Silver Tongued Devils (4 page)

Raesa trailed her fingers over the
stripes on his biceps.

He seemed to calm down a bit. She
continued her caress up to his shoulders and down his chest. Brom
glanced down and she smiled, careful to keep her teeth hidden.
She’d read somewhere wild animals saw bared teeth as a sign of
aggression. At the moment, she didn’t know what part of him she
could reach, so it was better to be safe.

“Hey, tiger.” Her voice was pitched as
soothing as possible. “Come back to me, okay?”

Emotion knotted in her throat. What
would bring him out of it?

Brom watched her with his unwavering
stare. She couldn’t see the man in the beast, but that didn’t mean
he was completely gone.

“Thank you for letting me touch you.
For giving me permission to kiss you.”

He blinked slowly and moved closer to
her face.

Brom’s opened his mouth and she heard a
strange sound a split second before electric shock locked her
muscles tight. They released at once and Brom collapsed on top of
her. In moments she was dragged out from under his body.

Raesa tried to shrug off the hands to
reach the motionless Brom.

“No!” She screamed and kicked out at
the man holding her. He dodged it and she elbowed his
thigh.

A muttered curse followed and she broke
free. She needed to touch him. Make sure he was okay. Somewhere in
the back of her mind she realized how insane her behavior was, but
she couldn’t stop the instinctive need to protect.

“Fuck, she’s tough,” a stranger’s voice
called out

She fought harder.

“Christ almighty. Stun her again.”
Na’varr’s command confused her.

The weird sound came again and she was
hit with a sharper, more devastating shock than before. It dropped
her to the ground in an instant and the room went dark.

Brom needed her. She couldn’t pass out
now…

Raesa came to in a MEDbay. The medical
equipment seemed to be centuries ahead of the clunky MEDcom at the
Sakura Outpost. She moved her shoulder, surprised to find it bound
comfortably. The muscles were stiff, but the pain was nonexistent.
She was also wearing a scarlet tunic. Was it a uniform of some
type?

The hem brushed her legs just above the
knee. A noticeable draft meant she had no panties on. A pleasant
tenderness in her pussy slammed open all the memories of her and
Brom.

Raesa jerked to a sitting position and
regretted it when the room spun. Or was it her head? She dropped
her head into her hands and waited for the world to right itself.
Her hair dropped around her face like a curtain. It took a moment
to realize it was clean and smelled heavenly. Someone had taken the
time to bathe her, wrap her wounds, and give medical treatment.
Why?

What had happened to Brom? She dragged
herself off the table and held onto it until she was steady
standing on the frigid floor.

In a daze, she stumbled over to the
MEDbay door. It opened under her palm and she smirked. The viewing
room was empty except for a single MEDcom unit. With a grimace
against the aches in her body, she forced her way to the
com.

She touched the screen and
the system loaded immediately.
No
password? What the hell are they doing?

Her fingers fumbled once
before she was able to get the information she needed. The MEDcom
would have the location of all personnel on board. It was designed
that way to enable rescue operations. Did mercenaries follow the
same protocol? She scrolled through the names until she found Brom
Raine. A tap on his ID brought up his locater beacon.
Holding cell two.

It was red instead of black.
That meant he was still alive.
Thank the
great mother.
But for how long? He was in a
holding cell.

She brought up the main map and
memorized a route that would lead through the least amount of
personnel. Raesa glanced around and found her boots near the door.
Without waiting another moment she had them on. Her eyes remained
on the map until she finished and then she strode out of the
room.

She had no doubt there were cameras,
but without her tools she couldn’t do anything about them anyway.
All Raesa could do was stride with confidence and ignore the
prickling sensation of being watched. She wanted to run to Brom’s
side, but needed to draw the least amount of attention to her
situation.

The path to Brom’s location remained
smooth and easier than she thought possible. Only once did she
almost get caught. She heard their voices and ducked around the
corner.

“The captain finally caged that animal
bastard.” The male voice was harsh to her ears and annoying as
hell.

It was also vaguely
familiar.

“Shut up, man. He’s our executive
officer.”

“Fuck him.” Their conversation trailed
off and she fought to remain perfectly still until they moved
farther away.

The man’s words irked the hell out of
her. Hybrids were still human.

I’m part animal.
Brom’s words came back to her.
I won’t take you on the floor like a beast.
Even his crew treated him this way. She reached
his door and used a service code on the panel to bypass the entry
level security checkpoint. As long as it didn’t require a
calibration key to activate, she’d be fine.

A panel light flashed red
once, then yellow. The door lock disengaged with a subtle
click
. Without hesitation
she shoved the door open.

The sight before her filled her with
horror.

He was shackled and caged like an
animal. Raesa gripped the bars to his cell. It was a lavish affair.
Cushions and blankets were piled high. But he couldn’t move far
from his position on the bed.

Brom reclined naturally. Someone had
covered him with a sheet, but she doubted he wore anything beneath
it. His chest rose and fell with regular breathing and she wrung
her hands, torn between waking him up to see if he was okay, and
leaving before she brought him trouble.

His eyes were wicked gleams of amber
watching her from the semi-darkness. Any doubts of cat DNA were
nulled.

“Did you come here to take
advantage of my situation,
a’shara
?” Brom’s question shook the
foundation of her resolve.

“N-no.” She clenched her hands against
her stomach. “I came to see if you were okay.” Her cheeks flushed
hot and she forced her gaze to remain steady with his.

