Guilty as Sin (37 page)

brown beauty, he wriggled down in their truckle bed.

Michael threw his head back and closed his eyes at the first sipping kisses on the sensitive

skin of his cock head. He buried his fingers in Tannio’s dark curls. “C’mon, ye fucker,” he

husked. “Suck it!”

A teasing lick. “Sign with Hautlord Idris.”

“Nah.”

Tannio lifted his head, brown eyes shining. “It’s a way up fer both of us, Mikey. Ye know

what he tol’ me? Assassins make the best bodyguards ’cos o’ the trainin’.”

“Mebbe.” Michael tugged at Tannio’s hair, trying to urge him back down. “But I seen his

face. He wants ye fer a bum-boy on the side.”

“So? It’s not as if I haven’t done that afore.” He got a challenging glare. “So have ye.”

“Yeah.” Michael shuddered. “Well, we was starvin’.”

Tannio shrugged. “Close yer eyes an’ think of the money. C’mon, Mikey, least he ain’t fat.”

Ignoring the bright bite of pain in his arm, Michael came up on his elbows. “I ain’t no one’s

whore. Not anymore.”

Tannio’s merry face went cold and blank. Without a word, he got up, pushed aside the

tattered blanket that screened their current hideyhole and walked out.

“It didn
‟
t hit anything vital,” said Lise. Michael shivered.

Dax
‟
s boots thudded to the floor, closely followed by his shirt and trews. Lise
‟
s eyes

were bold enough, dropping immediately to the thick column of flesh jutting

incongruously out of a soft patch of downy feathers, but then she blushed, a glorious

wave of color that swept up from her pretty tits to tint the ivory of her neck and cheeks

a delicate rose. Gods, she was such a fascinating bundle of contradictions, prickly and

soft, knowing and innocent, but if he told her how cute she was, she
‟
d strangle him

with her tail. Michael concealed his smile behind the wineglass.

Slim fingers removed it from his grasp and set it down on the floor. “Veryl only

missed because you risked your life to push me away.” Lise placed both hands on his

shoulders and leaned in. Twister, he was slipping—
had slipped
. He
‟
d been so deep in

thought he hadn
‟
t seen her move.

172

“You saved me, Michael.” She brushed her lips across his. “Thank you.”

173

The Star Ship Codex

Declaration 3

The Interim [Council?] names this planet Phoenix [note: meaning unknown] in recognition

of the hope it represents. In this new world, may humanity rise from its own [ashes? fire?

ruins?].

Translation of a Firster text by Miriliel the Burnished. (The fragment is preserved in

the Royal Library in the Kingdom of the Leaves of the Sea.)

* * * * *

Michael stiffened. “An impulse,” he said coolly. “I
‟
ll be sure not to do it again.”

Unfazed, Lise chuckled. “I
‟
m beginning to think Dax was right about you.” Raising

herself on her toes, she rubbed their noses together. “Mmm.”

Utterly appalled, Michael stepped back, but Lise had lashed her tail around his

waist. To free himself he
‟
d have to hurt her. Over her shoulder, he stared into Dax
‟
s

grinning face.
Right?
Right about what?

“Give up now,” advised Dax. “It
‟
ll be worth it.”

Michael scowled. “I meant what I—”

“I know, but instinct
‟
s a funny thing. Shows who you really are.” As if he

undressed master thieves every day of the week, Dax unbuckled Michael
‟
s belt and

loosened his trews. Huffing with amusement, Lise started on his shirt.

“Fuck, stop that!” Scarcely able to believe he was doing it, Michael tried to bat the

busy hands away.

“If you like.” Without any kind of warning, Lise molded her palm and fingers

around his cock.

Michael was almost certain he yelped, and his hips shifted into the enticing

pressure without his permission.

Dax stepped around behind him and pulled the shirt off with a single ruthless tug.

“Kick your boots off,” he rumbled, nipping at Michael
‟
s earlobe. “We
‟
re getting clean,

all of us.”

Gritting his teeth, Michael grabbed his whirling thoughts and bore down hard.

