V'hor's Nestmate

by Michelle Howard

  He grew serious. They couldn’t afford to be delayed and he really didn’t want to have to fight an angry mob for a coveted human female stolen from her home. “You don’t want to stay here, Eva. Trust me.”

  Her snort was both disbelief and disgust. She wasn’t good at hiding her emotions at all. Or maybe didn’t feel the need to. “I’ve learned not to trust anyone associated with Mannid.”

  Vee’s flinch came unguarded. A female like her should have been treasured, not abused at the hands of a criminal. Conflict pulled at him. Vee squared his shoulders, he needed to get a handle on his emotions. “Shortly if not already, the crowd is going to revolt because of the losses tonight. We can stay, but I don’t recommend it as I’m likely to be a target for some of their rage. I’m good in The Pit, chupaja, but not that good.”

  “As if you’d fight for a sex slave you just traded for.”

  Her statement ripped open his anger toward Mannid’s treatment of a precious female. Vee lunged and slammed his fist into the wall behind her, their fronts colliding as she cringed and stumbled back on a squeal.

  Fuck! Vee closed his eyes. She reeked of fear again. But not the arousing kind. He bit off another raw curse. Wrong. Scaring her was wrong. Sorry, sorry, sorry. The thought pounded at his mind while instinct demanded he ask for forgiveness. Serpines appreciated strength in the face of the terror their presence caused. But not to this extent in a female they were drawn to.

  His nature warred with his training and he pounded his fist on the wall again in frustration. Eva yelped. Unable to voice the apology crawling up his throat, Vee ran his nose along her cheek, attempting to soothe without words. A second indrawn breath which he let out slowly allowed him a measure of calm. He braced his arm and push against the wall to move away.

  Shoulders hunched and still leaning far back as if to avoid contact with him, Eva glared. It wasn’t hard to decipher her look. She was mad he’d frightened her, brazening out the situation, but staying clear of him as much as possible. Never before had Vee wished more to be able to reveal the truth about being a Jutak to non-military personnel caught up in a mission.

  Firming his resolve, he pulled on the persona of Vanquish. His unusual attraction toward her could not interfere. “Up to you. I could care less at this point. Good luck.”

  He made himself turn as if he’d leave. Her breath hitched behind him.

  Protect. Protect. Protect.

  The drive blasted at his temple causing actual physical pain, but Vee pushed forward toward the door. If he couldn’t convince her to leave peacefully, he’d have to use blunt force and carry her out of here over his arms.

  As soon as the very idea of causing Eva a smidgeon of hurt formed, Vee stumbled, but recovered. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something similar to an innocent while on a mission. But...harming women left a sour taste in his mouth and the thought of doing that to Eva—he couldn’t.

  Fear was one thing, true terror and harm sickened him.

  Vee concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He had to keep moving. See this through. The moment grew taut with tension. When he reached the door, his heart drummed out a frantic beat.

  Please don’t make me hurt you.

  “Wait!”

  Vee breathed out a relieved sigh and dropped his head to the jamb, but didn’t turn. Eva had to believe this was her choice and not realize he was manipulating the situation. His heart didn’t stop pounding as he waited for her next words.

  “You made a deal with Mannid.”

  Striving to appear callous, Vee straightened and reached for the knob. “So?”

  She exhaled softly, the minute sound reaching him. Instinct stabbed at him. Vee struggled against the need to comfort and reassure.

  “Y-you’d let me go?”

  Her confusion nearly killed him, but again Vee steeled his heart. “Yes. Like I told Mannid, I don’t have to beg for pussy. Or cock, if I want it. You’re already more work than I planned. Consider yourself free, chupaja.”

  A sharp gasp then footsteps as she drew near and grabbed his shoulder. “Damn you! I’ve nowhere to go.”

  Vee shifted his weight and gripped her wrist, the bones delicate and fragile in his hold. He spun to face her and snarled. “Choose.”

  Once more the bitter odor of fear assaulted his nostrils. He should have expected it after the roughness of his earlier action. That didn’t make the impact any less painful to his senses. He leaned back against the door, absorbing the emotional storm she was causing within him.

