Last Flight of the Ark (10 page)

“They wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing if they were invincible and could just take what they wanted,” Kaleb said. They took the station for a reason and he began to suspect his theory wasn’t theory, but fact. If they still had control of the station, which it sounded like they did, that left contacting Ursus out of the question and him without a way to warn Earth Command not to send any more ships. “You got a headcount on the hijackers?”

“There are only fifteen of them on our ship. On the planet? I’ve no clue. They’ve also got a weapon onboard our ship that will blow her to space-dust if they feel inclined to push a button. We tried to rebel and they gave us a little demonstration. They blew up a dead star. It was there one second, gone the next. They informed us the ship was next if we tried anything further. We had to comply with whatever requests were issued.”

“The debris cloud?”

Melissa nodded. “Good possibility, sir.”

The rest of the crew remained silent, barely able to digest what had been said. It was a good thing Melissa thought to err on the side of caution and limit the transmissions they’d relayed through Ursus Station, or the hijackers would have known the crew of the
Ark
was on to them. Then who knew what would have happened? At the moment, they had the element of surprise and Kaleb wanted to keep it that way.

“Why relay fake transmissions back and forth after the
Ark
arrived to Terra II and after they took control of the
Genesis II
?” Captain James asked.

Kaleb raised a brow and looked at Melissa with a told-you-so expression that couldn’t be missed. The first few transmissions they’d played were from the
Genesis II
and the voice belonged to the ship’s commander. Halfway into the trip, the digital signature changed so slightly that if someone wasn’t looking for it, it would have been missed. And it had been. Earth didn’t seem to be aware that Ursus Station had been pretending to be the
Genesis II
for months.

“Good question,” Kaleb said. “One I’ve been asking myself.”

“They make it sound as if we’re still on schedule and that we’ve requested the release of the next wave of ships. They’ve got them en route and the hijackers seemed to have timed it just right. It’s too late to turn the colony ships around, even if we wanted to,” Lieutenant Jeffers replied.

“Appears so.” Captain James nodded. “Whoever these aliens are, they’ve been planning this for a while. They managed to keep it secret. They knew our protocol and exactly what they were doing. I knew it was bad, just didn’t know how bad.”

“I don’t think we’ve seen bad yet,” Kaleb mumbled.

“It’s like they wanted us to come to them,” Jeffers said. “Why?”

Kaleb nodded. “I have an idea.” If they were allergic to canine, they certainly wouldn’t go to Earth. But why did they want more ships—full of colonists? His stomach twisted into a tight knot. There was only one thing he could think of and it wasn’t good. His instinct wasn’t off. They wanted the colonists as much as they wanted the animals. Melissa held his gaze for a moment and then nodded. His contingency plan had just been upgraded. He had her support.

“So, what do we do?” Frank Jeffers spoke up. “As far as I can tell, they don’t have any weaknesses. There’s no way to fight them. We can only guess at what they want. They stay on the main deck. They haven’t said a word to us and they’ve segregated us from the command crew, so we couldn’t plot against them. As Captain James said, they know what they’re doing.”

“How’d you catch us so fast?”

“They modified the engines. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Genesis II
can now make the trip in half the time it took you. We’ve been waiting for your arrival for four months. They’ve been down to the planet at least half a dozen times, doing God knows what, and they’ve been using our ship as a prison.”

“Don’t be so sure they don’t have weaknesses. They’ve made themselves vulnerable by sticking to the top two levels and deck. They underestimate that you might try something again. They figured their demo was enough to keep you in line. They want something on this ship, or more to the point, they want something that’s on this ship not to make it to the surface of the planet. That’s their weakness. They can’t do it themselves, or they would have by now.”

“I don’t follow, sir.”

“They want most of the animals. They want to stock their new world and we’ve done all the work. Why waste it? But they seem to have an issue with canines. I don’t think they can even get near them. That’s why they didn’t go to Earth. I believe they want the drop schedule so they can blow up the shuttle that carries the canines. No canines, no problem. Home sweet freshly stocked home.”

“And the colonists’ ships?”

“It’s not only the animals they want. I’m not certain about why they want us, but it can’t be good.”

