Logic (3 page)

“I am the criminal analyst, but I am guessing you already know that.” She slowly removed her hand from his.

He shrugged. “It may have come to our attention that a woman with fascinating characteristics was living in the city.”

“Our?”

He grinned. “We all noticed you yesterday in the restaurant as you left.”

She blinked and quickly analyzed her actions.
What could have gotten their attention?
“Aw, hell. I let my hair down.”

Currently, it was tightly braided against her skull, but when she worked, she just pinned it up. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid, but after a twelve-hour shift, her natural oils had built up again. She should have taken a shower after work, like she always did.

“Damn, I am going to be glad when I leave this world.” She closed her eyes and pressed her hand over them.

Toyo pulled her hand away from her eyes, and he glared at her. “You are leaving?”

“In two and a half years. I am on contract and being on a world where everyone considers my natural scent an invitation to consume me is a little stressful.”

Toyo frowned. “That isn’t true.”

She laughed in his face. “I saw the look in your eyes when you smelled my blood. Your fangs even came out a little. That was pure blood-hungry predator.”

He smiled, “I never said I wasn’t aroused; I just don’t have to act on my instincts.”

The press of his lips against hers shocked her, but his taste shocked her even more. Her heart pounded, her sex clenched and her clit throbbed. Thank goodness her suit hid the rigidity of her nipples, because her breasts ached intensely the moment that his tongue touched hers.

Three masculine groans surrounded them and brought her out of the sensual stupor. She used her foot to tip Toyo on his ass, and then, she made a break for it, dodging through alleys and heading for home. She would have to file a report but that she could do from her apartment. She needed to be safe, to be surrounded by things that couldn’t hurt her or break her heart.

Toyo sat with his senses swimming. For the first time, the Admaryn obsession with Terrans made sense. The urge to conquer and protect consumed him completely. His cock felt like it would explode and his teeth had descended to deadly lengths.

Drovin asked, “So, what was it like?”

Toyo looked at him and grappled for words. “Touch her and you are a dead man.”

Rand whistled. “So it is like that, is it?”

He stood up and looked at the direction in which Beryl had run. “You have no idea.”

If he didn’t know where she was and where she would be, he would have pursued her immediately, but her actions showed that she was just as affected as he was. He would wait…for now.

He shuddered as he got himself under control. The arousal had been instant and implacable. None of the others were getting near Beryl, that much he would make certain of. The other thing he was certain of was that she would be staying on W’lyn beyond her contract.

* * * *

Inside her home, she went to the bathroom and stripped, her hands shaking. The synthetic skin on her neck held her wound together, but it was silver. She laughed weakly and stepped into the shower, clearing the scents of blood and arousal from her.

Bebe put her hands to her face and sobbed. When her hands were pruney and her eyes dry despite the water, she left the shower and laughed helplessly. She still had to do her shopping.

Grimly, she put on another suit and headed for the peacekeeper headquarters to file her report. She had been involved in an incident, and as a good visitor to W’lyn, she had to report what she saw and did.

Two hours later, she was hungry, had no groceries and was under arrest for assaulting a W’lyn citizen. It just wasn’t her day.

* * * *

Rand laughed at the memo that came up on the com. “Hey, Toyo. Your little alien is under arrest for ripping the ears off that robber.”

“What?”

“She isn’t a citizen and you know how that always works. She ripped his ears off. You should have filed an exemption for her. Now, she has to wait until tomorrow.”

Toyo winced. “Damn it. Call me if you need me.”

He stepped out of the base and propelled himself upward. He gained altitude and then directed himself toward the city. Beryl was not going to spend the night in jail just because he forgot her paperwork.

* * * *

Beryl sat up on her bunk and blinked at Toyo. “Why are you here?”

“Custody exchange. You are being transferred from the custody of peacekeepers to the Guardians. I apologize. I forgot to file your necessity exemption when we arrested the men earlier. You assaulted a citizen and that always leads to a hearing.”

