Replicant: The Kithran Regenesis, Book 2 (6 page)

His cheek came into contact with my short hair and he went still.

I braced my hands on the couch on either side of him, digging my fingers deep into the soft, red cushions, and pushed up. It ground my clit even harder on him, but I wanted to see his face, wanted him to see me—to know I wasn’t his precious Maska. But the regret that flooded his expression killed my desire instantly. I leaned to the side and just rolled off him and the couch. Lying there, I stared at the thick forest through the dome and worked to bring my breathing back to normal. When I heard him snore, it was all I could do not to get up and smash my fist in his face. Instead, I got up and left him there, lurching toward the door and slapping my palm on the panel.

I stumbled through the doorway and tripped over something in the dark tunnel. “Fuck,” I ground out, my teeth so tight, my jaw hurt.

“Did you?”

I rolled over and nearly crawled out of my skin when I saw glowing, opaque eyes. They were like Kithran flowers, soaking up the moonlight and reflecting it back into the tunnel. Maska sat slumped against the dome wall, and he listed to the side. He’d plaited his long, ropy black hair, and it pooled on the floor beside him. I reached out to help him and he hissed at me.

“Did you fuck him?” He pronounced each word sharply with a pause between.

“No.”

He stared at me, his mouth so tight, his full lower lip nearly disappeared.

“Let me help you back to the med pod. You aren’t in any condition to be wandering the tunnels.”

“Wasn’t wandering, Tracker.” He steadied his hand on the floor, sat a little straighter. “I was looking for you. Just didn’t expect to find you on top of Erik.”

That’s right, I’d left the privacy panels open. I opened my mouth to tell him Erik had moved on, to start the process of getting them used to the idea of Maska not staying, and instead I shocked myself. There was just something about this man, something that tugged at my heart in the strangest way. “He’s drunk. Thought I was you.”

His lip curled. “How could he possibly mistake you for me? Even in the form he loves, I’m very different.” He raked his gaze down my crouched form. “You’re bony. Hard. Not his type at all.”

“Don’t worry, he clued in fast.” I let him insult me. The throbbing ache in my groin should have had me snapping his head off, but the four whiskeys and his obvious resentment over his helplessness touched me.

I have to get off this planet.

The door opened, throwing light on his face, and the devastation there ripped through me. It hit Erik hard too because he squatted down in front of the Replicant, his expression tormented. “Maska, you’re awake.”

Maska stared at him, milky eyes eerie in the low light. “You moved on fast.”

“No.” Erik shook his head. “I haven’t.” He glanced up as if just then realizing Maska would have been able to see us from farther down the tunnel. “What did you see?”

“Her grinding on you. And you didn’t look like an unwilling partner.” The half smile that twisted Maska’s full lips disappeared as his head tilted down. “That hard cock says a lot too.”

“I always wake with a hard-on, you know that.” Erik cursed and reached out to help Maska straighten up. Even I had to wince when I saw how gingerly he touched the Replicant’s arms.

Maska scowled and pushed his hands away.

Erik put his hands right back. This time, he cupped Maska’s shoulders. “Let me get you back to the med pod.”

“I can get there myself.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”

He didn’t look at me. “Got here, didn’t I?”

Ignoring Maska’s protests, Erik slid his arms under the Replicant’s legs and behind his back and lifted him from a straight squat. Impressed, I followed along. Erik was big, but Maska was taller and looked heavy. Plus, a few minutes ago, Erik was passed out drunk on my couch. He’d probably drop the man. I told myself that’s why I followed, but the truth was I wanted to watch more of their interaction.

Maska was no longer protesting, instead staring at Erik. He didn’t hold on to the blond man, didn’t snuggle—just held himself stiff and stared. His long braid slithered over Erik’s arm to brush Erik’s hip as he walked. The style left Maska’s face so clear, his sharp features looked carved from stone. Except for that mouth. Kei was right, he really did have a fantastic mouth. The top lip had an intriguing dent in the middle, the bottom lip full. Together, they were kind of heart-shaped, though he looked too masculine to appreciate the description, should I decide to share. I smirked.

