by Kali Argent
Olivia ignored him. “How the hell did you get in my office? I always lock it when I leave.” She paused, her expression turning frigid. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to train a new assistant after all,” she muttered under her breath.
“Sit down,” Axton repeated.
“No.” Reaching behind her, she pulled the pins from her hair, freeing the locks so that they cascaded over her shoulders. “This isn’t Asylum, and you’re not my alpha. Don’t bark orders at me in my own office.”
Frustrated and impatient, Axton growled under his breath as he fought to leash his own temper. “Great galaxies and falling stars, Olivia! We’re going to do this whether you want to or not. I deserve some answers, and we’re not leaving this room until I get them. So, just sit the fuck down, and stop being so damn obstinate!”
Everyone else on the station cowered or at least hesitated when Axton lost his temper, but not Olivia. Stubborn and inflexible as ever, the female crossed her arms, mirroring his stance, and arched one golden eyebrow.
“It’s been a crap day, so can we cut through the bullshit, and you get to the part where you tell me what it is you want?”
“You,” Axton answered bluntly. “I just want you.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t have me.”
“Yes, clearly.” Carefully, he moved around the desk, pleased when Olivia retreated a step. “I want to know why. I want to know what changed, and don’t tell me it was just one night, because I know better.”
Olivia’s gaze darted about the room before finally coming back to rest on him. She swallowed hard, causing the delicate lines of her throat to contract, and even from across the room, Axton could hear the hard, fast pounding of her heart. He’d seen all those reactions before, but he’d never stopped to fully analyze them. Seeing her now—really seeing her—he felt like an utter ass when he realized how much pain she tried to hide.
Softening his voice, he took another step forward, holding his hand out for her. “Oh, tava, come here.” When she didn’t take his hand, he simply closed the distance between them and enveloped her in his arms, holding her gently, even when she struggled against him. “You can fight me all you want, but I’m not going anywhere.” He wouldn’t abandon her, not when she needed him. “Talk to me, Liv. Tell me what has you so twisted up inside.”
“Axton, let me go.” She jerked her upper body and shoved at his chest. “Goddammit, let go of me!”
Locking one arm around her hips to hold her to him, he slid his other along the curve of her back until he cupped the nape of her neck. She felt so small in his arms, so delicate, but she fit perfectly against him. As her warmth seeped into him, Axton sighed in contentment. Logically, he knew one night wasn’t long enough to have something and then miss it, but he had. He’d missed holding her, caressing her soft, silky skin, the smell of her hair, and the feel of her moist breath against the side of his neck.
While he’d seen her almost every day since arriving on X21, until that moment, he hadn’t realized how desperately he’d missed her.
“Stop,” Olivia insisted, still struggling to escape his embrace. “Let me go. Whatever you think is going to happen, it’s no—”
Partly to stop her protests, but mostly because he just needed to feel her lips against his, Axton slanted their mouths together in a hard, searching kiss.
Olivia stiffened, her spine rigid and her shoulders stiff, but she did stop struggling. Slowly, the tension in her body eased, and her eyelashes fluttered as she leaned into him with a poignant moan. The sound was so heartbreaking, filled with so much suffering, Axton had to pull away, unable and unwilling to cause her any more pain.
“Please,” he whispered, cupping her slender throat and caressing the sides with his thumbs. “Please, talk to me, tava. I can’t stand to see you hurting.”
“You can’t kiss me like that,” she answered quietly, almost dazedly. “It makes me want things I can’t have.”
“And what do you want?”
“I…I…” She blinked several times, her crystal blue eyes focused and alert. “I want a shower. You need to go, Axton.”
“Nice try, but just as I’m not your alpha, you aren’t my commander.” He’d come with questions, and he wasn’t leaving until he had answers that satisfied him. “I’ll concede that you need a shower. You smell awful.”
She said nothing for a moment, then burst into laughter. “I can’t believe you kissed me. That’s kind of gross.”
