by Anna Hackett
Maybe Tannon was right. Maybe Dayna was the greatest risk of all.
An hour later, Rillian’s security team had finished their analysis of the scene and removed Illiana’s body. A cleaning crew had just finished, and his office looked pristine, as usual.
He didn’t feel so calm.
He moved over to the drinks cabinet on the far wall, and pulled out a bottle of Dark Fire whiskey. He poured the glittering black liquid into a glass just as Dayna entered.
She looked miserable.
He held the glass out to Dayna. “You look like you could use this.”
“No, thanks.” She shook her head, returning her gaze to the painting on the wall. “I just got off a call with Mia.”
He lifted the glass and knocked the drink back in a quick move. Dark Fire couldn’t be tolerated by many species, and he enjoyed the fiery burn. “She was upset.”
“Yes. For me. She apologized to me.” Dayna shook her head.
“But you wanted her to yell and cry? To help you beat yourself up a bit more?”
Dayna shot him a glare.
“You have good friends, Dayna, and they care about you. That’s a rare thing.”
She nodded, her gaze still on the painting. “It’s striking.”
He stared at the bright splashes of color on black. “I like striking things.” His gaze moved over her. “I like the bold, the unusual.”
She turned, her face considering. “The Thraxians aren’t so discerning.” A faint shiver was the only giveaway about how the Thraxians affected her. “They’re bold and in-your-face. They’re not subtle or sneaky.”
He lowered his glass, following her train of thought. “Cunning, sneaky murders aren’t the way they operate.”
She nodded. “That’s right. These murders feel…more personal.”
Rillian scowled. “It has to be the Thraxians. My team has found Thraxian biomatter on the notes.”
“Then they’ve recruited someone else, someone who knows you, to help with this.”
No one knew Rillian. He preferred it that way. He blew out a breath, pouring one last shot of whiskey. His anger was too close to the surface, his control too shaky. The symbiont running along his spine throbbed, amplifying his emotions.
He needed to work it off before he got too close to losing his control. That was the one thing he would never allow.
“I’m going to work out in my gym.” He’d dial up the hardest program on his holo-sparring system.
Dayna watched him steadily, like she could see right into his head. “I’m sorry, Rillian. About Illiana.”
“A waste of a life and her talent.”
“Is that all she was to you?”
“We enjoyed each other, briefly. That was it.” He swirled the last of his drink.
“Because you don’t let people too close.”
He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “My life is exactly how I like it.”
“Glossy, opulent, and distant.”
He tilted his head, setting the glass down and stepping closer to her. “I like it under my control.”
“You can’t control everything. You keep people at arm’s length. I wonder why?”
His body brushed hers. “You’re not at arm’s length.”
She blinked, as though suddenly realizing that she’d been cornered by a predator. “Rillian—”
He backed her against the wall, cupping her jaw. “Don’t analyze me, Dayna.”
She lifted her chin. “So you’re allowed to see all my weaknesses, but I don’t get a glimpse of yours?”
A voice in his head told him that he should back away, but something about her drew him. For once in his life, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing.
“Back off.” She shoved against his chest.
“No. I don’t think so.” The turbulent feelings inside him swelled, and Rillian did the one thing he never did—he stopped thinking. He lowered his head until his mouth was a whisper from hers.
She stilled, her gaze dropping to his lips. “What do you want from me?”
He hadn’t worked it out yet. But he reached for her. He needed to touch her.
Rillian slammed his mouth down on hers, absorbing the taste of her. The scent of her hit him, and he slid a hand under her shirt, feeling her unbelievably smooth skin.
She moaned into his mouth, kissing him back. Her tongue tangled with his.
Desire exploded inside Rillian—hot and strong. His cock was hard as a rock, pushing against his trousers. The strength of his need almost brought him to his knees.
He wanted to possess her. Push her down and simply mount her, slide his cock inside her so they’d be joined.
Shock rippled through him. He never felt like this. It had to be his symbiont. That had to be it.
He yanked back from her. The room was quiet, except for their ragged breathing.
“That was…ill-advised,” he managed.
“Probably.” She stepped closer and went up on her toes. She wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him again.
With a growl, he wrapped an arm around her, walking her across the room. Take. Claim. Mate.
He didn’t have time for foreplay or exploration. Right now, all he needed was to be lodged inside her. For Rillian, sex was usually a hot, elegant dance. But this…this was something entirely different.
He pushed her against the desk, lifting her up, his hands sliding up to cup her breasts. She arched into his caress, one of her legs wrapping around his hips.
“Yes.” Her voice was a husky whisper.
He wanted her. Right here. On his desk.
At the same moment, they both froze. Drak. On the desk where a dead woman had been left as a warning.
They pulled apart.
Dayna stood, touching her lips. “God, you scramble my brain.”
Drak. Drak. Rillian’s control was a precarious thing. A very male, very primitive part of him just wanted to drag her down onto the floor and pound inside her.
It had been many years since he’d felt so out of control. He’d fought to make his life exactly as he wanted it, where his control was absolute. So no one would ever take advantage of him again.
This woman was dangerous. Especially when he was in a dangerous mood.
