Ecstasy Bound (14 page)

He’d never be a docile and cooperative sex slave or give up his parental responsibilities without a fight.

Could she live with ordering Braden’s death though? As long as she wasn’t there to see it happen—sure. She could be cold when she needed to be. Over the years, she’d earned the name Torque had given her. He’d obviously seen something in her then that she hadn’t even yet acknowledged at the time.

Well, that was all right. Tender feelings were for the weak. Wealth and power lasted a lot longer than any relationship she’d ever seen. If she needed more, she’d buy a man who would suit her purposes, one who would serve her and no other. She chuckled. “Yes. That sounds like a fucking good plan.”

* * * * *

Planet Xylon

Auxiliary Underground Shelter

Still relaxing in bed, Brianna looked into Sam’s sexy brown eyes, which reminded her of hot, liquid coco-ale. Such a sinful indulgence. Certainly not one she would ever turn down.

He ran his fingers lightly along her sides. She giggled and twitched, feeling more at ease than she had in a long while. She wished this time with him could last forever.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” he said softly.

“How so?” She smiled down at him. Here with him, she could forget about the bad in her life and let her worries float away. It was just what she’d needed after all the tragedy that had occurred.

“You’re the perfect woman.”

Her smile faded. Though she appreciated the compliment, perfect was not something she wanted to live up to. “Don’t put me up so high that I have nowhere to go but down, Sam. I’m far from perfect, believe me. I have my faults, just like everyone else.”

A soft smile crossed his face. His fingers slid down her back to rest gently on her ass. “Faults. Yes, well, I really didn’t mean that I was expecting absolute perfection from you. Perfection is boring and overrated. I should have said that you’re the perfect woman for me, just as you are. Faults and all.” His voice lowered with each word.

The perfect woman for me.
His words echoed in her head and set her heart to fluttering.

Had he just revealed a part of his heart to her? They were in an intense situation right now and emotions were equally intense because of it. As a Warrior and command officer, she understood the stresses of battle and how that played on one’s feelings. “So much has happened in a short amount of time,” she replied, slowly feeling him out. “I won’t later hold you to anything you say in here, Sam.”

As he massaged her butt, something in his gaze changed. His look intensified.

“Hold me to everything, Brianna, because I meant every word. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future or if there will even be a future. For any of us. But I know there’s something special happening between you and me. Truthfully, I was trying to downplay it in my mind but I can’t. Not if I’m honest.”

A lump closed off her throat. She hadn’t expected such an admission.

A slight flush colored his cheeks. “Geez.” He laughed. “I’m no good at this emotional shit. I think this is all getting kind of deep and is probably really bad timing, considering everything that has happened and is going on right now. How about we leave the mush for later when things are more settled?”

“Mush?” She laughed slightly, still reeling from his confession.

“Yes. Besides, your body is distracting me. I’m thinking definite naughty thoughts right now. Maybe I can distract you into thinking naughty thoughts too. Hmm?”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Good.” He squeezed her ass. “How’s this feel?”

“Mmm. Yes. That’s nice.” It was probably best to concentrate on the physical at the moment. Less dangerous to her heart. “But I really need your cock inside me.”

“Not yet.” Sam rolled her over onto her back.

His gaze burned into hers like a man possessed. A sexual thrill raced through her body as she wondered what he had in mind. He lowered his head and kissed her neck, sending waves of pleasure rippling through her. The touch of his lips made her whole being ache. She wanted him like crazy.

When he didn’t enter her, she thought he’d go for her nipples again but his mouth slid right between her breasts, over her ribs and stomach and down between her legs.

“Ah…yes.” Her cunt throbbed for his touch. She spread her thighs, perfectly willing—

no eager—to accept the touch of his lips.

She watched him spread the folds of her pussy with his fingers. At the first moist swipe of his tongue along her flesh, she groaned. It had been too long since someone had licked her cunt. She wanted more. But when he licked her again, touching her clit, she couldn’t find her voice to speak her desire. The best she could do was mewl and grab his head.

