Enemy Overnight (22 page)

“Pardon the interruption,” Zannen said with exaggerated politeness, “but Hastion’s protected time is drawing to a close.”

Tiber looked around and saw Hastion leaning against the wall behind Jasmine, pale and sweaty and looking like he was actually going to regurgitate again. What in Peserin’s hell was wrong with him?

“You can’t do it, can you?” Zannen exclaimed with a grin.

“You’re not getting her. I’ll kill you first,” Hastion said, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth as he straightened.

“Is that before or after you stop to puke your guts out over kissing a female?”

He staggered toward Zannen. “Shut up!”

“Perhaps you should go back to the atrium and masturbate for all the warriors again. You seemed to enjoy that.”

“I’ve had more than enough of your shit, Zannen,” Hastion growled. “Shut the fuck up before I shut you up.”

Zannen crossed his arms over his chest. “Shut me up. I dare you, sissy boy.”

Hastion howled with fury and launched himself at Zannen. He was nearly a match in height, but he lacked the width and depth, the thickness and hard muscle that was Zannen.

“Hastion, no!” Jasmine cried, trying to rise. “He’ll kill you.”

Shauss gripped the back of her neck and held her in place.

Concerned that this charade might be too much for Hastion in his current state, Tiber moved to step in but Shauss stopped him. “It’s their fight—let them fight it.”

Tiber frowned but held himself in check. He expected Hastion to yield in short order, but his condition seemed to actually improve as the fight progressed. The two rolled along the wall locked in a furious embrace, each trying to get the upper hand. Zannen was stronger, but Hastion was quicker, and every time it looked like Zannen had him, he managed to duck away and attack from a different angle.

Their acting skills impressed the hell out of Tiber…until it dawned on him that Hastion was genuinely enraged and trying to remove Zannen’s head from his shoulders. He managed to leap onto Zannen’s back and get a chokehold on his neck, sticking like a burr, until the larger man slammed backward into the bulkhead to knock him off. Zannen turned and grinned as a bug-eyed Hastion slid to the floor, but Hastion’s breath finally rushed back with a hoarse gasp, and then he barreled toward Zannen again.

Zannen was ready for him. He grabbed Hastion and swung him back into the bulkhead. Hastion tried to duck out of his grip but Zannen wrapped both arms around his waist and threw all his weight onto Hastion’s back, taking him down. Hastion’s breathing was harsh, almost sobbing, as he tried to scramble away, but Zannen pinned his neck to the floor.

The pose was unexpectedly sexual and Tiber’s loins tightened. It looked for all the world like Zannen was fucking Hastion.

“Do you yield?” Zannen gasped.

“Hell, no!”

“Well, you’ve got him,” Shauss drawled. “Now what are you going to do with him?”

Hastion tried to jerk away and Zannen tightened his hold. Hastion’s groan didn’t sound like pain, exactly…

“I suppose killing him would be a bad career move,” Zannen said with a tight grin.

“Without a doubt.” Shauss’ tone made Tiber look at him and then do a double-take. The man’s eyes were positively alight with speculation. “Why don’t you fuck him?”

Hastion groaned again, and arousal and alarm seized Tiber’s stomach with equal ferocity. What in the name of all the planets was Shauss thinking?

Zannen looked stunned, and then angry. “
Fuck
him? Brother, have you lost touch with your sanity? Males don’t fuck each other.”

“Terran males do.”

“Yes, well their species is dancing merrily down the road to self-destruction as well, but we feel no compulsion to follow their example in that regard.”

“It was just a thought,” Shauss said with a grin. “Hastion now has an impressive hard-on and I get the distinct impression he’s aroused as hell by your dominating him.”

“Shauss, shut the fuck up!” Hastion gasped desperately.

Zannen grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked hard. “What say you, Hastion? Is that what your problem is—you need to feel a cock in your waste canal?”

“I’m going to kill you both,” Hastion swore. Then he stiffened and then groaned. At first Tiber wasn’t sure what was going on, but then he noticed movement in Zannen’s arm. Peserin, he was feeling Hastion’s privates!

“He
is
hard as stone,” Zannen murmured with wonder and no little satisfaction.

“It’s the adrenaline,” Hastion groaned. “For Peserin’s sake, you’re hard too!”

