He bent closer and whispered in her ear, “Dominant asshole. Don’t forget.”
She tried to head butt him and missed. He laughed. Goddamn him. “I’ll have you flayed alive.” She knew she was going to lose this fight. Already her body betrayed her, heating under his hands. The opposite sensations within her were tearing her apart. Her mind, barely able to function in the throes of need, told her this was dangerous, a mistake. But her skin tingled, and her pussy throbbed with anticipation. It shouldn’t be like this. No man had broken her iron will, her subtle control. He played her like a musical instrument, demanding a response and getting it regardless of her feelings.
His gaze slid over every inch of her. “It would be worth it.”
She wanted to slap his hand away when his fingers trailed over her neck and threaded in her hair. He leaned closer, his lips a hairbreadth away from hers. His hot breath warmed her, and she wanted to capture his mouth, lose herself in his kiss. She jerked her head back. What the fuck was wrong with her? He was probably going to rape her and—
He yanked her head closer, his hand twisted in her hair. “No, Princess. You’re going to take your punishment. You’ve tempted me, challenged me. Now you need to know what happens when you play with this Nyral dominant.” His voice was low, sultry, sexy.
Her pussy throbbed. She almost whimpered. Okay, so she’d taunted him, dared him to dominate her. Maybe making him watch another man touch her hadn’t been a good idea. Maybe slapping him hadn’t been smart. At the moment, she couldn’t care less. His mouth was so close, so warm, so fucking arousing. The desire to surrender swamped her. To let go of control for a moment was almost a relief. Suddenly nothing mattered more than his lips on hers.
When she tried to close the minuscule distance, he backed away. She glared at him. He tipped her head back and whispered in her ear. “Do you want my mouth, Princess?”
She swallowed and closed her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. Everything narrowed to the space between their lips. Her pulse pounded, and her mouth quivered, but whether it was with fear or need wasn’t clear.
“Beg me.”
This time, she did whimper. She didn’t beg. Ever.
She shook her head, regardless of his fingers twisted in her hair that yanked on the strands.
“We both want it, sweetheart. Beg me.” His breath stroked the shell of her ear, and she shuddered.
She was slipping, sliding down into an endless ocean, drowning in sensation. Whatever he wanted, whatever he asked, she would give. Her mind drifted; a feeling of euphoria washed over her, through her. Reality slipped away.
The feel of the cold metal cuffs, the floor digging into her knees, the sting of his fingers in her hair all overwhelmed her. All she could focus on was the next moment, his hot breath on her sensitive lips, his attention completely riveted on her. It was the most helpless and the most powerful emotion she’d ever experienced. She didn’t just want his touch; she needed it. “Please, Leo. Please, kiss me.” A single tear squeezed from her eye.
“Open your eyes,” he demanded, his voice sharp.
Her eyes flew open and met his gaze. God, he was gorgeous. His blond hair, his glittering blue eyes, and the fascinating scar that ran down his cheek all combined to ensnare her, defeat her.
He sank to his knees in front of her, his fingers clenched in her hair, her scalp tingling. His thighs were hard against hers, and her nipples hardened against his chest. The temptation of his neck was too much, and she brushed his skin with her lips until he jerked her head back, raising her face to his. She shook with anticipation. Just a kiss. That was all she begged for. But she wanted so much more.
He towered over her, his head bent down so his mouth was close to hers, his gaze still locked with hers as he stared at her. He slid his free hand around her waist and yanked her against him. She gasped when his chest crushed her breasts, creating cascading electricity through her system. His mouth descended, taking, dominating.
Her senses spun. His lips, his tongue in her mouth, and his hand sliding to cup her ass made her shiver. She slipped deeper beneath the surface of sensation, floating…
She wanted to give him everything.
“Princess.”