Sam teased her clit with the tip of his tongue until she thought she’d go mad. She dropped her hands from his hair and clawed at the bedding beneath her, arching her hips, wanting so much from him. Needing everything he was willing to give her, physically and emotionally. Finally, his lips closed around her fleshy bud and he sucked.

He pushed his finger into her cunt. After a moment, he pulled his finger out and burrowed beneath her. She felt him probing for her asshole. Oh yes! His moist finger slipped inside her easily and went deep.

She was in such need that it only took a moment. Her body exploded, the force of the orgasm so powerful that Brianna felt as if she were dying from the pleasure. She heard her own shrieks of ecstasy and was unable to control her voice or responses. Her body no longer belonged to her but to Sam as his mouth and hands took her higher than any man ever had.

After what seemed an eternity, she collapsed, unable to move or speak. Barely able to breathe. A tear slid down the side of her cheek.

Sam shifted and moved up beside her. He kissed another tear away when it escaped her eye. He looked at her tenderly, showing his caring in the depths of his gaze.

He stroked her cheek and throat and breasts, not in a sexual manner, but as if needing to take care of her. He held her close, in silence, letting her feel what she was feeling.

Brianna couldn’t look away from this amazing man. When Sam had said

“powerful” earlier, he had described it perfectly. Their sex
was
powerful.

This quiet time, after such a shattering experience, solidified their connection.

Something special bound them together now. Something that went beyond the sex and resided within their souls. As strange as that sounded, this had not been a normal joining. She would swear to it.

* * * * *

Braden headed toward the orbiters docked below. Erik had explained to him the problem with the overheat. He felt confident that he’d be able to rewire and program a bypass system into the larger orbiter without too much trouble. The smaller orbiter was newer and wouldn’t need the same adjustment.

The older orbiters always did have overheat problems. Ever since the control systems in them had been upgraded. All those ships should have been scrapped long ago. They just couldn’t handle the newer technology. Still, that didn’t mean he was discarding the possibility of sabotage.

He’d volunteered for this job because he wanted Erik’s full concentration to be on fixing the transport-connector for Alexa and the triplets. Braden trusted Erik more than anyone else with his family’s safety. Erik knew specialty codes better than most. Torque and Kam were also skilled with codes, and Halah too, but Erik knew handheld device programming inside and out.

Braden knew how Erik felt about Alexa. The three of them held a unique bond, forged on Earth during the Initiation of Alexa and it hadn’t waned since. Yes, Erik loved Leila with all his heart. They were predestined breeder-mates who’d seen breeder visions, just as he and Alexa had experienced. But Braden had no doubt that Erik would protect Alexa with his life.

As he passed near the ventilation equipment, he frowned. He didn’t see or hear Halah. Maybe she’d found a possible leak from the panel readouts down here and had gone to check it out. He hoped so, for that would be one less worry if they could get the atmospheric levels fixed. Fixing the oxygen would also give them more time, which they desperately needed right now with all the problems cropping up.

He strode past the subcontrol area and immediately stopped. Halah was sitting at the computer, typing frantically. Maybe she was reprogramming the ventilation software. He’d barely heard the noise, since the atmospheric units had kicked on shortly after he arrived. Fortunately a Xylon’s hearing was quite acute. A gift that came in handy on many occasions.

His eyes narrowed as he approached her from behind. Whatever she had up on the screen didn’t look like ventilation code. Not that he was a coding expert but he’d dealt with ventilation code as an engineer and it looked to him as if she were examining communication codes.

Being only half Xylon, her hearing wouldn’t be as good as his, which worked in his favor, for she didn’t hear him approaching. As he got closer, he not only verified his suspicions about the code but he couldn’t believe what he was actually seeing on the screen. Erik had been right. He grabbed her upper arms and jerked her out of the chair.

