Rebel Souls

by D. L. Jackson

  “More than you possibly could know.” There was no sense in denying it. She knew. She’d already touched the proof. But touch? No, more than that. Seth wanted to pound into her until the craving vanished.

  “Then why resist?” she whispered. Dark, wicked eyes stared at him through the silver’s reflection.

  He couldn’t. Not anymore. Seth’s hand fell to her bare skin, and his eyes dropped shut. He skimmed his fingers across her flesh, taking in the sensations touching her created. He took his time, savoring the silky texture under his fingertips, inhaling the erotic musk of her perfume, a mix of a woody spice and desire. Forbidden. Wrong. He should walk away. Leave this woman standing in front of her mirror and ignore the siren that beckoned him to jump into an ocean of trouble.

  But the best intentions fled as the need that thrummed through his body, reminding him he was above everything else, a man. “I’m a Regulator,” he all but growled in his hunger. Voracious. “You’re a criminal.” He repeated it several times to himself, hoping his desire would wan. It didn’t. The temptation seemed to only lure him deeper in. Seth brushed his hand down her arm, pushing her strap lower. Ava leaned back against him, her bare flesh scorching him through his clothing.

  “Am I?” She turned her face and whispered against his lips. “Prove it.”

  Seth’s eyes snapped open at the challenge. Nothing drove him like a dare. With his other hand, he shoved the sheer fabric up her thigh. He wanted to touch those jeweled lips, feel the heat he’d only witnessed before. He needed to hear the same whimpers that slipped from her mouth as she’d pleasured herself in the shower. He craved to hear her scream his name as he drove into her over and over again.

  Gods, he wanted, and this time he was taking.

  He found her clit and rubbed. She moaned and bucked into his fingers, coating them with cream. Already hot and wet. He could no longer control, stop the inevitable. His blood was on fire. Seth’s lips found the divot between her shoulder and throat. He nipped and kissed along the bare skin. “You make me crazy.”

  He slipped two fingers inside her and fucked her with them, enjoying the way she shivered under his touch. Gods be damned, he’d make her purr.

  “Don’t fight it. Take me.”

  Gladly. He grabbed her long hair and twisted it around his fist. Seth pushed her down onto the dressing room table, pinning her to the surface. Makeup and perfume crashed to the floor, and she clamped on to the edge of the table in a white-knuckle grip. He used his knee to push her legs into a wider stance. With his free hand, he tore his fly open, released his cock and shoved her dress over her hips. She whimpered and squirmed against him, but he continued to hold her pinned to the table. He thrust his fingers inside her again, fucking and twisting until she cried out and raked at the table’s surface. “Please.”

  “You want?” He tightened his grip in her hair and grabbed his laser. A quick tug from the holster and he tossed it across the room and onto her bed. “You’re a tease, Captain Frost.”

  There’d be no weapons pulled on him this time. This time he would give her exactly what she’d asked for, and maybe she’d think twice about provoking him again. “Be careful what you wish for.”

  Seth pressed the head of his cock against her wet lips and buried himself in her pussy, still hot and wet from her shower play. He groaned as her pussy squeezed around him, fitting his cock as though they belonged together. The little jeweled studs rubbed along his shaft and small pulses thrummed from them. He pushed deeper. She felt better than he’d imagined.

  “Yes,” she gasped. “Please. Oh please.” She rocked back into him and he pulled back and thrust again, slamming into her pussy. More pulses from the studs. More whimpers from Frost. His balls tightened. No. Too fast. He’d come before he’d had a chance to thoroughly fuck her. He pumped harder—faster. Flesh slapped flesh, and Frost thrashed under him, her cries ragged.

  The pressure built. Seth gritted his molars together and fought his climax. Not now. He wanted her to come undone in his arms as he’d done for her in his room. He wanted her to know she wasn’t the only one with power to take a person apart. Before he was finished, the world would fracture around her and every shattered second their flesh touched would be embedded in her memories, as impossible to exorcise from her soul as her touch was from his.

