by Nina Croft
They will use you for their evil purposes.
You have a chance to do great good in the world. It is what you were born for. Come back and help us make the world a better, safer place for humanity.
If you’re a prisoner, then find a way to get in touch and we will come and rescue you.
I love you. You are my child as much as the children of my body. Come home, Destiny.
Dr. Yang’s voice. The message started over again, and Destiny sat and listened to it a second time. It was a recording, set up on a repeat loop to play over and over. Presumably just on the off chance that she was listening. Somehow Dr. Yang had discovered that Destiny was with Milo.
She’d been fiddling with the comm unit since Milo had left.
None of them had slept. Milo and Dylan had spent the hours going over various ideas. They had come up with the bare bones of a plan but were still waiting to hear back from Rico.
Dylan had gone off to do a patrol of the forest. Milo was checking his wards. Magic spells he’d set up to protect the place. He was a warlock, half demon. She had to keep reminding herself of that. He wasn’t fully human.
At that moment, she caught sight of him on one of the monitors, approaching the bridge, and she switched off the message then swiveled her chair so she faced the door.
Now that she knew what he was, she couldn’t quite believe that she’d ever thought him entirely human. But then, in her own defense, she hadn’t actually met that many. He’d only been the second, so perhaps it would have been more peculiar if she had noticed something amiss.
A lump caught in her throat as he strode onto the bridge, and her heart skipped a beat, then started racing. He was so big and beautiful.
She had a flash back to the feel of his hard body, on her, inside her. At the same time, she couldn’t dismiss the nagging sense that everything was going to fall apart any moment now. Milo didn’t love her—he’d told her so. And to make sure she understood, he’d told her that he would never love her, he was a loner. She suspected that he was protesting too much, but that also he was strong-willed and stubborn enough to stand by those beliefs.
He came to a halt in front of her, hands shoved into his pockets, his T-shirt molding the hard muscles of his chest.
She wanted him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but she gave a small shake of her head and his eyes narrowed. She rose to her feet, grabbed the hem of her tank top, and pulled it over her head. His nostrils flared and his eyelids drooped, the tell-tale signs that she had his attention. All the same, she wasn’t giving him a chance to come to his senses. Kicking off her boots, she wriggled out of her pants to stand in front of him naked.
“Jesus.”
He took a step toward her. Then, gripping her shoulders, he spun her around, urging her forward until her thighs hit the edge of the console in front of her and her hands reached out to balance herself. His arms wrapped around her, palms cupping her breasts, squeezing almost roughly, so her nipples hardened, and heat flooded her core.
She pressed her bottom back against him, and he ground into her so she could feel the hard length of his erection through his pants. His mouth nuzzled at the soft spot where her shoulder met her throat and tingles shot along her nerves, then he bit down hard, and her head went back. He bent her forward so her lower arms rested on the smooth metal surface; her bottom pushed out. She closed her eyes, the anticipation building. For a moment he moved away, and panic filled her, then in the silence she heard the rasp of his zipper. His foot came out and he pushed her legs apart. A hard palm slapped her backside, and she yelped and made to turn, but he held her in place with one hand splayed across her belly. Then he pushed inside with one hard thrust, filling her so she would have been forced forward if he hadn’t held her tight.
He was so big, the sensation bordered on pain, then he moved slowly, and pleasure shot through her. She pressed back against him, and he must have taken that as a go-ahead, because then he was moving fast, pulling out and then shoving back in, hard and fast. The hand on her belly moved lower, questing between her thighs, fingers sliding between the folds of her sex, finding the small bundle of nerves so she gasped and widened her legs. He rubbed in circles while his cock hammered her from behind. The sensations were almost too much and her hands scrabbled to hold on, gripping the console in front of her, as he slammed into her until she lost conscious thought of everything but the feel of him, every atom focused on the point where their bodies met. Inside her, the tension was building and building. She recognized the feeling now and reached for it, desperately craving the release from the almost unbearable pressure. He pinched her clit, then circled and pinched again. The tension snapped and she exploded, her spine arching. She threw back her head and screamed as his hands grasped her hips, pumping into her hard and fast, until he came inside her, and still he couldn’t seem to stop, tipping her over the edge yet again.
He went still, behind her. “What the hell…?” he said, pulling away.
She didn’t want him to go, and she pressed back against him, then blinked open her eyes. Right in front of her was the red button. It took a moment for her sex-fogged brain to realize what was happening. She must have pressed it by mistake, and now the ship was rising. She shook her head and reached out and slammed her palm on the button and they dropped. As they hit the ground, Milo lost his footing. He still had hold of her, and he dragged her with him as they crashed to the floor. She landed on top of him, the air leaving her lungs in a whoosh.
