Bad Kitty

by Teresa Noelle Roberts

  Rahal responded by pumping his fingers in and out, in opposition with Karn’s movements.

  “That’s crazy good. I…” She let the words slip away on a groan. They didn’t matter anymore.

  Rahal shifted his position and his slicked cock nudged the opening where his fingers had played. He tried to push in slowly.

  Xia wasn’t having any of it, pushing back to take him in faster than he might have intended. If it stung a little, the sting was quickly replaced by exquisite sensations. A new kind of heat blossomed out to meet the conflagration in her cunt. She was stretched, but not beyond endurance, sandwiched between two big bodies, but not trapped. She knew she could stop things if she needed to, and knowing that, she realized she wouldn’t need to.

  Maybe this was why other people shared sexytimes with friends, not strangers—because you could trust them. She’d never realized sex could be this comforting and sweet and still be hot as Xylac goulash. Never realized what she’d been missing with her one-time-only policy. New adventures were great, but this was a new adventure with men she already knew, which was even better. Men who cared about her and vice versa

  Yeah, she cared about them, more than she cared for anyone who wasn’t part of the Malcolm family. It should have been a chilling thought, but right now she couldn’t remember why having a connection used to scare her.

  One last attempt at coherent speech slipped out of her mouth, “Trust…”

  No, she’d lost that thought. It was too big for a moment like this. At the same time, words of any kind seemed too confining when desire and fulfillment and the power of three bodies at play were sending her into orbit.

  And if she screamed “mine!” when she came, she didn’t bother asking herself why. It was one of those things that made sense at the height of amazing sex and overanalyzing it would spoil the moment.

  After the sex, Karn moved to spoon her.

  Before she needed to protest, Rahal said, “Xia’s not a big cuddler. I like it, though.”

  It made her smile. Both at the admission that Rahal liked snuggling and at the way he’d made a tic of Xia’s—that might have worried Karn—into a moment that made her giggle and Karn grin. Face it, hearing the big, scary warlord wanting to be snuggly-buggly was unexpected and adorable.

  They ended up in the big bed, with Karn curled around Rahal and Xia lying nearby. One of Karn’s hands rested on her shoulder and Rahal’s tail curled over her hip. Xia sighed and inched toward the men, still far enough away that she didn’t feel confined, but close enough to feel the heat of Rahal’s body.

  She began to purr.

  Beeping awoke them—a signal from the hotline. Tipsters had pointed out another bad guy for Xia to deal with and drones had confirmed it.

  They’d passed out so hard that Xia wasn’t sure what time it was, whether it was day or night, but that didn’t matter. She was on her feet before the signal stopped its initial noises, looking for her clothes. “You coming, Karn?”

  Karn asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  Seemed like a strange question coming from the world’s most responsible criminal, but maybe he didn’t realize how quickly felinoids could bounce back from a bad experience, or how determined she was to see this through.

  She shrugged. “Does it matter? It needs doing. Better I do something useful with my screwed-up past than I sit around moping.”

  She tugged on her skirt then smiled. “Better still if we could all stay in bed together until morning, eat a good breakfast and then play some more, but sometimes you’ve got to go with what the universe hands you and hope the bed’s still warm when you get more time.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Xia hadn’t been sure what time it was until they actually left the palace and walked out into darkness. This time, they were going in on foot—the neighborhood they were headed to was poor enough that a flyer would draw unnecessary attention.

  In the darkness, Siantana took on its own kind of grandeur. The blend of flickering solar streetlamps spaced out just too far apart to be useful, the headlamps of flyers above and zipbikes below, and multicolored bar signs, most half out, gave the seedy prefab buildings and burned-out ruins an eerie majesty.

  She was having a few second thoughts about Karn being with her. She adored Karn, but she had a feeling he’d be inclined to fuss, after her earlier flashback. Not to mention he’d slow her down. He’d been fine in the daytime but there was no way a big hunk of a human, even with speed augmentations, could keep up with her in the dark or make his way unobtrusively through the narrow, junk-filled back alleys of Siantana the way she could.

  But, somehow, Karn was keeping up. And he managed to make it look like he was just heading in the same direction, not following her. Or if he was tailing her, it was in a creepy way that no one else wanted to get involved with. No point in cutting in on someone else’s mugging or rape unless you knew you could take the attacker too, and Karn looked imposing and moved like he was heavily armed. (Which, in fact, he was.)

  Xia wished she didn’t understand that criminal-scum thought process so well, but she’d subconsciously been running what she realized now was target evaluation all her life. It was more entertaining when she was using it to gauge how someone was going to react to a prank.

  A movement caught Xia’s eye—a human woman wearing nothing but a tight black skirt about the width of a belt, a bright scarf barely covering her nipples and a pair of staggeringly high heels. She was a little too naked even for a felinoid in public, so on a human, definite streetwalker couture. Based on the way she was staggering, she was chilled or drunk or stoned on something worse.

  At least that was what she wanted observers to think.

  But most observers weren’t felinoids. Couldn’t see well enough in the dark to notice the supposedly stoned whore’s eyes were clear or the slight bulge at her thigh where she carried a gun.

