Hawk's Prey (2 page)

Watching Fay was educational. Hawk considered the way she reacted to Janus. He admitted to being curious as to why she behaved the way she did. Females did not mingle with Hunters often and Hawk found himself studying the couple simply because he wanted to see how they would react to each other. Sure, there were females that he dealt with, took his ease on but that was completely different. Janus wanted to mate with Fay, not just fuck her for the relief of a stiff cock. Hawk found the emerging emotions fascinating. Janus was his partner. They knew everything about each other, except why Fay drew his attention so strongly. While Hawk expected that either of them might take a mate at some point, he admitted that he was relieved Janus was suffering the obsession first. It gave him the opportunity to study the courtship before finding himself prey to it.

It also gave him the chance to enjoy Janus as he squirmed, and that was something Hawk intended to enjoy. What else were friends for?

* * * * *

“Present your wrists for inspection.”

Tova clamped her lips tight against her hiss of anger. The hard voice behind her belonged to a Hunter. She turned and tipped her head back to find the large, black-uniformed male looking at her. Sweat trickled down the side of her face and the center of her back as she offered her hand to the enforcer of law. Annoyance filled her thoughts as she submitted to his authority over her. Truly, she should be accustomed to such interruptions but her temper still flickered as hot as the afternoon sun. His eyes considered her before his black-gloved hand clamped around her right forearm to secure her in place for his inspection. Her muscles twitched at the need to stand still. Tova bit into her lip as she pressed her feet firmly into the ground. The Hunter moved his attention to the information her wristbands fed into his portable communications device. His eyes flickered back to her face as he witnessed her verbal altercation with Rishan. Her temper boiled dangerously higher as the Hunter lifted an eyebrow at her. The flicker of amusement that crossed his eyes made her furious. She was sick unto death of everyone’s thoughts centering on her pussy. Why so many were concerned about her choice baffled her. It annoyed her that this Hunter had the nerve to raise his eyebrow at her. Not all inhabitants of the penal sphere turned whore and she detested being branded guilty in his thoughts.

She jerked her arm out of the Hunter’s distracted hold. It was an impulse born from the feeling that the Hunter was thinking about her spreading for him. She had no true cause to direct her anger at him and still her body flinched away from his as her clit flickered with a strong ripple of sensation. The lust made her gasp because this Hunter was not anyone she might take as a lover. He was her prison guard and detested among the convicts. She might whore for him to gain something she wanted but absolutely nothing more.

A second later, her body was pressed against a wall as the Hunter reacted to her abrupt action. She had learned quickly upon her arrival in the penal sphere to never try to pull her arm out of a Hunter’s grasp. The huge males were poised on the edge of tension, always ready to respond to any tiny physical threat. Tova gasped as her body was jerked into a helpless position. Her arms twisted behind her back as the Hunter wedged his thick thigh between her legs to prevent her from kicking him. Her wrist cracked as the bones were twisted by his much stronger body. Surprise flickered through his eyes as he stared into her face, but a second later she was free as he released her and stepped back. His huge body still blocked her path away from the wall, leaving her prey to his dark stare. He looked as surprised by his actions as she was by her own. They had both responded out of instinct. Her cheeks stung with a blush as she realized how much larger he was than her. So close, he towered over her. A ripple of awareness moved over her skin until it hit her nipples. Tova frowned as she felt them tighten into hard points that dug into her robe.

“You should know better, non-convict. You are required to stand still for inspection.” The Hunter grunted with disapproval as his eyes studied her.

Tova rubbed her wrist as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her nipples tingled again as she caught an unfamiliar scent. She actually recognized that she could smell the Hunter’s skin. The warm scent of male traveled through her senses, triggering odd little impulses. She fought to stand still as her muscles twitched with a surge of energy. It felt like a current that flowed into her nipples and down her spine to her clit. A hot flicker of lust filled her pussy as she cursed her bad luck for having such a reaction to a Hunter.

