Azros fought the urge to go to Kendra. At this point she’d be just as likely to punch him as kiss him. His feelings for the woman confused everything. He shook his head, shifting his weight to make room for his hardening cock. “Is there any way to get word to my home planet?”
“Communications, as you can guess, are limited. We’re being constantly monitored, and I won’t risk the wrath of that command ship for a message that will be intercepted. They could blockade us for fate knows how long.” He flipped the autopilot switch and leaned back with his fingers interlocked behind his head. “On the plus side, I think this event finally convinced Destiny to upgrade the satellite security systems like you’d suggested.”
Kendra gave a semblance of a smile. “About time. Too bad it takes an invasion of the slimy kind to sway the lady.”
“You know Destiny.”
“Barring Azros’ suicide run of glory, what’s the plan?” Kendra’s voice was thick with some unknown emotion.
Azros glared out the window. He wasn’t suicidal, but his soul shriveled at the thought of his men’s suffering. Who knows what that woman had done to them after his escape? His fists clenched until his knuckles whitened. The agony she’d inflicted on him was nothing compared to what his men had suffered. His people needed to get their hands on a sample of that drug.
“We sneak you both off-planet until the area is safe. In two days there will be an arena fight. It’ll be easy to slide you off then.” Jackson talked about escape from the Sheon as if it were a walk in the park.
“An arena fight?” The beast inside Azros stalked in annoyance. Two days before he could help the others escape. “That won’t do. My people won’t have enough time to reinforce my position.” He gritted his teeth. It took six months to escape. He could wait a little longer. The beast gnashed and grumbled against it, but he could control it. For now.
“Why don’t you give escape a try? The odds of survival are much better. Trust me. Besides, the arena fight promises to be an interesting venue. They’re the Gladiator Superfights, and will be broadcasted out on vidscan all over the sector. There is a mining ship—” Jackson began.
“The Suplato,” Kendra interrupted.
“You watch these superfights?” Azros raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged. “Of course. Everyone does, actually.”
Jackson nodded. “Exactly. Destiny’s encouragement of the Suplato captain has brought the arena to us. The ship will orbit our little rock and kick off the fights. They’ve already contacted us for additional entertainment and will be sending a taxi service to the Palace the night of the main event. We can move you out on one of those, and it’ll be easy to get lost in the crowd.”
Kendra shook her head. “I can’t leave the mission here. Azros can get to safety without my help.”
“We’ll continue tracking the data in your stead.” Jackson’s amusement leaked through his voice. It appears he was prepared for Kendra’s response.
“We need to find another way.” Her stubborn refusal was laced with more anger than he expected.
“I don’t know this sector of space.” Azros leaned back in the chair. His mind whirled with possibilities. It would be easy enough to hire a mercenary group to raid the Sheon command vessel. Kendra knew what to look for. Her personnel file was chock-full of shady deals and necessary roughnecking to get the job done.
“You can find a transport with navcom. I won’t be any help.” Her eyes flashed with irritation.
He grinned. There was no way in hell he was going to leave without her. “You’re Sheon. It would help for my people to consider witness testimony from an esteemed member of the race.” He tilted his head. “Maybe we should completely clear the air.” He nodded to the pilot. “Is he trustworthy?”
“I have trusted him with my life on multiple occasions. So yes. Anything you tell me, I trust him with, or he wouldn’t be Destiny’s assistant.”
The pilot looked amused.
He sighed, determined to hammer the final nail in his coffin. “My people, my entire race, are in danger, Kendra. Skreeta wants our mining rights. We have an asteroid full of Kenorian crystals.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Holy shit.”
Kenorian crystal was the most expensive form of secure communication dispatch, unhackable. A small batch was worth a considerable fortune. “The amount we’ve found could fund Valorian government and planet exploration projects for generations. We could wipe away our planetary debts in months.”
“Why capture you, then? Why not kill off your people and take the rights?” Jackson asked.
