What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (75 page)

“But I need to prove it. Even with her hands bound, she controls us.” Thaegan inhaled deeply. “Tell me her scent isn’t heating your blood.”

Dallas couldn’t admit that. The moment he’d bound Lilly’s legs to the chair, he’d smelled the intoxicating aroma of her. It had brought him back to the silken heat of her flesh surrounding his cock. But he’d pushed that aside, he needed to focus on the madness overtaking Thaegan.

He lowered his voice. “The
only
thing that’s important right now is finding out what she was doing with Grebetz.”

“Sawyer.” He felt the muscles of Thaegan’s forearm relax. “She has the mark. I know it. I just don’t know where.” His partner stepped back, turning his palm up, offering Dallas the dagger. “It’s the kiss of evil. I had no intention of hurting her. I was just trying to find it.”

Dallas took the knife.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be so close to the witch,” Thaegan said, visibly shaken by what had just happened. “You search her, and when you find it, you’ll understand the truth.”

Dallas looked over his shoulder at Lilly. Unspoken questions ricocheted in her coffee eyes and trembled along her chin. He suspected his partner understood something he didn’t. The woman definitely had some kind of hold on men. And this
was
deep space after all. There was no reason Lilly couldn’t be some alien life form he’d never heard of. Resigned to keep her safe, Dallas decided to follow through with his partner’s plan.

“What does it look like?” Dallas asked.

His partner looked at him as if he’d grown a second Xerick head. “How the hell should I know? It’s a fucking male fantasy that I never believed would become flesh. But here we are.”

Dallas walked back to Lilly. The corners of her sumptuous mouth trembled with a nervous smile. “If I untie you, would—”

“You are
not
untying her,” Thaegan yelled.

Turning around, Dallas faced a very angry Ka’al. “For chrissake, Thaegan, there are two of us and one of her.”

“No. No. No. And did I say
fuck
no?” Thaegan grabbed Dallas’ shoulders, digging his beefy fingers into the muscle. “Please just trust me on this. Leave her bound to the chair. If there’s no mark we’ll release her and I’ll commit myself to the loony bin on Pteran Omega. Because then I’ll know this shit-assed heat sparking through my veins, driving me fucking nuts and making me horny as hell is all in my head and not something she’s doing to me.”

“She’s not even touching you.”

Thaegan released Dallas and waved his hands in frustration. “But it’s in the air. Like static electricity, it’s just hanging here.” Thaegan’s gaze dropped to Dallas’ leg. “But I think you can control her.”

Dallas didn’t know if that was the case, but the undisciplined way his logical partner was acting was completely out of character. He had to believe something was going on.

“What do I need to do?” Dallas asked.

“Cut off her clothes and search every inch of her skin for something,
anything
that isn’t a normal human mark.”

He turned back to Lilly. She’d schooled her expression. Her face no longer held any emotion, as if she were resigned to whatever he needed to do. What he really needed to do was release her and sink his cock deep in her wet heat and forget that she’d likely screwed up everything with Grebetz. What Dallas did instead was turn and drop to his knees front of her.

“You know I’m not going to hurt you, right?”

Her head bobbed in affirmation, but her eyes and thinned lips remained firm and immovable.

“You would make it easier on us if you just told Thaegan what he wants to know.”

“But I haven’t any idea what he’s talking about.” Lilly’s chin jutted forward once again, her tone pitched ever so slightly higher as she spoke.

If Dallas hadn’t spent months in Quantico, studying interrogation techniques, he wouldn’t have picked up on the lie.

He wasn’t sure what he’d find, but he was resigned to stripping her naked to uncover whatever it was she was hiding. Looking into the chocolate pools of her eyes was too difficult, so Dallas stood and walked to the back of the chair. Gently, he put the blade of the Ba’alkin dagger into the cuff of her fur coat. The black mark on her shoulder, singed by the laser, screamed at him. Like he needed another reminder of how he’d already hurt her tonight.

Dallas tried to convince himself that none of this was his fault. If Lilly would come clean he’d have the truth and this whole ordeal would be over. He’d simply turn her over to Bastower at QAL headquarters and file this night under the “Shitty Memories” category.

