He sucked her clit into his mouth and drew on the fleshy bud. His hands caressed her thighs and hips, then inched behind her to cup her cheeks and hold her close against his mouth. His fingers massaged her ass. “Mmm.”
The low sound vibrated along Halah’s clit, sending pulses of pleasure through her.
The stubble on his cheeks scratched the inside of her thighs, increasing the myriad sensations flooding her body. “Yes…” She tangled her fingers in his hair.
With one hand Kam eased her right leg over his shoulder, giving him better access to her pussy and helping support her against the moist wall. She noticed his gaze kept darting toward his wrist sensor, and every time it did, his next move brought her even more pleasure. He was obviously using the machine to give her the best sexual experience he could. She didn’t think he really needed any help. He was sexy enough and talented enough on his own.
His teeth scraped her clit, and when he nibbled the fleshy bud, she gasped and pushed her hips forward. “Ah!”
Kam licked, sucked, and nibbled her until she thought she’d lose her mind.
Whenever she neared a climax, he’d stop and kiss or lick the inside of her thighs until she relaxed, then he’d start again.
Her fingers tightened in his hair. “Make me come, damn it!” She needed the release, not to be teased. At the same time she never wanted the exquisite torture to end.
He chuckled, moving back to lick her pussy again. This time when she was about to climax, he didn’t pull back, but continued sucking her clit gently.
“Yes…don’t stop.” Halah’s body tightened. Her back arched, and sensations of pure pleasure shot through her. She screamed out Kam’s name. The ecstasy rolled through her, feeling as if it would never stop, which was fine with her. When Kam flicked his tongue against her clit, she came even harder. “Oh-oh!” She loved the feelings rushing through her body, but she didn’t think she could take much more without passing out from the intensity of it all. He flicked his tongue again, and the third time she came so hard that she couldn’t even scream. All she could do was hold on and whimper.
Finally, the pleasure ebbed, and she slid down the wall, collapsing in Kam’s arms.
He held her gently, whispering sweetly against her ear in what she assumed was his native Tamarian. She thought she recognized one or two endearments.
Damn, he was good. After she felt a bit more in control, she reached down to touch his cock, wanting to give him a great experience too.
Before her fingers wrapped fully around him, he eased her hand away. “No time.
I’ll collect later. Believe me. Come on. Let’s get you dry and into some clothes.”
He helped her to her feet, and they stepped from the shower. Her legs felt so wobbly that she kept hold of his arm just to steady herself. “Why did you do that?” she asked him, her curiosity too great not to. He hadn’t gotten anything out of it for himself.
“Do what? Lick your pussy?”
She nodded. She was so used to others only giving to her when they saw an opportunity to get something back. That was fine, as long as it was also part of her own agenda. This had been different.
He chuckled. “I don’t understand your confusion, Halah.”
“Why’d you take the time? Especially now.” Even if the viruses were locked, they could have been accessing the system here and getting ready. The few minutes they’d spent probably wouldn’t really make any difference in the big scheme of things. But it went against the code. A Warrior took care of business first…always.
“Ah.” He stroked her cheek with his fingertips. “I took the time because I wanted you to know that you’re important to me, personally, not just because of whatever else I want from you.”
Looking into his eyes, she swallowed hard. He spoke the truth. She saw it so clearly that she felt like weeping. She knew he hadn’t specifically mentioned the mission, on purpose, now that the water was no longer on to drown out their words. But she understood his meaning.
“We don’t have the best history,” she reminded him, with a hint of sadness in her voice. Could they somehow have a better future?
He smiled, looking at her with such gentleness. “I’ve seen things, and even if I hadn’t, there’s something about you…” He let the sentence hang, not saying any more than that. Not with words. His eyes and touch, though, spoke volumes.
When he continued to look deeply into her eyes, as if studying her or perhaps waiting for something, she began to really believe there might be more to this than simple sexual attraction. She wondered if he’d seen the visions—like those she’d been having. Breeder-mate visions. She almost asked, but feared he might not have had the same experience. She didn’t want to think of that possibility, so she pulled away and walked over to gather some drying cloths for them instead.
In silence, she and Kam dried off and dressed. They walked into the outer room, and he sat down in front of the computer with barely another look at her.
Still feeling the effects of her orgasm and Kam’s words, she had a hard time concentrating on what needed to be done. She rested her hand on his shoulder to maintain contact with him, while trying to gather her thoughts. He reached up and patted her hand. She sucked in a sharp breath, not having expected that show of affection. The small gesture meant a lot to her.
After he logged on, she heard him grumble in frustration, and her attention turned to focus fully on the mission. “What?”
He pointed to the screen, and she saw that the terminal connection was for the local system only. They’d need to link with the main computer on Marid to upload the viruses.
Wanting to help, she pulled up a seat beside him. With both of them in front of the computer, anyone watching wouldn’t be able to see the screen or what they were doing.
Since this machine was a personal system, with restricted access, she doubted any key-logging program had been installed. If she was wrong, the underground computer monitoring system would identify their tampering and report to Frost. They needed to work quickly, just in case.
