Flames of Arousal (15 page)
Kam didn’t say anything in response. After washing the cleanser from her body, he looked into her eyes. “I know where Josella is.”
Halah’s heart skipped a beat. She stared at him silently for several moments, trying to figure out if he spoke the truth, or if his words were some new sort of ploy. “Like you did the last time?”
“That was a mistake. We had her, but she disappeared and couldn’t be located.”
Disappeared. Always a convenient excuse. Her sister had been abandoned on the Sand Moon. Supposedly. Josella should have jumped into anyone’s arms with a functioning ship to get off this rock. How could she get away from a trained Warrior and then just disappear? His explanation didn’t make sense. He couldn’t be telling her everything. “And if she conveniently disappears this time too?”
“Not possible.”
Of course. What else could he say? He wanted her help and how better to get it than to dangle her sister as bait. “Prove it.” She wanted to trust him more than she’d ever wanted to trust anyone, but he’d betrayed her in the past. She had to be certain.
“Prove it?” He grinned. “How did I know you would say that? I’ll prove it, but you need to wash my body. Make this shower look real, in case we have an audience.”
No problem
. Without hesitation, Halah glided her hands down his chest. Touching his body was a pleasure she’d never tire of. Any excuse to do so was acceptable to her.
Kam groaned, then shook his head, as if trying to get his thoughts in order. He took a deep breath, let it out, then discreetly pulled a small antenna out from his wrist sensor.
Halah’s interest piqued. A communication device?
He pressed a sequence of buttons and waited, switching his gaze back to her. Any vid-monitor would simply pick up him making adjustments to his sensor.
Meeting the intensity of his eyes, Halah curled her fingers around his cock. Oh, how she’d love to feel his thick shift inside her pussy again.
He sucked in a sharp breath. “Careful. We don’t have time to see that through.”
“See what through?” she asked in an innocent tone of voice. A small smile tugged at her lips. “I’m just washing you like you asked.”
“Yeah. Right.”
* * * * *
Forests of Xylon
Braden checked the readings on each of Laszlo’s display screens. “Looks like Brianna is doing a good job.” Pride in his twin laced his voice and he didn’t try to hide it. She’d developed into a beautiful woman and a fine officer. He only wished he could be by her side right now, leading this fight himself.
Leila pulled a three-pronged needle out of Laszlo’s arm. “Done. You should start feeling better soon.”
“Thank you.”
“I should get back to Alexa now. Call me if you need anything.”
He patted her leg. “I’ll be fine. Is the satellite in position yet, Braden?”
“Yes. The readings are coming in now. Kam should be checking in before too long.”
He watched Leila leave the control room, waiting to voice his opinions on the situation.
After she’d gone, he again addressed Laszlo. “We can win this war, Laszlo.”
“In the end, yes.”
Braden grumbled under his breath. He hated Laszlo’s cryptic answers, as if the man didn’t think he could trust any of them. Well, soon Erik would be back inside the Lair, and he could get some real answers after the man let Brianna know the rest of them were all right and reassumed command.
Being isolated from the other Warriors like this frustrated the hell out of him. Only the need to keep Alexa and his soon-to-be-born children safe kept him in control of his temper and the need to engage their enemy. Since Daegal didn’t know about this facility, here was the safest place for his family at the moment.
“Are you reading any Marid malfunctions yet?” Laszlo asked him.
“Not that I’m aware of. What am I looking for?”
“Trouble with their fighters. An energy drain in the Dome. Transports turning back.
Unusual pulses in their atmosphere. Computer irregularities. Anything like that?”
Braden shook his head. “Nothing. Their fighters have moved into range for attack on the planet. Their foot troops are taking a hit from our ground lasers, but their transports keep dropping more into the cities. Although, I am reading now that our fighters are in position to start taking those transports out. Brianna staggered the fleet.”
Laszlo nodded. “Good.”
Braden wondered at the odd look that entered Laszlo’s eyes when he mentioned Brianna. “I’m also picking up a breach on the Control Center floor in the Lair. They’ve issued an alert. The Egesa must have accessed that level.”
Laszlo sat up straighter in his seat. “Have they contained the threat?”
