Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) (46 page)

His mind whirled with indecision, none of it having to do with whether he would take Denny up on her offer. He loved Allura. The hesitancy came from having to morph back into his undercover mode to get what he wanted. A place filled with darkness and void of conscience, somewhere he hated to dwell because it meant doing the unimaginable to bring closure to a niggling feeling he had about Denny. Before Allura came into his life, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but that was in the past, when he lurked in seedy deceit if it meant getting his man, or in this case, woman. He was trained in war, and would use any means necessary to win.

She rotated her hips, rocking and swaying, churning her pussy over his cock. She moaned pleasurably, escalating the pace, driving against his dick with a desperate need when he felt nothing.

Denny went to kiss Noor. He refused her.

“Tell me something, did you enjoy being with Theopolis? When he mated, because that’s what his species does…did you see his true form?” Noor gripped her hips and held Denny still. His features went cold and unyielding. “What was it like being with a species that fucks like animals?”

“What are you talking about?” she said innocently.

Damn, she was good. Real good.

“You do know Theopolis is a cretin, right? I mean, how could you miss that? From what I learned, during mating it’s difficult for them not to reveal their true features.

“No, he’s not any different than you, but he is a mad man.”

“You’re a lying bitch.”

She slapped his face.

He slapped her back.

She went to gouge his eyes out, and he caught her hand. With little effort, he shifted and lifted Denny from his lap. She struggled and fought him. She had strength and knew tactical maneuvers to bring the biggest assailant down. All of which she tried, but he thwarted each attempt.

Then, realizing she couldn’t win, he assumed Denny decided to pull an Asher move on him. She reached beneath the chair cushion, produced a T-400 stunner, and pointed it between his eyes.

“You going to kill me like you did Asher?”

She smiled slyly, and he expected her to hiss with the expression on her face. “It’s not that I want to. I mean, really, it seems a waste of good cock. You were always the best, Noor. You had everything going for you except your damned conscience and this nasty little impulse to do what is right.”

“It’s called upholding the oath we took and ethics. Remember that…to serve, protect, and all that very long agreement you signed, swore, and vowed to, or have you forgotten because greed, power, and wealth have clouded your mind? You…are…insane.”

“And you are stupid, naïve, and ignorant to think this bullshit life we live under the government’s thumb will amount to anything but dysfunction, burnout, and if we’re lucky, we will have the balls to put a blast in our heads before we lose it.”

“News flash, you have already lost it, Denny. You are sick and more deranged than I believed.”

The weapon pumped air when Denny jerked back on the trigger. She kept hitting the release lever.
Click.
Click. Click
. Nothing happened.

“If you were that smart, you would have known to check your weapon after you had told me where you kept it hidden. That is colored liquid. The canister is blank. Now, get the fuck off of me.”

Noor stood and spoke into his intercom. He rambled off the coordinates for the tactical squad to come and make the arrest. “You had it going for you. With your looks and intelligence, you had it all, except you let greed manage you to make a stupid decision. Maybe, you aren’t as smart as I believed.” He shrugged. “I suppose that is what happens when you rise to the top on your back. Really, nobody took you too seriously, and your days in command were numbered.”

“You bastard!” She dived for the table and grabbed a weapon in the top drawer. Before she could pull the trigger, Noor withdrew his stunner and nailed her.

Later, the crime scene investigators worked the case, and Noor wanted to leave but had to go through the motions with Internal Affairs, answering questions they already knew the response to because he transmitted the entire encounter with Denny. Everything that happened was recorded and the images fed to the agency database. The interrogation was a formality but still irritating.

“What the hell is this?”

Fiscal, a new investigator who specialized in technology, looked at Noor. He held up a wireless transmitter that he had retrieved from behind Denny’s ear. He twirled the small receptor between his fingers, examining the mechanism. “Looks like one of ours.” Fiscal removed the tiny implant module and put it in the reader that fed back the data to the screen. “It’s definitely one of ours, but the frequency is set to a network that doesn’t belong to the agency. Here, look at this.” He showed Noor the network address that appeared on the monitor. “See, we can track where all our devices are located by this access point address, which is tied to a main controller at headquarters. The bandwidth feed derives from our leg, but the output signal returns to another network. R-1000-487-303-500…that’s not one of our hosting addresses. Hmm, not anywhere close. Maybe I can find out who it belongs to by doing a back trace and overriding the security on the network.”

“Don’t bother. It belongs to my father.”

Noor felt chilled and numb walking to his vessel.

Chapter Forty-four

Sitting in the cabin of his vessel, Noor stared at the command console for a long minute until it became a blur. That didn’t stop him from focusing on the touch-screen, the bells and whistles, and all the latest snazzy gadgets a cruiser came equipped with before him. If he wanted to order a latte and have it delivered from a café airvendor, he just had to find the closest vendor’s wireless signal and send a message with his location, and presto, he had caffeine.

The technology for information had surpassed even his imagination and he considered himself a pseudo-geek and enjoyed having the latest mechanisms that virtually kept all lines of communication open—with the agency, businesses, family—and available twenty-four-seven. There was no such thing as unavailability when you needed to contact someone unless they set a privacy mode. Even then, he was savvy enough to override the frequency and interrupt it if he felt it was an emergency situation and he needed to reach someone. He didn’t use the capability often. But enough he could do it if he wanted. So, why he sat motionless in his seat and refused to interlink to his father’s communicator was beyond him.