“You are too slight to disobey a Hunter.” Her head didn’t reach his shoulder but her body wasn’t tiny. Hawk considered her sturdy frame with a flicker of appreciation from his cock. The attraction was not anticipated and he lingered in place as he felt it move through his frame. She rubbed at her arm but didn’t complain. Pain flickered in her eyes, proving that this female was stronger than most he had ever met. That wasn’t completely uncommon among convicts. Many were hardened by their greed, but Tova didn’t look jaded. She simply held her complaints, refusing to lower herself to whining. Hawk felt another surge of appreciation for her and it sunk deeper into his brain as he looked at her arm again. The skin was turning an angry red, making him frown.

“Let me look at your arm.”

The Hunter didn’t wait for her to comply, he reached across the space between them and captured her wrist once again. A tiny sound of surprise escaped her lips as Tova struggled to relax and let him have command of her limb. Every muscle felt taut and unyielding as more sensation filled her breasts and even flowed towards her pussy. She was horrified at the reaction. Hunters fucked non-convicts but never respected any occupant of the penal sphere.

“I am fine.”

Her wrist remained in his grasp as his eyes flickered back to her face. “I will be the judge of that.” His voice was thick with authority but her fickle emotions heard strength in it too. His shoulders blocked the afternoon sun because he was so close to her. His fingers encircled her wrist completely. Tova stared at his hand and the stark reality of how helpless her limb looked held in his grasp. He pulled a slim black rectangle from his belt and a red light appeared on its surface. There was a soft chirp from it as he moved it over her wrist and held it up for his gaze to inspect. A hard grunt was his only response as he returned the item to his waist but didn’t release her.

Instead his other hand joined the grip as he began to rub her numb wrist. Tova felt her jaw drop as she stared at his fingers rubbing and working the feeling back into her arm. Concern for her comfort was only a distant memory.

“’Tis not broken.” His voice was hard with reprimand as his fingers continued to rub at her limb. She was suddenly lamenting the black gloves encasing his fingers. The dense fabric prevented her from feeling his skin against her own.

“As I said, I am well.” She yanked on her arm. A hot curl of lust moved through her pussy as heat seared across her face. She should be ashamed to feel any sort of attraction for a Hunter, even something as common as lust. A deep growl came from his throat as his gaze flickered with displeasure.

“You should submit without a struggle. Hunters react quickly and harshly to subjects who do not yield.”

Tova rubbed her own wrist to remove the memory of his strong fingers stroking her limb. “The law does not require I yield my body to anything more. May I pass?” Tova detested the plea lacing her voice but she was powerless to banish the heat flowing through her blood. Lust curled through her clit as her pussy gave a twist of need so surprising, she blushed once again. If he didn’t move, she could not force him to.

“And yet you blush.” Hawk shouldn’t have remarked on the fact but he wanted to see what she would say. He wasn’t ready to watch her turn her back on him, in fact, preventing that appealed to him quite a bit.

“Do you think I enjoy being inspected? Temper colors the cheeks.” Her words were a blatant lie. His eyes traced the stain on her face and then dropped to her crossed arms. Tova hid her nipples with her forearms because her soft robe would have displayed the little points.

“So does attraction.” She gasped and licked her lower lip. Hawk watched her reaction and grinned. Satisfaction moved through him for unmasking her. He enjoyed witnessing how he affected her just a little too much but that wasn’t enough to stop his hand from stroking her cheek just once. His glove prevented true skin-to-skin contact but she shivered and that pleased him immensely. She glared at him before raising her voice enough to make sure the people behind him might hear her.

“May I pass?”

The Hunter studied her flaming cheeks for a time before he stepped back. Tova sprang away from the wall that had imprisoned her. She bit back the curse she wanted to mutter as she fled. There was no other way to describe her departure and it made her furious that any male might make her so desperate. A fine tremor shook her legs as she moved, betraying how affected she was by her lust. She stopped for a moment and turned her head to look back. He stood there watching her with a smug grin on his face. The look of appreciation for her body stunned her. His face lacked the leer she was used to seeing aimed at her bottom when males were interested in spreading her. The Hunter was arrogant but not presumptuous. His words echoed in her head.