Hauling in a huge breath, he released it slowly, concentrating on clearing his head.

“Ah, birdy,” he said, and the bright edge faded from Dax
‟
s expression. “Don
‟
t you

know thieves can
‟
t afford to be fussy?”

174

He shoved his trews off and kicked them away. “Don
‟
t stop, sweetheart.” He

clamped his hand over Lise
‟
s, bucked into her clasp. “Feels good.” He gave a lascivious

roll of the hips.

He thought Lise sighed, but he couldn
‟
t be certain because she pulled her hand

away and sank back into the bath. “Come on then.”

Dax shot him a warning glare as adamant as a fist in the face and followed.

“You hold her,” Michael said as the big Aetherii lowered himself into the water

with a sigh.

“Pleasure.” Settling in a corner, Dax held out his arms. “Chick?”

The water rippled as Lise settled into his embrace. “Veil-it, that
‟
s good.” She leaned

back against Dax
‟
s chest, her head on his shoulder, eyes closed. Two sets of wings,

iridescent bronze and pearlescent gray, spread wide, draped over the edge of the tub

like exotic coverlets. Dax bent his head, murmuring, and their hair tangled softly

together. Where he
‟
d wrapped an arm across her collarbones, golden skin shone against

warm ivory.

Michael busied himself pouring fragrant oil onto a sponge until the lightheaded

feeling passed. The water was almost waist-deep, hot enough to sting a little. His

scrotum tightened and his balls pulled up. Wading forward, he knelt between their

spread legs. “Get her hair wet,” he said to Dax.

Lise
‟
s eyes snapped open. “Michael—”

He put a finger to her lips. “
Shh.
” Then he drew the sponge gently down the side of

her neck and over one small perfect breast. The delicate peak of her nipple ruched up

immediately, a mouthwatering rosy pink. Fuck it, he
‟
d never been able to resist

temptation.

Bending his head, he stuck his tongue out and lapped.

Lise choked. Watching, Dax swore.

“We talked about you. Mmm.” Michael teased the wet, velvety peak as if it were a

candy he wanted to last. “Farm boy and me.”

Under the water, Dax
‟
s tail slithered up Michael
‟
s leg until it pressed insistently

against his balls.

“Farm boy,” Michael repeated, and it flexed. He grinned at the other man
‟
s warning

glare, his blood singing. “About doing this, about fucking you together. Making you fly,

sweetheart. Call it settling the bet.”

“Oh gods,” moaned Lise.

The pressure on Michael
‟
s scrotum eased slightly and a big hand slid around to

cradle Lise
‟
s breast, cupping it just right,
offering
it.

Twister
. Michael
‟
s cock gave a wicked lurch. Opening his mouth, he inhaled as

much sensitive breastflesh as possible, using his tongue and lips to suckle. Abandoning

the sponge, he stroked both hands over rib cage and flanks and belly. She was so

smooth and firm, her sleek contours warm and wet against his palms.

175

She
‟
d begun to pant, her hips shifting restlessly in the water.

“Here, hold on to me, chick.” Dax drew her arms back around his neck so she was

stretched between them like a virgin sacrifice. When his eyes met Michael
‟
s, Dax

nodded, a smile curving his generous mouth.

They wanted him, both of them—just as he
‟
d intended from the beginning.

Godsdammit, now
he
was shaking, eager as a randy boy, but they were so—so—

amazing
.

In a single movement, Michael sealed his body against Lise
‟
s, his fingers sliding

down between her thighs to drag through clinging silk, her intimate folds far hotter

than the water. He leaned over her shoulder, his mouth crashing down on Dax
‟
s in a

kiss so desperate the Aetherii grunted at the impact, even as he opened to let Michael

in. Lise was making throaty little noises against his neck, grinding herself against his

fingers.

Gods yes! Yes, yes!

A slim, strong leg clamped over his upper thigh. A tail wrapped around his ass and

yanked him close, his cock mashed up all wrong against the jut of her hipbone.