His body was shaking beneath her and it took her a moment to realize he was laughing. And then she was laughing as well. She wriggled so she was still on top of him but facing him now and she could look down into his face. She’d never seen him laugh, and the harsh lines of his face were smoothed out. The laughter died but lingered in his silver eyes. “That was…out of this world.”
“Is it always like that?” she asked.
“Sweetheart, it’s never like that.”
She’d had a feeling that was the case. What they had was special, and she might never find it again with another man. Except, he wasn’t a man.
Lowering her head, she kissed him, her lips lingering. Then she pulled away and scrambled to her feet.
He was still fully dressed, his pants open, one hand resting behind his head as he watched her move around the room, picking up her clothes. He was so…sexy. A few days ago, she hadn’t even known what the word meant, now she felt it down to her bones. He made her melt; he made her burn. Just looking at him now, her sex felt swollen and hot and more than ready for more.
He was going to break her heart.
Because she already loved him, it was too late to back off now. She’d read about love at first sight and she knew it was real because it had happened to her. That moment when he had stepped out of the shuttle and he’d been so beautiful her heart had hurt.
But she also suspected that love wasn’t enough. And maybe there were more important things in the world. Like duty and honor. She didn’t want to think that, really she didn’t, but maybe Dr. Yang’s early teachings were just too deeply impregnated into her very being.
With a sigh, she pulled on her clothes, then went and sat at the comm console. She switched it on. The message picked up halfway through. She played it through a second time, as Milo came to stand beside her. When it was finished, she switched it off and swung around to face him.
His face was impassive. “Do you believe her?”
“Which bit? The part where you’re out to destroy the Trakis system, the part where I can save humanity, or the part where she loves me?”
He shrugged, leaning against the console, arms folded over his chest. “Any of it?”
She shrugged helplessly. “I don’t think she loves me, the rest I’m not sure of.”
“I don’t want to destroy the Trakis system,” he said. “But I want the chance to live in freedom in th
is new world, not under the thumb of some immoral despot like Kinross.”
“Are you moral?” she asked.
His expression closed off so she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Probably not by most people’s definition,” he said. “But I have a code I live by, and I do my best to stick to it.”
“And Rico, is he moral?”
Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Not even vaguely.”
It didn’t sound as though the idea bothered him, and she wondered again about the relationship between the two men. “Do you love him?”
The amusement vanished, and a frown formed between his eyes as he thought about the question he obviously hadn’t been expecting. “It doesn’t matter.”
It mattered to her, but she didn’t think she would get any more on the subject. She decided on a more oblique approach. “Have you ever been in love?”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. Another question he wasn’t willing to answer? Then he started talking.
“Once. I was in love once, a long time ago.”
A burning sensation flooded her chest. Jealousy? “I presume it didn’t go well?”
He smiled then, though it wasn’t reflected in his eyes, which remained wary. “I was twenty. Maria was eighteen. She was young, innocent, and so good it shone from her. I was young and not so innocent—I’d spent fourteen years living with Rico—any innocence was long gone. But she made me feel as though I could be good as well.”
Why did she suspect this wasn’t going to have a happy ending? “What happened?”
“Rico had warned me not to reveal my true nature to any humans, but I wanted Maria to know who and what I was. I believed she loved me enough to see past my obvious…disadvantages.”
“You don’t have any disadvantages,” she said fiercely. “You’re perfect.”
He chuckled. “Of course I am. On the other hand, Maria obviously thought there was some room for improvement. She was horrified. I’m not sure she actually believed me about the half-demon thing, but rather thought I was deluded. Either way, she loved me enough to want to save my soul. She gave me up to the church. They in turn handed me to the Inquisition.”
She’d read about the Inquisition in her history books. “How could she?” Bitch.
“She was born in a time when people truly had faith. She believed my soul was damned and it was her duty to get me back in God’s graces.”
Something occurred to her. This story didn’t quite make sense. “How old are you, Milo?” She’d supposed he was around thirty, but obviously that was when she’d believed him to be human. His story made her think he must be much older.
“I was born in Spain in 1508.”
Her mind went blank for a second while she calculated how old that made him. Well, over a thousand, though five hundred of those had been spent in cryo. All the same, it made her feel very young. “Wow. And how long will you live?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m essentially immortal, but I can be destroyed.”
She stored the age thing away to worry about later, because it was huge, but right now she wanted to know the end of the Maria story. “What happened with the Inquisition? Did they let you go?”
He snorted. “No, they tried their hardest to burn me at the fucking stake. With Maria watching. It was a pivotal moment.” She reached out and lightly touched the scar on the side of his neck. A burn?
“How did you get away?”
“It was…interesting. Up until then, we’d believed that my father’s powers had passed me by. It happens sometimes. But clearly, they were just waiting for something to awaken them. Nothing like the thought of going up in flames with the woman you love cheering on to bring out the demon in a man.”
