Virgin (4 page)

“Not nearly enough,” she mourned. “I just got to talking to Waroun, and then Lars was such a bastard and…”

She looked as though she was beginning to regret the whole thing, and if she really
wasn’t
attracted to him, Dax would just as soon she didn’t come anywhere near his ship, but business was business. “How much?” he said again. “And please, tell me the truth.”

“About a hundred credits,” she said with a world-weary sigh. “I know it’s not much, but—”

“Okay,” said Dax. “I’ll take twenty-five.”

“Really? You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, I’m not. That’s the price.”

Waroun shook his head sadly. “He’s such a sucker sometimes…”

“I always take a fourth, and you know it,” Dax told Waroun. “Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less.” With those who were obviously down on their luck, Dax had made it a habit to take a fourth, though occasionally he took half if he thought the person he was dealing with was lying to him. He didn’t think Ava was lying.

But Ava suspected that Dax was. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” said Dax. “But you won’t be our only passenger, and we may not take the most direct route. Waroun’s a helluva navigator, and he does his best, but we may take longer than some other transports.”

“Ah, yes,” she said wisely. “The scenic route. I should have known.”

“So you’re not in a big hurry to get there, right?” Dax reiterated. “We’re clear on that?”

Ava nodded. “We just need to get out of here before Lars—”

“Where the hell are you, you fuckin’ whore?” Lars staggered through the doorway, his head covered in blood.

“—wakes up.”

“You must not live very far from here,” Waroun commented.

“Not nearly far enough,” Ava muttered. “Can we go now?”

“I presume there’s a back door,” Dax said, getting to his feet.

For a moment, Ava was stunned to silence by the sheer size of him. Dax had been intimidating enough while seated, but, along with everything else, he made Lars look short—which wasn’t an easy thing to do. “Uh, yeah, sure. Follow me.”

“Hold on a sec.” Dax reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small sphere with a string attached to it. Yanking out the string, he tossed it at Lars. “Hey, Lars! Catch!”

Obviously taken by surprise, Lars caught it on the fly. The ball turned briefly into a mass of hissing snakes before enveloping the entire area with a cloud of thick, purple smoke.

“That’ll slow him down a bit,” Dax said.

“Probably just piss him off,” Ava remarked.

“You already did that,” Dax growled. “Now run!”

Ava led the way through the bar to the rear entrance, which opened out onto a dingy alley filled with assorted drunks and druggies from a dozen different worlds. Reaching for her pulse pistol was an automatic response.

“You came in this way?” Dax exclaimed. “You’re braver than I thought.”

“Living with Lars makes these guys seem tame,” she shouted back at him. “And besides, I’m always armed.” To demonstrate, she waved her pistol over her head. The drunks saw it and began backing off.

Now that they were outside the building, Dax sprinted on ahead, grabbing her other hand as he passed by. “Good. Just don’t point it at me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The strength of his grasp sent a shock wave through Ava, along with a sense of latent power and something else she couldn’t identify. She had no choice but to run with him.

Dax was quick on his feet, but the Norludian was faster. “Follow me!” Waroun yelled as he ran past. Racing down the alley, he sped around the next corner and disappeared from sight.

Ava stared after him as she ran. “Hey, aren’t we going to the spaceport? If so, he’s going the wrong way.”

“You can trust him.” Dax tugged at her hand when she started to slow down. “His sense of direction is uncanny.”

Ava snorted. “Maybe, but it’s still wrong. The spaceport is that way.” She pointed back over her shoulder.

“Who said we were going to the spaceport?”

“Well then, how are we getting to Rutara?”

“Oh, we’ll get there,” Dax replied. “This is the scenic route, remember?”

“That’s funny. I thought the scenery would be, you know, in space?”

Dax shook his head. “Not all of it.”

