His Carnal Need (Xylon Warriors 2) (22 page)

She stepped in front of them. “I brought slave attire for you all to wear. You’ll need to get rid of your uniforms. And get rid of that thing,” she told Kam, pointing to the sensor strapped to his wrist. “Hide everything in one of the orbiter’s storage units. When we enter The Dome, all of you keep your heads down. If you’re recognized, either by one of the Egesa or Assassins passing by, a Dome resident, or by someone watching one of the monitors, there won’t be anything I can do to help you. All breeders are presently being killed.”

“What?” The tone of Leila’s voice rose in obvious distress. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” She wasn’t about to tell them about the breeder sterilization failure. The Egesa could still sterilize pre-initiated breeders through The Dome’s Initiation Rite, but once someone went through The Lair’s Initiation Rite, the new sterilization formula wasn’t permanent. And the formula didn’t affect Branded breeders at all. “Are you Branded?” she asked Leila.

Leila glanced at Erik. “No.” She looked back at Halah. “As your slave, I shouldn’t have to worry about sterilization, should I? None of us are mated, so we’re not in a breeder-release cycle.”

Which meant they weren’t presently fertile, Halah knew. Still, Leila looked panicked, as did the others.

She could fuck with the Healer’s mind, but she decided against it. “As long as you’re not recognized, you’ll be all right.” Even if she was recognized, they wouldn’t bother with sterilization now, since she was initiated and protected. Because she wasn’t Branded though, she wouldn’t be protected against sexual assault from the Egesa. The chemicals in the perspiration of a Branded breeder were poisonous to the Egesa. Without those chemicals, if she fell into the hands of those creatures, they’d fuck her to death, literally.

These Warriors’ trust of her to keep them all safe made her increasingly uncomfortable. Even guilty.

Somehow, she couldn’t completely shake her old Xylon training and sense of responsibility.

Leila let out the tight breath she was holding. “Good. Now, how are we going to get through processing?

As soon as they scan our bodies, we’ll be identified as breeders.”

“I’ve made arrangements. My quarters are a safe zone. Once there, you’ll have access to my computer to retrieve what you need, if you can break into the database system.”

“I’ll handle that,” Kam replied.

“I require my medical equipment to test the formula’s viability.”

“Not possible,” she told Leila. “Xylon equipment or circuits of any sort will trigger an alarm inside The Dome. You’ll have to use whatever the Med Lab has available. Now, give me the information on my sister.” Once she had that, she could get off this rock as soon as she obtained clearance.

“Afraid not,” Erik said. “After we get what we came for and are back here in our orbiter and armed, then you get the information. Otherwise, I doubt we’d make it off Marid alive.”

Well, she couldn’t say she was surprised by his response. She’d given it a shot. “I take it you’re the one in charge of this mission.” She already knew that due to the markings on his jacket. He held highest rank, a higher Class 1 status than she. But she felt like goading him. She hated being in a position that forced her to blackmail Warriors to get their help. They should have helped her years ago, when her loyalty to The Lair still burned strong.

“That’s right.”

“Erik Rhodes?” Again, she knew from her previous mission. She’d read all their files, and along with her encounter with them on Earth, she had a good feeling for each of their personalities. They didn’t need to know how much information she had on them though. Erik would be the hardest to control. She noticed how he kept looking over at Leila, making sure she was all right. He cared about the Healer, and more than just as a Xylon Warrior. She would use that to her advantage, if necessary.

He nodded, acknowledging her inquiry about his name.

“We will do it your way. But don’t push me.” She turned and grabbed the clothing from the guard’s hands. “Change into these.” She tossed the outfits at each of them, more like scraps in her opinion. The thin, flesh-colored material didn’t hide much. She wouldn’t want to wear one, but looked forward to seeing Kam outfitted in the sexy attire.

“Why don’t you give us each a Dome transport-connector, and the coordinates to your quarters?” Leila asked. “Nobody even has to know we’re here.”

“They already know you’re here, genius.”

Leila frowned. “I just thought—”

“Well, don’t. I don’t trust you. Any of you.” The woman must think she’s stupid. “Once given access, who knows where you’d end up. If you’re discovered inside The Dome, without going through processing, you’ll be executed. We’re doing this my way or not at all. My ass is on the line too, you know.”

