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then spun on his heel and marched to the door, barely breaking stride as it shushed open

then shut behind him.

The room was utterly still, as silent as the tomb, then Kahn let out a long, tired breath.

"That sonofabitch is one very stubborn man." When Bridget looked uneasily at him, he smiled. "Come, Bridie. Sit down. We must talk."

"Excuse me, Admiral?" the Vid-Com clicked on.

"Aye?"

"Doctors Dean and Sejm are here as requested, Sir."

Bridget turned to stare at the Admiral. At his nod and pleasant smile, she felt her heart

thump hard against her ribcage. "Why are they here?" she asked.

"Be patient, Bridget," he advised. When the older women entered, he ushered them to the small conversation area off to one side of his desk and sat down with them, Bridget

seated beside him on the sofa.

"Have you told her?" Sejm inquired.

Bridget looked around. "Told me what?" She looked from one to the other. "What are you doing to him, now?"

"Nothing that isn't absolutely necessary," Sejm reported.

"I don't believe that!" She turned her anger on Kahn. "Tell me!"

"I am going to take you away from him."

Bridget's eyes widened. "You can't do that!"

"My adopted son outranks Cree," Dr. Hael Sejm snorted. "He can do whatever he feels like doing."

If she was surprised at the connection between the Empire's most influential warrior

and the Chalean chemist sitting across the way from her, Bridget hid it well. She turned

toward Dr. Dean. "This isn't necessary. He knows I'm part of the Resistance."

"He would have to be the imbecile he thinks Kullen is if he
did not
know by now." Kahn chuckled.

Bridget looked at him. "Give me a few more days. I can—" She stopped for Kahn was

shaking his head.

"He took you away from Konnor Rhye; I am taking you away from him," Kahn

informed her. "That should be the final push to send him straight into the arms of the

Resistance."

"He has to be made to understand that he is nothing more than a pawn controlled at the

whim of the Empire. He no longer has any rank or privilege with them now that he has

been demoted. He has to see himself, and you, as being expendable, at the mercy of men

who have no regard for love or happiness or morality. I know how that feels; now Cree

will know, too!"

"I will return you to him when the war is over. Have no fear of that."

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"And what if we don't win?" asked Bridget.

"We will," Kahn said emphatically. "There are more of us than you can imagine, Bridie. We need Cree only because where he goes, the other Reapers will go. Especially

now that I have humiliated him and they learn that one they think of as invincible can

tumble off his pedestal. They won't like it."

"And where the other Reapers go, so go the Shepherds and Keepers," Dr. Dean put in.

"Once we have taken over the Empire, there will no longer be a need for such men,"

Dr. Sejm declared.

"Then what happens to Cree?" Bridget demanded.

"When this is over, the two of you can do whatever you like," Kahn replied.

"What if he is arrested by the Tribunal before all this comes to a happy end?" Bridget sneered. "Then what?" Her eyes grew wide. "What if he is killed during the takeover?"

"That is not going to happen and there is no need for you to be worrying that it will!"

Kahn stated. "He is the most powerful warrior our worlds have even known. He's not

about to allow himself to be caught, Bridget."

"I know we've asked a lot of you before now," Dr. Dean said, coming to kneel in front of Bridget. She put a comforting hand on Bridget's knee. "And you have risked so much

to help us. We understand your hesitation; but we can't finish this without your help."

"You have come this far, Bridie," Kahn told her. "Can't you go a few steps further?

Don't worry about Cree. I'll do everything in my power to keep him out of harm's way."

"Tylan has considerable authority with the Empire, Bridget," bragged Sejm. "And there are other considerations you do not need to know about at the moment that will insure

Cree is alive and in good health when the war is over."

Dr. Dean glanced at Hael, but didn't question her odd statement. Instead, she patted

Bridget's knee. "Do you think I would allow Drae's son to be harmed, Bridget?"

"You will have a few more months in which to decide," Sejm put forth, standing. "He leaves the first thing tomorrow morning."

Bridget swung her head toward Kahn. "What is she talking about?"

"I am sending him to Terra on a Retrieval team," Kahn replied. "As a lowly Shepherd."

"He'll kill you," Bridget whispered.

Tylan Kahn chuckled. "He can try, Bridie. He can try."

HE LOOKED up as she came into his quarters and sighed deeply with relief. Before

she could speak, he shot to her and grabbed her in his arms, crushing her to him. "By the gods, Bridget, I thought he was going to take you away from me!" His mouth crushed

hers in a bruising kiss that took away her breath. She clung to him as he swept her up in

his arms and carried her to his bed. Neither spoke as they tore at the other's clothing until they were naked and entwined.

"Hold me!" she begged. "Kamerone, please hold me!"

"Always!" he swore and thrust his claim of her to the hilt.

Their lovemaking—and he wasn't even sure he could call what they did by so gentle a

name—was frenzied, animalistic and he was left with long bloody scratches down his

back where she had raked him with her nails. The Reaper tattoo on his chest had a double

row of teeth marks through its center. Their bodies were soon slick with perspiration as

they strained against one another. The deep growls that rumbled from the back of his

throat only underscored the soft whimpers coming from hers. Together, they reached the

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one another it was hard to tell where one left off and the other began.

"Lieutenant?"

Cree ignored the Vid-Com's smug voice. His hands flexed around Bridget's body.

"Lieutenant, you are wanted at the door to your quarters."

Cree let out a vulgar curse then eased his arms from around Bridget. He swung his legs

off the bed and snatched up his uniform trousers. He wasn't aware of Bridget's tenseness

or the tears falling onto his pillow as he stepped into the leather pants and stomped to the

door.

