by Lili Zander
A stray thought slams into me. “How sensitive?” Sensitive enough to detect the construction of a dome that will serve as a secret prison?
He holds up a red dremona. “If a rock the size of this treat fell to the ground, my instruments will pick it up.”
Danek comes up to me, his dark eyes glinting. “Hello, love,” he says, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me close. The gesture is unmistakably one of possession. Part of me is annoyed by it, and the other part of me is secretly thrilled. “I thought I heard my name being mentioned.”
I perform introductions. “Hari is a geologist,” I tell Danek. “He was just telling me his equipment can measure vibrations on the planet’s surface.”
Danek catches on immediately. “So you’d be able to know if something like a minor earthquake occurred?”
“Yes, of course.” His face draws into a frown. “Funny you should say that,” he says. “Because just yesterday, there were five seismic disruptions on the plains, all in the same area.”
Danek stiffens. “Do you have the location?”
“Unfortunately, no. We need to triangulate the disruptions to be able to locate the epicenter, and I don’t have seismographs that far away from the domes. All I can tell you is that it happened north-west of here, out of range of the skimmers.”
I glance at Danek. His eyes are sparkling, and there’s a small smile playing about his lips. “Admit it,” I murmur once we excuse ourselves from Hari. “I found you a clue.”
“You did.” He still has his arm around me. “A really good one. Tomorrow, I’ll head in the direction the geologist indicated, and see what I can find.” He brushes a kiss across the back of my hand. “Thank you.”
“Are you done talking to Kenia?” My voice comes out waspish.
He gives me a sideways look. “Is that jealousy I hear?”
“Hey, I’m just staying in cover. I’m a newly married woman, and my husband is flirting with a hot scientist.”
“I did not flirt with her,” he protests at once.
“Really? Because you were talking to her for a very long time.”
He laughs softly. “You are jealous,” he says. “Lovely Naomi, Kenia knows I have the Draekon gene. She’s Zorahn. Trust me, I’m the last person she would be interested in. She was talking to me about my genes. She’s realized they’re different from the other Draekons, and she wants to study them. She wanted my consent to do that.”
And are you interested in her? I bite back that question. He’s already getting too much enjoyment from my snit. “You were jealous too,” I accuse. “Isn’t that why you came over when I was talking to Hari? You weren’t subtle. I was half-ready for you to whip your penis out and pee in a circle around me to mark your territory.”
He stops dead in his tracks. “What?”
“Dogs pee…” I shake my head. “Never mind about that. It’s just a figure of speech.”
“Oh good.” He winks at me. “I mean, I like to think I’m open-minded, but—”
I punch his arm. “Idiot. Go on. I’ll admit it if you do.”
He bends down. His breath caresses my ear. “I was jealous,” he murmurs. “I’m not interested in Kenia. There’s only one woman here I want. Only one woman I can’t take my eyes off. You.”
Heat blazes through me. “Want to get out of here?”
“I thought you wanted to watch the soap opera.”
Fuck that. “Suddenly, I find I don't care about the soap opera.”
“Good.” Satisfaction drenches his tone. “All evening, I’ve been picturing tearing that blouse off you. Let’s go home and do that.” He presses a hard, firm kiss on my lips. “And more.”
When we get to the house, I’m almost giddy, like I drank a gulp of frothy champagne. Happy little bubbles dance in my chest. Danek shuts the door and I smile up at him, crowding close. He spins me around so my back’s to the door. His big frame cages me. I twine my arms around his shoulders and tip back my head for his kiss. He nuzzles up the line of my neck, kissing along my jaw before taking my mouth. I surge up against him, tugging at his shoulders, trying to draw him closer. His hands are on me too, roaming, seeking my skin. A ripping sound, and my ruffled pink top gapes open.
“Oops,” he murmurs against my lips.
He’s not sorry about it and neither am I. “It’s okay.” I press my newly bared breasts against his chest, wishing I were strong enough to rip open his shirt, too.
