by Mima
reassured him. Now she met his golden-green eyes and let him see how honest she was being. “I’m not pretty, or young. I’m not gifted. I’ve only been a server for a few years and you’re my first team. But I’ll tell you this about me, the woman Malla. I like sex. A lot. I’ll like it if you walk in from duty and push me to the floor. I’ll like it if you put me on the table in the middle of dinner. I’ll like it if you want me to go down on you every morning, and I’ll like it if I wake up with you in my ass.”
With one hand on her hip, she poked a firm finger into the impressive mound of one of his shoulders, jabbing him with each sentence. “The only way I won’t like it is if you second guess me. If you pretend to be passionate because you think I expect it, or if you try to be gentle because you’re feeling guilty. If you lie to yourself about how and when you want me and you try to put me in a box of how and when I could want you, we’re going to have words.”
Folding her arms beneath her breasts, knowing how that displayed them, she quieted her tone. “When the sex is honest, I’ll enjoy it. If there is something going on to keep me from enjoying it, I’ll tell you, and you’ll stop. Do you hear me?”
Kor narrowed his eyes as they darkened. He swept his gaze down to her lips, down to her chest.
“Get on the bed, Malla.”
She laughed. “Good boy.”
“Oh. For that you’re gonna get it. No one calls me boy or kid except Grady.”
She climbed onto the bed, wiggling her ass at him. “Am I gonna get it?”
“Yeah.” Kor crawled onto the bed behind her. His hands smoothed softly over her ass and back before settling on her waist. To her surprise, he gently pulled, turning her over.
“Malla.”
She laid one hand above her head, toyed with one nipple. “Yeah?”
“I’m glad to meet you.”
She looked at him. Smiled and smoothed a finger over one brow. “I’m glad to meet you, too.”
His gaze traveled over her face. “We’re a rough team that gets sent into rough
situations. We’ve been hard on servers, even though we try to take care with them. But I think we’ve finally met our match.”
She smiled. Her heart jumped at the compliment.
He gave her a charming, crooked smile back. “But I’m still going to make it up to you.
It’s a point of honor. I can do better.”
Deadpan, Malla let her face fall, her eyes growing big. “Uh-oh.”
He grinned an evil grin, wiggling his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah, sweet. You’re in Kor’s hands now.”
She smiled, so happy to meet this warrior. He was alternately playful and intense, all snarl and no bite. Reaching out her hand, she traced his jaw, his throat, his collarbone.
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles, then her palm. “But my hands have duty first. When I get back, I’ll give you some honest sex, and your punishment, and your compensation.”
Her heart flipped. “You know where you’re going this time?”
“Yeah. I’ll relieve Shon. Now that I’m riding your high, there’s no reason for him to do a full shift. Your generosity to me lets me send him back, makes us all safer.”
Malla thought of the team leader, the quiet Shon. She nodded her understanding.
“There’s you being selfish again. Shower with me?”
He shook his head, already buckling his pants. “Naw. I wanna smell you on me, even though that means a boner on guard duty. I’ve got moves to plan.”
She smiled, feeling shy for the first time. He leaned down and kissed her, cradling her head. His taste was spicy, under the taste of herself.
“Malla.” He kissed her firmly. “I’m so glad you got through.”
“Me, too.” Scurrying through the station halls, whispering with Krevnoy about whose ships were for sale, if the price was right. “Me, too.” She shivered. Her arrival wasn’t a miracle. It had been paid for with death.
“I’ll see you.” The door whooshed shut. She sat up, went to the lav and showered, even washing her hair. Back in the room that was apparently going to be hers, she went to her case in the corner and opened it, pulling out her green robe. She went down the hall, peeking in rooms.
That one was Shon’s. She knew it by the really beautiful chess set. That one was Grady’s, with an enormous, oversize bed. There was Kor’s with an explosion of machine parts, and there was a workout room, with a glowing security panel for weapons. She saw an empty room that had obviously been for a woman, all in golds and reds, and then she found Vel’s room. It was bristling with medical equipment, and Grady’s bulk sat by the bed on the far side of Vel’s still body, facing the door.
