by Marie Harte
She blinked. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you nearly smashed it to nothing with your fucking knee.” He groaned and felt himself, and bemused, Erin stared at him, fascinated with the shape his fingers outlined. She knew the differences between male and female anatomy, between several species other than human, even. But she’d never been so fascinated with their differences as she was now.
“Are you well?”
“A little sore, but okay.” He sighed with relief and focused on her again. His sharp gaze seemed to take in everything from her long hair bound in a tail behind her head to her purple eyes and glittery skin—skin that she quickly toned down to a smooth tan. “You really are beautiful. I’ve never seen your like before.”
And you won’t again, if Blue Rim has anything to do about it. “Yes, well, I’ve never seen your kind before either. None of the other Mardu on the planet have that color eyes.”
“You should talk,” he murmured and frowned when he pulled at his shoulders. “Cuffs?”
“For your own protection.”
He grinned, and a buzz of warmth stole through her again. “For whose protection?”
“Yours,” she answered bluntly. “Because if you try anything, I’ll be forced to kill you.”
That took the smile from his face, but not the interest from his gaze. “I see.” He pursed his lips, and she wished she’d been gifted with telepathy, because she dearly wanted to know what he was thinking. “You’re wanted, aren’t you?”
“Don’t play with me. I was told you’d give me a fair shake, but instead you caved to Blue Rim’s demands without hearing me out. Why is that?” She closed the distance between them, angered all over again. “How do you know I don’t have as much to offer as they do?”
Cheltam focused on her mouth, and she felt a subtle hum between them, confusing her. “You’re right. I should always examine every angle before making a final decision.” He licked his lips and met her gaze again. “Must have been the huge amount Blue Rim’s throwing out there.”
“A hundred thousand is nothing to scoff at, but surely a man as steeped in vice as you would give a fellow criminal the benefit of the doubt.” Erin poked him in the chest, irritated anew that she wanted to keep the contact between them. “Hell, Cheltam. I thought you hated System law.”
“I do.” Though nothing in his expression changed, Erin could feel a guardedness come over him.
“Well, walking hand in hand with Blue Rim is like signing on with the peacemakers. The lab has everyone they need deep in their pockets,” she said bitterly, unable to stop her frustration.
“So tell me, what would you have me do for you, honey?”
“Erin, the name is Erin.” She wanted to hear him say it. To know who had kicked his ass once and would do so again until she had what she needed—his cooperation.
“Erin.” He nodded. “Tell me again what you need. I find I’m in a much more…willing frame of mind to hear you out than I was earlier.”
She snorted. “No kidding. I want a techie to help me destroy some data, and I want a cruiser armed with enough demolitions to wipe Blue Rim off the map. Because I want that place destroyed, but only after the prisoners within it are set free.”
He frowned. “Prisoners?”
“Yeah. Regular people like you and me.” That sounds good. Make him think we’re the same. “Prisoners heading for the penal colonies on the outer perimeter of the System. Any of the freighters unfortunate enough to come near Eyra end up ‘delayed’. That’s how Blue Rim acquires their research subjects. By kidnapping and eventually killing them. No fuss, no mess. And the freighter captains are lining their pockets and keeping the jails free from overcrowding.”
“Everyone wins,” he murmured, his gaze fixed on hers. “Is that what happened to you? Did they capture you and, ah, experiment?”
Startled, Erin hadn’t realized what a good cover the prisoners would make. “Yes, exactly what happened to me.” Her heart raced. If she could delete any and all reference to hers and her family’s creation in Blue Rim, they might actually find a way to live without looking over their shoulders all the time. Canunn and Synster had been adamant that life outside the labs was impossible. Creations, according to them, were only deemed acceptable in the environs of Blue Rim and were subject to termination outside of scientific progress. Yet, if she wasn’t a Creation, but a poor victim of Blue Rim’s objectionable practices…
“So you want revenge.” He nodded. “I get it. But honey—Erin,” he amended at her glare. “You have to know you can’t possibly compete with anything a monster like Blue Rim will offer. Hell, they practically own all of Eyra. A hundred thousand beks is like a drop in the bucket to them.”
