Dark Runner: LodeStar 3.5 (14 page)

“Sounds like they kill off extraneous humanoids, too,” Tal said, but he lowered his weapon and watched as the serpent lowered from its defensive stance and slithered away into the darkness. He gave her a look. “I’m still in the mood for a stroll.”

She sighed. “Well, I suppose I can’t stop you.”

“Fuck, don’t try,” Darry said. “It’ll just make him go farther, longer. Boss loves livin’ on the edge.”

Since this was true, Tal didn’t bother to disagree. He gave her a taunting smile. “You’re not gonna stop me, you’re gonna come along and keep me safe, aren’t you?”

She raised a brow at him. “Do I get hazard pay?”

“Hells no. This whole trip is one big hazard and you knew that coming in.”

She laughed, a soft, husky sound that rippled through him like a fine liquor. “True. All right, come on, earther.”

“Have fun,” Trix said. “Been nice knowing both of you.” The sarcasm in her voice was edged with nerves.

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” Scala called over her shoulder.

Exhilaration pumping through his veins, Tal followed her into the night. As he stepped onto the desert, it crunched beneath their boots. He shone his own light at the ground before him—sand and small rocks. Something small and many-legged scuttled away from the light.

“How about the insects here?” he asked. “I suppose they’re deadly too.”

“Just the spiders and puncture-tails,” she said, her voice hushed. “Oh, and some of the ants. Stay clear of the rocks and you’ll be safe enough.”

She stopped, and Tal stopped behind her. The night was quiet and hot. He was already sweating in his long-sleeved tee and leathers. The acrid stench was gone and all he could smell was the faint, spicy vegetation, clean air ... and her. He leaned closer and inhaled.

Woman. Clean, healthy woman, perfumed faintly with his brand of gelsoap and her own sexy musk. Hells, every time he got close to her, he wanted to bury his nose in the curve of her neck and drink in the scent of her skin. His soap sure as fuck didn’t smell that good on him.

He wanted her again, right now. Probably not a good idea, considering they were surrounded by predators, which for all he knew would be attracted by the sounds and scents of fucking. His cock twitched at the thought, and he grinned to himself. Worked on his short snake.

Well, he’d have her as often as he could get her, and then say goodbye with a healthy dose of credits to her account. By then he’d have her out of his system, and he’d be ready to go after Kiri.

Kiri. He pictured her in his mind, and then scowled as her face blurred and shifted into the sly, sexy smirk of the woman next to him. The two women were similar in appearance, that was all. Kiri was ultimately the more attractive of the two.
 

He smacked Scala on her taut ass. “Why are we stopping?”

Instead of retorting as he’d expected, she drew a deep breath and let it out. “Because I ... I kind of forgot how much I miss this place,” she said quietly. “It’s home, you know? I was so eager to get away, see the galaxy.” She huffed a laugh that sounded more forlorn than humorous. “I’ve seen it all right. From every stinking scow that plies space.”

Tal slid his arm around her slender waist and gave her a squeeze. “Look at the bright side. All that travel led to fucking me.”

Instead of the swift retort he expected, she was silent. He frowned at the brilliant constellations overhead. “What?”

She shook her head. He saw the glitter of her eyes in the reflected glow of their lamps. Fuck, were those
tears
? No, Serps didn’t weep.

 
And when she spoke, her voice was soft. Smoky, like good whiskey that slid down and didn’t kick until too late, when a man had already swallowed it. And like a fool, he went back for more.

“Nothing, just weird, that’s all. I never realized it until now, but ... when Darry said the ships guards all acted like they have titanium rods up their asses … he was right.” She shook her head. “I was bored out of my mind on the
Orion
. Always trying to stir things up. You know the girl I saved from Ssaar?”

He made an affirmative noise.
 

She snickered. “Not four days before that, I tried to seduce her myself … to get there before he did. And to piss off the captain, who had the hots for her.

“No wonder I got myself into trouble.” She gave him a sidelong look.
 

“No, go back a little,” he directed, holding up one finger. “When you seduced her, what did you do, exactly? And was she a blonde, with big eyes and pouty lips, or possibly a redhead?”

“She was a lovely Serp with dark blonde hair,” she said, leaning close. “With round tits and a mouth that tasted of Cremarte … because that’s what we were drinking when I kissed her.”

She paused dramatically. “… And that’s all that happened. She turned me down.”

“
Damn it
,” he said. “All right, payback. I get to watch you with Trix.”

“Maybe,” she said. “Anyway, not saying you’re a keeper as a boss, Darkrunner, but you and your people are more fun than the tight-assed LodeStar crew.”

“I’m better than one of Logan Stark’s minions,” he said slowly. That was supposed to be a compliment? He shook his head, fighting a ridiculous urge to laugh out loud. “I don’t know whether to thank you or shut your smart mouth by stuffing something big into it, like my cock.”

“You could do both,” she suggested, her voice a sultry purr.

And just like that, he was hard as cerametal, his cock fighting against the snug leather encasing it.

“Oh, babe,” he said, pulling her closer and bending his head to her. “You’ll be the one thanking me.”

Her breath was soft and damp on his face. “Not likely, but it will give you something to try for besides not blowing in the first few secs. You may be the best, but I’m better.”

“We’ll find out,” he said, and kissed her, drinking in her taste and heat. She was lithe and slender in his arms, deadly and delicate in one explosive package.

Then he froze as a horrible sound ripped through the night. A deep, ferocious growl that rose in volume until it was nearly a shriek. It came from directly behind him.
 

Every hair on his body standing up, every muscle tight, adrenaline laced with fear racing through his veins, Tal whirled, shoving Scala behind him.
 

Laser in one hand, flash in the other, he confronted this new peril, ready to kill to protect himself and his woman, just as he would in a dark, dirty alley in his own territory.