Azros blinked in surprise. “I suppose that kind of thing happens a lot out here in the mining sectors. She can’t mine the asteroid without us. We can sense crystal lodes. That’s very important when other metals and magnetic aberrations on the asteroid interfere with most equipment. Our stamina allows us to work longer hours than other Sheon slaves. We’re cheap labor, and her damn drug keeps us incapable of sane thought. She was very vocal on never letting my men go.”
“I thought you lost communication with your mining facility.” Kendra was absorbing the information, filing it away for later. He could see her mind working at lightning speed. The mention of the drug tightened her lips, and he could taste her fury rising.
“We did, but we had a contact smuggling information to us. The prisoners had an underground info net. We lost word with the contact a few weeks ago. He was supposed to rendezvous with an agent, but failed to show.”
“Did your home world know of your capture?” Jackson seemed more than curious.
“No. When we were taken, we were running a reconnaissance mission while trying to gain an idea of their military capabilities. They didn’t expect responses often. It was assumed the Sheon ship taking our people was a rogue. It wasn’t until my ship was taken that we realized the extent of the Sheon betrayal.”
“And?” Sincerity and righteous anger were a potent mix in her expression.
“It looks like they’re preparing for war. There are several command vessels primed for something. I have access to their locations.”
“Where are they?” Jackson’s questions grated on Azros’ nerves. His trust for the man was running low.
“It doesn’t matter. If I can’t contact my home world, it’s a failed mission before it even begins.”
Azros was never a man to admit defeat. He’d be damned if he would now. There had to be a way. Kendra and the pilot were discussing how they would sneak in and out of the Palace without being seen. With surprise, he realized he trusted her to handle those details. It was strange and unnerving to rely on another.
She shifted in her seat and his gaze sharpened. Her cheeks flushed a light pink. She glanced over at him beneath long eyelashes, just a flash of her eyes. A finger tugged at her collar and she turned back to Jackson. Her fingers touched her cheeks, and if he wasn’t mistaken, her nipples were growing hard beneath the sleeveless top of her service uniform. His grin turned wolfish. He knew the timing was lousy, but despite everything, her body still needed him. She would come to him this time. His instincts weren’t wrong. Her body was accepting the changes. He held on to that like a lifeline.
He reminded himself that Kendra was Sheon. Sheon were already proven to be a compatible race, but where was the overwhelming rage, the dark fury? He had a moment of anger, then it was gone, replaced with, what? Determination? Drive? Shock? His beast had known instinctively what Azros had been too thickheaded to work out. Her body was changing. She was becoming his mate.
Holy fate. The revelation stole his breath. Everything else faded.
Her body could be permanently altering itself. He had no way of knowing what the end of the cycle would do to her. The signs were all there, but he needed a medical scan to make sure. He watched the way she flicked her braid over a shoulder. A fierce feeling of possession surged through him. She was his.
This changed everything. Valorian women were most vulnerable during the last few days o
f the mating cycle. He had no reason to believe Kendra would be different. That meant he needed to get her safely away from Skreeta. He closed his eyes, torn between needing to take back his people and the instinctive drive to protect his mate at all costs. And protection could only be given by his people. Either way he had to get her off-planet.
Kendra’s cry jerked his attention back to her. She clenched a fist against her stomach. Cold fear knotted in his chest. He moved, dragging her into his arms. “Desh’ra, what is it?” He soothed her with light caresses on her face. She was burning up. Her body racked with tremors while her internal temp became an inferno.
“I burn.” Her gaze was unfocused, liquid silver. She kissed him with desperation. A fierce mating of their tongues. Wild. Untamed. “I need you,” she whispered against his lips.
An intense spicy scent, unique to Kendra, mixed with the rich flavor of her lust. Holy fate. She was falling into a frenzy. His cock flared to attention. He tucked her against his chest and bit the inside of his cheek. He was hard enough to hammer steel. She sipped at his lips before chasing kisses across the fur-covered edge of his jawline.