But Lilly was forcing him to humiliate her and that just pissed him off. Well, he’d just get this whole damn mess over. He pressed the blade upward, intent on cutting through the coat’s sleeve, but it jumped out of control. The dagger curved toward her wrist and Dallas whipped it away before it ripped open Lilly’s arm.

“What the hell was that?” Dallas looked up at Thaegan.

“I guess I should’ve mentioned the dagger feeds off strong negative emotions. Anger. Resentment. Misery. It senses it in the handler and seeks to draw blood.” Thaegan shrugged. “I have no idea how it works, but it’s the reason Ba’alkin daggers aren’t legal. I figured you knew.” He shot him a false smile. “Think happy thoughts and you won’t hurt her.”

“You could’ve mentioned that
before
I put the blade to her skin.”

“My bad.”

Dallas brought the blade back to the sleeve of Lilly’s coat, filling his mind with thoughts of her writhing against his body. With gentle sawing motions, he cut from wrist to neck, letting the front of the coat fall to the floor. He did the same to the other sleeve and soft fur lay at her feet like some wounded animal. He wouldn’t bother with the back until he’d separated the sleeves of her blouse.

He couldn’t quite ignore the quick rise and fall of her breasts, their pink nipples pinched into tight points, begging for his attention. Blood rushed to his cock and Dallas had all he could do to focus on the sleeve in his fingers. With great care, he cut down the white satin fabric from throat to wrist, the material only half as soft as the skin beneath. He lifted the straps of her bra away from her shoulders before slicing them through.

Setting down the knife, he offered Lilly another chance to stop this madness. “Are you sure there isn’t something you want to tell us?”

Lilly’s shoulders stiffened beneath his hands. Continuing to stare straight ahead, she shook her head in response. The flaxen waves of her hair brushed seductively across the backs of his hands and Dallas had to bite back a groan.

He hated that she was making him do this, but he had no choice. He felt Thaegan’s anticipation like a force slamming into him. He reached over her shoulders and laid his palms high on her chest, brushing away the remnants of both the front of her blouse and the bra. The floral scent of her perfume wrapped around his nose and he wanted nothing more than to step to the front of the chair and bury his face between her breasts, filling his lungs with the heady scent.

When Thaegan’s hungry gaze traveled the length of her torso and back, a shiver rippled up Lilly’s back. Dallas gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze as his thumbs absently stroked the sides of her neck.

“There’s nothing there.” Thaegan cleared his throat and pointed. “Now the skirt.”

Dallas didn’t think he could stand having the woman laid bare in front of him. He would do anything to keep that from happening. “It could be on her back,” he said hopefully.

Dallas parted the yellow silk of Lilly’s hair, brushing it over her shoulders and covering her breasts. He thought it would be easier, but when his hands swept over the milky curve of her back, he heard Lilly’s sharp intake of breath and his cock jumped. “Lilly, lean forward so I can pull the shirt and coat away.”

With her arms bound behind her, she couldn’t do more than arch her back, which of course thrust her chest forward and he nearly groaned at the sight of her dusky nipples poking through the golden curtain of hair. He pulled the fabric free, adding it to the growing pile on the floor.

Thaegan came around her back and bent for a closer look. “Pull her hair away from her neck.”

Dallas ran his fingers along the back of Lilly’s skull, lifting the hair and exposing the delicate arch of her neck, taunting him to lean over and kiss the tender skin until she sighed his name. Not finding anything, he dropped her hair and reminded his dick once again that this was about identification and not seduction.

The Ka’al checked through the rungs of the wooden chair. “I’m not seeing anything. Skirt next and then the boots if we don’t find anything.”

Dallas picked up the dagger and shifted positions so he was kneeling in front of the woman. The misery in her eyes tracked his every move. With the heat of her body radiating through his clothes, Dallas had all he could do to focus on their objective.
Jesus
. Under normal circumstances, he’d love to have Lilly naked, bound and at his mercy. But this situation was quickly deteriorating from craptastic to
completely
shitty.

“Lilly, I don’t want to do this,” he said. “Just tell us everything and this will all be over.” And Christ, Dallas wanted it to be over. If he cut that skirt off, leaving her bound in the chair with nothing but the tiniest slip of a thong covering her body, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to control the lust he felt for this human. She had touched a part of him tonight that he thought had died months ago on Canus Delta. But maybe Thaegan was right and even the synthetic blood wasn’t making him immune to whatever power she held over males.