  Eva stared longer than necessary, bottom lip quivering. The next moment, Vee cursed himself to the beyond as wet drops welled in her eyes.

  Vee needed to banish her tears. Soothe. Without questioning the motive, he kissed her. Pressed his lips to a mouth softer than anything he’d ever imagined. Surprised had her lips parting, giving beneath his. A soft trill slipped past his mouth as he kissed around the tiny injury at the corner of hers. Delicate fingers hesitantly touched his chest, the contact breaking the desire clouding his mind.

  Cock aching, he pulled away slowly. Control. He was losing control of the situation. Their eyes snared on one another. Lust and wonder glowed back at him. Vee dropped the hand he still held and leaned away so she no longer touched him. “Are you going with me or staying here because after fighting Jolox, I’m feeling less and less interested in the deal I made?”

  Anger smoldered, eliminating the tears. He preferred the anger to her soft looks which weakened his resolve. After a slight hesitation, she nodded abruptly. “Can’t say you’re not honest.”

  Relief crashed into him. Vee grasped her hand with more care this time to tug her out of the room. On the upper level, they passed the entertainment area where he’d bargained with Mannid. Revulsion crawled over Eva’s face. Next they passed several smaller sections designated for gambling circles and an auction hub offering stolen goods for sale.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, doing an admirable job at keeping up with the severe pace he set.

  If he could take her home to Enotia this very moment, he would. Instead, he only had Vanquish’s cheap rental in an unsafe zone. It would have to do for now. “To my place.”

  There was no missing the way she paled nor the way her gaze darted around. She licked her bottom lip, a question hovering before her mouth snapped closed.

  Protect.

  Vee closed his eyes for a brief moment then opened them to determined slits. If he didn’t get a handle on his uncontrollable urges around her, he was going to lose his objectivity.

  If he hadn’t already.

  ***

  His place. Nausea rose in Eva’s throat and she slipped. Vanquish shifted his hold and curved an arm about her waist, but didn’t slow down.

  Doubt swamped her in a wave of ambivalence, but Eva kept going. She could only hope she was making the right choice. Maybe she was a fool. A fool who expected this violent fighter to not be like the others who hung around the arena.

  A quick glance of his face revealed features hardened and focused as he navigated the final corridor and led them outside of the facility. The mild attraction upon first seeing him and watching his fight dulled in the face of his cold manner.

  She was right back where she started. Had she traded one enemy for another?

  Chapter 6

  Vanquish ordered an automated transport for them and slid next to her on the unyielding seats. Eva had never been in one before since Mannid had a driver and a private hover car he used to get around. Fresh air flowed through the lowered window but the atmosphere inside the transport grew stifling with mounting tension.

  “Get out, you fucking solatt!”

  Eva jumped at the shouted order and obvious insult from outside the vehicle. A door slammed and a woman was shoved out the opening of a nearby unit. Vanquish smoothed a hand down her back and pressed her closer. The touch seemed protective and once more Eva questioned his motives.

  In essence, he’d bought her. But th
en he’d also protected her when she attacked Mannid. Kind of. She should hate him as much as she hated Mannid.

  Then there was the kiss. Her brow crinkled. The kiss. Though caught off guard, she’d participated. Which brought home the fact that what she felt wasn’t anywhere close to hate.

  While those thoughts plagued her, the rental district scared her more. Eva peered through the window on her side. Stragglers hung about in tattered clothing, waiting for the opportunity to attack the unsuspecting. Eva had heard about such places, but seeing was believing. If she had run off alone, odds were strong she’d have ended up here. If she wasn’t killed outright.

  Mannid owned a luxury home in a nicer established community. Her prison had been clean. A jeweled cage. This was different and far more frightening because her safety depended on the arena fighter at her side. What did she really know about him?

  Mannid and those around him boasted about various fighters. Vanquish’s name had occasionally come up. From what she’d witnessed he was ruthless, unemotional and deadly in The Pit. He’d demonstrated those attributes in abundance tonight despite losing. Then there’d been the holos of his past fights. His brutality could not be denied.