“What’s wrong with her? What did you do?” Jackson. He’d forgotten about him.
Kendra flicked her tongue against his throat. Tiny nips of his skin followed. Little sparks of pain ran down his spine to his cock. Every lick was followed by a teasing nibble. He clenched his jaw and huffed out a breath, begging for control. We could fuck her here. Taste her cream. Make her beg. His beast paced. Ready to pounce. Azros fought for control. He wasn’t an animal, dammit!
“Nothing. This is the natural course of a mating.” Jackson didn’t need to know the truth. No one did. Not ’til he saw the results himself.
A tendril of fear wove through her scent. “What is happening to me?”
He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted it so he could see her expression. “Your body is changing for me. You’re becoming mine.” He spoke quietly so that only her ears could hear. Her gaze grew dark, roiling with emotions he couldn’t read. The beast in Azros rolled over in pleasure, batting at his mind in playful joy. She was theirs.
“That’s i-impossible. You said it wouldn’t be permanent.” She shivered in his arms. Another rush of her scent filled the cabin.
“Anything is possible, Kendra.” He chose to ignore her last statement, and teased her lips with his, dragging a moan from her throat.
Jackson moaned and Azros jerked his head up. He could see the flush of arousal on the man’s face. Tension bunched his muscles into tight cords of frustration. “Get her to the back.” He spoke the words through clenched teeth and forcefully jabbed a finger toward the rear of the cabin.
Azros bared his teeth. Growled. Mine.
“Get your mate away from me.” Jackson turned back to the helm. “Holy fuck, Kendra.” His voice was obviously strained.
“Come, Kendra.” She shivered against him. Her sweat-soaked hair clung to her face, and she was entirely too pale.
“That would be nice,” she muttered.
“What was that?” He tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear.
“Nothing.” She actually ducked her head in embarrassment. Relief was a sharp stab in his gut. She wasn’t too far gone, then.
“No. I think I distinctly heard something.” He led them through the door, unsurprised to find a cozy nook. With a bed entirely too small for what he had in mind, and no room to maneuver. He growled.
Kendra followed the line of his gaze and a desperate laugh followed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Don’t worry, mate. I’ll take care of you.” He pushed her against the closed door and cupped her face. “I distinctly remember you saying something about wanting to come.”
She drew in a deep breath and tugged at the buttons of her shirt. “I’m not your mate. This is temporary.”
Azros grinned like the predator he was. He wouldn’t remind her that she’d already called him mate, or that her people had already begun accepting it as fact. Not yet. “Keep that up, and I might just have to show you how wrong you are.” Would it be so bad to have the Sheon princess as a mate?
His fingers unlatched her belt, easing it down to the floor with care for her gear. Her thigh holster followed, dropping over the back of a chair. Their lips tangled in a soul-searing kiss, ramping the heat up to a raging inferno.
He unbuttoned her pants, dragging them open. With a groan, he realized she wore no panties. He cupped her sex. Her slickened desire had already spread to soak the bottom of her uniform. Two fingers plunged into her moist heat and she cried out. “Shhh, Kendra.” He kissed her lips. “Those cries belong to me. I don’t want anyone to hear them.” Her cunt creamed her lust down his fingers to the palm of his hand. His fingers twisted and scissored inside the molten heat of her pussy. “I promise to make this up to you, soon. I’ll make you scream in pleasure, baby. I promise.” Every cry was swallowed by his kisses.
He fought the urge to mark, to bite. Hell, his cock ached to fuck her, but this wasn’t the time or the place to stake his claim. She needed relief. By fate, he was going to give it to her. Even if it killed him.
Chapter Seven
Kendra couldn’t stop the flood of sensations overwhelming her. His touch burned her alive, and her body hummed with a wildness unlike anything she’d ever experienced. All senses fixed on Azros and his magical touch. Fate. He was killing her.
