Assassin Mine (8 page)

“Fuck the Federation.” Traz glared at her. “The Federation
put me in prison, Sabria. I don’t care about their stupid war.” The shots
continued, the barrage of gunfire reassuring Sabria. “Falyn is in trouble. Come
on. We have to leave. Now.”

“No.” She crossed her arms protectively in front of her
chest, the armor heavy. “I’m not leaving him.”
Ever.

“Him?” her brother roared. “Falyn was right. You love him.
He’s a cold-blooded killer and you love him.”

Sabria’s cheeks heated as she heard the contempt in Traz’s
voice, the same contempt the Federation officers often showed him. “Killer? I
have a bigger problem with him being an arrogant woman-hating asshole,” she
fumed. “Shit, Traz. You’re a killer.” She flung her hands up in the air, fed up
with the arrogant males around her. “And I love you. What does being a killer
have to do with anything?”

“Fuck.” Traz raked his fingers over his scalp and paced.
Sabria watched him. Her brother froze. “He has her.”

“Who?” Sabria narrowed her eyes.
Who is the future-bender
to him?

“Your
Balazoid
, the assassin they call Dreck, has
Falyn, the woman I love.” Traz’s breaths were ragged and Sabria stared at her
normally stoic big brother, the grief on his face stark and heart-wrenching. “I
risked her, my destiny, everything I’ve ever wanted, for nothing. I can’t lose
her, Sabria. It’ll kill me.”

Traz in love.
Sabria sighed, the situation growing
more volatile by the minute. “He won’t hurt her. She’s too valuable.” She waved
her hand, dismissing his fears. “Though who he’s shooting at—”

“The android decoy,” Traz grumbled. “He’s shooting at the
android decoy.”

“Shit.” Her joy faded. “Is the android armed?”

“Of course.” Her brother glared. “He’s programmed to protect
Falyn.”

Can Darius defeat an android?
A hard sphere of fear
formed in Sabria’s stomach. “Ship, where is Darius?” A technical drawing of the
ship appeared on the viewscreen, Darius’ location circled. Her assassin blocked
a dead-end corridor.

“Give me one of your guns.” Sabria held out her hand. Traz
hesitated. “You don’t need three guns. You only have two hands,” she snapped.
He passed her the weapon. She ripped off the inside chamber control panel,
attached circuits to the gun and programmed the ship to detonate the small
bomb.

“A distraction?” Her brother gazed over her shoulder.

“A reason to let you go.” She frowned, the ship’s defense
settings set to non-lethal and her full access to the system remaining intact,
an oversight her careful assassin would never have accidentally made.

“He trusts me.” Sabria rested her forehead against the cool
wall, overwhelmed by Darius’ faith in her. “And he never planned to kill you,
Traz.”

“I plan to kill him,” Traz warned, sincerity ringing in his
voice. “If he has hurt Falyn, he’s a dead
Balazoid
. You know what I did
to the man who hurt you.”

“I remember.” Sabria shivered, those bloody memories having
fed her nightmares for years. “But this is Darius. He’s—”

“We’re wasting valuable time,” her brother blurted. “I’m
going after them.” He barreled down the corridor, his guns drawn. “Fuck you,
Balazoid
.”
Traz dodged Darius’ defenses, his actions even wilder than normal, his thinking
clearly affected by his love for the future-bender.

“I’m sorry, Darius.” Sabria glanced at the empty bed. “But
my promise means nothing if you’re dead.” She sprinted after her brother.

“There will be no killing,” Sabria yelled. “Let me talk to
him first.” She ran at full speed, determined to protect Darius, the assassin
she couldn’t live without. The weapons stilled, their silence louder than any
declaration of love.

* * * * *

A decoy.
Darius herded the future-bender and her
android into a dead-end corridor, trapping them. He shot at the android’s back,
irate over his mistake, aware that, as he ran toward the future-bender,
Sabria’s brother was attempting to rescue Sabria, his female, his breeder.

Even if he frees her, she won’t leave our chambers.
The android turned and shot, his movements laughably slow. Darius returned
fire, the male a big, easy target. The android’s left arm dropped from his
body, sparks flying from his shoulder, and the future-bender screamed.

She promised to stay.
Darius hid in an alcove,
waiting.
I trust her.

He streaked across the corridor, moving closer to his
target. The android rolled and shot, surging forward unprotected.
Stupid
machine.
Darius shot the android’s hand off.

“John, come back here,” the future-bender pleaded, caring for
the machine as Sabria cared for her little bots. Darius swallowed a hard lump
of envy.

“I will protect you,” the android droned. He walked toward
Darius, his hands severed, unable to defend himself.

“You’ll be deactivated, android.” Darius stepped into the
corridor and pointed his gun at the android. The machine resembled Sabria’s
brother, his face scarred, his eyes mismatched. “You—”

“Explosive device detected in main sleeping compartment,”
Ship informed them calmly.

