Mercenary Abduction (Alien Abduction) (18 page)

whirled around in time to see her purple mercenary dash toward the approaching armed gang with a wild yell.

“Who wants to die first?”

Crazy bastard. He just couldn’t pass up a chance to kill something, all part of his attempt to

surpass his cousin’s kill count. And he would have probably succeeded against this bunch if

reinforcements didn’t suddenly spill from a pair of doorways on either side of him.

Ambush! Despite their short stature, the grey wave of alien newcomers swarmed Makl and he

went down under a sea of bodies. She lunged forward, intent on helping him, but a familiar furry arm

wrapped around her middle and halted her flight.

“Ifruum, what are you doing?”

“You heard the big purple guy. Getting us out of here.”

“But what about Makl?”

“He can take care of himself.”

Yes, he could. It didn’t mean he should have to, not when he’d jumped in there to save her ass.

“Let me go. I have to help him.”

Ignoring her demand, Ifruum dragged her in the opposite direction, where safety awaited. A part of

Olivia understood she couldn’t help Makl against those kinds of odds. She could shoot, but she couldn’t shoot into that roiling ruckus of bodies without possibly hurting Makl. Knew it was madness to even try, but that didn’t stop her. She broke free of her friend and dashed back toward the battle, raising her gun and firing on the outskirts, head and upper body shots, forgetting in her fear for Makl her repugnance of killing. She couldn’t see her purple lover, but she could hear him. Laughing and taunting. The idiot was still alive.

He fought, which meant they still had a chance.

Or at least Makl did. Olivia’s life expectancy, however, dropped quite a few percentage points

when the guns came out of nowhere, pointed at her head.

But it was the application of a syringe to her arm that sank her into a black hole, one she didn’t

know if she’d escape from.

Whistling, Makl returned to his ship, thirty-six kills higher than he’d started his day. A little bit bruised. A touch burned. And covered in gore. But, he’d won. Now, he just needed to leave before the

city tried to bill him for damage when they noticed the section of neighborhood he’d accidentally blown up.

Boarding his ship, he practically ran to the command center, eager to see Olivia. Upon entering, he

noted Ifruum at his usual post, sans his human. “Where is the barbarian?” Waiting for him naked in his room, he hoped.

“What do you mean where? Isn’t she with you?” Ifruum spun in his seat and morphed in to

Murphy, his agitation clear to see.

An icy chill halted Makl’s tapping fingers mid-launch sequence. “No. Last I saw, she’d met up

with you and you were heading back to the ship.”

“We were until she decided to go back and help you.”

“You let her do what?” Makl’s low tone didn’t convey any of his rage, but he sure hoped it hid the

discordant quaver that swept his body

“I didn’t let her do anything. In case you hadn’t noticed, that girl does whatever she damned well

pleases, and apparently, it pleased her to think she was helping your worthless purple carcass.”

“Except I don’t recall seeing her at the fight. You either, for that matter.”

“Not all of us enjoy blood and mayhem. I knew you’d prevail so I figured I’d stick to the plan and

have the ship ready to go.”

And go they should. Makl understood that on some level. He’d escaped the danger zone – or at

least the imminent part. Once he left the surface of the planet, just another ship heading off into space, he’d be back to planning the next mission. He didn’t owe the human anything.

Going back was stupid. Suicidal. He should take off while he had a chance. And yet, several

galactic units later, under the cover of darkness, there he was, infiltrating the home of the rogue who stole his human. He could blame it on his ego, his need to best the thief who kidnapped Olivia. But deep down inside, Makl knew the true reason. The real reason.

He did it to save Olivia. Never mind he’d never met a female who vexed him so much. Who

engaged his senses on levels he’d never imagined. Who made him question every rule he’d learned. He

couldn’t ignore the fact she’d come back for him. Faced her repugnance of meting death to help him. Makl couldn’t leave her behind, especially when he found out Murphy wouldn’t use his special ability to pop in and out of places to save her.

“What do you mean you won’t get her?” Makl growled when his information network spit out her

location – after the application of a few pointy knives.

