Authors: Susan Hayes
It was bad enough that she had screwed up and gotten caught. Worse still that she’d stayed and indulged her fantasies, thinking she was too smart to get found out. Now she had been claimed by the very men who controlled the flow of goods she made a living stealing. Goods her people needed to survive and were denied because greedy men diverted shipments, reselling much-needed supplies on the black market at impossible prices. Now she was useless to the people who relied on her, a possession with no rights and no future except to be a sex toy and broodmare to a pair of men she barely knew.
Alayna didn’t know what it meant to be a mother. She’d never had one. She was a damned good thief, a savvy fighter and a capable killer when it was necessary. There was only one thing in the world that truly scared her, motherhood.
She stayed on the floor until dawn before finally crawling into bed and falling into an exhausted sleep. At least now she could sleep properly. There was nothing left for her to be on guard against.
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
The sons of bitches had locked her in without so much as a stitch of clothing to wear.
Alayna tried the door again, even though she knew damned well it wasn’t going to open. It hadn’t taken them long to forget their promises about making her happy. That was all right, she hadn’t forgotten her promise either. She’d warned them she would make their life a living hell if they claimed her, and now seemed as good a time as any to make good on that threat. She sucked in a lungful of air and started screaming for someone to let her out, pummeling on the door with her hands as she yelled.
“And good morning to you, too.” Nikolai’s rumbling tones came from the other side of the door less than a minute later.
“Open this door and let me out of here!”
There was a momentary pause and she could almost swear she could hear muffled laughter. “You’re locked in?”
“Of course I’m locked in. You two are the ones who did it!”
“The door doesn’t lock from the outside. Check the handle.” The bastard wasn’t even trying to hide his laughter now. Alayna got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she crouched down and took a good look at the door handle. There was an old fashioned, push-in and turn locking mechanism on the damned thing. She’d locked herself in when she’d slammed the door last night.
Well, fuck.
She yanked the door open and came face to face with Nikolai. He was leaning up against the doorjamb, a wide grin on his face as he crowed with laughter. He was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged his well-muscled thighs, and a sleeveless, black shirt that left a distracting amount of his arms and chest bare. Stars, the man was hot. It was hard to stay furious when he looked that damned good. “Some thief you are,
vorovka.
Did you really think we would lock you in?”
“Yes, I did,” she shot back, arms crossed across her chest as she belatedly remembered she was stark naked. Fuck it. He’d already seen her nude, so there was no point in ducking back behind the doorway now. That ship had already launched.
Nikolai stopped laughing the second she spoke. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was the kind of man who would lock her up or deny her the freedom she so clearly treasured. “We’d never do that to you. Damn it, Alayna, what sort of men do you take us for?”
“The kind that would hold a girl down and brand her with your mark so that everyone would know she’s your possession, even though she begged you not to.”
That mark. Nikolai was trying not to stare at it, but it wasn’t easy. He knew that claiming often came quickly, and part of him regretted how they’d accomplished theirs. He couldn’t regret having done it though. Not when the sight of their design on her golden skin was enough to make him want to roar in triumph. He just wasn’t stupid enough to let her see how happy he was when she was still so raw over being claimed. “I know that wasn’t our finest moment, but that’s how these things usually go. It’s sort of a flaw in the system.”
“A
flaw
? From where I’m standing it’s a bit more than a fucking flaw! I went from being an independent woman to a sex toy in less than twelve hours.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Whoa. Back up. Who said you were any such thing?”
“That’s what I am, isn’t it? You’re very own, Alliance authorized, sex toy. No rights, no freedom, no life, and for that matter, no clothes.” She glanced down at her naked body and he had to force himself not to let his gaze drift downward right along with hers. She was a beautiful temptation, and right now he couldn’t afford to be tempted or distracted. He had to make her understand that she was so much more to them than just a pretty face or a sex partner. She was their chosen, and they would die to protect her.
Nikolai closed the distance between them so quickly Alayna barely saw him move. He was faster than a man his size had any right to be, enhancements or not. She raised her arms out of instinct, ready to ward off the blow she half expected to be dealt. Instead, he hauled her up against the broad expanse of his chest and held her, one hand cradling the back of her head as they stood there in silence for a long moment, her cheek resting against his bare chest.
“You are not a sex toy.” His voice was rough and she could feel the tension vibrating through his body with every word. “You are our chosen, but that doesn’t mean you’re our slave. You still have rights. Do you realize how important you are to the Alliance? No one, not even the Council members, are as protected as you are. You can’t be threatened or harmed, on penalty of death. Now that we’ve claimed you, no other man can ever lay a hand on you. If they do, one of us will kill him.”
