Mercenaries (8 page)

When the sheriff had tied her to the Sinner's Post, it might have been a sexual game to him, but the last thing he was interested in was her pleasure. She was an object to him, not a partner. And the rest of the colony's men felt no different.

Nathan's big hands rose to cup the sides of her face, cradling her tenderly as she suckled him. Something in that gesture drained away the last of her shame. Even dominating the hell out of her, the captain treated her with affection.

That was what made this all so seductive, Trin realized. Affection had been in very short supply in her life for a very long time.

Suddenly Nathan pulled free of her mouth and rocked back. The slick head of his cock brushed her cheek as she glanced up, questioning. He stared intently down at her, probing her eyes with his. “Do you want me to come in your mouth, Trinity?” the captain asked, almost gently.

Looking up into his brutally handsome face, she swallowed. And nodded.

Nathan's eyes blazed, and he plunged his cock inside her mouth again. Trin welcomed his silken length with hard suction and a stroking tongue, dying to taste him as she had Sebastian. Wanting to render him helpless with her mouth.

The velvet rod jerked against her tongue, began to pulse salt and heat. “Yes!” His growl was low and fierce. “Take me!”

On the verge of climax herself, she hungrily obeyed.

The dildo dropped from her hands unnoticed.

FOR a long moment the only sound in the room was the rasping gasps of spent breathing.

Finally Nathan stepped back a little so that his cock slipped free of Trin's mouth. She tried to suck it back in again, but he forced himself to pull away. “Nice,” he rasped, reaching up to unbuckle the ring gag from around her head. “Very, very nice.”

And it had been. His knees were still shaking. She might be inexperienced, but she more than made up for it with enthusiasm.

As the gag fell away from her mouth, Trinity licked her lips and worked her jaw. He knew it was probably aching after the vigorous oral use she'd just received.

He took her head in his hands and began to massage the hinge of her jaw. Trin sagged against him, her eyes closing in pleasure.

“Damn,”
Sebastian commed as he rolled off the bunk to untie her hands,
“it's not just an act, boss. The girl is really sensual. And if she's not a genuine submissive, I'll eat these restraints.”

“Oh, definitely. But we're going to keep our distance anyway,”
he replied. Ignoring Sebastian's commed protest, he told her, “You've won your transport off-world, Trinity.”

Big green eyes lifted to his and lit in relief. Then, as he watched, heat gathered in her gaze, a sweet female anticipation. “So you'll accept me as your . . .” She hesitated and licked her lips. “As your fuck toy?”

“That's not necessary.”

Nathan was watching closely enough to catch the disappointment that flashed across her mobile face. “But why not? I thought . . . Did I . . . ?” She clamped her teeth shut and winced, as if she'd committed some erotic
faux pas
.

“You were incredible,” he assured her. “But I'd never require a woman's sexual submission as the price of helping her.”

Confusion drew her brows into a frown. “But you said . . .”

He shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. “I was drunk, I was horny, and I wanted to see how far you'd go. I also wondered if you were exaggerating your desperation.”

“I wouldn't do that!” Trin protested, glowering.

“The captain,” Sebastian said dryly, tossing the restraints aside, “is not in the habit of taking anybody or anything at face value. It's a good way to get people killed.”

“Which brings up a point,” Nathan said. “I'll be more than happy to give you transport anywhere you want to go, but I think you might want to reconsider becoming a mercenary.”

Trin frowned. “What? Why?”

“I meant what I said. It's a tough, bloody life. I won't deny you have courage—it took guts to come here, much less let us tie you up and fuck you—but there's a long jump between that and getting shot at. Or shooting somebody else.”

IRRITATION banished the last of Trinity's afterglow. After years of having her abilities belittled by the men of Rectitude, hearing a similar song from August stung. “You might be surprised at what I can do.”

He held up both hands as if to ward off her anger. “I'm just suggesting you consider your options. There are a number of worlds we'll be visiting that might make a good home for you. Or I can get you a berth on a merchant ship, since several traders owe me favors. I'll tell you right now, crewing a civilian vessel would be safer.” His concern seemed genuine.

Trinity frowned. There had to be a catch. She'd met plenty of men on Rectitude who talked a very good game, only to reveal themselves as self-serving in the end. “No,” she said slowly. “I want to be a merc.” More to the point, she was tired of being a victim.

