Rebel Pax (Shifters of the Primus Book 2) (5 page)

I
carry
Mira free of the building. She struggles against me, insisting that I should not carry her with my wounds, but I pay her no heed. She does not realize that I would not feel pain unless it was inflicted on her. As I have spent more time with her, I have felt more that I am once again my old self. If it were not for the shadow of my failure and my exile, I could almost call myself happy. But the spectre of my past is too dark. No, I am not happy. But I have found a peace with this female that I no longer hoped to find.

And I would not deny that her pussy against my cock was intoxicating. I had intended to toy with her only, to tease her flesh with my hands and bring her to a point where she could not help but throw herself on me. But when she turned and my cock slid against the warmth and wetness of her skin. . . Even I was not strong enough to resist. I fear that this female’s pussy may finally be the force that undoes me. No, it is not just her body and her sex that compel me. There is something
more.
An inner fire of passion and strength that draws me as strongly as any magnet. And still, I must walk away when this is all done. Each passing hour by her side makes me that much more certain that to separate from her will be what finally kills me.

“Did the man speak to you?” I ask as we exit the outer limits of town and I let Mira walk on her own again, though I watch her closely. I lead us toward a safe place I know a few miles outside Umani territory.

“He did. He mentioned the leader of the humans, Admiral Gaius. Apparently that’s who sent him. . .”

I nod. “So this is the man responsible for shooting down your shuttle?”

“Yes. We need to go speak to my sister and her husband, Kato. If we tell them what Gaius did, they will set matters straight.”

I laugh. “And let another male solve my problems? No.
I
will speak to this
Gaius.
”

Her large eyes meet mine and hold them. I know what she will say before she says it.

“It’s too dangerous. I can’t lose you. My people aren’t as strong as yours, but they are cruel and they have powerful weapons. You would be mowed down if you laid a hand on the Admiral.”

She realizes that her words have the opposite effect too late. “If my Mira doubts the limits of my strength, I have no choice but to demonstrate it.” I stop, turning to lead us toward Jektal, the capital city of the Umani clan. I feel fire burning hot within me, desire to prove that no man or army can stop me. I am a force of will that cannot be averted. I will show my enemies and prove to Mira that I am a worthy mate.

“Wait!” she says. Her eyes are brimming with tears. “Do you have to be so
stupid?
” I didn’t mean that you were weak. I mean that you can’t go in there and just punch your way out of it. There are
thousands
of humans in there. Every one of them will turn on you and grab the nearest weapon if they know you’re hostile. It won’t matter how strong you are.”

“There is only one choice: I will do what is right.”

“Even if it kills you?”

“To save you? Yes. Even if it kills me.”

I realize that I must bring her with me, even if my intentions will lead her into more danger. To leave her alone and in the care of another would certainly be even more perilous. The only one I would trust to watch over her is Kato. My clan was long at war with his, but I know he is an honorable Primus and would not allow any harm to come to the blood of his wife.

“So,” Mira says dryly. “I just wait here while you go get yourself killed to protect me?”

“No. You will come with me until we reach Jektan. You will stay with your sister and King Kato while I deal with this Gaius.”

She folds her arms beneath her breasts, mouth pressed into an angry line. “Well?” she asks impatiently, as if she is eager to be on with it.

I know she is angry, but if males let the anger of women dictate their decisions, history would be full of ruin. She does not understand that the only way to keep her safe is to do this. To sit back and wait for her enemies to make the next move puts her at too much risk. I must cut the head off the beast. I must kill Gaius.

We reach Jektan early the next morning. Mira didn’t speak to me the entire time except when she grudgingly asked me to carry her after her feet became blistered from our hiking. I relished in the feel of her flesh against me, breathing her scent deeply. As a youth, I had once heard of
make-up-sex
and its many charms. Now, I can’t help wondering if a pairings’ first mating can qualify as
make-up-sex
. But at the moment, I doubt Mira is thinking about sex.

Jektan is the largest city on Markul. Its perimeter is peppered with automated turrets and laser defense grids. As a result, the inhabitants are not shy about using metal and electricity within their homes or reinforce bridges between platforms. We stand at one of the highest points in the city, and as far as I can see below me, glittering glass, polished wood, and gleaming metal sparkle in the morning sun. The city is a wonder to behold and I feel my pride stinging to admit that the capital of the Toltek clan seems primitive by comparison.

We take a series of lifts and bridges until we reach the palace. Inside, we explain who we are and are lead by a guard to the throne room. After a short delay, Queen Liandra rushes out from a side-room. She wears a beautiful dress but holds it up so she can run to embrace Mira.

“Mira! Oh my god. When I heard about your shuttle—” her voice breaks. “I didn’t want to think about what might have happened to you.” She pushes Mira back from herself so she can look her sister in the eyes. Then she pulls her in again for a fierce hug.

