by L. V. Lane
“Lilly’s not in the other bedroom,” Ryker said earnestly. “And I’d rather spend all night on the couch watching you fuck her than try and sleep thinking about it in another room. It’s a bit of a lose-lose. If I’m going to torment myself, may as well do it with the real thing.”
“I’m trying,” Ethan said softly. His big hand rested against my lower back, pushing me deeper onto his thick shaft buried between my legs. Then he surprised me by easing out.
I whimpered, feeling empty. My heart raced too fast in my chest. So many conflicted emotions were roiling around, and I thought I might be sick.
“I’m going out for a bit. So, for fuck sake, feed her before you take any more of her blood…or fuck her.” I was dumped unceremoniously onto Ryker’s lap.
“I’m not a complete dick,” Ryker grumbled.
Ethan tucked his still hard cock away with a grimace and not a bit of shame.
“Where are you going?” I asked. There was a panicky notion that he might be leaving for good. He certainly hadn’t given me more than the briefest warning Ryker was coming back, and I doubted he would give me any notice if he were about to leave.
“I have a couple of meetings—I’ll be back later.” To Ryker, he said, “Feed her or I’ll stop trying to break your neck.”
With that threat hanging, he left.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A NIGHT OF chasing down leads had brought me absolutely nothing. The whole time, all I could think about was Ryker at home with Lilly, where he was doubtless fucking her insensible. I’d sent him three messages to make sure he was feeding her and letting her get some rest.
He replied to the first one saying she had eaten.
Told me to “fuck off,” after the second.
The third time, he didn’t reply but instead sent me a video clip of Lilly sucking his cock.
Incensed, I’d smashed my fucking field-viewer.
It was too late, the image was emblazoned on my mind. Lilly on her hands and knees—it looked like they were in bed—with her pretty lips stretched around his cock and his fist buried in her hair as he guided her up and down.
The accompanying caption read: New, best blowjob of my life!
She had her eyes closed, so I doubted she realized he was recording her, but I was going to beat him to a bloody pulp anyway.
Done for the night, and none the wiser as to anything pertaining to Tsing, I sent Ryker a fourth message telling him to meet me at the base.
Ryker knew what that meant. He had just dropped Lilly off at the research center, and it was time for another sparring session because he clearly didn’t understand who was on fucking top and needed a reminder.
The war had seen military bases distributed all over the Empire, even here in the heart of our civilization, and far from the terrors of war, there were several administrative and support centers. Chimera was Ryker’s homeworld, and it was his local base we used for our last sparring session.
Ryker, renowned for his antics, inspired a wide variety of strong emotions, both positive and negative. News that we were incoming spread, and there was a crowd already waiting to peer into the practice pit when I arrived.
The practice pit consisted of rows of square pits with high walls and a viewing balcony around each. They used it for training so that recruits could watch each other and learn, and could stop by to see the more experienced off-duty soldiers who were keeping their skills sharp between deployments.
Ryker was already waiting in the adjoining locker room, stripped down, other than a pair of black sparing pants. His hair was sticking up all over the place, which given what I knew he’d been doing all night, only stoked my temper.
I growled at him as I stalked over to the bench where he had placed my bag with my training gear.
He grinned back…because he was a psycho and the prospect of me beating the shit out of him for the second time in as many days did not bother him one bit. I stripped out of my clothes in record time and dragged on my sparring pants. It had been a shitty night—other than me fucking Lilly on the kitchen counter—and I still didn’t know where the fuck this was going between the three of us.
I was feeling possessive in a way that went far beyond any ordinary control. She was addictive, we both recognized the fact, and neither of us was prepared to back down. But if I was doing this, it was going to be on my fucking terms. If I had the beat him unconscious every fucking day to get him to conform, that was what I was going to do.
“Let’s go,” I said, stalking past him through the door and into the pit.
A great cheer went up.
“What the fuck,” I muttered. I turned a complete circle, staring up at the surrounding balcony with a scowl. There had been a crowd when I stalked into the lockerroom ten minutes ago, this was closer to a rabble.
The buzzer sounded signifying the door locking us in. Sessions were timed and other than an emergency, there was no out once you were in until it was officially time up.
I turned back toward Ryker—and copped his fist in my face.
A great roar went up.
I staggered back, righted myself, and slugged him back.
Our snarls soon overrode the watching, feral crowd. I’d learned how to bloody an opponent back on Lyus and long before I even knew the Empire existed. Cage fighting was a quick way to make money—for me anyway.
I took perverse pleasure in every blow. Ryker had ignored my fucking orders and taunted me. Rage fell over me like a noxious blanket.
Distantly, I knew I was so caught up in my need to subjugate him that I had lost sight of why, and that this ‘missing why’ was important.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, chest heaving, and right eye once more completely shut.
The pit’s walls and floor, which would rarely see blood, were splattered generously.
Not all of it belonged to Ryker.
The wild crowd still screamed for more. I was amazed we hadn’t been shut down, this was so far beyond a sparring session as to be bordering on obscene.
He must have sensed my question because he shrugged and grinning said, “I have friends.”
And there he was, the version of Ryker that I might one day come to like.
