“Exactly. I don’t want you getting yourself killed. You’re not properly trained yet. I think Kam and I can handle three armed intruders.”
“Erik, I need something. I feel totally vulnerable here.” The regulations made no sense to her. She needed to protect herself. Although not yet certified, she was receiving instruction in and practice with a variety of weapons almost daily in her training sessions.
He stared at her a moment, then he nodded. “All right.” He reached behind his back and pulled out a Pain Inducer from his belt. “Here. Take this, but you didn’t get it from me.”
“Understood.” The weapon only worked at close range. To emit an electrical zap, the Pain Inducer needed to make direct contact with bare skin. She’d used one before, more than once, in real-life situations, regulations permitting or not, so she felt comfortable with how the weapon operated.
“Everyone get behind whatever you can, as well as you can. Try not to make yourself a target. When I say so, Leila, you open the door. If it’s not Halah out there, Kam, don’t immediately shoot in case she sent someone in her place, but be prepared. You ready, Leila?”
“I’m ready.” As she reached toward the control, her hand shook. Inwardly, she steeled her nerves, chastising herself for the show of weakness.
“Open the door.”
She hit the button and the hatch slid open.
A man, armed with a similar-looking disruptor weapon, stepped from the entry ramp into view. When he saw them, he stopped in his tracks.
Leila’s heart pounded. So, the moment of truth had arrived. Was this man here to help them or kill them?
Chapter Eight
Halah’s boots clanked on the steel ramp, sounding loud to her ears, even after enduring the irritating noise of the rover’s engine. She stepped inside the orbiter, coming up beside Dak, and glanced around the interior. Definitely Xylon, from the layout.
Erik and Leila eased into view. Halah recognized them immediately. Those puny panels they’d partially hidden behind wouldn’t have provided much protection if she were the enemy.
These Warriors proved almost more trouble than she cared to deal with. If any other way existed… She hated relying on others to get what she needed.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my little, lost slaves. We thought you were the ones who crashed out here. Looks like a banquet of overcooked Egesa fillets out on the ground. What did you do to them? Doesn’t appear to be flamethrower burns. Too many are dead for that to have caused their demise, unless you have an armed unit of Warriors hiding in here somewhere.”
“A little electrical surprise. Something you can appreciate, I’m sure,” Kam said, stepping out from behind a larger, side control panel.
Halah’s gaze immediately fell upon Kam, and her heart raced. Him. Braden did send him on the mission as she’d hoped. Focused on the Healer and the other Warrior, she’d missed him completely. Looking into his eyes, she felt almost giddy, which was too silly to admit, even to herself. So, she dismissed the feeling. For now. “Ingenious. I commend you. What happened to our rendezvous plans?”
“Four interceptors jumped our butts,” Erik said, not lowering his weapon. “Instead of one, like you reported.”
“Really?” Halah cocked an eyebrow at him. “I guess the Egesa stepped up their patrols.”
“Apparently,” Kam said.
His eyes held a wary look. He didn’t trust her. Good. She liked cautious, smart men. More challenging. Actually, she’d known about the patrols. She’d feared that Braden wouldn’t send a team into a heavily patrolled area. So she’d done what she had to do. She’d lied. Though she assumed Braden probably knew about her deception, or at least suspected. He wouldn’t be much of a leader otherwise. The fact that he’d agreed to send the team anyhow showed his desperation, or arrogance. She wasn’t sure which. “Hand over your weapons and take off your jackets after you rip out the power supply to your personal shields. I don’t want the surges picked up by any patrols.”
Her guard stepped on board.
“Secure their belongings,” Halah ordered him.
The man took their possessions as they reluctantly held out their weapons and jackets. Uncertainty shone in their eyes. She didn’t blame them. Being unarmed, while on a dangerous mission would make her feel insecure, too.
“Not that I don’t trust you,” she announced with a false smile, “but I’ll need to search each of you for hidden weapons.” Trust was an act of faith she couldn’t afford.
