Vanquished (15 page)

“Who does he have ties with?”

Leric consulted his display.
“No one alive from that time except for Senator Annis.
They
have considerable history. Matriculated together and ran in the same circles.
Same political leanings.
Annis is presently in an advanced
care facility. Old age complicated by Winns disease. Your chosen shared his
name as well.”

Winns was easily contracted by
humans who traveled to certain planets, Ureses being one of them. The
unfortunate Mr. Winns had been the first to die from the disease, for which
there was still no known cure. “Map his itinerary for the past decades, at
least two before the war. Compare against what we know about Baraith’s.” Humans
lived well over a century with proper medical care and nutrition, and Annis
would have had the best of those options, so his culpability was entirely
probable.

He waited patiently, and within a
few moments Leric confirmed the old man’s travel to Ureses and another of those
planets. There was no apparent good reason for him to have been on either. The
timing provided him the opportunity and access to Baraith on both, sealing his
fate. “Have him removed from the facility and dumped in one of the ghettos.”

“It’s likely he’d succumb to
Winns within the year, Sovereign.” Leric offered another option as dictated by
his status. “Or he could be terminated at once.”

“Or he can live out that year
without comfort, alone and without resources.
Wandering
aimlessly.”
Neither he nor Leric were under any illusions as to what
twelve months with that disease in the slums would be like for Annis. It wasn’t
enough suffering after what he’d done. Those in the ghettos tended to torture
and taunt the crazy ones, rather than kill them, so the old man might pay the
entire time. The hunters would carry out his orders and no doubt be happy to
return home with a hostage.

“Yes, sir.
And the
ambassador?”

“Have him brought here. Recall
all the hunters from Earth.”

“Not take him to Nibiru, then?”
His exec knew that execution needed to happen publicly for Rush, once he’d
confessed his crimes, but that was a moot point. He would confess and the
Shadalla would have at least one mentally competent individual to see
punished—but Vayne required the man on the
Tomodr
far more at the moment.

“We have a blockade to breach,
Leric. Bring the ambassador here. He has a variety of uses.”
And I have the need to face him personally
before he is held on Nibiru.

“Sir.”

That left Baraith, and perhaps
Rush would prove helpful in that regard as well. Vayne waited for the serenity
that should rise and soothe him, knowing he’d found the last of those
responsible—and still alive—for the genetic crime. But while he could admit to
a certain satisfaction, he couldn’t settle.

“I’ll be in my quarters. Alert me
to any changes and to the arrival of our ships.
And of the
ambassador.”
He’d lay odds Rush would arrive first, the hunters’ small
predator craft being quick and difficult to track.

Leric acknowledged him, and Vayne
pushed to his feet, suddenly weary and in need of his lifemate. Her proximity
would nurture him and the irony wasn’t lost. He should be meeting
her
every need, rather than expect her
to assuage his.

Once again entering his cabin,
Vayne was struck by Neira’s natural, spicy scent as it surrounded him, a
fragrance forever etched on his senses. He inhaled deeply and approached the
bunk, wondering who was the master and who, the captive. He laid a hand on her
shrouded form and she came up off the mattress in a welter of flailing limbs,
right into his arms. She was shivering, her lips nearly blue with cold and
Vayne cursed himself for leaving her.

Cuddling her close, he murmured,
“I have you, little warrior. I have you.”

In time she was soothed and he
marked the moment when her demeanor changed from that of a lost waif both
seeking and offering solace to…something vastly different.
Something
passionate and wanton.
All his angst and soul searching fell away as his
dominance surged to replace it, Neira’s telegraphed need so dire he had no
choice but to meet it.

He managed to lay her shaking
body upon the bunk, reluctant to put any space between them but desperate to
remove his clothing—the better to experience the heated velvet and silk of her
against his naked flesh.

“Hurry.”
Neira’s moan spurred him on and
his tunic joined his leggings in less than a stint.

Her face was flushed with desire
and this time her golden eyes were dilated with lust and not fear. As he
watched, the tip of her tongue crept out to moisten her short upper lip. Vayne
tried to rein in his beast but lost all semblance of control when she reached
between them and stroked his pulsing cock. She wasn’t hard to pin beneath his
weight, soft in all the right places even as her toned body fit against his
with no give. He wrestled her hands above her head and fastened them into the
cuffs with the ease of long practice.

“No.” Her breathing changed from
passionate soughing to restricted pants.

“It is our way, little warrior.
Especially this first time.”
He remembered his promise to
explain about the restraints and how he’d been distracted.
“Neira.
I won’t hurt you. You have my word.”

Thick, black lashes cloaked her
gaze, blocking his read on her and his hearts hammered with fear that she would
refuse him. “I can’t be restrained.”

“You can.
With
me.”
Vayne stared into her eyes as her lids fluttered open and let her
see into him. “If you touch me this first time, even in passion, a…part of
me…will construe it as interference, resistance, and I’ll get rough with you. I
won’t allow it.”

Inch by infinitesimal inch her
glorious body relaxed beneath him as she gave him her trust, and Vayne had
never felt so honored. He wanted to ask about her change of heart. Why she’d
responded to him and needed him so badly that her arousal perfumed the room and
she fairly seethed with yearning, but he ascribed to one of the Home World’s
sayings. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Although how a nearly extinct
quadruped might compare to his lifemate was beyond him, except for the wild,
untamed part of her.
And the beauty.
And the fact she
was also one of a kind.