“Naked females do that for me.” Zannen released him and stood up. “And now I intend to have one. No offense, Hastion,” he added.

He walked toward Jasmine, opening his suit as he went. His long, thick cock was indeed prepped and ready to go.

“Shauss!” Jasmine gasped.

Shauss’ measured look as he stared down at her wasn’t reassuring.

“Tell us about the other Narthani on the planet’s surface and Tiber and I will try to protect you from him,” he said. “Otherwise, we accept him as third—and I’ll warn you right now, Zannen hasn’t come in almost fifteen years, so he’ll probably fuck you around the clock for weeks.”

Jasmine’s heartbeat tripled and her breath came in fast gasps. “But I don’t know anything! Oh God, they told me we were alone—all alone! Why would they lie to me? Oh my God, why would my mother lie to me?”

Shauss curved his hand under her chin. “Choose now, Jasmine. Hastion’s time will officially expire—”

“My mother wouldn’t lie to me!” she screeched.

“Now.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Shauss, no. Please.”

“Ah well. That’s too bad. We’ll miss your company sorely.” He crouched down in front of her and wiped her tears with his thumb. “Now compose yourself and promise me you won’t fight him.”

She sucked in a shaky breath. “How can you ask that?”

“Whom do you wish to please, Jasmine King?”

“You but—”

“I’ll be displeased if you fight him. I’ll be displeased if you don’t serve him as well as you served me.”

Stunned, she stared at him. “You really want me to…?”

He merely cocked a brow at her and she finally sagged in resignation. She didn’t understand, but apparently she didn’t need to.

“I won’t fight him,” she whispered. “I promise.”

“Very good,
aramai
. Serve him well and hopefully you’ll be in decent shape the next time I see you.” He kissed her forehead and another tear slid down her cheek. Then he stood up, leaving her to deal with Zannen on her own.

God, this sucked! Every instinct told her to glare at the ugly bastard, to scream invective at him and fight him with everything she had. Instead, she kept her head down and prepared to accept and pleasure him the way she would Shauss. But there was no way she’d let him master her. No way in hell. In fact, by George, she would master
his
miserable ass. It was a given that he’d never experienced oral sex, and once she’d treated him to the mind-bending pleasure of her mouth, he’d be on his knees begging for it. For her.

The very thought of it made her lips curve in a smug smile.

“Awfully submissive, isn’t she?” Zannen rumbled as he approached.

“My submissive,” Shauss replied. Jasmine felt ridiculously thrilled by the satisfaction evident in his voice and only slightly guilty about her plans for Zannen, who meandered around her with flagrant disregard for his bobbing monster cock.

He finally stopped beside her and she held her breath. “Very pretty,” he said. “But I’d rather have that one.”

Shauss gaped at his brother, his heart still pounding with pride and affection for Jasmine, and no little concern that Zannen might ignore Tiber’s ban on intercourse and shove that obscene tool into his mate. What was the man doing? This wasn’t part of the plan—not that anything was going according to plan today.

When Monica realized Zannen was pointing at her, she shook her head wildly, gesturing with her hands.

“Is that so?” Kellen asked, stroking his chin, apparently oblivious to his mate’s distress. “Are you sure? You’ve seen for yourself she’s far from submissive.”

“I always enjoy a good fight before I fuck,” Zannen reported.

Monica hopped over and grabbed Kellen’s arm, shaking it with both hands, and he patted her absently. “Well, she’ll give you that, no question. And it seems only fair that you have her, since she conspired to deprive you of Miss King—in fact, that’s how Shauss wound up with Miss King when she conspired to deprive him of Monica.” He focused on Monica. “But I think Monica had someone else in mind, didn’t you, my love?”

Monica looked at him warily before nodding.

“You’re very easy to read these days,” he explained.

Monica held up her middle finger. “Read this, you big jerk.”

She looked surprised when the thought actually emerged from her mouth.

“Unfortunately,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her, “I’ll have to veto Hastion as our second. Not only is he still suffering from the injuries Miss King inflicted on him, but he’s too submissive.”

“What? But you said you were going to look for someone with a more submissive nature than Shauss,” she argued.