After speaking with Josella, she knew that Kam had told the truth about knowing her sister’s location. It wasn’t a trick. Josella had used their special word to identify herself. So now, she just needed to help Kam, and he’d reunite them. Then she’d figure out how to handle her growing personal feelings for this man and what she ultimately wanted to do with her life.
She swatted his hands away and tried getting in with her old login and password from when she was on Marid. Her clearance, at the time, hadn’t been as restricted as his was now. Shit. It didn’t work anymore.
The failure only deterred her for a moment. She’d created an additional login while there so she’d maintain access, even if they cut her off. Hopefully, her tampering hadn’t been discovered. She tried it and the connection went through immediately. Yes! She smiled at Kam.
With a small chuckle, he shook his head, then leaned over the keyboard. He used special codes—probably acquired from prior missions, research, spies, and the questioning of prisoners, she figured—to access the different areas he needed to infiltrate. In each area, she watched him program in a connection to the viruses stored in one of Xylon’s computers. Once activated, the destructive lines of code would transfer to each Marid station. Hopefully, Daegal hadn’t taken out the particular system in the Lair processing the transfer. If Kam had stored the viruses in a remote database, upgraded for high security, all would most likely be fine. They’d find out soon enough, she supposed. After bypassing several security checks with his entry codes, he accessed the weapons system. From there he let her take over.
Halah didn’t just turn the system off. That would be too easy to fix. Instead, she got into each section and changed a few small code sequences, just enough to malfunction the majority of Marid’s, and a large number of the Sand Moon’s, vital defense areas. It would take their techs time and a hell of a lot of effort to reestablish overall control.
“Go?”
He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.
His thoughts shone in his eyes. He was taking her out of there. She touched her collar, and he nodded slightly. Yes. He remembered they’d have to get the control device off her first. As long as she stayed with him, nobody should think much of an Agent with his slave. She hoped.
After grabbing a few essentials, they left the quarters. He kept his hand wrapped around her arm. Because he thought she might run, or to make it look like she remained under his physical control, she didn’t know. She noticed the vid-surveillance following them as they proceeded down the corridor.
An alarm blared. The both stopped dead in their tracks.
Halah’s heart pounded against her ribs. “Us?” she asked, her voice tense.
“I doubt it.”
After a moment’s thought, she agreed. Guards simply would have confronted them. An alert would be overkill. Marid had probably reported their computer problems to Frost, or problems had filtered down to the Sand Moon systems already.
This might be a blessing in disguise, if it caused enough confusion for them to get into a control room and deactivate the damn collar around her neck.
Agents and Egesa rushed passed them with barely a glance. She breathed a sigh of relief and felt Kam relax beside her. Her relief was short-lived. She knew they weren’t out of danger yet. “With the alert, Frost will check on us,” Halah said, shattering their temporary feelings of ease. She saw the worry cross Kam’s face, before he masked the emotion.
“Don’t think about Frost. It’ll take her some time to find us. We can’t return to the quarters. She’ll track the computer tampering back to that room’s terminal. We’ll need to keep on the move now. Here.” He pointed to a white door with a glass panel in the center. Control Room 3. It bustled with activity. “This is it.”
Halah pointed to a sign, which read “No Slaves Past this Point”.
He pushed her into a corner, away from the monitoring system. “Stay here. I’m going in.”
“Security will see on the system that I’ve disappeared from your side.”
“I doubt they’re much concerned about our asses right now. Not their regular security people anyhow, who won’t yet know we’re fugitives. Stay put. When the collar unlocks, get it off fast. I don’t know how long I can keep the system offline. I’ll see if I can find us some weapons while I’m in there. Once Frost or Rave checks on us, it’ll still take them time to issue a capture and detain order. If someone comes after you before I get out, use your own judgment to fight or flee. But don’t take any foolish risks, Halah.”
She nodded, then reached up and stroked his cheek. She kissed him lightly on the mouth, her lips lingering as she felt the same spark she always did whenever they touched. “In case you don’t come back.”
“What do I get if I do come back?” He grinned.
“Anything you want.” And she meant it. For him. The feeling was almost alien to her. She hadn’t experienced true caring for anyone besides herself and Josella in many years. Except maybe Dak, and even that wasn’t of the same intensity. Kam had gotten under her skin. Since they’d first met on Earth, she hadn’t been able to banish him from her mind.
“I’ll hold you to that.” He kissed her hard, then took off.
Kam strolled into the control room, as if he belonged there. Infiltrators generally gave themselves away by their nervous actions and reactions, more than anything else.
If he stayed relaxed and acted like he belonged there, he could pull this off. The clothing he wore displayed a Marid marker on the top, so no one should suspect him. They were too busy handling the problems with the computer system.
His hand went to his throat. When Frost discovered them missing, would she blow his implanted device? He hoped the control had a limited range, and he could get some distance before that happened.
After finding an empty station away from most of the activity, he slid into the seat.