She stepped over to Leila first. The Healer stood about three inches shorter than she, but Leila possessed attitude. She saw it in the woman’s eyes. Someday, with continued training, Leila would make a formidable Warrior.
“She’s a Class 3,” Erik said. “No weapons.”
“I’ll search her anyway, if you don’t mind.” Halah shrugged. “Even if you do mind.” No way were these Warriors clean. She crouched behind Leila and felt around the woman’s boots. Rising slowly, she fluttered her hands over and between Leila’s legs. Halah cupped her pussy.
Leila jerked and tried to elbow her away.
“Easy.” She laughed. “I’m just being thorough.” She knew the teasing tone of her voice irritated the Healer and couldn’t help pushing her even more. “We don’t have time for…fun. Maybe later.”
“Don’t count on it.”
Halah grinned. Leila had probably never touched another woman sexually in her life. Halah preferred men also, but dabbled from time to time, mostly in threesomes. She felt around Leila’s waist and lifted a Pain Inducer from the inside fold in the back of her pants. “So much for no weapons.” She tossed the Inducer to Dak, then felt across Leila’s breasts, chuckling when the woman tried, once more, to shove her back.
Satisfied that Leila held no other weapons, she moved over to Erik. One finger stroked down his cheek. This one possessed little compassion for his enemies. She saw it in his eyes, heard it in his voice, felt it by the energy he exuded. He held his body poised for attack at all times. “You almost killed me on Earth with that energy ball.”
He pulled his head back. “I remember. You zapped me. Hurt like hell.” One side of his mouth quirked up. “I should have gutted you.”
His attitude grated on her. Halah smacked his cheek. “Try anything like that again, and you die.” Nobody hurt her without retaliation. She’d only zapped him because he’d engaged her in hand-to-hand combat. That was his fault, not hers.
“You bitch!” Leila stepped forward, but Kam pulled her back.
Erik never moved, only blinked when she struck him.
Knowing he was the most dangerous of the three, Halah kept her eyes fixed on him. She nodded toward Leila. “The Healer is feisty. I hate feisty women.”
“And I hate traitors. Male or female. We saw you in a cell on the ship where we were captured during that Earth mission. The Egesa beat you. And you still give Marid your loyalty. That’s fucking crazy.”
Halah stepped behind Erik. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m crazy. Don’t forget it.” Maybe they’d be more wary of her, if they thought her unbalanced. She crouched and felt around his boots. Her fingers slipped inside his right boot, and she pulled out a knife. “What have we here?” Most Warriors carried a backup weapon or two, so she wasn’t really surprised. She stood up and circled him, holding up the retractable blade. She cocked an eyebrow.
He shrugged.
She twirled the knife in her hand, extracting the blade from its sheath. “Hmm, not bad.” Halah flipped the blade closed and handed off the weapon to Dak. She finished her search of Erik, then moved on to Kam. Her heart thudded as she stared into his eyes. “We meet again.”
“So, it seems.”
She looked him over. “You don’t appear permanently damaged in any way.” Even in this semi-tense situation, her thoughts went from business to personal in record time. She’d forgotten just how handsome and sexy he was. His light blue eyes complemented his dusty blond hair perfectly. He stood tall and strong. She wondered what he looked lik
e naked. She felt her temperature rise. Soon. “I must be losing my touch.”
“I’m sure if you’d wanted to truly damage me, you would have done so.”
She laughed, enjoying their exchange. “True.” She had more training than he did and used to be proud of her Class 1 status. She stepped behind him and knelt down to search his boots. Her fingers moved up his calves and thighs. Hard and strong. Her pussy began to throb. He would have great thrusting power, she imagined.
An image of him pumping into her from behind, with a look of intense passion in his eyes, entered her head. She shook off the vision. That wouldn’t happen—too emotionally and physically dangerous, but she would straddle him. She stood, and her hand slipped between his legs and cupped his cock. Oh, very nice. She couldn’t wait to tie him to her bed and fuck the hell out of him. It had been a long time since she’d ridden a Warrior. “Feels like you’ve got a pretty big weapon in there.” She massaged him slowly.
