by Anna Carven
Kail shot Erika a dark look. “As soon as possible.”
If Erika was at all flustered by this intimidating alien, she didn’t show it.
“H-hold up.” Fumbling a little, Darius fished something out of his pocket. “Let me just check that she’s done this right…”
Riana gaped. The object in his hand was a freaking ID scanner. Only sanctioned Federation Enforcers were supposed to have those. Riana was about to ask Darius where in the Nine Galaxies he’d managed to obtain a black-market piece of Enforcer tech from, but she decided against it, shaking her head.
Don’t even ask… Nothing could surprise her anymore.
There was a soft beep, and Darius nodded. “Checks out. Biometrics are identical to a guy called Carlos Montana. Remember that name.” He turned and focused the scanner on Riana. “And you’re Delores Love.”
“Carlos Montana and Delores Love…” Riana shook her head. They sounded like the names of characters in an old-fashioned movie.
“They’re actual people.” Darius shrugged. “And now you look exactly like them. Well, almost. If you accidentally get logged by the bioscanners, that’s all they’ll see.”
“Just don’t stay in any one place for too long,” Erika warned. “I don’t think my work will hold up under repeated impressions.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this kind of thing many times before?” Riana narrowed her eyes. Seriously, what the hell did these two do to earn a living again?
Erika raised her perfectly manicured eyebrows in a perfectly innocent expression. Too innocent. She pointed at her immaculate face. “You think I just rolled out of bed like this? It takes effort to look this fucking good, Ri.”
Arin tapped her foot impatiently. “Time to go, Bonnie and Clyde. The Seadiver’s about to leave.”
Kail glowered at everyone. Riana tried to negate his dark energy by smiling sweetly. “Thanks, little bro and sister. I owe you one. The next karaoke night’s on me.”
“Please don’t get caught,” Darius said.
“That will not happen.” Kail raked his magnificent glower over the Humans, his gaze settling on Riana.
Although he didn’t show a shred of emotion, Riana sensed that something wild and savage churned beneath his cold exterior. She should know. She’d already had a taste of it.
She shuddered, this time in a good way.
“Come,” Kail said, gesturing to her. “Let us hunt.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Over there.” The captain, a surly man with nasty scar across one cheek who went by the name of Sergei, pointed towards a row of tattered seats. “You’ll have to squeeze. We’re at full capacity.” He eyed Kail with suspicion. “And I don’t want no trouble. I just spent a fortune patching up the damage from the last incident.”
Riana looked dubiously around the Seadiver’s cabin. It was a dark, dingy affair with cloudy port-hole windows and rows upon rows of battered seats. In better times, it had probably been used as some sort of leisure transport, most likely to ferry tourists to exotic island destinations. She couldn’t see where Sergei could have possibly spent a fortune on it.
To say the Seadiver was a run-down piece-of-shit was an understatement.
Kail answered the captain with a dark stare.
“As I said, no trouble.” Sergei nervously sidestepped as Kail pushed past, ignoring him.
They piled in next to a large man who had set up camp in the corner, propping his feet up on the opposite seat. His head lolled back and a loud snore escaped him. Kail eyed the scene with obvious distaste.
Well, at least his mood was obvious to Riana. She knew him well enough by now to be able to tell when he was irritated. Displeasure rolled off him in waves, creating a sense of tension around him.
“We’ll be at the tunnel before long,” she said softly, trying to be the calming presence at his side.
Kail just grunted in response and sat, his large frame crowding the seat. “Come here.” He extended an arm around Riana’s shoulders as she sat down, pulling her into him.
His warmth surrounded her, and suddenly the filth of their cramped quarters melted away, and there was only the two of them.
Kail leaned in, his lips grazing her ear. “Do you know how badly I want to kusa with you right now?”
She had no idea what that word meant, but she could guess. Riana squirmed in her seat, trying to get comfortable. Kail pulled her closer, and she discovered that they fit together very nicely indeed. He was doing funny things to her again.
“I haven’t finished what I started.” His tone promised dark, decadent things. “Am I to spend the rest of this journey tortured by your closeness?”
Desire unfurled in her core. The memory of his touch had primed her senses, making her hyper-aware. Her pussy throbbed, her skin tingled, and her toes curled as Kail massaged the back of her neck with his gloved fingers. His touch was maddeningly possessive, and he looked around the cabin as he stroked her skin, deflecting more than a few curious stares.
Everything about his demeanor screamed: do not fuck with. His newly-minted Human appearance hadn’t diluted any of that.
But more importantly, his hand on her neck and the way he held her close conveyed a very potent message.
She belongs to me.
And Riana was helpless beside him. What had happened back there on the roof in Tangier was just the starter course. She wanted the main and the fucking dessert, too.
“Just you wait, Human,” he warned. “I will make it so that you crave no other touch but mine. When I take my pleasure, I will kusa with you until you are raw and begging for more. You can’t escape me now.”
“Not here, Kail.” Riana’s protest was weak. “You’re going to ruin me.”
“Yes.” The notion seemed to please him.
As Riana reveled in his dark intensity, someone slid in beside her. “Mind if I sit here?”