“I have to go,” he said.
Surprise flashed on her face. “Oh.” She tucked a strand of her glossy, brown hair behind her ear.
His gaze dropped to her lips. They were swollen from his kisses, and the sight of that made his cock pulse.
“Rillian?”
Drak it all. Rillian turned, strode out, and pretended that he wasn’t escaping.
Chapter Seven
Dayna paused in the doorway of the gym, watching Rillian sparring against what looked like an entire gang of fighters.
The faint flicker in the men made her realize that they were some sort of solid holograms.
Rillian shifted and dodged with a fluid grace that made her mouth go dry. He was shirtless, wearing a soft pair of black workout trousers. His muscles flexed, and he landed hard blows, spun, and kicked out powerfully. His holographic opponents blinked out as he struck them. He swiveled, bringing his fists up to hit again.
The man was gorgeous.
It was one thing to have an attractive package, it was another to know how to use it.
Dayna let herself admit the full extent of her attraction. The times she and Rillian had kissed, she’d felt…alive.
For the first time in a very long time, she’d thought nothing of aliens, pain, captivity, and nightmares. She’d felt like a woman and she’d felt like something in her life finally made sense.
He wasn’t as bulky as the gladiators. His chest was lean with delineated muscles, and his abdomen was tight and ridged. She pulled in an unsteady breath. He’d have no trouble swinging a sword, if he wanted to.
She watched him spin, then leap high, delivering a powerful front kick. He took down another opponent, but a second slipped in from the side and landed a blow to Rill
ian’s lower back.
He stumbled and let out a hiss. She realized then that the program delivered some sort of pain response when a hit connected.
Rillian made a sound and took the fighter down with a hard chop. He paused, heaving in air, and turned.
That’s when she got a clear view of his muscled back…and the symbiont lying along his spine. She let out a sharp gasp.
God. It looked like an alien creature that had burrowed into his skin. It glowed a bright silver-blue.
She felt an answering throb in the stone on her chest. They both had these alien lifeforms that were now a part of them.
Suddenly, he turned, his gaze on her. “I’m not in a good mood.”
Dayna toed off her shoes and moved onto the mat. “I don’t mind. You don’t have to be glossy, suave Rillian for me all the time.”
He frowned at her, lowering into a stretch. She moved over to study the fancy fight-simulation controls on the console beside the mat. “How do you make a hologram solid?”
“Ultrasonic technology that creates touchable force fields.” He stretched his arm, his biceps flexing. “The program projects sound waves that create a sensation of touch.”
“I’d love to test it out.” She’d been using the gym a lot the last few weeks, but had no idea about the holographic simulation. It had been far too long since she’d flexed her martial arts skills.
He shot her an unreadable look, then moved to touch the controls.
Around her, lights whirled, and several brutish-looking aliens appeared. They were covered in scales, with sharp claws, and each towered over her by at least a foot. She moved into a fighting stance and raised her arms. The first alien attacked and she leaped forward to meet him.
As she ducked, kicked, and hit, Dayna felt her muscles warm-up. She dodged and landed several good blows. One of her opponents blinked out. She smiled. Take that, asshole. Working across the mat, completely absorbed in the fight, she took out another target.
The last fighter rushed at her. She blocked, but he got a punch in and she felt an electric shock vibrate through her. She gritted her teeth. Ouch. Motivated, she swung her leg, landing a hard kick to the alien’s gut. He staggered, and she slammed an elbow into his face. His image dissolved.
She straightened, grinning. A light sheen of sweat covered her skin.
“Ready for more?” Rillian asked.
“Bring it.”
A large mob of different aliens blinked into existence. Rillian strode out to the center of the mat and stood beside her.
As the fighters rushed at them, Dayna and Rillian exploded into action.
They moved together. She brought one big alien down, and Rillian swung in behind her to protect her back, while slamming an unforgiving fist into the face of another attacker.
Finding a rhythm, they worked together to plow through their opponents. Between blows, Dayna let out a laugh. God, this was fun. She hit a smaller alien in the chest, and when she spun around, two more were coming at her. Big brutes. Shit.
Rillian slammed into one, but she couldn’t avoid the fist of the other. It rammed into her jaw.
She staggered backward, electric pain zapping her. “Ow.” She kicked out, and the alien winked out of existence.
There were no more left.
Rillian gave her a small smile, one that held a dangerous edge. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
He touched the controls. “I’m moving it up to the next level. Think you can keep up?”
She narrowed her gaze. “Don’t worry about me. But if you can’t keep up, I’ll compensate.”
That dangerous smile again.
Opponents appeared, and they didn’t pause, rushing in fast. Dayna immediately lost herself in the fight, anticipating Rillian’s moves. She ducked under his arm, ramming an uppercut into an alien’s stomach. These fighters all moved faster, hit harder. She and Rillian both swiveled, landing twin back kicks to another pair of fighters. Then, as Rillian bent low, she rolled over his back, legs swinging as she kicked an incoming fighter.
Soon, Dayna was sweating. Her shirt was damp, and loose strands of her hair stuck to her forehead. She ducked a fighter’s arm, then swung out with her foot, before she followed up with a hard punch.