“I’ll buy you another,” he promises, and grips the back of my neck, holding me still so he can plunge his tongue into my mouth. My core clenches, hard. I kiss him back with everything I’ve got. My nails dig into his back, trying to get a palmful of the huge, flexing muscles underneath his shirt. His right hand is busy at the front of my pants, trying to undo them. A rumble rises in his chest, and I can tell he’s two seconds away from ripping them right off.
I can’t blame him for destroying my clothing. I want to do the same to his.
We’re about to make love right here, against the door. We didn’t even get five feet into our house. It’s almost like we are newlyweds.
I’m on tiptoe, trying to wriggle out of my pants without allowing an inch of air between us, when a pair of bright pink tails wave at me from beyond Danek’s shoulder. I angle my head to see more. Danek can tell I’m distracted and breaks the kiss.
“What is it, Naomi?”
“We have an audience,” I whisper and point to the little floofs who’ve lined up on the counter. Usually they rush to greet me, but now they’re watching us, their little heads tipped to the side as if they can’t quite understand what we’re doing. “We’ve traumatized them, poor dears.”
Danek growls under his breath as I duck under his arm and greet them. The floofs try to leap on me. I hold my ripped top against my breasts with one hand and fend them off with the other.
“No, no,” I laugh. “Your claws are sharp, you little terrors. Get off the countertop.”
“Little terrors indeed,” Danek grumbles, but he stoops to pet Pumpkin. The little floof arches into the Draekon’s huge hand. A hint of a smile curls the side of Danek’s mouth before he tucks it away.
Too late, Danek. I’m onto you.
“Quick,” I say, grabbing some treats and throwing them to the other side of the room. The floofs race towards the food, their bright tails rippling after them. I tug on Danek’s arm. “The bedroom. Run!”
We dash in the other direction and barricade ourselves in the bedroom. I gasp with laughter as I strip off the remains of my ruffled shirt. Danek is still grumbling.
“Annoying little—”
I toss my shirt at him. “I’ll make it up to you.” I nod to the bed. “Take off your pants and lie down.”
“Done.” Danek strips in a flash and stretches out his huge frame, a wide smile on his face. His eyes heat as I shimmy out of my pants. I arch my back as I draw my hair back into a ponytail, and his gaze drops to my breasts. I strut to the bed, preening under the attention.
I kneel between his legs, and he parts them wide to give me room. I lay my hand on his bare upper thigh. I’m so small compared to his bulk. I trail my fingers up and down his muscled thighs, and his cock grows long and thick against his leg.
“Naomi,” he breathes. I know he’s wondering what I’m going to do. I give him a wink and lean down toward his cock.
20
Danek
Naomi licks her lips and by Caeron, my cock jumps as if it’s going to leap into her mouth. Her hand comes up to cradle my large sac, and pleasure bursts in my mind. Her other hand circles my thick rod, steadying me as her mouth closes over the tip.
“Ah, yes, Naomi, yes,” I groan, fisting my hands at my side.
She swirls her tongue around the head of my cock and it’s all I can do to keep from grabbing her ponytail and surging into her mouth. My hips are rising, pushing my length deeper. She opens wide and draws me in. She pumps her head up and down, her lips wrapped around my cock, as I float in lust.
>
Suddenly, she stops in her tracks and raises her head. “Pumpkin.”
Pumpkin? Naomi’s frowning at something over my left shoulder. I turn my head and glare at the orange floof.
“You,” I snarl, and the floof puffs out its tails in surprise. Naomi slaps a hand over her mouth, stifling a giggle.
“It’s not funny.” I glare harder at the floof. If it had any sense, it would run away right now.
“How in the world did he get in here?”
“I don't know.” I rise and snatch the little orange bit of fluff before it can jump onto Naomi. “But I want him out.”
I set Pumpkin down outside the door and push him back when he tries to scamper inside. “Out. Go on. The grownups are spending quality time together. No floofs allowed.” I lower my voice. “Leave us alone and I’ll give you more treats later.” I’m not above giving a bribe. Or a threat. “Interrupt again and I’ll ship you across the galaxy.” I give the little critter another pet and shut the door before he can rush inside. This time, I latch and lock it.
