Thieves In Paradise

by Bernadette Gardner

  "Your rescue ship."

  "Regardless of how you refer to it, they will not search all over these valleys for us."

  "That's a shame."

  Their interlude had done nothing to mellow her, not that he expected it to. Could he blame her for not wanting to face the authorities on Valencia? She was a thief, and they would not deal kindly with her. The Magistrate's reputation was somewhat brutal when it came to criminals and Kol had no doubt she would suffer at his hands. But that was not his concern. He was not judge and jury, merely the means to ensure that thieves like Charity Foster did not get away with taking what belonged to others. “Why did you choose to steal from Gar Gremin? Raw selenite is pilfered all the time from the mines on Nexus."

  Disbelief colored her tone, and she increased her pace to draw even with him as they made their way back to the widest trail. “Let's get a few things straight here. One, I didn't steal from Gremin. I won those crystals playing High Aces. He accused me of cheating to take away the sting of losing to a woman. The only reason he allowed me in the game was because he assumed I couldn't play very well, and he was dead wrong.” Taking two hurried strides for each one of his, she held even with him. “Two, I'm not a scavenger. I'm a professional. There's an entire fleet dedicated to lifting handfuls of selenite from the mine transports. What little they manage to scrape together can feed one or two colonies on the Rim for a month here and there. My winnings will buy a year's worth of medical supplies and rations for lower Celrax and power one of the defense stations out beyond Ione. Sitting in Gremin's stock house, they're worth nothing to anyone but him."

  Kol impaled her with a glance. “You expect me to believe you didn't cheat the Magistrate?"

  "I don't care what you believe. He knows the truth. He gambles with selenite when hundreds of thousands of colonists sit in the dark and scrape together just enough credits to buy expired rations and bootleg medicine. Maybe what I did was wrong, on some grand level, but it was not for my own profit."

  Kol laughed. She'd almost had him for a moment. He'd been a breath away from believing she might have a noble cause. “But you were willing to split your ‘profit’ with me. Don't tell me you weren't expecting to dine like a princess and kick back on a luxury asteroid for a while after you sold your wares on Gossamer."

  She stopped mid-stride as though someone had erected a stone wall in front of her. “No. I won't tell you that. I was hoping for a decent meal or two, something that didn't come out of a crylon packet for a change. And I was hoping to settle someplace where I wouldn't have to run from my home in the middle of the night. I suppose that makes me bad, but I won't apologize for it."

  Kol turned around to face her. “I suppose it makes you human."

  "And being Antarean, you're above wanting anything for yourself? What is Gremin paying you, really?"

  Kol took a step closer to her and she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. “He pays me nothing. All of my earnings go to the A'Kosu tribe where they will be distributed to those in need. I'm given what I require to survive comfortably, nothing more."

  Her shoulders drooped. “You work for your tribe?"

  "Yes. Everything I do is for the A'Kosu. When I am in need, everything they do will be for me in return."

  "And you aren't even allowed to have a name."

  "I told you, I have a name. I don't share it with strangers."

  "I'm not a stranger anymore, am I?"

  Kol whirled away. Instinct told him to respond, to give her that power over him by sharing his name, but that would only lead to a deeper intimacy that flew in the face of what he was. “We need to get back to camp and prepare to collect water."

  "And we should eat first,” she responded as she hurried ahead of him. “I'm just starving for some crylon packaged rations bars, aren't you?"

  The rest of their trek back to camp passed in silence with Kol struggling to keep his eyes off of the female's swaying hips. The pollen had settled for the day, but surely nightfall would bring cool breezes that would stir up the yellow dust and set all the mammalian inhabitants of the forest to desperate copulating again.

  How could they resist? How could he keep himself from her then, when he wanted her even now?

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  CHAPTER 7

  After two trips back to the lake to carry water, Charity's legs felt like rubber. She sank onto the thermal blanket A'Kosu had provided for her bedroll and let out a long, weary sigh. “No more. I'm finished."

  He loomed over her, his massive shoulders blocking the burnished light of late afternoon. “We have enough water to last us two days if we're careful. You may rest."