“You’re always beautiful.” To prove his point, he tilted her chin up and delivered a chaste, tender kiss to her lips. “Come.” Releasing her, he took just her hand, pulling her toward the double doors that led from her office. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Of course, nothing could be that easy with Olivia Jacobson. Digging in her feet, she halted their forward progress and shook her head. “I have a shower in my office, and I’m perfectly cable of washing myself. Go back to the sanctuary, Axton. We’ll talk later.”
She’d said that once to him already, and he was tired of waiting for “later.” Olivia wasn’t the type of woman to be cajoled or manipulated, but he didn’t plan to employ either of those methods.
“Okay.” He nodded once and strode back to her desk to press the call button on her office link. “Commander Jacobson is taking the rest of the day off,” he said into the comm, but his eyes never strayed from Olivia’s. “Hold all communications, and cancel any meetings.”
“You can’t do that,” Olivia argued, her face flushing with anger.
“I’m sorry, Alpha Tavish,” Officer Blake answered, “but you don’t have that authorization.”
“Do it!” Axton barked, annoyed by the title and lack of cooperation. Disconnecting the office link, he pushed away from the desk and grabbed his stubborn female around the waist, hauling her up over his shoulder.
Olivia kicked and cursed, her fists pounded against his back, but he ignored her struggles as he carried her out of the office and down the hallway to the lifts that would take them to his and Zade’s two-bedroom suite on the upper level.
“This is barbaric!” Olivia raged. “Put you me down. You’re acting like a fucking caveman.”
Axton’s steps faltered, but he recovered quickly. “What’s a caveman?” Intellectually, it seemed self-explanatory, but he’d never encountered the term before.
Olivia paused in her struggles, and huffed out a long breath. “It’s a man that lives in a cave, obviously. Humans are descended from them, or something like that. I think they invented the wheel, or fire, or something. I don’t really remember.”
Wanting to keep her talking, he asked the next logical question. “Why would they need to invent fire?”
“Well, to stay warm and cook and stuff.”
“So, they lived in caves and cooked with fire. What exactly did they eat?”
“Whatever they could hunt, if I remember right.” Olivia propped her elbows up on his shoulder and rested her chin in her palms as he stepped into the lift. “The Krytos weren’t born with technology, you know. Didn’t your people evolve from something similar?”
He honestly didn’t know. “When our home world was destroyed, we scattered across the universe. A lot of our history was lost, except for what was passed down verbally through the generations.”
“That’s terrible.” Twisting around, she grazed her soft lips over his cheek. “I’m sorry. It was the Zyphir, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” he answered, his throat tight with emotion. “That’s why we carry our blades. To remind ourselves to never be caught unaware again, to never let anyone or anything take something we love.” His arm tightened slightly around Olivia’s waist, and irrational anger bubbled in his gut as he thought of something happening to her.
The lift doors opened, and Axton stepped out into the carpeted hallway before setting the female on her feet. She could run if she really wanted, but instinct told him she wouldn’t.
“Tell me what you meant,” he requested once inside the common area of his suite.
“When you said you want things you can’t have, what did that mean? What can’t you have?”
Olivia sighed, unsure how much she should tell him, or how much of it he’d even understand. So, she asked a question of her own. “How in the stars did you manage to get a VIP guest suite as your quarters?”
Eyeing the fluffy crimson cushions on the oversized sofa, she suddenly felt weary, exhausted to her bones, and she’d rather postpone their uncomfortable conversation in favor of a nap. She’d been putting it off for far too long, though, and while it wouldn’t change anything, Axton and Zade at least had the right to know why she’d pushed them away, why she couldn’t give them what they wanted.
“You can get anything for the right amount of credits.” Leading her into the largest bedroom on the right, Axton stopped just outside the door of the en suite bathroom and brushed a strand of blood-caked hair away from her face. “You’re avoiding. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“I know.” Pushing up on her toes, she brushed another kiss against his cheek and sighed. “I’d rather not do this while I’m covered in Reema. Let me take a shower first. Then we’ll talk.”