Tolerate—I needed to build up to like.
He held up a hand up in the universal sign of surrender.
I swayed a little on my feet, but I was doing better than Ryker was. He coughed and spat out another gob of blood.
If I beat his face anymore, there was a good chance I would do some permanent damage. “If you keep challenging me, I’m going to fucking kill you,” I said. Only it didn’t ring true, because I wanted Lilly and killing Ryker would destroy that.
He nodded, but I wasn’t delusional enough to believe it was settled between us.
The buzzer sounded, and the door lock disengaged.
We both took unsteady steps for the exit.
Why had I even suggested this? I should have just gone and collected Lilly, kicked Ryker out, and fucked Lilly instead.
There was a message waiting when I checked my communicator.
“What is it?” Ryker asked, seeing I had stilled.
“Lucian. He’s had a tip-off. There’s a handover tonight. From the viral program direct to Salvation.”
Ryker frowned a bloody towel in his hand where he’d just wiped his face. “Salvation, as in the insurgent group with ties to the Uncorrupted?”
I nodded. “The very same. I don’t have time for your bullshit.” I stripped out of my sparring pants and began throwing on my clothes. “I need to take Tsing down, and this is my best lead.”
“I’m coming with you,” he said scowling, and tossing his towel aside, he dressed with similar haste. “I hate that twisted Theta fucker more than you! I want in.”
Chimera’s central cargo docks were a vast, sprawling complex. The main cargo processing area was automated and closed off to humans, but the annex handled the smaller, ad-hoc shipments and this was thrumming with bots and human wor
kers crisscrossing in a heaving mass.
Food courts, bars, seedy entertainment, and betting venues had popped up over the years. Flights in and out of Chimera were constant, and the throughput for both parts of the dock was extreme.
Dynamics of every kind could be found mingling here and dressed in Lucian’s private security brigade, no one paid us any heed. Well, no more than usual, people always gave me a wide birth.
“Are you sure that’s the place?” Ryker asked. He was sporting a black eye where Kade, a member of Lucian’s security team, had punched him seconds after we were introduced.
I didn’t ask what Ryker had done.
Neither did Ryker, so I assumed it was justified and left the matter well alone.
After, the two of them had made like they were new best friends and had spent the entire shuttle ride with their heads together as they got down to the serious business of discussing weapons. This discussion had gained ever-increasing enthusiasm as they explored their shared love of killing people, the pros and cons of the various firearms, and their personal favorites.
Jordan, the blond, more serious of the Delta duo, had rolled his stone-gray eyes and muttered, “Kids and their toys!”
He couldn’t have been more than five years older than the dark-haired Kade, but I got the impression he was in charge in ways that went beyond simple years.
Deltas were an enigma, and rare; I had only ever met a few in my life.
Not as rare as the Gamma, which had led to an unusual dynamic sharing situation.
“Just up ahead,” Jordan confirmed. “We’ve got a tag on the shipment handler, and he’s in Reapers Revenge.”
Lucian had been tipped off about another black market viral shipment. Jordan, Kade, Ryker and myself, were on our way to intercept the shipment handler. There were two other teams inside the docks keeping tabs on the shipment, which sat in a container bay awaiting clearance.
The handler, Jordan had referred to, was a Beta named Mikal Sanders. He worked for the transport company shipping legal supplies for the viral program under Tsing. According to Lucian’s sources, he was also transporting an additional package of the viral strain that created Omega dynamics.
I wanted Sanders.
Lucian wanted the package.
I also wanted the package, but I was prepared to compromise to get the source. Especially if that source would lead me back to Tsing. My unease had been growing steadily the more I learned about the man, and I wanted that bastard taken down before he had any more sick fun with Lilly.
Dock security had been ramped up after an incident two years prior and was now at an insane level of tight with no weapons allowed inside. Even my government clearance couldn’t help since it was an independent company who managed the docks. At least it created a level playing field. Given Kade appeared to have a Ryker-like fixation with fast-death technology, this wasn’t a bad thing.
We came to a collective stop at the entrance. I shared a look with Jordan—the big Delta shrugged.
Ryker grinned, and quipped, “Fuck yeah!” Before pushing open the door, and stalking in.
Reapers Revenge turned out to be a dive bar. I’d been in my share of dive bars; I wasn’t bothered about entering one, but this place was a dump and would have blended in perfectly on my old home world, Lyus. Cobbled together scraps of paneling, loose wires, blinking neon lights, and a miss-match of battered tables and chairs. The air hung heavy with the vapor of enough drugs to send me a little high. Scruffy dock workers butted up against loud-mouthed shipment personnel—it was a squeeze to get in.
“How the fuck did he find somewhere with this much of a security nightmare?” I asked, shoving a drunk asshole aside with more enthusiasm than was required. He turned around about to launch into a complaint.
As his eyes rose up and up to meet mine, the complaint died, and he went back to his drink.
“This is where it’s supposed to happen,” Jordan said. “He hands over the security tag. Salvation’s contact picks up the viral shipment from the holding pen, and returns the tag to Mikal who goes on about his business like it never happened.”
