Animal

by Lexxie Couper

  The Boaronian’s head disappeared, showering Jaienna in a spray of fine, greasy ash.

  “Fuck, you make life difficult,” Tornada said, giving her a quick grin before spinning around and vaporizing the startled Boaronian running straight for them.

  Fresh screams filled the room as Crortek’s last remaining guests, suddenly aware the balance of power had shifted, fled the room.

  Jaienna stared at Tornada, a wave of heat smashing through her. She watched him level his weapon and disintegrate another guard, her mouth dry, her heart hammering.

  For a moment, time stopped. She stood frozen, unable to move. Her eyes fixed on Tornada, the man who refused to let her go, and then she turned to the wild beast that was Zeric, still fighting with Crortek. The man who would die before he had to let her go…

  Tears of Druentia! She loved them both! Equally and unequivocally.

  Gods, what am I going to do?

  “Jai!” Tornada bellowed, and the dry mirth in his voice brought Jaienna back to harsh reality with a crashing force. “Now’s not the time to forget how to fight!”

  She shot her stare from Zeric to Tornada, noting the Boaronians charging into the room from all entryways, sub-neuron blasters charged and aimed. At her, Raq or the slathering, growling werewolf.

  “Some lover you’ve got there, Jai.” Tornada smirked, the expression ambiguous as, with barely a pause, he evaporated an advancing guard in mid-stride. “Take long to groom his coat?”

  “As long as it takes you to decide what to wear.” She grinned back, before bursting into a sprint, eyes locked on her Aglaian disruptor lying discarded on the floor near Zeric’s cage.

  A blaster shot cut through the air beside her head, its ozone signature making her ears sing. She lunged sideways, just in time to avoid being disintegrated by another bolt. “Get that bastard for—”

  She didn’t have to say “me.” Tornada spun, a black grin on his face, and took out the Boaronian giving her so much trouble, before vaporizing another to his left, just as it fired its blaster.

  Tornada dropped into a roll, the eo-energy bolt slicing the space he’d been in a fraction earlier. Without so much as a grunt, he sprung out of the roll and fired his disruptor, the entire left side of an approaching guard disappearing in sizzling ash. “You can always rely on Boaronians for some target practice.”

  Jaienna shot her ex-partner an exasperated look, and headed for her disruptor again, vaulting the half-corpse of Tornada’s last “target.”

  And all the while, the werewolf and the Ornithion continued to tear at each other.

  Blood, fur and scales flung from deadly claws and talons. Jaienna darted a look over her shoulder at the horrendous battle, her stomach clenching. Zeric’s werewolf form was terrifying, an ancient, mystical creature of killing force unlike anything in the Boundaries. Yet Crortek was an Ornithion, the most brutal and bloodthirsty species ever to exist in the two sectors of space, and he’d not become the crime lord of the Outer Boundaries because he was fragile.

  Jaienna’s stomach twisted again. Druentia wept! She needed to get to her weapon.

  An eo-energy bolt ripped through the air, burning the flesh of her shoulder as it sliced past her ear. Oh, by the gods’ own love! She threw herself forward, sliding over the floor, fingers stretched toward her disruptor. Just cover my back, Raq. And my butt.

  White eo-energy erupted above her head. Behind her a Boaronian squealed, a blaster hit the floor… and her fingers closed around her disruptor.

  Triumph flooding through her, still sliding across the floor, she spun, half rose and aimed the disruptor at Crortek…

  Just as a naked blonde Raavelian ran into the room. Straight into her line of sight.

  Jaienna froze.

  Bhel?

  She tracked the blonde’s wild sprint, her heart leaping into her throat.

  Bhel?

  “Jai!” Tornada’s bellow punched at her ears and she started, blinking. Gods, did she really see—

  “Bhel!” The name filled her head. She spun around, staring at the naked man running after the naked woman. Jak Thorson.

  Jaienna dropped her disruptor.

  “Bhel!” Jak screamed, scooping up a blaster from the floor with a hand that looked like it had been stripped of flesh and turning a Boaronian into a charred stump of meat as he sprinted toward her. “Bhel! Your sister…”

  The blonde stumbled, a wide violet stare Jaienna knew all too well swinging toward her. “Jai!” Bhelais screamed, relief, pain and guilt pulling her beautiful face into a stunned mask. “Gods, Jai’!”