“I don’t know. They’ve stopped making log entries. Or maybe Daegal took out the database, because I can no longer access it.” Worry for Tara and Torque rolled through Braden. He should be there to help, damn it! He turned to Laszlo. “Let me materialize over. At least until I need to be here for Alexa.” Leaving his mate now didn’t feel right, but not doing his duty was tearing him apart.
“It’s too dangerous, Braden. If anything happened to you while down in the Lair, Alexa would never survive it. You know that. Besides, I need you here. One more Warrior over there isn’t going to make a difference anyway.”
“All right. If you and Erik go—that’s two highly trained Warriors. And if we call Kam, Pitch, and Halah back, and if she’s on our side, that’s three more. Then I can materialize over as soon as I know Alexa and the babies are fine. Leila can stay here with Josella, Alexa, and the newborns.” He pulled his hands through his hair. “I feel useless down here, Laszlo. What can we do from this location?”
“Nothing until Kam uploads the viruses and Halah takes out their weapons system.
Then I’ll need you and Erik to keep their computers busy so they can’t reestablish control. We’re not going anywhere, so get any ideas to the contrary out of your head.
Don’t try to defy me, Braden. I’ve taken steps to ensure nobody leaves here without my clearance. Everyone is exactly where they need to be right now.”
His frustration neared the breaking point. “Need to be? What does that mean? Need to be for what?”
“For the best outcome.” Laszlo’s voice hardened. “Now stop questioning my orders.”
Braden bristled. He didn’t like being told what to do. After being in charge and making the decisions, it was hard to step back into the role of second-in-command, especially when his ideas didn’t match Laszlo’s on how to handle things. He’d bet the transport-connectors Erik found were useless to them. Laszlo wouldn’t have issued the warning if he hadn’t suspected them of planning something. He needed to speak to Erik and try to come up with an alternate plan, something Daegal could not control.
A beep drew their attention. “That’s Kam,” Laszlo said, excitement in his voice. He pressed a button on a nearby panel. “Erik, bring Josella over here now. Braden, put Kam on speaker.”
Braden flipped a switch. “Kam, is that you?”
“Affirmative, Braden.”
Hmm
. The man had recognized his voice immediately and didn’t even seem surprised that he was on the other end. Kam must have a lot more knowledge of this mission than he or Erik did. Not that it surprised him. Kam had always been loyal to Laszlo, no matter the situation. And Laszlo had confided in Kam about things in the past. “What’s that noise? You’re not coming in clearly.”
“Water. We’ll have to deal with it.”
“The formula worked?” Laszlo asked.
“Obviously. If I’d been turned, I wouldn’t be contacting you now.”
“Nothing is obvious. Punch in the code on your sensor for it to transmit your brain waves.”
“Stand by.” Silence, then a moment later, he replied, “Done.”
Laszlo checked a screen. “All right. You’re cleared.”
“We need to begin the distribution of the formula before it’s too late. I have Halah with me. Do you have Josella?”
Josella and Erik walked in right as he asked. “Yes, she’s here,” Erik said.
“Let her talk to Halah,” Laszlo said.
“Halah?” the young woman repeated and rushed over to the communications panel. “Halah, are you there?”
“I’m here. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but they’re holding me here, somewhere. Warriors. I don’t think we’re in the Lair. It’s too small and confined.” She glanced warily at Braden, as if expecting him to stop her from saying too much. “Where are you?”
“I’m on the Sand Moon. I’ll be there to get you soon. I have someone who’s going to bring me to you. Stay put.”
“All right. I’ll be waiting, Halah. I love you,
totvis
.”
“Me, too.”
Totvis
, Braden repeated in his head. A Sunevian word. He recognized the accent.
But he didn’t know what it meant. An endearment perhaps. Or maybe a code. He didn’t trust the women. They’d been smart and wily up to now. And now was not the time to drop their guard around these two.
Kam’s voice came over the speaker. “We’ll be logging into their system soon.”
“Do what you can quickly,” Braden told him. “The Lair is in trouble. The Egesa have breached Control level.”
“Understood. Out.”