“There. Finally.” I turn back to Naomi, and my heart nearly stops.
She’s stretched out on the bed, gloriously naked. I’ve never seen a woman so beautiful. And she’s mine, all mine, my dragon whispers. I push that thought away. I can’t get used to Naomi in my life. I just need to enjoy her while she’s here.
“Where were we?” I stalk to the foot of the bed, well aware my cock is on full display. I put my hands on my hips, giving Naomi a chance to get an eyeful.
She grins at me, a playful light in her eyes. “You were about to come, screaming my name.”
“Was I now?” She’s right, I was.
“Oh yes. And when I had you right where I wanted you, well...” She reaches over and lifts the purple bondage lingerie I hadn’t noticed. “Turnabout’s fair play.”
“We’ll see about that.” I flex one last time, enjoying the way her eyes roam up and down my big body. She arches a sexy eyebrow at me then yelps in surprise when I dive onto the bed. I snatch the lingerie and toss it across the room. She shrieks with laughter and tries to go after it. Before she can scramble away, I seize her legs, part them wide, and plunge my tongue into her wet heat.
Her whole body quivers at my touch.
I lick her to one orgasm, then another. Her head tosses back and forth on the pillow, mussing her hair. When I finally rise over her, her cheeks and chest are flushed, and she looks sexier than ever. She reaches for me, and I claim her with my cock over and over.
And when she comes—every time she comes—she screams my name.
I wake up later than expected. Naomi is still asleep, sprawled diagonally across the bed, hogging all the covers. Pumpkin, Plague, and Pestilence are settled around her, and the moment I stir, they lift their heads and watch me with their beady little eyes.
I inch to the edge and slide off the bed. The three floofs sense breakfast and promptly follow me to the kitchen. “Little terrors,” I murmur, filling their bowls with food, topping up their sugar rations, and making sure they have water. “Be good. Let Naomi sleep.”
We’d been up late. Then, when she was fast asleep, I’d slipped out of bed and experimented with the food-syn. The results had been less than satisfying. The flavor is close, I think, but the texture is far from ideal. Too stodgy, too much like a rock.
According to Alice, cake is fluffy and airy. In one of the Exchanges, I might be able to find an ingredient that approximates that result. Here, in Noturn, I’m limited to what the syn can make and what’s available in the small grocery store.
Ah well. Last night’s baking attempt was a colossal failure, but tomorrow’s another day.
I’m exhausted this morning, but I can’t banish the sense of well-being running through me. Naomi is still asleep when I leave for work. I walk to the maintenance tunnel, get into a skimmer, and head out of the dome. I set course in a north-westerly direction.
I drive for thirty minutes, scanning the horizon, both with my instruments and with my eyes. Nothing.
I keep going for another twenty. Rannzar’s words sound in my ears. You have enough air to last two hours.
Two hours in total. An hour each way.
I drive forward another ten minutes.
Still nothing. There should be a dome here. Every instinct tells me that the earthquakes Hari detected were actually deep barizo blasts anchoring a new dome to the planet surface.
But there’s nothing to be seen.
Bast.
“Oxygen at fifty percent capacity,” the skimmer intones. “Turning engines off. Return to base.”
I can’t breathe in Noturn’s atmosphere. I’ve run out of air. Run out of time.
The only way forward is to do a manual override. But if I keep going, I will not return alive. Sixth was pretty clear. On Noturn, you are dangerously mortal.
And then an image of Naomi flashes into my mind.
Our lovemaking last night had run the gamut, from hot and frenzied to slow and tender. When we were done, she’d clung to me and she’d fallen asleep in minutes.
Not me.
Tired as I was, I’d laid awake, staring at her, memorizing the contours of her face.
I want Naomi. I want this life with her. I want a little house. I want to have dinner with her every night, the three floofs begging for scraps. I want to relax over a drink and talk to her, and it doesn’t matter what we talk about, because what matters is that we’re together.
“Warning. Oxygen at forty-nine percent. Return to base.”
Everything I’ve ever wanted is finally within my reach.
