Silver Tongued Devils (7 page)

“What will it take to make them work in
our favor?”

“Bribes. Rare things they can’t get
from anyone but you.”

Na’varr braced his palms on the table.
He had coffee and information.

“Find out what they want.” Na’varr held
out his hand. “Give me your datapad.” The navigator complied and
Na’varr gave him access to the ship’s stockpile. “Find what they
need. If we have it, talk to me about it.” The young navigator had
negotiated several deals over the years, all of which gave Na’varr
a steep profit margin.

“You’ll have access for an hour so
memorize that list.”

“Yes sir.” Mace seemed to want to say
something but he shook it off.

Na’varr smiled. “Why am I having you do
this instead of my logistics officer?”

“You read my mind, sir.”

“You know where we’re going and how
we’re going to get there. I have told two other people and both of
them would die before betraying me, so if they know we’re coming, I
have only you to blame.”

Mace glared at Na’varr. “I won’t betray
you or this crew.”

Na’varr nodded. “Someone close to you
might. Keep it quiet.”

“Sir, we have a problem.” Brom’s
private message channel came in over Na’varr’s ear
piece.

“Go ahead.”

“She needs you. I can’t touch her like
this.”

His gut clenched. Brom’s strained voice
told Na’varr he was on the edge. His Second had to be desperate to
call and interrupt this meeting. “Got it. I’m on my way. Keep your
ass in check this time.”

“Roger.” The hybrid’s anger came
through loud and clear, but Na’varr didn’t care.

Brom had already lost control once. The
sight of Raesa’s blood had chilled Na’varr to the soul.

He looked up at his navigator. “Get
this plot coordinated. Make contact. Don’t mention our ship name
and offer a bribe to keep it off the books. I want a full report of
what they demand before you agree to it. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” Mace kept his posture lax,
but Na’varr saw the way the young man’s body had tried to snap to
attention.

Former military, maybe? Mace had been a
part of Na’varr’s crew for two years and never breathed a word of
his previous life.

“Remember. Tell no one where we’re
headed or this time we might all meet our makers.”

“I give my word.”

Na’varr nodded and dismissed the man.
He rolled up his map and tucked it into the case. It would be with
him or Brom at all times. The traitor was making Na’varr doubt
every move and motive of his crew and it was pissing him
off.

Raesa needed him. Na’varr stalked
through the corridors, ignoring curious glances and murmurs that
followed in his wake.

He felt like the steel jaws of a trap
were slamming shut on him and part of it revolved around Raesa. She
wore the Isis collar, something given to the bride of the Andovian
heir. A lifetime ago he’d been pledged to such a woman on the day
of her birth. Styles had raised Raesa like a daughter, but that
didn’t mean they were actually blood related. Had he smuggled the
toddler out of the palace that night?

Too many questions and now Styles was
dead and the key to her past was tied to the choker on her throat.
It held her DNA map and its location in the Andovian Earthen purity
database. Something Na’varr’s father had hated about their
culture.

He reached the room and palmed it open.
The security lock disengaged and he strode in.

The sight that greeted him jerked the
captain to a stop. Raesa was facing the doorway, naked and standing
with Brom at her back. His fingers stroked in and out of her pussy
while she made sweet cries of desperation.

Na’varr’s cock hardened and he eased
the buttons free on his shirt, taking his time to savor the
heightened blush of lust on her skin, the sweat of their bodies.
Brom’s mouth kissed her nape and Na’varr could make out softly
spoken words. His friend raised his gaze and Na’varr could see the
feral gleam shining back at him.

The hybrid’s movements were deliberate
and soothing while Raesa came undone in his arms. He dropped his
shirt over the back of a chair.

Brom brought his mouth next to her ear
and whispered something that caused her eyes to open.

Na’varr’s cock twitched at the heated
lust staring back at him.

While he and Brom had shared women
before, there was usually a complicated emotional tangle of
jealousy they had to weave through. Raesa was different. She gave
freely in everything they asked, taking ultimate pleasure in their
touch. Her sweet voice made the sexiest sounds. She could easily
become an addiction.

Brom withdrew his fingers from her
pussy and brought the glistening digits to his mouth.

Na’varr sat on the arm of a chair and
took off his boots, watching their erotic play.

Raesa nuzzled Brom’s cheek and her
tongue flicked against the skin.

A shudder ran through the hybrid’s body
and Na’varr grinned. She knew Brom’s weakness.

Her attention returned to Na’varr and
she walked toward him. He let his gaze wander down her body.
Beautiful, full hips and breasts. She reached him and ran her palms
up his thighs.

Brom slipped out of the room, leaving
them together.

“I’m not as insane as I was before.”
Her eyes were clear. “It hurts, Na’varr.” She climbed up his body
and kissed him.

Her tongue stroked his. Gone was the
hesitancy and its place was a goddess of lust.

Na’varr couldn’t wait any longer. “I
need to be inside you.”

Raesa unbuttoned his trous and slid his
cock free. She palmed his hard length and he groaned. Na’varr fell
into the chair and took her with him. He grabbed her hips,
encouraging her to move closer. The scent of her lust drove him
insane.

Raesa gripped his cock and rocked her
pussy against the head. She sank onto him, dragging moans and
pleasure from them both.

She let him go and leaned forward with
her palms on his chest. He let her find her own pace, adjusting
their bodies to make it easier. She fucked him as hard as he’d
taken her the night before.

He fisted her hair and brought her
mouth to his.

Na’varr nipped at her lip and suckled
her tongue. She tasted sweet. “Ride me, Raesa. Show me how much you
want it.”

She moaned and complied, tearing her
mouth from his and moving her hips to a rhythm he happily met. Her
red hair spilled onto his chest and he reached between their bodies
to stroke her clit.