Captain James nodded. “What do you propose?”

“We take the ship back and make moving onto Terra II uncomfortable, if not impossible. I say we spread canine DNA everywhere. We’ve got ships on the way and no way to stop them. That planet has to be secure when they arrive.”

“You don’t have enough canines on this ship to make a significant difference. We’d need ten ships full to make an impact.”

“I have something better.”

No sooner than he’d walked into his lab and picked up where he’d left off, Jessica hit the room like a tsunami. “What are you doing?”

Kaleb shrugged. “I told you I know nothing about military tactics. I’m a fucking scientist.”

“Sir?”

But that wasn’t why she was there. He could hear a hitch in her voice and knew, the second he caught her scent, what she wanted. Mostly. There was something else he couldn’t quite place. He closed his eyes and inhaled. The more she was around him, the more he wanted her, and the attraction wasn’t his alone. He felt her staring and opened his eyes to look at her.

“Melissa told me she’s been infected.” Jessica stepped closer. “Where does that leave us? You—Melissa—you’re my family, all I’ve got. Where does that leave me?”

“I know what you’re going to ask and the answer is no.”

Jessica’s eyes sparked with anger. She stepped up until she was nose-to-chin with him. She jabbed her finger into his sternum. “You didn’t have a problem infecting Melissa.”

“I….” He screwed up his eyes. “Excuse me?” Well, he hadn’t expected that. Jessica was jealous. She wasn’t pissed that he’d infected Melissa; she was pissed that he hadn’t done it to her. “I’m not hurting you, Jessica. It was an accident.”

“Like hell it was. You don’t seem to have a problem doing it to anyone else.”

Fire jumped in her eyes. Her scent grew stronger and he could taste her lust. He took a step back and bumped into the lab table. He needed to put space between them. He couldn’t risk hurting her. He didn’t trust himself, let alone the animal inside that liked her aggressiveness a little too much. He clamped down on the edge of the table in a desperate attempt to maintain control.

Jessica advanced. “You’re an asshole.” She gave him a vigorous shove, sending him sprawling onto the table’s surface, and leaped on him. His work—vials, holo-chips—scattered all over the floor. She latched hold of his hair on either side of his head, fisting it, keeping him face to face. She leaned in until their lips almost touched. “A great, big, oblivious asshole. What does a girl have to do to get your attention? Walk around naked?”

Then she kissed him.

Her lips melted into his, devouring his resistance. For such a tiny thing, she had a dominant streak that could scare the bravest man. Lucky for him he wasn’t brave, just stupid. Cock-dumb, actually, and she knew it. He’d stopped thinking from his brain the moment she’d landed on him and the woman wasn’t about to give him a second to use it again.

She straddled him on the table, and her skirt was hiked up, the toes of her boots hooked under his thighs. And if he wasn’t mistaken, Melissa wasn’t the only one who didn’t wear panties today. He could feel a wet spot on his crotch from where she sat on him.

She grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped. Buttons flew in several directions, pinging all over the lab floor and walls. “Fuck me. Like you did her.” She slid her hands down to his belt, tearing it off and throwing it to the floor. Her hands shot back to his fly. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them off.

“Easy. Foreplay first.” There was no way he was going to let this get out of control the way it had with Melissa. He flipped her to her back and yanked her hands over her head. She panted under him, looking vulnerable, her chest rising and falling.

“Not likely.” Jessica bucked up, reversing their positions once again. “I’ve had enough foreplay in the last eight months.” She leaned over, nipping his lower lip. “If you drag this out much longer, I’m going to have to get rough.”

“Is that a threat or promise?” He rolled her again and knocked a couple of empty vials to decking. One more roll and they’d both be on the floor. He leaned in until his mouth was an inch from hers. She didn’t look like much, five foot five, maybe. Thin. But her build was of an athlete’s. He’d seen her wrestle a doe to the ground and hold it while they prepped her for transport. The woman might be little, but she was by no means weak. When she’d promised to get rough, he’d no doubt she could deliver. The thought of it had him salivating.

“What do you think, sir?”

He didn’t need to think. He could smell it. Hear it. See it in her eyes.