Leaning in, he kissed her,
absorbing the taste and feel of those firm lips, pressing firmly and
possessively before licking along the seam in a quest for the treasure within.
On a whisper of a moan Neira parted for him and he slipped inside the moist
cavern, working over her teeth, testing her palate before teasing her tongue
with his own. Only when he knew she required more air than what she’d drawn
through her flaring nostrils did he pull back, and her tawny eyes blinked open.

“You taste like
mel
, sweet and smooth and golden.”

“Honey?”

“The same.”
Vayne set his lips against her
temple, pressing kisses downward, over the curve of her cheek, the sharp angle
of her jaw and the long length of her neck. He paused to nibble at the pulse
that beat so quickly there, his hearts speeding up in response. Tearing his
mouth away, lest her response pull him too quickly, he shifted to place a knee
on either side of her waist and sat back. This was something he refused to
rush, no matter how his beast insisted he take her immediately.
“Lights.”

Neira flinched and blushed. An
actual pink flood of color washed over her cheeks.

Knowing he loomed over her,
something that gave him great satisfaction, he checked her for fear and was
relieved to see nothing but embarrassment. Placing a finger just below the
hollow of her throat, he traced a light path along her body to the top of her
pubis. “Beautiful.”

Neira squirmed and tried to look
away but he pinned her with his gaze. “I’ve seen you naked for days, little
warrior.
Washed every inch of your body.
Why are you
shy?”

Visibly searching for words,
whether the ones she thought he wanted to hear or the truth, she finally
answered him. “This is intimate. I don’t do sex this way.”

He’d been correct not to put her
beneath him and thrust into her wetness, then, despite the nonverbal consent.
Still, he wasn’t going to ask for it now. If she refused him, then she did, but
he wasn’t asking. His beast nodded its approval via his cock and he used his
other hand to stroke it. Neira’s gaze locked on the movement and her red
nipples pebbled harder. “This isn’t merely sex, Neira. Understand that.”

Vayne held his breath. Of course
he had to gain her consent, his beast be damned. His moral compass served him
well in this regard, at least. Neira bit the corner of her bottom lip,
something so curiously erotic yet out of character that he immediately wanted
to kiss her again.

“I need you, Vayne. I suffered
while you were gone. I tried to hate you for making me dependent in any way,
however you did it. But dammit, I need you to fuck me.”

“Do you consent?”

“I’m in your cuffs and not
screaming the place down, and I’m not trying to kick your balls into your
throat. I’d say that’s consent.”

“Neira.”
His
balls
rested on the patch of hair decorating her mound, a
delightful, soft, whiskery nest, and he had only to shift his body a few
parsis
to fit his
anxious cock against her opening. Plunge deep inside of what had to be heaven.
He could feel the heat radiating up from the apex of her thighs, calling to
him, and her scent made him mad. He chose his response deliberately. “I can
fuck any number of females—”

She tensed and glared, that mouth
he’d just plundered and caused to swell like a blossom now flattening into a
thin line.

“—but you are not merely any
female. You are my chosen.”

“I can’t, Vayne. I can’t be your
chosen, not forever. But I need you.” Despite his own frustration and anguish
he nearly laughed at the miserable look on her face.

“What is it you truly fear?” he
asked carefully.

“Losing myself.
If I am to live, then it has to
be on my terms and not as a mere extension of Vayne Palldyn.”

With a heavy heart he swung off
of her and to the floor, reaching for his uniform leggings. It nearly killed
him to withdraw from her and his beast snarled impotently. Neira let out a
sound suspiciously like a sob behind him and he turned to see her tug herself
back with the cuffs to sit up against the head of the bunk. She watched him
with a guarded expression and curled her legs under her as he once again freed
her wrists. He resolutely didn’t look at her breasts and found it painful to
even match her stare. What was there to say? “I have news.”

She blinked and swallowed hard,
visibly shifting to follow his new line of thought. “Did you find him?”

“Not Baraith.
Yet.
But the last two living conspirators are mine. And it’s you I have to thank.”
He moved to release her hands and she grabbed at the linens to pull them over
her, obviously cold again. Vayne called for more heat in the cabin and paced to
the chair.

“Will you tell me the plan?” Her
flushed cheeks belied the calm question, and her arousal wafted to his
nostrils.

“Of course.”
Somehow he gained control. He
shifted to ease the aching of his balls and shaft, concentrating on the fact
his little warrior would know he’d have a plan. She was his perfect counterpart
and how could she not understand that? Quickly sharing what he’d doomed Annis
to, he marked a brief flare of distaste on her lovely face before she nodded.

He took a deep breath, a mistake,
because she smelled so damn good. “And the ambassador will be here as quickly
as my hunters can arrange it.”

“You’ll have the military after
you in full force.”

“No. I have complete confidence
that Rush will be taken without a trace, no evidence left, and his absence will
be explained only if I wish it.”

“You’ll use him as barter to get
past the Outriders? To ensure we get to Nibiru safely?” Neira rested her hand
against her throat and he admired the long lines of it. Was he wrong to
experience a frisson of hope when she spoke of his planet as her destination?

“I will use him if necessary.”

Huddling beneath the blanket,
Neira again chewed on her lip. “You would let the entire, sordid mess come to
light? Won’t that give the Home World unwanted insight? They’ll learn about
your need for females to continue your species. You’ll be giving up a tactical
advantage.”

Ah, his little warrior, ever the
soldier. Not daring to touch her, his beast roiling beneath the surface of his
control and raving to join with her, Vayne contented himself with a shrug. “As
you pointed out earlier, it was but a matter of time.”

She stared at him,
then
slowly shook her head, never taking her gaze from his.
“You’re doing this for me.
Because of me.”