Hunters

by Michelle Marquis; Lindsey Bayer

  Driven to a lustful frenzy by her passion, Tanner pounded her mercilessly, until finally he stiffened and crushed his face into the valley of her breasts.

  His cock pulsed within her as it softened. She placed her hands on his chest to lift herself off but he placed his hands over hers. “Don’t go yet. There’s no rush. Let’s stay like this a little longer,” he said.

  With a full heart, Harmony touched his cheek. He lifted her hand and kissed the palm.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  Chapter Nine

  Within an hour of getting back to the planet Puma where the Galaxy Recovery compound was, Harmony got a message on her comm. system that their boss wanted to see her. Harmony had just finished putting her ship in a vacant slip when the call came. She rubbed the hull of her vessel affectionately and frowned. She would have to put off repairs until after her briefing. Worse yet, she knew what Edna wanted to discuss. Prime. Harmony wasn’t looking forward to discussing that particular skip. He was turning out to be the first failure she’d ever had.

  He’s not a failure, she reminded herself. He’s just going to take a little longer to catch than the others did.

  Harmony’s comm. buzzed again, sounding angry, if that were possible. Edna was obviously growing impatient, but despite her rough edges, Harmony really liked her. Edna Vespers was a hard-nosed bounty hunter from the old school, and the bond holder for all the clients at Galaxy Recovery. She was also smart, honest and fair but a relentless nag when a skip was concerned. Harmony didn’t need to be told how important it was that they get Prime back. She knew her job.

  Leaving her beloved ship, she started the long trek around the recovery building to Edna’s office. A large rock formed in her stomach as she thought about the lecture she was going to get for bringing forbidden weapons on AEssyria. It wasn’t that Edna was such a huge fan of the rules, but she sure hated when they got in the way of capturing her skip.

  Outside Edna’s windowless office, Harmony placed her hand on the ID pad. The metal door slid open and she went inside. The air in the office was cool and carried the faint sterile smell of a new air filter somewhere in the ducts. Harmony was surprised to see Tanner seated in one of the chairs in front of Edna’s desk. Even though they’d just parted company a little over an hour ago, his rugged sexiness brought a rush of heat to her cheeks. She wondered why he was here and for a fleeting moment wondered if perhaps they’d broken some kind of bounty-hunter rule by sleeping together. Then she smiled at how silly she was being.

  “Have a seat,” Edna snapped, pointing to a vacant chair as if Harmony wouldn’t know where to sit unless told. She would have been irritated by anyone else doing that, but this was Edna. It was in her DNA to be abrupt and impatient.

  The six-hundred-thirty-year-old Asguardian woman looked exactly as Harmony remembered—short salt-and-pepper hair, thin wrinkled lips and fierce, intelligent eyes. She had been one of the founders of Galaxy Recovery and Harmony felt a certain bond with the elderly woman because, like her, Edna had pursued a profession most in her societal status wouldn’t have dreamed of doing.

  The Asguardians were an advanced race of intellectual pacifists and the mere idea of one of them pursuing an often-violent career like bounty hunting was abhorrent to them. But Edna was a true capitalist and she knew when there was big money to be made. So she, along with a few Kirillian partners, made Galaxy Recovery one of the most successful businesses in this universe.

  Harmony sat in the half-moon chair next to Tanner. He cast a mischievous glance at her but she ignored him. It felt kind of like sitting next to your boyfriend in the principal’s office after being caught making out in the bathroom.

  Edna squinted at her and Harmony wondered why the woman refused to get herself a pair of glasses. “What happened with Prime?” No “hi, how are you” or other sentimental greeting after Harmony had been gone a year, just right down to business.

  “I got arrested before I could catch him.” Harmony always made it a point to be honest and direct with Edna. That seemed to work best.

  Edna’s mouth dipped into a wrinkled frown. “You losin’ your touch?”

  “No. I haven’t given up. I was just about to fix my ship and go after him when you called me in here.”