“Let’s get going then,” Erik said.

Leila fingered the clothing, and a frown crossed her face. “Where’s the top?”

“Slaves don’t wear tops. Not even the females.” Halah kept her eyes on Erik, who seemed agitated by the news.

“Since when?” he asked.

Halah shrugged. Let them deal with it. Baring her tits wouldn’t hurt the woman any. “No boots either.

And if you’re wearing your regulation underclothes, get rid of those. I don’t want any more attention drawn to you three than necessary.”

“Can we have some privacy?” Leila asked, her gaze roaming over the smiling guards, who eyed her lustily.

“If you’re the modest sort, get over it.” Halah smacked Dak’s arm and gave Bron a heated look to wipe the grin off the men’s faces. “You’re going to be parading around half-naked, and that’s the reality of the situation. Now change.” She needed to get them inside The Dome before their window of safe opportunity passed.

* * * * *

Rave stroked Gabriella’s bare breast. “You sure you can distract Daegal long enough for Halah to get the Warriors through?” Their plans were finally coming together. Men had ruled Marid long enough. Now she and Gabriella would get the chance to flex some female muscle.

“No problem. Odds are he won’t be watching anyway. He doesn’t personally monitor the slave processing too often anymore, but better not to take a chance. I’ll adjust all the body scanners not to detect breeders for twenty-four hours. Any longer than that, and the maintenance crew will discover the tampering. You’ll handle the Top Commander?”

“I’ll take care of him. Leila will be a great benefit to us. Her medical mind and knowledge is far superior to the Healers we presently have on Marid. She might be able to take the sterilization formula and perfect it, for the men this time. That’ll put them all at our mercy.”

“How will we force her compliance?”

“I don’t know yet. We need to find her weakness. Everyone has one. I’ll come up with something.” The day she couldn’t outwit Leila Abdera, she’d eat Egesa cock. She had watched Gabriella do it once, and turned nauseous when the woman had actually swallowed the male’s brown cum. Disgusting. Gabriella wasn’t a breeder, so she hadn’t been Branded by Daegal when he took her as his mate—playmate was a better description, but she’d never say that to Gabriella. As such, Gabriella fucked who or what she wanted, whenever she wanted.

“Who else will be with Leila?” Gabriella glanced up at a monitor. She grabbed a remote control beside the bed and switched the screen to display the slave processing area.

“I don’t know. Halah wasn’t told. One Class 1 Warrior for certain. That’s Lair regulations. Probably one other Warrior, at least. An orbiter of the size they’ll most likely be traveling in can comfortably hold up to five, but only needs three to pilot, navigate, and handle weapons control.”

“The rest who accompany her will need to die, unless you perceive a use for any of them.”

“It’s in the process of being arranged.” She needed to cover several possibilities. She didn’t know exactly what the Warriors had planned, so she wanted to set up various traps to make sure they didn’t slip through Marid’s security and get away.

“Halah, too.”

“Halah, too. She’ll get everything she deserves. We can’t trust her. She’d double-cross her best friend, if it got her what she wanted.” Not that the woman had any friends, other than those two losers who always trailed after her with their tongues hanging out.

“Agreed. Everything is moving along on schedule. Once Daegal is dead, I will be in charge, and we’ll have enough power to not only control Marid, but to begin plans for control of this whole system. We’ll finally get everything we want.”

Rave still didn’t quite understand how the overthrow was going to work. She stretched under the sheet.

“What about the Top Commander? He will challenge you for control.”

“No, he won’t.” Gabriella switched the monitor view to the transportation area.

Rave smiled. She always loved Gabriella’s deviousness. “What do you have in mind? You can’t kill him.

We need him to control the Egesa, at least temporarily.”

“I won’t have to kill him. He will do everything I say. He’s not well, like Daegal. Certainly, you’ve noticed.”

“Of course. But it’s nothing permanent, is it?” Maybe Gabriella was giving him some sort of nonpoisonous drug to control him. That would be handy. Gabriella had access to all sorts of special herbs and drugs. From where, Rave didn’t precisely know. She’d found an off-planet source of some significant magnitude, and the drugs bypassed their normal bodily protection. But that’s all she knew about it. “Some of the other Commanders will challenge you, if the Top Commander doesn’t or can’t. A woman, untrained, taking over The Dome will be met with resistance. Now, if I take over—”

“Never happen, Rave. Forget it.” Gabriella switched the monitor to the Med Lab.