His fingers flicked inside her pussy, causing sparks of electric pleasure to coalesce at the base of her spine. Tension ramped up with every touch. Hot kisses mimicked his fingers, licking with every flick, sucking gently on her tongue when her pussy closed around his fingers. She tried to hold in her cries, but the wildness growing inside her was desperate, clawing for release. His fingers weren’t enough. She wanted it all.
Her hips thrust of their own accord, adding just enough pressure to push her to the edge. She noticed the chair and shoved him away, groaning at the loss of his fingers in her heat. He barely caught balance against the chair. She stopped thinking, dropping to her knees in front of him. In seconds she had his pants open. She needed to taste him.
“Kendra…” Whatever he was going to say drowned in a moan when her fingers closed around the incredible heated shaft of his cock. She licked her lips and stroked with near reverence. There was nothing in the world like this man’s cock. So sensitive to every touch. Her tongue swiped at pearl of pre-cum on the tip. Salty male essence unique to Azros slid across her tongue. It eased the driving hunger, pushing it back, letting her enjoy with desperation.
They both moaned, and she slid her mouth down the shaft, tongue stroking against the veined ridge. Her fingers cupped and rolled his balls. She could taste and smell the pleasure she was giving him. It empowered her like nothing ever had. He was hers.
She sucked gently on his cock and pulled up, until just the head remained in her mouth. Her tongue teased and stroked around the tip. Azros tugged at her hair tie, dragging it off to grip his fingers in her locks. She smiled.
“I fucking love your hair.”
He loved her hair. She pulled away and gave him a smile that hinted at her intent.
His fingers brushed through her hair allowing it to fall around her face. “What are you doing?”
She took her hair and put it over her shoulder. With delicate care she gripped her hair in her hands and stroked the length of his cock. His eyes changed to liquid gold, and a feral light came into their depths.
“You are a temptress.” A growl rumbled on the edge of his words. She swiped her tongue around the head and his growl grew louder.
Her pussy ached to be filled with such desperation she knew this eye of the storm wouldn’t last much longer.
“Attention in the cabin,” Jackson’s voice came over the ship comm. “We are arriving at Destiny’s Palace, so please be ready to disembark.”
Kendra swiped her tongue against Azros’ cock and pulled away.
He growled and lifted her up to stra
ddle his lap. His cock was a steel rod against the vee of her thighs. Her already soaked uniform was growing wetter. He thrust against her, growling low in his throat. Chills of awareness slid down her spine. She put her hands to either side of his face and kissed him with all the wild abandon her body craved.
“We have company, so you’d better be ready to move when we arrive.” Jackson sounded irritated. Kendra smiled against Azros’ lips.
Azros dragged his mouth away with a curse. “This isn’t finished.” His gaze locked with hers, and a shiver of anticipation slid down her spine.
She slid off his lap and brushed her fingers down the ridge of his cock one last time. He was incredible. This Valorian warrior trembling at her touch, looking so hot with his cock jutting from his pants. Their moment of sexual abandon had pushed the tide of insanity back. She gathered the tattered threads of her control and grinned. “Let’s go, sexy. I have plans for you.”
Irritation turned into a slow and sexually charged smile. “So you think I’m sexy, huh?” He ran his hand down his cock in one hard stroke.
Kendra’s breath caught. She loved watching a man pleasure himself. He stood and carefully arranged his cock before buttoning his pants. The firm outline of his erection was hard to miss. He gestured to the door. “After you, princess.”
The title doused her flame of desire. Reality crashed in like a tidal wave. She was the last living princess. With shaking fingers she straightened her clothes. Curse her bloodline. They were in danger. What the hell was she doing playing sex games with the Valorian? She dragged her fingers through her hair, dragging it into a tight, single ponytail. How could one man turn her life upside down in such a short time? His expression showed confusion, then quiet speculation. Kendra turned on her heel in the tiny space and slammed open the door.
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