  “Well, you can forget about Prime for now. I have a more important assignment for you.”

  “But I have some great leads and?”

  “Just hold on to ’em,” Edna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “This skip is worth a lot more to me.”

  Harmony slumped in her chair. Tanner hid a smug grin with his hand. She turned and glared at him. “What the hell is so amusing?”

  “Forget him, he’s just teasing you.” Edna turned her attention to a small ancient computer on her desk. She punched in a few keys, hunting and pecking with her index fingers. After a few seconds she gave a satisfied nod and turned the screen around so Harmony and Tanner could see. An unshaven middle-aged man stared back at them from a mug shot. “Your new skip’s name is Ken Marz. He’s been up to his old tricks since he got out—drugs, prostitution, and dabbling in the slave market. He’s a plum piece of trash and he’s in violation of his release agreement so I’m revoking his bond. Only problem is, Ken doesn’t want to turn himself in. He’s on the run and I want you and Tanner to hunt him down and bring him back before the week is out.”

  The only sign Tanner was listening was a small muscle jumping in his jaw. I guess this isn’t as funny as me getting chewed out by Edna. She knew without asking that he was as pissed about teaming up as she was. Most bounty hunters liked working alone. Putting two of them on the same skip was like sewing two cats in a bag and throwing them in the river. Not a pretty sight.

  “Why do you want to put us together?” Edna usually never gave directions on how to catch a bounty, just as long as you got results.

  “Because I think the competition will make you both work harder. And I need you both working your asses off, because if Ken Marz isn’t back in my custody by the end of the week, I’m out three hundred thousand credits.”

  Harmony shifted in her chair, suddenly aware of how uncomfortable it was. “I don’t want to work with Tanner, or anybody for that matter. Why can’t you just give the assignment to him and let me finish tracking Prime?”

  Edna gave her an unfriendly stare. “I want him back here by end of the week, sooner if possible. I’m confident I’ll get him on time if I send both of you. Let’s face it, Harmony, you’re my best hunter, and until Prime you had a one-hundred-percent recovery record, but despite your effectiveness you’re not always the most expedient. Unlike you, Tanner doesn’t think anything through, but he’s aggressive enough to make sure you both work faster. The two of you are the perfect marriage of brains and brawn.”

  Tanner chuckled. Harmony ignored him.

  “Tanner is only going to slow me down. I can get Marz back to you on time. I know I can. Just please don’t saddle me with him.”

  Edna sighed. “It’s not your fault you waste so much time with details, Harmony. You can’t help the way you are. But this time I need you to work the Marz skip my way. You and Tanner find him and bring him back to me quickly.” She turned her attention to Tanner. “And I need him alive. Do I make myself understood?”

  Tanner scratched his chin. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “But my ship’s not ready yet.”

  Tanner stood up. “So we’ll take mine.”

  “Great. Just great.”

  Harmony walked into the smoky pilot’s lounge to the sound of thunderous applause and rancorous catcalls. Sitting at a round table right in the center of the room were three of her fellow hunters–Poncho Mendez, Bob Suzuki a.k.a. Ninja, and Duke Floyd. She hated all of them and was pretty sure they felt the same for her. They quieted down long enough for Floyd to cup his hands around his mouth and yell, “We heard Prime got away again! What’s that make now, Harmony, twice he’s gotten away? You’re supposed to be one of the best.”

  Poncho r
ubbed his shiny forehead, laughing. “One more strike and you’re out, hotshot!”

  She glared at Poncho and cocked an eyebrow. “If that were the case, you would have been out of here years ago.”

  “Well at least Poncho never got dumped in an alien lockup for a year,” Ninja said in his usual flat, emotionless way.

  “That’s probably a really good thing because I doubt he would have survived a month with the AEssyrians.” Did I really miss these assholes? I guess I was gone so long I forgot how obnoxious they were.

