No Rules

by McCormick, Jenna

She shivered, and though he was dead to the world, he tightened his embrace. His strength took her breath away, yet it was his gentleness that had captured her heart. Even here in the middle of an icy hellhole with their futures uncertain, he treated her like a queen. Or an empress.

  No matter how badly she fucked up, or how irrationally she behaved, he didn’t hold it against her, even when she thought he should.

  It was like he’d been given an instruction manual capable of navigating her specific breed of crazy. And the way he touched her, aroused her, drove her out of her mind with lust, almost as if he’d been tailor-made for her. Her sex clenched when she remembered exactly how well he fit inside her, how they moved together. Alison had experienced plenty of sex before but sharing her body with Del was so much more than the colliding of body parts like a wreck in space. It was . . . celestial.

  But that didn’t mean it would last beyond the moment.

  Exhaustion crept over her, blunting the sharp edge of her worry until she dozed lightly on top of his broad chest.

  The scraping of the cell door woke her even before the voice said, “How precious.”

  “Drop off the tray and be gone.” Alison didn’t budge.

  “Not this time. The empress wishes to speak with you.”

  Heart thundering in her ears, she slowly sat up. This was it.

  “Del.” Alison shook him. “Wake up. Gwella wants to see us.”

  Crystalline-blue eyes opened and fixed on her. Though he barely moved, she felt his arms tighten in a reassuring squeeze. “Then we shouldn’t keep the empress waiting.”

  He sat up, helped her to her feet before standing himself. The patroller eyeballed them both with obvious distaste before turning on her heel and marching them through the dark basement. Another patroller stood at attention, waiting to bring up the rear.

  Del gripped her hand in his. She knew he saw better in the dark, and he guided her safely forward. She had a difficult time swallowing, her throat was so dry. Her heart beat so fast, and she felt a little dizzy, probably from lack of food.

  She expected to be led to some kind of throne room or maybe the table in the dining area where she’d done paperwork what seemed like a lifetime ago. Instead the patroller led them to a bathroom, a real one with chemical foam showerheads.

  “You have two minutes to clean your hides and dress in fresh clothing.” She nodded to a storage container with beige and gray fabric sealed within.

  “And if we’re not ready?” Alison couldn’t help but prod.

  “I’ll whip you both and drag you naked before her.” The glimmer in her eyes told Alison she’d enjoy it.

  The second the door closed, she and Fenton raced to strip. Having more practice getting naked, she won and smacked the button on the wall. The cleansing foam rained down on them.

  He spit, and she giggled as she moved to him, eager to help him clean up. To get her hands on his magnificent body. After spending a few hours trying to keep up with his workout routine, she knew exactly how those muscles could move. And how much work he’d done to hone them so precisely.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were enjoying yourself.”

  Skimming her hands over his body, she arched when he did the same to hers. “It’ll go faster if we wash each other.”

  “You think so?” he rumbled, his touch traveling over her back, down to her ass. He liked it exactly as it was, despite the jiggles, the larger size. Proof-positive grew hard against her belly while he cupped her overly padded backside.

  “Maybe not, but it’s definitely more fun.” Perhaps it was the finality that was only moments away, but Alison felt almost giddy as he explored her body. The tingling foam evaporated, leaving her feeling clean for the first time in a week.

  “I never considered fun”—he rested his forehead against hers even as his hands kept up their busy work, half-cleaning, half-playing—“until I met you.”

  “It seems so frivolous. We have no idea what’s going to happen after we leave here.”

  “No sense worrying about that.” His hands moved to her front, cupped her breasts, weighing them, then moved to her shoulders. “You are so lovely.”

  “I never felt this way before, not until you looked at me the way you do.” She slathered his chest and down over his eight-pack of hard muscles.

  “One minute!” The patroller banged on the door, shattering the sweet moment.

  “What way is that?” He ignored the patroller and scrubbed her hair thoroughly, while her hands went lower. His erection pressed into her fleshy midsection, leaving a drop of precum on her skin. If they were anywhere else, she’d work him into a state until he took her hard and fast. But they didn’t have the time. Instead she cleaned his ridged flesh, the sac hanging heavily beneath, then skimmed down his legs.

  To her this little ritual wasn’t about getting clean, much as she wanted that. She wanted to say good-bye. With that thought in mind, she worked her way up the backs of his legs over the firm globes of his ass and down the crease in between. “Like I mean something.”

  Using what was left of the foam, she worked her finger into his opening at the same time she swallowed his cock whole. He wasn’t expecting it, didn’t tense up, and she wiggled the digit until she found the hard bump of his prostate, pressing hard, pushing him toward release with an insistent massage even as she gulped down the ridged staff, milking him with her throat muscles.

  With a strangled yell he came, shooting down her throat just as the bitch patroller shouted, “Thirty seconds!”

  Though she didn’t want to, Alison released him and finished washing herself as best she could with the remaining foam. He went down on all fours looking utterly shocked. She dove for the container and ripped open the lid, pulling out the fabric within. A long-sleeved dress for her and shirt and pants for Del. The foam had almost evaporated, though he hadn’t moved.