Finally, they took the last opponent down. Dayna leaned forward, pressing her hands to her knees.
Rillian turned to pick up a towel that had been set out on a bench and wiped his face. Once again, her gaze moved to his symbiont, and the muscled back it was attached to.
He glanced over his shoulder and caught her looking. He turned to give her a better view.
“Sorry,” she murmured, grabbing herself a towel.
“Don’t be. Feel free to look.”
Unable to stop herself, she moved closer. She wanted to touch it, but she wasn’t sure she could. But Rillian stayed still, and she lifted a hand. She gently touched the muscle beside his spine. The creature looked embedded to his spine. She lightly touched the symbiont, and he tensed.
She froze. “Does it hurt?”
“No.” His voice held a low, husky edge.
It looked like it was made from bony cartilage and filled with silver-blue fluid.
“It’s known as a Vraskan symbiont. A lifeform from a mostly uncharted star system far from here. They are extremely painful when they attach, and kill most of their hosts.”
She hissed out air. “But you survived.”
“I did.”
“And my symbiont?”
“I haven’t seen one exactly like yours before, but I’ve seen similar ones. It’s native to Carthago, and like mine, feeds on energy.”
Then he pulled away. Damn, the man was so hard to get a read on. Dayna was used to utilizing her observation skills to get a gauge of people and what they were feeling. Rillian confounded her.
But from what she could tell, he was angry. At the murders, or perhaps at this desire simmering between them.
“Want to fight me now?” She set her towel down.
He spun, brow furrowed. “I don’t think—”
God, that face. “Well, if you’re afraid…” She shrugged a shoulder.
Silver sparked in his eyes and he dropped his towel. “Bring it on, Earth woman.”
“Sure thing, Slick.”
They moved onto the mats and started trading some easy kicks and hits. But she knew he’d never work his anger off with a few easily-blocked kicks.
Dayna decided to fight dirty. She’d learned a few tricks training with her fellow police officers. You didn’t make it on the streets without knowing a few.
She dropped low, chopping her hand against his thigh. She unconsciously pulled on some of the enhanced strength of her symbiont.
He grunted and staggered. Then, with a growl, he came after her. She spun away and felt the rush of air as he swung at her. She blocked the hit, gritting her teeth as it rattled through her. She turned and he matched her, their bodies brushing. She jabbed an elbow into his ribs.
Dayna felt strength coursing through her. Maybe this part of having a symbiont wasn’t so bad.
As she and Rillian danced across the mats, she saw more silver bleed into his eyes. Kick. Chop. Punch. They spun yet again, and she found herself pressed up against him. She smelled healthy male sweat and the dark spice of his cologne.
And she sensed the energy of him. Bright, hot, and jagged.
“The symbiont enhances your anger,” she said.
“Sometimes. It doesn’t generate feelings, only amplifies them.” He spun away, and they moved back across the mats in a series of hits and kicks.
Then Dayna changed things up. She leaped at him, taking him by surprise. Her knees hit his torso, and when they landed on the mat, she was straddling his chest.
Gripping his wrists, she tried to slam them over his head.
But he was too strong. She shoved, but he moved, his palms pressing against hers.
“That anger will eat you up if you let it,” she said. “You need t
o let it go. I know what it’s like to find dead bodies, to know that you were too late to save them. To know that there’ll be more.”
“I never let go.” He pushed up, rolling her across the mat. They wrestled and she scissored her legs, trying to get on top again.
“It isn’t good to hold it in,” she panted.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Suddenly, he pushed at her with a huge wave of strength. Her back slammed onto the mat, and she ended up with a furious male on top of her. God, he was so much stronger than she’d thought. He’d been holding back all this time. His face was close to hers, set in harsh lines.
One of his hands circled her throat, his fingers pressing to her pulse point. His eyes were pure molten silver.
She went still. She’d driven him to lose his control.
Then she felt a sharp tug in her chest. Sensation spread through her. He was pulling at her energy. No.
He was feeding from her.
Fear shot through her. She remembered the desert witch feeding from her. Pain, horror, and helplessness.
“No!” She shoved against him, her body going wild as she struggled.
All of sudden, Rillian went stiff and cursed. He released her, and then his body was gone from hers.
Shakily, she sat up, pushing her sweaty hair off her face.
He was facing away from her, his back stiff and his symbiont glowing. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s…okay.”
“No, it isn’t. You were right, Dayna. My symbiont likes more than just energy.”
“What?” she asked quietly, a sense of dread washing over her.
“My symbiont likes to kill.” His face was the hardest she’d ever seen it.
Horror slammed into her. In her head, she saw her sister’s murdered body.
Rillian’s eyes flashed. Like he knew exactly what she was thinking. All emotion bled out of his face. “Yes, back on Earth, I’d be a monster you’d lock away. Don’t push me again, Dayna. You’re here to learn, so let that be a lesson for you.” His voice was as cold as ice.
Then he turned and left her there.
Dayna collapsed back on the mats. God, when had her life become so damn complicated? She ran a shaky hand over her chest. She felt a pulse of energy from her symbiont and this time, she didn’t block it or ignore it.
