Janus' Conquest (15 page)

“Make sure my daughter does not come anywhere near this sphere.”

103

Dawn Ryder

Janus controlled the urge to turn his head. It was difficult because he still respected Edric. The new convict didn’t stop, but moved right by him as though he hadn’t spoken. But his eyes shifted for a moment as he shot Janus a hard look.

“Do not disappoint me.”

Janus watched him move away down the street as he considered the other convicts in his sight. Patrol was filled with danger, and he’d learned to keep his eyes moving and his attention sharp in order to stay alive. Hawk moved beside him and stood silently, watching Edric depart.

“Interesting.”

Janus shot his partner a hard look. Hawk raised a dark eyebrow at the tension between them. “Be glad that I met my mate first, Janus. You are not suffering the test well.”

“Why?” It wasn’t the response Janus expected. He was on edge and knew it. The idea shouldn’t bother him so much but it was rubbing at him, irritating the new intimacy he’d discovered last night with Fay. The fledgling emotion touched his protective instinct in spite of the fact that he understood that Hawk was a part of any life he forged with Fay.

“Because, my friend, I spent the night with my mate and am in no rutting heat.”

Hawk turned to consider him. Janus caught a little smirk twisting Hawk’s lips. “Still, it’s rather enjoyable to watch you squirm as you consider sharing your newly gained submission.”

Janus snorted at him. “Fay is hardly submissive.” But there were parts of her unbending will that he found far more attractive than he had ever considered he might.

It was a fact that it made his cock hard to watch her face him with determination shimmering in her eyes. The challenge was addictive.

Hawk chuckled before shaking his head. “You deserve a little squirming for the enjoyment you gained while I courted Tova.”

“Chased and begged, you mean.”

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Hawk frowned and half turned to consider his partner. “That is exactly what makes you deserving of a little squirming.”

Janus lost the battle to contain a grin. He cut a swift glance around the street before returning his attention to Hawk. “Tova was worth it.”

Hawk lost his playful edge. Deep emotion shimmered in his eyes as he considered his newly pledged mate. “She is. I wish you the same journey.”

Janus wasn’t sure if Hawk was referring to the chase or the pledging, but he didn’t ask because Tova wasn’t a matter for jesting. She might be Hawk’s mate, but she was also a part of his life, and he cradled tender feelings for the woman who loved her mate enough to share her body with him to prevent them from fighting over her. He watched every action Hawk took, just as Hawk saw everything he did. It wasn’t possible to witness the passionate moments in his partner’s life without harboring lust for the female involved. The accepted method of dealing with that natural reaction was to share. Tova had loved Hawk enough to come to terms with his joining them from time to time. But she did not love him in that same manner.

It was a gift that he had not truly understood the value of until today. It humbled him with the sheer amount of emotion the couple held for him. That was the thing that enriched a Hunter’s life. There was no material thing that might earn you that sort of bond. It was forged through years of partnership and through the honest love of a female for one male.

But he also realized that sharing Tova had not extended to the deeper emotions she and Hawk shared. He had touched every inch of her body, pressed his cock deep into her pussy, but he had never really sampled her love. Not the sort that bound her to Hawk anyway. He had never shared their bed, only her body. His memory offered up the way that Fay had felt against his body last night, and Janus knew without a doubt that he had come face to face with the one female who might be able to make him kneel in front of her.

105

Dawn Ryder

* * * * *

“How did you get convicted of murder?” Edric shouldn’t have cared, but the words were out of his mouth before he thought about them. Alana’s dark eyebrow rose as she shook her head.

“Because I ended a male’s life.”

There was no further explanation, and the expression on her face was calm. Edric studied her because she was not the first life-taker he had faced, but her manner was different. Every convict life-taker he’d met was either frantic to avoid being caught or rigid with righteous fury fueling their crime. Alana was neither. She was simply honest.

That bred more questions, but she lifted a hand and placed it so that her palm was facing him.

“Knowing will not change anything. I am a life-taker and a convict. The details matter not. There is no place for me in any sphere.”

“I disagree.”

Alana offered him a grin. It was full of youth and mischief. “That lightens my heart, oh yes it does.”

“Good. As you told me there is no shortage of frowns here.”

Alana laughed. “Ah, you noticed, did you?” She cast her eyes around the street.

“Now the real talent is picking out the ones who manage to find a new reason to grouse every day. It proves how creative they truly are.”

Edric shook his head. “Only you would make a game of ill manners.”

“I have my talents.” She offered him a curtsy before handing his newest bag of counted work. “But I’d better go. Eyes are watching and weighing my productivity.”

She turned and left. His work was piled on the table and the box of completed work was perched on her hip like a toddler. Her hips swayed beneath her robe as she made her way swiftly down the street. Edric turned to the box of new parts she had left for him. Dumping the contents onto his worktable, he put his fist through the false bottom 106

Janus’ Conquest

of the box that Alana hadn’t noticed was there. Tins of meat were stacked in the hidden compartment, and he collected them before sweeping the unassembled power supplies back into the box. Laying a trap meant making sure that very few people actually knew what he was doing. His payment needed to be smuggled into the penal sphere as well.

Alana didn’t even know she was a party to smuggling.

Edric glanced up, but she had disappeared from sight, leaving him to the task of getting on with looking like a convict. It was best, but he couldn’t stop the feeling that invaded his gut. Alana simply didn’t seem like she belonged in the category of life-taker. Greed didn’t shimmer from her eyes and her face lacked the harsh, self-serving look that went along with murder. Maybe it was the separation from Fay that made him consider such things. Alana was not much older than his daughter. Somewhere, she had a father who must have wanted to dance at her pledging ceremony.

It was a shame to be sure.