“We’re not the only eyes in here,” Kade said as we pressed through the crowd and went through the motions of getting a drink at the bar. Mikal was in a corner booth with another man and a woman wearing his shipping company uniform. He was a short, scruffy Beta and blended perfectly with the bar clientele.
“They’re on to us,” Ryker said, casually putting his drink down and creating some space.
“Fuck, I think you’re right,” Jordan said.
Three Alphas had entered at the front door, cutting us off. The one on the right held a disabler stick—and he wasn’t dock security.
“How the fuck did they get a disabler through security?” Kade asked.
A disabler could deliver a shock. The security used it to control trouble. Whatever the stick made contact with would go numb. Depending on what they hit with it, you could lose all ability to function.
“We’re busted,” I said. “Get a hold of Sanders.”
My head turned just in time to see a chair swinging for me. I blocked it with my forearm, grabbed it, and shoved it into the face of the thug who had been holding it.
He screamed, blood splattered in a high arc…And the bar degenerated into chaos as the poorly configured exits, partially blocked with the battered furnishing, created an instant bottleneck of fleeing patrons.
Jordan had one of the men in a headlock, Kade wrestled another to the ground, while Ryker made a dive for Sanders before he could reach the exit. The tackle took down another three people, and they fell into an ungainly heap of flailing limbs.
Two of Sanders' crew piled on top of Ryker. Another man was approaching from behind me, and I swung my chair-weapon down, sending him reeling into the bar.
Something heavy landed on my back.
What the fuck?
A scrawny Beta female hung off my back, and I winced as she set about beating me with a drinks tray. It was metal and had sharp fucking edges, and the skinny bitch got three good blows in before I could rip her off. I growled as I sent her bowling into the terror-fueled stampede at the front exit.
Screams, shouts, growls, and snarls competed for attention with the fast-approaching wail of sirens.
Ryker was getting a pummeling on the floor by the two thugs on top of him, but he had a hold of Sanders, and he wasn’t letting go.
One thing I’d learned about Ryker over the last two days is that he could take a punch. This discovery was both impressive and depressing since there had been times when I wanted him to stay the fuck down. He was useful for building my stamina if nothing else.
Two strides and I kicked the nearest of his assailants in the head. There was a satisfying crack, and blood splattered from his shattered jaw. I ripped the last one away with Kade’s help, and finally free of the impediment, Ryker wrestled with Sanders for the security tag.
The great bear of an Alpha who’d been pinning Ryker was a thick-necked bastard, and it took us a few punches before we could take him down.
The sirens were getting closer, the wail now drowning out the patrons’ screams…because most of them still hadn’t made it out amid the fucking fray.
“We need to fucking leave,” Jordan called from the back of the bar as he smacked a bottle into another of Sanders’ supporters.
The frenzied crowd, who were probably all dubious in nature, were as eager to leave as we were. They surged forward with renewed enthusiasm, ripping Sanders with them…as the dock security arrived.
Events got hazy at that point. I caught a disabler blast in my arm trying to get Ryker off the floor, and with Jordan’s help, we escaped out the back just in time as another dozen more security turned up. It was a bit weird that they all came in the front entrance, thus leaving us a clear rear exit, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“That has to be the worst fucking operation I’ve ever been on,” I growled at Jordan. “Who the fuck was watching th
e place?”
Jordan wasn’t listening to me, he was on his communicator ranting to someone about sick asshole games, and threatening to, break your geek-assed neck!
“Lucian had a super-secret computer whiz guy,” Kade explained grinning. “No one has ever seen him, but he and Jordan don’t get on very well. I told Jordan not to provoke the fucker, but he doesn’t listen to me.”
I had no idea what the fuck to make of this, but I supposed we had made it out.
Ryker’s hair was sticking up all over the pace, his right cheek and nose were bleeding, while his already blackened eye had swollen to an impressive egg. He wiped his fingers under his nose and grinned. The bloodstained teeth made for a grisly sight.
“Fuck knows how you stay so pretty,” I muttered shaking my head. “Please tell me you got the security tag?”
Ryker, smug as ever, turned over his palm to reveal the tag.
“Thank fuck,” I said, shaking out my numb arm. “Let’s go and check if all this pain was for nothing.”
It wasn’t for nothing. The viral strain was in the cold compartment as we’d been tipped off, and a quick check with the kit Jordan had on him confirmed this.
We got the shipment, but not Sanders. I still needed a connection.
“Tell Lucian to put a watch on Sanders,” I said to Jordan. “If he pokes his head up somewhere I can get to him, I want to know.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A WEEK HAD passed since Ryker’s return, and an uneasy truce of sorts had followed. The bruises had faded on his face, so I presumed they hadn’t fought again. Except for the one day when they returned looking like they had been through a war. I didn’t sense animosity between them on this occasion. Ryker had been playful! Ethan wore his usual frown and muttered about, feeling old.
They tolerated each other and one of them, usually Ryker, would take and collect me from the research center.
I wasn’t sure how much longer this pseudo peace would last given Ryker was up to his manipulation games again. Ethan was rarely around, which provided Ryker far too much opportunity.