The geologist’s readings can’t be connected to a dome; there’s nothing here. I exhale slowly, turn the vehicle around, and head back home.
Eight days later, I’ve traversed the terrain, pushing the skimmers to the limits of their capacity, and I’ve uncovered no sign that the High Empire is building a prison in Noturn.
It’s frustrating in the extreme. I’ve found nothing, and I’m painfully aware that I’m running out of time.
My secret project isn’t going well either. At night, when Naomi is fast asleep, I experiment in the food-syn, following Alice’s instructions, but the results aren’t promising.
The only bright spot is Naomi. Sleeping with her. Touching her. Being around her all the time. Listening to her sing in the shower, her voice high and off-key and quite frankly painfully out of tune.
Naomi doesn’t think there’s a prison on this planet. “Think about it,” she’d said to me at breakfast this morning, when I’d grumbled about how little progress I’d made. “Cindifin obeys the rules, but they don’t cooperate with the High Empire. They didn’t share your medical data. You’ve been monitoring Kenia’s comms, and she hasn’t said anything about your genes to anyone. Plus, they’re so careful about enforcing the three-month limit. Some of the miners here are willing to risk madness for the bonus money, but Cindifin won’t let them. Can you really see them cooperating with the High Empire, setting up a secret prison, and imprisoning Draekons here, Draekons who will go mad in three months?”
“No, I don’t,” I’d admitted. “But…”
“But what?”
“I have a feeling.” I’d shrugged. “I can’t explain it. But I’ve learned to listen to my instincts.”
The only time I hadn’t, I’d been outmaneuvered. Koval had launched into rebellion without me, and thousands of Draekons had been killed.
She’d nodded. One of the more wonderful things about Naomi is that she doesn’t state the obvious. She hadn’t needed to tell me that we were running out of time—I’d already known.
My comm buzzes, dragging me back to the dome I’m inspecting. Today, I’m checking our home dome again. It’s going to be a short workday, only a few hours. I’m not going to stay out late today, roaming the terrain; I’m going to return home at a decent hour. Naomi’s been wanting to picnic in the park, and today’s a perfect day for it.
It’s Ruhan. I activate the connec
tion, and he materializes next to me. “I thought I’d check in to see how you were making out with the safety inspections,” he explains. He studies the joint I’m currently checking. “Make sure you measure the density of the metal.”
I give him an exasperated look. “Are you here for the safety inspection, or are you spying on my health for Sixth?”
“Both,” he says cheerfully, unfazed by my reaction. “And before you think to protest, ask yourself what you would do if the situations were reversed, and it was me that was in danger.”
I shut up. He gives me a satisfied smile. I turn off the sensors, pull out the balancer, and run it along the weld. The readings are all in the normal range. I record my findings, turn the sensors back on before the control system decides they’re malfunctioning and sounds the alarm, and float to the next joint. “I hate spacesuits,” I grumble.
“Stop being a baby,” Ruhan says bracingly. “They’re a lot more maneuverable these days. Plus, you have the antigrav cuffs. Remember Sargoth?”
“How could I forget?” Sargoth had been a pain in the ass from start to finish. Ruhan and I had been sent to deal with a restive local population. Unfortunately, they had failed to mention that Sargothians could fly, and in the meanwhile, Sargoth’s atmosphere was lethal to us. If you think safety checks in a clunky spacesuit are bad, imagine trying to fight in one.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Sixth found the last two humans.”
I look up. “And?” I ask, almost not wanting to hear the damage report. “How are they?”
“Better than most. The scientists that bid on them ran some basic tests, but before they could do too much damage, they got reassigned.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. The scientists risked a lot to kidnap the humans. Whatever Brunox wants, he’s prepared to go through any lengths to achieve. So why stop?”
“Not a clue. I’m just telling you what the humans told Sixth. The scientists were experimenting on them, then they got told to set the humans aside, and return immediately to Zoraht. So they put the humans in stasis, dumped them like cargo in a storage locker on the Ciras Exchange, no doubt figuring they could get back to their experiments at a later point. The humans were in stasis for more than three months.”