Sabria.
A chill spread over Darius’ chest.
She’s
gone. She must be. Her brother wouldn’t blow up the ship with her on board.
He turned his body, shifting his gaze between the future-bender and the
corridor behind him, the corridor leading to their chambers and to Sabria.

The android rushed toward Darius, his head down, and Darius
gritted his teeth, irritated at the distraction. “If that’s your choice.” He
carefully aimed. With one blast of his gun, he severed the android’s head from
his body and the artificial skull bounced on the floor.

“No!” The future-bender sprinted forward.

“Stop!” Darius adjusted his aim to the female, his thoughts
remaining on Sabria.
Did she leave me willingly? I trusted her. I trusted
only her.

The future-bender stopped, her shoes skidding noisily on the
tile. “I’m not armed.” She raised her hands, her palms open and empty. “See,
Mr…Mr…”

“My enemies call me Dreck.”
Never again will I share my
real name, opening myself to this agony.
“And I don’t have friends.”
Fuck,
this hurts.
Darius pushed the pain away and approached the future-bender,
his strides long and silent.

“I could be your first.” The future-bender smiled at him.

He felt nothing, only Sabria’s smile could warm his soul. “I
think not.” Darius circled her. The future-bender didn’t move. Her dress was
immaculate, her shoes brand new, her pale skin marked with love bites.
Sabria’s
brother cares for this prisoner.

“Yes. You, I’ll trade for something more valuable.” Darius
lifted a lock of the future-bender’s hair. The strand didn’t curl around his
fingers as Sabria’s tendrils did. It didn’t embrace him, accept him, see him
for more than the killer he was.

First, I’ll use her to free Sabria. Then I will trade her
to the
Balazoids
.
“You’ll be the key to unlocking our freedom.”

“Our?” The future-bender reached out, placed her hand on his
arm and closed her eyes. Darius ignored her, her cool touch not interesting
him. “Sabria,” she gasped.

“Do not touch me!” Darius bellowed, flinging her hand off
him, irate at hearing his beloved breeder’s name on the future-bender’s lips.

“Do not touch
her
,” a low, deep voice roared. Traz,
Sabria’s brother, blocked the end of the corridor, his guns drawn.

It was Sabria who held Darius’ attention. She was free and
unfettered, standing at her brother’s side willingly.
Why?
Darius met
her gaze, the agony of her betrayal deeper than any wound.

“Dreck didn’t harm me,” the future-bender shared.

“Yet.” Darius wrapped his arm around the female’s neck and
dragged her back against him, her curves slight and unappealing. He pressed the
muzzle of his gun against the future-bender’s forehead, his gaze never leaving
Sabria’s.

“If you kill me like this, she’ll never love you.” The
future-bender spoke to him quietly as though he was a child to be appeased.

She couldn’t appease him. Only Sabria could bring him
happiness and she had made her choice. “
Balazoids
don’t care about
love.” Darius resorted to his training, burying his dream, a dream Sabria had
crafted for him.
They have families, breeders they love and protect and
offspring of their own, and they’re happy…
“And she’s leaving with
him
.”

“I’m not leaving with him.” Sabria stepped forward. “I’m
staying with you. I have the code and we’ll disarm the bomb together. I give
you my word.”

Why would she choose me, a
Dreck
, over her
brother?
Darius doused his rising hopes with the cold shower of reality. “And
I’m to trust you?”

“Yes, you’re to trust me.” Sabria walked toward him, her
body armor creaking, her gaze fixed on him, and Darius’ heart pounded, his
breath quickening. “Only me.”

“But you have to let them leave unharmed.” Sabria placed her
hand on his arm and a jolt of energy shot across his shoulders.
She’s
choosing me, me.
He lowered his gun, his body relaxing. “Let her go,
Darius.”

He released the future-bender, listening to his heart and
the raging feelings inside him. “Go.” Darius shoved the female toward Sabria’s
brother. The future-bender stumbled. “Quickly, before I change my mind.”

“Come, Falyn,” Traz growled. The future-bender scooped up
the android’s detached head and ran. The couple disappeared around the bend,
leaving him with Sabria, his future.

“Thank you.” Sabria stared at Darius, her brown eyes wide.

He cupped her beautiful face, needing to touch her, to
confirm that she was real, that she was with him. “You promised to stay in our
chambers,” he admonished gruffly.

Pink streaked across her golden cheeks. “I promised to stay
and I have stayed with you.” Her lips parted, her breasts rising and falling,
her curves clearly outlined in the skintight armor, and Darius’ cock hardened,
lust mixing with his gratitude and relief. “My brother loves Falyn and he would
have killed you. I couldn’t allow that to happen.”

Darius’ breath hitched at the concern in her voice, concern
for him. “Because you vowed to protect me.”

