by Alison Aimes
Un-fucking-believeable. “You were the one who screwed me over. You and Hollisworth. You think I wanted any of that? You think I asked to be used?”
“I think you don’t know how to be anything else.”
With a roar, she launched herself forward, her nails curved like claws, his words arrowing straight to the heart of her darkest fears. “How dare you?”
In that moment, she could have gleefully killed him.
But he was too fast.
Seizing her wrists, he pulled them behind her, toppling her off balance and shoving her against him, her too-fast breaths pressing her breasts against his hard chest with every inhalation.
Arctic eyes flecked with molten silver bored into her. “Then prove me wrong, Ava. Take what you need so we can go get that damn ore and defeat Hollisworth once and for all.”
Surging onto her tiptoes, she slammed her mouth against his.
His tongue met hers—wild, fierce, offering no quarter. Just like the man himself.
“Fuck, yes.” He released her hands. Grabbed her ass to yank her closer.
She wound her arms around his neck, her fingernails digging into his skin to hold him to her.
His growl of pleasure only heightened her need, and her fury.
Out of breath, she wrenched her mouth from his.
For an instant, they simply stared at each other.
“You want my help?” she said at last. “I want four things in return.”
She was done being taken. It was time for others to give.
“Tell me.” He hadn’t even blinked, but she somehow got the sense he was surprised—and pleased.
“First, I want an assurance you won’t tie me up again. We do this, we do it as equals, not captor and captive.”
“Done.”
“Second, I want extra ore to make my own stronger serum—one that I can use to try and neutralize the heat technology inside me as well.”
“Try?” He’d picked up on that unintentional word all too fast. “Why try?”
She waved her hand as if to brush the question aside. “It’s a more complicated, sophisticated technology. One that’s not simply floating around in my bloodstream, but imbedded in my brain. That makes neutralizing it more difficult. Still, it’s worth the risk.”
His expression blanked. “Worth the risk of death?”
The answer was so obvious, she didn’t even bother responding. “Third, I want my freedom.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once my side of the bargain is fulfilled and you’ve proof the trackers been neutralized, you let me go.”
He shook his head. “Hollisworth won’t come down here unless he sees you’re here. We need to see this through until the end.”
“Fine. The instant he’s down here, you release me.”
“It will be too dangerous. If you’re wandering the mines alone, I can’t protect you.”
“You can’t guard me anyway. You’ll be busy fighting Hollisworth and safeguarding your men.”
“I can do both.”
“And if your plans go south and you’re forced to choose? If all you have left to save your men from a lifetime down here is me? I’ve been your bait before. I won’t be again.”
His lips flat-lined. “That won’t happen.”
It wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. His men’s welfare came first. She wasn’t about to let herself become collateral in someone else’s game again.
“You want those trackers neutralized?” she challenged, speaking fast, the intensity of the heat indicating she only had a few more heartbeats until Hollisworth’s toy stole her strength and reminded her ex-captor he had his own bargaining chip. “Accept my terms.”
His eyes narrowed. He didn’t look so pleased anymore. Too bad.
“Fine,” he said at last. “I accept. And your fourth demand?”
She stepped closer. “Fuck me. Now. No more words. No more baiting.”
His hands gripped her ass and lifted her in the next heartbeat.
Her back hit the wall.
His hips drove between her thighs, spreading her legs wide, the hard heat of him poised at her center.
Their gazes locked—and then he thrust deep. Just as she’d craved.
Keening, she threw back her head and screamed.
His thick cock plunged through her swollen, slippery folds. Once, twice, three times before he worked himself deep inside.
She let out a scream, a mix of hate and lust and want, her head knocking the wall as he slammed home over and over again.
Her fingers curled to claws, her body shaking with need as she scrapped her nails down his back, determined to mark him as he was marking her.
“That’s it, Ava,” he growled. “Take what you need.” His hips pistoned faster, that perfect, taut ass flexing as he drove in and out, his hand slipping between them to play with her clit. Showing her all over again what Hollisworth never had. Caring. Generosity. Pleasure.
Taking her over and over and over again—even as he gave.
An assault on the senses. On her soul.
Because unlike Hollisworth, she couldn’t hate this man. No matter how much she should. He might have destroyed her, but he’d saved her, too. Shown her the stars. Touched her like she mattered. Demanded she fight.
She couldn’t hate him.
What she felt was far more dangerous. He messed with her plans. Threatened her logic and her defenses. Turned her into someone she didn’t recognize. One who reveled in desire. Pleasure. Who spread her legs wide and relished the rough thrust of his cock spearing deep inside her.
She wasn’t supposed to be this person.
But right now, she couldn’t make herself care.
Arching her back, she took him deeper. Spread her legs wider.
“That’s right, beautiful.” His approving growl whispered against her temple. “I need those sweet sounds in the back of your throat when I’m deep inside you. I want you clinging to me. Shining for me, even in the darkness.”
She exploded once more. Soaring even higher than their beautiful stars. Her toes curling as searing fire, pleasure and pain, burned through every cell and he grunted her name and hot liquid flooded her cunt.