  Ava’s pussy spasmed around him. She cried out. He released her hair and grabbed her hips, riding her through the orgasm. Her muscles clamped onto his cock, milking, pulsing, and bringing him closer to loss of control. No. He pushed away the urge to let go.

  Not yet. She bucked, thrashed, and whimpered. The wait, the pain rode along every nerve in his body. Harder. Faster. Her body ignited into an inferno under him.

  “Oh,” Ava screamed and orgasmed again. She dropped over the precipice. Slicker. Hotter, swollen around him. She gasped and quivered. Ava Frost had come undone.

  Now.

  Seth drove in, seating himself to his balls. He pulled her back into him and held her tight. He threw his head back and let go of all control. Hot spurts of cum pulsed from his cock, each sending an electrical jolt through his body. Every nerve in his body convulsed along with his orgasm. Muscles tightened and pleasure rolled through him in wave after wave. Ava wasn’t the only one to shatter. Legatus Seth Reynolds knew in that moment, he would never be the same.

  After what seemed like forever, he collapsed on top of her and kissed her shoulder.

  “I thought you said you didn’t dance,” she said and started laughing.

  Chapter Five

  Legatus Seth Reynolds had a dark side. Inside the by-the-book Regulator was an animal waiting to get out, and who knew it only took a little push to set him free? She hadn’t expected the aggressive way he’d taken her, and she definitely didn’t think he’d bite on the bait she’d tossed in front of him.

  He hadn’t bitten, he’d devoured.

  He lifted off her and backed away. His clothes rustled as he buckled up. Seconds later, he snagged her arm and pulled her off the dressing table. “I don’t dance, physically or around the law.” He spun her around and brought her into a vis-à-vis. He tipped his head and lowered his lips to hers. His hand came up to her jaw, and he cupped her cheek, a complete contradiction to the way he’d just had her. Heat blossomed in her belly and Ava was ready for more.

  He broke the kiss and placed her at arm’s length. “Now tell me why you went through that wormhole backward.”

  She looked into his eyes and lied. She should feel guilty, but didn’t. The freedom of millions hung on hiding the truth. “I told you, it was….”

  “An accident?” His grip tightened on her shoulders, and he narrowed his eyes. “No, I don’t think so.”

  She searched his face, looking for any clue that he wasn’t one hundred percent convinced. Nothing. Not a twitch that indicated he thought otherwise.

  So she lied again. “The Frost name makes me a target. Regulators tend to shoot first and ask questions after they’ve blasted my ship to dust. I chose not to take the chance you were trigger happy.”

  “Liar.”

  She shrugged. “Believe what you will.” She nodded toward the door to her room. “You’ve already searched my ship. Tell me, Legatus Reynolds, have you found anything to indicate I’ve been anything but truthful with you?”

  “It’s what I haven’t found, what I can’t see, that bothers me.” He frowned and stared into her eyes. “Just so we’re clear, if I discover you’ve lied to me, that you’ve broken the law, I will take you in. You will be charged with the crimes you’ve committed, and you will be sentenced accordingly.”

  She lifted a brow. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else. You do have your duty. But as you could see from your very thorough examination, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  “We shall see about that.” He spun on his heel and exited her room.

  Ava watched him leave. The strength in her legs gave, and she collapsed to sit on the dressing table. She sucked in a deep breath and
stared at the door. Sentenced accordingly equaled one thing for what she’d done.

  Execution.

  ***

  Ava stepped onto the ramp and glanced down. Seth leaned against the fuselage, his arms crossed, watching her with the same intensity with which he’d just made love.

  She’d changed into freighter pants and a fitted top. Not because she was concerned about modesty. Something told her the Regulator wouldn’t let her wear what she’d had on earlier. She’d never done anything to appease a man, but for some reason she’d done it for him. Though she’d adjusted her clothing, she couldn’t change where she was going, or what she needed to do. As she eyed the stubborn expression on Seth’s face, she knew it would be a problem.

  Meeting the Rebel leader and conducting the necessary business would be tricky. The only way to talk to him would be to pull him onto the dance floor and discuss moving the shipment under the cover of the blast music. With the Regulator dogging her heels, she might not even get a chance to do that. If Seth recognized her Underground contact, things could get ugly.

