by Calinda B
Scala had only one glimpse of the two guards’ looks of identical shock, before Tal yanked her around a bend in the passageway.
She was smiling as she followed Tal. She was still reviled by her old crewmates, but it seemed she’d been accepted by her new ones.
Tal pushed open a door and peered out into the dry, dusty alley behind the bar. It smelled strongly of garbage and urine, but it was empty of sentient life. It was also shadowed, dusk having fallen while they were inside.
“You three can bond later,” he snarled. “Get your asses up on the roof and onto the cycles before the cops get here.”
* * *
On the Z, Tal pushed Scala into a seat in the cabin. “Strap in, we’re getting out of here. Where the hells is Dalg?”
She’d had enough of Darkrunner’s rough handling. She opened her mouth to tell him so but he disappeared into the cockpit. The Mau thundered up the gangplank, his slablike face set in a fearsome scowl, his clothing disordered, shirt flapping open.
“Why the quarking hurry? I was making time with that gorgeous stripper.”
“Because we’re about to have the local cops on our tail,” Tal said.
“Only got one quick fuck,” the Mau muttered, shouldering his way into the cockpit.
“Poor guy,” Scala said, stifling a snicker as she caught Darry’s horrified gaze.
He shook his head. “No way. Did you see that stripper? Her tits hung down to here.” He shuddered dramatically.
“Well, I’m glad we’re leaving,” Trix croaked, already back to her insouciant self. “I don’t think much of this port.”
She flung herself into the seat next to Scala and reached for the safety harness.
“No one does,” Scala said dryly. “The name is a joke. You notice there’s no real city, just the space port and a bunch of warehouses.”
As the ship leapt to life under them, Darry put one hand on the bulkhead to steady himself and cast an assessing look over Trix. “You okay, babe?”
She winced, one hand on her throat, which was now mottled with purple bruises. “Throat hurts like a bitch, but I’ll get a gesic as soon as we’re up.”
“How about you?”
It took Scala a moment to realize he was talking to her. “Oh. I’m fine. Thanks.”
“All right.” He disappeared into the cockpit.
Scala looked out a porthole to see the walls of the bay sliding past outside. As soon as they were out into the clear night air, power surged, pressing her back into her seat as the earth shot away under them, leaving the star-filled night sky around them.
As soon as the craft leveled out, both women unfastened the safety harnesses. Scala stood and stretched, wincing as tight muscles protested. She always paid a price for the quick fury of a fight. “Maybe I’ll have one of those gesics too.”
Trix nodded, her gamine face for once serious. “Thanks for what you did in there. That Gorglon scared the hells out of me. He was so big and I couldn’t get my blade out.”
Scala accepted her thanks with a nod. “I won’t stand by and let another female be molested. Thanks for speaking up for me with those two from LodeStar.” She grinned crookedly, remembering the looks on the faces of the two Serpentians.
Trix smiled. “My pleasure. Y’know, they looked like they had titanium rods up their asses. You’re better off with us.”
Leaning up, she kissed Scala on the lips. Her lips were soft and lush, and tasted of cinnamon. “I could be persuaded to do more,” she whispered, eyes twinkling, her small hands sliding up over Scala’s ribs. “Y’know, to show my gratitude.”
“Careful,” Scala replied. “I might accept.”
She cupped Trix’s cheek in her hand and kissed her back, sucking the redhead’s plump lower lip between her own. Their tongues met and played. It felt good, as did Trix’s warm hands on her back, and the brush of her soft braids on Scala’s face.
“Oh, my Gawwd,” Darry groaned from across the room. “Please say yes, Trix, please!”
Scala surprised herself by laughing.
“No show tonight,” she said, stepping back. “Maybe another time. Right now Trix needs a gesic and some rest.”
Her laugh died in her throat as she looked past Darry. Tal stood in the shadows of the passageway to the cockpit, and though she couldn’t see his eyes she could feel power of his persona arcing across the space between them. Was it anger? Lust? Both?
“Tal likes to watch too,” Trix said, peering over her shoulder to follow Scala’s gaze. “Sometimes he even joins in.”
