Authors: Lolita Lopez
treatment. Once he’s completed that, his situation wil be
reassessed. It’s likely he’l be moved into a training
position.”
When Orion gestured to the door, Menace took a
step back. His end of the bargain complete, he was
ready to retreat to his quarters. Penny’s hand on his arm
stopped him. She smiled up at him. “Thank you,
Menace.”
He nodded stiffly and watched her enter the hospital
room with Orion. He hoped Flare would be pleased with
her. She seemed like a nice woman. They had a good
chance of being happy together if they could work out
their cultural differences.
As he traversed the ship, Menace couldn’t shake the
conversation he had shared with Dankirk. The man’s
words played on a loop in his head. Dankirk had said
Naya didn’t love him but it was clear her friend loved
her. He seemed extremely protective of her. His
her. He seemed extremely protective of her. His
assertion that being Grabbed was the best thing that
could have ever happened to Naya stil surprised
Menace. There weren’t many men on Calyx who
supported the Grabs.
The memory of the notebook with its coded entries
bothered him. Had he been wrong to take it back and
keep it from Cipher? It felt so intrusive to go through her
private things. They were only just establishing trust
between them. If he sent her notebook back to Cipher
and had him decode it, she would be furious. To her, it
would be a betrayal.
He slipped inside their quarters as quietly as possible
and dropped her bag on the entryway table. He had
hoped to get into their bedroom and undress without
waking her but she was too light a sleeper. The dimmed
lights in their bedroom switched on and she appeared in
the open doorway. He enjoyed the sight of her sleepy
face and mussed hair. “Hey.”
“You’re back early.”
“Zeph flies like a bat out of hel.”
“The woman? She’s okay?”
He nodded. “She’s with Flare now. I think they’re a
He nodded. “She’s with Flare now. I think they’re a
good match.”
Naya grinned. “Better than us?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
She started to say something else but her gaze fel on
the entryway table. Shock slackened her face. “Where
did you get that?”
He brushed his fingers across the wel-worn leather.
“A friend of yours.”
“Friend? Jennie?” She sounded so hopeful.
He shook his head. “I met a man named Dankirk
tonight.”
“Danny was the fixer on the job tonight?”
“He was.” Menace held her gaze. “I suppose I don’t
have to ask if you were a member of the Red Feather?“
“I was.” She didn’t even try to lie. “We—they’re—
just political dissidents. They bring medicine and
technology to those who need and want it. They work to
keep elections in The City as fair as possible. They help
get sick people to hospitals in the colonies and aid in
immigration efforts.”
“Ilegal immigration,” he countered. “It’s ilegal to
move people from your planet to the colonies without
move people from your planet to the colonies without
visas and proof of sponsorship from legal citizens of
those colonized instalations.”
Naya crossed her arms. “Are we realy going to have
a political argument at four in the damn morning?”
“No.” Menace sighed. “Here.” He picked up the bag
and held it out. “It’s been searched and cleared.”
She hesitated before walking toward him. “My
pistol?”
He shook his head. “It’s been confiscated. I’l petition
to have it returned as soon as possible. If we get it back,
it goes right into my gun safe, understood?”
“Yes.” She took the bag and hugged it to her chest. “I
never thought I’d see this again.”
“Your friend seemed determined to get it back to
you.” Menace couldn’t help himself. “Was he your
lover?”
“What? Why would you ask me that?”
“Was he?”
“Why? Are you jealous?”
“Naya—”
“Yes, once,” she answered angrily. “Danny and I had
sex once. More than a year ago,” she added. “It wasn’t
sex once. More than a year ago,” she added. “It wasn’t
great but it wasn’t awful. No, he didn’t make me come.
There! Are you satisfied with that answer,
master
?”
She spat the word so harshly that he flinched.
Realizing he had been an absolute jackass, Menace
wiped a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, Naya. I
shouldn’t have asked that.”
“Why the hel do you even care, Menace? Didn’t you
tel me that the past is the past?”
“I did.” Reluctantly he admitted, “Maybe I am jealous.
That man knows you so wel. He knows your secrets.
He’s spent a lifetime with you. How the hel do I
compare with that?”
“You don’t.” She tossed the bag back onto the
entryway table. When she slid her arms around his waist
and leaned her head against his chest, Menace couldn’t
breathe. “We’re building something new and different.
What we had or didn’t have with other people doesn’t
matter. This right here?” She squeezed him. “This is what
matters.”
His eyes closed briefly as the tension in his gut eased.
Her correct assessment of the situation calmed him.
Menace cupped her sweet face and captured her mouth
in a tender kiss. Remembering his earlier promise, he
in a tender kiss. Remembering his earlier promise, he
swept her into his arms. “I’m pretty sure I said we were
going to pick up right here.”
She squirmed in his arms. “Maybe you could get
undressed first. I’ve got the handle of a pistol jamming
right into my butt.”
Menace snorted. “I’ve got something I’d like to jam in
your—”
Naya clapped her hand over his mouth. With
narrowed eyes, she warned, “Finish that sentence and
you’l be sleeping on the couch.”
Chuckling, Menace set her down in their bedroom and
started to strip out of his tactical vest and holsters.
“You’re starting to sound like a wife.”
“Keep it up, Menace. One good kick and you’l
sound like a choirboy.”