“I’ve done just fine protecting myself all these years. I don’t need your help. And if I’m not your sex toy, then what would you call me, a broodmare, maybe? You want kids, and I’m the one you’re going to fuck until I give them to you.”
“Who taught you this shit? Yeah, we want kids. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have worked our asses off all these years to get permission to claim a scroll—fuck. Sorry. Permission to claim someone like you. But it’s not to turn you into some mindless baby factory, fulfilling your duty to the Alliance.”
The last few words came out on a bitter snarl and Alayna was more convinced by his anger than by his words. “So, I still have a say?”
“Now you’re getting it.” He chuckled a little and stroked her hair. “Why else do you think you have the only bedroom door that locks?”
“Well, how was I supposed to know I had the only one? I don’t know anything about anything at the moment. Hell, I don’t even know your last names.” Alayna tipped her head back so that she could look up at him, and he cocked his head to one side to flash
her a smile.
“Grekov and Nielson.
You better remember them. They’re your last names, too.”
“Mine?”
“Uh huh. Your name is now Alayna Grekov-Nielson. Colin’s already gone to register it into the system.” That news left her feeling a little strange. She finally had a last name. Hell, she had two. Two last names and two men. For the rest of her life. She wasn’t ready to face that reality yet. Not all of it, anyway. She decided to pick a less terrifying topic to speak about.
“So, how come it’s Grekov-Nielson and not Nielson-Grekov? Did Colin lose the coin toss?”
“That was to appease my family. They’re an uptight bunch of snobs. I promise you won’t be seeing much of them.”
Oh great. This day just kept getting better. “Why
is your family snobbish? Are they important? Fuck, are you important? I, uh, I mean, I know you’re a general and all, but uh, I have no idea if your name should ring any bells.” She glanced around the room and raised a brow. “This place would lead me to believe that you’re certainly not rich.”
Nikolai burst out laughing at that, happy to see a bit of her sass returning. “I knew you were perfect for us. You have no idea who my family even is. They’re rich, I’m not. And yeah, they’re
important, or at least they think they are. Tell you what. Why don’t you go grab a shower while I find you something to wear? Your things are in the wash, so you can’t have them back yet. Then we can have breakfast while I tell you a little about me.” He let her go and stepped back so he could look her in the eye. “And I want to know more about you.”
“So you can report it?”
He frowned and shook his head, a spike of frustration slamming through him again. “No. And quit thinking that way. This isn’t going to be an interrogation, it’s just breakfast. I’d like to know a bit more about you. Right now all I know is your name and the fact you look incredible naked Oh yeah, I also know you make this really sexy little whimper right before you come.” He was baiting her again, wanting to see a bit more of her spark before he went back downstairs.
Alayna’s heart gave a little skip as his frown melted into a lopsided grin, and she flipped him off as she turned and stomped back into her room, well aware that he was watching her bare ass sway with every step she took.
“Come downstairs when you’re ready,” he called as she neared the door of the bathroom she’d located earlier.
It wasn’t until she was standing under the jets of hot water that Alayna realized that never once while he held her had Nikolai made any kind of sexual overture. She’d been right there, naked, and all he’d done was hold her in his arms. That wasn’t the action of a man who wanted her just for sex. Neither was washing her clothes, or cooking her breakfast. Maybe there was something to their promises after all.
Maybe.
***
CHAPTER EIGHT
If Nikolai ever got his hands on whoever had told Alayna that being chosen was tantamount to being some kind of sex slave, he was going to beat them to a bloody pulp. He had imagined the moment they found their chosen a thousand times, but never once in all those scenarios had the night ended with the woman they’d claimed sobbing herself to sleep in another room. He’d expected her anger. He’d even expected her threats. What he hadn’t been prepared for was her tears. Not that he’d ever tell her that he’d heard her crying, or that he’d seen the single tear that rolled down her cheek before she’d walked away from them.
Now that they’d spoken, he had some idea why she had reacted that way. While not every bonded trio was perfect, it was very rare for one to be as harsh or cruel as what she had been told was the norm. Someone had being lying to her.
Last night, she’d told them she had run away less than a week after being tested. That meant she’d been hiding from the authorities for years, afraid of what would happen if they caught her again. There was only one group of people who could have helped her stay out of Alliance hands and hide her scrollwork tattoo. The rebels. That would also explain why she held such harsh opinions about the Alliance. Their chosen was a thief and a renegade.
Nikolai caught himself laughing quietly as he started preparing breakfast for the three of them. His parents were going to lose their minds when they learned what he and Colin had done.
He knew he shouldn’t take such pleasure in annoying his family, but it had become a lifelong habit he doubted he’d ever be able to break. The eldest of four children, Nikolai had borne the brunt of his parents’ ambitious expectations from the time he drew his first breath. They had his whole life mapped out, and he had gone out of his way to defy them every chance he got. By the time he was tested and sent away for elite training, it would be hard to say who was more relieved at the separation, him or his parents.