“My love, just about every male on this ship has a more submissive nature than Shauss. He’s something of a control freak and requires a submissive who can trust him to give her everything she needs.” He towered over her with his arms crossed. “Make no mistake, Monica—I am the Dominant in our bond, and as such, it’s my responsibility to give you what
you
need. Not what you want, but what you
need
. Those two things do not always coincide, and I would be doing you a grave disservice if I were always to give you what you wanted.”

“But—”

“You must learn to trust me to give you what you need.”

“But—”

“What you need is another mate who will keep you safe from yourself and others when you’re out of my sight, rather than a toy to play with, a submissive male to manipulate and order around.”

“But Kellen—”

“You need a mate who won’t be annoyed by the fight in you but will enjoy bending you to his will just as much as I do, day in and day out.”

“No, I—”

“You, my love, need to accept that you are an alpha female, and while you may be dominant to all other females, and perhaps even a few males, you
will
be ruled by the males in your bond.

“Therefore,” he went on before she could break in, “I will let any male in this room who is dominant enough to take you—” his gaze zeroed in on Zannen, “keep you.”

“What!” She started as Zannen strolled toward her, shrugging out of his uniform, his cock now so engorged, it pointed straight at her. “Okay, I get it. I’m not supposed to keep secrets from you. I get it. I’ll tell you everything from now on, I promise.”

“I don’t believe you,” Kellen said with a smile. “If you think it’s the right thing to do, you’ll lie to my face.”

She gritted her teeth and backed toward the wall. “God damn it, Kellen!”

Zannen toed off his boots and kicked out of his uniform, then proceeded to stalk her, every bit as naked as she was.

“I think Zannen got under your skin the instant you met him. Peserin knows you’ve complained enough about him.”

“Because he’s a prick!”

“You’re looking at his cock. Admit you want it.”

“I do not!”

“See? You’re lying already. You’re so aroused you can hardly think of a plausible lie.”

“Aargh!”

Zannen grabbed her around the waist and she fought him, growling and scratching at his shoulders as he heaved her into the air.

“You fight like a girl,” he said with a grin.

“I am a girl, you baldheaded prick!”

“That one fights like a warrior.” He nodded toward Jasmine. “Perhaps she can give you some pointers.”

Monica hauled back and slapped him hard across the face.

“Do it again,” he said.

She stared at him for a moment before saying, “Aw, fuck it!” She grabbed his head and kissed him wildly, tearing at his lips with her teeth as she dragged her palms over his scalp.

Zannen slammed her into the wall. Then he reached down and took hold of his cock, and Shauss winced when he nailed her with a thrust that made her scream like a jungle cat. It was a good thing Jasmine had made her come several times—Zannen really was a huge bastard, and he gave her no quarter as he rammed her over and over.

Her ankles locked behind his waist and she tore her mouth away from his to scream, “Oh God, yes! Fuck me, you bastard!”

“She actually wants him.”

Shauss looked down to find Jasmine’s eyes dilated with disbelief and arousal.

“So it would seem,” he murmured. His head still reeled with his brother’s sudden change of course. If it had been anyone else, Shauss might have suspected Zannen was bowing out of
juranin
for the sake of brotherly harmony. Or that he doubted his chances of usurping Hastion in their bond. Or that he had decided to advance his standing by pursuing Monica.

But Zannen had never done anything for the sake of harmony, and he’d been dead certain only an hour ago that Jasmine would be his the instant Tiber’s moratorium on intercourse with her was lifted. And while his brother took pride in being a superior warrior, he didn’t give a damn about status and never had. He’d told more powerful people than Kellen to kiss his big, hairy ass.

As hard as it was to believe, Zannen preferred Monica to Jasmine.

Shauss shook his head. Incredible. Perhaps his brother wasn’t as envious of him as he’d thought.

Nevertheless, making such a public bid for Monica was bold even for Zannen.

“Whose idea was this?”
he asked Kellen.

Kellen grinned.
“Does it really matter?”

His cryptic question was its own answer—Kellen had done a little behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

Shauss grinned. Poor Monica still had no idea what she was dealing with.

Zannen ducked his head and sucked one of Monica’s nipples into his mouth, pulling hard, and she screamed again. Apparently tired of her nails raking ribbons of flesh off his shoulders, he seized her wrists and pinned them to the wall over her head. Just as it occurred to Shauss to wonder if she could accommodate him completely, Zannen tipped his hips, deepening the angle of his thrust, and drove his spur up into her nook.