Authors: Laurie Roma
“I don’t think I can!”
“Yes, you can. Don’t fucking hold back on us. Give in,” he snarled. Reaching down between her and Archer again, he used two fingers to ruthlessly work her clit as he continued to pound his cock into her. “Come for us, Serra. Come now!”
Serra felt the world fracture as she came apart again. Held safe between them, she cried out and let herself fly.
Archer groaned out her name as he exploded inside her, filling her pussy with pulse after pulse of his hot seed. His arms wrapped around her tight, so tight he feared he was squeezing the breath right out of her, but he needed to feel her pressed against him as his body jerked.
Jax pumped inside her once, twice more, then shudders racked his body as he buried his face in her neck, pouring himself into her as the most intense pleasure he’d ever known shook him to his very soul. He caught himself before he fell on her, his legs weak with lethargy from his brutal climax. He took a long moment to catch his breath, pressing one last kiss to her shoulder before he pulled out of her and walked to the bathroom to clean up.
Serra collapsed on Sully, barely stirring as he stroked the wet strands of hair from her face. Content to simply lay there, her eyes remained closed as she listened to the rapid thud of his heart. She smiled, letting herself bask in the afterglow of their spectacular lovemaking.
Her satisfied little bubble was disturbed when she felt a warm, wet cloth between her legs. Opening one eye, she lifted her head just enough to blink down at Jax in question.
“What’s that look for, sweetheart? I’m not doing anything nefarious back here. I’m just cleaning you.”
“After what we just did, I have a right to be suspicious, don’t I?”
Both Jax and Sully snickered, and Serra pinched Sully in retribution at having her perch disturbed when she almost fell off him. He winced, then kissed her forehead. “Sorry, baby.”
When she was clean, Jax went back into the bathroom as Serra snuggled back into Sully’s arms. “I have to admit, it’s times like this I’m damn glad we have these enhancements. I barely feel any discomfort at all. I enjoyed it, after that first moment of ‘what the fuck’ was over.”
Jax laughed as he rejoined them on the bed. “It will get better the more you get used to it.”
“That is so like a man to say something stupid like that.”
“What? It’s true.”
She turned her head to eye him with speculation. “Are you saying this from experience?”
Jax’s eyes narrowed. “No.”
She smiled. “Then your statement is being disregarded for lack of empirical substantiation.”
“You know how hard it gets me when you use big words,” Archer growled playfully as he nipped at her lips.
“Come on, little genius,” Jax said as he lifted her into his arms. “You may be feeling okay, but I bet you’ll feel even better after a nice, hot bath.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re pampering me.”
“We’re full service.”
“Will you stay with me?”
“Sweetheart, you couldn’t keep us away,” he said, then pressed his lips firmly to hers.
***
Chapter Ten
Archer studied the screen of his data unit through narrowed eyes that were heavy with fatigue. It had been four days since they had left the Spartan-Rollins estate and traveled back to their residence in the heart of the Capital. After their amazing claiming ceremony, it had been time to get back to work on figuring out who the hell was behind the potential sale of the stealth tech, so they could shut them down.
Their quarters had become a base of operations, which irritated him even though he knew it was necessary. People seemed to constantly come and go, filling the normally quiet space with noise and voices as they held strategy meetings and talked over the details. Jax, Jack Rollins, Cade Lysander and Dominic Stryker were working together in Jax’s office, while Archer ran his own data in his office next door with High Commander Roman Newgate and Andrew Dobbs.
They left the connecting door between the rooms open, and he could hear Regent Spartan and Arik V’Dir talking in the central living room where they had created a makeshift workspace. Officer Ryans played runner between the three areas, making sure everyone had what they needed. It wasn’t exactly the way Archer had planned spending the first week as a bonded unit with Serra, and that added to his irritation. He’d had very little time alone with her since they’d been back, but he seemed to be handling it a little better than Jax.
Thinking about his friend, Archer absently wondered how long it would take his partner to snap. Who could really blame either of them for being annoyed when both of Jax’s fathers, as well as Serra’s, had all but moved into their damn residence? Arik and Dom were there just as often, and even High Commander Newgate seemed to show up for hours at a time. They couldn’t exactly boot any of the men out, but he wished like hell that they could.