“Because I love you,” Sabria whispered.

Darius froze. “What?” he croaked, his voice hoarse with raw
emotion. He searched her face for any indication she joked.

“Because I love you,” Sabria repeated slowly, her moving
lips matching her heart-stopping message.

“You love me.” Darius pulled her to him, crushing her face
against his chest, holding her tightly, his female, his breeder, his heart and
soul and reason for being. “Me, Darius, a
Dreck
, a
Balazoid
, an
assassin.”

“Don’t forget woman-hating asshole,” she muttered against
his leather jacket, her slender arms wrapped around him, her mons pressed
against his hard cock. “With the personality of an
Ungarian
fur
burrower.”

“And the intelligence of a
Mox-X
addict.” Darius
chuckled, the response feeling natural and right. “Is that the male you love?”

“Apparently.” She tilted her head back and grinned up at
him, her cheeks moist, her eyes tinged with red. “He’s also not good at saying
‘I love you’ back.”

Darius brushed his lips over her nose. “But he’s very good
at showing it.”

“Explosive device detected in main sleeping compartment,”
Ship reminded them, interrupting the tender moment.

“He unfortunately can’t show it right now.” Sabria sighed,
her body sliding along Darius’. “Not unless he wants a mess in his sleeping
chambers.” She stepped away from him.

“A bomb is more than a mess.” Darius threaded his fingers
through hers, his heart light.

“It’s a gun bomb.” Sabria swung their linked arms back and
forth as they strode toward their sleeping chambers, the silly action filling
Darius’ soul with joy.

“Have you built one of those before?” she asked as though
she genuinely cared about the answer.

She does care about the answer.
Darius gazed down at
her.
Because she cares about me. She loves me.
“I built them when I was
a child.” He paused. She didn’t fill in the silence.
She wants me to talk.
He took a deep breath.
I can do this.
“Once, a friend of mine, another
Dreck
,
talked me into infiltrating our trainer’s chambers.” He leaned closer to her as
he relayed a story he’d never told anyone else.

Epilogue

“Stay still, Chip,” Sabria instructed the floor bot. While
Darius spent his days, navigating their ship through No Man’s-Land, searching
for other
Drecks
, she had claimed a corner of their sleeping chambers as
her workspace and was overhauling their legion of bots, giving each machine
their own distinct personality.

Chip whirred and clicked, his lights flashing, as she
repaired his shell, the metal dented from the previous night’s bot races.

“We’ll be docking in two hours,” Darius announced as he
strode through the doors. He stripped his leather jacket off and tossed it over
a chair, revealing his pale muscular chest.

“Sleep, Chip.” The little bot froze in place. “Traz and
Falyn are expecting us.” Sabria followed Darius to their bed. “They asked how
long we’re staying this time.” She swallowed her envy over the permanent home
her brother and his mate had made on the primitive planet. “I told them I
didn’t know.”

“You shouldn’t lie to them, female.” Darius clucked his
tongue, shedding his boots and pants quickly, his ass cheeks clenching. “You’re
the only one who does know.” He flung himself onto the bed, twisting his body
in midair to land on his back.

He’s a finely honed weapon.
Sabria unfastened her
flight suit and pulled the loose garment down.
And he’s all mine.
“How
would I know?” She frowned, stepping out of the flight suit, leaving the fabric
pooled on the tiled floor.

“It is inefficient to search the sectors for an abode when
your brother has already located a perfectly acceptable planet.” Darius folded
his arms behind his head, his red eyes gleaming and his cock erect. “But I have
researched your customs and the female is responsible for such decisions, so…”
He shrugged.

“What!” Sabria yelled, her body vibrating with excitement.

“If I dared to make the decision, I would be called…what is
that phrase? Oh yes, a woman-hating asshole.” Darius grinned, appearing not at
all distressed over the label.

“You’d live on the same planet as my brother?” She tapped
the soles of Darius’ feet and he obligingly spread his legs. “But what about
your search?” She crawled onto the bed, kneeling before his rigid cock.

“What search?” His white eyelashes fluttered as she wrapped
her hands around his shaft. “The search for a place where we’re accepted, where
Drecks
are equals and there are no wars or killing? Where we have
families, breeders we love and protect and offspring of our own, and we’re
happy, so happy the
Balazoids
don’t want any other
Drecks
to know
about us?” Darius repeated what she’d once told him. “That search?”

“Yes.” She stroked him, savoring the combination of soft
skin over hard arousal, and he grew even larger in her palms, a dab of pre-cum
forming on his tip. “I want that place for you, Darius.”

“You’ve already given me that place.” He groaned, his face
contorting with need, and Sabria glowed, relishing the power she had over her
dominant male. “Except for the offspring part, and soon we’ll have that too.”