Milky eyes met mine.

Shock sobered me fast when I realized there wasn’t any hatred aimed in my direction. In fact, he seemed to study me with curiosity more than anything else. His eyes dropped to my chest, and more surprise hit me when my unbound breasts responded to his look. My nipples hardened and his eyes narrowed. He stared another few seconds before that languid gaze crept back up to my face. I should have ignored the hint of amusement that curled that pretty mouth of his. Normally I would have, but there was a shitload of whiskey floating in my system. “Like what you see?” I drawled.

“Yes.”

The simple answer carried no hint of flirting, no dishonesty. Nothing but truth. And a hint of sadness.

Frowning, I crossed my arms over my nipples.

“You’re very similar to the women Erik saw before he met me.”

“You just said I wasn’t his type. So now he’s into skinny and bald?” I smirked.

He shook his head. “Broken and lonely.”

I stopped walking, frozen in place as Erik glanced over his shoulder. “Trust me, Jarana isn’t broken.”

“Then you aren’t looking closely.” Maska’s words came on a whisper, and he slumped. Erik staggered and I reached out to help. He swore and pulled Maska out of my reach.

“Don’t touch him. Just don’t.” He gazed down at Maska’s slack face. “He’s out again. Leave us. I promise to let you know when he wakes.”

I scowled. Turning on my heel, I left them, cursing silently the entire way back to my living pod. I was not broken.

But I was lonely.

It hit me once I crawled into the massive round bed with the bottle of whiskey. I could have found a willing partner elsewhere on this planet. Kei for one.

Realization kept me up the rest of the night despite the unhealthy amount of whiskey I put away.

I didn’t go after Kei because I didn’t want him. He wouldn’t come close to easing this burn I felt in my body. I wanted Erik. But that wasn’t the thing that kept me staring into the glowing Kithran jungle outside my dome.

Seems the Replicant had stirred something in me too, and that scared the hell out of me.

Chapter Seven

Another yawn threatened to snap my jaw, and I was so distracted, a robotic arm smacked my helmet hard enough to send me into the cave wall. Closing my eyes, I sank to the ground.

“Jarana, you okay?”

It was Lux’s voice. I held my hand with my thumb up toward the monitor.

“What’s wrong with your com? I can’t hear you.”

I glared at her and gave an exaggerated shrug before leaning my head back and closing my eyes again. Truth was I’d donned the defective helmet on purpose. I liked not having to talk to them. Three days had passed since Erik had gotten drunk in my living pod, and Maska was still out. For a time, I thought he was faking it, and Kei had caught me poking him with one of the sharp medical instruments.

Lux cleared her throat noisily. “If you’re okay, why aren’t you getting your lazy ass up?”

Remembering one of Lux’s favorite communication methods, I held up my gloved middle finger.

Her laughter rang over the one-way com before she cleared her throat again. “By the way, Maska is awake. Egan is hunting down Erik so the two can talk. Will you give them a day or so before you start insisting I fly you off planet? Not that I’m saying I will or anything.”

Not for the first time, I wished I could have flown my ship here. I had the skills to navigate the debris fields surrounding the planet, but the explosions had released heavier gases into the atmosphere. They’d dissipate in time, but they were too strong for anything but a ship made of our kithronite. One ship had managed to get through—the one that had rescued Egan and two other on-planet survivors—but gases had rotted the hull. The pilots had just dropped off the Gwinarians when disaster struck. Now, Lux was the only one with access to the only kithronite ship.

The bitch.

I sighed. She didn’t know I’d already promised Erik the time. I wished I hadn’t. I wanted out of here and away from those two men, and even more, I wanted off Kithra. The night before had been the worst. I’d downed the last of my whiskey and paced every inch of nearly every pod tunnel. All except the one where I’d had that memory of playing with my sisters.

