Dark Thoughts

by Cynthia Sax

  “But you won’t.” The female stood, dusting the sand off her head and shoulders.

  A riot of short curls framed an impish face. A black body covering encased her slender form, clinging like a second skin to firm breasts, a toned waist, curvy hips. Daggers were strapped to her chest, thighs, and arms. Guns filled the holsters at her hips. She was tiny but only a fool would discount her.

  Kralj recognized her for what she was—a fellow killer.

  He tried to push into her mind. There was nothing there. It was a huge empty chamber he couldn’t fill. He directed more of his power into that space. That would have hurt another being, would have brought even the largest, strongest warrior to his knees.

  She appeared unaffected.

  “There’s no reason to kill me.” The tiny female pulled her goggles down, hung them around her neck, revealing eyes as blue as the sky above them. “I’m not inside your precious Refuge and I haven’t broken any of your beloved rules.”

  “Yet.” His tone was dry.

  “Yet.” She walked toward him, her gait loose, her lack of concern for the danger he presented perversely turning him on. The female was fearless.

  “You’re a threat.” He didn’t know why he was waiting to eliminate her. “Are you alone?”

  “I’m always alone.” Sadness flitted across her beautiful face, a cloud passing over the sun. Then her smile returned. “How am I a threat to you?” She purred, her full pink lips vibrating with each word.

  He wanted to capture that tender flesh between his teeth and pull.

  “You’re a big strong male.” She drifted her gaze over his physique, her perusal as sensual as a caress, heating him to the bone. “I’m a small human female.”

  “You are small.” Kralj surveyed her form as slowly, savoring her slight curves, her lean muscles, her upturned face. He was much taller than she was, the height differential forcing her into an excitingly submissive stance. “And you’re definitely female.” He longed to see her on her knees before him. “But are you human?” He bared his fangs, showing her he wasn’t one of her kind. “I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

  “Don’t lie to me.” Her eyelids partially lowered, that physical acknowledgment of his dominance pleasing his primal nature. “You know what I’m thinking.”

  She slid her tongue over her bottom lip, wetting her flesh.

  He tracked the movement with his gaze, achingly aware of her, of the need to possess this female, to subdue her. His brain warned him she was dangerous. His body didn’t care. “What are you?”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you, Kralj.”

  He liked the way she said his name. He didn’t like that he didn’t know hers.

  “I’m human.” She moved within his reach.

  An intriguing vitality surrounded her, calling to him. He’d been alone for so long, solitary, emotionally isolated, unable to touch another being without causing damage, without killing.

  “I was born with a brain telepaths can’t access.” She verified that exciting fact.

  The powerful humanoid part of him couldn’t harm her. He’d never met a being like her.

  “That’s why I was chosen.” She swirled her fingertips over her right shoulder, tracing the aligned sun moon planet embossed in her body covering.

  It was the symbol of the Dark Veil, a guild of assassins. She was a monster as he was, trained to end lives, violent and soulless.

  His desire for her escalated.

  “What are you?” She smiled up at him.

  “I’m not a mere telepath.” His psychic abilities exceeded any type of measurement. “I’m unlike anything you’ve ever encountered.”

  She lifted her chin. “You don’t know what I’ve encountered.”

  “You haven’t encountered any being like me.” Kralj was certain of that fact. “I’m the beast hunting you in your nightmares, the fear you feel in the dark, the prickling over the back of your neck when you think you’re alone.” He gazed down at her, fighting the urge to grab her, to sink his fangs into her pale neck. “I’m not a male you play with, little one.”

  “My name is Dita. And who said I was playing?” She walked her fingertips across his chest, heedless of the danger she was in, oblivious to how close he was to taking her, tasting her. “You’re an attractive male.”

  He wasn’t an attractive male. He was a scarred beast, as hideous on the inside as he was on the outside. She dared to taunt him and that angered him.

  “You find this appealing?” Kralj leaned forward, dissipating the shadows partially concealing his face, forcing her to look at his scars.