She frowned. “I was told you were more about screwing with the law than about currency.”
He shrugged, not easy to do with his hands behind his back and his body crushed against the seat. For all that he had a leaner frame than a Ragga’s, Erin saw she’d misjudged him. Cheltam was thick about the chest and possessed longer legs than she’d thought.
“Man’s gotta eat. I’ll admit, the new head of Peacemaker Central pisses me the hell off. He’s a nightmare on two legs.” Cheltam grimaced. “All right. I’ll bite. What did you plan on offering for my help, because I don’t recall anything mentioned?”
His tone softened as he stared at her, and Erin suddenly knew how to get his cooperation. Between Anin’s descriptions of what Synster liked and what she’d seen in her time away from the labs, Erin thought she knew enough about the male mindset to proffer something to interest Cheltam.
Herself.
“I have something you can’t get anywhere else in the entire System.” True. She was the only female humanoid ever created that functioned on her own, with the exception of her sister. And Erin was a lot more independent than poor Anin would ever be.
“Oh?” His eyes turned smoky, and the raspiness of his reply signaled definite interest.
Erin reached out and laid her fingers along his throat, and again that warmth filled her. Helpless to stop herself, she began releasing wafts of pheromones guaranteed to snare the male. “If you help me, Cheltam, I’ll offer you something so rare and precious you’ll be begging to give me anything I need.”
“Begging, hmm? What’s your offer?”
“Me.” She ran her fingers down his chest and held her palm over his racing heart. He was affected, no doubt, but he didn’t jump on the offer that so many others she’d encountered since leaving Eyra would have taken and run with. She’d received so many propositions in her brief sojourn to Mardu she could have made a nice living for the next few years off her “delectable” and “delightfully carnal” body.
“But how do I know you’re any good?”
She frowned, not having anticipated anything but a “yes”. He thought to refuse her? Erin? Hell, she’d been genetically enhanced to appeal to all males. Why was this one so different?
She could see he was anything but unaroused. His raspy breathing, dilated pupils and stiffening shaft under those trousers clearly displayed desire. The scent of need filled the air, the subtle aroma a blending of her pheromones and his.
“I don’t understand.” Not his question, or her sudden instinct to submit to this male, to offer him her subservience. Oh shit. This is not good. Stay strong. Don’t give in. The knowledge that Cheltam held some innate power over her steeled her will, and Erin resolved that should he accept her offer, no matter how physically close their association might bring them, she’d keep him mentally compartmentalized.
Already the male intrigued her, and they had yet to share intimacies. Erin needed to keep her focus on Blue Rim and her family. She had to in order to survive. Ryen and Anin depended on her. Erin had no time to spare on a criminal mastermind, no matter how attractive she found him.
He smiled, and her heartbeat stuttered, shocking her. She’d experienced a similar feeling when in that bar where the couples fornicated. Sexual desire. She didn’
t have time to worry about it though because Cheltam leaned forward and jiggled his restraints.
“I require proof, Erin. A savvy businessman never agrees to an unknown, untested product. Show me what you can do, and I’ll think about it. Now how about you start with my cuffs, and we’ll go from there?”
She shook her head. “No. But you have a point.”
Logically, the male needed to know if she could stimulate him past arousal to climax. Anin had often described Synster’s quick journey to repletion and his satisfaction afterward. Perhaps if Erin brought Cheltam the same pleasure, he’d be more inclined not only to believe in her worth but to help her as well. And if she worked him just right, she could gratify her urge to please him without him learning the truth behind her need.
She shoved him back against the seat and spread his thighs wide. Leaning closer to inspect the closure of his trousers, when she found it, she peeled the top of his pants apart.
“What are you doing?” Cheltam’s voice sounded strangled, and she glanced at him in surprise.
