The Covenant (11 page)

Fine with him. More than fine. Paradise. Heaven.

Slender fingers wrapped around his erection and she wiggled forward

just enough. Luscious full breasts, veined lightly with blue under the

translucent skin, swayed as she rose, adjusted the tip of his cock at her

opening, and sank down.

Yeah, exactly right. Trey shut his eyes and let the sensation wash over

him as her wet heat gave to the penetration.

The woman astride him tossed back her ebony hair and gave a low

telling moan as she sheathed him deep. Two small hands rested on his chest

and she rocked in carnal abandon, rubbing her clit against the base of his

penis.

His hands went to her hips, helping, guiding, supporting. “Oh shit, that’s

good. Yeah, babe, just exactly like that.”

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65

Her eyes opened and she stopped moving for a moment, her mouth

tightening. “Save your flippant endearments for the awestruck little females

who fawn all over you just because you’re a military pilot.”

He did have the ability to get under her skin and couldn’t resist teasing

her. Trey lifted a brow. “We’re going to have a fight now? With my dick all

the way inside you?”

“I’m a lieutenant, not a babe.”

What she was in reality was the sexiest female alive, and how she could

pull off that icy air when her naked body was flushed in arousal and her

pussy holding him deep was nothing short of impressive. Trey splayed his

hands across her open thighs and with one thumb, began to massage just the

right spot. “All right, truce. I’ll keep the pet names limited to something you

approve of, okay? How about sugar?”

“Very funny.” Her voice sounded a little muffled.

“Sweetcheeks?” His fingertip circled her clitoris with subtle pressure.

“You can be irritating as hell, you know that.” Her violet eyes flashed

but she looked more distracted than annoyed.

In one smooth athletic move he rolled them both over suddenly, making

her gasp. “You know what else I can be? Obsessed by one very beautiful,

very hot, very touchy military officer, that’s what. So much that I think

about her pretty much every waking second.”

He began to move in long slow thrusts, holding her gaze. Out almost to

the point of complete withdrawal, and then a gliding push forward so he

went in to his balls. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “I might

even think the word love now and then.”

She reacted. He could feel her body tense a little and her hands

tightened on his shoulders. Trey let his mouth drift back so it brushed hers.

“Just curious,
Lieutenant
. How would you feel if an irritating, cocky

military pilot told you he loved you?”

In answer she kissed him, one hand threading into his hair and pulling

his head down the scant distance needed. Their mouths mated and she

arched into the motion of his lower body, the heated rhythm carrying a new,

almost wild, urgency.

“Trey,” she moaned into his mouth.

“Yeah, I know,” he murmured against her lips.

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Annabel Wolfe

Though his control was a fraying thread, he managed to hold on until

she started to climax, her pussy contracting in small spasms around his

thrusting cock, and he snapped and exploded, his orgasmic release

obliterating everything except the red-hot rush of exquisite pleasure.

Panting, damp, breathless, neither of them said anything. Trey had to

wonder if he’d made a mistake in telling her. It seemed logical to assume in

bed would be a good time for that kind of confession, but females tended to

analyze things differently than males.

He was the one who eventually broke the silence, still holding her

against him, her warm breath fanning his chest. “No comment at all?”

“Assimilation takes a few minutes and I’m just now able to breathe.”

He tangled his fingers in her silky ebony hair. “Well, you might want to

consider that while I can navigate this quadrant with my eyes closed and fly

just about anything with thrusters and controls, I’m in new territory here,

Aspen. Have mercy and say some damn thing.”

She rose up on one elbow. Arched brows lifted. “You’re in new

territory? Let’s keep in mind I went from no sexual experience at all to an

051 situation and now it seems possible that I conceived because my chip

was deprogrammed. You and Larik can walk away from all this if you want

with your lives unchanged. I don’t have that option. You know I have to

take forced leave if I’m pregnant.”

That she was didn’t seem in question. She still had the morning

queasiness and her gorgeous breasts were already slightly larger, the delicate

blue-veining more prominent. However, he understood the career sacrifice

she would have to make. Unplanned pregnancies rarely happened. He

nodded. “Yes, I know. It was a shock for me at first too, but the way I feel

about you…”

He trailed off, once again willing her to say something.

No, willing her to say what he wanted to hear.

“I won’t walk away,” he told her with raw honesty. “I don’t even
want

to walk away.”

* * * *

For an arrogant male, the man lying next to her in the rumpled bed

certainly looked uncertain in a very uncharacteristic way. The hint of

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67

vulnerability in his crystal blue eyes moved her more than his whispered

question during sex.

When had her life spiraled so out of control?

The answer probably was the minute she’d been assigned to this

mission.

That both of them seemed pleased about potentially becoming fathers

surprised her a little. Of course, if she was going to breed, she could

certainly do worse than having two attractive, intelligent males as

candidates. Not to mention that they were considerate, passionate lovers.

Were her feelings engaged? Yes, they were, damn them both. This was

not
how she planned her future. “I don’t know how to respond,” she

admitted, her body languid and sated against his muscular form, but her

mind restless. “I’ve never been romantically involved with anyone. Is how I

feel normal? I have no idea. Add the child, and I’m lost as how to react to all

this.”

“Not exactly reciprocation, but fair enough.” Trey grinned then, his

signature wicked smile lighting his face. “I hate to break it to you but there

is no normal, Aspen. No regulation manual you can consult on the rules over

relationships, especially between males and females. From the minute I saw

you, I wanted you. And in spite of the prickly manner you wear like a force

shield, you weren’t indifferent to me either. On my part, it’s grown into

more. I think you’re in the same place.”