  She risked a glance at his stern features. Handsome didn’t come close by any means, but his whipcord frame had a magnetic draw. The moment he’d joined them at the table, Eva had felt it. Even now she wanted to run her hands down the muscled tanned arms, tracing the fine bumpy line of the veins running down his forearms to wrists.

  His quiet intensity reminded her of their precarious situation. Other than an occasionally glance down at her, he ignored her completely. The houses grew more and more decrepit the longer they traveled. The air reeked of desperation. Living units piled within feet of one another surrounded by vagrants waving pipes and other make-shift weapons. She sidled closer to Vanquish. He didn’t seem to notice.

  The transport pulled to a stop. Vanquish opened the door and stepped out first. Strands of hair ruffled as it caught a rare breeze. His gaze scanned the surrounding area before offering his hand to help Eva out. Stares turned in their direction. Something on Vanquish’s face must have warned them off because heads quickly looked away, losing interest. She clasped his fingers, succumbing to the slight tug and getting out of the cushioned interior.

  Vanquish led her toward a multi-rental unit, its front marked by patches of yellowed grass intermixed with uneven dirt clumps. The structure was sound in comparison to some of the others they’d passed, its’ bearing a dull reflection of the area.

  “Wait here.” Vanquish guided her to the side of the main door of the ten story building and returned to place his palm on the dented scanner.

  Chill bumps peppered her right arm and leg made bare by the skimpy skirt and top Mannid forced on her. The left side where Vanquish had held her about the waist retained the vestige of his body’s heat.

  A whirling noise preceded the weak beep before he waved Eva over and ducked through the opened door. Eva cupped her elbows, entwining herself in a partial embrace as she followed. The door shut behind them and light sensors came to life in the empty lobby accompanied by a low hum.

  “This way.” Vanquish motioned toward a narrow stairway on the right that ran on the outside of the building.

  “Not the automated lift?” She pointed out the elevator.

  Vanquish returned his palm to her lower back. Eva was thankful for the reassuring contact. And wasn’t that the height of stupidity. She was reassured by someone who’d threatened harm to her person. “It’s not always functional. I’d rather not take the chance.”

  It made sense. Their steps echoed and bounced off the walls as they marched up one flight and around another and another. Eva huffed slightly, wondering if she’d make it while Vanquish didn’t seem the least out of breath.

  Finally, they reached the last bend on the tenth level. There were four residences on the floor, two on one side of the hall and two on the other. Vanquish opened one of the doors on the right with another palm scan then pulled her through by her fingertips as she unfolded her arms.

  Heat blasted her face from the inside. Comforting and unexpected. The tight knots in her shoulders loosened. Vanquish released her hand to toss his pack on a long lounge upholstered in a tan and dingy white print and headed directly for a small kitchen nook in the corner.

  Pushed against the far wall, a medium sized bed covered in thick green blankets beckoned. Nerves taking flight, Eva took a deep breath and avoided it by walking toward the table across the room, but in sight of the minuscule kitchenette. Not that there was any room to hide in here. She leaned a hip on the table and it rocked. A quick peek under revealed only three legs holding it upright, the surface scarred with notches and gouges.

  Eva straightened and the objects on the table registered. Breath suspended, she eyed the laser out in plain sight beside two knives. With his back to her, Vanquish withdrew a bottled container and placed it to his mouth to drink directly.

  It wasn’t a conscious thought, but Eva had the laser in her hand aimed at the man who casually turned around, resting a hip on the counter behind him and arched a brow.

  “Planning to shoot me?”

  Her fingers caressed the firing mechanism. She’d witnessed Mannid shoot and kill plenty of times in her presence. The results were often gruesome and he’d order servants to clean and wipe down the mess left behind. “I-I don’t know.”

  The events of the day were starting to take a toll. Her hand trembled and the weapon waivered. She added her other hand for support.

  “Don’t take too long to decide. I need to sleep and recover enough to face Jolox again in two days.”

  He grasped the bottom of the black sheer shirt and whipped it over his head, baring his smooth chest. Eva muffled a startled gasp. Vanquish toed off his boots, his gaze never leaving hers.

