“All right.”
He guided the child onward. Blankets lay across the floor, just as he’d left them. He walked around them and into the gloom. Little light made its way into this part of the building. Enrue paused at the stairs. He squinted, but saw nothing where they led below the main floor. The air reeked of mold and age.
“I want to hear Melia’s voice.”
“She’s not with us, Shiemir. She hasn’t been with us since she was sent to meet with you.”
“Bullshit. Where is she?”
A twittering laugh filled the silence, ominous and not the answer he needed. At once, he feared for her. Had she resisted her boss for him? Was she dead? He shuddered and started down the stairs, holding tight to the child hostage.
When he reached the lower level, he stood there, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen next. A tall man, more shadow than shape led a female captive. The familiarity of her voice caused Enrue to cringe. Even before she stepped into the gray area of waning light from the stairwell, he knew. “Sima,” he whispered.
“Why did you come here?” She sounded weak, terrified. “You know they’ll kill you. You know—”
Her guard shook her violently. “Shut up, bitch.” He leered in the darkness, his eyes pale and glittery. “I have him now, Daschia. He has the girl.”
His words were clearly a trigger, the needed information to set about Enrue’s end. Taking the cue and hoping he’d be faster than these Kyleena guards, he shoved the child forth, ran sideways and reached for his daughter.
The Emperor’s daughter whined behind her gag as she crashed into the lanky guard. Her small body only served to throw him off balance before she tumbled to the ground. Sima lunged forward, ready to escape, reaching, for the first time in years, for her father’s hand.
Their fingers met, hers cold and shaking, his, strong and determined. They clasped together for a fleeting moment. A shot rang out, echoing in the emptiness with an electric sizzle. Enrue pulled her close to him, crushing her to his chest. He glanced up in time to see the guard clasp his chest, his grim face affected by shock. Blood stained his fingers. He lurched forth, tripping over the child who cowered on the ground. She let out another frightened whine and curled into a ball.
A second guard came from the upstairs, just as Enrue readied to ascend with his daughter. This man reached within the fold of his jacket. Again, the same, sinister shot rang out. A flash of light skimmed over Enrue’s shoulder, hitting its mark. The guard shrieked before losing his balance and rolling down the steps. He landed in a heap at the Shiemir’s feet.
“Go,” Sima ordered. “Run. We have to get out!”
Together they sidestepped the fallen guard and raced up the stairs. Someone followed, soft steps whispering on the cement floor and thumping up the steps behind. Reaching the locker room, Enrue almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw O’Ka and Razi side by side, armed and ready with stunners to defend him. Sima escaped his grip, hurrying toward her husband.
Gloved fingers curled over Enrue’s upper left arm, halting him in his tracks. He watched O’Ka’s face twist with horror. Her lip curled back, revealing her anger and her sharp teeth. She held her stunner aimed at Enrue, but he knew she was only trying to get a target on his attacker.
Hot lips seared his ear and a voice, deep and masculine, breathed out his name.
“Enrue.”
The cold metal of his attacker’s stunner sank against his neck. “Back up. Your daughter is safe. The trade is done.”
O’ka started to slink forth. Her finger tapped at the stunner she held, ready, always overanxious.
“Stay there,” he told her. “Make sure Sima and Razi get back to the palace.”
O’ka hissed her defiance, but stopped her advance.
“You must help her do what’s right. You must teach her.” The man behind him pressed his body against Enrue’s back, and he felt the firm line of his captor’s erection against his butt. He shivered, repulsed.
“Take a step with me, Shiemir.” Those heated lips brushed his ear once more. “Kyleena is vast. I hear the Emperor’s palace is beautiful this time of year on Hascha. Have you ever been there?”
The stunner’s tip, still warm from the previous attacks, made his neck itch. This assassin had killed the other two, but why? It made no sense. “No,” he answered, falling back, retreating from his daughter, O’ka, and Razi. He feared he might fall as he took the steps backward and down into the dark.
“I think I’d like to see Kaldu’s face when I present him with you. What a sight that will be. What a rush.” He chuckled and nipped at Enrue’s earlobe this time, sending chills through his body.
“Who are you?” he asked when they paused on the lower level next to the first dead body.
In a voice biting with sarcasm, he answered, “Daschia.” He laughed again, this time lower, more dangerous. He set his stunner in a holster at his belt and flashed a cold smile. A shackle gripped Enrue’s wrist, cold and vise-like. The other end clamped over Daschia’s wrist. The two men went to the child. The assassin pulled away her blindfold and gag. “Imagine, doing such a thing to an innocent. I thought better of you, Enrue.”
“You don’t think. You kill for your masters. I pity you.”
He snorted out an amused sound. When he turned to regard Enrue, he tilted his glasses down to the tip of his nose. “Pity yourself. The rule of Taraf is no longer yours. I wonder if you’ll miss it.”
The gold flashing in his captor’s irises made him think of Melia. “How many of your kind are left?” he whispered. “How many shifters has the Empire trained to do what you do?”
He clucked his tongue.
“Only one.
And I’m only a half breed.” He reached with his free hand and grasped the back of Enrue’s head, forcing his face close until their noses touched. “Haven’t you guessed?” His mouth clamped over Enrue’s, a hot, wet tongue probing for entry.
At first he balked, but Daschia’s grip held him. The kiss deepened. Enrue tasted the other man though the sudden passion startled him. There was a familiarity about the roll of this assassin’s tongue. A large hand nestled at Enrue’s crotch, cupping his balls and fondling them gently beneath his pants. Daschia pulled away, a wide grin on his full lips. “You can trust me now.”