The woman looked apprehensively at Kail, who completely ignored her. Riana dug deep and found a shred of self-control.
“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, trying to disguise the fact that she was flustered. Damn you, Kail. Glancing around the cabin, she saw that most of the available seats had been occupied. The only spare seat was beside her and Kail, and that was probably no coincidence. “The seat isn’t taken. Go ahead.”
“Thank you.” The woman sat down, her porter-bot sliding neatly beneath her seat. Her eyes widened as she took in Kail and his proximity to Riana. Kail didn’t even acknowledge the newcomer, but Riana got the feeling he’d already taken her measure.
His hand was on her neck, but his gaze was diverted. He was watching his surroundings, his tinted, not-quite-human eyes taking in every detail.
“Are you going to London, or Paris?” The woman crossed her stockinged legs and smoothed down the skirt of her emerald green dress. There was an elegance to her that made her stand out amongst the decidedly unsavory crowd.
She didn’t fit in here, amongst the criminals and border-hoppers. This vessel was full of people who wanted to avoid being tracked by the Federation.
“Not sure yet,” Riana said vaguely. “We’ll figure it out when we get there, I suppose.” She forced a laugh. “What about you?” She did what she always did in these situations. She asked questions. It drew attention away from her and put the spotlight on the other person.
It was a good way to hide the fact that around strangers, she was still so damn socially awkward.
“Oh, I’m headed to Paris. Too much trouble going on in my country at the moment.”
“Your country?” Riana inclined her head, suddenly curious. The woman’s flawless black complexion, high cheekbones, and high forehead reminded her of the Luo people of East Africa.
“It used to be called the Rift Valley Republic. Now, it’s the Free Nile State. I really hope this one sticks.”
Unease slithered through Riana. “Are things… not going so well there?” With all the attempts on her life and the recent Network ban, she ha
dn’t been able to glue herself to her usual news sources.
“Things are going fine. The new president’s young and educated. He has some impressively egalitarian ideas. But they’re going mighty hard on corruption.” The woman made a face. “Obviously, that’s a good thing for the country, but not for people like me.”
“You?” Riana blinked. The woman didn’t strike her as the type who would defraud the state, but in this day and age, one never knew.
“Turns out my beloved uncle had been siphoning government credits to an off-planet account for years. He’s now left the damn planet, and even though I had no part in it, I’m not sticking around to get interrogated by the Truth Squad. It’s a new country. People tend to go overboard.”
“President Rao wouldn’t do anything-”
“You know him?”
“Uh, no,” Riana lied. She didn’t tell her that she’d met a young, idealistic Tito Rao in college, that she’d stayed in touch with him after he’d dropped out, that she’d been drawn into his digital guerrilla war from the other side of the world. “No, I don’t know him. I just assumed—”
“Riana.” Kail’s deep voice rescued her from any further damage. It cut through the background noise, coiling around her and pulling her towards him. His tone commanded her absolute attention, and secretly, she breathed a sigh of relief. “You don’t need to explain yourself to strangers.”
He cut through the awkwardness beautifully, brutally, in a way that only an alien possibly could. She was both horrified and ecstatic.
Riana smiled at the woman apologetically and turned towards Kail.
“Remember,” he whispered, running his strong fingers up the back of her skull, “I am still waiting to kusa with you. I can’t have your attention diverted to trivial matters when I am burning inside.”
She slid a hand over his thigh, eliciting a low growl from him. “I’m all yours, Carlos, but if you’re going to turn kusa with me into a regular thing, you’re going to have to learn to make nice with the locals, eventually.”
“Say it again.”
“What?”
“My word. Say it.”
“Kusa?” They were still whispering.
“Yes.”
“Huh?”
“In my first language, it is a very crude word. Vulgar. I like the way it sounds when you say it.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Yes. That’s your fault.”
He was making her damn horny.
Again.
Kail was right. This little underwater excursion was going to be torture.
Riana gasped as the cabin shook. A dull boom reverberated through the thick walls. She dug her fingers into Kail’s thigh.
“We’re going under,” the captain shouted to someone in the navigation room. He had a comm device in one weathered hand. “Hurry up, it’s the fucking Feds. What the hell is going on out there?”
With that, the Seadiver lurched to one side and descended into the ocean’s murky depths. Its engines roared, and a sudden hush came over the cabin as they dropped down into the water.
“Deeper,” Sergei urged. “Feds aren’t joining us underwater anytime soon.”
As they descended towards the ocean floor, Riana looked around in wonder.
To her left was a stranger who reminded her of her questionable past, and to her right was a man who had brought her back to life. When she was with Kail, nothing else mattered anymore. Not her past, not the attempts on her life, not the fact that she was now a fugitive in the eyes of the Federation. It was strange, but when she was with him - one of the most dangerous beings to ever set foot on this planet - she didn’t feel awkward or anxious at all.
There was only her and Kail and the present.
Nothing else mattered.
That was why Riana yielded, melting under the fierce, tender hands of a scary-hot alien warrior who wanted to kusa with her.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The craft transporting them to their destination was slow, but not once had Kail found the trip boring. Not when he had this maddeningly tempting female at his side.