“Shit, wait!” he panted, regretfully abandoning Dax
‟
s clever tongue. “Let me—”

Grabbing his cock, he centered, took a breath and pushed.

A moment
‟
s resistance and he was clenched in glorious wet heat, his throbbing

length encased by slick, muscular walls that pulsed and clung, loving his cock, loving

him
. His eyes rolled back in his head and for an endless second, all he could hear was

the rushing in his ears. Holy godsbedamn Twister!

“Michael!” He blinked into blazing gray eyes. “Godsdammit,
move!
” Lise bucked

hard beneath him and every drop of blood in his body surged into his cock, making

him dizzy. Automatically, he pulled back and thrust, balls-deep.

“Fuck her,” growled Dax in his ear. Masculine fingers sank bruisingly hard into one

ass cheek, clenching with the rhythm. “For me, Michael. For
us
.”

His climax roared like a beast, gathering hard and fierce in his lower back, his

pelvis, his ass and balls. The wildness of it sank its teeth into his bones, picked him up

and shook him as if he were nothing at all, no more than a mote in a universe made of

fire and dark and
wanting
. He was making guttural animal noises deep in his chest, but

his eyes prickled with salty moisture.

With an effort that made his brain creak, he slowed, forced himself to breathe, to

smile down into her storm-dark eyes. “Good?” he rasped, and added a leisurely hip

swivel that nearly broke him.

“Ah!” Lise undulated beneath him, slow and sensual. “You know…it is. Don
‟
t

stop.”

He
‟
d said he
‟
d make her beg, hadn
‟
t he? And here she was—Liseriel the Gray like

every other woman he
‟
d ever had, demanding, pleading.

Except—

176

If she writhed like that again, he
‟
d be the one to shatter. He bit his lip until it stung.

“Hold her down,” he said to Dax. “Don
‟
t let her move.”

Dax
‟
s face was scarlet, dripping with sweat and bathwater, but his eyes shone a

pure brilliant green. Gone was the sweet, serious smile. Fuck, when it counted in bed or

in battle, Dax was all man, a true match, all hard muscle and overwhelming strength. If

it wasn
‟
t for the self-restraint imposed by that innate sense of honor, he
‟
d be downright

terrifying. As it was…

Lise arched in his grip, all supple strength. ”Hey! What do you think you
‟
re—”

“No problem,” Dax rumbled, “but I
‟
m dying here.”

Michael shot him a reckless grin. “Do as you please,” he said. “You always do.”

“Rip the fucking Veil!” gasped Lise. She tried to squirm, but Dax wrapped both

arms around her and held her immobile. Her voice rose to a furious, breathless wail.

“Somebody do
some-fucking-thing!
”

Chuckling, Dax bent to nip her ear. Water slopped over the rim of the bath as he

began to move, rocking his hips into her body. His lashes dropped to half-mast, and

Lise uttered a shrill keening cry. “
Dax!
”

Every muscle in her sheath clamped down ferociously hard. Michael
‟
s vision went

black around the edges. He could have sworn he saw stars twinkling in the dark

periphery.

“C
‟
mon, thief!” Dax
‟
s voice had dropped so deep, Michael sensed it as vibration

rather than sound. “Go, go!”

Abruptly, he was thundering into Lise, the friction so tight and vicious and

gorgeous it was almost painful. Dax matched him, thrusting in a hard counterpoint,

Lise keening with her eyes closed and her sweet mouth open.

Fuck! Dax was— Oh gods, he was—

Dax was rubbing his whole magnificent length against Lise
‟
s spine, right over the

hotspot at the base of her tail, the one that drove her crazy. It had to be the dirtiest, most

astonishing thing Michael had ever seen. They were fucking her together—not quite as

he
‟
d imagined, but near enough in a strange Aetherii way.

The first spasms began, thick and burning, rippling the length of his shaft. Lurching

forward, he speared his fingers into Dax
‟
s hair, only to find Lise
‟
s fist already there, her

knuckles tight. Crying out, she turned her head and sank her teeth into Michael
‟
s neck.