Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (34 page)

She put her hands on her hips and said cheerfully, “Let’s get up and eat. I’m ravenous, and then we can start our little party over again. How does that sound?”

“I don’t like it when you treat me like one of your officers.” With everything else he had to deal with, his wife was the chief commander of an elite tactical force for the government. When the average guy couldn’t cut it, she came to the rescue and kicked major ass. To date, she had an impeccable record of sieges and arrests. What got his gut was the gossip that followed his wife the most. It was a well-known fact Denny worked her men and women as hard as she fucked them. Alias Commander Cunt, a first-rate whore, is what they called her, and he was married to her, shamefully.

“Are we going to fight about this again? Move your ass and let’s eat.” Denny headed for the door.

“No.”

She turned and eyed him over her shoulder. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t want to do this anymore. You, our marriage, and all this bullshit we’ve been doing for too many years. Come on, Denny, let’s face it and admit our marriage was over years ago. I’m tired of pretending. We’re done.”

She was on him in a split second. She jabbed him hard in the chest with her fingernail. “This is not the time to grow some balls. Seriously, it really isn’t. You are up for promotion, and I have my eyes on a new position that could make me more powerful then I am already. So suck up whatever is bothering you and let it go. This is business.”

“Whew…it didn’t take you long to lose it. I’m surprised because you usually are a stone bitch.”

“Listen, mister, you don’t want to screw with me.”

“Actually, I have had enough of your endless screwing you call sex. We haven’t made love in years, if ever and frankly I’m relieved to be free of the chore. I won’t continue to be your bitch in and out of bed. Go and find yourself another jerk who doesn’t mind that his wife likes to strap on a dildo and do the fucking more than she enjoys a cock. I wish you well in your quest. You go and have a happy life, Denny. I certainly plan to and with no regret.”

Denny laughed hard. Then she squeezed his wrist in a death grip when he tried to move. “Do you really think your life is worth anything without me? Huh? Well, I will let you in on a little secret. Everything you are, your position, is all in place by my design. Me.” She thumped his chest. “All my hard work got you where you are, stupid ass. I put you in power and just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “I can have your sorry ass bumped back down to a field officer or worse rejected from the agency in disgrace.”

Sterns’s face crumpled with disbelief, and his mouth dropped. “What are you saying? I worked hard to get my promotion and I won’t let you take that away from me.”

Her laughter was shrewd, menacing. “You’re an idiot, Asher. Did you really believe you had anything to do with your promotion? Inside the agency, everyone knew you were a joke, but I convinced my superiors to give you the position because I needed you in place for a reason. Trust me, it took a lot of persuasion on my part and a lot of hours on my back and knees but I finally won your commander over. You never really had any significant power, you asshole. You sit in that opulent office with a fancy title at my doing. And if you must know, you weren’t my first choice. In fact, you never would have been on the list but I got desperate when I realized Rynoir would never accept my conditions and roll over like a bitch. Nor was he willing to kiss my ass like you and lower himself to a sniveling pasty for me to lead around like a dog on a leash. You won that contest by a landslide. Maybe that’s why you went down on your knees so well, huh?”

Something inside him snapped. Asher shook with rage, turning beet red. “Who are you? What are you? You bitch!” He choked, started struggling for air, sounding asthmatic, wheezing. “I…loved…you! You ungrateful bitch, do you realize what I have done for you!”

Her hysterical laugh raked him raw.

He shivered, trembling, and shaking his head no. “You made a mockery of my life and you find that funny!” he roared. An uncontrollable rage coiled around him and he ached to wrap his hands around her throat and keep squeezing until her eyes bulged and popped from the sockets.