“Careful, your overconfidence is resurfacing, Pilot.” She gave him a

cool look, belied by the fact she was in his arms, naked, with his sperm

glistening on her thighs. Since he was exactly right, she didn’t quite pull it

off and he just laughed.

“Strong mutual attraction isn’t a bad thing, Lieutenant Thorne.” He

shifted her more onto his chest, his fingers feathering an erotic pattern at the

base of her spine. “That we feel more just makes it better. The best for me

ever with any female.”

Her lack of experience was the part that daunted her. “I have nothing to

compare this to.” She tickled his neck with her fingertips, feeling his

strength and warmth.

“There’s Larik.”

“It’s all tangled together for me.”

“It’s not a lot different for us.”

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Annabel Wolfe

A strange sound—or one they hadn’t heard in a while—made Aspen

stiffen suddenly. With a surge of both surprise and panic, she realized the

door into their quarters had opened.

Since she and Trey were both naked and sprawled on the bed and the

door into the common area was wide open, she gave a small cry of dismay

and grabbed for the sheet. Trey dove off the side of the bed, retrieved both

their sets of clothing, and handed hers over. He jerked on his pants, and then

carelessly tugged his shirt over his head. “Looks like we have company.”

The first stab of fear she felt as she fumbled into the issued clothing was

over whether or not Larik had been caught hacking into the governmental

system. He didn’t say much about it—neither he nor Trey did—but she

wasn’t an idiot and she knew he was still stealing his way in and reading top

secret files.

Trey left the room, striding into the common area. In the act of running

her fingers through her disheveled hair, she heard him say, “Good morning,

Governor.”

It seemed inconceivable that if Rapt One had kept them isolated because

they worried about contamination they’d break quarantine early by sending

in the most important man on the planet. Quickly, she slipped into the

cleansing facility, ran a comb swiftly through her hair and used a towel to

wipe away the sexual residue before donning her clothes. Then she took a

steadying breath and went out to the common room.

Sure enough, Governor Halden sat at the small table and the grim

silence in the room didn’t bode well. With graying hair and a stern air, he

radiated authority and she reflexively saluted.

“Relax, Lieutenant Thorne, though I appreciate the courtesy. Please, sit

down. We waited for you to begin.”

Both Larik and Trey looked impassive, but she caught a small glint of

apprehension in their eyes. Armada, she thought as she selected a chair and

obediently sank into it, surely should be worried. His neck was in a noose if

the governor had discovered he’d used his personal code to access

government documents.

With a thin-lipped smile, Halden said, “I understand you’ve been quite

busy, Armada. By now you probably know what color of gemstones my

wife prefers.”

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69

Larik didn’t blink. “Green, sir. Or at least that’s what you requested last

week. How was her birthday?”

Gray brows shot up at the cheeky remark. “Don’t think for a minute I’m

not irritated over having my personal mail accessed, not to mention your

contact with Kartel in my name. We’ll discuss how to upgrade our security

system after we solve our other dilemma, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. You know my fee.”

“I think I am beginning to understand why it is so high.”

Aspen felt a wash of relief, because if the Rapt One government wanted

Larik’s help after the terrorist threat was dealt with, it didn’t sound like an

arrest for breaching code and violating security rules might be in his future.

“Larik thinks he found out why the station is unreliable, sir.”

“I know. So Kartel told me.” The governor furrowed his brow in a fierce

frown. “This issue is volatile. I need you to help me find out if mantonium is

truly being heisted during the failures and more importantly, where it is

going. If someone is stealing it that means it must still be on Rapt One

because it is so unstable our sensors would go on full alert if someone tried

to transport it through any of our air locks. They are highly sensitive to

unusual radioactivity.”

Trey said with solid conviction, “Armada could probably circumvent

them. What makes you think no one else could?”

“I’m hoping he’s unique.” Halden looked dryly censorious. “I’m

assured by Kartel it’s pretty much the case. Either way, we’ve managed to

track all the outgoing transports from Rapt One in the past weeks and

nothing is at all suspicious. Whatever is going on it’s happening here in my

opinion.”

Aspen felt another frisson of apprehension. “Mantonium was considered

for making bombardment weaponry because of its lightweight and high

density explosive properties, correct? I remember my father talking about it

a few years ago. The program was discarded.”

The governor nodded. “Yes, Lieutenant, that’s right. The substance is

too unstable. I can’t give details of something that’s considered confidential

at the highest level, but there were accidents.”

Larik shook his head, a lock of blond hair falling over his brow. “In

other words, people died. So, what we have is someone—an organization

hostile to the current S-species government—who thinks they can do better.

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Annabel Wolfe

Any guess as to who it might be? This keeps sounding worse and worse to

me. Who would have a better capability than our own scientists and military

in harnessing a substance like mantonium?”

“I can’t say.” Halden looked at each of them in turn. “The Universal

Council has a few ideas and I doubt if even I am privy to all of them. What

we need from you is Ravenot cut and dried. Prove he’s in and his arrest

could start the avalanche to bring the enemy to his knees. I’m not convinced

of his guilt in any way, but Kartel says you insist it must be so.”

Aspen spoke up. “Either he’s a very poor choice for chief engineer, or

he must be involved.”

“Your conviction is moving, Lieutenant, but please obtain some real

evidence besides the extra circuit I’m told exists.”

“Oh, it exists.” Larik leaned forward suddenly, his handsome face