“Out.” Too calm. Kam had known exactly what was going on, as if Laszlo had disclosed everything to him beforehand. And Kam hadn’t asked about his sister, which meant he must know Alexa was all right. Kam would have a lot of explaining to do once he returned to Xylon. Explaining to
him
.
“Braden, send the pods with the synthetic formula to Marid and to each of the Banishment Zones,” Laszlo ordered. “Have the pods drop their load over the cities and into the water containments.”
“Will do.” Laszlo had explained the procedure to him earlier. Pods required no pilots, so the distribution plan was actually quite brilliant. The small, computer-controlled objects could enter the atmosphere quietly, disguised as weather and environmental pods, drop their load, and leave without anyone being the wiser.
“How long will it take?” Erik asked.
“Depends on how quickly our people consume the needed amount,” Laszlo answered. “An estimate would be less than eight hours, if we can get the pods there before the next water system pumping schedule kicks in and refills city supplies.”
Erik shook his head. “I hope that’s soon enough.”
Halah moved to exit the shower. The faster they got this mission over and done with, the better she’d feel. She needed to get to her sister and make certain Josella was all right. Only when they were reunited would she finally be able to fully relax.
Warriors must have her sister contained in an underground security chamber.
Josella had said it wasn’t the Lair. The young woman had never been down to the Lair, but she’d be able to recognize a smaller facility from the main military center.
Kam grabbed her arm.
With her hand poised above the door handle, she stopped and cocked an eyebrow at him. When he didn’t immediately say anything and didn’t release her, she dropped her hand to her side and turned more fully toward him. “What?” As his eyes grew intense, her heart picked up its pace.
“The mission can wait a few minutes.” He pushed her back against the stone wall, blocking her escape.
“Kam—” What was he up to now? The mission couldn’t wait. Time was a factor here. Braden had said so.
“Shh.” His hands glided over her breasts, down her stomach, and along her hips.
The air immediately filled with sexual tension. “The database with the viruses won’t unlock for another fifteen minutes. It’s on a timer for security purposes.” Kam went over and shut off the water then returned to kneel in front of her. “Spread your legs for me.”
Halah swallowed hard, then widened her stance as he’d asked. “Shouldn’t we be trying to get inside—”
“Most definitely. I want inside.” He leaned in and kissed her stomach. His hands gently cupped her butt.
When his tongue delved into her bellybutton, she moaned. He knew how to get her so hot. Even just a look from him got her hot. Kam’s mouth lowered. His hands slid around to her thighs, and he spread her pussy with his thumbs. After a quick glance up at her, he leaned forward to stroke her clit with his tongue.
“Oh!” The feeling shot straight up to her stomach and down to her toes all at the same time. It had been so long since she’d been licked. Her knees buckled, but his hands gripped her thighs, holding her up while he gave her more.
He sucked her clit into his mouth and drew on the fleshy bud. His hands caressed her thighs and hips, then inched behind her to cup her cheeks and hold her close against his mouth. His fingers massaged her ass. “Mmm.”
The low sound vibrated along Halah’s clit, sending pulses of pleasure through her.
The stubble on his cheeks scratched the inside of her thighs, increasing the myriad sensations flooding her body. “Yes…” She tangled her fingers in his hair.
With one hand Kam eased her right leg over his shoulder, giving him better access to her pussy and helping support her against the moist wall. She noticed his gaze kept darting toward his wrist sensor, and every time it did, his next move brought her even more pleasure. He was obviously using the machine to give her the best sexual experience he could. She didn’t think he really needed any help. He was sexy enough and talented enough on his own.
His teeth scraped her clit, and when he nibbled the fleshy bud, she gasped and pushed her hips forward. “Ah!”
Kam licked, sucked, and nibbled her until she thought she’d lose her mind.
Whenever she neared a climax, he’d stop and kiss or lick the inside of her thighs until she relaxed, then he’d start again.
Her fingers tightened in his hair. “Make me come, damn it!” She needed the release, not to be teased. At the same time she never wanted the exquisite torture to end.
He chuckled, moving back to lick her pussy again. This time when she was about to climax, he didn’t pull back, but continued sucking her clit gently.