He hadn’t seen much of them since the day he’d left. After that his parents had focused their attentions on his baby sister, Sonja, and his two brothers, Adam and Scott. Sonja was at home, while his brothers were currently assigned to Alliance duties somewhere far from Earth, no doubt doing great things for the family honor.
Colin’s family, now that was a different story. They’d welcomed him with open arms, and he knew they would do the same for Alayna. Her lack of pedigree wouldn’t concern them at all. He was still contemplating when he should inform his family about his change in marital status when he heard a whisper of a footfall behind him. He spun around, expecting to see Colin standing there. It was Alayna.
Great.
Now he was living with two people with the uncanny ability to walk around in total silence. Cat-like reflexes and stealth were just some of the many potential gifts that came with their enhancements, though it differed from person to person. It was Colin’s talent for coming and going without being detected had earned him the nickname of Ghost while they were still in training. And now they’d gone and found Ghost junior. She was even wearing Colin’s clothing, picked out of the assortment Nikolai had left at the foot of her bed while she showered. He’d of liked to see her in his clothes, but there was no way anything he owned would come close to fitting her smaller frame.
As he smiled in greeting he took a long look at her outfit and had to admit, she looked a hell of a lot better in it than Colin ever would. She’d picked out a dark gray T-shirt and a pair of running shorts that were so big on her that they nearly came to her knees, showing off her shapely legs. The shirt was big enough that it had slid down over one shoulder, baring a tantalizing amount of golden skin. She’d left her dark hair loose, and in hung in still-damp waves down her back, framing her delicate features and those stunning jade-green eyes.
She was so damned beautiful, it made his head spin.
His cock surged to life at the sight of her and it was all he could do not to walk away from the food cooking on the stove to carry her straight back upstairs. Fuck that, the stairs were too far away. He could have her spread out on the table in seconds and call her breakfast. He’d rather eat her sweet pussy than anything else in the world.
Ease up
. She already thinks she’s nothing more than a sex toy. No need to add to that misconception.
He tried to think of something to say, which was no easy task given most of the blood in his body seemed to be in his dick. “I hope you like scrambled eggs. Oh, and there’s bacon too.
And coffee. You do like coffee, right?”
She perked up at his words, and he could have sworn she bounced on the balls of her feet at the mention of coffee. “Are you talking about real coffee? Real, actual coffee beans ground up and brewed into a magical elixir? Or do you mean that swamp water most places serve because coffee’s expensive and hard to find?”
“Real coffee. Ghost and I can’t live without it. If you tell me what you like, I’ll program your settings into the coffee maker so it makes you a perfect cup every time.”
“Interesting priorities.
Top of the line coffee maker, generic locks on the doors.”
“The only thing we have worth stealing is the coffee maker. I still don’t know why you targeted this place. Maybe you can explain that to me while I make breakfast.”
The last thing Alayna wanted to do was to explain her reasons for breaking in. That was going to lead to all sorts of questions she wasn’t ready to answer yet. How would they react when she told them she was Wraith, the thief who had been stealing supplies from every Alliance base within a hundred miles? Would they turn her in? Being claimed was bad enough, but if she was handed over to the Alliance now, she’d have no life at all.
“Alayna, you in there
? How do you take your coffee?” Nik was grinning at her now, waving one hand slowly back and forth in front of her face.
“That depends. Do you have real sugar to go with that real coffee?”
Nikolai responded by curling his lip up in mock horror. “If you’re sure you want to contaminate the world’s finest beverage with that crap, then we have it.”
Alayna’s mouth was actually watering at the thought of having a cup of real coffee. It had been months since the last time she’d had the time or the opportunity to enjoy any of her favorite indulgences. “I’m sure. Stars, am I sure.” She smirked at him. “And you keep saying you have nothing here worth stealing. Do you know what a pound of real coffee goes for out there?”
“To be honest? No. This is all new to me. I was raised deep in Alliance controlled territory, and once I graduated most of my assignments have been off-planet. Ghost is the one who got a taste of life out here before he and his mom were claimed.”
“Colin was born out here?” She gestured out the nearest window. That was one of the many things that she found strange about her new home, so many windows. The places she had grown up in were cramped, ramshackle affairs that were designed primarily to keep out the weather and any dangers that might be lurking. This place was huge by her standards, well maintained and
clean. The contents were pretty nondescript and functional, from the utilitarian furnishings to the plain, off-white walls, but to her, it was a palace.