“I do,” Tal agreed, without moving. “But she’s right, babe. You need gesics and rest. You can put on a show for us another time.”
“Damn. He’s right,” Darry said, with clear regret. He moved forward and pulled Trix with him toward the galley and sleep cubbies. “Come on, girl. Let’s get you fixed up.”
When the two were gone, Scala crossed her arms and leaned against the seat behind her, regarding Tal with what she hoped looked like a challenging gaze, and not just nerves.
“So you like watching women together, hmm?” The thought of him watching Trix and her do more than kiss sent need clenching low in her belly.
“Every male with a breath of life in his body likes to watch two hot females together.”
That was certainly true. “And you enjoy ménage too. Now why does that not surprise me?”
“Probably for the same reason I’m not surprised you enjoyed kissing Trix.” He moved toward her with a deceptively casual gait that sent an electric thrill racing through her. “Because you and I both know another player when we meet. But right now, I’m all you’ve got.”
“Huh. You expect me to settle for you?” The excitement rising in her was so intense she could hardly breathe. But it mixed with anger and frustration in a jagged brew.
He shrugged out of his duster and tossed it over a seat. The soft leather draped like silk, leaving him clad in skintight tee and leather pants. And under that it was all him. “We both know you won’t be settling. I have … weapons Trix doesn’t.”
She eyed the impressive bulge in his leathers and snorted. “I can take you down, ganger.”
“Snake Eyes, you’re the best unarmed fighter I’ve ever met. But with a blade, I’m the best. He reached for her. “And with my cock, I’m even better.”
Flirting was one thing. This was another entirely. The pleasure of his praise disappeared in a scalding flood of fury. Scala straight-armed him, her palm planted against his chest.
“How dare you?” she demanded, shaking with anger. “You smug bastard. You actually think I’m gonna let you fuck me, after the way you’ve treated me?”
Darkrunner cocked his head, his braids falling against his cheek and swinging across his chest. His hands were hot on her waist. Damn him. His spicy scent and heat was like the most enticing, erotic perfume.
His crystalline gaze held hers, hot and watchful at the same time. “You think I’ve treated you badly? No. I knew the instant I saw you—the look of you, the way you move your gorgeous little body, the way you hold your head up high and glare a man in the eye, daring him to try anything—I knew then that you’re either the best at what you do, or so arrogant you’re gonna get yourself killed. And if that happens, you could take with you anyone who was depending on you to back them up.’
He shook his head once, and his hands moved, caressing her through her thin tank, warm and sure. “You’re Serpentian, and you’re guard trained. Knew when I kicked you off the gangplank that you’d land on your feet. Then you’d either kick my ass or lose your mind and try to kill me. The former, I could live with. The latter, well ... I would’ve had to take you out.”
She stared at him. “Goddess. You thought I was crazy?”
He smiled slowly, his teeth gleaming, cheeks creasing in new, beguiling patterns of ink. “Thought you might be a little bit rezzed. You’re wearing a chip, babe. They don’t hand those out for petty theft.”
His amusement and, contraril
y, her fascination with him sent her anger flaming up again. “Yeah, and wearing this quarking chip is loads of fun. I’ve spent two years scraping for a living on one dirty, stinking ship after another, sleeping with one eye open, afraid to trust anyone. I’ve learned not to take shit from anyone. You’re only the latest in a long line of guys who thought they could take what they wanted from me, just because I’m female.”
His smile disappeared, his eyes glowing with jewel-like intensity. He shook his head slowly.
“That’s not why they want you, Snake Eyes. You’re not just female, and every male who lays eyes on you knows it.”
He lifted one ringed hand and wrapped it around the back of her neck, as if he could infuse her with his heat, his sureness.
“You were ashamed to lose your place on that ships’ guard. But don’t you see, Snake Eyes? You’re so much more than they are. You’re a gorgeous, wild woman who’ll take everything a man’s got, wring him dry and leave him thanking God for the chance.”