Brom’s lids lowered until only a gleam
of his eyes remained. He held up his hands and she made out the
black-gold of kargon-steel cuffs. “As you can see, I’m more than
fine. My bestial urges are in check.”

“What happened back there?”

He sighed. “I lost myself.” The ache of
sadness in his voice made her want to rush to his side. “You’re
dangerous.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

His wry smile hurt her heart. “Did I
scare you?”

She opened her mouth but the
words of agreement froze in her throat. Had she really been scared?
Embarrassed, definitely. Scared?
Not
enough to keep me from finding him the moment I woke up.

“You need to leave before things get
out of your comfort level.”

She sighed and walked over to his cage
controls. “I stowed away on a mercenary ship with the intent to
stroll past the outer ring’s border patrol point. The last few
months have been a waking nightmare. Your claws coming out didn’t
scare me.” She opened the panel and found a basic wiring structure
she could bypass.

“All this is too easy,” she muttered
under her breath.

“What are you doing?”

“Showing you I’m not
afraid.”

Brom cursed and moved to the limits of
his chain. The steel rattled and echoed throughout the room. “You
should be. Get out of here.”

“No way.” She took the grounding lug
off and then set it against the main release lock. It
disengaged.

“What did you do?”

Raesa had to fight the urge to rush to
Brom’s side. “I opened your cell.” She had five minutes before it
reset and locked again.

“How?”

“I told you, I know these vessels
better than your average information acquisitions expert.” She
smirked, though the unsettled feeling of this being too easy kept
riding her.

She stepped inside and walked toward
him.

He grew still and the strange light in
his eyes remained. She remembered the way he’d covered her and a
shiver passed over her body.

“You’re afraid.”

She wouldn’t deny it. “That’s not all I
feel.” Could he sense her excitement as well?

“My cock is hungry for you, hellcat. I
can’t fight back so why not take what you want?”

Her gaze skated down his body and
immediately back up, but not before she saw the obvious outline of
his excitement. “You’re an asshole.”

He inclined his head. “You didn’t come
to me because you were worried.”

Anger rushed to the forefront of her
mind. “Yes I did.”

“You came because you’re compelled to.
We bonded.”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “What,
like marriage?”

“No, like a pleasure slave to her
master.” A self-depreciating smile made her heart break.

Raesa pressed a palm against her
temple.

“Feeling irritable? Want to curl up
against me and make sure I’m happy?”

Each question shocked her with their
accuracy. How did he know that?

“The captain entrusted you to me,
Raesa, and I failed to protect you.”

She stared at him in annoyance. “Don’t
be an idiot.”

The surprise on his face was priceless.
“Did you just call me an idiot?”

“No, I just told you not to act like
one.” Whether it was a compulsion or not, she needed to touch him.
“Do you go into beast mode often?”

He shook his head. “You won’t have much
time before a new round of lust finds you. Get to the captain
before that happens. He should know better than to let you walk
free right now.”

“I didn’t exactly gain his permission
to be here.”

“That became obvious the moment you
broke into the confinement control panel.”

She blinked. “Is that what they’re
called?”

“You didn’t know?”

She shook her head. Knowing the name of
things like that took up too much space in her already packed
brain. A shudder racked her body and her eyes widened.

Voracious sexual hunger slammed through
her, leaving her covered in a sweet-scented perspiration. She felt
hot and cold at once. An insistent throbbing in her core made Raesa
want to jump the closest male and ride him until she dropped. She
pressed her palms against her lower stomach. It was all she could
do to stay away from Brom.

“Wh-what is this?” It was hard to talk,
to think. All she knew was need. Brom.

“You need to leave.” His voice snapped
her attention up to his face.

Her fevered gaze met his. “Make this
stop.”

A change in his expression made the
throbbing worse.

“You want it to stop, you’ll need to
let me go.”

Something about the way he watched her
destroyed her confidence. He didn’t seem as sane as his voice made
out. Her instincts were screaming to get out of there. “I
can’t.”

A rumbling growl erupted from his chest
and she shivered in anything but fear. Gods she wanted him so bad
it brought tears to her eyes. “I need to go back to the
MEDbay.”

“No!” His shout surprised her. “You’ll
fuck the first thing you see. Don’t try to run. It’s too
late.”

“Then what do I do?” She didn’t want to
take him. That’s not why she was here.

“Kiss me, hellcat. Let me taste that
lust of yours. I’ll make it better.”

Raesa reached for him. His gaze shot to
a spot over her shoulder and he launched forward. She stumbled back
in surprise.

“What the hell are you thinking?”
Captain Na’varr took her wrist and hauled her back against his hard
body. “You are so reckless with your life.” He covered her throat
with a hand that could crush the life out of her.

“What are you doing?”

“Protecting your foolish neck.” Na’varr
was definitely pissed.

Brom stood at the limits of his chains,
completely naked, all muscles clenched. He would devastate any
woman at that moment. Wild and dangerous. She licked her
lips.

Her pulse fluttered dangerously. Did
Na’varr feel it against his palm? “What’s happening to
him?”

Na’varr’s breath touched her ear. “The
drug they injected you with is called soalchik. It creates an
aphrodisiac in your saliva.” Na’varr’s hand traveled down her side
to her stomach. “Soalchik means deadly flower. Excessive amounts of
exposure causes…” his voice trailed off.