  The right side of his face horrified the staunchest of beings. The skin from his forehead to his chin was angry and red, twisted, stretched, permanently melted.

  It would repel her. She’d drop the irritatingly effective seductress act.

  He could then view her as merely another enemy, kill her if that was the best solution to the problem she presented. There would be no hesitation, no emotions clouding his judgment.

  “Yes.” Dita reached up and touched his scarred cheek.

  He flinched, surprised, shocked, stimulated beyond all reason. Although he was tempted, his inner alarms ringing a warning, he didn’t retreat, didn’t draw his face away from her hand. He stood his ground.

  She inflicted more damage on his equilibrium, her fingers calloused yet gentle, fluttering over his skin. “I find this extremely appealing, handsome.”

  There was no sarcasm in her voice, no mockery in her expressive blue eyes. Did she truly find him handsome?

  No, she couldn’t. Kralj rejected that notion. He knew what he was, what she was. They were both monsters and monsters were heartless. She was manipulating him.

  That realization didn’t stop him from wanting her. His cock pressed against the confines of his ass coverings. His shadow expanded, partially blocking the sun.

  “You’re a good little liar.” He told her. She was too good for his piece of mind. “Is this your strategy—flatter the target, lull him into complacency before killing him?”

  “I don’t lie and it would be my strategy.” Dita laughed softly, the sound making his balls ache. “If the target looked like you.”

  She explored his face with her fingertips, wandering over the ridges, the hollows, handling his marred skin as though it were a priceless object, a treasure to be polished, cared for, cherished. Her beautiful countenance was soft.

  He had never been touched like this. He stared at her, enthralled, his beast purring. She was so quiet, serene, her thoughts unreadable. Kralj pushed his cheek into her palms.

  Then he realized what he was doing.

  “No.” A surge of dark energy erupted from him, flinging his tiny opponent backward.

  Dita yelped, her arms and legs flailing. Kralj resisted his beast’s demands to run, to catch her. She was the enemy and he allowed her to hit the sand.

  She slid along a dune. Blood scented the air, her blood.

  It smelled sweet. His mouth watered.

  She was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever encountered and he wanted to eat her.

  He was truly a monster.

  A normal female would have been upset with his response. This one laughed, jumping to her booted feet. “You play hard to get, don’t you, handsome?” She brushed the sand off her body covering.

  Kralj spotted streaks of red on her hands. “I don’t play. Ever.” He fought the urge to rush to her, to lick her palms. His beast pulled at his mental chains. “And I’m not handsome.”

  “You are handsome.” The gaze she directed at him was torturously sensual. “We all have scars. Yours turn me on.”

  She wasn’t lying. He smelled her arousal. The damn female was driving him wild.

  If his restraint broke, if he lost himself in her, beings would die. He had to banish her from his territory. She was too dangerous. He couldn’t read her mind, couldn’t control her, and he was susceptible to her charms, didn’t behave rationally around her. �
�I want you to leave the area.”

  She opened her lush mouth.

  “Immediately.” The sand vibrated with the force of that word.

  His powers didn’t scare his little assassin. “My targets—”

  “Are not my problem.” Kralj lifted his right palm in warning. He would propel her out of his range if she protested. “I’m denying you access to the Refuge.”

  “You could try.” Her beautiful eyes glittered with a challenge he fought to resist.

  “I will succeed.” The alternative couldn’t be contemplated.

  “No, you won’t.” Dita’s confidence called to him. She was everything he never knew he wanted. “The beast hunting me in my nightmares might be scary, Kralj, but I’m aware of him.” She looked at him, her gaze smoldering with sexuality, as hot as the sand under their booted feet. “I know how to evade him.”

  He was as aware of her as she was of him. She’d awakened needs, hungers. Kralj flicked his tongue over his fangs, the darkness gripping him.