Malla’s lips parted to see the change in him. He looked even worse than he had before he’d come to her. He was gaunt, drawn, with lines of pain bracketing his eyes and lips. He looked up and stared at her blearily. He smiled, a sweet, welcoming smile on that huge, fierce face.
“Hey, Malla. You feel all right?”
“I feel great.” She did. She’d already healed two of her men, and she’d been here barely three hours. But Vel was going to be the challenge. “What’s going on with you? Grady, there’s no need to give him your own energy now that I’m here.”
“There’s a lot that needs to happen before you’ll get around to healing him. I was keeping him connected to me all right these last few days, but when I came back from your service, I just…just…” Grady stared desolately at the severe looking man laying so still and pale. “I can’t take his pain anymore. Not when I can do something about it.”
Malla considered both men. Grady had been maintaining a lifemate’s link, holding the tenuous consciousness of Vel. He fed Vel a trickle of energy from what he could spare while he existed on their lone server’s abilities. Understanding of his thinking filled her. Now she was here, and when he’d seen that he’d be able to feed freely, he’d decided to try to heal his lifemate by himself, a painful and damaging process that could leave Grady in a coma if he didn’t control the energy exchange with an iron will and an eagle eye for detail.
“How close were you to losing him?”
“Right after he got hit in the fight, I felt him go. I’ve never felt any of our team go like that, when Kor links us. It was the worst damage we’ve ever taken. I got him back by dropping out of the fight. It was bad tactics. It was instinct, but it’s what saved him. If I’d followed protocol and finished the fight, he’d be gone. Then the surgery was rough. He really thinned out away from me then. When I got back, I told Anya. I told her. And she --”
He covered his face.
Malla moved around the bed to stand by him. “She’s a server, Grady. It’s what we do.
You can’t kill us, and she’ll recover and live a normal life.”
He lowered his hand, resting his fist on his knee. His other hand was on Vel’s. “I’ll never forget the look on her face when I took that last drag. I knew it was all she had, and I took it. And I looked right in her eyes as I did it. I owed it to her, to face the destruction I dealt her.”
Malla swallowed. She looked at Vel, his red-blond hair a splash of color among all the white and gray. Healing Grady before had sent her to sleep. She’d been so confident coming in here. Now, she saw that she’d have to heal him even more now, and then there was Vel.
And Shon, of course. She licked her lips.
“Have you heard from her?”
He nodded. “She’s safe, stable. No word yet on a returning spark.”
Malla didn’t give him any more assurances. It was part of the risk. In its own way, being a server was just like being a warrior. There wasn’t the same risk of maiming or death, but there was a greater risk of losing your status, your abilities. But she hadn’t become a server for the status. She’d done it to save Luo lives. It was how she could contribute to killing bugs.
She looked at Vel. This was only her third team member. It would be a shame to burn out before she’d even gotten to Shon. But now that she
saw how Grady was, and how it would just be a draining cycle of healing Grady over and over until she initiated a full ritual, she knew she couldn’t wait. It was the right thing to do. Lifemates had to come first.
Especially when one was the crown prince, and Shon’s life was not in danger.
“Screw the ritual.”
“What?” Grady looked at her frowning.
“Screw it.” She shrugged her robe from her shoulders, began detaching wires and tubes from Vel.
Grady’s massive hand closed gently, firmly, over hers. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s get Vel. Right now. I’m never going to have more power. You’ll just keep sucking me up and giving it to him, which isn’t going to do it.” Malla stared at Grady steadily, letting him see her resolution.
“But…”
She watched him think. “The three days for the ritual is to build visualization, prayer, and focus. Grady, I look at you,” Malla cupped his face, feeling how cool his skin was. “I see you’ve already prepared three days, actually. I’m fairly certain no one prayed more than you did.”
