Neeri's Need: How to Crash a Party (3 page)

Do not push me, little Lyo,
Ocen said, his tone flat with warning.
I will not be distracted. What are you hiding?

Neeri bared her teeth with a low growl that raised the hair on the back of Sasha’s neck. But the female eased away, turning with a dismissive toss of her dark hair. “
Get out of my head, Scales. And help me with his pants,” she said in a tight tone.

Sasha expect
ed Ocen to pursue his question. It seemed rather urgent and necessary for them to get an answer, to find out what Neeri was
not
telling them. Especially if the volatile female kept demanding they go with her on this supposed “rescue mission.” But Ocen moved to assist the crazy person in her home with baffling calm and a disturbing lack of concern. If questions were being asked and answered, Sasha couldn’t tell.

“Ocen!” she hissed in protest. She was starting to doubt her own sanity for trusting him with such
blind conviction. Everything in her said he would never hurt her, but this situation was way outside her comfort zone.

Be calm, sayshin
,
he responded.
I would not let her hurt you.
But he didn’t glance her way, holding the squirming man still while Neeri tugged Rytel’s pants on with brisk efficiency. She didn’t bother to remove the hair band from around his genitals, merely shoving the engorged meat inside the cloth and fastening the pants as if she did such bizarre things every day. For all Sasha knew, she did.

“That’s kind of not the point,” Sasha gritted between clenched teeth
, feeling more and more like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole.
Oh god, help me. I’m surrounded by crazy aliens.

Ocen could feel Sasha’s panic but couldn’
t take time to sooth her further. Most of his concentration was spent chasing down Neeri’s elusive thoughts. The Lyo must have spent time with Ophidians before or knew a great deal about them. Cunning and canny, her mind slipped through a distracting net of irrelevant images and thoughts, sliding from one to another as if she knew he was right on her heels. It wasn’t honorable or ethical for him to sift through her mind, especially when she’d told him to stay out, but he was desperate. Adin’s life was at stake; that much he’d gotten loud and clear from the moment he’d sensed her outside the door.

Neeri was afraid. And not for herself.

She hid it well. She used sex and savagery like a shield, filling the surface of her mind with a morass of hedonism. But thoughts of his brother would sneak in and emotion would burst across her consciousness, intense longing and need underlined by deep worry. Each time she suppressed those emotions swiftly, burying them in layers of thwarted fury, insulted pride, and petty vengeance. He was starting to wonder if she hid her feelings even from herself.

You mated with my brother.
He knew instantly that he’d used the wrong strategy. She threw images at him with malicious glee, memories of her and Adin fucking in savage abandon. Sensation overwhelmed him, scents, tastes, and euphoria washing over him in a brutal tide until he blocked it, leaving her mind with a resigned sigh. She knew exactly how to get to him, knew he was aching and burning with his own need.
The two of you mated true,
Neeri had said. He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but he’d reacted so instantly and profoundly to Sasha from the moment they’d met that he was inclined to believe her.

And
seeing his brother engulfed by such an intense mating burn worried Ocen deeply. Adin should have been home, surrounded by the comfort and encouragement of family and friends, during his first introduction to sexual maturity. Between concern for his brother and his body’s hyperawareness of Sasha’s sweet warmth so close by, Ocen had trouble concentrating. Which was exactly what Neeri was counting on.

Strange, how she
seemed to know him so well. And her mind felt so familiar…

We knew each other,
Ocen said abruptly, stepping back from the floating bartender to stare at the Lyo.

“Pretty sure I already said that,” she muttered without looking at him, fussing with the strap around the Mato’s wrists.

But you weren’t a research subject. Were you? How do you know us, Neeri?

She reacted to his hard suspicion with a hiss of aggravation, eyes narrowing on him. “Oh,
fuck
me sideways. We don’t have time—”

He surged f
orward, pushing the Mato out of the way. He didn’t touch her but hovered so close her outline blurred in his vision.
Make time,
he said firmly.