“Different quadrant, but yeah, he was born in the badlands.” Nikolai led her over to the coffee maker, showing her how to program it as he kept up their conversation. “You said last night that you had family out there. Were you born around here?”
“I don’t know where I was born. My foster father found me in the wreckage of a shuttle crash. I was only a few weeks old as best he could tell. My mother died not long after he found the wreckage, and she was the last one alive. She managed to tell him my first name, and asked him to save me. He did. They salvaged the wreck, buried the dead and when they moved on, Sam took me with him. He’s the only family I’ve ever known.” Alayna had never told that story to anyone before, and Nikolai’s reaction surprised her. He didn’t say he was sorry. He got downright pissed off.
“The bastard took you? Didn’t he try to find your family? If you were on a shuttle
transpo, you parents were almost certainly Alliance citizens. Your DNA would have been registered immediately after birth. You’re telling me he just walked away with you that day?” Nikolai couldn’t believe what he was hearing. In a world where every child was precious, what kind of man would simply walk away with another family’s baby and let them think she died?
“Have you been out there yet,
Nik? I mean way out, fifty, sixty miles into the bad areas where the land is still oozing radiation from wounds that will take centuries to heal. There are people living out there, in the middle of Hell, because they’d rather take their chances in the badlands than join your precious Alliance. My foster father is one of them. If he left me there, I’d of been dead within hours. He saved my life, but he did it while scavenging Alliance property. What do you think would have happened if he’d tried to report finding me? He’d of ended up in jail, or worse.”
There had to be something wrong with him. Here they were, having a serious conversation, and all Nikolai could think about was how fucking sexy she was when she got riled. He might spend the rest of their lives taking shots at her just so he could see her eyes flash and her cheeks flush as she told him off. He loved the fact she wasn’t afraid of him. Hell, she called him
Nik. No one called him that. He hated that nickname. Well, he hated it when anyone else used it. When it rolled off her tongue? It sounded perfect. What were they talking about again? Right. Her fucked up foster father and the rebels. He needed to stay focused or he was going to end up doing something she wouldn’t appreciate, like haul her into his arms until she started making those, soft, sexy little moans he liked so much.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay on target. “So, you never wondered where you came
from? Who your parents were?”
“Of course I wondered. But I was only fourteen when the Alliance appeared in the village I was staying in and started processing everyone.” He watched her fingers touch the scrollwork tattoo that marked her as fertile, and caught the flicker of pain and sadness in her deep green eyes. “After that, I didn’t have a home anymore, and there was no way I could risk making those kinds of inquires or talking to Alliance personnel. If I did, they would have caught me again.”
“Fourteen? You’ve been on the run since you were only fourteen? How did you manage?” The badlands were a harsh, cruel place to live for a, fully trained and well-armed adults. He couldn’t imagine what it must have it been like for the girl she’d been back then. When she answered with a simple shrug and a feral grin, Nikolai fell a little bit in love with her.
“I got by.”
He hadn’t even seen her move, but at some point in their discussion she must of, because the next thing she did was to hold up the folding knife he always kept in his pocket. “How did you…”
Her grin morphed into a smirk and she danced back a step. “I’m actually a much better thief than you might think, given that you two caught me last night.”
“Let’s not forget that you managed to lock yourself in your room this morning, too.” He knew better than to goad her, but fuck, she was so damned sexy when she got her dander up. Besides, she clearly didn’t want to talk about what was what like for her out there, or she wouldn’t be trying to distract him.
“You’re not going to let me forget that, are you?” She took a step toward him, her eyes flashing with green fire.
“Not ever, little
vorovka
. Now, give me back my knife.” He held out his hand, half hoping that she wouldn’t give in that easily. His blood was heating, his cock was swelling, and he was dying to taste her lips again.
Come
and play with me, minx.
Alayna didn’t want to talk about her childhood or what life was like after she’d been tested anymore. It had been a long time since anyone had cared enough to ask, and while she appreciated the fact
Nik had, she wasn’t ready to open up to him. Not yet. She took another step back, dangling the knife in front of her, but Nik didn’t follow. His gaze was hot enough to sear flesh, and she could see the telltale bulge of his erection trapped behind his jeans. It was clear he wanted her, but the way his one fist was clenched at his side, he was determined not to make the first move. If she didn’t, Alayna felt certain he’d go back to preparing their breakfast. It made her feel oddly safe to know that he was waiting for her.
“And if I don’t?” She bounced back another step, testing him again.
“Alayna…” he growled her name in warning and her nipples tightened in response to the hunger in his voice. She might not be ready to tell him her life story, or let down the walls around her heart, but if she was being honest with herself, she wouldn’t mind feeling his cock pounding into her again. She just needed to know if they were serious about her being more than a sex toy.
There was only one way to find out.