  “I’m going to get in the bed over there.” He tipped his head tipped in that direction. “If you want to join me, feel free. Otherwise, I’ll be sleep. If you decide to shoot me—,” his gaze darkened, “good luck because if you don’t kill me, I’ll make sure you pay for any wound I sustain.”

  The weight of the laser dragged. Eva didn’t dare lower it. “You can’t have sex with me. You’re poisonous.”

  “Venomous not poisonous. There’s a difference.”

  Eva huffed. Didn’t matter. She wasn’t eager to test dying by sexual intercourse. “I’m not getting in the bed with you.”

  “Because you think I can’t resist you?”

  Despite his lack of a smile, Eva sensed he was making fun of her. He didn’t seem the type to joke, but what did she know. She glanced around the tiny room, hardly big enough for one let alone two people. There was nowhere to sleep except the bed unless she chose the broken lounger or the floor. She grimaced eyeing the questionable sticky spots on both. “I’ll take the lounger.”

  Getting in the bed with him would be the height of foolishness.

  “Your choice. Always.” He strode toward the bed and yanked at the covers down before dropping onto the mattress face first. Eva waited for him to budge, to move or show some other sign he was tricking her. Nothing. Head turned to the side and eyes closed, he gave every indication of going to sleep.

  Eva frowned at his lack of hesitation and warned. “Don’t think I won’t shoot, if you come near me.”

  “Go to sleep or shut up, Eva.” He didn’t bother opening his eyes as he muttered the harsh words.

  Eva crept toward the sticky looking lounger, the draw of rest holding its own appeal. She wanted to climb in the bed beside Vanquish and absorb more of his magical warmth. Again, foolish thoughts. She wasn’t willing to take the chance he’d turn on her.

  Grabbing the trailing end of the sheet he’d carelessly tossed aside, Eva used it to bundle around herself as a measure of protection from unknown germs and stretched out on the lounger. It was more comfortable than it looked or she was more tired. Hard to decide. She checked the bed and its sole occupant
. No movement.

  A night of sleep without Mannid using her sexually was worth whatever risk this fighter brought to her. She turned onto her side and tried to relax. “I’m keeping the laser.”

  Her announcement was met with more of the unbroken silence. Placing the weapon in easy reach beneath the cushions, Eva curled her hands under her chin. Fear wouldn’t let her nod off right away. Her breath came in rapid pants, her heart banging away like a drum.

  She slipped the covers up a bit higher over her shoulders and huddled beneath them. Quiet inhales and exhales from the man across the room. Tears burned, but she blinked them away on a shaky sigh. This was the first night in a long while in which she hadn’t been groped by Mannid after a fight. The first time terror didn’t hold her in its grip wondering how she would survive another day.

  Gradually, her limbs lost their rigid form. Another relieved breath and her pulse slowed its rapid hammering. She was slowly coming down from her newly developed state of anxiety and part of that was because of Vanquish.

  Without meaning to, his presence gave her a sense of safety she couldn’t explain. She had the laser. He hadn’t fought to take it from her.

  The bed squeaked as he shifted. Eva’s breath stuttered and she clutched the sheet in a tight grip. She strained to hear more, but he remained in the bed, not a twitch or flicker of movement.

  “I take a blocker,” Vanquish spoke into the darkness. “Most Serpines do when they are with non-Serpine females.”

  ”What?”

  “A blocker neutralizes the venom in my ejaculate. In case you wondered. I wouldn’t kill you if I sex shared with you.”

  And now that would be on her mind all night. What the hell was her life becoming?

  No answer came to her. Suddenly, Eva laughed. A genuine laugh because no matter what, she wasn’t with Mannid and that made her too happy to quantify.

  ***

  Soft laughter. An odd reaction to his pronouncement. The sound filled him with an unexpected sense of relief. Anything was better than the stench of her fear. The sour notes were no longer pleasurable to his senses. Vee bided his time in the gathering quiet. Letting her keep the laser offered the pretense of safety. He wasn’t worried about the weapon since it was coded to his prints only. She’d have been better off grabbing the cheap knives. Tomorrow he’d be sure to move them.