by Maggie Shayne, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Jacey Ford
Finally he snagged a handhold and steadied them long enough for them to strip, clinging together like giddy children.
"Damn, that felt good," Alina said, wrapping her arms around his waist as their clothing floated away. "It's been too damn long since I laughed like that."
The humor faded from his eyes as he studied her face. "I gather Rajin hasn't mellowed out of her bitch streak."
"No, not exactly." Alina looked into those golden eyes and thought about telling him everything. But secrets, after all, develop their own inertia, and she found she didn't know where to begin.
Instead she reached between his muscled thighs, cupped his full balls in one hand, and watched his gaze go vague as passion rose. He'd softened a little as they'd played, but at her touch he hardened again. She stroked up from his sac, exploring his warm silken length. He groaned, the sound full-throated and hot with pleasure.
Anchoring herself with a hand on his butt, she bent to take him in her mouth. His taste was instantly familiar, even after all these years—the clean male scent of his body, the tang of his arousal. Her eyes drifted closed.
Gods, she'd missed him. She'd been so lonely.
As she suckled him slowly, a big hand came to rest on her head, threading through her blond hair. "Let me taste you," he asked hoarsely.
Agile and eager, she drew back and twisted around in the air until she hung head-down relative to him. Strong, warm hands caught her hips and pulled her close. She spread her legs, giving him access to her sex even as she caught his shaft in her fingers and bent close to suckle. He tasted salty with pre-come as she took as much of his thickness as she could.
Baird spread her lips with two fingers. Alina felt the warmth of his breath an instant before his hot tongue claimed her in a long, delicious lick. She moaned around his cock and sucked harder. His tongue danced over her clit in answer, and an index finger slid deep in her core. He groaned approval.
So they licked and nibbled at one another, spinning slowly, bouncing gently off walls, but too lost in each other to care. The pleasure rose and fell in shimmering waves, each crest building on the next.
Until Baird tore his head away, only to pull her around in the air until they were face to face again. "I've got to have you," he gasped. "Now."
"Yes!" She spread her thighs for him, and he slid between them.
His thrust made them both moan. Desperately, she wrapped her arms and legs around him as he began to pump. The sensation of gliding thickness was hot and slick and wonderful, and it made every nerve in her body vibrate with arousal and delight.
"God, that's good!" Baird clamped a hand over her hip and one thigh, bracing her so he could ride faster, surging hard and deep. She writhed against him, loving the way he felt, relishing the steep build of climax.
It burst free with a soundless pop of glittering heat, ripping a startled cry from her throat as she arched, coming. Aware even as she lost herself of Baird's strong hands, his big body, his crooning words of praise and pleasure.
Alina looked so beautiful as she came, her face taking on a hot, lost glow as she threw her head back and cried out. The sight alone would have been enough to bring him.
Given how slick and tight she felt on top of it, he didn't have a prayer of holding off.
Baird climaxed with a wordless shout, clinging to her as they spun lazily in the air. Out of control, and not caring.
Long moments passed with his mind empty of anything but her lush curves.
"Forget her." The words burst from his mouth without any conscious thought on his part.
She opened those lovely violet eyes and blinked lazily, startled. "Who?"
"Rajin." This was insane, and he knew it. Yet he couldn't seem to keep the words from spilling out of his mouth. "Don't meet her on Calista. Come with me." His hands tightened, pulling her closer. "Bond with me. Marry me."
* * *
CH@%!*R 7
For just a heartbeat, joy blazed in her gaze. Then it guttered and went out. "Baird, I can't do that. I'm a courier. I've got to deliver a file she's expecting."
"You don't have to do a damn thing. She's kept you a virtual slave for twenty years. You owe her nothing."
Alina sighed. "Baird, Kasi House is a military contractor. If they're using me to carry this file, it's probably important."
"So why the hell are they sending it to Calista? That's not a Vardonese colony, and there are no Vardonese contractors there."
