Mercenaries (10 page)

“Bitch!” Behind her, the one she called Andy jerked a knife from his belt. “I'll see you in hell!”

Before the colonist could ram the blade into a gap in Trin's borrowed armor, Nathan's hand clamped over his fist. Bone crunched. The man howled.

“You son of a bitch!” Snarling, Nathan seized him by the throat with his free hand and jerked him off his feet. A red haze descended over his vision as he stared up into the blond's purpling face.
The bastard had tried to kill Trin!

The knife fell from the colonist's ruined hand as he used the other to claw at Nathan's fingers.

“Andrew!” the sheriff yelled, grabbing for his weapon.

“Touch it and he dies!” Nathan roared, giving the blond a shake as, behind him, his troopers aimed their weapons at the sheriff. For an instant the only sound was the colonist's choked gasps.

“As much as I'm enjoying this, you'd better let him go before you kill him,”
Sebastian commed.
“I think you've made your point, Nate.”

Knowing his second was right, Nathan dropped the man with a growl of disgust. The blond hit the pavement on his ass, gasping for breath. The sheriff went to his knees beside him.

“Sebastian, take half the men and load the stores on the transport,”
Nathan ordered.
“I'm going to get Trin out of here before one of these bastards tries anything else stupid.”
To Trin he added, “Let's get out of here.”

The remainder of the troopers fell in around him and Trinity as they started toward the second shuttle. The colonists watched them, muttering in anger, but not quite willing to risk the mercenaries' beamers after all.

Until Andy lifted his voice. “You'll pay for this, Trinity Yeager!”

Nathan whirled. “No, by God, she won't. In fact, you idiots had better start praying Trin has a long and happy life. Because if she encounters any would-be assassins, I'll be back—with an invasion force.” He let an artistic pause develop. “And her bloodline will be the least of your problems.”

“And by then,” Trinity added, “I'll have nanotech implants of my own.” Her smile was chilling. “We'll see how
you
like being at the mercy of somebody stronger than you are.”

Nathan snorted. “Trinity, you don't need implants to be stronger than this bunch.”

Her smile was blinding.

Looking down into her pretty face, he strongly suspected he was falling in love.

T
HE flight back to the
Starrunner
was a long, dizzy pleasure for Trin.

I did it,
she thought as Nathan murmured to his copilot.
I'm free! No more beatings! No auction. No Andy! Yes!

Best of all, she'd finally told Elder Jones exactly what she thought of him and his con man's cult. Everything she'd been biting back for years. The vague sense of shame she'd always felt at her own cowardice was gone.

She had a new life.

Lost in her own delight, Trin barely noticed when the shuttle slid into its berth. Even the roar and hiss of atmosphere being pumped in around it scarcely penetrated her joy. When the troopers rose to file out, it was all she could do not to dance as she followed them.

“Ms. Yeager?”

She looked around with a happy smile as Nathan appeared at her elbow, tall and dark and looking very professional. “Yes, Captain?”

He gave her a short, stiff nod. “If you'll come with me, please.” Pivoting, he strode off down the corridor.

Trin followed his broad back happily, unconcerned about where he was leading her. For the first time in her life, a man had actually come through for her. He hadn't betrayed her. Hell, he'd been willing to start a battle with the men of Rectitude to protect her. She was glad it hadn't come to that, but she couldn't help but be delighted.

When she'd whirled around to find Andy dangling from Nathan's grip with a knife in his crushed hand, she'd been stunned. The sheriff's son had been willing to murder her in cold blood in front of more than a thousand witnesses.

But Nathan had saved her life.

She was still struggling to take the idea in when she followed him into his quarters. The door slid shut behind her.

Nathan turned toward her, his eyes so hungry she instinctively took a step back. Yet his hands were unspeakably gentle as he brushed the hair back from her face.

Something tight in her melted, and she gave him a smile that trembled. “Thank you. Oh, thank you . . .”

Which was apparently the signal he'd been waiting for. He stepped full against her, his big, hard body pressing hers against the door. She moaned in welcome the instant before his mouth came down to claim her lips in a kiss so searing, she lost her breath.

Trin's own hunger flared, and she kissed him back, licking and sucking at his lips the way he'd taught her. With a growl of need and impatience, he began plucking at the straps of her armor. The chestplate dropped with a thud. “Let me have you,” Nathan whispered against her mouth. “Please, Trin!”

“Yes!” she moaned, tilting her head up.

He took the gesture for the invitation it was and began to bite and suckle his way along her jaw. Meanwhile, his impatient hands plucked at straps and pulled at armor. She did the same to his, hungry to uncover his magnificent body. The tough plates landed at their feet with a series of thumps.

Until, as if he just couldn't stand any more, he stood back, grabbed the neckline of her unisuit, and ripped the tough fabric ruthlessly down the front. Her breasts spilled free.

Nathan hastily shucked out of what remained of his armor, then pulled her into his arms. Cupping one big hand under her ass, he lifted her, bending her over his arm so he could suck the nearest nipple into his mouth. Trin groaned in helpless pleasure at the intense sensation of wet heat and gentle, nibbling teeth. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she clung to his strong shoulders. “You saved my life. He was going to kill me, and you saved my life.”