“You have no idea what the thought of that does to me.” He slid his hand up her skirt and along the inside of her thigh. His fingers brushed her pussy. Wet, hot—he sucked in a breath and froze.
Bare?
His erection swelled, straining at his fly, threatening to rip through the zipper. “That’s playing dirty.”

“I didn’t come here to play fair.” Jessica smiled. “You’re not the only one who shaved before the meeting. Want to get up close and personal? I’ll introduce you.” She unbuttoned her blouse and let it fall open.
No bra. Of course
. Perfect breasts; they’d just fill his palms.

He shoved her skirt up and stared down. God, the woman was beautiful. Not an inch of her wasn’t beautiful, and she was all his. He ran his fingers over her pussy and it grew slicker with his touch. He closed his eyes and absorbed her essence. Pure. Sweet. Jessica. He sank down, grabbed her hips, and brought his mouth to just over her clit.

Jessica moaned and arched up into his hot breath. “You know what I want.”

Damn, not what he’d expected. His erection became painful. He licked her thigh, but resisted. His canines stretched and he ached to bite her as she’d urged. Instead, he moved over, stroking her clit with his tongue and savoring the taste of her.

“There’s no going back if I infect you.” Kaleb fucked her with his fingers. Jessica ground into him, whimpering in excitement.

“Please.”

“No.”

“Then fuck me.”

Now that he was willing to do, but not quite yet. Someone approached. He turned and looked over his shoulder, tuning his ears to the footsteps. Too light to be male. That meant one thing. She keyed the code to the lock and the door slid open. Melissa stepped through and dropped her coat. Nothing but naked flesh and boots.

“Still pissed?” he asked.

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want you—or her. I figured she came here. She was pretty pissed at you, too. And me.”

The mutation affected several areas. One it hit the hardest was the libido and he knew that must be what was driving her at the moment.

Melissa’s gaze traveled over them, stopping on Jessica’s pussy. “She laid down a pheromone trail that couldn’t be missed.”

“Did you forget something?”

“No.” What the hell was Melissa talking about? He had everything he could ever dream of in the lab.

Melissa tossed the cream on the table and walked over, kneeling down beside him. “You know damn well you’d knock her up without it.”

He nodded. Yeah, that. It had slipped his mind. What they would do when they ran out was another matter, but for now they didn’t have to worry about it. Thank God for Melissa’s forward thinking.

“I love the taste of her.” She leaned in and licked up the inside of Jessica’s thigh, adding her scent to his. Shivers trickled down Kaleb’s spine and he backed away, dragging his wet fingers down Jessica’s leg as he went. He unlaced his boots, kicked them off, and yanked his fly open, freeing his cock. His gaze never left them.

Melissa moved up Jessica’s body and kissed her. Not a gentle, first-time kiss, but a hungry, I-can’t-get-enough-of-you kiss. From the looks of it, they’d practiced a lot and that knowledge alone was enough to make him almost lose what little control he had left.

She slid her tongue along Jessica’s lower lip and probed her mouth. Her hands laced into silky, blond hair, pulling her deeper into the kiss. Jessica wrapped her arms around Melissa and moaned. The smell of sex and need permeated the air. Every muscle in his body bunched, ready to spring.

How long had they been doing this? He’d been suffering with abstinence and it was obvious they hadn’t. He shifted on his feet. The burn in his body increased. He knew he’d smelled them on each other, but he didn’t know how deep the contact went. Until now.

They knew each other’s bodies perfectly. Each touch was exact—practiced—hotter than hell. He couldn’t take his eyes off them no matter how hard he tried. He’d never imagined, not for a moment, the intimacy they’d shared, what he’d been missing out on. Christ, he wouldn’t make it another minute if they didn’t stop. But who would want them to stop?

Not him.

The ache he had before didn’t compare to the one he had now. Every cell in his body demanded he join in. He forgot to breathe. He forgot to move. He forgot everything but the need boiling up inside him. Blood pounded into his cock and the hunger grew. Fever. Hot and cold.
Unbearable
. A growl rumbled from his throat. Both wet. Both ready. He could slip up behind Melissa and drive in. Fuck her deep. Taste her, fill her while she licked Jessica’s pussy.