"It's not a courier's job to know what he's carrying. I just go where they tell me to go and protect my files until I get there. You know that. Why are you asking me these questions?"
Baird pushed away from her, the better to fight for control. He could almost hear Ualtar cursing him for his impulsiveness. He was on the verge of blowing the whole thing, yet he'd made the offer anyway. Goddess, he wanted to save her so badly. But what if she didn't deserve saving?
He needed to shut his idiot mouth—and distract her until he could figure out what the hell was going on and what he was going to do about it. "I'm pushing because I'm tired of missing you, Alina. Because I don't understand why you won't sue for emancipation, when you know perfectly well Kasi can't legally keep you. You've served your time. What hold has Rajin got on you?"
Baird turned back just in time to see the telltale guilty flicker in her eyes. "Nothing. Not a bloody thing. I'm just making a living and doing my job. The same as you. Kasi pays well enough."
"Not well enough to afford a lawyer, evidently."
"There are other benefits than money." Her jaw jutting stubbornly, she looked around for her clothes. He watched her kick after her floating breastband, collect it, and jerk it on over her head. "Look, this has been a delightful trip into nostalgia, but we're not kids anymore, Baird." Her breasts bounced as she went after her hipsnugs, but for once he was in no mood to appreciate the view. "The fact is, it's been twenty years. We don't really know each other now. You have no idea what my life is like, and no business pushing me into running off with you." She tried to wiggle back into the snugs, but between her anger and the lack of gravity, it was tough to do. Frustrated, she snapped, "Computer, gravity up."
Anger simmering, Baird sank toward the floor as his weight slowly increased. He watched her jerk on the snugs, roll to her feet, and stalk toward the door.
Just before she stepped outside, she turned to look back at him. For an instant, pain, longing, and fear filled her face before she wiped away all expression. "I don't think it's a good idea to see each other again, Baird."
"Dammit, Alina, let me help you!"
"I can't." She turned and walked out.
Alina spent the next two days in her cabin, brooding. About Baird, of course, wishing for the hundredth time she could explain without risking an implosion of everything she loved. She hated leaving it like this, but she couldn't risk it. At least when she'd lost him before, there hadn't been this anger and bitterness.
Then there was Galar. She missed him with an aching intensity, as she always did whenever Rajin sent her out on one of these interminable missions. She almost hoped the Femmat would bring him along, except Rajin only did that when she intended a little extortion.
It would be best if the boy stayed back on Vardon. Especially since Baird had a point—why had Rajin sent her to Calista with the file when Kasi House had no contractors there?
Alina frowned as a cold, creeping fear slid through her veins. Rajin loved pushing the bounds of common decency, true—but treason?
And if she had turned traitor, what the hell was Alina going to do about it?
Under normal circumstances, the answer was obvious—stop her cold. But there was Galar. Alina couldn't turn a blind eye to treason, but she couldn't allow Rajin to use the terminal command either.
Yet the fact that the Femmat would even implant such a command was a strong indication she'd gone beyond her former petty sins. Alina had been afraid of something like this ever since she'd learned what Rajin had done to Galar.
&nb
sp; Softly, Alina cursed Rajin and herself with equal bitterness. She should have killed the bitch then, even if it meant being executed as a rogue. The trap had closed so slowly she hadn't seen it coming until it was too late.
Alina had unintentionally created the trap herself when she'd impulsively decided to have Baird's child after they'd learned the war was ending. It hadn't been difficult; her computer gave her perfect control over her own reproduction. She'd wanted a baby like Mrs. Ortari's, and she'd expected Kasi House to liberate her. She'd planned to ask Baird to bond with her.
They'd have been a family, raising Galar together.
But when she returned to Kasi House for what should have been the last time, the medtechs discovered she was pregnant. The House was losing all its warrior veterans to emancipation, so when Rajin spotted a way to keep one, she jumped at it. She'd refused to emancipate Alina and ordered the fetus removed and placed in cryostorage. Rajin told Alina she could have the baby back only if she agreed to serve Kasi House for another ten years. By then, the next crop of warriors would be mature and able to serve.
