Fallen Star (36 page)

The wide opening ended in a vee barely a finger-width above her feminine cleft. The only reason her pubic curls didn’t show was because Khan and Sobehk had seen to the removal of all her bodily hair in their last shower. Among other incredibly embarrassing cleaning procedures.

Khan smiled from where he stood between the two attendants buckling him into studded leather. His creamy hair was once again bound into a snug braid, though black beads had been introduced along the braid. The black band that normally rested around his brow was gone, and the black rings in his ears had been traded out for gold, as had the rings in his nipples. “Would you rather be naked?” He tugged his jacket sleeve over the slender black band around his wrist, covering it.

Fallon bared her teeth at her reflection. “I’m seriously wondering if complete nudity would have been more modest!” Her hair had grown to reach the center of her back and had been scraped back into a simple but neat black tail. Her very green eyes looked huge and the delicate points of her ears were displayed with the gleaming silver clips. Her lips were very scarlet. “Great Maker, I look like ...” She looked like a sex toy. Which, of course, was what she was -- a sex toy.

Khan shook his head, grinning. “You look like a
rehkyt
that will tear apart anyone that gets too close.”

Fallon turned to glare at Khan. “What an amazing coincidence. I
feel
like tearing apart anyone that gets too close.” She crossed her arms over her spilling breasts.

Sobehk chuckled as his attendants wound a bright blue and silver sash around his waist over his heavy silver and white robes. “I think you look spectacular, but if nudity is what you prefer ...?”

Fallon shot a narrow glance at Sobehk. “Thanks, and no, thanks.” She curled her lip at Khan. “If this thing falls apart on me, I swear I’ll bite you, and not in a nice way!” She growled, just to show she meant every word.

All six attendants froze where they were.

Khan blinked in surprise then burst into laughter. Sobehk’s laughter was only a breath behind.

Fallon sighed heavily. “What am I going to do with you two?”

Both men exchanged a speaking glance and laughed harder.

The attendants exchanged glances. They were forced to wait until the laughter died down to gasps and both men were able to stand upright before they could continue dressing them.

* * * * *

Four fully armored
Mehdjay
guards left their quarters towing several of Khan’s black and Sobehk’s red trunks behind them. The trunks were headed for the
Vortex
, docked alongside the
Moon Blade.
The
Vortex
would carry the three of them to Port Destiny station, as though Sobehk had never left. On arrival they would occupy a suite in the Skeldhi enclave.

The plan was that the
Moon Blade
would dock in a private hold as opposed to the public docks. Khan’s men would quietly occupy the suite next to theirs in the Skeldhi enclave and arrest the man planning to buy a
rehkyt
sleeper assassin as soon as he was uncovered at the auction.

Neat, tidy, efficient, and simple.

Fallon rolled her eyes. This whole plan was simply begging for something to go terribly wrong.

She turned to gaze at her men and sucked in a slow breath.

Sobehk looked very regal in heavy layered robes of pale silver and bright blue over a midnight blue kilt. His silver-white hair had been brushed into a thick mane and dressed with thousands of tiny braids that flashed with sapphire beads. He leaned on the carved handle of a heavy white cane.

Next to Sobehk’s broad-shouldered and robed elegance, Khan looked small and slender, but very menacing in overlapping and body-skimming studded black leather. More than half the studs on his breast, his sleeves, and down the sides of his boots were in fact the pommels of small knives. A rather long knife had been sheathed against his spine, and two decorative back-curved daggers were tucked into the blue-and-black sash around his hips.

His jacket opened all the way down, showing his muscular stomach to perfection. The skintight leather pants lovingly displayed his muscular thighs -- and his delectable ass. His semi-armored leather boots hugged him up to his thighs.

The attendants offered both men long hooded robes. They bowed and left.

Sobehk whistled softly as he slid into his over-robe of deep-charcoal gray velvet lined in white silk, taking care with the full sleeves of his dress robes. “Khan, if I wasn’t already sleeping with you, I’d rape you myself. Damn.”

Fallon grinned at Sobehk. “He has a very bite-able ass.”

Sobehk grinned back. “Oh, yes, he does.”