“What are you searching for?”

“Just checking things out, do you mind?” Gabriella’s stern look softened and she set the remote aside.

She held up her hand, and her voice lowered. “Now don’t ask me any more questions in this. The less you know the better.” Gabriella arched her back, offering her breast.

Rave lowered her head and sucked the nipple into her mouth. She didn’t like it when Gabriella kept secrets. Secrets made her nervous and made her suspect she wasn’t as secure in her position as she thought.

She wondered if Gabriella and the Top Commander had forged an alliance strong enough for him to switch his loyalty from Daegal to her. If not, and he wasn’t being drugged, then she must know something incriminating or personal about the man that he didn’t want revealed. Maybe his name. Rave snorted.

Nobody even knew that. She needed to figure this out for her own good. Her hand slid between Gabriella’s legs.

She’d get Dare and Shear to snoop around for her, see what they could find out.

* * * * *

Leila fingered the slave attire. At least the garment smelled clean. But that’s about the only positive thing she could say. With their backs to Halah and the guards, Kam and Erik changed into their pants. They then positioned themselves so that she could change behind them. Leila smiled her thanks, grateful for the partial privacy.

She pulled on the flesh-colored hide. The thin material barely covered her pussy and ass. Even though she hated the outfit, she couldn’t deny how sexy Erik and Kam looked in the pants. Their muscular chests and tightly packed stomachs were shown off to perfection. The pants clung to their cocks, leaving little to the imagination.

Erik arranged her hair down over the front of her shoulders to cover her breasts. “Not only beautiful, but serviceable,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”

She nodded, but wasn’t so sure about his words. The look in his eyes wasn’t as calming as his voice.

This mission had started out with problems and didn’t seem to be improving as it progressed.

Leila noticed how Halah practically devoured Kam with her eyes. She wondered if he noticed. A protective feeling toward Kam struck. As one of her best friends, she didn’t want him used or hurt by anyone, especially a former Warrior who wasn’t trustworthy, in her opinion.

“Let’s head out,” Halah said. “If we go through processing during the busy time of the day, we’ll be less conspicuous.”

They left the orbiter and all loaded into the rover. Three in front and three in back. Leila reached next to her and clutched Erik’s hand. She felt safer whenever he touched her.

Erik squeezed her fingers. His warmth seeped into her skin, heating her frigid grip. She smiled up at him, and he winked back.

As the rover headed toward The Dome, the terrain passed by too slowly. They couldn’t be traveling at full speed. Leila wanted to fly. Moving over the land, with the breeze in her face, she noticed the air felt drier than on Xylon. Her skin hated this. She already felt itchy. And the scenery didn’t touch her heart.

She preferred the forests of Xylon to the few mountains and flat lands of Marid.

Over the next hill, Dak pulled the rover to a quick stop, jerking everyone forward.

“Why are we stopping?” Halah asked. “Is it the tank leak?”

Tank leak. Leila shifted uncomfortably. That must be why they were traveling at a slower rate.

“No. An Egesa Patrol is about to come through the mountain pass. See the signals?”

Egesa… Leila’s heart pounded.

“Wonderful.” Halah glanced back at them. “Keep your heads down, and your mouths shut, no matter what. Don’t even think about running. They’ll be carrying pulse rifles. Those things will cut you in two.

They’re not going to be thrilled to find baked comrades nearby, so expect trouble.”

Like Dak said, a patrol of at least twenty Egesa came through the pass and into the valley. Some in rovers, some in heavy transports.

Leila’s stomach tightened. She hated those evil, smelly creatures. The Egesa weren’t too bright though.

Halah could probably talk them safely past.

The unit stopped not far from them. Halah got out of the rover, and a large, male Egesa emerged from one of the transports. The Commander, Leila suspected. Rays from the low-hanging sun reflected off his bald head. His yellow eyes swept the area.

“Identify,” he rasped out to Halah, focusing those eerie orbs on her.