“Na’varr, dammit.”

“Say it again.” He circled her clit
with his thumb and forefinger.

A throaty laugh slipped from her lips.
“Dammit.”

He growled and arched his hips, meeting
her thrust down, impaling her on his hard length. She detonated in
his arms. Her pussy milked him and his balls tightened. With a cry
of release, he came inside her wet heat.

She dug her nails into his chest and he
gazed at her soft and sated expression, wanting to remember every
bit of this moment and how she rode him, wringing out the last bits
of pleasure from them both.

“Come here.” He pulled her into his
arms and kissed her forehead. “You’ve bonded, Raesa. The pain will
stop soon.”

She mumbled something against his chest
and he moved back a bit to see her face.

“What?”

“Who did I bond to?”

“Both of us, lovely.” He heard her
sigh. Was it disappointment? Joy? Brom was better at understanding
emotion than he was. He knew women the way Na’varr knew warfare and
political intrigue. At that moment he wished he knew the right
words to say to make her want to be a part of their
lives.

In a few moments she relaxed
completely against him.
She fell
asleep?
He had so many things to do, a ship
and crew that needed him, plus a traitor to smoke out. Yet for the
first time, he wanted to forget about it and accept this
moment.

“You are so dangerous.” He kissed the
top of her head.

Raesa draped over him, soft and
pliable. Sexy and perfect. Not afraid of anything. He tucked loose
strands of hair behind her ear and watched her sleep. Raesa’s past
was a mystery they needed to solve, but he hesitated to rush it.
With everything else going on, it was okay to let this be, for
now.

Brom walked out of the shower room with
only a towel on his waist. He snatched up a blanket and brought it
to the chair. “Will you stay with her?”

Na’varr wrapped his arms around
her.

His second in command covered them both
and sat on the arm of the chair. “Who is she, and what does that
choker signify?”

“As far as I know, she’s the only
daughter of a man who’d served my family loyally his entire life.”
He touched the swirl pattern on the Isis collar. “The woman who
should wear this supposedly died the night my family was
slaughtered. I don’t know how she or her father ended up with
it.”

“It’s convenient that she was taken to
the same place we were.”

Na’varr adjusted the blanket over
Raesa’s shoulders. “Tell me what you know.”

“The unscheduled stop was caused by a
failing food stasis unit. Interviews with the cook told me that
they went out occasionally, and as a result he was trained to
spread the food across several units. Someone had taken all the
proteins and put them in the failing unit. He’s since started
locking the kitchen and strangely enough, no other issues have been
reported.”

So they had someone on board who set up
their landing. For what purpose? “Who went on the supply run when
we landed?”

“I have a list here.”

“Were any of them kitchen
staff?”

“Only the cook.”

“Did he see anyone ditch
out?”

“He couldn’t remember since he spent
most of that time rushing to refill our food supplies. When he
needed arms and hands, they were there. That’s all he
remembered.”

Na’varr sighed. “Someone is feeding our
enemies every stop we—” Raesa moaned and he tensed. With gentle
strokes of her sleeping body, he soothed her back to a deeper
sleep. When she calmed, he continued the conversation. “We haven’t
been to Sakura in the past year. Why did they pick that
one?”

“Raesa, maybe?”

“It’s possible. The star map is by the
entry door. I want a list of all personnel who requested leave or
participated in our supply restock for every location in the past
year. Cross reference those names against the allies we lost. Our
traitor is probably newer to the crew.”

“Like a little over a year old,
maybe?”

“Yeah.”

“On it.” Brom hesitated.

Na’varr saw the uncertainty in his
friend. “Touch her. She’s yours as much as mine.”

Brom clenched his jaw and Na’varr let
his eyes close. The hybrid touched her hair and bent down to press
a light kiss on her head.

“You’ll be able to kiss her again
soon.”

“Not soon enough.”

Raesa was jerked from a deep sleep by
Na’varr’s insistent voice.

“Raesa.” He shook her gently and she
cracked open her eyelids.

Her entire body ached.
“What?”

“I need you awake. We have a
problem.”

Raesa rubbed at her eyes. Why did it
feel like she’d been slammed by a meteor? “What is it?”

“We’ve been grounded at a border
control facility. I need you alert.”

He took the sheet from her hands and
replaced it with a warm beverage. A tentative sip told her it was a
hot stim drink. She drained the cup before the bitter after-taste
had a chance to do its worst on her tongue.

Na’varr took the mug from her and
handed over a robe. Urgency was apparent in his rigid movements.
She shrugged into the cloth and leapt off the bed. “Give me access
to your ship’s mainframe.”

Na’varr caught her before she reached
the door and tied her robe shut. He then set her down in a
comfortable arm chair.

“You’re very demanding when you wake up
in the morning.”

Raesa’s heart did a little leap at his
tender touch. “You wouldn’t need me if this was a paperwork issue.
What are they using to prevent our escape?”

“A stasis chain. Our systems are dead
and any attempts to start them will—”

“Wreck your ship. Yeah I know. Pretty
nasty shit. Get me to your datapad. I need to know what we’re
working with.”

She glanced around. “Where’s
Brom?”

“We have a traitor among us. He’s
sniffing out the bastard right now.”

“They knew we were coming, but why
would you be on lockdown?” Surely it wasn’t for a mere runaway
slave.

“Here.” He handed her the datapad and
she began running through his security protocols. She recognized
the name of their port. Haven Crisis. The armpit of the outer ring.
Great. “They haven’t locked down your environment controls, but
communications have been cut off.” She chewed on the pad of her
thumb and stared at the netlock they’d slapped up. “I have to do it
from inside.”