Rajin also forbade her from seeing Baird again, and warned her not to reveal their son's existence. Alina had considered flouting those orders, but soon realized she'd stepped into legal quicksand.
For one thing, half Galar's DNA had been created by Arvid House engineers. Even if she and Baird bonded and successfully sued Kasi House for custody of their son, Arvid House could also put in a claim. After all, a Warrior was an expensive piece of property. She and Baird might win a suit against one House, but two? The fetus could end up in legal limbo for years. In the end, she decided that the only way to keep her son was to play Rajin's game. It was infuriating and terrifying, but she'd felt she had no choice.
Rajin was good at taking away choices.
So Alina had served Kasi as a special courier for ten uneventful years, carrying files containing warship designs between the company, its contractors, and the Vardonese military. As they'd agreed, at the end of nine years, doctors reimplanted the fetus. Galar had been none the worse for his time in cryostorage, and Alina had carried him to term. Kasi House even implanted the computers, sensor, and Warlord neurochemical reservoirs the boy would one day use to go to riaat.
Then Rajin had sprung her next ugly surprise. Though Alina might have completed her service, the boy was the product of Kasi House engineering through his mother, and as such, was legally company property. He was to go to the Warlord Creche—unless Alina agreed to continue her service. If she agreed, Rajin would permit Alina to raise him. When Alina was off on missions, Rajin would see to his care.
She'd had no choice but to agree.
For the next nine years, Alina had no cause to regret the deal she'd made. Galar was a bright, intelligent boy, the image of his father, mischievous and handsome. They existed in a happy bubble of contentment. And they were able to spend a great deal of time together, since other warrior couriers had come into service and her missions were relatively infrequent.
Until the day last year when Rajin called her into her office and gave her a pouch of firegems she wanted delivered to a buyer on Calista. Kasi House didn't deal in gems, and they both knew it. "Consider it a personal favor," Rajin said, with a sly smile.
Rajin was stealing from the company.
Alina had delivered the stones, found out who the buyers were and which Kasi House department the gems had disappeared from.
At last. Here was the evidence she needed to free her son. But before she could present it to the Kasi House Council of Femmats, Rajin called her into her office and told her she'd ordered a termination virus into Galar's computer implant. It had programmed his computer to fill his riatt reservoirs with a neurotoxin. All she had to do was broadcast the code, and the boy's comp would flood his bloodstream with the poison. He'd die in agony, his body so damaged no regenator would be able to repair it.
Reading the death in Alina's eyes, Rajin said, "Keep your mouth shut, give me one more year of service, and I'll erase the code and free you both. But if you touch me, he dies now."
One year.
It was a devil's bargain, and Alina had known it. She would have killed Rajin on the spot, except she feared she wouldn't be able to do it before the Femmat transmitted the code.
It was tempting to try some surprise means of assassination, but she knew she'd be executed for murdering a Femmat, regardless of her reasons. Her son would be left an orphan, the child of a rogue.
So Alina had agreed, secretly planning to hack into the boy's implant and disable the code. Unfortunately, she'd quickly discovered that any attempt to destroy it would result in its activation. And she didn't dare go to the authorities for help, because Rajin would activate the code and kill her son. She'd had no choice but to abide by the agreement and hope Rajin kept her vow.
Rajin had taken full advantage of her blackmail. There had been other deliveries after that—not many, but a few. Mostly gems, some objets d'art. All were items that had mysteriously gone missing from Kasi's treasury.
But was Baird right? Had Rajin gone beyond petty theft to treason—and made Alina an accessory to the crime?
It was time to go to Baird and tell him all the painful truths Rajin had forbidden her to tell. If anybody could help, he could.
But what if something went wrong? What if he tried to move against Rajin and got Galar killed?
