Marked for Surrender [Marked 4]

by Jennifer Leeland

"Of Pavlik's association with the Brotherhood.” When Yalani's gaze remained steadily connected to Andia, it was clear she believed in her evidence.

  "So use it,” Zevon demanded. Good point. Andia smiled grimly. Why didn't Yalani save her own skin with the information?

  The silence stretched, but Yalani had underestimated her audience. Andia and Zevon were both dominants. Silences were used as weapons, and they used this one to wait Yalani out.

  Finally she trembled and collapsed into the nearest chair, her head in her hands. “I can't. I've only seen it, but it can only be accessed by—"

  The light dawned, and Andia understood. “By a Mistress. Now that's ironic."

  Andia retrieved her handheld and stared at Yalani. “Give me the file name."

  Tears stained the councilwoman's cheeks. “Are you going to protect me?"

  Andia raised an eyebrow. “That depends on the information."

  In a sudden movement, Yalani grabbed Andia's arm. Zevon, his eyes red and glowing, shoved the woman away, sending her careening across the room.

  Yalani stared at Zevon and Christophe, their eyes clear indication of the rage. “The rage? But"—Yalani's jaw clenched shut—"you're a Mistress."

  What an arrogant bitch. “So?"

  "So?” Yalani burst out. “You can't be marked. It's forbidden."

  Andia snorted. “Who says? The council? Right now, the council is made up of the willing pawns of a criminal. I don't think they'll have much to say about this."

  "You're not going back."

  "And you're a little slow.” Andia turned her back on Yalani. What a fool she was. Had she always been that way? Had Andia's respect for and duty to the council slanted her view of the people who sat in judgment?

  "Do we trust her?” Christophe asked.

  "No,” Andia and Zevon said at exactly the same time. He grinned at her, and her heart leaped.

  "We need a hub. A private hub. I only know of one we can get ready access to.” Zevon's grin faded, and his face darkened.

  She knew exactly what private hub he was talking about. “I have a membership there,” Andia said. “And it's not under my name."

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  Chapter Sixteen

  The Star of Pleasure was a huge complex with a myriad of fantasy rooms that catered to any kink available in the universe. It also had a huge computer hub, each station private and inaccessible to outsiders.

  It was easy to stride into the club with Yalani on a leash, a hooded mask hiding her identity and a ball gag keeping her mouth shut. No one questioned Andia's credentials. They rented a pleasure dungeon with no intention of using it.

  Zevon glanced in every direction, convinced Yalani had planted more than one tracking device. The one they'd found in Christophe had been tiny, delivered to its location in his body by a nanite.

  Andia had scanned them both again and Yalani as well. Zevon didn't trust the negative results, but they had to move forward. Yalani was another problem Zevon would have preferred to leave behind. But Andia was convinced they needed her.

  This place reminded him of those days when he'd been alone, searching for something, for Christophe, though he didn't know it. And Andia too.

  Unlike the the Haven, the Star of Pleasure hadn't decorated for Christmas. Raw sex was on the menu here, not intimacy. Zevon remembered the last Christmas he'd spent with Christophe. They'd met in secret at a cabin up in the mountains near their home.

  Zevon hadn't wanted any of the holiday trappings. He'd been dissatisfied, angry that Christophe still hid who he really was, but unable to talk about it with the man he loved. The trip had been unfulfilling for both of them.

  At the time, Zevon had written it off as the holiday malaise. But now he realized that both of them had been waiting, wanting, needing Andia to explode into their lives.

  The question was, could he rob them both of their home to fulfill his selfish desires? Because to have them both, to love them both, they would have to leave Nylar.

  He wasn't stupid. He recognized that someone was going to have to take the heat for all this. There was no going back to the way things had been.

  He stumbled, and Christophe gripped his arm. Shit. A dead end.

  The hallway ended with a large dungeon room. They'd missed the turn somehow. Immediately Zevon backtracked, putting himself between the three others and whatever had herded them this direction.

  Slowly, almost like a cat, a woman dropped down from an air shaft in the ceiling.