He pulled her closer to him, and this time she didn’t resist. Couldn’t resist, so beguiled was she by the wry sincerity in his low voice and the heat in his eyes. How could she ever have believed their icy hue meant he was cold to the core?
“Now you’re with me,” he went on. “Which means you’re safe. LodeStar can’t get at you, none of them can. Any one tries, and I’ll laser their asses. Darry and Dalg—hells, and Trix—will back me up.”
He pulled her the final inches, so that she was against his hard, lean heat, enveloped with his scent and power. “Now, how about I let you show me what you can do with those legs besides break a man’s neck?”
She was still, her mind whirling with his words of praise, her senses awash in him—his heat, his scent, his leashed power. She flexed her short nails in the hard, spongy pad of his pectoral and eyed his mouth, so close to her own.
The mention of LodeStar was a shaft of pain through her haze of heat and lust, but she quashed it ruthlessly. It had been months since she’d had anything to hold besides her tech, and she wanted to be held. She also wanted him desperately.
“Just sex,” she muttered, reminding herself more than him. “That’s all.”
“That’s all,” he agreed, one arm sliding around her to pull her groin flush with his, the other hand still cupping the back of her neck. What was it with him and her nape? And why did she like it so much?
She hissed with pleasure as his cock nudged into the notch of her thighs and a deep, clenching need burst into life within her, as if she could already feel how good it would be to have that long, stiff length thrusting inside her.
“Just don’t go all starry-eyed on me,” she managed, her own arm going around his neck. “I lose all respect when a male follows me around afterward with his tongue hanging out.”
She felt, rather than heard his quiver of silent laughter. His thick, charcoal lashes swept down as he looked at her mouth, so close to his. She wanted to kiss the taut skin on his angled cheek, wanted to follow the lines of ink with her tongue. See if he tasted as spicy and male as he smelled.
“I can swear not to do that,” he promised, “but I wouldn’t mind seeing your tongue, Serp girl.”
“You like to kiss?” she asked, widening her eyes. That didn’t fit his take-no-prisoners sexuality.
“Women have tried, and women have died,” he said, his beringed thumb stroking over her bottom lip.
This surprised a laugh out of her. Kissing was intimate, sometimes as much so as the act of penetration. Kissing him sure as hells would be. And she could hardly breathe for craving a taste of his mouth. Those thin, curving lips of his could look so cruel, or so amused. Right now they looked delicious.
“But for you,” he added, leaning closer, “I’ll make an exception.”
“I’m ... flattered.” And unwillingly charmed, a new kind of warmth stealing through the heat of lust. “Not many males like Serp tongues.”
He looked up at her from under his lashes. “I’m a mongrel. Suspect I’ve the blood of more than a few planets running in my veins. A bit of Serp and who the hells knows what else. What I do know, Snake Eyes, is that your forked tongue is fucking hot. And I want it in my mouth and all over me. Now shut up and kiss me.”
She hesitated, yearning pulling her forward, caution holding her back. A thrill of premonition assailed her. If she did this, she would never be quite the same. Thing was, she couldn’t even remember why that was important. And she wasn’t sure she had the strength of will to walk away from this fascinating, infuriating, sexy man without having him at least once.
But it was just sex … right? Of course it was.
She moved forward the scant centimeters between them, and brushed her lips cautiously against his. A shiver of reaction raced through her at the sheer, primal pleasure of the contact. Damn it to the seven hells.
“This is probably a mistake,” she mumbled, turning her face against his. Quark it, she wanted to drink him in through her pores. His smooth upper cheek slid against her own, his incipient whiskers pricked her chin.
“Probably,” he agreed.
She gave in with a sigh. She had to have a taste of him.
His lips weren’t soft and plump like Trix’s, they were firm and smooth and so purely male Scala felt as if she could kiss him all day and never get enough. As if she’d been granted a sliver of gourmand charnelle, the fiery Serpentian version of chocolate, prized as an aphrodisiac treat. And now the entire tray was being waved in front of her ... but what would be the price?
There was always a price...eventually. And she’d be the one to pay. She pulled away, ready to shake her head, to retreat.