  It probably had nothing to do with Xia but it never hurt to be cautious. She faded into the shadows close to the ramshackle remains of a building that looked like it might still be inhabited, despite being burned out. Prefabs were hard to climb, made of a smooth metal-plastic alloy with a name Xia could never remember, but in this case, the damage actually helped, buckling and cracking the walls. Tail twitching, senses alert for danger, Xia crouched then jumped, claws out for purchase.

  Even with her reflexes, she reeled and for a second thought she might fall. Then she got a grip. A window gaped eyeless above her, an easy climb, though she moved quickly in case someone was sheltering in the ruins. From there, it was a fast scramble to the roof.

  She felt herself breathing easier. Street level was too cramped and confusing, too many places for attackers to hide, too many variables she couldn’t control. And because of the jumbled layout of the city—old prefabs mingling with equally utilitarian new construction and makeshift hovels jimjammed in every which way—an agile person who could jump as well as she could would be able to travel a good distance going from roof to roof. It was making her neurorelay’s GPS program go crazy because it had been set for ground level, but she didn’t have the patience to reset it. She knew where she was going, even without the device. She’d seen the route. That was all it ever took when there was prey involved.

  It must be making the Viking crazy that she’d vanished. Hopefully he was clever enough to realize what she’d done and wasn’t flipping out.

  The image of him tearing through the streets, looking for her while pretending he wasn’t, made her stifle a giggle. Even though she’d tasted his passionate side and had enjoyed his flashes of humor, Karn the Viking was an earnest man. A responsible man, which she hadn’t expected an arms dealer to be, though when she thought about it, a successful arms dealer had to be as serious about his work as any businessperson. More so, because his dissatisfied customers might blow him up. But he had a certain flair and panache. Like a warlord, a
n arms dealer needed a little flash and style on top of the intelligence and toughness necessary to run the game.

  A good thing too. Had Karn gone into a totally legit line of work, Xia suspected he’d have turned into a nashbet. A good-looking one with pretty-pretty blue eyes and smoking muscles, but still a nashbet, all hard work and rules and no time for fun. Look at the way he’d almost turned down sexytimes earlier to go poke into the mysteries of her family. It was a no-brainer that hot sex took priority over a eighteen-year-old mystery.

  Humans could be so silly.

  She’d had her fun getting off ground level, but she should try to relay him and let him know where she was. He was awfully responsible, so he was probably flipping out that she’d disappeared and it wouldn’t be in an entertaining way.

  She paused for a second. The neurorelay was still new enough to her that she couldn’t use it on the run while doing other things. A structure on the roof—she thought that until a few bombings ago it had been a landing signal for public-transport flyers—gave her a little cover as she tried to call. At least this particular roof was flat. The last one bowed down and was slippery, even to her bare feet, taking all her concentration.

  In the stillness, she heard footsteps echoing loud and menacing across the roof. No effort at subtlety. Whoever was coming at her wanted her to know it. Wanted her, maybe, to fear, to anticipate the danger she was in. Some people liked that, could imagine your fear, savor it like wine.

  Too bad for him she wasn’t scared. Excited. On high alert. Maybe even aroused by the anticipation of action. But not afraid.

  She’d known cold, clammy darkness, and sexy darkness, and the endless silent black of space. But now she was in friendly darkness, darkness that was on her side. Darkness that would help take out her attacker before he knew she was there.

  She shifted her weight forward, crouched. Waited.

  A human, she thought. A large human, but not all that loud for someone his apparent size.

  She held her breath. Listened. Waited. The prospect of violence bubbled in her veins like the anticipation of sex, making her loose-limbed and giddy, but at the same time hyperaware.

  That hyperawareness let her catch a whiff of the man’s smell, just before she leaped out of her hiding place. A layer of the minty incense Rahal liked, the one that permeated the palace, layered over leather and a familiar scent that twisted her sex, causing arousal so fierce and sudden it was painful.

  Karn, with a little overlay of Rahal’s musk still clinging to him—a completely devastating combination.

  This definitely wasn’t the time. Children were in danger and it was her job to fix that. But she couldn’t resist a little demonstration.

  She let the tension in her muscles carry her out of the darkness toward him, just as she’d planned, but with her claws sheathed and a smile on her face. She opened her mouth to call his name so he’d know she meant no harm. Based on yesterday’s demo, the guy could shoot the spots off an Onari horslek in midair without a scope.

  But before she could speak he said in a quiet burr that still carried into her bones, “Xia.”

  Then he caught her in midleap, pulling her close to his big body that smelled of leather and mint and adrenaline and need.

  He hadn’t been in the right place to do that less than a second ago.

  The darkness on the roof was nearly total. He shouldn’t have been able to see her until it was too late to adjust his position.

  “Good augmentations,” she whispered as she wrapped her legs around his broad torso. That would explain why he’d caught up with her so easily too.

  “I need them to keep up with you. The warlord…” Then his voice shifted to a growl. “Fuck Rahal. Or rather, don’t at the moment. He’s not here. You are.” With a groan, he kissed her.

