Marked for Pleasure (9 page)

The sounds of the other men in the arena vaguely penetrated the sexual haze she was in, but her focus was on the hard cock in her mouth and the wicked tongue on her clit. Then Conner sucked her hard nub into his mouth, and she screamed, the sound muffled. Pleasure cascaded over her, every nerve sizzling. Conner moaned against her mound, licking every drop away.

She was still reeling when Conner shifted and stood behind her. He bent down, his warm heat now over her back. “You are so fucking hot, little bird. If you could see what you've done to all these men, you'd be amazed. Now I'm going to fuck you and send them all off their heads.”

Lander continued to thrust in her mouth when Conner slammed his cock inside her pussy. She arched back and cried out, her tongue frantic over Lander's hard length. In perfect harmony, Conner and Lander jammed their cocks inside her body. She sobbed, unable to stop the waves of pleasure that careened over her. Her muscles clenched, her pussy and her jaw tight around their hot flesh.

The hard cock in her mouth suddenly exploded, Lander's cum sliding down her throat. Conner's followed only second later. They both shouted, making her ears ring. She went nuclear, her body convulsing in huge spasms of intensity. Conner's breath was hot in her ear. “Now, little bird. Run!”

She could barely stand but somehow staggered to her feet. She jerked the halter back up to cover her breasts and tried to steady her shaking legs. Conner's hand gripped her upper arm and pulled her with him. Lander was right behind them, his weapon drawn and ready. “Go right,” the soldier whispered.

All around the arena, men were fighting, a frenzy of some kind, causing a cacophony of noise. Officers who attempted to interfere were thrown from the balconies with a sickening scream and
thud
. Two of the three men who had guarded the doors on the stage level were dead in a pool of blood, the third standing over them with a vicious grin on his face.

The killer leaped at them. Conner caught the man in the throat. One gurgle and the man collapsed, dead. Lander sprinted ahead, opened the door, and they sprinted into the corridor. The hall was deserted.

No one followed. Yet.

They reached the bay just as the alarms began to scream all over the ship. The sound ripped through Rhea's nerves. Lander motioned to Conner and Rhea to hurry while he ducked into a shuttle. The crackle of the shields sounded behind them when Conner yanked her through the door of the vessel. Lander tossed boots and coveralls to Conner and then dressed himself.

“We'll have to blast our way out,” Lander told them.

Conner slid into the copilot seat. Together he and Lander started the engines.

The radio crackled, and General Ancred's voice boomed through the shuttle's interior. “We will dust you if you attempt to leave this ship.”

“How can we avoid the disintegrators?” Conner asked.

“We can't. Our shield will hold.” Lander flicked more switches and shot a glance at her. “Get a harness on.”

She glared at him. “Just because you've put your dick in my mouth doesn't give you the right to order me around.”

Conner shot her a grin. “Please, little bird? I don't want you to get hurt.”

She scrambled to one of the seats and clicked the harness into place just as Lander blasted them into space.

The Sethos Prime ship fired. The shuttle rattled and shook, the impact of the disintegrators jerking Rhea against the harness straps.

Then the shuttle jerked once, and the familiar whine of the engines made her sigh with relief just as the speed took her breath away. She glanced toward the cockpit and got a glimpse of the streak of stars, the gate entrance, and finally, the disappearance of Sethos space from the screen.

“Where to?” Lander asked.

“I want neutral territory.” Conner's voice sounded hard and unfriendly. Rhea wondered why, since Lander just saved their very naked asses. But she was well aware she was completely in the dark.

“The Kyria system?”

“That will do.”

Rhea flicked the straps away and strode to the cockpit. “Okay, I'd like some explanations, please.”

Conner shot her a glance and nodded. “You deserve one.” He stared at the other man. “This is Leo Eyler, also undercover, also black ops, also looking for the same killers, and incidentally, my best friend.”

“All that is still true,” the other man said.

“Really? Then why have I thought you were dead for the last three years?” Bitterness tinged Conner's tone, and Rhea blinked. Three years ago, Conner had been kicked out of the military. That was no coincidence.

“I had a job to do.”

Rhea studied their rescuer. Lander, or Leo, had blond hair cut very short, military-style. His eyes were a deep blue, and his features were straight and square. A long scar ran down the side of his cheek, the only flaw in an otherwise perfect specimen of manhood.

“A job to do?” Conner spat. “You mean vengeance. Shanie died, and you wanted to avenge her death.”

A muscle in Leo's jaw pulsed. “You're damn right. And I found them.”

“What?” Conner glared at the man.

Leo's fist pounded into the console. “I've been trying to contact General Halloway for weeks, but he's ignored my transmissions. When I saw your signature trace on the radar—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” The violence in Conner's glare startled Rhea, and she laid a hand on his arm.

“You didn't know?” Leo's eyes were wide, and then he shook his head. “He injected us with a tracer when we were all recruited. I thought you were here to—” He frowned. “Why
are
you here?”

“Because General Halloway tried to kill me.” Conner smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. “Or I think he did.”

“Explain,” Leo snapped.

Conner told him about the assassins on the
Star of Pleasure
. “I don't know if the general intended for the shuttle to end up in the Sethos system. I don't see how he could have planned that.” He didn't say anything about Rhea. Leo shot her a curious glance. “Are you sure they weren't after her?”