“What the hell!” She struggled, until she saw who it was. “Braden? You scared me to death. What are you doing?”

He kept her arms pinned behind her, knowing she could zap him with her electrical powers if he didn’t. “You’re working for Frost!”

“What? No!”

“I saw her ship’s identification code on the screen, Halah.”

“I know. It was there when I came down. I was checking into it, trying to figure out who had contacted her and how.”

“You’re working for her and Daegal, just like before.” He pulled her over to some insulated piping and tied her wrists to the tubes with his belt. She didn’t struggle, only looked at him in frustration. But then, if she had struggled, she’d look that much guiltier.

“Braden, I’m loyal to the Warriors. I only worked for Daegal because I had to, so I could get Josella back. You know that.”

“I also know that you switched your alliance back to the Warriors only after you found out that we had located and retrieved Josella from one of the banishment zones.”

“That’s right, which proves that I had no real alliance to Daegal.”

“I blackmailed you into it, Halah. If you hadn’t switched back and helped us, she wouldn’t have been released to you. So it doesn’t really prove much, does it?” He flipped a comm switch on the wall. “Torque, I need you down at the subcommand station immediately.” He stared at Halah long and hard. The proof was on the screen.

She’d said it was someone else but he had a hard time believing that. Who else would it be? “If you weren’t responsible, why didn’t you alert me about the message when you came across it?”

“I thought it more important to find out what I could quickly, before any data was lost by the system.”

He saw her visibly swallow hard. She was scared though trying to hide it. Scared that she’d gotten caught or scared that he wouldn’t believe her? That was the question.

He didn’t want to believe her guilty. “I’ll assume that Kam has sensed you’re in trouble and is on his way.”

“Most likely,” she mumbled.

He wanted to question her more before Kam arrived, so he could do so without interference. “If you’re not the one in contact with Frost, who is? What did you find out? How did a message even get out from here?”

“I don’t know the answer. To any of those questions. You stopped me too soon.”

“Why should I believe you, Halah, given your history?”

“Because I’m mated to one of your best friends, Braden. To your own mate’s brother. That makes us family.”

True. But what did family mean to Halah? He knew she loved Kam and she loved her sister. Still, catching her in the act was hard to ignore. How could he have been so wrong about her?

He wondered what Frost had been told. Was she coming for them now? Planning to destroy them? If Frost knew about the triplets, she’d definitely come for them.

No other reason existed for Halah or anyone else to establish contact with a known enemy except to pass on Xylon secrets, so Frost must have been told. They’d all have to be extra alert and prepared for an attack that was now most likely imminent.

He’d already informed Laszlo of the oxygen problem. Laszlo had sounded confident that it wouldn’t cause a problem. He’d said the Initiation wasn’t far off. As long as Torque got the decontamination room ready and the ceremony went smoothly, everything would be all right. After the orbiters took off, they could conserve more oxygen by keeping it channeled into the decontamination room for those left behind until rescue arrived. It sounded like a good plan but Braden feared the oxygen leak might be worse than any of them suspected. The sensors hadn’t registered anything beyond the original findings but his brain and body told him otherwise.

“Did you tell Frost about my children?” His thoughts raced faster than a comet through space, turning over idea after idea on how best to keep his family safe.

Halah pulled against his belt, her first show of trying to get free. “I didn’t tell her anything! Do you really think I’d work for that bitch after she turned me into a sex slave?”

Another good point. Braden heard boots approaching quickly. He turned to see Torque coming up on them. His brother’s brow crinkled when he saw Halah tied to the pipes.

“Somehow this looks kinkier than I figure it is. I’m doubting you called me down for a three-way. What’s going on?”

“Check the computer.”

Torque sat down and stared at the monitor. “What the hell is this?”

“That’s what I want to know. I found Halah at the keyboard.”

“It wasn’t me, Torque. I found the connection already on the system. I was just trying to get the details when Braden came across me.”