This was a creature out of a nightmare. It stood on four squatty, bowed legs. The head was huge, with a ruff of scaly protrusions that were crowned in what looked like horns. And in the center were two slitted eyes that flamed red in the beam of light, and a mouth straight out of hell. A gaping maw big enough to engulf a man’s head, it was rimmed with sharp white teeth. A long, leathery tongue flicked from the center.

The monster clawed at the earth and bellowed again. Scala moved as if to step out, and Tal shoved her back. “Stay behind me. I’ll protect you.”

She made an odd sound, clutching at his arm. “Oh, Tal, really?”

“Of course I will. I’ve been in tougher situations than this, woman.”
 

He’d annihilate this monster, whatever it was, and then get her the hells back on the
Z
, where they’d be safe. Unless this quarking planet had some kind of reptile the size of a skrog, which he was beginning to believe they might.

He aimed his laser for the center of the creature’s mouth and began to squeeze the trigger.

Only to have Scala knock his arm up for the second time that night. “No. Don’t shoot.”

The laser charge went wide, searing off into the night.

“What the fuck?” Tal demanded, fury replacing his fear. He aimed again just as the creature bellowed again. “Are you crazy? You nearly made me shoot
my
ship
.” He’d been right about her—she
was
crazy.

“It’s just a garganta lizard.”

She bent, picked up something from the ground and hurled it at the creature, hitting it between the eyes. Tal watched in disbelief as the thing dropped its ruff, morphing into a harmless-looking lizard.
 

A rock. She’d run the monster off with a fist-sized rock. Turning, it lumbered away into the desert shrubbery, which rustled violently with its passing and then settled into place.

Tal Darkrunner, scourge of New Seattle, king of the underworld, summoned the icy control on which he prided himself, and turned the beam of his flash on his companion.

He waited.

She bit her lip but failed to keep a straight face.

“They’re harmless,” she said, her voice quivering. “They put on a big show, but it’s all to convince you to get out of their territory. Never been known to attack a sentient being.”

He said nothing, and she set her hands on her hips. “All right, I’m sorry. I should have said right away. but you were so—so sweet, ready to protect me.”
 

She snickered, and he moved. Squatting just enough, he grasped her around her hips and tossed her over his shoulder. She wasn’t very heavy, and her ass felt good under his hand as he stalked back to the Z.

As he waited for the gangplank to lower, she spoke. “You’re mad, huh?”

“I never get mad,” he told her. “But I
always
get even.”

Chapter Nine

As Tal carried her up into the
Z
, Scala twisted to peer over his shoulder. She groaned inwardly. Of course everyone was in the cabin to see Darkrunner haul her on board like pirate booty.

Trix was curled in Darry’s lap, a holodice game open before them, while Dalg watched a holovid with lots of violence.

Darry looked up as Tal and Scala entered. ‘You didn’t get swallowed by a big-ass serpent then,” he said with relief.

The hatch slid shut behind them, and Tal set Scala on her feet. He put his hand on the back of her neck. His grip felt right, which conversely made her want to duck away. Instead she allowed him to herd her across the cabin. She expected his goal to be his sleep cubby, but instead he stopped before one of the chairs.

He dropped into the seat and motioned her to the floor before him.

“Here?” she asked, her brows flying up.

“Here,” he said. He looked up at her, a beautiful, dangerous man, daring her.
 

“Hot damn,” Darry breathed. Trix made an approving sound and smiled at Scala.
 

He wanted the others to watch her suck him off. She hesitated, then pushed down the emotions battering at her. It was just sex, nothing more. She liked Trix and Darry. Dalg she could ignore, over in his corner.

Damned if she’d let Darkrunner intimidate her. She’d show him she wasn’t one to back down from any challenge. She’d give him what he wanted, then get what she wanted from him or maybe Darry. He’d certainly shown he was willing, and so had Trix. And it wasn’t like she didn’t want Tal’s cock in her mouth, she did.
 

Holding his gaze with her own, she dropped to her knees and put her hands on his, slowly pushing them apart. His legs were long, lean and corded with muscle, which only emphasized the bulge of his erection.

Scala slid her palms slowly up his legs. The plush leather was warmed by his flesh, over hard muscle. But when she reached his groin, he stopped her with a slight shake of his head.
 

“Naked,” he said.
 

The sound of Dalg’s actionvid was loud, but Scala could hear her heart thudding in her ears, and she could feel the hot intensity of the four gazes riveted on her.
 

Darkrunner watched her, his gaze drilling into her, through her. Deep inside her, where no one was allowed to venture. To the girl who had given up on finding somewhere to belong, and learned to take fleeting pleasures of the flesh, because that was all she could allow herself.

Beings wanted her, they always had. Males and females of all stations and ranks of wealth and power. They wanted her body, they wanted what she could do with her hands and mouth. Once, she’d given without choice.

Now that she was an adult, she took what she wanted in return, at least physically. But since Ssaar, she made sure she kept her dignity. It was all she had left. Kneeling naked to service Darkrunner while he and the others were clothed—no.

Anger blazed through her, a welcome heat, burning away an ache she refused to acknowledge. Hurt, that even with these outlaws, she was on the outside, a plaything to be used and tossed away.

“You want me naked?” she asked, smirking at him. “You gonna get naked too, Darkrunner? We could put on a helluva good show.”

He opened his mouth and reached for her.
 

“C’mon,” she dared him, shoving at his arm. “Why not? Going shy on me, ganger? You’re among pals, right?” Even if she wasn’t.

Trix and Darry were still, watching them. “Hey,” Trix said softly. “It’s okay. We can get naked with you, Scala.”

“Shut up,” Tal said to Scala and kissed her. His mouth was soft and warm, and his other arm slid around her.