When had he stopped kissing her? She blinked. His face was expressionless, or at least she couldn’t read it. What the fuck had just happened? Her head was fuzzy, and she struggled to maintain a coherent thought. One thing was clear: Leo Eyler had proven he could dominate. Bitterly, she accepted this fact. With only a kiss, he’d stripped her of control over her mind and her body. “Take the damn cuffs off. I got it. No taunting.” Her mouth tightened, and she kept her gaze on the floor. Shame swept over her. She’d have done anything he’d wanted. She would have fucked him right there on the shuttle floor. No man had ripped away her control like that before.
His fingers gripped her chin and lifted her face. “Look at me.” His tone was gentle but firm.
She met his gaze. There was no condemnation, no judgment. He reached around and released her hands. “I’m good at what I do. And you’re very receptive.”
Her nostrils flared, and she glared at him. “Meaning what? That I’m a slut? You’ve been watching the vid streams.” She scrambled to her feet and rubbed her wrists. “Now that we’ve established I’m susceptible to you, we can agree I won’t challenge you, and you can keep your damn hands to yourself.”
Okay, it was her pride talking. She didn’t want him to see her vulnerability, so she turned her back on him. She had a reputation, yes. But most of it wasn’t deserved. Shit, if she’d slept with all the men they’d said she had, she wouldn’t have had time for anything but fucking. She gritted her teeth. “What’s the real reason we’re going to Nylar?”
“I told you. It’s the safest place I can think of.”
Safe? Not for her. If she couldn’t resist him in the back of the shuttle, how was she going to resist him on his home planet where being dominated would seem normal?
She took a deep breath and turned to face him. And found him right behind her. The heat from his body was going to make her spontaneously combust. She stifled the urge to reach out and slide her fingers over his skin. “Can’t you just leave me alone?” Her voice shook.
“No, apparently I can’t.” His gaze remained steady.
She couldn’t back away, couldn’t breathe. When she inhaled, her senses were clouded by his unique scent. Her whole being was filled with him. “You’re crowding me.”
“I am?” He blinked and stepped away.
Immediately she wished he hadn’t. What was wrong with her? She shook her head, trying to clear it. Focus, Sera, focus. The only reason the man came anywhere near her was because her life was threatened. That was the issue. “This is insane. Why are they trying to kill me?” She let out the breath she’d been holding. “The Brotherhood wanted the Teran Five minister dead too. I have no idea why. I’m not the head of anything.”
“On the contrary, Princess. You’re the leader of a band of people scattered all over the galaxy. You give them hope.”
She snorted. “I give them gossip.” That’s all she was good for. Her mother had told her that before she died. “What good are you, Sera? You’re giving us a bad name.”
“Princess?” Leo’s concerned expression only made her feel worse. Sympathy was the last thing she needed.
“I think you’re way off.” She rubbed her forehead and avoided his gaze. “The Brotherhood is all about political figures. I was a fluke.”
“The Teran Five minister was forced to resign, and no other heads of state have been slated for assassination. Only you.” Leo gripped her arm. “They’ve tried to kill you two times on Sethos Five. Why does the Brotherhood want you dead so badly?”
“I don’t know,” she said and ran a hand through her hair. “They’ve been inept but persistent. You tell me.”
“Princess, there has to be a reason.”
Her nails dug into her palms. “Don’t you think I’d tell you if I knew? The
council is terrified I’ll be killed. The fact that they’re still willing to stand by me—” She stepped closer, nose to nose with the man, and ignored the way her heart pounded at his nearness. “I. Don’t. Know.”
“Think. You have unusual powers. Could it be that?”
“Don’t be an idiot. That power isn’t me. It’s the artifacts. The planet. They have the power.” But she suddenly felt cold. She shivered. It was true she had no power; it was also a fact that only she had the key to unlock the power contained in those mystical items from her planet. Could that be it? Was it the prophecy?
No. That was stupid. The prophecy had to be wrong. The planet’s power was deadly. Everyone knew that. Hadn’t her mother’s death proven it? She shook her head. “This is ridiculous. The Brotherhood is determined to kill me. That would render my power useless. I still think you’re on the wrong track.”