“Yes…don’t stop.” Halah’s body tightened. Her back arched, and sensations of pure pleasure shot through her. She screamed out Kam’s name. The ecstasy rolled through her, feeling as if it would never stop, which was fine with her. When Kam flicked his tongue against her clit, she came even harder. “Oh-oh!” She loved the feelings rushing through her body, but she didn’t think she could take much more without passing out from the intensity of it all. He flicked his tongue again, and the third time she came so hard that she couldn’t even scream. All she could do was hold on and whimper.
Finally, the pleasure ebbed, and she slid down the wall, collapsing in Kam’s arms.
He held her gently, whispering sweetly against her ear in what she assumed was his native Tamarian. She thought she recognized one or two endearments.
Damn, he was good. After she felt a bit more in control, she reached down to touch his cock, wanting to give him a great experience too.
Before her fingers wrapped fully around him, he eased her hand away. “No time.
I’ll collect later. Believe me. Come on. Let’s get you dry and into some clothes.”
He helped her to her feet, and they stepped from the shower. Her legs felt so wobbly that she kept hold of his arm just to steady herself. “Why did you do that?” she asked him, her curiosity too great not to. He hadn’t gotten anything out of it for himself.
“Do what? Lick your pussy?”
She nodded. She was so used to others only giving to her when they saw an opportunity to get something back. That was fine, as long as it was also part of her own agenda. This had been different.
He chuckled. “I don’t understand your confusion, Halah.”
“Why’d you take the time? Especially now.” Even if the viruses were locked, they could have been accessing the system here and getting ready. The few minutes they’d spent probably wouldn’t really make any difference in the big scheme of things. But it went against the code. A Warrior took care of business first…always.
“Ah.” He stroked her cheek with his fingertips. “I took the time because I wanted you to know that you’re important to me, personally, not just because of whatever else I want from you.”
Looking into his eyes, she swallowed hard. He spoke the truth. She saw it so clearly that she felt like weeping. She knew he hadn’t specifically mentioned the mission, on purpose, now that the water was no longer on to drown out their words. But she understood his meaning.
“We don’t have the best history,” she reminded him, with a hint of sadness in her voice. Could they somehow have a better future?
He smiled, looking at her with such gentleness. “I’ve seen things, and even if I hadn’t, there’s something about you…” He let the sentence hang, not saying any more than that. Not with words. His eyes and touch, though, spoke volumes.
When he continued to look deeply into her eyes, as if studying her or perhaps waiting for something, she began to really believe there might be more to this than simple sexual attraction. She wondered if he’d seen the visions—like those she’d been having. Breeder-mate visions. She almost asked, but feared he might not have had the same experience. She didn’t want to think of that possibility, so she pulled away and walked over to gather some drying cloths for them instead.
In silence, she and Kam dried off and dressed. They walked into the outer room, and he sat down in front of the computer with barely another look at her.
Still feeling the effects of her orgasm and Kam’s words, she had a hard time concentrating on what needed to be done. She rested her hand on his shoulder to maintain contact with him, while trying to gather her thoughts. He reached up and patted her hand. She sucked in a sharp breath, not having expected that show of affection. The small gesture meant a lot to her.
After he logged on, she heard him grumble in frustration, and her attention turned to focus fully on the mission. “What?”
He pointed to the screen, and she saw that the terminal connection was for the local system only. They’d need to link with the main computer on Marid to upload the viruses.
Wanting to help, she pulled up a seat beside him. With both of them in front of the computer, anyone watching wouldn’t be able to see the screen or what they were doing.
Since this machine was a personal system, with restricted access, she doubted any key-logging program had been installed. If she was wrong, the underground computer monitoring system would identify their tampering and report to Frost. They needed to work quickly, just in case.
After speaking with Josella, she knew that Kam had told the truth about knowing her sister’s location. It wasn’t a trick. Josella had used their special word to identify herself. So now, she just needed to help Kam, and he’d reunite them. Then she’d figure out how to handle her growing personal feelings for this man and what she ultimately wanted to do with her life.