  “Here, put these on.” Flinging the clothes at him she yanked the dress over her head. It wasn’t the most flattering thing in the world, more like a shapeless sack and without any undergarments the coarse texture abraded her still tingling nipples.

  Del barely had the pants up over his hips when the door opened.

  “Time’s up. Hope you made good use of it.” The patroller waved them forward.

  Alison blocked the other woman’s view of Del with her body and put her hands on her hips. “Couldn’t think of a better one.” She smirked.

  He made a strangled sound behind her. She cast him a quick look and was glad to see he had pulled the shirt on. Good, no whipping. Patroller bitch would just have to get her rocks off elsewhere.

  The patroller’s eyes narrowed. “The empress is waiting. Move it.”

  23

  Fenton clasped his hands behind his back, hiding them from the patroller’s scrutiny. Alison had blindsided him completely with her little surprise seduction. One second he had been busy washing her, and in the next she had driven him to his knees, gasping to recover from the most explosive orgasm of his life.

  He hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t anticipated her abruptness or his potent reaction to her shocking touch. Embarrassment at his lightning-quick reaction churned under the surface. Sure, he’d been aroused, he usually was when he was so near her, but the way she’d taken charge, demanded his body obey, took sexual gratification to a whole new level.

  No one else could have toppled his control. Only Alison had ever crept past his defense grid to his command center. She’d taken over and he couldn’t wait for her to do it again.

  Just like her jealousy, it warmed him to know she wanted him so fiercely, had as much trouble keeping her hands off him as he had keeping his away from her. He owed her an orgasm, though, and he licked his lips as his eyes absorbed the swaying of her backside. So many possibilities to even the playing field.

  Now is not the time for this.

  But the moment would come and he planned to take full advantage of it.

  Gwella had visibly aged since the la
st time Fenton saw her. She sat at the end of a long table. The seats to her right and left remained empty. Kel and the man he recognized as her personal breeder sat facing one another. Ari was nowhere in sight.

  “Where is she?” Fenton’s voice was calm, but even so, the patroller who’d escorted them up hit him on the back of the head with the end of her chem whip. It hurt, but he barely flinched. The time of pretending to fit in with this society was at an end.

  Alison glared at the patroller. “That was unnecessary.”

  “Your breeder speaks out of turn.” She sneered.

  Alison’s hazel eyes narrowed, her tone filled with warning. “Don’t call him that. He’s twice the warrior you are, you rancid bitch.”

  “Enough!” Gwella smacked her hand on the table. “Patrollers will leave now.”

  The sadistic woman’s jaw dropped. “Empress, they are dangerous—”

  Gwella cast the woman a dangerous look. “I have their offspring. They pose no threat to me. Be gone, before I order you whipped for insubordination.”

  Bowing low, the women turned and departed. Gwella’s glare fixed on him. “You. You have incited revolution.”

  “What do you mean?” Alison asked. “How could he do anything? He’s barely been conscious in the last week.”

  Kel cleared his throat. His gaze went to Gwella, who scowled, but he spoke anyway. “The breeders are gathered by the gate, demanding to be let out. It seems they would rather face the helcats with their bare hands than continue to live in subjugation.”

  “You are their representative?” Fenton asked.

  Grief shadowed the other man’s face. “It’s what Dani would have wanted.”

  “How dare you speak for my daughter?” Gwella snarled. “She was the greatest warrior ever to be born.”

  “But she didn’t want to be!” Kel stood up and faced down his lost love’s irate mother. “Do you know what she wanted? To spend time with the young ones, to nurture and teach them to grow things. Her heart was that of a caretaker, not a warrior. She did what she did out of love and duty, but she hated every minute.”

  “Lies!” the empress snarled. “I think I know the heart of my own child better than some half-wit breeder!”

  “Enough!” the other man thundered, causing Alison to jump. Fenton put his hand on her arm to reassure her and she cast him a nervous glance.

  “Link,” Gwella started but he rose to his full imposing height, clearly irritated.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is that really how you see us? See me? As some intellectual inferior?”

  “No, of course not,” the empress stammered. “It’s them, not you.”

  Planting his fists on the table, Link steamrolled her. “I am one of them! I agree with them, the same way your daughter did. Do you want to know why we never got along? It had nothing to do with her sire. She didn’t respect me for not standing up to you, for being your faithful hound instead of the man I could have been.”

  Gwella wrapped her arms around herself, shook her head. “That’s not true.”

  “It is, whether you accept it or not. She came to me, begged me to talk to you. I refused, told her I believed you would make wise decisions and do what was best for your people. That I owed you my support. I thought we had an understanding, that there was mutual respect shared between us. I see now your prejudices make that impossible. No man alive took part in the creation of the helcats, yet we are continually subjected to your disdain. How is that just?” Link squared his shoulders and moved toward the door.

  “I will not be coerced, by you or anyone else!” Gwella shouted. “This colony’s welfare is my responsibility, not yours.”

  Link turned back to face her, to face them all. “Then you have condemned us to death. And if I’m going to die, I’ll go out fighting.”

  Gwella’s lips parted as she watched him go, her expression truly stunned. “Treason.”