His hand tightened on her neck. His braids slid against her cheek as he cocked his head and moved in. “Too late, little warrior. I want more.”
He opened his mouth over hers and took over the kiss, using his lips and the tip of his tongue to sample her lips, suckling and tasting her. She hung on and let the kiss take her, swirling swiftly along a current of no return.
He tasted of that mysterious spice of his, hot and addictive, overlaid faintly with firewhisky. She hated the stuff, but on his mouth, she could grow to crave it.
She fluttered the forked tip of her tongue against his and then circled his tongue, enwrapping it and tugging it into her own mouth. He groaned, the sound reverberating from his chest into hers as he moved, walking her backward until they thumped against the bulkhead. His mouth fastened to hers, their breath mingling as he kissed her ravenously.
His mouth locked with hers, he slid his hand into the waistband of her tights and pulled them down.
He was going to touch her out here, where any of the others could watch, where they could see that this alpha ganger lord wanted her. Even the niggle of shame at her own delight couldn’t quell the frantic need clenching her pussy. She moved her hips to help him, and lifted one leg to free it as he pushed her tights lower. Her soft boot fell to the carpet with a thud that she barely heard as his hard, powerful hand cupped her mons, his fingers delving insistently into the wet, swollen lips of her labia. She moaned into his mouth as hot pleasure drenched her.
He pulled his mouth from hers just far enough to gaze into her eyes. “From angry to wet in less than a minute—I knew it,” he gloated.
“Smug bastard,” she muttered, but she lifted her bare leg and wrapped it around him, her heel digging into his taut ass. “Touch me—yesss. Like that. Oh, goddess ... Darkrunner.”
His fingers delved deeper, first one and then another thrusting a little way into her sleek depths. She canted her hips, seeking more, and he laughed soundlessly.
“Oh, no. You want me inside you, you get my cock.”
“Then do it,” she ordered, moaning as he teased her, rimming her opening and then brushing his thumb over her clitoris, which spasmed with need.
She thrust her own hand between them and found the fastening of his pants. She worked them open, and hissed with appreciation as his cock sprang into her hand, hot an
d silky and even larger than she’d expected. He quivered in her hand like a live charge, ready to explode. She could’ve stroked him all day if she didn’t need him so badly elsewhere.
She wanted to see him too, but couldn’t get a good view of it down between them, except for the broad head, spangled with his arousal. It was gorgeous. “I want you in me now.”
“Not yet.” He teased her more, his rough finger going just a bit deeper, his gaze holding hers, drinking in every nuance of her reaction.
“Why not? You manipulative—oh.”
Her head thumped back against the wall, and she arched in his arms, her pussy spasming with need as he brushed her clitoris again. She tangled her fingers with his, stroking herself, but she needed more. She grabbed a handful of his long braids with the other and yanked, hard. “Darkrunner, fuck me or I will hurt you.”
He laughed. “Now you’re ready for me.” He reached down and guided the broad head of his shaft into her labia, and then flexed his hips hard, driving up, up into her needy depths.
She froze, impaled on him, her pleasure edged with shock and pain. He was hot and smooth and too quarking big. She might be experienced, but it had been a few months. And he was bigger than the average male.
“Or as ready as a woman can ever be for me,” he said, and began to move. She moaned as his retreating shaft raked nerve endings, and then found new ones as he thrust back in, this time hitting the spot up inside her that sent shivers of impending ecstasy through her pussy.
Goddess, he was having her. Tal Darkrunner, the most dangerous man she’d ever met, was fucking her against the bulkhead of his luxury pirate ship.
“Keep those snake eyes open,” he ordered, his hips pistoning up into the cradle of her thighs, their flesh slapping together with a wet, succulent sound. “I want to see you come—all for me.”
She dragged her heavy eyes open and looked into his, riveted by the heat there, which rivaled that of their joining. Mind-fuck, she thought hazily. Not gonna happen.
“You get my body, not my will,” she told him. “But I’ll be happy to take what I want from you.” She tightened her inner muscles around his cock and came hard and long, pleasure thundering in waves where she held him and surging outward through her body.
