Alien (38 page)

Kal shot her a wink, which garnered a sly smile from her
that curled his toes. Damn, this woman had him by the balls with just a look.
It both disturbed and intrigued him at the same time. He pulled his gaze from
her and took Atrem’s arm. Each clasped the other by the elbow, sealing the
solidarity between them. “We come as a team. Do you accept us?”

Atrem smiled. “It would be our honor.”

Atrem returned to his ship, leaving behind a crew including Dio
and his brother Syros. Syros was the oldest of Atrem’s eight sons and Dio was
the youngest. Over the years, the Cerulean XLT had secretly been restored with
the latest weapons and technology, which had been hidden in the ship, never
activated for fear it might be located and stolen. They worked quickly to
initiate those systems within a few hours. Dio explained he had intentionally
disabled the ship’s heat sensors to slow their progress so his father could
rendezvous with them in space. The shopping trip had been a ruse to stall as well
until he’d received a signal to launch.

The Sirian’s ship disengaged to return to Bellitrix and
resume his façade. They were to meet at the POWR secret space station in a
quasar nested within the Sirian galaxy. Being asked not to confront Delrado
didn’t sit well with Kal, but he accepted it for the cause, for the moment.
He’d waited over a hundred years, what were a few more days?

It felt good to be dressed decently again. He stretched,
testing the fabric of the one-piece, soft leather suit he’d been given. He
could see why Dio changed into one before starting work on the spacecraft. The
material was astoundingly soft and contoured perfectly to his body. It looked
even better on Shia. It hugged her bottom nicely and the V-neckline of the
female version showed just enough of her breasts to make him uncomfortably snug
in the front of his. He adjusted his stance, trying to gain a bit of room for
his hardening cock at the sight of Shia clad in her black, body-hugging suit.

Kal leaned against the counter in the galley, arms crossed,
watching Shia make them hot
guamana
to drink. It was similar to tea but
much stronger and tasted of mixed berries and honey. They’d made a huge
decision together and yet he knew little about her.

“Tell me, Shikoba, what drove you to become Paoni?” He
caught the subtle change in her body language from ease to a slight tautness in
her shoulders.

“Sheer will.” She handed him a cup. When she took a step
toward the door, he gently clasped her elbow, stopping her.

“I sense there’s more to your story.” She looked at him over
her shoulder. “You know mine. Please share yours. It shall go no further than
me.”

She stepped over the backless bench that encompassed the
round silver table and sat. Kal took a position across from her. Indecision
flittered in her eyes before she closed them and took a deep breath. When she
opened them, they held an anger he wished he’d never seen.

“As a child, I saw my parents slaughtered in a raid upon
Aldebaron. It was a small village on an outer rim star planet, Zephron. I was
the only survivor. We were a peaceful people, farmers mostly. No weapons. No
way to fight.” Her chin tilted and her jaw tightened, making her lips thin as
if she waged an inner battle for control over her rage. Kal reached for her
hand but she lowered it from the table. He’d simply meant to console her but
apparently she didn’t want it. “I ran but they captured me.”

“Who did this?” He hated hearing her pain. It tore at him, making
him ache to soothe her. She’d seen such violence at a young age.

“Squatchians.”

Kal sat straighter. Squatchians were huge, hairy and
incredibly strong with bad tempers. They’d been banished to live solitary lives
spread throughout the universe. “There was more than one?”

“The intel on them is wrong. There were three of them
working with destroyers. They took me to Tandora’s Moon where I was sold to a woman
named Eliventi Corsaviar. She saved me from slavery. I became one of her many
children.” He heard the change in her tone when she spoke of this woman. It
hinted of respect and love, taking the edge off her anger. “Mamma Elli has made
it her life rescuing stolen children and raising them. She gave me a second
chance. But I never forgot where I came from and never will. I worked to become
a warrior so I could climb the ranks until reaching High Guard Council level in
hopes of discovering who marked my village for destruction. My guess was the
Kiengir but—”

“If Atrem is right, they were imprisoned long before. What
made you think your village was marked and they worked for the Kiengir?”

“The ship was imperial and they wore the Kiengir emblem upon
their foreheads.”