If anyone saw him, they’d think he was assigned there…as long as the person actually assigned didn’t return. If he was picked up on the monitor, well, things could go badly for him. But hopefully everyone was too busy to notice. He only needed a few minutes.
He keyed in the code on Halah’s collar and deactivated the link. During the Marid mission, they’d had to deactivate collars, so he knew the procedure. Hell, he’d just deactivate all collars. At least that would prevent Frost from keying in on only Halah and might gain them some more time.
The deactivation would show up on their monitoring system, so he quickly took that system offline. They should believe it to be just another malfunction.
Those banished here by the Lair were not normally collared by Xylon order—unless they were particularly hard cases, but if the slaves under the Dome’s control, who were collared, discovered their collars inactive before the underground facility here, or the security center up top, reestablished a connection, all the better. They’d really create some havoc for Frost and Daegal.
With a heady feeling of success, he swiveled his seat away from the station. Done.
Now, he needed to get back to Halah. Hopefully, she hadn’t needed to take off without him.
He slid out of the seat and headed for the door. He glanced around, hoping to spot some sort of weapon he could pilfer, but nothing was lying around unattended.
“Hey, you! Wait!” someone called out to him.
Shit. He’d been noticed. Slowly, he turned to face an Agent. He could tell by the way the man stood there, in a fighter stance, that he’d once been a high-ranking Warrior. At least a Class 2.
The man’s eyes narrowed. “What were you doing at that station? You’re not assigned there.”
“I was sent to check some stats. The seat was empty, so I used the station instead of bothering someone to pull up the data for me. Everyone looked busy.” He tried to sound convincing, but he could tell by the look on the Agent’s face that the man wasn’t buying it.
“I don’t think so. Come with me.”
Another alarm blared. “Fire alarm!” one of the techs shouted. “Everybody out!”
The sprinkler system shot on. Not water, but a special chemical. Kam took this as his chance. While the Agent was distracted by the chaos and descending curtain of frigid fog, he slipped out of the room and found Halah down the corridor. “I caught a break.”
“Yeah, I know. I punched the emergency alarm. Thanks for getting the collar off.”
She rubbed her neck.
“You set that alarm off?” She’d saved this mission twice so far in a short amount of time. The first time getting them into the computer system, and now this. He had to admire her ability to think quickly and to plan ahead.
“It’s an old trick, but always works. Let’s go!”
Kam and Halah backtracked their way to the underground caverns, where they’d both been brought down from the surface. A lift would have been faster, but more dangerous and not a good place to end up trapped. Halah kept up with Kam’s pace, even though he moved quickly and with much longer strides than she.
“Did you find any weapons or a transport-connector?” she asked him, feeling hopeful.
“Not that I could get my hands on without looking suspicious. We need to hurry. I was spotted in the control room by an Agent. He’s probably reported to Frost.”
Well, damn. Security would be hot on their heels now. To get out of here without a weapon would take a miracle. “You have a functional ship, I hope. Mine is no longer operational.”
“A personal transport. Pitch is waiting for us. Um, no.” He grabbed her arm. “This way, Halah.”
“Pitch Pantera?” Her sexually-charged visions played back in her head. But she didn’t have time to analyze the coincidence now. She glanced around. This wasn’t the way Rave had brought her. There m
ust be more than one underground entrance.
Interesting, and a bit of information to file away in her head for future reference, just in case she needed it someday.
“He’s keeping the ship ready for takeoff. Once we reach the orbiter, we should be able to leave immediately. What happened to Dak? Wasn’t he with you? Do we need to pick him up?”
She swallowed hard before answering, not wanting her voice to waver. The fact that Kam had asked about Dak, not wanting to leave him behind, warmed her heart.
“He’s dead.”
Kam glanced over at her, and their eyes met.
“An Egesa gang,” she said simply.
He nodded and said nothing more, for which she felt grateful. She didn’t want to relive that pain, especially not now. “How far to your orbiter once we get out?”
“Not far. But it’s after dark. The Egesa will be out in full force.”
“We’ve got to find weapons.” The two of them could fend off several Egesa at a time. But if they came up against one of the larger gangs, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“How are your electrical powers now that the collar is off?”
“Much stronger. I can feel the current. But I could use a recharge. I need my power pack. It’s back at my ship. Rave made me leave it.” She couldn’t stop the frustration from leaping into her voice.
He glanced at her. “Rave’s the one who brought you down here? I remember you saying she was responsible for you being here, but I didn’t realize she was the one who actually captured you.”
“She’s the one. She got past my hatch lock.”
“Damn. After this mission, the Lair will need to reprogram all our operational and security codes. Well, we can’t take the time to retrieve the power pack. You’ll have to make do. When we get to Xylon, you can get another one.” He fingered his throat.
Worry fluttered through her. “Pain?”
“No, but I’m wondering about my new power.”
“New power? What new power?”
“Sonic abilities. Frost had them place an implant in my throat for me in exchange for Xylon codes.”
Flames of Arousal Page 16