“You don't have to make the decision right away. Give it time. But if you do decide that's what you want to do, there are women aboard who'd be happy to take you on as an apprentice. . . .”

“Note, he said ‘women,' ” Sebastian interrupted, shooting his captain a look that blended affection and amusement. “We men would be, too, but the captain's the jealous type.”

Jealous? What did he mean by that?

Before she could explore that thought further, Nathan stiffened, his eyes narrowing. “Oh, hell.”

“That's not good.” Sebastian frowned. “Oh, fuck, not good at all!”

“What's not good?” Trinity asked, confused. Nathan shushed her and seemed to listen to something she couldn't hear.

Oh, that's right, she realized suddenly, remembering her father's old stories. Mercenaries had communications implants.

Someone was talking to them.

“THE colonists are refusing to let me take delivery of the shipment, Captain,”
Cassidy Vika said over Nathan's com.

“Bloody hell.”
Nathan dragged a hand through his short hair in frustration. They had to have those rations. The
Starrunner
had just evacuated a shipload of refugees from Dyson's Hole to another planet after the war there made Dyson's uninhabitable. Feeding more than a thousand colonists had put such a dent in the stores, the
Starrunner
would run out of food in another week. And the nearest planet was three weeks away at top speed.

The bastards had them over a barrel.
“All right, tell the elder we're coming down.”

With plenty of reinforcements.

Cassidy hesitated a moment.
“Captain, I think I should warn you—these people are nuts. I saw this same elder presiding over the beating of a woman in the town square. The excuse was she burned her husband's dinner, but I think the whipping was actually for the sexual entertainment of the male colonists. You'd better watch your back.”

Which explained why Trinity was so determined to leave.
“I'll keep that in mind, Lieutenant.”
His computer broke the connection as he moved to get a clean uniform from his closet. “Get dressed,” he told Trin. Sebastian had heard the com message and was already half into his uniform. “We've got a problem.”

Alarm flickered in her green eyes as she hurried to scoop up her unisuit. “What kind of problem?”

Tersely he briefed her as they pulled on their clothing. “So we're going to show them you're all right,” he concluded. “While we're at it, we can swing by your place and you can pack. Be thinking about what you absolutely have to have, because you won't be able to take anything but the bare essentials.”

“There's nothing on that rock I want to take with me.” Trinity was so white, even her lips were pale. Her hands shook as she buttoned her unisuit. “They're going to insist I stay, Captain.”

From the pained resignation in her gaze, she expected him to go back on his word. Nathan gritted his teeth. “Tough,” he snapped. “You're coming with us.”

“But what if they won't let you have those stores?” Her green eyes were emerald-bright with fear. It made him wonder what they'd do to her for trying to defect from their wretched little colony.

“Then we'll take the stores by force,” Nathan told her. “This is a warship, Trinity. I'm damned if I'm going to be blackmailed by a bunch of dirtsuckers.”

“It'd be better to settle this without bloodshed, though,” Sebastian pointed out.

He sighed, reining in his temper. “Yeah, I'd rather not have to kill anybody over this.” Trinity gave him a worried blink, and he sealed his uniform with a jerk. “But I'm not giving up you
or
that food, so I'll do what I have to.”

She didn't look convinced. It made him wonder how many men had betrayed her.

D
ISAPPOINTMENT rode Trinity's shoulders like a lead cloak, galling and bitter.

Dammit, she'd come so close.

She shot the captain a look as he prepared the cargo vessel for takeoff from one of the
Starrunner
's many landing bays. His hands were skilled and sure as he ticked through the procedure, but his jaw was tight with simmering anger.

Next to Trinity, a big, heavily armed mercenary shifted in his seat, obviously more than ready for a fight. Another twenty mercs filled the craft, all of them equally grim-faced and eager.

Alongside the cargo craft, a troop transport also waited for takeoff. It was fully loaded with another eighty mercs.

Nathan obviously did not intend to let the colonists take him off-guard.

Trin had no delusions, though. Elder Jones would give him the choice between those stores and her, and he'd hand her over. Not that she could blame him. Why risk the lives of his own people when he could get what he wanted without bloodshed? It wasn't as if they'd kill her, after all.

At least not right away.