In his human shape for their conversation, Murphy shrugged. “I’m a god, not a magician. I can’t

just change the course of fate when I don’t like it. Or teleport more than one person at a time,” he

grudgingly admitted.

“Then what’s your plan to save her?”

“I don’t have one. But Olivia knew this was a possibility. Capture always is. It’s part of the thrill.

You should know that. Although, in losing her, I guess that leaves you minus a human for your cousin. A shame.”

“A shame? Who frukxing cares about Tren? We can’t just leave Olivia to that debauched alien.”

With his connections, it didn’t take Makl long to discover who’d taken his human. A local mob

lord, not a big time crook, but high enough up the monetary ladder that Makl knew he couldn’t just barge in demanding he give Olivia back.

“Why ever not? He’s no worse than you, surely.”

“Exactly my point.” Did someone else try and touch Olivia? Over his dead and cooling body.

With vengeance fueling objective, with less planning than he preferred, Makl found himself scaling the wall of a tall structure, an apartment building made of black glass, the best color for blending in.

Slimming, too. Suction grips on the soles of Makl’s feet and palms of his hands helped him climb, an

E.M.P. fuelled force field just outside the structure making any electronic attempt to scale the exterior wall useless. It was grueling, tiring work – for anyone not as strong as he.

Quickly, Makl worked his way up the building to the top floor and the balcony entrance. Heaving

himself over the railing, he pressed himself flat on the cold stone and listened. No alarms went off and he didn’t hear any indication anyone spotted him. Inching forward, he peered at the small slit of light shining from the curtain drawn over the balcony’s glass doors. He couldn’t see or hear anything, but the slight thump of bass from music played inside, music that probably hid the sounds of terror as the miscreant did who knew what to his human.

I’m coming to save you, barbarian.

Contemplating his next move – dive through the window in a crashing assault that would look

great if caught on film, or sneaking in unnoticed – the choice was decided the moment he heard Olivia’s squeal.

One shot to shatter the glass and in he rolled, springing up with his guns pointed, only to stop at the sight meeting his eyes.

Dressed in a silky red robe, clean and holding a glass of sparkling liquid, Olivia didn’t appear too

terrified. “Makl, what are you doing here?” Olivia gasped.

“Apparently, not saving you from a fate worse than death,” was his dry reply. He took one look at

the cozy scene – dim lighting, buffet of food, and a bed in the corner – turned on his heel, and strode back out into the cool night air – his temper seething – his chest oddly aching.

*

Olivia scrambled from the couch, astonished and yet stupidly pleased to see Makl. Kajob, an old

friend of hers whom she’d worked with a time or two in the past, paused in his recitation of his most recent exploit – one that had her laughing just moments before – eyed her, then the broken patio door.

“I take it you know him?”

“Yes. If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to him.” She skirted the broken glass and exited through

the billowing curtains to find Makl staring at the night sky.

She hesitated, unsure of what to say. The moment drew out, tense, but she couldn’t have said why.

She wanted to touch her purple mercenary. Have him face her. Say something. She tucked her hands

behind her back and spoke first. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I don’t leave my allies behind.”

Huh. Odd, the mercenary manual advised cutting allies who got caught because chances were

they’d compromise you. She’d truly expected him to take off the first chance he got – and never look back.

“I can’t believe you came back for me, purple.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have if I’d known you didn’t need rescuing,” was his bitter reply.

If she didn’t know better, she’d have said he sounded hurt and a touch jealous. Makl? Her

jokester? “But you didn’t know that and you came anyway.” She put her hand on his arm. The muscle

underneath tensed. She didn’t let that deter her from stepping closer. “Why did you come? You could have left.”

A heavy sigh left him. “I couldn’t. Just like you didn’t when you had the chance.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well. You know how it is about glory. I couldn’t let you hog it.”

“So what now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You seemed pretty cozy with your abductor.”

She noted how hard he gripped the railing and wondered at the reason. Surely he wasn’t jealous?

“Afraid of losing your ticket to stardom?”