He stared at her for a long, silent moment. She refused to fidget or reveal her anxiety. It was bad enough that she’d revealed how susceptible to him she could be. Some semblance of control was required to keep her tattered pride intact. Finally the grip on her arm loosened, and she thought she was free. But when she started to move away from him, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her closer. “I don’t think I’m wrong.”
His mouth claimed hers. She melted. His arms wrapped around her, surrounded her. Her legs shook, and her core hot and needy. Warmth seeped into her bones, and she sagged against him. Solid and unyielding, he deepened the kiss, as if seeking to capture her very soul. She moaned, a sound of surrender, of capitulation. This was what she’d waited for, longed for.
It was over too soon. He tore his mouth away from hers and dropped his hands to his sides. “I know I’m right. I’m not going anywhere.” Then he strode onto the bridge.
She gazed at his back and trembled, her fingers pressed against her lips. The man was more of a threat than any fucking assassin. She wasn’t sure which one would kill her first.
Chapter Five
Leo’s jaw ached from clenching it. What the hell was he thinking? He’d treated her like a submissive he planned to claim. That was never going to happen. His fingers drifted to the faded mark just inside his hip. Heat emanated from it. It wasn’t possible. His people could only mate once. That was a fact. He’d marked a woman, and she was dead. His chance was over. He could fuck, even have a relationship, but it would be a dim reflection of the mate-mark connection.
But the princess brought out something…dangerous…in him. The desire to claim.
What had possessed him to touch her? The way she’d dropped into submission, into that beautiful place of receptiveness, drove him insane. How was he going to keep his damn hands off her when all he wanted was to force her to her knees and dominate her? Well, he had to, and that was all there was to it.
Right now she was pissed off. She slid into the captain’s chair and made the engines scream. He refrained from clutching the armrests. Again. She was good, but why did she have to fly like she wanted to get them both killed? They reached the gate quicker than he had anticipated.
When she hit the gate at a sound-breaking pace, his stomach jumped to his throat and his pulse skittered.
She adjusted the throttle and activated the gate. When they hit the hole, his skin sizzled, and he closed his eyes. The woman was fucking crazy. She even spun inside the goddamned gate. On either side of them, the tunnel left enough room to maneuver, but not much. And one miscalculation and they’d be tossed out into black space, those long stretches of emptiness light-years from anything.
“Fuck.” The word came out of her mouth so softly he almost didn’t hear it.
His eyes flew open. A blip on her screen caught his attention. They had company. The Brotherhood. “Slow down, damn it.”
“And let them catch up? No fucking way, Dom Boy.” She jerked on the handle, and the shuttle lurched to the side. Laser fire burned by them. She began to zigzag, her hands full with a fast shuttle and an enemy on her tail.
“Fuck.” His lips tightened. Leo jumped out of his seat and pulled down the weapons array. The shuttle had rear laser guns, thank God. He adjusted the radar and tracked the follower. “Teran Five D-class fighter. One. When the fucking thing explodes, we have to be ready to get out of here.”
“Wait until I get to my gate.”
“No,” he snapped. “No time. Take the next gate.”
“Listen, Dom Boy—”
“Princess, if you want to live to argue with me, do what I tell you.” He tracked the fighter and waited for the princess to respond.
“Fucking asshole,” she muttered. “Next gate, ten seconds. You’d better not miss.”
“I never miss, sweetheart.”
She jammed the engines into gate speed and counted down. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”
The fighter gained speed, and he locked on. The princess kept counting, her voice steady. He had to admire that. “Six, five, four, three, two, now!” The shuttle lurched, and he fired the guns.
His shot blasted into the fighter’s engine. The explosion propelled them through the gate. What he hadn’t anticipated was the debris that would follow them.
“Shit!” The princess kept her hands on the controls, alarms blaring.
Leo was flung back against the console, and his arm caught the princess in the back of the head, sending her face-first into the controls. “Goddamn it!” He hit the floor of the cockpit hard enough to make his bones rattle.
