Chasing Mayhem (8 page)

“What mistake did you make?” He peered closer at the finger.

“I didn’t meet quota.” Sharing her past was another error but she needed to tell him, to ensure he understood that she wouldn’t relent, that she’d follow through on her threats and retrieve him. “That first solar cycle, I didn’t know what I was doing, how to find my targets, how to capture them without killing them.” Dead targets were worthless.

“How old were you?” Her never serious male’s tone was surprisingly solemn.

“Old enough.” She should have been able to meet quota.

“How old?”

“I had twelve solar cycles.”

“Fraggin’ hole,” he cursed. “How, at that age, did you choose
that
profession?”

“Choose that profession?” Imee stared at him in disbelief. “Why would any being choose to be a Retriever?” What type of monster did he think she was? “The Humanoid Alliance has my family, my mom, my little sister, my baby brother. If I don’t collect sufficient credits, my family members are sent to me.” She thrust the translucent repository toward his handsome face. “In pieces.”

His eyes grew scarily hard.

Imee was too angry, too hurt to notice. “So fuck you and fuck your judgment.”

She stuffed the translucent repository in her breast covering and stomped out of the chamber. Why did she think he’d understand? Why did she
want
him to understand?

She was a solitary for a reason. It was easier—

She was scooped into a pair of achingly familiar arms, opened her mouth to shriek, found it filled with Mayhem’s tongue. He kissed her punishingly hard, driving her head back. She pummeled him with her booted feet, slapped his body armor-clad chest with her hands.

He carried her back into the chamber, kicking the door closed behind them, and he dumped her unceremoniously on the sleeping support.

“Leave me alone,” she snarled, fed up with his high-handedness. “Go. Torment some other more worthy female.”

“You
are
worthy.” Mayhem folded his big arms, his expression stern, dominant, and her pussy grew wet. “No fighting. No running. Talk to me.”

“You’re an ass. There’s nothing more to say.” She glared at him.

He glared back.

Moments passed. His lips quirked upward. “You have honor.”

“No, I don’t.” That was the problem with sharing—beings used her circumstances to justify her actions. “I made my quota the next solar cycle by capturing females, children, the elderly, the most vulnerable rebels, returning them to the Humanoid Alliance. Do you know what they did with those beings?”

“They used those beings to train warriors.” Mayhem’s gaze slid to the right and his jaw jutted. “The warriors were forced to kill them in the fighting rings.”

Had he been one of those warriors? Had she forced that ugly task on him?

“You were offspring, my female, not fully developed.”

She couldn’t do what she had to do while he was being sympathetic. “I killed a baby.”

He’d hate her now, like she hated herself.

The sleeping support dipped as he sat beside her. “Was it your baby?” He put one of his arms around her, the heat from his fit physique soothing.

“No, it wasn’t my baby.” She’d never have children, never have a life of her own. Imee resisted the temptation to rest her head on his shoulder, to lean into him. “She was my target’s child.”

Mayhem drew her back to him, held her, rubbing comforting circles into her tense muscles, nuzzling his chin against her hair. “Offspring die in battle.”

“This wasn’t battle.”

“The Humanoid Alliance is waging war against the rebels. It was battle.” He sounded so certain; she wanted to believe him, believe she’d done the things she had because it was necessary.

Was it necessary to retrieve him, to doom him to the same death? “I could talk to Kralj, ask for another target.”

None of the other rebels were as valuable as he was. They wouldn’t earn her as many credits or, possibly, the opportunity to see her family.

But she’d already made quota for the solar cycle and he’d be alive.

“I’m your only target, my female.”

She turned her head and looked at him. “But--”

“I’ll kill any male you try to apprehend.” That declaration held the weight of a vow. He was the most skilled warrior she’d ever met, with the possible exception of Kralj. She didn’t doubt that he’d end her new target’s lifespan.

The obstinate male would force her to deliver him to his death. Anger coiled within Imee. “I’m trying to save your life.”

“Because you care for me.” He grinned.

She shot to her feet. “I don’t care for you.” Imee dashed toward the door for the second time that planet rotation, seeking to escape him, escape her lie.

