Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I (42 page)

“
If she had a clue of how
a woman of the Anunnaki would behave she wouldn’t have made that
suggestion!” Koryn muttered after a moment.

Tariq frowned. “She has a point,” he
said slowly.

“
If she did, she would
already have cut your throat and mine, too!” Koryn
retorted.

“
I didn’t mean that
literally,” Tariq said dryly.

Koryn glared at him. “Even
figuratively. Setting aside the fact that she’s about half the size
of an Anunnaki, does she seem like any Anunnaki woman you’ve ever
met?”

“
She isn’t Anunnaki,”
Tariq said. “Of course she doesn’t behave like our women. Her
society was completely different.”

“
Exactly my point! An
Anunnaki of what rank? Because it seemed to me that she was
suggesting a woman of our class and no man in his right mind would
chose a concubine of the same class. There would be constant
bickering over who outranked whom in the connection and whose
decision was final!”

“
Gods, Koryn! You confuse
the hell out of me, and I don’t need the gods damned
headache!”

“
You’re confused? I’m
fucking confused! What the hell did she mean?”

“
She wants to be
considered an equal partner. Love her and she will return it. Try
to possess her and you will lose it.”

Tariq and Koryn both turned to look at
Aeon when he spoke. Koryn couldn’t help but notice that Tariq
didn’t look nearly as outraged as he felt when they exchanged a
glance. It wasn’t bad enough Emerald had decided to rebel? Now the
fucking androids felt like it was perfectly alright to stick their
damned noses in where they weren’t welcome? “I don’t believe I
addressed that question to you,” he responded coldly.

Tariq shrugged. “I think he put it
fairly succinctly, though.” He studied Koryn for a long moment.
“I’m still breeding her, though, gods damn it! You can damned well
wait until I’m done to scan her.”

Koryn took instant exception to the
tone. Fortunately, before he could voice his objections it occurred
to him that Tariq had acknowledged their previous agreement and he
decided to leave well enough alone. In any case, Tariq distracted
him in the next moment.

“
We need to divide the
cooking.”

He blinked at him in disbelief. “I
can’t cook.”

“
Well, you need to
learn!”

“
Exactly how the hell am I
supposed to do that out here in the middle of nowhere? There aren’t
any instructors!”

“
I will prepare this meal
and instruct you as I cook,” Aeon offered.

Koryn had to fight the
urge to throttle the bastard. “
You’re
an instructor
droid?”

Aeon bowed his head. “I was not given
that task, no. I have been assigned as a guard unit. However, I was
programmed to perform in whatever capacity needed.”

Even the gods damned androids knew
every damned thing they might need to know about surviving, Koryn
thought angrily, wondering abruptly if he should have focused his
entire studies on the sciences. It hadn’t occurred to him that he
would ever need other skills, however.

“
You need to get used to
not referring to them as androids,” Tariq said evenly. “We owe them
our lives. We owe them for saving Emerald when we
couldn’t.”

Koryn wrestled with the
urge to inform Tariq that he hadn’t had any part in the
arrangements and that, therefore, he wasn’t obligated to anything
Tariq had promised. He tamped the urge after a moment. As much as
he resented Tariq’s arrogant assumption that he was still in a
position to order everyone around, he
was
grateful and it was a meager
repayment for what they’d risked. “True,” he said finally. “And I
suppose it’s never too soon to get into the habit.”

Tariq nodded and glanced at Aeon.
“Bring me and Emerald a tray when the food’s done.”

Koryn glared at his back indignantly
as he strode down the corridor once more. “Maybe you need to adjust
your attitude a little yourself?” he pointed out
tightly.

Tariq halted and turned to look back
at them, frowning. After a moment, his brow cleared.
“Please?”

Aeon bowed. “I am always honored to
serve you, Lord Tariq.”

Rolling his eyes, Koryn stalked to one
of the lounges and sprawled on it.

“
It will be far easier to
learn, I believe, if you watch,” Aeon pointed out.

Koryn sent the android a startled look
and then glared at him, but he got up and followed him into the
galley, watching him carefully as he selected the
ingredients.

“
What are you going to
prepare?”

“
Roast beef with potatoes,
carrots, and peas.”

Koryn’s interest instantly peaked.
“Great! I’m starving and I haven’t had anything like that in … I’m
damned if I remember. Since I left Niribu the first time. I wonder
why Lady Selena didn’t just stock the ship with space rations? It
would’ve been more convenient.”

“
Her servants have said
that she prefers the luxury of freshly prepared food to the
convenience of her servants,” Aeon responded neutrally.

“
Well, I prefer fresh
food, too, but it doesn’t keep nearly as well.”

“
There are space rations
in the hold. She had no idea how long our voyage might
be.”

Koryn frowned. “She risked a lot to
help us. I hope to hell she’s going to be alright.”

“
She loves Lord Tariq. She
thought the risk was worth it. In any case, her servants rebelled
and stole the ship and left her bound and gagged. It will be
reported as a theft and they will be reported as rebels. I’m
confident she thought of everything … and she has a great deal of
political influence. Beyond that, I killed Mylor, who would’ve been
her greatest danger.”

“
You killed him for Lady
Selena?” Koryn asked, surprised.

“
I killed him for Lord
Tariq and for his lady,” Aeon said. “Lady Selena’s servants would
have killed him if I hadn’t. He was dead either way.”

“
Our
lady,” Koryn growled.

Aeon sent him a long look, but he
merely bowed. “I killed him for Lord Tariq and Lady Emerald because
she is also his lady. Also because he destroyed the child and Lord
Tariq could not avenge the death of his child himself.”