His blue eyes were so bright with intelligence and will. He looked at Vel, and she saw his jaw jump, his mouth harden. He took his hand from hers and began shutting down the monitor. They worked together in silence. When Vel was disconnected, Grady undressed, then extended the medical bed to a wider width. Heart pounding, Malla hopped up onto it, swung her legs up. She lifted the covers and slid in next to Vel’s stillness. It was creepy and sad. Grady got up to sandwich her between them. He lifted her, scooched under her, and she rolled, straddling him. He was a soft, warm lump against her lower lips. His pulse jumped in his throat. Solemn, they stared at each other.
“If this doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean we can’t bring him back,” she whispered.
“I know,” Grady whispered back.
She glanced to Grady’s far side, at the shining, curving knife that lay on the edge of the bed. Her heart tripped in a frantic rhythm. Calm down. You learned about this. You refreshed on it on the way over. Spirit, let this work.
Malla lowered herself onto Grady’s bulk, laying her head on his shoulder. His hand came up and covered the back of her head, just resting there. They lay frozen together, gathering their will, for countless breaths. He remained soft, lax.
“Maybe I should get an injection,” Grady whispered, referring to a stimulant that would make him erect.
“No. I’ll do it. Your thigh will be enough.”
Grady smoothed her hair. “Why are we whispering?”
Malla’s sudden grin made her bury her face in his chest. She breathed deep, and
focused. Vel. A man who would not make others fight for what he believed in. A man with cold control, and a brilliant mind. A man who dared to mate for love, not for duty. She reached out a hand and laid it in the middle of his chest. It was smooth, muscular. The wounds had healed to scabs, the bruising worst on his shoulder. She felt him breathe, felt his faint heartbeat. Not a Prince. A man who needed her. Her man.
Malla shifted her legs so that she straddled one of Grady’s massive thighs. It was like riding a pony. It was hard, and had a slight rub of hair. Adjusting herself, she made sure her labia were spread wide, and settled her weight. Grady’s hands left her, one going to hold her forearm where it rested on Vel, the other to his other side, to the knife.
She put that out of her mind, and focused on her purpose: Vel. She was going to bring him back to Grady. She was going to heal both of them. Men had died to stop her from trying. Because someone believed she could do it. And she would.
She stretched her legs out along Grady’s furry ones, and began to undulate. The rub and pressure against her clit was so sweet. She held onto the pleasure tightly, pressing into Vel’s chest with her outstretched hand. She writhed, gripping with her thighs, her other hand anchored over Grady’s shoulder. One breast was crushed into Grady’s abs, the other rubbed along his side.
She tightened her inner body, pressed down on Grady’s leg, feeling herself dampen, sliding in her own cream. Malla reached for the energy in her middle. She visualized a stone well with a wooden lid. The spaces between the slats began to glow as her energy triggered.
She brushed her lips across Grady’s ribs, felt him pulse, hardening in a rush along her side.
She shifted so her body brushed the velvet softness of him, flexed her fingers into his muscle, into Vel’s. Pumping her body hard, she ground down on his tightening thigh, and came in a slight, sweet, baby orgasm.
It was enough. She didn’t worry about control. She knocked the lid off her inner well entirely. A blast of light erupted on her inner landscape, and she envisioned it rushing down her limbs, lighting her up like a toy. No. Like a star. She moaned lightly as the pleasure cascaded higher from her own awareness of her power.
Grady twisted under her grip. There was a hard, burning rip of pain in her wrist, below where he gripped her tightly. She cried out, jerking on her arm despite herself, but thankfully he was resolute. She cried out again when the pain magnified, pressed tight to an irregular surface. It was Vel’s mouth. In a flurry of movement, she was lifted, shoved, draped over Vel’s inert body.
The energy she’d let loose wavered inside her and she gritted her teeth. Vel. Her Vel.
Hers to heal, hers to hold. She took her free hand and flattened it over his chest. Grady did something to Vel’s jaw, and she squeaked when Vel’s teeth pressed against her wrist, as her wound was pressed into his open mouth.
“For Vel, Malla.” Grady’s voice asked her forgiveness, and she gave it.
Pain stabbed down her arm as blood pumped from her. Grady was over her, crushing her into Vel, his erection burning along the crack in her ass. He was cursing steadily, pressing her bleeding wrist hard to Vel’s mouth, while his other hand went down between their bodies and he tried to feed his dick into her. He was too big, and the head simply lodged in her at first.