  Harmony walked over to the food replicator and scanned the items for a protein bar. She wasn’t crazy about replicated food but the unit on Tanner’s ship had an even worse selection. The goons behind her joked among themselves for a few minutes then fell into silence. She could feel them all staring at her as she made her selection and retrieved the bar from the tray.

  “What you gonna do now, Knox?” Floyd said.

  “I’m going to fix my ship after this assignment and catch Prime.” She infused her tone with as much ice as possible.

  Floyd cocked his head to the side like a dog waiting for a biscuit. “Good luck. I think Edna’s looking for someone else. Maybe someone who can finish the job.”

  “What? Someone like you? You can’t even finish jerking off.”

  Poncho and Ninja chuckled.

  Floyd sat forward in his chair as if he was going to pounce at any moment. “Why can’t you just admit Prime’s too much for you? You should leave a big catch like him to the men so you don’t get yourself killed.”

  “I would leave him to the men if there were any around. Besides you’ve all had a whole year to catch him. And now I’m back and he’s still loose and you losers are exactly where I left you—sitting in the bar drunk and playing with each other. So I think the term man is a gross overstatement for any of you.”

  “I’m plenty of man for an arrogant little bitch like you.”

  “Are you? I seriously doubt that. I’ve seen you in action. You don’t impress me much.”

  That did it. Floyd was up and out of his seat. Harmony tried to hide her delight. She couldn’t wait to beat the crap out of this piece of crud.

  Floyd rushed toward her to voice another insult but Harmony decided not to give him the chance. Hopping in the air, she let her right leg fake him out while her left foot smashed into his jaw. Floyd roared in pain and stumbled back, holding his face.

  Fueled by the rage of not being able to go after Prime, Harmony let her frustration explode on the unfortunate hunter, punching him in the cheek and following up with a few quick body blows. Floyd fell to the floor and scurried away.

  He wiped his mouth and stared in shock. His hand came away streaked in blood. “What the fuck’s gotten into you? Have you lost your mind?”

  Harmony shrugged and took a bite of her protein bar. “Nothing. You just caught me in a bad mood. Surely a little roughhousing with the girl didn’t hurt so bad. Maybe next time you won’t try so hard to piss me off. See you boys later.” She marched out of the lounge whistling a happy tune.

  Chapter Ten

  For as long as Harmony could remember, she’d always felt awkward and out of place. Born the only child to a pair of research scientists, she’d enjoyed all the trappings her well-educated parents could provide. She went to the best Kirillian all-girls’ school, participated in junior-level science projects, and could play most musical instruments by the time she was ten. She was also fluent in eight alien languages. With all that behind her, she should have been one of the happiest people in the galaxy. But something always seemed to be missing from her life.

  After Harmony completed the esteemed Kirillian Science Academy at thirty-three, she started what should have been a highly respected and lucrative career at an intergalactic research station. The financiers, Dexagen, who were true pioneers in the art of Kirillian total body regeneration, were always looking for ways to improve and expand their business ventures. So when Harmony became available they pursued her relentlessly to fill a spot in their Biochem-Regen division. She accepted the position with the enthusiastic support of her parents, who packed her off on the first cruiser bound for the station.

  They were done with her. Their parental obligation had been fulfilled.

  Unfortunately it took Harmony exactly four minutes to realize she was miserable and this career path was a big, fat mistake. Still she stuck it out for several years but that something missing became an invisible weight that fixed her to the ground and made each step feel like trudging through mud. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore.

  So Harmony quit and went out looking for that missing piece. She took some time for herself and traveled around the galaxy for a few decades, trying her hand at this job and that, but nothing seemed to click.

  Unfortunately her alienation also extended to her personal relationships. Oh sure, she dated, but every man she went out with made her feel more lonely than the last.

  Then one evening at a Kirillian docking station she spotted a Wanted poster hanging in the cafeteria. Recognizing the man from a local bar and intrigued by the thought of trying to collect a bounty, she bought a top-of-the-line ion blaster and staked out the bar he frequented. As fortune would have it, he came back that evening and she wasted no time flirting with him, knowing he would never expect a woman to be a threat. After all, she didn’t really fit the bounty-hunter profile and not just because she was female.