Mira subdues the anger she holds toward me, smiling and hugging Liandra back, tears dripping freely from her eyes. “I’m so happy to see you. For a while, I thought I might never see you again. . .”

Liandra finally takes a step back and notices me. I am not used to going unnoticed for so long, especially in the presence of a female. Kato must have chosen well with this one. She is loyal. She takes me in and then looks at her sister, quirking an eyebrow. “You had to go out and get yourself one too?” Liandra asks Mira.

Liandra blushes and looks to me and then back to her sister, hunching her shoulders in embarrassment. “I didn’t
get
anything. Pax is a gentleman and he saved me. That’s all there is to it.”

Liandra smirks, turning to regard me. “I know your type. Honest to a fault. So tell me,
Pax
, what do you think of my sister?”

I shift on my feet. The question makes me more uncomfortable than facing twenty warriors or a sea of monsters in The Dead Sea. Perhaps if Mira was not currently upset with me, it would be an opportunity, but now. . . Now I know that nothing I say will please Mira.

Before I can answer, another door opens. A Primus male with gold skin enters the room. I’m not used to seeing others my size, so I am taken aback at the sight of him. Then I realize I must be looking at King Kato.

Kato has a similar reaction when he sees me. He moves closer to me, matching me for height and meeting my eye. “I’m Kato, king of the Umani.” He sees my golden eyes, knowing that I was once a royal-blood but have found shame in exile. “Do I know of your clan?”

“I have no clan. My name is Pax. I am neither prince nor king.”

Kato narrows his eyes briefly but nods. “Welcome to Jektan, Pax. Any who would save the blood of my blood are a friend to me. If there is any way I can assist you, you may ask.”

“I need you to guarantee Mira’s safety while I take care of something.”

Kato raises his eyebrows. “Something in my clan’s territory?”

“Yes.”

There is a pause and for a moment, I think it may come to a battle of strength. Instead, Kato nods. “Mira knows of this?”

“I do,” Mira says. “But I think it’s
stupid
.”

Liandra laughs. “I know the feeling. Kato is probably going to want to join in if it’s stupid.”

A
fter Pax finishes explaining
his plan to Kato and Liandra—which takes all of ten seconds—Kato is frowning.

“This is more complicated than it appears,” says Kato. “The humans are under my protection, but there are two factions among them. There are the colonists who want nothing more than to start over and live peacefully. Then there are the humanists, who believe their species is destined to dominate this planet and enslave the other species. Until we know which side Gaius is on, we cannot simply execute him.”

Pax straightens. “I will do what my honor compels me to do, Kato.”

There is another tense moment between the two. I think they both have personalities that are too dominant to survive spending much time together.

“If your honor compels you to protect your woman,” Kato says, “Then you must trust me. I was once where you are. I let my pride blind me.”

Pax’s fists clench at this and he takes a half step forward. Kato calms him with a gesture.

“There is not dishonor in pride. It does you well that you obey yours. But if you wish to protect Mira, you must protect her, not your pride.”

Pax considers this. “I will heed your warning, Kato.”

I turn to Liandra and make an exasperated gesture.
Really?
I say the same thing to him and it’s all “me must destroy”. He hears it from Kato and it gets through to him?

Liandra smiles knowingly at me.

“But,” Pax continues. “I will still go to see Gaius and take measure of him myself. If it is possible, I will avoid bloodshed. But if it must be, then it will be.”

Kato nods. “I would not ask more of you.”

With that, Pax storms from the room. Liandra leads me to a room where I will be
safe
. I know they all mean well. But the truth is that I do not plan to sit idly like some damsel in distress while Pax goes off and gets himself killed. There will be
something
I can do to help him, and I’ll be damned if I don’t find out what it is. I just know that if anything happened to him and I wasn’t there doing everything I could, I would never forgive myself. Maybe he’s being a big and stupid idiot, but I’m starting to think of him as
my
big and stupid idiot.

So as soon as Liandra leaves to get me the tea I ask for, I slip out the window. It doesn’t take long to find Pax. I know he’s heading for the human encampment so I book a shuttle on my sister’s credit—sorry Lia—and take a two minute ride to
New Hope
. Even though I’ve only been gone a few days, the human settlement, which had seemed strange and new to me still, seems ordinary. I’ve already seen so much more of this world and by comparison, our life here seems petty and dirty.

Before I go to where Pax is, I take a
very
big risk by sneaking into the armory. Since landing on Markul a few months ago, the humans have been busy. While we were on
The Hope
, our strongest weapons were old-fashioned powder-based bullets. Now we have the coil guns that are the current galaxy standard. I find a few propped against a wall inside the barracks. There is a group of soldiers playing cards on the other end of the room and none of them notice as I pluck one of the surprisingly heavy weapons free and sneak outside.

