by Kim Knox
The door opened onto a dark alley, a slice of gray-white sky casting bleak light against the uneven walls on an unmarked building. With no further words, Govan disappeared into the darkness of the alley. Her gaze darted around the derelict and jagged-roofed buildings that blocked the sky. The reek of refuse and decay forced its way into her lungs.
A smile tugged at her mouth. Yes, the familiar scent of the Ulan Bator district. At least they didn’t have to cover the ground from Khovd. The hangar that housed her ship was little more than a twisted klick away. “Ready?”
“What do you wish of me?” Daned kept his face neutral, mimicking the familiar passive mode of grown humans.
Oh, she liked owning him as flesh, especially flesh that had to be seething over the few scraps and strings of gold that stood between him and complete nakedness. “If we had time, the things I would order…” She didn’t miss the spark of anger that lit his dark eyes and it deepened her smile. “But we have places to be.” She glanced up to the dark walls and could almost feel eyes watching from the heavy blackness. “And I’ve never been keen on an audience.”
She touched his shoulder and a tendril of gold crept along his skin to curl once around his throat to form a collar. A thickened band of metal teased out into a leash and Chae gripped it. “This way, pretty.”
Daned’s mouth thinned and the brief flare of fury in his gaze would’ve incinerated her, but it died away and he gave her a compliant nod. “Yes, lady.”
Chae bit down a smile and led the way along the narrow alley, her hand pressed hard against the butt of her weapon. Her heart thudded and her senses, the feeling that others watched her from the blackness, stung her spine. Yes, they wanted to make her earn her black crystal. Time to weave another lie. The Ladaian’s lie wouldn’t help her now.
“Your grower’s not picked the most…salubrious…of areas for his business.” She laughed, something short and not loud as she scanned the shadow-thick buildings looming over her. “He won’t be in business long, you know.”
The bustle of the main concourse was little more than a hundred meters away, the curve of the sky track twisting overhead to sink the alley into further gloom. Chae straightened her shoulders and took longer strides. Daned matched her. His expression was vacant—shit, he really was good at vacuous—but she could feel it, it almost flowed from him, a ready tension. He knew how to use his lithe strength. She didn’t want that knowledge to ease the rapid thud of her heart, but it did.
“Living gold…Now that’s worth more than the lush flesh it’s on.”
Chae ignored the male voice from the darkness and focused on the bright glare of the concourse. Her skin itched with the feel of them, shapes forming out of the shadows and the jagged brick and steel of the alley buildings. She held down curses that would have impressed even Govan and kept her body loose, ready. If they attacked, she had to run. Everything screamed that she was heavily outnumbered. And even with Daned at her side, she couldn’t risk a confrontation. They had to maintain the illusion he was passive flesh. They broke that, and her crates of crystal would vanish.
“I think he belongs to us,” muttered another male voice.
“He looks very familiar.”
“Yes, he does.”
That made at least four. Hell, had Govan even made it out of the other end of the alley alive? Factory settings stank. They hadn’t planned, hadn’t thought how fucking dangerous her city was. Morons.
She focused. Her life and her future wealth depended on getting to her ship. But, shit, the shadow thickened, the light of the concourse a brilliant, taunting rectangle little more than fifty meters away. Sweat stuck her tunic to her bare spine and she formed a tight fist around Daned’s leash. Her weapon slid, silent and quick, from its thigh holster and she primed it, the whine lost in the crunch of her boots over the uneven ground. They’d dragged her from Khovd and not thought to actually equip her to get to her ship. Complete morons.
“Did he think he could set up a factory in our yard and we wouldn’t take our share?”
The first voice moved closer and the darkness shifted. Fuck. She should have known better. Of course, she would never get her hands on three crates of black crystal. Her luck never ran that way. It was always, always shitty. “He’s mine, bonded to me. He’s useless to you.”
She spoke the words into the blackness as her heart drummed into her ears. Her eyes strained, but…nothing. The sky track surged overhead, the pulse of its engines pricking her skin and throwing off her instincts. Male laughter cut through the scrape of metal from the rails. Her fingers flexed around her weapon. She had the option of firing blind, but she had no idea what they could retaliate with. Her Sel-9, while a solid hand weapon, could be just spitballs to their firepower.