Destroyers were outlaws, pirates and scum of the universe,
the worst of the worse. A band of them had been branded with the official seal
on their foreheads and working for the Kiengir didn’t make sense. Why attack a farming
village? What were they farming that warranted destruction? And why take a
solitary child? Questions swirled without answers. He could see where a child
would believe the Kiengir destroyed her village. Shia carried that image
embedded in her brain, which fueled her anger as an adult.
That
was the
only thing making sense to him. If he’d seen such, he’d feel the same.

Kal laid out what he thought. “Looks like someone on the
council has a band of destroyers in his pocket pretending to be Kiengir
officials. We find them. We find the person pulling their strings.”

“And the person who ordered my village’s destruction.” Shia
sounded hopeful.

He nodded. “What did your village farm?”

“Vegetables.”

“That’s it? You sure they weren’t a front for a mining
operation of some sort?”

“No. I thought that as well. Went back to the quadrant a few
years ago. Found nothing but charred remains of a ruined farmer’s village. My
home.” She visibly shook before a single tear escaped.

Kal slid around the table and hugged her. She tried to push
away from him but he refused to let her. Cupping her chin, he made her look at him.
“It’s okay to cry.” He grinned. “Even I cried once.”

“Really.” She sniffed as she wiped her eyes. “The great
Kallikrates Valerianus cried.”

“For about a second before the heat of hell dried them.” He
laughed.

Shia brushed his cheek. “I’m sorry you were sent there.”

He took her hand. “For the first time since it happened, I’m
not. I wouldn’t have met you.” He kissed her fingers then tugged her close and
captured her mouth with his. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Women
weren’t to be trusted. But Shia was different. She wasn’t a woman. She was a
warrior. He reluctantly pulled from her lips. He liked the way her eyes
darkened a deep golden brown with desire. “You want to continue this in my
compartment?”

The ship rocked from the impact of a loud explosion. It
didn’t sound or feel like a direct hit. Red lights flashed. Dio’s voice boomed
through the system. “We’re under attack. All hands battle ready. Now.”

Kal and Shia ran to the bridge. Dio was at the helm,
maneuvering the ship at great speed with ease. His oldest brother, Syros, sat
to his right, readying the forward weapons for a fight. He looked similar to Dio
except more muscular and with longer hair, which he kept in a ponytail. Two
other voices chimed in through the coms from stations in the rear of the ship.
Max and Codus were ready.

“Who’s firing on us and what’s the damage?” Kal demanded as
he strapped into a seat. Shia jumped into the one beside him.

“No damage. Shot wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the force
field we had in place while making repairs,” Syros said without looking up.

Dio nodded at the VIS screen. “It’s a Paoni squadron. Idiots
think they can take us. They don’t have the firepower or the speed. Vimanis
aren’t built for space battles. They’re probably stalling us until a fleet
reaches here.”

Shia leaned squinting at the screen. “Damnit. That’s Gangust
Delrado. How the hell did he find us?”

The voice coming through the VIS confirmed it. “You are
under arrest. Prepare to be boarded and taken into custody.”

“What’s our move, Kal?” Shots zipped around the ship as Dio
performed evasive maneuvers.

Kal looked at Syros. “Until we know which Paoni are in
alliance with Delrado, don’t kill them. They may be simply following orders.
Singe them. Send them home beaten and get us the hell out of here before a
fleet surrounds us.”

Syros turned to Dio. “Game on.”

Dio grinned. “Let’s level the playing field. Stun only,
men,” he ordered.

He swung the ship around as Syros opened fire. Several gave
them a good fight, but nothing landed a hard enough hit to do any major damage.
One by one, they zapped them with a stagger beam, which rendered them
inoperable and floating in space. The effect lasted for about an hour, leaving
them helpless to do anything but sit back, and enjoy the view. If they were
lucky, the fleet would arrive, haul them into the base ship and repair them
before some space pirate found them and turned them into scrap.

Syros missed the last vimani. It was on the run, weaving and
dodging the much bigger ship. They gave chase until an ominous shape appeared
on the outer edge of the VIS screen. He was leading them directly toward the
fleet.

“We’ve got company coming,” Dio stated as he closed in on the
last vimani.

The system locked on. Syros fired. The vimani sparked and
stalled.

“This isn’t over, Saturnina.” Gangust’s hatred dripped from
his words.