A muscle jumped in the side of his jaw. He didn’t answer for a moment. “You could say that. So,

what’s it going to be, barbarian? You staying or coming?”

He was giving her a choice? Was this his way of quietly ditching her? If so, then why come back

for her in the first place, other than pride?

“Are you still planning to turn me into a nanny?”

“You? A nanny?” Kajob trumpeted his laughter from two of his trunks and snickered with the rest

as he joined them on the balcony. “I can’t picture it.”

“No one was talking to you,” Makl snarled.

“Testy fellow, aren’t you? We’ll see how mouthy you are after my guards are through with you.”

Out came a big gun aimed at Makl’s chest.

“Stop teasing, Kajob.” Olivia frowned at the smuggler.

“Who’s teasing? Even now, my guards are surrounding him. Escape is impossible.”

“You can’t capture him. He wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me.”

“I know. It’s why I snagged you when I got the chance. The perfect bait to snare the other half of

the Galactic Lovebirds.” Kajob sneered.

“Snare? You mean this was all part of a plan? I thought we were friends.”

“For the kind of money being offered for your capture, I’d sell my whole family.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Makl muttered, not seeming concerned at all.

She turned her back on Kajob. “I’m sorry, purple. I didn’t know he planned this.”

“I figured he would, which is why I brought along this.”

Before she could scream or ask him to explain, Makl gripped her around the waist and flung them

both off the balcony. Down they plunged, air whistling past her ears, her mouth open in a silent scream.

Her crazy purple lover, of course, had the time of his life.

“Wheeee!”

Stupid adrenaline junkie. But if he wasn’t scared then that meant…

A sudden jolt and their imminent meeting with the ground slowed. He’d brought along a parachute.

For some reason, this struck her as insanely comical and she laughed. Giggled actually, with a

note of hysteria.

“I’m glad you find this entertaining,” he grumbled as he guided them to a low rooftop.

“It’s just whenever I think we’re fucked, you pull a rabbit out of your ass and save us.”

“I assure you, I did not have anything up my ass.” He sounded offended.

She laughed louder. “I didn’t mean it literally. I meant… Oh, forget what I meant. Thanks for

saving us, again.” Feet on solid ground, and no one shooting them for the moment, she plastered a kiss on him, a kiss he devoured with a passion that never failed to excite, no matter how inopportune the moment.

*

“Can you work on tying your tongues in knots later?” an exasperated Ifruum barked from above

before they even got to the groping. “We’re not out of the woods yet, kids.”

No, they certainly weren’t. Makl broke away from Olivia and grasping her hand, dragged her to

the air car Ifruum
appropriated,
and from none other than their most recent host, Kajob.

Piling into the two-seater with Olivia on his lap, the superfast aerial vehicle made quick work of

getting them back to his ship, disguised to look like a mail carrier. Out they slipped, escaping the

influence of the mobster. Now, if only Makl could outrun the confusion in his head.

What was wrong with him lately? Making mistakes. Going against the mercenary laws that always

guided him.

Olivia was his ally – and lover. But he didn’t need her. She brought him some value, but not

enough to risk his life, so why did he ignore the smart thing to do and for no compensation, save her?

And why did he keep replaying the chilling moment when in that dirty hovel, the tip of a sword

pricked the skin of her fragile neck. One slice, one quick jab, and she could have bled out before his eyes.

Died, and he couldn’t have stopped it. Sure, he saved her in the end, yet he couldn’t escape the chill of that moment.

Even in the shower, the temperature cranked, his cock buried to the hilt, his body curved up

against hers, he couldn’t shake the cold. The fear.

She almost died. Who cares
?
I do, it seems.
But why? He might have pondered it longer, but she chose that moment to scream his name, “Makl!” and came around his dick, sweet, undulating waves

wringing heat and so much more from him.

As for later…well, they discovered many more ways to generate heat and he pushed the feeling

away. Forgot it, but at the same time, never repeated his mistake. From there on, he kept her safe from harm – even if he had to delay their missions so he could pop in first and take care of a few potential problems.
I won’t let her come that close to harm again.
His heart couldn’t handle it.