  Jaienna stared at her. For exactly half a heartbeat. She leapt forward, her blood roaring in her ears, her eyes locked on her sister. “Bhel!”

  Bhelais smashed into her, slim arms wrapping around her in a hug so tight it squeezed the breath from her lungs. “Gods, I’m sorry, Jai!” Bhel cried, burying her head into Jaienna’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I never should have… I love you, Jai. I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

  Jaienna curled her arms around Bhelais’ back, staring at the top of her head, numb with shock and joy. “Oh, Bhel.” She pulled her closer, consumed by love for her sister. Her lost sister who finally seemed to want to be found.

  “Jaienna!” Tornada roared, blasting at two Boaronians charging straight at him, turning them both to quivering, headless forms. “Focus! Crortek! The Ornithion is killing—”

  A howl tore through the chaos. Jaienna flinched, and in the second her stare shifted from Bhelais, she saw Zeric—still in beast form—pinned underneath Crortek, suffering blow after slashing blow from the Ornithion’s talons.

  Gods. No!

  Two blinding blue-white bolts of energy suddenly struck the crime lord; one in the plated chest, the other high on the shoulder and—with a squeal of furious pain—he reeled backward.

  “Get off my partner, fucker,” Jak snarled.

  The Ornithion’s spines flared and soulless white eyes, blazing with rage, locked on the Yrathian. “How fucking hard is it to kill you?”

  Jak gave him a dangerous grin. “Almost as hard as it is to kill him.”

  Before Crortek could move, before anyone could move, the beast that was Zeric leapt up from the floor, a snarling dark gray blur, and sank teeth long, sharp and pointed, into the crime lord, right at the vulnerable soft-scaled junction of neck and jaw.

  Bright yellow blood ruptured from Crortek’s neck. His body jerked into a tight arc, arms thrashing as Zeric whipped his massive head from side to side, tearing deeper into the suddenly exposed flesh and sinews. Clawed hands reached up and sank into Crortek’s shoulders, locking the beast and the reptile together as Zeric shoved Crortek backward and to the floor.

  A squeal tore from Crortek’s ragged throat, gurgled and somehow liquid. His long, plated arms slapped against the beast’s body, splattering Zeric’s thick gray coat with blood.

  Jaienna stood frozen, chest tight, throat tighter, squeezing her sister closer to her, staring at the sight of Zeric tearing Crortek’s throat out.

  “Jaienna!” Tornada screamed. “Focus!”

  An eo-energy bolt punched the air directly behind her, followed by another, and—without real thought—she flicked her gaze from Zeric and the Ornithion just in time to see a Boaronian, minus the top half of its body, fall to the floor.

  A savage growl, followed by a choked cry, yanked her attention back to Zeric and she watched the beast, covered in blood and torn flesh, rise up from Crortek’s body, throw back his head, muzzle pointed to the ceiling, ears flattened to his head, and howl. Savage and chilling and triumphant.

  The room fell silent.

  Every pair of eyes fixed on the howling werewolf.

  It flexed, dropping its head back to stare at the motionless crime lord, blood and saliva dripping from its muzzle in glistening beads. Its teeth flashed, a low snarl rumbled in its massive chest, and the claws buried deep in Crortek’s flesh dug deeper. Readying to tear the Ornithion apart.

  “Zeric?” J
aienna whispered, his name barely a breath passing her lips.

  A wild golden gaze swung to her. Locked on her.

  “Zeric?”

  The beast stared at her, primeval bloodlust burning in its golden eyes, its chest heaving, its teeth bared.

  “It’s done, Zeric,” Jaienna whispered over Bhelais’ head. “He’s dead.”

  A shudder wracked the beast’s frame. Its fur seemed to ripple, its muscles coiled, and then Zeric stood looking at her. Naked and bleeding and trembling, but Zeric all the same.

  He released his grip on Crortek’s shoulders. “Not so much the dumb animal after all,” he muttered, pain etching his face.