  Within two hours she’d managed to coax him into a storage cellar with promises of sexual adventure and forbidden pleasures. She stunned the idiot even before he managed to get his pants unzipped. He fell to the floor unconscious, twitching from the ion pulse.

  It was almost too easy.

  That first capture changed everything and she knew being a bounty hunter was the only thing she ever wanted to be. It gave her life purpose and a sense of freedom she had never experienced before, and she was determined to be the best.

  With a tenacity that bordered on obsession, she worked long hours pursuing as many skips as she could lock her sights on. It paid off. She eventually was able to buy a ship and begin making serious money. But even though she was happier than she could ever remember being, something was still missing. As the decades meandered past she just learned to ignore it.

  Then Tanner blundered into her life. Oh, they’d crossed paths at Recovery, but they’d rarely exchanged anything other than insults. Tanner would say, “Still waiting for that growth spurt, I see.” And she would reply with something like, “Still working on eating with a fork?”

  But over the past few days of being forced to depend on him, and now that they were partnered with each other, something finally felt right. Was that really the word she was looking for? Right? Well, things felt different anyway. That inexplicable longing that had accompanied her wherever she went seemed to have faded away.

  This is ridiculous. There’s nothing about this man that should interest you. You’ve just got a little lust crush on him—probably from spending so much time alone and then suddenly getting regular sex.

  She shook her head and focused on the data stage in front of her. One of the first leads Edna had given them was that Ken’s mother, a sometime-whore, worked a pleasure barge in this sector. Apparently the skip had a nasty habit of running to Mommy—a consummate enabler—for money whenever he got into a bind. Harmony retrieved all the information she could find on the mother and the barge. When her comm. system was full, it beeped.

  Tanner was nestled in the captain’s chair with his boots up, his rugged face covered in razor stubble. He started at the noise. “What are you doing now?” he asked, unbuttoning the top of his trousers to get more comfortable.

  “I collected the necessary info on Mom and the pleasure barge. At least one of us should read the skip’s file.” A tense moment passed between them. “When are you planning to shave?”

  He opened one eye, tilted his head and stared at her. “I wasn’t.”

  “Oh.”

 
; “Does it bother you?”

  She stared out at the quiet blackness of space. “No.”

  A wicked chuckle tumbled from his chest. “You’re a terrible liar, Harmony.”

  She sighed. “I really don’t care what you do with yourself, Tanner. I just wish you would stop scratching and rubbing your jaw like some flea-bitten animal. The scraping noise is driving me insane.”

  “If it bothers you, why don’t you shave me yourself?”

  “Do I need to bathe you too?”

  “If you want.”

  His words were like kindling. A small fire sparked to life within her. She went to bathroom at the rear of the ship and opened the sundries cabinet. Inside, among the antiseptics, headache medications and toothpaste, was his shaving kit. She took the black leather kit off the top shelf and noticed her hands were trembling ever so slightly. Returning to where he was sitting, she came up alongside him and placed the kit on the control panel.

  Tanner looked up into her eyes and her face grew hot. He had the most ferocious gaze of any man she’d ever seen and it never failed to awaken her sexually. A hungry grin curved the sides of his mouth. He lowered his boots, scraping them along the metallic surface. She edged in front of him, feeling nervous.

  He reached for her and pulled her on his lap facing him. Harmony straddled his hips and lowered herself down. The top of his stiff cock rubbed against her pussy through the open button of his trousers. His big callused hands moved up under her shirt and caressed the flesh on her back.

  Harmony opened the kit and pulled out a small cylinder of foaming lotion. The sweet soapy aroma was faint, barely detectable, and she inhaled a little deeper trying to get a better whiff. She dispensed it into her hand and rubbed it between her thumb and fingers, activating the lather. She caressed his face with her frothy fingers, spreading the smooth cream along his chiseled jaw line, under his nose and down his throat.