She was cool as a cucumber, attesting to her madness. “Sure,” she said. “But here is the kicker, you asshole, I know exactly what you call yourself doing for me. All this time you thought you were hiding your dirty little secret and bowing down to Emperor Agaci thinking he would give you any consideration because you played his man-whore.” She snickered crudely. “You stupid ass, everybody is pimping you for one reason or another. Tell me something, is it because you like taking it up the ass you couldn’t always get it up for me unless I was strapped? Theopolis said you never had that problem with him or his concubines who used you like a toy.” She flicked at him, and it burned as if she tossed a cigarette butt into his eye.

“You bitch!” he howled and lunged at her and grabbed Denny by the throat.

Asher wouldn’t stop squeezing. He kept on, tightening his hold, shaking her around even when she fought hard to stop his attack. She tried digging his eyeballs out, clawing, she tore at his skin, but he refused to release her. Her knee raised and slammed into his groin and white-hot pain exploded through him, but he ignored the pain as insignificant. The inner demon driving him wouldn’t let up. He wanted her dead, so dead.

Killing Denny was his last gallant effort to redeem himself and prove he wasn’t the wimp she believed. She wasn’t laughing in his face, now. Her eyes dulled, rolled back in her head. He heard her take a last breath, gasping, and then her body went limp.

The rush was exhilarating seeing her succumb. She stared up at him, eyes fluttering, on the cusp of death. He screamed at her, sobbing. “I gave you everything, my life, world, love, and you pissed it away after all I did for you. You took my good intentions and crapped on me like a dog. Every day you took an opportunity to unman me, just like that cold-hearted bastard Theopolis. You die, bitch, and burn.”

Her head lolled to the side and she went limp in his arms. He tossed her aside like waste and turned to leave the room when he heard movement behind him. Asher froze. How could he forget Denny was trained as a special ops? She could drop her heart rate, fall unconscious, and appear dead.

He heard the pre-amp pump of a stunner filling with blast.

“You always underestimated me, prick,” she said.

He turned slowly and faced her, void of expression.

Denny stared him in the eyes and shot him once, twice, three times center chest.

He clutched his chest and looked down seeing the blood seep between his fingers. He gasped, blood gushed from his mouth…he dropped to his knees.

Denny always liked to overachieve at anything she did. It was his last thought as she walked over to him and put a blast in his forehead ripping it open.

Chapter Thirty-four

Noor had made good on his promise to bring her home for a visit. She didn’t like the contraption she was strapped into, the long tight cylinder with all the colorful gadgets and readings she didn’t understand. She hated the way her body felt when the men behind the controls did a countdown, and then a blinding light surrounded her body and she felt sucked into the air. Her mind went blank, she felt numb, and all the tingling sensations weren’t pleasant but made her nauseated. Then she blinked…her body ceased to feel anything, and the next thing she knew she was in Legend.

That was two days ago and she still felt weird inside, to be on Magnus one minute, and then the next at the mercantile store.

Walking leisurely, Allura strolled down each aisle of the store, picking out the goods she needed and a couple of items her mother wanted to purchase. She fingered a pretty roll of blue ribbon that would complement the yarn she selected earlier. She was thinking how nice the materials would work together when she sewed the blanket for her child.

Her son. The notion that Noor had given her a son and knew this at conception—it still baffled and amazed her, even though he explained the scientific ability Magnus men had to give choice-seed and select male or female children. She doubted as long as she lived any of her new world would make sense. But from what she learned, she would have a long time to figure it out. By bringing her to Magnus, Noor had given her immortality, or close enough, as the technology in his world allowed people to survive three lifespans. If she calculated that in her head, she would probably die around age two hundred, if her math was correct.

And she thought the invention of the steam engine was phenomenal. She wondered what people in Legend would think if she told them vessels fly in the air like birds without wings and people zipped in and out of air like ghosts. She shivered. She had transported a few times, but frankly, she didn’t like the feeling of being erased—that was her best description—and then collected again and made complete.

They would think I was insane, Allura thought. She decided on two ribbons, one blue and one white.