Ava kept running. The entire alley was a blur of dilapidated buildings, trash, and stinking derelicts. As they ran, the caliber of their surroundings didn’t improve. She was almost afraid to say it, but she blurted it out anyway. “We’re heading toward the—”

“Worst part of town?” Dax finished for her. “Yeah. Gotta pick up a few more passengers. Three of them. Should be there by now.”

A pulse blast ricocheted off the side of the tall sandstone building in front of them, shattering a window across the alley.

“Guess Lars has his pistol too,” Ava said grimly.

Dax reached into his pocket and pulled out another device, which he slapped on the wall as they rounded the corner.

Ava glanced back just in time to see a forest of trees sprout sideways from the spot, completely blocking the path behind them. “What are you, a magician?”

“No,” Dax replied. “But I know someone who is.”

The alley opened out onto the main street of what was essentially Luxton City’s red-light district. Hookers of all shapes and sizes stood in every doorway, and the street was filled with the kind of men who would ordinarily have to pay big money to get laid—whether they were on their respective planets of origin or not. Ava was tough, but she’d made a point of avoiding this neighborhood. Not only because she had no need for the area’s services; some of the customers had been known to take what they wanted from women—and men—who weren’t selling it.

“They’re over there.” Waroun pointed to a cluster of beings standing next to a metallic blue speeder on the road ahead. He strode toward them at a brisk pace.

“You’re meeting them
here
?” Ava gasped.

“Yeah, they all wanted to get laid before we left,” Dax said with a shrug. “Guess they figured they wouldn’t be getting any along the way.”

“But we have you with us now,” Waroun told Ava with undisguised glee. “This should be a fun voyage—for once.”

“I told you I didn’t want sex,” Ava growled. “I just want to go home!”

“Better stick with him, then.” Waroun cocked a thumb at Dax. “He doesn’t want it either. In fact, he never has.”

“Oh, shut up, Waroun,” Dax snapped. “That’s none of her damn business.”

“A celibate Zetithian?” Ava asked with surprise. “I didn’t think there
was
such a thing.”

“I wouldn’t say I was celibate. I’m just not a fuckin’ horn dog like
some
people I know.” The steely-eyed look that accompanied his statement was enough to make Ava believe it unequivocally. “And how did you—or Lars, for that matter—know I was Zetithian? We aren’t what you’d call common.”

“You aren’t the first one I’ve seen,” she replied. “A guy named Trag used to show up here once in a while. He was a pilot for an arms dealer—Lerotan Kanotay. Ever hear of them?”

“Yeah, I know Trag,” Dax said. “Not well, but I’ve met him.”

“He had this aversion to blue. Wouldn’t tip a Davordian waitress because of her blue eyes. Weird.”

“I wouldn’t say he was weird,” said Dax. “Just… opinionated.”

“Whatever.” Ava shrugged. “He always tipped me—not a lot, but he did tip me. I guess my eyes looked more green than blue to him—though they’re actually a little of both.”

“Let me see,” said Waroun, turning around.

The Norludian stopped right in front of her, reaching out with both hands in a way that sent chills running down Ava’s spine. “Don’t touch me,” she warned.

Waroun didn’t lay a finger on her, but got right up in her face, which was just as disturbing. His huge eyes stared into her own, making her feel like a bug under a microscope.

“
That’s
why you don’t look Terran,” Waroun said after subjecting her to careful scrutiny. “Your eyes are much bigger and rounder than a Terran’s—and they’re an odd color.”

“How can you possibly tell in this light?” Ava protested.

“He can see pretty well in the dark,” Dax said. “But my night vision is even better.” Stopping, he pulled her around to face him.

If staring at Waroun’s eyes was disconcerting, gazing up into Dax’s feline orbs was even more so. She had taken them to be hazel in color, but instead of the haphazard mixture of shades the term usually represented, the iris was a brilliant green, highlighted by a dark brown outer rim. While this would have made them remarkable in any case, it was the soft golden glow from his catlike pupils that struck Ava the most. His eyebrows slanted upward in a way that should have been sinister, but only added to his appeal, as did his ears, which curved upward to culminate in a sharply pointed tip. An odd warmth suffused her entire body, and the longer his gaze remained fixed on her own, the more aware she became of her erogenous zones.