  “I’ve been watching your precious Refuge for three planet rotations.” Dita’s lips curled into a smug smile. “If I want to enter it, I will.”

  She turned and strolled away from him.

  He watched her swaying hips, the proud straight line of her spine, the bounce of her brown curls against her nape.

  His beast howled, wanting to follow her, track her, protect her.

  She disappeared over a sand dune. Her scent faded and his beast calmed. The lust-induced fog in Kralj’s brain cleared, his rational thought reviving.

  Dita was a threat to the Refuge, to his control. When she returned and she would return, he didn’t doubt that, he would have to deal with her.

  He told himself he didn’t have a choice.

  Rebellion was contagious. Kralj ruled over the dregs of the universe, beings with a proclivity for violence. He couldn’t allow insurgence to spread.

  She would have to be subdued.

  Permanently.

  He’d hold her curves against his muscle, sink his fangs into her delicate neck. Her blood would fill his mouth as she squirmed against him, her pert ass brushing over his hard groin.

  Fuck. Kralj stared in the direction she’d walked.

  He wanted her.

  Chapter Two

  Dita waited until the sun set before returning to the Refuge. The gates were closed, the impressively large green male no longer stationed in front of them.

  Warriors patrolled the top of the white stone walls. Dita’s lips lifted. Had Kralj added that precaution for her?

  It wouldn’t stop her. She waited until the warrior passed, ran to the wall, pressed her back against the warm stone, counted.

  Sixty. Sixty-one. Sixty-two. He walked by her position again.

  That was enough time.

  Having scaled the wall five times during the previous rest cycle, while she was scouting for the ideal entry point, she knew her climbing speed. The ascent was doable.

  Dita scrambled upward, using the natural indents in the rock as handholds. Her palms still stung from her confrontation with Kralj. The sand had embedded in her skin. It had taken her many moments to remove all of the granules.

  His rough treatment shouldn’t excite her but it did, which attested to how fucked-up she was. A trickle of sweat dripped down her spine. There was no coverage on the exterior. The walls were illuminated. If beings glanced in her direction, they’d spot her.

  What would Kralj do if he discovered her on his precious wall? He’d killed beings for less. The grisly display of mauled corpses around the settlement was a testament to his wrath.

  If he sought to end her life, her skills as an assassin wouldn’t save her.

  Orphaned at birth, Dita had been selected by the guild when she had two solar cycles. She’d been small even then. That had caused them to initially reject her. Then they discovered she was insusceptible to beings like Kralj, telepaths who could foresee a normal assassin’s moves.

  Since that planet rotation, she’d either spent her time killing or training to kill. It was all she knew, had become a piece of her, a significant part of her identity. Ending lives was her sole purpose in the universe. Without that task, she felt incomplete.

  But she realized her limitations.

  She wouldn’t best Kralj in a fight. He was the one being on this planet she couldn’t kill.

  That was extremely sexy.

  It also concerned her. She had three targets to eliminate.

  It was best not to be caught.

  Dita darted across the top of the wall, her tread silent, and she swung herself over the side. A domicile had been erected close to the stone, casting a concealing shadow across it. Although it decreased the possibility of discovery, she didn’t take any chances, descending quickly.

  Voices broke the silence, none that she recognized. She slipped into the darkness.

  “I knew as soon as I smelled you, you were my gerel, the female meant to be mine.” A young Chamele male danced around an equally young human female.

  Dita recognized the girl. She had been part of the religious group she’d seen enter the Refuge. They had an issue with violence, if she recalled correctly. That made their chances of survival on Carinae E, one of the most primitive planets she’d ever encountered, slim.

  “You’re one of the wicked beings our leader warned us about.” The young female’s sparkling eyes belied her prim tone. “I’m not supposed to speak to you.”

  “You have to speak to me.” The boy playfully pulled on a lock of her hair as they passed Dita, the two of them oblivious to her presence. “You’re my gerel.”

  “That means nothing to me.”