“I’m proving myself, as requested.” She quickly lifted him with ease as she lowered the cloth, pushing it down past his hips to his thighs.
“How strong are you?”
“As strong as I need to be.” But not strong enough to take down Blue Rim, not without your help. And, dammit all, not strong enough to resist you. Determined to prove she would be worth his help, she drew on what she’d learned from Anin’s experience and got to work.
4
Rafe was so out of his element here it wasn’t funny. Needing to gather as much information from his kidnapper as possible, he’d done his best to ferret answers. Her name was Erin. She had an unnatural ability to enthrall males with a latent sexuality he found fascinating, as well as a beauty that captivated. She had strength and quickness in dangerous quantities, and a logical mindset to meet her objectives, no matter the obstacle.
Unfortunately for her, Rafe considered himself to be a huge obstacle. Erin needed his help to take down Blue Rim, and he knew for a fact Sernal had been investigating that very company, because he’d assigned the task to Gar. The reason behind this kidnapping was beginning to take shape, or at least, it had before she’d lifted him off his ass, as if he weighed no more than a feather, and stripped him to his knees.
Damn. The woman seemed to really want his help, but could he let her—“Oh, shit.” He stared incredulously at her small yet strong hand wrapped around his cock. The feel of her soft palm around him aroused him unbearably, and his Xema senses warned him she possessed a dangerous quantity of pheromones adding to her allure. Not that her looks needed much help.
She distracted him by pulling on his shaft, pumping him up and down, slower then faster, and he concentrated all of his attention on holding back when he wanted so very badly to come all over her. Control, Rafe, where’s your precious control? Gritting his teeth, he tried to dampen his arousal, and the effort made him sweat.
She wasn’t a typical beauty, in any way. Though she possessed a slender build and all the right curves in all the right places, her coloring was too foreign to be anything but stunning. That tan skin that now glittered with gold flecks. Those ripe lips and alien eyes, the colors swirling, as if expressing her emotions. Such a dark purple around the lighter blue, magnifying the pinpoint of heat in that golden pupil. Erin had an uncanny strength, but her touch right now… Rafe wondered if she might have been manipulated by Eyran scientists to bestow sexual pleasure at its finest. He could readily believe it as he watched her handling him.
“You like this.” She nodded and continued to jerk him off. “Very much.”
“Yeah.” Rafe tried to stem the arousal pooling in his blood, to maintain some command over his body. But being tied up and helpless under her touch aroused him even more. And that scent of hers wrapped around his brain as tightly as her fist around his cock. “So you’re going to prove yourself invaluable with your body, hmm?” he said thickly, willing himself to hold back.
She stilled and cocked her head. “You aren’t responding as I’d thought.”
What the hell more did she want? He was ready to blow as it was.
Erin shook her head. “You’re still too aware.”
“Aware of wh—blessed Flor,” he moaned, as she enveloped him with her mouth.
She caressed him with her tongue and took him all the way to the back of her throat.
“Oh, yeah. That’s it. Suck it, baby, swallow me.” Rafe could do nothing more than listen to his body as he fucked her incredible mouth. Jolts of electricity shot through him, and he could feel his energy seeking that elusive plain that every Xema sought: wainu—a state of utter peace on a spiritual plateau that only a perfect union might create. And it looked, amazingly, as if the union of his shaft and just her mouth would take him there.
She moaned around him, taking him deeper, her movements so attuned to his needs it was as if they’d known each other forever as opposed to having just met. Rafe lost himself to the splendor of her scent and touch, his orgasm thundering all too near.
He shouted his bliss as he came in her mouth, his climax explosive. The heat of her mouth sucked him deeper, pushing him to give her everything inside him. The climax took him by surprise, as much as he’d expected it. Because with the physical release, he also experienced a spiritual catharsis, a remedy to the constant restlessness plaguing him. Wainu. She’d taken him to wainu.