Thankfully, he didn’t argue, and he didn’t try to follow her, either. Peeling off her uniform, she tossed it into a corner, making a mental note to burn it as soon as she had the chance, and stepped into the enormous, glass-enclosed shower. The hot water felt amazing, but she didn’t linger. She’d promised Axton some answers, and procrastinating wouldn’t make what she had to say any easier.
Once she’d washed every nook and cranny of her body and shampooed her hair twice, she reluctantly turned the water off and stepped out of the shower stall. Her heart tripped into a gallop when she found Axton waiting for her, holding up a fluffy, black towel.
“The drying chamber would be more efficient,” she told him, but took the towel to cover her nudity.
“It would be, but it would also be pointless.”
Lifting her into his arms, he just shook his head when she protested, and carried her back into the common room. There, he climbed the two steps onto a raised area in front of the large, curving windows, stripped away her towel, and lowered her gently into a jetted tub filled with warm, fragrant water.
“You have a hot tub in your room?” It wasn’t fair. Her quarters would fit into the common room of their suite alone, and she didn’t have any kind of tub, jetted or otherwise. “Apparently, being commander isn’t as glamorous as I thought.”
“You’re welcome to come use our hot tub as often as you’d like,” Axton assured her, stripping out of his clothes as he spoke.
Olivia drank in the sight of him, her gaze raking over every hard muscle, dip, bulge, and curve of his massive frame. As he sank into the tub beside her, she finally remembered how to breathe, and all the air trapped in her lungs came out in a whoosh. Axton chuckled, the sound deep and rumbling, and pulled her between his legs so that her back rested against his chest.
“This isn’t really what I had in mind when I said we could talk.” She couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be. The only thing that would make it more perfect was if Zade had joined them.
“There’s a lot to discuss. We might as well be comfortable.” His long fingers combed through her hair and massaged her scalp. “Tell me,” he muttered against the shell of her ear. “Tell me why you can’t have the things you want.”
His talented fingers hypnotized her, and she spoke without thinking. “I’m a commander. I have an obligation to protect the people aboard the station, and I can’t do that if I’m distracted.”
“So, you think Zade and I are distractions?” he asked, his voice still calm and soothing.
“Very much so,” she answered honestly as her eyes drifted closed and she relaxed into him completely. “You’re distracting me right now.”
“No commander in the history of the Alliance has ever been mated?”
“Bonded,” she corrected automatically, “and of course they have. But I’m new. I have to prove myself.”
“Prove yourself to who, tava? Who told you that love and duty can’t coexist?”
When his female stiffened, Axton simply caressed her arms and trailed kisses along the column of her throat until she relaxed again. Possessive and protective, Krytos males didn’t take kindly to someone hurting their mates, whether physically or emotionally. While she hadn’t agreed to be their mate yet, he already considered Olivia Jacobson his. When he found out who had caused her so much suffering, he’d make sure the asshole paid for it in blood.
“I never said anything about love,” she whispered.
“Don’t you love me?” Sliding his hands into the water, he smoothed his palms over her outer thighs and up her sides until he cupped her heavy breasts. “Because I’ve waited a long time to love someone like you.”
“W–We barely know each other,” she stuttered, arching her back as her breathing accelerated.
“I know that you take your job seriously, and you’re damn good at it.” He pinched her erect nipples, tugging them gently. “I know you have a big heart, and you’d do anything for the people you care about, even lie to your regent to protect them.” Yes, he’d been eavesdropping on the conversation between Olivia and the regent, and no, he wouldn’t apologize for it. “I know you’re impatient, stubborn, and temperamental.”
Gliding his hands over her flat stomach, he urged her thighs apart, growling his approval when she complied. Stars, she was gorgeous beyond words, and seeing her cheeks flushed with desire, feeling her body against his, he knew he’d never let her go again.
“I know you hate runny eggs,” he continued, sliding two fingers along her cleft, “but you love the boiled ones. You have terrible taste in music, and you always smell like flowers. Your favorite color is purple, you have a fairly significant coffee addiction, and you always refuse to ask for help.” Parting her folds, he slipped a single digit into her tight, wet heat, and groaned. “I know I can’t stop thinking about you.”
