Victorious Star (31 page)

“Yes, it’s pretty damned obvious that the
rahyt
triggered this, but do you have any idea why she went into regeneration?” It sounded like
A’syr
Khem.

What the hell is regeneration?
Victoria looked around, but everything was fuzzy-edged and indistinct. She couldn’t make out much more than vague shapes.
Fate, where am I?

“According to what we found, the doses were quite old, possibly over twelve years.” The voice was completely unfamiliar and male.

Victoria frowned.
Doses?

“She was strong enough to make prime,” the
skeldhi
continued. “This is reason enough to overwhelm an age-weakened final course.”

Final course?
Victoria’s breath stopped in her chest.
Oh fuck! I must be in medical! I have to get out of here!
She jerked but her wrists remained pinned to her sides. Her ankles wouldn’t move either.

“How the hell do I explain to the
Deshryt
that his
rehkyt
is no longer a prime, that she nearly died?”

“We’ve already treated and dosed her. When she wakes up after a night in the
deshryt’s
bed, she’ll be prime again.”

Already dosed?
Victoria shivered in shock.
No…
She jerked at her wrists.
It can’t be too late! I’m an Imperial officer and I have to go back!
A sob caught in her throat and she worked to silence it.
I have to leave, right now!

“I see… Oh, before you go, what was that about a second DNA mark?”

“Oh, yes, she has a stud mark.”

Victoria tried twisting her wrists and jerked at her feet.
I have to get out of here…I have to get out!

“Spawn of Chaos, I know a
rehkyt
male that’s going to go ballistic. Damn… How the hell did he get a stud mark on her?

“To have a stud mark, he had to be present during the transformation process…”

“Yes, yes, I know.”

Victoria froze. The only one present during the process was Ravnos. Did he mean that Ravnos’s DNA was in her too?

“Do you want me to check the registry to see if he’s listed?”

“The stud? Yes, I’m curious.”

“One moment, let me get to that file… ah, he’s listed as Aubrey. He’s a prime owned by the
deshryt.”

Aubrey? And Seht owns him?
Victoria felt the world shake under her. Aubrey Laslo Ravnos…? She shook her head.
No, this isn’t real!
She struggled with the restraints, and her thrashing became frantic.
It can’t be real!
She arched up, pulling with all her strength. She couldn’t move the restraints. She screamed.

A’syr
Khem grabbed her by the shoulders. She could barely see him. “What the hell is wrong with her now?”

Victoria thrashed under his hands.
I want to go home! I want to go home right now!

Someone moved to her side. “According to the readings, it’s merely panic. Unknown place, unknown people, and the fourth course is very active in her… She needs her master.”

Victoria gasped.
The fourth course was already in her?
She arched back and screamed.
No!

“He’s still at the banquet.”
A’syr
Khem scowled. “Can you put her down before she goes back into
rahyt
and hurts herself?”

“That’s what I’m preparing. Hold her, so I can get this into her.”

A’syr
Khem captured Victoria’s head. “Take it easy, you’re going to be fine.”

Victoria saw the syringe coming toward her.
No… don’t!
She jerked her head but couldn’t move in his hold. She felt a small stab in her arm and flinched.
Bloody Fate, I hate needles.

The needle was pulled away. “There. She’ll be quiet until the
Deshryt
can take her.”

Victoria took a deep breath and blinked up at
A’syr
Khem. Her hammering heart fought against the thick sluggishness sloughing through her blood. She could feel sleep moving in on her in a thick, smothering blanket. Tears streaked her cheeks as she closed her eyes.

The mattress shifted under her. She smelled soap, clean water and Seht. She turned, shivering.

His expression held concern but resolve shimmered across their link. He knelt on the mattress and slipped out of a robe. His skin gleamed damp from the shower under the soft lights. “Are you all right?” he asked very gently.

Victoria stared, her thoughts scattered by the shock of all that had happened.
They said that they gave me the fourth course.
Tears pricked her eyes, and for once, she just didn’t care. She let them fall.

He slid down into the bed with her, wrapping his arms and the scent of his warm skin around her. “They have.”

Victoria wanted to pull away from him, but at the same time, she desperately wanted to be held. She let exhaustion make the decision for her, and stayed where she was.
I don’t understand what happened. I was fighting and then when I stopped, it hurt, and my eyes started to bleed, and then… I woke up and it was already done.
She closed her eyes tightly and curled her arms around him.

He brushed a tear from her cheek. “Your human genetic code had already begun to reassert itself when you went into
rahyt.
The rage is not natural to humans; that is why you went into seizures. If they had not given you the fourth course, you could have died.”

She shuddered.
So, now it’s over? I’m no longer human at all?

“Yes, Victoria, you are fully
rehkyt.
You have become resistant to most diseases and can recover from everything but the most grievous of wounds. Nor will your skin scar. Your body will remain this healthy, and lovely, for as long as you breathe.” His lips brushed her brow. “Is that so bad?”