Erin, Flor grant her, swallowed all of his seed before she released him and put his clothes once again to rights. Rafe could only sit there, staring at her in a daze as his spirit dwelled in the perfection of the moment. Erin seemed content to wait.
Moments later, Rafe took a deep breath. “That was…how did you…”
“You liked it.” She smiled, pleased, and Rafe noted the flush staining her cheeks, her heavy breathing just now settling down.
“Yeah, you could say that.” He took another deep breath, wondering what the hell to do now. He’d violated Sernal’s strict policy against fraternization between peacekeepers and the criminal class. He still needed to know more about Blue Rim and Erin’s part in the labs. And hell, if what she said were true, then prison ships were illegally selling their human cargo as slaves to science. An unlawful, not to mention immoral, dealing. Sernal would definitely want that stopped.
Yet it was Erin herself that gave him pause. Rafe wanted her, badly. Aside from this mission, aside from her problems, he wanted to sink deep into the intriguing female and cement the connection he could all but feel as he wavered on wainu’s edge. He’d had plenty of sex before, but not every orgasm could take him to utter bliss, and especially not from contact with a virtual stranger. One touch of Erin’s mouth, in this uncomfortable vehicle while tied up, and he’d shot his load like a pubescent youth. Yet for all that, he’d seen ecstasy made real.
The responsible side of Rafe told him to take the case and use Erin’s information, and only Erin’s information. But the male, the Xema within, demanded he heed his instincts to challenge the female and gauge her innate worth. That he see what lay beneath the surface of her beauty to find the heat within in a test as old as the Xema line. Shit. Though he knew he had to help her, he only hoped he could get to the point where he could focus on the case and not her delectable body.
“Okay, I’ll help you.”
Her grin widened. “My body for a techie, ammunitions, and a ship to take us there?”
Hell, yes, his body shouted. But his damn conscience just had to intervene. No, Rafe. She’s desperate. Your job is to help people, not to take advantage of them. Then again, he wasn’t Rafe right now. He was Cheltam. “There are conditions.”
Her grin faltered.
“I don’t ever go into a situation without knowing the facts. I want details, Erin. I want to know everything you know about Blue Rim. And I want to know what rotten peacemakers are lying in bed with the lab. Those guys will be the first to go,” he said roughly, his aversion to corrupt lawmen both in keeping
with Cheltam’s image and adhering to his own principles.
“Agreed. And in return, I shall pleasure you whenever you like.”
He narrowed his gaze, curious at the innocence in her gaze that contradicted the skill she’d just shown with both her hand and mouth. His interest in the woman was growing in leaps and bounds.
“So long as you’re willing. I’m not a rapist.”
She studied him curiously. “How very odd for a criminal of your caliber. Morals, Cheltam?” Her lips quirked.
“You have a problem with that?” Rafe always treated females with respect, even as Cheltam. Women adored him; they didn’t fear him. He couldn’t help that notion of chivalry when it came to the fairer sex. Protectiveness had been bred into his bones.
Erin shook her head. “I don’t think rape would ever be necessary with you. The rumors are that you’ve never begged for female companionship, but rather your women beg for you.”
Rafe grinned. “You going to beg, baby?”
“I’m not one of your women. And my name is not ‘baby.’”
He lost his grin, needing to remind her, and himself, who was in charge, no matter his current state. “You want my help, you’re whatever I say you are. Now get rid of the cuffs.”
She started to move and stopped herself. She grimaced. “I’ll take them off just as soon as we seal the deal.”
A typical Mardu custom, one even thieves and smugglers observed, and one he couldn’t argue. The woman had done her homework.
Glancing at him, she sighed. “I supposed a handshake won’t work.”
“A kiss.” Rafe steeled himself against a return of the lust he’d previously felt, but he refused to let this opportunity pass. For one thing, he needed to show her he was in charge. And for another, it bothered him on a fundamental level that he’d received pleasure when she had not.
“Fine.” She leaned close, but he shook his head.
“No. Straddle me with your thighs, then kiss me. And do exactly as I say.”