By the time the The Antares Empress arrived at Calista, she'd decided it was time to take a chance. Back when they'd fought together, Baird had always found a way to turn defeat into victory. If anybody could help her get out of this mess, it was him. Besides, she was tired of shouldering the burden alone.
When she called his quarters, he'd already left, so Alina hurried to meet the next shuttle, hoping for a chance to talk to him before he caught transport elsewhere. But arriving at the shuttle deck, she found the line to board reached all the way down the corridor.
There was nothing for it but to wait and pray she got to him in time.
Alina descended the shuttle's ramp behind a lushly curved woman with a mass of bright green curls spilling down her back. Her boots clicked as she stepped onto the tarmac.
Warily, Alina scanned the port. All around, other shuttles stood—long, sleek shapes with aerodynamic lines designed for travel into planetary atmospheres. The beacons encircling one of them suddenly began flashing. With a blaring hoot of warning, the huge craft lifted off, floating slowly upward balanced on a delicate antigravity field. It drifted gently higher, lazy as a soap bubble, until its thruster fields abruptly cut in and shot it toward the horizon with a rumbling sonic boom. The field generators in its stubby wings glowed a shimmering blue as it zipped off over the obelisks and broad flat discs that made up the city's architecture.
Baird was somewhere out there. And she needed to find him quickly, if she was to have any hope of escaping the trap she was in.
Scan for him, Alina told her comp.
Pinpointed, it replied after a pause. She looked around to see a set of red crosshairs appear in her field of vision. Hefting her bag over her shoulder, Alina strode in that direction, ignoring the rest of the travelers headed for the sprawling terminal building.
At last she reached the edge of the buffer zone of vegetation that lay around the landing field. The local equivalent of trees were blue with alien chlorophyll, their leaves feathery, more like giant ferns than anything else. The "grass" that covered the ground beneath them was just as blue and equally feathery, leaves spreading out rather than up.
She'd just stepped out under the trees when her comp began howling. Warning! Xer lifesign! Baird is under attack.
What? Sweet gods. What the hell were Xer doing here? Their home world was fifty light years away. She slung her bag across her back by its strap and began to run through the trees. How many of them?
Six. The comp flashed her a mental image of what her sensors were picking up—seven figures, six of them attacking a lone man.
Where the
hell did they come from?
Unknown. It appears to be an ambush.
Give me riaat. She clenched her teeth as the burning chemical storm began, swirling through her body like a wave of lava. In a moment, strength poured in after it, and she was bounding.
What kind of capabilities do they have?
Insufficient data at this distance.
Well, tell me when you figure it out! Alina put her head down and concentrated on running, darting around trees and leaping any shorter vegetation in her path.
She burst into a clearing and almost ran right into them. The six Xer wore civilian clothing: long tunics split for leg room, and one-piece pant-boot combinations, all in dark colors. Silver skull rings jutted from their shaved heads, implanted in patterns. Like the Vardonese, their ancestors had been human colonists, but a couple of hundred years of genetic engineering had left its mark in great strength and vicious intelligence.
Just the sight of them sent rage searing through Alina. Twenty years ago, their kind had invaded Vardon and laid the planet waste. They'd raped and murdered and stolen every bit of Femmat technology they could get their hands on. It had taken Vardon's warrior class five long years to drive them off, and countless good Warlords and Warfems had died in the process.
Alina didn't even break step before slamming into the first of them with a howl. The impact tumbled them both halfway across the clearing. When they rolled to a stop, Alina was straddling him, powering her fist again and again into his face. He was out before he could get in a punch.
Then she was on her feet again, leaping for the remaining five, who had Baird down on the ground and were struggling to hold him there. She grabbed one and spun him around into a punch.
As he fell, Alina danced back, more than ready to fight. To her relief, she saw Baird throw off one of those holding him pinned and hit another in the face. The Warlord surged to his feet, bleeding, his lower lip swollen, his eyes burning red with riaat.