It took several heartbeats to float back to reality and several more to register that the ringing in her ears wasn’t some kind of strange post-orgasmic glow, but genuine, unpleasant chiming.
When she did, the fall back to Dragath25 came fast and hard.
“What is that?” With him still inside her, she clapped her hands over her ears, almost taking his eye out with her elbow as she muffled the horrific shrieking sound.
For the first time since she’d met him, he hesitated, his expression turning grim as his hold on her hips tightened—as if he wished they could stay joined forever.
Her chest constricted. “Tell me.”
“The summoning,” he mouthed. “Hollisworth is calling us to work—and back to him.”
21
“Ava?” Her ex-captor’s commanding voice reached her even over the blare of the sirens.
“I’ve got it. You stay near me. I stay near you.” She repeated his proposed plan as if by rote. “I keep you from the droids. You keep me from the inmates. We get the extra ore we need while we fulfill our quota and then we get out, with Hollisworth none the wiser.”
It all sounded so easy, as long as she didn’t think too hard about the fact that she was returning to her husband. Along with a sea of fellow inmates, all summoned to work as well. And no idea of what her husband himself was plotting.
Not that it mattered.
The trackers inside them made ignoring the summons impossible.
Plus, that was where the ore was.
If she wanted it, the mines were where she had to go.
“If we can make it through the summons and get the ore we need,” she continued, “we can melt it down and use it to neutralize the tracker. It will be the first and last time I ever have to answer the summons.”
<
br /> As she spoke, she scanned the jagged corridor, assessing every crack she passed, especially since Valdus had warned her his crew might well pop out from one as they joined up en route to the mines.
She didn’t want to be taken unaware—or that’s what she told herself.
The truth was, even with their new plan established, she’d been having trouble looking at her new partner ever since she’d ignored his proffered hand and pushed to standing, her thighs slick and sticky from his cum, her dazed mind trying to process the wild creature she became in his arms, unable to decide if she should be proud or horrified, or both.
“That’s right.” Valdus’s voice was gruff. “You’ve got the plan down to a T. But I wasn’t asking about that. I have every faith you know it. I was wondering how you were handling the burn? It looks like it’s bothering you.”
“Oh.” She looked down to discover she was rubbing her thigh. “It’s fine.” In truth, it burned a lot. But since he’d explained it was a symptom of the summoning—Hollisworth’s way of ensuring the inmates reported to the mines and did everything possible to meet their quota before the burn grew excruciating and the tracker self-destructed—she’d been trying to ignore it. Just like everything else she wasn’t sure how to handle.
“And how are you feeling otherwise? The heat—”
“Is gone.” Warmth flared across her cheeks.
“Okay.” A long pause. “Good.”
She studied the cracks and crevices even more carefully.
“Here.” A heavy weight pressed into her hand. “For the mines.”
She looked down.
Shock slammed through her.
Valdus had dropped a pickax handle into her palm.
“If you try and use it on me or my men, you’ll regret it. Ryker is too fast and mean for you to even get close.”
She curled her fingers round the handle, testing the weight, hope washing through her even as the blare of the siren grew louder.
“I won’t,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady. Regret it, that is. I won’t regret it. If she had to use it, she’d make it count.
He nodded, but she could see the doubt. The suspicion. It made her feel better about her own lingering lack of trust.
Until he wrapped his free hand around hers so that they were both holding the weapon, the heat of his skin warming hers. “No one there is going to hurt you. Not my men. Not any of the inmates. Not while I’m alive.”
Another swell of confusion and bittersweet longing rolled through her.
No one had ever protected her before him. No one had ever told her it was going to be okay. No one had ever considered the heat from her perspective and sought to make it easier on her.
Like the wounded, starved-for-warmth creature she was, there was a part of her that wanted to soak it up. Wanted to accept his caring as genuine, his promise as truth. Wanted to pretend that, for once, she might not be entirely alone with whatever darkness lay beyond the next bend.
But that was beyond delusional.
He might fuck like something from her wildest dreams, but it didn’t mean his caring extended beyond the length of their rutting—or her use to him.
It would still be up to her to protect herself. To save herself. To free herself.
Theirs was only a temporary partnership. A mutual use-fest. Just like the sex.
“Ava?” The shock of two strong hands wrapping round her arms jerked her from her thoughts.
He’d stepped in front of her without her realizing. “I know you’re not used to non-Council ways,” his voice had deepened once more to that husky rasp, “and I don’t pretend to be an expert, but what we did before is usually followed by sweet words, even cuddling.”
“Cuddling?”
“I’ll show you next time.” His mouth claimed hers without warning. Hard and fast. His taste bleeding into her veins and cutting her with every slide of his tongue, burrowing into her soul and raking across her skin, changing her, tarnishing her, saving her. And leaving her breathless for more.
But as quick as it had started, it was over.
Silence pulsed between them. Heavy. Expectant. Charged by a thousand wrong impulses. Ones that could never be.
She looked away. Gripped her new weapon tighter.