They’d all missed the activities that had been held throughout the Capital for the week long Freedom Day’s celebration. Each year, the entire world honored the day that Earth defeated the Zyphir and ended the Alien Wars, with the help of their allies, of course. Archer and Jax usually skipped most of it anyways, and Serra hated the crowds, but it would have been nice to enjoy some of those events together and just…be. There would always be next year, he reminded himself, and all the years that followed since they now had a lifetime together.
Looking out of the main door of his office, he glanced into the room across the hall where they had created an office/lab for Serra. From his chair he studied her as she focused on her data unit next to Troy Takeshi. Archer had given up trying to understand what she was doing within a few hours after they had been working on their first day back. She had been right about the code she used. It was like trying to read some archaic cipher. He had to give credit to Takeshi for learning how to understand what looked to him to be a garble of numbers and letter that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Serra had put her hair up in one of those intricate winding deals, held together with some sort of clip so it wouldn’t get in her way. Her light-green eyes burned with some inner fire, obviously energized by whatever she was working on. She didn’t seem to mind the chaos or the noise. It fascinated Archer by the way she was able to block out everything but the project she was working on. She’d been the same way when they were growing up, but now that focus had intensified, making everything else around her obsolete.
But where Archer understood, and was even amused by her focus, Jax wasn’t taking her dismissal well at all.
Noticing the time, Archer pushed up from his desk, and headed out to the dining room. He saw Regent Spartan and Arik both on their wrist units, talking to their contacts in clipped tones. Ignoring them, he moved over to the food console to program some provisions for the troops. Taking a moment to be eternally grateful to Officer Ryans, who coordinated all of the other assistants both Archer and Jax had working for them, he noticed that the food console was stocked full with a variety of food and drinks, in amounts that were enough to feed an army…which they basically were at this point.
Archer pulled out large plates filled with food and began setting them onto the buffet table located against the wall. At the scent of food the men drifted out of the offices, sniffing at the air. “Ah, damn good idea,” Andrew Dobbs said as he walked up.
“You know, you all have your own food back at your own homes,” Jax growled as he frowned at them.
“We do, but it’s so much more satisfying eating yours,” Dom said with a smile as he bit down into a sandwich. “Damn, this is real roast beef.”
“You’re a freaking director. You have enough credits to buy your own roast beef.”
“I do, but why should I when I can just eat yours?”
“Bastard.”
Archer chuckled as they continued their banter, turning to Officer Cal Ryans as the other man started helping transferring the food to the buffet table. “Officer Ryans?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Thank you.”
The young man’s eyebrows winged up. “Sir?”
Stars, were they really such assholes that the damn kid was shocked speechless that Archer thanked him? Holding back a grimace, he realized they were. It was Serra’s fault, always thanking everyone for every damn thing. She was a bad influence…or good. He sighed. “You always take care of things before we even need them. So, thanks, Cal.”
The younger man looked like he’d just gotten promoted. “It’s my pleasure, sir.”
“Christ, Cal. Stop sir-ing me to death. When we’re around this bunch of misfits, just call me Archer.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Archer just rolled his eyes as he pulled out the last item from the FC unit. When Regent Spartan reached out to grab one of the brownies on the plate, Archer slapped his hand away.
“Hey! Boy, don’t make me hit you back. You better be sharing those.”
“These are for Serra.”
Regent Spartan eyed the small plate of brownies with a frown as Archer walked over to the buffet. He filled Serra’s special plate with food, then carried everything back over to the dining room table and set them down while sending a fierce look at Jack Rollins when he caught him eying the brownies, too. “For fuck’s sake, there’s more brownies the FC. Get some yourself if you want them. Anyone touches these, and someone will die.”
Shaking his head at them, Jax watched as both of his fathers all but lunged towards the FC unit, and shared a smirk with his partner before Archer went back to the buffet to get his own plate of food. Deciding to wait until the others finished foraging through the offerings, Jax headed down the hallway to Serra’s office, and held back a sigh as she didn’t even look up when he was standing next to her. Takeshi sent him a small smile as he looked up from his own work where he’d been diligently tapping away on the auxiliary unit.