* * * * *

Fay exhausted her meager list of things to do before noon. Most of the things she might have done on a day off were no longer appealing to her. Shopping held little interest, since she was still set upon joining her father. There was no point in buying things that would only be tempting to a thief, or clothing that she would have no chance to wear. Spending hard-earned money on beauty treatments for her fingernails seemed absurd when she would soon have to work at menial labor. Everyone in the penal sphere worked.

That left her with socializing, but the memory of her work team made her shudder as she considered attempting to join any of them for a meal. It was possible that not everyone would shun her, but the odds were not in her favor. She shrugged. The law worked well because the population did not tolerate a convict. While it was harsh for her, the shunning of her peers served as a stern example. She could at least console herself with the knowledge that it might teach others to stay on the correct side of the law.

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Dawn Ryder

But her mood was still so low she doubted it could sink any further. With a small huff, she found herself wandering. The day was nice, the sun warm, and she lifted her face to feel it kissing her skin. The green wristbands adorning her arms served to keep her alone as she walked. Those she passed cast astonished looks at the marks of her father’s shame before moving away from her as fast as possible.

“You find out rather quickly who your true friends are.”

Fay frowned and looked up to find Hunter Calder considering her. She hadn’t been paying very much attention to where she was. Hunter Calder had walked right up to her without her even noticing his approach. Heat stained her cheeks in response.

His face was set into a serious expression. “I respected your sire greatly and still do.”

“Thank you.” Her spirits caught the firm admiration in his voice and rose. Calder nodded before a sparkle entered his eyes.

“Janus is a fine Hunter as well. I believe your father would approve of your choice.”

“There is nothing decided.”

Calder shook his head and offered her a frown. “The proof is clearly written on your face.”

The Hunter left on steady strides as Fay battled the urge to shout out a denial at his back. She hissed at herself instead as she tightened her fingers into fists. Her temper surged up, making no sense, but it did fuel an impulse. She turned and moved off towards her father’s dwelling. Janus’ warning was swept aside as she focused on the annoying fact that everyone appeared to be making choices for her.

Oh, but you enjoy a lot of choices Janus makes for you…

A snort passed her lips as she listened to her own thoughts. Aye, it was true and it was also annoying.

So exactly why did she like being cornered so very much? In truth, she did not understand herself.

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Janus didn’t ring the door chime this time at her father’s dwelling. The lights over the doorway flickered and filled with bright light a second before the panel slid open. A dark frown was covering his face as he stepped into the room and hooked his hands into his belt while his eyes shot a harsh reprimand at her.

A small stain crept back over her face as she witnessed his displeasure. She almost squirmed under his gaze because she couldn’t brush off the validity of his concern. His eyes moved to the blush for a moment before his expression changed to one of deep consideration. Stepping closer, he looked at the craft she had been toying with for most of the afternoon. It wasn’t much of anything, just odds and ends of some project her mother had left behind. For the first time in her life she had found herself with absolutely nothing to do. She was truly humbled.

He extended his hand over her worktable, with the palm up in invitation. “Come with me, Fay.”

His voice shook with the effort he invested into making it a request. It was one of those gestures that touched her heart. Her hand was already resting against his black glove before she formed any further thoughts. His fingers closed around her hand as she caught a flicker of relief move through his blue eyes.

He pulled her hand up and inspected the green wristband clamped around it.

“Your father spoke to me today.” Janus’ eyes flickered up from the wristband to her face. “He told me not to let you near the penal sphere.”

She bit her lower lip in response. Janus watched the indecision in her eyes as she battled against the urge to fling his words right back at his face. The fact that she held that impulse back filled him with renewed confidence. Trust wasn’t something you ordered anyone to do. It grew from inside, and right then, he was witnessing it in Fay.

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Dawn Ryder

“The penal sphere is no place for a non-convict.” He turned and pulled her along by his grip on her hand. “Yet, you do not need to take my word for that.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Hawk’s mate knows more about life in the penal sphere as a non-convict than I do.” Janus slanted his gaze to her for a moment before he continued along the path towards his destination. She was scurrying to keep pace with his longer strides. “If you are still set on attempting to live with your father, you should at least speak with a female who has endured the life you will find.”

He stopped and pulled a small blue vial from his weapons belt. It was a medical applicator, something common but he turned her arm over and pressed it against her bare skin. A hard grunt of approval came from him as he replaced the vial and nodded once more.

“You might have asked me before doing that.”

His eyes were full of arrogance when he met her gaze. “No, it is something that needed doing. You do not care for the reason behind the necessity but that does not change the fact that you need to be protected against Hawk’s seed. Tova takes injections to ensure she does not conceive my child as well.”

“So you treat me like a child who cannot take what it needs for its own good?”

Tears stung her eyes as Janus refused to concede. Some things you understood so clearly without a single word. Tonight, he was proving his need to have her submission.

Only it wasn’t the sort of need that she had always feared he’d demand from her. No, it was a far more intimate sort. Janus wanted her willingness to stay with him, that choice that all daughters had to make at some point. She felt poised on the border of adulthood, and her heart was urging her forward, even though she couldn’t see clearly what lay ahead. Giving her a conception preventative injection against his partner but not himself was just another link in the chain that he was using to secure her to him.

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She just wished there weren’t such a tender spot growing inside her heart for his determination. She felt treasured and needed. The new emotions conflicted with her determination to join her father.

Hawk answered the door that Janus stopped in front of. She knew the other Hunter, or at least thought she did. His mate Tova was someone she recalled well from meetings. A brush of heat touched her face as she recalled asking Tova about Janus once she’d seen the female enter the Hunter sphere alongside Hawk. She had not been able to resist the chance to discover intimate details about him. Since Hawk was Janus’