“I’m sure you can strike a deal with him. I’m just a customer—”
“We will take what’s ours.”
Fingers gripped her neck and Chae thrust her gun forward, hitting hard chest. She fired. The sudden brilliant glow as energy burst out to consume the attacker’s torso imprinted Daned on her retinas. He yanked his leash free of her grip and became a blur of speed, of fists, of feet. Grunts, yelps and it was all over bar the twitching.
“We go.” Daned pushed his leash into her hand, closed her fingers tight around it and shoved her forward. “Now.”
Chae broke into a sprint, Daned at her side, leaving the fading moans of the dying men to the blackness. They burst out into the bright light of the concourse at a dead run. She skidded to a halt, curses pushing out with every hard breath. “Did you not fucking think—”
“Where now, lady?”
Daned’s flesh-placid tone broke into her rant and Chae pressed her hand to her mouth. The taste of the synthetic grip of her Sel-9, bitter, industrial, focused her thoughts. “Yes.” She holstered her weapon and stared around, willing herself to find her bearings.
The sky track sloped off to the east, the whine of the engines jarring her teeth. Light from the lowering sun sliced rich golden beams against the polished quartz of the plaza stretching off to the south. Chae squinted against the bright glare and cursed the men who had grabbed her from the gaming room in Khovd. Yes, she had her gun back, but none of her protecting tech. She scanned the onion domes of the surrounding towers, business signatures flashing down their squat drums. As they hit on a language she knew, her idea of their location strengthened.
“All right. Southwest corner of Ulan Bator.” Her fingers flexed around Daned’s leash. “Which means my hangar is this way.”
***
Chae stopped at the shadowed slice of another alley. Her hand, which had rested lightly on her gun in the striped sunlight of the open concourse, now gripped her Sel-9. Her knuckles strained.
Long shadows stretched over the concourse and the day crowd had thinned. Here and there, she spotted the night crawlers, the old inhabitants of Ulan Bator. Hell, she’d lived in the city long enough. She was considered one of them, but that still didn’t mean she was safe.
She turned to Daned, teasing the blunt end of the leash over the hard muscle of his stomach. He sucked in a quick breath and she looked up at him. A grin fixed on her lips as she tilted her head. “Like that, do you?”
“What do you wish of me, lady?”
She took a step closer, her body pressing up against his. Her hand remained tight on her gun. She wanted the pretence of enjoying her expensive flesh-pet. Her voice dropped to a soft whisper. “My ship is in a hangar at the end of this alley.” Her fingers teased along the lithe muscles in his arm, their warm satin-smoothness almost distracting her. “A band of drek live in the square before the hangar. Took up residence about a month or two ago. I had a mimetic shield, which got me past them. That’s gone.” She gripped his wrist and planted his hand on her arse. She almost closed her eyes as his long fingers teased, caressed her. Damn it, she had to focus, but it was hard with his tempting skin and the curve of his collarbone so close to her mouth. She ached to taste him again. The living gol
d burned between them and hell, it wanted them to fuck.
Chae pulled in a steadying breath. She could ignore his erection pushed hard into the softness of her belly. She could…just. “There’s a reconditioned flesh stockist there. Friend of mine, Aleph-Nun. He’s Samekh, has pod-brothers all over Ulan Bator and beyond—”
“Which is how he’s still in business.” He whispered the words against her neck, his lips playing over her skin.
The ache low in her belly tightened and she couldn’t help the roll of her hips, the one that worked his cock, rubbing him against her. Yes, owning Daned was a really shitty idea. His fingers threaded through her tangle of hair so that he tilted her head, exposing more of her neck to his mouth. Bastard.
“Drek have a fetish about flesh,” he murmured.
So did she. And in that minute she wanted to carry on the charade, make Daned fuck her right there on the concourse.
Chae swallowed, her throat tight, the images playing too vividly in her head. “I will have to defend against them. Not you.”
