by Selena Kitt
“Captured, were you?” It was plain the Empress didn’t believe her.
“Yes, by the High Sentinel—my old mentor,” K said. “And while he held me, he told me of his plan to overrun all of Eros, using me as a figurehead. He said that the Empress is able to control her people through a psy-blood bond. Is that right?”
“It is.” the Empress sounded guarded. “But only one Empress at a time can rule.”
“Which is why he planned to have you assassinated,” K told her. “He said he already had people in place around you. I’m calling to warn you that even though he’s dead, there might be another to take his place. Someone who would implement the plan and try to have you killed.”
The Empress’s lips tightened but she nodded tersely. “I’ll have my people screened at once. You have my thanks for the warning.”
“You’re welcome.” K nodded. “And now I need to go.”
“No, what you need to do is come home.” The Empress’s eyes flashed. “Only you have the exulted blood to rule after me.”
Boone could be silent no longer.
“Which is why she was taken and subjected to a life of unspeakable cruelty in the first place,” he said, stepping up beside K. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t think K wants anything to do with ruling right now. She’s just trying to get over what was done to her by the Purists.”
“What was done to her will be nothing compared to what I do to you, giant.” The Empress glared at him and Boone looked stonily back. “You have no business with my daughter. She is a princess and you’re nothing but a peasant. She must come back and complete her cycle to find a mate of proper lineage to rule by her side.”
“Even if I wanted to complete my cycle, I couldn’t,” K said calmly. “I have only a few hours before my current skinsuit loses its power to control my hormones. If I don’t start training my suit to accommodate my needs by then, I’ll be dead.”
“A few hours it all we need,” the Empress responded coolly. “I still have all the candidates assembled here on Eros. You can choose between them the minute you step off the ship.”
“Um, excuse me, Your Majesty,” Loki cut in apologetically. “But we’re days out from Eros at this point. Even with our hyperdrive going full blast—”
“That will be unnecessary,” the Empress cut in. “Simply stay where you are and we will come to you.”
“But how—?” Loki began.
“Never you mind how, commoner,” the Empress snapped. “I already have the position of the Tainted ship serving as your escort. Just give me your coordinates and we will come to you at once.”
“No!” Boone shook his head sharply. “Loki, don’t tell her a thing!”
“Boone’s right, don’t send the coordinates,” K said, her voice sounding choked. “I don’t want to go back. If I can’t... can’t be with Boone, I don’t want to be with anyone.”
Boone’s heart thumped painfully. “Aw, darlin’...”
“You will come back,” the Empress interrupted, still glaring at K. “You’ll come back and fulfill your royal destiny and duty at once!”
“You don’t own K,” Boone told her, fighting to keep his voice calm. “If she says she’d rather live an emotionless life than go back to Eros and be with a bunch of strange men, you have to respect that. You can’t take over her life just because she happens to share the same bloodline as you.”
“I most certainly can,” the Empress snapped. “Krissana will take off that ridiculous suit and pass through her first cycle this very solar day. She will choose a proper consort and her daughter will be of royal blood.”
“Hate to pop your bubble, Your Highness,” Boone said dryly, “But K’s not coming back to you to choose a consort or anything else. You seem to have a bad case of selective deafness but let me spell it out for you—she doesn’t want to go back to Eros.”
The Empress narrowed her eyes. “She will come whether she wants to or not.”
“How dare you?” K seemed to be fighting tears of rage. “I called you to warn you—to save your life. How can you act like this?”
The Empress gave her a level look. “In time, when you have a daughter of your own, you will understand, Krissana. I’m simply doing this for your own good.”
“My good or your own good?” K said bitterly. “You know, Mother, you’re as bad as the Purists, refusing to think anyone but your own people are fit to live. I’ve had enough of that way of thinking—I reject it—and you. You’ll never hear from me again.”
“Oh yes I will, in a very short time,” the Empress said grimly.
She looked at Loki and Rolf, who were sitting close together, sharing the pilot’s chair and trying to look inconspicuous. Slowly, hypnotically, the golden rings in her purple eyes began to spin. “Loyal citizens of Eros, do you hear me?” she asked in a low, powerful voice.
Boone watched in alarm as a glazed look came over both men’s eyes.
“Yesss, Empresss...” Loki slurred, sounding like a zombie. Rolf mumbled assent as well.
“Send me the coordinates of your ship! At once!” she demanded. “And you will stay in your current position until I get to you.”
“Yesss, Empresss.” Loki’s fingers were already flying over the keyboard.
“No!” Boone reached over to slap the kill switch to the viewscreen but it was too late. By the time the angry Empress faded from sight, the damage was done.
“Huh?” Rolf blinked his eyes and looked around in obvious confusion.
