Precious Sacrifice (2 page)

Own it. Approach it sensibly. The world isn’t perfect or perfectly safe. But if you don’t own your fears they will own you.

Fuck you, Allan.

No one was going to kidnap her tonight. She hadn’t even repaired her makeup. Brittany felt for the jingly mass of keys in her shorts pocket then marched down the steps.

If anyone messed with her, she’d poke their eyes out with a blunt key.

Except, when she had the car door open and was about to slide in, she realized someone had followed her. Footsteps tapped closer. From the corner of her eye she spotted the flicker of a purposeful shadow.

Though the car park seemed deserted apart from him and Brittany, Jonathan One hesitated. This was too early, too easy. He liked to stir them a little before he drew them in, liked to tease with unease, liked to make them wonder. They never did figure it out. None of them. No matter his clues. Eventually he’d pounce and take them home.

When the moment came that he had to kill her, Brittany would let him into her soul, through her wide open eyes. Knowing they were about to die, that he was about to kill them, and they couldn’t get away…it was unique. He loved that moment. If only he could preserve it forever.

Luckily he always got told to do it again, to another one. This one, that one. Next please.

Yes.

Jadd shifted, readying himself. The human woman had reached her vehicle and was a moment from entering. Her dark mane of hair swung as she looked out across the car park, in the opposite direction from where he hid. A silhouette showed where another human had paused. The car itself was in deep shadow.

Her future killer? Was that it? Him?

“Ready?” Brask’s husky voice would barely travel past where they huddled against the tree trunk.

Jadd sucked in a breath. “Yes.”

He hopped over the low timber fence, winced as he jarred his leg, but carried on and stepped up to the woman. Studies said their names would gain a human’s attention in ninety percent of cases.

“Brittany?” he whispered and placed his hand around her nape.

Any human, if they could see his face, would think he’d gone in for some serious tattooing and body modification. Thank the Ascend…thank the gods these humans liked rearranging and coloring their skin.

She gasped and swung, trying to step away from him but not succeeding. A flying creature whirred away from her shoulder bag on little wings.

A
bird
, he prompted himself.

“Who the—”

Jadd used just enough force on her neck to keep her under control. No drugs, not this first time, not until they had her blood analyzed, which left only dangerous force, or… Frack, he prayed this did indeed work on this species.

As soon as her eyes focused on his, he gathered the energy from within, and unleashed a primal stage
look
. She squeaked once, shivered, and froze. Her eyes stayed on his, wide, unseeing.

His augmented vision was better than a human’s. Her follower couldn’t see him, or not well, but he could see. For a second, he let his gaze divert downward, over her chest. Breasts, that were well exposed due to the
V
cut in the cloth with which she covered them. Humans seemed to have breasts in abundance.

Jadd swallowed and wrenched himself back onto his mission target despite the surge of heat to his groin.

“Move, Jadd!” His comm hissed with Brask’s order.

“In.” With his hand still on her, he maneuvered the
look
-shocked human into the vehicle and made her shift to the opposite seat. The back door opened and clicked shut as Brask entered.

Must use correct human terms.
Car.

He squeezed the
steering wheel
. The plastic material creaked and he lessened the force. Things here were so delicate…like this woman, Brittany. Watching her walk toward him with the lights bathing her lithe figure had emphatically reminded him of his bulk.

People the universe over had similar anatomy, but the bounce of her mammary apparatus, her breasts, had drawn his eye, and the inward curve of her waist, and the outward swell of her rear end…

And here she was beside him.

He tore his attention away, and blocked out her alluring female scent.

Getting the car functioning and driving the right way was no worse than guiding a drop capsule onto a landing zone. But it seemed so prone to accidental combustion or destruction. His ceram armor would’ve been a blessing, and his mech-rifle, and a squad of hardened warriors.

Again he peeked across at her. The woman. Brittany. Even a glimpse of her curves was enough to steam up his cheek grooves.

Brittany’s lips parted. He was going to be allowed to…yet she was so tiny, would he fit? The possibilities. He muttered a curse. They hadn’t even bonded and he was obsessing.