The gun is made of sleek metal that looks almost like carbon-fiber, but a series of brightly glowing green tubes twist and wind around it. Apparently there are thousands of smaller tubes inside the ones I can see that make up miles worth of tubing. Two particles are released at either end traveling near light-speed. When they collide, the barrel focuses the violent reaction and fires
something
out the other end. I’ve never actually seen one fired, but I get the general idea. I point it at a bad guy and squeeze the trigger. No more bad guy. How hard can it be?

Trying not to draw stares and attention while carrying the rifle that is half my size is not easy. I’ve almost made it to the governance building when a soldier approaches me.

“Mira?” he asks. “Where did you—”

I point the gun at his face. “Drop your weapon.”

He starts to smile. “Come on, Mira. You’re not going to shoot.”

I jerk the gun downward, pointing it a few inches to the side of his feet and squeeze the trigger. The weapon kicks back and a blinding streak of light burns itself into my retina. When my vision clears, I see a molten hole extending all the way through the platform and out the other end. Beyond that, there is the red outline of a hole as far as I can see through several more branches and finally into the trunk of a Loris tree many hundreds of yards away.

I aim the gun at the soldier’s face. His weapon clatters to the ground.

“Good,” I say. “Now stay here.”

I run ahead, hoping he doesn’t have time to call for help or decide to just shoot me in the back. I find my way behind the governance office and slip through one of the walls that is still under construction. I hear raised voices.

“. . .think you can just walk in here and threaten me?”

“Threaten?” asks a voice I recognize as Pax’s. “I do not threaten you. I promise you. If I hear a single whisper about you or any of your men planning to harm Mira again, I will end you.”

“Threaten all you want. You saw the letters on my desk, so you must know there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Once Kato learns that the missile used to destroy Mira’s ship was a Toltek missile, he will declare war on the Toltek. And if that doesn’t work, You saw that I have one of my men on the way as we speak to blow up an orphanage in the Toltek capital city. Of course, there will be ample evidence to prove that the bombing was ordered by the Umani.

So while the two most powerful Primus clans are busy weakening each other through a war that I will ensure is long and bloody, my people will rise to our rightful place on this shithole of a planet. We will become masters over you primitive, barbaric simpletons. Humans will be the masters of Markul. And I will be the king.”

I move closer, finally able to see the scene. Gaius stands over the war table and Pax is moving closer, his towering figure making Gaius look like a child in comparison. But I notice Gaius’ hand slip under the table and press a button. Oh no. It must be some kind of silent alarm.

“Pax!” I shout. “You have to leave! He just set off some kind of—”

An arm grabs me from behind. I spin to see a gruff looking man with a scar over his eye. He is aiming a pistol between my eyes. Without thinking, I level the coil gun at him and fire. The gun kicks, light nearly blinds me, and when I can see again, the man is lying down. There’s a hole through his stomach the size of a cannonball. I smell something like cooking meat and feel sick when I realize it’s the dead man’s burnt flesh.

I don’t have long to think because Pax finds me and swoops me up. He’s moving fast and carrying me away from the governance building. I see over one hundred men with coil guns storming in the front of the building as we come out the side. There is no way Pax would have survived that. But is that going to stop him from being angry with me? I don’t know, but I also don’t care. He can be mad all he wants. He has been the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m not going to let him go because of something stupid like his pride.

The sight of a nearly seven foot tall, blue Primus built of pure muscle barrelling through the human colony is enough to keep anyone from trying to stop us. His long strides quickly carry us far from the governance building and Gaius’ goons.

“I’m sorry, Pax. I didn’t want to sit back and wait for something to happen to you.”

Though he’s running at full speed, he speaks as if it does not tax him. “You should never have put yourself in so much danger.” His voice is filled with barely suppressed anger. But then his features soften slightly. “But you make me proud with your strength. I saw you kill the human. Many Primus—” he falls silent for a second as he holds me tight and leaps nearly twenty feet to bridge the gap between two platforms. “Many Primus youths flinch before their first kill. You were fearless.”

I smile with a strange mixture of pride and guilt. More confused than anything. If I had time to think about it, I know I could have never taken someone’s life. But in that flash of an instant, I also knew it was him or me. Instinct kicked in and I reacted. It was nothing more than the will to survive, but still. . . It feels dirty and wrong. Whatever that man was doing, he was doing because he thought it was right. He had his own reasons and motivations and I took that from him. But I refuse to dwell on it. I’ve chosen my path and it will not be an easy one. I just need to focus on knowing the end will be worth it.

Pax slides a hand up to cup my breast, smirking. “Perhaps I will punish you for your disobedience. Among my people, we have a tradition when a female steps out of line. I believe your people call it a
blow job.
”

I grin back at him. “You do realize we’re being hunted by a small army right now? And you’re talking about blow jobs?”