  An assassin.

  He sprinted toward the wall on his left and frantically cracked the code to the maintenance panel. The assassin sped up but not fast enough. He dropped a heavy metal door down to block the passage.

  "Get into the room,” he shouted to the others and stood facing the blank metal wall, knowing the assassin would circumvent the controls soon.

  Andia shoved the trussed-up councilwoman toward the door and turned to stand beside Zevon. “I'm trained for this,” she stated.

  He glanced down at her and shook his head. “Not for this. One of us has to delay her."

  "Or both of us could kill her."

  With a growl, he captured Andia's face in his hands and took possession of her mouth. Desperate and needy, he kissed her until he had no breath.

  When he finally let her go, he stared into her stunned face. “Without you, he would die. Don't you see?"

  She tipped her chin up. “You're an idiot. I'm staying."

  "Dammit,” he cursed.

  The barrier creaked, and a space opened up under it. Zevon turned and yanked Andia with him as he ran into the dungeon. He shut the door and concentrated on the program controls, trying to break the security system so that he could shut the assassin out.

  But the club was a good BDSM club, and no patron was allowed to bypass the rules.

  "Zevon,” Christophe called. Zevon turned and smiled. While he'd been messing with the controls, Christophe had found an air shaft. Their only escape. Andia shifted a saddle under the opening.

  "Christophe, go first,” Andia ordered. “Then I'll help get Yalani up there."

  Zevon kept his assault on the controls going just in case he could keep the door closed and the assassin out.

  But the door opened.

  The assassin was a blur, her hand lashing out like lightning. Zevon barely managed to avoid the deadly blow. Andia struggled with Yalani.

  Andia had removed Yalani's restraints, but she was no help, a panicked expression in the councilwoman's blue eyes. The assassin stalked them all; her only weapon was her hands. But that would be enough.

  Suddenly, Yalani broke from Andia and sprinted for the open door. Like a predator spotting a weak member of the herd, the assassin zeroed in on Yalani.

  When the dark figure grabbed her, the councilwoman screamed. The sound stopped abruptly. The assassin had snapped her neck. Slumped and glassy-eyed, Yalani crumpled to the floor.

  Andia yanked on Zevon's arm, and they scrambled to the duct opening. A hand gripped Zevon's leg from below, and he felt the assassin's knife slice through his skin. Andia met his gaze.

  "Don't you dare fucking leave me,” she snapped.

  He took a deep breath and swung his other leg around, catching the trained killer in the side of the head. She went down, a resounding thump telling Zevon he'd succeeded in slowing her.

  Then they hustled along the duct, knowing the assassin would be right behind them.

  Christophe was in front when suddenly he disappeared.

  "Shit!” Andia halted, and Zevon scanned the area behind them. “Where did he go?"

  "Keep moving."

  He and Andia were so close that when the duct dropped off abruptly, they both tumbled down the chute.

  When they slammed into a container filled with white material, Zevon noticed that the assassin hadn't completely failed.

  Blood was everywhere. His leg had been neatly sliced, and his femoral had been nicked. He was going to die.

  The b
lood appeared bright red on the white sheets, and Andia knew immediately that Zevon was in trouble. She ripped the material around her and created a tourniquet. The bleeding slowed. But Zevon was going to die if they didn't find a way to stop the assassin coming for them.

  She knew what Zevon would say. Leave him behind, sacrifice him. The thought chilled her and pissed her off at the same time. Fear slithered along her nerves. Losing Zevon would destroy Christophe. And she would forever be adrift, lost without that special dominant who understood her needs.

  And how dare he believe that she would abandon him to a Brotherhood killer. It made her feel like he didn't know her at all. Oh, the bastard was going to pay for that one. As if somehow, she and Christophe could ride off into the sunset and be happy without him. She ground her teeth.

  "Zevon!” Christophe tapped Zevon's cheek.

  "We have to move,” she said, glancing up at the duct that had deposited them there. The assassin was coming. Andia could sense it.

  She fumbled with her handheld and discovered they were in a laundry room. The hub was nearby. “Help him,” she said to Christophe.