“Ouch,” he said with a laugh. Pressing his thumb to the
keypad of the gun safe instaled in his closet, Menace
unlocked and stored away his weapons. He removed his
boots and shed his clothing.
Naked and already hard for Naya, he left the closet
and found her sliding back into bed. The undershirt she
had been wearing had been dropped on the floor. He
had been wearing had been dropped on the floor. He
would have to talk to her about neatness tomorrow.
Desperate to get his hands on her again, he lifted the
bedcovers and slipped in beside her. She came right to
him.
When she tried to throw a leg over him to gain the
more dominant role, he shook his head and pressed her
fuly onto her back. “Not tonight, sweetheart.”
Pinned beneath him, she breathed excitedly but didn’t
fight him. She was getting used to being submissive to
him. Her face flushed and her pupils seemed to dilate.
The instant reaction she had to his dominance over her
made his cock throb.
Menace captured both of her wrists in one hand and
dragged them above her head. He nuzzled her neck. “I’m
going to give you a choice. I’l cuff you to the headboard
or I’l hold you down like this. Either way, I’m going to
fuck you senseless.”
Shuddery breaths breezed across his cheek. “Hold me
down.”
As need raced through him like a wildfire, Menace
claimed her mouth in a possessive, demanding kiss. She
arched under him. Stil gripping her wrists in one hand, he
used the other to caress her silky skin. Her dark nipples
used the other to caress her silky skin. Her dark nipples
were tight peaks now. They begged to be licked and
pinched and sucked.
By the time he’d finished tormenting her breasts with
his mouth and fingers, Naya practicaly sobbed. He let
his hand slide down her bely and forced her thighs wide
open with his knee. His fingers explored her pussy. She
was soaking wet in her desperation for him.
Rising up on his knees, Menace angled his body just
so. His rock-hard cock found its target. He thrust
forward into her welcoming slick heat. Naya cried out
and tried to lift her arms but he held her wrists too firmly.
The knowledge that she was completely at his mercy
rippled through her. He felt it when her pussy clenched
him.
“Now,” Menace said with a teasing lilt, “let’s see how
much it takes for me to convince you that I am your
master…”
“I don’t understand why this is so complicated.” Naya
tried to suppress her frustration with the clerk in the
clothing department but it was proving difficult. “I gave
you the name of the warehouse on Calyx. How hard is it
to import two cases of shirts and pants?”
The older Harcos male shot her a pissed-off look. He
manned his computer console as if he were a sentry
guarding state secrets. “I can’t force them to trade with
us. They won’t meet our terms for import taxes and fees.
Unless you want to pay the difference, those boxes
aren’t leaving Calyx.”
“This is ridiculous.” Naya rubbed her forehead and
tried to think of a way to deal with the red tape. “Look,
where I can get a copy of the trading agreements and tax
fees and al that?”
The man pointed to the scanner on the corner of his
desk. “Scan your chip. I’l have the relevant files sent to
your personal tablet.”
Naya waved her hand in front of the scanner until it
beeped. “Thank you.”
Annoyed, she left the store and made her way into the
retail sector of the ship. Now that she and Menace had
been together for more than thirty days, there was no
issue of her being taken by another male. He had taken
her off restrictions two weeks earlier as long as she had
an escort, usualy Halie because no man on this ship
would dare bother the wife of the general.
Naya glanced around the bustling shopping center.
Her gaze fel on an empty storefront. The idea Halie had
seeded al those weeks ago about opening a store here
had taken hold and sprouted. At the wives meeting
earlier, Naya had confided her dream to Halie. She
planned to familiarize herself with the laws and rules
before she made any concrete plans. Money would
probably be an issue but she had a good chunk waiting
for her in a bank on Safe Harbor. If it was enough and
the laws were in her favor, she would talk to Menace
and see what he thought about her idea.
There was no doubt in her mind that he would support
her. Bit by bit, her sexy sky warrior had chipped away at
the wal she had erected around herself. There had been
the wal she had erected around herself. There had been
arguments in the last month and there were times she
realy wanted to whack him upside the head with the
nearest heavy object, but he truly was the most honest,
loyal man she had ever met.
That he absolutely adored her, even when she was
acting like a raging bitch, stil left her feeling a bit uneasy.
Her experience taught her to be wary of any man who
thought that her waspish tongue was “cute”. She tried to
take their relationship day by day, but it was hard
sometimes. She felt as if the ground was constantly
shifting beneath her feet.
Crossing to the elevator bank, Naya caught movement
out of the corner of her eye. At first she didn’t even see
him but then his one-eyed, scarred face registered. Her
stomach coiled painfuly. What the hel was he doing
here?
Naya hastened her pace and squeezed into the already
filed elevator. She dismissed the irritated glances of her
felow passengers. There was no way she was going to
wait for the next car, not with Creeper McCreepypants
giving her the stink-eye.
A week ago, Naya had overheard Menace talking to
Vicious about Terror and his team leaving on a new
Vicious about Terror and his team leaving on a new
mission. Her eavesdropping had confirmed her suspicion
that Terror was no mere logistics clerk—and that he was
incredibly dangerous to her. Knowing he was back
onboard the
Valiant
made her knees knock together.
While Terror was away and no longer posing an