Sergey: Love Me Harder

Sergey
By
Serena Simpson
Love Me Harder #3

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Lori without her I’d still be saying ‘so I was thinking of writing a book!’ She’s editor and beta reader, but more importantly she’s a friend. I also want to say thank you to Anaiya who did the content editing.

No thank you is ever enough without thanking my child. She thinks I work too hard, but instead of complaining (she does a little) she goes out of her way to take care of me. I couldn’t ask for a better daughter or a better teenager. She has all my love.

Copyright

Copyright © May 2015, Serena Simpson

All rights reserved

Cover Art by
Melody Simmons

Edited by Lori Merlotti

Content edit by Anaiya

Published by
Serena Simpson

Sergey is a work of art and the characters, events and dialogue found within the story are the author’s imagination and shouldn’t be taken as real. Any resemblance to event or people living or dead is totally a coincidence.

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Chapter One

He sat in a bar nursing a drink that would exit his body before ever making it to his head. All it would leave behind was the desire to become more aggressive. He could control it - barely.

He’d taken this assignment as a way to keep Aran and Niko home with their mates. The worry in his new sister’s eyes when they realized it was out of state had touched him. They shouldn’t have to worry about their mates after all that had transpired recently.

He’d taken this assignment in hopes of getting one step closer to the male who had placed a target on all of their heads. All he’d accomplished so far was to be left alone in a rundown bar, waiting for his contact.

The General, with whom he and his brothers did occasional work had called, asking them to take a special case. One that involved children.

Normally Aran his eldest brother would’ve turned him down, but his mated brothers looked like they would jump at the chance to save the children. If this is what happens when a male mates, then it was good that he’d been spared.

The General wasn’t the altruistic type. He wasn’t concerned about smuggled children in general. He was concerned with one particular missing child. She’d been swept up by the child abduction ring while playing in an area that her father, the Prince of a country he’d never heard of, wouldn’t have condoned. Unfortunately, the Prince was away and the young child slipped her guards in search of friends her age to play with. Sergey was sure those guards would never work again in that country, if they survived the prince arriving home.

According to the General, a show of good will in returning the Princess would go far in making sure the Prince was beholden to the U.S. Government and the General in particular.

Sergey scanned the bar again, looking for the informant who was late. It was the smell that hit him first. It was subtle, reminding him of the floral scent on the planet from whence he’d originated.

The soft smell tickled his nose, making him seek out the source. He spotted her immediately. She wasn’t beautiful by human standards, but she called to him.

She was petite, standing around five three, with short brown hair cut close to her head with a well-proportioned body. She stood straight with the at ease posture of a soldier.

He watched intently as the woman slid onto the bar stool next to his and ordered a drink. She looked at him and gave him a small smile. Her blue green eyes took him in, starting at the top of his head and sweeping down to his feet.

“Hi.” Her voice did something to him, making him shift uncomfortably.

“Hello,” he replied.

Her drink was placed in front of her. He inhaled deeply to analyze it. It wasn’t liquor, but one of the various soft drinks that humans insisted on drinking. She hadn’t come to the bar looking to lose herself in the bottom of a glass.

Was she his contact?

“What brings you here?” She asked, her voice part warm and sultry and part military precision.

“I was hoping to meet someone here,” he replied, sticking as close to the truth as possible. “What brings you out?”

“I was looking for a male.”

Her words beckoned him to get closer. His heightened aggressive state demanded that he get closer, and find out exactly what she needed. It was the sight of her laying broken and still before him that stopped his beast cold. He feared the only female strong enough to take him would be a mate. A mate he wasn’t destined to have.

He pulled away. He had a job to do. Then he would return home to the cold comfort of his family.

“You’ve come to the right place. There are many males around. I’m sure you’ll find one to your liking.”

She glanced around the bar, dismissing all she saw, until her eyes landed on him.

“I’m looking for a specific male. One that may know about missing children.” Her voice had lowered on the last part.

“Why would that male be interested in you, knowing that you aren’t his contact?”

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead she swept the room again, letting her intriguing eyes pin everyone for a few silent seconds, before looking back at him.

“Because I know what you are and who you are and I don’t care. All I want is to make sure the children are taken to a safe place.”

She was military. He was sure of it. He looked at her hands. They were reddened from being stationed in a hot, dry climate. He looked at her face. The creamy paleness of it was broken by a few blotches of sun damage that the normal eye wouldn’t have seen.

Her short brown hair had spent too many days under the beating sun. She was military, but no longer serving. Her stance was a shade too relaxed and even her caution spoke of someone who hadn’t been actively hunted in a while.

Her body was gaunt, he was sure she’d missed some badly needed meals. It was obvious to him that she’d struggled like so many others after having left the military, yet she was concerned about the children more than herself. She’d intrigued him.

“What am I?”

She looked down, not meeting his eyes. Until that moment, she’d been bold and confident. What could’ve happened to change that?

“You aren’t human.”

“Do you tell that to every male you meet? A casual pick up line?”