Shia’s eyebrows rose. “How’d he know I’m here?”

Kal and Dio shrugged. Syros commented, “He’s guessing.
There’s no trace we’ve been remotely scanned. That thing probably only has
thermal tech on it.”

Without missing a beat, she spoke clearly, “Game on,
Gangust. Game on.”

Dio did a barrel roll around Gangust’s vimani, scanning the
inside and showing it on their screen. He looked like a pissed-off hornet
trapped beneath a glass. She muted the com against his tirade of curses and sent
a picture to his VIS of her flipping him off right before Dio made the jump to
hyper space, leaving him behind in a burst of energy that sent him spinning.

“Good work, men.” Kal released the seatbelt and stood. “You
two have the helm.”

He unbuckled Shia and took her hand, leading her along the
corridor and straight to his compartment. He pressed the button, the large
metal door slid open and he guided her inside, closing the door behind them. A
huge bed sat against one side of the room. Another door to the left of the bed
led to a private bath.

“What were you thinking teasing Delrado’s prick of a son like
that? You heard Syros. He had no evidence you were onboard. Now you’ve marked
yourself as a wanted soul.”

She shrugged. “Seemed like a good thing to do at the time.”
She tilted her chin, stretching until she was as close to face-to-face with him
as she could possibly be without standing on something. “Besides, I get the
sense you like a challenge.”

“I’ve got the feeling you like to keep things stirred up.”

“What’s an adventure without excitement?” Her hand skimmed
along his cock.

Kal covered her lips with his, not giving her a chance to
speak. While kissing her, he backed her up until her legs collided with the bed.
Kal straightened, breathing deeply, taking in her wonderful scent. He pressed
his forehead to hers. “I’ve got no idea where this is going.”

She leaned, placing a slight gap between them as she nodded
over her shoulder. “I’m hoping to a real good fucking in that bed. Apparently,
I’ve been a bad, bad girl and need to be punished.”

He snorted a half-laugh, half-heated breath. “I meant the
future. I’m not sure what this thing happening between us is going to bring, or
if there is even an us.”

Shia gathered his face in her hands. “I know what you meant.
I’m willing to find out. One day at a time, across as many galaxies as it takes,
you and I will find the answers to the riddles that plague our existence. We
both want revenge, which isn’t exactly a sound foundation to build a
relationship on, but I think we can make it work, for now.”

She kissed him, sucking his tongue into her mouth, teasing
him, tasting him. Kal liked the way she took control, ramping up his need as
she palmed his cock, rubbing it through his uniform until he thought it would
split the material. He grabbed her ass, lifting her, setting her on the bed. Kal
broke from the kiss then caught the clasp and drew it down her body, opening
the black leather, giving him a peek of her soft flesh. He shoved it apart and
helped peel it from her, placing kisses to every newly exposed section of skin.
At her feet, he removed her boots and socks, then tugged off the suit and
tossed it across the room. He wanted to touch all of her at once, running his
hands from her feet, up her legs, her abdomen to cup her breasts and free them
from her bra, which flew through the air the second he held it.

Kal stood between her legs, staring at the beauty before
him. She bent her knees, placed her feet flat on the bed and spread her thighs
wide. When she fingered herself, he couldn’t help but growl with need at the
sight. He grabbed her wrist and sucked her juices from her fingers. She sat
upright, wrapping her legs around his thighs.

“I want you, Kal. I need you naked right now.”

Shia opened his suit. Kal wasted no time shucking it off.
When he bent to unlace his boots, she slapped his ass, which surprisingly made
his cock throb. He shot her a raised-eyebrow look across his shoulder as he
removed his boots, socks and uniform faster than he ever had in his life. He
spun to face her.

She scooted back from him on the bed, grinning wickedly. He
caught her by the ankle and dragged her to the edge. Kal kissed the arch of her
foot then rested it on his shoulder. He did the same with her other foot. This
position raised her bottom and had her upper back and shoulders pressed into the
bed. Cradling her ass in his hands, he lowered, swiping his tongue along her
slit, swirling her clit, making her moan. He breathed deep then plowed his tongue
into her, fucking her with short spikes bringing her close to but not letting
her reach full pleasure. Repeatedly he lapped at her, tasting her, nuzzled her
clit but didn’t let her come.