  For everyone.

  She checked the weapon on her hip. Set to stun, it could be changed at a moment’s notice. The last thing she wanted to do was shoot him. If he got between her and her mission to her people, she’d squeeze the trigger.

  She walked past him without a single word spoken. As expected, he fell into step next to her. She exited the hanger and turned to the right, heading into the bowels of New Xiera Port’s infamous Blue District, a Nexian mini-city.

  Few places in the galaxy were as dangerous, or in her case, as safe. This was Rebel territory. She glanced sideways at the Regulator, who had been smart enough to know to leave his uniform in his room. Still, the military haircut, the way he carried himself, screamed law enforcement. Well, that and the fact his laser was set to kill. Illegal for the average citizen, the norm for law enforcement.

  “You’re set to kill.”

  “We’re going into a dangerous neighborhood.”

  “And you’re going to draw the danger to us unless you switch your weapon over to stun.”

  Seth flipped it to stun with his thumb, as casually as he breathed. Ava nodded but kept her eyes ahead, taking in everything in her surroundings. She’d learned a long time ago to always be aware of what and who was around.

  To her left, three drug dealers dressed as beggars sold high-credit, low quality euphoric buzz drugs to a well-dressed businessman who pretended to give them a handout. He didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong, but the slight shake of his hands, his weakening high, the tell-tale golden halo in his eyes and bruising around his mouth, told her he was a buzz junkie. He’d resorted to the cheap, street version made in back-room labs with anything but natural materials. An extremely dangerous, highly addictive substance.

  Not her business. If he wanted to kill himself with the crap, by all means, he didn’t need her help. She was more interested in saving those who couldn’t save themselves, those who never had a choice to live their lives the way they wanted to.

  Ava’s gaze landed on a child in rags on her right. His arms were wrapped around what looked like a toy shock rifle. His chin rested on one knee where he sat on an empty disintegrator. His other leg swung back and forth, while his gaze locked onto them. The child’s eyes moved slowly, shifting from Ava to Seth. Sharp. Hungry. Even for a child, he had the look of a predator.

  He looked frail, maybe seventy pounds and less than ten years of age, but Ava knew the boy wasn’t defenseless. The child stood sentinel for a pack of wild children. A gold strip of fabric around his left arm, a primitive form of rank, told her he was a scout. The juveniles roamed the Blue District, wielding knives, razors, laser rifles, pipes, and anything else they could use as a weapon. The children wouldn’t hesitate to cut them to pieces, or beat them to death, if they had the unfortunate luck to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child noted the patch on the sleeve of her shirt and gave her a curt nod, letting her know they could pass in safety. Ava reached into her pocket, extracted a credit chip, and tossed it to the child.

  They might be dangerous, but they were still hungry children. She’d been there before, not knowing when her next meal would come. The streets took care of their own, and New Xiera Port was no exception. The funds would feed several children for a week. They’d share.

  The child caught the chip and pocketed it. His gaze turned to the businessman. He hopped up from the trash receptacle, slung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder, and followed the man, who’d left the drug peddlers and ambled deeper into the bad neighborhood, most likely to shoot the buzz into his veins.

  “He’s a dead man,” Ava said to Seth.

  “Who?”

  “The man in the fancy clothes who bought drugs from the dealers on the corner. He’s a target.”

  “Who bought drugs?”

  Ava nodded across the street to where the man walked. Seth turned his head and watched him as he rounded the corner. “You know this how?”

  “He’s a junkie and needs a fix before he goes into mania, a nasty side effect of buzz. The child, he’s part of a gang—a sentinel, and he watched the entire transaction.” Ava shook her head. “Easy pickings.”

  Seth lifted his wrist and the com he’d strapped on to his mouth, and Ava grabbed his arm. “Don’t. We’re being watched, and we could be targeted next if they think you’re a threat.” She snagged his sleeve and veered off course, pulling him across the street and after the man who was in danger. “They don’t like Regulators in this part of the city.”