Khan arched a brow, but his cheeks tinted with pink as he shrugged into his supple black leather robe. “I’m glad you both approve.” His voice was very dry. He motioned toward Fallon. “I need to change your collar.”

Fallon walked toward him and very quickly discovered that the suit she wore had a tendency to rub against her nipples and her clit. It wasn’t painful or even annoying, but it was quite clear that she was going to have very hard nipples very fast. And wet panties -- if she had been wearing any sort of panties. “I don’t get a robe?”

Khan reached for the black chain she wore. “Your skin will not burn under station daylight.” The chain came apart in his hand and slid free. “Ours will.” He dropped it in the open drawer of his trunk.

Fallon felt an odd sort of loss without Khan’s chain.

Sobehk walked over to stand at their side. “Port Destiny was made to reproduce the conditions on human Terra. Skeldhor Prime does not have as strong a sun as the human world. We sunburn within minutes.”

Khan lifted a short chain of plain steel links and fastened it around her throat.

The heavy steel was a cool weight at the base of her throat. Fallon shivered. “I thought you guys healed faster than humans?”

Khan turned away to pull a steel chain lead from the drawer in the trunk. “Oh, we do, but sunburn is still damned uncomfortable.” He handed the lead to Sobehk.

Sobehk looped the long lead and tucked it halfway into his sash, leaving the steel chain clearly visible. “Ten seconds of blistered skin is still blistered skin for ten seconds.”

“I see.” Fallon stared at the steel lead in Sobehk’s sash and clenched her teeth. They were about to begin a dangerous game of bait and trap to find out who wanted a sleeper assassin, and why. And she was the bait. She had known this all along, and yet she hadn’t been bothered by it before. Now it bothered her.

She wasn’t worried about herself; she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she wasn’t so sure about them. Sobehk was still wounded and while Khan was clearly deadly, his augmentations appeared to be strictly for physical strength. He didn’t have anywhere near her speed or dexterity.

Khan caught her face and dropped a swift kiss on her lips. His bright copper gaze bored into hers. “Everything will be just fine. All you have to do is not let anyone touch you physically and resist anyone’s attempt to part you from our company, no matter how slight.”

Fallon licked her lips. He must have picked up her concern. “Yes,
‘Syr
.”

Khan released her and turned to Sobehk. “Ready?”

Sobehk smiled grimly, his silver mane spilling down over his breast. “I’m more than ready for this hunt.”

Fallon’s hands closed into fists. So was she. But this time, she wasn’t taking chances on anyone getting hurt because of her. She would make damned sure both her men stayed safe if she had to tear the weapon from their hands to do it.

Screw obedience.

* * * * *

Khan led them through the ship’s black-walled corridors and into a lift. Fallon found it interesting that while she and Sobehk drew curious glances, no one looked twice at Khan.

They stepped out of the lift into the ship’s cargo hold where she had learned to use the sword.

Khan’s strides were long and ground eating. He led them through the maze of stacked cargo to a circular airlock in the middle of the far right wall. Two fully armed guards stood on either side of the door. The guard on the left held out a sword in a white sheath to Sobehk and the guard on the right handed Khan two black-sheathed swords, one slightly longer than the other.

In an uncertain universe where thousands of races interacted, some friendlier than others, no one walked unarmed. However, in the sealed environment of a ship or a space station, where a pinhole could mean the deaths of thousands, energy weapons were tightly controlled; swords, though, were perfectly permissible. Even a state-of-the-art blade of live-steel could not cut through armored plating.

Sobehk shoved his sword into his sash.

Khan followed suit, then turned to Fallon with the shorter blade.

Fallon raised her brow at him. She wasn’t wearing a sash.

Khan scowled. “Shit.”

Sobehk chuckled and unwound his midnight blue sash from around his waist, leaving only the white. “Good thing I thought ahead.”

Khan snatched the sash from his outstretched palm. “You’re going to be a pain in my ass, I can tell.”

Sobehk arched a brow and his smile became decidedly predatory. “Absolutely.”

Khan snorted and wrapped the sash around Fallon’s hips with swift efficiency then tucked the ends in. He held the sword out to Fallon. “With this live-steel blade, I grant you the right to defend to the death.”