“Captain…”
Her title was a growl against her skin and the first pulse of her release flowed through her body. The gold thrummed between them, fueling the fire in her blood. Her hand crushed the grip of her Sel-9. “Flesh must be passive.”
Strong fingers squeezed her arse and she gasped as his teeth grazed her neck. “I don’t do passive.”
By all that was unholy…“Daned.”
His mouth stilled on her throat and tension had his body stiff…and not in the good way. “The gold’s working me.” Anger made the words tight, hard, and heartbeats stretched out before he lifted his mouth from her neck. His fingers eased back to her hip. So much for the control of his Ladaian blood. Daned was as affected by the tech in the living gold as she was. “We try your way with the drek.”
Chae stepped back from him, the cool evening air washing over her, and she shivered. “Ready, my pretty?”
“Whatever you wish, lady.”
Chae fixed the smirk on her mouth. Shit, the gold had them both behaving like idiots. “Wait till I get you on my ship.” She turned to the heavy shadows of the narrow alley. Just a short walk would drop it into a little square lined with supply businesses. The drek would be hanging outside Aleph’s emporium.
Her heart thudded. Her normal course of action was to activate her mimetic tech. A drek’s sense of smell was near useless and any sound she made was masked by the clatter and riot from the hangars mixed with the whine and roar of escaping ships. Chae tightened her grip on Daned’s leash and slid her weapon halfway from its holster.
“Three crates of Ladaian crystals.” She muttered her incentive under her breath as she took her first step and the shadows swallowed her and Daned.
His leash slipped against the slick dampness of her palm and she flexed her fingers around it. The roar of the ships thundered into the atmosphere, the vast belly of a beta-class cruiser filling the thin sliver of darkening sky high above their heads. Shadows thickened and Chae’s heartbeat ramped. The craft stirred the air, stinking eddies swirling around them. She breathed in through her mouth and ignored the stench of piss and rotting meat by letting the curses stream through her thoughts.
“Relax, Captain.”
Daned’s short whisper made her start and she pulled in a quick breath. She bit at the inside of her cheek to stop the curses she ached to fling at him. The alley curved and the thin slice of light at the end revealed the stone arches of the hangar entrance. Dark shapes moved against the obscuring security screen, the curve of ships just visible. Only meters from the alley to the safety of the hangar. Hell, she could count the distance in seconds.
A streak of sunlight blinded her as she left the stinking shadows. She blinked and straightened her spine. She could show no weakness. If she did that, the drek would shred her where she stood.
Golden light slanted into the narrow square and wrapped around Daned’s lithe body, the living tech glittering as it seared to his skin. Everyone stopped to stare at him. They couldn’t help themselves. The woman haggling for a new engine part. The Dayami stacking crates of dried ovla fruit under the protective awning of their shop. Even the ships in the hangar had dropped to silence. And the drek haggling in the arched doorway of Aleph’s reconditioned flesh emporium snapped their attention to Daned, too many hot gazes sliding over his bare skin.
Chae pursed her lips and denied the anxiety that had her chest tight. Of course she had to face the whole brethren. Her luck wouldn’t allow for anything else. She tugged Daned’s leash and strode out across the smoothed-quartz square.
The drek stared in silence and one of the younger ones let his mouth fall open. Yes, Aleph had nothing like Daned in his racks. She drummed the butt of her gun in its holster, the low sound beating across the silent plaza.
Their attention jumped to her, eyes narrowing. The eldest of the drek, his bleached white hair twisted with glittering senior braids, tilted his head. He pushed himself away from the white stone of the arch, a smile curving his lips. His needle-spiked fangs glistened as he blocked her path to the hangar. Behind him the dark shapes thickened and the security screen whined. “Long time no see, Chae Beyon.” His dark gaze raked over Daned and the want there balled irrational anger in her gut. “He’s yours?”