She sighed. “I know. I forgot it in the heat of the moment. I should know the criminal regulations of W’lyn better than anyone.”

Her stomach growled and she put her hand over it. “Apologies. Wait. Did you say custody transfer?”

He nodded and the guard unlocked her cell.

“Please come with me. I promise that you will be more comfortable with me than you would be here.”

Beryl got to her feet and hesitated.

“You will come to no harm with me, I promise.”

He extended his hand to her in encouragement, and she winced as she slipped her fingers along his. “Where are we going?”

“I thought you would enjoy the Guardian base.”

They began to walk slowly through the peacekeeper facility, and she became intensely aware of their hands when whispers and murmurs began to spread.

She tried to pull away, but he held her easily.

“Does my touch offend you?”

She blushed and stammered. “No, it is just that folks are whispering and you have a reputation to maintain. Even though they are peacekeepers, this is going to get out.”

He raised a brow and smiled as he looked at her. “So? I have done many a stupider thing in public than hold the hand of a woman I am attracted to.”

He must have already signed her out, because no one came close to stopping them as they left the building. She squeaked as he picked her up, and she clutched at his chest when he took flight.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded. “I forgot for a minute that you were the one who could fly.”

He laughed, and they left the city, streaking over the ocean while she kept her face close to his chest with her eyes closed.

“Here we are.”

She turned her head and looked at the stack of buildings that crowned the small island. “Why am I allowed here?”

“You have Imperium security clearance, didn’t you know? With all the top-secret information you sift through, I am amazed that they let you stay in the city.” Toyo settled on his feet and walked calmly toward the doors.

“Um, I can walk now.”

He smiled. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure unless you know something I don’t.”

He cocked his head. “Probably, but I am enjoying my moment.”

She closed her eyes and blushed. She was enjoying it as well, but she didn’t want to say it out loud.

The other three Guardians were sitting around and far more casually than she had imagined. They were wearing their trousers and some tattoos, nothing more.

“Uh, I don’t know why you brought me here, but this isn’t really my thing.” She squirmed, and he still refused to let her down, so she bent her fingers and stabbed him in the solar plexus with her knuckles.

He dropped her on her ass as the breath whooshed out of him. The other three burst out laughing as she got to her feet and dusted her butt off.

To her mortification, Toyo opened the heavily reinforced jacket of his uniform and rubbed the skin of his chest where she had jabbed him. He continued to remove his uniform until he was only wearing trousers and boots as well.

She didn’t know where to look.

The other three Guardians were killing themselves with laughter.

Toyo put his clothing on a nearby table and lifted her chin. “Yes, innocence is definitely in there. Again, nothing will happen to you here. You are simply our guest because I forgot to give you the assault waiver.”

She nodded and turned toward the others.

Rand cleared his throat. “Come and sit with us. We are watching a documentary about your species.”

Toyo looked at him. “There is a vid on the Terrans?”

Drovin nodded enthusiastically. “It is about the first Terran Champions. All women.”

Loesh smiled, “Join us, we can restart it.”

Toyo stretched. “No, go ahead without me. I need to do some sparring.”

Bebe took the seat on the couch a few cushions away from Rand, and he resumed play on the vid.

As she watched them, she could see that they were fascinated by the stories being told, especially about the Admar inheritor, Sarah Marks. Bebe couldn’t imagine an entire planet at her disposal, but she could clearly see the fixation that the Guardians had on the Champion and her mate.

They remained fixated until the end of the vid, and then, they turned to Bebe.

Drovin asked. “Do all Terran females have talents?”

“No. The first round of Volunteers had quite a few because that’s what the recruiters were screening for. The second round is more aptitude for adaptation, like me.”

Loesh narrowed his eyes. “How did you learn you had an aptitude?”

“I didn’t. When I was little, my father would bring home details from his cases that no one had solved, and he let me look into the puzzles until I was able to point him in the right investigative direction. When my brother entered law enforcement, I continued with the puzzles.”