Attraction? She had labeled it lust but his word made it far more possible for her to yield to the heat flickering through her clit. His eyes still lingered on her and she turned when she realized that he could now see her hard nipples. Her blush doubled as she shook her head and moved towards her home. Letting him know how much she was interested in him was most unwise. Any further contact between them promised to lead her into trouble. Her life was hard enough, she did not need a Hunter to complicate it further.

Even one whom she was attracted to.

Hawk watched the non-convict hurry down the street and his eyes strayed to the sway of her hips as she quickened her pace. His cock throbbed behind his uniform as a slight scent of her body lingered. He grinned at her retreating form and cursed at his thoughts. He inspected hundreds of inhabitants each duty rotation, her body wasn’t any different than a hundred others.

But their meeting clung to his mind as he moved his gaze around the street. Losing focus was asking for death to land on the back of his skull. A mocking grin from Janus only infuriated him further. The Hunter stood ten feet behind him with a grin on his lips that told Hawk his comrade had witnessed the entire episode.

“That was interesting, Hawk. Very interesting.” Janus turned and looked at Tova as she turned a corner. “Very nice too.”

“Shut up.” Janus offered him a smirk. The man was his partner but that didn’t make him any happier about finding him watching. Hawk felt a frown mar his face. His thoughts weren’t making sense. He and Janus often shared females. Command structure among Hunters made it mandatory that they could view each other’s records at any time and for any reason. He had no secrets from Janus. He never would. If he acted on his lust for Tova, Janus would know and possibly even share in it. That made his current agitation hard to understand. Possessiveness wasn’t a good thing in a Hunter.

“Now who is dreaming of submission?” Janus was also a bastard who never forgot a single thing.

“Choke and rot.”

Janus snorted and grinned at him. He slapped a hard hand onto his shoulder as they began to move once again. “You’re surly when your cock is hard.”

“And you whine like an unweaned babe.”

Janus smirked at him before nodding in agreement. “I shall whine happily. If it means I will be rewarded with a plump set of tits to suckle.”

Hawk laughed at his friend because the comment deserved it. Only your friends were willing to drop their pride long enough to engage in humor. Among Hunters, that bond was treasured. But his thoughts didn’t remain with Janus very long. Hawk scanned the street but his mind lingered on the non-convict he’d just inspected.

Chaste.

Her face remained in his memory as he considered that surprising fact. Most non-convicts prostituted their bodies. Their life was not easy and it was a simple way to gain comfort in a sphere built for convicts. He and Janus moved forward and another butternut-robed female turned to clear their path.

“You can inspect me anytime.”

She offered them both a coy smile that left a sour taste in Hawk’s mouth. His temper rose in response. His cock was still hard. The offer should have pleased his stiff flesh. Instead, Tova’s scent lingered and his cock rejected the idea of any female save her. Their meeting remained lodged in his brain as he felt more heat for her than the female offering to spread for him. Janus considered him and shrugged the offer aside as well.

“We make a fine pair.”

Hawk scoffed at his partner. “Aye, a fine pair of idiots.” They would both suffer their hunger but that idea met with more approval than taking the woman behind him up on her offer. Sometimes, if you couldn’t have quality, it wasn’t worth ruining your palate with an inferior product. Tova was quality, Hawk knew that. He also knew they were better off avoiding each other. That didn’t mean he was willing to sink his cock into a slut.

Yeah, he and Janus made a fine pair of idiots. Fay wouldn’t be showing up anytime soon either.

* * * * *

Tova bathed when she got home. Rishan grumbled about her fetish for cleanliness as he checked their water meter. He shot her a glare before pointing a finger at her.

“Your bathing habit must stop. It wastes water. We could trade it instead.”

Everything was rationed in the penal sphere. As lawbreakers they were disallowed possessions. Even the very necessities of life were dispensed in small allotments. That practice helped ensure the convicts would find it difficult to store up enough supplies to make an escape attempt. There were stories of the far side of the planet where it was primitive but not controlled by the Hunters. If a convict made it, he could cut his bands of conviction off his wrists and live however he liked. If he survived the journey, that was. Stretches of burning sand and hungry carnivores lay between the civilized spheres and the uncivilized side of the globe. The Hunters would not bother to give chase to any convict who ran but they would not allow their resources to be stolen for the escape attempt either.