“Go get food.”
“I eat when the boss eats.”
“It’s a wonder you haven’t starved to death,” Jax muttered, then jerked his head toward the door. “Go grab something. She’s eating now.”
Takeshi hurried off to try and claim some of the food before everything was consumed. Jax did sigh as Serra ignored their exchange and kept working. He finally gave up and reached out, tilting her head towards him. Amusement flickered as he watched her eyes try to stay focused on the data scrolling on her screen even as he turned her head away from it. She finally gave up, turning those pretty eyes on him.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Time to eat.”
“Didn’t we just do that?”
“About six hours ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Her shoulders hunched. “I lost track.”
He leaned down, pressing his lips firmly against her. He didn’t like her looking like she’d done something wrong just by being who she was. “Stop that now. I’m not going to scold you for losing yourself in your work. Listen to me,” Jax said in a hard voice, cutting her off. “I might get annoyed if you aren’t taking care of yourself, but that doesn’t make you selfish. Between Archer and I, we should be able to remind you. Don’t ever compare us to your bitch of a mother.”
She sighed, then her mouth firmed as she thought it over. “You’re right, she is a bitch.”
That made him chuckle. “Sorry, I know I probably shouldn’t call her that, but that’s how I think of her. This track and trace program is important to all of us, and to be honest, the faster you get this done, the happier I’ll be. Let’s get these people the hell out of our home,” he said, raising his voice.
“We heard that,” Cade called out.
Jax winked at Serra, making her laugh.“Come on, let’s eat.”
Holding onto her hands, he helped her up from her chair and they walked back into the dining room together. Jax pressed a kiss to the top of her head after she sat down next to Archer, then Jax went to get his own food. “Okay, why don’t we update each other while we eat,” Jax said as he picked up a plate. “No use wasting time, and you can consider your report as payment for eating our food.”
Dom snorted in derision, then led off the briefing. “We know that whoever is behind this has to be someone with a connection to Serra, with access to her data unit or travel schedule.”
“We took a look through Tania’s information. Although everything in me says she could have been behind this, all the information we have gathered points in the negative on that,” Cade said. Turning to his daughter he gave her a little sympathetic smile. “Sorry, baby, but after what she did to you, we had to believe she’d be capable of this.”
Serra waved off his concern. “It wouldn’t surprise me, but I still state she isn’t capable of putting this together.”
“I agree, but she could be working with someone. She has plenty of credits in her account, but she has basically siphoned all of it straight from you over the years,” Jax said, sitting down at the table next to her. His gray eyes frosted over with rage. “That has ended. She’ll no longer have access to your accounts, or anything else of yours for that matter.”
She nodded as he’d continued to stare at her as if waiting for her to argue. Her mother wouldn’t get anything else from her. She had already taken too much. “That is acceptable to me. Thank you for taking care of that.”
Jax opened his mouth to scold her for thanking him again, then just sighed, moving on. He barked out a few commands and a transparent screen shimmered into view in mid-air near the table showing several photo IDs and other documents on screen.
Serra felt her heart wrench as she looked at the pictures of all the people closest to her, people she thought of as friends. How many betrayals could she possibly take? There on the screen was a photo of her mother, all six of her guards, her mother’s assistant, Eloise, and a secondary assistant Serra used when she was working on a major project, Gavin.
There were also pictures of the Commander that usually flew Serra on his space shuttle when she traveled. He was an older man with a quiet smile who had spent countless nights playing chess with Serra when she couldn’t sleep. Then there was his chosen and Second-in-command, a woman who loved showing Serra sneaky moves that could debilitate a man if she needed. There was a shot of her other bonded, the onboard chef who made Serra cookies if she was having a bad day, and the four other crew members that had shared laughs and good times with her over the years. It was likely that one or more of those smiling faces staring out of the screen at her had conspired to steal from her, from the Alliance, and had tried to set her up to take the fall.