She was sleeping now. Her head rested against his upper arm, and her breathing was slow and steady. Her rhythmic, regular heartbeat lulled him into a strange, almost trance-like state.
Lust still raged through him, but he’d been able to compartmentalize it, drawing on the same technique he used to tolerate pain. It was exquisite torture. The pain in his temples was just background noise now. Compared with the unbearable pressure in his erect cock—pressure that needed release—his headache was nothing.
Watching over her as she slept felt good, because it meant she was comfortable enough in his presence to let her defenses down. On this overcrowded, piece-of-shit transport, which was filled with a collection of the most disreputable Humans Kail had seen, she trusted him enough that she could fall asleep at his side.
And so she should. She was safe with him. Anyone who tried to touch her would be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Even the woman in green, who had made Riana so uncomfortable with her questions, had faced Kail’s bluntness.
They were slowing down now. He’d detected a shift in the engine noise; it had dropped down a notch or two, and the minute pressure changes in the cabin indicated they were rising.
Riana moaned softly in her sleep, but didn’t stir. He caressed the side of her head, brushing his fingers over her short hair. She’d cut off her magnificent curls in order to change her appearance, and her dark hair had been dyed a pale golden shade. Her features were slightly different, too. The shape of her nose had been changed, and her cheeks were a bit fuller thanks to the SecondSkin stuff her friend had applied.
The transformation was dramatic, but he liked it—at least, he liked the hair. The shorter style accentuated her lustrous brown skin and proud, aristocratic features. It highlighted the long, sinuous curve of her neck.
He was obsessed with her neck, amongst other things. He’d barely been able to keep his hands off her since they’d boarded this Kaiin-forsaken vessel. His efforts had been duly rewarded. She enjoyed his touch. It was evident in the way her taut muscles loosened underneath his fingers, in the way she snuggled up against him, warm and soft and…
Kaiin’s hells.
If he didn’t do something about this madness soon, he was going to explode.
“Passengers, get ready to disembark.” The captain’s tired, slightly slurred voice reached them through some hidden broadcasting device. “We’ll be using the starboard doors to depart. Grab your stuff, because anything valuable that’s left behind is getting sold to the sorters for profit. Careful on the right-hand side, because there’s a live hoverail track running through. I hear the Border Guard’s been active on the Paris end, so watch your backs. Transport can be bought at the dock. Hundred credits to London, hundred-and-fifty to Paris.” There was a slight pause, accompanied by heavy breathing. “Thank-you for choosing Black Tsar Transport. Anyone needs a cross-Atlantic ticket, I’ll be hanging around on the docks for a while.”
The Human passengers started to move, reaching for bags and bots and whatever else they’d carried onboard.
Kail squeezed Riana’s shoulder. Her eyes fluttered. “Huh?” She began to rouse, her gaze soft and unfocused.
“It seems we are about to dock.”
“Oh.” She straightened, getting her bearings. “I… fell asleep.”
“You did.” He suppressed the tremor that threatened to work its way into his voice. All the while, he’d watched her and thought incessantly about fucking her.
How in Kaiin’s Hells had he ended up at this point? He, who was notoriously immune to emotion, who never allowed his feelings to cloud his judgement, had somehow fallen into a sweetened trap.
Protection and duty had turned into obsession, but Kail didn’t care.
He was beholden to no-one but his General. He would take what he desired, because there was nothing holding him back. And if that meant his judgement would forever be com
promised when it came to Riana, then… so be it. As long as he carried out his mission successfully, he could do whatever the fuck he liked.
His temanjin, his inner sense of right and wrong, hadn’t protested. On this matter, the beast was in savage agreement.
She was his Human, and he would claim her in his own time.
Hollow thuds echoed around the cabin of the Seadiver as they ascended. Riana stared straight ahead, her hands arranged neatly on her thighs. Her face was blank, but her jaw and shoulders were stiff with determination.
Kail’s cock throbbed. He ground his teeth together and drew on every single shred of his self-control. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.
Soon.
As soon as he got the chance, he was going to finish what he’d started on the roof.
“When we get to the Underground,” she said softly, “leave the talking to me. We have to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, and you’re a little bit too… out-of-this-world.”
For once in his life, he was happy to acquiesce to a Human’s request.
“And… Kail?”
“Yes, Riana?”
“Please try and limit the collateral damage. I’d rather you didn’t kill anybody who doesn’t deserve it.”
“I can’t promise that.” For some reason, he was entertaining her requests. The possibility that he might upset her actually bothered him more than it should have.
It would be better if she wasn’t around when he finally caught his prey. Better if she didn’t know what he was truly capable of.
She sighed. “Just try. Killing isn’t always the best way to solve a conflict.”
But death was final. That was why it was Kail’s preferred form of justice. It wasn’t in the nature of Kordolians to compromise. He didn’t tell her that, though. She was an idealist, and he liked that about her. He had no interest in bludgeoning her with reality. Instead, he placed his large hand over hers and leaned in. “Riana, the only promise I can make right now is that you will enjoy it—”