He picked his ass up off the floor, but she was dealing with the emergency, blood streaming from her nose. Leo cursed, then immediately began to try to steady the spiraling shuttle. “Nearest planet,” he snapped at her.
“Placido.”
“You took us to Placido?”
“No, you fuckhead, you did!”
Placido. Abandoned, except by the occasional archeologist. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He focused on keeping the shuttle aloft. Finally they stopped spinning, and the princess got the star chart online. “We’ll have to fly manually,” she told him. “Debris from the fighter took out the autopilot.”
He nodded. It would take both of them. “I’ll take the rear.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” she quipped.
He grinned. “I don’t know that much would surprise you, Princess.”
“A sense of humor? From a Nyral dom? That surprises me.” She handled the ship like a pro, turbulence and all.
“We find time for all kinds of interests.” He switched power from the shields to the rear thrusters. She matched him, transferring power from other systems to help him.
“I’m shocked,” she said sarcastically. “I would think keeping your women in line would take all your time.”
“Once a woman experiences a Nyral dom, Princess, she is easy to control.” Not true, but he wanted to needle the woman.
He succeeded. She whipped her head around and glared at him. “You’re delusional, Dom Boy. Women are just smarter at letting you think you’re in control.”
God, she was beautiful when she allowed the anger to show. Her red hair had fallen from the severe hairstyle she usually wore. Her face was filled with color, and the muscles of her neck were corded. Stunning. He grinned. “Power is a transitory thing. But the give-and-take can be very…arousing.”
“Listen, you rat bastard—”
“Watch out, Princess. We’ve got company.” He glanced at the radar. How had they found her so fucking fast? “We need to ditch this shuttle. It’s bugged.”
She didn’t argue, but she made a feral noise in her throat that warned him and turned him on. It was a pleasure to see the veneer peeled away, her raw self exposed. Underneath that icy exterior, she had a temper. She just needed someone to master her.
Oh, he knew her reputation. She played at being a sexual submissive. She liked the games, the toys, the titillation of it all. But she’d yet to be dominated.
Until he’d kissed her.
What was he thinking? He wasn’t here to fuc
k some goddamned princess. He was here to get information, a line on the assholes running the Brotherhood. She was his connection. The only one he had. And now they were going to be stranded on Placido with a shuttle the enemy knew well.
“Is your com working?” he demanded.
“Yes.” She still struggled with the controls.
He yanked out the keyboard to her com and started typing a message. They needed help, and they needed it now. There was only one other man he’d trust.
The princess glared at him. “Who are you contacting?”
“Someone who can save our asses,” he snapped.
“Who?”
“Conner Mitchum.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “Oh, he’s okay.”
The princess had been rescued from the Brotherhood by Conner and his marked mate, Rhea, and together they’d rescued him.
Leo shifted in his seat. Princess Sera had saved his life. If it hadn’t been for her, he’d have bled to death.
Not that he hadn’t wanted to die. Without his mate, he was a lost soul with only one goal in mind: find the asshole responsible. The man who ran the Blueshift Brotherhood assassins.
“A little help here.” The princess gritted her teeth and used both hands to keep the shuttle steady.
“Let it go,” he ordered her, an idea forming.
“What?”
“Let it go and spiral toward Placido. We can bail out. They’ll think we crashed.”
“That’s insane—”
“It wasn’t a request, Princess. Do it.”
Her arms immediately dropped from the control. Interesting. He studied her. Yes, she needed a dominant, all right.
“Get the pack on. We won’t have much time.” He scrambled to the back, the shuttle lurching and flipping.
He helped her get the rescue pack onto her back and then strapped on his own. A small jet thruster, a parachute, and flame-resistant material would hopefully get them to the surface. The shuttle shuddered when it hit the atmosphere. Even with the shields up, the speed of their descent heated the hull surface outside.
“We have to jump now.”
Marked 2: Marked for Desire Page 6