How does he know?
Sabria paused to stare at Darius,
trying to read his lust-filled expression.
Did Ship tell him?
She
frowned.
I instructed that damn system not to.

“Don’t stop.” Darius pushed into her hands. “Your touch
feels so good.” Sabria transferred her irritation to Darius’ cock, intensifying
her grip, pumping him, giving him the firm hands he needed.

“Your pussy would feel even better.” Darius shifted,
reaching for her. “Mount me, female.” He lifted her easily.

Sabria positioned him at her entrance and moaned as he
lowered her, his shaft stretching her, filling her. “Much better.” She sank
down on him, the connection tightening between them, physically, mentally and
spiritually.

“
This
is the place.” Darius smiled up at her, the
skin at the corner of his eyes feathering, the fine lines revealing his genuine
happiness. “If anyone,
Dreck
,
Balazoid
or human, knew how hot and
wet your pussy was, they’d kill to take my place.”

“No killing.” Sabria rocked on him, the slow, shallow slide
stoking her desire. Her hair swayed against her ass, the tendrils teasing her
skin. “Only releasing.”

“Fucking.” Darius thrust upward, driving deeper into her,
and she gasped, the pleasure unexpected and exquisite. “Releasing is
controlled, and with you, I have no control.”

He rammed his cock up her pussy again and again, shaking her
body, his grip on her hips securing her to him. Sabria clasped her breasts,
squeezing and pinching her nipples, the sharp pain edging her arousal, the
visual stimulation exciting Darius, his movements growing even more frantic.

He drove upward, relentlessly taking her, fucking her hard
and fast, utilizing his
Balazoid
speed and strength to subdue her and
employing his human empathy to bring her fulfillment, offering Sabria the best
of both sexual worlds.

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” She called out encouragement, riding him,
her passionate assassin, as he showed her once again how he felt, his naked
body open to her, his expression touchingly vulnerable.

“Yes.” Darius slid one of his thumbs over the curve of her
hip and found her clit, the coarse contact sending tremors over Sabria’s form.
Shit.
She whimpered. He pressed down and her whimper stretched into a wail of
unabashed need. As he pistoned in and out of her, the friction increased, her
clit rubbing against his thumb, her ass slapping on his thighs.

“Darius…start…counting.” Sabria panted, air pushed from her lungs
with each thrust, her chest constricted by emotion, by the passion wrapping
around them tighter and tighter, binding them together forever.

“One.” Darius grunted as he drove his hips upward, pushing
her closer to the edge of satisfaction. The bed shook, metal scraping against
tile.

“Two.” He pulled her down on him as he rose, rocking her
body, his strength daunting, intimidating and sexy. Sabria clutched his
shoulders, her thighs trembling uncontrollably.

“Three.” Darius tapped her clit as he surged upward, jetting
hot cum into her throbbing pussy. Sabria raised her head and screamed his name,
arching her back and flinging her arms behind her, diving fearlessly into a
spinning black abyss, knowing he would save her.

Large hands gripped her hips, long fingers folding over her
ass, securing her. Darius shuddered under her, his release prolonging hers. She
shook, the tremors slowly reducing, her world returning to normal, to Darius.
He lay still, his face resembling the whitest, purest rock.

Sabria leaned over him, her hair creating a curtain around
their faces, and she licked the droplets of perspiration forming on his pale
skin, tasting the salt of his exertion.

His lips curled upward into one of his rare smiles. “You
make me happy, female.” His voice lowered to a rumble. “And I didn’t think that
was possible.”

“I’m glad.” She returned his smile, her head light. “I want
you to have everything I promised you.” She placed his palm on her gently
rounded stomach. “And soon, as you already know, you
will
have everything.”

Darius’ crimson eyes widened, his shock too acute to be
feigned. “What are you saying?” He splayed trembling fingers over her skin.

Sabria frowned, confused by his reaction. “You said we’d
have offspring soon.”

“Soon, someday in the future soon.” Darius sat up and his
cock slipped from her pussy. “Not today soon.” He rolled her onto her back and
he touched her stomach gingerly, examining her thoroughly, his expression
deadly serious. “Today soon,” he repeated, his voice soft and wistful. “You’re
sure?”

“Yes, Ship performed the tests multiple times. We’re having
one child, a female.” Sabria nibbled on her bottom lip, watching his face. “I
know
Balazoids
don’t value female offspring.”

“I am
not
a
Balazoid
!” Darius roared. “I am
Darius and I value female offspring.” He pressed his lips to her stomach, his
mouth hot and gentle. “You are valued,” he murmured to their unborn child. “I
will love and protect you as I love and protect your mother.”

“As I love and protect her father.” Sabria smoothed the wayward
curl in Darius’ fine white hair.

“She will be as happy as we are.” Darius rested his cheek on
her stomach, his breath wafting on her skin, and Sabria held him, the assassin
she loved.