Lost Star (22 page)

Seht gasped and bucked hard.

Ravnos’s grin widened. “Liked that, eh?” Apparently, he’d caught Seht’s prostate.

He ground against it, just to be sure.

Seht moaned and shuddered, then arched and rolled his ass in reply.

Ravnos felt the velvet heat enveloping him tremble around his cock. “Oh yeah, you definitely liked that.”

Seht snarled and bucked under him. “Shut up and fuck me, you sadistic son of a bitch!”

Ravnos tightened his grip on Seht’s hair, forcing his head back down to the desk.

“Temper, temper…” He licked his lips and reach down with his free hand to clasp the hot, rigid, dripping length of Seht’s upper and primary cock. “But since you asked so sweetly”—he pulled back and braced his feet to either side of Seht’s—“your wish is my command.” He thrust, hard, then again and again, simultaneously stroking Seht’s primary cock in time with his thrusts.

Gasping and moaning, Seht reached up to grab hold of the far edge of the desk, pushed up on his toes, and shoved back to meet him, stroke for stroke.

The hot, tight velvet glove sliding along Ravnos’s dick, delivering the most exquisite sensations, combined with the rich perfume of Seht’s lust, tinted with the aroma of his blood. What little sanity he had left evaporated. He leaned down to grasp Seht’s shoulder in his flat teeth and bit down.

Seht choked and stiffened, his eyes going wide, then shuddered violently and shouted, “Ah! Fuck!”

Heated wetness spilled over Ravnos’s hand and pumped onto the floor beneath the desk. Seht had cum, finally.

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His urgency well beyond the breaking point, Ravnos projected the release command to his cockring. The gold ring loosened. Ravnos slammed into Seht as hard as he could, once, twice… His balls tightened and released. Ecstasy burned from the base of his spine all the way up to the back of his skull, then back down all the way to the tip of his cock where he pumped every last drop of himself deep into the heated grip of Seht’s ass. He threw back his head and shouted in raw, carnal victory.

Ravnos collapsed on top of Seht’s pale, sweating back.

Seht panted for breath under him. “This was not how I planned to conclude our first meeting.”

Ravnos lifted his head. “Yeah, well”—he licked across the bloody furrows his flat teeth had made across Seht’s shoulder—“plans change.” His breathing deepened, seeking the other man’s intoxicating scent of freshly spent lust.

Seht groaned. “That was not amusing.”

Ravnos rose from Seht’s back and pulled his flaccid cock free. He couldn’t help but stare at his cum seeping from Seht’s wide-open anus. It was the most incredibly erotic thing he’d ever seen. A shiver raced through him, and his cock twitched. He wanted…more. He wanted to see Seht with that half-lidded flush of spent lust spread out on the sheets of his bed. He wanted…

Ravnos jerked back, averting his gaze. He wanted what could never be. He spotted an open door and realized he was looking at a small facility. Yanking his pants up around his hips, he strode for the facility on shaking legs. He hadn’t let himself go like that in…years.

Seht rose up on one elbow, his long silver hair spilling over his arms, and looked over at Ravnos. “Where—”

Ravnos didn’t look back. “Facility. I need to get you cleaned up.” The room was small but equipped with a flushing toilet, a sink, and plenty of soft white nubby towels.

He grabbed a pair of the towels, ran the hot water under the sink, and soaked them thoroughly. After wiping himself off with one, he carried the other over to Seht, who had turned around to lean back on his elbows against the desk. His long silver mane spilled from his bowed head down his heaving chest. The prince was clearly exhausted.

He appeared to be contemplating his pants, which were still down around his thighs.

Ravnos knelt by his bare feet and began the process of cleaning him as gently as he could. “Did I hurt you?”

Seht snorted. “Only my pride.” He sighed. “I underestimated how strongly isolation would have affected you.”

Ravnos looked up at him, frowning. “What?”

Seht reached down and slid his fingers along Ravnos’s cheekbone. “This was my fault.”

Ravnos flashed him a smile, more than a little confused. “What are you talking about?”

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Seht leaned down to cup Ravnos’s face in both hands. “I should have looked harder for you. I should have found you sooner. I should have never let you go.”

Ravnos stared into Seht’s cat-slitted blue gaze, and for an entire breath, he sincerely wished that too. What would the last ten years have been like if he’d spent them with Seht?