"Aye?" he snapped, slapping at the control panel. "Who is it?"

"Yeoman Dants, Sir," the voice on the other side of the Vid-Com screen announced. "I have your orders, Lieutenant."

"Orders?" Cree questioned. He pushed the button to open the door and before the

yeoman had time to step back, Cree slammed his fist against the wall. "These are

transport orders!" He swept his angry glower from the black-edged papers to the

messenger. "What the gods-be-damned hell are they trying to do to me?"

A little yelp of terror was the only answer the messenger was capable of giving. The

last Cree saw of him, he was fleeing down the corridor, his hands in the air.

With another vulgar curse, Cree slammed his fist against the control panel, shutting the

door, then stalked back into his bedsuite. "The bastard is sending me to Terra tomorrow!"

he raged.

Slowly, Bridget turned over in his bed and looked up at him. "I am so sorry," she said and her shoulders began to tremble. She buried her face in her hands and the sobs came in

waves.

"Ah, Bridget, don't!" he pleaded, coming to sit on the bed and take her in his arms.

"I am the cause of this."

"No, you are not," he denied, unnerved by the tears that wetted his bare chest. "Don't cry, Sweeting."

"I love you!" He was lost in her misery, unmanned by it, and for the first time in his life, felt another person's pain. That it was his mate's made it worse for him and he

gathered her to him, lifted her onto his lap.

"Make love to me," she insisted, her voice full of an emotion he'd never heard before.

"Now, Kamerone. Make love to me now!"

She didn't give him time to either agree or disagree. Her hands tore at him, jerked him

to her trembling body. He had no notion what had set her off, but whatever it was, it

turned her into a mindless she-beast in heat. When her climax came, she stunned him by

throwing back her head and screaming with the release.

"My god!" he breathed, shaken to his very core by her reaction.

Almost as soon as the scream died away, she was asleep, lying exhausted in his arms,

her sweat-drenched body clinging to his. He held her all night, never closing his eyes, just

watching her sleep, studying the tearstains on her cheeks. Never would he have imagined

his departure would create such an intense reaction in her. If he had ever doubted her

feelings for him, he doubted them no longer.

"Lieutenant?"

Cree signed. "Aye, Helen. I'm getting up."

He hated to leave. The sight of his mate sleeping so peacefully made him long to stay

with her. Tenderly, trying not to awaken her, thinking it best he be gone before she woke,

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he placed a light kiss on her brow then extricated his arm from beneath her head. He

dressed quickly in one of the black serge jumpsuits and was gone before he could make

any noise to disturb her sleep.

"KAMERONE!"

The Reaper turned and saw her running along the platform toward him. He looked at

the men on the gangway, frowning at them until they looked away, then stepped away

from the Sirroco's hatch.

"What are you doing here?" he asked only to grunt as Bridget flung herself into his arms. Had the night before never happened, Cree might well have been embarrassed by

her show of affection, but this morning, all he felt was supreme satisfaction that this

woman was entirely his and that she loved him.

"You left without kissing me goodbye," she accused.

"I did not want to wake you." She lifted her hands to his cheeks, brought his face down to hr level and took his mouth in a brazen kiss that left nothing to the imagination of

those watching. It also produced a much loved, but at the moment, much unwanted

response in her lover. He pulled his mouth from beneath her assault and took her by the

upper arms to set her away from him.

"This is not the place to be doing this."

"I don't want you to go!"

"I don't want to go, but I have orders, Bridget."

"Kam, please!" she pleaded with him, her hands digging into his forearms. "Tell them to send someone else!"

"I can't do that," he said sternly. He slid his hands down to hers and gripped them tightly. "You know I can't."

"If you go, he will—" she started to say but a harsh voice cut her off.

"What the hell is the meaning of this, Cree?"

Cree stiffened, cursing under his breath. He let go of Bridget's hands and turned to face

Admiral Kahn as he strode toward them. He put Bridget behind him, protecting her with

his body.

"Dr. Dunne came down to see me off, Sir," explained the Reaper.

"How touching," the Admiral sneered. "Stand aside, Cree."

A low warning growl issued from the Reaper's throat. Instinctively, he reached down

for Bridget's hand, not surprised when she clutched his as though he had thrown her a

lifeline. "I will not let you harm my woman, Sir."

There were gasps from those gathered both inside the airlock and on the gangway. Men

backed away from the confrontation and scurried off, not wanting to be a part of this.

Kahn's eyebrow quirked upward. "Have I given you any indication that it was my

intention to harm the lady?" Cree held the Admiral's stare then, not seeing any danger to Bridget in the man's gaze, shook his head. "No, Sir."

"Then
stand
aside."

Cree hated backing down, but he had no choice. Not only did this man outrank him,

Kahn would send him to the nether reaches of space if he did not stop provoking him.

With his jaw firmly set, Cree stepped away from Bridget, their fingers lingering until all

contact was broken by the separation.

"Now," Kahn said in a reasonable voice. "You have said your goodbye, Dr. Dunne.

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Lieutenant Cree has a mission to perform and he cannot perform it while standing on this

gangway. I want you to go back to his quarters and remain there until he returns."

Bridget knew why Tylan Kahn had come this morning: he hadn't trusted her to do what

she had sworn to do. That she had proved him right had turned his gaze dark with

irritation. She turned to Cree, wanting to tell him what the Admiral had planned, but

found her lover looking down at the metal floor.

"Do as he says, Bridget," Cree said without looking up.

"Kam..."

Cree lowered his voice so that only she could hear him. "Will you shame me by

arguing with me when I tell you to do something, woman?"

She knew he would believe he had lost face with Kahn if she did, so she ducked her