Drovin looked impressed. “How did you come to be a Volunteer?”

“My brother volunteered me. He put forward my plan to find the terrorists attacking the Volunteer Centres and that got him attention, which he passed on to me. At home, I always had to go through someone to solve anything or make a difference. Here, I file my reports and they are acted on. It is a little bit gratifying.”

Her stomach rumbled and they looked at her in surprise. She bit her lip. “Can I get something to eat? When everything hit the fan this morning, I was out shopping and I never did get breakfast.”

Rand got to his feet. “And of course the holding cells don’t provide food to aliens. Come with me.”

She made a face and followed him into the huge kitchen.

The other two trailed after them, still curious.

Loesh asked baldly, “So your species doesn’t have sex outside of life mates?”

She paused. “Some folks do, some folks don’t.”

Drovin grinned. “Which category are you?”

Her jaw should have hit the counter, but she calmly said, “I assess it on a case-by-case basis. To date, there has been no reason to exert myself in that arena.”

Rand turned and looked at her in shock. “What?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t get out much.”

Celibacy was the one thing guaranteed to stop a W’lyn Guardian in his tracks. They just didn’t know how to process it.

She cleared her throat. “If you just step aside, Rand, I can find my own food.”

He shook himself back to his obligation. “Nonsense. You just surprised me. Have a seat and I will have something ready in no time.”

Bebe perched on a tall chair near the counter and waited. By the time she had food in front of her, Toyo was back, sweaty with a few slices taken out of his hide.

He saw her taking a few bites, and he smacked himself in the forehead. “I am sorry that I forgot to get you something to eat.”

She smiled and kept chewing the flatbread, cheese and fruit sandwich. “It is fine. Rand has taken care of my appetite.”

Bebe winced as Drovin and Loesh hooted with laughter, but the laughing preceded Toyo tackling Rand by only a second.

She kept eating her sandwich until it was gone, drank her water and got to her feet. The two Guardians were pummelling at each other and rolling across the floor.

She analyzed the situation, caught the rhythm of the fight and moved in, yanking at the hair at the base of Toyo’s neck. “Enough!”

Toyo reluctantly backed away from Rand. The other Guardian looked a little scruffy, but not really the worse for wear.

As Toyo stood, she had to stretch up on her toes to keep her grip. As he grabbed her and pulled her around in front of him, she smiled innocently.

“Yes?”

He bent his head to hers, and his lips coaxed her into losing her train of thought.

Whatever was in the W’lyn biochemistry, they needed to bottle it and inject it into human males.

Bebe forgot that there were three other half-dressed men in the room; she just wanted to continue to be in the arms of the one that was holding her. His teeth lengthened and so did his cock pressed against her waist, but she wanted to keep kissing him until they both exploded with the flames that were burning in her blood.

A slight nick on the inside of her lip and he began to shake. She tasted her blood and his grip on her became iron as his kiss took on a savage element that sent a curl of hesitation down her spine.

“Toyo. Toyo! Let her go.”

She didn’t know which one said it, but she was both grateful and filled with hate. Toyo was pulled away from her and the cold air between them snapped her out of her stupor.

Toyo was just as disoriented as she was, but the men were careful not to touch her when she staggered.

Loesh whispered, “Beryl, your suit is open.”

She looked down and slammed the fabric together. He had opened the closure to her suit, and she hadn’t felt a thing but the heat from their brief contact.

A look at Toyo and her heart plummeted. “Damn.”

Drovin was holding his friend back. “What?”

“He is looking at me like I am a snack.” She sniffled. “I must smell like food.”

Rand cackled. “No, you smell like sex. He wants to consume you, but you would both be alive when he was done, if a little sore.”

She couldn’t hold in her shriek. “What?”

Loesh winced, his enhanced senses heard her loud and clear. “He isn’t wrong. You are radiating every hot pheromone that our species is sensitive to. How do you not know this?”