“You smell like me.” Mayhem followed her, not allowing the distance, either emotional or physical. “Every male will know you’re mine.”

“I don’t have time to utilize the cleansing chamber.” That was another untruth. She wanted to smell of him, to keep their connection for a little bit longer. “I have to speak with Kralj before he leaves his working chamber.” She ran in that direction.

Mayhem matched her quick pace, showing no signs of exertion. “We’ll speak with the male.” He clasped her hand, his palm firm against hers. “He won’t touch you.”

His possessive tone sent a tremor down her spine.

“Kralj isn’t interested in me that way.” They passed Orol. The winged male stood with his hands clenched behind his back, gazing out the window, yet Imee knew he heard and saw everything. His senses were almost as finely honed as his boss’s were. “And
we
aren’t speaking with him. I am.”

She needed space to think, to regain control.

“Where you go, I go.”

He must have been serious about that. “Mayhem.” Imee glanced at him, unable to hide the panic swelling within her. She’d been alone for so long and now he was by her side, caring, overwhelming her with emotion.

She couldn’t handle it, didn’t know how. Kralj had never trained her how to handle a target who cared for her. She required quiet to figure out this problem.

Mayhem gazed at her and his eyes softened. “I’ll wait outside his chamber,” he relented. “If he touches you or damages you in any way, I’ll know and he’ll die.”

How would he know? The door would be closed. Could he see through solid surfaces? Did every being around her have powers?

“He won’t touch me.” She slipped through the door, putting that barrier between them, hoping it would be enough.

“Sit.” Kralj waved at a chair. “It
is
enough.” He had known she was coming, that she’d given seeing him as an excuse, was using his chamber as a sanctuary.

She slumped in a chair, ashamed of her weakness.

The scarred male continued to peruse the personal viewscreen set on the horizontal support before him. He was too grim to be considered handsome, even if his face hadn’t been horribly burned, but some females found him sexy, getting off on the undeniable aura of power clinging to his leather-clad shoulders.

Imee wasn’t attracted to him. She’d seen too much pain to find his intensity appealing. She preferred Mayhem’s laughing eyes, his always-smiling lips, the way he joked about inappropriate things.

“You don’t know who he is.” Kralj read her thoughts.

“He’s my target.” That sounded unconvincing even to her ears.

“He’s your chance at happiness.” The Refuge’s leader gazed at her with his dark all-seeing, all-knowing eyes. “You’d be a fool not to take it.”

How could he say that? “You know what I risk.”

“I know what you believe you risk.”

What did
that
mean? “What is he? What should I know about him?”

“That’s not my information to share.” Kralj returned his focus to his personal viewscreen. The responsibility for the welfare, for the lives of every being within the settlement rested with him. He decided who lived and who died.

“Why did you save me?” She suddenly needed to know. “When I arrived at the Refuge, I was young, inexperienced, weak. I hunted within the walls without your permission, disrespecting the rules, disrespecting you. You’ve killed beings for less.”

“I know everything.”

That was no answer. “Instead, you trained me, slowed my early targets so I could capture them.” He’d inflicted wounds upon them until their strength was drained and their heads spun. She’d seen him wield all of the weapons hanging on his walls. “That allowed me to meet quota, to survive. Why would you do that?”

“You’re one of us.”

She tilted her head. “Meaning?”

“They made you as much as they made me, giving you no choice about the actions you took.” The ‘they’ he referred to must be the Humanoid Alliance. Imee had heard the rumors about Kralj, about how he was the result of Humanoid Alliance genetic experiments, how he’d killed for them. But this was the first time he’d talked about his past. “You deserved an opportunity to regain your honor.”

“I didn’t regain my honor.” Shame swept over her. “I continue to retrieve for them.”

“You could have continued to retrieve the young, the old, the vulnerable. I wouldn’t have allowed you to hunt them here but you could have moved to a less protected settlement. Those beings were easy targets. With your skills, you could have met your quota quickly.”

They were worth less credits per being but she could have retrieved multiple targets, filled every chamber on her ship with beings to offset that factor. That strategy would have been quicker, less dangerous.