She blinked and leaned closer. “What happened?”
“Demon fire. The whole place went up, priests spontaneously combusting, a blazing church…”
“Maria?”
Pain flashed across his face. “She burned as well. I was out of control. I wouldn’t have done it if I could have stopped. I would have saved her. I loved her. I even understood why she had done what she did. Her duty to me.”
“Where was Rico?”
“This all happened during the day. He’s a vampire, so he was asleep. He woke up to find the whole town burning. He managed to knock me out. I woke up in a cell, and then that was burning. I had zero control. Rico did the only thing he could think of. He contacted my father. In effect he sold me into servitude for ten years. Ten years in Hell.” His lips quirked. “Literally. But my father taught me how to control my powers. How to live with what I was.”
“I’m glad. But I think you saw it as a betrayal by Rico.”
“Hell, I was used to it by then. Everyone who loves you lets you down, usually under the guise of doing it for your own good. My mother, Maria, Rico…”
At least she could understand now why he was so wary about giving his heart. He no doubt believed she would let him down as well. And she had no clue right now whether that was the case.
A part of her suspected that if he would just commit to her, then she would give her loyalty to him wholeheartedly, and she would never, never let him down. But another part couldn’t help thinking about what her role was in life, in the colony. Could she turn her back on that?
Especially if she believed Rico would destroy the planet. Could she allow that to happen to her own people? Where did her loyalties lie?
She hated that she didn’t know more.
“You’re thinking of going back, aren’t you?” Milo asked. His words an accusation. “How can you after what you’ve seen of Kinross? And your Dr. Yang is deep in league with the bastard.”
“Maybe she has her reasons.”
He shook his head. “You really think she loves you? She’s manipulating you as she has done all your life. You can’t trust her.”
“But I need to understand why.”
“No, you don’t. You want to understand, but you don’t need to. You could turn your back on all this, just come with us,” Milo said.
There. He’d asked her. Part of her yearned to just say yes. Even if he would never love her, she could be with him.
“You don’t owe these people anything, Destiny. Come back to Trakis Two with us. There’s a new world to build there as well.”
“With you?”
He looked immediately shifty. “I’ll be there.”
He was such a coward. Though at least she understood why now.
She jumped to her feet and walked the length of the bridge—all of ten paces. Then came back to him. “Why has she never told me why I’m here? What does she want of me? She says I can make a difference, but how?” She stamped her foot. “Who am I?”
“If we found out, then would you leave this place?”
“It depends on what I’m supposed to do. Whether I can make a difference. I just don’t see how. I’ve thought and thought but can’t come up with a reason, a purpose.”
“Let me find out.”
“How?”
“I’ll go talk to Dr. Yang.”
She bit her lip. “Won’t that be dangerous?”
“No. I’ll tell her I have important information about her family. That I just want to talk to her. There will be no danger.”
A shiver ran through her. A premonition of something to come.
But he was already walking away.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“It is a bad habit to shout it from the rooftops when one challenges a person. Not everyone benefits from attracting attention.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Milo strode away from the ship with a sense of failure.
He was aware of what Destiny wanted. His total capitulation.
Everything.
His soul. If he had one.
And if she got it, if he gave in and gave her his soul, then what would she do with it?
Jump up and down on it? Set it on fire? Decide that her duty to humanity was more important than him?
He should just walk away.
Leave her to her duty. But he couldn’t do it.
Already he wanted her again.
It wasn’t just sex, though the sex was the best ever. He liked her. Was amazed by how much she had grown and could only imagine the woman she would become if she had the time and space to grow further. He wanted to help her become that woman.
Even if he couldn’t say the words that he suspected would change the whole situation.
The truth was it didn’t matter if someone loved you. They all came with baggage, whether nature or nurture. Things that were fundamental to their very being or things that were drilled into them from birth. His mother wanted revenge, Maria wanted to save his soul, Rico…Rico had wanted to survive but also, he’d wanted Milo to survive as well.
He waited until he was a good distance away from the tunnel entrance and then he lifted the comm unit and punched in the code for Dr. Yang.
“Yes.”
“It’s Milo. We need to talk.”
“You have Destiny with you?”
“No, but I know where she is.”
“You need to bring her back.” Her tone held a hint of panic. “Do that and Kinross will pardon you. Let you and your friend leave the planet.”
Of course he would. And pardon him for what? He hadn’t done anything fucking wrong. Yet. “I have news about your family.”
She was silent for a moment. “And what do you want in return?”
“Just some information.”
“I need proof that they are okay.”
He thought for a moment. How the hell was he supposed to give her proof they were okay when they were long dead? He’d just have to come up with something. “How about the promise that you can come with us when we leave? You can be with your family on Trakis Two. If you help me, you or your family won’t be safe here. I doubt you’ll be safe anyway. Kinross is not an honorable man.”