He jerked at her touch, before bringing himself under control. “Depends on your definition of weapon.”
“Were you having a little three-way party before I arrived?”
Kam briefly glanced at Erik and Leila.
She wouldn’t be opposed to a threesome, if he participated as one of the three. Though, she’d prefer a one-on-one fuck. “Maybe we’ll have a party later. Just you and me,” she whispered in his ear, flicking her tongue against his flesh.
A barely audible moan escaped his lips, and his cock hardened.
At his reaction, her pulse jumped. He wasn’t immune to her. Perfect. But right now, other priorities loomed. He was clean. No hidden weapons. That somewhat disappointed her. He played by the rules. She preferred to associate with men who didn’t play by the rules. That way, she never heard any speeches about doing the right thing, being a better person, and the rest of that moral shit. Morals were a luxury she couldn’t entertain these days. She did what she had to do to survive. No matter what.
She stepped in front of them. “I brought slave attire for you all to wear. You’ll need to get rid of your uniforms. And get rid of that thing,” she told Kam, pointing to the sensor strapped to his wrist. “Hide everything in one of the orbiter’s storage units. When we enter The Dome, all of you keep your heads down. If you’re recognized, either by one of the Egesa or Assassins passing by, a Dome resident, or by someone watching one of the monitors, there won’t be anything I can do to help you. All breeders are presently being killed.”
“What?” The tone of Leila’s voice rose in obvious distress. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” She wasn’t about to tell them about the breeder sterilization failure. The Egesa could still sterilize pre-initiated breeders through The Dome’s Initiation Rite, but once someone went through The Lair’s Initiation Rite, the new sterilization formula wasn’t permanent. And the formula didn’t affect Branded breeders at all. “Are you Branded?” she asked Leila.
Leila glanced at Erik. “No.” She looked back at Halah. “As your slave, I shouldn’t have to worry about sterilization, should I? None of us are mated, so we’re not in a breeder-release cycle.”
Which meant they weren’t presently fertile, Halah knew. Still, Leila looked panicked, as did the others. She could fuck with the Healer’s mind, but she decided against it. “As long as you’re not recognized, you’ll be all right.” Even if she was recognized, they wouldn’t bother with sterilization now, since she was initiated and protected. Because she wasn’t Branded though, she wouldn’t be protected against sexual assault from the Egesa. The chemicals in the perspiration of a Branded breeder were poisonous to the Egesa. Without those chemicals, if she fell into the hands of those creatures, they’d fuck her to death, literally.
These Warriors’ trust of her to keep them all safe made her increasingly uncomfortable. Even guilty. Somehow, she couldn’t completely shake her old Xylon training and sense of responsibility.
Leila let out the tight breath she was holding. “Good. Now, how are we going to get through processing? As soon as they scan our bodies, we’ll be identified as breeders.”
“I’ve made arrangements. My quarters are a safe zone. Once there, you’ll have access to my computer to retrieve what you need, if you can break into the database system.”
“I’ll handle that,” Kam replied.
“I require my medical equipment to test the formula’s viability.”
“Not possible,” she told Leila. “Xylon equipment or circuits of any sort will trigger an alarm inside The Dome. You’ll have to use whatever the Med Lab has available. Now, give me the information on my sister.” Once she had that, she could get off this rock as soon as she obtained clearance.
“Afraid not,” Erik said. “After we get what we came for and are back here in our orbiter and armed, then you get the information. Otherwise, I doubt we’d make it off Marid alive.”
Well, she couldn’t say she was surprised by his response. She’d given it a shot. “I take it you’re the one in charge of this mission.” She already knew that due to the markings on his jacket. He held highest rank, a higher Class 1 status than she. But she felt like goading him. She hated being in a position that forced her to blackmail Warriors to get their help. They should have helped her years ago, when her loyalty to The Lair still burned strong.
“That’s right.”