Victoria closed her eyes tightly. Conflicting desires fought within her. The savage urge to claw his back open in rage and cry her heart out in despair crushed the breath from her lungs. She clenched her hands closed.
They also said I had a stud mark, from a rehkyt named Aubrey. A rehkyt you own. They said I got it during the process. It’s Ravnos, isn’t it?

“Yes.” Seht sighed. “Aubrey has lost the fine coloring of his prime state, but he is nevertheless a prime
rehkyt.
My
rehkyt
and I am quite proud of him.”

Ravnos is a rehkyt?
Victoria couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea of Ravnos bowing to anybody.
How…?

Seht smiled. “Aubrey was not always as strong as he is now. When I first saw him, he was just a scared boy wounded from a shuttle crash. He was using a broken knife to dig the electronic collar off of his throat before his owners could come fetch him.”

Ravnos had a collar?
Victoria pressed her nose into his throat, under his damp hair. She could almost smell the hot blood moving under his skin. Appetite stirred within her; an odd confusion of lust, and the need to feed.

Seht gently caught her chin and moved her away from his throat. “Yes, he was working for Moribund, stealing ships with his programming talents. I found him about the same time Moribund’s marauders did. I offered him my hand and he took it. I don’t think he even knew what I was, only that I wasn’t one of them.”

You saved him?
Victoria rubbed her cheek against his chest. He smelled wonderful.

Seht caught her chin again, and looked into her eyes. “From them. I’m afraid I took ruthless advantage of him. I made him my
rehkyt.
He was starving and unaugmented; it wasn’t as if he could stop me. I did not expect to bond to him. It simply happened.”

Victoria shifted restlessly within his arms, feeling a little too warm, and disturbed by her body’s conflicting appetites.
But he doesn’t look like a rehkyt.

Seht curled his legs around hers, stopping her movements. “Because I never gave him the fourth course. He reverted to his human appearance, to some degree. He altered other things surgically. Without the fourth course in him, the alterations remained.”

Victoria resigned herself to Seht’s close embrace.
You said, before, that he caught you, like he caught me? Does this mean he didn’t stay with you?

“If he had, he would have been full
rehkyt
and not captain of a starship.” Seht sighed deeply. “I’m with him now because I found him many years later, and was foolish enough to give chase. I didn’t even know he was captain of a dreadnought. He used his programming talents to capture my ship.”

Why did you chase him?
Victoria opened her damp palms.

Seht chuckled. “I wanted him back.”

Victoria tucked her chin.
And you don’t want to leave? You don’t want to go home?

“No. Where Aubrey is, is my home.” Seht’s breath brushed her ear. “He will punish me severely for allowing this to happen to you,” he whispered. “But do not think for one moment that I regret that you have become irrevocably mine, as Aubrey is.”

Victoria closed her eyes and turned away.
I want to go home.

Seht captured her face and stared hard into her eyes. “Home is with me.” His lips captured her mouth in a brutal and taking kiss. He raised her knee and slid between her thighs. His primary cock slid against the wet opening to her body.

Victoria whimpered into his mouth and struggled weakly.
No, I don’t want…

Yes, you do.
He ruthlessly held her still and surged within.

Victoria felt his secondary cock press into her anus, and arched under him.
Please, don’t…

I must. Open for me.
He pressed within, swallowing her soft cries, until both cocks filled her. He released her mouth. “The course in your body will force you into rage if your body’s lust is not satisfied.” His long teeth scraped her skin.

Victoria flinched away but he held her too securely.
A bite?
She barely felt his teeth break the skin of her shoulder; then he bit down, hard. She gasped.

To bring you quickly.
He released her shoulder and stroked the wounds on her shoulder with his tongue. “My lust will be satisfied as the tightness of your body milks the cum from my knots while we sleep.” He smiled. “It is the preferred method of rest for
skeldhis.”

The sensation-enhancing effect of his venom surged through her and she moaned. Erotic urgency clenched and coiled in her core, swamping out the other appetite, the hunger for blood. She rolled her hips to feel him within her.

He groaned. “Yes, pet, you need this as much as I need to fill you.” He pulled back and surged within, then again, and again, in a long slow fuck. His mouth captured her breast and tormented her straining nipple.

She shuddered under the nearly overwhelming pleasure of his mouth and his pumping cocks. His knots slid within and swelled tight in her body. Orgasm rose in a sudden fiery wave.

“That’s it, pet…” He groaned, and ground against her swollen clit. “Cum for me, Victoria.”

She froze, then came with soft gasping cries.

Seht took her mouth with hunger. He broke the kiss and pulled the blankets over them both. He wrapped her securely in his arms. “Sleep, pet. You have a ship to rescue on the morrow.”

Wrapped in the heat and scent of Seht’s body and impaled on his cocks, tears of despair burned down her cheeks. With the fourth course in her, she knew that this possession branded her body, and her soul, as his.

She rose from the bed with Seht’s cum sliding down her thighs. She had one last duty to perform for her Imperium: save the
Arcane.