“I know I pushed you hard back there…said some things maybe I shouldn’t...but, heat or no heat, I…enjoyed what happened between us and I’m grateful, too, for the way you saved my life and those of my men—more grateful than I could ever express.” He drew in a long breath. “I know you’re scared of what’s coming, but I am one hundred percent sure that if we work together we can make it out of this place.”
Her throat was too full to do anything but nod.
“I can't let down my men,” he continued. “But I swear I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure you make it topside safely. That Hollisworth never has the chance to touch you.” A growl shuddered through him. “I vow it on my life.”
This sounded different than the deal. This sounded like a vow. Freely given.
Her confusion grew.
Anger, hate, brutality—she knew how to handle. She knew how to plot and scheme and lie to evade and escape. But how was she supposed to react to someone like him?
Shoving her wild tangle of emotions aside, she hefted her new weapon higher. “Lead on to the mines. I’m ready.”
“No, you’re not.” Jaw tight, as if he knew something she didn’t, her ex-captor slid his largest pickax from his holster and mimicked her hold. “No one is. But we do it anyway.”
22
“Did you forget how to tie a knot, Commander?” Ryker’s taunt cut through the trumpeting siren. He dropped from a thick crack in the cave ceiling to land in a crouch only an arm’s length from Ava’s feet.
Caught off guard, she jumped.
Valdus resisted the urge to launch himself forward and beat the idiot to a pulp. Or reach out to steady her. Ever since he’d let his mouth get away from him and started talking about things like cuddling and next times, he’d gotten the definite sense she was mentally backpedaling as fast as she could.
He could only thank Janus that Ryker hadn’t been around for his verbal fumbling. He’d never have heard the end of it.
“Marked you coming from a few turns back.” He told his second, pointing to a long, thin trail of pebbles that had shaken loose from the ceiling. “You’re getting sloppy.”
A single eyebrow raised. “Or maybe I didn’t want to come without warning and get my head chopped off.” Ryker fell into step beside them. “You’ve gotten awfully twitchy recently. Why is she no longer tied up?”
Valdus ignored his second’s baiting. “Anything else you’d like to say to her?”
The man stilled. Shifted in his oversized boots. Then, finally, his gaze never quite reaching hers, “Thank you for saving our asses. It was…brave.”
Valdus offered up a grunt of approval. Ava, standing so still and stiff beside him, looked almost dazed by the grudging, lame compliment.
She offered a quick nod of acknowledgment. “You’re welcome.”
That damn protectiveness tightened his chest again.
She’d been through so much—and survived every challenge. But beneath the defiant tilt of her chin there was a fragility that could cost them both.
He didn’t blame her for it. Most would have broken long ago enduring what she had. The fact that she hadn’t was nothing short of miraculous. But neither of them could afford for her to crumble now. Not when her life and those of his men were at stake.
“Where are the others?” His question put an end to the awkward silence that had engulfed the corridor.
“On the way. There were so many on our tail it took longer than usual to lose them. They’ll join along the way.” Ryker’s gaze returned to the weapon in Ava’s hand. “Seems there’ve been a few developments in the meantime.”
“Important ones. I’ll wait for the others to arrive and fill everyone in at once.” He knew some of his men, aka Ry
ker, wouldn’t like this new turn of events or the way their bait had become their partner, but tough shit. They did what they had to do. That was the Dragath25 way.
If he was being honest, relying on serums made him uncomfortable, as well. He far preferred a battle plan that counted on what he and his men did best: fighting. It was one of the reasons he’d dismissed Ava’s initial claims about the trackers and the ore outright. He preferred to rely on himself and his men and their abilities. But that was before Hollisworth had surprised them with the new tracker design and made neutralizing the dracken nanotechnology in their blood priority number one.
So now, they’d be relying on science and medicines—and a woman with bold claims and every reason to hate them.
Who wouldn’t look at him.
Who he wanted again so badly his cock ached.
Who he’d soon be leading into their most dangerous situation yet.
He gripped his weapon tighter.
No problem. This was doable.
They turned a sharp corner and a near-furnace blast of heat singed Ava’s face.
Holy Goddess.
Valdus was right. There was no way to be ready for this.
A huge, open cavern loomed before them—the subsurface mining pit. Its surface marked by deep gouges above and below. Like a desecration. Or a murder. Red dust, ore, and rock spilling from the wounds like blood. Repeated stab wounds to the belly of the planet.
It looked a heartbeat—or one good quake—away from crumbling in on itself.
She suppressed a shiver, and realized as her view widened that a cave-in was the least of her immediate worries.
Prisoners were everywhere, covered in that same red film that made them look like demons. They clung to sharp walls or stood on narrow outcroppings while others crowded jagged holes in the wall, all jostling for a look, their cold, dead eyes tracking her every move. Most were naked. Some fondled themselves.
One threw back his head and screamed. Others joined in, brandishing their shovels and pickaxes in the air, their shrill, feral shrieks stealing her breath.
Valdus’s team closed in around her, a tight circle of lethal, muscled steel meant to serve as an impenetrable wall.