His swollen cock throbbed painfully where it rested between them, but he shoved away his own desires to focus fully on the female in his arms. “I admit I don’t know everything, but I want to spend the rest of my life learning.”
“Axton.” Olivia sighed his name prettily, and her arms came up to encircle his neck. Turning her head to the side, she pressed their mouths together, tickling the seam of his lips with her tongue. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you? You had to keep pushing, keep taking, always wanting more.”
“I do want more,” he confessed, sliding his finger in and out of her core as he rubbed her swollen clit with his thumb. “I want you, all of you. Your body, your heart, and I won’t stop until I have it.”
“I can’t,” she whimpered, but arched into his hand, her head falling back on his shoulder.
“Then why are you still here?” he asked as he slid the tip of his fangs down the side of her neck.
“I hate you,” she gasped, her body quivering as her inner walls clamped around his fingers.
“No, you don’t. Say it.” Axton pushed her hard, driving her toward her release. “You know where you belong, what your heart wants. Say it.”
She whimpered again, her hips rocking against his hand so that water splashed around them. “You,” she cried, her body tightening around his fingers. “I want you.”
It wasn’t the words he’d wanted to hear, but it was a start, and he’d take it. “Come here, tava.” Lifting her out of the water, he turned her so that she straddled his thighs, placing his throbbing length at her entrance. “Take what you need.”
“Still you,” she murmured, locking her arms around his neck as she lowered over him. “I need you, Axton.”
Tight heat surrounded his cock, molding around him like a glove. The female consumed him, enchanted him, and he needed her with a fire that wouldn’t be tamed. Tangling his hands in her damp hair, he locked their mouths together in a hungry kiss, delving between her lips to taste every inch of her. Th
ey moved together, rocking and gliding, rising and falling, each of them racing toward something just out of reach.
Holding her hips to guide her, he watched Olivia intently, completely enraptured by the sight of her. Eyes dark with desire. Cheeks flushed. The damp hair that fell into her face. He couldn’t look away if he’d wanted.
Soon, Olivia’s moves turned jerky, uncoordinated, her body flexing and tightening, and she cried out his name as her inner walls convulsed around him in rhythmic waves. Watching her fall over the edge sent him spiraling, robbing him of any self-control, and he tumbled into the abyss with her, whispering her name like a prayer.
Sated, relaxed, and utterly content, he pulled Olivia to his chest, smiling when she fell against him with a pretty sigh. Neither of them spoke while he held her, stroking her bare back in languid circles. He never wanted to let her go, never wanted the moment to end.
“Do you think Zade will be mad?” she asked long minutes later, interrupting the silence in a sleepy voice.
It pleased him that she would think of Zade, because Axton knew he’d never be able to claim her without his brother. They’d agreed a long time ago that they’d share everything, including the same mate. He already knew how Zade felt about the female, and now that he knew Olivia’s feelings for them, there was nothing holding him back.
“No, sweetheart.” Lowering his head, he placed a gentle kiss at her temple. “Jealous probably, but not mad.”
“Good.” Burrowing in close to him, she yawned quietly. “I’m still mad at you.”
“That’s okay.” He laughed quietly. “I doubt it will be the last time.”
“I should get back to work,” she informed him around a yawn.
“A few more minutes, tava.”
“Okay,” she mumbled. “Just a few more minutes.”
She was asleep by the time Axton counted to ten.
CHAPTER SIX
She couldn’t do it. Everyone would be watching her, and she was going to make a fool of herself in front of the entire station.
Staring at the blank document open on her data unit, Olivia groaned in defeat. The grand opening of Alpha Station: X21 began in just a few short hours, and she still didn’t have a speech. She didn’t even know why she had to say anything. Regent Marks was scheduled to speak before her. It would be easy enough for him to declare the station open, and everyone could get on with their business.