“Son of a bitch, you’re so tight. You drink! Swallow, dammit. C’mon you royal pansy, live. For fuck’s sake, Vel, she’s like a fucking supernova. Take it in, dammit.”
Malla tried to close off from Grady’s curses, the pain, the sensation of being trapped against a lifeless body. She focused on her dimming well, on the fading light that was trickling back down her arms like a stream running downhill to a pool. Grady shoved with his hips, and they both grunted when he popped his head in. She clenched around him, but her arm hurt so badly, she was distracted. He shoved again, winning a few more inches, and then withdrew. She shivered, wriggling under his weight. Her head was tucked under Vel’s chin, her other hand kneading Vel’s chest.
Finally, he pushed deep inside her cunt. “Awww, fuck that’s sweet. Vel, you have to come on back now. You have to meet her. She’s right here. Malla, please, please, grab me.”
She did, vising her inner muscles around the bar that was Grady. And as she did, she felt a swell under her mound. A fattening.
“Grady! Oh, he’s here!”
Grady drew out and pushed back in. “Awww, fuck. Vel, you’re so close. You’re so
close, I can feel you again. You’re right there, lover.”
He drew out and pushed in again, laying his whole weight down on Malla. She
moaned, feeling her breasts crushed, her legs splayed even wider. Grady’s other hand came up over her shoulder and he fed two huge fingers into her mouth. She closed her lips tight, and sucked. She milked him with both sets of lips, and Grady’s mouth closed over her upturned ear. His tongue swirled in her shell, his teeth gentle at the edge of her rim and lobe. Then he shifted his hips and stroked up into her, hard.
Malla cried out around his fingers, and he began to pump, brutally steady, intent. She sucked in time with his thrusts, reaching desperately for the release they needed to create for Vel.
His mouth left her ear and he breathed, “Please.”
Malla cried out, her wide open well igniting again. And Vel awoke, grabbing her power tight. His pull did
n’t come through her sex, though. It came from her arm, through her blood, and it stung. Grady cried out, too, bucking wildly, driving the breath from her. Then he was off of her, and jostling her, and a new, cooler length eased inside her. Lips sealed tight to her wrist, teeth digging into her flesh, a tongue probed her wound, and the mouth sucked, pulling at her blood. Pain ripped through her pleasure.
Grady pressed down on her hips, grinding her clit into Vel’s pelvis, and she came again, clamping around the cool erection in her heat. It was too much, too chaotic. The pain and the pleasure and the bodies tight around her swirled her brain and her stomach. Her clit pulsed, her breasts throbbed, her arm burned and ached. She tried to rear away, and Grady carpeted himself over her back.
“Malla. Baby, not yet. Please.”
The body beneath hers began to move, hips thrusting as they could under the weight of two bodies, legs shifting, hands raising past her to grab Grady. Grady scooted down her body, his mouth kissing and licking at her shoulder blade. Vel’s legs spread, and Grady’s abs were against her ass. He rocked hard, and she knew Grady was in Vel, trying to lure him back. Vel swelled inside her, becoming a thicker length.
“Awww, yeah, lover, fuck yes, take us.”
Moaning, Malla came again, and this time, Vel didn’t just take in her power, he tried to rip it out of her body. He was a drain that opened up and she was a helpless whirlpool being sucked inside him. Somehow, Malla reached inside herself, and focused. She didn’t try to fight for herself. She didn’t try to slow the pull. Never fear the hunger. It was hard. The light had never been so bright, flowed so fast. It was more than she’d ever known, more than she’d known she could give. With a cry, she let it overtake her. She gave herself to it.
Vel was a bottomless pit of pain and need. Grady was a tiny shadow of agony behind him. She was between two strong bodies, but also between two entwined souls desperate to reconnect. It wasn’t enough to feed him through their sex, or the blood he still pulled on at her arm. She concentrated on imagining the transfer expanding along her entire body, through her skin, into Vel. And Vel’s pain dimmed, but his hunger increased.