  A gush of stunned relief burst from Jaienna. She stared at him, pulling Bhelais closer to her body, a grin playing with her lips. “No,” she said. “Not at all.”

  He took a step toward her, wiping Crortek’s blood from his face and returning her grin. “I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you in the Suck and Blow Inn.”

  Jaienna cocked an eyebrow. “Told you you should have left me there.”

  Zeric shook his head, drawing closer. “Nev—”

  A shrieking squeal sliced the air, and suddenly Crortek leapt at Zeric’s back, wicked fangs bared, blood-stained claws hooked, white eyes ablaze with hate and insanity.

  “Zeric!” Jaienna screamed, terrified dread possessing her. A second before—with an ear-shattering blast and a pulse of white light—Crortek’s torso exploded into a million tiny, glistening pieces.

  Jaienna spun around, pulse pounding, eyes wide.

  Tornada stood behind her, glowing Aglaian disruptor in his hands, a look of resigned loss on his face as his gaze moved from her to Zeric. “Fuck, I hate Ornithions.”

  Epilogue

  Jaienna opened her eyes and gazed with absolute calm at her ceiling. Her ceiling. It had been many, many moon-cycles since she’d been in her home—a small but very wonderful cubartment on Raavelia Beta’s Southern Continent, overlooking the Lusswayna Fiord—but here she was now. Home, warm and very calm.

  She pulled in a long sigh, letting her eyelids flutter closed as the twin suns peeked over the horizon and painted her bedroom a deep orange. A distant part of her mind wondered if Jak and Bhel were just as relaxed on their vacation, but it was a detached part of her mind, the part not entwined and intractably involved with the here and now.

  She sighed again. Her here and now.

  A here and now she never thought she’d experience.

  She’d awakened, not just to a new day, but to a new life.

  The soft rustling of bedding brought a small smile to her lips and she stretched, warm blood surging through her veins and tingling her skin.

  Two strong hands suddenly skimmed her calves, following the finely curved muscles up to the backs of her knees, his fingertips dancing over the sensitive dips until she squirmed and wriggled on the mattress. “That tickles,” she said, arching her spine slightly. She pushed her hips from the bed, letting her pussy hover before eyes she knew would be visually devouring her, a fraction before straightening again. She looked down the length of her body, letting her smile grow wider.

  Two golden eyes studied her over the soft curve of her mons, Zeric’s hands pausing for a brief moment on her knees before slipping higher, his long fingers trailing a languid path up to her inner thighs. “I know something else that tickles.” His breath was warm and moist on her flesh, feathering the velvet smoothness of her pussy, sending a ripple of anticipation through her. She wriggled again, her pussy growing damp, her nipples pinching into tight, hard tips.

  He flattened his palms to her thighs, fingers brushing the swell of her nether-lips for a teasing second, and then pushed her legs wider, spreading her sex for his inspection. “Very nice,” he murmured, dipping his head to flick his tongue over her clit.

  She arched again, this time rolling her head to the side and fisting her hands in the sheet beneath her. Gods, that felt good.

  He rolled his tongue over her folds again, lapping at her juices before capturing her clit between his lips and sucking it gently past his teeth.

  Jaienna gasped, curling her toes into the mattress and her fingers tighter around the sheet. “Tears of Druentia!”

  Zeric chuckled, the vibrations thrumming into her pussy, awakening sensations of pure pleasure deep within her core. She rammed her hips up, driving her sex harder to his masterful mouth.

  He plunged his tongue deeper into her pussy, his hands forcing her thighs wider, his mouth greedily feasting on what was spread between.

  A groan sounded in the room, low, raw and aroused and Jaienna opened her eyes, her pulse quickening, a fresh gush of cream pooled in her sex.

  Zeric lifted his head and rose up onto his palms, leaning over her body as he gazed at the new arrival. “Can I help you, Jjor?”

  Jaienna twisted on her bed, her heart slamming into her throat as her stare fell on Tornada. “Raq?”

  She hadn’t seen him since they’d arrived on Raavelia Beta. He’d stayed clear of her on the flight here, appropriating himself quarters on the Reaper and venturing out only to eat. But never when she was around. She’d tried to talk to him, tried to approach him but he’d refused her. Denied her. Jaienna knew Raq Tornada well. It didn’t matter how determined she was, if the Jjor decided he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t talk.