Something fiery and hot enters his eyes and he smirks even wider. He takes a sharp turn and simply steps off the edge of a platform. My stomach lurches but I clutch tight to him, trusting that he knows what he’s doing. He grabs a vine and we’re suddenly swinging in a long, upside down arc. We land in the nook of a Loris tree that splits in three directions. Between the leaves and the thick branches, we must be nearly invisible. I can still see the distant lights of Jektan above us, but I doubt any will see us here. Is he really. . .

He sets me down and begins to unstrap his pants.

“Wait,” I say, “You heard Gaius. He has a man on the way to Kolka right now. We can’t afford to stop.”

“We must,” says Pax. “The only path to Kolka without a shuttle is well known. It will be heavily guarded during the day. During the night, fear of beasts will give us the cover we need to pass unseen.”

“Who cares if we’re seen!” I say. “We need to get there and help.”

Pax hesitates, his smirk slipping. “I am not welcome in Kolka. If they know I am coming. . . They will do their best to keep me out.”

“Why aren’t you welcome?”

“I did not exile myself as the result of a happy and peaceful rule,” he says, voice clipped and sharp, cutting off any line of questioning I might have been tempted to pursue.

“So we just sit here on our hands until night comes?” I say before the silence growing between us becomes too uncomfortable.

“Yes,” he says, face hard.

I sigh, knowing that I have brought up something in his past that hurts him, and if we’re going to be stuck here anyway. . . A small smile forming as an idea occurs to me. “I want you to take off your pants. Slowly.”

The fire in his golden eyes returns. Using one hand, he pops the button of his leather pants. He takes a step toward me, using his thumb to pull the waistband down enough to give me a glimpse of the way a sharp “v” of muscle carves down toward his cock from his stomach. I hear him begin to purr as he moves closer still and takes my hands. He puts them on his pants and waits.

I kneel, pulling them down slowly until his cock bursts free, standing fully erect. He bends slightly so I can reach. I open my mouth and move until the head of his manhood is inside my mouth but not touching and then I pull back, closing my mouth in a smirk. “You know,” I say. “I seem to recall that you enjoy teasing. How do you enjoy the taste of your o—”

I’m interrupted as he pushes my head over his cock before I can finish my sentence. I laugh, the sound muffled against his length. I planned to tease him and take my time, but the sudden show of desperate passion ignites something within me. I rub both my hands up his thighs, pressing hard. I slide one hand around the base of his cock and cup his balls with the other, gently caressing them.

I take him in my mouth as deeply as I can, surprising myself with how wet this is getting me. I can already feel my panties are warm and sticking against my pussy. Each time I glance up, I see him looking down at me, face drawn with pleasure and satisfaction. Seeing his enjoyment drives me further into mine. I lose control, my hand and mouth pulsing up and down his cock so quickly that I make slurping noises. He groans, pushing himself deeper into my mouth.

I slide the hand that cups his balls down toward my own clit, knowing that I can’t bear to contain my own satisfaction any longer. When he sees, he reaches down and lifts me by the waist as if I weigh no more than a child. He presses me against the smooth bark of the Loris tree and rips down my pants and panties with his other hand, not bothering to take off my shirt. I am upright, back to the tree and my heaving chest is pressed against his. He spreads my legs so that I straddle him. I arch my hips toward him hungrily.

I see all his control has left him. His intentions to toy with me and slowly drive me wild are lost to some deeper animal lust within him. As if it radiates off him, I feel my own body growing hungrier and hungrier, as if I am drinking of an endless well but cannot seem to quench my thirst so I drink deeper and deeper until I drown.

“Fuck me,” I cry out so loudly that the whole city of Jektan must hear, the words gushing out of me without prior thought or control. I’m not usually one to swear, and the outburst makes me blush, but I am too far gone with ravenous need to dwell on it. The very dirtiness of my words lights a fresh fire of excitement in me.

He growls, the purring in his chest deep and thick. Without using his hands, he rocks his hips, using the head of his cock to spread my wetness from opening to clit. The vibrations of his purring send bursts of ecstasy through me, threatening to make me cum within seconds. I am about to push myself against him and fill my hole with his length when he beats me to it. I see the same hunger in his face that I feel in my heart. The idea alone that Pax, god among the Primus and a rebel king, should want
me
so badly nearly drives me to climax with his first thrust.

His cock slides inside me, not all the way, but enough for me to feel for that moment that we are completely connected. We need no words because our bodies are taking over, doing what instinct cannot resist at this point. And while I once thought that Pax was a force of willpower that could not be stopped no matter the obstacle, I realize in this moment that he could not stop himself from filling me and cumming inside me if he wanted. I am the force that can bend this giant’s wishes and desires.