“Erik Rhodes?” Again, she knew from her previous mission. She’d read all their files, and along with her encounter with them on Earth, she had a good feeling for each of their personalities. They didn’t need to know how much information she had on them though. Erik would be the hardest to control. She noticed how he kept looking over at Leila, making sure she was all right. He cared about the Healer, and more than just as a Xylon Warrior. She would use that to her advantage, if necessary.
He nodded, acknowledging her inquiry about his name.
“We will do it your way. But don’t push me.” She turned and grabbed the clothing from the guard’s hands. “Change into these.” She tossed the outfits at each of them, more like scraps in her opinion. The thin, flesh-colored material didn’t hide much. She wouldn’t want to wear one, but looked forward to seeing Kam outfitted in the sexy attire.
“Why don’t you give us each a Dome transport-connector, and the coordinates to your quarters?” Leila asked. “Nobody even has to know we’re here.”
“They already know you’re here, genius.”
Leila frowned. “I just thought—”
“Well, don’t. I don’t trust you. Any of you.” The woman must think she’s stupid. “Once given access, who knows where you’d end up. If you’re discovered inside The Dome, without going through processing, you’ll be executed. We’re doing this my way or not at all. My ass is on the line too, you know.”
“Let’s get going then,” Erik said.
Leila fingered the clothing, and a frown crossed her face. “Where’s the top?”
“Slaves don’t wear tops. Not even the females.” Halah kept her eyes on Erik, who seemed agitated by the news.
“Since when?” he asked.
Halah shrugged. Let them deal with it. Baring her tits wouldn’t hurt the woman any. “No boots either. And if you’re wearing your regulation underclothes, get rid of those. I don’t want any more attention drawn to you three than necessary.”
“Can we have some privacy?” Leila asked, her gaze roaming over the smiling guards, who eyed her lustily.
“If you’re the modest sort, get over it.” Halah smacked Dak’s arm and gave Bron a heated look to wipe the grin off the men’s faces. “You’re going to be parading around half-naked, and that’s the reality of the situation. Now change.” She needed to get them inside The Dome before their window of safe opportunity passed.
* * * * *
Rave stroked Gabriella’s bare breast. “You sure you can distract Daegal long enough for Halah to get the Warriors through?” Their plans were finally coming together. Men had ruled Marid long enough. Now she and Gabriella would get
the chance to flex some female muscle.
“No problem. Odds are he won’t be watching anyway. He doesn’t personally monitor the slave processing too often anymore, but better not to take a chance. I’ll adjust all the body scanners not to detect breeders for twenty-four hours. Any longer than that, and the maintenance crew will discover the tampering. You’ll handle the Top Commander?”
“I’ll take care of him. Leila will be a great benefit to us. Her medical mind and knowledge is far superior to the Healers we presently have on Marid. She might be able to take the sterilization formula and perfect it, for the men this time. That’ll put them all at our mercy.”
“How will we force her compliance?”
“I don’t know yet. We need to find her weakness. Everyone has one. I’ll come up with something.” The day she couldn’t outwit Leila Abdera, she’d eat Egesa cock. She had watched Gabriella do it once, and turned nauseous when the woman had actually swallowed the male’s brown cum. Disgusting. Gabriella wasn’t a breeder, so she hadn’t been Branded by Daegal when he took her as his mate—playmate was a better description, but she’d never say that to Gabriella. As such, Gabriella fucked who or what she wanted, whenever she wanted.
“Who else will be with Leila?” Gabriella glanced up at a monitor. She grabbed a remote control beside the bed and switched the screen to display the slave processing area.
“I don’t know. Halah wasn’t told. One Class 1 Warrior for certain. That’s Lair regulations. Probably one other Warrior, at least. An orbiter of the size they’ll most likely be traveling in can comfortably hold up to five, but only needs three to pilot, navigate, and handle weapons control.”
“The rest who accompany her will need to die, unless you perceive a use for any of them.”
“It’s in the process of being arranged.” She needed to cover several possibilities. She didn’t know exactly what the Warriors had planned, so she wanted to set up various traps to make sure they didn’t slip through Marid’s security and get away.
“Halah, too.”
Xylon Warriors II: His Carnal Need Page 17