  Someone screamed as Ava and Seth rounded the corner. The children had already surrounded the man. Ava charged forward into the mass of knives, sticks, and pipes the horde wielded as they beat at the man, driving him to the ground. Several defensive wounds covered his arms and hands, and the sounds of meaty thuds filled the night.

  “Ava. Oh, hell,” Seth spat and pulled his laser, leaving it on stun. The last thing he wanted to do was kill a child, no matter how bloodthirsty the little bastards were. He took aim and tagged the biggest child in the back, dropping him to his knees. Alive. Stunned and temporarily disabled, a lot less than the children had planned for the drug addict.

  “Stop!” Ava yelled and wrenched a pipe from a child’s hand, flinging it against a clay-covered wall, chipping the stony surface. “Let him go!”

  “Says who?” Another child swiped his razor across her forearm. Blood seeped from the wound, quickly soaking her sleeve.

  Ava held the child’s gaze as he lifted his weapon to strike again. “Brodie’s Duchess.”

  The children froze mid-attack and turned toward her. “How do we know?”

  She lifted a medallion out of her shirt. Several children gasped. Seconds later the hoodlums backed away, slinking into the shadows from where they’d come. She tucked the pendant back into her top and studied the man on the ground, who whimpered and rolled into a ball on his side. Ava nudged him with the toe of her boot. “Get out of here before they decide to come back.”

  The buzz addict grabbed her ankle and wept against it. “Thank you, thank you. I….”

  “Save it for someone who cares.” Ava jerked her leg free. “I didn’t do it for you.” She turned to Seth, her composure like stone, her expression as cold as her name. She didn’t have to tell him who she’d done it for. He’d seen. If the orphans killed the man in front of the Regulator, he would have had to report it. The authorities would raid the neighborhood, and any child identified as being involved in the attack, would be arrested—and either expelled from New Xiera, or worse.

  Ava spun on her heel and walked past Seth. “We need to leave.”

  He frowned and stared after her. Who was Brodie’s Duchess, and why did the children back off when the name was mentioned? He’d never heard of her. Someone that powerful in the Underground would certainly be a name he’d know. He knew them all. Warlords, smugglers, black market dealers, slavers, gangsters, and pirates, but nowhere on his lis
t was Brodie’s Duchess. And what was on the medallion she’d tucked between her breasts?

  Another thing he planned to clarify before he and Captain Frost parted ways. He started after her, his stride eating the distance between them quickly. He snagged her arm, stopping her. The chain glittered around her neck, tempting him to pluck it from her cleavage. Seth reached for it.

  Ava pushed his hand away. “Don’t. It was a birthday present.”

  “Who is…?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” She spun and walked away.

  ***

  New Xiera Port docks, ten years before….

  “Come with me, Duchess.”

  Ava snapped awake and stared into the lapis depths of Brodie Mark’s eyes.

  “We’ll make history today.” He straddled her hips with his hands pressed into her bunk on each side of her head, leaning in with his lips inches from hers.

  “I’m not dressed and if that was a pass, it was really bad.” The New Xieran summer had been hotter than usual and the scorching afternoon baked the air in her cabin, forcing her to strip to the thin T-shirt and her skivvies. Sometime during her nap, the sheet had worked down to her knees, exposing the naked flesh of her thighs and her belly, where her shirt had bunched up.

  “Not a pass.” His smile started as a twitch in the corners of his mouth and quickly spread to his whole face. Jewels twinkled from around her hips and navel, reflecting in Brodie’s gaze. “And it’s more than obvious you’re not dressed, Duchess.”

  “Brodie,” Ava gasped and grabbed the sheets. She yanked as hard as she could in an attempt to cover her body. Best friend or not, he didn’t need to see her nearly naked. “You’re not supposed to be here—when I’m alone.” She shoved his shoulder, pushing him back. “Uncle Theo will kill you if he finds you in here.”

  Brodie shrugged, knowing there was little chance of that. Her uncle had left for a meeting and told Ava to stay put. She’d soon grown bored and dropped into sleep only to be woken by the twenty-year-old heartthrob.