  "Oh, may I?"

  Rather than rise to her sarcastic bait, he reached behind him and pulled the laser cuffs off his belt. He snagged one of her wrists and clamped the restraints on her before she could wriggle free. “What the hell are you doing? I'm too tired to move. You don't really think I'll try to escape?"

  "I'm going to sleep now, so that I can remain awake later when the sun goes down."

  "And you still don't trust me?"

  He blinked. “Why should I trust you?"

  "Because ... because that last trip, I got back here first and I could have scooped up the selenite and run with it, but I didn't."

  "I was directly behind you. You wouldn't have gotten far and you know it."

  She cursed under her breath as he rose and moved off toward his own bedroll. “What am I supposed to do while you sleep?"

  He retrieved a ration bar from the case and tossed it to her. She just managed to catch it between her bound palms. “Enjoy some protein and keep watch on the forest. If you see or hear anything unusual, wake me."

  Oh, she'd wake him all right. In fact she'd already picked out the rock she planned to throw at him. Just let him close his eyes.

  While she stared daggers at him, she opened the ration packet and took a bite of the brick-like protein bar. Unconcerned, A'Kosu made himself comfortable on the ground and promptly fell asleep.

  Charity wondered how angry he'd be if she did throw a rock at him. She was certainly willing to risk it, just to push him over the edge of emotion. She liked him better when he was rough and uncontrolled, like in the lake when he'd grabbed her. She couldn't have refused him if she wanted to and, damn it, she'd seen emotion in his eyes. More than animal lust, she'd seen desire when he thrust inside her, sophisticated pleasure of a man well-trained in the art of lovemaking when he watched her come, and pure satisfaction in those pale eyes when she'd begged him for more.

  He felt something when he looked at her, and as much as she hated to admit it, she did, too.

  But a well placed rock lobbed at his sleeping back would go a long way toward curing them both of any adolescent attachments. She busied herself collecting ammunition while he slept.

  * * * *

  The visions rarely came in dreams, but when they did, they were more vivid and detailed than usual.

  Kol stood watching a Valencian ship descend through the trees not a kilometer away from the wreckage of his shuttle. The long-awaited rescue would be swift and efficient and absolve him of the burden of complete responsibility for the human female.

  He moved toward the landing site, with the prisoner following, bound and tethered to him as before.

  The Valencians greeted him and immediately offered food and fresh water. They expressed regret over the loss of his ship and amazement that he had survived so well on the desolate planet.

  Then, with no warning, one of them struck the prisoner. A vicious slap across her face knocked her to the ground and left her dazed and bleeding. Kol interceded before the Valencian could land a second blow.

  "She's to be punished on the authority of Gar Gremin,” the man said and his companion dragged Charity to her feet and pressed an electric prod into the soft flesh of her abdomen. She screamed in agony and doubled over.

  Kol rushed forward, but the long barrel of an automatic pulse rifle barred his way. �
�You've done your duty, bounty hunter. She's ours now."

  With the weapon pointed at his heart, he watched one of the Valencian guards kick the prisoner until she lay moaning in the dirt. When he'd finished, the toe of his gray uniform boot was crimson with her blood. Broken sobs had replaced her screams.

  Then the second guard turned the pulse rifle on her and fired.

  "NO!"

  Kol rolled to his feet, sick with anger and disgust. His gut hurt and his heart threatened to tear itself from his chest. Beside him the prisoner sat, staring at him, jaw slack, eyes wide.

  "Did something bite you?” she asked.

  He held her gaze for a moment, battling with himself. He'd brought prisoners to execution before, murderers, warlords, men who probably deserved punishments far worse than a swift death. He would never have condemned one of them to the abuse he'd witnessed in his vision. He could not allow it, but how could he stop it?

  Wordless, he rushed forward and the female scrabbled back, suddenly afraid. He grabbed her wrists and freed her from the cuffs, then tossed them into the underbrush. She rubbed her bruised flesh and in that moment, Kol hated himself as much as he hated the Valencian guards. He was no better than they were.