  “Empress,” Kel said softly. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Allow the men to fight, at least those not tied to the care of offspring. We can reach a compromise.”

  Fenton noted that Kel didn’t mention Dani again, a wise move since Gwella appeared overwrought as it was. Sinking into a chair, she put her head in her hands.

  Alison moved forward and knelt before her onetime friend. “Gwella, he’s right. The men want to fight, they were training for it, with Del.”

  “I never should have brought you here. We were contented,” the empress murmured, almost to herself.

  “We were dying,” Kel responded. “We still are. Commander Fenton gave us a fighting chance.”

  “An act punishable by banishment.” Gwella’s gaze locked on his. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  Fenton squared his shoulders and clasped his hands behind his back. Looking her directly in the eye, he said, “I did what I had to do in order to protect my loved ones. Dani and Kel had the right of it, things could not keep going the way they were. The genetic mutations are starving, and a starving animal will take greater risks. Like the one that dug through the tunnels. You need every able-bodied individual fighting if you want to survive.”

  “He’s right.” Alison spoke quietly, putting her hand over Gwella’s. “Those things are hungry and desperate. If there aren’t enough people holding them at bay, this haven will fall.”

  The empress stared at each one of them in turn, then her gaze went to the door.

  “Please, Empress,” Kel implored. “Don’t let her sacrifice be for nothing.”

  Gwella stood and paced the room. Alison rose but Fenton put a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

  The empress turned and her chin went up. “Fine. Tell the breeders . . . the men . . . that those not tied to the care of a child less than ten may take up arms. Commander Fenton will instruct them how to fight.”

  Kel’s head lowered. “Thank you, Empress. It is the wisest choice.”

  “I will lead the vanguard, if that is your wish,” Fenton volunteered.

  “You will do no such thing,” Gwella snapped. “Did you not hear what I said?”

  Alison’s eyebrows drew together. “Del is probably the best warrior on Daton Five.”

  “Which is why I want him training our patrollers, male and female. But he is responsible for a young life and therefore he must remain behind.” She smiled, but it was cool and carried a malevolent message. “No, you, Alison, will take my daughter’s place and lead the attack.”

  “What are you doing?” Alison moved to the small table where Fenton worked. Ari was asleep in the next room, what had become her own residence at Gwella’s. Though they’d both been beyond relieved to see the little girl was both healthy and happy, the reunion had been bittersweet, made stressful by the empress’s announcement that Alison would lead the vanguard attack against the helcats.

  Fenton didn’t answer her, didn’t look up from the small device he was picking apart, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “Del?”

  “Training starts tomorrow. Get some sleep, you’ll need it.” Covering the hand he was working with, she murmured, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

  “That’s not funny.” He jerked away, stood up, and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. She wished she had the skills to cut it for him as the longer locks seemed to irritate him.

  “I know. Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood.” It was clear that Gwella was still irate, as only a grieving mother could be. Though the conditions had improved, they were still prisoners, and Alison was to take the brunt of the punishment for Fenton’s hand in leading the insurgents of the men of Daton Five.

  He paced the small room. “I can shift, disguise my other self and go with you, protect you.”

  She shook her head. “And what if you’re caught? She’ll have us both put to death, probably Ari too. This is the only way, Del.”

  “No. I won’t accept that.” He sat back down at the table. “There has to be another solution.” Again he picked up the tools and started fumbling.<
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  Alison eyed the device he’d been picking apart since she put Ari down for the night. The attack was scheduled for two days from now, at midday. The last thing she wanted to do was spend her last precious hours of life watching him fiddle with whatever that was.

  She moved closer and looked over his shoulder. “Is that . . . ?”

  He held up the device, the one she’d had inside her body for almost a week, and heat crept up her face. “Should I even ask why you kept that or why you felt the need to dissect it?”

  “It’s like a demoleculizer, breaking matter up into its basic atoms. I thought, in conjunction with your shield, that I could weaponize it.”

  She frowned. “My shield? You mean my health guard?” The one she’d forgotten to use not once, but twice earlier when she’d taken him into her mouth. Sure, she could blame the situation, the constant surges of adrenaline that left her either jittery or exhausted, but deep down she knew the truth. She wanted Del’s flavor on her tongue, wanted to be marked by him in that primal way. It made her feel powerful, desirable, and no technology should get in the way of that.

  “Yes. If we modify it and tie it in to the frequency of your shield, it will amplify the effect so that any living thing you touch will be obliterated, its DNA unwoven.”

  She blinked, imagining herself as a walking force of destruction. Her lack of military prowess would be irrelevant; the helcats wouldn’t stand a chance. “You can do that?”

  He bent over the device once more. “I need to find something that will boost the power.”

  She left him to it and went to check on Ari. The little one lay on her stomach, her head turned to the side. Alison was still taken aback by how much she’d grown in the last week. She’d put on weight and was starting to wiggle more and more. She actually pushed herself up onto her hands and knees earlier.

  “You are so beautiful, little princess.” Tears burned behind her eyes. Part of her wanted to pick Ari up, to hug her and breathe in her distinct baby smell. She wanted it fresh in her mind when she went up against the helcats.

  “She sure is.”