  She understood. The look in his face when he’d save Zeric from Crortek spoke the words his lips never formed. He loved her. She loved him. But that wasn’t enough. Not for Raq. Because he knew she love Zeric too. With every fibre in her being. And Tornada would never share. Ever.

  But here he was now. In her cubartment. Just when she’d thought he’d left her life again. And he looked so…so…

  Her heart clenched. Curse it, he looked so damn dangerous and so damn sexy.

  “Raq?”

  His name fell from her in a breath.

  Zeric stiffened. She felt the tension coil through him like heated steel.

  Tornada studied them both, silent. As tense as Zeric. Perhaps more.

  “Jjor?” Zeric’s voice was a growl. Not aggressive—the man had ultimately saved his life after all—but hardly welcoming. “We’ve been wondering—”

  “Where I’ve been?” Tornada cut him off.

  Zeric nodded. Jaienna swallowed. He hadn’t moved, still positioned above her, like an animal guarding its property. Which he was, to a point.

  But are you his property? Only his property? If Tornada asks you to go with him now, what will you say?

  “I’ve been thinking,” Tornada continued, his gaze sliding to Jaienna. His nostrils flared. “And I’ve decided a Jjor lord of my nobility and status really can do better than a lowly Raavelian and her pet mutt.”

  Jaienna’s heart punched harder into her throat. Was he doing what she thought he was? Was he? Above her, Zeric remained silent.

  “I’ve decided,” Tornada didn’t take his focus from her face. Nor did he move from his place at the door, “a Jjor lord is entitled to more.”

  She stared at him. Saw his pain. Saw his grief.

  Saw his resolve.

  And she knew he was taking her decision away from her. Knew he was protecting her, as he’d always done, in any way he could.

  She let a small smile pull at the corner of her lips. Let it speak the love she would always hold for him. “I think a Jjor lord will find more. Because despite the fact in his heart he doesn’t believe so, he truly does deserve it.”

  Tornada drew a slow breath and turned his gaze to Zeric. His jaw bunched. “Hurt her and I won’t just flay you alive,” he stated calmly. “I’ll cure your furry, freak hide and wear it as a jacket, understand?”

  Zeric’s own jaw knotted. “Understood.”

  Tornada nodded once, slid his stare back to Jaienna and smile. The kind of smile only Tornada would wear: smug, arrogant, cocky. “Be happy, Jai.”

  Jaienna smiled back. “You too, Raq.”

  And then he was gone. Without anoth
er word, he turned and walked from her bedroom.

  When she turned her focus from the empty doorway, she found Zeric studying her, his face unreadable. “Are you happy, Jaienna?”

  She stared up at him, heart thumping, throat tight, pussy wet. Was she happy? The man wasn’t entirely human but he brought out a side in her she’d never dreamed existed. Sex had once been her greatest weapon, a means to a deadly end but now, thanks to Zeric, it was her greatest gift. A gift she was willing to share with him and him alone, the man who showed her she didn’t need to be in someone’s head to get what was important. The man who showed her being in his heart was enough. More than enough.

  The beast. The animal. Her lover. Her life.

  She lifted her hand and placed her fingers on Zeric’s jaw before raising her hips again, offering herself to his waiting length. “Ask me again if I’m happy, Zeric,” she ordered on a whisper.

  His eyes flickered golden need and he nudged his cock head harder to her sodden folds. “Are you happy, Jaienna?”

  She grinned up at him. “You better believe it, Guardian.” And with that she hooked her legs around his hips and yanked his rigid shaft deep into her sex.

  The End

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  Prologue

  Dublin—Four Months Ago

  The stink of sex, sin and death seeped into Declan O’Connell’s nostrils, overripe and acrid all at once. His lips curled into a silent snarl and he stepped deeper into the dank, dim building, the hair on his nape prickling.

  This is not right.

  The thought sent a ripple of tension through his already tight muscles. It wasn’t right. The whole night hadn’t been right; the anonymous tip about his sister’s killer, the insistence he be here—at this place—at this time, the derelict, abandoned condition of the building. It didn’t add up.