  While she stared, he retrieved her communicator from the case to which he'd transferred the crystals and thrust it into her hand. “Call your allies. You're free to go."

  Her mouth worked, but no words came out. Finally, he clamped his hands over her shoulders and shoved her toward the perimeter of the camp. “Go. I will not follow you."

  "Uh ... if you don't want to have sex again, why don't you just say so?” She took only one hesitant step and Kol contemplated raising a stunner and chasing her away.

  "You need to leave before the Valencians arrive. Hide if you can, and I'll tell them you are dead."

  "Why would you do that?"

  "Because I...” He drew in a deep breath, laced with the rising scent of the pollen. He'd have her again if she lingered too long. “Because if I turn you over to them, they will kill you."

  * * * *

  Charity raised a brow. Suddenly the bounty hunter was worried about her dying? “No they won't. Gremin wants me alive. He'll kill me.” She cocked a hip at him. “But his lackeys won't."

  He reached her in three long strides and curled his trembling hands around her arms again. “Listen to me. His men will kill you. He's instructed them to bring your body back to him, in pieces."

  She pursed her lips. “That's not his style. I've been—"

  A'Kosu shook her. “It's the truth. I've seen it.” With that, his lips twisted in what appeared to be disgust. Why did he care what the Valencian guards would do to her?

  "You've seen it?” She glanced at his rumpled bedroll. “You mean you had a dream?"

  "A vision within a dream.” He held himself still, seeming to calm the tremors in his muscles with visible effort.

  "So you have visions?” Whatever he'd seen had enraged him and that terrified Charity.

  "Many Antareans have visions. It was a trait bred into us over generations. We see glimpses of the future—not always linear, not always easily interpreted, but always accurate. What we see comes to pass one way or another."

  She paced back and forth at the perimeter of the camp, turning her communicator restlessly in her hand. What was she waiting for? She could radio Gossamer and be on her way home before Gremin's people came for her. “You know what's going to happen in the future?"

  "Sometimes I see it with perfect clarity. I saw your ship crash and you walk out of the wreckage. I saw myself chasing you through the forest and I saw myself ... the two of us..."

  "Fucking?"

  "Several times.” He looked away. Did it embarrass him? Charity turned away to hide a blush. No wonder he'd come after her so readily in the lake. He probably already knew she'd be willing.

  "Ah. That explains a lot. How come you didn't know about the carnivores?"

  "The visions are selective. We cannot control what we see. They don't exist to warn us of danger, but to show us moments in time that will shape who we are. What they show us comes to pass. It cannot be changed except in the most unusual circumstances. I intend this to be one of those times. If you run now, and hide where the Valencians won't find you, perhaps you can avoid your fate."

  "Are you going to give me the selenite?"

  He moved toward her again and she backed up instinctively. “Aren't you listening? They're going to torture you to death."

  "And my contact on Gossamer doesn't give a broken asteroid about me if I don't have the selenite."

  "Perhaps you need a better class of allies, then."

  "I never said he was my ally, just my contact. I give him the selenite. He gives me four million credits and I take that back to Celrax to buy rations and medicine for the colonists. It's strictly a business deal. There's no friendship involved."

  "If I don't at least return the selenite to Gremin, he'll hunt you, and the next bounty hunter who captures you may have orders to kill you himself."

  "Then I'm stuck, aren't I? If I have nothing to sell, I'm worthless."

  * * * *

  Her words cut Kol to the quick. She obviously meant worthless to her contact, but the deeper meaning was clear. This human judged her worth on what she could steal. Those who depended on the food and medicine her risky endeavor would buy didn't see her as a savior, merely a means to an end.

  "There must be someone to whom your life matters more than those crystals. What about your mother?"

  Pain flashed briefly in her golden eyes and she let out a harsh laugh. “I'm sure she would care if she was alive. The Dedicants executed her four years ago. One night, we didn't run as fast as we should have and she was captured."

  Kol closed his eyes. It bothered him that he felt her anguish. “You have no friends?"