They were on fire, and she was melting. There was no other word for it. In another minute, she’d be nothing but a puddle at his feet. Dax leaned down for a closer look, his face barely a breath away from her own. She could hear a vibration in the way he was breathing; it sounded rough and loud, almost like he was purring…

“Hey, Dax!” someone shouted from up the street. “Come on, man! We’re ready to go!”

Dax blinked hard and straightened up to his full height. He glanced down at Ava, looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Aquamarine,” he whispered.

“Huh?” said Waroun.

“Her eyes. That’s what color they are. They’re aquamarine.”

Chapter 3

Dax had no idea why discovering the color of her eyes should have affected him so strongly, but he’d never purred for a woman in his life. He’d finally gotten a good whiff of her; she smelled so damn good, he’d reacted before he had time to think.

The sound of a scuffle behind him diverted his attention and, turning around, he saw Lars headed their way with scratches all over him and a branch clinging to the seat of his pants. Blood covered at least half of his face, but he was still waving his pistol at Dax.

“You Zetithian scum!” he roared as he approached. “She’s mine!”

“Not anymore, pal,” Dax said. “So back off!”

“You’ve been fucking her, haven’t you?” Lars yelled. “I tell you I won’t let—”

Dax didn’t often lose his temper, but he’d had just about enough of Lars. “I haven’t fucked
anybody
,” he shot back. “She’s leaving because she doesn’t like getting beat up. So why don’t you just shut up and go home!”

Lars ignored him and continued to advance. Realizing that talking wasn’t getting him anywhere, Dax grabbed Ava’s hand, flipped the setting on her pistol to heavy stun, and squeezed the trigger.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Waroun said as Lars fell in a heap. “You actually hit him.”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Dax said with a sardonic laugh. “Let’s get going before he wakes up again.”

“Which won’t be long,” Ava warned. “The frying pan does a better job.”

“Anyone that hardheaded must have a little Herpatronian in his bloodline,” Waroun mused, still staring at Lars’s inert form. “Or a touch of Darconian—though I’m not sure that’s possible.”

“Have you ever considered that hitting him in the head might be making things worse?” Dax said. “I mean, shit like that is bound to scramble his brains eventually.”

“I’ve been hoping it would give him a lobotomy,” Ava said. “But it hasn’t worked so far.” She tipped her head to one side, adding thoughtfully, “Maybe I wasn’t hitting him in the right spot.”

“Remind me not to let her anywhere near the galley,” Waroun muttered. “We might all be lobotomized before we get her to Rutara.”

“Hey, it was your idea to bring her along,” Dax pointed out. “If anyone gets conked over the head, it should be you.”

“Aw, come on, you guys!” Ava said. “I won’t need to hit either one of you—unless you hit me first.”

“I don’t plan on it,” Dax snapped. Actually, hitting her was the farthest thing from his mind at that point. Another moment spent gazing into her eyes and he would have kissed her! Striding off in the direction of his speeder and his other passengers, Dax made an interesting discovery. She’d not only made him purr; she’d made his dick hard.

And, not only that, it was also slick with the orgasm-inducing fluid for which Zetithians were famous. Dax had been around lots of women, but very few of them had ever given him an erection—not that they hadn’t tried—and none had made him want to purr. He hadn’t done it intentionally this time; it had simply happened. It was all wrong, though—it was very clear that she wasn’t interested in him. But if that was the case, then why had she smelled so good?

Anyway, it was supposed to be the other way around: When males saw a woman they were attracted to, first they purred and
then
they were aroused by her scent. At least, that’s what he’d always been told. The fact that a woman’s scent could be arousing whether he’d purred or not surprised him. Then it occurred to him that drowning in her eyes might have been the reason. After all, he’d had to get pretty close to her to do that.