While he sorted out the primitive gears on this car thing, Jadd tried out another human word in his head.
Fuck.

Inviting the squad would be a bad idea once they saw her.

And driving a human-designed vehicle in a simulator was not the same as doing it for real. Simulators weren’t worth hellbird kak.

The silent follower had gone by the time he cruised across the black surface toward the outside road. Note: they were good at stealth. He’d not seen a hint of movement in the rear-view mirror. Farther proof that this person wasn’t terribly concerned about a fellow human being abducted. The research was looking correct.

“Was that the killer back there?” he said to Brask out of the corner of his mouth.

“Yes.”

Definitely a
he
then.

Brittany had slumped back into her seat, her eyelids lowered. No way to be sure how long the effect of his
look
would last. Luckily the route to the human dwelling they’d chosen wasn’t a long one.

“So after all this, he gets her? No matter what happens?”

“Yes.”

“I understand how this is my punishment but I’d like it on the record that, if possible, I’d be happy to see her given to another so she can live.”

“Noted. You have about the chance of an iceball surviving on the surface of the sun of that coming true. It’s the only way the Ascend would permit any Hunts. Lethal futures. This man who watches her has already killed many females. And no one is going to want a partially bonded one.”

Not fair, to her.
The sentiment sounded weak.
I must be strong.

“Why not another master? You can see how desirable she is.”

“I’ve never heard of that being allowed.”

Such a waste.
Death had followed him to this planet. He was beginning to see how diabolical this punishment was.

With Brask’s aid, he removed Brittany from the car, gently cradling her sweet body. The thick swathe of her hair tangled across his arm and swung as he moved her. Even that part of her smelled like blossoming flowers. “She’s so small. Don’t you think?”

Brask shook his head then pushed the car door until it clicked shut. “It’s a racial characteristic. Nothing more.”

Even so, her fragility was playing havoc with his protective instincts.

To disguise their activity, they’d acquired a building situated on a canal. They were pretending to be rich people, on holidays, when instead they were Preyfinders investigating the native anatomy and chemistry to see if it was suitable for the Hunt.

The manual had things to say about this.
Deception and being adept at it is a key component of being a good Preyfinder.

He frowned, looked down at her softly breathing, and wondered why peacefulness cloaked him when he watched her thus. This was ridiculous. He shifted her around until her head settled in a better spot below his shoulder and walked into the house from the garage.

Stay on mission.

Susceptibility to the
look
seemed excellent. Documents had to be filled in, chemical answers had to be found, but things were promising. For the fifth time at least, he studied her face, her well-made lips, her curves and contours – the areas that advertised her sex to any male and virtually demanded, come and get me.

Should he feel so much like devouring her before they had mated even once? There was something wrong here. He
had
to restrain himself or look a fool. He’d already committed a grave sin, injuring one of his soldier brothers to favor a lesser mammal.

When Ladet’s armor had been examined and he’d been shown the defective comm, his stomach had twisted. The man hadn’t heard his order. The woman had knifed someone before running. He’d formally apologized to Ladet once he’d seen that. Not enough though, not at all.

He must harden himself against her allure, do what was expected of him, and leave her, no matter her fate.

“Put her on the table.” Brask indicated the timber one they’d set up to allow restraint so the technician could extract blood and tissue samples.

These humans had such tiny blood-carrying tubes…and Brittany was delicate to begin with. Jadd looked up and found the technician carrying in an unclipped case with a shining array of instruments. “Is she well enough to give samples?”

The man wasn’t a soldier brother but he was a certified technician. His cheek grooves were a mild ochre, darkening as he approached. “Of course. The human female is healthy. From a visual inspection anyway.” He spent some time watching as Jadd lowered her to the table. His expression was a fraction away from becoming a lustful smirk.

“Keep your eyes off her unless it’s needed for testing to be done.” The growling demand underlying his words surprised even Jadd.

The technician stumbled back a step and bowed his head. “My apologies, sir.”

Where had that come from? He rubbed between his eye ridges. “No.
My
apologies, Technician Kiel. That was not warranted. Carry on with your duties.” Then he reached for the first padded ankle manacle.