  "My friends are starving on Celrax. If they had ships, they wouldn't be there waiting for me to sell stolen ... I mean, not stolen, but, oh, never mind. You get my meaning. Look, A'Kosu, I appreciate that you don't want to see me get killed, I really do. But from where I'm standing the only way to avoid the things you saw in your vision is for me to take the crystals and sell them to my contact as planned. I never had any doubt Gremin would hunt me down. I'm prepared to run for a while, until he gets tired and turns his attention to someone else. I can deal with that."

  "That's the life you plan to lead? Running in fear like your mother did until the day you're captured and killed?"

  "What other life is there?” She fixed him with a stare that arrowed right through his chest and constricted his lungs. Then she stalked off into the darkening forest.

  He waited a beat, unsure of what to say to her. When he caught up to her she had opened the communicator, but hadn't activated it. He closed a hand over her shoulder, and she stiffened at his touch. “I'll give you the selenite."

  She didn't turn, only bowed her head. “And fail in your mission? Gremin won't accept that."

  "I'll worry about Gremin. Call your contact and tell him to hurry. He must get here before the Valencians do."

  * * * *

  Charity sat before the fire A'Kosu had built and turned a single selenite crystal over and over in her hands. She'd won. She'd escaped from Gremin's influence without even really trying and soon she'd be free of the bounty hunter as well. Why wasn't she pleased with herself?

  On the far side of the crackling fire, A'Kosu stared into the flames. He'd been silent for so long, she'd begun to wonder if he might be having another vision. In the dark, with his features lit only by the firelight, he looked dangerous and surreal, born to be a warrior.

  That thought excited her, made her long to feel his hands on her again.

  She dismissed her growing desire as another reaction to the pollen. Though specs of the golden dust still fell lazily from the leaves, the musky, intoxicating scent had dissipated to just a faint perfume on the breeze.

  Perhaps they'd be able to resist the carnal urges ton
ight. Charity believed that, right up until the first plaintive mewling of the carnivores reached them through the shadows.

  Then A'Kosu's eyes met hers through the rising smoke and she was lost.

  They came together on the thermal blanket he'd given her to sleep on. As eager as the animals copulating nearby, they tore at each other's clothing until naked flesh met naked flesh.

  This time though, rather than fevered thrusts and a desperate rush to orgasm that would free them both from the thrall of the pollen, A'Kosu's movements were slow, measured. He spread her thighs gently and brushed his fingertips over her waiting sex. The soft touch made her moan for more and writhe beneath his muscular body.

  With practiced skill he rose above her and guided his erection inside her. Though she'd grown used to his size, the sensation of his thick cock parting her inner flesh set her shivering with need. His rhythmic thrusts, coupled with the rough touch of his hands on her breasts, her hips, had her lost in wave after glorious wave of passion.

  Charity forgot about the proximity of the carnivores, and let her voice rise to urge him on. She met each incursion eagerly and cried out, louder each time as her body ripened toward climax.

  Braced above her with one hand, he wrapped one muscular arm around her waist, sealing her sweating body to his, and when he shuddered with his own release, she called his name, not caring what manner of creature might respond.

  "A'Kosu! Finish me. Make me come."

  "Kol.” The word escaped his lips as he drew back, preparing to fulfill her request. “My name is Kol."

  Charity barely heard his soft words. Her body reacted to the hot rush of his ejaculation, spasming to draw his pulsing sex deeper toward her womb.

  Some still-coherent part of her brain registered the significance of his sharing his true name with her, and that knowledge heightened her pleasure and touched her soul.

  She wrapped her trembling legs around him to pull him even closer against her, and she brought her hands up to his face. With a gentle sigh, she guided her lips to his and drank him in.

  As if he'd waited all his life for her kiss, Kol dove into her hungrily. He devoured her, sucking her tongue, tasting her lips. Charity pulled away only long enough to gasp in a breath of the musky night air, flavored with the scent of pollen and their own co-mingled pheromones. Then she took his mouth again, meeting his new demands as readily as she'd taken his cock inside her.