“Why did you pick that particular Znedu tonight at the tavern?” Dallas asked nonchalantly as he brought the knife to the bottom edge of her skirt.

“He looked wealthy.” Her gaze trailed over his face, but neither of them were giving away any hint of what they were feeling. “Besides, Znedus are amazing lovers. And business was less than stellar earlier so I thought I deserved to treat myself to hot round of sex tonight.”

Thaegan growled at her words, but the insult didn’t bother Dallas. Regardless of what they found, the woman before him had been just as turned on in the alley as him. No female body could fake that kind of arousal. There had been nothing about their sexual romp that had left either of them dissatisfied.

“So, you didn’t cull that Znedu from the crowd for any other reason?” Dallas asked.

She leaned forward, the heat of her breasts pressing against the back of his hands, her face a breath from his. “Why don’t you tell me why you care?”

“Let me remind you, human,” Thaegan’s voice, low and menacing, came from behind Dallas, “you are not in a position to
ask
the questions.”

She sat back in a huff, the motion bouncing her breasts in front of him.

“I thought you realized I’m just another working woman. What more reason do I need?”

Ignoring the pull of her body, Dallas lifted a brow and shot a look at the knife, offering another chance to stop this craziness.

“Do what you have to do, human. You’re not going to find anything.” Lilly smiled, but it didn’t reach the dark depths of her eyes. “In the end, you’re just going to have a mouth full of crow as you shovel out thousands of credits to replace my wardrobe.”

Laying his palm on the inside curve of her thigh, Dallas worked his fingers beneath the supple leather and lifted it away from her leg. Her skin was flushed and warm under his fingers, and he worked to ignore the sensation. The razor edge of the blade cut through the material like soft butter. He curved it carefully around the side of her ass and tugged a little harder to cut through the waistband. He repeated the motion again along the side of the other leg, but it caught on the elastic of her thong and she squirmed a little as it pulled taut a second before snapping the lacey material under the sharp blade of the dagger.

His breath shook as he released a heavy sigh. Dallas really had no desire to remove the leather and expose the velvet flesh that lay beneath. But he had no choice. With trembling hands he slid his fingers down the warm skin of her belly, hooked them under the leather fabric at the waist and lifted it away.

With all that naked flesh exposed to him, Dallas couldn’t help but drink in her breathtaking beauty. The soft roundness of her breasts and belly begged to be caressed. But it was the satin flesh at the apex of her thighs where Dallas would really like to press his kisses and his tongue, exploring lower into her satin folds.

“See? Nothing.” Lilly didn’t quite pull off the breezy indifference. “So, why don’t you untie me, find me something to wear and I’ll be out of your hair?”

“Separate her thighs.” Thaegan’s command caught them both by surprise.

“Really, I think you two Neanderthals have taken this—”

Thaegan’s impatience didn’t allow her to finish. “You can do it gently, Dallas, or I can do it…” His last words hung in the air with deadly intent.

Dallas looked over his shoulder at his partner. The large Ka’al trembled, his fists clenching and unclenching at his side, his thighs bouncing with unspent energy.

“But I can’t guarantee her safety if I’m forced to move closer,” Thaegan said evenly.

“I’ll do it.” Dallas turned back to Lilly. She shrugged and the corner of her mouth trembled with the hint of a disinterested smile that made her look more nervous than cavalier. But he noticed Lilly didn’t shift to open her legs wider for them either.

Dallas laid his palms on the alabaster skin of her inner thighs, her body trembling beneath his palms. Having a woman quivering at his touch usually thrilled him, but he suspected this had more to do with fear than sexual arousal. Praying there would be nothing, suspecting there was, he pushed her thighs apart until the chair hindered anything more than a cursory inspection.

“Scooch forward,” Dallas said quietly as he curved his hands around Lilly’s sexy ass and forced her butt to the edge of the chair. Though she didn’t fight him, her reticence was obvious. With one side of it cut, the thong slipped under her as she slid forward. The heat of her body and her nakedness slammed into him, forcing the air from his lungs.