“But you’re good. You blend in well. You rarely drink alcohol because it makes you aggressive without the benefit of getting drunk. You and your kind don’t need any help in the aggressive department.”

“Many males become aggressive without the benefit of having alcohol to blame it on.”

She nodded her head in agreement.

“No human male I know harbors a beast inside, one that he’s not only able to call on, but able to become.”

“You’ve read too many fairy tales.”

“I’ve spent too much time in the hot desert, seeing things that are impossible and being the good little soldier. I’ve bit my lip at injustices I couldn’t fix, even the ones that happened to me. I can fix this. I can make sure these little ones who did nothing wrong but play carefree, are taken care of. All I need is your help.”

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Your former informant talks and he drinks too much. A pretty face was all it took to sway him.”

He nodded. He’d seen more than one informant unable to hold onto his information.

“Where’s the informant now?”

“Sleeping it off in a motel.”

“What information did he pass along to you?”

She slid off of the bar stool, landing next to him. She lowered her head and spoke softly, giggling as if she was trying to impress him.

“He said that for the right price, he would tell you that a boat was coming in tonight. That in the cargo hold you would find the package you were looking for.”

“Did he have any more useful information? A time, a berth, the name of the vessel?”

She nodded her head.

“Are you interested in the fee he would’ve been paid for this information?”

“Keep the money. I’m in it for the safety of the children. All of the children.”

“Then I need the rest of the information.”

“How can one male keep all of those children safe?”

“According to you, I’m more than human. That should make it easy to keep them safe.”

She moved her head in a disapproving shake. “There will be too many people there with guns and orders to shoot to kill for any one person to keep the children safe.”

She was tough. He found himself liking that about her. She would fight to the end, even if it meant sacrificing her own life. She reminded him of his brothers and himself, and even their mates. They were willing to put the family first.

“What would you have me do, if I’m not enough to save your precious children?”

“Accept help.”

“Who would want to help?”

“Me.”

His lips twitched. That should only happen around his brothers with their bickering or his new sisters who were out to make them all laugh, when they weren’t driving them crazy.

“As you pointed out, it’ll be dangerous. A mission I may not come back from.”

He was baiting her, he acknowledged. He would definitely return from the mission with all of the children whole.

“Tell me where you can be reached, and once they’re safe, I’ll call you to come collect them.” How many of them could there be?

She shook her head, her stubborn blue green eyes alight with fire. He was captivated by her eyes. Again he felt his aggressive side reach for her. He pulled himself in. He mustn’t hurt the frail human.

“I’m going with you.” Her slender finger stabbed him in the chest as she said each word.

Chapter Two

Holy crap! She was standing up to an inhuman creature that could break her in half without thinking about it. He was definitely a creature. The finger that was stabbing his chest could testify to that.

Pleasure moved through her finger tip, her finger that would never be able to feel again. Thank you Uncle Sam.

He reached out and swallowed her hand in his. He must have been holding her tight, her brain screamed at her. Was her hand crushed, she wondered as she felt a pleasant sensation flow through it. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt sensation with that hand.

Lowering her eyes, she noticed it was fine. Well, if you could define fine as warm and achy and wanting to touch the big alien chest in front of her.

Alien. She backed off, letting the word knock around in her brain. She’d first come into contact with his kind in the desert where she lost all ability to feel.

She tried to pull her hand back, but he didn’t let go.

“Am I hurting you?”

His voice was hitting her in places she no longer thought about. Her body had become useless after her last mission.

“No.” She licked her lips, reaching for her drink. She’d dehydrated faster than when she had been in the desert with no protective covering.

He ran his thumb back and forth over the top of her hand. Her mind screamed at her. This is impossible, it shouted. Your nerve endings are dead. You have no feeling. You’ll never feel again. He’s playing with your head.

With an effort, she pulled her hand out of his, acknowledging the fact that he let it go.

She downed her soda. “The children. I want to go with you.”

“What makes you think you can help?”

She smiled, feeling comfortable once again. “I’m an excellent marksman. I’ve lots of undercover experience and I’m a trained soldier. I’ll not hamper you.”

He nodded his head. “Lead the way.”

She clamped down on the excitement she was feeling. She really hadn’t thought he would bring her along. She got up and headed for the door with him on her tail.

She took a quick peek over her shoulder to find him watching her appreciatively. Now she wished she’d taken more time to comb her hair, maybe pick out a better outfit. Sighing again, she reminded herself those days were gone. All she had time for now was surviving.

“We’ll take my car unless you have one?” Lorali said.

“Your car will be fine.”

She’d parked a block up the street, the closest she could get to the bar. It was located in one of the more lower class neighborhoods. That didn’t seem to matter. It had been surrounded by cars that had seen better days and filled with bodies that simply wanted to forget their pain-filled lives. She made a mental note to come back one day and lose herself in there.

She drove a black Elantra. It was a little car that no one seemed to notice. She liked it that way. She’d driven a red Camaro before she enlisted. That was when she wanted everyone to see her coming. Her friends had called her sassy.

She curtailed memories that did nothing, but hurt. Turning the key, she pulled out, making her way toward the docks.