For a moment, he thought she would attack. Her lithe form snapped taut like a bow string and her fangs flashed feral warning. Then she relaxed suddenly with a grumble. “Fine. Read me, it’ll be faster.” Standing on tiptoe, she clasped his head between her hands and brought his forehead to hers.

He tensed, but her touch wasn’t threatening. And though he didn’t need the contact, it did help him focus. Opening his mind to hers, he eased into her memories. A few moments later, he stepped away from her, flexing his claws.

Neeri, you traitorous Lyo. I ought to kill you.

*******

They argued about it all the way to Ocen’s ship
, how she’d worked for the program and been the one to choose their sexual partners in the study. How Ocen had found her mentally and they’d conversed often, though at the time he hadn’t any idea who she was. They’d practically been friends, something Ocen seemed to find offensive now. Neeri had fun—fighting with Ocen was wonderfully stimulating and a terrific distraction.

Poor little Sasha didn’t look thrilled, though.
“I don’t see why I have to go,” the red-head muttered, eyeing them both like they were pit vipers. Which wasn’t really fair to Ocen; he wasn’t venomous. And he was only trying to protect her.

“Humans,” she scoffed under her breath, giving Ridge another shove to keep him moving in the right direction.
The bartender was still in a fog of pliable submission, which helped them through docking security. The guard had eyed them with wary distrust, looking askance at Ridge’s bare feet and chest. But Neeri had covered his tied hands with a coat over his shoulders, and Ridge was docile as a lamb, so the guard had apparently decided it was some weird Lyomedrin thing and let them through.

“Look who’s talking, crazy kitty,” Sasha retorted as Ocen led them to the right airlock. “If I’m in danger anywhere, I’m betting it’s with you.”

“I already said, I don’t work for them anymore. And it wasn’t me who kidnapped you.”

“Oh no, you just forced us t
o have sex with each other!”

Neeri chuckled. “You’re just mad you don’t remember.”

Sasha made a sound like an outraged kitten and went back to glowering at her silently. Ocen gave Neeri a flat look and ushered them onto his ship.

“Stars Above,” Neeri growled. “Get over it, you two. It worked out, didn’t it? You’re together and free.”

My brother is still there.

Neeri steeled herself against a surge of anxiety.
Adin
. Pressing her lips together, she shoved Ridge through the hatch and maneuvered him into the narrow ship. The Ophidian vessel had claustrophobic berths, tight passageways, and a womb-like pilot nook that made Neeri dizzy just looking at it. This wasn’t going to be a comfortable trip.

Strapping Ridge into cargo netting instead of a passenger berth, Neeri muttered obscenities under her breath, already feeling her chest tighten with imagined lack of air. Ridge, on the other hand, was enjoying himself. “
Oh, tighter, please,” he moaned, writhing against the restraining netting. She rolled her eyes but tightened the straps anyway.

“Now Ridge, you keep being a good boy and I’ll let you rub yourself raw on these straps. You start trouble, though, and I’ll knock you out again. No more fun. Are you hearing me?”

He nodded frantically then grunted when the movement rubbed his ridge against the netting. He started humping and wiggling around in there, pleasuring himself on the restraints and moaning like a street whore.

Neeri watched for a second with a puzzled frown.
Ordinarily she’d find the sight at least a little enticing. She was a fan of kinky fun after all. But today—nothing. She shifted experimentally but felt only a mild dampness slicking the folds of her pussy, nothing swollen or throbbing, the equivalent of utter boredom for a Lyomedrin. Huh.
Weird.

Then Ocen squeezed by her on his way to the pilot’s den, shifting her to one side with a hand at her waist.
His touch, the brush of his muscular form, that familiar Ophidian musk…her mind filled with the ghost of his brother and her body flared like a torch, aching and almost sick with need. Suddenly light-headed, she slapped a hand to the wall and sucked in air.
No, no, no,
she chanted to herself.
I am
not
mate-thralled. I’m just getting Adin out because it’s right, because I wasn’t done with him. And those bastards deserve a kick in the teeth for trying to fuck me over.
They’d actually had the balls to gas her and try to wipe her memory, to toss her out like she was trash. Nobody did that to her and got away with it.