Fallon bowed and took the sheathed blade from his hands. “I accept the responsibility of life and the consequences of death.”

Khan blinked and looked over at Sobehk. “Did you teach her that?”

Fallon grinned as she slid the sword into her sash. “What? I saw it in a fiction vid.”

Sobehk chuckled and rolled his eyes.

Khan nodded at the guards.

One of the guards turned to the side. His fingers danced on the wall keypad. Machinery rumbled, air hissed, and the thick airlock door rolled to the left, revealing another door. Sobehk stepped in, then Khan and Fallon. The door rolled closed behind them.

Khan stepped back to stand on Fallon’s right.

The door before them opened and Sobehk stepped into a pale gray corridor.

Sehnbay’syr
Tah nodded and smiled. “Welcome back to the
Vortex
.” He blinked at Khan. “Oh, I didn’t recognize you,
‘Syr
.”

Khan smiled grimly. “With all due respect,
Sehnbay’syr
Tah, I would be most pleased if you continue to not recognize me, and address me as
A’syr
. In fact, I must insist that you deny any form of recognition whatsoever.”

Tah frowned slightly but nodded. “As you wish,
A’syr
.” He turned to their right. “This way, please.”

Tah led them through the gray-walled hallways straight to the gleaming medical bay. Sobehk lifted Fallon onto the padded surgery table and Tah did a swift check on Fallon’s transformation progression. One booster shot later, Sobehk was confirmed by blood type as her legal owner.

Tah turned to Sobehk at the foot of the table. “This will only last two days. After that ...” He glanced at Khan, who stood by the table’s far side, away from the door. “The other DNA code will very visibly reassert itself as being primary.”

Sobehk nodded. “Understood.”

“Let me make sure everything is in order.” Tah passed by Sobehk and sat at his desk. A holographic display bloomed into existence above the surface of his desk.

Fallon hopped down from the medical table, landing on the far side by Khan.

The door spiraled open on the far side of the room.

Fallon froze.

A tall, slender Skeldhi entered the medical bay. He wore his pale hair pulled back into a long tail and a dark gray sleeveless robe over a dark blue kilt. He continued past them to stand before Tah’s desk and bowed slightly. “We are in final approach to dock within Port Destiny Station.”

Fallon frowned. She knew that voice. She sniffed. She definitely knew that scent. She focused on the Skeldhi. He smelled like ...

Tah nodded. “Thank you,
A’syr
Mohr.”

Fallon nodded.
Ah, so that’s what he looks like.

Mohr turned and his sharp gray eyes passed right over Khan to focus on Sobehk standing at the foot of the medical bed. “
A’syr
Sobehk! So that’s why we stopped, to pick you up.”

Sobehk smiled. “Only for a bit, before going on medical leave.”

Mohr’s gaze drifted to Fallon on the far side. He frowned. “I though that
Mehdjay
officer took custody of her?”

Fallon’s brows shot up. Mohr didn’t recognize Khan.

Sobehk waved his hand. “Turned out that she wasn’t who he thought she was.” He shrugged. “I got her back.” He smiled. “He gave me a
nehkyx
handler by way of apology.”

Mohr’s frowned at Khan, leaning against the table with his arms folded across his chest. “Nice.” Mohr looked away, clearly dismissing him.

Fallon snorted.
Idiot
.

Mohr looked back at Fallon. His smile was thin and tight. “I guess since she didn’t impress, you’re taking her to the auction?”

Sobehk nodded. “She’s worth a fortune.”

Fallon scowled at Sobehk.

Mohr’s smile sharpened. “She’s going to make you a very wealthy man.”

Fallon decided at that moment that she definitely did not like
A’syr
Mohr.

Sobehk pursed his lips. “I certainly hope so.”

Tah came out from behind his desk. “
A’syr
Mohr, I need to check on a few of the other
rehkyt
. Would you be so kind as to accompany me?”

Mohr nodded and followed Tah out of medical.

Sobehk looked at Fallon.
You recognized
A’syr
Mohr by scent?

Fallon started and looked at Sobehk. His voice had echoed in her mind, not her ears. He had used the collar’s telepathic link.
Uh, yeah
.

Khan tilted his head slightly.
I told you her thoughts were interesting on occasion.