Lord Syrhus came through the door in a boiling fury. He pointed at Victoria. “The medics told me that she has nav-pilot augmentation, and your troublemaker’s stud-mark. Chaos and damnation, Seht! What is going on?”

Seht leaned back in his chair and contemplated his furious prince consort. “I’m here to steal the sentience from Moribund’s ship. She’s here to carry it back.”

Lord Syrhus bared his teeth. “And the stud-mark?”

Seht sighed and tossed his napkin on the table. Resignation thrummed through his telepathic link. “For the past year or so, I have been second in command on the
Hellsbreath,
under Captain Ravnos…”

“I’ve heard of him. Wait, you said second in command? To a human?”

Seht turned to stare at Lord Syrhus. “Captain Aubrey Laslo Ravnos.”

Lord Syrhus’s growl rumbled. “You’re serving under your
rehkyt?”

Seht turned away. “Yes.”

“Willingly?”

Seht nodded. “Yes.”

“Is he under your domination?”

Seht closed his eyes. “No.”

Lord Syrhus snarled viciously and stormed around the chamber. Fury scented the air around him. “I don’t believe this! Your sister is going to explode!” He turned on Seht. “You are
skeldhi!
You do not serve under a
rehkyt!
I am taking you home.”

Seht lunged from the chair, knocking it over. His growl rumbled with feral strength. “If you try, you will regret it.”

Lord Syrhus bared his long teeth. “You are going home.” His pupils narrowed to feline slits. “If I have to, I will take you in chains.”

Seht bared his own teeth. “You cannot keep me in chains for the rest of my life. Eventually, I will return to him. I will not lose him again.”

Lord Syrhus jerked as though he’d been struck. “You’re insane!”

Seht smiled thinly. “Very likely.”

Lord Syrhus turned sharply away. “You and that damned obsession…” He shot a narrow look toward Victoria. “So who the hell is this, really?”

Victoria ignored him and continued to eat. Her only concern was saving the
Arcane.
Beyond that, she really didn’t care.

Seht righted his chair. “This is First Lieutenant Victoria Stark, an Imperial senior navigations pilot. Her specialty is talking to angry sentient ships.”

“Victoria Stark?” Lord Syrhus’s mouth fell open. “You have the
Victorious Star?”

Seht sat down heavily. “She was supposed to be returned to her Imperium after this mission.”

Lord Syrhus shook his head. “She’s
rehkyt…”

“She is now.” Seht stared at Victoria and his expression was bleak. “They gave her the fourth course last night.”

“Spawn of Chaos, Seht…” Lord Syrhus slammed his hands down on the table. “You deliberately left off the fourth course? I could take her for that.”

Seht bared his teeth and his eyes narrowed to slits. “You could try.”

“You’re as obsessed with her as you are Aubrey.” Lord Syrhus pushed up from the table. “Does this insanity of yours never end?”

Seht shrugged. “You get used to it after a while.”

Lord Syrhus jammed his fingers into his hair and paced. “So when do you intend to steal the ship’s sentience?”

Seht reached for his glass. “Well before the auction. I have the codes to board and the codes to leave the station undetected.”

Lord Syrhus stopped and stared. “So why don’t you just take the whole damned ship? You have a nav-pilot to fly it…”

Seht looked over at Syrhus. “Because Moribund has it rigged to blow as soon as it leaves the station’s space. It’s a trap for someone. Probably me, but he could be after you.”

Lord Syrhus raised his brow. “And the rumors of the ship’s insanity and killing of its crew?”

Seht smiled grimly. “Unfortunately true. In fact, the ship wiped Moribund’s nav-pilot Sakata. She’s walking around with a ship’s sentience in her head.”

Lord Syrhus shook his head. “What makes you think the ship won’t wipe your nav-pilot?”

Seht looked over at Victoria. “Ships like her.” A small smile curved his lips. “If anyone can talk it into leaving, she can.”

Victoria looked up in astonishment. Affection and pride thrummed through her link from Seht. Sudden tears pricked her eyes.

Lord Syrhus looked over at Victoria. “Are you really going to risk your
rehkyt
on a mad ship?”

“She wants to do it.” Seht held Victoria’s gaze and his smile disappeared. “In fact, I don’t think I can keep her from trying.”

Lord Syrhus groaned. “You’re both insane.”

Seht snorted. “I do believe that has already been established.”

Lord Syrhus grabbed a chair and dropped into it. “So, when do you plan to invade Moribund’s ship? I need time to gather a strike party.”

Seht frowned. “A strike party?”

Lord Syrhus shrugged. “The
mahfeht
enforcers have been complaining of boredom. Might as well give them something to do.”

Seht’s brows lowered. “If Moribund discovers that you are a part of this…”

Lord Syrhus grinned. “Moribund already hates my guts. Where do you think I’m getting all my new
rehkyts?
My twins, the ones so fond of your Victoria, are both former fighter pilots.”

Seht barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I don’t believe it! You intend to help me?”

Lord Syrhus smiled wryly. “Someone needs to see that you get back to your obsession in one piece.”