusted to the light.

  Once she was able to focus better, she glanced around. No visible doors or windows.

  Where the hell were they?

  She turned toward the Colonel and cocked her head. She attributed all this to him.

  Damn the man! Just looking at Briggs—her source of pain and aggravation—brought her rage right to the surface.

  Seldom did she visibly lose her temper. Today proved the exception.

  Without a word of warning, she punched him in the jaw, sending him to the floor.

  “I loathe you, Briggs.” She shook out her hand and winced. The man’s bones were like stone.

  “Ohh…shit,” he groaned. Rubbing his chin, he pushed himself to a sitting position.

  Discomfort was etched on his face. Squinting up at her, he grumbled, “I love you too, sweetheart.”

  With a quick snort, she glared at him, wanting to smack him another good one, except her hand hurt too much. “I’m an officer. Don’t call me sweetheart.”

  Frustrated, she walked around the room. “Hey! Who brought us here?” she yelled.

  The all-white surroundings were disorienting, and the unbalanced feeling she’d experienced earlier returned full force. She held her stomach, trying not to succumb to the room’s distorted feeling. Completely empty, with only white walls, floor, and ceiling, the room felt unnatural. Everything blended into one. “Answer me!”

  “I’m sure they know we’re here,” Briggs told her, his voice calm.

  She swung back toward him. “Who’s they?”

  “Whoever.”

  Her anger building, she took a step in his direction, but then stopped short. “What’s your role in all this?”

  Slowly, he rose to his feet. “Can’t tell you.”

  “Why aren’t I surprised?” Aggravated was an understatement for how she felt about this man. Unsure whether he intended to retaliate for the punch or not, she kept her distance.

  “You’ve got a hell of a right hook. Caught me totally off guard. Again.” A frown crossed his face, as he rubbed his jaw.

  Well, maybe he’d finally learned not to mess with her. She’d proven her skills to him now, more than once. “Just because I’m a female doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.”

  “So it seems.”

  She checked her transport-connector. Offline. She glanced at her vid-cell. No clear channels. Only interference registered. Damn, she needed to get in contact with Torque and let him know what was going on. “Let me see your transport-connector.”

  “My what?”

  “That thing you took out of the control panel on the lift.” If he were a Marid spy, he’d know what the device was called. But an Earth man wouldn’t.

  “I think not, darlin’.”

  Frustration, on multiple levels, rolled through her. She planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

  “I was told to wait.”

  “Told? Who told you?”

  “My superiors. I’m sure you understand the concept of following orders.”

  His words made her bristle. “I should have fucked the hell out of you when I had the chance. Then you wouldn’t have had enough energy to escape and take me from my command.” As soon as the words flowed from her mouth, she regretted them, knowing he wouldn’t let them pass without comment.

  A smile tugged at his lips. “Sorry about bringing you here with me. That wasn’t the plan.” His voice lowered. “And even sorrier we had to put the fuck on hold. I’m sure you’ll get another chance to wear me out. In fact, I’m looking forward to it, Brianna.”

  The deep tone of his voice turned her bones so soft she felt as if her insides were melting. And the way he said her name, sounding all passionate and needy, almost had her moaning out her desire. Her pussy moistened and began to throb.

  He wanted to fuck her.

  Unfortunately, she felt the same about him. That didn’t mean she intended to act on her feelings though. She forced her thoughts away from the memory of his naked body, his hot kisses, the taste of his cock in her mouth, the way his hand had tangled in her hair, holding her close.

  “How long were you supposed to wait?” she asked, her voice shaking only slightly.

  She doubted he would notice.

  A small smile again appeared on his lips. “Unspecified.”

  He had noticed. She could tell from that aggravating smirk and the look in his eyes.

  “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Walk in circles until someone comes to get us?” Her voice sounded harsher than intended. She needed to rein in her emotions and calm down. She was beginning to lose her normal composure. Hell, she’d already lost it.

  Now she knew how Tara felt when in a rage. But she remained determined not to let her feelings show. Not too much, anyhow.

  A wide grin spread slowly across his face. “Well, if you really want to pass the time, I can think of more interesting activities than walking, Brianna.” He approached her, one small step at a time.

  She backed up, step for step. “Yes,” she answered breathlessly, the path of his thoughts obvious, the bulge between his legs just as obvious. “I’m sure you can, Briggs.”

  “Maybe that chance I spoke of earlier is now.” He pressed her up against a wall and leaned in close. “Wanna fuck me?” he whispered in her ear. “I certainly want to fuck you, baby.”

  She hated all those endearments he always used with her. They sounded too condescending in her opinion. She was certain he was well-trained in how to speak to a female officer, especially a superior, which made his words even more irritable.

  “You’ve left yourself vulnerable to attack, Colonel. Again,” she told him, knowing she could floor him right now, if she wanted to, from his non-defensive position.

  “Perhaps.” He slowly reached out and opened the second button on her uniform.

  “But somehow I think I’m safe.” His gaze dipped down to her breasts.

  Brianna swallowed hard. The look in his eyes seemed so primitive. And she couldn’t deny her curiosity. She’d never been with an Earth man sexually. “What makes you think so?” she whispered.

  His gaze rose to lock with hers. “Because I know you want this,” his voice rumbled, deep and rough in his throat. He leaned forward, and his mouth brushed hers.

  She gasped, pressing herself more flatly against the wall. He could read her too well. Now was definitely not the time to give in to her baser needs though, no matter how strongly she wanted to.

  His tongue teased the seam of her lips. “Open up for me, Brianna.”

  With a sigh, she reached up and stroked his cheek, parting her lips just slightly.

  Groaning, he closed his eyes and leaned in. “Ah, yeah.”

  With her other hand, just as he pressed his mouth to hers in a searing kiss, she pushed him hard, tripping him at the same time and sending him to the floor on his butt. Her lips tingled, and she almost regretted her actions. Almost. “It’s not happening, Colonel. You got that?”

  As he stared up at her, his eyes narr
owed with obvious growing frustration. “Yeah.

  I got it, Ms. Commander. But just so you know…”

  What now? Her eyebrow rose in silent question.

  His leg shot out, and before she knew what was happening, he’d turned the advantage and tripped her. She tumbled on top of him. He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her hard, then pushed her away and scrambled to his feet. “I can retaliate when I choose. So be careful. You may not be as safe around me as you think.”

  Chapter Seven

  Sand Moon

  With a harsh grunt, Kam pushed Halah into his quarters.

  For the benefit of the monitoring system in the corridor, he purposely made the force of his touch look more aggressive than he actually applied. He didn’t want to appear as if he was treating her too gently and arouse the suspicions of anyone watching.

  Although his touch wasn’t truly rough, she shot him a look of aggravation and disdain over her shoulder.

  Sorry. The silent apology was the best he could offer at the moment. He doubted his look translated his thoughts well enough though, since she frowned and moved ahead of him, staying out of reach.

  After the door slid closed behind them, his thoughts switched more fully to the problem of communication. Now that he’d found Halah, he had no idea how to relate his thoughts to her, since he couldn’t easily speak yet.

  He could use hand signals. She still understood the signs all Class 1 and Class 2

  Warriors were taught, but at the same time he wanted to see how she’d react to him without knowing why he was here. That way he could find out just how mad at him she really was, so he’d know better how to get her on his side.

  Besides, he couldn’t fully relate his feelings or the mission effectively with sign language. She probably didn’t even know yet that Marid and Xylon were officially at war. He wondered what her reaction to the news would be. Which side she’d align herself with, if either.

  She hadn’t spoken yet. Still assessing her situation, no doubt. He noticed her looking around the room as if searching for something. He knew her concerns.