“All mine, bonded to me.” She regripped the Sel-9 and slid it from its holster, the brush of metal against synthetic whetting the cool silence. Shit. Drek didn’t need an excuse to fight. Now they’d seen her, spoken to her, she couldn’t back down. They’d rip her to shreds. Damn, she loved her planet. “So he’s mine to play with. No trade, Vasik.” She twitched a smile. “I’m sure Aleph could synth you something similar.” The muzzle of her Sel-9 skimmed the strong curve of muscle in Daned’s upper arm. He remained placid, the perfect model of vacuous flesh, but even through the metal of her gun something about him…thrummed. She let out a soft little sigh and her gaze grew sharp on the approaching drek. “Nothing holding so much perfection though.”
“How have you afforded gold, Chae Beyon? A runner, with a ship held together with spit and snot?”
“I’d be insulted—” she eased herself in front of Daned, her Sel-9 pressed against her thigh, “—if you had a ship to compare it to. Must be hard to be a drek and a groundling.”
Color bled under Vasik’s skin and his brethren jumped forward, forming a curving band of bodies. Chae’s heart beat hard. She couldn’t back down, even as the fire in her blood demanded she run. Sweat stuck her tunic to her spine and she kept the sharp smile fixed to her mouth. She primed her Sel-9. Its whine made her teeth ache. “I’ll defend what’s mine.”
“Against all of us?”
Vasik took another step toward her and she felt Daned tense behind her. This was too public for him to take them out. A drek’s stupid fetish for flesh wouldn’t stop her from collecting her payment as a Ladaian decoy. “As I said. He’s mine.”
“Spent all your profit on prime flesh?” Aleph-Nun’s sharp laughter echoed over the square, the roar of a delta-class breaking over it. The quartz beneath her feet resonated in sympathy with the cruiser’s engines, thrumming through her boots and vibrating the weapon in her hand. Her friend pushed one of the younger drek aside, his low growl dropping to silence as he met the Samekh’s dark, unlidded gaze. Aleph cast a critical eye over Daned. “You bought him from a salon? You paid an unnecessary premium, you do know that.”
Chae gave him a smirk she didn’t feel. “I was smitten.”
Aleph’s thin lips pulled back, revealing narrow baleen feeding plates, and he laughed again. “Humans and your need for warm bodies.”
“It keeps you in business.”
His grin stretched. “That it does.” He slid a glance to the senior drek. “Vasik, if you want that body I promised you, you’ll concede that Chae owns this one.” He flicked a clawed finger at Daned. “Let her waste her money on fripperies.”
Aleph’s hand closed around her arm and he tugged her forward, draggin
g Daned with him. The surrounding drek hissed but took no action. Still Chae kept her weapon primed and ready. Aleph didn’t stop until he’d pulled them both into the cool, dark interior of his emporium. The familiar scent of fresh skin threaded through the air and Chae couldn’t help the deep breath she took. She was as addicted to Samekh’s business as the drek were.
Aleph dropped the clear security screen over the wide entrance and shook his head. He ran his wide palm over his bald head, the rub of rough skin loud in the heavy silence. “What are you playing at, Chae? You simply vanished. Some said Khovd, others said you were kidnapped by off-worlders and yet others said you were holed up with flesh.” His gaze flicked over Daned before narrowing on her. “I said the latter. Seems I was right.” He paused. “And where’s your shield?”
“That piece of off-world crap?” Chae snorted. “You’re giving me a bloody refund.” She holstered her gun and rubbed her damp hand against her thigh. “Oh, and thank you.” She glanced back out to the brethren and found them glaring at her. She gave them a short smile, one the drek probably couldn’t see through the haze of the security screen. “It would’ve become…messy.”
“What possessed you to buy this?” Aleph circled Daned, a claw tracing along the broad breadth of his shoulders. The Samekh towered over him, the pale glow from the lights in the rounded stone ceiling washing over his ivory skin. Daned remained passive, his gaze unfocused, and Chae breathed a little easier. “You had to know the drek would want him. I’d have given you a much better deal.”
“Better than free?” She laughed and settled her backside against his desk. Her finger skimmed the metal bowl of treats, the sound of it slow and, she hoped, distracting. “I got into a game in Khovd. Some idiot, too much money and not enough brains, thought to slum. The table cleaned him out. That pretty, there—” she smirked at Daned and it deepened as she thought of how he had to be seething, “—came as a bonus…as did I.”