More detestable. They were innocents compared to the seasoned warriors she now hunted. The targets Kralj assigned her were all killers. They had delivered death to other beings.

Even Mayhem had ended lives. He was a warrior. That had been his role.

She didn’t want to deliver him to the Humanoid Alliance.

“I’m not giving you another target.” Kralj denied her request before she could present it. “Your Mayhem didn’t lie. He
would
kill any being you hunted. And he’s the target you need, Imee.” A hint of a smile eased the hard line of his lips for one fleeting moment. “You have to do this.”

She had to retrieve the male she cared for. 

Kralj studied his personal viewscreen. Imee stretched out her legs and pondered the male she’d spent the rest cycle with.

They’d fucked multiple times, Mayhem pounding into her with an exciting wildness, pushing her, not worrying she’d break. She’d come again and again, the pleasure so intense; it verged on the edge of pain. They’d devoured nourishment bars, cleansed their bodies and then they’d fucked again.

Yet it hadn’t been enough. Even now, she wanted him, craved his touch, his smile, his laughter. He’d held her after each fucking, licking the sweat from her skin, stroking her hair, caressing her.

The male had seen her scars, admired them, considered the marks to be proof of her strength, a strength he valued. He’d saved her from her attacker.

“If he hadn’t saved you, I would have killed him,” Kralj remarked, shamelessly listening to her thoughts.

“You knew the Tau Cetian would attack me.” And he had allowed that to happen.

That hurt.

After she’d stumbled into the Refuge and bungled her first couple of hunts, Kralj had taken her under his tutorage. He hadn’t spared her physically, mentally, emotionally. Holds, attacks, weapon usage were practiced over and over. She’d ended almost every planet rotation those first few solar cycles exhausted, in tears, her body covered with bruises, bumps, scrapes.

But once he’d deemed her worthy, he’d stopped testing her, had treated her like one of his crew, warning her of any dangers within the Refuge, any beings he couldn’t control. She’d felt safe within the settlement’s high stone walls.

Until now.

“You weren’t the being I was testing.” Kralj’s voice held no emotion. “And I would have stopped my assessment of him before the projectile was fired.” He eyed her. “You’ve experienced closer brushes with death, Imee. Ask yourself why this one disturbs you.”

She glanced toward the door, suspecting she knew why. That scared her.

“You’ve hidden in here long enough.” Kralj pushed her as he always did. “Go. Your male grows impatient.”

That was an order. She’d questioned one of Kralj’s commands last planet rotation and lived to tell about. She didn’t dare question another, not so soon.

“Not at all.” Her mentor’s tone was dry.

“Not at all.” Imee reluctantly stood. “I have your permission to retrieve him?” She forced the words past her lips.

Kralj’s nod was curt. “You have my permission.”

Tension stretched over her shoulders. She had hoped he’d deny her request, not allow her to capture the male she cared for.

“Thank you, Kralj.” That response was expected, engrained in her over hundreds of retrievals. She felt no gratitude.

She walked to the door, her heart heavy with dread.

“Good-bye, Imee.”

There was a finality to her mentor’s words, as though he never expected to see her again. Did he know something about her future? Had he foreseen her death?

Imee exited the chamber without voicing those questions.

There was no point. If she asked Kralj, he wouldn’t tell her, and she wasn’t certain she wanted to know. She’d rather have hope than the brutal truth.

Mayhem waited outside the door. He straightened when he saw her. “Are you done hiding?” His gaze drifted over her face, breasts, hips.

“I don’t hide.” Much. She rested her hands on her guns. Should she apprehend him now, complete the task immediately? “You listened to every word, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” He grinned, proud of his transgression. “I
am
your chance at happiness, my female.” He covered her hands with his, pressing her palms against her weapons.

“You’re my target.” That twisted her stomach with torment, with pain. “Kralj gave me permission to retrieve you.”

Mayhem would have heard that also.

“Then retrieve me.” He squeezed her fingers. The fool didn’t appear concerned. He likely believed she wouldn’t turn him over to the Humanoid Alliance.

She had to. Kralj wouldn’t assign her another target until she dealt with the one she currently had, the male before her, the male she cared for.