After spending time in the huge, busy buildings with what she called hundreds of mercantile stores—nothing like Mr. Norris’s, of course—but fancier, with bells and whistles. So many items of clothing, shoes, handbags, household items, and some things she still couldn’t remember, even though Noor explained the mall concept to her. She found the simplicity of Mr. Norris’s small but quaint establishment comforting. On Magnus, because shopping tended to overwhelm her, she preferred using the online sites on the computer display thingamajig that Noor had showed her how to use. That way she could spend hours looking through items, familiarizing herself with the latest fashions, food, and lately she had concentrated on the numerous baby things she could purchase. With Noor’s sister Lyric’s help and his mother’s, she picked a few selections they insisted she needed. Not wanting to appear rude, she made the purchases but doubted she would ever use anything delivered to Noor’s home the next day except the clothing. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t sew what was needed for the baby, she just hadn’t mastered the technique as well as Consuela. That, and she found it tedious. Besides, her mother had already purchased a slew of clothing when she informed her parents they were going to be grandparents. They were genuinely surprised, though not as stunned as when she and Noor tried to explain where he was from. Allura grinned. At one time, her father had pulled his gun and asked Noor if he needed a bullet in the butt to snap him sober. Finally, after Noor showed him the communicator and Channing went into a lengthy description of his hospital stay, all the technology used, and showed them the area where he was shot and now healed except for a faint surgical mark on his chest. Her mother and father said they understood, even though they still eyed Noor as if he was a quirk—that, he was—but, they trusted her and welcomed Noor into the family like a son, and that’s what counted.

Allura paused. Her hand rubbed her belly when she felt the baby stir. She was five months into her pregnancy and due in another month. An accelerated birth was another concept she couldn’t quite understand. Noor had explained it a hundred times it seemed, and finally, feeling sorry for him, she just accepted that there were things on Magnus she had to accept even though she couldn’t grasp the theories. In the end, it didn’t matter. She was staying with Noor and living out her life in his world that she assumed she may as well start calling home.

She was eyeing the silver and pearl brooch that dangled from a satin cream ribbon when she heard Mr. Norris enter from the backroom. She turned around and greeted him warmly. “Hello, Mr. Norris.” She waved at him.

Mr. Norris wiped his forehead with his apron, pulled his glass from the top of his head, and looked at her. Then his belly jiggled as he hurried over to her and gave her an affectionate hug. He smelled like peppermint. His cherub cheeks were rosy and had white powder smudged on each side where she suspected he’d rubbed while filling bags full of flour. He was coated with the stuff, and sprinkles dotted his bald head. Mr. Norris hadn’t changed a bit. The familiarity of his ready smile and comforting greeting warmed her heart. She couldn’t help but notice how the people on Magnus were polite and sociable, but only if they knew you while everyone in Legend treated you like family. A pang of homesickness temporarily overwhelmed her. Allura wiped her eyes with the tissue she kept in her reticule.

“Why, Miss Allura, you are a sight for these tired old eyes.”

“Thank you, Mr. Norris. It’s Mrs. Rynoir now.”

“Ah, that’s right. I remember hearing you gone and got yourself hitched to that out of town fellow.” He glanced at her extended belly. “You all married and expecting, it seems.”

Mr. Norris was as nosey as the local town gossip Mrs. Tidwell, but he was harmless compared to the snotty busy body who had solely elected herself Legend’s official know-it-all and worst gossipmonger. She hadn’t stepped foot in town before Mrs. Tidwell had the community gossiping about her sudden disappearance and return after what she called a shot-gun wedding. Noor had wanted to squelch the scandal by having a stern talk with Mrs. Tidwell, but thank god, she convinced him to let the matter rest. His attempt to convince the busybody would only exacerbate her wagging tongue and make things worse.

“When’s the little one due? I bet your ma and pa is right proud they ’bout to become grandparents.”

“They are very excited about the news, Mr. Norris. Mother wanted me to pick up some of the hand cream you carry, but I didn’t see it in its usual spot.”