  “And I’m not wicked being. I’m a future warlord.” The boy lifted his chin proudly. “Soon, I’ll be the best warrior in the universe.”

  “Violence leads to evil and evil leads to an afterlife of nothingness.” The girl teased. “You don’t tempt me, future warlord.”

  “The Ruler of the Refuge is training me.” Her would-be mate wasn’t daunted. “The great Kralj himself deemed me worthy.”

  “He’s a very wicked male.” Their voices faded.

  Kralj was a very wicked male. Dita grinned. She liked that about him.

  Because she was equally wicked. They were two killers, designed to end lives.

  She dashed from shadow to shadow, heading toward the structure her targets utilized as their base. The lives she was ending deserved that fate. Todt-931, Todt-932, and Todt-933 were three of the cruelest humanoids who had ever walked the sands of Carinae E.

  Before they learned she was tracking them, they had raided unprotected settlements, inflicting unspeakable horrors upon innocent beings. They’d then return to the Refuge, where they had sanctuary.

  No one could touch them there. They were protected by Kralj and his rules.

  A group of survivors had contacted her, pleading for her help, asking her to hunt the clones, to stop their cruelty, avenge the tortured and the dead. She had planned to ambush the males on one of their raids. It should have been an easy assignment.

  But a traitor within the group of survivors had warned the Todts of her presence. Now, the brothers wouldn’t leave the settlement, hiding behind its high walls.

  Dita had to bring her unique brand of justice to them.

  Light spilled from a large open porthole in their structure. The brothers were clearly visible, seated around a horizontal structure.

  Todt-931, the leader, lounged at the head, a yellowish tinge to his long white hair, his nose flattened, his purple skin scarred. Todt-932, the second in charge, sat at his right side, his hair ear length, speculation in his purple eyes. Todt-933 sat on the leader’s left, his hair cropped close to his head, his body tilted toward his brothers.

  All three of them were drinking, laughing, talking, uncaring who heard them. That was how certain they were that no one would kill them within the Refuge.

  That confidence would end their lives.

  Dita sou
ndlessly slid two daggers from the sheaths on her thighs. She should kill them now, fulfill her promise to the survivors. The first two daggers would eliminate Todt-931 and Todt-932, the first and second clone in command. The third dagger would be drawn and thrown before Todt-933 realized what had happened.

  She hesitated.

  Not because she knew she’d die. She’d already accepted that fate.

  Kralj would read Todt-933’s mind, see her through the third clone’s eyes, come for her. He was scarily fast. The self-professed monster would reach her before she exited his precious Refuge, would rip her throat out.

  The last thing she’d see was his twisted face, his hard eyes.

  Dita embraced that future. Assassins didn’t have long lifespans. One fuckup and they were dead. And Kralj was worthy of delivering her death. He had gifts unlike any being she’d seen. It would be an honor to have him kill her.

  To have his hands on her body, his mouth at her throat.

  She trembled, her desire obscene, as inhuman as Kralj was, as she was at her very core. That wanting was why she waited. They were both lonely, warped individuals and she longed for more time with him, more of that rare and bizarre companionship.

  Her daggers glided back into their leather holders.

  She’d kill the brothers during next rest cycle.

  Boots scuffed against the stone pathway behind her. Dita ducked behind a waste receptacle, crouching, making herself even smaller than she already was.

  Todt-931, the lead clone, farted loudly. The others laughed and slammed their beverage containers against the horizontal support. No other noises pierced the quiet.

  Dita peered around the waste receptacle.

  Lights illuminated the flattened stone. There was no sign of life. She waited, waited, waited. No one entered the pathway. She slowly straightened.

  A large form stepped out of the darkness. Fuck. She froze. His face was shrouded in shadow but she’d recognize those broad shoulders, muscular chest, long black leather coat anywhere.

  Kralj had been watching her. His eyes gleamed, reflecting the light. He had banned her from the Refuge. She had disobeyed him. And he didn’t have a reputation for leniency.