He lifted his head from her breast just long enough to growl, “You were magnificent. When you told that elder what you thought of his idiot cult, it was all I could do not to cheer.”

She grinned. “It did feel good.”

“I'm sure it did.” Bracing her as she wrapped around him, Nathan turned and walked toward his bed, grinning into her eyes. “By the way, thanks for announcing to everybody—including my crew—that I've got a big dick.”

Trin felt her cheeks heat. She'd been so far gone in reckless indignation, she hadn't even considered her audience. “Oh—I'm sorry!”

“I'm not.” The grin broadened. “That's the kind of rumor no guy minds.” He spilled her back onto the bed, following her down to cover her in a warm blanket of male sensuality.

“It's more than a rumor, Captain.” She drew her legs tighter around his backside and rolled her hips, enjoying the way his thick erection pressed against her stomach. “Much, much more.”

“Glad to hear it.” He reached between their bodies to find the join of her thighs, then slipped a finger into her core. She sighed at the sensation. “Now, if you'd said I had a needle dick, then I'd have had to punish you.”

Something in the dark, seductive thrum of his voice made inner muscles clench in greed. “Yeah? How?”

He must have seen the leap of lust in her eyes. His own widened, then narrowed in sudden speculation. “I'd have warmed this pretty little butt with my hand. And then I'd have tied you up and fucked you. Hard.”

It had always infuriated her when the males of Rectitude punished her for some infraction, particularly when she suspected hurting her aroused them. But coming from Nathan, the threat was altogether different—an erotic game, meant to stoke her hunger as much as his.

And it did. The thought of being draped bare-assed across his lap for a spanking struck her as deliciously kinky. The elders would have been shocked.

Trin smirked. “Needledick.”

A delighted grin bloomed across his face the instant before he assumed a threatening glare. “Are you talking to me?” His growl was so deep and menacing, hot little muscles clenched in her sex.

Trin licked dry lips. “Yeah. What are you going to do about it?”

“Well, for starters,” Nathan rumbled as his cock lengthened and throbbed, “I'm going to watch those cheeks turn a pretty pink under my hand. Then I'm going to fuck you.” Heat gathered in his balls as he looked down at her lush, vulnerable curves. “Hard.”

She stared up at him. Her smile sent a bolt of lust right into his groin. “Good. I want to be fucked.” Pausing, she licked her lips. “Hard.”

With a rough growl of hunger, Nathan rolled off the bed, then bent and scooped her into his arms. She yelped and pretended to struggle, but he dropped down on the mattress and hauled her facedown over his knee.

“Brute!” Her attempt at outrage was spoiled by a giggle.

“That's me.” Nathan inserted a finger into her delicious sex. She was even hotter than she'd been the last time he'd probed her. God, he couldn't wait to slide inside.

Withdrawing his fingers, he cupped the sweet, round curves of her butt, savoring the smooth skin. “Mmmm,” he purred, “what a perfect pair of cheeks. I'm going to enjoy heating them up.”

Trin moaned, the sound a purr of excitement as she squirmed over his knees, her ass flexing and lifting in blatant invitation.

Sebastian had speculated she had a submissive streak. It looked as if he was right. And Nathan planned to take full advantage of it.

Then he paused, frowning. Cassidy Vika had said the men of the colony enjoyed seeing the female colonists beaten. He did not want Trin to think he was cut from the same cloth—hurting her solely because he enjoyed it, without any concern for her at all.

“You remember your safe word, right?”

“Starrunner,”
she replied, a hint of impatience in her voice.

“Are you sure this is—”

She shot him a glittering glare over her shoulder. “Needledick!”

Well, that answered that question. “You asked for it.” He lifted his hand.

TRINITY took a deep breath as the mercenary's muscled thighs flexed under her body. His erect cock rested against her hip, long and hard and eager. She could feel her own slick heat increasing.

The first slap was loud, but barely even stung. It was more a hard pat than anything else.

A measured interval went by as she waited for the next spank. She squirmed against Nathan's thigh as her arousal grew.

Whap.
That one was no harder.
Whap!
The one that followed came a little faster, but with that same ruthless control.

He picked up speed, inflicting a constant patter of light slaps that didn't really hurt.
Whap, whapwhapwhap!

Heat spread across her butt with each impact of Nathan's broad palm. Slowly the slaps started getting harder, then harder still until she found herself squirming, as much with sheer arousal as from the gathering sting.

Bucking against his powerful thighs, she felt a hum of pleasure burning under her skin like a low-level electric charge. And every time Trin writhed under a smack, the silken hair on Nathan's thighs teased her nipples, sending another zing of pleasure through her.

Her ass was really beginning to burn now. She pictured herself draped butt-up across the mercenary's lap, bound and helpless, cheeks reddening steadily under his lustful paddling.

Nathan's hand paused in its rise and fall. For a moment there was silence except for their gasps. He was breathing just as hard as she was. She knew it wasn't from exertion.

“Ready to beg for mercy?” Nathan asked, his voice rough with arousal.

Her ass felt hot and inflamed. So did her pussy and the tips of her aching breasts. She clenched her fists, feeling the rise of a reckless heat. “I can take anything you can dish out—Needledick.”

“Ohhhh,” Nathan growled. “We'll see about that.”