Maybe he didn’t want to because he was afraid of what he might learn. His father was a straight shooter—Noor grinned at the Texas lingo he had picked up from Allura—then his expression turned somber. His father wouldn’t bullshit or lie, even if the truth hurt.

If he heard what he thought he would, it would pain him like hell.

He went for it and tried to connect. Noor relaxed back, closed his eyes, and waited for his father to answer.

The command center voice filtered through the speakers in the vessel. “I’m sorry, sir, your father isn’t answering the call. Would you like to leave a message?”

“No, keep trying until you get an answer.”

Minutes passed that seemed like hours.

“Sir, I rerouted the call to make contact, but your father’s access point address appears to be in sleep mode or set to private. How would you like me to proceed?”

“Override.”

“I’m overriding, sir, one minute while I try to link and obtain connectivity. Would you like to listen to some music while you wait?”

“No.” What he wanted was an answer.

Noor watched the other vessels whiz by on the ultra freeway as he sat there trying to reason out Denny’s purpose for transmitting to his father’s network. A multitude of things came to mind. None of them made sense except the inevitable, which left him feeling sick in the stomach.

The sensation intensified when he heard his father’s voice. Even through the intercom, without the monitor on and unable to get a visual, he could hear the strain.

Tier Rynoir said, “There is a reason why I have restricted access set.”

“I know, but I needed to reach you,” Noor paused and blew out a breath. “I just left Denny Sterns’s residence, and outside of having to kill her, there is more unsettling information I need to discuss with you. Denny transmitted something that used a lot of bandwidth, so I suspect an image, to our family network ID R-1000-487-303-500.”

Tier Rynoir hesitated before saying, “Remember when I cautioned you about putting Allura on the system?” Noor felt his world sinking deeper into a black hole. “That is your wife’s interlink address.”

“A straight feed went to Allura.” It was more of a statement. He already knew the truth.

“Yes, and me and your mother just spent an hour trying to console your wife when she received the visual of you and Denny in a damnably delicate position. Man to man, what you do is your own business. However, in the future, I suggest discretion, and certainly make sure your wife—who I shouldn’t have to remind you carries a pistol—isn’t getting a direct feed of your adultery.” Noor heard his mother’s voice in the background. His father came back online. “That advice is hypothetical, of course. You know better.”

“It’s not what you think. Wasn’t there audio?” he asked, hopeful.

“No, just a visual feed.”

“Damn it.” Noor cursed underneath his breath.

“Son, whatever went on, Allura sobbed for about an hour, and then she said some very strange things. What does hog tied and whipped mean?”

“Form of Texas torture method. Can you connect me to Allura?”

“You might want to present your apologies in person.”

“I will do that, but I’m about thirty minutes out. There’s a traffic jam up ahead and the freeway is blocked.”

“Hold on a minute.”

Noor waited for what seemed an infinite minute before he heard the bleep that connected him to Allura. He knew she was there. He could hear her breathing.

“Sweetie, it’s not what you think.”

Click.

Noor reconnected. “Don’t you hang up on me. Listen to what I have to say.”

Click.

“Damn it.” He slammed his hand into the console. “Command center, reestablish the link, and I want visual this time.”

“I’m reconnecting, sir.”

Noor drummed his fingers over the console, waiting. Finally, Allura came into view. His stomach grumbled seeing her eyes were red and swollen. “Sweetie, it’s not what you think. I know what you saw, but it’s, ah, complicated to explain.”

“Go to hell.”

“Allura, don’t make this more difficult than it already is. Allow me to explain what you witnessed, and then I think you will understand what took place.”

“You had sex with that woman. What more is there to know?”

“I didn’t sleep with her. Well, yes, I did, but not for the reason you believe. It was work and a necessary evil, if that makes any sense.” It didn’t seem logical hearing the excuse aloud, but it was too late to retract the numskull statement.

“Jesus, I may not be from your world, but that doesn’t make me stupid. How could you do it?”

“It was an assignment. I had to get information out of Denny, and sometimes it’s necessary for me to do things I’m not proud of. If there was any other way, don’t you think I would have done it? The last thing you can expect from me is to be unfaithful.”

“Unfortunately, my expectations of you are at the lowest level,” she said tersely.

“I can respect that. For what happened, you shouldn’t give me any slack. You are everything to me, Allura, and the last thing I would do is intentionally hurt you.”

Allura glowered at him. Cynicism rolled from her lips. “Well, you have a funny way of showing you care for me. God, what would you do if you actually loved me, sleep with a harem?”

“That is bullshit and you know it,” he snapped, angrier with himself than her.

“In the scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter at this point.”

Noor’s eyes darkened. His body stiffened. He spoke with forced inflection and said, “Explain what you mean, but think about what you say before opening your mouth.”

“Believe you me, mister, I have had plenty of time to think about what I would say to you when we were face to face. Honestly, I’m happy you aren’t anywhere near me. My son and I are leaving Magnus, so you go ahead an-an-and ‘conduct business’ all you want. I just will not be here when you get finished with your deceitful, immoral behavior.”

The threat was empty. Allura had nowhere to go. That didn’t mean her words didn’t rake Noor raw and put him in a testier mood than he already felt. He was pissed off for the stupid blunder with Denny that never should have happened. Foremost, the fear of Allura’s intimidation tactic weighed heavier in his mind. Whom could he blame but himself? Overall, he tried to focus on that fact and not go off on a tangent, which he sensed frothing on the cusp as his temper rose.

“Don’t. We will discuss this when I get home,” he stated.

“Sure, I will just sit here and twiddle my thumbs and await your arrival. I will be on pins and needles until you get here.”