Brask leaned over his shoulder, adding quietly, in that deadly serious tone that marked him. “I should make you wear armor until you’re allowed to fuck her.” The man could make a celebration sound ominous.

The human swear word made it seem so much dirtier than intercourse. He smiled wryly. “Maybe. Is that to stop her kicking me?”

“No. It’s to stop your cock getting out before it should.”

“Your jokes are crass. May your ass burn in sunfire next warp jump.”

“I’m crass?” He nodded at Brittany while he tightened the ankle manacle on the other side. “These clothes she has on would be illegal if one of our women wore them.”

“Women yes. Pets, no. This is more than I’d allow any pet of mine to wear.”

Lines deepened around Brask’s eyes. “Perform your mission correctly and one day you may get a pet.”

One day. Not this one. Not Brittany.

Jadd touched the rolled up, lower edge of her bottom garment, reciting the word like it was a lesson. “Shorts.” His finger traced along the skin just below, feeling the firmness and warmth of her thigh. His nostrils widened as he scented her. Magical. “And shirt.”

That too had been pushed aside by their manhandling of her body. Her belly showed and the dimple where the birth cord had once attached. Sweet for such an odd part of her anatomy.

“The term for that is belly button.” Brask set his palm on the table on his side and leaned in. “She smells good. I wonder what her pussy area looks like.”

“Pussy?”

“The human mating region. Pussy is their common word.”

He bit back on another growl.
Be calm. She’s not mine.
“I forgot that one. Too busy learning how to act like a local.” Her legs stirred as he toyed with her upper thigh again and slid his finger beneath the shorts.

His skin seemed supersensitive, absorbing some strange energy from this connection to her. The aura from it swelled through him, making him feel taller, bigger, more
alive
. He wanted nothing more than to touch her again and again, to know every part of her, to explore every place she might keep secret.

Like a show that is slowly building to the big main act, more of her stirred. Her stomach muscles tensed and relaxed. Her eyelids fluttered. In the light of the room, her mane of hair showed its true color – not dark at all, but a deep vibrant red-brown that spilled about her head. Each wave shone like polished metal.

“Jadd. A lesson. If you want to blend in, learn the local words for taboo sexual parts first.”

“What? Oh. Pussy?”

The tech piped up. “They also have a small vicious creature in their homes that is called a pussy. It looks a little like their mating area but not much.” He tapped his chin with an injector. “Odd that they call it the same.”

“Maybe we should check to see if there are truly similarities on a fresh specimen of the race?” Brask reached for her shorts.

Mine
erupted again, in his head. Determined to control his impulses, Jadd cleared his throat.

And Brittany tried to sit up on her elbows. Her pretty eyes opened. The blueness struck him, hard. He stalled, muscles going rigid as the pure sexuality embodied in all she did, in every move she made, locked his brain in a loop of –

“Jadd. Need your attention. Snap to it!”

Brask’s command woke him.

A curse rolled off his tongue. “Frak!”

He grabbed her throat while Brask and the technician held her hands down. Another
look
paralyzed her again. Her face relaxed; her eyes closed. His heart rate tumbled back to normal.

“Why did you hesitate?” Brask frowned at him, his cheek grooves flushed.

“I don’t know.” He worked his jaw. “I don’t know.”

But he did. It was
her
. Just her.

Once they had tissue samples from her and blood, the tech allowed her to be properly sedated. Then the first nano drug had to be injected into the upper curve of her rear end…into her ass. When Jadd insisted on being the one to tug down her shorts so the tech had a clear target for his injector, Brask merely shook his head.

The second dose would be administered in a more natural way.
That
, he was looking forward to.

They returned her to her apartment, a few streets away.

Brask joined him outside the apartment building, his long coat swaying in the light breeze. The few native weapons they were allowed on the planet surface – shotgun, pistols, throwing knives – made little bumps under the coat. Moonlight bathed one side of him, making all the heavy features of his face, brow ridges and face grooves, stand out as if carved from the earth’s moon itself.