“What’s going on? What did I miss?” Loki demanded.
“Well, now we can see that the Purists’ plot to take over Eros would definitely have worked,” Boone grumbled, looking at the pair of touch partners who were still blinking owlishly, as though they’d just awakened from a long nap. He looked at K. “I wonder why it doesn’t work on you?”
She shrugged angrily. “Maybe because the Empress and I have the same blood.”
“What happened?” Loki demanded. “What did she say?”
“She asked for the coordinates of our ship and you gave them to her before Boone could hit the kill switch,” Mom said. “Is there any way to tell if she got it all?”
Loki looked down at the control panel. “I’m afraid so. She did get it all.”
Boone swore loudly. “Can we take evasive maneuvers?”
Loki shook his head. “Afraid not, Boone. Once they’re locked onto our position, they’ll be able to follow us anywhere.”
“This is it, then,” K said dully. “I’ll have to go right away—back to the Tainted ship. It’s the only way to be free of her.”
“Didn’t you hear what Her Majesty said earlier?” Loki demanded. “She’s already got the Tainted position pinned down too. Probably she had ours as well and just wanted a confirmation before her pilots set a course.”
Boone swore again. “I don’t accept this—K can’t be trapped into a life she loathes so easily. There has to be something we can do—someplace we can go.”
Loki spread his hands. “Unless you can manufacture a black hole to suck us all to infinity, I’m afraid there isn’t.”
K winced and put a hand to her abdomen. “How long before we can expect them? And how do they expect to get to us so quickly, anyway?”
“Must be the new wormhole technology I heard being bruited about in mechanical circles,” Rolf said thoughtfully. “It would make travel that would normally take days with a hyperdrive take hours instead.”
“A few hours?” K looked hopeful. “Maybe I have time to start training my suit.”
“But what happens if she makes you take it off anyway, after you start?” Boone demanded. “Her Highness doesn’t strike me as the type to take no for an answer. Or believe you when you say you can’t take off the suit.”
“I’ll die,” K said dully. “If I start the training and I’m forced to take off the suit, I’ll die.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Boone said fiercely. “I swear, darlin’. I’ll kill whoever comes
for you with my bare hands if I have to. But no one is going to force you to take off that damn suit.”
“Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re the one who wanted me out of my suit in the first place and now you’re willing to fight to keep me in it.” K laughed weakly but the laugh turned into a soft moan of pain. She pressed a hand to her side. “Purity...”
“I’m not the only one who will fight,” Boone protested, looking at her anxiously. “I’m sure Hesler and his Tainted will join in if it comes to that.”
K shook her head. “It’s not fair to ask that of them. They already rescued me once. No, this isn’t their fight or yours, Boone. It’s mine and mine alone.”
“Bullshit,” Boone exploded angrily. “You’re the woman I love. Even if I can’t be with you, I’ll be damned if I stand to one side and let someone force you into a life you hate.”
K sighed. “It’s my royal blood, you know. It’s ruined everything. It got me kidnapped by the Purists in the first place, made it impossible for me to be with you, and now it’s going to result in my death if I’m not careful. Or else I’ll wish I was dead.” She shuddered and Boone knew she was thinking of the Erian royal mating ceremony where she would be forced to have sex with multiple partners.
He tightened his firsts in frustration. “It is your damn blood. If only you weren’t a royal. Without your ‘exulted’ DNA, none of this would be a problem.”
K got a strange look on her face. “You’re right, Boone—it’s not really my blood. What it comes down to is DNA. Which is why...”
“Why what?” He looked at her uncertainly.
“Which is why it has to change.” K looked up at him. “Tell me more about your formula—about the DNA swap you had planned.”
“K, no—it’s too risky. We can’t—”
“Yes, we can,” she said grimly. “We don’t have a choice. Come on.”
And taking his hand, she led him away.
Chapter Thirty-three
“Are you sure about this?” K looked down at her bare arm nervously. She was naked from the waist up, with the top of her skinsuit pooled around her hips as she sat on the sleeping platform. One arm was wrapped modestly around her naked breasts and the other was extended for the needle Boone was holding in his large hand.
“No.” Boone looked at her unhappily as he swabbed her arm. “I told you that already—we’re taking a hell of a risk.”
“With both our lives,” K murmured. “Do you have your blaster, Boone? I want you to keep it by you just in case.”
“The hell with that,” he said roughly. “I’m not worried about myself, K. If I’ve got the formula even just a little bit wrong, this stuff could kill you. Or the transition from your suit could kill you.” He sighed. “Maybe you should just go back to Hesler. Ask him to start the training like you said. If you’re one of his team, he’ll have to help protect you. A squad of Tainted should be able to wipe out a squad of Erians, no problem.”