I was having to work for the numb—which meant it wouldn’t stick around much longer. Better to be far away from this world when my emotions made their reappearance. The only way I knew to stop them would be to take the last job and go after the remaining escaped Replicant.

Letting out a deep breath, I stood. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be working down here today, so I ignored Lux’s questions and left the mines. I didn’t stop by my pod to change, just continued on to the poor excuse of a workout area the others had set up.

In the past, we’d had swimming pools and gyms attached to every section of living pods. I missed the pool I’d grown up using. It had been built to replicate the waterfalls and cave pools on the planet’s surface—an area we couldn’t explore outside of proper suits, but so beautiful, photographs of the settings had graced most calendars in the cities. The room we had now held two air treads and a set of virtual weights. Grinning, I grabbed the goggles, remembering how much I’d loved them when I was younger. The settings hooked into brain waves, making the user really believe he or she was lifting weights, and though nothing gave the body actual physical resistance, the mind supplied it. Muscles were used as if weights were really being lifted. I placed them over my head and scowled when I realized I still wore the metal shell. I stripped down to the fitted suit layer.

Lying back, I wrapped the goggles around my eyes, flipped them on and chose the third weight setting. The pull and cry of muscles I hadn’t been using did what I’d hoped. My mind stayed away from all the upsetting things and focused on the workout. I lifted for nearly an hour before dropping my arms to the mat. I managed to gather enough energy to raise one arm and pull off the goggles before letting them drop to the floor.

I felt eyes on me. Damn, I’d forgotten about the coms. Prying one eye open, I glanced around for the camera placement and sat up when, instead, I met Kei’s dark amber gaze. He dropped to the floor beside me, reached out to run his hand over my flat stomach. “Your body is so thin, I didn’t expect to see beauty. I’m surprised.”

I let him touch me, waited for the stir of lust. He was a beautiful Gwinarian male—tall, proud and everything I’d dreamed of having as a girl growing up here. And he did absolutely nothing for me. “Where were you when the explosions happened?” Don’t know why I blurted the question, because I certainly didn’t want him asking the same.

“Vacationing with five other Gwinarians who are back on planet now. You could eat in the social pod tonight, get to know them.”

“Is it hard for you to be here?” I didn’t look at him as I asked the question.

He removed his hand, sat back. “I drank through the first three months, but having my friends with me helped me get through it. Where were you?”

“Not vacationing.” I tightened my lips and sat up, grimacing at the clingy, sweaty microsuit. “I miss the pools.”

“The Company doesn’t think those areas are necessary for repair yet.”

“I’d say I was surprised they have us mining when there is so much tunnel repair needed, but their greed is known throughout the galaxies.”

He pushed his long, loose strawberry-blond hair off his shoulder. “I, for one, am thankful for that greed. It brought me home.” He stared at me. Hard. “This isn’t home for you anymore, is it?”

The sharp pang in my chest surprised me, then pissed me off. “I don’t have a home.”

“You do, you just don’t see it yet. Gwinarians belong here, Jarana. Even you.” He clasped his hands together. “Especially you, as a female.”

I knew what he was getting at. As one of the few, my people were going to hope I’d get with another Gwinarian and start reproducing. The thought of a baby was such a foreign concept to me, I couldn’t see it ever happening. “There are probably a lot more. Think of all the schools out there, all the Gwinarians who were hungry for knowledge.”

“Don’t you remember that most had come in for the mining bonuses?”

That was why I’d been home. The Company had offered double pay for a few months if we could mine twice the usual amount of kithronite. Most of us had come in to work the mines. “There are more survivors, trust me. They’ll stumble on that net beacon page just as I did.”

“That’s how the family on Earth 4 found us. Once Lux, Kol and Egan got the first pods and tunnels up and running, The Company sent word throughout the galaxies.” He laid his hand on my knee. “More will come home. It might not ever be the home it once was, but it’s still our Kithra. Will you at least think about staying here?”