“By the gods, let’s get out of here, Mervan.” The Prillon commander who’d followed us into the room from the hall spoke now. “The charges are set. The prisoners evacuated. All the cargo has been off-loaded and transported out.”
“Gods damned fucking Hyperions.” Mervan cursed us, but we didn’t bother to respond. I didn’t give a fuck what he thought.
Mervan looked down at the headless corpse and sighed. “Were the ship’s records downloaded for analysis?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fine.” Mervan spoke to the Prillon, but he looked at me. “Get the fuck off this ship. I don’t want to see you again.”
I dipped my chin slightly in acknowledgement. “The feeling, Prillon, is mutual.” We both knew it was impossible. Blade and I were their contact to the black market, the pirates, the criminal elements in Coalition space. He needed us, and we needed him.
Didn’t mean we liked each other.
Mervan slapped a transport tag on his chest and disappeared, leaving the dead behind to burn with the ship. And if we didn’t transport out, we’d burn with it. Like Mervan cared. Our safety was not his problem.
Behind me, Cormac cleared his throat. “I win, Silver. Pay up.”
“Bastard.” Her voice was full of laughter, and she grumbled as we followed the Coalition team back to the transport pads. “Too many fucking aliens. Didn’t save any bad guys for me.”
Khon looked back over his shoulder. “If you want to choke something, Silver, my cock is willing and available. And hard, after this.”
“Shut up, Khon.”
Blade fell into step beside me, and we lagged back a few paces. “I couldn’t do it, Styx. I couldn’t let him live. Not after all that had happened, and especially after what he said.”
I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed my thanks. “I couldn’t kill him. It was too big a risk. But since we share a mate, I am glad it was you who claimed Harper’s vengeance. Your hands or mine, the deed is done.”
The fucker was dead, no matter who’d ripped his head from his shoulders.
Our gazes locked and he understood. Harper was ours. Every cell in my body demanded that asshole’s death. By my hand or Blade’s made no difference to me. But by Blade doing it, Mervan couldn’t blame me. The political ramifications were kept to a minimum. We’d offer our services to the Fleet someday in the future, but not before Mervan took time to cool off. We’d gotten what we wanted. Revenge. Our mate.
The ship was set to detonate; there was no more time to talk. We walked into the transport room, the others waiting on the pad.
“Let’s go home and finish what we started,” I told him, all at once ready to be back with Harper. The mission was complete. We had something else to focus on now. And how sweet it would be. My balls ached and my fangs dropped remembering how good her pussy tasted, how tight she was. How much tighter she’d be when she took both our cocks at the same time. As we bit her.
Blade smiled, his fangs still out. He shifted his cock in his pants as the pull of the transport made the hair on my arms rise.
Time to take what was ours.
Time to bite Harper and claim her forever.
Chapter Thirteen
Harper
They were here. They were whole.
Styx came through the door first, Blade directly behind. Styx’s green gaze met mine, held as he stalked toward me.
When I first met him on Zenith, when he’d approached me at the bar, he’d had the same intensity, as if there was no one else in the universe but me. It was unnerving then.
Now? Now, I wanted that unwavering attention. I wanted everything he could give me. Attention. Love. Obsession.
Maybe it was wrong or stupid or a hundred other things I didn’t want to think about or try to analyze, but for the first time in my life, I felt like someone saw me. I’d never really been alone in my life, surrounded by people who worked hard and fought as hard as I did. It took meeting Styx and Blade to realized I hadn’t been alone—but I’d been lonely.
I went around the control panel, all but knocking Ivar down and launched myself into Styx’s hold. He was all hard, lean muscle. Heat. Power. I felt it as one arm banded about my back, the other beneath my butt. I melted into him as if we were two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle clicking into place. I breathed him in. Closed my eyes and let his heat soothe all the jagged edges, the hours of agitation and worry and terror that they’d be hurt, not come back to me.
His breath fanned my neck as he breathed me in, and I felt the brush of his lips, the flick of his tongue and even the graze of his teeth. I whimpered at the feel. Innocent, but the meaning was clear. He would bite me. Soon. The promise in that light touch made my heart leap and tears fill my eyes. I wanted him. Wanted them. Forever.