She swatted his hands away and tried getting in with her old login and password from when she was on Marid. Her clearance, at the time, hadn’t been as restricted as his was now.
Shit
. It didn’t work anymore.
The failure only deterred her for a moment. She’d created an additional login while there so she’d maintain access, even if they cut her off. Hopefully, her tampering hadn’t been discovered. She tried it and the connection went through immediately. Yes! She smiled at Kam.
With a small chuckle, he shook his head, then leaned over the keyboard. He used special codes—probably acquired from prior missions, research, spies, and the questioning of prisoners, she figured—to access the different areas he needed to infiltrate. In each area, she watched him program in a connection to the viruses stored in one of Xylon’s computers. Once activated, the destructive lines of code would transfer to each Marid station. Hopefully, Daegal hadn’t taken out the particular system in the Lair processing the transfer. If Kam had stored the viruses in a remote database, upgraded for high security, all would most likely be fine. They’d find out soon enough, she supposed. After bypassing several security checks with his entry codes, he accessed the weapons system. From there he let her take over.
Halah didn’t just turn the system off. That would be too easy to fix. Instead, she got into each section and changed a few small code sequences, just enough to malfunction the majority of Marid’s, and a large number of the Sand Moon’s, vital defense areas. It would take their techs time and a hell of a lot of effort to reestablish overall control.
After she logged off, Kam shut down the computer and stood up, pulling her up with him. “Let’s go.”
“Go?”
He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.
His thoughts shone in his eyes. He was taking her out of there. She touched her collar, and he nodded slightly. Yes. He remembered they’d have to get the control device off her first. As long as she stayed with him, nobody should think much of an Agent with his slave. She hoped.
After grabbing a few essentials, they left the quarters. He kept his hand wrapped around her arm. Because he thought she might run, or to make it look like she remained under his physical control, she didn’t know. She noticed the vid-surveillance following them as they proceeded down the corridor.
An alarm blared. The both stopped dead in their tracks.
Halah’s heart pounded against her ribs. “Us?” she asked, her voice tense.
“I doubt it.”
After a moment’s thought, she agreed. Guards simply would have confronted them. An alert would be overkill. Marid had probably reported their computer problems to Frost, or problems had filtered down to the Sand Moon systems already.
This might be a blessing in disguise, if it caused enough confusion for them to get into a control room and deactivate the damn collar around her neck.
Agents and Egesa rushed passed them with barely a glance. She breathed a sigh of relief and felt Kam relax beside her. Her relief was short-lived. She knew they weren’t out of danger yet. “With the alert, Frost will check on us,” Halah said, shattering their temporary feelings of ease. She saw the worry cross Kam’s face, before he masked the emotion.
“Don’t think about Frost. It’ll take her some time to find us. We can’t return to the quarters. She’ll track the computer tampering back to that room’s terminal. We’ll need to keep on the move now. Here.” He pointed to a white door with a glass panel in the center. Control Room 3. It bustled with activity. “This is it.”
Halah pointed to a sign, which read “No Slaves Past this Point”.
He pushed her into a corner, away from the monitoring system. “Stay here. I’m going in.”
“Security will see on the system that I’ve disappeared from your side.”
“I doubt they’re much concerned about our asses right now. Not their regular security people anyhow, who won’t yet know we’re fugitives. Stay put. When the collar unlocks, get it off fast. I don’t know how long I can keep the system offline. I’ll see if I can find us some weapons while I’m in there. Once Frost or Rave checks on us, it’ll still take them time to issue a capture and detain order. If someone comes after you before I get out, use your own judgment to fight or flee. But don’t take any foolish risks, Halah.”
She nodded, then reached up and stroked his cheek. She kissed him lightly on the mouth, her lips lingering as she felt the same spark she always did whenever they touched. “In case you don’t come back.”
“What do I get if I do come back?” He grinned.
“Anything you want.” And she meant it. For him. The feeling was almost alien to her. She hadn’t experienced true caring for anyone besides herself and Josella in many years. Except maybe Dak, and even that wasn’t of the same intensity. Kam had gotten under her skin. Since they’d first met on Earth, she hadn’t been able to banish him from her mind.