Wearing a collar.

He shook his head free of Seht’s hands and looked down at the floor. “We can’t change the past. We can only move forward.” It was something Captain Melchior had told him repeatedly. He leaned down to swipe the towel across the floor, cleaning up the last of the mess they’d made.

“Aubrey—”

“What’s done is done.” He rose to his feet, holding the soiled towel. “And my name is Ravnos.” He turned on his heel and headed for the facility to get rid of the towel.

Seht reached down and pulled up his pants. “I never stopped missing you.”

The stab of pain in his heart froze Ravnos where he stood.
Gods!

Seht’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I never stopped…loving you.”

Ravnos’s heart pounded so loudly he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. His hand tightened around the towel, but he didn’t turn around. “I…I know.”

“I’m here to take you home.”

The heart pumping in Ravnos’s chest stuttered with crushing pain, but he lifted his head and spoke strongly and firmly. “I already have a home, a life, and responsibilities.” Moribund had to be destroyed. “It’s too late for…us.”

“Too late?” Behind him, Seht loosed a vicious snarl. “Never! As long as my blood runs in your veins, you belong to me.”

Ravnos turned to face him, teeth bared. “No, Seht.” A low growl rumbled deep in his chest. “I will
never
be anyone’s slave ever again! Not even yours.”

Despite the rags of dark cloth hanging from his arms and the cum dripping down the interior of his thighs, Seht was tall, pale, and elegant. His blue gaze narrowed and his jaw clenched. “No matter how well you disguise yourself, you can never be anything other than what you are, a Skeldhi rehkyt.”

Ravnos turned his back on the man he’d just finished fucking. “I know.” He strode into the facility with the distinct feeling that his heart was being ripped apart from the inside. He threw the towel against the wall.
I’m an idiot! Going anywhere near him was a
mistake! I should have just left him in that hallway.

To die by the hand of that cyborg?

He heaved a pained sigh. No, he couldn’t have left him there, not Seht. He ran the cold water and scrubbed his face.
Stupid fucking rehkyt instincts
. He grabbed a fresh towel to dry his face and hands.
So now what do I do?
The only thing he could do. He’d just have to find a way to get the prince to stop his pursuit of him. He just hoped to the 130

Morgan Hawke

powers that be that it wouldn’t take one of them dying. On that depressing note, he took a moment to take a piss, rewashed his hands, then opened the door to leave the facility.

Holding a small bundle of black cloth in his hands, Seht brushed right past him to get into the small room. “My turn.” He closed the door behind him.

Ravnos was completely unable to stop the smile tugging at his lips.
Somebody was
in a hurry
. His gaze fell on the clothes and bits of armor scattered all over the floor.

Cold, hard reality kicked him square in the gut. He needed to get out of there, fast.

Moving as quickly as his augmented limbs would allow, he tossed on his waistcoat, completely ignoring the shreds of his once-fine silk shirt and cravat, and threw his coat on over it without bothering to button it. He scooped up his sword-belt with his left hand and headed for the door to the hallway as quickly and silently as possible.

A white blur on the edge of his vision was the only warning he had. Ravnos back-stepped, pivoting to his right, and threw up his sheathed sword.

Blocked, Seht’s fist missed his temple by only a fraction of an inch. He jerked back his fist and bared his long white fangs. “You are not leaving this room without my collar, Aubrey.” Lightning fast, he swung his left fist, aiming for Ravnos’s head.

Panic blazed white-hot up the back of Ravnos’s skull. He grabbed the descending fist with his right hand and slammed the hilt of his sheathed sword against the side of Seht’s head.

Seht’s eyes rolled, and he slumped to the floor. A trickle of blood stained his white mane at the temple.

Ravnos gasped in shock. “Oh shit!” Was he dead? He hadn’t meant to hit him that hard! He dropped to his knees and pressed two fingers to Seht’s throat. A pulse throbbed under his fingers.
He’s not dead
. Relief flooded through him, making his entire body tremble, but anger followed in its wake. “Damn it, Seht!” He rose to his feet, but indecision held him rooted to the spot for an entire heartbeat. He didn’t like leaving him there on the floor where anyone could just walk in on him.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice. Seht clearly had no intention of taking no for an answer. He needed to get out of there.