  They struggled out the door with Christophe and Andia carrying Zevon between them. She activated her handheld's distress signal, knowing a medical team would find them, knowing the assassin would find them too. But she couldn't take the chance that Zevon would die without doing something.

  The hub was really a series of rooms filled with computer equipment, vid stream access, and a huge screen. Gently she laid Zevon down and grabbed a chair, raising his legs above his heart. “I've called for medical. Keep him awake. I'm going to try and save our asses."

  "If Eyler wasn't lying,” Christophe said darkly.

  Andia snorted. “I hear you."

  The computers hummed like happy kitties as Andia's sure fingers accessed the vid stream. All those years of hacking, manipulating programs, and learning about different security systems paid off now.

  The Terran Interstellar Force had a daunting security protocol, but Andia tricked it, tweaked it, and bypassed it. She was in.

  She couldn't glance at Zevon, knowing his face was gray and his breathing shallow. Shock, probably. She couldn't give Christophe a comforting pat, knowing he was agonizing over Zevon's condition. She had to stuff it all, tamp it down, get the job done.

  It wasn't the first time she had to override her own emotions, but it was the first time she'd had so much difficulty. The two men brought out a volatile part of her she hadn't known existed.

  Focus. She had to focus.

  Though she'd accessed the TIF's security files, there were firewalls and traps she had to avoid. Finally she reached the designated file that Eyler had given her. When she clicked on it, would it save them? Or was it a trap? She only had Eyler's word that he hadn't succumbed to the Primarians in his deep undercover work.

  She opened the file.

  The contents were explosive.

  No wonder Yalani had wanted to keep Andia from opening this file. Financial records indicated the council had bribed the Brotherhood to create an experimental weapon, a drug that would incapacitate their enemies. Their contact had been Pavlik, who was apparently deeper in the Blueshift Brotherhood's pocket than they'd ever guessed.

  The TIF used Pavlik to track Brotherhood activities, allowing the man's criminal behavior to continue. Yalani had been one of the first to cooperate with Pavlik and the last to see the danger to herself.

  Evidence of Pavlik's connection to the Brotherhood and the council's perfidy would stop the current political situation, but it could result in civil violence on Nylar. Yet the current council was despotic in their actions and advocated getting rid of the Mistresses because they were dangerous to council authority.

  It took seconds to process all this, but it felt like an eternity. Andia glanced at the two men who had been through so much and had come to be necessary to her. Whatever happened, the three of them could never go back. The betrayal of the council through publication of this file would cost them.

  She pressed the button and opened that sensitive file for the vid stream, sending the information all over the universe. Every hub would have access. Vid streamers would report on it. Pavlik's duplicity would destroy his reputation.

  If only the medics would get there.

  While they waited, she knelt beside Zevon and wiped away the blood flecked on his mouth.

  His eyes were dull. “Should have left me,” he croaked.

  She stared at his face and glanced at the pure agony on Christophe's and then focused on Zevon. “When you're healed and strong enough, I'm going to beat you, lay stripes across your back, slide the biggest dildo I can find up your ass to find out why you don't think you deserve to have us both.” She stroked his forehead. “We're like the comet, Zevon. It takes all three of us to shine, to streak across the sky. If one part of us is gone, there is no comet.” She silently demanded his attention, willing him to fight. “Without you, we would fade away."

  "Better sub.” He coughed, and Christophe held him tightly while Andia cupped Zevon's face.

  "I need both. Christophe can only submit. He doesn't want to dominate me, Zevon. You can smash through my walls, dig into my soul. Will you leave me without that?"

  Zevon's dark eyes focused on her face, and she noted the desperation, the need to believe her. She bent down and brushed his lips. “You're not going anywhere."

  The medics arrived. Andia backed away. No assassin. Was she biding her time until she could kill them without witnesses? Who knew?

  Andia glanced at the computer screen. Nylar's disgrace had gone viral, and the universe buzzed with their new target. Pavlik. He'd be so busy covering his ass that two prisoners and an errant Mistress were the least of his worries.