Koryn felt his appetite vanish at the
reminder, but his interest was fairly caught once Aeon began to
prepare the meal. “This is a bit like working in the lab, actually.
I don’t suppose the measurements need to be quite as
precise.”

Aeon shrugged. “It will not blow up if
the measurements are not precise, but it may taste like
hell.”

“
Yes, well failed
experiments are always a disappointment.”

“
Particularly if it is one
you intended to eat.”

Chapter Eighteen

Emerald studied Tariq’s sleeping face,
enjoying the rare opportunity to examine him to her heart’s
content. Despite their own advances in slowing the aging process
over the past several decades, she still found it hard to accept
that either Tariq or Koryn were as old as they’d implied. They
appeared much the same age as she was.

Then again, they’d ‘resurrected’ her,
and her age was as deceptive as theirs. She’d been twenty eight
when she’d fought her last battle, however, and she supposed they
must have brought her to that age physically when they’d
regenerated her. She didn’t see that she looked any differently in
the mirror than she remembered.

She’d always found it disconcerting
when they called her child, although oddly enough, when they’d
ceased and begun to call her baby that had pleased her, because it
‘felt’ like a term of affection. She still thought it was … and she
still had some doubts about the way felt about her.

She shouldn’t have. They’d risked
death to protect her—a horrible death if she could rely on Mylor’s
gloating and she thought she could trust the bastard in that if
nothing else. She couldn’t imagine that they would have if they
hadn’t loved her.

And yet … could she really trust that
they looked upon death the same way she did? As the ultimate
sacrifice?

Beyond that, did they even have the
ability to feel love as she perceived love? She thought that was
the main source of her anxiety, that their society hadn’t prepared
them to perceive love in the same way. They both still thought of
her as something they could own rather than a person. She wasn’t
certain they would ever be able to really see her in any other
light, regardless of what she saw as efforts on their part to do
so. She didn’t think it was because she was a woman. From things
she’d heard and seen in her brief stay on Niribu, it wasn’t any
more uncommon for women to hold positions of power and wealth than
men ... but those were women of the Anunnaki. She was human and she
had a feeling that was a preconception they would never really
overcome.

And maybe, in many ways,
the Anunnaki
were
superior and they were justified in thinking they
were.

It made her wonder how women had coped
with their roles as inferiors for so many generations on Earth when
even women of the same class as their husbands were still
considered beneath them simply because they were born
women.

She shrugged the thought
off. She didn’t think it would be any great hardship to deal
with—annoying—but not insurmountable simply because she
didn’t
feel
inferior. She also didn’t have a problem allowing them,
mostly Tariq, to believe he was the ‘boss’ and his word was final.
There were always ways around that and she didn’t particularly care
if she had to work around it.

“
Now what’s running
through that mind, I wonder?” Tariq murmured in a husky voice still
laced with sleep, startling her.

She smiled when she focused on his
face again and saw the curve of his lips. “I was just thinking that
you’re a beautiful man,” she said teasingly.

His face darkened. He stretched and
curled his arms around her, dragging her closer. “Insatiable
wench!”

Emerald chuckled. “I’m sated. My
eyeballs are floating.”

Tariq uttered a snorting laugh.
“You’re fortunate your skull’s intact. I had a hell of a backup
that first time around.”

Emerald felt her belly clench at the
reminder of his stint imprison, but she was more than willing to do
her utmost to erase those terrifying weeks from her mind. Lifting a
hand, she stroked his hard cheek. “As horrible as everything was,
I’m glad it turned out like it did. If your plan had succeeded I
would never have seen you again and I don’t think I could’ve borne
that.”

Several emotions chased across his
features. “I never wanted to send you away. You know that, don’t
you?”

Emerald nodded, tilting her head to
brush her face along his. “I know. You wanted to protect your baby.
I understand.”

She heard him swallow. “I wasn’t
thinking about the baby when I made the arrangements.”

Emerald felt her heart skip several
beats. “You weren’t?”

“
I ….” He hesitated for a
long moment. “I care about you, Em. I know it might not seem like
it to you, but I’m trying … to adjust.”

Emerald closed her eyes, relishing the
words even though it wasn’t quite what she’d hoped to hear. “Maybe
I should tie you up and torment you for hours on end with the most
exquisite pleasure imaginable?” she said teasingly after a
moment.

He drew back to study her face, but he
relaxed when he saw she was teasing. “Believe it or not, that was
every bit as tortuous to me,” he said dryly.

She sent him a skeptical
look.

“
I see you don’t. You
wouldn’t look so doubtful if you had any idea how much I wanted you
or how long I waited.”

She was inclined to be pleased about
that admission and began to think, once she’d thought back over it,
that maybe she hadn’t considered it from his viewpoint at all. As
beleaguered as she’d been, she’d been keenly aware of his arousal.
She doubted anything he’d done to her would’ve been nearly as
exciting if she hadn’t sensed that it affected him as much as it
did her.

“
You can at least concede
I wasn’t unmoved,” he said dryly.

Her lips curled in a smile. She leaned
toward him to nibble at his hard mouth. “Maybe I’d still like to
tie you down and torture you,” she murmured.

He rolled onto his back and laced his
fingers behind his head. “Baby, you can do anything you want. I’m
not stopping you.”

The invitation was too tempting to
resist. She straddled his waist and settled to exploring him with
her fingers and her lips until she touched a spot on his ribs along
his side and he let out a choked grunt, flinching all over.
Intrigued, she returned to the spot and dug her fingers in a little
more deeply. His reaction was more pronounced that time.

Emerald lifted her head and stared at
him, suppressing the urge to laugh. “You’re ticklish.”