“Yes.” Conner wasn't going to reveal anything about her.

Leo's gaze narrowed. “I saved your ass today. I have a right to know who she is.”

“She's my mate,” Conner answered. Something in the way he said it made Rhea shiver with both fear and lust. She'd seen the rage, seen it work.

But the tone of possession gave her the oddest, most comforting feeling she'd ever felt in her life.

“Well, Shanie was mine. And I'm going to fucking kill the bastards who killed her.” Leo's hand rubbed the spot Rhea knew held the old mate mark, faded, almost gone.

“Where did you find them? On Sethos Prime?”

“No. But I found the Primarian who witnessed the whole thing. He gave me the name of the man in charge. Right before I ripped his goddamn eyes out.” Leo's eyes blazed with a similar expression to the one she'd seen in Conner's eyes when he'd been in the rage. The intensity was less but still present.

Leo negotiated the gate, and they slid through into the Kyria system. “I take it we're going to Elison?”

“It's the best planet to get what we need.” Conner focused on the console.

“Why do I feel like a plan has been made that I know nothing about?” She poked Conner in the shoulder.

Conner and Leo exchanged a glance. “Because we have. Elison is a neutral planet. You can find a flight back to Teran space—”

“What?” The word exploded from her mouth. “You're dumping me off?” She wanted to wring his fucking neck. Mate with her and then dump her? No fucking way.

Conner's green eyes sparkled. “I don't want you to get killed.”

“Back at you,” she snapped. “So let me go. I can help.”

“This isn't your fight.”

She grabbed his shoulder and swiveled him around to face her. “I spent two years of my life chasing you, chasing a fucking ghost, because your
boss
told me a lie. I'm wearing your mate mark. I have every reason to want this over.”

His lids dropped over his eyes. “For you, it is over.”

Her pulse pounded. Over. He meant it. What had he said? He never intended to mate. It was an accident, something to save their skins. She didn't mean a fucking thing to him. Her mind couldn't wrap around it, but it was true.

And she'd allowed herself to have feelings for him.

Strong feelings.

Even while she'd chased him, studied him to wreak her revenge, she'd been fascinated by him. The clues were all there. If she'd paid attention, she'd have noted how his reputation was based on reports from others, not what she observed.

And somewhere, deep in her heart, she'd known it.

She hadn't pursued him to kill him. Perhaps she had wanted him from the very beginning. She closed her eyes and turned her back on him.

What a joke. She was in love with him and probably had been before she'd confronted him on the
Star of Pleasure
. It explained so much, why she would succumb so easily to him, why she
wanted
him so intensely.

Tears clogged her throat.
Idiot. You certainly asked for this one
. She thought about the rage, the mating mark burning on her arm. What would she do to keep it, to keep him?

“There's probably a transport to Corilus too. You could go home.” Conner's voice sounded directly behind her. She wanted to shake him, throttle him, throw herself in his arms.

Instead, she kept her back to him and stayed silent.

“Rhea, I want you to be…happy,” he said, so softly she barely caught it.

She wanted to whip around and scream she'd never be happy without him. She'd be half a person like Leo, looking for his soul. How could he leave her after creating the bond, the one bond, that tied them together?

Her guts churned, and she did what she knew best. She made a plan. He might think he was going to leave her, but she wasn't going to be alone without him for the rest of her life.

A deep breath and she turned to face him. “I will be.” She summoned a bright smile and almost laughed at the way he blinked in surprise. “Going home is a good idea.” He frowned and nodded, an odd expression of disappointment on his face. Maybe he wanted her to argue with him, beg him to come back if he lived.

But she was going to make sure he lived. Even if it cost her everything.

Why did he feel depressed? Conner couldn't figure it out, but he had a sensation of feeling let down when Rhea acquiesced so easily to being left on Elison. He shifted in his copilot's chair and glared at the console.

“She's doing what you want. What's your problem?” Leo's smirk was almost more than he could bear.

“You, of all people, know what my problem is.” He wouldn't even look at his old friend. The shock of seeing the man across that arena hadn't subsided yet. Part of him was elated Leo was still alive. Part of him was enraged that his best friend had let him grieve for three years. Leo and Shanie had been his friends, a shining example of Nyral mating for their single and errant comrade. He'd been hurt by Shanie's death too. Then to lose Leo three years later had left Conner adrift. A perfect target for General Halloway.

“You love her.”

“I can't. I barely know her.” How long? Only two days. That was insane. They were sexually mated, but nothing else. She would get over him quickly.

“It only takes a minute. I fell for Shanie in less than that.”

“You were drunk,” Conner scoffed.

Leo's gaze held his. “The minute I touched her, I knew. And so did you. The rage doesn't affect you if you're only sexually mated. It hits you when your heart is involved.”

That was an uncomfortable thought. And one he just didn't have time to indulge. “That name you got. It's one we know, isn't it?”

Leo's expression turned black. “Yes. You know, I should have realized it. Who else but a Nyral general would kill victims in sex clubs?” He shook his head. “I was blind.”

“General Halloway.” Conner couldn't wrap his brain around it. The man who recruited them, who trained them, was actually running the fucking thing.