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  Chapter Seventeen

  Christophe stared at Zevon sleeping and tried to focus. Andia was dealing with the Sethos Five authorities. The Nyral council had disintegrated after Pavlik's murder. Zevon had been in and out of consciousness since they arrived at the medical facility.

  Why had he stayed behind? Why hadn't he escaped with Andia? Christophe kept replaying their conversation at the mountain cabin and concluded that Zevon had sacrificed himself, allowing that assassin to slice the shit out of him.

  Now that he knew Zevon was going to be okay, Christophe wanted to strangle him. It was too difficult to separate the feelings of frustration, of rejection, of worry. They all balled up together in a glob of emotion that made his stomach ache.

  "Where's Andia?” Zevon's dark eyes finally seemed clear as he stared at Christophe.

  "She's fielding the authorities and the vid streamers.” Christophe clicked on the vid on the wall. Andia's face filled the screen, and she explained how she'd realized the two prisoners she'd been sent were innocent, how she was almost killed, and how the Brotherhood had used Pavlik to subvert the council.

  The screen flashed to scenes on Nylar where large crowds protested outside the council chambers and the Mistresses led them.

  An amused smile lifted Zevon's lips when a colleague who had condemned them at their downfall now stated he'd always thought they were innocent. The tide had turned.

  But Christophe knew they'd never be able to go home. The council would balk at their presence when it was the three of them that had brought such chaos to their planet. Not that they'd had much choice, but the reality was clear.

  "You're pissed at me,” Zevon said.

  Christophe studied him. His face was white, and his hands still shook when he tried to adjust his position in the bed. “This isn't the time, Z."

  "No?” Zevon's eyebrows shot up, and his eyes narrowed. “This is exactly the time,” he argued. “Why didn't you leave me behind? I was wounded. You could have been killed."

  When Christophe shot to his feet and loomed over the bed, he had the satisfaction of seeing Zevon's eyes widen. “Yes, I'm furious with you. What the fuck were you doing?” His lips tightened, and he gl
ared at Zevon. “Because of your stupid self-sacrificing bullshit, I almost lost both of you."

  "You almost lost Andia. That's what you mean, right?” Zevon said sullenly.

  Christophe lost it. “You fucking asshole,” he snapped. “What are you? Four? And here I thought I was in love with a grown-up.” He gripped Zevon on the shoulders and shook him. “We aren't whole without you. Don't you get that? Or are you too busy pouting? If Andia's pregnant—"

  "You think that's possible?” Zevon interrupted. It didn't seem possible that he could lose color, but what little he had drained away.

  Christophe straightened and stared down at his lover. “I hope so."

  Zevon's eyes shifted away. “Well, that's what you always wanted."

  Stunned, frozen, Christophe couldn't move. “Are you saying it's not what you want?"

  "I didn't say that."

  No, he didn't say it. He didn't have to. Christophe blinked. He'd declared his love for Zevon, but it hadn't been returned. He'd stated that he and Andia needed Zevon, couldn't live without him. But no such words had come out of his mouth.

  Christophe swallowed bile, a shattered, empty feeling in his belly. “What a pain it must have been to listen to my silly blatherings about wanting a home and family. What a bore I must have been for you."

  "No, Christophe—"

  "Isn't it convenient that you can unload me on Andia? Of course, maybe she won't want me either.” Christophe's nostrils flared, and he tried to keep the lump in his throat from welling up to choke him. He'd been a fool. “It was nice of you to indulge my pesky whims."

  "It wasn't like that."

  "Wasn't it?” Christophe said dully. He turned his back and walked toward the door. “I believed when we found Andia, that we'd found the missing part to both our hearts.” Bitterness swamped him. He lashed out to hurt, to obliterate. “I guess you have to have a heart to miss a piece of it."

  He stumbled out the door and ignored Zevon calling after him.

  Exhausted, Andia smiled at the vid streamer. They had been persistent, hounding her incessantly. They'd also been instrumental in a formal pardon for all parties from the Nyral council.