  Despite the hard heat of Karn’s body, the effortless way he held her as if her densely muscled body weighed nothing, despite her own aching need, the kiss took Xia by surprise. Not so much that he’d kissed her—stars knew, she wanted another taste of him and she hoped he felt the same—but that Responsibility Man would do it now, when even Xia knew it wasn’t the right time to indulge her lust.

  But now that lust was being indulged, she might as well enjoy it. She wasn’t like Rita and Drax, who sought out danger because it turned them on, but the sharpness of violence and the sharpness of sex were closely related, two edges of a keen blade.

  He kissed with the same intensity and seriousness he moved. She knew he was a good lover—he’d more than amply demonstrated that earlier—but in the dark city, on the way to face down a predator, his civilized veneer had crumbled away. No teasing, no lazily sexy words, none of the endearing hints his body language occasionally let drop that the big, elegant brute was shy and gentle deep down.

  He was as much a predator as she and Rahal tonight, just as elegantly fierce. His tongue, his lips, the big hands that held her up so effortlessly were all hard, all strong, all staking a claim.

  Until a few days ago, Xia would have scoffed at the idea she’d ever want someone to “claim” her. She wasn’t that woman. She was a cat-girl who walked by herself, or stalked or bounced, not needing to be part of anything other than her family.

  Now two men had shaken that confidence. Easier to admit it to herself when she was thinking about Karn because he wasn’t a predator—it was all right to show a little weakness to someone who wasn’t going to mistake you for prey. But Rahal had gotten under her skin too, made her really like the way he said “mine” when he came.

  Oh, it was all illusion, a pretty picture hormones had painted. Both Rahal and Karn were sexy as hell, and tough enough she felt certain she wouldn’t hurt them, and erotically dominant without trying to push her around in other areas, so she could enjoy the game. That was all. They pretended to claim and she pretended to let them. It was all good.

  There might be more to it than that, but she’d think that through sometime when Karn wasn’t devouring her like he was starving and she was sushi, sometime when she wasn’t rubbing herself against his body, trying to will away his pants because she wanted that beautiful cock inside her.

  She resisted the urge to see if she could shred the leather. This wasn’t the time, and while she was usually ready to toss responsibility aside, she couldn’t ignore this one. A child’s peril hit too close to home.

  But her bones were melting from the heat of Karn’s kiss and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away.

  Karn might be human but he was stroking and gently tugging her tail like he knew exactly what that did to a girl like her, how it made her want to get on all fours and raise that tail to allow her lover more access.

  She yowled in ecstasy, the noise caught by Karn’s delicious mouth. She wanted…she needed…

  She had a job to do.

  Reluctantly, she unwrapped her legs from Karn’s powerful hips, put her feet on the ground. Kissed him once more, gently this time. “You taste like something I need more of, Viking, but somewhere near here children are being hurt. So I’m going to need a rain check.”

  Karn gave her tail one last, firm tug. “Rahal would have my ass, though not in the good way, if we didn’t help those kids. And possibly if we played without him. Haven’t figured that part out.”

  She shrugged. “He’s said he’d be all right with it, but why should I settle for one of you if I can have both? A little deviant blood under my claws will make you taste that much sweeter.”

  For a second, she’d forgotten Karn was human. He grimaced then covered it with a feral grin.

  “For you,” she purred, “I’ll even wash my hands first. Come on. There are children to rescue and bad guys to filet. And you get to holo the whole thing.”

  Karn was still effervescing in her blood like that green, bubbly San’balese wine. The frustrated lust would sharpen her claws, hone her reflexes, help her kill faster so she
could get on with the good part of the night.

  Which she’d thought would be killing a pedophile, but that would just be the appetizer.

  Chapter Twenty

  It wasn’t as much of an appetizer as she’d imagined.

  Oh, she couldn’t imagine much could be as satisfying as killing that child-raping driftdwell. They’d caught him in the act, stripping down a cowering little human girl on a stained mattress covered by thermasheets that had seen better days. There hadn’t been a thought of taking him into custody. Karn, she thought, might have urged it if the case hadn’t been so clear. For a criminal, he liked the idea of laws. But some things could only be paid back in blood.

  No amount of the bastard’s blood, though, could wash away what had been done to those kids. You could see it in their eyes, in the way they moved, in the way they looked at Karn like they expected he’d hurt them too. The youngest looked to be about two Standard years old yet, which for a human was still just a baby.

  Xia and Rahal had thought through the killing part. But they hadn’t properly considered what to do with three terrified, damaged kids who needed medical attention, food and love, but who had no reason to trust Xia.

  Xia also hadn’t considered how keenly she’d remember her last night on Lysander. She knew what happened that night, intellectually, but she had no clear memories of anything before waking up on the Malcolm, clean, well fed and safe, with Mik watching over her.

  Now she remembered and it was enough to paralyze her.

  She suspected that what she’d experienced one horrible time, these little ones had endured repeatedly.

  She wanted to kill the man again, more painfully this time. But unless she could travel back in time and kill him before he started acting on his twisted desires—and no one had developed that tech yet—it wouldn’t save the children from what they’d already suffered. Her eyes blurred with tears and she tasted bile. Her knees started to buckle.