“And what if my mother sends an entire armada?” K asked. “No, Boone, I won’t put him in that position.” She looked up at him imploringly. “I’m sorry that I have to put you in it. And I was serious—I want you to have your blaster nearby. In case... in case this doesn’t work and I lose control.”
“It’s on my side of the bed, in the drawer I usually store it in if it really makes you feel better. But you’re not going to lose control.” Boone sighed and sank down on the sleeping platform beside her. “We’re going to make it through this together—somehow. We’ll do the DNA swap and we’ll get through the third phase of your cycle. By the time the Empress shows up, we’ll be bonded and your blood won’t be quite so exulted anymore.”
“That should solve all our problems,” K said hopefully. “If it works.”
“Only one way to find out.” Boone squared his shoulders. “I’ll go first.” Picking up the first hypo-syringe, he pressed it to the big vein pulsing in the bend of his elbow and pulled the trigger. There was a muted hiss and he winced briefly.
“How do you feel?” K eyed him anxiously. “Any different?”
“Not yet but I should be feeling it soon.” He picked up the other hypo and held out his hand. “Come on, give me your arm. Let’s do this.”
Despite his rough and worried words, he was extremely gentle when he injected her. After so many years of being injected by her suit, K barely felt the hypo’s bite. The compound he had prepared was bright blue but it had changed to vivid purple when he added a drop of both her blood and his own to it. She watched intently as the bright liquid disappeared into her vein.
“I don’t... don’t feel anything yet,” she said, flexing her arm.
“You will soon,” he assured her. “The compound should start controlling your cycle almost at once.”
“That’s good.” K nodded fervently. “I just... don’t want to hurt you when I start feeling... feeling the need.”
“You won’t.” Boone stroked a strand of hair out of her face. “I’m a big boy.” He got a slightly worried look on his face. “Hopefully not too big.”
“What do you mean?” K looked up at him.
“It’s just, well... you’re a little and I’m a giant so there’s already a considerable size difference between us. And this being your first time... I guess what I’m saying is that I’m worried about hurting you.”
K surprised herself by laughing. “Both of us are so worried about the other it will be a wonder if we can get anything done at all.”
“I don’t think we’ll be able to help it,” he said seriously. “God, think I’m feeling it already...”
“Me too.” Standing up, K shed the rest of her suit. “I already want you, Boone,” she admitted in a low voice. “I want you to touch me... to take me.”
“I want that too, darlin’.” He looked at her anxiously. “How are you feeling otherwise. I mean—”
“I’m still in control of myself if that’s what you mean.” K stretched and moved toward him. “Though I do feel an intense desire to be with you.” She shook her head. “And to think that two months ago the very idea of what we’re going to do—the idea of full contamination—would have horrified and disgusted me.”
“Does it still?” Boone murmured. He was still seated on the sleeping platform but he was so tall they were nearly eye-to-eye even with K standing.
She reached for him, running her fingers through his spiky brown hair.
“No,” she said softly. “No, I... I would never have believed it but I want it... I want you, Boone. And not just because my cycle is calling. I want you because I feel for you. Feel for you so strongly it almost hurts. I thought I would die when I was walking away from you. It was awful.”
“That’s what happens when you care for somebody—when you love them,” Boone said gently. “You let them into your heart and it can be a little scary how much you feel.”
“I do feel a little frightened,” K admitted. “But also... exhilarated. And now I’m feeling hungry... empty.”
He frowned. “Empty?”
K looked down for a moment, having a hard time putting the feelings into words.
“I... it’s hard to explain. I want so much to feel your arms around me and your body against me. And not just against me but... inside me. I... I want to feel you penetrating me... filling me up. Once I thought it was the worst form of contamination but now... I want it so badly.”
“God, darlin’.” His voice was thick with desire. “You don’t know what it does to me to hear you say that. To see you standing there naked and gorgeous, asking me to fill you...” He pulled her between his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist.
K came to him willingly, pressing her naked body against his clothed one. Boone ducked his head and nuzzled her breasts. K felt a spark of excitement run down her spine at the coarse rasp of his whiskers against her curves. Looking up, Boone captured her gaze with his own and kissed one of her nipples, laving it gently with his tongue. K moaned breathlessly as he sucked it i
nto his mouth, drawing hard on the tight peak and sending sparks of pleasure from her tender nipple straight down to her core which was beginning to feel swollen and hot.
“Boone...” she murmured.
“Mmm...” Boone sucked the other nipple as well, his ocean colored eyes never leaving her face as he pleasured her. K ran her hands through his hair and thrust her breasts out, giving him greater access. Purity but it felt good! The heat of his mouth, the feel of his big hands stroking over her back and hips and thighs, the heat in his eyes as he tasted her... it was almost more than she could bear. And yet she wanted more.