Ravnos opened the door just enough to see that the hallway was deserted. He slipped out the door into the hallway, closed the door behind him, and locked it. He took an extra second to use his wiretap to scramble the code so that the lock would refuse to open from the inside. He smiled grimly.
You’re not getting out of there anytime
soon, you stubborn shit
. He headed up the hall at a quick march away from the Skeldhi prince. Lifting a finger, he activated the com-unit still clinging to his ear. “
Imp One
, this is the captain.”

Ravnos’s earcom crackled to life. “We read you, Captain. Status?”

“Status, code blue.”
Evacuation, all personnel
. He needed to get out of there while he still had a few shreds of sense left. “On my mark, execute.”
Track me and collect
.

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Behind a certain closed door, Seht’s voice lashed out in an angry shout. “Aubrey, you bastard! I will hunt you to the ends of the universe to set my shen on your throat!

You
will
be claimed, and you
will
bow to your master if it takes the rest of my life!”

Ravnos bolted. “Pick the closest exit, and don’t bother being polite!”

Twenty steps ahead of him, a window exploded, scattering smoke and shards of glass all over the hallway.

A dark-coated man draped in veils of smoke stepped through the window, his boots crunching on shattered glass. “Your egress is ready, Captain.”

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Morgan Hawke

Chapter Twentyone

Twenty minutes later, Ravnos’s entire crew was back on the small sleek captain’s gig and heading out into space, straight for their ship.

Seated in his chair by the window, still in his battered coat, torn waistcoat, and shirtless, Ravnos set the communications headset down with a sigh. President Kidd had been somewhat understanding. The cyborg attack had completely ruined his dinner plans to show off his new captain to several of his more choice senators and council members, so he’d understood why Ravnos hadn’t shown up. He’d even understood the necessity of losing a hallway window on the five hundred and sixth floor of his tower for an emergency escape from Admiral Moraine.

Ravnos hadn’t even flinched when he’d told that lie.

However, the president had been less than understanding about Ravnos feeling the need to leave for his ship. The headset crackled softly. “There’s something you are not telling me, isn’t there, Captain Ravnos?”

Ravnos had taken a breath, then sighed. “Yes, Mr. President, there is.”

Silence had crackled across the line. “Is it…a personal matter?”

Ravnos looked over at his worried lieutenant, hovering in the doorway to the crew’s area. “Yes, Mr. President.”

The president heaved a sigh so heavy it came across the headset loud and clear.

“Fine. I might as well send you on a hunting mission. There are a couple of unidentified small ships sitting a little to close to our borders in the eighth quadrant. Get them to identify themselves. Use as much force as you deem necessary.”

Ravnos couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, Mr. President.”

“However, as soon as your personal matter is resolved, I expect you back here and ready to go to every single dinner engagement I care to send you to!”

Ravnos winced. “Yes, Mr. President.”

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The president cleared his throat. “Excellent. Good hunting, Captain.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.” The sound of empty air crackled across the headset.

Ravnos removed it and handed it to his lieutenant. “Tell the
Hellsbreath’s
nav-pilot that we need to be ready to leave for the eighth quadrant as soon as we arrive.”

The lieutenant’s eyes widened. “The eighth quadrant, sir?”

Ravnos rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your shore leave as soon as we get back.” He looked out the window at the world fading in the distance. “I just have something…personal to take care of, first.”

The lieutenant snapped his hand up to his brow in a salute. “Understood, Captain.” He lowered his hand. “I’ll have your day uniform ready for you in five minutes.”

Ravnos lifted his brow at the man.

The lieutenant scowled at him. “The ship’s crew does not need to see you in”—he waved his hand, indicating his captain’s clothes—“
this
condition.”

Ravnos rolled his eyes. “I
so
need to get you a first officer.”

The lieutenant smiled brightly. “Make sure you pick a good one.”

Ravnos gave him a sour smile. “I intend to.” He turned to stare out the window at the stars. He strongly suspected that he was being sent to deal with some Moribund ships, seeing as Moribund was in the neighborhood. However, for some reason, he simply couldn’t find the enthusiasm he normally felt at such occasions. He rubbed the heel of his hand across the center of his chest, over an ache that seemed to center on his heart.