“Melia?” he questioned, his voice broken and stunned.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Golga
Melia led Enrue to the shuttle. The Emperor’s daughter held tight to her hand, and the three made a strange group entering the cloaked Empyreal cruiser. She remained in her shifted form, aroused in Daschia’s male body by the closeness of her lover. There was one other aboard the ship, a trained assassin, an obstacle she knew she needed to dispose of before she returned to the Empire. Treating Enrue as her prisoner, she walked up the ramp and entered the cool air of the ship.
Golga stood waiting a few paces inside, thrumming her fingers against the metal wall. “Got him alive, Daschia? That’s not like you at all.” She giggled, sounding like a spoiled teen, and pushed off from her perch. The sway of her hips as she approached only heightened Melia’s sense of need. Being a female in a male body always intrigued her.
“I have new orders.” Melia released the child and nodded at the assassin. “Take Kaldu’s daughter to a room. Feed her. Give her whatever she wants.”
Sniffing her disdain to be lowered to the rank of royal babysitter, Golga obeyed. Melia studied the other woman’s small ass as she sauntered through the long hall to the main control center and bedchambers. She cleared her throat and grimaced.
It’s going to be a long flight with her aboard.
Enrue glanced over his shoulder when the metal door began its slow process of sliding shut. The ramp eased into its slot and lights flickered, warning anyone outside in the abandoned dockbay to stay back. Jets fired. Smoke and the raunchy odor of refined Hemec tainted the air. “I need to get back to the palace,” he said, turning to face her. “Why are you taking me to the Empire?”
She frowned. Returning with him, remaining in Taraf as the consort of a Shiemir sounded like a fine life, but the business with Kyleena would have her lover killed off all too soon. “My boss was the highest ranked in the guild,” she explained. “As such, he has certain privileges, access to certain files and places I could never get close to. I have that now.” She placed her hand over his cheek, causing him to both flinch and ease into the contact. She guessed her appearance must be tearing up his emotions, but she had to remain this way. Shifting to her true form risked losing Daschia’s signature imprint and she might not be able to get it back.
“I don’t understand. What does that have to do with anything?” He glanced over his shoulder a second time, the glimpse of the old building the last they’d both see of Taraf for a long while if her plan worked. “They’ll kill me in Kyleena. You know this.”
She breathed in his masculine scent. Her hand lowered to his shoulder. “Kidnapping the Emperor’s child was going too far. If you stay in Taraf, you’re dead. Such insolence isn’t tolerated.”
“So, you’re taking me to Kaldu to be put to death in the public eye?” He closed his fingers over her forearm, his eyes boring into her. “Why?”
She chuckled, satisfied with how her voice sounded just the same as Daschia’s. It was a blessing for once that her former boss had taken her as his lover, giving her the opportunity to learn his quirks and nuances…his fetishes even. No one in the Empire would suspect her. “I can get close to Kaldu,” she whispered. “And you are my reason to get close enough.”
“Enough to do what?”
She leaned in and dragged her lips over his. Her cock pulsed, stiffening. Melia wondered what it would feel like to take Enrue, what sort of delicious acts they could experience now. Would he let her? Would he resist? It took him a while to respond to her efforts, but soon, as he had done in the lower room of the abandoned building, he kissed her back. She pulled away, out of breath and hungry for more.
“Enough to do my job.”
His mouth gaped for a moment. “You plan to assassinate the Emperor?”
She nodded.
“If I can get close enough.”
Pulling away further, she tugged on the shackles that bound them. He followed, albeit with a confused expression lining his features. They entered the command room where she overlooked the droids, checking to ensure all the coordinates were correct. The display screen flashed on. The rumble of the engines beneath them warned her to sit down for takeoff. She took Daschia’s place at the high seat, and Enrue settled in beside her in a second’s place. They buckled and waited, staring at the main screen and the two side viewers showing what they were leaving behind.
The lighting dimmed all around them. Melia squeezed Enrue’s hand. Their shackles clinked. “After we’ve left the atmosphere, I have to kill Golga. I’ll need you to wait for me in my—Daschia’s chamber. She’ll suspect nothing is amiss and will probably want to join in the fun. My boss often tortured his victims.”
Disgust spread over Enrue’s face. “Foul Empire,” he muttered.
Together they watched the city fade to a distant smear of color. The sky enveloped them and soon the blackness of space, dotted with stars, covered all three screens. Melia unlocked the shackles, stared at Enrue for a moment to see if he would try to escape, and lowered her mouth to his neck. She kissed his skin with slow suckles, her tongue swiping a trail of lust. Her body felt afire, the hardness nearly unbearable in her soft pants. Everything felt full and tight.
He sighed.
She raised her gaze. “What’s wrong?”
“Shift back. I need to see the real you.” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. “Please.”
“I—I can’t. Not yet.” She unknotted his sash belt and tugged it away. Fingers slipped inside his pants, past his undershorts to the treasure within. He was still slightly soft, but his length only needed coaxing. Melia circled the head of his sex with teasing fingers. “Just close your eyes. It’s still me.”
His breathing hitched. He blinked, but didn’t look away.
“You like it when I touch you, don’t you?” She ran her thumb up and down the slit until drops of cum dribbled out, smoothing her efforts. The muscle thickened beneath his supple skin. She slipped her fingers down, sliding his skin over the capped head of his growing erection. “Don’t you, Enrue?”