Just a bad day. Lots of drugs, rage, and a time-sensitive task would be enough to mess up any Lyo’
s libido.

“You okay?” Sasha’s tone was ambivalent, as if she wasn’
t sure she cared.

“Stellar,” Neeri muttered, slowing and deepening her breathing.
“Tight-ass ships irritate me. What the hell does he do with this thing, anyway?”

“Ocen works for a courier company. He shuttles small items and sometimes passengers between systems. Doesn’t need a big ship.” She paused. “You look more sick than irritated.
Are you claustrophobic?”

Neeri slanted the human a narrow look over her shoulder, baring her teeth in a predatory smile. “Lyo’s like close quarters. Want me to show you why?” Without waiting for an answer, she spun and crowded Sasha against the opposite wall.
The high-pitched squeak the woman made was amusing, brown eyes wide with a satisfying alarm. Neeri pressed a thigh in between Sasha’s legs, grinning at the clench and quiver of the human’s muscles. “So soft and succulent, like prey,” she whispered against the red-head’s cheek and flexed her thigh. “And I can smell your juice, feel your heat. Is it all for Ocen or do I make you hot, too? Should I taste you and find out, little Red?”

Neeri, I need the coordinates,
Ocen growled in her mind. The words were detached, but they were carried on a wave of possessive warning.

With a disgruntled snort, Neeri shifted away from the
quivering human and mentally gave him the coordinates, feeling the ship thrum under her feet. “That’s a good distance from here, you know. We have to do something to pass the time.”

“Not
that!” Sasha declared, shrinking down the passage toward Ocen in his pilot’s nook with a furious, appalled look at Neeri. “Just—play with your pain junkie and leave me the hell alone.”

Neeri sauntered after her, smirking. “Ridge is having plenty of fun without me, and you’re protesting a little too hard,” she taunted. “I can still smell you, all slicked up and wet. And I can see
those perky nipples from here. They’re almost as hard as when you watched Ocen fuck his cellmate. Want me to tell you what you looked like riding your own fingers, Red?”

Sasha glared at her from the threshold of the pilot’s den, shoulders hunched and arms folded tightly over her chest. “
What is
wrong
with you?”

Neeri snickered. “You’re so cute when you’re all fluffed up and spitting like a kitten. How we doing, Scales?”

Away from the station, nav locked and clear. Leave her be, Neeri. She does not know Lyos.

“Perfect time for her to learn, then,” Neeri purred, giving the human a salacious wink.

Sasha looked horrified. Then she twitched and glanced at Ocen. She tilted her head, staring at him for a moment. Neeri guessed the Ophidian was having a private word with his sweet little mate. Probably killing her fun.

Sure enough, a moment later Sasha turned a thunderous frown on Neeri and straightened, fear totally gone. “
You’re an asshole! Why do you mess with people like that?”

Neeri shrugged and leaned against the wall, folding h
er arms loosely. “It’s amusing. But don’t get me wrong, sweetness. If you’d been down with it, I would’ve fucked you six ways from Sunday. Lyos are all about what feels good.”

Sasha made a disgusted sound and slumped to a sit
ting position on the threshold, her features resentful. “I don’t like you. I shouldn’t be here. You suck for dragging me along.”

“
Atta girl. It’s good to air your feelings,” Neeri drawled with a mocking edge. “While we’re at it, explain why you two haven’t fucked yet. What’s the problem?”

“None of your damn business! Why do you keep bringing that up?”

“You’re supposed to be true mates,” Neeri said severely, tensing with sudden, inexplicable anger. “If you were so mate-thralled they couldn’t keep you in the program, then why aren’t you together?”